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Bergelmir (/bɛərˈɡɛlmɪər/bair-GEL-meer;Old Norse:[ˈberˌɡelmez̠]) is ajötunn inNorse mythology.[1]
TheOld Norse nameBergelmir has been variously translated as 'bear-yeller', 'mountain-yeller', or 'bare-yeller'.[2][1] According to linguistJan de Vries, the name should be read asber-gelmir ('who roars like a bear') rather thanberg-gelmir ('who roars in the mountains').[3]
InVafþrúðnismál (The Lay ofVafþrúðnir), Bergelmir is portrayed as the son ofÞrúðgelmir and the grandson of the firstjötunnAurgelmir (Ymir). WhenOdin asksVafthrúdnir who is the oldest among theæsir and thejötnar,[1] the wisejötunn responds that:
A great many years before the earth was formed,
Bergelmir was born;
Thrúdgelmir was the father of this one,
And Aurgelmir the grandfather.
— Vafthrúdnismál, 29, trans.J. Lindow, 2002.
In the same poem, Odin then asks Vafthrúdnir about the monstrous birth of the offspring of Aurgelmir,[1] and Vafthrúdnir responds:
A great many years before the earth was formed,
Bergelmir was born;
What I first remember is when the wise giant
Was placed on alúðr.
— Vafthrúdnismál, 35, trans.J. Lindow, 2002.
InGylfaginning (The Beguiling ofGylfi), while the blood ofYmir (Aurgelmir) is flooding the earth after the sons ofBorr (Odin,Vili, and Vé) have killed him, Bergelmir is likewise pictured as escaping on alúðr with his wife to re-found the frost-jötunn race.[2][4]
The sons of Bor killed Ymir the giant. And when he fell, so much blood gushed from his wounds, that with it all of the frost giants were killed, except one who got away with his family. The giants called that one Bergelmir. He got up on hislúðr along with his wife and saved himself there, and from them come the families of the frost giants.
— Gylfaginning, trans.J. Lindow, 2002.
Based upon Snorri's account, theOld Norse wordlúðr might have referred to a 'coffin',[2][5] a 'cradle',[2] a 'chest', or some wooden part of a mill.[5]
Robert D. Fulk notes that Snorri'sProse Edda account "conflicts with the poetic version, as the [Prose Edda] presents aNoah-like figure, while the latter has Bergelmir laid (lagiðr) in thelúðr, implying he is an infant, as in theScyld story. But Snorri does add the crucial element not made in the explicit verses, that thelúðr is to serve as a floating vessel."[6]
Fulk continues that "the key word here islúðr, which ought to refer to a flour-bin. To be precise, the object is a box or wooden trough, perhaps on legs, in which the stones of a hand-mill sit [...]. It is true that most glossators assume some meaning other than 'flour-bin' inVafþrúðnismál andSnorra edda [an alternate name for theProse Edda], suggesting instead something in the range of 'coffin (or cradle), chest, ark (i.e. boat)'." Fulk details that "the interpretation of 'ark' derives solely from the passage inSnorra Edda, because of Bergelmir's resemblance toNoah, and the fact that [Old Icelandic]ǫrk [...] can refer to bothNoah's ark and a chest or asarcophagus."[6]
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