Dagr (Old Norse 'day')[1] is thedivine personification of theday inNorse mythology. He appears in thePoetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and theProse Edda, written in the 13th century bySnorri Sturluson. In both sources, Dagr is stated to be the son of the godDellingr and is associated with the bright-maned horseSkinfaxi, who "draw[s] day to mankind". Depending on manuscript variation, theProse Edda adds that Dagr is either Dellingr's son byNótt, the personified night, orJörð, the personified Earth. Otherwise, Dagr appears as acommon noun simply meaning "day" throughout Old Norse works. Connections have been proposed between Dagr and other similarly named figures inGermanic mythology.
Dagr is mentioned in stanzas 12 and 25 of the poemVafþrúðnismál. In stanza 24, the godOdin (disguised as "Gagnráðr") asks thejötunnVafþrúðnir from where the day comes, and the night and its tides. In stanza 25, Vafþrúðnir responds:
- Delling hight he who the day's father is,
- but night was of Nörvi born;
- the new and waning moons the beneficent powers created,
- to count the years for men.[2]
In stanza 12, the horse Skinfaxi, his mane gleaming, is stated by Vafþrúðnir as "drawing day to mankind".[3]
InSigrdrífumál, after thevalkyrieSigrdrífa is woken from her sleep curse by the heroSigurd, Sigurd asks her name, and she gives him a "memory-drink" of adrinking horn full ofmead, and then Sigrdrifa says aprayer. The first verse of this prayer features a reference to the "sons of Dagr" and the "female relative" (nipt, "niece" or "daughter") of Nótt.
In the poemHrafnagaldr Óðins, the appearance of Dagr and his horse and chariot are described:
In theProse Edda bookGylfaginning, Dagr is again personified. In chapter 10, the enthroned figure of High states that Dagr is the son of the couple of Dellingr of theÆsir and his wife Nótt ("night"). Dagr is described as "as bright and beautiful as his father's people". Odin took Dagr and his mother Nótt, gave them each a chariot and a horse — Dagr receiving the horse Skinfaxi, whose mane illuminates all the sky and the Earth — and placed them in the sky to ride around the Earth every 24 hours.[5]
Dagr is again personified in chapter 24 of theProse Edda bookSkáldskaparmál, where he is stated as a brother ofJörð.[6] As a common noun, Dagr appears in chapter 58, where "Skinfaxi or Glad" is stated as pulling forth the day,[6] and chapter 64, where Dagr is stated as one of various words for time.[7]
However, scholar Haukur Thorgeirsson points out that the four manuscripts ofGylfaginning vary in their descriptions of the family relations between Nótt, Jörð, Dagr, and Dellingr. In other words, depending on the manuscript, either Jörð or Nótt is the mother of Dagr and partner of Dellingr. Haukur details that "the oldest manuscript, U, offers a version where Jǫrð is the wife of Dellingr and the mother of Dagr while the other manuscripts, R, W and T, cast Nótt in the role of Dellingr's wife and Dagr's mother", and argues that "the version in U came about accidentally when the writer of U or its antecedent shortened a text similar to that in RWT. The results of this accident made their way into the Icelandic poetic tradition".[8]
Otto Höfler theorized that Dagr may be related to (or may be the same figure as) the heroSvipdagr (whose name means "the suddenly dawning day") who is attested in various texts. Among other sources, this figure is found in two poems compiled together and known asSvipdagsmál in thePoetic Edda, the Prologue to theProse Edda, and by the name Swæfdæg in the mythical genealogies of the Anglian houses ofAnglo-Saxon England. Otto Höfler also proposed that Svipdagr may have been a "Dagr of theSuebi", and because of the names of his family members, Sólbjartr ("the sun-light", indicating a potential god of the skies) andGróa ("growth", indicating a possible goddess of growth), and his wooing ofMenglöð (often identified with the goddessFreyja), he further suggested that Svipdagr may have been a fertility god.[9]
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