InNorse mythology,Hlín is agoddess associated with the goddessFrigg. Hlín appears in a poem in thePoetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, theProse Edda, written in the 13th century bySnorri Sturluson, and inkennings found inskaldic poetry. Scholars have debated whether the stanza referring to her in theProse Edda refers to Frigg.Hlín serves as a given name in Iceland, and Hlín receives veneration in the modern era in Germanic paganism's modern extension,Heathenry.
Scholars frequently explain the meaning behind the goddess's name as 'protector'.[1] TheProse Edda sectionGylfaginning derives the name from a verb found in aproverb in an obscure and otherwise unattested Old Norse proverb:Þiaðan af er þat orðtak at sá er forðask hleinir. Scholars generally accept that the theonymHlín derives from the verbhleina. However, the verbhleina in which the section claims a derivation is obscure (ahapax legomenon), and translators have attempted to work around it in a variety of manners, in some cases leaving the verb untranslated. Examples include the translations ofAnthony Faulkes ("From this comes the saying that someone who escapes finds refuge (hleinir)", 1995 [1987]) andJesse Byock ("From her name comes the expression that he who escapes findshleinir [peace and quiet]", 2005).[2]
Scholars have proposed a variety of derivations for the verb. The verb is most commonly linked to Old Englishhlinian andhlænan, ancestors to the modern English verblean. 19th century scholars, includingJacob Grimm, linkedhleina to the rare Old Norse nounhlynr, meaning 'maple tree'. Grimm links this derivation to a variety of tree figures found in folklore from the modern era in northwest Europe. Joseph Hopkins (2017) comments that this derivation may deserve further investigation in light of the potential connection between the Old Norse goddess nameIlmr and the Old Norse common nounalmr (Elm tree), and says that "the potential of a protective tree goddess brings to mind a mysterious passage in theProse Edda involving therowan, in which the tree is referred to as [Thor's]bjǫrg ['aid, help, salvation, rescue']".[3]
In thePoetic Edda poemVöluspá, Hlín receives a mention regarding the foretold death of the godOdin during the immense battle waged atRagnarök:
The death of Odin (the stanza's "second sorrow") implies a first death. Scholars all but universally view this as a reference to the death of the godBaldr, Frigg and Odin's son.[5] Some translators replace the reference of Hlín to a mention of Frigg due to their interpretations of the stanza (see discussion inScholarly reception and interpretation section below).[6]
In chapter 35 of theProse Edda bookGylfaginning, Hlín is listed twelfth among a series of sixteen goddesses.High tellsGangleri (earlier in the book described as KingGylfi in disguise) that Hlín "is given the function of protecting people whom Frigg wishes to save from some danger." High continues that, from this, comes the saying that "someone who escapes finds refuge (hleinar)."[7] The verbhleina in this passage is obscure and has yielded a variety of translations (seeetymology section above).[5]
In chapter 51, the above-mentionedVöluspá stanza is quoted.[8] In chapter 75 of the bookSkáldskaparmál Hlín appears within a list of 27 ásynjur names.[9]
Inskaldic poetry, the name Hlín is frequent inkennings for women. Examples includeHlín hringa ('Hlín of rings'),Hlín goðvefjar ('Hlín of velvet') andarm-Hlín ('arm-Hlín'). The name is already used frequently in this way by the 10th-century poetKormákr Ögmundarson and remains current in skaldic poetry through the following centuries, employed by poets such asÞórðr Kolbeinsson,Gizurr Þorvaldsson andEinarr Gilsson.[10] The name remained frequently used in woman kennings inrímur poetry, sometimes asLín.[11]
In a verse inHávarðar saga Ísfirðings, the phraseá Hlín fallinn ("fallen on Hlín") occurs. Some editors have emended the line[12][13] while others have accepted the reading and taken Hlín to refer tothe earth.[14]
In line with a cultural practice to use Old Norse theonyms aspersonal names,Hlín appears as a given name for females inIceland. Like other goddesses from the North Germanic corpus, Hlín receives veneration inHeathenry.[15]
Although theProse Edda identifies Hlín as a separate goddess than Frigg, many scholars identify Hlín as another name for Frigg. For example, Andy Orchard says that inVöluspá, Hlín appears to be just another name for Frigg, and adds that "the numerous occurrences of the name in skaldic poetry in poetic periphrases or kennings for women do nothing to dispel the confusion."[16]Rudolf Simek agrees that Hlín seems to appear as another name for Frigg inVöluspá, and that in skaldic poetry Hlín was a well-known mythological figure by the 10th century. Simek states that Hlín is likely simply another name for Frigg, and that Snorri "misunderstood her to be a goddess in her own right in his reading of theVöluspá stanza."[17]
However, in the same work, Simek also says that the goddessesSága, Hlín,Sjöfn,Snotra,Vár, andVör should be considered vaguely defined figures who "should be seen as female protective goddesses" that are all responsible for "specific areas of the private sphere, and yet clear differences were made between them so that they are in many ways similar tomatrons."[18]
Some scholars express uncertainty at identifying Hlín as another name for Frigg, and others reject the identification altogether. In a 2017 paper on the topic, Hopkins agrees with Simek's comparison to the matrons and compares the scholarly reception of the goddessFulla, another goddess closely associated with Frigg, to that of Hlín:
- "Like Hlín, the nameFulla ['full, bountiful'] may be tempting to dismiss as a reading error on the part of aProse Edda author or as a poetic invention ... Were it not for the preservation of the cognate theonym Volla in theSecond Merseburg Charm, Fulla would remain in a similarly ambiguous position like that of Hlín, easily overlooked, dismissed, or deconstructed ... the correlations between theProse Edda and the Second Merseburg Incantation provide something of a cautionary tale: namely, by dismissing information found solely in theProse Edda, one risks violating the foundational maxim ofabsence of evidence is not evidence of absence. There is no reason to doubt that Hlín was an independent entity in Old Norse mythology and no positive evidence to suggest that Hlín was merely a by-name of Frigg."[19]
Referencing the iconography of the early Germanic matrons, Hopkins proposes an alternate reading of theVöluspá stanza in line with theGylfaginning description of the goddess. In Hopkins's reading of the stanza, Hlín's sorrows are her inability to protect figures close to Frigg: the first sorrow would therefore be the death of Baldr, and the second sorrow the foretold death of Odin.[20]