Ilmr (Old Norse) is a figure inNorse mythology who is listed as a goddess and who occurs inskaldickennings. Her associations and original nature are unknown.
Ilmr is attested at two points in the so-calledNafnaþulur appended to theProse Edda bookSkáldskaparmál: betweenIðunn andBil in a list ofásynjur, and in a list of words that can be used in kennings for "woman". No further information other than her name is provided.[1][2] She is not mentioned inEddic poetry, but her name does occur several times inskaldic poetry of the 10th and 11th centuries, particularly in verses byKormákr Ǫgmundarson.[3]
It is impossible to determine the associations of the goddess Ilmr.Jacob Grimm pointed out that while the goddess nameIlmr is feminine, the masculine wordilmr means "pleasant scent" (suavis odor);[4][3] an association with scent would be unique among Norse deities. Kormákr, at least, usedvalkyrie-names as well as goddess-names in forming kennings referring to women, and it is possible that he thought of Ilmr as a valkyrie; one other kenning using her name, in a verse preserved inLandnamabók and attributed toHrómundr halti, is of a type (kennings for battle formed with a female name) that is only attested with names of valkyries.[5] In his 1989 etymological dictionary of Icelandic, Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon suggested that this might indicate the nameIlmr was related to the nounjalmr (noise) with which it is coupled in the kenning; this is a known type of valkyrie-name.Eir,Þrúðr, and thenornSkuld are other female figures variously identified as valkyries and goddesses within the Old Norse corpus.[6] Alternatively, Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon suggests Ilmr is a treedís, with a name etymologically related toalmr,elm. The elm is associated in folklore in many nations with death, which might have led to her being classed as a valkyrie.[7]