InNorse mythology,Skaði (/ˈskɑːði/;Old Norse:[ˈskɑðe]; sometimes anglicized asSkadi,Skade, orSkathi) is ajötunn andgoddess associated withbowhunting,skiing, winter, and mountains. Skaði is attested in thePoetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; theProse Edda and inHeimskringla, written in the 13th century bySnorri Sturluson, and in the works ofskalds.
Skaði is the daughter of the deceased jötunnÞjazi, and was married the godNjörðr as part of the compensation provided by the gods for having killed her father. InHeimskringla, Skaði is described as having split up with Njörðr and as later having married the godOdin, and that the two produced many children together. In both thePoetic Edda and theProse Edda, Skaði is responsible for placing the serpent that drips venom onto the boundLoki. Skaði is alternately referred to asÖndurguð (Old Norse 'ski god') andÖndurdís (Old Norse 'skidís').
The etymology of the nameSkaði is uncertain, but may be connected with the original form ofScandinavia. Some place names in Scandinavia refer to Skaði. Scholars have theorized a potential connection between Skaði and the godUllr (who is also associated with skiing), a particular relationship with the jötunn Loki, and thatScandinavia may be related to the name Skaði (potentially meaning 'Skaði's island') or the name may be connected to Old Norse nouns meaning either 'shadow' or 'harm'. Skaði has inspired various works of art.
TheOld Norse nameSkaði, along withSca(n)dinavia andSkáney, may be related toGothicskadus,Old Englishsceadu,Old Saxonscado, andOld High Germanscato (meaning 'shadow') - compare also the IrishScáthach, a famous woman warrior known as 'the shadowy one'. Scholar John McKinnell comments that this etymology suggests Skaði may have once been a personification of the geographical region of Scandinavia or associated with the underworld.[1]
Georges Dumézil disagrees with the notion ofScadin-avia as etymologically 'the island of the goddess Skaði'. Dumézil comments that the first elementScadin must have had—or once had—a connection to "darkness" "or something else we cannot be sure of". Dumézil says that, rather, the nameSkaði derives from the name of the geographical region, which was at the time no longer completely understood. In connection, Dumézil points to a parallel inÉriu, a goddess personifyingIreland that appears in some Irish texts, whose name he says comes fromIreland rather than the other way around.[2]
Alternatively,Skaði may be connected with the Old Norse nounskaði ('harm'),[3] source of the Icelandic and Faroeseskaði ('harm, damage') andcognate with Englishscathe (unscathed,scathing).[4]
Skaði is attested in poems found in thePoetic Edda, in two books of theProse Edda and in oneHeimskringla book.
In thePoetic Edda poemGrímnismál, the godOdin (disguised asGrímnir) reveals to the youngAgnarr the existence of twelve locations. Odin mentions the locationÞrymheimr sixth in a single stanza. In the stanza, Odin details that the jötunnÞjazi once lived there, and that now his daughter Skaði does. Odin describes Þrymheimr as consisting of "ancient courts" and refers to Skaði as "the shining bride of the gods".[5] In the prose introduction to the poemSkírnismál, the godFreyr has become heartsick for a fair girl (the jötunnGerðr) he has spotted inJötunheimr. The godNjörðr asks Freyr's servantSkírnir to talk to Freyr, and in the first stanza of the poem, Skaði also tells Skírnir to ask Freyr why he is so upset. Skírnir responds that he expects harsh words from their son Freyr.[6]
In the prose introduction to the poemLokasenna, Skaði is referred to as the wife of Njörðr and is cited as one of the goddesses attendingÆgir's feast.[7] AfterLoki has an exchange with the godHeimdallr, Skaði interjects. Skaði tells Loki that he is "light-hearted" and that Loki will not be "playing [...] with [his] tail wagging free" for much longer, for soon the gods will bind Loki to a sharp rock with the ice-cold entrails of his son. Loki responds that, even if this is so, he was "first and foremost" at the killing of Þjazi. Skaði responds that, if this is so, "baneful advice" will always flow from her "sanctuaries and plains". Loki responds that Skaði was more friendly in speech when Skaði was in his bed—an accusation he makes to most of the goddesses in the poem and is not attested elsewhere. Loki'sflyting then turns to the goddessSif.[8]
In the prose section at the end ofLokasenna, the gods catch Loki and bind him with the innards of his sonNari, while they turn his sonVáli into a wolf. Skaði places avenomous snake above Loki's face. Venom drips from the snake and Loki's wifeSigyn sits and holds a basin beneath the serpent, catching the venom. When the basin is full, Sigyn must empty it, and during that time the snake venom falls onto Loki's face, causing him to writhe in a tremendous fury, so much so that allearthquakes stem from Loki's writhings.[9]
In the poemHyndluljóð, the female jötunn Hyndla tells the goddessFreyja various mythological genealogies. In one stanza, Hyndla notes that Þjazi "loved to shoot" and that Skaði was his daughter.[10]
In theProse Edda, Skaði is attested in two books:Gylfaginning andSkáldskaparmál.
In chapter 23 of theProse Edda bookGylfaginning, the enthroned figure ofHigh details that Njörðr's wife is Skaði, that she is the daughter of the jötunn Þjazi, and recounts a tale involving the two. High recalls that Skaði wanted to live in the home once owned by her father called Þrymheimr. However, Njörðr wanted to live nearer to the sea. Subsequently, the two made an agreement that they would spendnine nights in Þrymheimr and then the next three nights in Njörðr's sea-side homeNóatún (or nine winters in Þrymheimr and another nine in Nóatún according to theCodex Regius.[11]). However, when Njörðr returned from the mountains to Nóatún, he said:
- "Hateful for me are the mountains,
- I was not long there,
- only nine nights.
- The howling of the wolves
- sounded ugly to me
- after the song of the swans."[12]
Skaði responded:
- "Sleep I could not
- on the sea beds
- for the screeching of the bird.
- That gull wakes me
- when from the wide sea
- he comes each morning."[12]
The sources for these stanzas are not provided in theProse Edda or elsewhere. High says that afterward Skaði went back up to the mountains and lived in Þrymheimr, and there Skaði often travels on skis, wields a bow, and shoots wild animals. High notes that Skaði is also referred to as "ski god" (Old NorseÖndurgud) or Öndurdis and the "ski lady" (Öndurdís). In support, the above-mentioned stanza from thePoetic Edda poemGrímnismál is cited.[11] In the next chapter (24), High says that "after this", Njörðr "had two children": Freyr and Freyja. The name of the mother of the two children is not provided here.[13]
At the end of chapter 51 ofGylfaginning, High describes how the gods caught and bound Loki. Skaði is described as having taken a venomous snake and fastening it above the bound Loki, so that the venom may drip on to Loki's face. Loki's wife Sigyn sat by his side and caught the venom in a bowl. But when the bowl becomes full, she must leave to empty it, and then Loki is burned by the acidic liquid and he writhes in extreme pain, causing the earth to shake and resulting in what we know as an earthquake.[14]
In chapter 56 of theProse Edda bookSkáldskaparmál,Bragi recounts toÆgir how the gods killed Þjazi. Þjazi's daughter, Skaði, took a helmet, a coat of mail, and "all weapons of war" and traveled toAsgard, the home of the gods. Upon Skaði's arrival, the gods wished to atone for her loss and offered compensation. Skaði provides them with her terms of settlement, and the gods agree that Skaði may choose a husband from among themselves. However, Skaði must choose this husband by looking solely at their feet. Skaði saw a pair of feet that she found particularly attractive and said "I choose that one; there can be little that is ugly about Baldr." However, the owner of the feet turned out to be Njörðr.[15]
Skaði also included in her terms of settlement that the gods must do something she thought impossible for them to do: make her laugh. To do so, Loki tied one end of a cord around the beard of ananny goat and the other end around histesticles. The goat and Loki drew one another back and forth, both squealing loudly. Loki dropped into Skaði's lap, and Skaði laughed, completing this part of her atonement. Finally, in compensation to Skaði, Odin took Þjazi's eyes, plunged them into the sky, and from the eyes made two stars.[15]
Further inSkáldskaparmál, a work by theskaldÞórðr Sjáreksson is quoted. The poem refers to Skaði as "the wise god-bride" and notes that she "could not love theVan". Prose below the quote clarifies that this is a reference to Skaði's leaving of Njörðr.[16] In chapter 16, names for Loki are given, including "wrangler of Heimdall and Skaði".[17] In chapter 22, Skaði is referenced in the 10th century poemHaustlöng where the skaldÞjóðólfr of Hvinir refers to anox as "bow-string-Var's [Skaði's] whale".[18] In chapter 23, the skaldBragi Boddason refers to Þjazi as the "father of the ski-dis".[19] In chapter 32, Skaði is listed among six goddesses who attend a party held by Ægir.[20] In chapter 75, Skaði is included among a list of 27ásynjur names.[21]
In chapter 8 of theHeimskringla bookYnglinga saga, Skaði appears in aneuhemerized account. This account details that Skaði had once married Njörðr but that she would not have sex with him, and that later Skaði married Odin. Skaði and Odin had "many sons". Only one of the names of these sons is provided:Sæmingr, a king ofNorway. Two stanzas are presented by theskaldEyvindr skáldaspillir in reference. In the first stanza, Skaði is described as a jötunn and a "fair maiden". A portion of the second stanza is missing. The second stanza reads:
- Of sea-bones,
- and sons many
- the ski-goddess
- gat with Óthin[22]
Lee Hollander explains that "bones-of-the-sea" is akenning for "rocks", and believes that this defective stanza undoubtedly referred to Skaði as a "dweller of the rocks" in connection with her association with mountains and skiing.[22]
Another figure by the name of Skaði who appears in the first chapter ofVölsunga saga. In the chapter, this Skaði—who is male—is the owner of athrall by the name ofBreði. Another man,Sigi—ason of Odin—went hunting one winter with the thrall. Sigi and the thrall Breði hunted throughout the day until evening, when they compared their kills. Sigi saw that the thrall's kills outdid his own, and so Sigi killed Breði and buried Breði's corpse in asnowdrift.[13]
That night, Sigi returned home and claimed that Breði had ridden out into the forest, that he had lost sight of Breði, and that he furthermore did not know what became of the thrall. Skaði doubted Sigi's explanation, suspected that Sigi was lying, and that Sigi had instead killed Breði. Skaði gathered men together to look for Breði and the group eventually found the corpse of Breði in a snowdrift. Skaði declared that henceforth the snowdrift should be called "Breði's drift," and ever since then people have referred to large snow drifts by that name. The fact that Sigi murdered Breði was evident, and so Sigi was considered an outlaw. Led by Odin, Sigi leaves the land, and Skaði is not mentioned again in the saga.[13]
ScholarJesse Byock notes that the goddess Skaði is also associated with winter and hunting, and that the episode inVölsunga saga involving the male Skaði, Sigi, and Breði has been theorized as stemming from an otherwise lost myth.[23]
ScholarJohn Lindow comments that the episode inGylfaginning detailing Loki's antics with a goat may have associations with castration and a ritual involving making a goddess laugh. Lindow notes that Loki and Skaði appear to have had a special relationship, an example being Skaði's placement of the snake over Loki's face inLokasenna andGylfaginning.[24]
Due to their shared association with skiing and the fact that both place names referring to Ullr and Skaði appear most frequently in Sweden, some scholars have proposed a particular connection between the two gods.[24] On the other hand,Skaði may potentially be a masculine form and, as a result, some scholars have theorized that Skaði may have originally been a male deity.[25]
ScholarHilda Ellis Davidson proposes that Skaði's cult may have thrived inHålogaland, a province in northernNorway, because "she shows characteristics of theSami people, who were renowned for skiing, shooting with the bow and hunting; her separation from Njord might point to a split between her cult and that of theVanir in this region, where Scandinavians and the Sami were in close contact."[26]
Modern works of art depicting Skaði includeSkadi und Niurd by Karl Ehrenberg (1883) andSkadi byEmil Doepler (1901). Skaði also appears inAdam Oehlenschläger's poemSkades Giftermaal (1819).[27]
Art deco depictions of both the godUllr (1928) and Skaði (1929) appear on covers of the Swedish ski annualPå Skidor, both skiing and wielding bows. E. John B. Allen notes that the deities are portrayed in a manner that "give[s] historical authority to this most important of Swedish ski journals, which began publication in 1893".[28]
Amoon of the planet Saturn (Skathi) and the highestmountain on Venus (Skadi Mons)[29] are named after the goddess.[30]
Middle Englishskathe, from Old Norseskathi; akin to Old Englishsceatha 'injury', Greekaskēthēs 'unharmed'
Media related toSkaði at Wikimedia Commons
