Aurboða - Gullveig Part 3
gravel-bidder
Previous post in this series: Heiðr - Gullveig Part 2
A direct connection between Gullveig and Aurboda can be a tenuous one; it is strengthened by making an additional connection to Angrboda, though, and if you're following along, the whole point of this exercise is to attempt to prove that Gullveig and Angrboda are names for the same deity. If we believe this to be true, the purpose of Gullveig going under the name Aurboda and being the daughter of Hrimnir is based on what is believed to be a very important function of the myths: Gambanteinn.
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| The Lovesickness of Frey. - W.G. Collingwood (1854 - 1932) – The Elder or Poetic Edda; commonly known as Sæmund's Edda. Edited and translated with introduction and notes by Olive Bray. Illustrated by W.G. Collingwood (1908) |
Before we can get there, we should talk about how Aurboda is mentioned in the myths first. She is mentioned twice by name in the Eddas:
Gylfaginning 37 names Aurboda as a hill-giant (bergrisa):
A certain man was called Gýmir, and his wife Aurboda: she was of the stock of the Hill-Giants; their daughter was Gerdr, who was fairest of all women.
Fjölsvinnsmál 37 & 38 names Aurboda as one of Menglod-Freyja's Maids:
[37]. Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,
For now the truth would I know:
What maidens are they | that at Mengloth's knees
Are sitting so gladly together?
Fjolsvith spake:
Thjothvara call they the third;
Bjort and Bleik, | Blith and Frith,
Eir and Aurbotha.
*Note: Many scholars have identified Menglöð with Freyja - Which is another topic, but for the purposes of this research, we are assuming Menglöð and Freyja are one in the same.
In Gylfaginning 35, Eir, Bjort , Blith, and Frith are named as goddesses, but Aurboda is not mentioned - which does put her out of place in Fjölsvinnsmál. If we look at Hyndluljóð, though, it confirms what is in Gylfaginning 37: that Aurboda - Freyja's maid mentioned in Fjölsvinnsmál - is the mother of Gerd, the wife of Freyr.
Freyr married Gerðr, she was Gymir’s daughter,
of the kindred of giants, and of Aurboða
* Bellows did not translate these stanzas, so link to Pettit
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| Skirnir's message to Gerd - W.G. Collingwood (1854 - 1932) - The Elder or Poetic Edda; commonly known as Sæmund's Edda. Edited and translated with introduction and notes by Olive Bray. Illustrated by W.G. Collingwood (1908) |
In Lokassena 42, Freyrs wife, Gerd, is referred to as the daughter of Gymir.
Loki spake:
And sold thy sword to boot;
But when Muspell's sons | through Myrkwood ride,
Thou shalt weaponless wait, poor wretch."
So, we have Aurboda as a maid of Freyja’s, and the mother of Gerd, who becomes Freyr’s wife. We see another very interesting detail in Skaldskaparsmal 33, Kennings for the sea:
brestr, undinna festa
oft í Ægis kjafta
úrsvöl Gymis völva.
Wiles the Bear of Twisted Cables
Oft into Ægir's wide jaws,
Where the angry billow breaketh.
úrsvöl Gymis völva refers to Gymirs wife, Aurboda, who is named as a volva (who was using magic to make the wind blow to sail a ship), but the word úrsvöl translated to wet, or cold - a reference to her being a rime-giant, and her cold heart that cannot be burned.
Saxo in the Tale of Otharus (Odr) and Syritha (Syr = Freyja) in Book 7
*There is no direct name or relation here, but an interesting excerpt that tells a similar story of a giantess disguised as one of Freyja’s maids. There are just a striking number of similarities and that’s interesting to consider along with the rest of this post.
The hero Otharus (Ottar here, also known as Odr in the Old Norse) rescues the princess Syritha (Sýr, a name of Freyja), held by giants. In the story, a handmaid - which some say was a giant in disguise - betrayed the princess to the "monsters”:
Then one Ottar, the son of Ebb, kindled with confidence in the greatness either of his own achievements, or of his courtesy and eloquent address, stubbornly and ardently desired to woo the maiden (Syritha, Freyja). And though he strove with all the force of his wit to soften her gaze, no device whatever could move her downcast eyes; and, marvelling at her persistence in her indomitable rigour, he departed.
A giant desired the same thing, but, finding himself equally foiled, he suborned a woman; and she, pretending friendship for the girl, served her for a while as her handmaid, and at last enticed her far from her father's house, by cunningly going out of the way; then the giant rushed upon her and bore her off into the closest fastnesses of a ledge on the mountain. Others think that he disguised himself as a woman, treacherously continued his devices so as to draw the girl away from her own house, and in the end carried her off.
When Ottar heard of this, he ransacked the recesses of the mountain in search of the maiden, found her, slew the giant, and bore her off.
Otharus tries to woo Syritha but gets shot down and goes home; a giant also wanted her and was also turned down, so he convinced a girl (Aurboda, most likely) to gain her trust as a handmaid and trick her into leaving the safety of her home so the giant could scoop her up. Otharus/Ottar/Odr hears about the tricking and kidnapping of the princess (Freyja) and kills the giant, rescuing her and carrying her off out of Jotunheim.
Hyndla the maid
So far, we have multiple accounts of Aurboda, a giantess, serving Freyja as a maid - which brings us back to Heidr, as previously discussed in Volsung saga ch. 2 in that Hrimnir's daughter, agiant, first dwelt in Asgard as the maid-servant of Freyja:
In Hyndluljod 1, Freyja says:
My sister Hyndla, | in thy hollow cave!
Already comes darkness, | and ride must we
To Valhall to seek | the sacred hall.
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| Collingwood, W. G.. Freyja Awakes Hyndla. From: Elder or Poetic Edda: Commonly Known As Sæmund's Edda. Translated by Olive Bray . London: Viking Club, 1908. 224. MyNDIR: My Norse Digital Image Repository. Ed. P. A. Baer. 2024. Edition 2.6. Victoria, B. C.: Humanities Computing and Media Centre, University of Victoria. 2024. |
This odd account, specifically calling out "Hyndla," could indicate a "pet name" (byname) for Aurboda by Freyja. We see Hyndla as meaning "little dog or dog," which is interesting given the association to wolves (Old norse conflated dogs and wolves - Garmr is referred to as a dog, for example).
Hyndla Definition: "a little dog, doggie" (or little bitch)
It also implied a very strong relationship by calling her friend and sister. In Hyndluljod 4, Freyja - despite knowing her friend Hyndla is a Jotun - insists she would make Thor think good of her by way of ritual (sacrifice) - (a possible nod to some form of magic?).
Hyndluljod 5 is where it gets interesting; Hyndla has a stall of wolves, and Freyja requests one to ride with them - this is analogous with Angrboda and Hyrrokin, which we will discuss later.
Hyndla the Völva
In Voluspa in skamma, a fragmented poem which was originally in Hyndluljod (many modern translations now keep it in there) was later pulled out and made into its own standalone poem. Perhaps the people of old had good reason for keeping this fragment that differs pretty significantly from Voluspa, or maybe (probably) something was lost or changed when it was translated, resulting in two separate poems altogether.
This poem puts Hyndla as the seer, a prophetess which speaks the future of Ragnarok, that speaks the same way as the völva in the Voluspa: "Do you want even more?" Hyndla in this poem is all-seeing, knows family lineages, the future, and the fates of all the gods. There is no doubt to me that Hyndla is the same völva as in the Voluspa.
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| Collingwood, W. G.. The Ancestry of Óttarr. From: Elder or Poetic Edda: Commonly Known As Sæmund's Edda. Translated by Olive Bray . London: Viking Club, 1908. 225. MyNDIR: My Norse Digital Image Repository. Ed. P. A. Baer. 2024. Edition 2.6. Victoria, B. C.: Humanities Computing and Media Centre, University of Victoria. 2024. |
Dronke (The Poetic Edda: Volume II: Mythological Poems pg25) has some extensive analysis on the Voluspa and concludes that she is switching from 1st person to 3rd person, suggesting that the Seer/Volva and Gollveig (Gullveig) are the same person. This happens specifically in stanzas Voluspa 21-23];
When the gods with spears | had smitten Gollveig,
And in the hall | of Hor [The High One; Odin] had burned her,
Oft and again, | yet ever she lives.
Minds she bewitched | that were moved by her magic,
To evil women | a joy she was.
The wall that girdled | the gods was broken,
And the field by the warlike | Wanes was trodden.
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| Frølich, Lorenz. The Gods Attacking Gullveig. From: Ældre Eddas Gudesange. Translated by Karl Gjellerup, Kjøbenhavn: P.G. Philipsens Forlag, 1895. 6. MyNDIR: My Norse Digital Image Repository. Ed. P. A. Baer. 2024. Edition 2.6. Victoria, B. C.: Humanities Computing and Media Centre, University of Victoria. 2024. |
I suggest reading Dronke's full notes on this passage, but this excerpt can be highlighted:
Pg 27: The poet is preparing us for a poetic world of heightened imagination, in which volur, reincarnated, remembered their former lives, gazed in trance at the hidden habitations of the cosmos, spoke with spirits under the night sky, had constantly close to them, talking, a 'she', a second self, another being, who communicated her own experiences.
Let’s Recap Real Quick
Okay, so to recap: so far, we have established that Aurboda is a maid to Freyja (as was Heidr to Frigg - a possible conflation of Frigg and Freyja?), which implies that she dwelt in Asgard with Freyja at some point.
This also has another interesting, possible implication: this is how Freyja was taught seidr. She may have learned magic through her friend, her sister, Heidr who teaches magic, Aurboda her handmaid, and Hyndla the great prophetess and Seer. It also links the völva in the Voluspa to Gullveig by the language used - "Do you want even more?" in Voluspa in skamma, and by the fact Odin knows who the Seer is, which we will cover in more detail a bit later on. She is also the spouse of Gymir, and that would put Aurboda as living at some point in Gymir and Gerd's yard in Jotunheim. There are striking similarities in the description of Gymirs and Aurboda's yard with the description of Angrboda's place, which I will discuss in the Angrboda post.
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| This illustrated capital in Story 3: “Fairest Gerd” for Part 3: “Frey“ initiates the sentence, "I told you that the house of Gymir, Gerda's father,stood in the middle of Jötunheim, so it will not be difficult for you to imagine what a toilsome and wondrous journey Skirnir had." |
So why is this all happening? Well, the theory goes that it is all tied to Gambanteinn, the sword (remember when I said that at the beginning of this long-ass post?), Freyr’s sword, which is later possessed by Angrboda and used in the final battle in Ragnarok. That is a whole story to unpack, but that is the short version.
All this to get a sword. Damn Heathens.
In the next post, we’ll get more of these details ironed out (or get more confused, who knows?) and some of these threads will start to line up as we bring Angrboda into the mix.
