The Poetic Edda on Ymir
The > Volume I > Introductory Note
attestation: Ymir is characterized by age in the verse.
"3. Of old was the age | when Ymir lived; Sea nor cool waves | nor sand there were; Earth had not been, | nor heaven above, But a yawning gap, | and grass nowhere."
attestation: The stanza describes an act of creation involving Ymir.
"21. "Out of Ymir's flesh | was fashioned the earth, And the mountains were made of his bones; The sky from the frost-cold | giant's skull, And the ocean out of his blood."
Othin spake:"
- attestation: The stanza describes an act of creation involving Ymir.
"40. Out of Ymir's flesh | was fashioned the earth, And the ocean out of his blood; Of his bones the hills, | of his hair the trees, Of his skull the heavens high."
The > Volume I > Notes
attestation: Ymir is the primordial giant from whose body the gods created the world
"Ymir: the giant out of whose body the gods made the world"
attestation: Ymir is the giant out of whose body the gods made the world.
"Ymir: the giant out of whose body the gods made the world"
attestation: Ymir's son and daughter were born under his left arm, and his feet together created a son, according to Snorri.
"Snorri gives, without materially elaborating on it, the same account of how Ymir's son and daughter were born under his left arm, and how his feet together created a son."
attestation: Ymir's offspring included a six-headed son, which was not unusual since various giants had more than the normal number of heads.
"That this offspring should have had six heads is nothing out of the ordinary, for various giants had more than the normal number"
attestation: The world was made from Ymir's body: stones from his teeth and broken bones, Mithgarth from his eyebrows as a mountain-wall against the giants.
"The stones were made out of Ymir's teeth and such of his bones as were broken. Mithgarth was a mountain-wall made out of Ymir's eyebrows, and set around the earth because of the enmity of the giants."
The > Volume I > Fragment Of "The Short Voluspo"
- attestation: The stanza references magical arts or runes in connection with Ymir.
"35. The sybils arose | from Vitholf's race, From Vilmeith all | the seers are, And the workers of charms | are Svarthofthi's children, And from Ymir sprang | the giants all."