Gymir (father of Gerðr)

In both Skírnismál (The Lay of Skírnir) and Gylfaginning (The Beguiling of Gylfi), Gymir is portrayed as the spouse of Aurboða; and from their union was born Gerðr.^[2]

There was someone called Gymir, and his wife Aurboda. She was of the race of mountain-giants. Gerd is their daughter, the most beautiful of all women.

A verse from the 9th-century skald Ref Gestsson is quoted in the later Skáldskaparmál (The Language of Poetry).^[1]

Gymir’s spray-cold spae-wife [Rán] often brings the twisted-rope-bear [ship] into Ægir’s jaws [under the waves] where the wave breaks.

According to John Lindow, "the verse in question seems to say that the cold seeress of Gymir often transports the bear of twisted lines into the jaw of Ægir; that is, that the wave (Ægir’s daughters are the nine waves) often drives a ship deep into the water."^[2]

The name Gymir may indicate that Ægir was understood as the father of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr or indicate that two figures by the same name. Both the prose introduction to Lokasenna and Skáldskaparmál state that Ægir is also known as Gymir, the father of the jötunn Gerðr.^[2] Rudolf Simek argues that, if understood to be two different entities, this may stem from an erroneous interpretation of kennings in which different jötunn-names are used interchangeably.^[6]

Gymir has been seen as a chthonic deity,^[7] and Magnus Olsen argued that he was an earth giant from his interpretation of Skírnismál in light of the hieros gamos.^[8]

• de Vries, Jan (1957). Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte (in German). Vol. 2 (1970 ed.). Walter De Gruyter.
• de Vries, Jan (1962). Altnordisches Etymologisches Worterbuch (1977 ed.). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-05436-3. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Lindow, John (2002). Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-983969-8.
• Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-34520-5.
• Simek, Rudolf (1996). Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer. ISBN 978-0-85991-513-7.