Ægir
In Norse mythology, Ægir, Hlér, or Gymir, is a jötunn and personification of the sea. In the Old Norse record, Ægir hosts the gods in his halls and is associated with brewing ale. Ægir is attested as married to a goddess, Rán, who also personifies the sea, and together the two produced nine daughters who personify the waves, and Ægir's son is Snær, personified snow. Ægir may also be the father of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr, wife of the god Freyr, or these may be two separate figures who share the same name.
One of Ægir's names, Hlér, is the namesake of the island Læsø and perhaps also Lejre in Denmark. Scholars have long analyzed Ægir's role in the Old Norse corpus, and the concept of the figure has had some influence in modern popular culture.
Names
The Old Norse name Ægir may stem from a Proto-Germanic form reconstructed as *āgwi-jaz, and interpreted as meaning 'the one of the water', or 'water-man'. The name is usually analysed as a derivative of the stem *ahwō-.The theonym is identical to a noun for 'sea' in skaldic poetry, itself a base word in many kennings. For instance, a ship is described as "Ægir's horse" and the waves as the "daughters of Ægir".
Poetic kennings in both Hversu Noregr byggðist and Skáldskaparmál treat Ægir and the sea-jötunn Hlér, who lives on the Hlésey, as the same figure.
The meaning of the Old Norse name Gymir'' is unclear. Proposed translations include 'the earthly', 'the wintry one', or 'the protector', the 'engulfer'.
Attestations
Ægir is attested in a variety of Old Norse sources.''Sonatorrek''
Ægir and Rán receive mention in the poem Sonatorrek attributed to 10th century Icelandic skald Egill Skallagrímsson. In the poem, Egill laments the death of his son Böðvar, who drowned at sea during a storm. In one difficult stanza, the skald expresses the pain of losing his son by invoking the image of slaying the personified sea, personified as Ægir and Rán :The skald later references Ægir by way of the kenning 'Hlér's fire', meaning gold.
''Poetic Edda''
In the Poetic Edda, Ægir receives mention in the eddic poems Grímnismál, Hymiskviða, Lokasenna, and in the prose section of Helgakviða Hundingsbana I. In Grímnismál, the disguised god Odin references Ægir's status as a renowned host among the gods:In Hymiskviða, Ægir plays a major role. In the poem, the gods have become thirsty after a successful hunt, and are keen to celebrate with drink. They "shook the twigs and looked at the augury" and "found that at Ægir's was an ample choice of cauldrons". Odin goes to Ægir, who he finds sitting in good cheer, and tells him he shall "often prepare a feast for the Æsir". Referring to Ægir as a jötunn, the poem describes how, now annoyed, Ægir hatches a plan: He asks Thor to fetch a particular cauldron, and that with it he could brew ale for them all. The gods are unable to find a cauldron of a size big enough to meet Ægir's request until the god Týr recommends one he knows of far away, setting the stage for the events of the rest of the poem.
According to the prose introduction to Lokasenna, "Ægir, who is also called Gymir", was hosting a feast "with the great cauldron which has just been told about", which many of the gods and elves attended. The prose introduction describes the feast as featuring gold that shimmers like fire light and ale that serves itself, and that "it was a great place of peace". In attendance also were Ægir's servers, Fimafeng and Eldir. The gods praise the excellence of their service and, hearing this, Loki murders Fimafeng, enraging the gods, who chase him out to the woods before returning to drink.
In the poem that follows the prose introduction, Loki returns to the hall and greets Eldir: He says that before Eldir steps forward, he should first tell him what the gods are discussing in the hall. Eldir says that they're discussing weaponry and war, and having nothing good to say about Loki. Loki says that he will enter Ægir's halls and have a look at the feast, and with him bring quarrel and strife. Eldir notifies Loki that if he enters and causes trouble, he can expect them to return it to him. Loki enters the hall and the gods see him and become silent.
In Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, a great wave is referred to as "Ægir's terrible daughter".
''Prose Edda''
Ægir receives numerous mentions in the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, where he sits at a banquet and asks the skaldic god Bragi many questions, and Bragi responds with narratives about the gods. The section begins as follows:Beyond this section of Skáldskaparmál, Ægir receives several other mentions in kennings. Section 25 provides examples for 'sea', including 'visitor of the gods', 'husband of Rán', 'father of Ægir's daughters', 'land of Rán and Ægir's daughters'. Kennings cited to skalds in this section include 'the storm-happy daughters of Ægir' meaning 'waves' and a kenning in a fragment of a work by the 11th century Icelandic skald Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, where Rán is referred to as 'Gymir's... völva':
The section's author comments that the stanza " that they are all the same, Ægir and Hler and Gymir.
Chapter 33b of Skáldskaparmál discusses why skalds may refer to gold as "Ægir's fire". The section traces the kenning to a narrative surrounding Ægir, in which the jötunn employs "glowing gold" in the center of his hall to light it "like fire". The section explains that "Ran is the name of Ægir's wife, and the names of their nine daughters are as was written above... Then the Æsir discovered that Ran had a net in which she caught everyone that went to sea... so this is the story of the origin of gold being called fire or light or brightness of Ægir, Ran or Ægir's daughters, and from such kennings the practice has now developed of calling gold fire of the sea and of all terms for it, since Ægir and Ran's names are also terms for the sea, and hence gold is now called fire of lakes or rivers and of all river-names."
In chapter 61 provides yet more kennings. Among them the author notes that "Ran, who, it is said, was Ægir's wife" and that "the daughters of Ægir and Ran are nine". In chapter 75, Ægir occurs in a list of jötnar.
Saga corpus
In what appears to be a Norwegian genealogical tradition, Ægir is portrayed as one of the three elements among the sea, the fire and the wind. The beginning of the Orkneyinga saga and Hversu Noregr byggdisk tell that the jötunn king Fornjót had three sons: Hlér, whom he called Ægir, a second named Logi, and a third called Kári.Scholarly reception and interpretation
Banquets
Carolyne Larrington says that Ægir's role in Hymiskviða "may reflect Scandinavian royal practices in which the king enforces his authority on his subordinates by visiting their homes and demanding to be feasted". According to Andy Orchard, Ægir's role in Skáldskaparmál, where he attends a banquet rather than hosting it, could be a deliberate inversion of the traditional motif of Ægir as host.Gymir
The name Gymir may indicate that Ægir was understood as the father of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr; they may also have been two different figures sharing 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. 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.Hlér, Læsø, Lejre, and Snow
As highlighted above in Skáldskaparmál, the name of the island Læsø in Denmark references Hlér. Simek speculates that Hlér may therefore have been seen as something of an ancestor of the island.Some medieval Danish chronicles mention Hler and connect him with a figure named Snær. In the Latin-language Chronicon Lethrense and Old Danish Gesta Danorum på danskæ, a giant named Lae who lived on the island of Leshø had a shepherd named Snyo. When Raka, the dog king of the Danes had died, Lae sent Snyo to win the kingship of Denmark from King Athisl of Sweden, which he did. King Snyo was cruel to his subjects, and only a man named Røth would stand up to him. Snyo sent Røth to Lae's island to ask Lae how King Snyo would die, but expecting that Røth would die in the attempt. Lae refused to answer Røth's request until Røth had said three truthful things. Røth said that he had never seen thicker walls on a house than on Lae's, that he had never seen a man with so many heads as Lae, and that if he got away from there, he would never long to be back. Lae therefore released Røth and prophesied that Snyo would die from being bitten to death by lice. In the Chronicon Lethrense, Røth only announces this in Snyo's court before lice erupt from Snyo's nostrils and ears to eat him to death; in the Gesta Danorum på danskæ, Lae gives Røth a pair of gloves for Snyo, who is eaten to death by lice when he pulls them on.