Valkyries

[truepenny]

When I was little, I wanted to grow up to be a Valkyrie.

I got the blonde okay, but my genes didn't listen to me. When you top out at 5'4", you are simply not Valkyrie material.

All this is slightly beside the point.

For various reasons (::waves at matociquala::) I've been thinking about Norse names recently, and today (inspired in some strange way by the hot-pants wearing Hound of Tindalos) I just went ahead and searched that treasure-trove, The Pronouncing Index of Proper Names to the Eddas, for the names of Valkyries.


Geironul
Geirskogul
Gol
Gondul
Guth
Herfjotur
Hild
Hlokk
Hrist
Mist
Randgrith
Rathgrith
Reginleif
Skeggjold
Skogul
Skuld
Thruth

I also found the name Borghild, and my mind took a vertiginous sideways swoop into an alternate reality where Star Trek was written by crazed Norsemen. Because obviously, Borghild is what the crew of a demented Norse Voyager would call Seven of Nine.

Comments

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

I agree. Most of the women on my flist would qualify as either Valkyries or Valkyries-in-Training. It's all in the 'tude.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

"Herfjotur" is "warfetter," my favorite battle magic ever. Nasty stuff. *g*

Some other waelcyrge names--


Sigrdrifa (love that one)
Hildr (also other compound names from Hildr--Brynhildr, very famously, and Hildegund, and Kreimhildr)
Hrist
Sigryn
Gudhr
Friagabi

They seem to have invented waelcyrge as needed.

Viking Answer Lady has a pretty good list (here's hers):

http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/valkyrie.htm

Brynhildr ("Byrnie of Battle" or "Mail-coat of Battle")
Sigrdrifa ("Victory Blizzard"
Sigrún ("Victory Rune")
Sváva
Kára Hrist ("The Shaker")
Mist ("The Mist" or "The Fog")
Skeggjöld ("Wearing a War Axe")
Skögul ("Battle" or "Rager")
Hildr ("Battle")
Þrúðr ("Power")
Hlökk ("Noise", "Din of Battle")
Herfjötur ("War-Fetter")
Göll ("Loud Cry", "Battle Cry")
Geirahöd ("Spear of Battle")
Randgríðr ("Shield of Peace")
Ráðgriðr ("Counsel of Peace" or "Gods' Peace")
Reginleif ("Heritage of the Gods")
Gunnr ("Battle")
Róta ("She Who Causes Turmoil")
Skuld ("She Who Is Becoming")
Göndul ("Magic Wand" or "Enchanted Stave" or perhaps, "She-Were-Wolf")
Friagabi ("Giver of Freedom")

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

These are so cool.

I've been tinkering with Frankish names in a novel I'm working on, and they are constructed like these names -- mix and match your name elements. Because they're Germanic, the elements are quite similar (in particular, -hilde and -gunde, both of which mean battle).

Funniest (real, Frankish) name: Fredegunde, whose name means "Peace Battle."

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

Oh. I want to be Skuld. I'm definitely Becoming (something better I hope). So, how do you pronounce that one?

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

Depends on which language you're thinking in.

Most of the names in that list look Old Norse-Icelandic to me (rather than Old Swedish, etc.). Since contemporary Icelanders can read ON without much difficulty, the reconstructed pronunciation for ON isn't taught consistently; I learned sort of a mixture.

If you speak some German, the -ul- shouldn't be too far from those in "Schuld," and you should kick the final -d towards a harder sound (towards -t).

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Muire would like to point out that at 5'1", she's still the Littlest Valkyrie, even if you try out for the team and make the cut.

You do get a cool crystal sword and immortality, but the eaten by wolves part is not so nice.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

I have a list of other Valkyrie names somewhere, too. Svanvitr (Swan-white) is one of my favorites.

A lot of them got used as character or sword names in By the Mountain Bound. Shocking, I know.

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

Ooo. I want my very own Valkyrie name.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

I think I still have the file somewhere. Probably on the computer that is currently in the evil clutches of UPS. *g*

Herfjotur was one of my favorites too, as I recall....

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Rathgrith.

Because I was brainwashed by Anne McCaffrey, and names ending -th have an automatic +5 coolness factor.

Also, Rathgrith sounds just ever so slightly like mome rath, and that's never bad.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

*g* Like most Norse names, you can pretty much contruct your own Valkyrie name. We suggest combinations of words for "war" "white" "battle" "clamor" and "maiden," with the occasional "swan" thrown in for leavening.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of something more melodramatic -- death-wife, or color-of-blood, or snow-stain.

Actually, with the Norse penchant for warfare, the legitimate word-combinations are limitless.

(My favorites are Skalla-grim (grim-skull), because he was called Grim but that wasn't grim enough; and Skarp-Hedin (sharp-heathen).)

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

I have a character in a novel called Strifbjorn (Strife-Bear). I love that one.

katallen and I have a running joke about Norse names being constructed from the name of a favorite god and whatever household object the naming parent first happened to lay eyes on. Thor's Hammer, Loki's Stew-Pot, Baldur's Cock-Ring....

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

P.S: I REALLY like "death-wife" as a name.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

Baniswif? That's bane-wife, and I'm not 100% on the declension of bani. I'll have to consult Ye Old Gordon Lexicon when I get home.

My default Norse-name joke is Skapti Furry-Toes, which I made up, but is not actually that far from historical figures like Mord Fiddle.

[larryhammer]

Shouldn't that be Skápti Furry-Toes?

(Am I the only one who wants to play a little Jethro Tull while reading this conversation?)

---L, cold wind.

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

I'm still waiting for Odin to show up and hand me a sword and a horse--preferably a two-headed horse. I'm not sure about the mead serving business, though.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

The damn Vikings can get their own mead, is my feeling.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

If I've never had mead (and I haven't), I'm sure as hell not going to slop it around for their damn benefit.

My Gran was five-foot-nothin' (with feet like skis, but never mind that part). And if she's not a Valkyrie, I don't know who gets to be. So saddle up.

And when we pick heroes for Valhalla, we're being selective, is what I say. "Mehhhhhh, I slew five Jotuns with my teeth," yeah, but what have you done this week, bub? Hel with you! Back of the line!

[larryhammer]

Oh, but you have to have mead for the Beowulf Drinking Game (every time someone drinks mead or mentions mead-benches, take a drink of mead).

---L.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm not averse to having mead in the future. I just haven't had it yet.

(Although I think I'm not a good candidate for that or any other drinking game. I am the kind of person who in days of yore would become convinced that raiding the Irish coast was a good idea after about a horn and a half of mead and then awoke hungover and pissed off in a boat in the middle of the North Sea with no one but some coastal Irish peasants to take it out on. Suggestible Norwegian girls who can't hold their liquor. Oof.)

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Dare we expect a brass, umm, chestplate in your future? Or is that not necessary for the Role?

[veejane.livejournal.com]

I think it is really just that extra visual flair for Valkyrie imposingness. Mostly, the Valkyries are so tough they do not need armor.

But, you know, those horned helmets are so fetching!

[deva-fagan.livejournal.com]

Hi! Popping in from commonwords to say "me too." Because what's not to love: swords, armor, choosing the dead from the field of battle?

And I know where you can get a nifty winged helmet if you ever want one ;-)

[flit.livejournal.com]

I think my favorite Valkyrie name is "Olrun" or "Knowing Ale-Rune." Because I love the image of a multitalented valkyrie, brewing ale when she's not on her normal rounds....

[touch-of-ink.livejournal.com]

I'm 6'3" so I'm at least part way to Valkyrie status. Unfortunately, I'm lacking in the attitude department, except when protecting my child. I'm working on becoming Valkyrie in spirit :)