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Creation of the world (Scandinavian mythology). Meaning of the word ymir Ymir mythology

And peace, Brimir or Aurgelmir(dr. scand. Ymir, Aurgelmir) - in the first living creature, frost giant, from which the world was created.

It originated from the ice of Elivagar, in which heat gave rise to life. A man and a woman grew up under his left arm, and from his feet the six-headed giant Trudgelmir (the progenitor of the jotun giant family - Grimtursenov) was born. He was killed by the descendants of the giant Storm, Odin, Vili and Ve. Having killed, they created the world out of him: from meat - land, from blood - water, from bones - mountains, from teeth - rocks, from hair - a forest, from a brain - clouds, from a skull - the vault of heaven. Each of the four corners of the firmament of the sky the new gods folded into the shape of a horn and planted in each horn in the wind: in the north - Nordri, in the south - Sudri, in the west - Vestri and in the east - Austria.

So much blood flowed from Ymir's wounds that all the giants drowned in it. The giant Bergelmir (“Roaring like a bear”), the son of Trudgelmir and the grandson of Ymir, was saved only on the ark with his children and wife. It was from him and his nameless wife that a new tribe of “frosty giants” (jotuns, jotuns) came from.

In northern mythology, Ymir's murder is the first murder that took place in the Ocumene. On the one hand, this is the atrocity of the insidious aces brothers, on the other hand, it is the first step towards progress - the creation of the world.

In Scandinavian mythology, cases are often mentioned when trolls and jotuns eventually turned into rocks, mountains, hills, becoming part of the natural landscape. The origins of such ideas undoubtedly lie in the myth of the creation of a visible, tangible world from the body of the murdered Ymir.

The legends about Ymir are related to the Greek Orphic legends about the origin of the world from the body of Dionysus and the Hindu myths about the origin of the world from the body of Purusha (Rig Veda). Some researchers believe that the name And peace akin to the Hindu Yama - the first dead creature, ruling the underworld and judging the souls of the dead.



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An excerpt characterizing Ymir (mythology)

Berg's proposal was accepted at first with unflattering bewilderment for him. At first it seemed strange that the son of a dark, Livonian nobleman would propose to Countess Rostova; but the main feature of Berg's character was such a naive and good-natured egoism that the Rostovs involuntarily thought that it would be good if he himself was so firmly convinced that it was good and even very good. Moreover, the affairs of the Rostovs were very upset, which the groom could not help but know, and most importantly, Vera was 24 years old, she traveled everywhere, and, despite the fact that she was undoubtedly good and reasonable, so far no one had ever made her an offer . Consent was given.
“You see,” Berg said to his comrade, whom he called a friend only because he knew that all people have friends. “You see, I figured it all out, and I wouldn’t get married if I didn’t think it all over, and for some reason it would be inconvenient. And now, on the contrary, my papa and mama are now provided for, I arranged this lease for them in the Ostsee region, and I can live in Petersburg with my salary, with her condition and with my accuracy. You can live well. I don’t marry for money, I think it’s ignoble, but it’s necessary that the wife bring her own, and the husband his. I have a service - it has connections and small means. That means something to us these days, doesn't it? And most importantly, she is a beautiful, respectable girl and loves me ...
Berg blushed and smiled.
“And I love her because she has a sensible personality—very good. Here is her other sister - of the same surname, but completely different, and an unpleasant character, and there is no mind, and such, you know? ... Unpleasant ... And my bride ... You will come to us ... - continued Berg, he wanted to say dine, but changed his mind and said: “drink tea”, and, quickly piercing it with his tongue, he released a round, small ring of tobacco smoke, which fully personified his dreams of happiness.
Next to the first feeling of bewilderment aroused in the parents by Berg's proposal, the usual festivity and joy settled in the family, but the joy was not sincere, but external. In the feelings of relatives regarding this wedding, confusion and shame were noticeable. As if they were ashamed now for the fact that they had little love for Vera, and now they were so willing to sell her off their hands. Most embarrassed was the old count. He probably would not have been able to name what was the cause of his embarrassment, and this reason was his money matters. He absolutely did not know what he had, how much debt he had, and what he would be able to give as a dowry to Vera. When the daughters were born, each was assigned 300 souls as a dowry; but one of these villages had already been sold, the other was mortgaged and so overdue that it had to be sold, so it was impossible to give the estate. There was no money either.

[Old Norse. Ymir - a double, bisexual creature], Aurgelmir, in the German-Scandinavian mythology, the first giant, from whose body the world was created. Mentioned in several songs of the "Elder Edda" (the cosmogonic myth is contained in the "Speeches of Vaftrudnir" (21, 28)), in the "Younger Edda" ("Vision of Gulvi" 4-7). I. arises from the collision of the original elements in the world abyss of Ginnungagap - these were streams flowing from the cold underworld of the north (Niflheim), and sparks of the south. fiery world (Muspellsheim), which melted the poisonous hoarfrost of the underworld, which turned into a giant (jotun) I. and a cow Audumla. The primordial cow fed I. with milk, from salty stones she licked Buri, the ancestor of the gods (Buri became the father of Bor). I. himself gave birth to a boy and a girl from his armpits. His feet gave birth to the son of Trudgelmir - the 6-headed ancestor of the frost giants.

The gods Odin and his brothers Vele and Ve (sons of Bor) in the center of Ginnungagap killed and dismembered I.: his flesh became the earth, his blood became the sea in which the giants drowned, the bones became mountains, the skull became the sky, his hair became a forest, his brain became clouds ; from the eyelashes of I. the gods built the walls of their fortress Midgard (“Speech of Grimnir” 40).

The birth of creatures from a self-fertilizing androgyne is a characteristic archaic myth. In the German continental tradition, Tuisto is considered an androgyne - the ancestor of 3 peoples: Ingvaeons, Istevons and Hermiones. In the Indo-European traditions, related to I., the primary beings were ancient Ind. Yama and Avesta. Yima. Myths about the creation of the world from the dismembered body of a giant primal being are known in the ancient Indus. (Purusha), Middle East. (Tiamat) and other traditions - up to Russian (spiritual verses

In Norse mythology, the giant Ymir is the first living being in the universe, from which the reality of the Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil was later created. In accordance with the Eddic sagas, before the appearance of Ymir, there were two first worlds - the fiery Muspelheim and the ice Niflheim. Many cold rivers flowed from Niflheim, this stream was called Elivagar. Once Elivagar froze and icy frost filled the world abyss Ginungagap that lay between two worlds. Under the influence of warm currents from Muspelheim, the frost began to melt and the giant Ymir emerged from it.

Simultaneously with the titan Ymir, the cow Audumla appeared from the frost of Elivagara, who fed the first god with her milk. Ymir to some extent can really be called the first god, because the visible cosmos was created from him, that is, Ymir is everything that surrounds us. In order to get enough of the cow Audumla licked salty stones on the border of Niflheim, this is how Buri arose, another giant, whose son, Bor, gave rise to the genus of aces, the first of which were Odin, Vili and Vyo. In the "Elder Edda" it is said that the three brothers killed the giant Ymir, making land out of his flesh, and water out of his blood. From the bones of Ymir appeared mountains, and from his teeth - rocks. The giant Ymir's hair became a forest, and his brain became clouds. From the skull of Ymir, the aces made a vault of heaven, but when the primordial was killed, so much blood flowed from his body that almost all of his descendants choked in it, only Bergelmir survived with his family (he managed to make a boat).

Bergelmir, being the son of Trudgelmir and the grandson of the giant Ymir, gave rise to a family of giants (according to one version, only frost giants), whom the aces settled in Jotunheim, creating it specifically for the Jotuns. It is curious that this myth speaks of the first murder, the essence of which is purely dualistic. On the one hand, the death of the giant (as we have already noted, to a certain extent - a god) Ymir is a cruel atrocity of three aces brothers. And at the same time, this is a key step in the development of the universe, the creation of a “living” cosmos, the emergence of a world that surrounds us today. In addition, something else is interesting. The Eddic myth is known (apparently late), which says that people were created by the same Odin, Vili and Vyo. However, according to the Elder Edda, the first people arose earlier, thanks to the giant Ymir. A man and a woman grew up under Ymir's left hand, and at his feet the same Trudgelmir, Bergelmir's father, was born. A similar myth (about the birth of a person under the armpit of a certain primary being) is found only among one more people on earth - among the Australian Aborigines (the proto-ethnic group is called Aranda).

Giant Ymir: etymology and semantics

In terms of etymology, the Old Norse word "Ymir" means "dual". Perhaps this is an indication that the giant Ymir was a hermaphrodite, a bisexual creature. A similar image is present in later West Germanic culture, but there the god Tuisto, the mythical progenitor of the Germanic people, plays the role of Ymir. Perhaps it was from the word "ymir" that the Icelandic word "emnin" ("twin"), the Latvian "jumis" (meaning "double fruit"), and many other similar word forms in different European languages later came from. Brimir, Blain, Aurgelmir - apparently also the names of the great titan Ymir.

The myth of the birth of the world from the body of a certain first man exists in the Hindu tradition (the story of Purusha from the Rig Veda), in the Orphic mysteries of Ancient Greece (the emergence of the world from the body of Dionysus), in the ancient Chinese cosmogonic system (the first ancestor of Pan-Gu) and in many other cultures . At the same time, many researchers believe that the name of the giant Ymir in Old Norse (“ymir”) is related to the name of Yama (Yama) from the Hindu mythological system. Yama also dies, but not as a result of murder, like Ymir, but because he voluntarily renounces his divine immortality.

In addition, the myth of the murder of the first giant Ymir later found its reflection in the medieval mythology of the European north. Numerous sagas and legends are known that tell how the jotuns (and later trolls) turned into rocks and hills over time, merging with the outside world.

The section is very easy to use. In the proposed field, just enter the desired word, and we will give you a list of its meanings. I would like to note that our site provides data from various sources - encyclopedic, explanatory, word-building dictionaries. Here you can also get acquainted with examples of the use of the word you entered.

The meaning of the word ymir

Ymir in the crossword dictionary

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

and peace

in Scandinavian mythology, a giant, the personification of primordial matter. Ymir arose from the chaos of the world abyss due to the mixture of heat and cold, the whole world was created from his body. The myth of Ymir is expounded in Eddic poetry, as well as in the "Younger Edda".

Mythological dictionary

and peace

(Scand.) - a giant, the first humanoid creature that appeared in the world. Before the beginning of time, poisonous hoarfrost formed in the abyss of the world (Ginungagap), which began to melt under the influence of heat from Muspellheim (“the fiery world”) and turned into a giant I. Together with him, the cow Audumla arose from the melted hoarfrost and fed him with her milk. From the salty stones she licked emerged Buri, the father of Bor and the ancestor of the gods. A boy and a girl appeared under the armpits of I., and his legs gave birth to Trudgelmir, from whom the frost giants (hrimturses) originated. The sons of Bor - Odin and his brothers - killed I. and created the world from his body. The flesh of I. became the earth, the blood - the sea, the bones - the mountains, the skull - the sky, and the hair - the forest. The walls of Midgard were built from I.'s eyelashes.

Wikipedia

Ymir (mythology)

And peace, Brimir or Aurgelmir- in German-Scandinavian mythology, the first living creature, a frost giant, from which the world was created.

It originated from the ice of Elivagar, in which heat gave rise to life. A man and a woman grew up under his left arm, and from his feet the six-headed giant Trudgelmir (the progenitor of the genus of giants-jotuns - Grimtursenov) was born. He was killed by the descendants of the giant Storm, Odin, Vili and Ve. Having killed, they created the world out of him: from meat - land, from blood - water, from bones - mountains, from teeth - rocks, from hair - a forest, from a brain - clouds, from a skull - the vault of heaven. Each of the four corners of the firmament of the sky the new gods folded into the shape of a horn and planted in each horn in the wind: in the north - Nordri, in the south - Sudri, in the west - Vestri and in the east - Austria.

So much blood flowed from Ymir's wounds that all the giants drowned in it. The giant Bergelmir, the son of Trudgelmir and the grandson of Ymir, was saved only on the ark with his children and wife. It was from him and his nameless wife that a new tribe of “frost giants” (jotuns, jotuns) originated.

And peace

Ymir - in German-Scandinavian mythology: the first living being; the giant from which the world was created.
Ymir is an irregular satellite of the planet Saturn.

Ymir (satellite)

And peace- an irregular satellite of the planet Saturn with reverse orbital circulation. Named after the progenitor of the Jotuns from Norse mythology. Also referred to as Saturn XIX.

Examples of the use of the word ymir in the literature.

Brain Ymira became clouds, and the aesir took the sparks of fire from Muspellsheim and attached them to the sky, making bright stars out of them.

Yes, that's it, - he said, - When at one time we, the aces, completely rebuilt Asgard and each settled in his own house, we suddenly found that we completely forgot to do something with the body Ymira.

But the wind blew, a storm began, and in order not to be blown away by the wind, they grabbed each other, and gods were born to them - Prajapati, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Indra, Agni, Kubera, Varuna, Yama, Indra, Surya, Soma , Vayu, Vishvakarman, Shesha, Lakshmi, Parijata, Surabhi, Garuda, Nandin, Durgi, Naga, Marichi, Kashyapu, Angiras, Pulastyi, Daksha, Diti, Danu, Aditi, Vivasvat, Manu, Budha, Ila, Bharata, Indra, Krishna , Maya, Parvati, Kali, Hara, Sabaoth, Ievo, Elohim, El, Ilu, Elyon, Melek, Abel, Cain, Sim, Ham, Japheth, Abraham, Elam, Assur, Beelzebub, Aram, Leviathan, Aliy-anu-Balu , Dia-Balu, Shekhina, Baalsh, Vilon, Rakia, Maqom, Asmodeus, Lilith, Agrat, Bat-Makhlat, Naama, Shavriri, Ruach-Tsereda, Ben-TeMalyon, Keteb Meriri, En-Sof, Zeus, Aphrodite, Apollo, Leta, Athena, Eros, Hephaestus, Hades, Rhea, Kronos, Dionysus, Venus, Demeter, Poseidon, Typhon, Kerberos, Chimera, Hebe, Pan, Muse, Jupiter, Mars, Vesta, Quirinus, Janus, Virbius, Diana, Faun, Minerva, Neptune, Genius, Lucifer, Wodan, Tiu, Thor, Frigg, Nuadu, Meadow, Oghma, Frein, Freyra, Njord, Nerthus, B

Kim fished him out of the Hyborian pantheon, where there were many gods, light and dark, blue-flecked and pink-striped, the vile Set the Great Serpent and the radiant Mithra, the bloodthirsty Krom, Nergal, the lord of the underworld, the icy And peace, the god of darkness Ahriman, Bel, the patron of thieves, and other transcendental persons.

In short, - Thor began again, - the first three aces threw the body Ymira into Ginnungagap and created the Earth out of it.

In addition to him, the sacred cow Audumla appeared from the hoarfrost, from the udder of which four rivers of milk flowed, and the newborn fed on their milk. And peace.

According to Scandinavian myths, before this world was created, there was nothing - only a gaping abyss, whose name is Ginungagap. Before the creation of the world, there was then neither earth nor sea; grass did not grow and the firmament did not rise above it.

But one day, in the north of the world abyss, Niflheim, the Dark World, arose, and in the south, the hot and luminous Muspellheim, the Fiery World. Cold came from Niflheim, and sparks flew from Muspellheim, and from the meeting of icy moisture and dry heat in the void between the two worlds whirlwinds swirled and rains poured. Then, in the very middle of the Dark World, the stream Hvergelmir, the Boiling Cauldron, burst forth, and rivers flowed from it, Elivagar, Stormy Waters. There are eleven of them in total, and the water in them is poisonous. Stormy Waters rushed out of the darkness and cold towards the hot Muspellheim, but far from their source, having barely reached the abyss of the world, they turned into ice. The poisonous hoarfrost that appeared on the ice was picked up by whirlwinds raging in the void, and it began to melt, meeting with the warmth flowing from the Fiery World.

The whole abyss of Ginungagap was filled with moisture, and from it emerged the giant Ymir, cruel as a flame and a frozen poison that gave him life. Ymir was neither a man nor a woman, and when he fell asleep, a boy and a girl appeared under his arm, from whom the family of giants later descended. Then Ymir's legs intertwined and gave birth to Trudgelmir, a giant with six heads. To feed Ymir and his children, the cow Audhumla emerged from the hoarfrost, from whose udder four rivers of milk flowed.

Audhumla herself fed by licking salty hoarfrost from the stones. She licked one large stone for so long that it began to come alive from the heat of her tongue. First, human hair grew on a stone block, the next day the whole head appeared, and a day later a man arose from the stone - the progenitor of the gods of the Storm. His son Bor married Bestla, the daughter of the giant Belthorn, and she gave birth to three sons, who were named Odin, Vili and Ve. Odin was destined to become the greatest of the gods of Scandinavian mythology and rule in heaven and on earth.

Odin and his brothers killed the evil and cruel Ymir, and his blood flooded the entire abyss of the world. And everyone who then existed drowned in it, except for the sons of Bor and the family of the giant Bergelmir, the son of the six-headed Trudgelmir. And then Odin, Vili and Ve decided to create a new world, not like what already existed. To do this, they threw the body of Ymir into his blood, which filled the abyss of Ginungagap, and then raised him from the depths, turning him into earth. Ymir's blood became an ocean that surrounded the earth's firmament. Those streams of blood that spilled over land, the sons of Bor turned into rivers and lakes, bones into mountains, teeth into stones, and hair into plants. The gods raised the skull of Ymir above the earth, strengthening it on its four curved ends, and created the sky from it.

The sun, moon and stars already existed then - they were sparks that escaped from the fiery Muspellsheim and flew randomly in space. Odin and his brothers established the order that the luminaries now follow. Some stars were fixed motionless in the firmament, while others began to move along the roads assigned to them. One decided that from now on the day will be replaced by night, morning, evening and mid-day will differ.

The gods did not want the land they created to be inhabited by cruel giants - the descendants of Bergelmir, so they surrounded the middle of the earth's firmament with a wall from the age of Ymir and called this place Midgard, the Middle World. The lands around Midgard were given to the giants. And since the giants are also called jotuns or turses, the name of these outlying lands was given to Jotunheim, the country of giants. The genus of giants is very large and diverse. Some giants are monstrously ugly, especially those with several heads, but others do not differ in appearance from the gods and even almost do not exceed them in height, although they can grow to enormous sizes in order to frighten their enemies. Many jotuns wield ancient magic and are very wise, and almost all of them can turn into animals and birds, most often into wolves and eagles. In the Dark World, Niflheim - it is located under Midgard - the most terrible giants live, whom people call trolls.

The magical power of Odin released the forces hidden in it from the earth - so new gods and goddesses appeared in the world. One of the goddesses was called Yord (Earth) and she was the soul of the earth. Yord gave birth to Odin's son, the strongest of the gods. His name is Thor.

All the gods began to be called aces, and they recognized Odin as their master. Ases decided to settle in the sky and built their country there, Asgard.

Asgard is located around the trunk of the World Tree, the ash tree Yggdrasil, which grew in the middle of the earth from three roots.

One root is located in Niflheim above the Boiling Cauldron. At the moment Ymir died, under this stream opened the entrance to a country even darker than Niflheim - to the country of Niflhel, the land of the Dead, which is sometimes called simply Hel.

The other root of Yggdrasil stretches to the source of wisdom that flows in Jotunheim, and the third one to the source of Urd in Midgard.

According to Scandinavian myths, people cannot see the World Tree, although it stretches its branches over the whole world.

An eagle sits on top of Yggdrasil. This is a wise bird, a favorite of Odin. He is so big that he does not notice the hawk that usually sits on his head. The eagle loves to talk to the squirrel Ratotosk, scurrying along the trunk of an ash tree. She runs from its very top to the roots and even sees a dragon gnawing at a root growing in Niflheim. The dragon and the eagle have never met, but the squirrel tells them everything they say about each other - and they constantly bicker. The name of the dragon is Nidhogg. He is covered with black feathers and not only gnaws the root of Yggdrasil, but also sucks the blood from the dead that fall into Heol.

According to Scandinavian mythology, when, after the creation of the world, the aces settled in heaven, the goddess Jord did not leave the earth. In Asgard, Odin's wife was the goddess Frigga, wise, fair and modest. The future is often revealed to her, but she does not make predictions and is silent about what she knows.

Ases are not the only tribe of Scandinavian gods. The gods, who did not recognize Odin as their master, settled after the creation of the world south of Asgard, in Vanaheim, and called themselves Vans. Vanirs and Ases are equally beautiful and wise, but Vanirs are mortal, although they live a very long time. Aces do not grow old and do not die. The wisdom of Odin helped him find magical golden apples in the depths of the earth. The one who eats these apples always remains young, and the casket in which they are kept is never empty.

According to the retelling of Scandinavian myths made by E. L. Kuvanova