Template:Short description Template:Redirect2 Gjálp (Old Norse: {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; or Gialp) and Greip (Old Norse: Greip) are two jötnar in Norse mythology and the daughters of the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Geirröðr. They are killed by the thunder god Thor for trying to kill him.Template:Sfn

NamesEdit

The Old Norse name Gjálp has been variously translated as 'screamer', 'yelper'.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It is related to the Icelandic gjálp ('roar; sea, wave'), and to the Old Norse gjalpa ('to brag').Template:Sfn

Greip is translated as ('gripper, grasper').Template:Sfn It derives from the Old Norse greip ('hand [with spread thumbs], handle').Template:Sfn

AttestationsEdit

Prose EddaEdit

File:Thor's Journey to Geirrodsgard.jpg
Thor's Journey to Geirrodsgard (1906) by Lorenz Frølich.

In Skáldskaparmál (The Language of Poetry), Thor meets Gjálp as he is trying to wade across the Vimur River; she is causing the river to swell with what appears to be her urine or menstrual fluids as she is standing "astride the river".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Template:Poem quote

Thor eventually reaches Geirrödargardar, the abode of the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Geirröðr. He sits on a chair that is lifted up against the roof by Gjálp and Greip as they are trying to kill him.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Template:Poem quote

Viking AgeEdit

The same myth is told in Þórsdrápa by Eilífr Goðrúnarson (late 10th c. AD), which is cited by Snorri Sturluson in Skáldskaparmál, although the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} are not named in the poem.Template:Sfn Template:Poem quote

Gesta DanorumEdit

Gesta Danorum (Deeds of the Danes) relates a similar story as Thorkillus (Thokil) and his companions are visiting the hall of the dead Geruthus (Geirröðr) when they notice the pierced body of an old man and three dead women with their backs broken. Thokil tells them that the god Thor "has driven a burning ingot though the vitals of Geirrœth" and that the "women have been struck by the force of Thor’s thunderbolt and have paid the penalty for attacking his divinity by having their bodies broken".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Template:Poem quote

Other textsEdit

In Völuspá hin skamma (37), Gjálp and Greip are listed among the Nine Mothers of Heimdallr.Template:Sfn Gjálp is also mentioned in the þulur and in kennings of skaldic poetry.Template:Sfn Greip on her side is not mentioned in Nafnaþulur and found only once in the skaldic kenning.Template:Sfn

In Haustlöng, Þjazi is called "the son of the suitor of Greip". Greip may be used there as a generic {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} name and the kenning may mean simply "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}".Template:Citation needed

In a lausavísa composed by Vetrliði Sumarliðason and quoted in Skáldskaparmál, Gjálp is mentioned as being killed by Thor.Template:Citation needed

Leggi brauzt þú Leiknar,
*lamðir Þrívalda,
steypðir *Starkeði,
stóttu of Gjálp dauða.Template:Spaced ndash Faulkes' edition
Thou didst break the leg of Leikn,
Didst cause to stoop Starkadr,
Didst bruise Thrívaldi,
Didst stand on lifeless Gjálp.Template:Spaced ndash Brodeur's translation

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

BibliographyEdit

Further readingEdit

Template:Norse mythology