Editing Dellingr (section)

==Attestations==

===''Poetic Edda''===
Dellingr is referenced in the ''Poetic Edda'' poems ''[[Vafþrúðnismál]]'' and ''[[Hávamál]]''. In stanza 24 of ''Vafþrúðnismá'', the god [[Odin]] (disguised as "[[List of names of Odin|Gagnráðr]]") asks the [[jötunn]] [[Vafþrúðnir]] from where the day comes, and the night and its tides. In stanza 25, Vafþrúðnir responds:
<blockquote>
:Delling hight he who the day's father is, but
:night was of Nörvi born; the new and waning moons the
:beneficent powers created, to count the years for men.<ref name=THORPE13>Thorpe (1907:13).</ref>
</blockquote>
In ''Hávamál'', the [[Norse dwarves|dwarf]] Þjóðrœrir is stated as having recited an unnamed spell "before Delling's doors":
<blockquote>
:For the fifteenth I know what the dwarf Thiodreyrir
:sang before Delling's doors.
:Strength he sang to the Æsir, and to the Alfar prosperity,
:wisdom to [[List of names of Odin|Hroptatyr]].<ref name=THORPE47>Thorpe (1907:47).</ref>
</blockquote>
In the poem ''[[Fjölsvinnsmál]]'', [[Svipdagr]] asks "What one of the gods has made so great the hall I behold within?" [[Fjölsviðr]] responds with a list of names, including ''Dellingr''.<ref name=THORPE100>Thorpe (1907:100).</ref> In a stanza of the poem ''[[Hrafnagaldr Óðins]]'', the appearance of Dagr, horse, and chariot are described, and Dagr himself is referred to as "the son of Delling."<ref name=THORPE31-32>Thorpe (1866:31–32).</ref>

===''Prose Edda''===
In chapter 10 of the ''Prose Edda'' book ''[[Gylfaginning]]'', the enthroned figure of High states that Dellingr is a [[Æsir|god]] and the third husband of Nótt. The couple have [[Dagr]], who carries the features of his "father's people", which are described as "bright and beautiful". Odin placed both Dellingr's son, Dagr, and Dellingr's wife, Nótt, in the sky, so that they may ride across it with their horses and chariots every 24 hours.<ref name=BYOCK19>Byock (2005:19).</ref>

However, scholar Haukur Thorgeirsson points out that the four manuscripts of ''Gylfaginning'' vary in their descriptions of the family relations between Nótt, Jörð, Dagr, and Dellingr. In other words, depending on the manuscript, either Jörð or Nótt is the mother of Dagr and partner of Dellingr. Haukur details that "the oldest manuscript, U, offers a version where Jǫrð is married to Dellingr and the mother of Dagr while the other manuscripts, R, W and T, cast Nótt in the role of Dellingr's wife and Dagr's mother", and argues that "the version in U came about accidentally when the writer of U or its antecedent shortened a text similar to that in RWT. The results of this accident made their way into the Icelandic poetic tradition".<ref name="HAUKUR-159-168">Haukur (2008:159—168).</ref>

===''Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks''===
Five riddles found in the poem ''Heiðreks gátur'' contained in the [[legendary saga]] ''[[Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks]]'' employ the phrase "Delling's doors" (Old Norse ''Dellings durum'') once each. As an example, in one stanza where the phrase is used [[Gestumblindi]] ([[Odin]] in disguise) poses the following riddle:
<blockquote>
:What strange marvel
:did I see without,
:in front of Delling's door;
:its head turning
:to [[Hel (location)|Hel]] downward,
:but its feet ever seek the sun?
:This riddle ponder,
:O prince [[Heidrek]]!
'Your riddle is good, Gestumblindi,' said the king; 'I have guessed it. It is the [[leek]]; its head is fast in the ground, but it forks as it grows up.'<ref name=TOLKIEN35>Tolkien (1960:35).</ref>
</blockquote>