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Bestla (Old Norse: {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) is a jötunn in Norse mythology, and the mother of the gods Odin, Vili and Vé (by way of Borr). She is also the sister of an unnamed man who assisted Odin, and the daughter (or granddaughter depending on the source) of the jötunn Bölþorn. Odin is frequently called "Bestla's son" in both skaldic verses and the Poetic Edda.Template:Sfn
Bestla is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the poetry of skalds. Scholars have commented on the obscurity of the figure's name and have proposed various theories to explain the role and origin of the giantess.
NameEdit
The meaning of the Old Norse name Bestla remains uncertain. Scholars have proposed potential meanings such as 'wife', or 'bark, bast'.Template:Sfn It might stem from *Bastilōn (perhaps a yew goddess, originally a 'bast-donor'), or from *Banstillōn (via an intermediate form *Böstla), related to Old Frisian bös ('marriage, union', originally 'wife').Template:Sfn
According to Rudolf Simek, "the name appears to be very old" due to its obscurity.Template:Sfn
AttestationsEdit
In Gylfaginning (The Beguiling of Gylfi), she is portrayed as the daughter of the giant Bölþorn and as the spouse of Borr, while the enthroned figure of Hárr (High) tells Gangleri (described as king Gylfi in disguise) of the genealogy of the god Odin.Template:Sfn Template:Poem quote
In Skáldskaparmál (The Language of Poetry), a poem by the skald Einarr Helgarson refers to Odin as "Bestla's son".Template:Sfn
Hávamál (140) makes Bölþor(n) the grandfather of Bestla.Template:Sfn Odin recounts his gaining of nine magical songs from Bestla's unnamed brother. If nothing indicates a family relationship between Odin and the man in the stanza (although skalds were certainly aware of Bestla as Odin's mother), and if the mead was allegedly stolen according to other sources, it is possible that Odin obtained magical songs from his maternal uncle.Template:Sfn
- B. Thorpe translation (1866):
- Potent songs nine from the famed son I learned
- of Bolthorn, Bestla’s sire,
- and a draught obtained of the
- precious mead, drawn from Odhrærir.Template:Sfn
- H. A. Bellows translation (1923):
- Nine mighty songs I got from the son
- Of Bolthorn, Bestla's father;
- And a drink I got of the goodly mead
- Poured out from Othrorir.<ref name="BELLOWS92">Bellows (1923:92).</ref>
- J. Lindow translation (2002):
- Nine magic songs I got [learned?] from the famous son
- Of Bölthor, Bestla’s father,
- And I got a drink of the precious mead,
- Poured from [by? to?] Ódrerir.Template:Sfn
TheoriesEdit
On the basis of the Hávamál stanza handled above (wherein Odin learns nine magic songs from the unnamed brother of Bestla), some scholars have theorized that Bestla's brother may in fact be the wise being Mímir, from whose severed head the god Odin gains wisdom.<ref name="MIMIR-BESTLA">Examples include Rydberg (1886), Bellows (1923:92), and Template:Harvnb.</ref>
Since Odin is descended from the jötnar on his mother's side, the slaying of Ymir by him and his brothers could be seen as an intra-familial killing and, according to scholar John Lindow, "the slaying or denial of a maternal relation".Template:Sfn
Waltraud Hunke has argued that Bestla should be regarded as the bark of the world tree on which Odin was perhaps born, alluding to Hávamál (141): "then I started to grow fruitful".Template:Sfn
In his translation of the Poetic Edda, Henry Adams Bellows comments that such the position of the stanza 140 in Hávamál appears to be the result of manuscript interpolation, and that its meaning is obscure.<ref name="BELLOWS92" />