In Norse mythology, Sinmara is a gýgr (giantess), usually considered a consort to the fiery jötunn Surtr, the lord of Muspelheim, but wife of Mimir. Sinmara is attested solely in the poem Fjölsvinnsmál, where she is mentioned alongside Surtr in one (emended) stanza, and described as keeper of the legendary weapon Lævateinn in a later passage. Assorted theories have been proposed about the etymology of her name, and her connection with other figures in Norse mythology.
EtymologyEdit
NightmareEdit
The etymology of the name Sinmara is obscure. However, the name has been associated with the nightmare/succubus spirit (mara) of folklore since Árni Magnússon (Magnæus)'s Poetic Edda (1787-1828). The "-mara" ending is thought cognate with mara or "night-mare".<ref name="Magnaeus_ed_gloss">Template:Harvp. {{#invoke:URL|url}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:URL with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y | 1 | 2 }}. Sinmara is described as nervis Template:Linktext and lists the cognates Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Flemish: Nacht-Maer, Night-Mare</ref><ref name="Magnaeus-ed">Template:Harvp 1:295 glosses Sinmara's name as '{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}'.</ref> The initial sin- element is here identified as meaning "sinew" or rather "nerves", so that the total phrase comes out as "nervous (or nerve-afflicting) nightmare".<ref name="Magnaeus_ed_gloss"/> Árni's edition also explained Sinmara to be a sort of "night fury" (Template:Langx).<ref name="Magnaeus_ed_gloss"/>
Template:Interlanguage link also embraced the interpretation half-way, stating the name meant "the great [night]mare", where the Sin- meaning great can be compared to Old High German sinfluth or sinvlout 'great flood'.Template:Sfnp
Adolfo Zavaroni and Emilia Reggio suggest the interpretation "Perpetual-incubus".Template:SfnpTemplate:Refn
It has also been proposed that the sin- element may refer to sindr (Old Norse "cinders").<ref name=GUTENBRUNNER1940>Template:Harvp citing Template:Harvp.</ref> This is consistent with the attestation in the poem Fjölsvinnsmál that she is hin fölva gýgr ("the pale giantess",Template:Sfnp or perhaps "ashes-coloured giantess").<ref name="rydberg-ashes"/> Rudolf Simek, while assessing that sin cannot be related to the term sindr, states this would equal a "meaningful interpretation in regard to the colour"; he theorizes that a more likely interpretation is "the pale (night-)mare", noting that this would fit the wife of a fire jötunn.Template:Sfnp
Sinew-maimerEdit
Viktor Rydberg proposed that the name Sinmara is composed of sin, meaning "sinew", and mara, meaning "the one that maims", noting that mara is related to the verb merja (citing Guðbrandur Vigfússon's dictionaryTemplate:Efn), Rydberg concludes that the name Sinmara thus means "the one who maims by doing violence to the sinews," thus identifying her as Nidhad's wife, who orders Völund's sinews cut to prevent his escape, in the eddic poem Völundarkviða.<ref name=RYDBERG518>Rydberg (2004:518) = Rydberg Vol. 2 (1907:518)</ref>
FjölsvinnsmálEdit
Sinmara is solely attested in the Eddaic poem Fjölsvinnsmál.Template:Citation needed The poem refers to her as a pale giantess (gýgr),Template:Sfnp<ref>Template:Harvp, "The Sayings of Fiolsvinn" str. 29.</ref> so she is "probably a giantess".<ref>Template:Harvp, "The Sayings of Fiolsvinn". note to str. 24 Template:Webarchive</ref>Template:Refn
The poem Fjölsvinnsmál is a bridal quest, in which Svipdagr eventually gains entry to the mansion that houses his would-be bride Menglöð. Svipdagr (under the pseudonym Vindkaldr) poses questions to the watchman Fjölsviðr ("Much Wise"Template:Sfnp) and gathers intelligence about the mansion. He gleans the fact that the guard-hounds of the mansion can only be distracted by the meat of the rooster Víðófnir. This is where Sinmara figures, as the keeper of Lævateinn, the only weapon capable of slaying the rooster:
That Sinmara will only award the weapon to one who brings her the tail feather of the rooster creates an insurmountable paradox to obtaining it. Fjölsviðr insinuates that a man may succeed in obtaining the weapon Lævateinn if a man carries a certain hard-to-obtain item to Sinmora (here she is referred to as eir aurglasis or "the goddess of gold").<ref>Template:Harvp, strophe 27. p. 205.</ref><ref>Template:Harvp, strophe 44. p. 246.</ref><ref group="lower-alpha">Template:Harvp gives "the dis of the shining arm-ring".</ref> Svipdag in turn inquires what treasure it is that would so delight Sinmara (fǫlva gýgr or "the giantess pale").<ref>Template:Harvp, strophe 28. p. 205.</ref><ref>Template:Harvp, strophe 45. p. 246.</ref>Template:Refn Fjölsviðr then replies Svipdagr must bring the "bright sickle" to Sinmara, and then she will give Lævateinn to Svipdagr:
Sinmara has so far been mentioned twice explicitly, and twice by periphrases. In certain editions and translations, she is mentioned explicitly a third time as a product of emendation (in an earlier strophe than quoted above). Thus in the modified readings of certain editions and in Bellows' translation, Fjölsviðr names Sinmara and Surtr together, and says that the two are endangered by the rooster Víðópnir that sits atop the tree Mímameiðr:
However the original reading of this same strophe does not give mention of Sinmara:
TheoriesEdit
Henry Adams Bellows comments that Sinmara is "presumably Surt's wife".Template:Sfnp In the theories of Viktor Rydberg, Sinmara is the wife of Mímir, the mother of Nótt, Böðvildr, "and other night dísir". According to Rydberg, the byname Sinmara refers to "Mímir-Niðhad"'s "queen ordering Völund's hamstrings to be cut".Template:Sfnp
Hjalmar Falk states that "Sinmara [...] is probably no other than Hel, Loki's daughter." He says that Sinmara is specifically called hin fölva gýgr "the pale giantess" in Fjölsvinnsmál,Template:Sfnp just as the classical Roman poet Virgil speaks of the pale Orcus, a god of the underworld in Roman mythology, and that Hel is blue or half blue and half light, like the Roman goddess Proserpina, whom Saxo equates to Hel in his Gesta Danorum. Falk further notes that Sinmara is referred to as aurglasis Eirr, which he translates as "the goddess of the gold ring", and compares Hel's being called Gjallar sunnu gátt "wearer of the necklace" in stanza 9 of the poem Forspjallsljóð.Template:Sfnp Björn Olsen associates the kenning with veðurglasir, a name of Yggdrasill in stanza 24 of the same poem, and translates aurglasir as a name for the root system of the world-tree.
Explanatory notesEdit
ReferencesEdit
SourcesEdit
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