Woken from her slumber Sigrdrífa greets the day, the night, the gods and the goddesses. Illustration by
Arthur Rackham.
Sigrdrífumál or Brynhildarljóð is one of the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda. It relates the meeting of the valkyrie Sigrdrífa with the hero Sigurðr and largely consists of Sigrdrífa's advice to him, which includes cryptic references to Norse mythology and magical runes. The metre is fornyrðislag.
The beginning of the poem is preserved in the Codex Regius where it follows Fáfnismál. The end is in the lost part of the manuscript but it is preserved in later copies. The Völsunga saga describes the scene and contains some of the poem.
Pagan prayer
Henry Adams Bellows stated in his commentary that stanzas 2-4 are "as fine as anything in Old Norse poetry" and these three stanzas constituted the basis of much of the third act in Richard Wagner's opera Sigfried (the fourth stanza mentioned by Bellows is not shown here as it is a reconstruction from prose that does not appear as a stanza in the Old Norse editions):
- "Heill dagr!
- Heilir dags synir!
- Heil nótt ok nift!
- Óreiðum augum
- lítið okkr þinig
- ok gefið sitjöndum sigr!
- -
- Heilir æsir!
- Heilar ásynjur!
- Heil sjá in fjölnýta fold!
- Mál ok mannvit
- gefið okkr mærum tveim
- ok læknishendr, meðan lifum."[1]
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- 2. "Hail, day!
- Hail, sons of day!
- And night and her daughter now!
- Look on us here
- with loving eyes,
- That waiting we victory win.
- -
- 3. "Hail to the gods!
- Ye goddesses, hail,
- And all the generous earth!
- Give to us wisdom
- and goodly speech,
- And healing hands, life-long.[2]
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The last stanza is the only prayer to the Norse gods which has survived the process of Christianization.[3]
Runic invocation
Sigrdrífa imparts magical lore to the dragon-slayer Sigurðr, expounding how the runes may be employed as a magical sigil and to accompany this process with an invocation. According to the runologist Lars Magnar Enoksen, the Tiwaz rune is referred to in stanza 6:[4]
- "Sigrúnar þú skalt kunna,
- ef þú vilt sigr hafa,
- ok rísta á hialti hiǫrs,
- sumar á véttrimum,
- sumar á valbǫstum,
- ok nefna tysvar Tý"[5]
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- "Victory runes you must know
- if you will have victory,
- and carve the on the sword's hilt,
- some on the grasp
- and some on the inlay,
- and name Tyr Twice.[5]
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Notes
References
Print
- Jansson, Sven B. F. (Foote, Peter; transl.)(1987). Runes in Sweden. ISBN 91 7844 067 X
- Steinsland, G. & Meulengracht Sørensen, P. (1998): Människor och makter i vikingarnas värld. ISBN 9173245917
Electronic
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The Poetic Edda |
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| Mythological poems |
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| Heroic Lays |
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Codex Regius
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Helgi Lays
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Niflung Cycle
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Jörmunrekkr Lays
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Non-Codex Regius
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| Manuscripts |
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| See also |
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