Angrboda

Angrboda or Angerboda (“she who brings sorrow”) is a giant from Norse mythology. She is mentioned in the Poetic Edda in the short Völuspá and in some editions included in the Hyndluljóð as the mother of Fenrir by Loki. Furthermore she is (by Loki) the mother of Jörmungandr, the (male) Midgard Serpent (Fenrir's brother), and Hel, the ruler of the underworld (Fenrir's sister). Snorri Sturluson in his Prose Edda (in the Gylfaginning) calls Angrboda a "giant in Jötunheimr" and mother by Loki of Fenrir, Jörmungandr, and Hel. As stated below she could be identical with Iárnvidia & # 39;La de Járnvid & # 39; mentioned in the list of troll-wives in Snorri's nafnaþulur.

Etymology

The etymology of the name in Old Norse is as follows: (1) angr (from Proto-Indo-European *anghu, constriction; related to Latin "narrow", narrow; to English "anger", anger, to Swedish "ånger", regret) means a feeling of "tightness" or "strangulation" of the body and by extension "pain, grief, anguish, anxiety". In modern Icelandic "angr" is "sorry", in Norwegian "angr" it is a strait/fjord. (2) boda (related to English "to bid", to ask, to beg, to Swedish "bud", request) means messenger or herald or a message (cf. in modern Icelandic, "boði", a messenger). The meaning of Angrboda is therefore "Messenger of pain" or "Announcer of sorrows".

Literature

The Aedic poem Völuspá tells of a giantess residing in Járnvid whom commentators generally identify with Angrboda (and Iárnvidia from the list of troll-wives):

To the east, the old woman was in Járnvid,

and there he shone the bed of Fenrir;
of all of them shall arise one,
Destroyer of the moon, in the form of a trol.

Drink the life of dead man.
The Asgard is stained with red blood;
Black will be the sun in the summer,
And the weather, terrible.
Could you know more?

Poetry Edda, Völuspá verses 40 and 41

In Gylfaginning Snorri gives an explanation in prose and a variant of these stanzas. The Spanish translation of Brodeur's translation is:

A witch lives in the east of Midgard, in a forest called Járnvid: in that forest there are trol women who are known as Iárnvidjur (Járnvid women). The old witch has many giants for sons, and all in the form of wolves; and these wolves come out of this place. The saying thus says: from this race will come one that will be the most powerful of all, the one that is called the 'Player who hunts the moon' [Mánagarm]; it shall be filled with the flesh of all the men that die, and the moon shall swallow and sprinkle with blood the heavens and all the dens; and therefore the sun shall lose its brightness, and the winds shall rest and roar on every side.

Edda prosaica, GylfaginningChapter 13

In stanza 13 of the Eddic poem Baldrs draumar Odin says to the völva he has brought back from the dead:

You're not the völva, not a wise woman,

You're the mother of three giants.
Poetry Edda, Baldrs draumar, verse 13

Angerboda could be referred to here as the mother of the three monsters. The seer declares that she will never return from the dead by spells until Loki is freed from her bonds.