Dáinn (Norse dwarf)
Dain, also Dainn ( Old Norse Dáinn "died" ), is a dwarf in Norse mythology who created the golden boar Hildisvini the goddess Freyja. Unlike other dwarves Dain is comparatively often mentioned in the ancient texts.
Sources and Reception
Dain is one of the dwarfs that are in the Poetic Edda named in the Völuspá in Dvergatal. He will be listed as Erdzwerg. The Prose Edda probably confirms this statement in which it states that Dain was one of the dwarves who live in the earth.
That he was a blacksmith, it is clear from the song Hyndluljóð. Together with the dwarf Nabbi he forged the golden boar to the goddess Freyja called Hildisvini, Kampfschwein '. Freyja manifests itself in dialogue with Hyndla about:
" Dulin eRTU, Hyndla, draums ætlig ether, He thu qveðr ver minn í Valsinni, Thar he gǫltr glóar, Gullinbursti, Hildisvini he mér Hagir Gordo, dvergar tveir, Dáinn oc Nabbi. "
" Foolish you are, Hyndla, in a dream you are, I think, when you say, my husband was on the Walweg, where the boar shines, the goldborstige, Hildiswini, the art created me, ready two dwarves, and Dainn Nabbi. "
A dark place to Dain found in the literature nor in altnordnischen song Odins Raven Magic ( Hrafnagaldr Odin's):
" Hverfr því Hugr, hinna leitar, grunar guma grand, ef dvelur; thotti he Þráins þunga draumr; Dain dulu draumr thotti. "
"Seek to hub itself Hugin the sky; Mischief feared the Aesir, he dwell. Thrains saying is heavier dream Dark dream is Dain's saying. "
In addition, the song says Hávamál that a being called Dain the elves taught the runes.
" Óðinn með Asom, hen fyr álfom Dáinn, Dvalinn dvergom fyrir, Ásviðr iotnom fyrir, ec travels siálfr sumar. "
"Odin among the Aesir, but at the albums Dainn, Dwalinn amongst the dwarves, Alswid at the giant, I even scratched a few. "
Whether therefore the dwarf Dain or an otherwise unknown eleven of the same name is meant, can not be decided.
Dain is, in Norse mythology, a deer, one of the four deer on the world tree Yggdrasil. To what extent linked the two figures is unknown.
Effective history
The British author JRR Tolkien used the name Dain for a dwarf king in his novel The Hobbit (1937 ).