Veðrfölnir and eagle

Vedrfölnir ( Old Norse Veðrfǫlnir ), Germanized also Wedrfölnir, in Norse mythology, a hawk sitting on the world tree Yggdrasil between the eyes of the local eagle.

Swell

This hawk is mentioned in the literature eddischen only in the Prose Edda Snorri Sturluson:

" Örn einn SITR í limus asksins, ok he hann margs vitandi s í milli augna honum SITR haukr he sá heitir Veðrfölnir. Íkorni sá he heitir Ratatoskr, racing upp ok NIDR eftir askinum ok berr öfundarorð milli arnarins ok Níðhöggs, s fjórir hirtir renna í limus asksins ok Bita barr. "

" An eagle sits in the branches of the ash, which has some knowledge and between his eyes sits the hawk called Wedrfölnir. The squirrel Ratatosk that is, jumps up on the ash and down. Between the eagle and Nidhogg exchange it hatreds. "

In the Þulur Vedrfölnir is a Heiti for hawk. That is, a poet could use the name as a synonym for the hawk.

Reception

Etymology

Old Norse Veðrfǫlnir consists of Vedr " Wind, Storm, Weather" and perhaps fǫlr " pale, pallid, whitish " or " fade, become pale, grow pale " fǫlna. Accordingly, the name Vedrfölnirs is translated as " the storm " bleaching, " the weather bleaching " or " is bleached by storm and weather."

Linguistically less obvious interpretations are names as " The Weather Makers " or the " in or from the storm Windswept ".

Importance of the hawk

The nobles had a special relationship with the hawks. They turned from the birds and put them in the falconry. ( Guðrúnarkviða in önnur 40; Guðrúnarkviða in fyrsta 18 Sigurðarkviða Fafnisbana önnur 31) For the proximity between hunters and bird of prey the hawk conferred a high reputation, such as the Poetic Edda repeatedly witnessed. The hawk was so regarded, that he could be a symbol of kingship even ( Skáldskaparmál 62). Not for nothing was he in Norse mythology associated with the father of the gods Odin, as is clear from the phrase ' as the aasgierigen hawks of Odin " ( Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar 42 ) results.

Interpretation

As the hawk is in the eye of the eagle, seems due to the spatial proximity of the two to be the multi- knowledge awareness of the eagle with the hawk in conjunction. So one suspects that he flies out comparable Odin's Ravens and brings back knowledge. However, the wisdom of the hawk could also just have a different or higher quality than that of the eagle. Jacob Grimm suggests that the Norse phrase haukr horni í " Habicht angle " means a hidden counselor. He does so in the hawk not only a friend of the eagle: Applies have the eagle as much knowing how much worse must it then be his counselor.