View source for Ilmr

{{short description|Norse deity}}
'''Ilmr''' ([[Old Norse]]) is a figure in [[Norse mythology]] who is listed as a goddess and who occurs in [[skald]]ic [[kenning]]s. Her associations and original nature are unknown.
Ilmr is attested at two points in the so-called ''[[Nafnaþulur]]'' appended to the ''[[Prose Edda]]'' book ''[[Skáldskaparmál]]'': between [[Iðunn]] and [[Hjúki and Bil|Bil]] in a list of [[Áss|ásynjur]], and in a list of words that can be used in kennings for "woman". No further information other than her name is provided.<ref name=FAULKES157>Faulkes (1995:157).</ref><ref>Hopkins (2014:32&ndash;33).</ref> She is not mentioned in [[Eddic poetry]], but her name does occur several times in [[skaldic poetry]] of the 10th and 11th centuries, particularly in verses by [[Kormákr Ǫgmundarson]].<ref name=HOPKINS33>Hopkins (2014:32).</ref>
It is impossible to determine the associations of the goddess Ilmr. [[Jacob Grimm]] pointed out that while the goddess name ''Ilmr'' is feminine, the masculine word ''ilmr'' means "pleasant scent" (''suavis odor'');<ref name=GRIMM1374>Grimm (1888:1374).</ref><ref name=HOPKINS33/> an association with scent would be unique among Norse deities. Kormákr, at least, used [[valkyrie]]-names as well as goddess-names in forming kennings referring to women, and it is possible that he thought of Ilmr as a valkyrie; one other kenning using her name, in a verse preserved in ''[[Landnamabók]]'' and attributed to [[Hrómundr halti]], is of a type (kennings for battle formed with a female name) that is only attested with names of valkyries.<ref>Hopkins (2014:34).</ref> In his 1989 etymological dictionary of Icelandic, Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon suggested that this might indicate the name ''Ilmr'' was related to the noun ''jalmr'' (noise) with which it is coupled in the kenning; this is a known type of valkyrie-name. [[Eir]], [[Þrúðr]], and the [[Norns|norn]] [[Skuld (Norn)|Skuld]] are other female figures variously identified as valkyries and goddesses within the Old Norse corpus.<ref>Hopkins (2014:34&ndash;35).</ref> Alternatively, Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon suggests Ilmr is a tree [[dísir|dís]], with a name etymologically related to ''almr'', [[elm]]. The elm is associated in folklore in many nations with death, which might have led to her being classed as a valkyrie.<ref>Hopkins (2014:36&ndash;37).</ref>
==See also==
* [[Hlín]], a Norse goddess whose name some scholars have suggested may mean 'maple tree'
* [[Sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology]]
==Notes==
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==References==
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* Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995). ''Edda''. [[Everyman's Library|Everyman]]. {{ISBN|0-460-87616-3}}
* [[Jacob Grimm|Grimm, Jacob]] (James Steven Stallybrass Trans.) (1888). ''[[Deutsche Mythologie|Teutonic Mythology]]''. Translated from the Fourth Edition with Notes and Appendix by James Stallybrass. Volume IV. London: George Bell and Sons.
* Hopkins, Joseph S. (2014). "[http://www.helsinki.fi/folkloristiikka/English/RMN/RMN_8_May_2014.pdf Goddesses Unknown II: On the Apparent Old Norse Goddess Ilmr]". ''[[RMN Newsletter]]'' 8 (May 2014). 32&ndash;38. ISSN 1799-4497.
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{{Norse mythology}}
[[Category:Ásynjur]]