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ELYSIUM. 823
gar<$, to the renovated realm of the future a vanished golden age
that 1
flowed with milk and ,
honey (see Suppl.)
The younger heaven has in the Edda another name, one pecu
liar to itself, and occurring only in the dative a gimli/ Sa3m.
10. b Sn. 4, 75 [but 21 gimli as nom. ?], for which I propose a
nom. gimill (not gimlir) standing for himill, a form otherwise
wanting in ON., and OHGr. OS. himil by the same consonantchange
as Gymir for Etymir ; and this is confirmed by the juxta
position a gimli, a himni/ Sn. 75. Now this Gimill is clearly
distinct from the Odinic Yalholl : it does not make its appearance
till ragnarokr has set in and the ases have fallen in fight with the
sons of niuspell. Then it is that a portion of the ases appear to
revive or become young again.
Baldr and Hodr, who had gone
their way to the underworld long before the twilight of the gods,
Hoenir who had been given as a hostage to the Vanir, are named
in Yoluspa (Sgem. 10 b
), as gods emerging anew; they three were
not involved in the struggle with Surtr. Then again Sn. 76
gives us Vffia/r and Vali, who unhurt by Surtalogi revive the old
AsgarS on Iftavollr, and with them are associated M6&i and Magni,
beside Baldr and H63r from the underworld ; Hcenir is here
passed over in silence. VrSar and Vali are the two avengers, one
having avenged 03in s death on Fenrisulf, the other Baldr s death
on H6$r (hefniass Baldrs dolgr HaSar, Sn. 106). They two, and
Baldr the pure blameless god of light, are sons of 0$inn, while
M63i and Magni appear as sons of Thorr by a g^gr, and from
that time they bear the emblem of his might, the all-crushing
Miolnir. Unquestionably this means, that 0$inn and Thorr, the
arch-gods of old AsgarS, come into sight no more, but are only
renewed in their sons. Baldr signifies the beginning of a mild
spring time, p. 614 (see Suppl.).
1
It is natural that this paradise, past or to come, should have given birth to
various tales of an earthly paradise, lying in regions far away, which has been
reached by here and there a traveller : thus Alexander in his Indian campaign is
said to have arrived at paradise. Not the Eddas themselves, but later Icel. sagas
a land where no one sickens or dies, conf.
tell of Oddins-akr (immortalitatis ager) ;
dainn mortuus, morti obnoxius (p. 453) ; the Hervararsaga (Fornald. sog. 1, 411.
513) places it in the kingdom of a deified king Go&mundr (conf. Goftormr p. 161) ;
ace. to the Saga Ereks vrSforla (Fornald. sog. 3, 519. 661-6. 670) it lay in the east,
not far from India. Can this Erekr hinn vrSfbrli be the hero of the lost MHG.
poem Erek der wallaere (pilgrim)? The name Qdainsakr may however be an
adaptation of an older and heathen O l
8insakr=Vallh6ll, conf. the Oden saker in
Sweden, p. 158, last line.
VOL. It. C C