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120 EELIGION OF THE NOETHMEN.
in the lowest depths of the abyss, is the UrSar-
fouHt in Heaven, with whose sacred waters the
Tree of the World is sustained. It is guai-ded bythree
maidens, three superior beings, whose names
are UrSur, VerSandi, and Skuld—the Past, the
Present, and the Futwe^—scnA takes its name
from the first and highest of them. These beings
are called Worrm'.^ They are the Goddesses of
Time and Fate ; the former is distinctly expressed
by their separate names ; in the latter character no
doubt their general name was given them. As
Goddesses of Time they are sustainers of Yggdra-
sill. Time and earthly life are considered insepara-
ble, therefore the Norns are also the Directors of
Life and the Dispensers of Fate. For mankind
they are the Goddesses of Birth, and Skuld, the
youngest, as Yalkyrja, is also a Goddess of Death.
Their messengers attend man through life; they
are said to spin his Thread of Fate at his birth, and
* Ur6r and Ver8andi, substantive forma of verba {Germ, -wev-
den ; A.-S. weorSan), to become. The former corresponds to the
part, past, vor5mn, or orSinn, completed ; the latter tp the part,
pres. ver5andi, becoming, happening. Skuld, the coming, is from
skuld, the part, past of skulu (Swed. skola; A.-8. sculon); pres,
skal {Swed. skall; Dan, skal; ^.-iSf. sceal; Sngl. shall); past.
akyldi (Swed skuUe; Dan. skulde; A.-S. sceolde ; "^np't should).
The name signifies also, duty, obligation {Dan. Skyld), and thus
denotes her character as Goddess of Death. The A.-S. Wyrd,
was, like Ur5r, a Fate or Destiny, from whioh is derived the later
English term -weird, as "The Weird Sisters.''
f Some trace a connection between the word Norn and snera
or nera, an older form of snua, to twist, to twine ; and thus find
it to express the agency of the Ifornir, as the beings who spin the
thread of Fate.