The Saga of Vanadís, Völva and Valkyrja

(divine female). Dís is used more often than día, and díi is only used in poetry, meaning ‘god’, and
then by Snorri in Ynglingasaga, where it seems to be more related to earthly power, since Óðinn’s
chiefs were called díar or drottnar. Dís is common in modern Islandic. It has partly kept its original
meaning and is used for all kinds of spirits, like vatnadís (female water-spirit), skógardís (fairy of the
forest), but also the fegurðardís (beauty queen) of this realm. It is also common in women’s names,
both as a proper name Dís and as e.g. in my own middle name Hjördís, which means ‘Goddess of the
sword’. Díi and día are never used in modern Islandic.
Drottinn, drottning - In modern Islandic drottinn is seldom used in the context of worldly power.
It means Lord in the context Lord Jesus or God, whereas drottning means queen, usually referring to
queens of this world, but can also refer to Mary, queen of heaven, himnadrottning. The verb, að
drottna, means to reign usually in the negative meaning to dominate.
Embla was the first woman. The word is thought to represent a tree of some sort, but unlike Askur,
Embla is not mentioned in another context. Etymological sources indicate that Embla could come from
*almilön and be the Elm tree. More likely it’s related to the Gaul amella meaning ‘goat leaf’ or the
Greek ámpelos, an Old European word for vine. If the last is the case Embla, the first Norse/Islandic
mythic woman is at least etymologically Old European.
Ergi is an old word meaning passion, lust, cowardice and male homosexuality. Today it is mainly
used to express irritability. Related to argur, modern meaning irritated or angry.
Fjölkunnug means simply ‘knowing a multitude of things’ or in other words ‘wise’.
Fjörgyn is another name for Jörð/Earth, the mother of Þór. Fjörgynn (masculine) is the father of
Frigg, but since neither the fem. nor masc. form of this name is known in any other context, scholars
argue whether they are one and the same, or one derived from the other, or unrelated.
Forn means ‘ancient’, but in the context of this text it is an adjective meaning ‘skilled in sorcery’
or seiður. Forn can be used for both men and women and is often used in the context forn í skapi
meaning ‘ancient in temper’. Njáll (from Njáls Saga) was forn í skapi. He was a very wise man. My
belief is that it has to do with memory, the ones knowing the ancient way.
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