The Saga of Vanadís, Völva and Valkyrja

Skáldskaparmál ch. 56, men is hálsgjörð, meaning a neck- ring and seems to refer to a solid necklace,
as opposed to a string of stones.
Miðgarður is The Central Garden, the world of humans.
Naglfar is also known as the ship of death in Ragnarök, the apocalypse of the world of goð. May
be related to the Germanic goddess Nehalennia and Latin necãre –‘to kill’.
Narfi is the father of Nótt, grandfather of Auður, Jörð and Dagur, but is also known as the son of
Loki. Narfi may be related to English ‘narrow’, and could be a snake name.
Náttúrur are the spirits or energy present at a seiður. Those who bring the prophesy or frétt
(news). Náttúra literally means ‘nature’.
Njörður is the father (and/or mother) of Freyja and Freyr, first husband of Skaði, a Vanir chief.
His namesake is Nerthus, goddess worshipped in Germania at the time of Tacitus. The meaning of
their names is something like 'the strong one', 'the powerful one' or 'the nurturing one', related to Old
Irish nert –‘power’ as well as the Islandic næra –‘to nurture’.
Norn (plural nornir) is a woman of örlög (see entry), the one who chooses or weaves the destiny
of goð and human alike. Snorri talks about nornir of different tribes, and the good and bad nornir
visiting a child at birth, more in the fashion of the ones we know from fairy tales such as Sleeping
Beauty. The most famous nornir are Urður, Verðandi and Skuld, residing by Urðarbrunnur (the Well
of Urður), carving the örlög of all beings into the tree. The term Skapanornir is sometimes used to
distinguish those three from nornir in general. Norn was in Christianity turned into a word for a witch.
Today the word has the same negative meaning to most Islanders as ‘witch’ has in English speaking
cultures, but Islandic women are bringing it closer to the old meaning, using it more like the ‘English’
Wicca.
Nótt is a giantess, the mother of Auður, Jörð and Dagur. Her name means Night.
Óður and Óðinn are really two versions of one word. In modern Islandic óður has a double
meaning. It is an adjective meaning ‘mad, crazy, infuriated, out of control’; and as a noun it means
‘song, poem, poetry’. An old meaning is also ‘soul or psyche’. Óður and Óðinn are likely the same
name, Óður the older version. Odysseus is of the same root as the Greek word odyssaomai, which
means ‘to be angry’ or ‘to rage’, and could therefore also be another version of Óður and Óðinn. Óðr
212