Northern mythology

140 NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY.
would have been used^ It is not he who causes the hot
and cold worlds to come in contact and operate on each
other, whereby the world^s foundation came into being :
is a higher being, the Ineffable, the Almighty, without
whose will the worlds of mist and of light would have remained
for ever, each within its bounds. But He willed,
His power manifested itself, and creation began. Between
both worlds was Ginnunga-gap (the abyss of abysses),
from ginn, denoting something great, ^^ddely extended,
whence is formed ginniingr, a wide expanse, here used in
the genitive plural.
This appellation, as well as Elivagar,
was by the geographers applied to the Frozen ocean, one
of the many proofs that mythic names have obtained an
historic application.
Ymir (from omr, ymr, at ymja) signifies the noisy, whistling,
blustering; it is the primeval chaos. In Aurgelmir
(Orgelmir), his
other name^, aur signifies matter, the oldest
material substance, also 77md, clay. This grew and became
consistent, strong, finn ;
it
in other words, he brought
forth Thrudgelmir, who increased in size till
perfect mountain, Bergelmir^.
he became a
Au]?humla^ (derived from
au^r, desert, Ger. ode, and hum, darkness, dusk, with the
derivative termination la) shows that the matter increased
by the streams that ran through the desert darkness. The
cow is found in almost all cosmogonies. Hrim]7urs^ (from
hrini, ?'ime, rime frost, and ]?urs, ]7uss, giant) signifies
plainly enough the ice-bergs, and their senseless being.
The Universal Father (Alfo^r) was among the Frostgiants'*.
That is, the creative power began to operate in
the unorganic, elementary mass. The cow, or nourishing
power, licked the salt stones, and thereby produced an
internal motion, so that life sprang up. It began vni\\
1
See p. 3 ; also the passage in Gylf. p. 6, where Surt is already mentioned
by name. - Page 3.
^ It should therefore be written Berggelmir. ^ Page 4.