View source for Physics:Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán

{{Short description|Norse mythological personifications of waves}}[[File:Hans_Dahl_-_Les_filles_de_Ran.jpg|thumb|The Daughters of Ægir and Rán as depicted in a grayscale version of a painting by Hans Dahl (1849-1937)]]
In Norse mythology, the goddess Rán and the jötunn Ægir both personify the sea, and together they have nine daughters who personify [[Wave|wave]]s. Each daughter's name reflects poetic terms for waves. The sisters are attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the ''Prose Edda'', composed in the 13th century; and in the poetry of skalds. Scholars have theorized that these daughters may be the same figures as the nine mothers of the god Heimdallr.

==Names==
The names of Ægir and Rán's daughters occur commonly in Old Norse sources. Lists of their names appear twice in ''Skáldskaparmál'', a section of the ''Prose Edda'' (for detail, see ''Prose Edda'' section below).
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="font-size: 90%; width: 100%"
!scope=col|Name
!class="unsortable" scope=col|Meaning
!scope=col|Notes
|-
|Blóðughadda
|"Bloody-hair"<ref name="LINDOW-2001-49">Lindow (2001:49).</ref>
|According to scholar John Lindow this name "[refers] to reddish foam atop a wave".<ref name=LINDOW-2001-49/> Scholar Rudolf Simek says that "the name does not appear to be too appropriate for a wave, but perhaps it was supposed to convey the wispy, thread-like appearance of the water streaming from the crest of the wave."<ref name="SIMEK-2007-38-39">Simek (2007 [1993]:38-39).</ref>
|-
|Bylgja
|"Billow"<ref name="FAULKES-1995-232">Faulkes (1995 [1989]:232).</ref>
|Employed as a common noun<ref name="FAULKES-1995-232"/>
|-
|Dröfn or Bára
|According to Anthony Faulkes, ''Dröfn'' means "comber", whereas ''Bára'' translates to "wave"<ref name="FAULKES-1995-233-230">Faulkes (1995 [1989]:233, 230).</ref> According to Andy Orchard, '''Dröfn'' means 'foaming sea'.<ref name="ORCHARD-1997-34">Orchard (1997:34).</ref>
|''Bára'' replaces ''Dröfn'' in a list of the daughter in ''Skáldskaparmál''.<ref name="FAULKES-1995-231-141">Faulkes (1995 [1989]:231, 141).</ref> ''Dröfn'' also appears as a common noun.<ref name="FAULKES-1995-233">Faulkes (1995:233).</ref>
|-
|Dúfa
|"Wave"<ref name=LINDOW-2001-49/>
|
|-
|Hefring or Hevring
|"Lifting"<ref name=LINDOW-2001-49/>
|
|-
|Himinglæva
|"Transparent-on-top"<ref name=LINDOW-2001-49/>
|
|-
|Hrönn
|"Wave"<ref name="Faulkes-1995-242">Faulkes (1995 [1989]:242).</ref>
|Employed as a common noun<ref name="Faulkes-1995-242"/>
|-
|Kólga
|"Cool-wave"<ref name=LINDOW-2001-49/>
|
|-
|Uðr or Unn
|"Wave"<ref name="FAULKES-1995-257">Faulkes (1995 [1989]:257).</ref>
|Employed as a common noun, also appears as a name for Odin and as the name of a river<ref name="FAULKES-1995-257"/>
|-
|}

==Attestations==
[[File:The_Water-Sprite_and_%C3%84gir%27s_Daughters_(Nils_Blomm%C3%A9r)_-_Nationalmuseum_-_18200.tif|thumb|The [[Religion:Neck (water spirit)|neck]] appears with Ægir's wave daughters in a piece by Swedish painter Nils Blommér, 1850, based on a poem by Arvid August Afzelius.]]
===''Poetic Edda''===
References to the waves as 'Ægir's daughters' appear in the ''Poetic Edda''. The poem ''Helgakviða Hundingsbana I'' describes how the hero Helgi's boat crashes through intense seas, in doing so referencing Rán, Ægir, and their daughters as personifications of the sea. For example, two sequential stanzas reference the wave daughters:
<blockquote>
:Once the longships regrouped, only
:Kolga's sisters could be heard crashing.
:a sound as if swells and bluffs were bursting.<ref name="DODDS-2014-129">Dodds (2014:129).</ref>
<br>
:Helgi had the high sails heightened,
:the unfailing crew rallying through
:the rollers, Ægir's dreaded daughters trying
:to overthrow their stay-bridled sea-steeds.<ref name="DODDS-2014-129"/>
</blockquote>
===''Prose Edda''===
The daughters are mentioned several times in the ''Prose Edda''. Section 25 of ''Skáldskaparmál'' ("How shall sea be referred to?") collects manners in which poets may refer to the sea, including "husband of Ran" and "land of Ran and of Ægir's daughters", but also "father of Ægir's daughters". The section contains the first of two instances of a list of the wave daughters (for discussion regarding their names, see ''Name'' section above).<ref name="FAULKES-1995-91">Faulkes (1995 [1989]:91).</ref>

In chapter 61 of the ''Nafnaþulur'' subsection of ''Skáldskaparmál'', the author again recounts the names of the nine daughters with a slight variation (here ''Dröfn'' is replaced with ''Bára'').<ref name="FAULKES-1995-141">Faulkes (1995 [1989]:141).</ref>

==Scholarly reception and interpretation==
[[Image:Heimdal durch die neun Wellenjungfrauen emporgehoben by K. Ehrenberg.jpg|thumb|''Heimdallr Lifted by the Nine Wave Maidens'' by Karl Ehrenberg depicts Heimdallr's mothers as 'wave maidens' (German ''Wellenjungfrauen''), 1882]]
Some scholars have linked the Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán with the Nine Mothers of Heimdallr, an identification that would mean that Heimdallr was thus born from the waves of the sea. However, this connection has been questioned on the grounds that the names presented for the Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán and the Nine Mothers of Heimdallr (as listed in ''Völuspá hin skamma'') do not match.<ref name="SIMEK136">Simek (2007:136).</ref> Scholar John Lindow comments that the identification of Heimdallr's mothers as Ægir and Rán's daughters do, however, match on the grounds that Ægir and Rán's daughters, like Heimdallr's mothers, are sisters, and that two separate traditions about Heimdallr's mothers may explain the differences between the two.<ref name="LINDOW169">Lindow (2002:169).</ref>

==See also==
* Children of Lir, children of the personified sea in Irish folklore
* [[Unsolved:Rhinemaidens|Rhinemaidens]], characters from Richard Wagner's opera cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* Dodds, Jeramy. Trans. 2014. ''The Poetic Edda''. Coach House Books. {{ISBN|978-1-55245-296-7}}
* Faulkes, Anthony. Trans. 1995 [1989]. ''Edda''. Everyman. {{ISBN|0-460-87616-3}}
* Lindow, John. 2002. ''Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs''. [[Organization:Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-19-515382-0}}
* Orchard, Andy. 1997. ''Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend''. Cassell. {{ISBN|0-304-34520-2}}
* Simek, Rudolf. 2007 [1993]. Translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D.S. Brewer. {{ISBN|0-85991-513-1}}
{{refend}}

{{Norse mythology}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daughters Of Aegir}}
[[Category:Water waves]]

{{Sourceattribution|Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán}}