Hrímgerðr

Hrímgerðr (also Hrimgerd or Hrimgerdr; Old Norse: [ˈhriːmˌɡerðz̠], "frost-Gerðr") is a jötunn in Norse mythology.

Name

The Old Norse name Hrímgerðr has been translated as 'frost-Gerðr'.

Attestation

In Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar, Hrímgerðr announces herself as the daughter of the jötunn Hati.

My name is Hrimgerd, my father’s name Hati, whom I knew as the most mighty of giants, many a bride he had snatched from their homes, till Helgi hewed him down.

— Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar, 17, transl. A. Orchard, 1997.

After the hero Helgi Hundingsbane kills her father, Hrímgerðr harasses him, and Atli Idmundsson engages her in a contest of flyting until she turns into stone in the sunrise.

[Hrimgerd said:]
‘You would neigh, if you weren’t a gelding:
Hrimgerd tosses her tail;
I think your heart is in your arse, Atli,
though you have a stallion’s voice.’

[Atli said:]
‘You’d soon leam what a stallion I was
in strength, if I stepped on shore:
you’d take a great pasting, if I so wished,
and lower your tail, Hrimgerd.’

— Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar, transl. A. Orchard, 1997.

References

• Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-34520-5.