Víðópnir

According to Fjölsvinnsmál, Víðópnir or Víðófnir (Old Norse, possibly "wide-open" or "wind-weaver") is a rooster that sits at the top of Mímameiðr, a tree often taken to be identical with the World Tree Yggdrasil. They appear in Norse Mythology, although the name does not otherwise occur in medieval sources.

The tale is a part of Fjölswidlied Svipdagsmál and comes from a manuscript in the late pagan period. It is estimated to be from the 13th Century and is interpreted as pure poetry in the style of the Edda songs.[1]

Definitions

The cock is golden in colour and shines like a thunderstorm. As a virtually immortal guard, he watches over the integrity of this world. He is generally a symbol of sun and fire. His crowing at dawn stands for vigilance and for the victory of light over darkness. Thus he is a symbol of a returning life, and is considered among the Germans as a spiritual guide.

Karl Joseph Simrock suggested the name Widofnir in the sense of Windofnir (Weaver of the wind), being Windofnir the name of the skies of Vanir, regarded as the Norse deity of fertility.[2]

Suggestions from the matrix of kennings and puns in the original language

The Víðópnir, as the cock itself, is inevitably a symbol of the Dawn, he logically may be regarded as the ninth of the guards and makers of the interior of the halls or castleated town of Menglöð as is mention in the source-text itself, Dellingr, which litteraly means the dawn. Viðópnir may even refer to the gatekeeper, Fjölsvitr himself, as in the aspect of having opened the gate, Víðópnir ("Opening Wide"), with whom Svipdagr is in this word-feud.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Arnulf Krause: Die Götter- und Heldenlieder der Älteren Edda (translation). Reclam, 2004, p. 211.
  2. ↑ Karl-Joseph Simrock: Die Edda. 1851, Anmerkungen zum Fiölswinnsmal (German).
  3. ↑ Text only in Scandinavian languages including Norse, the puns of the names and the kennings are pretty suggestive: http://heimskringla.no/wiki/Fj%C3%B6lsvinnsm%C3%A1l

External links