Verðandi

For the sports club, see IF Verdandi.
"Nornir" (c. 1884) by J. L. Lund, depicting Verðandi with wings.

In Norse mythology, Verðandi (Old Norse, meaning possibly "happening" or "present"[1]), sometimes anglicized as Verdandi or Verthandi, is one of the norns. Along with Urðr (Old Norse "fate"[2]) and Skuld (possibly "debt" or "future"[3]), Verðandi makes up a trio of Norns that are described as deciding the fates (wyrd) of people.

Etymology

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Verðandi is literally the present participle of the Old Norse verb "verða", "to become", and is commonly translated as "in the making" or "that which is happening/becoming"; it is related to the Dutch word worden and the German word werden, both meaning "to become".[4] "Werdend" is not a commonly used German word in modern times, but intutitively means the things that "are becoming", as -nd is the gerund form.

Attestation

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"Norns weaving destiny" (1912) by Arthur Rackham.

Völuspá

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She appears in the following verse from the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá, along with Urðr and Skuld:

Þaðan koma meyjar
margs vitandi
þrjár, ór þeim sal
er und þolli stendr;
Urð hétu eina,
aðra Verðandi,
skáru á skíði,
Skuld ina þriðju;
þær lög lögðu,
þær líf kuru
alda börnum,
örlög seggja.
Thence come maidens
much knowing
three from the hall
which under that tree stands;
Urd hight the one,
the second Verdandi,
on a tablet they graved,
Skuld the third;
Laws they established,
life allotted
to the sons of men,
destinies pronounced.

Notes

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  1. ^ Orchard (1997:174).
  2. ^ Orchard (1997:169).
  3. ^ Orchard (1997:151).
  4. ^ Lindow, John (2001). "Norns (Norse mythology)". Credo. Handbook of Norse Mythology (World Mythology).

References

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