The Giants D-E

Hail!

I'm going to cover the giants over the course of the next couple of days. This will keep the posts short and allow me to be able to do this much easier. I hope that you'll enjoy the next series of posts about these entities. I get my information from Wikipedia, which isn't the best site but they did a good job here.

Drofn

One of the nine daughters of Aegir

Dufa

One of the nine daughters of Aegir

Durnir


Dúrnir was a dwarf who appears in three Old Norse skaldic poems, which suggests that he once was a well-known dwarf in Norse mythology.
The most notable poem is Ynglingatal:

En dagskjarr Dúrnis niðja salvörðuðr Sveigði vétti, þá er í stein enn stórgeði Dusla konr ept dvergi hljóp, ok salr bjartr þeira Sökmímis jötunbyggðr við jöfri gein.[1][2]

By Diurnir's elfin race, Who haunt the cliffs and shun day's face, The valiant Swegde was deceived, The elf's false words the king believed. The dauntless hero rushing on, Passed through the yawning mouth of stone: It yawned – it shut – the hero fell, In Saekmime's hall, where giants dwell.[3][4]

A more literal translation: The day-fearing spawn of Durnir warden of the hall betrayed Sveigdir who into stone the rash hero ran after the dwarf. The bright hall of Soekmimir built of giants was enriched by the chieftain`s presence.

He also appears in a list of Dwarves in the anonymous Dverga heiti:

Alþjófr, austri,

aurvangr ok dúfr,

ái, andvari,

ónn ok draupnir,

dori ok dagfinnr,

dulinn ok ónarr,

alfr ok dellingr,

óinn ok durnir.^[5]

The third poem is found in Laufás-Edda:

Kveða skal hróðr fyr hríðar

hræ-blakks viðum sævar,

drykkr var Durnis rekkum

døkkr, ljósara nøkkvi.^[6]

Snorri also includes Dúrnir in a list of giants in the Skáldskaparmál section of his Prose Edda (Faulkes translation, p. 157).
It is possible that the name Durnir is an emendation (or a case variety) of Durinn, mentioned as the father of dvarfs in Dvergatal. Both names mean door, or door-warden. The names Durinn og Durnir do not appear in the same texts. The Norwegian translation of Ynglinga Saga from 1900 uses the name of Durinn instead of Durnir.

E

Eggther



In Norse mythology, Eggthér (or Egdir) is a giant and herdsman who is described as sitting on a mound and joyfully playing his harp while the red rooster Fjalar begins to crow, heralding the onset of Ragnarök.
According to stanza 42 of the poem Völuspá from the Poetic Edda:

He sat on the mound and plucked his harp

the herdsman of the giantess, cheerful Eggther

a rooster crowed in Gallows-wood

that bright-red cockerel who is called Fialar

— Larrington trans.^[1]

The identity of the giantess is not known, but according to John Lindow she may be the one described in stanza 40 of the same poem, who dwelt in the forest of Jarnvid and raised the offspring of Fenrir (and who is often identified with Angrboda). He also notes that Eggther's name is identical to that of Ecgtheow, the father of Beowulf from the Old English epic poem of the same name.^[2] However, he agrees with Andy Orchard who states in his Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend that this parallel is most likely a red herring

Eistia

One of the nine mothers of Heimdallr.

Eyrgjafa

One of the nine mothers of Heimdallr.