Follow-up to Gísli Sigurðsson's Interview (Patreon)

We had a very memorable and informative interview with Prof. Gísli Sigurðsson last weekend in which he answered numerous questions about star-lore in the Eddas and the "memory culture" of the Old Norse world. I'll post it in an edited form on Youtube publicly, but above is the whole unedited video on Vimeo for you to see early if you missed it live (or just want to revisit it).

Gísli also offered to answer some questions we didn't have time to get to by e-mail, so here are those answers:

1. (BKWinter asked about whether the story of Baldr and Hǫðr might relate to any astronomical phenomena)

I am not convinced that we have a proper answer to that question but Bjorn Jonsson (who came up with the very feasible idea that tha Ash of Yggdrasil is a mythological interpretation of what we know as the Milky Way) has a chapter on it in his book starting on p. 118 – which I recommend for your to read as a speculative but still well informed attempt to se the astronomy behind it.

2. (ThePykeSpy asked about whether any Old Norse manuscripts were found outside of Scandinavia)

After the reformation Old Norse manuscripts (nearly all written in Iceland, or by Icelanders in Norway) have spread to Germany, the British Isles and North America, where they still remain. Many of them are important for the history of individual texts but others are more valuable as sources about the manuscript culture that produced and used them.

3. (Stella asked: Did you have any thoughts on the Northern Lights in an Eddic context? I read Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir's article on it and I recall you were cited a few times.)

Great to see that you have read Aðalheiður’s excellent article on the subject. I myself have been speculating that perhaps Hliðskjálf, Óðinn’s High Seat, might be a mythological name for the Northern Lights (as the compound literally means side+trembling and would be a perfect descriptive word for the Northern Lights). The Snorra Edda can even be read as saying that the High Seat Hliðskjálf is located in the air (rather than in the sky as the other pheonomena) which would also be meaningful if the word refers to the lights. Another idea comes from the author and folklorist Vilborg Davíðsdóttir (author of several historical novels, including a triology on Aud the Deep Minded) who suggested that the white mud which the norns are pouring from Urðarbrunnr over the Ash (the mud that makes everything that it touches white and transparent like the membrane on the inside of an egg) might be associated with the Northern Lights. In my mind a very feasible idea – but we cannot tell for sure as the sources remain silent here.

"ICYMI"

1. I still have some holiday cards so please send your address to Stella (instructions in that linked post) if you want one.

2. Our next scheduled live interview, on etymology with Danny Bate, is Sunday the 11th. I mistakenly said Saturday in the first version of yesterday's post.

3. The last day I will sign books at Boulder Book Store this year will be next Thursday morning (the 15th).

All the best for now,

Jackson Crawford

P.S. My Patreon messages don't work. I don't get notifications for them, and there's nothing on my home page to show me when there is or isn't a message. I can't even always see them when I check for them manually, and you won't see it if I reply! The best ways to get in touch are: a) just to comment on posts like this, b) to post in the  Community page, or c) to email my assistant Stella at [admin AT JacksonWCrawford.com]--remember the 'W' between my first and last names in that domain name.