Alfaleith.org - Rydberg's Teutonic Mythology

In regard to the significance of the conflicts awaiting Halfdan, and occupying his whole life, when interpreted as myths of nature, we must remember that he inherits from his father the duty of stopping the progress southward of the giant-world's wintry agents, the kinsmen of Þjazi, and of the Skilfing (Yngling) tribes dwelling in the north. The migration sagas have, as we have seen, shown that Borgar and his people had to leave the original country and move south to Denmark, Saxland, and to those regions on the other side of the Baltic in which the Goths settled. For a time the original country is possessed by the conquerors, who, according to Völuspá:, "from Svarin's Mound attacked and took (sótti) the clayey plains as far as Jaravall". But Halfdan represses them. That the words quoted from Völuspá really refer to the same mythic persons with whom Halfdan afterwards fights is proved by the fact that Svarin and Svarin's Mound are never named in our documents except in connection with Halfdan's saga. In Saxo it is Halfdan-Gram who slays Svarin and his numerous brothers; in the saga of "Helgi Hundingsbani" it is again Halfdan, under the name Helgi, who attacks tribes dwelling around Svarin's Mound, and conquers them. To this may be added, that the compiler of the first song about Helgi Hundingsbani borrowed from the saga-original, on which the song is based, names which point to the Völuspá strophe concerning the attack on the south Scandinavian plains. In the category of names, or the genealogy of the aggressors, occur, as has been shown already, the Skilfing names Alf and Yngve. Thus also in the Helgi-song's list of persons with whom the conflict is waged in the vicinity of Svarin's Mound. In the Völuspá's list Moinn is mentioned among the aggressors (in the variation in the Prose Edda); in the Helgi-song (46), it is said that Helgi-Halfdan fought á Móinsheimum against his brave foes, whom he afterwards slew in the battle around Svarin's Mound. In the Völuspá's list is named among the aggressors one Haugspori, "the one spying from the mound"; in the Helgi-song is mentioned Sporvitnir, who from Svarin's Mound watches the forces of Helgi-Halfdan advancing. I have already (No. 28B) pointed out several other names which occur in the Völuspá list, and whose connection with the myth concerning the artists, frost-giants, and Skilfings of antiquity, and their attack on the original country, can be shown.

The physical significance of Halfdan's conflicts and adventures is apparent also from the names of the women, whom the saga makes him marry. Groa (growth), whom he robs and keeps for some time, is, as her very name indicates, a goddess of vegetation. Signý-Alveig, whom he afterwards marries, is the same. Her name signifies "the nourishing drink". According to Saxo she is the daughter of Sumblus, Latin for Sumbl, which means feast, ale, mead, and is a synonym for Ölvaldi, Ölmóðr, names which belonged to the father of the Ívaldi sons (see No. 123).

According to a well-supported statement in Forspjallsljóð (see No. 123), Ívaldi was the father of two groups of children. The mother of one of these groups is a giantess (see Nos. 113, 114, 115). With her he has three sons, viz., the three famous artists of antiquity - Iði, Gangr-Aurnir, and Þjazi. The mother of the other group is a goddess of light (see No. 123). With her he has daughters, who are goddesses of growth, among them Iðunn and Signý-Alveig. That Idun is the daughter of Ívaldi is clear from Forspjallsljóð (6), álfa ættar Iðunni hétu Ívalds eldri yngsta barna.

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