Skaði
From Freepedia
- This article is about the Scandinavian goddess. For the moon of Saturn, see Skathi (moon); for the character in Alastair Reynolds's Revelation Space novels, see Skade (Revelation Space).
In Norse mythology, Skaði ‡ is a mountain giantess, wife of the Vanir god Njord and thus a Vanir goddess herself. She is also called öndurgoð and öndurdís, "Ski Goddess". She is mentioned in the Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda and Ynglinga saga.
When the gods killed her father Thjazi, she journeyed to Ásgard to avenge him but then she agreed that she would have that renounced if they allowed her to choose a husband among them and if they succeeded in making her laugh. The gods allowed her to choose a husband, but she had to choose him only from his feet; she choose Njord because his feet were so beautiful that she thought he was Baldr. Then Loki succeeded in making her laugh, so peace was made, and Odin made two stars from Thjazi's eyes.
After a while, she and her husband separated, because she loved the mountains (Thrymheim), while he wanted to live near the sea (Noatun). The Ynglinga saga says that later she became wife of Odin, and had many sons by him.
She is the goddess who tied the serpent above Loki's body when he was bounded to the three rocks; this is a footnote to the poem in the Elder Edda, Lokasenna.
It is believed by some mythologists that in the early days of the Norse mythology, Skaði was venerated as a goddess of the hunt, and rivalled the goddesses Frigg and Freyja in terms of significance and popularity; however, she seems to have faded into the background during the progression of Scandinavian beliefs, and little of her survives in lore or artefact.
It is interesting to note that Skaði's name appears in the oldest place-names in Scandinavia. It might therefore be that originally, her name was an older one for Nerthus's.
Her name could mean "damage" or "goddess of the underground world". Skaði is sometimes mentioned as the source of the name "Scandinavia".
Familiar forms
- Skade (mainland Scandinavian)
- Skadi (transliteration of "Skaði")
- Skadhi (alternative transliteration of "Skaði")
- Skathi (alternative transliteration of "Skaði")
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