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The Binding of Fenrir

The Binding of Fenrir
  • Creator: Jakob Sigurðsson 1727-1779
  • Description: The wolf Fenrir with Týr's severed hand in his mouth. This scene is from the Binding of Fenrir myth in Gylfaginning in Snorri's Edda.
  • Source: SÁM 66
  • Folio or Page: 78v.
  • Medium: ink drawing on paper with coloured ink wash
  • Date: 1765
  • Dimensions (mm): 135 x 165
  • Provenance:
    The last page of the manuscript lists three names which likely represent the earliest owners of SAM 66: Gísli Gíslason (1797 - 1758) from Skörð in Reykjahverfi; St. Petersen, who has not been identified; and Magnús Guðmundsson, a farmer at Sandur in Aðaldalur. Magnús' daughter, Elín Sigríður emigrated to Canada in 1876 and took the manuscript with her. Elín Sigríður's farm near Gimli, Manitoba was called Melsted which also became the family's surname in Canada.
    The Icelandic counsel to Minnesota, Örn Arnar, bought the manuscript from one of Elín Sigríður´s descendents, Ken Melsted in Wynyard, Saskatchewan and donated it to the Ární Magnússon Institute in Iceland on February 2, 2000.
    The manuscript is now known either by the title Melsteð Edda or by its shelf mark SÁM 66 4to.
  • Rights:
    Images from SÁM 66 are displayed with permission from the Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum in Iceland. Link to E-manuscript Description. E-manuscript illustrationf. 78 v.
  • Bibliography:

    Primary Sources

    Reykjavik: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum. SÁM 66. 1765. Hand copied paper manuscript.

    Secondary Sources

    Cleasby, Richard and Vigfússon Guðbrandur . An Icelandic-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957.
    Driscoll, Matthew. The view From the North: Some Scandinavian digitisation projects Review of the National Center for Digitization. 4 (2004): 22 - 30.
    Sigurðsson, Gísli. The Last Manuscript Home? The Manuscripts of Iceland. Gísli Sigurdsson and Vésteinn Ólason . Reykjavik: Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland, 2004. 179 - 186.
    Simek, Rudolf. Angela Hall . Dictionary of Northern Mythology. W Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer, 2007.
  • Identity Number: SAM66-078v
  • Download size: 950 KB
  • Related items: Nks1867-098v   
  • Source code of this document: [XML]
Snorri Sturluson   Prose Edda   SÁM 66 4to, SAM 66 4to   Jakob Sigurðsson, Jakob Sigurdsson   Binding of Fenrir Myth   Týr, Tyr   Fenrir   Fenris   Fenrisúlfr, Fenris Wolf   Hróðvitnir, Hrodvitnir   Gleipnir   úlfr, wolf   fjöturr, fetter  

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Linked items

Artifacts

Gleipnir (non.) The magic fetter that the gods succeeded in binding Fenrir with. Gleipnir means "open one" and was made from six things that do not exist, i.e., the sound of a cat's foot tread, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish, and the spittle of a bird.

Creatures: animals, birds, monsters etc.

Fenrir (non.) One of the names for the monstrous wolf who is one of the three monstrous offspring of Loki and the giantess Angrboða.
Fenris (non.) One of the names for the monstrous wolf who is one of the three monstrous offspring of Loki and the giantess Angrboða.
Fenrisúlfr (non.) Fenris Wolf (en.) One of the names for the monstrous wolf who is one of the three monstrous offspring of Loki and the giantess Angrboða.
Hróðvitnir (non.) Hrodvitnir (en.) One of the names for the monstrous wolf, Fenrir, who is the progeny of Loki and the giantess Angrboða.

Gods and Goddesses

Týr (non.) Tyr (en.) The god who put his hand in the mouth of the wolf Fenrir as pledge that the gods were not really trying to bind the wolf but were only testing his strength. Fenrir bit off Týr's hand when they succeeded in binding him.

Myths

Binding of Fenrir Myth This myth relating the story of how the gods managed to trick the wolf Fenrir into letting them bind him with a magic fetter. They fail with a fetter called Leyding and another called called Dromi but succeed with one called Gleipnir. Unfortunately, the god Týr had put his hand in Fenrir´s mouth as a guarantee that the gods were not trying to trick Fenrir into being bound. Fenrir bites off Týr´s hand when he realizes that he has cannot break the fetter.

Nouns

fjöturr (non.) fetter (en.)
úlfr (non.) wolf (en.)

Source Materials:

Prose Edda (is.) Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth-century prose work concerning Old Norse mythology and poetics.
SÁM 66 4to (is.) SAM 66 4to (en.) SAM 66 4to is also known as Melsted Edda.

Source Persons

Jakob Sigurðsson (is.) Jakob Sigurdsson (en.) b. 1727
d. 1779
Nationality: Icelandic
Jakob was a tenant farmer, poet, scribe, and illustrator, who created full-page Edda illustrations in hand-copied paper manuscripts in Iceland in the eighteenth century.
Snorri Sturluson (is.) b. 1179
d. 1241
Nationality: Icelandic
Snorri was an Icelandic statesman, scholar, and author who is credited with writing Heimskringla, The Prose Edda, and possibly Egil's Saga.