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Óttarr and the Memory Potion

Óttarr and the Memory Potion

  • Creator: Lorenz Frølich 1820-1908
  • Description: Óttarr about to drink the memory potion that Freyja has persuaded the giantess Hyndla to give to him. Óttarr'a foot is resting on the head of Freyja's boar Hildisvíni. Óttarr needs the potion so that he can gain knowledge concerning his ancestors. This scene is from the Eddaic poem Hyndluljöð in Karl Gjellerup's Den Ældre Eddas Gudesange.
  • Source: Den Ældre Eddas Gudesange
  • Folio or Page: 270
  • Medium: lithograph
  • Date: 1895
  • Dimensions (mm): 100 x 140
  • Provenance:
    Gift of Estate of Richard Beck to Special Collections at the University of Victoria. This illustration from Den Ældre Eddas Gudesange was photographed by P. A. Baer in August 2011.
    Call number: PT7234 A2G5
  • Rights:
    This illustration from Den Ældre Eddas Gudesange is in the public domain.
  • Bibliography:

    Editions

    • ― Den Ældre Eddas Gudesange. Kjøbenhavn: P.G. Philipsens Forlag, 1895. Print.

    Secondary Sources

    • Cleasby, Richard and Vigfússon Guðbrandur. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957. Print.
  • Research notes:
    Hyyndluljóð is an Eddaic poem but is not in the Codex Regius ms and is found only in the 14 century Flateyjarbók ms.
  • Identity Number: AldEdGud-1895-270-01
  • Download size: 1.1 MB
  • Source code of this document: [XML]
EdduKvæði, Poetic Edda   Gjellerup, Karl   Frølich, Lorenz   Den Ældre Eddas Gudesange   Hyndla   Óttarr (Hyndluljóð), Ottar (The Song of Hyndla)   Hildisvíni  

Editions

  • ― Den Ældre Eddas Gudesange. Kjøbenhavn: P.G. Philipsens Forlag, 1895. Print.

Secondary Sources

  • Cleasby, Richard and Vigfússon Guðbrandur. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957. Print.
Gjellerup, Karl (da.)
b. 1857
d. 1919
Nationality: Danish
was a Danish poet and novelist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1917.
Óttarr (Hyndluljóð) (non.)
Ottar (The Song of Hyndla) (en.)
Óttarr is the young man in the poem Hyndluljóð who askes Freyja to help him acquire knowledge about his ancestors. Freyja changes him into a boar named Hildissvini to disguise him when they consult the giantess Hyndla.
Frølich, Lorenz (da.)
b. 1820
d. 1908
Nationality: Danish
was a painter, illustrator and etcher.
Freyja (non.)
Freyja is a fertility goddess and one of the Vanir. She is the daughter of Njörðr and the twin sister of Freyr.
Hyndla (non.)
Hyndla is the giantess who Freyja consults in Hyndluljóð in order to find out about Óttarr´s genealogy.
EdduKvæði Poetic Edda This collection of eddic poems was compiled by an anonymous scholar in Iceland in the twelfth century. It was for a time mistakenly attributed to a scholar named Sæmundr hinn fróði (1056–1133) and thus was known as Sæmundar Edda.
Den Ældre Eddas Gudesange An edition of the Poetic Edda with illustrations by Lorenz Frølich.
Hildisvíni (non.)
Hildisvíni is the name of the boar that Freyja changes Óttarr into in order to disguise him when they go to consult the giantess Hyndla concerning Óttarr's genealogy.