The Nafnathulur in English Translation (Nafnaþulur)

 

World Tree

The Nafnathulur is the the last part of the Skáldskaparmál in Snorri’s Prose Edda. It isn’t present in all the original manuscripts, and thus is usually omitted from modern versions. Some scholars believe it predates Snorri’s work while others say it’s a later addition. Seeing as Snorri Sturluson wrote his book two hundred years after everyone converted to Christianity, I don’t think saying it was written fifty years earlier or later makes a big difference. It may even be his writing, and omitted from copies for whatever reason. 

English online versions of the Nafnathulur are very rare, and I can currently find none, so I am making what I have available for those who need it. I believe what’s below was the first of two pages from the now defunct cybersamurai.net. The second page wasn’t useful to my research so unfortunately I didn’t save a local copy, and the Internet Archive only seems to have snapshots in the original language. 

I added Old Norse section titles to make finding verses in untranslated versions easier. Any italicized commentary, bolding and coloring are mine.

Why I write

I suppose I should introduce myself and this blog a bit less formally.

First musings! Why I am I doing this blog? One reason is that I’ve spent over three years getting to know the Handmaidens and have been feeling an increasing sense of “We’ve given you all these stories, all these personal details about us. You said you wanted us to be better known, better loved. So why are you still sitting on all this? Get it out where people can see it! We’re not here for your entertainment, you know!” (and I can so hear Pink’s song U+UR Hand in that… this is what I get for listening to pop music with the Ladies).

I’m self-conscious about letting people see it, that’s why!  The plan is to assemble their stories into some sort of perfect book about them, but it’s never complete enough or good enough. I could spend my life on that project and it still wouldn’t be. I’m also quite sure I got some things wrong about them. Hence a blog. It’s available, but less final than a printed book. I can still edit the public version if it becomes necessary or new insights come to light.