Ægir
In Norse mythology, Ægir, Hlér or Gymir is a jötunn and personification of the sea. In the Old Norse record, Ægir hosts the gods in his halls and is associated with brewing ale. Ægir and his wife, the goddess Rán who also personified the sea, had nine daughters who were personifications of the sea waves. Ægir may also be the father of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr, wife of the god Freyr, or these may be two separate figures who share the same name.
The Old Norse name Ægir may stem from a Proto-Germanic form reconstructed as *āgwi-jaz, and interpreted as meaning 'the one of the water', or 'water-man'. The name is usually analysed as a derivative of the stem *ahwō- ('river'; cf. Gothic aƕa 'body of water, river', Old English ēa 'stream', Old High German aha 'river'). The theonym is identical to a noun for 'sea' (ægir) in skaldic poetry, itself a base word in many kennings. For instance, a ship is described as "Ægir's horse" and the waves as the "daughters of Ægir". Poetic kennings in both Hversu Noregr byggðist (How Norway Was Settled) and Skáldskaparmál (The Language of Poetry) treat Ægir and the sea-jötunn Hlér, who lives on the Hlésey ('Hlér island', modern Læsø), as the same figure. The meaning of the Old Norse name Gymir is unclear. Proposed translations include 'the earthly' (from Old Norse gumi), 'the wintry one' (from gemla), or 'the protector', the 'engulfer' (from geyma). (For more on this topic, see discussion below)
Ægir is attested in a variety of Old Norse sources.
Sonatorrek
Ægir and Rán receive mention in the poem Sonatorrek attributed to 10th century Icelandic skald Egill Skallagrímsson. In the poem, Egill laments the death of his son Böðvar, who drowned at sea during a storm. In one difficult stanza, the skald expresses the pain of losing his son by invoking the image of slaying the personified sea, personified as Ægir (Old Norse ǫlsmið[r] 'ale-smith') and Rán (Ægis man 'Ægir's wife'): The skald later references Ægir by way of the kenning 'Hlér's fire' (Hlés viti), meaning gold.
Poetic Edda
In the Poetic Edda, Ægir receives mention in the eddic poems Grímnismál, Hymiskviða, Lokasenna, and in the prose section of Helgakviða Hundingsbana I. In Grímnismál, the disguised god Odin references Ægir's status as a renowned host among the gods: In Hymiskviða, Ægir plays a major role. In the poem, the gods have become thirsty after a successful hunt, and are keen to celebrate with drink. They "shook the twigs and looked at the augury" and "found that at Ægir's was an ample choice of cauldrons". Odin goes to Ægir, who he finds sitting in good cheer, and tells him he shall "often prepare a feast for the Æsir". Referring to Ægir as a jötunn, the poem describes how, now annoyed, Ægir hatches a plan: He asks Thor to fetch a particular cauldron, and that with it he could brew ale for them all. The gods are unable to find a cauldron of a size big enough to meet Ægir's request until the god Týr recommends one he knows of far away, setting the stage for the events of the rest of the poem.
Prose Edda
Ægir receives numerous mentions in the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, where he sits at a banquet and asks the skaldic god Bragi many questions, and Bragi responds with narratives about the gods. The section begins as follows: There was a figure called Ægir or Hlér; he lived on an island, which is now called Hléysey. He was very crafty in magic. He set off to visit Ásgard, and when the Æsir realized he was coming, he was given a splen did welcome, although many things were not as they seemed; Beyond this section of Skáldskaparmál, Ægir receives several other mentions in kennings. Section 25 provides examples for 'sea', including 'visitor of the gods', 'husband of Rán', 'father of Ægir's daughters', 'land of Rán and Ægir's daughters'. Kennings cited to skalds in this section include 'the storm-happy daughters of Ægir' meaning 'waves' (Svein) and a kenning in a fragment of a work by the 11th century Icelandic skald Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, where Rán is referred to as 'Gymir's ... völva':
Saga corpus
In what appears to be a Norwegian genealogical tradition, Ægir is portrayed as one of the three elements among the sea, the fire and the wind. The beginning of the Orkneyinga saga ('Saga of the Orkney Islanders') and Hversu Noregr byggdisk ('How Norway Was Settled') tell that the jötunn king Fornjót had three sons: Hlér ('sea'), whom he called Ægir, a second named Logi ('fire'), and a third called Kári ('wind').
Banquets
Carolyne Larrington says that Ægir's role in Hymiskviða "may reflect Scandinavian royal practices in which the king enforces his authority on his subordinates by visiting their homes and demanding to be feasted". According to Andy Orchard, Ægir's role in Skáldskaparmál, where he attends a banquet rather than hosting it, could be a deliberate inversion of the traditional motif of Ægir as host.
Gymir
The name Gymir may indicate that Ægir was understood as the father of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr; they may also have been two different figures sharing the same name (see Gymir, father of Gerðr). Both the prose introduction to Lokasenna and Skáldskaparmál state that Ægir is also known as Gymir, the father of the jötunn Gerðr. Rudolf Simek argues that, if understood to be two different entities, this may stem from an erroneous interpretation of kennings in which different jötunn-names are used interchangeably.
Hlér, Læsø, Lejre, and Snow
As highlighted above in Skáldskaparmál, the name of the island Læsø in Denmark references Hlér (Old Norse Hléysey 'Hlér's Island'). Simek speculates that Hlér may therefore have been seen as something of an ancestor of the island. Some medieval Danish chronicles mention Hler and connect him with a figure named Snær (Old Norse 'snow'). In the Latin-language Chronicon Lethrense ("Chronicle of Lejre"; the name Lejre may, like Læsø, derive from Hler) and Old Danish Gesta Danorum på danskæ, a giant named Lae (or Lee) who lived on the island of Leshø had a shepherd named Snyo (or Snio, from Old Norse Snær 'Snow'). When Raka, the dog king of the Danes had died, Lae sent Snyo to win the kingship of Denmark from King Athisl of Sweden, which he did. King Snyo was cruel to his subjects, and only a man named Røth (or Roth) would stand up to him. Snyo sent Røth to Lae's island to ask Lae how King Snyo would die, but expecting that Røth would die in the attempt. Lae refused to answer Røth's request until Røth had said three truthful things. Røth said that he had never seen thicker walls on a house than on Lae's, that he had never seen a man with so many heads as Lae, and that if he got away from there, he would never long to be back. Lae therefore released Røth and prophesied that Snyo would die from being bitten to death by lice. In the Chronicon Lethrense, Røth only announces this in Snyo's court before lice erupt from Snyo's nostrils and ears to eat him to death; in the Gesta Danorum på danskæ, Lae gives Røth a pair of gloves for Snyo, who is eaten to death by lice when he pulls them on.[citation needed]
Jötunn
Scholars have often discussed Ægir's role as host to the gods and his description as a jötunn. Anthony Faulkes observes that Ægir is "often described by modern writers as god of the sea" yet that he is nowhere described as a god in the Prose Edda and appears in a list of jötnar in Skáldskaparmál. According to John Lindow, since his wife Rán is listed among the Ásynjur (goddesses) in the same part of the Prose Edda, and since he had a close and friendly relationship with the Æsir (gods), Ægir's description as a jötunn appears questionable. Andy Orchard argues on the contrary that Ægir's inclusion among the Æsir is probably a late development since his daughters are described as jötnar and some sources mention him as the descendant of the jötunn Fornjót. According to Rudolf Simek, while attested as a jötunn, Ægir "has characteristics" of a sea god.
The mineral aegirine, first described from samples in Kongsberg, Norway, in 1821, was named after Ægir. Ægir has been the subject of a variety of art pieces. These include Swedish artist Nils Blommér's painting Näcken och Ägirs döttrar (1850); Swedish sculptor's Johan Peter Molin's (d. 1874) fountain relief Ægir; and German illustrator Emil Doepler's Ægir (1901). He is also the namesake of a Norwegian corvette produced in 1967 (Ægir), a coastal defense ship in the Imperial German Navy, as well as many other ships. An exoplanet, Epsilon Eridani b, discovered in 2000, was formally named Ægir. In modern popular culture, the name Ægir is referenced in the Japanese anime and manga series Boku no Hero Academia, where the superhero Shoto Todoroki has a move called the "Great Glacial Aegir".
