Föryngrande frukt iduns
Idun is the goddess of youth – her name means “giver of eternal youth”. The other gods get golden apples from her. She stores them in a basket and they keep the gods young until the end of the world. Idun is the daughter of the dwarf Ivald and she is married to Bragi. In Norse mythology , Iðunn is a goddess associated with apples and youth.
Idun’s apples kept the gods young
Iðunn is attested in the Poetic Edda , compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda , written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, she is described as the wife of the skaldic god Bragi , and in the Prose Edda , also as a keeper of apples and granter of eternal youthfulness. The Prose Edda relates how Loki was once forced by the jötunn Þjazi to lure Iðunn out of Asgard and into a wood with the promise of apples even fairer than her own.
Þjazi, in the form of an eagle , abducts Iðunn from the wood, bearing her off to his home. Iðunn's absence causes the gods to grow old and grey, and they realize that Loki is responsible for her disappearance. Under duress, Loki promises to bring her back and, setting out in the form of a falcon , eventually finds her alone at Þjazi's home. He turns her into a nut and flies back toward Asgard.
When Þjazi returns to find Iðunn gone, he assumes his eagle form once more and flies off in hot pursuit of Loki and his precious burden. The gods build a pyre in the courtyard of Asgard and, just as Loki has stopped short of it, kindle it. Unable to halt his frenzied onrush, Þjazi plunges headlong through the fire, falling to the ground with his feathers aflame, whereupon the gods attack and kill him. A number of theories surround Iðunn, including potential links to fertility, and her potential origin in Proto-Indo-European religion.
Long the subject of artworks, Iðunn is sometimes referenced in modern popular culture. The name Iðunn has been variously explained as meaning 'ever young', 'rejuvenator', or 'the rejuvenating one'. The name Iðunn appears as a personal name in several historical sources and the Landnámabók records that it has been in use in Iceland as a personal name since the pagan period 10th century. Landnámabók records two incidents of women by the name of Iðunn ; Iðunn Arnardóttir, the daughter of an early settler, and Iðunn Molda-Gnúpsdóttir, granddaughter of one of the earliest settlers recorded in the book.
The 19th century author C. Yonge writes that the derivation of Idonea from Idunn is "almost certain," noting that although Idonea may be "the feminine of the Latin idoneus fit , its absence in the Romance countries may be taken as an indication that it was a mere classicising of the northern goddess of the apples of youth. The 19th century scholar Jacob Grimm proposed a potential etymological connection to the idisi.
Grimm states that "with the original form idis the goddess Idunn may possibly be connected. Iðunn appears in the Poetic Edda poem Lokasenna and, included in some modern editions of the Poetic Edda , in the late poem Hrafnagaldr Óðins. Iðunn is introduced as Bragi's wife in the prose introduction to the poem Lokasenna , where the two attend a feast held by Ægir. In stanzas 16, 17, and 18, dialog occurs between Loki and Iðunn after Loki has insulted Bragi.
In stanza 16, Iðunn here anglicized as Idunn says:. Idunn said: I ask you, Bragi, to do a service to your blood-kin and all the adoptive relations, that you shouldn't say words of blame to Loki, in Ægir's hall. Loki said: Be silent, Idunn, I declare that of all women you're the most man-crazed, since you placed your arms, washed bright, about your brother's slayer Idunn said: I'm not saying words of blame to Loki, in Ægir's hall I quietened Bragi, made talkative with beer; and all living things love him.
In this exchange, Loki has accused Iðunn of having slept with the killer of her brother. However, neither this brother nor killer are accounted for in any other surviving source. In the poem Hrafnagaldr Óðins , additional information is given about Iðunn, though this information is otherwise unattested. Here, Iðunn is identified as descending from elves , as one of " Ivaldi's elder children " and as a dís who dwells in dales.
Iduns äpplen höll gudarna unga
Stanza 6 reads:. In the dales dwells, the prescient Dís, from Yggdrasil's ash sunk down, of alfen race, Idun by name, the youngest of Ivaldi's elder children. Here, Iðunn is described as Bragi's wife and keeper of an eski a wooden box made of ash wood and often used for carrying personal possessions within which she keeps apples. The apples are bitten into by the gods when they begin to grow old and they then become young again, which is described as occurring up until Ragnarök.
Gangleri described as King Gylfi in disguise states that it seems to him that the gods depend greatly upon Iðunn's good faith and care. With a laugh, High responds that misfortune once came close, that he could tell Gangleri about it, but first he must hear the names of more of the Æsir , and he continues providing information about gods. In the book Skáldskaparmál , Idunn is mentioned in its first chapter numbered as 55 as one of eight ásynjur goddesses sitting in their thrones at a banquet in Asgard for Ægir.
Bragi says that after hitting an eagle Þjazi in disguise with a pole, Loki finds himself stuck to the bird. Loki is pulled further and further into the sky, his feet banging against stones, gravel, and trees until, fearful that his arms will be pulled from their sockets, he roars for mercy, begging the eagle to set him free. The eagle agrees, but only on the condition that Loki make a solemn vow to lure Iðunn, bearing her apples of youth, from the safety of Asgard.
Loki accepts Þjazi's conditions and returns to his friends Odin and Hœnir. At the time agreed upon by Loki and Þjazi, Loki lures Iðunn out of Asgard into "a certain forest", telling her that he has discovered some apples that she would find worth keeping, and furthermore that she should bring her own apples with her so that she may compare them with the apples he has discovered. Þjazi arrives in eagle shape, snatches Iðunn, flies away with her and takes her to his home, Þrymheimr.
The Æsir begin to grow grey and old at the disappearance of Idunn.