Gná and Hófvarpnir

{{Short description|Goddess and horse in Norse mythology}} {{Redirect|Gná|other uses|GNA (disambiguation)}} [[File:Frigg by Doepler.jpg|thumb|The goddess Frigg sits on her throne, accompanied by two goddesses: Fulla, holding a wooden box, and Hlín, standing and observing everything. Facing them are the warrior goddess Gná and her horse Hófvarpnir. Illustration by Carl Emil Doepler (1882).]] In Norse mythology, '''Gná''' (Old Norse) is a goddess who runs errands in other worlds for the goddess Frigg and rides the flying, sea-treading horse '''Hófvarpnir''' (Old Norse "he who throws his hoofs about",<ref name=SIMEK157>Simek (2007:157).</ref> "hoof-thrower"<ref name=LINDOW146>Lindow (2001:146).</ref> or "hoof kicker"<ref name=BYOCK43>Byock (2005:43).</ref>). Gná and Hófvarpnir are attested in the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Scholarly have proposed that Gná is a "goddess of fullness" and, in the 1800s, as potentially cognate to Fama from Roman mythology. Hófvarpnir and the eight-legged steed Sleipnir have been cited examples of transcendent horses in Norse mythology.

==Attestations== In chapter 35 of the ''Prose Edda'' book ''Gylfaginning'', the enthroned figure of High provides brief descriptions of 16 ásynjur. High lists Gná thirteenth, and says that Frigg sends her off to different worlds to run errands. High adds that Gná rides the horse Hófvarpnir, and that this horse has the ability to ride through the air and atop the sea.<ref name=BYOCK43/> High continues that "once some Vanir saw her path as she rode through the air" and that an unnamed one of these Vanir says, in verse: <blockquote> :"What flies there? :What fares there? :or moves through the air?"<ref name=BYOCK44>Byock (2005:44).</ref> </blockquote> Gná responds in verse, in doing so providing the parentage of Hófvarpnir; the horses Hamskerpir and Garðrofa: <blockquote> :"I fly not :though I fare :and move through the air :on Hofvarpnir :the one whom Hamskerpir got :with Gardrofa."<ref name=BYOCK44/> </blockquote> The source for these stanzas is not provided and they are otherwise unattested. High ends his description of Gná by saying that "from Gna's name comes the custom of saying that something ''gnaefir'' [looms] when it rises up high."<ref name=BYOCK44/> In the ''Prose Edda'' book ''Skáldskaparmál'', Gná is included among a list of 27 ásynjur names.<ref name=FAULKES157>Faulkes (1995:157).</ref>

==Reception== thumb|Frigg sends Gná, riding on Hófvarpnir, on an errand in ''Frigg and her Maidens'' (1902). Rudolf Simek says that the etymology that Snorri presents in ''Gylfaginning'' for the name ''Gná'' may not be correct, yet it is unclear what the name may otherwise mean, though Gná has also been etymologically theorized as a "goddess of fullness."<ref name=SIMEK113>Simek (2007:113).</ref> John Lindow calls the verse exchange between the Vanir and Gná "strange" and points out that it's unclear why it should specifically be the Vanir that witness Gná flying through the air.<ref name=LINDOW147>Lindow (2001:147).</ref>

Ulla Loumand cites Hófvarpnir and the eight-legged horse Sleipnir as "prime examples" of horses in Norse mythology as being able to "mediate between earth and sky, between Ásgarðr, Miðgarðr and Útgarðr and between the world of mortal men and the underworld."<ref name=LOUMAND133>Loumand (2006:133).</ref> In the 19th century, Jacob Grimm proposed a cognate in the personified rumor in Roman mythology; Fama. However, Grimm notes that unlike Fama, Gná is not described as winged but rather that Hófvarpnir, like the winged-horse Pegasus, may have been.<ref name=GRIMM1883>Grimm (1883:896—897).</ref>

==Notes== {{reflist|2}}

==References== {{commons category|Gná}} {{refbegin}} * Byock, Jesse (Trans.) (2005). ''The Prose Edda''. Penguin Classics. {{ISBN|0-14-044755-5}} * Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995). ''Edda''. Everyman. {{ISBN|0-460-87616-3}} * Grimm, Jacob (James Steven Stallybrass Trans.) (1883). ''Teutonic Mythology: Translated from the Fourth Edition with Notes and Appendix by James Stallybrass''. Volume II. London: George Bell and Sons. * Lindow, John (2001). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs]''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-515382-0}} * Loumand, Ulla (2006). "The Horse and its Role in Icelandic Burial Practices, Mythology, and Society." in Andren, A.; Jennbert, K.; Raudvere, C. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=gjq6rvoIRpAC Old Norse Religion in Long Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes and Interactions, an International Conference in Lund, Sweden, June 3-7, 2004]''. Nordic Academic Press. {{ISBN|91-89116-81-X}} * Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D.S. Brewer. {{ISBN|0-85991-513-1}} {{refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gna And Hofvarpnir}} Category:Ásynjur Category:Frigg Category:Horses in Norse mythology