In Norse mythology, ÃÂgir (anglicised as Aegir, Old Norse: 'sea'), Hlér (Old Norse: 'sea'), or Gymir (Old Norse less clearly: 'sea' or 'engulfer'), is a jötunn and personification of the sea. In the Old Norse record, ÃÂgir hosts the gods in his halls and is associated with brewing ale. ÃÂgir and his wife Rán, a goddess who also personifies the sea, and together the two produced nine daughters who personify the sea waves, and ÃÂgir's son is Snær, who personifies the snow. ÃÂgir 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 (see below and Gymir).
One of ÃÂgir's names, Hlér, is the namesake of the island Læsø (Old Norse Hlésey 'Hlér's island') and perhaps also Lejre in Denmark. Scholars have long analyzed ÃÂgir's role in the Old Norse corpus, and the concept of the figure has had some influence in modern popular culture.
The Old Norse name ÃÂgir may stem from a Proto-Germanic form reconstructed as *ÃÂg<sup>w</sup>i-jaz, and interpreted as meaning 'the one of the water', or 'water-man'. The name is usually analysed as a derivative of the stem *ahwà Â- ('river'; cf. Gothic ' 'body of water, river', Old English ÃÂa '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 "ÃÂgir's horse" and the waves as the "daughters of ÃÂgir".
Poetic kennings in both Hversu Noregr byggðist (How Norway Was Settled) and Skáldskaparmál (The Language of Poetry) treat ÃÂgir 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)
ÃÂgir is attested in a variety of Old Norse sources.
ÃÂgir and Rán receive mention in the poem Sonatorrek attributed to 10th century Icelandic skald Egill SkallagrÃÂmsson. 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 ÃÂgir (Old Norse ëlsmið[r] 'ale-smith') and Rán (ÃÂgis man 'ÃÂgir's wife'):
The skald later references ÃÂgir by way of the kenning 'Hlér's fire' (Hlés viti), meaning gold.
In the Poetic Edda, ÃÂgir receives mention in the eddic poems GrÃÂmnismál, Hymiskviða, Lokasenna, and in the prose section of Helgakviða Hundingsbana I. In GrÃÂmnismál, the disguised god Odin references ÃÂgir's status as a renowned host among the gods:
In Hymiskviða, ÃÂgir 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 ÃÂgir's was an ample choice of cauldrons". Odin goes to ÃÂgir, who he finds sitting in good cheer, and tells him he shall "often prepare a feast for the ÃÂsir". Referring to ÃÂgir as a jötunn, the poem describes how, now annoyed, ÃÂgir 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 ÃÂgir'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.
According to the prose introduction to Lokasenna, "ÃÂgir, who is also called Gymir", was hosting a feast "with the great cauldron which has just been told about", which many of the gods and elves attended. The prose introduction describes the feast as featuring gold that shimmers like fire light and ale that serves itself, and that "it was a great place of peace". In attendance also were ÃÂgir's servers, Fimafeng and Eldir. The gods praise the excellence of their service and, hearing this, Loki murders Fimafeng, enraging the gods, who chase him out to the woods before returning to drink.
In the poem that follows the prose introduction (and in accompanying prose), Loki returns to the hall and greets Eldir: He says that before Eldir steps forward, he should first tell him what the gods are discussing in the hall. Eldir says that they're discussing weaponry and war, and having nothing good to say about Loki. Loki says that he will enter ÃÂgir's halls and have a look at the feast, and with him bring quarrel and strife. Eldir notifies Loki that if he enters and causes trouble, he can expect them to return it to him. Loki enters the hall and the gods see him and become silent.
In Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, a great wave is referred to as "ÃÂgir's terrible daughter".
ÃÂgir 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:
Beyond this section of Skáldskaparmál, ÃÂgir receives several other mentions in kennings. Section 25 provides examples for 'sea', including 'visitor of the gods', 'husband of Rán', 'father of ÃÂgir's daughters', 'land of Rán and ÃÂgir's daughters'. Kennings cited to skalds in this section include 'the storm-happy daughters of ÃÂgir' 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':
The section's author comments that the stanza "[implies] that they are all the same, ÃÂgir and Hler and Gymir.
Chapter 33b of Skáldskaparmál discusses why skalds may refer to gold as "ÃÂgir's fire". The section traces the kenning to a narrative surrounding ÃÂgir, in which the jötunn employs "glowing gold" in the center of his hall to light it "like fire" (which the narrator compares to flaming swords in Valhalla). The section explains that "Ran is the name of ÃÂgir's wife, and the names of their nine daughters are as was written above ... Then the ÃÂsir discovered that Ran had a net in which she caught everyone that went to sea ... so this is the story of the origin of gold being called fire or light or brightness of ÃÂgir, Ran or ÃÂgir's daughters, and from such kennings the practice has now developed of calling gold fire of the sea and of all terms for it, since ÃÂgir and Ran's names are also terms for the sea, and hence gold is now called fire of lakes or rivers and of all river-names."
In chapter 61 provides yet more kennings. Among them the author notes that "Ran, who, it is said, was ÃÂgir's wife" and that "the daughters of ÃÂgir and Ran are nine". In chapter 75, ÃÂgir occurs in a list of jötnar.
In what appears to be a Norwegian genealogical tradition, ÃÂgir 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 ÃÂgir, a second named Logi ('fire'), and a third called Kári ('wind').
Carolyne Larrington says that ÃÂgir'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, ÃÂgir's role in Skáldskaparmál, where he attends a banquet rather than hosting it, could be a deliberate inversion of the traditional motif of ÃÂgir as host.
The name Gymir may indicate that ÃÂgir 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 ÃÂgir 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.
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 pÃÂ¥ 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 pÃÂ¥ danskæ, Lae gives Røth a pair of gloves for Snyo, who is eaten to death by lice when he pulls them on.
Scholars have often discussed ÃÂgir's role as host to the gods and his description as a jötunn. Anthony Faulkes observes that ÃÂgir 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 ÃÂsynjur (goddesses) in the same part of the Prose Edda, and since he had a close and friendly relationship with the ÃÂsir (gods), ÃÂgir's description as a jötunn appears questionable. Andy Orchard argues on the contrary that ÃÂgir's inclusion among the ÃÂsir 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, ÃÂgir "has characteristics" of a sea god.
The mineral aegirine, first described from samples in Kongsberg, Norway, in 1821, was named after ÃÂgir.
ÃÂgir has been the subject of a variety of art pieces. These include Swedish artist Nils Blommér's painting Näcken och ÃÂgirs döttrar (1850); Swedish sculptor's Johan Peter Molin's (d. 1874) fountain relief ÃÂgir; and German illustrator Emil Doepler's ÃÂgir (1901).
He is also the namesake of a Norwegian corvette produced in 1967 (ÃÂgir), 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 ÃÂgir.
ÃÂgir is also referenced in modern popular culture. Superhero Shoto Todoroki, in the Japanese anime and manga series Boku no Hero Academia, has a move called the "Great Glacial Aegir".