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Andlang

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InNorse mythology,Andlang(alsoAndlàngrorÖndlangr) is described as the second heavenly realm which stretches between the first, containing the halls of the gods, and the third, namedVídbláin.[1]In all there are nine heavens according toSnorri.[2]Andlang will serve as a shelter and dwelling place for the souls of the dead during and after the destruction ofRagnarök.

Holtsmark (1964) noted that Snorri's Andlang derived fromandlegr himinn( "spiritual heaven" ) in the medieval Icelandic version of theElucidarius,creditingHjalmar Falkfor this inspiration,[3][4]adding her own insight that theand-heading made the term readily associable withandi"spirit" (Norwegian:ånd) which was in a way synonymous "elves,"[5]which fits in with the fact that Snorri describeslight elvesas denizens of the third heaven, Vídbláin.Rudolf Simek(1995), in similar line of inquiry, explores a functional connection between Andlang and theCoelus Spiritualis(the "spiritual heaven" in the original Latin version of theElucidarius).[6]

Other attempts at interpretation include "long-" or "far-breathing" (Magnusen 1828) and "limitless aether" (Weidenbach 1851),[7]which identify the stemönd-"breath". It has also been glossed as "endlessly long" (Eduard 1843), consistent with the gloss "extended" or "very long" given in Anthony Faulkes's translation of theProse Edda.[8]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Gylfaginning17 (Faulkes 1995,p. 20)
  2. ^Skáldskaparmál75 (Faulkes 1995,p. 164)
  3. ^"Falk har sikkert rett i atAndlangrer laget avandlegrhiminn; det andre navnet er ikke så let å forstå, det tør også være laget for anledningen. Det er en anakronisme å tale om «verdensrommet», som Falk gjør "(Holtsmark 1964,p. 37)
  4. ^ProbablyFalk, Hjalmar (15 July 1925), "Himmelsfaerene i vår gamle litteratur",Heidersskrift til Marius Hægstad fraa vener og læresveinar,Oslo, pp. 34–38
  5. ^Holtsmark 1964,pp. 35–36 Sort of synonymous, she says (p.37), because inNornagests þáttrOlaf Tryggvason thinks there might be a presence of an elf or spirit in the house: "einn álfr eða andi nǫkkurr kom inn í húsit".
  6. ^Simek 1995,p. 21
  7. ^Magnusen 1828,p. 234;Eduard 1843,p. 231;Weidenbach 1851,p. 52.
  8. ^Faulkes 1995,p.229 (index); p.164

References[edit]

  • Lorenz, Gottfried (1984).Gylfaginning(in German). Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.ISBN3-534-09324-0.
  • Simek, Rudolf (1995).Lexikon der germanischen Mythologie(in German). Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner.ISBN978-3-520-36803-4.