YMIR (old ice. Ymir)
in Germanic (Scandinavian) mythology the primeval living anthropomorphous giant being, existing “at the beginnings of the world” within the empty void called ➚ Ginnungagap. Ymir was born from the venom of the icy rivers of Elivagar (“Stormy Waves”) [1] that melted under the heat of ➚ Muspell and dripped into Ginnungagap, filling it with hoarfrost. Giant was suckled by ➚ Audumla and he himself gave birth to three children, thus becoming the primogenitor of the ➚ Hrimthurs (name Ymir is derived from Indo-European *iem- “twofold, dual, twin”; see ANDROGYNE; compare with TUISTO). He was killed by the “sons of ➚ Burr” (i.e. ➚ Odin, ➚ Vili and Ve) who made Earth from his flesh, from his skull the sky, from his blood the sea, from his brain the clouds, from his hair the forests, from his bones the mountains, from his bonelets the ➚ dwarves and from his eyelashes the walls of ➚ Midgard [2,3]. The intense flow of blood from Ymir’s body resulted in the ➚ flood, that drowned the Hrimthurs.
Alternative names: Aurgelmir, Blain and Brimir.
[1] Vafthrúdnísmál 30 f.; [2] Vafthrúdnísmál 21; 31; [3] Grimnismál 40 f.
B ö r t z l e r, Ymir. Ein Beitrag zu der Eddischen Weltschöpsfungsvorstellungen, “Archiv für Religionswissenschaft” 33, 3-4, 1936.
