Norsery Rhymes from A to Z
Fjalarr / Skyrimir - The Holder of Space
Well here we are on another ThorsDay with another 20 min sketch of a Norse (and Germanic, sometimes Celtic) mythological characters. This week it’s Fajalarr / Fajallar / Falr / Fálr / Falur / Fal / Fjalar of the Jotnar (Jötunn / Jotun / Jotunn / Jetten / Eoten / Giant, as used as alternate name for Skryminr / Skirimir / Skriminir mentioned in the Gylfaginning of the Prose Eddas.
His name as Fjalarr translated to ‘hide’ from the Old Norse Fela’ and ‘pipe’, ‘tube’, ‘board’, ‘plank’ or most specifically ‘spearhead socket’ from the old Norse ‘Falr’, possibly by way of the Proto Germanic ‘Falhuz’ meaning ‘to hide’ or ‘to conceal’. Or to ‘hold’, as it’s the hold at the back of a spearhead that the shaft or handle is fit into. Given as another name for Skryminr / Skirimir / Skriminir ‘The huge’ of ‘taker of space’ or ‘the boastful’ a disguised Utgarde-Loki. So the use of Fjallar, which is used for many Giants may just be a way to say he is one who holds or takes up a lot of space.
While out adventuring in Utgardr in Jotenheimr, the land of the Giants Thor, Loki and Þjálfi and Röskva seek shelter one night from not only the elements but also constant terrible earthquakes. They find tat shelter in a huge house with five wings, but no doors, and odd oval windows at strange intervals. In the morning they find that the house was the glove of a giant, the five rooms the fingers and the windows, the holes in the stitching. The giant is friendly and calls himself Skrimir or Fjallar in this case. He says they can have as much food from his immense sack as they need. Fjallar is so large and strong that Thor cannon open the string on the sack the giant has tied. He tells then that they can sleep in his glove as if it’s a house again. When Thor tries to harm Skrimir while he sleeps because either he is embarrassed that he cannot open the strings on the bag, or because Skyrimir’s snoring is causing dangerous earthquakes. The giant eventually wakes, but only registered Mjolnir ‘s three increasingly powerful blows as if an acorn has hit his head.
Before he leaves them. He warns Thor and company that the giants in the castle they are on track to encounter are not as forgiving of antics as he is and to be careful.
I’ll do a full write up when we get to the S’s and Skrimir proper, and another at Utgard-Loki..
