Скади: Богиня зимы и охоты в скандинавской мифологии

Norse goddess

In Norse mythology, Skaði ('/s//k//ɑː//ð//i/; Old Norse: ; sometimes anglicized as Skadi, Skade, or Skathi) is a jötunn and goddess associated with bowhunting, skiing, winter, and mountains. Skaði is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the Prose Edda and in Heimskringla, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the works of skalds. Skaði is the daughter of the deceased Þjazi, and Skaði married the god Njörðr as part of the compensation provided by the gods for killing her father Þjazi. In Heimskringla, Skaði is described as having split up with Njörðr and as later having married the god Odin, and that the two produced many children together. In both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, Skaði is responsible for placing the serpent that drips venom onto the bound Loki. Skaði is alternately referred to as Öndurguð (Old Norse 'ski god') and Öndurdís (Old Norse 'ski dís'). The etymology of the name Skaði is uncertain, but may be connected with the original form of Scandinavia. Some place names in Scandinavia refer to Skaði. Scholars have theorized a potential connection between Skaði and the god Ullr (who is also associated with skiing), a particular relationship with the jötunn Loki, and that Scandinavia may be related to the name Skaði (potentially meaning 'Skaði's island') or the name may be connected to Old Norse nouns meaning either 'shadow' or 'harm'. Skaði has inspired various works of art.

The Old Norse name Skaði, along with Sca(n)dinavia and Skáney, may be related to Gothic skadus, Old English sceadu, Old Saxon scado, and Old High German scato (meaning 'shadow') compare also the Irish Scáthach, a famous woman warrior known as 'the shadowy one'. Scholar John McKinnell comments that this etymology suggests Skaði may have once been a personification of the geographical region of Scandinavia or associated with the underworld. Georges Dumézil disagrees with the notion of Scadin avia as etymologically 'the island of the goddess Skaði'. Dumézil comments that the first element Scadin must have had—or once had—a connection to "darkness" "or something else we cannot be sure of". Dumézil says that, rather, the name Skaði derives from the name of the geographical region, which was at the time no longer completely understood. In connection, Dumézil points to a parallel in Ériu, a goddess personifying Ireland that appears in some Irish texts, whose name he says comes from Ireland rather than the other way around. Alternatively, Skaði may be connected with the Old Norse noun skaði ('harm'), source of the Icelandic and Faroese skaði ('harm, damage') and cognate with English scathe (unscathed, scathing).

Skaði is attested in poems found in the Poetic Edda, in two books of the Prose Edda and in one Heimskringla book.

In the Poetic Edda poem Grímnismál, the god Odin (disguised as Grímnir) reveals to the young Agnarr the existence of twelve locations. Odin mentions the location Þrymheimr sixth in a single stanza. In the stanza, Odin details that the jötunn Þjazi once lived there, and that now his daughter Skaði does. Odin describes Þrymheimr as consisting of "ancient courts" and refers to Skaði as "the shining bride of the gods". In the prose introduction to the poem Skírnismál, the god Freyr has become heartsick for a fair girl (the jötunn Gerðr) he has spotted in Jötunheimr. The god Njörðr asks Freyr's servant Skírnir to talk to Freyr, and in the first stanza of the poem, Skaði also tells Skírnir to ask Freyr why he is so upset. Skírnir responds that he expects harsh words from their son Freyr. In the prose introduction to the poem Lokasenna, Skaði is referred to as the wife of Njörðr and is cited as one of the goddesses attending Ægir's feast. After Loki has an exchange with the god Heimdallr, Skaði interjects. Skaði tells Loki that he is "light hearted" and that Loki will not be "playing [ ] with [his] tail wagging free" for much longer, for soon the gods will bind Loki to a sharp rock with the ice cold entrails of his son. Loki responds that, even if this is so, he was "first and foremost" at the killing of Þjazi. Skaði responds that, if this is so, "baneful advice" will always flow from her "sanctuaries and plains". Loki responds that Skaði was more friendly in speech when Skaði was in his bed—an accusation he makes to most of the goddesses in the poem and is not attested elsewhere. Loki's flyting then turns to the goddess Sif. In the prose section at the end of Lokasenna, the gods catch Loki and bind him with the innards of his son Nari, while they turn his son Váli into a wolf. Skaði places a venomous snake above Loki's face. Venom drips from the snake and Loki's wife Sigyn sits and holds a basin beneath the serpent, catching the venom. When the basin is full, Sigyn must empty it, and during that time the snake venom falls onto Loki's face, causing him to writhe in a tremendous fury, so much so that all earthquakes stem from Loki's writhings. In the poem Hyndluljóð, the female jötunn Hyndla tells the goddess Freyja various mythological genealogies. In one stanza, Hyndla notes that Þjazi "loved to shoot" and that Skaði was his daughter.

In the Prose Edda, Skaði is attested in two books: Gylfaginning and Skáldskaparmál.

In chapter 56 of the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, Bragi recounts to Ægir how the gods killed Þjazi. Þjazi's daughter, Skaði, took a helmet, a coat of mail, and "all weapons of war" and traveled to Asgard, the home of the gods. Upon Skaði's arrival, the gods wished to atone for her loss and offered compensation. Skaði provides them with her terms of settlement, and the gods agree that Skaði may choose a husband from among themselves. However, Skaði must choose this husband by looking solely at their feet. Skaði saw a pair of feet that she found particularly attractive and said "I choose that one; there can be little that is ugly about Baldr." However, the owner of the feet turned out to be Njörðr. Skaði also included in her terms of settlement that the gods must do something she thought impossible for them to do: make her laugh. To do so, Loki tied one end of a cord around the beard of a nanny goat and the other end around his testicles. The goat and Loki drew one another back and forth, both squealing loudly. Loki dropped into Skaði's lap, and Skaði laughed, completing this part of her atonement. Finally, in compensation to Skaði, Odin took Þjazi's eyes, plunged them into the sky, and from the eyes made two stars. In chapter 16, names for Loki are given, including "wrangler of Heimdall and Skaði". In chapter 22, Skaði is referenced in the 10th century poem Haustlöng where the skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir refers to an ox as "bow string Var's [Skaði's] whale". In chapter 23, the skald Bragi Boddason refers to Þjazi as the "father of the ski dis". In chapter 32, Skaði is listed among six goddesses who attend a party held by Ægir. In chapter 75, Skaði is included among a list of 27 ásynjur names.

Scholar John Lindow comments that the episode in Gylfaginning detailing Loki's antics with a goat may have associations with castration and a ritual involving making a goddess laugh. Lindow notes that Loki and Skaði appear to have had a special relationship, an example being Skaði's placement of the snake over Loki's face in Lokasenna and Gylfaginning. Due to their shared association with skiing and the fact that both place names referring to Ullr and Skaði appear most frequently in Sweden, some scholars have proposed a particular connection between the two gods. Scholar Hilda Ellis Davidson proposes that Skaði's cult may have thrived in Hålogaland, a province in northern Norway, because "she shows characteristics of the Sami people, who were renowned for skiing, shooting with the bow and hunting; her separation from Njord might point to a split between her cult and that of the Vanir in this region, where Scandinavians and the Sami were in close contact."

Modern works of art depicting Skaði include Skadi und Niurd (illustration, 1883) by K. Ehrenberg and Skadi (1901) by Emil Doepler the Younger. Skaði also appears in Adam Oehlenschläger's poem (1819) Skades Giftermaal. Art deco depictions of both the god Ullr (1928) and Skaði (1929) appear on covers of the Swedish ski annual På Skidor, both skiing and wielding bows. E. John B. Allen notes that the deities are portrayed in a manner that "give[s] historical authority to this most important of Swedish ski journals, which began publication in 1893". A moon of the planet Saturn (Skathi) and a mountain on Venus (Skadi Mons) are named after the goddess.

Allen, E. John B. (2007). The Culture and Sport of Skiing. Amherst, Mass. : University of Massachusetts Press. Byock, Jesse (trans.) (1990). The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer. University of California Press. Byock, Jesse (trans.) (2006). The Prose Edda. Penguin Classics. Davidson, Hilda Ellis (1993). The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe. Routledge. Dumézil, Georges (1973). From Myth to Fiction: the Saga of Hadingus. University of Chicago Press. Faulkes, Anthony (trans.) (1995). Edda. Everyman. Hollander, Lee Milton (trans.) (2007). Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway University of Texas Press. Larrington, Carolyne (trans.) (1999). The Poetic Edda. Oxford World's Classics. Lindow, John (2001). Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs Oxford University Press. McKinnell, John (2005). Meeting the Other in Norse Myth and Legend. D. S. Brewer. Simek, Rudolf (2007). Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Translated by Angela Hall. D. S. Brewer. .