Rán - wikipedia Rán Rán uses her net to pulls a seafarer into the depths in an illustration by Johannes Gehrts, 1901 In Norse mythology, Rán is a goddess and a personification of the sea. Rán and her husband Ægir, a jötunn who also personifies the sea, have nine daughters, who personify waves. The goddesses is frequently associated with a net, which she uses to capture sea - goers. According to the prose introduction to a poem in the Poetic Edda and in Völsunga saga, Rán once loaned her net to the god Loki. Rán is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources ; the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson ; in both Völsunga saga and Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna ; and in the poetry of skalds. Contents 1 Etymology 2 Attestations 2.1 Poetic Edda 2.2 Prose Edda 2.3 Völsunga saga and Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna 3 Scholarly reception and interpretation 4 Notes 5 References Etymology The Old Norse common noun rán means ' plundering ' or ' theft, robbery '. In turn, scholars view the theonym Rán as meaning, for example, ' theft, robbery '. On the etymology of the theonym, scholar Rudolf Simek says, `` although the meaning of the name has not been fully clarified, Rán was probably understood as being ' robber '... and has nothing to do with ( Old Norse ) ráða ' rule '. Because Rán is a personification of the sea, skalds employ her name in a variety of kennings to refer to the sea. Examples include Ránar - land ( ' Ran 's land ' ), - salr ( ' Rán 's hall ' ), and - vegr ( ' Rán 's way ' ), and rán - beðr ( ' the bed of Rán ' ) and meaning ' the bed of the sea '. Attestations Poetic Edda Rán pulls her net beside her husband Ægir as depicted by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine ( 1845 -- 1921 ) after an original by Friedrich Wilhelm Engelhard ( 1813 -- 1902 ) Rán receives three mentions in the Prose Edda, twice in poetry and once in prose. The first mention occurs in a stanza in Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, when the valkyrie Sigrún assists the ship of the hero Helgi as it encounters ferocious waters : Henry Adams Bellows translation But from above did Sigrun brave Aid the men and all their faring ; Mightily came from the claws of Ron The leader 's sea - beast off Gnipalund. Carolyne Larrington translation And Sigrun above, brave in battle, protected them and their vessel ; the king 's sea - beasts twisted powerfully, out of Ran 's hand toward Gnipalund. In the notes for her translation, Larrington says that Rán `` seeks to catch and drown men in her net '' and that `` to give someone to the sea - goddess is to drown them. '' The second instance occurs in a stanza found in Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar. In this stanza, the hero Atli references Rán while flyting with Hrímgerðr, a female jötunn : Henry Adams Bellows translation : `` Witch, in front of the ship thou wast, And lay before the fjord ; To Ron wouldst have given the ruler 's men, If a spear had not stuck in thy flesh. '' Carolyne Larrington translation : ' Ogress, you stood before the prince 's ships and blocked the fjord mouth ; the king 's men you were going to give to Ran, if a spear had n't lodged in your flesh. ' Finally, in the prose introduction to Reginsmál, Loki visits Rán ( here rendered as Ron ) to borrow her net : ( Odin and Hœnir ) sent Loki to get the gold ; he went to Ron and got her net, and went then to Andvari 's fall and cast the net in front of the pike, and the pike leaped into the net. Translator Henry Adams Bellows notes how this version of the narrative differs from how it appears in other sources, where Loki catches the pike with his own hands. Prose Edda The Prose Edda sections Skáldskaparmál and Háttatal contain several references to Rán. Section 25 of Skáldskaparmál ( `` How shall sea be referred to ? '' ) manners in which poets may refer to the sea, including `` husband of Ran '' and `` land of Ran and of Ægir 's daughters '', but also `` father of Ægir 's daughters ''. In the same section, the author cites a fragment of a work by the 11th century Icelandic skald Hofgarða - Refr Gestsson, where Rán is referred to as ' Gymir 's... völva ' : Standardized Old Norse Ok sem kvað Refr : Fœrir bjǫrn, þar er bára brestr, undinna festa opt í Ægis kjǫpta * ursǫl Gymis vǫlva. Anthony Faulkes translation And as Ref said : Gymir 's spray - cold spæ - wife often brings the twisted - rope - bear ( ship ) into Ægir 's jaws ( under the waves ) where the wave breaks. The section 's author comments that the stanza `` ( implies ) that they are all the same, Ægir and Hler and Gymir. The author follows with a quote from another stanza by the skald that references Rán : But sea - crest - Sleipnir ( ship ), spray - driven, tears his breast, covered with red paint, out of white Ran 's mouth ( the sea 's grasp ). Chapter 33 of Skáldskaparmál discusses why skalds may refer to gold as `` Ægir 's fire ''. The section traces the kenning to a narrative surrounding Ægir, 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 Ægir 's wife, and the names of their nine daughters are as was written above... Then the Æsir 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 Ægir, Ran or Ægir '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 Ægir 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 the Nafnaþulur section of Skáldskaparmál, Rán appears in a list of goddesses ( Old Norse ásynjur ). Völsunga saga and Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna Rán receives a single mention in Völsunga saga. Like in the prose introduction to the eddic poem Reginsmál ( discussed above ), `` they sent Loki to obtain the gold. He went to Ran and got her net. '' In the legendary saga Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna, Friðþjófr and his men find themselves in a violent storm, and the protagonist mourns that he will soon rest in Rán 's bed : Old Norse Sat ek á bólstri í Baldrshaga, kvað, hvat ek kunna, fyr konungs dóttur. Nú skal ek Ránar raunbeð troða, en annar mun Ingibjargar. '' Eiríkr Magnússon and William Morris translation ( 1875 ) : `` On bolster I sat In Baldur 's Mead erst, And all songs that I could To the king 's daughter sang ; Now on Ran 's bed belike Must I soon be a-lying, And another shall be By Ingibiorg 's side. '' The protagonist then decides that as they are to `` go to Rán '' ( at til Ránar skal fara ) they would better do so in style with gold on each man. He divides the gold and talks of her again : Nú hefir fjórum of farit várum lögr lagsmönnum, þeim er lifa skyldu, en Rán gætir röskum drengjum, siðlaus kona, sess ok rekkju. `` The red ring here I hew me Once owned of Halfdan 's father, The wealthy lord of erewhile, Or the sea waves undo us, So on the guests shall gold be, If we have need of guesting ; Meet so for mighty men - folk Amid Ran 's hall to hold them. '' Scholarly reception and interpretation According to Rudolf Simek, ``... Rán is the ruler of the realm of the dead at the bottom of the sea to which people who have drowned go. '' Simek says that `` while Ægir personifies the sea as a friendly power, Rán embodies the sinister side of the sea, at least in the eyes of the late Viking Age Icelandic seafarers. '' Notes Jump up ^ Faulkes ( 1998 : 250 ) and discussion in Simek ( 2007 ( 1993 ) : 260 ). ^ Jump up to : Simek ( 2007 ( 1993 ) : 260 ). Jump up ^ Gudbrund Vigfusson ( 1874 : 487 -- 488 ). Jump up ^ Bellows ( 1936 : 299 -- 300 ). Bellows renders Old Norse Rán as Ron throughout his translation. Jump up ^ Larrington ( 1999 ( 1996 ) : 118 ). Jump up ^ Davidson ( 1999 ( 1996 ) : 279, 280 ). Jump up ^ Bellows ( 1936 : 281 ). Jump up ^ Davidson ( 1999 ( 1996 ) : 127 ). ^ Jump up to : Bellows ( 1936 : 358 -- 359 ). Jump up ^ Faulkes ( 1995 ( 1989 ) : 91 ). Jump up ^ Faulkes ( 1998 : 37 ). Jump up ^ Faulkes ( 1995 ( 1989 ) : 91 ). This stanza appears quoted a second time later in Skáldskaparmál, for which see Faulkes ( 1995 ( 1989 ) : 140 ). ^ Jump up to : Faulkes ( 1998 : 92 ). Jump up ^ Faulkes ( 1998 : 95 ). The chapter continues with discussion regarding the development of these kennings and the concept of allegory. Jump up ^ Faulkes ( 1998 : 157 ). Jump up ^ Byock ( 1990 : 58 ). ^ Jump up to : Friðþjófs saga ins frækna at Norrøne Tekster og Kvad, Norway. Jump up ^ Eiríkr Magnússon and Morris ( 1875 : 84 ). Jump up ^ Eiríkr Magnússon and Morris ( 1875 : 86 ). References Byock, Jesse ( Trans. ). 1990. The Saga of the Volsungs. University of California Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 520 - 27299 - 6 Eiríkr Magnússon and Morris, William. 1875. Three Northern Love Stories and Other Tales. Ellis & White. Faulkes, Anthony ( Trans. ). 1995 ( 1989 ). Edda. Everyman. ISBN 0 - 460 - 87616 - 3 Faulkes, Anthony. ( Editor ). 1998. Edda : Skáldskaparmál. I. Viking Society for Northern Research. Gudbrandur Vigfusson. 1874. An Icelandic - English Dictionary : Based on the Ms. Collections of the Late Richard Cleasby. Clarendon Press. Bellows, Henry Adams ( Trans. ) ( 1936 ). The Poetic Edda. Princeton University Press. New York : The American - Scandinavian Foundation. Larrington, Carolyne ( Trans. ). 1999 ( 1996 ). The Poetic Edda. Oxford World 's Classics. ISBN 0 - 19 - 283946 - 2 Simek, Rudolf. 2007 ( 1993 ). Translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer. ISBN 0 - 85991 - 513 - 1 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rán. Personifications and cosmology in Norse mythology Astronomical bodies Sun : Sól Árvakr and Alsviðr Moon : Máni Hjúki and Bil Earth : Jörð Fjörgyn and Fjörgynn Aurvandil Þjazi 's eyes Time Day : Dagr Skinfaxi Night : Nótt Hrímfaxi Seasons : Sumarr and Vetr Old age Elli Water bodies Sea Ægir Rán Waves Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán Worlds Nine Worlds : Álfheimr Asgard Jötunheimr Midgard Muspelheim Niðavellir Helheim Niflheim Vanaheimr Connected by the tree Yggdrasil Cosmogenesis, cyclic time, and eschatology Ginnungagap Ymir Auðumbla Ragnarök Other Mundilfari Dellingr Hræsvelgr Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri Viðfinnr Death in Germanic mythology and paganism Figures in Mythology Dísir Freyja Gefjon Hel ( being ) Norns Odin Rán Sleipnir Valkyrie Locations in Mythology Fólkvangr Hel ( location ) Neorxnawang Valhalla Entities Draugr Einherjar Burial practices Bog body Hogback ( sculpture ) Stone ship Tumulus See also Matres and Matronae Rebirth in North Germanic religion Soul ( etymology ) Norse mythology Deities and other figures Æsir Baldr Bragi Dellingr Forseti Heimdallr Hermóðr Höðr Hœnir Ítreksjóð Lóðurr Loki Máni Meili Mímir Móði and Magni Odin Óðr Thor Týr Ullr Váli Víðarr Vili and Vé Ásynjur Bil Eir Frigg Fulla Gefjon Gerðr Gná Hlín Iðunn Ilmr Irpa Lofn Nanna Njörun Rán Rindr Sága Sif Sigyn Sjöfn Skaði Snotra Sól Syn Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr Þrúðr Vár Vör Vanir Freyja Freyr Ingunar - Freyr Yngvi Gersemi Gullveig Hnoss Kvasir Njörðr Sister - wife of Njörðr Jötnar Ægir Alvaldi Angrboða Aurboða Baugi Beli Bergelmir Bestla Bölþorn Býleistr Eggthér Fárbauti Fjörgyn and Fjörgynn Fornjót Gangr Geirröd Gilling Gjálp and Greip Gríðr Gunnlöð Gymir Harðgreipr Helblindi Helreginn Hljod Hræsvelgr Hrímgerðr Hrímgrímnir Hrímnir Hroðr Hrungnir Hrym Hymir Hyrrokkin Iði Im Járnsaxa Jörð Laufey Leikn Litr Logi Mögþrasir Narfi Sökkmímir Surtr Suttungr Þjazi Þökk Þrívaldi Þrúðgelmir Þrymr Útgarða - Loki Vafþrúðnir Váli Víðblindi Vosud Vörnir Ymir Dwarfs Alvíss Andvari Billingr Brokkr Dáinn Durinn Dúrnir Dvalinn Eitri Fafnir Fjalar and Galar Gandalf Hreiðmarr Litr Mótsognir Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri Ótr Regin Sons of Ivaldi Heroes Egil Arngrim Bödvar Bjarki Björn Járnsíða Guðmundr Hagbarðr Haki Heiðrekr Helgi Haddingjaskati Helgi Hjörvarðsson Helgi Hundingsbane Hervör Hjalmar and Ingeborg Hlöðr Höðbroddr Hrólfr Kraki Ingjald Jónakr 's sons Örvar - Oddr Palnatoke Ragnarr Loðbrók Rerir Sigmund Sigurðr Svafrlami Sinfjötli Starkaðr Styrbjörn the Strong Svipdagr Völsung Vésteinn Others Ask and Embla Auðumbla Beyla Borr Búri Byggvir Dís Einherjar Eldir Elves Dark elves ( Dökkálfar ) Light elves ( Ljósálfar ) Black elves ( Svartálfar ) Fimafeng Fenrir Garmr Hati Hróðvitnisson Hel Hjúki Horses of the Æsir Árvakr and Alsviðr Blóðughófi Falhófnir Gísl Glaðr Glær Glenr Grani Gullfaxi Gulltoppr Gyllir Hamskerpir and Garðrofa Hófvarpnir Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi Sleipnir Svaðilfari Jafnhárr Jörmungandr Móðguðr Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán Nine Mothers of Heimdallr Narfi and Nari Níðhöggr Norns Personifications Dagr Elli Nótt Sumarr and Vetr Skírnir Sköll Shieldmaiden Þjálfi and Röskva Valkyrie Völundr Locations Nine Realms Álfheimr Asgard Jötunheimr Midgard Muspelheim Niðavellir / Svartálfaheimr Niflheim Vanaheimr Hel ( heimr ) Underworld Éljúðnir Gjallarbrú Náströnd Niflhel Niðafjöll Rivers Élivágar Gjöll Ífingr Kerlaugar Körmt and Örmt Slidr River Vadgelmir Vimur River Other locations Amsvartnir Andlang Barri Bifröst Bilskirnir Brávellir Brimir Fensalir Fólkvangr Fornsigtuna Fyrisvellir Gálgviðr Gandvik Gastropnir Gimlé Ginnungagap Glaðsheimr Glæsisvellir Glitnir Gnipahellir Grove of fetters Himinbjörg Hindarfjall Hlidskjalf Hnitbjorg Hoddmímis holt Iðavöllr Járnviðr Mímameiðr Myrkviðr Munarvágr Nóatún Okolnir Sessrúmnir Sindri Singasteinn Þrúðheimr Þrúðvangr Þrymheimr Útgarðar Valaskjálf Valhalla Víðbláinn Vígríðr Vingólf Wells Hvergelmir Mímisbrunnr Urðarbrunnr Ýdalir Yggdrasil Events Æsir -- Vanir War Fimbulvetr Hjaðningavíg Ragnarök Sources Gesta Danorum Poetic Edda Prose Edda Runestones Sagas Tyrfing Cycle Völsung Cycle Old Norse language Orthography Later influence Society Blót Félag Germanic calendar Heiti Hörgr Kenning Mead hall Nīþ Norse pagan worship Numbers Sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology Seiðr Skald Viking Age Völva See also Norse gods Norse giants Mythological Norse people, items and places Germanic paganism Heathenry ( new religious movement ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title= Rán&oldid = 850992748 '' Categories : Ásynjur Sea and river goddesses Talk Contents About Wikipedia Ænglisc Bosanski Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Euskara فارسی Français Galego 한국어 Hrvatski Italiano Latina Lietuvių Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Română Русский Simple English Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська 中文 24 more Edit links This page was last edited on 19 July 2018, at 10 : 25 ( UTC ). 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Question: who was the norse goddess of the sea
Answer: Rán