Ginnunga-gap: The misleading gap

2010-01-01

Last revision 2024-02-22

In the beginning:

Ginnunga-gap

The misleading gap

A great nothingness

According to old Icelandic texts, the universe started with a great void, a misleading gap. Then ice and fire started the creation of the visible world. This gap was called Ginnungagap.

Ginnungagap or gap var ginnunga

The Icelandic skalds were wordsmiths: they forged words and sounds together into kennings. A kenning is a word in which the meaning of the object or an aspect of the object is revealed. Thus 'branch-eater' is a kenning for fire, it reveals an aspect of fire. 'Water heater' could also be a kenning for fire, but (nowadays) also for an electric kettle or a central heating boiler.

The Völuspá 3 states: gap var ginnunga. This means: The gap was ginnunga, where ginnunga can be interpreted as mighty and young or as deception, joking. Space can be seen as a gap with galaxies.

The beginning of everything is ginnunga gap. This is a kenning for the universe. It is a deceptive (ginna, ginning) hole. It is also the open space (gap) for the great jester (ginnungr): Óðinn. At the same time it is the great young chaos: great (ginn) young (ungr) chaos (agi). You can compare these meanings with the maya concept of the Brahmins. According to the ancient indo-european insights, creation is a deception and you can only find the truth within yourself.

Zarvan Akarana

The idea that the creation started with an empty void is old and predates the separation between the Germanic peoples and 'the zoro-astrians'. See Edda means wit and Where did Germanic peoples come from.

According the oldest cosmology of the zoro-astrians the universe began as Zarvan Akarana. Zurvan is assumed to be 'a god' without gender and beyond (or before) good and bad. I believe, that Zarvan Akarana refers to empty space without time. Time is measured by the change of things. But when there is only an empty gap with nothing in it, then you can not measure time. So empty space is always timeless.

In my opinion it is a mistake to imagine Zurvan as a god or deity. Zurvan refers to something before the creation started. In the terminology of astrophysics: It refers to that what caused 'the big bang'. Any speculation of that 'something' seems pointless to me. (See: A modern vision of man and god)

Further reading: Iranian encyclopedia, Brittanica, zoroaster

Het grote gein gat (The great joke hole)

If I had to translate Ginnunga-gap into Dutch, I would call it 'Het grote gein gat' or in English 'The great joke hole'. Without any evidence it is stated, that the Dutch woord 'gein' comes from the Yiddish word 'chein'. See etymologie.nl. But 'een geintje uithalen' has a strong relation with deception as a joke. So 'gein' could also be similar to 'ginna' and 'ginning'.

The Dutch language also has the word 'ginnegappen'. The oldest form of this word is in a sentence dated 1613: 'wat let u te ginnegabben?' (Why would you not laugh mockingly?) See etymologie.nl. Ginnegappen generally means making verbal jokes and laugh mockingly.

The Great Young Chaos

The description of Ginnunga-gap in the old Icelandic texts show a picture of an enormous expanse that is young and chaotic. So I like to believe, that Ginnunga-gap also means 'The Great Young Chaos'.

According to astrophysicists, the Universe started with a big bang. They do not supply any evidence for the bigness of the bang. Nor do they dare to speculate about the cause of the bang. Perhaps the creator of the Universe ate beans and onions and he let out a string of farts. And one of these farts could be our Universe. Was it a big bang or perhaps a small bang? Perhaps our whole Universe is nothing more than a tiny bang. That would be a good joke.

But it seems likely, that in the beginning the Universe was a Great Young Chaos.

Völuspá 3

In the Völuspá we read:

ár var alda

at the beginning was old cycle

þar er ymir byggði

that place which ymir colonized

empty space was mighty and young

en gras hvergi

and grass nowhere

At the beginning of the old cycle

the place were Ymir lived

there was no sand or sea

and no cool waves.

Jörð was not created

nor the sky above

empty space was mighty and young

and there was no grass.

The last line gives evidence, that this story is ancient. The old Germanic peoples probably came from tribal people that lived on horseback in Central Asia. No grass means no horses. See: Where did Germanic peoples come from.

I interpret 'ginnunga' as 'ginn ungr' which translates to mighty, great and young. 'Ginnunga' translates to deception, joking. Then the translation of the 7th line would be:

empty space was deceptive

The word Maya in Indian religion refers to the same deceptiveness of the Universe.

Völuspá 4

In the Völuspá we read:

When the sons of Bur raised the ground (above sea-level)

they who shaped glorious Middle Earth.

The sun shines from the south upon a hall of stone (Middle Earth).

The ground thawed and became grassy and green with leek. (So there was food for the horses.)

gylfaginning 4

In the gylfaginning we read:

Gangleri said: "What was the beginning. How did things start? What was before?"

Hárr answered: "As is told in Völuspá:"

This text is not equal to the text in the Völuspá that we know. In gylfaginning 5 this unknown Völuspá is called 'other shorter Völuspá'.

At the beginning of the old cycle

then there was nothing

there was no sand or sea

and no cool waves.

Jörð was not created

nor the sky above

empty space was mighty and young

and there was no grass.

There are four different versions of the gylfaginning. At some places there are huge differences. See gylfaginning. I give two versions here under.

Version Codex Regius.

þá mælti jafnhár

fyrr var þat mörgum öldum

en jörð var sköpuð

er niflheimr var görr

ok í honum miðjum liggr bruðr

sá er hvergelmir heitir

ok þaðan af falla þær ár er svá heita

svöl gunnþrá fjörm fimbul þul slíðr ok hríð sylgr ok ylgr víð leiptr

gjöll er næst hel grindum

then said Just-as-high

before there were so many ages

when jörð (the earth, Mother Earth) was shaped

was niflheimr (home of mist) made ready

and in its center lies spring

that is hvergelmir named

and from that origin flow these rivers are thus named

Svöl, Gunnþrá, Fjörm, Fimbul, Þul, fierce, cruel, fearful and snowstorm sylgr and Ylgr, Víð, lightning flash

barker is nearest to Hal gate

Then said Just-as-high

Before there were so many cycles

before Jörð (Mother Earth) was shaped

Niflheimar was made ready.

In the center there is a spring

hver-gelmir it is named.

and from there flow

rivers with these names.

svöl gunnþrá fjörm fimbul þul slíðr ok hríð sylgr ok ylgr víð leiptr

Gjöll is nearest to the gate of Hal.

þá mælir þriði

fyrstr var þó sá heimr í suðrhálfu er muspell heitir

hann er ljóss ok heitr svá at logandi ok brennandi er hann

ok ófœrr þeim er

þar eru útlendir

ok eigi eigu þar óðul sá er surtr

nefndr er þar sitr á lands

enda til landvarnar hann hefir loganda sverð

ok í enda veraldar mun hann fara

ok herja ok sigra öll guðin

ok brenna allan heim með eldi

svá segir í völuspá

Then said Third

First was Muspell made, a world in the southern half (of Ginnunga gap).

It is bright and hot, blazing and burning.

It is impassable for those that are not decended from Surtr

it is outlandish

There is no solid land there, everything is molten.

To protect the world (Muspellr) he (surtr) has a flaming sword.

And when it comes to the end of the world (Middle Earth) he comes

to wage war and slay all gods

and burn all homes with all the people.

so says the Völuspá.

Völuspá 51

In the Völuspá we read:

Surtr comes from the south with distorted cries,

his sword shines like the sun.

The gods that are destined to fall

are crushed with stones,

when bloodthirsty savages roam Middle Earth.

Men go on the road to Hall

and the sky is cloven (by the flaming sword of Surtr).

The second line is usually interpreted as 'með sviga lævi'. This does not connect to Icelandic words. The original manuscript is hard to read. The last letter of the word 'læti' or 'lævi' is interpreted as an 'i', but it also looks like an 'a'. The letter before that looks a bit like letters that are used for 'v', but it is not exactly the same.

The fourth line: valtíva is interpreted as val tíva, where tíva translates to 'gods'. Tíva generally refers to the Ace Týr. But in poetic writings it is often used as 'god'. At the end of the cycle we get the fall of 'the regin', the ruling powers or 'gods'. Perhaps the meaning of this line is that these 'gods' are clashed with stones.

gylfaginning 5

In the gylfaginning we read:

then spake Hár

rivers they which named are élivágar

then when they were so far come from where they gushed out and up

along with the rivers came poison that came to life that what there followed hardened like as slag or dross

that what flows out of brought forth and then became it ice

and then that ice became a place

and flows not then falls as rime over such as drizzling rain that which originated stood poisonous

and froze to rime

and increase rime covered where over second very unpromising in Ginnungagap

The rivers mentioned above are named élivágar. When they were so far from where they gushed out, a poison that came along with the rivers came to life and hardened like a slag of dross. And that what flows out brought forth (something, a creature) and that became ice. Then ice became a place (or a world). And when the rivers flowed no more, then the vapor came down like drizzling rain, and that was poisonous, and it froze to rime. Rime covered rime, layer upon layer and it became a very unpromising creature in Ginnungagap.

It is usually assumed that élivágar comes from él vágar. Then it translates to 'ice waves' or 'rivers of rain'. But perhaps we should read it as eldi vágar. Then we can interpret élivágar as 'waves of creation'. In these streams there was a quickening. And then Ymir, the primordial giant, came to life.

The manuscripts read eitr kvikja. The usual translation of eitr is poison. I can not find any other possible translation of this word. But it feels wrong. Why are these rivers poisonous? Why came Ymir (the primordial giant) from poison? Was it Christian prejudice of Snorri Sturluson? Or has the word eitr also another meaning?

What we know of Ginnunga-gap, is that the northern part is filled with the quality of heaviness, with ice and rime, very hard to deal with, and there is a drizzling rain and gusts of smelly fog. But the southern part of Ginnunga-gap is light and sparkling and every where there are sparkles from Muspellr.

Then Third said: "Like the cold was supported by Niflheimar (land of mists) and all things that are grim, so was that what had knowledge (wit) of Múspellr called light. And Ginnunga gap was warm as air without wind. And then there was an encounter between rime and wind heated (by Muspellr). Thus there was a battle of fire and ice, which melted the ice to a dripping rain. And then this dripping fluid was brought to life by the power that was sent by the heat and it got a manly form that was named Ymir. But ice giants call him Aurgelmi (roaring mud, roaring clay). And then came the race of ice giants. So it was declared in the other shorter Völuspá:

Note: In the text it is said: Then came the race of Ice giants. It does not say, that the ice giants descended from Ymir. But perhaps that was what the writer wanted to say. As far as I know, there is not an exact specification in the old Icelandic writings about the origin of the hrímþursar (Ice giants) and jötnar (Fire giants). Nor is it stated when these giants came into being. In my interpretation the hrímþursar and the jötnar already existed before Ymir. The jötnar live in 'the southern part' of ginnungagap and the hrímþursar live in 'the northern part'.

from wit-alf (alf with wit)

sorcerers all

from vilmeiði (name of Óðinn)

and bearers of the seidr

from black head (name of Óðinn)

all fire giants

from ymir came

This quote from 'the other shorter Völuspá' seems wrong. seiðberendr comes from seiðr bera. It can be interpreted as 'those who produce (or give birth to) the seidr and bear themselves proudly and humbly. So the seiðberendr are the volva's. They are devoted to Freya and not to Óðinn. And they are already named in the first two lines. Ymir has just been described as a product of the battle between the heat of Muspellr and the cold of Niflheimar. How can Fire giants decent from Ymir? The fire giants already lived in Jötunheimar. And the ice giants already lived in Niflheimar. (That is how I interpret the old texts.) It is possible that the writer of this text assumed that jötnar were the same as the hrímþursar. And that he not made a distinction between ice giants and fire giants. From a shamanic point of view that is problematic. These lines seem to be the product of someone who did not know the old wit.

en hér segir svá vafþrúðnir jötunn

and here follows what is declared by vafþrúðnir the jötunn

hvaðan aurgelmir kom

með jötna sonum

fyrst inn fróði jötunn

from aurgelmir comes

with jötunn's sons

foremost into knowledge jötunn

From Aurgelmir comes with the sons of the jötna (plural of jötunn) the Jötunn who is foremost in wit (of knowledge).

These lines seem wrong to me. And these lines are not in the Codex Upsaliensis version. It seems to me, that these lines have been added later by someone without enough wit (knowledge) of the old cosmology. Aurgelmir is how the Ice giants call Ymir. Ymir was born out of the battle of Ice and Fire. Ice melted and became liquid and vapors. Out of these four elements Ymir was born. The word Jötunn means devourer and refers to fire. 'Devourer of wood' is a kenning for fire. The jötna are the Fire giants. It seems to me, that they existed before Ymir. The hrímþursar (ice giants) also existed before Ymir. But in the following quoted verse of Vafþrúðnismál it is stated, that Ymir was a Jötunn. I see three different explanations for this discrepancy:

My shamanic interpretation deviates from what the Icelandic people believed.
The writers of these text had forgotten about the nature of the several races of giants.
There were many different believes and stories about the 'supernatural beings'.

Vafþrúðnismál 31

In the Vafþrúðnismál we read:

Poisonous drops spat out of the Élivágar (ice waves or waves of creation) and they became a jötunn.

The last two lines do not exist in the Vafþrúðnismál and are taken from Gylfaginning (Snorri Sturluson's Edda). The Codex Regius version has the lines shown above. But I replaced the word órar with ór ár. The word órar doesn't make sense. The interpretation then becomes:

From the river (came poisonous drops and formed to Ymir and from that came) a race (that) lives all together. They are so very ugly and hideous.

The Codex Upsaliensis version has the following text:

þær einar ættir koma saman

that one race come together

I assume, that these line refers to the race of ice giants or hrímþursar. And that these hrímþursar exist from the first beginning, before Ymir came to life. But the text is not clear.

The picture:

runictarot/jpeggroot/shields/Ginnungagap.jpg

This picture is completely black.

Explanation:

Creation has yet to begin. The deceptive hole is still completely void and without light. This is the period before the 'Big Bang'. There is absolutely nothing yet.

This is also the period before conception. When the man injects his red-hot semen into the dark primordial matter (the egg), the darkness splits and creation begins. This hasn't happened yet. The egg is still unfertilized. The first mating has yet to take place.

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