Gillingr

"Gilling" redirects here. For other uses, see Gilling (disambiguation).

Gillingr (Old Norse: [ˈɡilːeŋɡz̠]; also Gilling) is a jötunn in Norse mythology, and the father of Suttungr.^[1] Gillingr and, later, his wife are murdered by the dwarfs Fjalar and Galar. In revenge, his son Suttungr tortures the dwarfs into giving him the mead of poetry.^[2]

Name

The Old Norse name Gillingr has been translated as 'screamer'.^[2] It is a related to the Old Norse verb gjalla ('to scream, yell'; compare with Icelandic gjalla, Norwegian gjella, or Swedish gälla).^[3]

Attestations

Prose Edda

In Skáldskaparmál (The Language of Poetry), the dwarfs Fjalar and Galar kill Gillingr by overturning his boat.^[2][1] When his wife hears of the news, she is "greatly distressed" and "weeps loudly" and the dwarf Galar, "weary of her howling", eventually kills her by dropping a millstone on her head.^[4]

Then these dwarfs invited to stay with them a giant called Gilling and his wife. Then the dwarfs invited Gilling to go out to sea in a boat with them. But as they went along the coast the dwarfs rowed on to a shoal and the boat capsized. Gilling could not swim and was drowned, but the dwarfs righted their boat and rowed to land.

— Skáldskaparmál, 57–58, trans. A. Faulkes, 1987.

Viking Age

Gillingr is mentioned in a skaldic verse by Eyvindr skáldaspillir (10th c. AD), who portrays the mead of poetry as "Gilling’s compensation".^[2]

I desire silence for Har’s ale [Odin’s mead, poetry] while I raise Gilling’s payment [the mead], while his descent in pot-liquid [the mead, poetry] of gallows-cargo [Odin] we trace to gods.

— Eyvindr skáldaspillir, Skáld. 3, trans. A. Faulkes, 1987.

Legacy

Gillingr is also a surname, although not very common.^{[citation needed]}