Máni

In Norse mythology, Máni (Old Norse "moon") is the moon personified. Máni, personified, is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Both sources state that he is the brother of the personified sun, Sól, and the son of Mundilfari, while the Prose Edda adds that he is followed by the children Hjúki and Bil through the heavens.

Attestations

Poetic Edda

In stanza 23 of the poem Vafþrúðnismál, the god Odin (disguised as "Gagnráðr") tasks the jötunn Vafþrúðnir with a question about the origins of the sun and the moon, whom he describes as journeying over mankind. Vafþrúðnir responds that Mundilfari is the father of both Sól and Máni, and that they must pass through the heavens every day to count the years for mankind:

Mundilfæri hight he, who the moon's father is,

and eke the sun's; round heaven journey each day they must,

to count years for men.

Prose Edda

In the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, Máni is referenced in three chapters. In chapter 8, the enthroned figure of High quotes stanza 5 of Völuspá, and the figure of Third, also enthroned, adds that this occurred prior to the creation of the earth. In chapter 11, High says that Máni and his sister Sól are the children of a man by the name of Mundilfari. The children were so fair that Mundilfari named them "moon" and "sun", which was perceived as arrogance by the gods, and it so angered the gods that they placed the brother and sister in the heavens. There, Máni "guides the path of the moon and controls its waxing and waning."

Additionally, Máni is followed through the heavens by the brother and sister children Hjúki and Bil "as can be seen from the earth", whom he took from the earth while they fetched water from a well. In chapter 51, High foretells the events of Ragnarök, including that Máni will be consumed by one of two wolves chasing the heavenly bodies.

In the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, Sól is referred to in chapter 26 as "sister of Máni", and in chapter 56 names are given for the moon: "lune", "waxer", "waner", "year-counter", "clipped", "shiner", "gloam", "hastener", "squinter" and "gleamer".

See also

• Monday, named after the moon in Germanic societies.

Notes

References

• Byock, Jesse (Trans.) (2005). The Prose Edda. Penguin Classics. ISBN 0140447555
• Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995). Edda. Everyman. ISBN 0-4608-7616-3
• Larrington, Carolyne (Trans.) (1999). The Poetic Edda. Oxford World's Classics. ISBN 0192839462
• Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell. ISBN 0 304 34520 2