poetic terms for the sun is álfro ̨ðull, ‘elf-halo’, could be taken to imply that
elves made it. There is a long-standing theory that the name of the Vedic
R
̇
bhus, whose marvellous craftsmanship was also mentioned in Chapter 3, is
cognate with elf.^62 The phonological equivalence is not perfect, however,
as the Germanic word is an o-stem, not a u-stem, and different Ablaut grades
have to be assumed in the root, h 2 elbh-/h 2 l
̊
bh-. The alternative connection
of R
̇
bhú- with Greek Orpheus is easier linguistically (if we posit dialect
transmission), though the figures have next to nothing in common.^63
GIANTSThe remaining category of articulate creature recognized in the Alvíssmál
and the Edda generally, besides the Æsir, Vanir, mankind, Elves, and Dwarfs, is
that of the Giants (Io ̨tnar). Giants appear as a class also in Greek and Ossetic
mythology, and individual giants in Celtic, Baltic, and Slavonic. Great size is
hardly a significant unifying feature in itself, but perhaps we can identify
other motifs that may suggest elements of a shared heritage.
Giants differ from nymphs, elves, and other groups that we have been
considering in that they do not live in the countryside around us but in a
remoter, separate region: the sprites that we are liable to see in the wild are
our own size or smaller. Giants are essentially figures of story, not objects of
superstitious fear, and they do not receive offerings, as nymphs and other
sprites often do. They are often treated as extinct. In the stories they are always
worsted, or at any rate kept in their place. They have tremendous physical
strength in proportion to their size, and an aggressive, bullying nature, but no
subtlety of mind.
The Nart heroes of Caucasian legend fought various enemies, among them
the giants who formerly dwelt in the mountains. The land where the giants
lived, according to one Abkhaz account, was encircled by a massive stone wall.
They were generally conceived to be one-eyed, like the Greek Cyclopes, and
indeed one of the Nart stories closely parallels Odysseus’ adventure with
Polyphemus.^64 This is, of course, a folk-tale with a wide distribution and not a
(^62) A. Kuhn, ZVS 4 (1855), 109 f.; E. H. Meyer, Anzeiger für deutsches Altertum 13 (1887), 31–6;
id., Germanische Mythologie (Berlin 1891), 124; Dronke (1997), 261–3; E. C. Polomé in EIEC
177b. Meyer compares the R
̇
bhus’ feat in dividing the gods’ cup into four with the dwarf Eitri’s
forging of the gold ring Draupnir, which became nine rings every ninth night (Skáldsk. 35).
(^63) Cf. A. Kuhn, ZVS 4 (1855), 114; M. Estell, JIES 27 (1999), 327–33.
(^64) Sikojev (1985), 54–60, 322; Colarusso (2002), 163, 170 n. 1, 200 f., 362.
- Nymphs and Gnomes 297