Bergelmir

"Mountain-roarer?" A jötunn, born winters unmeasured ere the earth was formed. He is the son of Þrúðgelmir, and grandson of the giant Aurgelmir. He is mentioned twice in the eddic poem Vafþrúðnismál and is listed among the giants in the Nafnaþulur section of Skáldskaparmál.

According to Gylfaginning, when the sons of Borr slew Ymir, so much blood gushed out of his wounds that the whole race of frost-giants drowned in it. Only Bergelmir escaped with his household on his lúðr (which Snorri Sturluson interpreted as something that would float, and which may have meant coffin, chest, mill-bench or mortar). Bergelmir and his wife thus survived the flood and became the progenitors of a new race of frost giants.

The story may have been borrowed from, or influenced by, the biblical account of the Flood.

References

Sources

  • Gylfaginning, 7.
  • Vafþrúðnismál, 29, 35.