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dwarf

Mótsognir

The first and mightiest of the dwarves in Völuspá, made when the gods decided to shape the race of dwarves; Snorri calls him Módsognir.

Mótsognir is the first of the dwarves. He has a single moment in the sources, at the start of the dwarf list in Völuspá.

The gods, the poem says, held council "to find who should raise the race of dwarfs / Out of Brimir's blood and the legs of Blain" Völuspá 9. Then: "There was Motsognir the mightiest made / Of all the dwarfs, and Durin next; / Many a likeness of men they made, / The dwarfs in the earth, as Durin said" Völuspá 10. The stanza is ambiguous. "They" may be the gods, shaping dwarves in human likeness, or Mótsognir and Durinn themselves, making the rest of their race. Translators and scholars read it both ways.

Snorri gives the same order — "Módsognir was the first, and Durinn the second" — and cites Völuspá for it Gylfaginning 14. His surrounding account is his own: the Dwarves began as maggots in the flesh of Ymir and were given human shape and understanding by the gods.

Nothing else is told of Mótsognir.

In the sources

Quoted from the hosted translations; each line is checked against the text when the site is built. Select a reference to read it in context.

There was Motsognir the mightiest made Of all the dwarfs, and Durin next
Völuspá 10 Mótsognir is the first and greatest of the dwarves, with Durinn second.
Módsognir was the first, and Durinn the second; so it says in Völuspá.
Gylfaginning 14 Snorri repeats Völuspá, spelling the name Módsognir.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • The meaning of the name is disputed; Völuspá's form is Mótsognir and Snorri's (as Brodeur gives it) Módsognir.
  • Völuspá does not say who made Mótsognir or whether he and Durinn then made the other dwarves; the lines can be read either way.

Related

Durinn The second of the dwarves in Völuspá, after Mótsognir; the dwarves were made in the earth 'as Durin said'. Tolkien borrowed the name. Dwarves dvergar The underground smiths of Norse myth, made from the giant Ymir's flesh or blood; they forge the gods' greatest treasures, brew the mead of poetry, and fear the daylight. Dvalinn A dwarf named often but never given a story: a leader of the dwarves in Völuspá, the carver of runes for the dwarves in Hávamál, father of some of the Norns, and the name of one of Yggdrasil's stags. Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri Norðri, Suðri, Austri, Vestri Four dwarves named for the cardinal directions; Snorri says the gods set one under each corner of the sky, which is made from Ymir's skull. Ymir The first being, a giant who woke in the melting rime of the primeval void. Odin and his brothers killed him and built the world from his body.