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giant

Mundilfari

The father of the Sun and the Moon; Snorri says the gods took his children into the sky because he dared to name them after the heavenly lights.

Mundilfari is the father of the sun and moon, and that is nearly all the sources say. In Vafþrúðnismál, Odin asks the giant where the moon and the sun came from, and is told: "Mundilferi is he who begat the moon, / And fathered the flaming sun" Vafþrúðnismál 23.

Snorri builds a short story on this. Mundilfari, "a certain man", had two children so beautiful that he named his son Moon and his daughter Sun. "The gods were incensed at that insolence" and took both children up into the sky, where Sól drives the sun's horses and Máni steers the moon Gylfaginning 11. In this telling Mundilfari is not a god and not a creator; his offence is naming his children after the lights of heaven. Neither the poem nor Snorri explains how the sun and moon could exist before the children were named after them.

Mundilfari is filed here among the giants, but neither source says what race he is. Snorri calls him simply "a certain man", and the poem gives no hint. The skalds used his name in kennings: the sun is "Daughter of Mundilfari" Skáldskaparmál 26.

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.

Mundilferi is he who begat the moon, And fathered the flaming sun; The round of heaven each day they run, To tell the time for men.
Vafþrúðnismál 23 The giant Vafþrúðnir names Mundilfari as father of moon and sun.
A certain man was named Mundilfari, who had two children; they were so fair and comely that he called his son Moon, and his daughter Sun
Gylfaginning 11 Snorri's story of Mundilfari's presumption and its punishment.
How should one periphrase the sun? By calling her Daughter of Mundilfari
Skáldskaparmál 26 Mundilfari's name in a kenning for the sun.

Myths with Mundilfari

Odin's contest of wisdom with Vafþrúðnir Against Frigg's advice, Odin goes in disguise to the wisest of the giants and stakes his head on a contest of questions about the creation, the gods and the end of the world. He wins with a question only he can answer. Sun, Moon, Night and Day How the Norse sources explain the sky's clock: Night and Day ride round the world on two horses, the children of Mundilfari drive the sun and moon, and two wolves chase them until the end of the world.

Related

Sól The sun as a goddess: daughter of Mundilfari and sister of the Moon, she drives the sun's horses across the sky with a wolf at her heels. Máni The moon as a god: son of Mundilfari and brother of the Sun, he steers the moon's course and governs its waxing and waning, pursued by a wolf. Árvakr and Alsviðr Árvakr ok Alsviðr The two horses that pull the sun across the sky, cooled by an 'iron cool' that the gods set under their yokes. Nótt Night personified: a dark giant's daughter who rides around the earth on the horse Hrímfaxi, whose bit-foam falls as dew; mother of Day and of Earth. Nörfi The giant of Jötunheim who is the father of Night; the poems call him Nor. Not to be confused with Loki's son Narfi.