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god or goddess

Dagr

Day personified: son of Night and the bright Dellingr, he rides round the earth behind his mother on the horse Skinfaxi, whose mane lights the world.

Dagr, Day, is the son of Night. In Vafþrúðnismál, Odin asks where day and night came from, and the giant answers that "the father of day is Delling called, / And the night was begotten by Nor" Vafþrúðnismál 25. Snorri combines the two lines into a family: Night's third husband was Dellingr ("Dayspring" in Brodeur's translation), "of the race of the Æsir", and their son was Day, "radiant and fair after his father" Gylfaginning 10.

Allfather gave mother and son each a horse and a chariot and set them riding round the earth. Night goes first; Day follows on Skinfaxi, "Sheen-Mane", who "illumines all the air and the earth from his mane" Gylfaginning 10. The poem already knows the horse: Skinfaxi draws "the glittering day" and "brightly his mane doth burn" Vafþrúðnismál 12. See Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi.

Day has no story of his own. In Snorri's arrangement, Day lights the world while the sun, driven by Sól, is a separate thing; the poems do not explain how the two relate. A Skáldskaparmál list gives Day a second horse, Glaðr Skáldskaparmál 57.

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.

Last of all Dayspring had her, and he was of the race of the Æsir; their son was Day: he was radiant and fair after his father.
Gylfaginning 10 Snorri makes Day the son of Night and Dellingr.
The father of day is Delling called
Vafþrúðnismál 25 The poem names Day's father.
Skinfaxi is he, the steed who for men The glittering day doth draw; The best of horses to heroes he seems, And brightly his mane doth burn.
Vafþrúðnismál 12 The horse that draws the day.

Myths with Dagr

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

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. Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi Skinfaxi ok Hrímfaxi The horses of Day and Night: Skinfaxi's mane lights the earth and sky, and the foam from Hrímfaxi's bit falls each morning as dew. 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. 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.