Angrboða


Angrboða is a jötunn in Norse mythology. She is the mate of Loki and the mother of monsters.
Angrboða is only mentioned once in the Poetic Edda '' as the mother of Fenrir by Loki. She is also described in the Prose Edda as "a giantess in Jötunheimar" and as the mother of three monsters: the wolf Fenrir, the Midgard serpent Jörmungand, and the ruler of the dead Hel.

Name

The Old Norse name Angrboða has been translated as 'the one who brings grief', 'she-who-offers-sorrow', or 'harm-bidder'.

Attestations

Angrboða

In Völuspá hin skamma, Angrboða is mentioned as the mate of Loki and mother of the wolf.
Gylfaginning mentions the three monstrous children of Angrboða: the wolf Fenrir, the Midgard serpent Jörmungand, and the ruler of the dead Hel.

Giantess in Ironwood

Völuspá also mentions a jötunn living in Járnvid, most likely identified with Angrboða.
This stanza is paraphrased by Snorri Sturluson in Gylfaginning.
In the stanza 42 of Völuspá, Eggþér is portrayed as the herder of the jötunn who lives in Járnviðr, perhaps her wolf-herder.

Theories

According to scholar Andy Orchard, "hatever the antiquity of the notion that these three monsters were born of Loki and a giantess, the name Angrboda seems to date from no earlier than the twelfth century."