Nanna (Norse deity)
In the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, Nanna is married to Baldr and the couple produced a son, the god Forseti.
Scholars have debated connections between Nanna and other similarly named deities from other cultures, and the implications of the goddess' attestations.
[a] McKinnell (2005)[4] notes that the "mother" and *nanþ- derivations may not be distinct, commenting that nanna may have once meant "she who empowers".
[4]: 144 In the Poetic Edda poem Hyndluljóð, a figure by the name of Nanna is listed as the daughter of Nökkvi and as a relative of Óttar.
[5]: 314 In chapter 38 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, the enthroned figure of "High" explains that Nanna Nepsdóttir (the last name meaning "Nepr's daughter") and her husband Baldr produced a son, the god Forseti.
[6]: 26 Later in Gylfaginning (chapter 49), "High" recounts Baldr's death in Asgard at the unwitting hands of his blind brother, Höðr.
Her body is placed upon Hringhorni with Baldr's, the ship is set aflame, and the god Thor hallows the pyre with his hammer Mjölnir.
Nanna presents to Hermóðr a series of gifts: A linen robe for Frigg, a golden ring for the goddess Fulla, and other unspecified items.
[6]: 49–50 In the first chapter of the Prose Edda book "Skáldskaparmál", Nanna is listed among 8 goddesses attending a feast held in honor of Ægir.
[6]: 157 In chapter 18, the skald Eilífr Goðrúnarson's work Þórsdrápa is quoted, which includes a kenning that references Nanna ("wake-hilt-Nanna" for "troll-wife").
Name spellings are derived from Oliver Elton's 1905 translation, The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus, via Wikisource.
[e] Scholar Simek (2007)[2] opines that identification with Inanna, Nannar, or Nana is "hardly likely"[2]: 227 since they were so widely separated in time and place.
[2] Davidson (2008)[7] agrees by understating that while "the idea of a link with Sumerian Inanna, 'Lady of Heaven', was attractive to early scholars" the notion "seems unlikely".
