In Norse mythology, Bergelmir (Old Norse, "Mountain Yeller" or "Bear Yeller"^[1]) was a frost giant, the son of Thrudgelmir and the grandson of Aurgelmir or Ymir, the first giant, according to stanza 29 of the poem Vafthrudnismal from the Poetic Edda:

"Uncountable winters before the earth was made,

then Bergelmir was born,

Thrudgelmir was his father,

and Aurgelmir his grandfather."

? Larrington trans.

According to the Gylfaginning section of the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, Bergelmir and his wife alone among the giants were the only survivors of the enormous deluge of blood which flowed from Ymir's wounds when he was killed by Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve. They escaped the sanguinary flood by climbing onto an ark^[2] and subsequently became the progenitors of a new race of frost giants. Both John Lindow and Carolyne Larrington agree with scholarly consensus that Snorri borrowed from Judeo-Christian tradition for his mythological account of the Flood.

References

• Faulkes, Anthony (transl.) (1987). Edda (Snorri Sturluson). Everyman. ISBN 0-460-87616-3.
• Larrington, Carolyne (transl.) (1996). The Poetic Edda. Oxford World's Classics. ISBN 0-19-283946-2.
• Lindow, John (2001). Norse Mythology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195153820.

Notes

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