Glasir: Golden Leaves Before Valhöll

How shall gold be named? It may be called fire; the needles of Glaser;

Why is gold called the needles or leaves of Glaser? In Asgard, before the doors of Valhal, stands a grove which is called Glaser, and all its leaves are of red gold, as is here sung: Glaser stands With golden leaves Before Sigtyr’s halls. This is the fairest forest among gods and men.

Glasir appears in Skáldskaparmál as the answer to a question about poetic language: why is gold called the needles or leaves of Glasir? Snorri’s reply is that in Ásgarðr, before the doors of Valhöll, there stands a grove of that name, and every leaf on it is red gold. He adds a few lines of verse, which set it before Sigtýr’s halls, and calls it the fairest forest among gods and men.

Gold is therefore named after the foliage in the kennings. The translation speaks of a grove, a forest and leaves, and also of needles, so the sources leave open whether Glasir is one tree or many. The text gives no gardener, no story and no event that happens there. It says only where it stands, what its leaves are made of, and that it is admired. See also the entry for Valhöll.

Anderson writes the name Glaser; the form Glasir is the one used on this site. Sigtýr, “victory-god”, in the verse is a name for Odin, which is why the grove stands before his hall. The same passage calls the leaves red gold, a metal that Skáldskaparmál also names through Sif’s hair and Freyja’s tears.

Valhöll has its own entry on this site. In the passage quoted, Glasir is not tied to Yggdrasill, and the text says nothing about who tends it or what it does beyond giving gold its poetic name.