Yggdrasil · Described Without a Place on the Map
Sigyn: The Bowl Beneath the Venom
Loki’s wife, who catches the dripping serpent venom while he lies bound, in Lokasenna’s prose and Gylfaginning.
In Thorpe’s and Blackwell’s translations
Thorpe, prose at the end of Lokasenna: “… the Æsir caught him, and bound him with the entrails of his son Nari; but his other son, Narfi, was changed into a wolf. Skadi took a venomous serpent, and fastened it up over Loki’s face. The venom trickled down from it. Sigyn, Loki’s wife, sat by, and held a basin under the venom; and when the basin was full, carried the venom out. Meanwhile the venom dropped on Loki, who shrank from it so violently that the whole earth trembled.”
Blackwell’s Gylfaginning: “Having also seized Loki’s children, Vali and Nari, they changed the former into a wolf, and in this likeness he tore his brother to pieces and devoured him. … But Siguna, his wife, stands by him and receives the drops as they fall in a cup, which she empties as often as it is filled.”
- Benjamin Thorpe (translator), The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson (the Poetic Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Lokasenna (Thorpe: Oegir’s Compotation, or Loki’s Altercation), concluding prose Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
- I. A. Blackwell (translator), The Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson (the Prose Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Gylfaginning, the account of Loki’s binding Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
What the sources say
After the flyting, the prose that closes Lokasenna tells what became of Loki. He took the shape of a salmon and leapt into a waterfall, and the Æsir caught him and bound him with the entrails of one son, while the other son was changed into a wolf. Skaði fastened a serpent over his face. Sigyn, his wife, sat by with a basin and carried the venom out when it filled. Meanwhile venom fell on Loki, and he shrank from it so violently that the whole earth trembled.
Gylfaginning has the same outline with different names. The sons are Vali and Nari. Vali is made a wolf and tears his brother apart, and the gods make cords of the intestines to bind Loki. Siguna, as Blackwell writes her name, catches the drops in a cup and empties it whenever it fills; when venom falls on him, the earth shakes.
Both give her actions and no words. Völuspá stanza 38 in Thorpe’s numbering also has a Sigyn sitting by her husband, “not right glad”.
- Benjamin Thorpe (translator), The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson (the Poetic Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Lokasenna, concluding prose; Völuspá, stanza 38 Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
- I. A. Blackwell (translator), The Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson (the Prose Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Gylfaginning, the account of Loki’s binding Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
Names and background
The sources differ on the sons. Thorpe’s Lokasenna prose has Nari, whose entrails are used as bonds, and Narfi, who becomes a wolf. Blackwell’s Gylfaginning has Vali, who becomes the wolf, and Nari, who is torn apart. Gylfaginning also says earlier that Loki’s wife is called Siguna and their son Nari.
Her name is written Sigyn in Thorpe’s translation of Lokasenna and Völuspá and Siguna in Blackwell’s Gylfaginning. No meaning for it is given in the sources quoted here, so none is offered. The binding follows Loki’s insults at Ægir’s feast, the setting of the entry on Byggvir and Beyla. Gnipahellir and Slíðr have their own entries and are not part of this scene in these texts.
- Benjamin Thorpe (translator), The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson (the Poetic Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Lokasenna, concluding prose; Völuspá, stanza 38 Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
- I. A. Blackwell (translator), The Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson (the Prose Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Gylfaginning, the account of Loki’s family and his binding Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
Where the sources attest it
Sigyn is named in the concluding prose of Lokasenna and in Völuspá stanza 38 in Thorpe’s numbering (other editions differ), and as Siguna in Gylfaginning, where she is called Loki’s wife and stands at the binding. The prose of Lokasenna and Snorri agree that she stays at her husband’s side; they differ on the sons’ names and on which becomes a wolf. No archaeological or pictorial evidence for her is cited in this entry.
- Benjamin Thorpe (translator), The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson (the Poetic Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Lokasenna, concluding prose; Völuspá, stanza 38 Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
- I. A. Blackwell (translator), The Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson (the Prose Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Gylfaginning, Loki’s family and his binding Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).