The Norns: Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld

20. Thence come maidens, much knowing, three from the hall, which under that tree stands; Urd hight the one, the second Verdandi,--on a tablet they graved--Skuld the third. Laws they established, life allotted to the sons of men; destinies pronounced.

Völuspá tells of three maidens, Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld, who come from beneath the tree; translations differ over whether this is a hall or a lake. In Gylfaginning the Norns tend the tree, pouring water and the clay around the well over it so that its branches do not rot.

The origin of the word norn is uncertain. It may come from a verb meaning to twine, as in twining the thread of fate; Karen Bek-Pedersen instead links it to a Swedish dialect verb for communicating secretly. The names Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld come from verbs meaning to become and to be due. They are often taken as past, present and future, but scholars dispute this, since the words refer to fate rather than to periods of time. The sources also vary: Fáfnismál says norns belong to the gods, the elves and the dwarf Dvalin's daughters, and Völuspá and Vafþrúðnismál suggest the three main norns were originally giantesses. In some legendary sagas norns seem the same as seeresses, and in Hrólfs saga kraka they are evil witches.