The Norns (Old Norse: norn, plural: nornir) in Norse mythology are female beings who rule the destiny of gods and men. They roughly correspond to other controllers of humans' destiny, such as the Fates, elsewhere in European mythology.
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In Snorri Sturluson's interpretation of the Völuspá, Urðr (Wyrd), Verðandi and Skuld, the three most important of the Norns, come out from a hall standing at the Well of Urðr or Well of Fate. They draw water from the well and take sand that lies around it, which they pour over the Yggdrasill tree so that its branches will not rot. These three Norns are described as powerful maiden giantesses (Jotuns) whose arrival from Jötunheimr ended the golden age of the gods. They may be the same as the maidens of Mögþrasir who are described in Vafþrúðnismál.
Beside these three famous Norns, there are many others who appear at a person's birth in order to determine his or her future. In the pre-Christian Norse societies, Norns were thought to have visited newborn children. There were both malevolent and benevolent Norns: the former caused all the malevolent and tragic events in the world while the latter were kind and protective goddesses.
The origin of the name norn is uncertain, it may derive from a word meaning "to twine" and which would refer to their twining the thread of fate.[2] Bek-Pedersen suggests that the word norn has relation to the Swedish dialect word norna (nyrna), a verb that means "secretly communicate". This relates to the perception of norns as shadowy, background figures who only really ever reveal their fateful secrets to men as their fates come to pass.
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The name Urðr (Old English Wyrd, Weird) means "fate". Wyrd and urðr are etymological cognates, which does not guarantee that wyrd and urðr share the same semantic quality of "fate" over time. Both Urðr and Verðandi are derived from the Old Norse verb verða, "to become". It is commonly asserted that while Urðr derives from the past tense ("that which became or happened"), Verðandi derives from the present tense of verða ("that which is happening").
Skuld is derived from the Old Norse verb skulu, "need/ought to be/shall be"; its meaning is "that which should become, or that needs to occur". Due to this, it has often been inferred that the three norns are in some way connected with the past, present and future respectively, but it has been disputed that their names really imply a temporal distinction and it has been emphasised that the words do not in themselves denote chronological periods in Old Norse.
There is no clear distinction between norns, fylgjas, hamingjas and valkyries, nor with the generic term dísir. Moreover, artistic license permitted such terms to be used for mortal women in Old Norse poetry. To quote Snorri Sturluson's Skáldskaparmál on the various names used for women:
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Woman is also metaphorically called by the names of the Asynjur or the Valkyrs or Norns or women of supernatural kind.
These unclear distinctions among norns and other Germanic female deities are discussed in Bek-Pedersen's book Norns in Old Norse Mythology.
.
In Snorri Sturluson's interpretation of the Völuspá, Urðr (Wyrd), Verðandi and Skuld, the three most important of the Norns, come out from a hall standing at the Well of Urðr or Well of Fate. They draw water from the well and take sand that lies around it, which they pour over the Yggdrasill tree so that its branches will not rot. These three Norns are described as powerful maiden giantesses (Jotuns) whose arrival from Jötunheimr ended the golden age of the gods. They may be the same as the maidens of Mögþrasir who are described in Vafþrúðnismál.
.
The name Urðr (Old English Wyrd, Weird) means "fate". Wyrd and urðr are etymological cognates, which does not guarantee that wyrd and urðr share the same semantic quality of "fate" over time. Both Urðr and Verðandi are derived from the Old Norse verb verða, "to become". It is commonly asserted that while Urðr derives from the past tense ("that which became or happened"), Verðandi derives from the present tense of verða ("that which is happening").
.
Woman is also metaphorically called by the names of the Asynjur or the Valkyrs or Norns or women of supernatural kind.
These unclear distinctions among norns and other Germanic female deities are discussed in Bek-Pedersen's book Norns in Old Norse Mythology.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norns