ASKR AND EMBLA or WHY EVERYTHING IS COMING UP GRAPES FOR THE FIRST WOMAN IN NORSE BELIEF

 

The Ballinderry Sword 

(https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Irish-Antiquities-Division-Collections/Collections-List-(1)/Viking)

The name of the first woman in Norse myth has perplexed etymologists.  As Rudolf Simek points out in his entry to her name in his DICTIONARY OF NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY, a connection with Greek ampelos, 'vine' (especially of the grape) is a possibility.  As Askr and Embla were, before their transformation into humans, said to be trees, we might ask if a stronger case can be made for Embla as the grape vine. I do think this is a preferable derivation than the one that seeks to relate her name to the elm tree or other alternatives.

The argument has been raised that her name can't be related to Greek ampelos, as that was the name of the male personification of the grape vine, a lover of Dionysius.  However, there was also a female version:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamadryad

She was a Hamadryad, a tree nymph.

There remains one important connection to make, though.  In one of the poems of Egil Skallagrimsson, he refers to his weapon as emblu-askr. The coupling of these words has led to the belief that Embla must somehow be related to the ash or even be a type of ash tree.  

I would dispute this claim.  The ash in this weapon kenning stands, in all likelihood, for a sword (see Snorri Sturluson's SKALDSKAPARMAL, 75, for ash = sword).  Emblu is for the grape vine found on the sword.  In other words, we are talking about the ornamental motif of a grape vine present on Egil's sword.  The weapon is the 'vine-sword' or, perhaps, 'sword of the vine.'

And this is not merely a guess.  We have extant examples of Viking swords bearing such a motif.  The photo of the top of this blog piece, as well as the one below, show such sword hilts with a vine scroll, as it is termed.  From this use of the grape vine motif we can easily extrapolate that the sword-like ash tree, representing a man, was paired with a vine, symbolizing a woman.  A grape vine clinging to, wrapped about and climbing up an ash tree might well be taken as a woman lovingly embracing a man.  

From https://ia601904.us.archive.org/11/items/SwordsOfTheVikingAgeByIanPeirceEwartOakeshott/Swords%20of%20the%20Viking%20Age%20by%20Ian_Peirce%2C%20Ewart_Oakeshott.pdf:

In contrast to the Wallace sword, one of a family of five: all elements of the hilt of

the Ballinderry weapon are encased in silver. The precious metal has been applied

by covering the surface of the iron with tiny parallel incisions, onto which the siIver

sheets were placed and hammered. The decoration was then completed by cutting

through the silver to reveal the iron below. Both sides of the cross are ornamented

with a stylized vine small reminiscent of that on the Wallace sword and indeed a

sword horn Malhus, Norway, whose blade also carries an Ulfberht inscription...

Each end of the Iorver side of the cross is decorated with a device, similar to the erect ears of a rabbit and a singe device may be seen on one end of the Wallace cross. The five-lobed pommel retains much

of its silver plating and the lower element has a similar vine scroll decoration without the grapes...

Kilmainham Sword

National Museum of Ireland, Dublin

WK-5

Petersen type: K

Wheeler type: IV

Date: ninth century

...Much of the silver plating still adheres to the pommel and cross. The blade,

in three pieces, is severely corroded and may well have been subjected to caustic

cleaning. The blade of this unique ninth century weapon is complete, although in three pieces,

and is of slender proportions. It is double-edged with a narrow fuller. This specimen,

although broken and bereft of some of its quality decoration upon the hilt, still exudes

much of its former glory. Probably the best illustration of this weapon may be found

in an interesting and important article written by Coffey and E.C.R. Amstrong in

1910. Here the hilt is shown with considerable areas of silver plate decoration

remaining. When I examined the sword in 1994, much of the silver work was missing,

although one side of the pommel still retained good coverage and the vine scroll

decoration was easily discernible...

Two stranded pairs of silver wire separate each lobe of the pommel, and the

characteristic groove between the upper and lower elements is filled with a thickish,

prominent wire of beaded silver. Close examination of the faces of the cross revealed

that the vine scroll did, indeed, include grapes, a detail not shown on the illustration,

referred to above.