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It is of particular interest to mythologists that
Loki turns Idunn into a nut. This symbol of eternal
youth is often found in old Scandinavian burial sites.
Idunn may have been a V anir goddess of fertility,
youth, and death. This is the only surviving myth
about her.
I fing
The river that separates the world of the
Aseir from the world of the giants, Jotunheim,
according to V afthrudnismal . Ifing’s waters always
ran free and ice never formed on its surface. Ifing was
also most likely the river where Thor fought giants
in the poem H arbarthsljoth .
I ng
In Norse mythology, Ing was a name
associated with the god Frey, who was a god of the
Vanir until he was sent to Asgard as part of the
exchange that ended the Aesir/Vanir war. Ing was
a term of respect that preceded Frey’s name, as in
Ingunar Frey, which is found in the surviving Norse
literature.
Ing is also a hero of an Old English rune poem
and the name of the Norse rune that represented
the “ng” sound (see Yngvi). The word is a common
element in many place names in Scandinavia.
Scholars suggest that Ing was a Germanic god or
hero. One old tale tells of the wagon of Ing traveling
eastward over the ocean waves. Some suggest that the
wagon carried the Sun through the underworld dur-
ing the night to return it to the east, where it would
rise the next morning.
Other scholars suggest that Ing was a son of
Mannus, who was the first human in Old German
mythology, a source of Norse mythology. Ing may
have been a name of the Germanic people known as
the Ingvaeones or Ingaevones.