Spark [Kathleen_N._Daly]_Norse_Mythology_A_to_Z,_3rd_Edi | Page 72

ing  57 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.