What does the name Rán mean in Old Norse?
The Old Norse common noun rán means plundering or theft, robbery. Scholar Rudolf Simek interprets the theonym as meaning robber, and notes it has nothing to do with the Old Norse verb ráða, meaning to rule.
Questions about Rán
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Who are Rán's husband and daughters?
Rán's husband is Ægir, a jötunn who also personifies the sea. Together they produced nine daughters who personify the waves. Simek distinguishes them: Ægir personifies the sea as a friendly power, while Rán embodies its sinister side.
What is Rán's net and who else used it?
Rán's net is the tool she uses to capture sailors and pull them into the sea. In the Poetic Edda and Völsunga saga, the god Loki borrows the net to catch a pike at Andvari's fall. Translator Henry Adams Bellows notes that other versions of the story have Loki catching the pike with his bare hands.
What did Egill Skallagrímsson write about Rán?
In his 10th-century poem Sonatorrek, Egill invokes Rán after his son Böðvar drowns at sea. He writes that Rán has greatly afflicted him and despoiled him of a great friend. Later in the poem he expresses a wish to fight and kill both Rán and Ægir in revenge, though he acknowledges this is impossible.
Why did Norse sailors bring gold when they expected to drown?
According to Simek, Rán rules the realm of the dead at the bottom of the sea. In Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna, Friðþjófr distributes gold among his crew before an expected drowning so they will arrive at Rán's hall as proper guests rather than empty-handed.
How is Rán connected to kennings for gold?
The Prose Edda's Skáldskaparmál explains that Ægir lit his hall with glowing gold like fire. Because Ægir and Rán's names were both terms for the sea, gold became known as fire of Ægir and Rán, then fire of the sea, then fire of lakes or rivers.