Valkyrie

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈvælËŒkɪ.ɹi/

Alternative forms

• Valkyrie
• Walkyrie

Origin

From Old Norse valkyrja ("chooser of the slain", singular.), plural valkyrjur, either from Germanic roots equivalent to, or formed in Norse from, the elements valr ("the slain") + kjósa ("to choose"). Cognate to Old English wælcyrge. First attested in English as a proper noun (Valkyries) in the 1770s; attested as a common noun (valkyries) since the 1880s.

Other terms for valkyries include Old Norse óskmey ("wish girl"), appearing in the poem Oddrúnargrátr, and Óðins meyjar (Old Norse "Odin's girls"), appearing in the Nafnaþulur. Óskmey may be related to the Odinic name Óski (Old Norse, roughly meaning "wish fulfiller"), referring to the fact that Odin receives slain warriors in Valhalla.

Full definition of valkyrie

Noun

1. (Norse mythology) Any of the female attendants of Odin, figures said to guide fallen warriors from the battlefield to Valhalla.Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (published 1853) famously features valkyries.