Word.ws English Dictionary

Vidofnir

Vidofnir proper noun: a mythological bird (variously, a falcon or a rooster) that inhabits the top of Mímameiðr, a tree identified with Yggdrasil; sometimes positioned on the brow of another cosmic bird.

Proper noun

Vidofnir

  1. (Norse) A mythological bird (variously, a falcon or a rooster) that inhabits the top of Mímameiðr, a tree identified with Yggdrasil; sometimes positioned on the brow of another cosmic bird.
    • The special magic that lay within Laevatein's powers was such that it was the only weapon that could kill the cock Vidofnir ("Tree Snake").1989, William O. Cord, The Teutonic Mythology of Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung, E. Mellen Press, page 175
    • In the poem Fjölsvinnsmál, which portrays Svipdag's arrival in Asgard, Svipdag asks the guardian by the gate under what condition it would be possible to persuade the subterranean dis Sinmara (the "sinew maimer" Mimir-Nidhad's queen) to surrender the sword she keeps. The guardian replies that...2003, William P. Reaves (translator), Viktor Rydberg, Our Fathers' Godsaga: Retold for the Young, [1887, Viktor Rydberg, Fädernas Gudasaga berättad för Ungdomen], iUniverse, page 203

Origin of Vidofnir

Borrowed from Old Norse Víðópnir or Víðófnir.

Questions about Vidofnir

What does Vidofnir mean?
Vidofnir means a mythological bird (variously, a falcon or a rooster) that inhabits the top of Mímameiðr, a tree identified with Yggdrasil; sometimes positioned on the brow of another cosmic bird.
What part of speech is Vidofnir?
Vidofnir is a proper noun.

Words near Vidofnir in the dictionary

  1. Vidmars
  2. Vidnoye
  3. vidnumber
  4. vidnumbers
  5. Vidocqian
  6. Vidofnir
  7. Vidonia
  8. Vidonias
  9. Vidoslav
  10. Vidovec
  11. vidphone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Vidofnir (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Vidofnir.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vidofnir. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.