What does voluspa mean?
Voluspa is a rare literary loan from Old Norse, used in English chiefly as the name Völuspá of a prophetic poem in the Poetic Edda. The poem is presented as the vision of an unnamed seeress who speaks of the Norns, the course of history, and the doom that awaits the Norse gods, including Ragnarök. The title has also come to stand for the seeress herself. In ordinary discussion, voluspa therefore evokes a grand, fatalistic kind of prophecy rather than a specific forecast. References to the work are often qualified by its place in the Poetic Edda or by the subtitle “Prophecy of the Future.” The word is uncommon outside discussions of Norse mythology, medieval Icelandic literature, and comparative myth, but it is useful because it distinguishes a structured mythic account of cosmic destiny from an ordinary prediction. Its unusual spelling and the eerie authority of its prophetic speaker make it particularly memorable.
nounIn Norse mythology, the Völuspá is a prophetic poem in which a seeress describes the past and foretells the future, including the doom of the Norse gods. The name can also refer to the seeress herself.
- The prophetic poem in the Poetic Edda, presented as the vision of a seeress who describes the past and foretells the future.
- The unnamed seeress who speaks the prophetic poem in Norse mythology.
"In the Völuspá, an unnamed seeress recounts the Norns' decrees before foretelling the destruction of the gods."
"In the Völuspá, a seeress recounts the Norns' decisions before turning to the coming destruction of the gods."
"The scholar compared the Poetic Edda's Völuspá with other Icelandic traditions of cosmic prophecy."
The plural is rare because the word normally refers to a single named poem or seeress.
"The professor asked the students to compare the two voluspas side by side."
The Völuspá presents the doom of the gods as though it were a memory already fixed—ancient prophecy written with the certainty of history.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of voluspa
The word comes from Old Norse vǫluspá, meaning “prophecy of the future” or “the seeress's prophecy.” It is associated etymologically with vǫldr, denoting knowledge or foresight, and spá, denoting prophecy or foretelling; it is also related to völva, a female seeress. The poem survives in medieval Icelandic manuscripts and later became known through its inclusion in the Poetic Edda.
How voluspa is actually used
This is a rare literary borrowing normally encountered in discussions of Norse mythology, the Poetic Edda, or medieval Icelandic literature. The unaccented form voluspa occurs in English, while Völuspá and the scholarly Old Norse form Vǫluspá preserve the diacritics used in the original title.
Easily confused with voluspa
A völva is a female seer or prophetess in Norse tradition, whereas the Völuspá is the prophetic poem and, by extension, the seeress who speaks it.