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Poetic Edda

9.[1] Then sought the gods  their assembly-seats,The holy ones,  and council held;To find who should raise  the race of dwarfsOut of Brimir's blood  and the legs of Blain.
10.[2] There was Motsognir  the mightiest madeOf all the dwarfs,  and Durin next;Many a likeness  of men they made,The dwarfs in the earth,  as Durin said.
11. Nyi and Nithi,  Northri and Suthri,Austri and Vestri,  Althjof, Dvalin,Nar and Nain,  Niping, Dain,Bifur, Bofur,  Bombur, Nori,An and Onar,  Ai, Mjothvitnir.

    Fafnismol, 13, indicates the existence of many lesser Norns, belonging to various races. Jotunheim: the world of the giants.

  1. ↑ Here apparently begins the interpolated catalogue of the dwarfs, running through stanza 16; possibly, however, the interpolated section does not begin before stanza 11. Snorri quotes practically the entire section, the names appearing in a somewhat changed order. Brimir and Blain: nothing is known of these two giants, and it has been suggested that both are names for Ymir (cf. stanza 3). Brimir, however, appears in stanza 37 in connection with the home of the dwarfs. Some editors treat the words as common rather than proper nouns, Brimir meaning "the bloody moisture" and Blain being of uncertain significance.
  2. ↑ Very few of the dwarfs named in this and the following stanzas are mentioned elsewhere. It is not clear why Durin should have been singled out as authority for the list. The occasional repetitions suggest that not all the stanzas of the catalogue came from the same source. Most of the names presumably had some definite significance, as Northri, Suthri, Austri, and Vestri ("North," "South," "East," and "West"), Althjof

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