Hnoss


Hnoss is one of the daughters of Freyja and Óðr in Norse mythology.

Name

The Old Norse name Hnoss is translated as 'treasure'. It is semantically and etymologically comparable with the Icelandic hnoss, or with the Old Danish noss and nusse.
In the Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson states that beautiful things were called hnossir after her name, which is doubtful since Hnoss appears in no myth.

Attestations

In Gylfaginning, Hnoss is portrayed as the beautiful daughter of Freyja and Óð:
In Skáldskaparmál, a þulur mentions Hnoss as the daughter of Freyja, and another passage of the poem describes "Hnoss and Gersemi" as her daughters. Gersemi could be the same figure as Hnoss.
The 12th-century skald Einarr Skúlason, cited by Snorri in Skáldskaparmál, refers to Hnoss in a kenning as Freyia's "glorious child" and Freyr’s niece: