valkyrie
nounUK, US /ˈvælˌkɪ.ɹi/
Etymology Borrowed from Old Norse valkyrja sg (“chooser of the slain”), plural valkyrjur pl, from Proto-Germanic *walakuzjǭ. Cognate to Old English wælcyrġe. First attested in English as a proper noun (Valkyries) in the 1770s; attested as a common noun (valkyries) since the 1880s.
1
Human sciences, Mysticism, Mythology, Philosophy, Sciences Norse Any of the female attendants of Odin, figures said to guide fallen warriors from the battlefield to Valhalla.
- Wagner's “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (1853) famously features valkyries.
- Related terms
- shieldmaiden