The poetic Old Norse name Gríðr has been translated as "vehemence, violence, or impetuosity".[2][3][4] Its etymology is unclear.[2]
Attestations
Prose Edda
In Skáldskaparmál (The Language of Poetry), Gríðr is portrayed as equipping the thunder godThor with her belt of strength, her iron glove, and her staff Gríðarvöl (Gríðr's-staff) on Thor's journey to the abode of Geirröðr.[1]
Thor lodged for the night with a giantess called Grid. She was Víðarr the silent's mother. She told Thor the truth about Geirrod, that he was a cunning giant and awkward to deal with. She lent him a girdle of might and some iron gauntlets of hers, and her staff, called Grid's pole.
Gríðr appears in 10th-century kennings for 'wolf' (the steed of troll-wife) and for 'axe' (that which is dangerous to the life-protector, i.e. shield or helmet).[7]
Battle raged when the feeder of Grid's steed [wolf], he who waged war, advanced with ringing Gaut's [Odin's] fire. Weird rose from the well.
Riders [seafarers] of Ræfil's land's [sea's] horses [ships] can see how beautifully engraved dragons lie just by the brow of the Grid of the life-protector.
— Einarr Skúlason, Skáldskaparmál 49, trans. A. Faulkes, 1987.