Dúrnir

Dúrnir was a dwarf who appears in three Old Norse skaldic poems, which suggests that he once was a well-known dwarf in Norse mythology.

The most notable poem is Ynglingatal:

He also appears in a list of Dwarves in the anonymous Dverga heiti:

Alþjófr, austri, aurvangr ok dúfr, ái, andvari, ónn ok draupnir, dori ok dagfinnr, dulinn ok ónarr, alfr ok dellingr, óinn ok durnir.

The third poem is found in Laufás-Edda:

Kveða skal hróðr fyr hríðar hræ-blakks viðum sævar, drykkr var Durnis rekkum døkkr, ljósara nøkkvi.

Snorri also includes Dúrnir in a list of giants in the Skáldskaparmál section of his Prose Edda (Faulkes translation, p. 157).

It is possible that the name Durnir is an emendation (or a case variety) of Durinn, mentioned as the father of dvarfs in Dvergatal. Both names mean door, or door-warden. The names Durinn og Durnir do not appear in the same texts. The Norwegian translation of Ynglinga Saga from 1900 uses the name of Durinn instead of Durnir.