In Norse mythology

Norse mythology

Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

, Róta is a valkyrie

Valkyrie

In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who decides who dies in battle. Selecting among half of those who die in battle , the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin...

. Róta is attested in chapter 36 of the Prose Edda

Prose Edda

The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Nordic mythology...

book Gylfaginning

Gylfaginning

Gylfaginning, or the Tricking of Gylfi , is the first part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda after Prologue. The Gylfaginning deals with the creation and destruction of the world of the Norse gods, and many other aspects of Norse mythology...

, where she is mentioned alongside the valkyries Gunnr

Gunnr

Gunnar or Gunner is a valkyrie in Norse mythology. Her name means "battle" and is cognate with the English word "gun". She rode a wolf and took part in selecting the dead warriors together with two other Valkyries in order to bring them to Valhalla....

 and Skuld, and the three are described as "always [riding] to choose who shall be slain and to govern the killings." Otherwise, Róta appears in two kenning

Kenning

A kenning is a type of literary trope, specifically circumlocution, in the form of a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse and later Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon poetry...

s, one by Egill Skallagrímsson

Egill Skallagrímsson

Egill Skallagrímsson was a Viking Age warrior and skald. Egill is one of the great anti-heroes of the Icelandic sagas.-Life:...

 and one by Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld

Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld

Hallfreðr Óttarsson or Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld was an Icelandic skald. He is the protagonist of Hallfreðar saga according to which he was the court poet first of Hákon Sigurðarson, then of Óláfr Tryggvason and finally of Eiríkr Hákonarson...

. Theories have been proposed about the possible appearance of Róta in Gesta Danorum

Gesta Danorum

Gesta Danorum is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history...

and the meaning of her name.

Name

According to Guðbrandur Vigfússon

Guðbrandur Vigfússon

Guðbrandur Vigfússon, known in English as Gudbrand Vigfusson, was one of the foremost Scandinavian scholars of the 19th century.-Life:He was born of an Icelandic family in Breiðafjörður...

, the name Róta is connected to the Old Norse noun

Noun

In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...

 róta (meaning "sleet and storm") and Róta is "a goddess who sends storm and rain."

Gesta Danorum

In book two of Gesta Danorum

Gesta Danorum

Gesta Danorum is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history...

, a female by the name of "Ruta" is mentioned:

Arise too, Ruta, and show your snow-pale head,

come forth from hiding and issue into battle.

The outdoor carnage beckons you; fighting now

shakes the court, harsh strife batters the gates.

Axel Olrik

Axel Olrik

Axel Olrik was a Danish folklorist, and a pioneer in the methodical study of oral narrative.His Principles for Oral Narrative Research, recently translated by K. Wolf and J. Jensen, Bloomington, Ind., 1992, was first published in 1921, after Olrik's early death...

 considered this as an isolated reference to Hrólfr Kraki's widow Hrut mourning on the battlefield with blond hair. Hilda Ellis Davidson says "it seems more probable that it is a reference to the deathly pale head of the valkyrie, the spirit brooding over the battlefield personifying slaughter, who is summoned at the outset of battle." Davidson points out that Róta is the name of a valkyrie, and that "it seems preferable to assume" this to Olrik's theory. Davidson says that while this is, however, complicated by an earlier mention in book two of Hrólfr Kraki's sister and Bödvar Bjarki

Bödvar Bjarki

Bödvar Bjarki , meaning 'Warlike Little-Bear', is the hero appearing in tales of Hrólf Kraki in the Saga of Hrólf Kraki, in the Latin epitome to the lost Skjöldunga saga, and as Biarco in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum...

's wife Hrut, yet this Hrut is not found elsewhere as a female name.

In book six of Gesta Danorum, a figure by the name of "Rothi" is mentioned:

Say, Rothi, perpetual mocker of cowards, do you think

we have made Frothi adequate restitution

by paying him seven deaths in revenge for one?

See, they are borne lifeless who gave you homage

only in show and beneath subserviance planned

treachery."

According to Davidson, this "Rothi" may be the same as Róta, though it has been alternately theorized that "Rothi" may be a name of Odin.