Hamingja

Luck / fortune-spirit

Hamingja — the luck or fortune-spirit attached to a person and (importantly in saga ethics) to a family line. The hamingja can be inherited, lent, or transferred at death; a man's hamingja is his cumulative fortunate-power, partly distinct from his individual choices. Often translated as 'luck' but the term carries more weight than that English word suggests.

Lík / líkamrHamrǪndHugrÓðrHamingjaHamingjaFylgjaDísSál

Point 6 of 9 in Old Norse Nine-Part Soul (reconstructed)

Cross-tradition overlaps

No overlapping points are registered for this point.

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Sources

Vatnsdœla saga (primary_canonical)

Vatnsdæla saga chs. 2–5 and 7–10 repeatedly use hamingja and related luck-language in accounts of inherited fortune, success, and the fate of a family line. These episodes support hamingja as a socially transmissible fortune-power, while the saga does not define it as a bodily organ.

Davidson, Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (secondary)

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