herfjöturr

m. a mythical term, ‘war-fetter:’ a valiant man who in the stress of battle feels himself spell-bound, and unable to stir, was in old lore said to be caught in a ‘war-fetter;’ this was attributed to the weird sisters of battle (the Valkyrias), as is shewn by the fact that one of them was called Herfjöturr, Shackle, Edda (Gl.); they were the messengers of Odin, by whom the warriors were doomed to death (kjósa val); the passages referring to this lore are Fms. viii. 170, Sturl. ii. 233, Ísl. ii. 104 twice (Harð. S.):—a similar belief appears in the Greek, see Od. xxii. 297 sqq., Iliad xiii. 358–360, xxii. 5 sqq.