Proper noun
- The Prophecy of the Vǫlva; the first book of the Poetic Edda.
Origin
From the Old Norse völu-, vǫlv-, genitive of vǫlva (“truth-sayer, staff-carrier, prophetess”). (Cognate with the Gothic walus (walus), Old English wala, walu, Old Frisian walu.) Vǫlva is from vǫlr (“rounded staff”), from Proto-Germanic *waluz (“staff, stick”); possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to turn”).
