Wikipedia:Today's featured list/December 12, 2011
Valkyrie names are found in the Old Norse poems Völuspá, Grímnismál, Darraðarljóð, and the Nafnaþulur section of the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál. Other valkyrie names appear solely outside these lists, such as Sigrún, which is attested in the poems Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and Helgakviða Hundingsbana II. In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who choose which warriors will win or die in battle. Valkyrie names commonly emphasize associations with battle and, in many cases, on the spear—a weapon heavily associated with the god Odin. Scholars such as Hilda Ellis Davidson and Rudolf Simek propose that the names of the valkyries themselves contain no individuality, but are rather descriptive of the traits and nature of war-goddesses, and are possibly the descriptive creations of skalds, a type of traditional Scandinavian poet. Some valkyrie names may be descriptive of the roles and abilities of the valkyries. (Full list...)