LOTTE MOTZ
Gullveig’s Ordeal; a New Interpretation
The story of Gullveig-Heiðr, told in stanzas 21, 22 of the poem Vçlospà, is
puzzling and mysterious. B urnt thrice in the hall of the highest god, she
escapes unscathed and, now nam ed H eiðr, she takes her path to hum an
houses. There she unfolds her powers: by awakening magic forces she works
her spells upon the minds of men.
She remem bers the war Bright H eiðr they called her,
the first in the world, all the houses she cam e to,
when Gullveig a true and wise prophetess,
they steadied with spears she conjured spirits.
and burned her in Hárr’s hall; She had skills in magic,
three times they burned her, she bewildered the mind.
three times reborn, She was always the darling
often unscantingly, of a bad woman.
yet still she lives.
Various interpretations have been offered for this enigmatic passage. The
noun veig, with a primary meaning of ‘drink’, has a less frequently encoun
tered sense of ‘strength, force, gist’. The form heiðr ‘gleaming, bright’ is also
given as a name to some sibyls of the Old Icelandic texts. Basing himself on
these facts, Karl M üllenhoff translates the name as ‘Force of G old’, and he
sees in the woman the corruptive, evil influence of this metal. H er immola
tion would be analogous to both: the refinement of gold to its purest form
and the burning of a witch. M üllenhoff furtherm ore believes that Gullveig
might have been sent by the Vanir, with whom the gods are at war, to
corrupt the ruling deities (M üllenhoff 1891 :V, 96).
Rolf Pipping thinks that the evil magic of the witch might be related to
1 vsp 21 - Þat man hon fólcvíg fyrst í heimi,
er Gullveigo geirom studdo
oc í h(?H H árs hána brendo;
þrysvar brendo, þrysvar borna,
opt, ósialdan, þó hon enn lifir.
vsp 22 - Heiði hana héto, hvars til húsa kom ,
velspá, vitti hon ganda;
v q Io
seið hon, hvars hon kunni, seið hon hug leikinn,
ae var hon angan, illrar brúðar.
G ullveig’s Ordeal; a N ew Interpretation 81
sexual behavior of a dubious kind: incest and homosexuality (Pipping
1928:226). This interpretation is endorsed by Jan de Vries, and he suggests
that Gullveig had come to introduce the orgiastic rites which were practiced
by her family, the Vanir (de Vries 1962). Turville-Petre, in his turn, under
stands her to be an emissary of the Vanir. Since, as he claims, we do not
know how the goddess Freyja came to be a m em ber of the household of the
gods, Gullveig would be an avatar of Freyja.2 Ursula D ronke shares this
view. To her G ullveig-H eiðr-Freyja has arrived to teach the gods the
mysteries of regeneration (D ronke 1988:227). Jenny Jochens interprets the
figure, as well as others in the poem , as product of the fears aroused in men
by women (Jochens 1989:362). Wolfgang Krause compares Gullveig to the
G reek Pandora who brought misery into the world (Krause 1975). Heino
G ehrts rejects the witchlike aspect, attributed to Gullveig; he interprets her
immolation as the sacrifice of a maiden before battle. H e finds cosmogonic
significance in her ‘resting on spears’, and he believes that her presence has
inexorably altered the shape of the world (G ehrts 1969:331). I shall now
question the interpretations.
1 The Interpretations
1.1 The Name
Veig occurs only in its meaning ‘potion, drink’ in Eddie poetry. In a com
pound noun the first part modifies the second. A foothill is a hill and not a
foot; a housecoat is a coat and not a house. As minnisveig means ‘brew of
rem em brance’, so Gullveig would mean ‘drink of gold, golden drink’. If the
woman Gullveig is to personify a phenom enon she would personify a drink.
1.2 The Evil Force o f Gullveig
In Norse tradition the desire for gold is not usually viewed as an evil
em otion. It was partially the desire for Fáfnir’s gold which inspired Sigurðr
to the greatest of his achievements. Both words, heiðr and veig, possess
mainly positive connotations. The phrase “to drink precious draughts” -
drecca dýrar veigar - symbolizes all that is desirable in life. The form veig
appears recurrently in w om en’s names. It is not likely that the punitive
burning of a witch would be executed, repeatedly, in a sacred place - ‘the
hall of the High o ne’ - the dwelling of a god. The Icelandic texts do not
2 Turville-Petre 1964:159. “ It is not told that Freyja was one of the hostages surrendered by the
Vanir after the war, but it is plain that she was established in the realm of,the A esir” .
82 Lotte Motz
describe the burning of witches.3 The powers of gold are not related to the
sorcerer’s craft - the seiðr.
1.3 Gullveig as an Avatar o f Freyja
Freyja’s presence among the Aesir is, in fact explained. She was born in
Nóatún to her father NjQrðr (gyl 24). And this happened after the war
between the Vanir and the Aesir had been settled and not at its beginning.
None of Freyja’s epithets - G efn, M qrn, M ardqll, Sýr, Skjqlf, Prungva -
show any linguistic closeness to the names Heiðr or Gullveig. Though the
goddess has some destructive aspects and wields powers of enchantm ent -
seiðr - she is also a blótgyðja, the priestess of a temple (H K R I, ch. 4) who
kept up the sacrificial rites (H K R I, ch. 10). As a priestess she would not be
a witch. There is no record of Freyja’s visits to human houses nor of any
aggression she has suffered by the gods. The burning of Gullveig, moreover,
takes place repeatedly - opt, ósjaldan - while Freyja’s entry would be
unique. And why would she be burned before she had com m itted any
crimes?
2 A New Interpretation
While G eh rt’s view is imaginative and in many ways convincing, I propose to
offer yet another reading which also accounts for the activity of Heiðr.
I base myself on the fact that veig is a synonym for ‘m ead’. The word
heiðr, in its turn, is brought into relation with the gleaming drink. The
ferm ented liquid may be instrum ental to attaining mantic vision and to the
exercise of sorcery, both abilities possessed by Heiðr. A tale of how the
mead was brought into existence through the killing of a living creature is
recorded by Snorri Sturluson. This creature, also, bears a nam e which has
the meaning ‘ferm ented drink’. I suggest that the story of Gullveig ‘Golden
D rink’ represents a parallel account of how the sacred m ead becam e part of
the world of men. Let us now consider the evidence.
3 Am ira 1922:75-76. U nder Swedish law the punishm ent of a witch whose sorcery caused death
was death by the wheel or stoning. The west-Scandinavian sources only know banishm ent. The
Gulaþings law also dem anded the death penalty (without qualification). In Old English law
(A ethelstan) women convicted of witchcraft through which a person had died would be
banished or killed (unspecified). In continental G erm anic law there was no death penalty for
witches. The Icelandic sources cite only Gullveig as a burned witch. T hey also speak of the
burning of a group of sorcerers who had been lured into a house by Ó láf Tryggvason, which was
then set on fire (H K R I, ch. 62). Such a procedure was also adopted in other acts of hostility. It
was not until the end of the thirteenth century that the Inquisition included sorcery in its
jurisdiction and it was not until the end of the fifteenth that the persecution and burning of
witches started in earnest.
G ullveig’s Ordeal; a N ew Interpretation 83
2.1 The N oun veig
2.1.1 Veig as a synonym or equivalent of ‘m ead’;
in Alvíssm ál it is given as another name for ‘m ead’ - together with biórr, qI,
sum bl, hreinalqg.
Veig is the equivalent of ‘m ead’ in the poem Grímnismál’, the goat Heið-
rún, nibbling the leaves of the cosmic tree, dispenses the precious liquid
from her udders:4
gm 25
She fills the vats with gleam ing mead {m iqðr)
so that this potion (veig) will never lack.
The valkyrie Sigrdrifa, who was awakened from her sleep, offers Sigurðr a
potent drink:5
sgd prose
She took a horn filled with mead (m iqdr) and offered
him the drink of remembrance (m innisveig).
Óðinn is told by a sibyl in the poem Baldrs draumar that the hall of Hel is
festively prepared for the arrival of his son:6
bd 7
H ere the mead (m iqdr) is brewed for Baldr
the gleam ing drink (scirar veigar).
Like ‘m ead’ veig is employed in skaldic kennings as a referent to poetry:
Bjargs skjqldunga veig - the drink o f the giants - poetry (skj 99, 14, 7)
Fjqlnis veigar - the drink o f Fjçlnir - poem (skj 82, 53, 3);
Veigar rógs raesis - the drink o f the creator of war - poetry (skj 46, 15, 7).
2.1.2 Veig parallels the function and the action of the mead:
as a drink of welcome: when Þórr and Týr arrive in Hym ir’s hall they are
offered a potion (a drink of beer);7
hym 8
she stepped forward, the golden maid,
the white-browed, to bring beer (biórveig)
to the son.
4 gm 25 - scapker fylla hon seal ins scíra m iaðar,
knáat sú veig vanaz.
5 sgd prose - H on tóc þá horn, fult m iaðar, oc gaf hånom minnisveig.
6 bd 7 - H ér stendr Baldri af brugginn miçÔr,
scirar veigar .. .
7 hym 8 - E nn çnnor gecc, algullin fram ,
brúnhvít, bera biórveig syni.
84 Lotte M otz
As a drink of revelry: G uðrún, who has set the flesh of her m urdered sons as
food before the king’s retainers, pours the drink for the banquet:8
akv 35
The bright-faced woman m oved swiftly, to bring them drink (veigar).
Like the mead the veig possesses magic powers; we thus encounter the noun
minnisveig ‘drink of rem em brance’ (sgd 2) and ó-minnisveig ‘drink of forget
fulness’ (Drap N if lunga in Edda).
2.1.3 Veig as the symbol of the good things of life:
Freyja, who protects and guards her human friend and lover Ó ttarr, declares
that he shall drink dýrar veigar (hdl 50).
When the slain Helgi realizes that his wife has entered his tom b to
embrace him he cries out in joy and exultation:9
H H II 46
We shall drink precious draughts (dýrar veigar)
though we are shorn o f life-blood and land.
2.2 The Word heiðr
The adjective heiðr, meaning ‘gleaming, bright’, as in sólheiðr ‘bright as the
sun’, is also brought into relation with the ‘gleaming’ mead. A goat, named
Heiðrún, fills the cups of men with mead (gm 25); the adjective heiðvanr
‘used to gleaming (m ead)’ describes the tree, rising above the well of mead
(vsp 27). Sacred drops fall from the skull of the being Heiddraupnir ‘D ripper
of H eiðr’, and from this substance runes are m ade:10
sgd 13
The runes of thought (hugrúnar) . . .
are shaped by Hroptr, from the liquid
which dripped from Heiddraupnir’s skull.
The poem speaks later of the staves carved into various surfaces, which are
then scraped off, mixed with the holy m ead, and sent to many distant places
8 akv 35 - Scaevaði þá in scirleita, veigar þeim at bera . . .
9 H H II 46 - Vel scolom drecca dýrar veigar,
þótt mist hafim m unar oc landa;
10 sgd 13 - H ugrúnir . . .
. . . þaer of reist,
. . . H roptr,
af þeim legi er lekið hafði
ór hausi H eiddraupnis . . .
G ullveig’s Ordeal; a N ew Interpretation 85
(sgd 18). It is likely that this mead is the equivalent of the gleaming drops
which issue from H eiddraupnir’s skull (Liberman 1988:34).
Heiðr is also the name of an Icelandic sibyl; she advised the new arrivals
which of the lands they were to ta k e .11 A close relation between the sibyl
and the m ead is indicated by the kenning H eiðr’s hrqnn ‘H eiðr’s wave’ -
mead - poem (skj 183, 1, 3-4).
2.3 Heiðr and the Mead
If we wish to affirm that the woman H eiðr personifies the intoxicating
draught we must be able to point to parallels between the actions and the
functions of the two. In my perusal of this aim I include the qualities of the
synonyms of m iqðr: biórr, veig, and ql.
2.3.1 Mantic Inspiration
The forem ost gift of a wise woman, a vqlva, is her ability to foretell the
future and her understanding of the hidden order of the world. H eiðr thus is
called a vqlva velspá. In some Eddie poems the intake of the ferm ented
liquid indeed precedes the experience of a mantic vision. A fter the initiatory
ordeal of hanging for nine nights from a wind-swept tree Óðinn received the
knowledge of magic songs and a drink of the precious m ead:12
hav 140
N ine mighty songs I learned from the famous son
o f Bqlþorr, B estla’s father and I received a sip o f the precious mead.
It was then that he began to recite his magic chants.
In the Grímnismál Óðinn is tortured by fire. A fter he was comforted by
drinking from a horn (though the drink is not nam ed) he gives voice to his
visionary knowledge (gm prose).
Sigurðr received from the valkyrie, whom he had awakened from her
sleep, a horn filled with mead - the ‘drink of rem em brance’ (sgd prose).
L ater in the poem the drink is designated as biórr (sgd 5). A fter this she
im parted to him the wisdom of beneficial and healing runes.
11 Islendinga Sögur 1947 I, 138; she was clearly a well respected person.
12 hav 140 - Fimbulliód nio nam ec af inom fraegia syni
BQlþors, Bestlo fçÔur,
oc ec drycc of gat ins dýra m iaðar . . .
86 Lotte Motz
2.3.2 Shared Qualities
The talents of the woman H eiðr enable her to rouse agents of magic
effectiveness - vitti hon ganda. Such powers also dwell in the liquid of the
horn of Sigrdrifa:13
sgd 5
A draught (beer) I hand you, tree o f the fight (warrior),
filled with strength and mighty fam e,
with magic songs and healing runes,
with helpful charms and staves o f delight.
By chanting her charms a sibyl could have saved Þórr from his affliction, and
she is named çl-Gefjun ‘Goddess of the intoxicating drink’ (skj 18, 20, 2).
Heiðr, however, is also a mistress of harmful sorcery. She may bewilder
and confuse the minds of men - seið hon hug leikinn. This action, likewise,
may be carried out by the ferm ented brew. G uðrún describes the liquid -
biórr - brought to her by Grim hildr to make her wed King Atli of the
H uns:14
gðr II, 22
Signs o f every kind w ere in the horn
carved and reddened with blood - which I could not read -
a huge snake, o f the H addings’ land
uncut corn, the innards o f beasts.
23
There was much evil in the beer
roots of trees and wild roasted nuts
the dew of the hearth and bloody guts
cooked liver of pig . . .
The effect produced by the noisome potion, the beguiling and bewildering of
the mind, is fully shown in a passage of Sörla þáttr. The warrior H eðinn had
been handed a draught by the witch G öndul, and, after he had swallowed it.
13 sgd 5 - Biór foeri ec þér, brynþings apaldr,
magni blandinn oc megintiri;
fulir er hann lióða oc lícnstafa,
góðra galdra oc gam anrúna.
14 gðr II, 22 - Vóro í horni hvaers kins stafir,
ristnir oc roðnir - ráða ec né m áttac -
lyngfiscr langr, lanz Haddingia
ax óscorit innleið dýra.
gðr II 23 - Vóro þeim bióri bçl m çrg sam an,
urt allz viðar oc acarn brunninn,
um dçgg arins, iðrar blótnar,
svins lifr soðin . . .
G ullveig’s Ordeal; a N ew Interpretation 87
a strange thing happened, for he could not rem em ber anything that had
occurred in the p ast:15
H eðinn was seized so forcefully by his bewilderm ent and lack o f remembrance
through the ale (q l), which he had drunk, that he could do nothing else but to
follow her counsel; and he did not remem ber that he and Högni had been joined
as blood brothers.
In this way an unending war commenced.
In the cited instances the poisonous liquid was handed out by women:
G öndul and Grimhildr. This observation would illuminate the last line of
stanza 22 - She was always the darling of an evil woman. The ferm ented
brew may become the favorite tool in the hands of an evil sorceress.
2.3.3 Summary
2.3.3.1 The Action of the Ferm ented Drink and of H eiðr
Let us summarize in what ways the action of the potent drink parallels the
action of the vçlva Heiðr. It finds its way to human dwellings; it induces
m antic vision and the working of beneficial or destructive magic. It may be
cherished by an evil sorceress.
2.3.3.2 The Creation of the Ferm ented Drink and the Fate of Gullveig
The perform ance is repeatedly enacted and takes place in a sacred precinct.
We may deal with a cultic event. She is burned by flames just as the process
of drying grain or of ferm entation is hastened by fires lit beneath the vessels.
My reading of the stanzas explains why the burning occurs before and not
after she com m itted crimes.
The image of Gullveig’s being “supported by spears” - geirom studdo - is
not obvious or easy to understand, regardless of the interpretation. One
might possibly assume that the kettle was hung upon a scaffolding of spears
thrust into the g ro und.16
15 Sörla þáttr, ch. 7 - Svá var Heðinn fanginn í illsku ok óminni of öli því er hann hafði drukkit
at honum sýndist ekki annat ráð en þetta, ok ekki mundi hann til, at þeir Högni vaeri
fóstbraeðr.
16 A folk custom cited bei Heino G ehrts may throw light on this passage. In the province of
Slesvig-Holstein people gather on the Eve of St. John; a fire is lit in an open field; a cauldron is
placed above the fire, hanging from a cross beam which rests on side supports: beer is heated in
the vessel and then drunk by the assembled. The procedure is named ‘the burning of witches’
(H exenverbrennen). G ehrts 1969:353.
The association between the intoxicating drink and blazing flames is also noted in an Icelandic
saga: .. at that time it was custom to drink beer by the fire.” Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in
mesta, cited by Jochens 1991:312.
88 Lotte Motz
3 Germanie and Non-Germanic Analogues
Kvasir’s experience is described by Snorri Sturluson (sk 1). His name ap
pears related to Russian kvas, Norwegian kvase, a ferm ented drink, brewed
from berries. This being was created when the war between the Aesir and
the Vanir was concluded with a treaty. He was the wisest of all men and went
far and wide to spread his knowledge. One day he was m urdered and his
blood, mixed with honey, turned into the drink of inspiration.
R obert Burns relates the story of John Barleycorn. This creature was
killed by three kings, the marrow of his bones roasted above a fire, and then
his m urderers drank his blood (Krappe 1928:66).
And they hae ta’en his very heart’s blood
A nd drank it round and round:
And still the more and m ore they drank
Their joy did more abound.
H ere the drink of m errim ent, apparently beer, derives from barley, mashed
and cooked above a flame.
Bloody incidents abound in G reek narratives concerning the art of making
wine which was introduced by Dionysus. In classical times already the
Greeks tended to equate the two so that they would be drinking the god’s
blood; thus it is stated by Euripides:
And when we pour libations
to the gods, we pour the god o f wine him self . . .
(Bacchae 283).
For when the god enters the body o f man
he fills him with the breath o f prophecy . . .
(Bacchae 299).
The account of the god’s suffering, his being torn to pieces and eaten by the
Titans, is said by Diodorus to allegorize the production of the drink (B urkert
1983:244; Diodorus Siculus 3.62.7).
The Indian Vedas know the counterpart of the Germanic mead as soma.
This potion holds a role of towering significance in Indian belief. By drinking
it the god Indra acquired the courage and the strength to slay the monstrous
Uritra. This deed released the waters of life, and thus the cosmos was
created. Soma was personified and m ade into a god. He is addressed in no
less than 114 hymns which frequently stress the process of his form ation.17
Thus he is “ bruised by the pressing stones” (IX, 67, 20); he is “purified in his
17 The entire ninth book of the Rigveda is dedicated to this god. My references are to the
translation by Griffith. For interesting linguistic relations, see: Polomé 1954.
G ullveig’s Ordeal; a New Interpretation 89
fleecy garb, attaining every beauty (strained through a woolen cloth)” (IX,
16, 6); “ten Dames (the fingers)” have sung a song of welcome (IX, 56, 3).
He then becam e “ the visitor of living m en” (IX, 25, 5), a “ winning thunder
bolt” (IX , 47, 3), “the tawny bull” (IX, 82, 1), the “m ountain-haunting
steer” (IX, 85, 10), “ the well-armed G od” (IX, 87, 2). “ He takes his
weapons, like a hero, in his hands, fain to win the light” (IX, 86, 2). Thus
Soma gains his victory: “His task is done; his crushings of the Dasyus are
made m anifest” (IX, 47, 2).
A nd, as m ead, the drink of ecstatic vision, is personified as a prophetess,
so the so m a , which im parted strength to Indra, is personified as a warrior. It
is true that images of the soma in its concrete form are everpresent; it is the
“ tawny-colored” liquid (IX, 37, 2), “ a current of sweet juice” (IX, 75, 4).
Yet simultaneously it is seen in hum an terms.
We may view Gullveig’s fate in an even wider frame: that of a god who
gives his body so that mankind may benefit. The belief in a being through
whose death the staff of life is generated is widely spread within the western
hem isphere (H att 1951). It is strongly present among the Eskimo. According
to this tradition a girl was hurled from a boat in a sea storm. When she clung
to the side of the vessel her fingers were hacked off by her father’s knife. In
the severed digits originated the animals of the sea which are vital to Eskimo
survival (H ultkrantz 1962:393).
4 The Gullveig Story and the Structure of the Vqlospá
We shall now consider how my reading of the episode fits into the composi
tion of the poem. The first part of Vqlospá describes the creation of the
cosmos by the gods. This process was accomplished by peaceful means in its
initial stages (vsp 4-8). The globe was lifted from the abyss and then the
earth grew green with vegetation.18 The Aesir regulated the order of the
celestial bodies and through this the course of time. As craftsmen they
shaped shrines and temples and the tools of artisans. They enjoyed the
abode which they had formed until the harmony was shattered by the arrival
of three girls from Giantland.
These maidens are described as ámátcar mioc ‘exceedingly powerful’, and
it is generally assumed that, as harmful creatures, they brought pain and
unhappiness into the realm of peace and order. If this were the case one
18 That the earth arose from the bottom of an ocean appears as a very widely spread them e,
especially in northern Eurasia. Paulson 1962:32-35. Thus a bird may bring a bit of mud from the
bottom of the sea and deposit it on its surface, as among the Kets of Siberia. Sometimes the
creation of the earth is the result of a contest between G od and an adversary, as among the
Yakuts.
90 Lotte M otz
would expect to find a description of the misery which befell the world after
their arrival. Instead, the poem lists a new set of creative acts (vsp 9-22).
The race of dwarfs came into being, followed by the family of man. The
sacred tree is pictured, rising above a well, and goddesses went forth to
determ ine human fate. Finally, in the view of this paper, the sacred mead
was brewed by the gods.
We may wonder what spurred the Aesir to their generative action after
their peace had been destroyed. I suggest that the ‘mighty m aidens’ are
goddesses of fate (other goddesses of fate, the hamingior, also originated in
G iantland, vf 49). And they arrived to decree what kind of world it was to
be: not a static realm of harm ony and peace, but one of continual change, of
strife and toil, of death and birth, of decay and regeneration, of violence and
creativity. Undoubtedly they decreed the death of Baldr and the final
holocaust.
Indeed the new forms arise differently from those earlier shaped: the
dimensions of death and transm utation are added to the cosmos. The dwarfs
grow in the blood of a slaughtered creature; the world ash rises from the
realm of death to heaven;19 the Norns apportion life and thus determ ine the
time of death; the sacred mead originates in the burning of a woman.
Boundaries are broken through shifts and transfigurations; the wood of
trees changes into the flesh of men and women. The leaves of the cosmic ash,
nibbled by a stag, turn into the rivers of the world (gm 35). M ead, itself
transm uted and thrice reborn, a symbol of life renewed, raises men from
tem poral existence to visions of eternity.
In the view of this paper the brewing of the mead forms the last act of
creation.20 It is fitting that the mead is included, for it belongs intrinsically
with the cosmos, as seen in Alvíssmál where it is nam ed with the stars, the
sun, the sky, the fire, and in the Grímnismál where it is named with the
rivers of the world.
The last act of creativity coincides in time with the first war - She
remembers the war, the first in the world. Now the forces which inhabit the
19 Elsa Mundal views the giant-m aidens as forces of creativity which allow the shaping of the
race of men by the gods and the originating of the family of dwarfs from blood and bones. For
the world ash as sign and symbol of renewal and transm utation, see Motz 1991.
20 We may observe that the noun for ‘m ead’ is not found in vsp until after the coming of
Gullveig. It is not drunk by the Aesir during the G olden Age. It is first noted in vsp 28:
M ead Mimir drinks every m orning
of V alfather’s pawn . . .
Dreccr miçÔ Mimir morgin hverian
af veði ValfçÔrs . . .
* * *
The English text of vsp 21, 22 is based on D ronke 1988, with m inor changes.
G ullveig’s Ordeal; a N ew Interpretation 91
cosmos are set in motion and unleashed, and the events unrol inexorably to
their fated end.
The presence of m ead is not noted in the Golden Age, nor is it cited in the
description of the world which rises from destruction, where harvests grow
without labor. As the golden board game belongs to the era of changeless
peace, so the golden drink - Gullveig - belongs to the era of turbulence and
transm utation.
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