Within one of the greater families, the ancestral Disir might attain the rank of goddesses and become the objects of something more than private worship. Of this there is an example in the goddesses of the Haloigja family, namely Thorgerd Hœlgabrud and her sister Irpa. Thorgerd was the daughter of an ancient mythical king Hœlgi, after whom Halogaland is said to have its name; that is, Hœlgi is the eponymous hero of the district, the personal name having been formed by the operation of myth to explain the place name. Thorgerd Hœlgabrud is also called, but less correctly, Horgabrud1 and Horgatroll. In more recent saga tradition this designation of “troll” no doubt had some connection with the aid she was supposed to have given to Hakon, Earl of Lade, in the battle of Hjorungavag. According to Snorri’s Edda (I, 400), her father also was worshipped; the mound in which he was buried was constructed from alternate layers of earth and stone, and of silver and gold — “these were the treasures offered up before him.”
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