Valkyrie - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Val·kyr·ie

Audio Help [val-keer-ee, -kahy-ree, vahl-, val-kuh-ree] Pronunciation Key

–noun Scandinavian Mythology.

any of the beautiful maidens attendant upon Odin who bring the souls of slain warriors chosen by Odin or Tyr to Valhalla and there wait upon them.

Also, Walkyrie.

[Origin: < ON valkyrja chooser of the slain (c. OE wælcyrie witch), equiv. to val(r) the slain in battle, slaughter (c. OE wæl) + kyrja chooser (c. OE cyrie); akin to choose

]

—Related forms

Val·kyr·i·an, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Valkyrie

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Val·kyr·ie Audio Help (vāl-kîr'ē, -kī'rē, vāl'kə-rē) Pronunciation Key
n. Mythology
Any of Odin's handmaidens who conducted the souls of the slain to Valhalla.

[Old Norse Valkyrja; see welə- in Indo-European roots.]

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Valkyrie

1768, one of 12 war-maidens who escorted the brave dead to Valhalla, from O.N. valkyrja, lit. "chooser of the slain," from valr "those slain in battle" (see Valhalla) + kyrja "chooser," from ablaut root of kjosa "to choose," from P.Gmc. *keusan, from PIE *geus- "to taste, choose" (see gusto). O.E. form was Wælcyrie, but they seem not to have figured as largely in Anglo-Saxon tales as in Scandinavian. Ger. Walküre (Wagner) is from O.N.

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