Note 39 — CANTO VIII. THOR VISITS THE GIANT HYMIR.
William Edward Frye translation
The serpent Jormundgard, type of humidity and its dangerous effects; it is a happy idea of the poet to imagine all the serpent kind engendered by him.
In every mythology the serpent seems to be the emblem of humidity and its noxious qualities. The fable of Jormundgard has evidently given rise to the supposed existence of the kraken, or monstrous sea-serpent.