valkyrie
/ˈvælˌkɪ.ɹi/ noun
Forms valkyries Valkyria Walkyrie
- noun (Norse mythology) Any of the female attendants of Odin, figures said to guide fallen warriors from the battlefield to Valhalla. “Wagner's “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (1853) famously features valkyries.”
Etymology
Borrowed from Old Norse valkyrja sg (“chooser of the slain”), plural valkyrjur pl, from Proto-Germanic *walakuzjǭ. Cognate to Old English wælcyrġe. First attested in English as a proper noun (Valkyries) in the 1770s; attested as a common noun (valkyries) since the 1880s.
The proper noun Valkyries was attested before the common noun valkyries. See the entry valkyrie for more.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “valkyrie”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details