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For other meanings of Freya, see Freya (disambiguation).

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Freyja (sometimes anglicized as Freya), sister of Freyr and daughter of Niord (Njǫrðr), is usually seen as a Norse fertility goddess.

Freyr and Freyja come from Germanic words meaning "lord" and "lady" respectively (cf. German Frau "woman, wife", Gothic Frauja "the Lord"). While there are some sources suggesting that she was called on to bring fruitfulness to fields or wombs, in Eddas she was portrayed as a goddess of fertility, love, beauty, and attraction. Freyja was also a goddess of war, death, magic, prophecies and wealth. Freyja is cited as receiving half of the dead lost in battle in her hall Sessrúmnir, whereas Odin would receive the other half.

Correspondingly, Freyja was at times one of the most popular goddesses. According to Snorri's Ynglinga saga, Freyja was a skilled practitioner of the seiðr form of magic and introduced it amongst the Æsir. Also according to Ynglinga saga, Freyja is a priestess of sacrifices, and after the death of Njord and Freyr, she kept up the blood sacrifices.

In 2005, the name Freja was the fifth most popular given name for Danish girls born that year and has subsequently become a common female name in Denmark.

Poetic Edda and Prose Edda

In Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, Freyja is introduced as follows.

Three minor goddesses Sjöfn, Lofn, and Vár are either Freyja's different names, or her attendants.

According to Ynglinga Saga, Freyja also has another daughter with Ódr called Gersemi. Both Hnoss and Gersemi are also so fair that their names were used to call jewels and treasures. But in some sources, Freyja's Consort is Odin, possibly because she was confused with Frigg.

The Lay of Hyndla also names a protégé of Freyja, Óttar. Óttar is said to be a young man who built a rock shrine and gave many sacrifices for the Asynjur. And Freyja answered his prayers and helped him find his pedigree.

In two stories a giant wants to marry Freyja; the owner of Svaðilfari as related in Gylfaginning and King Þrymr of the Rime Jotuns as related in Þrymskviða. Both were ultimately deceived and killed by the gods.

Possessions

Surviving tales regarding Freyja often associate Freyja with numerous enchanted possessions.

Cloak

Freya owned a cloak of feathers (debatedly, either robin's feathers or hawk feathers), which gave her the ability to change into any bird, and to fly between worlds. She lends this garment to Loki twice, once to save Idun, once in Þrymskviða to search for Thor's hammer. The same magical cloak was also assigned to Frigg in some tales.

Hildisvini

Freyja rides a boar called Hildisvín the Battle-Swine. In the poem Hyndluljóð, we are told that the boar is Ottar, but it seems that Ottar was temporarily disguised as Hildisvini, not that Hildisvini is Ottar. The boar has special associations within Norse Mythology, both relative to the notion of fertility and also as a protective talisman in war.

Cat-drawn Chariot

According to Prose Edda, Freyja also often rides on a chariot drawn by a pair of large blue cats. Freyja has special links with cats. She rode this chariot to Baldur's funeral.

Jewelry

Brisingamen (Brísingamen) is Freyja's famous necklace reputedly made of gold and amber. The Eddas do not mention its origin, but a Christian short story written in 15th century known as Sörla þáttr gives a story of how Freyja acquired the necklace. In this account, Freyja is a human woman in a land called Asialand, and is Odin's concubine. When she wanted to buy a necklace from four dwarves, (Dvalin, Alfrik, Berling, and Grer), they desired a night each with her, a demand which she eventually acceded to. Later, Odin ordered Loki to steal the necklace; and in exchange for it, he forced Freyja to put an evil spell on some kings so that they would have to fight and kill others again and again in an eternal war. This curse could only be broken by the arrival of a great Christian King (Olaf I of Norway). The necklace's name was never mentioned in the story.

Alternatively, King Alberich gave it to her.

According to Prose Edda, Loki once robbed Brisingamen from Freyja, and the goddess had to ask Heimdall for help. After a great battle with Loki, Heimdall won and gave the necklace back to Freyja. This myth was partially borrowed by Sörla þáttr.

In Thrymskvitha, when Loki asked Freyja to put on the bridal veil and come with him to Jotunheim, the goddess was so wrathful that all the dwellings in heaven were shaken and the necklace Brisingamen broke off from her neck.

• Loki:

Bind thee, Freyja

in bridal raiment

for we two must drive

to Jotunheim.

• Freyja:

Know me to be

of women lewdest

if with thee I drive

to Jotunheim.

Later, Thor borrowed Brisingamen when he disguised as Freyja to come to Thrymr's wedding. But in some sources, Brisingamen is Frigg's.

Receiver of half the slain

Snorri writes in Gylfaginning (24) that "wherever she rides to battle, she gets half the slain" (Faulkes translation); he does not say whether or not Freyja actively participates in the battle in any way. Though Freyja receives some of those warriors slain on the battlefield, there is no record of how that occurs. Does Freyja pick them herself? Or do Odin or the Valkyries decide? There are no answers to these questions.

It is said in Grímnismál:

The ninth hall is Folkvang, where bright Freyja

Decides where the warriors shall sit:

Some of the fallen belong to her,

And some belong to Odin.

In Egil's saga, Thorgerda (Þorgerðr), threatens to commit suicide in the wake of her brother's death, saying: "I shall not eat until I sup with Freyja". This should be taken to mean that she expected to pass to Freyja's hall upon her death. Any greater associations with Freyja and death are not supported.

19th century accounts

Since rural Scandinavians remained dependent on the forces of nature, it is hardly surprising that fertility gods remained important, and still in rural 19th century Sweden, Freyja retained elements of her role as a fertility goddess. In the province of Småland, there is an account of how she was connected with sheet lightning in this respect:

In Värend, Freyja could also arrive at Christmas night and she used to shake the apple trees for the sake of a good harvest and consequently people left some apples in the trees for her sake. Moreover, it was dangerous to leave the plough outdoors, because if Freyja sat on it, it would no longer be of any use.

Potential relations to Frigg

There is frequent modern speculation that Freija is the same as Frigg (see the discussion under Connection between Frigg and Freyja).

Early traditions do not distinguish clearly between Freyja and Frigg, though the names have different origins and in the later Scandinavian mythology, Freyja and Frigg were obviously not one and the same, being different goddesses with separate functions, personalities and symbols. The two appeared in the same text together on many occasions, however. Some sources say Freyja was married to Odin, most likely due to Frigg and Freyja once being the same character, and Loki claims that she had a sexual relationship with her brother Freyr in Lokasenna.

Other names

Forms of "Freyja"

• Freja — common Danish and literary Swedish form.
• Freia
• Freya
• Froya
• Friia — second Merseburg Charm
• Frija — variant of Friia
• Frøya, Fröa — common Norwegian, and rural Swedish form.
• Reija — Finnish form

Other forms

According to Snorri Sturluson's Gylfaginning (35), Freyja also bore the following names:

• "Vanadis", which means "Dís of the Vanir".
• Mardöll, whose etymology is uncertain, also appears in kennings for gold;
• Hörn, which may be related to the word hörr meaning "flax", "linen" (Hörn is also listed in the þulur as a giantess name);
• Gefn, which means "the giver", is a suitable name for a fertility goddess;
• Sýr, whose translation is "sow", illustrates the association of the Vanir with pigs (cf. Freyr's boar Gullinbursti).

Some of these names (Hörn, Sýr, Gefn, Mardöll) are also listed in a þula which also supplies:

• Þrungva;
• Skjálf, which is also the name of the wife and murderer of king Agni.

Named after Freyja

Places

Many farms in Norway have Frøy- as the first element in their names, and the most common are the name Frøyland (13 farms). But whether Frøy- in these names are referring to the goddess Freyja (or the god Freyr) is questionable and uncertain. The first element in the name Frøyjuhof, in Udenes parish, are however most probably the genitive case of the name Freyja. (The last element is hof 'temple', and a church was built on the farm in the Middle Ages, which indicates the spot as an old holy place.) The same name, Frøyjuhof, also occur in the parishes Hole and Stjørdal.

In the parish of Seim, in the county of Hordaland, Norway, lies the farm Ryland (Norse Rýgjarland). The first element is the genitive case of rýgr 'lady' (identical with the meaning of the name Freyja, see above). Since the neighbouring farms have the names Hopland (Norse Hofland 'temple land') and Totland (Norse Þórsland 'Thor's land') it is possible that rýgr (lady) here are referring to a goddess. (And in that case most probably Freyja.) A sideform of the word (rýgja) may occur in the name of the Norwegian municipality Rygge.

There's Horn in Iceland and Hoorn in Holland, various places in the German lands are called Freiburg (burg meaning something like settlement).

Plants

Several plants were named after Freyja, such as Freyja's tears and Freyja's hair (Polygala vulgaris), but after the introduction of Christianity, they were renamed after the Virgin Mary, suggesting her closest homologue in Christianity.

Misc

The Orion constellation was called Frigg's distaff or Freyja's distaff.

The chemical element vanadium is named after Freyja via her alternative name Vanadis.

Also, Friday is Frigg's Day or Freyja's Day.

Homologues

Freyja might be considered the counterpart of Venus and Aphrodite, although she has a combination of attributes no known goddess possesses in the mythology of any other ancient Indo-European people and might be regarded as closer to the Mesopotamian Ishtar as being involved in both love and war. It is also sometimes thought that she is the most direct mythological descendant from Nerthus.

Britt-Mari Näsström posits in her "Freyja: Great Goddess of the North" that there is a tenable connection from Freyja to other Goddesses worshipped along the migration path of the Indo-Europeans who consistently appeared with either one or two cats/lions as companions, usually in the war Goddess aspect but occasionally also as a love Goddess. These would include: Durga, Ereshkegal, Sekhmet, Menhit, Bast, Anat, Asherah, Nana, Cybele, Rhea, and others. That the name Freyja translates to the deliberately ambiguous title of "Lady" infers that like Odin, She wandered and bore more names than are perhaps remembered in the modern age.

Modern popular culture

Freyja, depicted as "Freia", appears in Richard Wagner's opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen. This has led to many portrayals based on Wagner's interpretation, although some are closer to pre-Wagnerian models. Since Wagner's time, numerous depictions and references have entered popular culture to varying extents.

References and notes

1. Statistics Denmark. (January, 13 2006). Fornavne for børn født i 1. halvår 2005.
2. ^ Schön, Ebbe. (2004). Asa-Tors hammare, Gudar och jättar i tro och tradition. Fält & Hässler, Värnamo. p. 227-228.
3. The writer Johan Alfred Göth, cited in Schön, Ebbe. (2004). Asa-Tors hammare, Gudar och jättar i tro och tradition. Fält & Hässler, Värnamo. p. 227-228.)
4. Translation provided by Misplaced Pages editors.
5. ^ Schön, Ebbe. (2004). Asa-Tors hammare, Gudar och jättar i tro och tradition. Fält & Hässler, Värnamo. p. 228.

• Egils Saga
• Ynglinga Saga
• Grímnismál
• Lokasenna
• Snorri Sturluson, The Prose Edda
• H. R. Ellis Davidson, Gods and Myths of Northern Europe
• E. O. G. Turville-Petre, Myth and Religion of the North
• Jan de Vries, Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, 2nd Edition (the seminal work of reference on Germanic and Scandinavian religion).

• Love and lust goddesses
• Norse goddesses
• War goddesses
• Death goddesses
• Magic goddesses
• Oracular goddesses