She is often described as “foremost among the goddesses,” and was the wife of Odin. [5], During the so-called Völkerwanderung or “Migration Period” – roughly 400-800 CE, and thus the period that immediately preceded the Viking Age – the figure who would later become the völva held a much more institutionally necessary and universally acclaimed role among the Germanic tribes. The myth surrounding Frigg and her role as a mother is by far the most famous. Alongside the several mentions of Freya’s loose sexual practices can be placed the words of the medieval Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, who relates that Frigg slept with a slave on at least one occasion. She is married to Odin and her father is called Fjorgynn. *frijaz descends from the same source (Proto-Indo-European) as the feminine Sanskrit noun priyā and the feminine Avestan noun fryā (both meaning "own, dear, beloved"). Frigg especially loved her son Baldr, and with a mother's concern she set about trying to protect him after he had a prophetic dream of his own death. Like Freya, Frigg is depicted as a völva, a Viking Age practitioner of the form of Norse magic known as seidr. She’s the wife of Odin, the leader of the gods, and the mother of Baldur. He was often associated with royalty, death, healing, battles, poetry, sorcery and knowledge. Freyja, “Lady,” is a title rather than a true name. [15] Ellis-Davidson, Hilda Roderick. While there is no firm evidence to prove the hypothesis, there are many similarities, such as mythological features and their names, as well as locations associated with both of them. 1882. Balder was a god with a central role in Norse mythology. Here again we can discern the ultimate reducibility of both goddesses to one another: one’s name is identical to the other’s attributes, and the other name is a generic title rather than a unique name. Frigg – the goddess of marriage. She is known as a source of nurturing, patient and devoted love. From there she can look into other worlds. The two names come from the same word and have the same meaning. Frigg (pronounced “FRIG;” Old Norse Frigg, “Beloved”[1]), sometimes Anglicized as “Frigga,” is the highest-ranking of the Aesir goddesses. She was the wife of the powerful Norse god Odin, The All-Father. Woðanaz is the warband’s chieftain, and Frija is its veleda. Frigg wears many hats in Norse mythology. The name of Hroðgar’s queen, Wealhþeow, is almost certainly the Old English equivalent of the Proto-Germanic title that Tacitus latinised as “veleda.”[8] Wealhþeow’s “domestic” actions in the poem – which are, properly understood, enactments of the liquor ritual described above – are indispensable for the upkeep of the unity of the warband and its power structures. Frigg or Frigga (which means ‘Beloved’ in Old Norse) is a goddess found in Norse mythology. In the heavenly realm of Asgard, Frigg lived in a magnificent palace called Fensal. A Handbook of Germanic Etymology. She was a promoter of marriage and of fertility. Frigg, Odin's wife, is the mother of the Æsir and patron goddess of marrige and life in norse mythology. She is goddess of love, maternity, marriage and of … Instead, she made her home in a place called Fensalir and was attended by several maids. Frigg is the queen of Asgard, the capital city of the Norse gods. Nearly all sources portray her as the wife of the god Odin. [7] Enright, Michael J. The theonyms Frigg (Old Norse) and Frija (Old High German) are cognate forms—linguistic siblings of the same origin—that descend from a substantivized feminine of Proto-Germanic *frijaz (via Holtzmann's law). Her name means “the beloved”, “the friend”, “the wife”, and “dear”. He had been outsmarted but kept his promise and granted victory to the Winniler tribe and even eventually admitted that Frigg’s choice was correct. 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