Frigg sits enthroned and facing the spear-wielding goddess Gná, flanked by two goddesses, one of whom (Fulla) carries her eski, a wooden box. Illustrated (1882) by Carl Emil Doepler.

In Norse mythology, Frigg (/frɪɡ/;[1] Old Norse), Frija (Old High German), Frea (Langobardic), and Frige (Old English) is a goddess. In nearly all sources, she is described as the wife of the god Odin. In Old High German and Old Norse sources, she is also connected with the goddess Fulla. The English weekday name Friday (etymologically Old English "Frīge's day") bears her name.


After Christianization, the mention of Frigg continued to occur in Scandinavian folklore. During modern times, Frigg has appeared in popular culture, has been the subject of art and receives veneration in Germanic Neopaganism.

Etymology, Friday, and toponymy[edit]

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). *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").[2] In the modern period, an -a suffix is sometimes applied to denote femininity, resulting in the form Frigga.[3] This spelling also serves the purpose of distancing the goddess from the English word frig.[4]

The connection with and possible earlier identification of the goddess Freyja with Frigg in the Proto-Germanic period (Frigg and Freyja origin hypothesis) is a matter of scholarly debate.[5] Like the name of the group of gods to which Freyja belongs, the Vanir, the name Freyja is not attested outside of Scandinavia. This is in contrast to the name of the goddess Frigg, who is attested as a goddess common among the Germanic peoples, and whose name is reconstructed as Proto-Germanic *Frijjō. Evidence does not exist for the existence of a common Germanic goddess from which Old Norse Freyja descends, but scholars have commented that this may simply be due to the scarcity of surviving sources.[5]


The English weekday name Friday comes from Old English Frīġedæġ, meaning 'day of Frig'. It is cognate with Old High German frîatac.[7] Several place names refer to Frigg in what are now Norway and Sweden, although her name is altogether absent in recorded place names in Denmark.[8]


Origo Gentis Langobardorum and Historia Langobardorum[edit]




Second Merseburg Incantation[edit]

"Wodan Heals Balder's Horse" by Emil Doepler, 1905

A 10th-century manuscript found in what is now Merseburg, Germany, features an invocation known as the Second Merseburg Incantation. The incantation calls upon various continental Germanic gods, including Old High German Frija and a goddess associated with her—Volla, to assist in healing a horse:

Old High German:
Phol ende uuodan uuoran zi holza.
du uuart demo balderes uolon sin uuoz birenkit.
thu biguol en sinthgunt, sunna era suister,
thu biguol en friia, uolla era suister
thu biguol en uuodan, so he uuola conda:
sose benrenki, sose bluotrenki, sose lidirenki:
ben zi bena, bluot si bluoda,
lid zi geliden, sose gelimida sin![11]
Bill Griffiths translation:
Phol and Woden travelled to the forest.
Then was for Baldur's foal its foot wrenched.
Then encharmed it Sindgund (and) Sunna her sister,
then encharmed it Frija (and) Volla her sister,
then encharmed it Woden, as he the best could,
bone to bone, blood to blood,
limb to limb, so be glued.[11]

Poetic Edda[edit]

In the Poetic Edda, compiled during the 13th century from earlier traditional material, Frigg is mentioned in the poems Völuspá, Vafþrúðnismál, the prose of Grímnismál, Lokasenna, and Oddrúnargrátr.[12]

Frigg receives three mentions in the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá. In the first mention, the poem recounts that Frigg wept for the death of her son Baldr in Fensalir.[13] Later in the poem, when the future death of Odin is foretold, Odin is referred to as the "beloved of Frigg" and his future death is referred to as the "second grief of Frigg".[14] Like the reference to Frigg weeping in Fensalir earlier in the poem, the implied "first grief" is a reference to the grief she felt upon the death of her son, Baldr.[15]


Frigg plays a prominent role in the prose introduction to the poem, Grímnismál. The introduction recounts that two sons of king Hrauðungr, Agnar (age 10) and Geirröðr (age 8), once sailed out with a trailing line to catch small fish, but wind drove them out into the ocean and, during the darkness of night, their boat wrecked. The brothers went ashore, where they met a crofter. They stayed on the croft for one winter, during which the couple separately fostered the two children: the old woman fostered Agnar and the old man fostered Geirröðr. Upon the arrival of spring, the old man brought them a ship. The old couple took the boys to the shore, and the old man took Geirröðr aside and spoke to him. The boys entered the boat and a breeze came.[16]

The boat returned to the harbor of their father. Geirröðr, forward in the ship, jumped to shore and pushed the boat, containing his brother, out and said "go where an evil spirit may get thee."[17] Away went the ship and Geirröðr walked to a house, where he was greeted with joy; while the boys were gone, their father had died, and now Geirröðr was king. He "became a splendid man".[16] The scene switches to Odin and Frigg sitting in Hliðskjálf, "look[ing] into all the worlds".[16] Odin says: "'Seest thou Agnar, thy foster-son, where he is getting children a giantess [Old Norse gȳgi] in a cave? while Geirröd, my foster son, is a king residing in his country.' Frigg answered, 'He is so inhospitable that he tortures his guests, if he thinks that too many come.'"[18]



Prose Edda[edit]





In section 49 of Gylfaginning, a narrative about the fate of Frigg's son Baldr is told. According to High, Baldr once started to have dreams indicating that his life was in danger. When Baldr told his fellow Æsir about his dreams, the gods met together for a thing and decided that they should "request immunity for Baldr from all kinds of danger". Frigg subsequently receives promises from the elements, the environment, diseases, animals, and stones, amongst other things. The request successful, the Æsir make sport of Baldr's newfound invincibility; shot or struck, Baldr remained unharmed. However, Loki discovers this and is not pleased by this turn of events, so, in the form of a woman, he goes to Frigg in Fensalir.[24]




Hermóðr, Baldr's brother, accepts Frigg's request and rides to Hel. Meanwhile, Baldr is given a grand funeral attended by many beings—foremost mentioned of which are his mother and father, Frigg and Odin. During the funeral, Nanna dies of grief and is placed in the funeral pyre with Baldr, her dead husband.[26] Hermóðr locates Baldr and Nanna in Hel. Hermodr secures an agreement for the return of Baldr and with Hermóðr Nanna sends gifts to Frigg (a linen robe) and Fulla (a finger-ring). Hermóðr rides back to the Æsir and tells them what has happened. However, the agreement fails due to the sabotage of a jötunn in a cave named Þökk (Old Norse 'thanks'), described perhaps Loki in disguise.[27]


Heimskringla and sagas[edit]

In Ynglinga saga, the first book of Heimskringla, a Euhemerized account of the origin of the gods is provided. Frigg is mentioned once. According to the saga, while Odin was away, Odin's brothers Vili and Vé oversaw Odin's holdings. Once, while Odin was gone for an extended period, the Æsir concluded that he was not coming back. His brothers started to divvy up Odin's inheritance, "but his wife Frigg they shared between them. However, a short while afterwards, [Odin] returned and took possession of his wife again.[29]


Archaeological record[edit]


Scholarly reception and interpretation[edit]

Due to numerous similarities, some scholars have proposed that the Old Norse goddesses Frigg and Freyja descend from a common entity from the Proto-Germanic period.[5] Regarding a Freyja-Frigg common origin hypothesis, scholar Stephan Grundy comments that "the problem of whether Frigg or Freyja may have been a single goddess originally is a difficult one, made more so by the scantiness of pre-Viking Age references to Germanic goddesses, and the diverse quality of the sources. The best that can be done is to survey the arguments for and against their identity, and to see how well each can be supported."[6]


Plays and art[edit]


See also[edit]


  1. ^ "Frigg". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
  2. ^ Orel (2003), p. 114.
  3. ^ See for example Bulfinch (1913), p. 344.
  4. ^ Sheard 2011, p. 238.
  5. ^ a b c d Grundy (1998), pp. 56–66.
  6. ^ a b Grundy (1998), p. 57.
  7. ^ Simek (2007), pp. 93–94.
  8. ^ Pulsiano & Wolf (1993), p. 503.
  9. ^ Foulke (2003), pp. 315–16.
  10. ^ Foulke (2003), pp. 316–17.
  11. ^ a b Griffiths (2006), p. 174.
  12. ^ Larrington (1999), p. 305.
  13. ^ Larrington (1999), p. 8.
  14. ^ Larrington (1999), p. 11.
  15. ^ See, for example, Larrington (1999), p. 266.
  16. ^ a b c Larrington (1999), p. 51.
  17. ^ Thorpe (1907), p. 18.
  18. ^ a b Thorpe (1907), p. 19.
  19. ^ Larrington (1999), p. 84.
  20. ^ a b Faulkes (1995), p. 3.
  21. ^ a b Faulkes (1995), p. 13.
  22. ^ Faulkes (1995), p. 29.
  23. ^ Faulkes (1995), pp. 29–30.
  24. ^ a b c d Faulkes (1995), p. 48.
  25. ^ Faulkes (1995), p. 49.
  26. ^ Faulkes (1995), pp. 49–50.
  27. ^ Faulkes (1995), pp. 50–51.
  28. ^ Faulkes (1995), p. 59.
  29. ^ Hollander (2007), p. 7.
  30. ^ Byock (1990), p. 36.
  31. ^ Jones & Pennick (1995), pp. 144–45.
  32. ^ Simek (2007), p. 94.


External links[edit]