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Fensalir

"Frigg and Her Servants" (1882) by Carl Emil

Doepler.

In Norse mythology, Fensalir (Old Norse "Fen Halls"[1]) is a location

where the goddess Frigg dwells. Fensalir is attested in thePoetic Edda,

compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the

Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Scholars

have proposed theories about the implications of the location,

including that the location may have some connection to religious

practices involving springs, bogs, or swamps in Norse paganism, and

that it may be connected to the goddess Sga's watery location

Skkvabekkr.

Attestations

A bog in northern Jutland, Denmark.

In thePoetic Edda poem Vlusp, Frigg is described as weeping over

her son Baldr's death in Fensalir. This stanza is absent in theHauksbk

manuscript of the poem.[2] The portion of the stanza mentioning

Fensalir foretells that vengeance will come for the death of Baldr andthat:

while Frigg wept

in Fen Halls

for Valhll's woe.[3]

In chapter 35 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, High tells

Gangleri (described as king Gylfi in disguise) that Frigg is the highest among the synjur, and that "she has a

dwelling called Fensalir and it is very splendid."[4] In chapter 49, High says that when Loki witnessed that Baldr had

gained invincibility due to the oath all things took not to harm him, Loki went to a Fensalir appearing as a woman. In

his disguise, Loki there asked Frigg why Baldr was not harmed by the objects. Frigg revealed that it is due to theoath they have taken. The disguised Loki asks if nothing can hurt Baldr, and Frigg reveals that only mistletoe can,

for it seemed to her too young to demand an oath from. After this, Loki immediately disappears, and subsequently

engineers the death of Baldr with a mistletoe projectile.[5]

In theProse Edda book Skldskaparml, Fensalir receives a third and final mention. In chapter 19, ways to refer to

Frigg are provided, including that Frigg may be referred to as "queen of sir and Asyniur, of Fulla and falcon form

and Fensalir."[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Falconhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fullahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C3%81sshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sk%C3%A1ldskaparm%C3%A1lhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mistletoehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lokihttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C3%81sshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gylfihttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gylfihttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=High%2C_Just-As-High%2C_and_Thirdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gylfaginninghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Valhallahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hauksb%C3%B3khttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baldrhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=V%C3%B6lusp%C3%A1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ANorthern_Jutlandic_Bog_IV.JPGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Denmarkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jutlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=S%C3%A1ga_and_S%C3%B6kkvabekkrhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=S%C3%A1ga_and_S%C3%B6kkvabekkrhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Norse_paganismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swamphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spring_%28hydrosphere%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Snorri_Sturlusonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Prose_Eddahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poetic_Eddahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frigghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Old_Norsehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Norse_mythologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AFrigg_by_Doepler.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carl_Emil_Doeplerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carl_Emil_Doepler

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Theories

In 1882, the German scholar Anton Edzardi proposed that Fensalir may point to religious practices involving

springs.[7] John Lindow comments that "I have no idea why Frigg should live in a boggy place, despite the old

argument that there is an association with a cult situated at a spring."[2] Rudolf Simek comments that Edzardi's

theory "must remain unanswered."[8] In addition, Edzardi theorized a connection between Fensalir and a belief in

folklore that particular swamps act as an entrance to the realm of Holda, whom he connects with Frigg.[9]

In a 19th-century work, Paul Henri Mallet and Walter Scott write that the "fen" element ofFensalir"may also be

made to sig[nify] the watery deep, or the sea."[10] This etymology has resulted in theories that the name Fensalir

may mean "Sea Halls" rather than "Fen Halls." In his 19th-century translation of the Poetic Edda, Henry Adams

Bellows comments that "some scholars have regarded [Frigg] as a solar myth, calling her the sun-goddess, and

pointing out that her home in Fensalir("the sea-halls") symbolizes the daily setting of the sun beneath the ocean

horizon."[11]

John Lindow says that due to similarity between the goddess Sga's Skkvabekkr and Fensalir, the open drinking

between Sga and Odin, and the potential etymological basis for Sga being a seeress "have led most scholars to

understand Sga as another name for Frigg."[12] Stephan Grundy states that Sga and Skkvabekkrmay be by-forms

ofFrigg andFensalirused for the purpose of composing alliterative verse.[13]

Britt-Mari Nsstrm theorizes that "Frigg's role as a fertility goddess is revealed in the name of her abode, Fensalir

[...]", that Frigg is the same as Sga, and that both the names Fensalirand Skkvabekkr"imply a goddes [sic] living

in the water and recall the fertility goddess Nerthus."[14]

Notes

[1][1] Orchard (1997:43).

[2][2] Lindow (2001:114).

[3][3] Dronke (1997:16).

[4][4] Faulkes (1995:29).

[5][5] Faulkes (1995:48).

[6][6] Faulkes (1995:86).

[7] Edzardi (1882:330339) referenced in Lindow (2001:115).

[8][8] Simek (2007:81).

[9][9] Gildersleeve (1883:105).

[10][10] Mallet, Scott (1847:550).

[11][11] Bellows (2004:15).

[12][12] Lindow (2001:265).

[13][13] Grundy (1999:62).

[14][14] Nsstrm (1996:88).

References Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (2004). The Poetic Edda: The Mythological Poems. Courier Dover Publications.

ISBN 0-486-43710-8

(German) Edzardi, Anton (1882). "Fensalir und Vegtamskvida 12, 5ff." in Germania 27, edited by Franz Pfeiffer,

pp. 330339. Wien: Verlag von Carl Gerold's Sohn.

Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995).Edda. Everyman. ISBN 0-460-87616-3

Grundy, Stephan (1999). "Freyja and Frigg" as collected in Billington, Sandra and Green, Miranda. The Concept

of the Goddess (http://books.google.com/books?id=IoW9yhkrFJoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+

Concept+of+the+Goddess&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false). Routledge. ISBN 0-415-19789-9

Dronke, Ursula (Trans.) (1997). The Poetic Edda: Volume II: Mythological Poems. Oxford University Press.

ISBN 0-19-811181-9

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oxford_University_Presshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ursula_Dronkehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Routledgehttp://books.google.com/books?id=IoW9yhkrFJoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Concept+of+the+Goddess&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=IoW9yhkrFJoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Concept+of+the+Goddess&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=falsehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stephan_Grundyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Everyman%27s_Libraryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Courier_Dover_Publicationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_Adams_Bellowshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nerthushttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sichttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alliterative_versehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stephan_Grundyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=S%C3%A1ga_and_S%C3%B6kkvabekkrhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=S%C3%A1ga_and_S%C3%B6kkvabekkrhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Solar_deityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_Adams_Bellowshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_Adams_Bellowshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Etymologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Seahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Henri_Mallethttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Holdahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rudolf_Simekhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Lindowhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spring_%28hydrosphere%29

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Lindow, John (2001).Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs (http://books.google.

com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false).

Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515382-0

Gildersleeve, L. Basil (ed.) (1883).American Journal of Philology. Vol. IV. New York and London: Macmillan

& Co.

Mallet, Paul Henri. Scott, Walter (1847) translated by Thomas Percy.Northern Antiquities: Or, An Historical

Account of the Manners, Customs, Religion and Laws, Maritime Expeditions and Discoveries, Language and

Literature of the Ancient Scandinavians (http://books.google.com/books?id=Q_yOJHxjC5oC&

printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false). H. G. Bohn.

Nsstrm, Britt-Mari (1996). "Freyja and Frigg - two aspects of the Great Goddess" as presented in Shamanism

and Northern Ecology: Papers presented at the Regional Conference on Circumpolar and Northern Religion,

Helsinki, May 1990. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-014186-8

Orchard, Andy (1997).Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-34520-2

Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall.Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer ISBN

0-85991-513-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boydell_%26_Brewerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rudolf_Simekhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Orion_Publishing_Grouphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Walter_de_Gruyterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_George_Bohnhttp://books.google.com/books?id=Q_yOJHxjC5oC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=Q_yOJHxjC5oC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=falsehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Percy_%28Bishop_of_Dromore%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Basil_Lanneau_Gildersleevehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oxford_University_Presshttp://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=falsehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Lindow

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