The Gefion fountain in Churchill Park Copenhagen, Denmark.

Gefjun, Gefjon, or Gefion (possibly from Old Norse geð fiá meaning "chaste"^[1]) is one of the Asynjur in Norse mythology.^[1] She appears only a few times in surviving sources, and medieval sources talk of her mainly as a goddess of chastity. However, modern scholarship suggests that she may originally have been a fertility goddess connected with ritual plowing,^[2] and even that she was originally the same fertility goddess as Freyja.^[3] Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2272 × 1704 pixel, file size: 871 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2272 × 1704 pixel, file size: 871 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Gefion fountain The Gefion fountain (Danish: Gefionspringvandet) is a large fountain on the harbour front in Copenhagen, Denmark. ... For other uses, see Copenhagen (disambiguation). ... Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ... The Aesir (Old Norse sir, singular ss, feminine synja, feminine plural synjur) are the principal pantheon of gods in Norse mythology. ... Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian peoples, including those who settled on Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... Many cultures developed deities to watch over and promote fertility, pregnancy, and birth. ... In Norse Mythology and Germanic paganism, Freyja (sometimes anglicized as Freya) is the fairest of all goddesses. ...

Sources

Gefjun's plowing

Before the arrival of more secure tools in cartography, the shapes of Mälaren and Zealand were perceived as similar. This is a section of the Carta Marina from 1539 by Olaus Magnus. The island on the bottom left corner is Zealand and the lake on the upper right corner is Mälaren.

The oldest surviving account of Gefjun deals with how she pulled a piece of land from Sweden and thereby created the Swedish lake Mälaren and the Danish island Zealand. This account is the 9th century skaldic poem Ragnarsdrápa which was composed in honour of Ragnar Lodbrok by Bragi the Old, the court skald of Björn at Haugi, the king of Sweden. This skaldic poem is preserved in Ynglinga saga, a part of the Heimskringla, and in Gylfaginning, a part of the Prose Edda. In these sources, the poem is inserted into prose sections with comments by Snorri Sturluson. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 545 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (724 × 796 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 545 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (724 × 796 pixel, file size: 1. ... The Carta Marina (latin: the book of the sea) is the earliest map over the Nordic countries containing details and placenames. ... Events May 30 - In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal to find gold. ... Olaus Magnus, or Magni (Magnus, Latin for the Swedish Stora -- great -- is the family name, and not a personal epithet), reported as born in October 1490 in Linköping, and died on August 1, 1557, was a Swedish ecclesiastic and writer, who did pioneering work for the interest of Nordic... Location map Mälaren details, with Stockholm urban area to the right in pink. ... Map showing location of Zealand within Denmark. ... As a means of recording the passage of time the 9th century was the century that lasted from 801 to 900. ... Skaldic poetry (Icelandic: dróttkvæði, court poetry) is Old Norse poetry composed by known skalds, as opposed to the anonymous Eddaic poetry. ... Ragnarsdrápa is a skaldic poem composed to the Scandinavian hero Ragnar Lodbrok. ... Aella murdering Ragnar Lodbrok Ragnar Lodbrok (Ragnar Hairy-Breeks, Old Norse: Ragnarr Loðbrók) was a Norse king, who ruled the early kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark for some time in the 8th or 9th century. ... Bragi, in Norse mythology, is the god of poetry. ... The skald was a member of a group of courtly poets, whose poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry. ... King Björns barrow in HÃ¥ga (Old Norse name: Haug)near Uppsala. ... Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a representative democracy based on a parliamentary system. ... The Ynglinga saga was originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. ... Heimskringla is the Old Norse name of a collection of sagas recorded in Iceland around 1225 by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (1179-1242). ... External links Original text English text Categories: Mythology stubs | Medieval literature | Sagas of Iceland | Norse mythology | Nordic folklore ... The Younger Edda, known also as the Prose Edda or Snorris Edda is an Icelandic manual of poetics which also contains many mythological stories. ... A statue of Snorri Sturluson by Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland was erected at Reykholt in 1947. ...

In Gylfaginning, Snorri explains the stanza as follows: Gylfi greets Odin Gylfi, Gylfe, Gylvi, or Gylve was the earliest king of Sweden present in Norse mythology. ...

King Gylfi ruled the land that men now call Sweden. It is told of him that he gave to a wandering woman, in return for her merry-making, a plow-land in his realm, as much as four oxen might turn up in a day and a night. But this woman was of the kin of the Æsir; she was named Gefjun. She took from the north, out of Jötunheim, four oxen which were the soils of a certain giant and, herself, and set them before the plow. And the plow cut so wide and so deep that it loosened up the land; and the oxen drew the land out into the sea and to the westward, and stopped in a certain sound. There Gefjun set the land, and gave it a name, calling it Selund. And from that time on, the spot whence the land had been torn up is water: it is now called the Lögr [Løgrinn] in Sweden; and bays lie in that lake even as the headlands in Selund.^[5]

The lake name Lögr is the translator's rendering of Løgrinn, the poetic name (heiti) of Lake Mälaren in Old Norse literature.^[6] This name is derived from lögr meaning "fluid", and it is a cognate of the English lake.^[6] Jötunheimr (often anglicized Jotunheim) is the world of the giants (two types: rock and frost, collectively called Jotuns) in the Norse Mythology. ... The giants Fafner and Fasolt seize Freyja in Arthur Rackhams illustration to Richard Wagners version of the Norse myths. ... Heiti is a word used to describe a form of kenning, particularly with reference to a by-name for one of the Norse or Anglo-Saxon deities. ... Old Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in a number of Nordic languages, embraced by the term Old Norse, during the period from the 8th century to as late as the far end of the 13th century. ... Look up cognate in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In the Ynglinga saga, Snorri gives a more euhemeristic account adding the information that it was Odin who had sent Gefjun wandering to king Gylfi. He also adds that she married Skjöldr, a primordial Danish king (in the translation Zealand is rendered as Sealand and Mälaren as Laage): Euhemerus (Ευήμερος) (working late 4th century BCE) was a Greek mythographer at the court of Cassander, the king of Macedonia. ... Skjöldr (Latinized as Skioldus, sometimes Anglicized as Skjold or Skiold) was among the first legendary Danish kings. ...

Then he [Odin] sent Gefion across the sound to the north to discover new countries; and she came to King Gylve (Gylfi), who gave her a ploughgate of land. Then she went to Jotunheim, and bore four sons to a giant, and transformed them into a yoke of oxen. She yoked them to a plough, and broke out the land into the ocean right opposite to Odins. This land was called Sealand, and there she afterwards settled and dwelt. Skjold, a son of Odin, married her, and they dwelt at Leidre. Where the ploughed land was is a lake or sea called Laage [Løgrinn]. In the Swedish land the fjords of Laage correspond to the nesses in Sealand.^[7]

It is possible that there is a ritualistic plowing ceremony behind this myth, and that Gefjun is to be considered a fertility goddess.^[2] Similar stories also appear in different traditions and the oldest one is that of Dido.^[1] Denmark (red) / south Sweden (yellow), connected with the Oresund Bridge. ... Lejre is a municipality in east Denmark, in the county of Roskilde on the peninsula of Zealand. ... Location map Mälaren details, with Stockholm urban area to the right in pink. ... Many cultures developed deities to watch over and promote fertility, pregnancy, and birth. ... Aeneas recounting the Trojan War to Dido. ...

The archaeologist Birger Nerman maintained that the myth of Gefjun's moving a part of Sweden to Denmark had a historic basis in a migration of a group of warriors from the Swedish heartland in the Mälaren basin to Zealand, where they had taken control, in the early 3rd century AD.^[8] This is based on Jordanes information that the Dani (Danes) were of the same stock as the Suehans (Swedes) and had taken the old land of the Heruli and expelled them from their lands.^[8] Nerman also referred to archaeological support for his theory.^[8] Birger Nerman (1888 – 1971) was a Swedish archeologist and writer. ... (2nd century - 3rd century - 4th century _ other centuries) Events The Sassanid dynasty of Persia launches a war to reconquer lost lands in the Roman east. ... The Heruli (spelled variously in Latin and Greek) were a nomadic Germanic people, who were subjugated by the Ostrogoths, Huns, and Byzantines in the 3rd to 5th centuries. ...

Gefjun as a chastity goddess

In the Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson informs that Gefjun is a virgin and that she receives the girls who die while maidens^[1]: The Younger Edda, known also as the Prose Edda or Snorris Edda is an Icelandic manual of poetics which also contains many mythological stories. ... A statue of Snorri Sturluson by Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland was erected at Reykholt in 1947. ...

The fourth is Gefjun: she is a virgin, and they that die maidens attend her.^[9]

This is a trait which is also ascribed to the Roman goddess Diana and consequently, Diana was translated into Old Icelandic as Gefjun^[1] in Breta sögur.^[10] In this saga, Artemis was also rendered as Gefjun and in Trójumanna saga Gefjun was identified with Minerva/Pallas Athena.^[10] Diana can refer to: In royalty: Diana, Princess of Wales, the first wife of HRH The Prince of Wales In mythology: Diana (mythology), Ancient Roman Goddess of the moon, the hunt, and chastity People bearing the name: Diana, Iranian-Norwegian model and pornographic actress Diana Muldaur, American television and film... The Old Icelandic language was the most prominent of the Old Norse languages. ... For other uses, see Artemis (disambiguation). ... Head of Minerva by Elihu Vedder, 1896 For other uses, see Minerva (disambiguation). ... This article is about the goddess Athena. ...

In Völsa þáttr, her role as the goddess of virgins appears to be confimed, because Gefjun is summoned by a maiden during her reluctant participation in a session of phallic worship: Völsa þáttr is a short story which is only extant in the Flatey Book, where it is found in a chapter of Ólofs saga Helga. ... This article is about the symbol of the erect penis. ...

On the other hand, in Lokasenna, in the older Poetic Edda, Loki accuses her of having had a liaison, but Odin warns that Gefjun is just as omniscient as he is.^[1] Lokasenna (Lokis flyting, Lokis wrangling, Lokis quarrel) is one of the mythological poems of the Poetic Edda. ... Look up Poetic Edda in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... It has been suggested that Loki and the dwarfs be merged into this article or section. ... For other meanings of Odin, Woden or Wotan see Odin (disambiguation), Woden (disambiguation), Wotan (disambiguation). ...

Grendel's mother

Some scholars have linked the myth of Gefion with the figure of Grendel's mother in the Old English heroic epic poem Beowulf. The first page of Beowulf Grendels mother (Old English: Grendles modor) is one of three antagonists (along with Grendel and the dragon) in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf (c. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Penis[1], Englisc by its speakers) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... In mathematics, see epic morphism. ... This article is about the epic poem. ...

In his 1991 article, "The Germanic Earth Goddess in Beowulf", Frank Battaglia develops the correlation between Ides and Dis (p. 433) by linking Grendel's mother with Gefion, one of the Asynjur in Norse mythology. He asks: The first page of Beowulf Grendels mother (Old English: Grendles modor) is one of three antagonists (along with Grendel and the dragon) in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf (c. ... The Aesir (Old Norse sir, singular ss, feminine synja, feminine plural synjur) are the principal pantheon of gods in Norse mythology. ... Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian peoples, including those who settled on Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ...

Battaglia offers five passages (and their translations) which he argues reference Gefion: l.49 (géafon on gársecg - "Gefion on the waves"), l.362 (ofer geofenes begang - "over Gefion's realm"), l.515 (geofon ýþum- "Gefion welled up in waves"), l.1394 (né on gyfenes grund - "Ground of Gefion"), and l.1690 (gifen géotende - "Gefion gushing"). Battaglia links these terms to Grendel's mother (the merewif or Kuhn's 'water-woman', woman of the mere') through their reference to water (Klaeber offers a number of spellings for this word in his glossary: geofon as "sea, ocean" and offers the alternate spellings, "gifen, 1690", "geofenes, 362" and "gyfenes, 1394"). Indeed, Battaglia notes that "in Old English poetry, geofon is a word for ocean which has been seen since Jakob Grimm (1968, 198) as related to the name Gefion of the Danish Earth Goddess...power to divide land and sea is shown by representations of Gefion in Norse literature." ^[14] A Cucuteni culture statuette, 4th millennium BC. A mother goddess is a goddess, often portrayed as the Earth Mother, who serves as a general fertility deity, the bountiful embodiment of the earth. ... Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian peoples, including those who settled on Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... For other uses, see Chthon (disambiguation). ... In cultural anthropology, a patrilineage is a consanguineal kin group whose descent is traced through males from a known common ancestor. ... Kinship and descent is one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology. ... Matrilineality is a system in which one belongs to ones mothers lineage; it may also involve the inheritance of property or titles through the female line. ... Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (January 4, 1785 – September 20, 1863), German philologist and mythologist, was born at Hanau, in Hesse-Kassel. ...

Author John Grigsby makes a similar argument in his 2005 book, Beowulf & Grendel: The Truth Behind England's Oldest Legend, suggesting that Grendel's mother is drawn from the fertility goddess Nerthus with whom he equates Gefion. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... The sacred feminine refers to the mythic representation of the mother goddess symbolized through images and events connected with fertility and reproduction from the earliest times. ... Nerthus (also sometimes Hertha) is a Germanic fertility goddess who was mentioned by Tacitus in his work entitled Germania. ... In Norse mythology, Gefjun (giver; also Gefjon, Gefyon, Gefn) was a seeress and goddess, a member of both the Vanir and the Aesir. ...

Possible connections with Frigg and Freyja

Because Gefjun rarely appears in myths, modern scholars speculate much on this figure. In her only appearance in the Poetic Edda, when Loki claimed that she is not a virgin, Odin said: Look up Poetic Edda in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... It has been suggested that Loki and the dwarfs be merged into this article or section. ... For other meanings of Odin, Woden or Wotan see Odin (disambiguation), Woden (disambiguation), Wotan (disambiguation). ...

"Mad art thou, Loki, and little of wit,

The wrath of Gefjun to rouse;

For the fate that is set for all she sees,

Even as I, methinks."

These words really fit his wife, Frigg. (Freyja said the same thing:

"Mad art thou, Loki, that known thou makest

The wrong and shame thou hast wrought;

The fate of all does Frigg know well,

Though herself she says it not.")

As there is almost no traces of a goddess called Gefjun ever worshipped, many maintain that Gefjun is simply another name/avatar of Frigg, or Freyja who is often identified with each other. All three of them are fertility goddesses (which is way too many in one pantheon), served by women after death, practice magic and know prophercies, and all have a precious necklace. Frigg spinning the clouds, by J C Dollman In Norse mythology, Frigg (Eddas) or Frigga (Gesta Danorum) was said to be foremost among the goddesses,[1] the wife of Odin, queen of the Æsir, and goddess of the sky. ... In Norse Mythology and Germanic paganism, Freyja (sometimes anglicized as Freya) is the fairest of all goddesses. ...

Freyja also has many names, indicating that she was worshipped under many aspects: Mardöll which is related to the sea, Hörn which is related to the field, Sýr which is related to the earth, and Gefn means "giver (of life)" which is very similar to "Gefjun". In Latin, Friday is "Day of Venus", and in Germanic countries, Friday is "Day of Freyja". Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, in earlier times before she was identified with the Greek goddess Aphrodite, was a goddess of gardens and fields. She had different functions: Venus Felix, the bringer of good fortune; Venus Victrix, the bringer of victory; and Venus Verticordia, the protector of feminine chastity. Freyja, the Norse goddess of fertility, love and beauty, is also a goddess of wealth and battle. Considering this pattern, the goddess of virgin Gefjon is maybe originally an avatar of Freyja, and later identified as an individual goddess. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Marble Venus of the Capitoline Venus type, Roman (British Museum) Venus was a major Roman goddess principally associated with love and beauty, the rough equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. ... The Birth of Venus, (detail) by Sandro Botticelli, 1485 For other uses, see Aphrodite (disambiguation). ... In Norse Mythology and Germanic paganism, Freyja (sometimes anglicized as Freya) is the fairest of all goddesses. ...

References

• Battaglia, Frank. "The Germanic Earth Goddess in Beowulf." Mankind Quarterly 31.4 (Summer 1991): 415-46.
• Grigsby, John. Beowulf & Grendel: The Truth Behind England's Oldest Legend. Watkins Publishing. London, 2005. (2006 reprint edition distributed by Sterling Publishing).

This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

Notes

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