Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

, Borr or Burr (Old Norse: 'borer' sometimes

anglicized Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

Bor, Bör or Bur) was the son of

Búri In Norse mythology, Búri (Old Norse: ) is a divinity god 'producer, father' of all other gods,Simek (Simek 2007:47). and an early ancestor of the Æsir gods of the principal pantheon in Old Norse religion. Búri was licked free from salty rime st ...

. Borr was the husband of

Bestla Bestla (Old Norse: ) is a jötunn in Norse mythology, and the mother of the gods Odin, Vili and Vé (by way of Borr). She is also the sister of an unnamed man who assisted Odin, and the daughter (or granddaughter depending on the source) of the j ...

and the father of

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

Vili and Vé In Norse mythology, Vili ( ; Old Norse: ) and Vé ( ; O.N.: ) are the brothers of the god Odin (from Old Norse ''Óðinn''), sons of Bestla, daughter of Bölþorn; and Borr, son of Búri. Name The Old Norse theonym ''Vé'' (or ''Véi'') is ...

. Borr receives mention in a poem in the ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse ...

'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, and in the ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

'', composed in the 13th century by Icelander

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

. Scholars have proposed a variety of theories about the figure.

Attestation

Borr is mentioned in the fourth verse of the ''

Völuspá ''Völuspá'' (also ''Vǫluspá'', ''Vǫlospá'', or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress') is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It dates back to the tenth century and tells the story from Norse Mythology of ...

'', a poem contained in the ''

'', and in the sixth chapter of ''

Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first main part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'', after the initial Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' takes the form of ...

'', the second section of the ''

''.

''Völuspá''

''Gylfaginning''

Borr is not mentioned again in the ''Prose Edda''. In skaldic and eddaic poetry, Odin is occasionally referred to as ''Borr's son''.

Scholarly reception and interpretation

The role of Borr in Norse mythology is unclear. Nineteenth-century German scholar

Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He formulated Grimm's law of linguistics, and was the co-author of the ''Deutsch ...

proposed to equate Borr with

Mannus Mannus, according to the Roman writer Tacitus, was a figure in the creation Germanic mythology, myths of the Germanic tribes. Tacitus is the only source of these myths. This is a university textbook and exists in several variants printed for d ...

as related in

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

' ''

Germania Germania ( ; ), also more specifically called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Superio ...

'' on the basis of the similarity in their functions in Germanic theogeny. The 19th century Icelandic scholar and archaeologist

Finnur Magnússon Finnur Magnússon, sometimes referred to by the Danish version of his name under which he published, Finno Magnusun, Finn Magnussen or Magnusen, (27 August 1781 – 24 December 1847) was an Icelandic scholar and archaeologist who worked in Den ...

hypothesized that Borr was :"intended to signify ..the first mountain or mountain-chain, which it was deemed by the forefathers of our race had emerged from the waters in the same region where the first land made its appearance. This mountain chain is probably the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

, called by the Persians ''Borz'' (the genitive of the Old Norse ''Borr''). Bör's wife, Belsta or

, a daughter of the giant Bölthorn (''spina calamitosa''), is possibly the mass of ice formed on the alpine summits.", as quoted by . In his ''Lexicon Mythologicum'', published four years later, he modified his theory to claim that Borr symbolized the earth, and Bestla the ocean, which gave birth to

as the "world spirit" or "great soul of the earth" (''spiritus mundi nostri; terrae magna anima, aëris et aurae numen''), Vili or Hoenir as the "heavenly light" (''lux, imprimis coelestis'') and Vé or Lódur as "fire" (''ignis, vel elementalis vel proprie sic dictus''). Highlighting that no source provides information about Borr's mother (Borr's father was licked free from the earth by the primeval cow

Auðumbla In Norse mythology, Auðumbla (; also Auðhumla and Auðumla ) is a primeval cow. The primordial frost jötunn Ymir fed upon her milk, and over the course of three days she Mineral lick#Mythology, licked away the salty rime rocks and revealed B ...

Rudolf Simek Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German and Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in Germanic studies, and is the author ...

observes that "It is not clear how Burr came to be".

Footnotes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{Norse mythology Æsir Norse gods