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 ...

, Búri (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ) is a divinity god 'producer, father' of all other gods,Simek (Simek 2007:47). and an early ancestor of the

Æsir Æsir (Old Norse; singular: ) or ēse (Old English; singular: ) are deities, gods in Germanic paganism. In Old Nordic religion and Nordic mythology, mythology, the precise meaning of the term "" is debated, as it can refer either to the gods i ...

gods of the principal pantheon in

Old Norse religion Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into distinct branches. It was replaced by Christianity and forgotten ...

. Búri was licked free from salty rime stones 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 ...

over the course of three days. Búri's background beyond this point is unattested, and he had a son,

Borr In Norse mythology, Borr or Burr (Old Norse: 'borer' sometimes anglicized Bor, Bör or Bur) was the son of Búri. Borr was the husband of Bestla and the father of Odin, Vili and Vé. Borr receives mention in a poem in the ''Poetic Edda'', comp ...

, by way of an unknown process. Búri is attested 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 ...

. The ''Prose Edda'' includes a quote from a 12th-century poem by

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...

Þórvaldr Blönduskáld that mentions the figure. Búri's mysterious origins are the subject of scholarly commentary and interpretation.

Name

The name ''Búri'', like the name of his son '' Burr'', is derived from the

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

*'' buriz'' "son, born". Thus, both names basically mean the same thing. In research, Buri's name is translated as "begotten, father" and Burr as "begotten, son" - probably because of the generational sequence. However, how he fathered his son is not explained; either by himself or through sexual reproduction.Rudolf Simek: ''Lexikon der germanischen Mythologie'' (= ''Kröners Taschenausgabe.'' Band 368). 3., völlig überarbeitete Auflage. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X, S. 64 entscheidet sich nicht für eine von beiden Möglichkeiten – John Lindow: ''Handbook of Norse Mythology.'' USA 2001, ISBN 1-57607-217-7, S. 90 sagt, die Forschung gehe mehrheitlich von sexueller Fortpflanzung aus, ohne dass er eine Begründung mitteilt.

Attestations

Búri receives mention twice in the ''Prose Edda''—once in ''Gylfaginning'' and again in a skaldic poem quoted in ''Skáldskaparmál''. The ''Gylfaginning'' section reads as follows: Búri is mentioned nowhere 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 ...

'' and only once in the skaldic corpus. In ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'Poetic Diction' or 'The Language of Poetry'; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda'', compiled by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bra ...

'' Snorri quotes the following verse by the 12th century

Þórvaldr blönduskáld:

Notes and citations

References

* Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989). ''Íslensk orðsifjabók''. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans. * Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (transl.) (1916). ''The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson''. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation. ''Available onlin
at Google Books
'. * Eysteinn Björnsson (ed.) (2005)
''Snorra-Edda: Formáli & Gylfaginning : Textar fjögurra meginhandrita''
* Faulkes, Anthony (transl.) (1987). ''Edda''. London: J. M. Dent. . *

Finnur Jónsson Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature. Finnur Jónsson was born a ...

(1931). ''Lexicon Poeticum''. København: S. L. Møllers Bogtrykkeri. * Finnur Jónsson (1912–15). ''Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning''. København: Den arnamagnæanske kommission. ''Edition of Þórvaldr's fragments available at https://web.archive.org/web/20080306035446/http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/tblond.html''. * Lindow, John (2001). ''Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

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

External links

MyNDIR (My Norse Digital Image Repository)
Illustrations of Búri from manuscripts and early print books. {{DEFAULTSORT:Buri Æsir Norse gods