''*Frijjō'' ("

Frigg Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wet ...

-Frija") is the reconstructed name or epithet of a hypothetical

Common Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bra ...

love goddess, the most prominent female member of the ''* Ansiwiz'' (gods), and often identified as the spouse of the chief god, *''

Wōdanaz Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...

'' (''

Woden Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victor ...

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...

'').

Proposed etymology

The name ''*Frijjō'' (Old Norse ''Frigg'', Old High German ''Frīja'') ultimately derives from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...

''*prih-y(a)h'', cognate to

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

''priya'' "dear, beloved". However, in the

Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, ...

, the word's meaning split into two etymons: one related to the semantic field of "love, courtship, friendship" (English '' friend''), whereas the other to the field of "freedom" (English '' free''). Other cognates are: * Gothic ''frijôn'' - translates φιλειν, αγαπαν "to love". * Anglo-Saxon ''freogan'', ''freon'' * Old Saxon ''friehan''. * Modern Germanic words for '' friend'', such as ''Freund''. The Old High German verb ''frijôn'' "''nubere, uxorem ducere'', woo, to take a wife" (Modern German ''freien'') contrasts with ''frijan'' "liberare". It is foreign to

Upper German Upper German (german: Oberdeutsch ) is a family of High German dialects spoken primarily in the southern German-speaking area (). History In the Old High German time, only Alemannic and Bairisch are grouped as Upper German. In the Middle High ...

, and was probably adopted from

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle ...

( Grimm).

Derivations

The theonyms in West Germanic are

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

*Frīg,

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old Hig ...

Frīja,

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle ...

(

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

) Frike, Freke (''Fru Freen, Fru Frien, Fru Freke, Fru Frick, Fuik, Frie'') and Lombardic Frea, attested in the '' Origo Gentis Langobardorum''. The name of the Anglo-Saxon goddess is attested only in the name of the weekday, although ''frīg'' (strong feminine) as a common noun meaning "love" (in the singular) or "affections, embraces" (in the plural) is attested in poetry. The weekday

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth d ...

in English is named after for the goddess

(

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

''frigedæg''). Friday in

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

was called both ''Freyjudagr'' and ''Frjádagr'', in Faröese ''fríggjadagur'', and in

never *''Frouwûntac'', but ''Frîatac, Frîgetac'', now ''Freitag''.

Poetic epithets

There is some evidence that the epithet *''

frawjō *''Fraujaz'' or *''Frauwaz'' ( Old High German ''frô'' for earlier ''frôjo, frouwo'', Old Saxon ''frao, frōio'', Gothic ''frauja'', Old English ''frēa'', Old Norse ''freyr''), feminine *''Frawjōn'' (OHG ''frouwa'', Old Saxon ''frūa'', Ol ...

'' "lady" was applied to this goddess. The two names were confused from early times, especially in Old English, where the stem of ''*frīj-'' appears as ''frēo-, frīo-, frēa-'' (a contraction of ''*īj-'' and a following back vowel) beside a less frequent stem form ''frīg-'' (/fri:j-/), by development of a glide between ''ī'' and a following front vowel. The two forms would originally have figured in complementary distribution within the same paradigm (e.g. masculine nominative singular ''frēo'', masculine genitive singular ''frīges''), but in attested Old English analogical forms are already present and the distribution is no longer complementary In regards to the question,

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 is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of t ...

stated: We gather from all this, that the forms and even the meanings of the two names border closely on one another. ''Freyja'' means the gladsome, gladdening, sweet, gracious goddess, ''Frigg'' the free, beautiful, loveable; to the former attaches the general notion of ''frau'' (mistress), to the latter that of ''frî'' (woman). The linguistic discussion of these names is complicated by issues of Germanic ''

Verschärfung Holtzmann's law is a Proto-Germanic sound law originally noted by Adolf Holtzmann in 1838. It is also known by its traditional German name ''Verschärfung'' (literally: "sharpening"). (A similar sound law which has affected modern Faroese, called ...

''. Old Norse ''Frigg'', ''friggjar-dagr'' is related to ''frakkr'' "free, bold", cognate to Old English ''frēo'', Gothic ''freis'' "free".

Characteristics

Both Frigg and Freyja are associated with

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

, combining the aspects of a love goddess and a domestic goddess. In Sweden and some parts of Germany, the asterism of Orion's Belt is known as her distaff or spindle.Edwardes and Spence (1913); in Swedish both ''Friggerock'' "Frigg's distaff" and ''Frejerock'' "Freyja's Distaff", see Schön, Ebbe. (2004). ''Asa-Tors hammare, Gudar och jättar i tro och tradition''. Fält & Hässler, Värnamo. p. 228.

B7 bracteates

The "woman" type of

bracteates A bracteate (from the Latin ''bractea'', a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age (including the Vende ...

(''Frauenbrakteaten'', type B7, also called Fürstenberg or Oberwerschen type) has been identified as possibly depicting Frigg-Frija. There are five known bracteates of this type: IK 259 (

Großfahner Großfahner is a municipality in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany. The town is known to music historians due to the 600 manuscripts from 1650-1750 copied by the church music director of the period - these include cantatas from for ...

-B); IK 311 ( Oberwerschen-B); IK 350 (site of discovery unknown, reportedly from "south-western Germany"); IK 389 ( Welschingen-B); and IK 391 (

Gudme Gudme is a town in central Denmark with a population of 907 (1 January 2022), located in Svendborg municipality on the island of Funen in Region of Southern Denmark. Until 1 January 2007, it was the site of the municipal council of the now form ...

II-B).Pesch (2007:125-128) In each of them the female figure depicted is holding a cross-shaped staff, interpreted as a distaff. IK 350 is additionally decorated with a number of crosses, and IK 259 has additional

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. I ...

s. Iconographically related are five gold bracteates found in

Hüfingen Hüfingen ( Low Alemannic: ''Hifinge'') is a town in the district of Schwarzwald-Baar, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Breg, 4 km south of the source of the Danube. History Hüfingen has the historical distin ...

, Bavaria.

References

External links

B7 bracteates
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frijjo Germanic mythology Germanic goddesses Love and lust goddesses Etymologies Germanic deities Domestic and hearth deities nl:Frige ro:Frige