In Norse mythology, Búri (

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 settlemen ...

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

Æsir The Æsir (Old Norse: ) are the gods of the principal pantheon in Norse religion. They include Odin, Frigg, Höðr, Thor, and Baldr. The second Norse pantheon is the Vanir. In Norse mythology, the two pantheons wage war against each other, ...

gods of the principal pantheon in Norse religion. Búri was licked free from salty rime stones by the primeval cow

Auðumbla In Norse mythology, Auðumbla �ɔuðˌumblɑ(also Auðhumla �ɔuðˌhumlɑ and Auðumla �ɔuðˌumlɑ ) is a primeval cow. The primordial frost jötunn Ymir fed from her milk, and over the course of three days she licked away the salty ri ...

over the course of three days. Búri's background beyond this point is unattested, and he had a son, Borr, 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'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...

'', composed in the 13th century by Icelander Snorri Sturluson. The ''Prose Edda'' includes a quote from a 12th-century poem by skald Þórvaldr Blönduskáld that mentions the figure. Búri's mysterious origins are the subject of scholarly commentary and interpretation.

Attestations

Buridava was a fort and sanctuary in the Roman province of

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It ...

on the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

. The name Buri is attested by the ninth tabula of Europe of Ptolemy's Geography and

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

campaign, Cassius Dio and inscriptions. Búri receives mention twice in the ''Prose Edda''—once in ''Glyfagining'' 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, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic med ...

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

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Language of Poetry'; c. 50,000 words; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda''. The section consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, ...

'' Snorri quotes the following verse by the 12th century skald 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''. https://web.archive.org/web/20080611212105/http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/gg/ * Faulkes, Anthony (transl.) (1987). ''Edda''. London: J. M. Dent. . *

Finnur Jónsson Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic-Danish 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 b ...

(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 university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been 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. Clicking on the thumbnail will give you the full image and information concerning it. {{DEFAULTSORT:Buri Æsir Norse gods