In
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 ...
, Barri is the place where
Freyr
Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested Æsir, god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, prosperity, fair weather, and good harvest. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was ...
and
Gerðr
In Norse mythology, Gerðr (Old Norse: ; "fenced-in"Orchard (1997:54).) is a jötunn, Æsir, goddess, and the wife of the god Freyr. Gerðr is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the ''P ...
are to consummate their union, as stated in the ''
Skírnismál
''Skírnismál'' (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Skírnir', but in the Codex Regius known as ''Fǫr Skírnis'' ‘Skírnir’s journey’) is one of the poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. It is preserved in the 13th-century manuscripts Codex Regius and AM ...
'':
:Barri the grove is named,
:which we both know,
:the grove of tranquil paths.
:Nine nights hence,
:there to Niörd’s son
:Gerd will grant delight.
:
::—''För Skirnis eðr Skirnismál''
(39)Thorpe's translation
In
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 ...
's account of the myth (found in ''Gylfaginning'',
37), the place is called Barrey or Barey:
:And nine nights later she was to come to the place called Barrey, and then go to the bridal with Freyr.
:
::—''Gylfaginning''
(37)Brodeur's translation
The meaning of the name is uncertain. Barri is called a grove (''lundr'') but Bar(r)ey is probably an island (''ey'' being the
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 ...
for "island")
[Faulkes 1988.] and could be connected with
Barra
Barra (; or ; ) is an island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and the second southernmost inhabited island there, after the adjacent island of Vatersay to which it is connected by the Vatersay Causeway.
In 2011, the population was 1,174. ...
, one of the
Hebrides islands, which was once called Barrey.
[Simek 1996.] The meaning of the first part of the name, ''barr'', is not very enlightening for it has several meanings: "pine needle", "conifer", "tree" or "grain", especially "barley".
Magnus Olsen
Magnus Bernhard Olsen (28 November 1878 – 16 January 1963) was a Norwegian philologist who specialized in Old Norse studies.
Born and raised in Arendal, Olsen received his degrees in philology at Royal Frederick University in Kristiania, ...
suggested that Barri meant "cornfield". This supports his interpretation of the union of Freyr and Gerðr as a
holy wedding between a fertility god and the
Earth Mother
A mother goddess is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, a ...
. But this interpretation has been contested and Barri could be rendered into "coniferous forest" (as Rudolf Simek noticed, it would be a suitable name for a grove
) and the signification of Barrey might be "barley-island" or "grain-island", which, John Lindow underlined, "makes no sense in the context of a fertility myth".
[Lindow 2002.]
Notes
References
*
Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (trans.). 1916. ''Snorri Sturluson: The Prose Edda''. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
*
Thorpe, Benjamin (trans.). 1866. ''Edda Sæmundar Hinns Froða: The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned''. London: Trübner & Co.
* Dillmann, François-Xavier (trans.). 2003. ''Snorri Sturluson. L'Edda''. Paris: Gallimard. First published in 1991. .
* Faulkes, Anthony (ed.). 1988. ''Snorri Sturluson: Edda. Prologue and Gylfaginning''. London: Viking Society for Northern Research. First published by Oxford University Press. .
*
Lindow, John. 2002.
Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs'. New York:
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 ...
. First published in 2001 by ABC-Clio. .
*
Simek, Rudolf. 1996. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. Translated by Angela Hall. First published by Alfred Kröner Verlag in 1984. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer. .
{{Norse mythology
Freyr
Places in Norse mythology