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 Bor, Bör or Bur) was the son of Búri. Borr was the husband of Bestla 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. 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'', a poem contained in the ''

'', and in the sixth chapter of '' Gylfaginning'', 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 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 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 Bestla, 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), Rudolf Simek observes that "It is not clear how Burr came to be".

Footnotes

References

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