The Frigg and Freyja common origin hypothesis holds that 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 ...

goddesses

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 wetl ...

and Freyja descend from a common

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 ...

figure, as suggested by the numerous similarities found between the two deities. Scholar Stephan Grundy comments that "the problem of whether Frigg or Freyja may have been a single goddess originally is a difficult one, made more so by the scantiness of pre-

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

references to Germanic goddesses, and the diverse quality of the sources. The best that can be done is to survey the arguments for and against their identity, and to see how well each can be supported." The names ''Freyja'' and '' Vanir'' (the group of gods to which Freyja belongs) are not attested outside of

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, as opposed to the name of the goddess ''

'', who is mentioned as ''Frīg'' in

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

and as ''Frīja'' in

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

, all stemming from

*'' Frijjō''. Although there is no similar evidence for the existence of a common Germanic goddess from which ''Freyja'' descends, some scholars have argued that this may simply be due to the scarcity of records outside of the North Germanic tradition.

Etymology

It has also been suggested that the names ''Freyja'' and ''Frigg'' may stem from a common linguistic source. This theory, however, is rejected by most linguists in the field, who interpret the name ''Frigg'' as related to the

verb ''*frijōn'' ('to love') and stemming from a substantivized feminine of the adjective *''frijaz'' ('free'), whereas ''Freyja'' is regarded as descending from a feminine form of *''frawjōn'' ('lord'). On the other hand, the names ''Freyja'' ('lady, mistress') and '' Freyr'' ('lord') are

cognates In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the soun ...

stemming from the common root *''frawjōn'', which does not necessarily imply further relation.

Common mythological traits

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.

In popular culture

In the 2018 Santa Monica Studio game ''God of War'', and in its 2022 sequel ''God of War Ragnarök'' the character Freyja is frequently referred to as Frigg. The stated reason in game is whenever she accomplished something, Odin would attribute it to Frigg in an attempt to shroud her accomplishments under the Aesir banner. In the universe of

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

, Frigga the adopted mother of Thor and the Asgardian goddess Freya were initially written as different characters. Beginning with ''Loki: Agent of Asgard'' in 2015, Frigga has exclusively used the name Freyja, although a separate character with the name "Freya" has also made scarce appearance.

Notes

References

* * *

Etymology

Common mythological traits

In popular culture

Notes

References

Further reading