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, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
, Barri is the place where
Freyr and
Gerðr are to consummate their union, as stated in the ''
Skírnismál
''Skírnismál'' (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Skírnir') is one of the poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. It is preserved in the 13th-century manuscripts Codex Regius and AM 748 I 4to but may have been originally composed in the early 10th century. Many sc ...
'':
: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 the ...
'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 for "island")
[Faulkes 1988.] and could be connected with
Barra, 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 goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood, fertility goddess, fertility, creation, destruction, or the earth goddess who embodies the bounty of the earth or nature. When equated with the earth or the ...
. 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. 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
Locations in Norse mythology