Fjölvar is a being in Norse mythology, possibly a

jötunn A (also jotun; in the normalised scholarly spelling of Old Norse, ; ; plural / ) or, in Old English, (plural ) is a type of supernatural being in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, they are often contrasted with gods ( Æsir and Vani ...

, with whom Odin spends time fighting and seducing women with on the island of Algrœn ("All-green").

Name

Fjölvar is an

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 ...

name still used today; it was used in Old Norse as an adjective meaning 'very wary, very cautious'.Leiv Heggstad, Finn Hødnebø og Erik Simensen: Norrøn Ordbok (1997)

Attestation

Fjölvar is only attested once in '' Hárbardsljód'' (The lay of Hárbarð), which tells of Hárbarð (the god Odin in disguise) spending time with Fjölvar on the island of Algrœn ("All-green"). This episode was recounted by Odin himself who alone slept with seven sisters on Algrœn in the poem '' Hárbardsljód'' (18), written in the 13th century and included 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 ...

Theories

According to scholar

John Lindow John Frederick Lindow (born July 23, 1946) is an American philologist who is Professor Emeritus of Old Norse and Folklore at University of California, Berkeley. He is a well known authority on Old Norse religion and literature. Biography John Lin ...

, since the '' þulur'' list Fjölvör among the jötnar, it is likely that Fjölvar would have been her male counterpart, and therefore also a jötunn.

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Name

Attestation

Theories

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