Narfi (

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 settlement ...

: ), also Nörfi (O.N.: ), Nari or Nörr (O.N.: ), is 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 ...

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 per ...

, and the father of Nótt, the personified

night Night (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset to sunrise during each 24-hour day, when the Sun is below the horizon. The exact time when night begins and ends depends ...

Name

The

name ''Nǫrr'' has been related to the

Old Saxon Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). I ...

('night'), a name which occurs in the verse of the fragmentary ''

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

'' poem.See Behaghel, Otto (1933). ''Heliand und Genesis'
p. 245
Not in

Old English Old English (, ), 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 was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

, an error made in , reproduced in . In adjectival form, the Old Norse ''nǫrr'' means 'narrow',' and the name ''Nar(f)i'' may have shared the same meaning. Thus, the jötunn's name, as first suggested by

Adolf Noreen Adolf Gotthard Noreen (13 March 1854, in Östra Ämtervik, Sunne Municipality – 13 June 1925, in Uppsala) was a Swedish linguist who served as a member of the Swedish Academy from 1919 until his death. Noreen studied at Uppsala University and ...

, may be a synonym for "night" or, perhaps more likely, an adjective related to

, "narrow", meaning "closed-in" and thus "oppressive".

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 ...

cites ''Narfi'' as an alternative form of the name of the

Nörfi, and the variants ''Nör'' and ''Nörvi'' also appear in Norse poetry.

Attestations

According to the ''

Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; c. 20,000 words; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'' after the Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' deals with t ...

'' section of

's ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been ...

'', Nótt is the daughter of the

"Nörfi or Narfi"."Nǫrr",

Rudolf Simek Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German and Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in Germanic studies, and is the author o ...

, tr. Angela Hall, ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology'', Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1993, repr. 2000, , p. 235. However, 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 ...

'', Nótt's father is called Nörr (not to be confused with

Nór Nór (Old Norse Nórr) is according to the Orkneyinga Saga the eponymous founder of Norway. Icelandic accounts Source material Nór of Norway appear in “Fundinn Nóregr” (‘Norway Founded’), hereafter called F, which begins the '' Orkne ...

), primarily for reasons of alliteration. This name is only recorded in the dative form ''Nǫrvi'' (variant spelling ''Naurvi'')."Nótt", Simek, p. 238. The name of Nótt's father is recorded in several forms in Old Norse sources: *Naurr, Nörr (dative Naurvi, Nörvi): "

Vafþrúðnismál ''Vafþrúðnismál'' ( Old Norse: "The Lay of Vafþrúðnir") is the third poem in the '' Poetic Edda''. It is a conversation in verse form conducted initially between the Æsir Odin and Frigg, and subsequently between Odin and the jötunn Vaf ...

" 25 ''"Nótt var Naurvi borin"'', " Alvíssmál" 29 ''"Nótt in Naurvi kennda"''. *Narvi, Narfi: ''Gylfaginning'' 10, a poem of

Egill Skallagrímsson Egil Skallagrímsson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; 904 995) was a Viking Age war poet, sorcerer, berserker, and farmer.Thorsson, 3 He is known mainly as the anti-hero of '' Egil's Saga''. ''Egil's Saga'' historically narrates a period fro ...

''"niðerfi Narfa"''. *Norvi, Nörvi: ''Gylfaginning'' 10, " Forspjallsljóð" 7 ''"kund Nörva"''. *Njörfi, Njörvi: ''Gylfaginning'' 10, "

Sonatorrek ''Sonatorrek'' ("the irreparable loss of sons") is a skaldic poem in 25 stanzas, that appears in Egil's Saga (written c.a. 1220–1240), an Icelandic saga focusing on the life of skald and viking, Egill Skallagrímsson (ca. 910–990). ...

" ''"Njörva nipt"''. *Nori: ''Gylfaginning'' 10. *Nari: " Höfuðlausn" 10. *Neri: " Helgakviða Hundingsbana I", 4.

Theories

Various scholars have argued that Snorri based his genealogy of Nótt on classical models. They relate Narfi to

Erebus In Greek mythology, Erebus (; grc, Ἔρεβος, Érebos, "deep darkness, shadow".), or Erebos, is the personification of darkness and one of the primordial deities. Hesiod's ''Theogony'' identifies him as one of the first five beings in exis ...

, which would make , used in "Helgakviða Hundingsbana I" for a Norn who comes in the night, an appellation derived from the Parcae, who were Erebus' daughters.

Legacy

In "A Great Man's Return", a song on their album '' Valdr Galga'', the Swedish

viking metal Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by a lyrical and thematic focus on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age. Viking metal is quite diverse as a musical style, to the point where some consider it more a cr ...

band

Thyrfing Thyrfing is a viking metal band from Sweden. The band is named after the royal sword Tyrfing from Norse mythology. History Thyrfing was formed in 1995 by Patrik Lindgren (guitar), Jocke Kristensson (drums), Peter Löf (keyboard) and Kimmy Sj ...

refer to "Norve's starfilled sky". In J. R. R. Tolkien's ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...

'' Part One, ''

The Fellowship of the Ring ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' is the first of three volumes of the epic novel ''The Lord of the Rings'' by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It is followed by '' The Two Towers'' and ''The Return of the King''. It takes place in the ficti ...

'', the dwarf maker of the Doors of Durin signed them " Narvi"; in drafts, Tolkien spelt the name ''Narfi'' as in the ''Prose Edda''.

Christopher Tolkien Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 16 January 2020) was an English academic editor, becoming a French citizen in later life. The son of author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien edited much of his father ...

and J. R. R. Tolkien, ''The treason of Isengard: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part Two'', Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989,
p. 188
In a season 13 episode of

Supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

, Narfi captures and sells the archangel

Gabriel In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብ� ...

Asmodeus Asmodeus (; grc, Ἀσμοδαῖος, ''Asmodaios'') or Ashmedai (; he, אַשְמְדּאָי, ''ʾAšmədʾāy''; see below for other variations), is a ''prince of demons'' and hell."Asmodeus" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chica ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Norse mythology Jötnar