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 as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
, Vár or Vór (
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 ...
, meaning either "pledge"
[Orchard (1997:173).] or "beloved"
[Byock (2005:178) and Simek (2007:353).]) is a
goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...
associated with oaths and agreements. Vár is attested 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 sources; 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 ...
'', written in the 13th century by
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 ...
; and
kenning
A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech, a figuratively-phrased compound term that is used in place of a simple single-word noun. For instance, the Old English kenning () means , as does ().
A kenning has two parts: a base-word (a ...
s found in
skald
A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...
ic poetry and a
runic
Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see '' futhark'' vs ''runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were primarily used to represent a sound value (a ...
inscription. Scholars have proposed theories about the implications of the goddess.
Attestations
In the ''Poetic Edda'' poem ''
Þrymskviða
''Þrymskviða'' (Þrym's Poem; the name can be Old Norse orthography, anglicised as ''Thrymskviða'', ''Thrymskvitha'', ''Thrymskvidha'' or ''Thrymskvida'') is one of the best known poems from the ''Poetic Edda''. The Norse mythology, Norse my ...
'', the blessing of Vár is invoked by the
jötunn
A (also jotun; plural ; in the normalised scholarly spelling of Old Norse, ; or, in Old English, , plural ) is a type of being in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, are often contrasted with gods (the Æsir and Vanir) and with other no ...
Þrymr after his "bride" (who is actually the god
Thor
Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
disguised as the goddess
Freyja
In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...
) is
hallow
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity
A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe ...
ed with the stolen hammer of Thor,
Mjöllnir, at their wedding:
In the chapter 35 of the ''Prose Edda'' book ''
Gylfaginning
''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first main part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'', after the initial Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' takes the form of ...
'',
High
High may refer to:
Science and technology
* Height
* High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area
* High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory
* High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...
tells
Gangleri (described as king
Gylfi
In Norse mythology, Gylfi (Old Norse: ), ''Gylfe'', ''Gylvi'', or ''Gylve'' was the earliest recorded king of Sviþjoð, Sweden, in Scandinavia. He is known by the name Gangleri when appearing in disguise. The Danish tradition on Gylfi tells how ...
in disguise) about the
ásynjur. High lists Vár ninth among the sixteen ásynjur he presents in the chapter and provides some information about her:
Ninth Var: she listens to people's oaths and private agreements that women and men make between each other. Thus these contracts are called ''varar''. She also punishes those who break them.[Faulkes (1995:30).]
In addition, Vár appears twice more in the ''Poetic Edda''. In chapter 75 of the ''Prose Edda'' book ''
Skáldskaparmál
''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'Poetic Diction' or 'The Language of Poetry'; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda'', compiled by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bra ...
'' Vár appears within a list of 27 ásynjur names.
[Faulkes (1995:157).] In chapter 87 the name ''Vár'' is employed in a
kenning
A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech, a figuratively-phrased compound term that is used in place of a simple single-word noun. For instance, the Old English kenning () means , as does ().
A kenning has two parts: a base-word (a ...
referring to the goddess
Skaði
In Norse mythology, Skaði (; Old Norse: ; sometimes anglicized as Skadi, Skade, or Skathi) is a jötunn and Æsir, goddess associated with bowhunting, skiing, winter, and mountains. Skaði is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 1 ...
("bow-string-Vár") in the poem ''
Haustlöng
''Haustlǫng'' (Old Norse: 'Autumn-long'; anglicized as ''Haustlöng'') is a skaldic poem composed around the beginning of the 10th century by the Norwegian skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir.
The poem has been preserved in the 13th-century '' Prose ...
'' by the
skald
A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...
Þjóðólfr of Hvinir
Þjóðólfr ór Hvini (; anglicized as Thjódólf of Hvinir or Thiodolf; fl. late 9th–early 10th c. AD), was a Norwegian skald, said to have been one of the court-poets of the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair. His name suggests that he was fro ...
.
[Faulkes (1995:87).] A
runic inscription
A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets. They generally contained practical information or memorials instead of magic or mythic stories. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of E ...
inscribed on a stick from
Bergen
Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo.
By May 20 ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
around the year 1300 records a common mercantile transaction followed by a verse from a displeased scribe that mentions Vár (edits applied per the translator's notes):
:'Wise Var of wire woman of filigree," meaning "wise bejeweled woman"">filigree.html" ;"title="woman of filigree">woman of filigree," meaning "wise bejeweled woman"makes (me) sit unhappy.
:Eir [woman] of mackerels' ground [likely gold] takes often and much sleep from me.'[MacLeod. Mees (2006:59).]
Mindy Macleod and Bernard Mees posit that the first line of the inscription essentially means "women make me miserable" or potentially "marriage makes me miserable," whereas the second line means "women often take a lot of sleep from me."
[
]
Theories
Regarding the ceremonial marital reference to Vár in ''Þrymskviða'', Andy Orchard opines that "the antiquity of such a ritual is far from clear."[Orchard (1997:173).] Britt-Mari Näsström argues that, like many other minor goddesses, Vár was originally one of Freyja
In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...
's names, "later apprehended as independent goddesses."[Näsström (2003:83).]
Rudolf Simek says that the goddesses Sága, Hlín
In Norse mythology, Hlín is a Áss, goddess associated with the goddess Frigg. Hlín appears in a poem in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorr ...
, Sjöfn, Snotra, Vár, and Vör
In Norse mythology, Vör (Old Norse: ''Vǫr'', possibly "the careful one,"Simek (2007:368). or "aware, careful"Orchard (1997:181).) is a goddess associated with wisdom. Vör is attested in the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri S ...
should be considered vaguely defined figures who "should be seen as female protective goddesses" that are all responsible for "specific areas of the private sphere, and yet clear differences were made between them so that they are in many ways similar to matrons."[Simek (2007:274).]
Notes
References
* Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (1923). ''The poetic Edda''. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation
The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) is an American non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting international understanding through educational and cultural exchange between the United States and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Swe ...
.
* Byock, Jesse (Trans.) (2005). ''The Prose Edda''. Penguin Classics
Penguin Classics is an imprint (trade name), imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English language, English, Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese, and Korean language, Korean amon ...
.
* Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995). ''Snorri Sturluson: Edda''. First published in 1987. London: Everyman.
* Lindow, John (2001).
Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs
'. Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
.
* Macleod, Mindy. Mees, Bernard (2006).
Runic Amulets and Magic Objects
'. Boydell Press
Boydell & Brewer is an academic press based in Martlesham, Suffolk, England, that specializes in publishing historical and critical works. In addition to British and general history, the company publishes three series devoted to studies, editio ...
.
* Näsström, Britt-Mari (2003). ''Freyja - the great Goddess of the North''. Harwich Port: Clock & Rose, 2003. First published: University of Lund, 1995. .
* Orchard, Andy (1997). ''Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend''. Cassell.
* Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D.S. Brewer.
* Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1866).
Edda Sæmundar Hinns Frôða: The Edda of Sæmund the Learned
'' Part I. London: Trübner & Co.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Var
Ásynjur
Justice goddesses