brisingamen - April 4, 2021

Brísingamen: Freya's Magical Necklace

Brisingamen is a jewel, probably torque or pendant, appearing in Norse mythology, that the main Viking Necklace of the goddess Freyja.

Etymology of the Brísingamen Necklace

The name is composed of two Norse elements (brísinga men) Of which the second, men, sense jewelry, necklace (precious metal), torque.

brisingamen

The meaning of the first element is obscure; understood as "jewel of Brísingar", where "Brísingar" could mean "lineage fire", you can assume a reference to the dwarves that the falsified.

The Brisings, Dwarves

The Brisings (or Bristlings) were Dwarves who possessed the Brisingamen necklace made of gold and coveted by the Goddess Freyja.

Brisingamen

This last one besides slept with the Dwarves Alfrigg, Berling, Dvalin and Grer during four nights for get the jewel and this to the great disgust of Odin.

Furious, the God unleashed a war on Midgard and the dead were divided between him and Freyja.

The necklace became an important part of the Goddess and besides she lent one day to Thor so that her disguise is more convincing, this one going to Thrym to get his hammer Mjolnir back.

Brísingamen

Few stories talk about the Brisings which were supposed to symbolize the other side of love, passion and sex.

That's how Freyja could not resist his desire to own the necklace of the Dwarves.

Mythological references

In a fourteenth century tale, SORLA þáttr It refers to a Freyja necklace, identifiable with Brisingamen.

It is said that Freyja gathered four dwarves near his home, they forged a wonderful jewel.

brisingamen-dwarve

The names of the Dwarves were Álfrigg, Dvalinn, Berlingr and Grérr. When Freyja asked them for the jewel, the dwarf agreed, they arranged that the goddess was lying one night with each of them in turn.

Freyja took a wedding ring, and so the necklace was hers. Odin, that Freyja was the bridegroom, when he learned of the affair was furious and ordered Loki to steal the necklace.

Loki knew that Freyja's home was inviolable, but I entered turned into a fly and thus succeeded in the theft.

Odin was sitting Freyja, as a condition of return, that the goddess has aroused enmity between the two rulers, which should have fought for eternity, death and rebirth.

Brisingamen-thor-loki

With her magic Freyja triggered the conflict between the two kings HOGNE and Hedinn, thus starting their eternal battle, and thus seeing the jewel returned.

Another myth, known only from obscure allusions, tells the story of a struggle between Loki and Heimdall, who was sealed on an island for possession of a jewel called hafnyra, which Snorri Sturluson identifies with Brisingamen.

De Brosingamen called a necklace also speaks to us in Beowulf.