Borr
In Norse mythology, Borr or Burr[1] (Old Norse: 'borer'[2] sometimes anglicized Bor, Bör or Bur) was the son of Búri. Borr was the husband of Bestla and the father of Odin, Vili and Vé. Borr receives mention in a poem in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, and in the Prose Edda, composed in the 13th century by Icelander Snorri Sturluson. Scholars have proposed a variety of theories about the figure.
Attestation
Borr is mentioned in the fourth verse of the Völuspá, a poem contained in the Poetic Edda, and in the sixth chapter of Gylfaginning, the second section of the Prose Edda.
Völuspá
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Gylfaginning
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Borr is not mentioned again in the Prose Edda. In
Scholarly reception and interpretation
The role of Borr in Norse mythology is unclear. Nineteenth-century German scholar Jacob Grimm proposed to equate Borr with Mannus as related in Tacitus' Germania on the basis of the similarity in their functions in Germanic theogeny.[7]
The 19th century Icelandic scholar and archaeologist
Highlighting that no source provides information about Borr's mother (Borr's father was licked free from the earth by the primeval cow Auðumbla), Rudolf Simek observes that "It is not clear how Burr came to be".[10]
Notes and citations
- ^ The Konungsbók or Codex Regius MS of the Völuspá reads Búrr; the Hauksbók MS reads Borr. Cf. Nordal (1980:31). The latter form alone was used by 13th-century historian and poet Snorri Sturluson. Cf. Simek (1988:54).
- ^ Jan De Vries (1977) Altnordisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, p. 51
- ^ Cf. Nordal (1980:31).
- ^ Bellows (1923:4).
- ^ Cf. Lorenz (1984:136).
- ^ Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (transl.) (1916). The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
- ^ "Must not Buri, Börr, Oðinn be parallel, though under other names, to Tvisco, Mannus, Inguio? Inguio has two brothers at his side, Iscio and Hermino, as Oðinn has Vili and Ve; we should then see the reason why the names Týski (Tvisco, i.e. Tuisto) and Maðr (Mannus) are absent from the Edda, because Buri and Börr are their substitutes," Grimm (1883:349).
- ^ Finnur Magnússon (1824). Eddalaeren og dens oprindelse, Vol. I. (1824:42). Quoted in Millet (1847:486-7).
- ^ Millet (1847:487).
- ^ Simek (2007:50).
References
- Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (transl.) (1916). The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
- Bellows, Henry Adams (1927). The Poetic Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
- De Vries, Jan (1977). Altnordisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Brill Leiden.
- Finnur Magnússon (1824). Eddalaeren og dens oprindelse, Vol. I.
- Grimm, Jacob (1883). Teutonic Mythology, Vol. I. London: G. Bell and Sons.
- Lindow, John (2001). Handbook of Norse Mythology. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
- Lorenz, Gottfried (1984). Gylfaginning. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
- Mallet, M. (1847). Northern Antiquities. London: Henry G. Bohn.
- Nordal, Sigurd (1980). Völuspá. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
- Simek, Rudolf (1988). Lexikon der germanischen Mythologie. Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner.
- Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. ISBN 0-85991-513-1
- Thorpe, Benjamin (1851). Northern Mythology. London: Edward Lumley.