flateyjarbok 29
For the Norsemen of Scandinavia, the wolf was an ever-present danger.
Fensalir( Water, Sea, or Bog Hall) The palace or home of the goddess Frigg, wife of Odin and mother of Balder. In this hall, the god Loki tricked Frigg into revealing that her son’ s one vulnerability was mistletoe. Some experts suggest that Fensalir was located in a swamp or bog because followers of Frigg worshipped near a spring.
Fimafeng( Swift Handler) An unfortunate servant of the sea god, Aegir. Fimafeng and the other servant, Eldir, received much praise from the Aesir guests at a banquet Aegir held one night. It was Fimafeng’ s misfortune to be nearest the trickster god Loki, who stabbed him to death in a jealous fit.
Fimafeng is part of the prose introduction to the 10th-century poem Lokasenna, a part of the Codex
Regius of the Poetic Edda.
Fimbulvetr( Mighty Winter) The winter of winters, the worst of all possible winters. The Fimbulvetr lasted for three years without respite and took place just before Ragnarok, the end of the world. It brought terrible hardships, with driving snowstorms, vicious winds, bitter cold, and unyielding ice. People starved and lost all hope and goodness as they fought for their lives. They committed terrible crimes and started many wars. Fimbulvetr is described in the
Poetic Edda.
Fjalar( 1)( All Knowing) The beautiful red rooster, or cock, that crowed to call the giants to fight at Ragnarok, the conflict that ends the world of the Norse gods. Fjalar’ s counterpart, Gullinkambi, called the gods and fallen human heroes to the battle. An unnamed rust-red rooster summoned those who lived in Hel( 2).
Fjalar is named in the Voluspa, an Eddic poem in the Codex Regius.
Fjalar( 2)( Deceiver) One of the two deceitful dwarfs who killed the wise man Kvasir( 1) and made the mead of poetry from his blood. The other dwarf was Fjalar’ s brother, Galar.
After making the mead, the two also killed the giant Gilling and his wife. Their son, Suttung, avenged his parents’ deaths by stranding Fjalar and Galar on a rock that would be flooded at high tide.
To save their lives, the brothers gave the mead to Suttung.
Their story is told by Snorri Sturluson in
Skalskaparmal.( See also“ The Mead of Poetry” under Odin.)
Fjalar( 3) A common name in Norse mythology. It means“ deceiver.” In addition to the cock that awakened the giants at Ragnarok( 1) and the dwarf that helped kill the poet Kvasir( 2), Fjalar is found in the lists of dwarfs in the Thulur. It also appears in the Poetic Edda as the name for the giant Skyrmir. Some linguists suggest the word was a common noun in certain instances, rather than a name or proper noun.
Fjolsvid( Fjolsvith) The giant who guarded the gates behind which lived the fair giantess Menglod. Fjolsvid maintains the ring of fire that surrounds the house. He challenges and tests the human hero, Svipdag, who seeks Menglod, his true love. The story is a part of the Eddic poem Svipdagsmal, which is itself a combined work consisting of two parts known as Grogald( Groa’ s Spell) and Fjolsvinnsmal( The Lay of Fjolsvid).
Fjorgyn( 1)( Fjorgvin; Earth) One of two names( the other being Jord) for the giantess who was the mother of Thor, the thunder god and son of Odin, the most powerful god. The word fjorgyn is also used in Norse mythology to refer to the“ land” or“ earth.”
Fjorgyn( 2)( Fjorgynn) The father of the goddess Frigg, according to the works of Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson. According to modern experts in the Old Norse language, the similarity between the feminine form of this word, which was the name of a giantess( see Fjorgyn [ 1 ]), and the masculine form is a result of transliteration, the methods of using the alphabet of one language to replicate the sounds of another language. In Old Norse spelling, there are distinctions between the names for the mother of Thor and the father of Frigg that are not evident in modern English.
Flateyjarbok( Book of the Flat Island) An Icelandic manuscript compiled in the late 1380s and early 1390s by two priests. It is written on parchment, a form of paper. Some pages were added to the manuscript in the 1500s. The manuscript was