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Sif



 
 
In Norse mythology
Norse mythology

Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the beliefs, myths and legends of the Norse paganism of the North Germanic language people, including those who settled on Faroe Islands and Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled....
, Sif (Old Norse
Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic languages that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
 "In-law-relationship") is a goddess
Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheism system that includes several deities in a pantheon .Common associations of goddesses are the Earth goddess, the Mother Goddess, Love goddess, and the hearth goddess, reflecting historical gender roles....
 with golden hair and is the wife of the god Thor
Thor

Thor is the red-haired and bearded god of thunder in Germanic mythology and Germanic paganism, and its subsets: Norse paganism, Anglo-Saxon paganism and Continental Germanic mythology....
. Sif is attested in the Poetic Edda
Poetic Edda

The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends....
, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda
Prose Edda

The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Old Norse language Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Norse mythology....
, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet and politician. He was two-time elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing....
.






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Sif From Swedish Edda Translation
In Norse mythology
Norse mythology

Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the beliefs, myths and legends of the Norse paganism of the North Germanic language people, including those who settled on Faroe Islands and Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled....
, Sif (Old Norse
Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic languages that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
 "In-law-relationship") is a goddess
Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheism system that includes several deities in a pantheon .Common associations of goddesses are the Earth goddess, the Mother Goddess, Love goddess, and the hearth goddess, reflecting historical gender roles....
 with golden hair and is the wife of the god Thor
Thor

Thor is the red-haired and bearded god of thunder in Germanic mythology and Germanic paganism, and its subsets: Norse paganism, Anglo-Saxon paganism and Continental Germanic mythology....
. Sif is attested in the Poetic Edda
Poetic Edda

The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends....
, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda
Prose Edda

The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Old Norse language Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Norse mythology....
, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet and politician. He was two-time elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing....
. In both sources, Sif, is the wife of the god Thor
Thor

Thor is the red-haired and bearded god of thunder in Germanic mythology and Germanic paganism, and its subsets: Norse paganism, Anglo-Saxon paganism and Continental Germanic mythology....
 and is known for her golden hair.
Blond

Blond or fair-haired is a Human hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment melanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish color, going from the very Paleness blond caused by a patchy, scarce distribution of pigment, to reddish "strawberry" blond colors or golden-br...
 In the Prose Edda, the euhemerized
Euhemerus

Euhemerus was a Greek Mythography at the court of Cassander, the king of Macedon. Euhemerus' birthplace is disputed, with Messina in Sicily or Messene in the Peloponnese as the most probable locations, while others champion Chios, or Tegea....
 prologue
Prologue (Prose Edda)

The Prologue is the first section of four books of the Prose Edda, and consists of an Euhemerus Christianity account of the origins of Norse mythology: the Norse gods are described as human Troy warriors who left Troy after the fall of that city and settled in northern Europe, where they were accepted as divine kings because of their supe...
 details that Sif was the most beautiful of women, in Gylfaginning
Gylfaginning

Gylfaginning, or the Tricking of Gylfi , is the first part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda after Prologue . The Gylfaginning deals with the creation and destruction of the world of the Norse gods, and many other aspects of Norse mythology....
 as the mother of the god Ullr
Ullr

In Germanic paganism, Ullr appears to have been a major god in prehistoric times, or even an epitheton of the head of the Proto-Germanic pantheon....
 (whose father's name is not given), and in Skáldskaparmál
Skáldskaparmál

The second part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda the Sk?ldskaparm?l or "language of poetry" is effectively a dialogue between the Norse god of the sea, ?gir and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both Norse mythology and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined....
 as once having had her hair shorn by Loki
Loki

File:Loke og Sigyn by Eckersberg.jpgIn Norse mythology, Loki is a ?ss or j?tunn . Loki's relation with the gods varies by source. Loki assists the gods, and sometimes causes problems for them....
. Scholarly theories have proposed that Sif's hair represents fields of golden wheat
Wheat

Wheat , is a worldwide cultivated Poaceae from the Levant region of the Middle East. Globally, after maize, wheat is the second most-produced food among the cereal just above rice....
, methods of farming, fertility, and or that she is connected to rowan
Rowan

The rowans or mountain-ashes are plants in the family Rosaceae, in the genus Sorbus, subgenus Sorbus. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the mountains of western China and the Himalaya, where numerous apomixis microspecies occur....
. Sif Mons
Sif Mons

Sif Mons is a volcano in Eistla Regio on Venus. It has a diameter of 300 kilometers and a height of 2 kilometers . It is named after the Norse mythology goddess Sif....
, a mons of the planet Venus
List of montes on Venus

This is a list of montes on the planet Venus. Venusian mountains are all named after goddesses in the mythologies of various cultures, except for the Maxwell Montes....
, is named after Sif.

Etymology

The name Sif is the singular form of the plural Old Norse word sifjar. Sifjar only appears in singular form when referring to the goddess as a proper noun. Sifjar is cognate to the Old English sib (meaning "affinity, connection, by marriage") and in other Germanic languages: Gothic language
Gothic language

Gothic is an extinct language Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from Codex Argenteus, a 6th century copy of a 4th century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic languages with a sizable corpus....
 sibbia, Old High German sibba, and German sippe. Sifjar appears not only in ancient poetry and records of law, but also in compounds (byggja sifjar means "to marry").

Attestations


Poetic Edda

In stanza 48 of the Poetic Edda poem Hárbarđsljóđ
Hárbarđsljóđ

H?rbar?slj?? is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda, found in the Codex Regius and AM 748 I 4to manuscripts. It is a flyting poem with figures from Norse mythology...
, Hárbarđr
List of names of Odin

Odin , the chief god of Norse mythology, was referred to by more than 200 names in the skaldic and Edda traditions.Then said Gangleri: "Exceeding many names have ye given him; and, by my faith, it must indeed be a goodly wit that knows all the lore and the examples of what chances have brought about each of these names." Then H?rr made ans...
 (Odin
Odin

Odin , is considered the chief ?sir in Norse paganism. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxons Woden and the Old High German Wotan, it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wodanaz or *Wodanaz....
, father of Thor, in disguise) meets Thor
Thor

Thor is the red-haired and bearded god of thunder in Germanic mythology and Germanic paganism, and its subsets: Norse paganism, Anglo-Saxon paganism and Continental Germanic mythology....
 at an inlet
Inlet

An inlet is a narrow body of water between islands or leading inland from a larger body of water, often leading to an enclosed body of water, such as a Sound , bay , lagoon or marsh....
 of a gulf. The two engage in flyting
Flyting

'Flyting' is a contest of insults, often conducted in verse. The word has been adopted by Social history from Scots language usage of the fifteenth and sixteenth century in which makars would engage in public verbal contests of high-flying, extravagant abuse structured in the form of a poetic Jousting; the classic written example is The Flyt...
, and Hárbarđr refuses to ferry
Ferry

A ferry is a form of transport, usually a boat or ship, used to carry passengers and their vehicles across a body of water. Ferries are also used to transport freight and even railroad cars....
 Thor across the bay. Among numerous other insults, Hárbarđr claims that Sif has a lover at home. In response, Thor says that Hárbarđr is speaking carelessly "of what seems worst to me" and also lying.

In stanzas 53 and 54 of the poem Lokasenna
Lokasenna

Lokasenna is one of the mythological poems of the Poetic Edda. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki.Loki, amongst other things, accuses the gods of moralism sexual impropriety, the practice of seidr, and bias....
, after pouring Loki a crystal cup of mead
Mead

Mead is a typically alcoholic beverage beverage, made from honey and water via Fermentation with yeast. Its alcoholic content may range from that of a mild ale to that of a strong wine....
 during his series of insults towards the gods, Sif states that there is nothing Loki can say only in regard to her. In response, Loki
Loki

File:Loke og Sigyn by Eckersberg.jpgIn Norse mythology, Loki is a ?ss or j?tunn . Loki's relation with the gods varies by source. Loki assists the gods, and sometimes causes problems for them....
 claims that Sif has had an affair with him:

Then Sif went forward and poured out mead for Loki into a crystal cup and said:
Welcome now, Loki, and take the crystal cup full of ancient mead, you should admit, that of the children of the Ćsir
Ćsir

In Old Norse, ?ss is the term denoting a member of the principal groups of gods of the List of Norse gods of Norse paganism. They include many of the major figures, such as Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Tyr....
, that I alone am blameless.
He took the horn and drank it down:
That indeed you would be, if you were so, if you were shy and fierce towards men; I alone know, as I think I do know, your love beside Thor, and that was the wicked Loki.


Sif does not respond, and the exchange turns to Beyla
Beyla

Beyla is one of Freyr's servants along with her husband, Byggvir, in Norse mythology. Beyla is mentioned in stanzas 55, 66, and the prose introduction to the Poetic Edda poem Lokasenna....
. Sif is additionally mentioned in two kennings found in poems collected in the
Poetic Edda; Hymiskviđa
Hymiskviđa

Hymiskvi?a is a poem collected in the Poetic Edda. Its contents are somewhat confusing but can be summarized more or less as follows.The ?sir visit ?gir and find, since ?gir apparently has a lot of kettles, that he should be their host from now on....
(where Thor is referred to as the "Husband of Sif" thrice), and Ţrymskviđa
Ţrymskviđa

?rymskvi?a is one of the best known poems from the Poetic Edda. The Norse myth had enduring popularity in Scandinavia and continued to be told and sung in several forms until the 19th century....
(where Thor is once referred to as "Husband of Sif").

Prose Edda

In the Prose Edda, Sif is mentioned once in the Prologue
Prologue (Prose Edda)

The Prologue is the first section of four books of the Prose Edda, and consists of an Euhemerus Christianity account of the origins of Norse mythology: the Norse gods are described as human Troy warriors who left Troy after the fall of that city and settled in northern Europe, where they were accepted as divine kings because of their supe...
, in chapter 31 of
Gylfaginning
Gylfaginning

Gylfaginning, or the Tricking of Gylfi , is the first part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda after Prologue . The Gylfaginning deals with the creation and destruction of the world of the Norse gods, and many other aspects of Norse mythology....
, and in Skáldskaparmál
Skáldskaparmál

The second part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda the Sk?ldskaparm?l or "language of poetry" is effectively a dialogue between the Norse god of the sea, ?gir and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both Norse mythology and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined....
as a guest at Ćgir
Ćgir

?gir is a j?tunn and a king of the sea in Norse mythology. He seems to be a personification of the power of the ocean. He was also known for hosting elaborate parties for the ?sir....
's feast, the subject of a jötunn's desire, as having her hair shorn by Loki, and in various kennings.

Prologue
Sif is introduced in chapter three of the Prologue section
Prologue (Prose Edda)

The Prologue is the first section of four books of the Prose Edda, and consists of an Euhemerus Christianity account of the origins of Norse mythology: the Norse gods are described as human Troy warriors who left Troy after the fall of that city and settled in northern Europe, where they were accepted as divine kings because of their supe...
 of the
Prose Edda; Snorri's euhemerized account of the origins of Norse mythology
Norse mythology

Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the beliefs, myths and legends of the Norse paganism of the North Germanic language people, including those who settled on Faroe Islands and Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled....
. Snorri states that Thor married Sif, and that she is known as "a prophetess called Sibyl
Sibyl

The word sibyl probably comes from the ancient Greek word sibylla, meaning prophetess. The earliest oracular seeresses known as the sibyls of antiquity, "who admittedly are known only through legend" prophesied at certain holy sites, under the divine influence of a deity, originally? at Delphi and Pessinos? one of the chthonic earth-go...
, though we know her as Sif". Sif is further described as "the most loveliest of women" and with hair of gold. Although he lists her own ancestors as unknown, Snorri writes that Thor and Sif produced a son by the name of Lóriđi
Lóriđi

L?ri?i is the son of Thor and Sif and forefather of Norse rulers, according to the prologue of the Prose Edda. Loridi does not appear in any other instance of Norse mythology....
, who "took after his father". Lóriđi is attributed an extended genealogical list of descendants, including figures such as Godwulf
Godwulf

Godwulf or Gu??lfr is a figure from Germanic mythology. In the two surviving sources mentioning the figure he is associated with divine genealogy....
 and Odin (though outside of this continuity Odin is described as the father of Thor).

Gylfaginning
In chapter 31 of Gylfaginning, Ullr is referred to as a son of Sif and a stepson of Thor (though his father is not mentioned):
Ull is the name of one. The son of Sif, he is the stepson of Thor. He is so skillful a bowman and skier that no one can compete with him. He is beautiful to look at, and is an accomplished warrior. He is also a good person to pray to when in single combat.


Skáldskaparmál
As described in Skáldskaparmál, Thor engages in a duel with Hrungnir
Hrungnir

Hrungnir was a j?tunn in Norse mythology, slain by the god Thor with his hammer Mjolnir. The account is documented in the Sk?ldskaparm?l, in the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson....
, there described as the strongest of the jötnar. Prior to this, Hrungnir had been drunkenly boasting of his desire to, amongst other things, kill all of the gods except Freyja and Sif, whom he wanted to take home with him. However, at the duel, Hrungnir is quickly killed by the enraged Thor.

Further in
Skáldskaparmál, Snorri relates a story where Loki cuts off Sif's hair as a prank. When Thor discovers this, he grabs hold of Loki, resulting in Loki swearing to have a headpiece made of gold to replace Sif's locks. Loki fulfills this promise by having a headpiece made by dwarves (referred to as the "sons of Ivaldi)". Along with the headpiece, the dwarves produced Odin's spear, Gungnir
Gungnir

In Norse mythology, Gungnir is Odin's spear....
. Further, as the story progresses, this event leads to the creation of the ship Skíđblađnir
Skíđblađnir

In Norse mythology, Sk??bla?nir is the ship of Freyr. The ship was made by Dvalin and his brothers, Norse dwarves and sons of Ivaldi. It was made at the request of Loki, and was given to Freyr as part of Loki's reparation for the theft of Sif's golden hair....
 and the boar Gullinbursti
Gullinbursti

Gullinbursti is a boar in Norse mythology.When Loki had Sif's hair, Freyr's ship Sk??bla?nir and Odin's spear Gungnir fashioned by the Sons of Ivaldi, he bet his own head with Brokkr that his brother Eitri wouldn't have been able to make items to match the quality of those mentioned above....
 for Freyr
Freyr

Freyr is one of the most important gods of Norse paganism. Freyr was highly associated with agriculture, weather and, as a phallus fertility god, Freyr "bestows peace and pleasure on mortals"....
, the multiplying ring Draupnir
Draupnir

Draupnir is a golden arm ring possessed by Odin, the highest ?sir in Norse mythology. The ring was a source of endless wealth, since each ninth morning it had spawned eight more gold rings just like itself....
 for Odin, and the mighty hammer Mjöllnir for Thor. Sif also appears in
Skáldskaparmál listed as a heiti
Heiti

A heiti is a synonym used in Old_Norse_Poetry in place of the normal word for something. For instance, Old Norse poets might use j?r "steed" instead of the prosaic hestr "horse"....
 for "earth", appears in a kenning for a gold-keeping woman, and once for Hildr
Hildr

In Norse mythology, Hildr is a valkyrie. Hildr is attested in the Prose Edda as H?gni's daughter and Hedin's wife in the Hedin and H?gni. She had the power to revive the dead in battlefields and used it to maintain the everlasting battle between Hedin and H?gni....
.

Theories


Fields, farming, and potential cognates

Jacob Grimm
Jacob Grimm

Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm , German Confederation philologist, jurist and mythology, was born at Hanau, in Hesse-Kassel . He is best known as the discoverer of Grimm's Law, the author of the monumental German Dictionary, his Deutsche Mythologie and more popularly, as one of the Brothers Grimm, as the editor of Grimm's Fairy Tales....
 proposes a reconstruction of a Germanic deity cognate to Sif in other Germanic cultures, and proposes a similar nature to that of the goddesses Frigg
Frigg

Frigg is a major goddess in Norse paganism, a subset of Germanic paganism. She is said to be the wife of Odin, and is the "foremost among the goddesses"....
 and Freyja:
The Goth.
Gothic language

Gothic is an extinct language Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from Codex Argenteus, a 6th century copy of a 4th century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic languages with a sizable corpus....
 
sibja, OHG
Old High German

The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of Old High German proper to 750 for this reason...
.
sippia, sippa, AS. sib gen
Genitive case

In grammar, the genitive case or possessive case is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun. It often marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun but it can also indicate various relationships other than possession; certain verbs may take argument in the genitive case; and it may have adverbial uses ....
. sibbe, denote peace, friendship, kindred; from these I infer a divinity
Sibja, Sippia, Sib, corresponding to ON
Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic languages that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
.
Sif gen. Sifjar, the wife of Thôrr, for the ON. too has a pl. sifjar meaning cognatio, sifi amicus (OHG. sippio, sippo), sift genus, cognatio. By this sense of the word, Sif would appear to be, like Frigg and Freyja, a goddess of loveliness and love; as attributes of Ođinn and Thôrr agree, their wives Frigg and Sif have also a common signification.
Grimm connects Eddic references to Sif's golden hair (gold is referred to as Sifjar haddr; Sif's hair) with the herb name haddr Sifjar (polytrichum aureum). Grimm says that "expositors see in this the golden fruits of the Earth burnt up by fire and growing again, they liken Sif to Ceres", and Grimm says that "with it agrees the fact that O. Slav
Old Slavic

Old Slavic may refer to:*the Old Church Slavonic language*the Proto-Slavic language language ...
.
Siva is a gloss on 'Ceres dea frumenti'" but cites etymological
Etymology

Etymology is the study of the roots and history of words; and how their form and meaning have changed over time.In languages with a long detailed history, etymology makes use of philology, the study of how words change from culture to culture over time....
 problems between the potential cognate. Grimm says that Thor's mother was the earth, and not his wife, yet "we do find the simple
Sif standing for earth." Grimm adds that he is inconclusive regarding Sif and that, "we ought to have fuller details about Sif, and these are wholly wanting in our mythology. Nowhere amongst us is the mystic relation of the seed-corn of Demeter
Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
, whose poignant grief for her daughter threatens to bring famine on mankind (Hymn to Cer. 305–306), nor anything like it, recorded."

English scholar H. R. Ellis Davidson
H. R. Ellis Davidson

Dr. Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson was a United Kingdom antiquarian and academic, writing in particular on Germanic paganism and Celtic paganism....
 states that Sif may have been an ancient fertility goddess, proposing a link between her lustrous hair and fields of golden wheat
Wheat

Wheat , is a worldwide cultivated Poaceae from the Levant region of the Middle East. Globally, after maize, wheat is the second most-produced food among the cereal just above rice....
. John Lindow proposes that a potentially understated mythological importance of Sif's role in the story of her sheared hair exists; her headpiece is created along with the most important and powerful items in Norse mythology. Lindow further states that it may be easy to lose sight of the central role Sif plays in the creation of these objects.

Rowan

Sif has been linked with Ravdna, the consort of the Sami thunder-god Hora galles. Red berries of rowan
Rowan

The rowans or mountain-ashes are plants in the family Rosaceae, in the genus Sorbus, subgenus Sorbus. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the mountains of western China and the Himalaya, where numerous apomixis microspecies occur....
 were holy to Ravdna, and the name
Ravdna resembles the North-Germanic words for the tree (for example, Old Norse reynir). According to Skáldskaparmál the rowan is called "the salvation of Thor" because Thor once saved himself by clinging to it. It has been theorized that Sif was once conceived in the form of a rowan to which Thor clung.

Lokasenna accusations

Regarding the accusations that Loki makes to Sif in Lokasenna, Carolyne Larrington says that Sif is not elsewhere attested as unfaithful, though notes that Odin makes a similar accusation in Hárbarđsljóđ, and theorizes a potential connection between the story of Loki cutting off Sif's hair with these references. Larrington says "how he got close enough to carry this out might be explained by this verse."