Freyja (Old Norse for 'Lady', 'Woman', or 'Mistress') is the best-known and most important goddess in Norse mythology. Beautiful and many-functioned, she features heavily as a fertility goddess stemming from her place in the Vanir family of the gods (the other and main one is the ?sir family) along with her twin brother Freyr and father Njord, and stars in many myths recorded in Old Norse literature as lover or object of lust. She lives in Fólkvangr ('Field of the People'), rides a carriage drawn by cats, and is connected not just with love and lust but also with wealth, magic, as well as hand-picking half of all fallen warriors on battlefields to go into Odin's hall of Valhalla – the other half being selected by Odin himself. She likely played an important role in old Scandinavian religion.

? ? ? ? ? 芙蕾雅（古北歐語中的"女士"、"女人"或"女主人"）是北歐神話中最知名和最重要的女神。她不僅美麗，而且具有多種職能。作為生育女神，她與她的孿生兄弟弗雷爾（Freyr）和父親尼奧爾德（Njord）一起在瓦尼爾（Vanir）諸神家族中占有重要地位（另一個主要家族是亞薩（?sir）家族），并在舊北歐文學(xué)中記載的許多神話中作為情人或欲望的對象出現(xiàn)。她住在弗爾克范格（"人民的田野"），乘坐貓拉的馬車。她不僅與愛情和欲望有關(guān)，還與財富、魔法以及在戰(zhàn)場上親手挑選一半的陣亡戰(zhàn)士進(jìn)入奧丁的瓦爾哈拉大廳——另一半由奧丁親自挑選。她在古老的斯堪的納維亞宗教中發(fā)揮了重要作用。

家? ? ?庭

Freyja is part of the Vanir family of the gods who handle all things fertility-related, including harvests (her brother Freyr); wind, sea, and wealth (her father Njord); and her own expertise regarding love, lust, and wealth, too. Her mother appears to have been giant-daughter and wife of Njord, Skadi, and while originally Freyja may have been paired in a brother-sister married couple with Freyr, Icelandic mythographer Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241 CE) – our most comprehensive source when it comes to Norse mythology – has her down as wife of ódr, who she has two daughters with; Hnoss and Gersimi (Gylfaginning, 35). These names both mean something along the lines of 'preciousness' or 'treasure' and were possibly used in later poetry as manifestations of Freyja herself.

? ? ? ? ? 芙蕾雅是瓦尼爾（Vanir）神家族的一員，負(fù)責(zé)處理所有與生育有關(guān)的事情，還包括收成（她的兄弟弗雷爾）、風(fēng)、海和財富（她的父親尼奧爾德）；她的專長在愛情、欲望和財富方面。她的母親似乎是尼奧爾德的妻子斯卡蒂，雖然最初芙蕾雅可能與弗雷爾結(jié)為兄妹夫妻，但冰島神話學(xué)家斯諾里·斯蒂德呂松（公元1179-1241年）——我們在談到北歐神話時最全面的資料庫——將她記為奧丁的妻子，她與奧丁有兩個女兒：諾斯和格爾塞蜜（Gylfaginning, 35）。這兩個名字都有"珍貴"或"寶藏"的意思，在后來的詩歌中，他們可能被當(dāng)作芙蕾雅本人的體現(xiàn)。

ódr is said to have gone traipsing around on long journeys, inexplicably leaving Freyja behind, who would then search for him while weeping golden tears; this tale dates back to at least as early as the 10th century CE. He and Odin are commonly thought to have originally been one and the same person, with ódr functioning as a shortened form of Odin.

? ? ? ? ?據(jù)說奧丁在長途旅行中四處游蕩，莫名其妙地把芙蕾雅拋在身后，芙蕾雅則一邊流著金色的眼淚一邊尋找他；這個故事至少可以追溯到公元10世紀(jì)。ódr和Odin通常被認(rèn)為是同一個人，而ódr則是奧丁的縮寫形式。

特? ? ?征

One of Freyja's attributes has already been mentioned: her cat-drawn carriage with which she zooms around the Norse mythological cosmos. Another is a garment - a coat, cloak or dress-like thing - made out of falcon feathers. Possibly, the boar Hildisvíni should also be counted among Freyja's attributes; the Hyndluljóe poem has her riding said boar, and a boar connection, in general, is made more plausible by the fact that her brother Freyr is also associated with a boar, in his case named Gullinborsti. Syr, another name of Freyja's, is sometimes translated as 'sow', too, but it also might mean 'to protect', 'to shield,' in which case it would negate this third boar link. Germanic mythological powerhouse H. R. Ellis Davidson adds another animal: "Horses were certainly associated with the fertility pair Freyr and Freyja, and said to be kept in their holy places" (104). Her last - but not least - attribute is the necklace Brísingamen.

? ? ? ? ? 芙蕾雅的特征之一已經(jīng)提到過：她的貓拉車，將其在北歐神話的宇宙中放大。另一特征是用獵鷹的羽毛做成的衣服——大衣、斗篷或類似裙子的東西。也許，野豬希爾帝斯維尼也應(yīng)該算作芙蕾雅的屬性之一；海恩德拉的詩中出現(xiàn)了她騎的野豬，而她的兄弟弗雷爾也與野豬有關(guān)，在他的故事中，野豬被命名為古林博斯帝，這使得野豬的聯(lián)系更加合理。芙蕾雅的另一個名字Syr有時也被翻譯為 "母豬"，但它也可能意味著 "保護(hù)"、"庇護(hù)"。在這種情況下，它將否定這第三種野豬的聯(lián)系。日耳曼神話專家H·R·戴維遜補(bǔ)充了另一種動物："馬與弗雷爾和芙蕾雅（他們具有強(qiáng)大的生育能力）有關(guān)，據(jù)說馬被關(guān)在他們的圣地"（104）。還有一個特征是項鏈布里希嘉曼。

芙蕾雅的眾多角色

The baseline of Freyja's various functions comes from her role as fertility goddess as per her Vanir descent. Specifically, her other name Horn (H?rn, or H?rn) probably comes from Old Norse horr, which means flax or linen. This was an important product which began being cultivated early on in Scandinavia and was thought to ward off evil and give fertility to humankind. Flax manufacture was a female affair, and as bridal dresses were made of linen, Freyja became a sort of defender of love and weddings, too. Another one of her names, Gefn, is Old Norse for 'giver', bringing to mind a role as a goddess of plenty.

? ? ? ? ? 芙蕾雅各布布種職能的基線來自于她作為生育女神這一角色，因為她是瓦尼爾神族的后裔。具體來說，她的另一個名字Horn（H?rn，或H?rn）可能來自舊北歐語horr，意思是亞麻或麻。這是一種重要的植物，人們很早就開始在斯堪的納維亞半島種植，他們認(rèn)為亞麻可以驅(qū)除邪惡，為人類帶來生育能力。使用亞麻是女性的事情，由于婚紗是由亞麻制成的，所以芙蕾雅也成為愛情和婚禮的捍衛(wèi)者。她的另一個名字Gefn是古北歐語中 "給予者 "的意思，讓人聯(lián)想到她作為豐饒女神的角色。

The handed-down mythology emphasises Freyja's role in all things related to sexuality (apart from childbirth, with which she seems unconcerned). For one, she often features as an irresistible object of lust, mainly in the eyes of the giants. The giant Thrym, for example, is only cool with returning the hammer he has stolen from Thor if he gets Freyja for his own. Besides her being the 'price' of many things - which the other gods try to avoid paying, as such - other myths reinforce Freyja's supposed free and considerable sexuality. Although Loki in the Lokasenna poem badmouths everyone around him and accuses all the goddesses of various sexual acts, Freyja is reprimanded by Loki as follows：

Be silent, Freyja! | for fully I know thee,

Sinless thou art not thyself；

Of the gods and elves | who are gathered here,

Each one as thy lover has lain. (30)

? ? ? ? ? 流傳下來的神話強(qiáng)調(diào)了芙蕾雅在所有與性有關(guān)的事物中的作用（除了生育，她似乎對生育不關(guān)心）。首先，她經(jīng)常作為一個不可抗拒的欲望對象出現(xiàn)，主要是在巨人的眼中。例如，巨人索列姆（Thrym）只有在得到芙蕾雅的情況下才會同意歸還他從托爾那里偷來的錘子。除了她是許多東西的"代價"——其他神試圖避免支付；因此，其他神話強(qiáng)化了芙蕾雅所謂的自由和可觀的性欲。盡管洛基在《Lokasenna》一詩中說了他周圍所有人的壞話，并指責(zé)所有女神的各種性行為，但芙蕾雅卻被洛基訓(xùn)斥了一番，具體如下：

沉默吧，芙蕾雅! | 因為我完全了解你。

你是無罪的，你不是你自己。

諸神和精靈都聚集在這里。

每個人都像你的愛人一樣躺著。(30)

She also consents to sleep with four dwarves in turn in order for them to hand over the Brísingamen to her and is accused in the Hyndluljóe poem of being the hero óttar's lover. Presumably, then, early Scandinavians looked to Freyja in matters of love and lust.

? ? ? ? ? 她還同意與四個矮人輪流睡覺，以此讓他們把Brísingamen（她的項鏈）還給她；芙蕾雅在《海恩德拉敘事詩》一詩中被指控為英雄óttar的情人。據(jù)推測，早期的斯堪的納維亞人在愛情和情欲問題上都會向芙蕾雅求助。

To make things even better, Freyja is also a goddess of wealth, as attested to by the many poetic references that link her to treasure. Her tears are said to be made of gold, even being synonymous with the material：

Gold is called Freyja's Tears (…). So sang Skúli Thorsteinsson:

Many a fearless swordsman

Received the Tears of Freyja.

(Skáldskaparmál, 37)

? ? ? ? ? 為了讓事情變得更好，芙蕾雅也是一位財富女神，這一點可以從許多將她與財寶聯(lián)系起來的詩句中得到證明。據(jù)說她滴淚成金，甚至是黃金的代名詞：

黃金被稱為芙蕾雅的眼淚（...）。詩人斯庫利·索爾斯滕松也這樣唱道。

許多無畏的劍客

得到了芙蕾雅的眼淚。

(Skáldskaparmál, 37)

The fact that Freyja's daughters' names Hnoss and Gersimi mean 'preciousness' or 'treasure' could arguably be seen as the "product of poetic convention in which Freyja was recognized as the source of treasure: perhaps as the weeper of golden tears, perhaps as a goddess ruling over wealth" (Billington & Green, 61).

? ? ? ? ? 芙蕾雅的女兒們的名字Hnoss和Gersimi的意思是“珍貴”或“寶藏”，可以說是“詩情畫意的產(chǎn)物”，芙蕾雅被認(rèn)為是寶藏的來源：也許是金淚的哭泣者，或是統(tǒng)治財富的女神"（Billington & Green, 61）。

Her connection with magic is also well-known, and Snorri Sturluson relays how it was Freyja who first taught the shamanistic magic called seier to the ?sir. Finally, the way Freyja chooses slain warriors to be on her as opposed to Odin's team carries her into more ferocious spheres, functioning as a goddess of death and perhaps even battle itself. Which god selects you seems to boil down to social or personal status, or perhaps comes from the fact that both the Vanir and the ?sir needed someone to fulfil this role on the battlefield. This link between Freyja and Odin, as well as Odin's own strong proficiency with magic, helps illustrate how Odin and ódr, Freyja's husband, could plausibly have originally been the same person.

? ? ? ? ? 她與魔法的聯(lián)系也很出名，斯諾里·斯蒂德呂松（Snorri Sturluson）講述了芙蕾雅是如何首次將薩滿教的魔法 "seier "傳授給亞薩神族的。最后，芙蕾雅讓戰(zhàn)死戰(zhàn)士的靈魂加入她的隊伍，而不是奧丁的隊伍，這使她在兇猛領(lǐng)域更出名；作為死亡女神，甚至可能是戰(zhàn)斗本身發(fā)揮作用。哪位神的選擇，似乎可以歸結(jié)為社會或個人的地位，或者是來自于Vanir人和?sir（亞薩）神族都需要有人在戰(zhàn)場上履行這個角色的事實。芙蕾雅和奧丁之間的這種聯(lián)系，以及奧丁本身對魔法的熟練程度，都能更好地證明奧丁和芙蕾雅的丈夫ódr（奧?。┳畛蹩赡苁峭粋€人。

芙蕾雅的神話故事

As evidenced above, there are plenty of myths recorded in the Old Norse sources that are keen to dive into the subject of Freyja. The Hyndluljóe poem emphasises she was more than just a pretty face; in it, Freyja visits wise-woman Hyndla asking her to unravel the hero óttar's ancestry, soaking up this knowledge. However, in the Trymskviea (the 'Lay of Thrym', a poem possibly composed in the 12th or 13th century CE and found in the Poetic Edda), her desirability is once again a core theme. The story tells of Thor's hammer being stolen by the giant Thrym, who will not return the hammer unless he gets his hands on Freyja. Freyja refuses to tag along, however, giving up the Brísingamen to help Thor disguise himself as her. After almost giving things away because Thor gorged himself to such an extent at the wedding banquet so as to raise suspicion - his burning eyes not helping either - Loki luckily smooth-talks his way out of it and ensures they get the hammer back. For good measure, Thor kills Thrym and a bunch of other giants on his way out.

? ? ? ? ? 正如上文所述，在古北歐的資料中，有很多神話都熱衷于深入研究芙蕾雅的話題。海恩德拉敘事詩強(qiáng)調(diào)她不僅僅擁有一張漂亮的臉蛋；在詩中，芙蕾雅拜訪了女智者Hyndla，要求她解放英雄óttar的祖先，吸收這些知識。然而，在Trymskviea（"Thrym之歌"，一首可能創(chuàng)作于公元12或13世紀(jì)的詩歌，見于《詩經(jīng)》）中，她的可取之處再次成為核心主題。這個故事講述了托爾的錘子被巨人索列姆偷走，泰瑞姆聲明除非得到芙蕾雅，否則不會歸還錘子。然而，芙蕾雅拒絕了，她放棄了Brísingamen（她的項鏈），把托爾偽裝成自己。由于托爾在婚宴上大吃大喝，幾乎把事情暴露無遺，他那雙灼熱的眼睛也無濟(jì)于事，洛基幸運地用圓滑的方式擺脫了這一切，并確保托爾拿回了錘子。為了穩(wěn)妥起見，托爾在離開時殺死了索列姆和一群巨人。

As for other giant-related myths, the giant Hrungnir boasts he would bodily move Valhalla into Jotunheimen (the realm of the giants), sink Asgard (the realm of the gods), and kill all the gods except for Freyja and Sif, who he will take home with him (Skáldskaparmál, 17). In the tale of the Giant Master Builder, a giant offers to build walls around Asgard as long as he gets Freyja, the sun and the moon. Regarding her necklace Brísingamen, which is assigned to Freyja by Late Old Norse sources (13th and 14th centuries CE), the most famous myth concerns its theft (most commonly by Loki) but is preserved in such a fragmentary and tricky way that it is now rather hard to come up with one comprehensive story. The most detailed version is also the youngest and thus not the pinnacle of reliability: the S?rla Táttr, which survives in the 14th century CE Flateyjarbók, describes how Freyja sleeps with four dwarves to get the Brísingamen, and how Odin then forces Loki to steal the necklace from her. Loki enters her bedroom as a fly, stings her so she moves her hand off of the necklace, and grabs it. By contrast, Snorri Sturluson has Loki and Heimdall fighting each other over the necklace (Skáldskaparmál, 8).

? ? ? ? ? 至于其他與巨人有關(guān)的神話，巨人赫朗格尼爾吹噓說他會把瓦爾哈拉搬到尤通黑門山脈（巨人的領(lǐng)域），把阿斯嘉特（眾神的領(lǐng)域）弄沉，并殺死所有的神，除了芙蕾雅和希芙，他將把他們帶回家（Skáldskaparmál，17）。在《巨人建筑大師》的故事中，一個巨人提出要在阿斯嘉特周圍建造城墻，只要他得到芙蕾雅、太陽和月亮。關(guān)于她的項鏈Brísingamen，晚期古挪威語資料（公元13和14世紀(jì)）中，屬于芙蕾雅所有；最著名的神話是關(guān)于它的失竊（最常見的是被洛基偷走），但其保存的方式非常零散和棘手，現(xiàn)在很難拿出一個全面的故事。最詳細(xì)的版本時間距今較短，因此也不是最可靠的：S?rla Táttr，存于公元14世紀(jì)的Flateyjarbók，描述了芙蕾雅如何與四個矮人睡覺以獲得Brísingamen，以及奧丁如何迫使洛基從她那里偷走項鏈。洛基變成一只蒼蠅進(jìn)入她的臥室，蜇了她一下，讓她把手從項鏈上移開，然后洛基抓住了項鏈溜了。相比之下，斯諾里·斯蒂德呂松認(rèn)為洛基和海姆達(dá)爾為項鏈互相爭吵（Skáldskaparmál，8）。

芙蕾雅崇拜

As a fertility goddess, Freyja would have taken up a central role in old Scandinavian religion, playing a part in the circle of life. J. P. Schj?dt explains her special position：

? ? ? ? ? Freyja is one of the few individual goddesses who has had a major role in the more official religious cult (whereas many female deities seen as collectives played a part in both myth and ritual). She incorporates many traits that can be found in fertility goddesses all over the world, among whom is a clear connection also to death. (Brink & Price, 221)

? ? ? ? ? 作為一位生育女神，芙蕾雅在古老的斯堪的納維亞宗教中占據(jù)了核心地位，在生命的循環(huán)中扮演著重要角色。J.P. Schj?dt解釋了她的特殊地位：

? ? ? ? ? 芙蕾雅是為數(shù)不多在正式宗教崇拜中發(fā)揮重要作用的女神之一（而許多被視為集體的女性神靈在神話和儀式中都發(fā)揮了作用）。她融合了世界各地生育女神的許多特征，其中也有與死亡的明確聯(lián)系。(Brink & Price, 221)

The Old Norse sources do not specifically detail the existence of a cult of Freyja per se, but the large number of place-names in Sweden and Norway related to her name, such as Fr?ihov (from Freyjuhof, 'Freyja's temple') and Fr?vi (from Freyjuvé, 'Freyja's shrine'), show clear worship, perhaps even pointing to a public cult as opposed to the domestic cult one would expect of a goddess of love. It is clear that the people of Iceland on the cusp of conversion to Christianity around the year 1000 CE still had Freyja clearly on their mind. The íslendingabók states that Hjalti Skeggjason, a supporter of Christianity, was outlawed for blasphemy after calling Freyja a bitch (in this case a female dog, but taken to mean he wanted to call her a whore) at the Althing parliament. She was obviously still important enough for people to not successfully get away with these sorts of things.

? ? ? ? ? ?舊北歐的資料中沒有具體詳述芙蕾雅崇拜本身的存在，但在瑞典和挪威有大量與她的名字有關(guān)的地名，如Fr?ihov（來自Freyjuhof，"芙蕾雅的神廟"）和Fr?vi（來自Freyjuvé，"芙蕾雅的神殿"），顯示出當(dāng)?shù)厝嗣黠@的崇拜，也許這指向公共崇拜，而不是人們所期望的愛情女神的家庭崇拜。很明顯，在公元1000年左右，處于皈依基督教邊緣的冰島人仍然清楚地記得芙蕾雅?！侗鶏u人之書》指出，基督教的支持者Hjalti Skeggjason在冰島議會上稱芙蕾雅為母狗（在這里是指母狗，但也有可能是指他想稱她為妓女），因而被以褻瀆神明的罪名取締。顯然，她仍然很重要，以至于人們很難不受這種影響。

參考書目：

Billington, S. & Green, M. (eds.). The Concept of the Goddess. Routledge, 1996.

Brink, S. & Price, N. (eds.). The Viking World. Routledge, 2011.

Davidson, H. E. Roles of the Northern Goddess. Routledge, 1998.

Fitzhugh, W. W. & Ward, E. I. (eds.). Vikings. The North Atlantic Saga. Smithsonian Books, 2000.

Gylfaginning?Accessed 16 Feb 2018.

Lindow, J. Norse Mythology. Oxford University Press, 2002.

Lokasenna Accessed 16 Feb 2018.

Simek, R. A Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D. S. Brewer, Cambridge, 2008.

Sk??ldskaparm??l Accessed 16 Feb 2018.

??slendingab?3k Accessed 19 Feb 2018.

??rymskvi?°a - The Lay of Thrym?Accessed 16 Feb 2018.

原文作者：Emma Groeneveld

? ? ? ? ? Emma Groeneveld研究古代歷史。在碩士期間，她專注于希羅多德以及古代宮廷的政治。

原文網(wǎng)址：https://www.worldhistory.org/Freyja/