【简译】北欧神话中的女神：芙蕾雅（Freyja）

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 Æsir 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（古北欧语中的"女士"、"女人"或"女主人"）是北欧神话中最知名和最重要的女神。她不仅美丽，而且具有多种职能。作为生育女神，她与她的孪生兄弟弗雷尔（Freyr）和父亲尼奥尔德（Njord）一起在瓦尼尔（Vanir）诸神家族中占有重要地位（另一个主要家族是亚萨（Æsir）家族），并在旧北欧文学中记载的许多神话中作为情人或欲望的对象出现。她住在弗尔克范格（"人民的田野"），乘坐猫拉的马车。她不仅与爱情和欲望有关，还与财富、魔法以及在战场上亲手挑选一半的阵亡战士进入奥丁的瓦尔哈拉大厅——另一半由奥丁亲自挑选。她在古老的斯堪的纳维亚宗教中发挥了重要作用。

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.

          芙蕾雅是瓦尼尔（Vanir）神家族的一员，负责处理所有与生育有关的事情，还包括收成（她的兄弟弗雷尔）、风、海和财富（她的父亲尼奥尔德）；她的专长在爱情、欲望和财富方面。她的母亲似乎是尼奥尔德的妻子斯卡蒂，虽然最初芙蕾雅可能与弗雷尔结为兄妹夫妻，但冰岛神话学家斯诺里·斯蒂德吕松（公元1179-1241年）——我们在谈到北欧神话时最全面的资料库——将她记为奥丁的妻子，她与奥丁有两个女儿：诺斯和格尔塞蜜（Gylfaginning, 35）。这两个名字都有"珍贵"或"宝藏"的意思，在后来的诗歌中，他们可能被当作芙蕾雅本人的体现。

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.

         据说奥丁在长途旅行中四处游荡，莫名其妙地把芙蕾雅抛在身后，芙蕾雅则一边流着金色的眼泪一边寻找他；这个故事至少可以追溯到公元10世纪。Ódr和Odin通常被认为是同一个人，而Ódr则是奥丁的缩写形式。

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 Hyndluljóð 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. Sýr, 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经提到过：她的猫拉车，将其在北欧神话的宇宙中放大。另一特征是用猎鹰的羽毛做成的衣服——大衣、斗篷或类似裙子的东西。也许，野猪希尔帝斯维尼也应该算作芙蕾雅的属性之一；海恩德拉的诗中出现了她骑的野猪，而她的兄弟弗雷尔也与野猪有关，在他的故事中，野猪被命名为古林博斯帝，这使得野猪的联系更加合理。芙蕾雅的另一个名字Sýr有时也被翻译为 "母猪"，但它也可能意味着 "保护"、"庇护"。在这种情况下，它将否定这第三种野猪的联系。日耳曼神话专家H·R·戴维逊补充了另一种动物："马与弗雷尔和芙蕾雅（他们具有强大的生育能力）有关，据说马被关在他们的圣地"（104）。还有一个特征是项链布里希嘉曼。

芙蕾雅的众多角色

The baseline of Freyja's various functions comes from her role as fertility goddess as per her Vanir descent. Specifically, her other name Horn (Hǫrn, or Härn) 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.

          芙蕾雅各布布种职能的基线来自于她作为生育女神这一角色，因为她是瓦尼尔神族的后裔。具体来说，她的另一个名字Horn（Hǫrn，或Härn）可能来自旧北欧语horr，意思是亚麻或麻。这是一种重要的植物，人们很早就开始在斯堪的纳维亚半岛种植，他们认为亚麻可以驱除邪恶，为人类带来生育能力。使用亚麻是女性的事情，由于婚纱是由亚麻制成的，所以芙蕾雅也成为爱情和婚礼的捍卫者。她的另一个名字Gefn是古北欧语中 "给予者 "的意思，让人联想到她作为丰饶女神的角色。

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)

          流传下来的神话强调了芙蕾雅在所有与性有关的事物中的作用（除了生育，她似乎对生育不关心）。首先，她经常作为一个不可抗拒的欲望对象出现，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况下才会同意归还他从托尔那里偷来的锤子。除了她是许多东西的"代价"——其他神试图避免支付；因此，其他神话强化了芙蕾雅所谓的自由和可观的性欲。尽管洛基在《Lokasenna》一诗中说了他周围所有人的坏话，并指责所有女神的各种性行为，但芙蕾雅却被洛基训斥了一番，具体如下：

沉默吧，芙蕾雅! | 因为我完全了解你。

你是无罪的，你不是你自己。

诸神和精灵都聚集在这里。

每个人都像你的爱人一样躺着。(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 Hyndluljóð poem of being the hero Óttar's lover. Presumably, then, early Scandinavians looked to Freyja in matters of love and lust.

          她还同意与四个矮人轮流睡觉，以此让他们把Brísingamen（她的项链）还给她；芙蕾雅在《海恩德拉叙事诗》一诗中被指控为英雄Óttar的情人。据推测，早期的斯堪的纳维亚人在爱情和情欲问题上都会向芙蕾雅求助。

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)

          为了让事情变得更好，芙蕾雅也是一位财富女神，这一点可以从许多将她与财宝联系起来的诗句中得到证明。据说她滴泪成金，甚至是黄金的代名词：

黄金被称为芙蕾雅的眼泪（...）。诗人斯库利·索尔斯滕松也这样唱道。

许多无畏的剑客

得到了芙蕾雅的眼泪。

(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).

          芙蕾雅的女儿们的名字Hnoss和Gersimi的意思是“珍贵”或“宝藏”，可以说是“诗情画意的产物”，芙蕾雅被认为是宝藏的来源：也许是金泪的哭泣者，或是统治财富的女神"（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 seiðr to the Æsir. 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 Æsir 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.

          她与魔法的联系也很出名，斯诺里·斯蒂德吕松（Snorri Sturluson）讲述了芙蕾雅是如何首次将萨满教的魔法 "seiðr "传授给亚萨神族的。最后，芙蕾雅让战死战士的灵魂加入她的队伍，而不是奥丁的队伍，这使她在凶猛领域更出名；作为死亡女神，甚至可能是战斗本身发挥作用。哪位神的选择，似乎可以归结为社会或个人的地位，或者是来自于Vanir人和Æsir（亚萨）神族都需要有人在战场上履行这个角色的事实。芙蕾雅和奥丁之间的这种联系，以及奥丁本身对魔法的熟练程度，都能更好地证明奥丁和芙蕾雅的丈夫Ódr（奥丁）最初可能是同一个人。

芙蕾雅的神话故事

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 Hyndluljóð 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 Þrymskviða (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，在古北欧的资料中，有很多神话都热衷于深入研究芙蕾雅的话题。海恩德拉叙事诗强调她不仅仅拥有一张漂亮的脸蛋；在诗中，芙蕾雅拜访了女智者Hyndla，要求她解放英雄Óttar的祖先，吸收这些知识。然而，在Þrymskviða（"Thrym之歌"，一首可能创作于公元12或13世纪的诗歌，见于《诗经》）中，她的可取之处再次成为核心主题。这个故事讲述了托尔的锤子被巨人索列姆偷走，泰瑞姆声明除非得到芙蕾雅，否则不会归还锤子。然而，芙蕾雅拒绝了，她放弃了Brísingamen（她的项链），把托尔伪装成自己。由于托尔在婚宴上大吃大喝，几乎把事情暴露无遗，他那双灼热的眼睛也无济于事，洛基幸运地用圆滑的方式摆脱了这一切，并确保托尔拿回了锤子。为了稳妥起见，托尔在离开时杀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 Sǫrla Þáttr, 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).

          至于其他与巨人有关的神话，巨人赫朗格尼尔吹嘘说他会把瓦尔哈拉搬到尤通黑门山脉（巨人的领域），把阿斯嘉特（众神的领域）弄沉，并杀死所有的神，除了芙蕾雅和希芙，他将把他们带回家（Skáldskaparmál，17）。在《巨人建筑大师》的故事中，一个巨人提出要在阿斯嘉特周围建造城墙，只要他得到芙蕾雅、太阳和月亮。关于她的项链Brísingamen，晚期古挪威语资料（公元13和14世纪）中，属于芙蕾雅所有；最著名的神话是关于它的失窃（最常见的是被洛基偷走），但其保存的方式非常零散和棘手，现在很难拿出一个全面的故事。最详细的版本时间距今较短，因此也不是最可靠的：Sǫrla Þáttr，存于公元14世纪的Flateyjarbók，描述了芙蕾雅如何与四个矮人睡觉以获得Brísingamen，以及奥丁如何迫使洛基从她那里偷走项链。洛基变成一只苍蝇进入她的卧室，蜇了她一下，让她把手从项链上移开，然后洛基抓住了项链溜了。相比之下，斯诺里·斯蒂德吕松认为洛基和海姆达尔为项链互相争吵（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. Schjødt 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)

          作为一位生育女神，芙蕾雅在古老的斯堪的纳维亚宗教中占据了核心地位，在生命的循环中扮演着重要角色。J.P. Schjødt解释了她的特殊地位：

          芙蕾雅是为数不多在正式宗教崇拜中发挥重要作用的女神之一（而许多被视为集体的女性神灵在神话和仪式中都发挥了作用）。她融合了世界各地生育女神的许多特征，其中也有与死亡的明确联系。(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 Frøihov (from Freyjuhof, 'Freyja's temple') and Frǫvi (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.

           旧北欧的资料中没有具体详述芙蕾雅崇拜本身的存在，但在瑞典和挪威有大量与她的名字有关的地名，如Frøihov（来自Freyjuhof，"芙蕾雅的神庙"）和Frǫvi（来自Freyjuvé，"芙蕾雅的神殿"），显示出当地人明显的崇拜，也许这指向公共崇拜，而不是人们所期望的爱情女神的家庭崇拜。很明显，在公元1000年左右，处于皈依基督教边缘的冰岛人仍然清楚地记得芙蕾雅。《冰岛人之书》指出，基督教的支持者Hjalti Skeggjason在冰岛议会上称芙蕾雅为母狗（在这里是指母狗，但也有可能是指他想称她为妓女），因而被以亵渎神明的罪名取缔。显然，她仍然很重要，以至于人们很难不受这种影响。

参考书目：

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.

Skáldskaparmál Accessed 16 Feb 2018.

Íslendingabók Accessed 19 Feb 2018.

Þrymskviða - The Lay of Thrym Accessed 16 Feb 2018.

原文作者：Emma Groeneveld

          Emma Groeneveld研究古代历史。在硕士期间，她专注于希罗多德以及古代宫廷的政治。

原文网址：https://www.worldhistory.org/Freyja/