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{{Short description|Dwelling of the goddess Frigg in Norse mythology}}
[[File:Frigg by Doepler.jpg|thumb|"Frigg and Her Servants" (1882) by [[Carl Emil Doepler]].]]
In [[Norse mythology]], '''Fensalir''' ([[Old Norse]] "[[Fen]] Halls"<ref name=ORCHARD43>Orchard (1997:43).</ref>) is a location where the goddess [[Frigg]] dwells. Fensalir is attested in the ''[[Poetic Edda]]'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''[[Prose Edda]]'', written in the 13th century by [[Snorri Sturluson]]. Scholars have proposed theories about the implications of the location, including that the location may have some connection to [[Wetlands and islands in Germanic paganism|religious practices involving springs, bogs, or swamps]] in [[Norse paganism]], and that it may be connected to the goddess [[Sága and Sökkvabekkr|Sága]]'s watery location [[Sága and Sökkvabekkr|Sökkvabekkr]].

==Attestations==
[[File:Northern Jutlandic Bog IV.JPG|thumb|A bog in northern [[Jutland]], [[Denmark]].]]
In the ''Poetic Edda'' poem ''[[Völuspá]]'', Frigg is described as weeping over her son [[Baldr]]'s death in Fensalir. This stanza is absent in the ''[[Hauksbók]]'' manuscript of the poem.<ref name=LINDOW114>Lindow (2001:114).</ref> The portion of the stanza mentioning Fensalir foretells that vengeance will come for the death of Baldr and that:
<blockquote>
:while Frigg wept
:in Fen Halls
:for [[Valhalla|Valhǫll's]] woe.<ref name=DRONKE16>Dronke (1997:16).</ref>
</blockquote>
In chapter 35 of the ''Prose Edda'' book ''[[Gylfaginning]]'', [[High, Just-As-High, and Third|High]] tells [[Gylfi|Gangleri]] (described as king [[Gylfi]] in disguise) that Frigg is the highest among the [[Áss|ásynjur]] or Aesir, and that "she has a dwelling called Fensalir and it is very splendid."<ref name=FAULKES29>Faulkes (1995:29).</ref> In chapter 49, High says that when [[Loki]] witnessed that Baldr had gained invincibility due to the oath all things took not to harm him, Loki went to Fensalir appearing as a woman. In his disguise, Loki there asked Frigg why Baldr was not harmed by the objects. Frigg revealed that it is due to the oath they have taken. The disguised Loki asks if nothing can hurt Baldr, and Frigg reveals that only [[mistletoe]] can, for it seemed to her too young to demand an oath from. After this, Loki immediately disappears, and subsequently engineers the death of Baldr with a mistletoe projectile.<ref name=FAULKES48>Faulkes (1995:48).</ref>

In the ''Prose Edda'' book ''[[Skáldskaparmál]]'', Fensalir receives a third and final mention. In chapter 19, ways to refer to Frigg are provided, including that Frigg may be referred to as "queen of [[Áss|Æsir]] and Asyniur, of [[Fulla]] and [[falcon]] form and Fensalir."<ref name=FAULKES86>Faulkes (1995:86).</ref>

==Theories==
In 1882, the German scholar Anton Edzardi proposed that Fensalir may point to religious practices involving [[Spring (hydrosphere)|springs]].<ref name=EDZARDI-LINDOW>Edzardi (1882:330–339) referenced in Lindow (2001:115).</ref> [[John Lindow]] comments that "I have no idea why Frigg should live in a [[bog]]gy place, despite the old argument that there is an association with a cult situated at a spring."<ref name=LINDOW114/> [[Rudolf Simek]] comments that Edzardi's theory "must remain unanswered."<ref name=SIMEK81>Simek (2007:81).</ref> In addition, Edzardi theorized a connection between Fensalir and a belief in folklore that particular swamps act as an entrance to the realm of [[Holda]], whom he connects with Frigg.<ref name=GILDERSLEEVE105>Gildersleeve (1883:105).</ref>

In a 19th-century work, [[Paul Henri Mallet]] and Walter Scott write that the "fen" element of ''Fensalir'' "may also be made to sig[nify] the watery deep, or the [[sea]]."<ref name=MALLETSCOTT550>Mallet, Scott (1847:550).</ref> This [[etymology]] has resulted in theories that the name ''Fensalir'' may mean "Sea Halls" rather than "Fen Halls." In his 19th-century translation of the ''Poetic Edda'', [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] comments that "some scholars have regarded [Frigg] as a solar myth, calling her the [[solar deity|sun-goddess]], and pointing out that her home in ''Fensalir'' ("the sea-halls") symbolizes the daily setting of the sun beneath the ocean horizon."<ref name=BELLOWS15>Bellows (2004:15).</ref>

[[John Lindow]] says that due to similarity between the goddess [[Sága and Sökkvabekkr|Sága]]'s [[Sága and Sökkvabekkr|Sökkvabekkr]] and Fensalir, the open drinking between Sága and Odin, and the potential etymological basis for Sága being a seeress "have led most scholars to understand Sága as another name for Frigg."<ref name=LINDOW265>Lindow (2001:265).</ref>  [[Stephan Grundy]] states that ''Sága'' and ''Sökkvabekkr'' may be by-forms of ''Frigg'' and ''Fensalir'' used for the purpose of composing [[alliterative verse]].<ref name=GRUNDY62>Grundy (1999:62).</ref>

Britt-Mari Näsström theorizes that "Frigg's role as a fertility goddess is revealed in the name of her abode, Fensalir [...]", that Frigg is the same as Sága, and that both the names ''Fensalir'' and ''Sökkvabekkr'' "imply a goddes {{sic}} living in the water and recall the fertility goddess [[Nerthus]]."<ref name="NÄSSTRÖM88">Näsström (1996:88).</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Bellows, Henry Adams]] (Trans.) (2004). ''The Poetic Edda: The Mythological Poems''. [[Courier Dover Publications]]. {{ISBN|0-486-43710-8}}
*{{in lang|de}} Edzardi, Anton (1882). "Fensalir und Vegtamskvida 12, 5ff." in ''Germania'' 27, edited by Franz Pfeiffer, pp.&nbsp;330–339. Wien: Verlag von Carl Gerold's Sohn.
* Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995). ''Edda''. [[Everyman's Library|Everyman]]. {{ISBN|0-460-87616-3}}
* [[Stephan Grundy|Grundy, Stephan]] (1999). "Freyja and Frigg" as collected in Billington, Sandra and Green, Miranda. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=IoW9yhkrFJoC&q=The+Concept+of+the+Goddess The Concept of the Goddess]''. [[Routledge]]. {{ISBN|0-415-19789-9}}
* [[Ursula Dronke|Dronke, Ursula]] (Trans.) (1997). ''The Poetic Edda: Volume II: Mythological Poems''. [[Oxford University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-19-811181-9}}
* [[John Lindow|Lindow, John]] (2001). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs]''. [[Oxford University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-19-515382-0}}
* [[Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve|Gildersleeve, L. Basil]] (ed.) (1883). ''American Journal of Philology''. Vol. IV. New York and London: Macmillan & Co.
* [[Paul Henri Mallet|Mallet, Paul Henri]]. Scott, Walter (1847) translated by [[Thomas Percy (Bishop of Dromore)|Thomas Percy]]. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q_yOJHxjC5oC Northern Antiquities: Or, An Historical Account of the Manners, Customs, Religion and Laws, Maritime Expeditions and Discoveries, Language and Literature of the Ancient Scandinavians]''. [[Henry George Bohn|H. G. Bohn]].
* Näsström, Britt-Mari (1996). "Freyja and Frigg - two aspects of the Great Goddess" as presented in ''Shamanism and Northern Ecology: Papers presented at the Regional Conference on Circumpolar and Northern Religion, Helsinki, May 1990''. [[Walter de Gruyter]]. {{ISBN|3-11-014186-8}}
* Orchard, Andy (1997). ''Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend''. [[Orion Publishing Group|Cassell]]. {{ISBN|0-304-34520-2}}
* [[Rudolf Simek|Simek, Rudolf]] (2007) translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. [[Boydell & Brewer|D.S. Brewer]] {{ISBN|0-85991-513-1}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*{{Commonscatinline|Fensalir}}

{{Norse mythology}}

{{good article}}

[[Category:Frigg]]
[[Category:Wetlands in folklore]]
[[Category:Places in Norse mythology]]