Editing Sif (section)

== Theories ==

[[File:Sif by Dollman.jpg|thumb|upright|''Sif'' (1909) by [[John Charles Dollman]]]]

=== ''Beowulf'' ===

In [[Old English]], ''sib'' ("family") is cognate with Old Norse ''Sif'' and ''sif''. In the Old English poem ''[[Beowulf]]'' (lines 2016 to 2018), [[Hroðgar]]'s wife, [[Wealhþeow]], moves through the hall serving mead to the warriors and defusing conflict. Various scholars beginning with [[Magnus Olsen]] have pointed to the similarity with what Sif does at the feast described in ''[[Lokasenna]]''.<ref name="BAKER153">{{harvcoltxt|Baker|1994|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vvsnR9yba7gC&dq=Sif+Beowulf&pg=PA153 153, n. 72]}}</ref><ref name="ENRIGHT15">{{harvcoltxt|Enright|1996|p=15}}</ref> [[Richard S. North|Richard North]] further notes that unusually, ''sib'' is personified here and in lines 2599 to 2661, and suggests they may be references to Sif in Danish religion: "Both instances may indicate that the poet of ''Beowulf'' was in a position to imagine a sixth-century Scandinavia on the basis of his knowledge of contemporary Danish legends."<ref name="NORTH235-236">North (1998:235–236, n. 126).</ref>

=== Hair as wheat and potential cognates ===

19th-century scholar [[Jacob Grimm]] 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]] and [[Freyja]]:
<blockquote>
The [[Gothic language|Goth.]] {{lang|got-Latn|sibja}}, [[Old High German|OHG]]. {{lang|goh|sippia}}, {{lang|goh|sippa}}, [[Old English|AS]]. {{lang|ang|sib}} [[genitive case|gen]]. {{lang|ang|sibbe}}, denote peace, friendship, kindred; from these I infer a divinity ''Sibja'', ''Sippia'', ''Sib'', corresponding to [[Old Norse|ON]]. {{lang|non|Sif}} gen. {{lang|non|Sifjar}}, the wife of [[Thor|Thôrr]], for the ON. too has a pl. {{lang|non|sifjar}} meaning cognatio, sifi amicus (OHG. {{lang|goh|sippio}}, {{lang|goh|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 [[Odin|Oðinn]] and Thôrr agree, their wives Frigg and Sif have also a common signification.<ref name=GRIMM309>Grimm (1882:309).</ref>
</blockquote>
Grimm connects Eddic references to Sif's golden hair (gold is referred to as {{lang|non|Sifjar haddr}}; Sif's hair) with the herb name {{lang|non|haddr Sifjar}} (''[[Polytrichum aureum]]''){{verify source|date=June 2018}}<!-- probably Polytrichum commune ("golden maidenhair moss" etc), but "P. aureum" is not a valid scientific name as per http://www.theplantlist.org/1.1/browse/B/Polytrichaceae/Polytrichum/ -->. 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 (Roman mythology)|Ceres]]", and Grimm says that "with it agrees the fact that [[Old Church Slavonic|O. Slav]]. {{lang|cu-Latn|[[Živa (goddess)|Siva]]}} is a gloss on {{lang|la|Ceres dea frumenti}}" but cites [[etymology|etymological]] 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]], whose poignant grief for her daughter threatens to bring famine on mankind (Hymn to Cer. 305–306), nor anything like it, recorded."<ref name=GRIMM309-310>Grimm (1888:309–310).</ref>

Citing the etymology of her name, 19th century scholar [[Guðbrandur Vigfússon]] theorizes that Sif "betokens mother earth with her golden sheaves of grain; she was the goddess of the sanctity of the family and wedlock".<ref name=VIGFUSSON526/>

Scholar [[Rudolf Simek]] theorizes that Sif likely originated as a complement to Thor through his fertility associations, and that the name ''Sif'' (Simek provides the etymology "relation by marriage") may have originally simply meant "the wife (of Thor)". Simek rejects notions of a "vegetation cult" venerating Sif, says that Sif does not appear to have a function, dismisses theories proposing connections between Sif's hair and grain as "over-zealous interpretation[s]", and theorizes that Snorri invented the story of Sif's shorn locks in attempt to explain the attributes of various gods.<ref name=SIMEK283>Simek (2007:283).</ref>

Scholar [[Hilda Ellis Davidson|H. R. Ellis Davidson]] states that Sif may have been an ancient fertility goddess, agreeing with a link between her lustrous hair and fields of [[wheat|golden wheat]].<ref name=DAVIDSON84>{{harvcoltxt|Davidson|1965|p=84}}</ref> Regarding Sif, Thor, and fertility, Davidson says:

{{blockquote|The cult of Thor was linked up with men's habitation and possessions, and with well-being of the family and community. This included the fruitfulness of the fields, and Thor, although pictured primarily as a [[storm god]] in the myths, was also concerned with the fertility and preservation of the seasonal round. In our own times, little stone axes from the distant past have been used as fertility symbols and placed by the farmer in the holes made by the drill to receive the first seed of spring. Thor's marriage with Sif of the golden hair, about which we hear little in the myths, seems to be a memory of the ancient symbol of [[Hieros gamos|divine marriage]] between [[sky deity|sky god]] and [[earth goddess]], when he comes to earth in the thunderstorm and the storm brings the rain which makes the fields fertile. In this way Thor, as well as Odin, may be seen to continue the cult of the sky god which was known in the [[Nordic Bronze Age|Bronze Age]].<ref name="DAVIDSON-II-72">{{harvcoltxt|Davidson|1975|p=72}}</ref>}}

Scholar 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.<ref name=LINDOW266>Lindow (2001:266).</ref>

=== Rowan ===

Sif has been linked with [[Ravdna]], the consort of the [[Sami shamanism|Sami]] thunder god [[Horagalles]]. Red berries of [[rowan]] 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."<ref name=TURVILLE-PETRE98>{{cite book |author-link=Gabriel Turville-Petre |author=Turville-Petre, E. O. G. |year=1964 |title=Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia |page=98 |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson}}</ref>

=== ''Lokasenna'' accusations ===
[[File:Loki and Sif by A Chase.jpg|thumb|Sif sleeps while Loki lurks behind in an illustration (1894) by A. Chase]]

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 ''Hárbarðsljóð'', 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."<ref name=LARRINGTON276>Larrington (1999:276).</ref>

=== Identity of Sif's first husband ===
Several identities have been suggested for Sif's first husband, the father of Ullr, but since neither ''Edda'' names this husband, most scholars continue to consider him unidentified. N. A. Nielsen suggests that she was married to [[Njord]] before the [[Æsir–Vanir War]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nielsen |first1=Niels Åge |title=Freyr, Ullr and the Sparlösa Stone |journal=Mediaeval Scandinavia |date=1969 |volume=2 |pages=102–128}}</ref> an interpretation which depends on considering Ullr identical with [[Freyr]], which Rudolf Simek characterizes as "very precarious."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simek |first1=Rudolf |title=Dictionary of Northern Mythology |date=1984 |publisher=D. S. Brewer |isbn=978-0-85991-513-7 |page=283}}</ref>