Beli (jötunn): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:33, 17 January 2025

Template:Short description Beli (Old Norse: Template:IPA) is a jötunn in Norse mythology. He is said in eddic poetry to have been killed by the god Freyr.Template:Sfn Saturn's moon Beli is named after him.

Name

The Old Norse name Template:Lang has been translated as 'roarer'.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn It is related to the Old Norse weak verb Template:Wikt-lang ('to roar'; Template:Abbr Icelandic Template:Wikt-lang, Old Swedish Template:Lang 'to roar').Template:Sfn

Attestations

Eddas

In Gylfaginning (The Beguiling of Gylfi), the god Freyr is forced to fight weaponless against the giant Beli, since he has given his sword to his servant Skírnir before sending him to court Gerðr for his master. Freyr eventually manages to kill the giant with the antler of a hart (stag).Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

In Völuspá (Prophecy of the Völva), Freyr is portrayed as "Beli's slayer" (bani Belja, 53).Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Skaldic poetry

In Háleygjatal, written by 10th-century skald Eyvindr skáldaspillir, Freyr is called "Beli's enemy" (Belja dólgr), and Þjóðólfr of Hvinir uses the kenning "evil troop of Beli" (bölverðung Belja) in his Haustlöng.Template:Sfn

Theories

According to scholar John Lindow, the killing of Beli is part of an older myth that has been lost and "can be glimpsed only in passing".Template:Sfn

Elsewhere in Skírnismál (The Lay of Skírnir), Gerðr complains of the slaying of her brother by Frey, which some scholars have interpreted as evidence that she was the sister of Beli.Template:Sfn According to Orchard, "it is clear that Gerd’s reluctance to accept Frey’s favours is based in no small part on her grief for her unnamed brother, whom Frey might have killed. It is therefore possible that Beli is the brother of Gerd, although Frey’s traditional weaponlessness, most tellingly at Ragnarok against Surt, renders the identification uncertain."Template:Sfn

References

Bibliography

Template:Norse mythology