Symbol reference · Galdrastafir
Freyja
/ˈfreɪə/Old Norse Freyja, feminine noun; 'lady', the feminine of Freyr, 'lord'
The short answer
The foremost goddess of the Vanir, daughter of Njörðr and sister of Freyr. Snorri makes her the goddess to call on in matters of love and the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, and says that of those who fall in battle, half are hers and half are Odin's. Her home is Fólkvangr.
Freyja belongs to the Vanir, the second family of Norse gods. Her father is Njörðr and her brother is Freyr, and Snorri calls her the most renowned of the goddesses. Ynglinga saga tells how the Æsir and Vanir ended their war by exchanging hostages, Njörðr and Freyr among them. The saga never says how Freyja came to the Æsir, but it places her among them as a priestess of sacrifice and the first to teach them seiðr, a kind of magic that was customary among the Vanir.
Her hall is Sessrúmnir, in the dwelling called Fólkvangr. Wherever she rides to battle, Snorri writes, half of the slain are hers and half are Odin's, and the Eddic poem Grímnismál says the same: every day she chooses half the fallen. She travels in a chariot drawn by two cats, and in Hyndluljóð she rides a boar, Hildisvíni. She is married to Óðr, who goes away on long journeys; she weeps for him, and her tears are red gold. Their daughter is Hnoss, whose name means 'treasure'. Searching for Óðr among foreign peoples, Snorri says, she took many names: Mardöll, Hörn, Gefn and Sýr. She is also called Vanadís, 'lady of the Vanir'.
She owns the necklace Brísingamen. In Þrymskviða, when the giant Þrymr demands her as his bride in return for Thor's stolen hammer, she snorts with rage, the hall of the gods shakes, and the necklace bursts; in the end Thor goes to the giant dressed as Freyja. Twice she lends Loki her feather cloak so that he can fly: in Þrymskviða to find the hammer, and in Snorri's tale of the rescue of Iðunn. In Lokasenna Loki claims that every god and elf in the hall has been her lover, and that the gods once caught her with her own brother. He slanders each of the goddesses at the feast in much the same way.
Her name is also an ordinary word: freyja means 'lady', as freyr means 'lord'. Snorri puts it the other way round: from her name, he writes, noble women are called fróvur, 'ladies'. Place names in Norway, Sweden and Denmark that seem to contain her name, among them Swedish Härnevi, probably 'Hörn's shrine', suggest that she had a real cult, though some are hard to tell apart from names for Freyr.
Her hall is Sessrúmnir, in the dwelling called Fólkvangr. Wherever she rides to battle, Snorri writes, half of the slain are hers and half are Odin's, and the Eddic poem Grímnismál says the same: every day she chooses half the fallen. She travels in a chariot drawn by two cats, and in Hyndluljóð she rides a boar, Hildisvíni. She is married to Óðr, who goes away on long journeys; she weeps for him, and her tears are red gold. Their daughter is Hnoss, whose name means 'treasure'. Searching for Óðr among foreign peoples, Snorri says, she took many names: Mardöll, Hörn, Gefn and Sýr. She is also called Vanadís, 'lady of the Vanir'.
She owns the necklace Brísingamen. In Þrymskviða, when the giant Þrymr demands her as his bride in return for Thor's stolen hammer, she snorts with rage, the hall of the gods shakes, and the necklace bursts; in the end Thor goes to the giant dressed as Freyja. Twice she lends Loki her feather cloak so that he can fly: in Þrymskviða to find the hammer, and in Snorri's tale of the rescue of Iðunn. In Lokasenna Loki claims that every god and elf in the hall has been her lover, and that the gods once caught her with her own brother. He slanders each of the goddesses at the feast in much the same way.
Her name is also an ordinary word: freyja means 'lady', as freyr means 'lord'. Snorri puts it the other way round: from her name, he writes, noble women are called fróvur, 'ladies'. Place names in Norway, Sweden and Denmark that seem to contain her name, among them Swedish Härnevi, probably 'Hörn's shrine', suggest that she had a real cult, though some are hard to tell apart from names for Freyr.
Primary source Verbatim
En Freyja er ágætust af ásynjum. Hon á þann bæ á himni, er Fólkvangr heitir. Ok hvar sem hon ríðr til vígs, þá á hon hálfan val, en hálfan Óðinn [...] En er hon ferr, þá ekr hon köttum tveim ok sitr í reið.
And Freyja is the most renowned of the goddesses. She has the dwelling in heaven that is called Fólkvangr, and wherever she rides to battle, half of the slain are hers and half are Odin's [...] And when she travels, she drives two cats and sits in a chariot.
GYLFAGINNING, ch. 24 · text ed. Guðni Jónsson · translation editorial ↗
Etymology
Freyja
Old Norse
'lady', from Proto-Germanic *frawjōn; the masculine *frawjaz, 'lord', gives her brother's name Freyr, and the same root survives in German Frau
Fólkvangr
Old Norse
'field of the host' or 'field of the people', from fólk, 'people, army', and vangr, 'field'
Freyja and Freyr are titles, 'lady' and 'lord'. Whether they ever had other personal names is unknown.
Common misconceptions
Common claim
What the record says
“Friday is named after Freyja.”
Old English Frīgedæg is named after Frīg, the goddess who corresponds to Norse Frigg, Odin's wife. Whether Frigg and Freyja were once the same goddess is debated, but the weekday name points to Frigg.
“Freyja and Frigg are the same goddess.”
Every Norse source treats them as two different goddesses: Frigg is Odin's wife and Baldr's mother, Freyja is Njörðr's daughter and married to Óðr. Some scholars think both grew from a single older goddess. That is a hypothesis, not what the sources say.
“Freyja is the leader of the valkyries.”
No medieval source calls her that. The valkyries belong to Odin: Snorri says Odin sends them to every battle. Freyja's link to the dead is her own. Grímnismál says she 'chooses' half the fallen, using kjósa, the same verb that gives the valkyries their name, and Snorri calls her 'owner of the slain'. But no text puts her at the valkyries' head.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Freyja in Norse mythology?
The foremost goddess of the Vanir, daughter of Njord and sister of Freyr. Snorri calls her the most renowned of the goddesses, the one to call on in matters of love, and the owner of the necklace Brisingamen. Half of the battle-slain are hers, in her home Folkvangr, and Odin takes the other half.
Why does Freyja ride a chariot pulled by cats?
Snorri says only that when she travels she drives two cats and sits in a chariot. No source explains why, or names the cats. In Hyndluljod she rides a boar called Hildisvini instead.
Is Friday named after Freyja?
Most likely not. The English weekday comes from Old English Frigedaeg, the day of Frig, who corresponds to Norse Frigg, Odin's wife. Whether Frigg and Freyja were once one goddess is debated, but the name points to Frigg.
What is Brisingamen?
Freyja's necklace. Snorri names it as hers, and in Thrymskvida it bursts when she refuses, in fury, to be handed to the giant Thrymr in exchange for Thor's stolen hammer. A much later tale, Sorla thattr, tells how she bought a gold necklace from four dwarves by spending a night with each of them. That text never calls it Brisingamen, but it is usually taken to be the same necklace.
What is seidr and why is it linked to Freyja?
Seidr is a form of Norse magic. Ynglinga saga says Freyja was a priestess of sacrifice and the first to teach seidr to the Aesir, as it was practised among the Vanir. More about the goddess is in our Freyja article.
Who was Freyja's husband?
A figure called Od, who went away on long journeys. Freyja wept for him, and her tears were red gold. Their daughter is Hnoss, whose name means treasure. Almost nothing else is known about Od.
Bibliography
- 1. Snorri Sturluson, Edda (Gylfaginning 24 and 35; Skáldskaparmál), c. 1220. Trans. Anthony Faulkes, Everyman, 1987. heimskringla.no ↗
- 2. Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla: Ynglinga saga, ch. 4 (Freyja teaches the Æsir seiðr), c. 1230. heimskringla.no ↗
- 3. The Poetic Edda (Þrymskviða, Grímnismál, Lokasenna), Codex Regius, GKS 2365 4to, c. 1270; Hyndluljóð in Flateyjarbók. Trans. Carolyne Larrington, rev. ed., Oxford World's Classics, 2014. handrit.is ↗
- 4. Rudolf Simek, Dictionary of Northern Mythology, trans. Angela Hall, D. S. Brewer, 1993, s.v. 'Freyja'.
Cite this entry
VikingsBrand. “Freyja.” VikingsBrand Library, reviewed 24 September 2026, vikingsbrand.co/pages/library/freyja.