Narfi

Narfi, also Nörfi (Old Norse Nǫrfi), Nari or Nörr (Nǫrr), is a jötunn in Norse mythology, and the father of Nótt, the personified night.

Narfi
Norse mythology character
In-universe information
Alias	Nörfi
Species	Jötunn
Gender	Male
Children	Nótt

This article is about the father of Nótt. For the son of Loki, see Narfi and Nari.

Name

The Old Norse name Nǫrr has been related to the Old Saxon narouua ('night'), a name which occurs in the verse narouua naht an skion of the fragmentary Genesis poem.[n 1] In adjectival form, the Old Norse nǫrr means 'narrow',[1] and the name Nar(f)i may have shared the same meaning.[2]

Thus, the jötunn's name, as first suggested by Adolf Noreen, may be a synonym for "night" or, perhaps more likely, an adjective related to Old English nearwe, "narrow", meaning "closed-in" and thus "oppressive".[3][4][5]

Snorri Sturluson cites Narfi as an alternative form of the name of the jötunn Nörfi, and the variants Nör and Nörvi also appear in Norse poetry.[2]

Attestations

According to the Gylfaginning section of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, Nótt is the daughter of the jötunn "Nörfi or Narfi".[6][7] However, in the Poetic Edda, Nótt's father is called Nörr (not to be confused with Nór), primarily for reasons of alliteration.[6] This name is only recorded in the dative form Nǫrvi (variant spelling Naurvi).[8]

The name of Nótt's father is recorded in several forms in Old Norse sources:[9]

• Naurr, Nörr (dative Naurvi, Nörvi): "Vafþrúðnismál" 25 "Nótt var Naurvi borin", "Alvíssmál" 29 "Nótt in Naurvi kennda".
• Narvi, Narfi: Gylfaginning 10, a poem of Egill Skallagrímsson "niðerfi Narfa".
• Norvi, Nörvi: Gylfaginning 10, "Forspjallsljóð" 7 "kund Nörva".
• Njörfi, Njörvi: Gylfaginning 10, "Sonatorrek" "Njörva nipt".
• Nori: Gylfaginning 10.
• Nari: "Höfuðlausn" 10.
• Neri: "Helgakviða Hundingsbana I", 4.

Theories

Various scholars have argued that Snorri based his genealogy of Nótt on classical models.[8][10] They relate Narfi to Erebus, which would make nipt Nera, used in "Helgakviða Hundingsbana I" for a Norn who comes in the night, an appellation derived from the Parcae, who were Erebus' daughters.[11]

Legacy

In "A Great Man's Return", a song on their album Valdr Galga, the Swedish viking metal band Thyrfing refer to "Norve's starfilled sky".[12][13]

In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Part One, The Fellowship of the Ring, the dwarf maker of the Doors of Durin signed them "Narvi"; in drafts, Tolkien spelt the name Narfi as in the Prose Edda.[14][15]

Notes

1. See Behaghel, Otto (1933). Heliand und Genesis p. 245. Not in Old English, an error made in de Vries 1962, pp. 414–415, reproduced in Simek 1996, p. 235.

References

1. de Vries 1962, pp. 414–415.
2. Orchard 1997, p. 117.
3. Sophus Bugge, The Home of the Eddic poems: With Especial Reference to the Helgi-Lays, tr. William Henry Schofield, Grimm library 11, London: Nutt, 1899, OCLC 2857921, p. 99.
4. Hugo Gering and Barend Symons, Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda, Germanistische Handbibliothek 7(3), Halle: Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, 1927, OCLC 277594015, p. 14.
5. Tette Hofstra, "A note on the 'Darkness of the night' motif in alliterative poetry, and the search for the poet of the Old Saxon Heliand", in Loyal Letters: Studies on Mediaeval Alliterative Poetry & Prose, ed. L. A. J. R. Houwen and A. A. MacDonald, Mediaevalia Groningana 15, Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1994, ISBN 9789069800752, p. 104.
6. "Nǫrr", Rudolf Simek, tr. Angela Hall, Dictionary of Northern Mythology, Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1993, repr. 2000, ISBN 9780859915137, p. 235.
7. "Nótt (Night)", John Lindow, Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs, Oxford/New York: Oxford University, 2001, ISBN 9780195153828, p. 246.
8. "Nótt", Simek, p. 238.
9. Viktor Rydberg, Teutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the Northland, tr. Rasmus B. Anderson, Volume 2, Norroena Anglo-Saxon Classics 4, London/New York: Norroena Society, 1907, OCLC 605631726, p. 611.
10. Bugge, pp. 100–01.
11. Bugge, p. 101.
12. "A Great Man's Return", Metal Kingdom.net.
13. "A Great Man's Return Lyrics", Lyrics Depot.com.
14. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, Boston: Mariner / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1994, repr. 2012, ISBN 9780547928210, p. 318.
15. Christopher Tolkien and J. R. R. Tolkien, The treason of Isengard: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part Two, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989, ISBN 9780395515624, p. 188.

Bibliography

• de Vries, Jan (1962). Altnordisches Etymologisches Worterbuch (1977 ed.). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-05436-3.
• Lindow, John (2001). Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-983969-8.
• Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-34520-5.
• Simek, Rudolf (1996). Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer. ISBN 978-0-85991-513-7.