In Norse mythology

Norse mythology

Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

, Svafrþorinn is the father of Menglöð by an unnamed mother, and is attested solely in a stanza of Fjölsvinnsmál

Fjölsvinnsmál

Fjölsvinnsmál or The Sayings of Fjölsvinnr is the second of two Old Norse poems commonly published under the title Svipdagsmál "The Lay of Svipdagr". These poems are found together in several 17th century paper manuscripts with Fjölsvinnsmál...

. As this is the only mention of the figure, further information has been theorized from the potential etymologies

Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

 of the name Svafrþorinn and his relation to Menglöð.

Attestation

Svafrþorinn is attested in a stanza of the poem Fjölsvinnsmál, where Fjölsviðr tells Svipdagr that:

Benjamin Thorpe Benjamin Thorpe Benjamin Thorpe was an English scholar of Anglo-Saxon.-Biography:After studying for four years at Copenhagen University, under the Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask, he returned to England in 1830, and in 1832 published an English version of Caedmon's metrical paraphrase of portions of the...  translation: Fiolsvith. 9. Menglod is her name, her mother her begat with Svaf, Thorin's son. She here holds sway, and has power over all of these lands and costly halls.

Henry Adams Bellows Henry Adams Bellows Henry Adams Bellows was a lawyer, state legislator, and jurist born in Rockingham, Vermont. He was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives from Littleton, New Hampshire in 1839. He was subsequently elected again to the House from Concord, New Hampshire in 1856–1857, and served as...  translation: 224. "Mengloth is she, her mother bore her To the son of Svafrthorin; She is it that holds and has for her own The rule of the hall so rich."

Theories

Menglöð has often been theorized as the goddess Freyja, and according to this theory, Svafrþorinn would therefore be the god Njörðr. The theory is complicated the etymology of the name Svafrþorinn (þorinn meaning "brave" and svafr means "gossip" (or possibly connects to sofa "sleep"), which Rudolf Simek

Rudolf Simek

Rudolf Simek is an Austrian Germanist and Philologian.Simek studied German literature, philosophy and Catholic theology in the University of Vienna, before becoming a librarian and a docent at the institution. He taught among others in the universities of Edinburgh, Tromsø and Sydney...

 says makes little sense when attempting to connect it to Njörðr. Simek says that "a more daring, but more meaningful" theory is that the poet took the notion of the Svefnþorn (Old Norse "sleeping thorn"), which appears as an element of some Legendary saga

Legendary saga

A Legendary saga or Fornaldarsaga is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the colonization of Iceland. There are some exceptions, such as Yngvars saga víðförla, which takes place in the 11th century...

s, and the wall of fire that appears later in Fjölsvinnsmál from myths relating to Brynhildr

Brynhildr

Brynhildr is a shieldmaiden and a valkyrie in Norse mythology, where she appears as a main character in the Völsunga saga and some Eddic poems treating the same events. Under the name Brünnhilde she appears in the Nibelungenlied and therefore also in Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des...

 found in Sigrdrífumál

Sigrdrífumál

Sigrdrífumál is the conventional title given to a section of the Poetic Edda text in Codex Regius....

, the Prose Edda

Prose Edda

The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Nordic mythology...

, and Völsunga saga

Volsunga saga

The Völsungasaga is a legendary saga, a late 13th century Icelandic prose rendition of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan . It is largely based on epic poetry...

, yet personifying the sleeping thorn due to the context.