In Norse mythology, Brísingamen ( from Old Norse brisinga " flaming, glowing " and men " jewellery, ornament ") is the necklace of the goddess Freyja.

This myth is also recorded in an 18th-century Swedish folksong called Hammar-Hemtningen ( the taking of the hammer ), where Freyja is called Miss Frojenborg, " den väna solen " ( the fair sun ).

In the Icelandic books the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, Freyr is presented as one of the Vanir, the son of the sea god Njörðr, brother of the goddess Freyja.

In Norse mythology, Freyja ( Old Norse the " Lady ") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, gold, seiðr, war, and death.

Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, owns the boar Hildisvíni, possesses a cloak of falcon feathers, and, by her husband Óðr, is the mother of two daughters, Hnoss and Gersemi.

Freyja assists other deities by allowing them to use her feathered cloak, is invoked in matters of fertility and love, and is frequently sought after by powerful jötnar who wish to make her their wife.

Freyja is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources ; in the Prose Edda and Heimskringla, both written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century ; in several Sagas of Icelanders ; in the short story Sörla þáttr ; in the poetry of skalds ; and into the modern age in Scandinavian folklore, as well as the name for Friday in many Germanic languages.

The name Freyja is in fact a title meaning " lady ", from Proto-Germanic * frawjōn, cognate with West Frisian frou, Dutch vrouw, Low German Fro, Fru, German Frau.

The theonym Freyja was thus an epithet in origin, replacing a personal name that is now unattested.

The connection with and possible earlier identification of Freyja with Frigg in the Proto-Germanic period ( Frigg and Freyja origin hypothesis ) is a matter of scholarly debate.

Like the name of the group of gods to which Freyja belongs, the Vanir, the name Freyja is not attested outside of Scandinavia, as opposed to the name of the goddess Frigg, who is attested as a goddess common among all Germanic peoples, and whose name is reconstructed as Proto-Germanic * Frijjō.

Regarding a Freyja-Frigg origin hypothesis, scholar Stephan Grundy comments that " the problem of whether Frigg or Freyja may have been a single goddess originally is a difficult one, made more so by the scantiness of pre-Viking Age references to Germanic goddesses, and the diverse quality of the sources.

In the Poetic Edda, Freyja is mentioned or appears in the poems Völuspá Grímnismál, Lokasenna, Þrymskviða, Oddrúnargrátr, and Hyndluljóð.

In verse, after Loki has flyted with the goddess Frigg, Freyja interjects, telling Loki that he is insane for dredging up his terrible deeds, and that Frigg knows the fate of everyone, though she does not tell it.

Loki tells her to be silent, and says that he knows all about her — that Freyja is not lacking in blame, for each of the gods and elves in the hall have been her lover.

The stanza recounts that Freyja was once promised to an unnamed builder, later revealed to be a jötunn and so killed by Thor ( recounted in detail in Gylfaginning chapter 42 — see Prose Edda section below ).

Thor asks Freyja if she will lend him her cloak of feathers, so that he may try to find his hammer.

The two then go to the court of the goddess Freyja, and Thor asks her if he may borrow her feather cloak so that he may attempt to find Mjöllnir.

However, Freyja would travel " among strange peoples " while looking for Óðr, and so had many names.

In chapter 1 of the Heimskringla book Ynglinga saga, Snorri Sturluson refers to the two in an euhemerized account, stating that Freyja had a husband named Óðr, two daughters named Hnoss and Gersemi, and that they were so beautiful that their names were used for " our most precious possessions " ( both of their names literally mean " jewel ").

Scholar Stephan Grundy comments that " the problem of whether Frigg or Freyja may have been a single goddess originally is a difficult one, made more so by the scantiness of pre-Viking Age references to Germanic goddesses, and the diverse quality of the sources.

Reiya's true identity is the transmigrated Norse goddess Freyja — unlike Loki, however, Reiya's memory was wiped by Odin, so she has no memory of her past life.

There, Freyja forced Hyndla to tell Óttar about his ancestors, as well as to give him a memory potion so that he would remember all that he was told.

Freyja promised that so would be done and got the collar back.

Loki tells Freyja to be silent, calls her a malicious witch, and conjures a scenario where Freyja was once astride her brother when all of the gods, laughing, surprised the two.

The goddess Freyja declares that Loki must be mad, stating that Frigg knows all fate, yet she does not speak it.

In response, Loki calls Freyja a malicious witch, and claims that Freyja was once astride her brother Freyr, when all of the other laughing gods surprised her, Freyja then farted.

Freyja, indignant and angry, goes into a rage, causing all of the halls of the Æsir to tremble in her anger, and her necklace, the famed Brísingamen, falls from her.

Þrymr recounts his treasured animals and objects, stating that Freyja was all that he was missing in his wealth.

Prior to this, Hrungnir had been drunkenly boasting of his desire to, amongst other things, kill all of the gods except Freyja and Sif, whom he wanted to take home with him.

" High adds that Óðr would go off traveling for extended periods, all the while Freyja would stay behind weeping tears of red gold.

Frigg is the highest goddess of the Æsir, while Freyja is the highest goddess of the Vanir.

In the saga, Njörðr is described as having once wed his unnamed sister while he was still among the Vanir, and the couple produced their children Freyr and Freyja from this union, though this custom was forbidden among the Æsir.

A second clan of gods, the Vanir, is also mentioned in Norse mythology: the god Njord and his children, Freyr and Freyja, are the most prominent Vanir gods who join the Æsir as hostages after a war between Æsir and Vanir.

In the Prose Edda, Njord was introduced as " the third among the Æsir ", and among the Asynjur, Freyja is always listed second only to Frigg.

Freyja was priestess at the sacrifices, and " it was she who first taught the Æsir magic as was practiced among the Vanir.

In contrast, continuing the same journal thread, Leszek P. Słupecki argues that the Vanir remained distinct from the Æsir — except for Freyja and Freyr, whom he follows Snorri in seeing as having been born after Njörðr became a hostage among the Æsir, and thus regards as Æsic — and therefore that Ragnarök " no importance for their world ".

Scholars have variously proposed that Gullveig / Heiðr is the same figure as the goddess Freyja, that Gullveig's death may have been connected to corruption by way of gold among the Æsir, and / or that Gullveig's treatment by the Æsir may have led to the Æsir-Vanir War.

Loki, the god notorious for his duplicity, conspires with the other Æsir to recover Mjölnir by disguising Thor as Freyja and presenting him as the " goddess " to Þrymr.

Instead of Freyja, the Æsir dress Thor as the bride and Loki as the bridesmaid, and the two travel to Jötunheimr for the " wedding.

Þrymr says that he has hidden Mjöllnir eight leagues beneath the earth, from which it will be retrieved, if Freyja is brought to him as his wife.