[6] Lofn: This Ásynja is not mentioned in eddic poetry, but in SnE (Gylf, SnE 2005, 29) she is characterised as a goddess whom one could invoke to get permission for otherwise forbidden or illicit unions between men and women. According to Snorri (loc. cit.), that is why both the noun lof n. ‘permission’ and the weak verb lofa ‘praise’ (lofat p. p.) are derived from her name. The name Lofn is in fact related to these words, but its direct cognates are Goth. lubains ‘hope’ and OE lufen ‘love, joy’.
References
- Bibliography
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=113> (accessed 24 April 2024)