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OF THE GODS. 133
and rough mountain winds. Her favorite abode is
Thrymheim*—the Home of Storms—the lofty,
storm-raging, snow-covered mountain regions where
only the hunter on his snow-shoes finds nourishment.
The compromise between them, to dwell nine nights
in Thrymheim and three nights in Noatun, refers to
the high northern latitudes where rough weather
and wintry storms prevail during the greater part
of the year.
Nj6r5's children, Frey and Freyja, are the Deities
of Fruitfulness ; the former with regard to the
Earth, the latter, to Mankind. Their names in the
Old-Norse, as well as in many of the ancient Germanic
languages, signify Lord or Master, and Lady
or Mistress ; but it is uncertain whether this be the
original meaning, or whether it was not rather
derived from the great veneration in which these
divinities were held at an early age among the Germanic
races. There is every reason to suppose a
direct afiinity between these two names and fror,
peaceable, gentle ; fro, peace, repose ; as well as
friofr, fruitful ; friof, frio, seed ; in the former case
they would denote the gentleness which was attri-
buted to these beings, in the latter they would des-
ignate them as the Bestowers of Fruitfulness.f
* frymr, uproar; Jirymia, to storm.
f The Gothic name corresponding to Freyr in the sense of Lord
and Master, Is Friuja ; Old High Germ. Fr& ; A.-S. Fr6a. Corre-
sponding to Freyja in the sense of Lady or Mistress is the Old
High Germ. Fromva, Frowa; A.-8. Freo; Ooth. Friujo; and mod-
ern Dan. Frue ; 8wed. Fru ; Germ. Fran. Comp. Defut. Mythol. pp.
190-200, 276-2'7'7.
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