What is the origin of the name Gefjon in Old Norse texts?
Modern scholarship links the element Gef- to the name Gefn, one of many titles for the goddess Freyja. This connection suggests the meaning she who gives prosperity or happiness.
Questions about Gefjon
Short answers, pulled from the story.
How did Gefjon create the island of Zealand according to the Prose Edda?
King Gylfi gave a vagrant woman named Gefjun plough-land equal to what four oxen could plow in one day and night. These oxen were actually her sons born to a jötunn whose name remains unprovided in the text. Her plough cut so hard it uprooted land which the oxen drew out into the sea to the west. She placed this land there and bestowed upon it the name Zealand where the land had been taken from a lake now stands known as Lake Mälaren in Sweden.
Where does Gefjon appear in the poem Lokasenna within the Poetic Edda?
Gefjon appears solely in three stanzas of the poem Lokasenna within the Poetic Edda compiled during the 13th century. In these lines she questions why Loki brings negativity into the hall among assembled gods. Odin later defends her by stating she knows the destinies of mankind just as thoroughly as he does.
What is the relationship between Gefjon and the word geofon in Beowulf?
Mentions of Gefjon may appear in Beowulf across five specific passages located at lines 49, 362, 515, 1394, and 1690. The word geofon functions as a poetic epithet meaning ocean or sea parallelled by the word geþen in the Old-Saxon Heliand poem. Richard North theorizes that Old English geofon and Old Norse Gefjun along with Freyja's name Gefn all descend from common origin gabia.
How are Gefjon Frigg and Freyja connected according to scholars?
Some scholars have proposed connection between Gefjun and goddesses Frigg and Freyja due to perceived similarities. She appears in Scandinavian myths either as Frigg wife of Odin or Freyja sister of fertility god Freyr. Even if Gefjon should not be identified with Freyja she could still considered one of fertility and protective goddesses because meaning of name gives prosperity.