Narfi

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Giant, father of Nótt in Norse mythology

title: "Narfi" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["jötnar"] description: "Giant, father of Nótt in Norse mythology" topic_path: "general/jotnar" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narfi" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Giant, father of Nótt in Norse mythology ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox character"]

FieldValue
nameNarfi
seriesNorse mythology
first_major
first_minor
last_minor
creator
based_on
adapted_by
nickname
aliasNörfi
speciesJötunn
genderMale
occupation
affiliation
spouse
significant_other
childrenNótt
origin
::

::callout[type=note] the father of Nótt ::

| name = Narfi | series = Norse mythology | image = | alt = | caption = | first_major = | first_minor = | first_date = | last_major = | last_minor = | last_date = | creator = | based_on = | adapted_by = | designer = | portrayer = | voice = | motion_actor = | full_name = | nickname = | alias = Nörfi | species = Jötunn | gender = Male | title = | occupation = | affiliation = | fighting_style = | weapon = | family = | spouse = | significant_other = | children = Nótt | relatives = | religion = | origin = | nationality =

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/The_Punishment_Of_Loki.jpg" caption="The Punishment of Loki, a painting by James Doyle Penrose, R.H.A. (1862-1932)" alt="Loki is tied to a cliff, and cowers before a snake, coiled around a nearby tree and menacing at him from inches away."] ::

Narfi (Old Norse: ), also Nörfi (O.N.: Nǫrfi ), Nari or Nörr (O.N.: Nǫrr ), is a jötunn in Norse mythology, and the father of Nótt, the personified night.

Name

The Old Norse name Nǫrr has been related to the Old Saxon narouua ('night'), a name which occurs in the verse narouua naht an skion of the fragmentary Genesis poem.See Behaghel, Otto (1933). Heliand und Genesis p. 245. Not in Old English, an error made in , reproduced in . In adjectival form, the Old Norse nǫrr means 'narrow',** and the name Nar(f)i may have shared the same meaning.

Thus, the jötunn's name, as first suggested by Adolf Noreen, may be a synonym for "night" or, perhaps more likely, an adjective related to Old English nearwe, "narrow", meaning "closed-in" and thus "oppressive".

Snorri Sturluson cites Narfi as an alternative form of the name of the jötunn Nörfi, and the variants Nör and Nörvi also appear in Norse poetry.

Attestations

According to the Gylfaginning section of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, Nótt is the daughter of the jötunn "Nörfi or Narfi". However, in the Poetic Edda, Nótt's father is called Nörr (not to be confused with Nór), primarily for reasons of alliteration.

The name of Nótt's father is recorded in several forms in Old Norse sources:

Theories

Various scholars have argued that Snorri based his genealogy of Nótt on classical models. They relate Narfi to Erebus, which would make nipt Nera, used in "Helgakviða Hundingsbana I" for a Norn who comes in the night, an appellation derived from the Parcae, who were Erebus' daughters.

Legacy

In "A Great Man's Return", a song on their album Valdr Galga, the Swedish Viking metal band Thyrfing refer to "Norve's starfilled sky".

In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Part One, The Fellowship of the Ring, the dwarf maker of the Doors of Durin signed them "Narvi"; in drafts, Tolkien spelt the name Narfi as in the Prose Edda.

In a season 13 episode of Supernatural, Narfi captures and sells the archangel Gabriel to Asmodeus.

Notes

References

Bibliography

References

  1. [[Sophus Bugge]], ''The Home of the Eddic poems: With Especial Reference to the Helgi-Lays'', tr. William Henry Schofield, Grimm library 11, London: Nutt, 1899, {{OCLC
  2. [[Hugo Gering]] and Barend Symons, ''Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda'', Germanistische Handbibliothek 7(3), Halle: Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, 1927, {{OCLC
  3. Tette Hofstra, "A note on the 'Darkness of the night' motif in alliterative poetry, and the search for the poet of the Old Saxon Heliand", in ''Loyal Letters: Studies on Mediaeval Alliterative Poetry & Prose'', ed. L. A. J. R. Houwen and A. A. MacDonald, Mediaevalia Groningana 15, Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1994, {{ISBN
  4. "Nǫrr", [[Rudolf Simek]], tr. Angela Hall, ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology'', Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1993, repr. 2000, {{ISBN. 9780859915137, p. 235.
  5. "Nótt (Night)", [[John Lindow]], ''Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs'', Oxford/New York: Oxford University, 2001, {{ISBN. 9780195153828, p. 246.
  6. This name is only recorded in the dative form ''Nǫrvi'' (variant spelling ''Naurvi'')."Nótt", Simek, p. 238.
  7. [[Viktor Rydberg]], ''Teutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the Northland'', tr. [[Rasmus B. Anderson]], Volume 2, Norroena Anglo-Saxon Classics 4, London/New York: [[Norroena Society]], 1907, {{OCLC
  8. Bugge, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JdQyNzo-9PcC&q=the+pedigree+of+Night+in+Snorri%27s+Edda+is+based+on+the+Greek+and+Roman+cosmogonic+genealogies&pg=PA99 pp. 100–01].
  9. Bugge, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JdQyNzo-9PcC&q=modification+of+Erebus&pg=PA99 p. 101].
  10. [http://www.metalkingdom.net/lyrics_song/43288_thyrfing_a_great_mans_return "A Great Man's Return"], Metal Kingdom.net.
  11. [http://www.lyricsdepot.com/thyrfing/a-great-mans-return.html "A Great Man's Return Lyrics"], Lyrics Depot.com.
  12. [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', Boston: Mariner / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1994, repr. 2012, {{ISBN
  13. [[Christopher Tolkien]] and J. R. R. Tolkien, ''The treason of Isengard: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part Two'', Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989, {{ISBN

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