Gefjon
In Norse mythology, Gefjon is a goddess associated with ploughing, the Danish island of Zealand, the legendary Swedish king Gylfi, the legendary Danish king Skjöldr, foreknowledge, her oxen children, and virginity. The Prose Edda describes that not only is Gefjon a virgin herself, but that all who die a virgin become her attendants. Heimskringla records that Gefjon married the legendary Danish king Skjöldr and that the two dwelled in Lejre, Denmark.
↻ synthesized from 3 sources
When
- First attested
- 0 CE
- Attested period
- 1200 – 2020
- Historical notes
- Attested in 13th-century Eddas and skaldic verse.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- Freyja, Gefn, Njǫr-un, Iðunn, Holde, Berchte, Perchte, Óðr, Hnoss, Gersemi, Hildisvíni, Frigg, Gullveig, Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr, Irpa, Menglöð, Njörðr, Freyr, Lady of the Lake, Holle, Skaði, Nerthus
- consort of
- Skjöldr
- enemy of
- Loki
- allied with
- Odin
Mentioned by
Sources
Source passages
“Regarding the plough and Gefjon, Davidson concludes that "the idea behind the taking of the plough round the countryside seems to be that it brought good fortune and prosperity, gifts of a benevolent goddess. Gefjon and her plough thus fit into a large framework of the cult of a goddess associated with fertility of both land and water."”
#12557 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“analyzed her relation to other goddesses and figures in Germanic mythology, including the thrice-burnt and thrice-reborn Gullveig/Heiðr, the goddesses Gefjon, Skaði, Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr and Irpa”
#12602 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“Nerthus is then commonly compared to the goddess Gefjon, who is said to have plowed the island of Zealand from Sweden in the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning and in Lejre wed the legendary Danish king Skjöldr.”
#27398 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001