GENERAL WORDS FOR SEX AND KINSHIP 169 



Fricke, 1 Woden's wife, whom Paul the Deacon identi- 

 fies with Frea, and who is essentially a goddess of sex. 

 Frowd is a good example of the early mother-age, for 

 she marries her brother Freyr. The names of both 

 mark the old brother and sister wooers, and are especially 

 valuable, as her name has become the general name for 

 woman and wife. She is the woman, the wooer, par 

 excellence. Frigg, on the other hand, bears the girdle 

 of Aphrodite ; the plough, the symbol of fertility, is 

 sacred to her, while the cat, which shares with the dog 

 the attendant of Holla and Walpurga the doubtful 

 honour of representing lustfulness among the Teutons, 

 is her constant companion. From the Oddrunar-Grdtr 

 in the Edda we learn that both Frigg and Freyja were 

 appealed to by women in labour. We further see how 

 in the later father-age the earlier freedom of sex in 

 Frigg and Freyja is brought out as traditional. Thus 

 in the Hyndlolibd, Hyndla accuses Freyja of a pro- 

 miscuity worthy of a she-goat, running after her lover 

 at night. In the Lokasenna Loki finds Freyja full of 

 lewdness, for all the Anses assembled in Aegir's hall had 

 been in turn her paramour. Frigg in the same song 

 Loki scolds as a wanton, for she had taken to her bosom 

 Vea and Vilja, Odin's brothers. Thus we see in both 

 Frigg and Freyja survivals in a father-age mythology 

 of mother -age deities daughters of Mother Earth 

 whose early practice of kin group -marriage survives 

 only as a tradition to be raked up by Loki, when he 

 chaffs the assembled gods. The relation of Frowd to 



1 This guttural modification of Frowa should be compared with the Mg 

 variants of M, e.g. hige for Mwe, etc. 



