by Pam Uher

Created on: March 29, 2010

Bragi –noun (Norse mythological god of poetry); son of Odin and husband of Idun (Norse goddess of fertility) and often depicted as an old man with a white beard who welcomed warriors to Valhalla with a musical ode, about their life on earth. Some descriptions say he had runes inscribed on his tongue.

 “Bulfinch’s Mythology” Glossary states Bragi is the “Norse god of poetry”. The deity Bragi belonged to a diverse religious, mythological, and cosmological belief system shared by the Scandinavian and Germanic cultures. He was identified by historians as the god of eloquence and poetry, and the patron of skalds (poets) in Norse mythology. Bragi was considered a member of the Aesir, which were the primary male gods of Norse culture.

The names associated with this Norse deity include: 

Norse name: Bragi 

Scandinavian name: Brage

Germanic names Brego

    The Old Norse word bragr, meaning “poetry”, is related to the deity Bragi. It is unclear whether the name of the deity is derived from the word for poetry or whether the word for poetry is derived from the name of the deity. Some scholars think that Bragi might have been the deified version of Bragi Boddason, a Norwegian poet who served various King’s courts in the 800s. This historically verifiable man was the first skaldic poet whose verse survived throughout the centuries. It is a strange coincidence that the first recorded ‘skald’ was named Bragi and some historians believe the ethereal god and human poet are one in the same.

   

Most of the descriptions about the ancient deity can be found in the Prose Edda, written by Idun, the goddess of eternal youth and fertility.

Many Norse warrior oaths were sworn over the Bragarfull ("Cup of Bragi") or ‘promise cup’ as many knew it. The cup was also used to drink in honor of a dead king. It was also written that before a king ascended the throne, he drank from the “Cup of Bragi”.

Bragi was a significant deity in Norse mythology, because of the prominent role that poetry played in Nordic culture. Poetry (especially odes and ballads) were the primary means of story-telling within the culture and the main method of maintaining historical records from generation to generation. This deity of words and eloquence was also the usher who greeted great warriors and kings as they entered Valhalla and made the transition from earthly body to ethereal  from.

www.mythencyclopedia.com/Be-Ca/Bragi.html#ixzz0jFYV7 pnm

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