Seiðr Loom

giant

Nörfi

The giant of Jötunheim who is the father of Night; the poems call him Nor. Not to be confused with Loki's son Narfi.

Nörfi is known only as the father of Night. Two poems say so in passing: in Vafþrúðnismál "the night was begotten by Nor" Vafþrúðnismál 25, and in Alvíssmál Thor asks for the names of "the night, the daughter of Nor" Alvíssmál 29. Bellows's "Nor" stands for the Old Norse forms Nörr or Nörvi.

Snorri adds that he was "a giant that dwelt in Jötunheim" and that his daughter was "swarthy and dark, as befitted her race" Gylfaginning 10. That one line makes Night a giantess by birth, and through her daughter Jörð, an ancestor of Thor. Nothing else is told of him.

Snorri writes the name "Nörfi or Narfi". The second form is also the name of one of Loki's sons, Narfi or Nari, who is killed when the gods bind his father Gylfaginning 50. The two have nothing to do with each other.

In the sources

Quoted from the hosted translations; each line is checked against the text when the site is built. Select a reference to read it in context.

Nörfi or Narfi is the name of a giant that dwelt in Jötunheim: he had a daughter called Night; she was swarthy and dark, as befitted her race.
Gylfaginning 10 Snorri names Night's giant father and says she took her darkness from his race.
And the night was begotten by Nor
Vafþrúðnismál 25 The poem's form of the name.
What call they the night, the daughter of Nor
Alvíssmál 29 Night called 'the daughter of Nor' in a question put by Thor.

Related

Nótt Night personified: a dark giant's daughter who rides around the earth on the horse Hrímfaxi, whose bit-foam falls as dew; mother of Day and of Earth. Dagr Day personified: son of Night and the bright Dellingr, he rides round the earth behind his mother on the horse Skinfaxi, whose mane lights the world. Jörð The Earth personified as a goddess: Odin's bride and the mother of Thor, so that Thor is called the 'son of Earth'. Snorri gives her two incompatible parentages. Jötunheimr The land of the giants, at the edge of the world beyond rivers and sea, usually to the east of the gods and men. Thor goes there to fight, and gods go there to court and steal. Mundilfari The father of the Sun and the Moon; Snorri says the gods took his children into the sky because he dared to name them after the heavenly lights.