Ásynjur
Sjöfn
A goddess of love whom Snorri ranks seventh among the Ásynjur: she turns the thoughts of men and women towards love.
Sjöfn exists for us in one sentence of Snorri's Gylfaginning. Listed seventh among the Ásynjur, right after Freyja, she is "most diligent in turning the thoughts of men to love, both of women and of men", and Snorri adds that "love-longing is called sjafni" after her Gylfaginning 35.
That explanation runs the wrong way round: the goddess is more likely named after a word than the word after the goddess, and sjafni itself is barely attested outside this passage. Like several of the goddesses in this list (Lofn, Vár, Vör, Syn), Sjöfn is defined by a single quality and a single word-play.
She has no story, no family and no hall, and she does not appear in the Eddic poems. Whether anyone ever worshipped a Sjöfn, or whether she was always a name for a feeling, is unknown.
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.
The seventh is Sjöfn: she is most diligent in turning the thoughts of men to love, both of women and of men; and from her name love-longing is called sjafni.
