Seiðr Loom

place

Nóatún

The seaside home of the god Njörðr, where his giantess wife Skaði could not sleep for the screaming of the gulls.

Nóatún is the hall of the sea-god Njörðr, eleventh in Odin's list of divine homes in Grímnismál: there "The sinless ruler of men there sits In his temple timbered high" Grímnismál 16. Snorri says it is "in heaven" Gylfaginning 23, but its name and its sounds belong to the shore. When Njörðr's wife Skaði tried to live there, she could not sleep "For the wailing of waterfowl", and she left for her father's mountains at Þrymheimr Gylfaginning 23. Njörðr's children came from here too: in Þrymskviða the giant Thrym boasts that he is getting Freyja, "The daughter of Njorth out of Noatun" Þrymskviða 22. The sources tell us nothing more about the place.

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 eleventh is Noatun; there has Njorth For himself a dwelling set; The sinless ruler of men there sits In his temple timbered high.
Grímnismál 16 Nóatún in Odin's list of the gods' dwellings.
he dwells in heaven, in the abode called Nóatún.
Gylfaginning 23 Snorri places Nóatún in heaven, among the gods' homes.

Myths with Nóatún

Skaði chooses a husband Þjazi's daughter Skaði comes armed to Asgard for vengeance and accepts a settlement instead: a husband chosen by his feet, and a laugh. She picks Njörðr, hoping for Baldr, and the marriage of mountain and sea does not last. Thrym steals Thor's hammer Thor wakes to find Mjölnir gone. The giant Þrymr will return it only for Freyja as his bride, so Thor goes to the wedding himself, in a veil, with Loki as his bridesmaid.

Related

Njörðr The Vanir god of the sea, winds and wealth, father of Freyr and Freyja. Sent to the Æsir as a hostage after their war, he married the giantess Skaði, an ill-matched union of sea and mountain. Skaði A giantess who came to Asgard armed to avenge her father Þjazi, accepted a husband instead, and went back to the mountains to hunt on skis when the marriage to Njörðr failed. Þrymheimr The mountain home of the giant Þjazi, and later of his daughter Skaði, who returned there to ski and hunt after leaving Njörðr. Freyja The Vanir goddess of love, wealth and the slain: daughter of Njörðr, owner of the necklace Brísingamen, who takes half of those who fall in battle to her hall Fólkvangr. Asgard Ásgarðr The stronghold of the Æsir, walled against the giants, full of halls such as Valhall and Bilskirnir; Snorri also identifies it, confusingly, with Troy.