In Norse mythology, Narfi (Old Norse: ) is a son of Loki, referred to in a number of sources. According to the Gylfaginning section of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, he was also called Nari and was killed by his brother Váli, who was transformed into a wolf; in a prose passage at the end of the Eddic poem "Lokasenna", Váli became a wolf and his brother Nari was killed.
Textual mentions In chapter 50 of Gylfaginning, to punish Loki for his crimes, the Æsir turn his son Váli into a wolf and he dismembers his brother, "Nari or Narfi", whose entrails are then used to bind their father.
The prose colophon to "Lokasenna" has a summary of the same story, probably derived from Snorri;Ursula Dronke (ed. and trans.), The Poetic Edda Volume II: Mythological Poems, Oxford: Oxford University/Clarendon, 1997, repr. 2001, , p. 371. In this version, there is no mention of a brother named Váli, Nari is the brother who is killed, Narfi transforms into a wolf, and the connection is not explained.Dronke, pp. 371–72."Nari and/or Narfi", John Lindow, Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs, Oxford/New York: Oxford University, 2001, , pp. 236–37, p. 237. The name Narfi has often been changed to Váli to better conform to the Prose Edda account; for example in Guðni Jónsson's 1954 edition and in Henry Adams Bellows' 1923 English translation."Hann var bundinn með þörmum sonar síns, Vála": Guðni Jónsson, ed., Eddukvæði, Akureyri: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1954, , online at Heimskringla.no. "He was bound with the bowels of his son Vali": Henry Adams Bellows, The Poetic Edda, Scandinavian classics 21 and 22, New York: The American Scandinavian Foundation, 1923; repr. 1 vol. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University, 1936, , p. 172.
Snorri also names "Nari or Narfi" as the son of Loki and his wife Sigyn earlier in Gylfaginning, and lists "father of Nari" as a heiti for Loki in the Skáldskaparmál section of his work. In addition, Narfi is mentioned in the much earlier "Ynglingatal" of Þjóðólfr of Hvinir, where Hel is referred to by the kenning jóðís ulfs ok Narfa ("sister of the wolf [i.e. Fenrir] and Narfi"),"Narfi 1", Rudolf Simek, tr. Angela Hall, Dictionary of Northern Mythology, Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1993, repr. 2000, , p. 228.Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 2 (2006) p. 14. and in the "Haustlöng", which may be by the same skald.Jan de Vries, Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte Volume 2, Grundriß der germanischen Philologie 12/2, 2nd ed. 1957, repr. 3rd ed. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1970, , p. 263 ; see also Jan de Vries, The Problem of Loki, Folklore Fellows Communications 110, Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia/Societas Scientiarum Fennica 1933, , p. 186.
Narfi also occurs as a personal name. For example, a Norwegian bishop and king's counselor who died in 1304 was named Narve.Knut Helle, "Narve", Store norske leksikon
Interpretations The picture is confused, making it uncertain whether Nari and Narfi are the same, and how he or they relate to the father of Nótt, the personification of night, who is also sometimes called Narfi. The name has been interpreted as meaning "narrow", but Rudolf Simek suggests that the association with Hel and the use of the same name for Nótt's father indicate that Narfi may have "originally [been] a demon of the dead" and that his name could be related to the Old Norse word nár, "corpse", which gave rise to Náströnd and Naglfar.
See also Narfi Váli, a son of Odin
References