Bragi
God of poetry among the Aesir, "Bragi of skalds" as Yggdrasil is best of trees; runes were cut on "Bragi's tongue"; in Lokasenna he is the first god Loki insults — the "adorner of benches" who is brave in his seat and not in battle — and Idunn intervenes to calm him.
Why this wins its question: Shows how thin the eddic evidence for Bragi is — four passages — and which of the familiar facts (husband of Idunn, host of Ægir's feast in the Prose Edda) come from elsewhere.
Key takeaways
- "Bragi of skalds" (Grimnismol 44) and "Bragi's tongue" (Sigrdrifumol 16) are the poems' whole statement of his office.
- Lokasenna makes him the first target and the least warlike of the gods — his own peace offering is horse, sword and ring.
- The marriage with Idunn is implied by her intervention (Lokasenna 16–18), stated only outside the stanzas.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Bragi is the standard of skalds: in Grimnismol's list of the best of each kind, "Bifrost of bridges, Bragi of skalds" (Grimnismol 44).
Runes of speech were cut "on Bragi's tongue", among the places where Odin had them written (Sigrdrifumol 15–16).
Lokasenna opens the flyting with Bragi: Loki greets all the gods "Save for the god who yonder sits, / Bragi there on the bench"; Bragi offers a horse, a sword and a ring for peace; Loki calls him "Least brave in battle" and "adorner of benches", and Bragi threatens to carry off his head (Lokasenna 11–15).
Idunn speaks for Bragi and calms him: she asks him to weigh Loki's kinship and later says "Bragi I calm, who is hot with beer, / For I wish not that fierce they should fight" (Lokasenna 16, 18). The stanzas do not call her his wife; that is in the poem's prose heading and in the Prose Edda.
Questions answered
- Is Bragi the god of poetry?
- Bragi is the standard of skalds: in Grimnismol's list of the best of each kind, "Bifrost of bridges, Bragi of skalds" (Grimnismol 44). source
- What does Loki say to Bragi?
- Lokasenna opens the flyting with Bragi: Loki greets all the gods "Save for the god who yonder sits, / Bragi there on the bench"; Bragi offers a horse, a sword and a ring for peace; Loki calls him "Least brave in battle" and "adorner of benches", and Bragi threatens to carry off his head (Lokasenna 11–15). source
- Who is Bragi's wife?
- Idunn speaks for Bragi and calms him: she asks him to weigh Loki's kinship and later says "Bragi I calm, who is hot with beer, / For I wish not that fierce they should fight" (Lokasenna 16, 18). The stanzas do not call her his wife; that is in the poem's prose heading and in the Prose Edda. source