Nóatún

"Ship-enclosure." The seaside home of Njörðr in Ásgarðr, according to Grímnismál, where Odin enumerates the abodes of the gods:

Noatun is the eleventh,
there Niörd has
himself a dwelling made,
prince of men;
guiltless of sin,
he rules o'er the high-built fane.

Snorri Sturluson adds that Njörðr's wife Skaði preferred to dwell in Þrymheimr in the mountains, while he desired to be near the sea. They made a compact that they would stay nine nights in Þrymheimr and then next nine nights in Nóatún, but when Njörðr returned to his home he sang this lay:

Loath were the hills to me,
I was not long in them,
Nights only nine;
To me the wailing of wolves seemed ill,
After the song of swans.

As Skaði could not adjust to life near the sea, she returned to her home in the mountains while Njörðr stayed behind in Nóatún. There he begot afterward two children: Freyr and Freyja.

References

Sources

  • Grímnismál, 16.
  • Gylfaginning, 23, 24.