From: jouppe
Message: 56755
Date: 2008-04-05
>- - - - - - -
> At 11:11:59 AM on Thursday, April 3, 2008, tgpedersen wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > The usual explanation for 'cat' in Germanic and Celtic is
> > that it is a loan from Latin; but if it is so, then
>
> > 1) why does Freya have a cat-drawn chariot
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyja
>
> > qoute: '"People of many races visited this burning. First
> > is to be told of Odin, how Frigg and the Valkyries went
> > with him, and his ravens; but Freyr drove in his chariot
> > with the boar called Gold-Mane, or Fearful-Tusk, and
> > Heimdallr rode the horse called Gold-Top, and Freyja drove
> > in her chariot drawn by cats..." (Gylfaginning (49))"';
> > why this if they only knew the cat from the Romans; this
> > doesn't look like a late accretion?
>
> It strikes me as a detail that could have been added or
> modified at just about any point. I also note that while
> Freyr has Gullinbursti/Slíðrugtanni, Heimdallr has
> Gulltoppr, Þórr has Tanngnióstr and Tanngrisnir, and Óðinn
> has Sleipnir, Freyia just has anonymous cats.
>
> Brian
>