'BROSINGA MENE'
'Brosinga Mene,' p. 82, is the 'Brisinga-mén' mentioned in the Edda,
an Icelandic poem. 'This necklace is the Brisinga-mén--the costly
necklace of Freja, which she won from the Dwarfs, and which was stolen
from her by Loki, as is told in the Edda' (Kemble).
Loki was a Scandinavian demi-god. He was beautiful and cunning. He was
the principle of strife, the spirit of evil; cp. Job's Satan. Freya
was the Scandinavian Goddess of Love. She claimed half of the slain
in battle. She was the dispenser of joy and happiness. The German
frau is derived from Freya. Hama carried off this necklace when he
fled from Eormanric. The origin of this legend, though worked up
in the Edda, seems to have been German or Gothic, and 'Brosinga'
has reference to the rock-plateau of Breisgau on the Rhine. It is
probably a relic of the lost saga of Eormanric (see Appendix IV.),
the famous Ostrogothic king referred to in Chapter XVIII. Eormanric
is one of the few historical personages of the poem.