Bifrost

English

Etymology

From Old Norse Bifrǫst.

Pronunciation

• (approximating the Norse and Icelandic pronunciations) IPA^(key): /ˈbif.ɹɒst/, /ˈbɪv.ɹɒst/
• (anglicized) IPA^(key): /baɪ.fɹɔst/~/baɪ.fɹɑst/

Proper noun

Bifrost

1. (Norse mythology) The rainbow bridge that connects Asgard with Midgard.
   • 2001, Raymond L. Lee, Alistair B. Fraser, The Rainbow Bridge: Rainbows in Art, Myth, and Science, →ISBN, page 33:

     Yet Asgard is always prey to attacks, so Bifrost is guarded by Heimdall, the most astounding of sentries.

   • 2005, Paul A. LaViolette, Earth Under Fire: Humanity's Survival of the Ice Age, →ISBN, page 250:

     The Younger Edda tells us that Asgard is an island surrounded by ocean that lies west of Europe and which is accessed by means of the rainbow bridge, Bifrost. Hence Asgard, like Atlantis, represents the North American ice sheet. Like Atlantis, Asgard has outlying colonies that lie "along the outer strand of that sea." The Bifrost bridge most likely signifies the ice sheet bridge that spanned Baffin Bay and the North Sea to connect the North American and Greenland ice sheets with the European ice sheet.

   • 2010, Heilan Yvette Grimes, The Norse Myths, →ISBN, page 16:

     The only member of the Æsir not permitted to cross on Bifrost was Thor, the son of Odin and Jordr. Everyone feared Bifrost would bend and break under the weight of the mighty thundergod.

   • 2012, A. Brekke, A. Egeland, The Northern Light: From Mythology to Space Research, →ISBN, page 18:

     In W. Petrie's book "The Story of the Aurora Borealis” (1963) it reads the following: “One can produce arguments that suggest Bifrost was the aurora."

Derived terms

• Bifrost-Riverton

 

Anagrams

• brofist