Frigga, the wife of Odin, and supreme goddess of the race of the Asir (or Ases), the celestial gods of the Scandinavian mythology, was a daughter of the giant Fjorgvm, presided over marriages and in the assem- blies of the goddesses, which were always held in her ])alace, was prescient of, but never revealed, the fate of mM), knew the language of plants and animals, and through her great wisdom aided Odin bj' her counsels. Her abode was said to be "the magnificent mansion of Fensalir (the marshy halls), which denotes the deep, moist earth," and from her relation to Odin, the sun in this mythology, she may be regarded as typifying the earth, which, drawing from him the generative jirinci- ples of light and warmth, gives growth and fruitfulness
to living things. She is closely related to, and fre- quently confounded with Freya (q. v.), and is gener- ally represented (see pi. 12, fig. 1, Mythology and Relig- ious Rites in Icon. Encyclop.') seated in a golden char- iot drawn bj' two white cats, her tresses and veil float- ing in the wind, with two attendants, with veils and tresses likewise floating, flying near her. — English Cy- clopcedia, s. v. ; Icon. Encyclop. iv, 277-8 (N. Y. 1851) ; Thorpe, Northern Mythology. (.LW. M.)
Fringe (^'^'7?, gedW, tmsLed thread, i. e. a tassel, Deut. xxii, 12; a "wreath" m festoon for a column, 1 Kings vii, 17; ri2"ilS, tsitsith', a fower-like projection, i. e., a tassel, Numb, xv, 38, 39 ; the "fore-foci'," Ezek. viii, 3), an ornament worn by the Israelites upon the edges, and especially at the corners of their robes, as an affectation of piety (com p. Matt, xxiii, 5). These terms must have denoted pedicles in the shape of bobs or flowing threads. Fringed garments, elaborately wrought, were verj'' common among both the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. See Embroidery. Such fringes, however, as appear upon the tunics and outer
Ancient Assyrian Fringed Garments : 1. From the Egyptian Paintings ; 2. From the Ninevite Monuments.
robes of figures delineated on thvj Assyrian and Egyp- tian monuments probably did not entirely correspond with those in use among the Jews, although it may be presumed that there was a general reseniljlance be- tween those worn for general purposes, i. e. as orna- mental appendages. Moreover, it may be doubted whether fringes of that description were intended by the Jewish legislator, since they were in such common use that they could form no proper mark of distinction between an Israelite and a Gentile ; and, besides, they seem appropriate to state-dresses rather than to ordi-
Varieties of ancient Assyrian Tassels and Fringe.
FRINGE
G78
FRINT
nary attire, while it is plainly the latter which is con- temiilatcd in the prescription of Moses, and this es- pecially with a religious reference. See Phylac-
TKKY.
The IMosaic law respecting these ornaments is con- tained in Numb, xv, 38-41 ; Dent, xxii, 1-2, where the cliildren of Israel are enjoined to append fringes or tassels (n^i:jj f^^^lS), consisting of several threads, to the four corners (711223 "2'nS) of their outer gar- ment ("!?3, TilDS), to put one distinguishing thread (5"irE, not "ribbon," as the A.V.) of deep blue in each of these fringes, and constantlj^ to look at them, in order to be put in mind thereby of God's command- ments to keep them. What number of threads each of these symbolical fringes is to have besides the said blue one, of what material, or how thej^ are to be made, the injunction does not say. Like most of the Mosaic laws, it leaves the particulars to be determined by the executive powers according to the peculiar cir- cumstances of the time. The following account of them is chiefly from Kitto's Cyclop, s. v.
Guided by the fact that they are symbolical, tradi- tion, in determining the manner in which these fringes are to be made, endeavored to act in harmony with their spiritual import, and hence fixed that each of these four fringes or tassels for the four corners of the garment should consist of eight threads of white wool, the emblem of purity and holiness (Isa. i, 18) ; that one of these threads is to be wound round the others, first swen times, and then a double knot to be made ; then eiyht times, and a double knot (15 = iT^); then devm times ( = m), and a double knot ; and final- ly thirteen times ( = ^nX), and a double knot, so as to obtain, from the collective number of times which this thread is wound round, the words inx mn^ (Jeho- vah is one), constituting the 'creed which was the dis- tinguishing mark of tlie Hebrew nation, and which was inscribed on their 1 anners, whilst the ^\\& knots represent the five books of the law. As the law, how- ever, is said to contain G13 commandments [see School], and as the design of these fringes is to re- mind the Jews of all these commandments, tradition has so arranged it that the word T^'l"!^ which is nu- merically 600, with the 8 threads and 5 knots, should exactly comprise this number, and thus constitute a perfect symbol of the law.
Original]}', as we have seen, this fringed or tasseled gar- ment was the outer one. It was more like a large oUong piece of clotl), with a hole in the centre through which the head was put, thus dividing it into two halves, one cover- ing the front, and the other the back of the bodj-, like a tunic.