Yngvi
Yngvi, alternatively Yngve, was the progenitor of the House of Ynglings, a legendary dynasty of Swedish kings from whom the earliest historical Norwegian kings in turn claimed to be descended. Information on Yngvi varies in different traditions as follows:
- Yngvi is a name of the god Freyr, perhaps intended as Freyr's true name while Freyr 'Lord' is his common title. In the Yngling Saga section of Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla Yngvi-Freyr is euhemerized as a king of Sweden who reigned in succession to his father Njord who in turn succeeded Odin. His descendants are the Ynglings.
- In the Islendíngabók Yngvi Tyrkja konungr 'Yngvi king of Turkey' appears as father of Njord who in turn is the father of Yngvi-Freyr the ancestor of the Ynglings. (Note: Turkey as a unified country upon the Anatolian peninsula, did not exist during that time.)
- In the introduction to Snorri Sturluson's Edda Snorri claims again that Odin reigned in Sweden and relates: "Odin had with him one of his sons called Yngvi, who was king in Sweden after him; and those houses come from him that are named Ynglings". Snorri here does not identify Yngvi and Freyr.
- In the Skáldskaparmal section of Snorri Sturluson's Edda Snorri introduces Hálfdan the Old, otherwise unknown, who is the father of nine sons whose names are all words meaning 'king' or 'lord' in Old Norse and nine other sons who are the forefathers of various royal dynasties, including "Yngvi, from whom the Ynglings are descended". But rather oddly Snorri immediately follows this with information on what should be four other personages who were not sons of Hálfdan but who fathered dynasties, but names the first of these as "Yngvi, from whom the Ynglings are descended".
(The Yngling Saga section of Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla also introduces a second Yngvi son of Alric who is a descendant of Yngvi-Freyr and who shared the Swedish kingship with his brother Alf.)
Jacob Grimm in his Teutonic Mythology and many others consider it likely that the same figure lies behind Ing/Ingo/Ingui, the legendary eponymous ancestor of the Ingvaeones.
