Old English, but only in compounds such as frigedæg "Friday," Frigeæfen (what we would call "Thursday evening"). In Germanic religion, wife of Odin, goddess of heaven and married love. The English word is from Old Norse, a noun use of the fem. adjective meaning "beloved, loving," also "wife," from Proto-Germanic *frijaz "noble, dear, beloved" (from the same root as Old English freogan "to love;" ultimately from the root of free (adj.)). Also cf. Frau.