The names Geri and Freki have been interpreted as meaning either "the greedy one" or "the ravenous one". The name Geri can be traced back to the Proto-Germanic adjective gerr and Old High German ger or, all of which mean "greedy". The name Freki can be traced back to the Proto-Germanic adjective "desirous, greedy, gluttonous, audacious" and Old High German "greedy". John Lindow interprets both Old Norse names as nominalized adjectives. Bruce Lincoln further traces Geri back to a Proto-Indo-European stem *, which is the same as that found in Garmr, a name referring to the hound closely associated with the events of Ragnarök.
Attestations
In the Poetic Edda poem Grímnismál, the god Odin provides the young Agnarr with information about Odin's companions. Agnarr is told that Odin feeds Geri and Freki while the god himself consumes only wine:
The pair is also alluded to via the kenning "Viðrir's hounds" in Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, verse 13, where it is related that they roam the field "greedy for the corpses of those who have fallen in battle".
In the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, the enthroned figure of High explains that Odin gives all of the food on his table to his wolves Geri and Freki and that Odin requires no food, for wine is to him both meat and drink. High then quotes the above-mentioned stanza from the poem Grímnismál in support. In chapter 75 of the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmála list of names for wargs and wolves is provided that includes both Geri and Freki. In skaldic poetryGeri and Freki are used as common nouns for "wolf" in chapter 58 of Skáldskaparmál and Geri is again used as a common noun for "wolf" in chapter 64 of the Prose Edda book Háttatal. Geri is referenced in kennings for "blood" in chapter 58 of Skáldskaparmál and in for "carrion" in chapter 60. Freki is also used in a kenning for "carrion" in a work by Þórðr Sjáreksson in chapter 58 of Skáldskaparmál.
Archaeological record
If the rider on horseback on the image on the Böksta Runestone has been correctly identified as Odin, then Geri and Freki are shown taking part in hunting an elk.
Theories
Freki is also a name applied to the monstrous wolf Fenrir in the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá. Folklorist John Lindow sees irony in the fact that Odin feeds one Freki at his dinner table and another—Fenrir—with his flesh during the events of Ragnarök. Historian Michael Spiedel connects Geri and Freki with archaeological finds depicting figures wearing wolf-pelts and frequently found wolf-related names among the Germanic peoples, including Wulfhroc, Wolfhetan, Isangrim, Scrutolf and Wolfgang, Wolfdregil, and Vulfolaic and myths regarding wolf warriors from Norse mythology. Michael Speidel believes this to point to the pan-Germanic wolf-warrior band cult centered on Odin that waned away after Christianization. Scholars have also noted Indo-European parallels to the wolves Geri and Freki as companions of a divinity. 19th century scholar Jacob Grimm observed a connection between this aspect of Odin's character and the Greek Apollo, to whom both the wolf and the raven are sacred. Philologist Maurice Bloomfield further connected the pair with the two dogs of Yama in Vedic mythology, and saw them as a Germanic counterpart to a more general and widespread Indo-European "Cerberus"-theme. Speidel finds similar parallels in the Vedic Rudra and the Roman Mars. Elaborating on the connection between wolves and figures of great power, he writes: "This is why Geri and Freki, the wolves at Woden's side, also glowered on the throne of the Anglo-Saxon kings. Wolf-warriors, like Geri and Freki, were not mere animals but mythical beings: as Woden's followers they bodied forth his might, and so did wolf-warriors." Bernd Heinrich theorizes that Geri and Freki, along with Odin and his ravens Huginn and Muninn, reflect a symbiosis observed in the natural world among ravens, wolves, and humans on the hunt:
