| Mythology |
|---|
Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. [1] [2] [3] It was a key element of Germanic paganism.
| Mythology |
|---|
Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. [1] [2] [3] It was a key element of Germanic paganism.
As the Germanic languages developed from Proto-Indo-European language, Germanic mythology is ultimately a development of Proto-Indo-European mythology. Archaeological remains, such as petroglyphs in Scandinavia, suggest continuity in Germanic mythology since at least the Nordic Bronze Age. [1] [2]
The earliest written sources on Germanic mythology include literature by Roman writers. This includes Commentaries on the Gallic War by Julius Caesar, Geographica by Strabo, and Germania by Tacitus. [1] Later Latin-language sources on Germanic mythology include Getica by Jordanes, History of the Lombards by Paul the Deacon, Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede, Vita Ansgari by Rimbert, Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum by Adam of Bremen, and Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus. [1]
Vernacular sources on Germanic mythology include the Merseburg Charms, the Nibelungenlied, [2] and various pieces of Old English literature, particularly Beowulf . [1] The most important sources on Germanic mythology, however, are works of Old Norse literature, most of which were written down in the Icelandic Commonwealth during the Middle Ages; of particular importance is the Poetic Edda. [1]
Archaeological evidence, Runic inscriptions and place-names are also useful sources on Germanic mythology. [1]
The myths of the Germanic peoples feature narratives focused on Germanic deities and a variety of other entities.
The beginning and end of the world is told in Völuspá, the first and best known poem in the Poetic Edda. The seeress in Völuspá tells of how the world began with a great magical nothingness called Ginnungagap, until Odin and his two brothers raised the Earth from the sea. They came across the tree trunks Ask and Embla, whom they created into the first human couple. [1]
The accounts of Völuspá are contrasted with those in Vafþrúðnismál and Grímnismál. These say that Odin created the world from the body of the giant Ymir. Odin and his brothers were in turn descended from Búri, who had been created by the primeval cow Auðumbla. Parallels to Auðumbla are found in Indo-Iranian religion, testifying to the ancient Indo-European origins of Germanic mythology. [1]
A central point in the Germanic cosmos is the tree Yggdrasil. [3] Germanic mythology prophesises the end of the world in a coming Ragnarök. [1]
A number of Germanic gods are mentioned in Old Norse literature and they are divided into the Æsir and the Vanir. The Æsir are primarily gods of war and dominate the latter, who are gods of fertility and wealth. [1]
The chief god of the Æsir is Odin, a god associated with war, seiðr (witchcraft), and wisdom. He was probably worshipped primarily by kings and noblemen rather than the common people. Odin is the lord of Asgard, the abode of the gods, which includes the majestic hall Valhalla, where warriors who died a heroic death in battle (Einherjar) were admitted in order to prepare them to help Odin in the coming Ragnarök. [1]
Odin's wife was Frigg. His popular son, by the jǫtunn Jǫrð, was Thor, the god associated with thunder. Wielding his hammer Mjölnir, Thor engaged in conflict with the jötnar (giants) and the serpent Jörmungandr. Thor has many parallels in Indo-European mythology. He appears to have been worshiped extensively by the Germanic peoples, particularly warriors and the common people. A notable brother of Thor is Baldr. Other significant Æsir include the trickster god Loki; Heimdallr, who is reported in Rígsþula to have fathered the three classes of men; and Týr, a god associated with war and who lost his hand to the wolf Fenrir, who some scholars have proposed on linguistic evidence may have been a central deity in the Germanic pantheon in earlier times. [1]
In Old Norse literature, the Æsir and Vanir are described as being in conflict. Through this conflict, certain Vanir gods, such as Njörðr, Freyja, and Freyr, join the Æsir. [1] Similarities have been pointed out between Njörðr and Nerthus, a Germanic fertility god mentioned by Tacitus in Germania in the 1st-century AD. [1] Sources also mention numerous other entities, such as Hel, who oversees an underworld location of the same name. [3]
A number of legendary creatures appear in Germanic mythology, such as the dís, fylgja, draugr, dwarfs, elves, [1] as well as jötnar, trolls and dragons.
During the Middle Ages, Germanic peoples were converted to Christianity. The study of Germanic mythology has remained an important element of Germanic philology since the development of the field and the topic is an integral component of Heathenry, the modern revival of Germanic paganism. Elements of Germanic mythology have survived into modern Germanic folklore.
Freyr, sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, prosperity, fair weather, and good harvest. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden and seen as an ancestor of the Swedish royal house. According to Adam of Bremen, Freyr was associated with peace and pleasure, and was represented with a phallic statue in the Temple at Uppsala. According to Snorri Sturluson, Freyr was "the most renowned of the æsir", and was venerated for good harvest and peace.
In Norse mythology, Freyja is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, is accompanied by the boar Hildisvíni, and possesses a cloak of falcon feathers. By her husband Óðr, she is the mother of two daughters, Hnoss and Gersemi. Along with her twin brother Freyr, her father Njörðr, and her mother, she is a member of the Vanir. Stemming from Old Norse Freyja, modern forms of the name include Freya, Freyia, and Freja.
In Norse mythology, Heimdall is a god. He is the son of Odin and nine mothers. Heimdall keeps watch for invaders and the onset of Ragnarök from his dwelling Himinbjörg, where the burning rainbow bridge Bifröst meets the sky. He is attested as possessing foreknowledge and keen senses, particularly eyesight and hearing. The god and his possessions are described in enigmatic manners. For example, Heimdall is emerald-toothed, "the head is called his sword," and he is "the whitest of the gods."
Loki is a god in Norse mythology. Loki is the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi or Nari and Váli. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. In the form of a mare, Loki was impregnated by the stallion Svaðilfari and gave birth to the eight-legged horse Sleipnir.
In Norse mythology, Njörðr is a god among the Vanir. Njörðr, father of the deities Freyr and Freyja by his unnamed sister, was in an ill-fated marriage with the goddess Skaði, lives in Nóatún and is associated with the sea, seafaring, wind, fishing, wealth, and crop fertility.
In Norse mythology, Ragnarök is a foretold series of impending events, including a great battle in which numerous great Norse mythological figures will perish ; it will entail a catastrophic series of natural disasters, including the burning of the world, and culminate in the submersion of the world underwater. After these events, the world will rise again, cleansed and fertile, the surviving and returning gods will meet, and the world will be repopulated by two human survivors, Líf and Lífþrasir. Ragnarök is an important event in Norse mythology and has been the subject of scholarly discourse and theory in the history of Germanic studies.
In Norse mythology, Ullr is a god associated with skiing. Although literary attestations of Ullr are sparse, evidence including relatively ancient place-name evidence from Scandinavia suggests that he was a major god in earlier Germanic paganism. Proto-Germanic *wulþuz ('glory') appears to have been an important concept of which his name is a reflex. The word appears as owlþu- on the 3rd-century Thorsberg chape.
In Norse mythology, Víðarr is a god among the Æsir associated with vengeance. Víðarr is described as the son of Odin and the jötunn Gríðr and is foretold to avenge his father's death by killing the wolf Fenrir at Ragnarök, a conflict he is described as surviving. Víðarr is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and is interpreted as depicted with Fenrir on the Gosforth Cross. A number of theories surround the figure, including theories around potential ritual silence and a Proto-Indo-European basis.
Yggdrasil is an immense and central sacred tree in Norse cosmology. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds.
Æsir or ēse are gods in Germanic paganism. In Old Nordic religion and mythology, the precise meaning of the term "Æsir" is debated, with it being able to refer to both the gods in general or specifically to one of the main families of gods, in contrast to the Vanir, with whom they waged war, ultimately leading to a joining of the families. The term can further be used to describe local gods that were believed to live in specific features in the landscape such as fells. In the Old English Wið færstice, the Ēse are referred to, along with elves, as harmful beings that could cause a stabbing pain, although exactly how they were conceived of by the author of the text is unclear.
Völuspá is the best known poem of the Poetic Edda. It tells the story of the creation of the world and its coming end and subsequent rebirth, related to the audience by a völva addressing Odin. It is one of the most important primary sources for the study of Norse mythology. The poem is preserved whole in the Codex Regius and Hauksbók manuscripts while parts of it are quoted in the Prose Edda.
In Norse mythology, the Vanir are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods and are the namesake of the location Vanaheimr. After the Æsir–Vanir War, the Vanir became a subgroup of the Æsir. Subsequently, members of the Vanir are sometimes also referred to as members of the Æsir.
Thor is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and fertility. Besides Old Norse Þórr, the deity occurs in Old English as Þunor, in Old Frisian as Thuner, in Old Saxon as Thunar, and in Old High German as Donar, all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym *Þun(a)raz, meaning 'Thunder'.
Máni is the Moon personified in Germanic mythology. Máni, personified, is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Both sources state that he is the brother of the personified sun, Sól, and the son of Mundilfari, while the Prose Edda adds that he is followed by the children Hjúki and Bil through the heavens. As a proper noun, Máni appears throughout Old Norse literature. Scholars have proposed theories about Máni's potential connection to the Northern European notion of the Man in the Moon, and a potentially otherwise unattested story regarding Máni through skaldic kennings.
Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into a distinct branch of the Germanic peoples. It was replaced by Christianity and forgotten during the Christianisation of Scandinavia. Scholars reconstruct aspects of North Germanic Religion by historical linguistics, archaeology, toponymy, and records left by North Germanic peoples, such as runic inscriptions in the Younger Futhark, a distinctly North Germanic extension of the runic alphabet. Numerous Old Norse works dated to the 13th-century record Norse mythology, a component of North Germanic religion.
Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples. With a chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germany, and at times other parts of Europe, the beliefs and practices of Germanic paganism varied. Scholars typically assume some degree of continuity between Roman-era beliefs and those found in Norse paganism, as well as between Germanic religion and reconstructed Indo-European religion and post-conversion folklore, though the precise degree and details of this continuity are subjects of debate. Germanic religion was influenced by neighboring cultures, including that of the Celts, the Romans, and, later, by the Christian religion. Very few sources exist that were written by pagan adherents themselves; instead, most were written by outsiders and can thus present problems for reconstructing authentic Germanic beliefs and practices.
Norse cosmology is the account of the universe and its laws by the ancient North Germanic peoples. The topic encompasses concepts from Norse mythology, such as notions of time and space, cosmogony, personifications, anthropogeny, and eschatology. Like other aspects of Norse mythology, these concepts are primarily recorded in the Poetic Edda, a collection of poems compiled in the 13th century, and the Prose Edda, authored by Icelander Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century, who drew from earlier traditional sources. Together these sources depict an image of Nine Worlds around a cosmic tree, Yggdrasil.
Sól or Sunna is the Sun personified in Germanic mythology. One of the two Old High German Merseburg Incantations, written in the 9th or 10th century CE, attests that Sunna is the sister of Sinthgunt. In Norse mythology, Sól is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson.
Odin is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, and depicts him as the husband of the goddess Frigg. In wider Germanic mythology and paganism, the god was also known in Old English as Wōden, in Old Saxon as Uuôden, in Old Dutch as Wuodan, in Old Frisian as Wêda, and in Old High German as Wuotan, all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym *Wōðanaz, meaning 'lord of frenzy', or 'leader of the possessed'.
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The northernmost extension of Germanic mythology and stemming from Proto-Germanic folklore, Norse mythology consists of tales of various deities, beings, and heroes derived from numerous sources from both before and after the pagan period, including medieval manuscripts, archaeological representations, and folk tradition. The source texts mention numerous gods such as the thunder-god Thor, the raven-flanked god Odin, the goddess Freyja, and numerous other deities.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
