Æsir
Æsir (
Words for Æsir feature in many
Terminology
Etymology
The modern English term "Æsir" is derived from the plural Old Norse term æsir, the singular of which is áss.[1] In Old English, the term used is the cognate ōs (pl. ēse) [2][3] In continental West Germanic languages, the word is only attested in personal and place names such as Ansila, Ansgeir and Anshram.[2] The cognate term Ansis was recorded as a Latinised form of an original Gothic word by Jordanes, in the 6th century CE work Getica, as a name for euhemerised semi-divine early Gothic rulers.[2][4][note 1] In continental West Germanic languages, the word is only attested in personal and place names such as Ansila, Ansgeir and Anshram.[2] The Old High German is reconstructed as *ans, plural *ensî.[7]
The corresponding feminine form in Old Norse is ásynja (pl.:ásynjur), formed by the addition of the -ynja suffix, denoting a female form.[8] A cognate word for "female áss" is not attested outside Old Norse, and a corresponding West Germanic word would have been separately derived with the feminine suffixes -inī or -injō.[9]
The
Snorri Sturluson and Saxo Grammaticus proposed that the term "Æsir" instead derives from "Ásiamenn ("Asians"), and the idea that the gods originated in Asia, later migrating into Northern Europe. This is however not supported by modern scholars and attributed to medieval scholarship on the matter and an attempt to connect the Scandinavian peoples with Classical antiquity and Christianity rather than a reflection of actual Germanic mythology.[2]
Derived terms
Áss is further found in Old Norse compound nouns such as
Terms for Æsir form parts of
Old Norse sources
Meaning of the term "Æsir"
Distinctions between "áss", "goð" and "vanr"
It has been proposed that in Old Norse poetry, the term "áss" was typically chosen over "goð" for metrical reasons, fitting better with the required alliteration or rhyme, rather than so as to create a semantic distinction between the two terms.
The main tales that present the Æsir and Vanir as distinct family groups are those concerning the
Proposed origins of a distinction with Vanir
Despite the inclusion to some extent of the Vanir within the wider group of Æsir, some scholars have argued that some differences between the two groups remain, such as the Vanir appearing to have mainly been connected with cultivation and fertility and the Æsir with power and war. Conversely, it has been argued that this division of domains is not reflected in the sources, with the Vanir being instead more associated with kingship and the Æsir with creation.[21]
One idea is that the Vanir (and the fertility cult associated with them) may be more archaic than that of the more warlike Æsir, such that the mythical war may mirror a half-remembered religious conflict. This argument was first suggested by Wilhelm Mannhardt in 1877 (as described in Dumézil, xxiii and Munch, 288). On a similar note, Marija Gimbutas argues that the Æsir and the Vanir represent the displacement of an indigenous Indo-European group by a tribe of warlike invaders as part of her Kurgan hypothesis.[22] Another historical theory is that the inter-pantheon interaction may be an apotheosisation of the conflict between the Roman Kingdom and the Sabines.[23] Given the difference between their roles and emphases, some scholars have speculated that the interactions between the Æsir and the Vanir reflect the types of interaction that were occurring between social classes (or clans) within Norse society at the time.[24][25]
Finally, the noted comparative religion scholar
Specific beings referred to as Æsir
Beyond this, a runic inscription on the 9th century CE
In the context of ritual speech, an unnamed áss is the almáttki áss ("almighty áss") mentioned along with Frey and Njörð in a formula said by individuals swearing an oath on a ring. This has been variously identified by scholars as Thor, Ullr and Odin, although the possibility remains that it is a result of Christian work that was written as a foreshadowing of the establishment of Christianity, as an example of the "noble pagan" motif.[39][13]
The term áss is further used in translations of works into Old Norse such as in
Relation with jötnar
It has been proposed that most narratives in
Despite this general juxtaposition between the Æsir and the jötnar, they were not conceived of as necessarily "biologically" distinct from one another, with many of the Æsir being descended from jötnar such as Odin, Thor and Loki.
Furthermore, the Æsir are depicted as having strong positive relations with some jötnar such as Ægir, who hosts them for a feast where they all drink together in the poem Lokasenna.[50] Other jötnar are seen by the Æsir as sources of knowledge, such as Vafþrúðnir, with whom Odin has a wisdom contest in Vafþrúðnismál, and Hyndla to whom Freyja travels in the poem Hyndluljóð to find out the lineage of Ottar.[51]
Old English sources
Wið færstice
The
gif hit wǣre ēsa gescot oððe hit wǣre ylfa gescot |
If it was the gescot of ēse or it was the gescot of ælfe |
—Old English text[53] | —Hall Translation[53] |
The collocation of ēse and elves Wið færstice is paralleled in Old Norse writings as the alliterative phrase "æsir and álfar".[note 7][54] It is not clear whether this formula dates back to the ancestral community speaking the ancestor of Old Norse and Old English and thus had always existed in both languages, or was the result of a later loaning due to the close cultural contact.[55]
It has been proposed that just like in early Old Norse-speaking communities, those speaking Old English early on would also have placed ēse and ælfe in contrast with monstrous beings such as
The A-rune (ᚫ, ᚩ or ᚬ)
The
Standardised Old Norse text[58][note 8] | Modern English translation[59] | |
---|---|---|
|
|
Some scholars have translated the name of the rune in the
Modern worship
Ásatrú, meaning "faith in the Æsir", is a
Most adherents do not emphasise worship of the Æsir in particular and may also refer to their practice as "forn sed/sidr/siður" meaning old customs. The Icelandic
Place-names
Place-names containing the word áss or cognate terms have been proposed for the following:
Sweden:
Norway
- Ásaráll[2]
No such locations have yet been found in England that are widely accepted by scholars.[68]
Notes
- Latin: Tum Gothi haut segnes reperti arma capessunt primoque conflictu mox Romanos devincunt, Fuscoque duce extincto divitias de castris militum spoliant magnaque potiti per loca victoria iam proceres suos, quorum quasi fortuna vincebant, non puros homines, sed semideos id est Ansis vocaverunt. ("But the Goths were on the alert. They took up arms and presently over-whelmed the Romans in the first encounter. They slew Fuscus, the commander, and plundered the soldiers’ camp of its treasure. And because of the great victory they had won in this region, they thereafter called their leaders, by whose good fortune they seemed to have conquered, not mere men, but demigods, that is Ansis.")[5][6]
- ^ Ansugastiz and Ansugīslaz are found in runic inscriptions, while *Ansulaibaz is reconstructed from the corresponding Old English name in Beowulf.[17]
- ^ Odin is referred to in the þulur as Yggr.[29]
- Old Norse: Eigi er Njörðr ása ættar.[30]
- ^ Freyr is referred to in the þulur as Yngvi-Freyr.[29]
- ^ Examples of this formula include Mart var þar ása oc álfa ("Many of the æsir and álfar were there") from the prose prologue to Lokasenna and ása oc álfa, er hér inno ero "of the æsir and álfar who are here within") from the body of the poem.[54]
- ^ The rune poem is preserved in two manuscripts from the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection, AM 687d 4to and AM 461 12mo. The standardised Old Norse is based on these two attestations.[59]
See also
- Proto-Germanic paganism
- Family trees of the Norse gods
- Horses of the Æsir
- Tuatha Dé Danann
- Twelve Olympians
- Anunnaki
References
- ^ a b áss.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simek 2008, p. 3.
- ^ Hall 2007, p. 63.
- ^ Mierow 1915, p. 3.
- ^ Getica (Latin), Chapter 13, 78.
- ^ Mierow 1915, pp. 72–73, Chapter 13, 78.
- ^ Grimm, p. 25.
- ^ Ás-ynja.
- ^ a b Hellquist 1922.
- ^ a b Kroonen 2013, p. 30.
- ^ Silva 2006, p. 396.
- ^ Simek 2008, p. 19.
- ^ a b Lindow 2002.
- ^ a b Motz 1984, pp. 190–191.
- ^ Tichy.
- ^ Ansuwaldaz.
- ^ a b Vikstrand 2009, p. 1013.
- ^ a b Frog 2021, p. 150-151.
- ^ Simek 2008, pp. 352–353.
- ^ Simek 2008.
- ^ Frog 2021, p. 143.
- ^ Gimbutas & Dexter 2001.
- ^ Turville-Petre 1975, p. 161.
- ^ Dumézil 1973, pp. 3–4, 18.
- ^ Turville-Petre 1975, pp. 159–162.
- ^ Eliade 1996, Section II (30).
- ^ Turville-Petre 1975, p. 162 "In one civilization, and at one time, the specialized gods of fertility might predominate, and in another the warrior or the god-king. The highest god owes his position to those who worship him, and if they are farmers, he will be a god of fertility, or one of the Vanir".
- ^ Jakobsson 1998, p. 63.
- ^ a b c Nafnaþulur.
- ^ a b Gylfaginning 21-30.
- ^ Gylfaginning 11-20.
- ^ Gylfaginning 31-40.
- ^ Gunnell 2015, pp. 55–56, 60–61.
- ^ a b Frog 2021, p. 148.
- ^ McKinnell, Simek & Düwel 2004, p. 116.
- ^ Frog 2021, p. 150.
- ^ Frog 2021, p. 163.
- ^ Vigfússon 1860, Chapter 6: "kallaðr Bárðr Snjófelsáss, þvíat þeir trúðu á hann náliga þar um nesit, ok höfðu hann fyrir heitguð sinn, varð hann ok mörgum en mesta bjargvættr.".
- ^ Simek 2008, pp. 9–10.
- ^ Frog 2021, p. 160.
- ^ Frog 2021, pp. 155–156, 164.
- ^ McKinnell 2005, pp. 1–10, Chapter 1.
- ^ Lummer 2021, pp. 57–85.
- ^ Nordvig 2013, pp. 380–383.
- ^ McKinnell 2005, pp. 109–125, Chapter 8.
- ^ Simek 2008, pp. 78, 240, 316.
- ^ Simek 2008, pp. 91, 107, 316–317.
- ^ McKinnell 2005, pp. 62–64.
- ^ Simek 2008, p. 105.
- ^ Simek 2008, p. 107,192-193.
- ^ Simek 2008, p. 107,169-170,344-345.
- ^ Hall 2007, pp. 1–5.
- ^ a b Hall 2007, pp. 2–3.
- ^ a b Hall 2007, p. 35.
- ^ Hall 2007, p. 108.
- ^ Hall 2007, pp. 35–67.
- ^ Silva 2006, pp. 396–397.
- ^ Dickins, 1915.
- ^ a b Silva 2006, p. 397.
- ^ Silva 2006, pp. 399–400.
- ^ Frog 2021, p. 147.
- ^ Silva 2006, pp. 396–398.
- ^ Kirkeministeriet.
- ^ syslumenn.
- ^ sydsvenskan.
- ^ AUK - CIC.
- ^ asatru, The Icelandic version has "Ásatrú is a pagan tradition based on tolerance, honesty, magnanimity and respect for nature and all life." (Ásatrú eða heiðinn siður byggir á umburðarlyndi, heiðarleika, drengskap og virðingu fyrir náttúrunni og öllu lífi.).
- ^ Hall 2006, p. 61-63.
Bibliography
Primary
- Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1860). Bárðarsaga Snæfellsáss, Viglundarsaga (in Icelandic). Berlingske bogtrykkeri ved N. H. Stenderup.
- McKinnell, John; Simek, Rudolf; Düwel, Klaus (2004). "Gods and Mythological Beings in the Younger Futhark" (PDF). Runes, magic and religion: a sourcebook. Fassbaender.
- Mierow, Charles Christopher (1915). The Gothic history of Jordanes in English version;. Princeton, Univ. Press.
- "Iordanis de Origine Actibusque Getarum, chapter 13". www.thelatinlibrary.com (in Latin). Retrieved 2 August 2023.
- Rune poems. Translated by Dickins, Bruce. 1915.
Secondary
- Dumézil, Georges (1973). Gods of the ancient northmen. Berkeley, Calif.: Univ. of California Pr. ISBN 0520020448.
- Eliade, Mircea (1996). Patterns in comparative religion. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803267336.
- Frog (2021). "The Æsir: An Obituary" (PDF). Essays in Honour of Rudolf Simek.
- Gimbutas, M.; Dexter, M.R. (2001). The Living Goddesses. University of California Press. ]
- Grimm, Jacob; Stallybrass, James Steven (1882–1888). Teutonic mythology. London: G. Bell and sons.
- Gunnell, Terry (2015). "Pantheon? What Pantheon? Concepts of a Family of Gods in Pre-Christian Scandinavian Religions". Scripta Islandica: Isländska sällskapets årsbok. 66. Isländska sällskapet: 55–76.
- Hall, A. (2006). "Are there any Elves in Anglo-Saxon place-names?". Nomina: Journal of the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland. 29: 61–80. ISSN 0141-6340.
- Hall, Alaric (2007). Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: matters of belief, health, gender and identity. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1843835097. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- Hellquist, Elof (1922). Svensk etymologisk ordbok [Swedish etymological dictionary] (in Swedish). Lund: Gleerup. p. 1202.
- Jakobsson, Ármann (1998). ""History of the Trolls? Bárðar saga as an historical narrative," Saga-Book 25 (1998), 53–71". Saga-Book of the Viking Society. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
- Kroonen, Guus (2013). Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic.
- Lindow, John (2002). Norse mythology: a guide to the Gods, heroes, rituals, and beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. OCLC 1136323846.
- Lummer, Felix (2021). "Solitary Colossi and Not-So-Small Men". Arv – Nordic Yearbook of Folklore. 77 (1): 57–85. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
- McKinnell, John (2005). Meeting the other in Norse myth and legend. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: D.S. Brewer. ISBN 1843840421.
- Motz, Lotte (1984). "Trolls and Æsir; lexical evidence concerning north-germanic faith". Indogermanische Forschungen. 89: 179–195. S2CID 201714920. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- Nordvig, Mathias (2013). "A Method for Analyzing World-Models in Scandinavian Mythology". Aarhus University.
- Silva, Inmaculada Senra (1 January 2006). "A note on the meaning of os in the Old English Rune Poem". Epos: Revista de filología (22): 393. ISSN 2255-3495.
- ISBN 9780859915137.
- Turville-Petre, Edward Oswald Gabriel (1975). Myth and religion of the north: the religion of ancient Scandinavia (Repr ed.). Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0837174201.
- Vikstrand, Per (2009). "Pre-Christian Sacral Personal Names in Scandinavia during the Proto-Scandinavian Period" (PDF). Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Onomastic Sciences. York University.
- Tichy, Ondrej. "ós". Bosworth-Toller's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary online. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- "Old Icelandic Dictionary - Áss". Old Icelandic Dictionary. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- "Old Norse Dictionary - Ás-ynja". Cleasby & Vigfusson - Old Norse Dictionary. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- "Gylfaginning 11-20". www.voluspa.org. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
- "Gylfaginning 21-30". www.voluspa.org. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
- "Gylfaginning 31-40". www.voluspa.org. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
- "Nafnaþulur". www.voluspa.org. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
- "Kirkeministeriet" (in Danish). Archived from the original on 9 February 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2007.
Forn Sidr – Asa– og Vanetrosamfundet i Danmark
- "Listi yfir skráð trúfélög og lífsskoðunarfélög" (in Icelandic). Sýslumenn. Archivedfrom the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
Ásatrúarfélagið
- "Freja, Oden och Tor får officiell status". sydsvenskan (in Swedish). 11 August 2011. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.
- "ASATRU UK CIC overview - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
- "Asatru.is". asatru.is (in Icelandic). Archived from the original on 5 December 2006.
- "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/Ansuwaldaz". Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 13 July 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2023.