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As mentioned above, Odin’s name can be translated as “Master of Ecstasy.” His Old Norse name, Óðinn, is formed from two parts: first, the noun óðr, “ecstasy, fury, inspiration,” and the suffix -inn, the masculine definite article, which, when added to the end of another word like this, means something like “the master of” or “a perfect example of.” The eleventh-century historian Adam of Bremen confirms this when he translates “Odin” as “The Furious.” [1] Óðr can take countless different forms. As one saga describes Odin, “when he sat with his friends, he gladdened the spirits of all of them, but when he was at war, his demeanor was terrifyingly grim.” [2] The Germanic peoples, like other Indo-European peoples, originally had a three-tiered social/political hierarchy: the first tier consisted of rulers, the second of warriors, and the third of farmers and others occupied with production and fecundity. The gods and goddesses can be profitably mapped onto this schema, and Odin, along with Tyr, corresponds to the first tier, the rulers. [6] The crucial difference between Tyr and Odin in this regard, however, is that Tyr has much more to do with rule by law and justice, whereas Odin has much more to do with rule by magic and cunning. Tyr is the sober and virtuous ruler; Odin is the devious, inscrutable, and inspired ruler. [7]
Chapter 3 says that Odin had two brothers, Vé and Vili. While Odin was gone, his brothers governed his realm. Once Odin was gone for so long that the Æsir believed that he would not return, his brothers began to divvy up Odin's inheritance, "but his wife Frigg they shared between them. However, afterwards, [Odin] returned and took possession of his wife again". [62] Chapter 4 describes the Æsir– Vanir War. According to the chapter, Odin "made war on the Vanir". The Vanir defended their land and the battle turned to a stalemate, both sides having devastated each other's lands. As part of a peace agreement, the two sides exchanged hostages. One of the exchanges went awry and resulted in the Vanir decapitating one of the hostages sent to them by the Æsir, Mímir. The Vanir sent Mímir's head to the Æsir, whereupon Odin "took it and embalmed it with herbs so that it would not rot, and spoke charms [Old Norse galdr] over it", which imbued the head with the ability to answer Odin and "tell him many occult things". [63] Turville-Petre, E.O.G. 1964. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. p. 42-50. The woman wakes, sits up, looks at Sigurd, and the two converse in two stanzas of verse. In the second stanza, the woman explains that Odin placed a sleeping spell on her which she could not break, and due to that spell she has been asleep a long time. Sigurd asks for her name, and the woman gives Sigurd a horn of mead to help him retain her words in his memory. The woman recites a heathen prayer in two stanzas. A prose narrative explains that the woman is named Sigrdrífa and that she is a valkyrie. [58]Dronke, Ursula (Trans.) (1997). The Poetic Edda: Volume II: Mythological Poems. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-811181-9
Odin’s competitive side once drove him to challenge the wisest of the giants to a contest to see who was more knowledgeable and learned. The prize was the head of the loser, and Odin won by asking his opponent something that only he himself could know. Odin then claimed his prize and returned to Asgard. [10] Internal and comparative evidence all point to the ideas of a divine possession or inspiration, and an ecstatic divination. [9] [10] In his Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (1075–1080 AD), Adam of Bremen explicitly associates Wotan with the Latin term furor, which can be translated as 'rage', 'fury', 'madness', or 'frenzy' ( Wotan id est furor: "Odin, that is, furor"). [11] As of 2011, an attestation of Proto-Norse Woðinz, on the Strängnäs stone, has been accepted as probably authentic, but the name may be used as a related adjective instead meaning "with a gift for (divine) possession" (ON: øðinn). [12] The contrast between the MCU Odin and the Nordic and Germanic Odin perfectly exemplifies the differences between modern western culture’s understanding of “wisdom” and what the ancient Norse and Germanic people understood by the word. So, while Odin wasn’t a god of wisdom, he was revered as one of the wisest gods in the Norse pantheon. Wisdom wasn’t inherent to him the way it was to Mimir but Odin was constantly seeking wisdom and knowledge. He would often assume secret identities and wander the world in search of new sources of knowledge. de Vries, Jan (1970a), Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, volume 1. 2nd ed. repr. as 3rd ed (in German), Walter de Gruyter, OCLC 466619179
Is the silver figurine from Lejre representing Odin? Freya? Or perhaps a völva, a Viking sorceress? Many interpretations have been put forward
Who are the twain that on ten feet run? three eyes they have, but only one tail. All right guess now this riddle, Heithrek!
To the right, Thor is found in the same size as Odin. He is also shown standing. He holds the dreaded hammer over his left shoulder. Dolen, Rob (4 May 2020). "Odin's Role in Assassin's Creed Valhalla". Gamerant. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021 . Retrieved 20 August 2021.
Odin was often sought for wise advice by the other gods, heroes, or beings in Nordic legends, and he was often the one to make difficult decisions in complicated situations. Meanwhile, Ybor and Aio called upon Frea, Godan's wife. Frea counselled them that "at sunrise the Winnil[i] should come, and that their women, with their hair let down around the face in the likeness of a beard should also come with their husbands". At sunrise, Frea turned Godan's bed around to face east and woke him. Godan saw the Winnili and their whiskered women and asked, "who are those Long-beards?" Frea responded to Godan, "As you have given them a name, give them also the victory". Godan did so, "so that they should defend themselves according to his counsel and obtain the victory". Thenceforth the Winnili were known as the Langobards ('long-beards'). [38] There the gods and their descendants lived and there took place as a result many developments both on earth and aloft. In the city there is a seat called Hlidskialf, and when Odin sat in that throne he saw over all worlds and every man's activity and understood everything he saw. His wife was called Frigg Fiorgvin's daughter, and from them is descended the family line that we call the Æsir race, who have resided in Old Asgard and the realms that belong to it, and that whole line of descent is of divine origin. And this is why he can be called All-father, that he is father of all gods and of men and of everything that has been brought into being by him and his power. The earth was his daughter and his wife. Out of her he begot the first of his ons, that is Asa-Thor. [60] While this makes Odin seem similar to “father” deities from other mythologies such as Zeus and Ra, he is different from them in several aspects. Unlike those deities, Odin played many roles. Odin – Master of Ecstasy Odin in the Guise of a Wanderer (1886) by Georg von Rosen. Public Domain.
Other Germanic cognates derived from *wōðaz include Gothic woþs ('possessed'), Old Norse óðr ('mad, frantic, furious'), Old English wōd ('insane, frenzied') and Dutch woed ('frantic, wild, crazy'), along with the substantivized forms Old Norse óðr ('mind, wit, sense; song, poetry'), Old English wōþ ('sound, noise; voice, song'), Old High German wuot ('thrill, violent agitation') and Middle Dutch woet ('rage, frenzy'), from the same root as the original adjective. The Proto-Germanic terms *wōðīn ('madness, fury') and *wōðjanan ('to rage') can also be reconstructed. [3] Early epigraphic attestations of the adjective include un-wōdz ('calm one', i.e. 'not-furious'; 200 CE) and wōdu-rīde ('furious rider'; 400 CE). [10] né átto, óð þau né hǫfðo, lá né læti né lito góða. Ǫnd gaf Óðinn, óð gaf Hœnir, lá gaf Lóðurr ok lito góða. Old Norse: [43] de Vries, Jan (1962). Altnordisches Etymologisches Worterbuch (1977ed.). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-05436-3. a b de Vaan, Michiel (2018). Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages. Brill. p.656. ISBN 978-90-04-16797-1.Hollander, Lee Milton (1936). Old Norse Poems: The Most Important Nonskaldic Verse Not Included in the Poetic Edda. Columbia University Press Odin depicted on a monument from about the 9th century in Gotland Odin, in his guise as a wanderer, as imagined by Georg von Rosen (1886) The Norse saw their gods as the vital forces that held the cosmos together. As the “Allfather,” Odin was the vital force of vital forces – the “breath of life,” or something almost akin to Nietzsche’s “Will to Power.” It’s surely no accident that Odin played a greater role than any other god in the creation of the world. Without his vivifying ecstasy, and the enchantment, insight, and clarity that it brings, life – and in particular a life worth living – would be impossible. Schulte, Michael (2006), "The transformation of the older fuþark: Number magic, runographic or linguistic principles?", Arkiv för nordisk filologi, vol.121, pp.41–74
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