Norse
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Norse is an adjective relating things to Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Sweden. The etymology of the adjective "norse" is somewhat surprising as one would expect it to have entered the English language through either the already present native stem "north" or via a Scandinavian language. Yet "Norse" (which entered English in 1598) derives from the Dutch word "noors", the adjective form of "Norwegian"[1]. The Scandinavien equivalent of the word is norrøn, or norrön.
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Norse Mythology
Norse or Scandinavian mythology comprises the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. Norse mythology is the best-preserved version of the older common Germanic mythology, which also includes the closely related Anglo-Saxon mythology. Germanic mythology, in its turn, had evolved from an earlier Indo-European mythology.
Norse mythology is a collection of beliefs and stories shared by Northern Germanic tribes. It had no one set of doctrinal beliefs. The mythology was orally transmitted in the form of poetry and our knowledge about it is mainly based on the Eddas[1] and other medieval texts written down during and after Christianisation.
In Scandinavian folklore, these beliefs held on the longest, and in rural areas, some traditions have been maintained until today.
Cosmology
Scandinavians believed that there were nine existing worlds; Asgard, world of the Æsir;Vanaheimr, home of the Vanir. Valhalla was Odin's hall located within Asgard; it was also home of the Einherjar, who were the souls of the greatest warriors. These warriors were selected by the Valkyries, Odin's mounted female messengers whose sparkling armor supposedly created the famed Aurora Borealis, or the northern lights. The Einherjar would help defend the gods during Ragnarok, when everyone would die in a great battle between the gods and their enemies (cf. good vs. evil or order vs. chaos). Other worlds included Midgard, the mortal plane; Muspell, world of fire and home of Surt, a giant whose skin was lava and had hair of fire; Niflheim, the icy underworld ruled by Hel, Loki's half-giantess daughter, and home of the frost giants; Alfheim, world of the elves; Svartálfheim, home of the dark elves; Nidavellir, world of the dwarves, tiny men who were great miners and goldsmiths - they would often build magical items for the gods such as Thor's hammer and Freyr's mechanical boar; and Jotunheim, world of the Jotun, or giants. These worlds were connected by Yggdrasil, or the world ash root, a giant tree with Asgard at its top. Chewing at its roots in Niflheim was Nidhogg, a ferocious serpent or dragon. Asgard can also be reached by Bifrost, the magical rainbow bridge guarded by Heimdall, the mute god of vigilance who could see and hear a thousand miles.
The cosmology of Norse mythology also involves a strong element of duality; for example the night and the day have their own mythological counterparts-- Dagr/Skinfaxi and Nótt/Hrímfaxi, the sun Sol and the chasing wolf Skoll, the moon Mani and its chasing wolf Hati, and the total opposites of Niflheim and Muspell in the origin of the world. This might have reflected a deeper metaphysical belief in opposites as the foundation of the world.
Deities
There are three "clans" of deities, the Æsir, the Vanir, and the Jotun. The distinction between Æsir and Vanir is relative, for the two are said to have made peace, exchanged hostages, intermarried and reigned together after a prolonged war, which the Æsir had finally won. Some gods belong in both camps. Some scholars have speculated that this tale symbolized the way the gods of invading Indo-European tribes supplanted older nature-deities of the aboriginal peoples, although it should be firmly noted that this is conjecture. Other authorities (compare Mircea Eliade and J.P. Mallory) consider the Æsir/Vanir division to be simply the Norse expression of a general Indo-European division of divinities, parallel to that of Olympians and Titans in Greek mythology, and in parts of the Mahabharata.
The Æsir and the Vanir are generally enemies with the Jotun; Old English Eotenas or Entas). They are comparable to the Titans and Gigantes of Greek mythology and generally translated as "giants", although "trolls" and "demons" have been suggested as suitable alternatives. However, the Æsir are descendants of Jotun and both Æsir and Vanir intermarry with them. For example, Loki was the child of two giants, and Hel was half-giantess. Not to mention the first gods, Odin, Vili and Ve were drops of milk from the icy cow Audhumla. Some of the giants are mentioned by name in the Eddas, and they seem to be representations of natural forces. There are two general types of giant: Thurses and the normal thuggish giant, but there was also a giant made of stone and a giant made of fire. There were also elves and dwarfs, whose role is shadowy but who are generally thought to side with the gods.
In addition, there are many other supernatural beings: Fenris the gigantic wolf, and Jörmungandr the sea-serpent (or "worm") that is coiled around Midgard. These two monsters are described as the progeny of Loki, the trickster-god, and a giant (Hel is the third of these offspring). More benevolent creatures are Hugin and Munin (thought and memory, respectively), the two ravens who keep Odin, the chief god, apprised of what is happening on earth, since he gave his eye to the Well of Mimir in his quest for wisdom, Sleipner, Loki's eight legged horse son belonging to Odin and Ratatosk, the squirrel which scampers in the branches of Yggdrasil.
Along with many other polytheistic religions, this mythology lacks the good-evil dualism of the Middle Eastern tradition. Thus, Loki is not primarily an adversary of the gods, though he is often portrayed in the stories as the nemesis to the protagonist Thor, and the giants are not so much fundamentally evil, as rude, boisterous, and uncivilized (except in the case of the Thurses who were not quite so uncivilized). The dualism that exists is not good vs. evil, but order vs. chaos. The gods represent order and structure whereas the giants and the monsters represent chaos and disorder.
Völuspá: the origin and end of the world
The origin and eventual fate of the world are described in Völuspá ("The völva's prophecy" or "The sybil's prophecy"), one of the most striking poems in the Poetic Edda. These haunting verses contain one of the most vivid creation accounts in all of religious history and a representation of the eventual destruction of the world that is unique in its attention to detail.
In the Völuspá, Odin, the chief god of the Norse pantheon, has conjured up the spirit of a dead Völva (Shaman or sybil) and commanded this spirit to reveal the past and the future. She is reluctant: "What do you ask of me? Why tempt me?"; but since she is already dead, she shows no fear of Odin, and continually taunts him: "Well, would you know more?" But Odin insists: if he is to fulfil his function as king of the gods, he must possess all knowledge. Once the sybil has revealed the secrets of past and future, she falls back into oblivion: "I sink now".
The beginning
According to the Scandinavians, the beginning of life starts out with only fire and ice. It began with the existence of only two worlds: Muspellheim and Niflheim. When the warm air of Muspellheim hit the cold ice of Niflheim, the outline of the Thurses Ymir and the icy cow Audhumbla were created. Ymir's foot bred a son with the other and a man and a woman emerged from his armpits. Thus he would be the father of an entire host of the cruel creatures known as giants. As Ymir slept, the continuing heat from Muspellheim made him sweat. He sweat out Surt, a flaming giant who went to Muspellheim, whose fire made him feel welcome. Later Ymir woke and drank Audhumbla's milk. And while he drank the cow licked on a salt stone. The first day a mans hair appeared, on the second day the head and on the third day the entire man emerged from the stone. His name was Bure and with an unknown giant he fathered the three gods Odin, Vili and Ve. And when the gods felt strong enough they killed Ymir. His blood flooded the world and drowned all of the giants, except two. But they would replenish the giants and soon there were as many as before Ymirs death. Then the gods created seven more worlds using Ymirs flesh for dirt, his blood for the Oceans, rivers and lakes, his bones for stone and his skull for the heaven. Sparks from Muspellheim were thrown up and sat as stars and pieces of Ymirs brain as the clouds.
One day when the gods were walking they found two trunks. They transformed them into the shape of humans. Odin gave them life, Vili gave them mind and Ve gave them sight, the ability to talk, hear, and speak. The gods named them Ask and Embla and built the kingdom of Middle-earth for them and to keep the giants out the gods placed a gigantic fence made of Ymirs eye-lashes around Middle-earth.
The sybil describes Yggdrasil and the three norns (female symbols of inexorable fate; their names - Urðr (Urd), Verðandandi (Verdandi), and Skuld - indicate the past, present, and future), who spin the threads of fate beneath it. She describes the primeval war between Æsir and Vanir and the murder of Baldr, Odin's handsome son whom everyone but Loki loved. (The story is that everything in existence had promised not to hurt him except mistletoe. Taking advantage of this weakness, Loki made a mistletoe spear and tricked Hoder, Odin's blind son and Baldr's brother, into using it to kill Baldr. Hel said she would revive him if everyone in the nine worlds wept. Loki didn't weep) After that she turns her attention to the future.
The end times (Eschatological beliefs)
The Old Norse vision of the future is bleak. Norse mythology's vision of the end times is uniquely stark and pessimistic: not only are the Norse gods capable of being defeated by residents of Yggdrasil's other branches, but in fact are destined to be defeated, and have always lived with this knowledge. In the end, it was believed, the forces of chaos will outnumber and overcome the divine and human guardians of order. Loki and his monstrous children will burst their bonds; the dead will sail from Niflheim to attack the living. Heimdall, the watchman of the gods, will summon the heavenly host with a blast on his horn. Then a final battle will ensue between order and chaos (Ragnarök), which the gods will lose, as is their fate. The gods, aware of this, will gather the finest warriors, the Einherjar, to fight on their side when the day comes, but in the end they will be powerless to prevent the world from descending into the chaos out of which it has once emerged; the gods and their world will be destroyed. There are two optimistic facts, however: Not only will chaos also be defeated, but a new, better world will emerge from the ashes of the old one. Odin will be swallowed by Fenrir. Thor will kill Jörmungandr , but will drown in its venom. Loki will be the last to die, having taken a wound from Heimdall that, although was taken at the same time as Loki's wound on Heimdall, did not kill the god of chaos and fire in that instance. Mre on Norse Mythology
Norse worship
Centres of faith
The Germanic tribes rarely or never had temples in a modern sense. The Blót, the form of worship practiced by the ancient Germanic and Scandinavian people resembled that of the Celts and Balts : it could occur in sacred groves. It could also take place at home and/or at a simple altar of piled stones known as a "horgr". However, there seems to have been a few more important centres, such as Skiringssal, Lejre and Uppsala. Adam of Bremen claims that there was a temple in Uppsala (see Temple at Uppsala) with three wooden statues of Thor, Odin and Freyr.
Priests
While a kind of priesthood seems to have existed, it never took on the professional and semi-hereditary character of the Celtic druidical class. This was because the shamanistic tradition was maintained by women, the Völvas. It is often said that the Germanic kingship evolved out of a priestly office. This priestly role of the king was in line with the general role of godi, who was the head of a kindred group of families (for this social structure, see norse clans), and who administered the sacrifices.
Despite the shamanistic Völvas, this religion was not a form of shamanism.
Human sacrifice
A unique eye-witness account of Germanic human sacrifice survives in Ibn Fadlan's account of a Rus ship burial, where a slave-girl had volunteered to accompany her lord to the next world. More indirect accounts are given by Tacitus, Saxo Grammaticus and Adam von Bremen.
However, the Ibn Fadlan account is actually a burial ritual. Current understanding of Norse mythology suggests an ulterior motive to the slave-girl's 'sacrifice'. It is believed that in Norse mythology a woman who joined the corpse of a man on the funeral pyre would be that man's wife in the next world. For a slave girl to become the wife of a lord was an obvious increase in status. Although both religions are of the Indo-European tradition, the sacrifice described in the Ibn Fadlan account is not to be confused with the practice of Sati.
The Heimskringla tells of Swedish King Aun who sacrificed nine of his sons in an effort to prolong his life until his subjects stopped him from killing his last son Egil. According to Adam of Bremen, the Swedish kings sacrificed male slaves every ninth year during the Yule sacrifices at the Temple at Uppsala. The Swedes had the right not only to elect kings but also to depose them, and both king Domalde and king Olof Trätälja are said to have been sacrificed after years of famine.
Odin was associated with death by hanging, and a possible practice of Odinic sacrifice by strangling has some archeological support in the existence of bodies perfectly preserved by the acid of the Jutland (later taken over by Danish people) peatbogs, into which they were cast after having been strangled. An example is Tollund Man. However, we possess no written accounts that explicitly interpret the cause of these stranglings, which could obviously have other explanations.
Norse Language
Old Norse is the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. It evolved from the older Proto-Norse, in the 8th century.
Because most of the surviving texts are from Medieval Icelandic, the de facto standard version of the language is the Old West Norse dialect, that is Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian. Sometimes, Old Norse is defined as Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian. However, the same language was spoken in the form of a very similar Old East Norse dialect in Denmark and Sweden and their settlements. There was no clear geographical separation between the two dialects. Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway and Old West Norse traits were found in western Sweden. In addition, there was also an Old Gutnish dialect, sometimes included in Old East Norse because it was the least known dialect. The Icelandic Gray Goose Laws stated that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders and Danes all spoke the same language, dǫnsk tunga. In the eastern dialect, which was spoken in Sweden and Denmark, this would have been dansk tunga and this translates as the "Danish tongue". It was also called norrœnt mál ("Norse language").
It has been said that old Norse was mutually intelligible with Old English, Old Saxon and Old Low Franconian, which however is an overstatement. Although the languages were closer then, a Scandinavian of the time would not have understood an Anglo-Saxon better than an present day Englishman understands, for instance, Dutch. Old Norse gradually evolved into the modern North Germanic languages: Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish.
Modern Icelandic is the descendant that has diverged the least from Old Norse. In its normalised written form, Old Norse is understandable to modern day Icelandic-speakers. However, pronunciation, particularly of the vowel phonemes, has changed at least as much as other North Germanic languages. Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, and Gaelic (Scots and/or Irish). Although Swedish, Danish and the Norwegian languages have diverged the most, they still retain mutual intelligibility. This could be because these languages have been mutually affected by each other, as well as having a similar development influenced by Middle Low German.
Main Article Old Norse
See Also
References
- Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary. "Norse." 2001. February 26, 2007.[2]
