Davidson, H. - Gods and Myths of Northern Europe

THING (þING): Public meeting for the passing of laws and hearing of law cases, held regularly at places of assembly

THIðRIKS SAGA: þiðriks Saga of Bern, written in Norway in the thirteenth century, containing German material

THOKK (ÞǪKK): Giantess who refused to weep for Balder, said to be Loki

THOR (ÞÓRR): God of thunder, specially venerated in Norway and Sweden

THORBIORN BRUNARSON (ÞORBJǪRN BRÚNARSON): Eleventh-century Icelandic poet, of whom a few verses have survived

THORGERDA (ÞORGERðR HǪLGARBRÚðR): ‘Bride of Helgi’. Goddess worshipped by the Jarls of Halogaland, and connected with Freyja

THORGRIM (ÞORGRÍMR ÞORSTEINSSON): Brother-in-law of hero of Gísla Saga , whom Gisli killed; called the priest of Freyr

THORHALL (ÞORHALLR VEIðIMAðR): ‘The hunter’. Worshipper of Thor who took part in expedition to Vineland

THOROLF (ÞORÓLFR MOSTRARSKEGG): ‘Beard of Most’. One of early settlers in Iceland, great worshipper of Thor, who came from island of Most in Norway

THORD FREYSGOðI (ÞÓRðR): Thord priest of Freyr. A name found in several Icelandic genealogies, though little is known of him

THRYM (ÞRYMR): Giant who stole Thor’s hammer. The story of its recovery is told in the Edda poem Þrymskviða

THUNOR (ÞUNOR): Thunder god worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons

TÎWAZ: God of battle worshipped by the Germans

TIW: Or Tig. Name under which Tiwaz was worshipped by Anglo-Saxons

TYR (TYR): One of the gods of Asgard, thought to be an early war god

TÚAΤΗA DÉ DONANN: Originally ‘peoples of the goddess Donu’, a spirit folk. The gods of pagan Ireland

ULL (ULLR): One of the gods of Asgard. Famous archer and skier

URD (URðR): One of the Norns who guarded the spring by the World Tree

UTGARD-LOKI (UTGARðAR-LOKI): The giant ruler of Utgard, a realm outside Asgard

VAFÞRÚðNISMÁL: Dialogue poem in the Edda between Odin and Vafþruðnir the giant

VAÏNÄMÖINEN: Great magician of Finnish epic Kalevala

VALASKJÁLF: The seat of Odin, from which he could see all worlds

VALHALLA (VALHǪLL): ‘Hall of the slain’. The dwelling of Odin where he welcomes those slain in battle, and where they spend their time fighting and feasting

VALKYRIE (VALKYRJA): ‘Chooser of the slain’. Female spirit attending the god of war, who helps to decide the course of battle and conducts the slain to Valhalla

VALI (VÁLI): Son of Odin and Rind, who avenges Balder by killing Hoder, and who survives Ragnarok

VANIR: The race of gods to which Njord, Freyr, and Freyja belong, connected with fertility

VATNSDŒLA SAGA: One of the Icelandic family sagas, telling of the men of Vatnsdale (translated by G. Jones, Princeton, 1944)

VE (VÉ): Son of Bor and brother of Odin

VIDAR (VÍDAR): Son of Odin, who avenged him by slaying Fenrir

VIGA-GLÚMS SAGA: One of the Icelandic family sagas containing much early material. The story of Glum, a famous Icelandic fighter and poet (translated by Sir E. Head, London, 1866)

VIGRID (VÍGRÍðR): Plain on which the last great battle is fought

VIKAR (VIKARR): Norwegian king who was sacrificed to Odin

VILI: Son of Bor and brother of Odin

VINELAND (VINLAND): Settlement of the east coast of America established by Icelanders from Greenland

VITAZGJAFI: ‘Certain giver’. Name of a field beside the temple of Freyr in Viga-Glúms Saga

VOLSUNG (VǪLSUNGR): Founder of the Volsung family, father of hero Sigmund

VǪLSUNGA SAGA: One of the best-known of the Fornaldar Sǫgur , telling of the history of the Volsung family, and especially of the famous hero Sigurd (translated by O. Schlauch, New York, 1949)

VǪLUSPÁ: ‘Sooth-saying of the vǫlva’. Poem in the Edda telling of the beginning and ending of the worlds. The Shorter Vǫluspá is another poem about the origin and doom of the gods

VǪLVA: Woman with powers of divination, a seeress

WACHILT: Giantess mother of Wade in Germanic tradition, said to live under the sea

WADE: Giant remembered in Anglo-Saxon and Danish tradition. Connected with great stones and with the sea, father of Weland the Smith

WÆLCYRGE: ‘Chooser of the slain’. Term used to translate the names of the Furies in Old English word lists of eighth and ninth centuries

WELAND: Supernatural smith of the early Anglo-Saxon tradition. Vǫlundr in Old Norse poetry

WIDIA: Son of Weland. Wittich in German tradition

WILLEBRORD: Bishop of Utrecht. Missionary in the Netherlands in the eighth century. Life written by Alcuin of York (translated by C. H. Talbot, The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany , London, 1954)

WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY: Writer of twelfth-century Latin history of the kings of England, Gesta Regum Anglorum (translated by Sharpe in the G. Bell Bohn Library, 1847, 1876)

WODAN: Or Wotan. God of battle and death worshipped by the heathen Germanic peoples

WODEN: God of battle and death worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons in England

WULFSTAN: Lupus. Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of York, 1002–23. His homilies have survived, and the most famous is Sermo Lupi , a sermon about the sins of the nation (ed. Whitelock, Methuen, 1939)

YGGDRASILL: Probably ‘Horse of Yggr (Odin)’. The World Tree, forming the centre of the worlds of gods, men, and giants

YMIR: Primeval giant, from whose body the world was formed

YNGLINGA SAGA: First section of Snorri’s Heimskringla , which gives an account of the early kings of Sweden, the Ynglings, from whom the Norwegian kings were descended

YNGLINGS (YNGLINGAR): Royal dynasty of Sweden

YNGLINGATÁL: Ninth-century poem by þjóðólfr ór Hvíni, giving a list of the early kings, how they died and where they were buried, from which Snorri took much of his information for Ynglinga Saga

Index

Abingdon, Chronicle of, 105

Adam of Bremen: on gods at Uppsala, 70, 75, 77, 84, 86, 96, 124; on sacrifices, 51; on tree near temple, 191

Aegir, 128–30

Aesir, 25–6, 172; their war with Vanir, 40, 45, 126, 167, 168

Æstii, 99

Aethelweard’s Chronicle , 105

Aggersborg, 69

Agnar, 111

Agni of Sweden, 116

Alaisiagae, 62, 64

Alamanni, 59, 160–61

Alcis, 169

Alfheim, 28, 107, 156

Alfred, King, 13, 77

Ali of Sweden, 99

Amulet (hammer), 81

Andvari, 43–4, 218

Anglo-Saxon literature: Caedmon, 198; Chronicle , 77, 105, 160; Cynewulf, 99; devil in, 178; Exodus , 65; Seafarer , 218; spells, 63, 113, 156; Wade, 131; word-lists, 62. See also Beowulf

Anglo-Saxons, 10, 11; cemeteries, 17, 81, 160; conversion, 220; dynasties, 56, 60, 108, 201; helmets, 98; place-names, 87; ship-burial, 133–4; urns, 147; worship of gods, 83, 86, 104, 113, 147, 161, 170

Angrboda, 31, 188

Apples of youth, 30, 39, 165–6, 179

Apuleius, 96

Asgard: building of, 28, 31; destruction of, 110, 202; position of, 46, 190; protection of, 91, 173

Asthall Barrow, 160

Auðhumla , 27, 198, 200

Aurvandil, 41, 199

Balder, 29, 30, 40, 182–9, 217; death of, 35–7, 39, 80, 108–10, 136, 150, 162; his son, 171

Baldrs Draumar , 143, 146, 185–6, 188

Battle of Goths and Huns , 53

Beard of Thor, 73, 85

Beaw, 108

Bede, the Venerable, 11, 50, 113, 220, 221, 222

Bede (goddess), 62

Belt of Thor, 29, 33, 42, 179

Benty Grange Tumulus, 98

Beow, 108

Beowulf , 15; boar helmets in, 98, 99; creation song in, 198; cremation in, 160; dragon in, 159, 161; Grendel in, 18; Herebeald in, 189; praise of fame in, 216; sacrifice in, 51; Scyld in, 104; ship-funeral in, 135–6