| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| Goddess name "AEGIR (water)" | Icelandic / Nordic | God of the ocean. A lesser known AESIR god of Asgard concerned with the moods of the sea and their implications for mariners. The river Eider was known to the Vikings as Aegir's Door. Aegir is also depicted in some poetry as the ale brewer, perhaps an allusion to the caldrons of mead which were thought to come from under the sea (see also the Celtic deities DAGDA and GOBNIU). There are references in literature to Saxons sacrificing captives, probably to Aegir, before setting sail for home. Linked in uncertain manner to the goddess RAN he was believed to have sired nine children, the waves of the sea, who were possibly giantesses.... |
| God name "AESIR" | Icelandic / Nordic | The major race of sky gods in Norse religion. The twelve Aesir gods are headed by OTHIN, the All-Father and probably are, in part, derived from a Germanic pantheon established in prehistory. The Aesir follow a common pattern whereby cultures establish a senior pantheon of great gods which usually number seven or twelve.... |
| Deities name "Alcis" | Germanic / possibly Icelandic / Nordic | Unknown status. The Alcis are twin deities (brothers) known only as sons of the sky gods. From Germanic times we have a La Tene urn with pictures of paired men on horseback and linked by a wooden beam. Tacitus describes the worship of twin gods by the Naharvali tribe, their priests dressed in effeminate costume (see also the Phrygian deity ATTIS). They may have been worshiped in Forest sanctuaries along the northern coast of Europe.... |
| King name "Atli" | Icelandic | In the Volsunga Saga Atli is a king corresponding to Etzel in the Nibelungenlied; he marries Gudrun and invites her brothers to court, where they are treacherously slain. Gudrun avenges them by killing her own and Atli's two sons, and later, Atli himself. |
| God name "BALDER (lord)" | Icelandic / Nordic | The dying god. Balder is the spotless good god, the shining one, OTHIN's favored second son. He lives in a hall named Breidablik. He is the father of the god FORSETI.... |
| Goddess name "BRAGI (poet; leader)" | Nordic / Icelandic | God of poetry. A Viking deity, said by Snorri to be a son of OTHIN and consort of IDUNN, the goddess who keeps the apples of immortality for the gods of Asgard. Bragi is possibly also a pseudonym for Othin himself. Often found in company with AEGIR. The cup over which oaths were sworn was known as the cup of Bragi and he was seen as a poet and orator in the hall of the slain, Valhalla.... |
| God name "Bor" | Nordic / Icelandic | Archetypal god. In the creation account, according to Snorri, a living creature called Ymir was formed in the misty void of Ginnungagap. Ymir was nourished by the milk of the cow Audhumla, who licked salty ice blocks and released a second individual called BURI. He had a son called Bor. Bor, in turn, engendered the AESIR gods OTHIN, VILI and VE. Also Borr.See also Othin.... |
| God name "Buri" | Nordic / Icelandic | Archetypal god. According to Snorri, one of two primordial beings. Ymir was formed from the misty void of Ginnungagap, and Buri emerged from the blocks of salty ice on which the cosmic cow Audhumla fed. He had a son, BOR, who engendered the AESIR gods OTHIN, VILI and VE. Also Bori.... |
| Goddess name "Disir" | Nordic / Icelandic / / Germanic | Collective name for guardian goddesses. They were the subject of a sacrificial ritual in autumn and have strong fertility connotations as vegetation and fertility deities. They are identified in the Sigr drifumal (Poetic Edda) and include the Valkyries and Norns of Germanic mythology.... |
| King name "Dvergr" | Norse | A dwarf. In modern Icelandic lore dwarfs disappear, but remain in local names, as Dverga-steinn, and in several words and phrases. From the belief that dwarfs lived in rocks an echo is called dwerg-mal (dwarf talk), and dwerg-mala means to echo. The dwarfs were skilled in metal-working. Norse |
| God name "Forseti" | Nordic / Icelandic | God of unknown status. A god of Asgard said by Snorri to be the son of Balder and NANNA. According to an Icelandic list of dwellings of the gods, Forseti owned a gold and silver hall, Glitnir, and was a good law maker and arbiter of disputes. Also Fosite (Friesian).... |
| Goddess name "Gefjon" | Germanic / Nordic / Icelandic | Goddess of Agriculture. One of the AESIR deities and an attendant of the goddess FRIGG according to tradition mentioned by Snorri in the Edda. She bore four giant sons whom she turned into oxen and used them to plough a tract of land which was then towed out to sea to become Zeeland (Sjaeland). She is also said to have founded a royal Danish dynasty. Also Gefiun.... |
| Goddess name "Hel" | Germanic / Nordic / Icelandic | Chthonic underworld goddess. The daughter of LOKI and the giantess Angrboda, and the sibling of both the Midgard worm who will cause the sea to flood the world with the lashings of his tail, and of Fenrir, the phantom wolf who will swallow the Sun, at Ragnarok. She is queen of the otherworld, also known as Hell, and she takes command of all who die, except for heroes slain in battle, who ascend to Valhalla. In some mythologies she is depicted as half black and half white. She was adopted into British mythology.... |
"Hell Shoon" | Iceland | In Icelandic mythology, indispensable for the journey to Valhalla as the obolus for crossing the Styx. |
| God name "Hermod" | Nordic / Icelandic | Messenger god. One of the sons of the Wiking god OTHIN, he was sent to Hel on a mission to obtain the release of the god Balder, who had been slain by the blind god Hod. The mission failed because only one creature in the world, a hag (probably LOKI in disguise), failed to weep at Balder's loss and Hermod returned empty-handed. It may be argued that Hermod is less a deity than a demigod hero modeled on the Danish king of the Beowulf Saga. Also Heremod; Hermoth.... |
| Goddess name "Hlothyn" | Nordic / Icelandic | Goddess. A less common name for the goddess Fjorgynn, noted in the Trymskvoia from the Poetic Edda. The mother of THOR.... |
| God name "Hoenir" | Nordic / Icelandic / Identified in the Voluspa / Poetic Edda / as the priest of the Viking gods who handles the blood wands i | God. e. Divines future events. Some authors believe Hoenir to be a hypostasis of the god OTHIN, particularly concerned with giving the human race senses and feelings. Also known in north Germanic culture. He is said to have fled to Vanaheim after the great battle between the AESIR and VANIR gods.... |
| God name "Horagalles" | Lappish | weather god. The local embodiment of the Nordic (Icelandic) god THOR. Depicted as a bearded figure carrying a pair of hammers.... |
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