SHAWORDS
Odin

Odin

Odin

Odin

author
8Quotes

Odin is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Empire's partial occupation of Germania, the Migration Period and the Viking Age. Consequently, Odin has hundreds of names and titles. Several of these stem from the recon

Popular Quotes

8 total
Quote
"Exceeding many names have ye given him; and, by my faith, it must indeed be a goodly wit that knows all the lore and the examples of what chances have brought about each of these names." Then Hárr made answer: "It is truly a vast sum of knowledge to gather together and set forth fittingly. But it is briefest to tell thee that most of his names have been given him by reason of this chance: there being so many branches of tongues in the world, all peoples believed that it was needful for them to turn his name into their own tongue, by which they might the better invoke him and entreat him on their own behalf. But some occasions for these names arose in his wanderings; and that matter is recorded in tales. Nor canst thou ever be called a wise man if thou shalt not be able to tell of those great events."
OdinOdin
Quote
"Odinism was certainly not racist. Germanic settlers in new lands, such as the Franks in France, the Longobards in Italy or the Vikings in Normandy or Sicily, always intermarried with locals and adopted the local language and religion within at most two generations. Preservation of their racial and cultural identity was the least of their concerns. Likewise in their mythology, the different categories of their gods (Aesir, Vanir, Giants) intermarried, e.g. Odin himself was the offspring of a mixed Ase-Giant union. For obsessions with racial purity, few religions would be more unfit than Odinism."
OdinOdin
Quote
"The Germanic Wodan (and variants) and his Scandinavian counterpart Odin presents an interesting case... He is king Skygod in Valhalla, has magic knowledge and grants victory: thus he resembles Varuna. That such a major deity, even if subsequent to Tîwaz, should arise as a native independent development from the storm-fury alone seems unlikely, though not impossible. Wodan/Odin may be a development of a PIE deity appearing as V [Vedic] Váta (=wind: an allonym of the more common Váyu) who exhibits traits pertinent to the Gmc [Germanic] god."
OdinOdin

Similar Authors & Thinkers