Norse Mythology

ALVIS m Norse Mythology
Means "all wise" in Old Norse. In Norse mythology this was the name of a dwarf who was to marry Thor's daughter Thrud. Thor was not pleased with this so he tricked Alvis by asking him questions until the sun rose, at which time the dwarf was turned into stone.

BALDER m Norse Mythology
Means "prince" from Old Norse. In Norse mythology Balder was the son of Odin and Frigg. Because of the disturbing dreams he had when he was young, his mother extracted an oath from every thing in the world that it would not harm him. However the evil fire god Loki learned that she had overlooked mistletoe. Being jealous, he tricked the blind god Hoder into throwing a branch of mistletoe at Balder, which killed him.

FREY m Norse Mythology
Pronounced: FRAY
Variant of FREYR

FREYA f Norse Mythology
Pronounced: FRAY-a
Means "lady" from Old Norse. This is the name of the goddess of love and beauty in Norse mythology. She claimed half of the heroes who were slain in battle, and brought them to her realm in Asgard.

FREYR m Norse Mythology
Pronounced: FRAYR
Means "lord" from Old Norse. This was another name of the Norse god Ing. Freyr was actually derived from a title of Ing, Yngvi Freyr, meaning "lord Ing". Freyr (or Ing) presided over fertility, sunlight and rain, and was the husband of the frost giantess Gerd.

FRIGG f Norse Mythology
Pronounced: FRIG
Means "beloved" in Old Norse, ultimately derived from Indo-European *pri "to love". In Norse mythology she was the goddess of the earth, air and fertility, and the wife of Odin.

GERD f Norse Mythology
Pronounced: GERD
Derived from Old Norse garðr meaning "enclosure". In Norse myth Gerd was a fertility goddess, a frost giantess who was the wife of Freyr.

GRID f Norse Mythology
Pronounced: GRID
Means "peace" in Old Norse. In Norse myth she was a frost giantess, the mother of Víðarr by Odin. She also aided Thor in his fight against the giant Geirrod.

GUDRUN f Norse Mythology, Scandinavian, German
Means "god's secret lore", derived from the Old Norse elements guð "god" and run "secret lore". In Norse legend Gudrun was the wife of Sigurd. After his death she married Atli, but when he murdered her brothers, she killed her sons by him, fed him their hearts, and then slew him.

HEIDRUN f Norse Mythology
Derived from Old Norse heidr meaning "heath". In Norse mythology this was a goat who would eat the leaves from the tree of life and produce mead in her udder.

ING m Germanic Mythology, Norse Mythology
From old Germanic Ingwaz, which possibly means "he who is foremost". Ing was the name of a Norse and Germanic fertility god, known in Scandinavia as Yngvi Freyr (see FREYR).

JARL m Scandinavian, Norse Mythology
Means "nobleman, earl" in Old Norse. In Norse legend Jarl was the son of the god Rig and the founder of the race of warriors.

LOKI m Norse Mythology
Pronounced: LO-kee
Meaning unknown, possibly derived from the Indo-European root *leug meaning "to break". In Norse legend Loki was a trickster god associated with magic and fire. Over time he became more and more evil, and he was eventually chained to a rock by the other gods.

ODIN m Norse Mythology
Pronounced: O-din
Anglicized form of the Old Norse name Óðinn which was derived from the early Germanic name Woðanaz, which perhaps meant "wind". In Norse mythology Odin was the highest of the gods, presiding over art, war, wisdom and death. He resided in Valhalla, where warriors go after they were slain.

SIF f Norse Mythology
Variant of SIV

SIGRUN f Scandinavian, Norse Mythology
Derived from the Old Norse elements sigr "victory" and run "secret". This was the name of a Valkyrie in Norse legend.

SIGURD m Scandinavian, Norse Mythology
Derived from the Old Norse elements sigr "victory" and vörðr "guardian". Sigurd was the hero of the Norse legend the 'Volsungasaga'. The saga tells how his foster-father Regin sent him to recover a hoard of gold guarded by the dragon Fafnir. After slaying the dragon Sigurd tasted some of its blood, enabling him to understand the language of birds.

SINDRI m Norse Mythology, Icelandic
Possibly means either "small, trivial" or else "sparkling" in Old Norse. In Norse legend this was the name of a dwarf who, with his brother Brokk, made many magical items for the gods.

SIV f Scandinavian, Norse Mythology
Means "bride" in Old Norse. In Norse mythology Siv was the wife of Thor.

THOR m Norse Mythology
Pronounced: THOR
From the Old Norse name Þórr, meaning "thunder". Thor was the Norse god of strength, thunder and war, the son of Odin. He was armed with a hammer called Mjolnir, and wore an enchanted belt which doubled his strength.

ÞÓRR m Norse Mythology
Original form of THOR

TYR m Norse Mythology
Pronounced: TIR
Old Norse form of the name of the Germanic god Tiwaz, related to Indo-European dyeus (see ZEUS). In Norse mythology Tyr was the god of war and justice, the son of the god Odin. He carries a spear in his left hand, since his right hand was bitten of by the wolf Fenrir. At the time of the end of the world, the Ragnarok, Tyr will slay and be slain by the giant hound Garm.

VALKYRIE f Norse Mythology
Means "chooser of the slain", derived from Old Norse valr "the slain" and kyrja "chooser". In Norse myth the Valkyries were maidens who led heroes killed in battle to Valhalla.

VIDAR m Scandinavian, Norse Mythology
From the Old Norse Víðarr, which is of uncertain meaning. In Norse mythology Víðarr was the son of Odin and Grid. At the time of the end of the world, the Ragnarok, he will avenge his father's death.

VÖLUND m Norse Mythology
Old Norse form of WIELAND

Odin (Óðinn)

According to literary sources, Odin was the foremost of the Aesir, but the limited occurrence of his name in place-names seems to indicate that his worship was not widespread. He appears, however, to have been the god of kings and nobility more than the deity to whom the common man would turn for support. His name defines him as the god of inspired mental activity and strong emotional stress, as it is related to Icelandic óðr, which applies to the movements of the mind, and to German Wut, meaning “rage,” or “fury.” This qualifies him as the god of poetic inspiration and the stories about the origin of poetry narrate how Odin brought the sacred mead of poetry to the world of the gods. This beverage was first brewed from the blood of a wise god, Kvasir, who was murdered by dwarfs. It later came into the hands of a giant and was stolen by Odin, who flew from the giant's stronghold in the shape of an eagle, carrying the sacred mead in his crop to regurgitate it in the dwelling of the gods. Therefore, the early skalds designate poetry as “Kvasir's blood” or “Odin's theft.”

There is also a darker side to Odin's personality: he incites kinsmen to fight and turns against his own favourites, because he needs heroes in the otherworld to join him in the final battle against the forces of destruction at the time of Ragnarök. Therefore, the fallen warriors on the battlefield are said to go to his castle Valhalla (Valhöll), the “Hall of the Slain,” where they live in bliss, training for the ultimate combat. He is also a necromancer and a powerful magician who can make hanged men talk. He is the god of the hanged, because he hanged himself on the cosmic tree Yggdrasill to acquire his occult wisdom. As the “Hávamál” tells us, he hung there for nine nights, pierced with a spear, sacrificed to himself, nearly dead, to gain the mastery of the runes and the knowledge of the magic spells that blunt a foe's weapons or free a friend from fetters.

Odin could change his shape at will, and, with his body in cataleptic sleep, he traveled to other worlds, like a shaman. As god of the dead, he was accompanied by carrion beasts, two wolves and two ravens. These birds kept him informed of what happened in the world, adding to the knowledge he had acquired by relinquishing his one eye in the well of Mímir under the tree Yggdrasill.

Untrustworthy, Odin may break the most sacred oath on the holy ring. As “spear-thruster,” he opens the hostilities, and in the bellicose period of the Viking expeditions his cult appeared to gain momentum. Odin, like Wôden or Wotan, is, however, essentially the sovereign god, whom the Germanic dynasties, in England as well as in Scandinavia, originally regarded as their divine founder. He thus maintains the prominent position of Wōðan[az] in classical antiquity, to whom, according to Tacitus, human sacrifice was offered. Latin writers identified Wōðan[az] with Mercury, as the name of the day, Wednesday, (i.e., “day of Wôden”), for Mercurii dies (French mercredi), indicates. It is possible that the tribal god of the Semnones, described by Tacitus as regnator omnium deus (“the god governing all”), could be identified with Wōðan[az]. They would indeed sacrifice a man to him in a sacred grove in what the ancient author describes as a “horrendous ritual.”