Chapter XI
Page 1
The explanation of the Gods of the Asa Faith and of the purely mythological legends, is one of the most difficult tasks in the interpretation of its dogmas, and here more than anywhere, it is necessary to guard against seeking a well-finished allegory. It is true the gods are mainly a conception of the powers of Nature under certain personalities; but as a power of Nature could not be conceived of except in a personification, the latter, in its most sensual form, often became the Essential. All the gods of the Asa mythology are clothed in human form, and represented as thinking, acting , and even suffering, as men; but they are idealized in both physical and mental power, and thought to be less limited by Time and Space than earthly men;---and under this human form, and in a measure, human activity, the agency of Nature was very often wholly forgotten by the Skalds in their Mythological legends. They adhered, it is true, to the important distinctive attributes in the personality of each Divinity, but they introduced many extravagances of the imagination into their stories, merely to make them the more attractive. But this was, indeed, more frequently the case with the more diffuse legends, which we cannot dwell upon in this brief exposition of the Asa Mythology.
There are different grades in the ranks of the Asa-Gods, as we find by looking over the series attentively, that all are not in the same degree essential to build up the religious system as a whole, nor to complete its internal connection. Some form, as it were, indispensable main-springs to all the affairs of the World, while others only step forth at some one point thereof, and then more as an auxiliary power which has been brought out and personified by investigation, for the sake of completing a train of ideas, than as an independent power which of itself created its own personality. To the former class belongs Odin, Friga, Thor, Njörð, Frey, Freyja, Baldur, Loki, and perhaps also Heimdall and Ægir; to the latter, Tyr, Höður, Vali, Viðarr, and all the remaining host of celestial beings, many of whom it is evident came into existence only to illustrate certain attributes of the more prominent gods, or their influence in certain directions, or else to form a connecting link in some mythological legend of importance. The latter class of gods, when the allegory is not complete, often presents the greatest difficulties to the interpreter.
The Gods have various terms in the Asa Mythology:---1. Goð (sing. Goð), the Gods---a name of uncertain origin. 2. Æsir (sing. Ás; fem. Ásynia), beings of a peculiar character and significance; the term is often limited to the highest class of celestial beings. 3. Tívar (sing. Tívor, Tívr, Týr), Glorious Beings (tír signifying glory, honor); another form of the same name, more rarely occurring, is Díar, from which is derived Dísir (sing. Dís), (1) Goddesses. 4. Vear (sing. Veorr), Holy Beings; from ve, (2) holiness. 5. Regin, Ruling Powers, Deliberating Deities. 6. Bönd (plur. of band, a band), the United, the Co-working. 7. Höpt (plur. of hapt, binding, restraining), the Moderators. Of these the three first-mentioned terms are of most general occurrence. All these names for the gods generally denote, so far as their derivation is known, the attributes which were ascribed to them. The last two are remarkable because they express the idea of the intimate co-working of the gods in the government of the world.
The significance of Odin as the Soul of the World and the God of Heaven, has been already alluded to. He is named All-father---Alfaðir, Alföðr,---as the being from whom the Life of Nature and the Powers revealing themselves through it, the Gods, were thought to come forth. He is called the Father of Generations---Aldafaðir---with especial reference to mankind as his creation. Lastly, he is called Valfaðir as the God of War, in which character he was the Father of the Slain, even as the latter were his elected (valr), his Chosen Sons (óskasynir). It was natural for a nation whose greatest and most glorious avocation was War, to look upon the Supreme God of the World as preeminently the God of War, and it is certain that this was the character especially attributed to Odin, at least by the multitude. The War God therefore is denoted by a greater part of the various names which are attributed to him (in the Grimnismál there are no less than fifty-two); (3) although it is true that the doctrine of Odin "never called himself by the same name during his wanderings among the people," more nearly expresses the World-Spirit as a Being who, by an infinite variety of modes, reveals himself in Nature. The description of Valhalla, (4) as well as of the pastimes of the Einherjar--the Chosen Heroes, is in accordance with the attributes of the War-God. Odin's two Wolves---Geri, the Greedy; Freki, the Rapacious---distinguish him in the same capacity. His Ravens, however---Huginn, the Thinking, Muninn, the Remembering---which he sends out over the world, remind us at the same time, of the highest faculties of the human soul, as gifts of the Great Soul of the World. Vingólf (5)---the Friendly Hall---the Assembling-place of the Goddesses, stands beside Valhalla as the abode of Odin's Chosen Sons.
Odin's marriage relations, so far as we know of them, have reference to the reciprocal relations of Heaven and Earth. Jörð, the Earth, (6) is usually called Odin's wife, but sometimes also his daughter. The Earth is often mentioned as a divine Being, as Fjörgyn, the Life-giving, (7) or as Hlóðyn, the Warming; and as the Fruit-bearing it is specially personified in Friga. (8) Her abode, Fensalir, the Marshy Halls, (9) denotes the deep, moist earth. In the representation of the Æsir generally as the children of Odin by the Earth or Friga, the idea is evidently expressed that the Powers operating in the natural World, came into being through the influence of Heaven upon the Earth, of Spirit over Matter.
Thor is the God of Thunder. The name expresses this attribute, as Þór is a contraction of Þónr or Þónar, (10) and thus signifies Thunder, or the Thundering. That he should, from this attribute, be regarded as the strongest of the Gods, was natural. His abode was therefore called the Home or Realm of Strength (Þrúðheimr, Þrúðvángr, from Þrúðr, an older form of Þróttr, strength, endurance); his hall, however, from the lightnings which rend the dark clouds, was called the Purifier of Storms (Bilskirnir, from bilr, storm, and skira, to purify, make clear). By his driving through the clouds with bleating goats attached to his car, is expressed the varied sounds of thunder. His surnames and his whole fire-like being denote the attributes of the thunder storm, its terrifying, but beneficial influences in nature. He is represented as the Watcher in Miðgarð against the Jötuns, whose sworn enemy he is. When Thor is absent in the East fighting with the Trolls, Miðgarð is sorely beset by the Jötuns; but when he comes home and swings his huge hammer Mjölnir, (11) they all take flight in terror. Thunder belongs to Summer, which is the enemy of Winter, and puts the cold to flight. Thor's combat with the Jötuns was a favorite theme of the Skalds of Antiquity, and many of the mythological legends of those times had their real sources in certain local circumstances which it is difficult to trace out. Thor's personality is always well maintained in these legends; he steps forth hot-tempered and violent, but also frank and good-natured in the extreme. His attendants---the light-footed boy Thjálfi (the Diligent), and the girl Röskva (the Quick)(12), are expressive of the speed with which the thunder-storm flies over. His wife Síf with golden hair, denotes the autumnal Earth, with its fields of yellow ripening corn and fading grass. In Norway, even to this day, the corn is thought to be ripened by the autumnal sheet-lightnings, which are without thunder, and hence they are called Kornmo. (13)
Endnotes
1. Tívar occurs often in the O. Edda: Vafþrúdnm. 40, 42; Grimnism. 5; Hamarsheimt, 14, &c.; often also the compounds Valtívar, Chosen or Glorious Gods; Sigtívar, Victorious Gods. Díar occurs in no genuine Eddaic poem, for the so-called Hrafngaldr Óðins where it is found, is doubtless a production of later times. [Back]
2. The word ve was used to express a particular god, and the plur. ve also denoted sacred places. It is cogn. with the Old Germ. wih, a grove; Old Saxon wih, a temple; Goth. veihan; Germ. weihen, to consecrate. [Back]
3. The O. Edda; Grimm., 46-54; the L. Edda; Gylf., 3. [Back]
4. Valhöll, from valr; Old Germ. wal; AS. wæl: the Slain in Battle, cognate with velja, to choose, elect; val, Dan. Valg; Germ. Wahl; choice, election; and höll (Goth. hallus; Old Germ. halla; AS. heal, hæl; Engl. hall); may mean either the Hall of the Chosen, or the Hall of the Slain. [Back]
5. Vingólf, the Abode of Friends; vinr (Dan. Ven), a friend; cogn. with unna, to love, to favor; AS. unnan, to give, bestow; gólf (Dan. Gulv), a floor, also a hall. [Back]
6. Jörð; Mæso-Goth. airþa; Old Germ. ërda; AS. eorðe; Engl. the Earth. [Back]
7. From fjör, life. [Back]
8. Grimm supposes this word to be derived from fría; Goth. frijon; Old High Germ. fríon; to love; cognate with the Old Saxon frí; AS. freo; woman. He traces the grammatical affinities of the words Friga, Freyja, Freyr, through all the Old-Germanic languages, and shows that the original signification is that of joyful, glad, imparting gladness, beauteous, lovely (Deut. Mythol., p. 17, etc.). [Back]
9. From fen; AS. fen; Engl. fen; which in the Norse may also signify the watery deep; and salr; Old Germ. sal; Old Sax. seli; AS. sele; Dan. Sal; Germ. Saal; a Saloon, Hall, Mansion. [Back]
10. Corresponding Germanic names; AS. Þur, Þunor, Þunder; Old S. Þunar; Goth. Þunrs. [Back]
11. Mjölnir, probably from mölva, to break in pieces; melja, to crush, to pound, or mala, to grind; all cogn. with the Germ. mahlen, to grind, and Mühle, a mill; and prob. with Lat. malleus, a mallet. [Back]
12. Þjálfi, from þjálf, assiduous labor; Röskva, from röskr, quick, lively, active; cogn. with Swed. and Dan. rask; Germ. rasch; Engl. rash. [Back]
13. Or Kornmod, literally, the Corn-ripener. [Back]
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