Norse/Germanic Deities From Druid Akkadian Phrases

For translation methodology see: How to Translate Alphabetic Akkadian Texts. 

Viking Biological Ancestry

(July 9, 2023) Vikings (793–1066 CE) were a genetically diverse group coming from all over Europe. Culturally they were long term river and sea traders who took to raiding when the opportunity presented itself. This close connection with Europe indicates that they were a part of the broad Druid Civilization. Textual evidence indicates that the Nordic pantheon only developed after 900 CE out of the earlier Druid pantheon and under pressure from Christianity.

Most of these names are Akkadian phrases although a few are Indo-European phrases. They are later personifications of divine powers and not ancient deities in their own right. They were created by bards for their stories. This is why the Nordic/Germanic pantheon is so cluttered.

Aesir "Those Su-Power Makers"

(August 4, 2023) 

For more information on how the individual deities appear in the Eddas see: https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-aesir-gods-and-goddesses/

Druid/Nordic Motion Power Deities Classified as Aesir Powers


Old Norse Njörðr: Akkadian N.IR.Ṭ with Indo-European -R ending means "Revealer.Astrological-power.Thu or in other words the "Revealer of the astrological-powers of Thu" where Thu is the hermaphrodite connective motion power deity who often represents the power of raw sexuality. Thu is the spouse of Skadi (whose gender is mixed in the archaeological and textual record). Astrological powers are the powers of fate. The Nordic Prose Edda (section 23) says this about Njörðr (Nyorthr or Njordr): XXIII. "The third among the Æsir is he that is called Njördr: he dwells in heaven, in the abode called Nóatún. He rules the course of the wind, and stills sea and fire; on him shall men call for voyages and for hunting. He is so prosperous and abounding in wealth, that he may give them great plenty of lands or of gear; and him shall men invoke for such things. Njördr is not of the race of the Æsir: he was reared in the land of the Vanir, but the Vanir delivered him as hostage to the gods, and took for hostage in exchange him that men call HÅnir; he became an atonement between the gods and the Vanir. Njördr has to wife the woman called Skadi, daughter of Thjazi the giant. 

Old Norse Frigg: Akkadian UR.IG.G meaning Dawn/Birth.Eye-of-Fate's.Energy or "Birth of Su's energy." This is a reference to Su's feminine companion Selu/Selene as the celestial light goddess. Su is the dark moon god and source of motion/emotion power. Selene allocates or gives birth to that power. 

Near the end of Nordic Pagan culture they were mixing together the connective and manifesting levels of the Ancient Pagan Paradigm. This conflation is also seen with the life powers represented by Thor. Selu (Selene = "powers of Selu") is the magical motion source goddess who represents celestial light of the moon. Frigg was a völva (astrology magic crafter) who practices a form of magic known as Seider (Old Norse seiðr). 

The Rest of the Aesir

The Norns: Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld under the World-tree Yggdrasil. Image by Ludwig Burger (1882)

The "Other Group" of Spiritual Powers - The Vanir Class  

(August 3, 2023)  This "other" group is mostly the life class of powers of the Ancient Pagan Paradigm but because dualism has entered European culture it also represents the "evil" deities. 

The word "Vanir" seems to be a pure Indo-European word based upon the word "Van. " which derives from "caravan" as a traveling group of outsiders which in turn came  Old French carvane, carevane "(12o0's CE), or Medieval Latin caravana, both words picked up during the Crusades, via Arabic qairawan  or from Persian karwan "group of desert travelers."  

Consequently, "Van" means something like "That other group." The Vanir deities make their home in Vanaheim meaning "Realm of the Others."

Norse religion is heavily biased towards the motion powers to such a degree that the original life power deities are now merged powers between life and motion such as Freyr and Freya below.

The "Other Power" List

    1. Urd: Old Norse Urðr: Akkadian UR.ṬR meaning  Dawn.Writer or Birth.Witer. She wrote down a person's fate at birth.
    2. Verdandi: Old Norse Verðandi: Akkadian UR.ṬeN.D meaning Dawn.Grinding.Manifestation where "grinding" is an epithet for time including its random events.
    3. Skuld: Old Norse Skuld: Akkadian SK.LD meaning  Weave.Irrigated-field where "irrigated field" is an epithet for the life network. Cutting a person's thread in this network kills them.

References

Online at: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm

Norse Mythology for Smart People. Online at: https://norse-mythology.org/

 https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-vanir-gods-and-goddesses/

Close-up of Skathi on a Etruscan pot holding the axe yet. Notice he is male and in the context of harming others. Yet the name is spelled Skadi on the pot.

Full image. This Etruscan krater was found near Vulci, Italy in 1833. (Photo: French National Library Number: De Ridder.920)

More on Skadi and Njördr (Compare this Skadi with the Etruscan Pot version)

Skathi or Skadi seems to be an Indo-European word with a transitioning last consonant between a /d/ and a /th/. It means "to harm" as in the phrase: "he made a scathing remark." Yet it is also found on an Eturscan pot. It is found in these northern languages (from https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/ska%C3%BE%C3%B4)


  1. Icelandic: skaði
  2. Faroese: skaði
  3. Norwegian: skade
  4. Old Swedish: skaþi
  5. Swedish: skada, skade
  6. Old Danish: skathi
  7. Danish: skade
  8. Middle English: scathe, skathe
  9. Scots: scath, scaith, skaith, schath, schaith
  10. English: scath, scathe


Skadi would fain dwell in the abode which her father had had, which is on certain mountains, in the place called Thrymheimr; but Njördr would be near the sea. They made a compact on these terms: they should be nine nights in Thrymheimr, but the second nine at Nóatún. But when Njördr came down from the mountain back to Nóatún, he sang this lay:
Loath were the hills to me, | I was not long in them,    Nights only nine;To me the wailing of | wolves seemed ill,    After the song of swans.
Then Skadi sang this:
Sleep could I never | on the sea-beds,    For the wailing of waterfowl;He wakens me, | who comes from the deep--    The sea-mew every morn.
Then Skadi went up onto the mountain, and dwelt in Thrymheimr. And she goes for the more part on snowshoes and with a bow and arrow, and shoots beasts; she is called Snowshoe-Goddess or Lady of the Snowshoes. So it is said:
Thrymheimr't is called, | where Thjazi dwelt,    He the hideous giant;But now Skadi abides, | pure bride of the gods,    In her father's ancient freehold.

Reference


Online at: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm
Fresco showing Yggdrasill from the assembly hall of the University of Goteborg which was opened in 1907. It was painted by Nils Asplund (1874-1958). In it, the god Heimdall blesses man with the tools of culture and agriculture. Above his throne, engraved with Eddic verse, the ash Yggdrasill rises.  The scene is derived from the mythological works of Swedish poet and polymath Viktor Rydberg (1828-1895)
(from:  http://www.germanicmythology.com/viktor_rydberg/main.html

Norse Spiritual Concepts and Places

(August 4, 2023)

  1. Vanaheim: Realm of the Vanir (The other powers)
  2. Jotunheim: Realm of the Jotun (Akkadian IT.N = Omen.Revealers).
  3. Niflheim: Realm of the Niphl (Akkadian N.PḪ.L = "Revealer.Transformations. Lacking" or in other words "Revealers of Partial Transformations." Transformations are the process which change spiritual things into physical things like fertility-fluids into light and heat rays. This group represented imperfections in that process such as when water freezes up or dries up.
  4. Muspelheim: Realm of the night-rulers (Akkadian MS.PL = night.rulers"). These are the powers of the astrological night sky.
  5. Alfheim: Realm of the elves (Elf = Akkadian AL.F + AL.PḪ = "Alu's.Transformations.") In other words Elf's are magical life source transformers who can shape and heal life.
  6. Svartalfheim: Realm of the dwarves (Akkadian S.UR.TL.PḪ = "Su.Birth.Mound.Transformation.") In other words dwarves are transformers of the motion powers involved in giving motion to new life or to the newly dead.

References

Price, Neil S. (2002) The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. p. 64.

The Hunninge Image Stone from Gotland, Sweden, with imagery that probably refers to Atlakviða, or another story or poem on the same events. The top of the stone shows a a man carrying a ring who may be Sigurd or the messenger Knéfrøðr. On the bottom left, the scene depicts a woman watching the snake pit where Gunnar is lying.

Image Stone in the Museum Fornsalen at Visby, Gotland, Sweden. Height approx. 4 meters. Picture by via Wikimedia Commons at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bildstein-Fornsalen_01.jpg

Two Oldest Two Norse Poems Based Upon Archaic Linguistic Features (900 CE but in Poetic Edda)

Atlakviða (These weak-willed Thu-powers being done by Thu)

Atli, king of the Huns, sends a messenger to Gunnarr, king of the Burgundians, and his younger brother Högni. The messenger says that Atli is inviting the brothers to his court and offering them great riches. The brothers are skeptical of the offer since they already have an exceedingly great treasure of gold. Confirming their suspicions is a ring sent by their sister Guðrún, Atli's wife, with a wolf's hair wrapped onto it. Atli obviously plans treachery but Gunnarr still decides to take up the offer, vowing that if he doesn't return no-one will benefit from his riches.

As Gunnarr and Högni arrive at Atli's court they meet Guðrún who tells them that they should not have come. Gunnarr is seized by Atli's men while Högni fights and kills eight men before he is subdued. The Huns ask Gunnarr if he wants to ransom his life by telling them where he has hidden his gold. He tells them that he wants to see Högni's heart. They first cut out the heart of a cowardly man named Hjalli and bring it to Gunnarr but he sees from the cowardly trembling of the heart who its owner was. Then they cut out Högni's heart and he dies laughing. Gunnarr recognizes the heart of his brave brother but tells the Huns that now that he alone knows the location of the gold he can be certain that it will never be disclosed. The Huns then throw him into a snake pit where he dies playing a harp.

Guðrún prepares a banquet for Atli and his court. When the feast is well underway she tells Atli that he is actually eating the flesh of their two sons. Guðrún later kills the unattentive Atli in his bed, sets loose the hounds and awakens the housecarls she has bribed. Guðrún throws a burning twig into the hall and eventually Atli's entire estate is set ablaze. All the people in the hall, Atli's temple, the "dwelling of the Buthlungs" as well as shield-maidens are consumed by the fire. 

Hamðismal (Hamðismal)

Gudrun had been the wife of the hero Sigurd, whom her brothers had killed. With Sigurd she had had the daughter Svanhild, who had married to the Goth king Ermanaric (Jörmunrekkr). Ermanaric had Svanhild trampled to death by horses, due to which Gudrun wants vengeance, and she agitates her sons (see Jonakr's sons) from a later marriage to kill Ermanaric, cf. Guðrúnarhvöt.

The poem is considered to belong to the oldest of the heroic poems, probably from the 9th century. It makes an archaic impression with its bitter and laconic language. Howling with wrath, the brothers Hamdir and Sörli ride over a misty mountain. The last lines are likewise illustrated on the Gotland runestone:

  1. Þar fell Sa/rli
  2. at salar gafli,
  3. enn Hamþir hne
  4. at hvsbaki.

  1. At the hall's gable-end
  2. Fell Sorli to earth,
  3. But Hamdir lay low
  4. At the back of the houses

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlakvi%C3%B0a

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham%C3%B0ism%C3%A1l