By Odin’s Name!

Update with pics in a few....

Well, my beautiful Callie is here, and once again, my little family is reunited under one roof. It’s very nice, and we’ve been enjoying each other’s company.

I can’t believe my youngest is graduating high school on Friday! It’s almost surreal because I don’t feel old enough to be an “empty nester.” Anyway, I’m looking forward to that and to family flying in for the occasion. Joe’s one smart kid, and he will change the world for the better one day. Besides earning a full ride scholarship to Dartmouth, he was also chosen as a “Student of Distinction” at his high school, and will be forever immemorallized on a bronze plaque on the wall in the Hall of Honor. To earn that distinction, a student must have maintained a higher than 3.75 GPA for the year, passed all AP exams with an A, have performed over 75 hours of community service, and other things I can’t remember. I’m a proud momma, of ALL three of my kids!

Listening to them laugh as they bake a cake, make tacos, or swim together is the sound of heaven to me. We have certainly shed our quota of tears since our world was violently turned upside down many years ago, but coming through  it made us stronger, braver, and able to overcome ANY obstacles that seek to trip us up. 

Anyway, I’m feeling incredibly blessed tonight, and am looking forward to our future.

Okay, so now let’s talk about the Norse god with more names than anyone should have a right to. I’m reading slowly through The Poetic Edda, and memorizing as much as I can as I read. The scholars who translated this work must have been scratching their heads at multiple spots in the collection of poems, wise, sayings, and stories, because Odin often went from one name to another in the same stanza! 

I’m not halfway through the book, and I’m still finding a new name for Odin on almost every page. For example, here’s a list of just a sampling of the ones I’ve found so far:

Sigfather - means “father of victory.”

Tveggi - means “twofold.”

Hor - means “the high one.”

Bolverk- “the evil one.” He used this to trick Suttung for the mead that granted him the gift of poetry. The story goes that as Odin was hightailing it in the form of an eagle away from Suttung, a mighty giant, he spilled some and inadvertently bestowed the gift of poetry on man. 

Hroptatyr - crier of the gods

Heerfather - father of the host

Ygg- means “the terrible.”

Gagnrath

Thund - the thunderer

Son of Bestla

The All-Father

Odin the Old

Val-Father- father of the slain

Herran or Herion - the ruler

Omi - the shouter

Oski- the god of wishes

Nikar- the overthrower

Fiolnir - the many-shaped

Atrith - the rider

Baleyg - the flaming eyed

Bileyg - the shifty eyed

Gangleri - the wanderer (I like this one)

Glapsvith - swift in deceit

Grimnir- the hooded

Harbarth  or Harvard - Greybeard

Gondlir- wand bearer

Helblindi- hell-blinder

Hjalmberi- the helmet-bearer

Ofnir- the bewilderer 

Swath - the truthful

Sanngetal- the truth teller

Sithhott- with broad hat

Svafnir- the sleep-bringer

Svipal - the changing 

Val - the wakeful

Thrithi- the third

Thekk - the much-loved

Woden- where we get the name “Wednesday” from.

Remember, this is a SHORT list of the names used to identify Odin. I realize that THE God I follow  (Jesus, Savior, I AM, Prince of Peace, etc) also has a host of names, but Odin may have more.

Why did he seem to have so many names? There have been several theories, but the theory I think is perhaps the most reasonable is imagination and diversity, and Vikingr. The Norse boasted some ingenious and creative minds. The used kennings, short phrases that describe something, but mean something else. Like “the whale’s road,” meant “ocean.” They probably never heard of a cliche, because they didn’t seem to like them. Instead they used word play to come up with new ways of describing common events and things. Also, they were the world travelers of their day, and different dialects may have interpreted the names in different ways, accounting for sometimes very different spellings of the same name.

In a future post, I want to dive into the kenning names of Odin, and also write a short biography of the man behind the god. This stuff just fascinates me. I’m also planning a post about Odin’s wise sayings in the Havamol. And also a separate post of some of Odin’s stories and Shenanigans that you may have never heard of, but will be richer for knowing. 

Have a great day, everyone. I have the morning off for a dermatology appointment.