Æger. The
god of the sea.
Æger’s Daughters. The waves.
Alfheim. The palace of Frey.
Allfather (the Great Spirit). he that lives through all generations,
and whom we dare not name; the Creator of the sun, the Ruler of all things;
the Lofty one, the Ancient, the Revealer of mysteries, the Manifold, the
great almighty God, whom all nations have sought in their mythological
systems. He is the father of gods and men; nay, he is the Indescribable.
(1)
Agantyr. jarl of the Orkneys. — See “The Saga of Thorstein, Viking’s
Son,” ch. 24.
Asas. The Norse deities, whose chief was Odin.
Asgard. The celestial abode of the gods.
Ask. the first man created by the gods.
Astrild. The goddess of love. She is not mentioned in the Norse
mythology, but appears in the poems of the later Norse skalds. The name
is from the Teutonic root ast, love, and is connected with Easter
(Germ. Oster), the feast of Venus among the Britons and
Germans.
Balder. Odin’s and Frigg’s son. The god of innocence, piety, and
light. he was often called the white god.
Balders-Hage. Balder’s meads. A sanctuary in Sogn in Norway, consecrated
to Balder.
Bele. Son of Skate. — See “The Saga of Thorstein, Viking’s Son,”
ch. 17.
Berserk. Etymology contested. it undoubtedly comes from berr
(Germ. bär; Eng. bear, ursus) and serkr (cp. sark,
Scot. for shirt). Hence bear-coats; and we also have men called
wolf-coats. Berserks were wild warriors, or champions, in the heathen
age.
Berserk-Gang. Berserk’s-course. The fit of fury which seized the
berserk when dangerously excited by his martial frenzy.
Bifrost. The trembling bridge. The bridge betwixt heaven and earth,
guarded against the giants by Heimdal. The rainbow.
Bjorn Blue-Tooth. — See “The Saga of Thorstein, Viking’s Son.”
ch. 3.
Blood-Eagle. To carve the blood-eagle is an expression in the sagas
referring to a cruel punishment given to detested enemies or the most
wretched villain. it consisted in cutting the figure of an eagle on the
back of the sufferer, parting the ribs from the back-bone and drawing
the lungs from out the opening.
Brage. The god of poetry and song.
Bran. Fridthjof’s dog. His name seems to have been suggested to
Tegnér by a passage in “Ossian” (Temora 8).
Breidablik. Balder’s dwelling. The broad-shining splendor, where
nothing impure is found.
Bretland. The land of the Britons.
Chess. The game of chess has been known in the North from the earliest
times, and is mentioned again and again in the sagas. The Icelanders are
to this day excellent chess-players.
Day. The son of Night and Delling (day-break).
Delling. One of the asas. the last husband of the giantess Night.
Delling’s son is Day.
Dises. Goddesses.
Dises’ Hall. Pantheon.
Dwarfs. The Cyclopes (Gr. Kuklwpez)
in miniature. Pigmies hideous in form and malevolent in disposition, but
excelling in mechanical skill. They made Draupner, Skidblander, Gungner,
etc. They dwelt in rocks and caverns, and had quickened as maggots in
the body of the slaughtered Ymir.
Dwergmál. Dwarf-language, echo.
Earth. (Jord). Daughter of Night, spouse of Odin, mother of Thor,
sister of Day, Etc.
East Sea. The Baltic.
Efje Sound. At the Orkneys.
Einherjes. The happy heroes in Valhal.
Ellide. Fridthjof’s ship.
Fafner. The famous dragon, who sat brooding over the enormous wealth
procured for the death of Otter. — See Norse Mythology. p. 375.
Fenris. One of the three monster-offspring of Loke and Angerboda.
The giant wolf who devours Odin in Ragnarok.
Folkvang. Freyja’s hall.
Forsete. The son of Balder and Nanna; God of justice.
Framness. A promontory in Sogn, Norway, where Fridthjof’s estate
was situated.
Frey. Njord’s son; the god of harvest.
Freyja. Njord’s daughter, Oder’s wife; goddess of love.
Fridthjof. The thief or spoiler of peace.
Frigg. Odin’s wife.
Fylke. originally meant a district capable of supporting an armed
force of fifty warriors, and having its own independent chief.
Gandvik. (Serpent-bay). The White Sea, so called from its tortuosity.
Gefjun. The goddess of virgin-purity.
Gerd. Frey’s wife.
Gimle. The home of the righteous after Ragnarok.
Gjallarhorn. Heimdal’s trumpet. It sound was heard through all
the worlds.
Glitner. Forsete’s dwelling.
Groning Sound. (Gronsound). The sound betwixt the Danish Isles,
Zealand, Moen and Falster.
Hagbart. One of the heroes in the Norse sagas. He was betrothed
to the princess Signe, but enmity arose between her father, king Sigar,
and him. Sigar took Hagbart prisoner and hanged him. Signe would not survive
her lover, but set fire to her bower and perished in the flames. Hagbart
and Signe in the North answers to Romeo and Juliet or Abelard
and Heloise in the South and West.
Halfdan. Son of Bele.
Hávamál (Song of the High one). One of the poems of the Elder
Edda. A collection of maxims given by Odin.
Heimdal. The god of the rainbow, the warder of the gods.
Heimskringla. The earth’s circle; the world.
Hel. Goddess of death; daughter of Loke and Angerboda.
Helge. Son of Bele.
Hilding. The foster-father of Fridthjof and Ingeborg.
Hoder. the god of darkness and winter. Balder’s blind brother and
by Loke’s instigation Balder’s murderer.
Holm-gang. A duel, so called because it was generally fought on
a holm (rock-island).
Idavellir. Ida-vales. Ida’s plains; the place where the gods assemble.
Idun. Brage’s wife; the goddess of youth.
Ingeborg. Daughter of Bele.
Iron-head. Kol’s and Trona’s third child hight Harek Iron-head.
Jadar. The present Jæderen in Stavanger Amt, Norway.
Jarl. Earl.
Jotunheim. The home of the giants.
Jumala. (the Supreme). From time immemorial the Finnish term for
the Great god. To him no tokens were attributed and no distinguishing
qualities. He was the Only, the Highest, he who himself invisible
governed all. In Bjarmeland was set up his image, by itself; the lower
deities had nothing such. Northward on a cape by Vin-a (the river Dvina)
stood this Jumala idol, within a post consecrated thereto and surrounded
by a lofty paling. Rich and sacred it was and became a kind of national
sanctuary for the Finnish tribes. It is worth of remark that the name
Jumiel occurs in the list of angelic princes given in the apocryphal book
ascribed to Enoch. The Finnish name of God is still Jumala.
ENDNOTES:
1. (transcriber’s note) This is an attempt to identify Odhinn with the Christian god as there have been attempts to identify Baldr with the Christian Christ. The attempt should be viewed with great skepticism.
Lofn. Goddess
of marriage and forbiden sexual liasons.
Loke. The god of evil; the instigator of Balder’s death. (2)
Megingjarder. Thor’s belt of strength.
Midgard-serpent. Loke’s and Angerboda’s offspring; brother of Hel
and the Fenris-wolf. With his immense tail he encircles the whole earth.
Mimer. Owner of the fountain of wisdom at that root of Ygdrasil
which extends to Ginungagap (chaos).
Morven. the north of Scotland.
Muspelheim. Surt’s realm; world of fire, south of Ginungagap.
Muspel’s sons. The flames (cp. the daughters of Æger).
Nanna. Wife of Balder.
Nastrand. (Corpse-strand). The abode of the wicked after death.
Nidhug. A dragon forever gnawing at that root of Ygdrasil that
goes to Niflheim.
Niflheim. The nebulous world; the reign of cold and darkness north
of Ginungagap.
Norn. There are three chief norns; Urd, Verdande, and Skuld — Past,
Present, Future. there are the Fates, or Parcæ.
Odin. The chief among the Teutonic gods.
Orkneys. The Orkneys belonged for a long time to Norway, and were
favorite resort for vikings.
Ragnarok. The Twilight of the Gods; the end of the world; the last
day.
Ran. Æger’s wife; goddess of the sea.
Ring-ric. The realm of Ring, on the western border of Chrstiania-fjord.
Rota. One of the valkyries.
Rune. One of the characters of the Old Norse alphabet. the runic
alphabet has sixteen letters. F, U, Þ, O, R, K, are the first six runes;
hence the runic alphabet (a, ß) is called Futhorc. Professor George
Stephens is the most distinguished runic scholar living.
Rune-staff. Calender-stave carved with runic signs. It may be used
instead of a common almanac.
Rune-stone. A grave-stone carved with runes.
Saga. The goddess of history; the Clio of the North. She sits at
Sokvabek relating to Odin the fortunes of gods and men.
Seming. One of Odin’s sons. the historical Odin had three sons:
Skjold, whom he made king of Denark; Yngve, whom he made king of Sweden;
and Seming, whom he made king of Norway. — See Norse Mythology, p. 232-236.
Sikeley. Sicily. the Norsemen knew this country well. They conquered
it in the eleventh century, and Roger united it to Naples by the name
of the two Sicilies.
Skinfaxe. Sheen-fax (shining mane). The horse of Day. Night rides
ahead with her steed Rimfaxe, who every morn bedews the earth with the
foam of his bridle.
Skuld. The norn of the future.
Sleipnir. Odin’s eight-footed steed. Pegasos.
Sokn-sound. Between the islands Sokken and Bro, to the south of
Bukkenfjord near Stavanger in Norway.
Sokvabek. The dwelling of Saga.
Solund Isle. At the outlet of Sogn-fjord in Norway lies a group
of islands bearing this name.
Sote. A celebrated Norse freebooter.
Streitaland. the residence of king Ring.
Surt. The god of fire; the ruler of Muspelheim.
Syrstrand. the residence of king Bele and his family. It lies opposite
Framness in Sogn-fjord.
Thor. The god of strength and thunder; the son of Odin and Earth;
the slayer of giants.
Thorstein. Viking’s son. the eldest son of Viking; the father of
Fridthjof the bold.
Thrudvang. Thor’s realm.
Thing. (originally meaning talk, conference). the public meeting,
diet, assize, parliament, or wittenagemot of the Norsemen.
Tirfing. A sword fabricated by two skillful dwarfs as a ransom
for their lives. It was bright as a sunbeam; its hilt and guard were of
gold; it defied rust and fracture; would cleave iron or stone as easily
as a garment; and whether in single or banded combat, conferred victory
on the arm which wielded it; but it should also prove fatal to its original
possessor and be the instrument of three heinous crimes. the prophesy
was fulfilled.
Upland. A district in Norway comprehending the present amts of
Christian and Hedemark, together with the upper Romer-ric.
Upsala. A city and university seat north of Stockholm in Sweden,
where there was in olden times a famous temple where the followers of
Odin worshiped.
Urd. The norn of the past.
Urd’s Fountain. The fountain of time. It was situated at that root
of Ygdrasil that extends to Asgard.
Utgard. The capital of Jotunheim.
Vala. Prophetess. Her prophetic song is “Voluspá,” the first poem
in the Elder Edda. She corresponds to the souther sibyl.
Valaskjalf. Vale’s citadel and Odin’s throne.
Vale. Son of Odin and Rind.
Valfather. Father of the slain. One of Odin’s names.
Valhal. The hall of the slain. the heavenly dwelling of the gods
and the einherjes.
Valkyries. Choosers of the slain. Maids who on the field of battle
elect those who are worthy of going to Valhal.
Vanadis. The väna, i.e. fair goddess, or the goddess of
the vans (deities of the water). A surname of Freyja.
Var. The goddess of oaths.
Varg I Véum. Wolf in the sanctuary. Temple-defamer.
Vegtamskvida. The lay of the wayfarer; one of the songs of the
Elder Edda, giving an account of Odin’s visit to the realm of Hel
to obtain form the vala information about Balder’s fate.
Vidar. The god of silence; one of the sons of Odin; next after
Thor the strongest of the gods.
Vifil. See “The Saga of Thorstein, Viking’s Son,” ch. 1.
Vigrid. The battle-field of the gods at Ragnarok; a plain stretching
an hundred miles each way.
Viking. See “The Saga of Thorstein, Viking’s Son,”ch. 3, 4.
Vingolf. The floor of friends; the hall of the goddesses in Valhal.
Volund. A finnish smith celebrated in the sagas for his great skill
in his trade. He lived a long time at the court of the grim king Nidud
in Norway. He finally freed himself from imprisonment and took vengeance
on his oppressor. He is a mythical person and corresponds to Vulcan.
White God. A surname of Balder.
Woolen Acre. Formerly a fylke-kingdom in the present province of
Vestmanland, Sweden.
Ygdrasil (Ygg’s, i.e. Odin’s bearer). A sacred tree so called
because Odin once hung in its branches. It is the world-tree. The tree
of time.
Ymer. The giant out of whose body the world was shapen.
ENDNOTES:
2. (transcriber’s note) Again
this is a christianization in our view. Nothing more than an attempt at
equating Loke with the kristian Satan.