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100-651: In the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá , Frigg is described as weeping over her son Baldr 's death in Fensalir. This stanza is absent in the Hauksbók manuscript of the poem. The portion of the stanza mentioning Fensalir foretells that vengeance will come for the death of Baldr and that: In chapter 35 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning , High tells Gangleri (described as king Gylfi in disguise) that Frigg

200-416: A cauldron large enough to brew ale for them all. They arrive, and Týr sees his nine-hundred-headed grandmother and his gold-clad mother, the latter of which welcomes them with a horn. After Hymir —who is not happy to see Thor—comes in from the cold outdoors, Týr 's mother helps them find a properly strong cauldron. Thor eats a big meal of two oxen (all the rest eat but one), and then goes to sleep. In

300-464: A derivative of *balþaz , meaning 'brave' (cf. Old Norse ballr 'hard, stubborn', Gothic balþa* 'bold, frank', Old English beald 'bold, brave, confident', Old Saxon bald 'valiant, bold', Old High German bald 'brave, courageous'). This etymology was originally proposed by Jacob Grimm (1835), who also speculated on a comparison with the Lithuanian báltas ('white', also the name of

400-433: A belief in folklore that particular swamps act as an entrance to the realm of Holda , whom he connects with Frigg. In a 19th-century work, Paul Henri Mallet and Walter Scott write that the "fen" element of Fensalir "may also be made to sig[nify] the watery deep, or the sea ." This etymology has resulted in theories that the name Fensalir may mean "Sea Halls" rather than "Fen Halls." In his 19th-century translation of

500-418: A boat, out at sea. Hymir catches a few whales at once, and Thor baits his line with the head of the ox. Thor casts his line and the monstrous serpent Jörmungandr bites. Thor pulls the serpent on board, and violently slams him in the head with his hammer. Jörmungandr shrieks, and a noisy commotion is heard from underwater before another lacuna appears in the manuscript. After the second lacuna, Hymir

600-558: A bridal head-dress, and the necklace Brísingamen . Thor rejects the idea, yet Loki interjects that this will be the only way to get back Mjölnir . Loki points out that, without Mjölnir , the jötnar will be able to invade and settle in Asgard . The gods dress Thor as a bride, and Loki states that he will go with Thor as his maid, and that the two shall drive to Jötunheimr together. After riding together in Thor's goat-driven chariot ,

700-421: A cart or chariot pulled by two goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr (whom he eats and resurrects), and is ascribed three dwellings ( Bilskirnir , Þrúðheimr , and Þrúðvangr ). Thor wields the hammer Mjölnir , wears the belt Megingjörð and the iron gloves Járngreipr , and owns the staff Gríðarvölr . Thor's exploits, including his relentless slaughter of his foes and fierce battles with

800-409: A day and slew Höðr. Baldr was ceremonially burnt upon his ship Hringhorni , the largest of all ships. On the pyre he was given the magical ring Draupnir . At first the gods were not able to push the ship out onto sea, and so they sent for Hyrrokin , a giantess , who came riding on a wolf and gave the ship such a push that fire flashed from the rollers and all the earth shook. As he was carried to

900-503: A deadly wound with a magic sword , named Mistletoe , which he had received from Mimir, the satyr of the woods; after lingering three days in pain Balderus died of his injury and was buried with royal honours in a barrow. A Latin votive inscription from Utrecht, from the 3rd or 4th century C.E., has been theorized as containing the dative form Baldruo , pointing to a Latin nominative singular * Baldruus , which some have identified with

1000-488: A light-god) based on the semantic development from 'white' to 'shining' then 'strong'. According to linguist Vladimir Orel , this could be linguistically tenable. Philologist Rudolf Simek also argues that the Old English Bældæg should be interpreted as meaning 'shining day', from a Proto-Germanic root * bēl - (cf. Old English bæl , Old Norse bál 'fire') attached to dæg ('day'). Old Norse also shows

1100-447: A rage, causing all of the halls of the Æsir to tremble in her anger, and her necklace, the famed Brísingamen , falls from her. Freyja pointedly refuses. As a result, the gods and goddesses meet and hold a thing to discuss and debate the matter. At the thing, the god Heimdallr puts forth the suggestion that, in place of Freyja , Thor should be dressed as the bride, complete with jewels, women's clothing down to his knees,

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1200-411: A ride from him. The ferryman, shouting from the inlet, is immediately rude and obnoxious to Thor and refuses to ferry him. At first, Thor holds his tongue, but Hárbarðr only becomes more aggressive, and the poem soon becomes a flyting match between Thor and Hárbarðr , all the while revealing lore about the two, including Thor's killing of several jötnar in "the east" and women on Hlesey (now

1300-646: A single time in Västergötland ( VG 150 ), Sweden. A fifth appearance may possibly occur on a runestone found in Södermanland , Sweden ( Sö 140 ), but the reading is contested. Pictorial representations of Thor's hammer appear on a total of five runestones found in Denmark ( DR 26 and DR 120 ) and in the Swedish counties of Västergötland ( VG 113 ) and Södermanland ( Sö 86 and Sö 111 ). It

1400-414: A sitting man, and the man lying down often barks out lies." Loki states that it was indeed an effort, and also a success, for he has discovered that Þrymr has the hammer, but that it cannot be retrieved unless Freyja is brought to Þrymr as his wife. The two return to Freyja and tell her to put on a bridal head dress, as they will drive her to Jötunheimr . Freyja , indignant and angry, goes into

1500-568: A statue of Thor, who Adam describes as "mightiest", sits in the Temple at Uppsala in the center of a triple throne (flanked by Woden and "Fricco") located in Gamla Uppsala , Sweden . Adam details that "Thor, they reckon, rules the sky; he governs thunder and lightning, winds and storms, fine weather and fertility" and that "Thor, with his mace, looks like Jupiter". Adam details that the people of Uppsala had appointed priests to each of

1600-726: A stick bearing a runic message found among the Bryggen inscriptions in Bergen , Norway . On the stick, both Thor and Odin are called upon for help; Thor is asked to "receive" the reader, and Odin to "own" them. In the Poetic Edda , compiled during the 13th century from traditional source material reaching into the pagan period, Thor appears (or is mentioned) in the poems Völuspá , Grímnismál , Skírnismál , Hárbarðsljóð , Hymiskviða , Lokasenna , Þrymskviða , Alvíssmál , and Hyndluljóð . In

1700-540: Is cognate with Old High German Donarestag . All of these terms derive from a Late Proto-Germanic weekday name along the lines of * Þunaresdagaz ('Day of * Þun(a)raz '), a calque of Latin Iovis dies ('Day of Jove '; cf. modern Italian giovedì , French jeudi , Spanish jueves ). By employing a practice known as interpretatio germanica during the Roman period , ancient Germanic peoples adopted

1800-464: Is Baldr, and good things are to be said of him. He is best, and all praise him; he is so fair of feature, and so bright, that light shines from him. A certain herb is so white that it is likened to Baldr's brow; of all grasses it is whitest, and by it thou mayest judge his fairness, both in hair and in body. He is the wisest of the Æsir, and the fairest-spoken and most gracious; and that quality attends him, that none may gainsay his judgments. He dwells in

1900-494: Is Vegtam ("Wanderer"). Odin asks the Völva for whom are the benches covered in rings and the floor covered in gold. The Völva tells him that in their location mead is brewed for Baldr, and that she spoke unwillingly, so she will speak no more: Here for Baldr | the mead is brewed, The shining drink, | and a shield lies o'er it; But their hope is gone | from the mighty gods. Unwilling I spake, | and now would be still. Odin asks

2000-563: Is a Baldersgatan (Balder's Street) in Stockholm . There is also Baldersnäs (Balder's isthmus), Baldersvik (Balder's bay), Balders udde (Balder's headland) and Baldersberg (Balder's mountain) at various places. Thor Thor (from Old Norse : Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism . In Norse mythology , he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning , thunder , storms , sacred groves and trees , strength ,

2100-660: Is also seen on runestone DR 48 . The design is believed to be a heathen response to Christian runestones, which often have a cross at the centre. One of the stones, Sö 86 , shows a face or mask above the hammer. Anders Hultgård has argued that this is the face of Thor. At least three stones depict Thor fishing for the serpent Jörmungandr : the Hørdum stone in Thy , Denmark, the Altuna Runestone in Altuna , Sweden and

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2200-403: Is because " Freyja " has not slept for eight nights in her eagerness. The "wretched sister" of the jötnar appears, asks for a bridal gift from " Freyja ", and the jötnar bring out Mjölnir to "sanctify the bride", to lay it on her lap, and marry the two by "the hand" of the goddess Vár . Thor laughs internally when he sees the hammer, takes hold of it, strikes Þrymr , beats all of

2300-456: Is debate as to precisely what form the name took at that early stage. The form * Þunraz has been suggested and has the attraction of clearly containing the sequence -unr- , needed to explain the later form Þórr . The form * Þunuraz is suggested by Elfdalian tųosdag ('Thursday') and by a runic inscription from around 700 from Hallbjäns in Sundre, Gotland , which includes

2400-554: Is described as follows: Annarr sonr Óðins er Baldr, ok er frá honum gott at segja. Hann er beztr, ok hann lofa allir. Hann er svá fagr álitum ok bjartr, svá at lýsir af honum, ok eitt gras er svá hvítt, at jafnat er til Baldrs brár. Þat er allra grasa hvítast, ok þar eftir máttu marka fegurð hans bæði á hár ok á líki. Hann er vitrastr ásanna ok fegrst talaðr ok líknsamastr, en sú náttúra fylgir honum, at engi má haldast dómr hans. Hann býr þar, sem heitir Breiðablik. Þat er á himni. Í þeim stað má ekki vera óhreint[.] The second son of Odin

2500-581: Is described as red-bearded, but there is no evidence for a red beard in the Eddas. The name of the æsir is explained as "men from Asia ", Asgard being the "Asian city" (i.e., Troy). Alternatively, Troy is in Tyrkland (Turkey, i.e., Asia Minor), and Asialand is Scythia , where Thor founded a new city named Asgard. Odin is a remote descendant of Thor, removed by twelve generations, who led an expedition across Germany, Denmark and Sweden to Norway. In

2600-574: Is due to the oath they have taken. The disguised Loki asks if nothing can hurt Baldr, and Frigg reveals that only mistletoe can, for it seemed to her too young to demand an oath from. After this, Loki immediately disappears, and subsequently engineers the death of Baldr with a mistletoe projectile. In the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál , Fensalir receives a third and final mention. In chapter 19, ways to refer to Frigg are provided, including that Frigg may be referred to as "queen of Æsir and Asyniur, of Fulla and falcon form and Fensalir." In 1882,

2700-407: Is gone. Þrymr says that he has hidden Mjölnir eight leagues beneath the earth, from which it will be retrieved, but only if Freyja is brought to him as his wife. Loki flies off, the feather cloak whistling, away from Jötunheimr and back to the court of the gods. Thor asks Loki if his efforts were successful, and that Loki should tell him while he is still in the air as "tales often escape

2800-577: Is sitting in the boat, unhappy and totally silent, as they row back to shore. On shore, Hymir suggests that Thor should help him carry a whale back to his farm. Thor picks both the boat and the whales up, and carries it all back to Hymir 's farm. After Thor successfully smashes a crystal goblet by throwing it at Hymir 's head on Týr 's mother's suggestion, Thor and Týr are given the cauldron. Týr cannot lift it, but Thor manages to roll it, and so with it they leave. Some distance from Hymir 's home, an army of many-headed beings led by Hymir attacks

2900-420: Is so angry, and comments that Thor will not be so daring to fight "the wolf" ( Fenrir ) when it eats Odin (a reference to the foretold events of Ragnarök ). Thor again tells him to be silent, and threatens to throw him into the sky, where he will never be seen again. Loki says that Thor should not brag of his time in the east, as he once crouched in fear in the thumb of a glove (a story involving deception by

3000-400: Is the highest among the ásynjur or Aesir, and that "she has a dwelling called Fensalir and it is very splendid." In chapter 49, High says that when Loki witnessed that Baldr had gained invincibility due to the oath all things took not to harm him, Loki went to Fensalir appearing as a woman. In his disguise, Loki there asked Frigg why Baldr was not harmed by the objects. Frigg revealed that it

3100-503: Is the husband of the golden-haired goddess Sif and the lover of the jötunn Járnsaxa . With Sif , Thor fathered the goddess (and possible valkyrie ) Þrúðr ; with Járnsaxa , he fathered Magni ; with a mother whose name is not recorded, he fathered Móði , and he is the stepfather of the god Ullr . Thor is the son of Odin and Jörð , by way of his father Odin, he has numerous brothers , including Baldr . Thor has two servants, Þjálfi and Röskva , rides in

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3200-447: Is the same as Sága, and that both the names Fensalir and Sökkvabekkr "imply a goddes [ sic ] living in the water and recall the fertility goddess Nerthus ." Baldr Baldr ( Old Norse also Balder , Baldur ) is a god in Germanic mythology . In Norse mythology , he is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg , and has numerous brothers , such as Thor and Váli . In wider Germanic mythology,

3300-556: Is the subject of the Eddic poem Baldr's Dreams . Among the visions which the Völva sees and describes in Völuspá is Baldr's death. In stanza 32, the Völva says she saw the fate of Baldr "the bleeding god": Henry Adams Bellows translation: I saw for Baldr, | the bleeding god, The son of Othin, | his destiny set: Famous and fair | in the lofty fields, Full grown in strength |

3400-811: The Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda contain numerous references to the death of Baldr as both a great tragedy to the Æsir and a harbinger of Ragnarök . According to Gylfaginning , a book of Snorri Sturluson 's Prose Edda, Baldr's wife is Nanna and their son is Forseti . Baldr had the greatest ship ever built, Hringhorni , and there is no place more beautiful than his hall, Breidablik . The Old Norse theonym Baldr ('brave, defiant'; also 'lord, prince') and its various Germanic cognates – including Old English Bældæg and Old High German Balder (or Palter ) – probably stems from Proto-Germanic *Balðraz ('Hero, Prince'; cf. Old Norse mann-baldr 'great man', Old English bealdor 'prince, hero'), itself

3500-560: The Prose Edda euhemerises Thor as a prince of Troy , and the son of Menon by Troana, a daughter of Priam . Thor, also known as Tror , is said to have married the prophetess Sibyl (identified with Sif ). Thor is further said here to have been raised in Thrace by a chieftain named Lorikus , whom he later slew to assume the title of "King of Thrace", to have had a pale complexion and hair "fairer than gold", and to have been strong enough to lift ten bearskins. In later sagas he

3600-533: The Canterbury Charm from Canterbury , England , calls upon Thor to heal a wound by banishing a thurs . The second, the Kvinneby amulet , invokes protection by both Thor and his hammer. On four (or possibly five) runestones , an invocation to Thor appears that reads "May Thor hallow (these runes /this monument)!" The invocation appears thrice in Denmark ( DR 110 , DR 209 , and DR 220 ), and

3700-534: The Gosforth Cross in Gosforth , England. Sune Lindqvist argued in the 1930s that the image stone Ardre VIII on Gotland depicts two scenes from the story: Thor ripping the head of Hymir's ox and Thor and Hymir in the boat, but this has been disputed. In the 12th century, more than a century after Norway was "officially" Christianized, Thor was still being invoked by the population, as evidenced by

3800-471: The Poetic Edda , Henry Adams Bellows comments that "some scholars have regarded [Frigg] as a solar myth, calling her the sun-goddess , and pointing out that her home in Fensalir ("the sea-halls") symbolizes the daily setting of the sun beneath the ocean horizon." John Lindow says that due to similarity between the goddess Sága 's Sökkvabekkr and Fensalir, the open drinking between Sága and Odin, and

3900-482: The Prose Edda , Thor is mentioned in all four books; Prologue , Gylfaginning , Skáldskaparmál , and Háttatal . In Heimskringla , composed in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson , Thor or statues of Thor are mentioned in Ynglinga saga , Hákonar saga góða , Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar , and Óláfs saga helga . In Ynglinga saga chapter 5, a heavily euhemerized account of

4000-411: The jötnar , kills their "older sister", and so gets his hammer back. In the poem Alvíssmál , Thor tricks a dwarf , Alvíss , to his doom upon finding that he seeks to wed his daughter (unnamed, possibly Þrúðr ). As the poem starts, Thor meets a dwarf who talks about getting married. Thor finds the dwarf repulsive and, apparently, realizes that the bride is his daughter. Thor comments that

4100-467: The mistletoe —a detail which has traditionally been explained with the idea that it was too unimportant and nonthreatening to bother asking it to make the vow, but which Merrill Kaplan has instead argued echoes the fact that young people were not eligible to swear legal oaths, which could make them a threat later in life. When Loki , the mischief-maker, heard of this, he made a magical spear from this plant (in some later versions, an arrow). He hurried to

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4200-932: The recorded history of the Germanic peoples , from the Roman occupation of regions of Germania , to the Germanic expansions of the Migration Period , to his high popularity during the Viking Age , when, in the face of the process of the Christianization of Scandinavia , emblems of his hammer, Mjölnir , were worn and Norse pagan personal names containing the name of the god bear witness to his popularity. Narratives featuring Thor are most prominently attested in Old Norse, where Thor appears throughout Norse mythology . In stories recorded in medieval Iceland , Thor bears at least fifteen names ,

4300-482: The 12th century, folk traditions and iconography of the Christianizing king Olaf II of Norway (Saint Olaf; c. 995 – 1030) absorbed elements of both Thor and Freyr. After Olaf's death, his cult had spread quickly all over Scandinavia, where many churches were dedicated to him, as well as to other parts of Northern Europe. His cult distinctively mixed both ecclesiastical and folk elements. From Thor, he inherited

4400-548: The Danish island of Læsø ). In the end, Thor ends up walking instead. Thor is again the main character in the poem Hymiskviða , where, after the gods have been hunting and have eaten their prey, they have an urge to drink. They "sh[ake] the twigs" and interpret what they say. The gods decide that they would find suitable cauldrons at Ægir 's home. Thor arrives at Ægir 's home and finds him to be cheerful, looks into his eyes, and tells him that he must prepare feasts for

4500-474: The German scholar Anton Edzardi proposed that Fensalir may point to religious practices involving springs . John Lindow comments that "I have no idea why Frigg should live in a boggy place, despite the old argument that there is an association with a cult situated at a spring." Rudolf Simek comments that Edzardi's theory "must remain unanswered." In addition, Edzardi theorized a connection between Fensalir and

4600-577: The Germanic peoples were recorded by the Romans, and in these works Thor is frequently referred to – via a process known as interpretatio romana (where characteristics perceived to be similar by Romans result in identification of a non-Roman god as a Roman deity) – as either the Roman god Jupiter (also known as Jove ) or the Greco-Roman god Hercules . The first clear example of this occurs in

4700-590: The Latin weekly calendar and replaced the names of Roman gods with their own. Beginning in the Viking Age , personal names containing the theonym Þórr are recorded with great frequency, whereas no examples are known prior to this period. Þórr -based names may have flourished during the Viking Age as a defiant response to attempts at Christianization, similar to the widespread Viking Age practice of wearing Thor's hammer pendants. The earliest records of

4800-725: The Norse/Germanic god, although both the reading and this interpretation have been questioned. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Baldr is named as the ancestor of the monarchy of Kent , Bernicia , Deira , and Wessex through his supposed son Brond . There are a few old place names in Scandinavia that contain the name Baldr . The most certain and notable one is the (former) parish name Balleshol in Hedmark county, Norway: "a Balldrshole" 1356 (where

4900-458: The Roman historian Tacitus 's late first-century work Germania , where, writing about the religion of the Suebi (a confederation of Germanic peoples ), he comments that "among the gods Mercury is the one they principally worship. They regard it as a religious duty to offer to him, on fixed days, human as well as other sacrificial victims. Hercules and Mars they appease by animal offerings of

5000-773: The Völva to not be silent and asks her who will kill Baldr. The Völva replies and says that Höðr will kill Baldr, and again says that she spoke unwillingly, and that she will speak no more: Hoth thither bears | the far-famed branch, He shall the bane | of Baldr become, And steal the life | from Othin's son. Unwilling I spake, | and now would be still. Odin again asks the Völva to not be silent and asks her who will avenge Baldr's death. The Völva replies that Váli will, when he will be one night old. Once again, she says that she will speak no more: Rind bears Vali | in Vestrsalir, And one night old | fights Othin's son; His hands he shall wash not, | his hair he shall comb not, Till

5100-503: The bale-blaze | Baldr's foe. But in Fensalir | did Frigg weep sore For Valhall's need: | would you know yet more? In stanza 62 of Völuspá, looking far into the future, the Völva says that Höðr and Baldr will come back, with the union, according to Bellows, being a symbol of the new age of peace: Then fields unsowed | bear ripened fruit, All ills grow better, | and Baldr comes back; Baldr and Hoth dwell | in Hropt's battle-hall, And

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5200-498: The beast: Benjamin Thorpe translation: Then comes the mighty son of Hlôdyn : (Odin's son goes with the monster to fight); Midgârd 's Veor in his rage will slay the worm. Nine feet will go Fiörgyn's son, bowed by the serpent, who feared no foe. All men will their homes forsake. Henry Adams Bellows translation: Hither there comes the son of Hlothyn, The bright snake gapes to heaven above; ... Against

5300-434: The behavior at odds with his impression of Freyja , and Loki, sitting before Þrymr and appearing as a "very shrewd maid", makes the excuse that " Freyja 's" behaviour is due to her having not consumed anything for eight entire days before arriving due to her eagerness to arrive. Þrymr then lifts " Freyja 's" veil and wants to kiss "her". Terrifying eyes stare back at him, seemingly burning with fire. Loki says that this

5400-494: The context of early Celtic–Germanic linguistic contacts, especially when added to other inherited terms with thunder attributes, such as * Meldunjaz –* meldo- (from * meldh - 'lightning, hammer', i.e. * Perk unos ' weapon) and * Fergunja –* Fercunyā (from * perk un-iyā 'wooded mountains', i.e. *Perk unos' realm). The English weekday name Thursday comes from Old English Þunresdæg , meaning 'day of Þunor', with influence from Old Norse Þórsdagr . The name

5500-559: The event, however, as he is away in the east for unspecified purposes. Towards the end of the poem, the flyting turns to Sif , Thor's wife, whom Loki then claims to have slept with. The god Freyr 's servant Beyla interjects, and says that, since all of the mountains are shaking, she thinks that Thor is on his way home. Beyla adds that Thor will bring peace to the quarrel, to which Loki responds with insults. Thor arrives and tells Loki to be silent, and threatens to rip Loki's head from his body with his hammer. Loki asks Thor why he

5600-461: The feather cloak whistling. In Jötunheimr , the jötunn Þrymr sits on a barrow , plaiting golden collars for his female dogs, and trimming the manes of his horses. Þrymr sees Loki, and asks what could be amiss among the Æsir and the elves ; why is Loki alone in Jötunheimr ? Loki responds that he has bad news for both the elves and the Æsir —that Thor's hammer, Mjölnir ,

5700-476: The god Freyr 's messenger, Skírnir , threatens the fair Gerðr , with whom Freyr is smitten, with numerous threats and curses, including that Thor, Freyr , and Odin will be angry with her, and that she risks their "potent wrath". Thor is the main character of Hárbarðsljóð , where, after traveling "from the east", he comes to an inlet where he encounters a ferryman who gives his name as Hárbarðr (Odin, again in disguise), and attempts to hail

5800-671: The god was known in Old English as Bældæġ , and in Old High German as Balder , all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym * Balðraz ('hero' or 'prince'). During the 12th century, Danish accounts by Saxo Grammaticus and other Danish Latin chroniclers recorded a euhemerized account of his story. Compiled in Iceland during the 13th century, but based on older Old Norse poetry ,

5900-559: The god. In relation, Thunor is sometimes used in Old English texts to gloss Jupiter , the god may be referenced in the poem Solomon and Saturn , where the thunder strikes the devil with a "fiery axe", and the Old English expression þunorrād ("thunder ride") may refer to the god's thunderous, goat-led chariot. A 9th-century AD codex from Mainz , Germany, known as the Old Saxon Baptismal Vow , records

6000-438: The gods holding a council discussing why Baldr had had bad dreams: Henry Adams Bellows translation: Once were the gods | together met, And the goddesses came | and council held, And the far-famed ones | the truth would find, Why baleful dreams | to Baldr had come. Odin then rides to Hel to a Völva's grave and awakens her using magic. The Völva asks Odin, who she does not recognize, who he is, and Odin answers that he

6100-425: The gods is provided, where Thor is described as having been a gothi —a pagan priest—who was given by Odin (who himself is explained away as having been an exceedingly powerful magic-wielding chieftain from the east) a dwelling in the mythical location of Þrúðvangr , in what is now Sweden. The saga narrative adds that numerous names—at the time of the narrative, popularly in use—were derived from Thor . Around

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6200-453: The gods, and that the priests were to offer up sacrifices . In Thor's case, he continues, these sacrifices were done when plague or famine threatened. Earlier in the same work, Adam relays that in 1030 an English preacher, Wulfred, was lynched by assembled Germanic pagans for "profaning" a representation of Thor. Two objects with runic inscriptions invoking Thor date from the 11th century, one from England and one from Sweden. The first,

6300-401: The gods. Annoyed, Ægir tells Thor that the gods must first bring to him a suitable cauldron to brew ale in. The gods search but find no such cauldron anywhere. However, Týr tells Thor that he may have a solution; east of Élivágar lives Hymir , and he owns such a deep kettle. So, after Thor secures his goats at Egil 's home, Thor and Týr go to Hymir 's hall in search of

6400-583: The hall, for "I know alone that you do strike", and the poem continues. In the comedic poem Þrymskviða , Thor again plays a central role. In the poem, Thor wakes and finds that his powerful hammer, Mjölnir , is missing. Thor turns to Loki, and tells him that nobody knows that the hammer has been stolen. The two go to the dwelling of the goddess Freyja , and so that he may attempt to find Mjölnir , Thor asks her if he may borrow her feather cloak. Freyja agrees, and says she would lend it to Thor even if it were made of silver or gold, and Loki flies off,

6500-462: The hand of Nanna, daughter of Gewar, King of Norway . Balderus was a demigod and common steel could not wound his sacred body. The two rivals encountered each other in a terrific battle. Though Odin and Thor and the other gods fought for Balderus, he was defeated and fled away, and Høtherus married the princess. Nevertheless, Balderus took heart of grace and again met Høtherus in a stricken field. But he fared even worse than before. Høtherus dealt him

6600-779: The last element is hóll m "mound; small hill"). Others may be (in Norse forms) Baldrsberg in Vestfold county, Baldrsheimr in Hordaland county Baldrsnes in Sør-Trøndelag county—and (very uncertain) the Balsfjorden fjord and Balsfjord Municipality in Troms county. In Copenhagen , there is also a Baldersgade, or "Balder's Street". A street in downtown Reykjavík is called Baldursgata (Baldur's Street). In Sweden there

6700-486: The latter of which inspired the form Thor . Though Old Norse Þórr has only one syllable, it too comes from an earlier, Proto-Norse two-syllable form which can be reconstructed as * Þunarr and/or * Þunurr (evidenced by the poems Hymiskviða and Þórsdrápa , and modern Elfdalian tųosdag 'Thursday'), through the common Old Norse development of the sequence -unr- to -ór- . All these forms of Thor's name descend from Proto-Germanic , but there

6800-562: The magic of Útgarða-Loki , recounted in the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning )—which, he comments, "was hardly like Thor". Thor again tells him to be silent, threatening to break every bone in Loki's body. Loki responds that he intends to live a while yet, and again insults Thor with references to his encounter with Útgarða-Loki . Thor responds with a fourth call to be silent, and threatens to send Loki to Hel . At Thor's final threat, Loki gives in, commenting that only for Thor will he leave

6900-591: The meaning "shining one, white one, a god" derived from the meaning of Baltic baltas , further adducing Slavic Belobog and German Berhta . One of the two Merseburg Incantations names Balder (in the genitive singular Balderes ), but also mentions a figure named Phol , considered to be a byname for Baldr (as in Scandinavian Falr , Fjalarr ; (in Saxo) Balderus  : Fjallerus ). The incantation relates of Phol ende Wotan riding to

7000-464: The mighty gods: | would you know yet more? Baldr is mentioned in two stanzas of Lokasenna, a poem which describes a flyting between the gods and the god Loki . In the first of the two stanzas, Frigg, Baldr's mother, tells Loki that if she had a son like Baldr, Loki would be killed: Jackson Crawford translation: You know, if I had a son like Balder, sitting here with me in Aegir's hall, in

7100-463: The mistletoe stood. In the next two stanzas, the Völva refers to Baldr's killing, describes the birth of Váli for the slaying of Höðr and the weeping of Frigg : Stanza 33: From the branch which seemed | so slender and fair Came a harmful shaft | that Hoth should hurl; But the brother of Baldr | was born ere long, And one night old | fought Othin's son. Stanza 34: His hands he washed not, | his hair he combed not, Till he bore to

7200-474: The monstrous serpent Jörmungandr —and their foretold mutual deaths during the events of Ragnarök —are recorded throughout sources for Norse mythology. Into the modern period, Thor continued to be acknowledged in folklore throughout Germanic-speaking Europe . Thor is frequently referred to in place names, the day of the week Thursday bears his name (modern English Thursday derives from Old English thunresdaeġ , 'Thunor's day'), and names stemming from

7300-446: The morning, he awakes and informs Hymir that he wants to go fishing the following evening, and that he will catch plenty of food, but that he needs bait. Hymir tells him to go get some bait from his pasture, which he expects should not be a problem for Thor. Thor goes out, finds Hymir 's best ox, and rips its head off. After a lacuna in the manuscript of the poem, Hymiskviða abruptly picks up again with Thor and Hymir in

7400-524: The name of the god appears upon the Nordendorf fibulae , a piece of jewelry created during the Migration Period and found in Bavaria . The item bears an Elder Futhark inscribed with the name Þonar (i.e. Donar ), the southern Germanic form of Thor's name. Around the second half of the 8th century, Old English texts mention Thunor ( Þunor ), which likely refers to a Saxon version of

7500-602: The name of three Old Saxon gods, UUôden (Old Saxon " Wodan ") , Saxnôte , and Thunaer , by way of their renunciation as demons in a formula to be repeated by Germanic pagans formally converting to Christianity . According to a near-contemporary account, the Christian missionary Saint Boniface felled an oak tree dedicated to "Jove" in the 8th century, the Donar's Oak in the region of Hesse , Germany . The Kentish royal legend , probably 11th-century, contains

7600-592: The new earth together with Thor's sons . Besides these descriptions of Baldr, the Prose Edda also explicitly links him to the Anglo-Saxon Beldeg in its prologue. Writing during the end of the 12th century, the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus tells the story of Baldr (recorded as Balderus ) in a form that professes to be historical. According to him, Balderus and Høtherus were rival suitors for

7700-596: The pagan period containing his own continue to be used today, particularly in Scandinavia. Thor has inspired numerous works of art and references to Thor appear in modern popular culture. Like other Germanic deities, veneration of Thor is revived in the modern period in Heathenry . The name Thor is derived from Norse mythology. Its medieval Germanic equivalents or cognates are Donar ( Old High German ), Þunor ( Old English ), Thuner ( Old Frisian ), Thunar ( Old Saxon ), and Þórr ( Old Norse ),

7800-610: The permitted kind" and adds that a portion of the Suebi also venerate " Isis ". In this instance, Tacitus refers to the god Odin as " Mercury ", Thor as "Hercules", and the god Týr as " Mars ", and the identity of the Isis of the Suebi has been debated. In Thor's case, the identification with the god Hercules is likely at least in part due to similarities between Thor's hammer and Hercules' club. In his Annals , Tacitus again refers to

7900-534: The place called Breidablik, which is in heaven; in that place may nothing unclean be[.] Apart from this description, Baldr is known primarily for the story of his death, which is seen as the first in a chain of events that will ultimately lead to the destruction of the gods at Ragnarök . Baldr had a dream of his own death and his mother, Frigg , had the same dream. Since dreams were usually prophetic, this depressed him, and so Frigg made every object on earth vow never to hurt Baldr. All objects made this vow, save for

8000-401: The place where the gods were indulging in their new pastime of hurling objects at Baldr, which would bounce off without harming him. Loki gave the spear to Baldr's brother, the blind god Höðr , who then inadvertently killed his brother with it (other versions suggest that Loki guided the arrow himself). For this act, Odin and the ásynja Rindr gave birth to Váli , who grew to adulthood within

8100-432: The poem Grímnismál , the god Odin, in disguise as Grímnir , and tortured, starved and thirsty, imparts in the young Agnar cosmological lore, including that Thor resides in Þrúðheimr , and that, every day, Thor wades through the rivers Körmt and Örmt , and the two Kerlaugar . There, Grímnir says, Thor sits as judge at the immense cosmological world tree, Yggdrasil . In Skírnismál ,

8200-401: The poem Völuspá , a dead völva recounts the history of the universe and foretells the future to the disguised god Odin, including the death of Thor. Thor, she foretells, will do battle with the great serpent during the immense mythic war waged at Ragnarök , and there he will slay the monstrous snake, yet after he will only be able to take nine steps before succumbing to the venom of

8300-421: The potential etymological basis for Sága being a seeress "have led most scholars to understand Sága as another name for Frigg." Stephan Grundy states that Sága and Sökkvabekkr may be by-forms of Frigg and Fensalir used for the purpose of composing alliterative verse . Britt-Mari Näsström theorizes that "Frigg's role as a fertility goddess is revealed in the name of her abode, Fensalir [...]", that Frigg

8400-411: The presence of these gods, I declare you would never come out alive, you'd be killed shortly. In the next stanza, Loki responds to Frigg, and says that he is the reason Baldr "will never ride home again": You must want me to recount even more of my mischief, Frigg. After all, I'm the one who made it so that Balder will never ride home again. The Eddic poem Baldr's Dreams opens with

8500-522: The protection of humankind, hallowing , and fertility . Besides Old Norse Þórr , the deity occurs in Old English as Thunor , in Old Frisian as Thuner , in Old Saxon as Thunar , and in Old High German as Donar , all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym * Þun(a)raz , meaning 'Thunder'. Thor is a prominently mentioned god throughout

8600-444: The pyre. Upon Frigg's entreaties, delivered through the messenger Hermod , Hel promised to release Baldr from the underworld if all objects alive and dead would weep for him. All did, except a giantess , Þökk (often presumed to be the god Loki in disguise), who refused to mourn the slain god. Thus Baldr had to remain in the underworld, not to emerge until after Ragnarök, when he and his brother Höðr would be reconciled and rule

8700-576: The question and answer session turns out to be a ploy by Thor, as, although Thor comments that he has truly never seen anyone with more wisdom in their breast, Thor has managed to delay the dwarf enough for the Sun to turn him to stone; "day dawns on you now, dwarf, now sun shines on the hall". In the poem Hyndluljóð , Freyja offers to the jötunn woman Hyndla to blót (sacrifice) to Thor so that she may be protected, and comments that Thor does not care much for jötunn women. The prologue to

8800-529: The result of the fossilization of an original epithet (or epiclesis , i.e. invocational name) of the Proto-Indo-European thunder-god * Perk unos , since the Vedic weather-god Parjanya is also called stanayitnú- ('Thunderer'). The potentially perfect match between the thunder-gods * Tonaros and * Þunaraz , which both go back to a common form * ton(a)ros ~ * tṇros , is notable in

8900-569: The sequence "þunurþurus". Finally, * Þunaraz is attractive because it is identical to the name of the ancient Celtic god Taranus (by metathesis –switch of sounds–of an earlier * Tonaros , attested in the dative tanaro and the Gaulish river name Tanarus ), and further related to the Latin epithet Tonans (attached to Jupiter ), via the common Proto-Indo-European root for 'thunder' * (s)tenh₂- . According to scholar Peter Jackson, those theonyms may have emerged as

9000-461: The serpent goes Othin's son. In anger smites the warder of earth,— Forth from their homes must all men flee;— Nine paces fares the son of Fjorgyn, And, slain by the serpent, fearless he sinks. Afterwards, says the völva , the sky will turn black before fire engulfs the world, the stars will disappear, flames will dance before the sky, steam will rise, the world will be covered in water and then it will be raised again, green and fertile. In

9100-477: The ship, Odin whispered something in his ear. The import of this speech was held to be unknowable, and the question of what was said was thus used as an unanswerable riddle by Odin in other sources, namely against the giant Vafthrudnir in the Eddic poem Vafthrudnismal and in the riddles of Gestumblindi in Hervarar saga . Upon seeing the corpse being carried to the ship, Nanna, his wife, died of grief. She

9200-488: The slayer of Baldr | he brings to the flames. Unwilling I spake, | and now would be still. Odin again asks the Völva to not be silent and says that he seeks to know who the women that will then weep be. The Völva realizes that Vegtam is Odin in disguise. Odin says that the Völva is not a Völva, and that she is the mother of three giants. The Völva tells Odin to ride back home proud, because she will speak to no more men until Loki escapes his bounds. In Gylfaginning , Baldr

9300-444: The story of a villainous reeve of Ecgberht of Kent called Thunor, who is swallowed up by the earth at a place from then on known as þunores hlæwe (Old English 'Thunor's mound'). Gabriel Turville-Petre saw this as an invented origin for the placename demonstrating loss of memory that Thunor had been a god's name. In the 11th century, chronicler Adam of Bremen records in his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum that

9400-417: The two, but are killed by the hammer of Thor. Although one of his goats is lame in the leg, the two manage to bring the cauldron back, have plenty of ale, and so, from then on, return to [Týr] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |3= ( help ) 's for more every winter. In the poem Lokasenna , the half-god Loki angrily flites with the gods in the sea entity Ægir 's hall. Thor does not attend

9500-483: The two, disguised, arrive in Jötunheimr . Þrymr commands the jötnar in his hall to spread straw on the benches, for Freyja has arrived to be his wife. Þrymr recounts his treasured animals and objects, stating that Freyja was all that he was missing in his wealth. Early in the evening, the disguised Loki and Thor meet with Þrymr and the assembled jötnar . Thor eats and drinks ferociously, consuming entire animals and three casks of mead . Þrymr finds

9600-424: The usage of the word as an honorific in a few cases, as in baldur î brynju ( Sæm. 272b) and herbaldr (Sæm. 218b), in general epithets of heroes. In continental Saxon and Anglo-Saxon tradition, the son of Woden is called not Bealdor but Baldag (Saxon) and Bældæg, Beldeg (Anglo-Saxon), which shows association with "day", possibly with Day personified as a deity. This, as Grimm points out, would agree with

9700-512: The veneration of "Hercules" by the Germanic peoples; he records a wood beyond the river Weser (in what is now northwestern Germany ) as dedicated to him. A deity known as Hercules Magusanus was venerated in Germania Inferior ; due to the Roman identification of Thor with Hercules, Rudolf Simek has suggested that Magusanus was originally an epithet attached to the Proto-Germanic deity * Þunraz . The first recorded instance of

9800-457: The wedding agreement was made among the gods while Thor was gone, and that the dwarf must seek his consent. To do so, Thor says, Alvíss must tell him what he wants to know about all of the worlds that the dwarf has visited. In a long question and answer session, Alvíss does exactly that; he describes natural features as they are known in the languages of various races of beings in the world, and gives an amount of cosmological lore. However,

9900-606: The woods, where the foot of Baldr's foal is sprained. Sinthgunt (the sister of the sun), Frigg and Odin sing to the foot in order for it to heal. The identification with Balder is not conclusive. Modern scholarship suggests that the god Freyr might be meant. Unlike the Prose Edda, in the Poetic Edda the tale of Baldr's death is referred to rather than recounted at length. Baldr is mentioned in Völuspá , in Lokasenna , and

10000-533: Was then placed on the funeral fire (perhaps a toned-down instance of Sati , also attested in the Arab traveller Ibn Fadlan's account of a funeral among the Rus' ), after which it was set on fire. Baldr's horse with all its trappings was also laid on the pyre. As the pyre was set on fire, Thor blessed it with his hammer Mjǫllnir . As he did a small dwarf named Litr came running before his feet. Thor then kicked him into

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