159-486: Odin ( / ˈ oʊ d ɪ n / ; from Old Norse : Óðinn ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism . Norse mythology , the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet , and depicts him as the husband of the goddess Frigg . In wider Germanic mythology and paganism,
318-574: A calque of Latin Mercurii dies ('Day of Mercury '; cf. modern Italian mercoledì , French mercredi , Spanish miércoles ). The earliest records of the Germanic peoples were recorded by the Romans, and in these works Odin 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
477-415: A coffin creates an unusual perspective rarely seen in everyday life. During the viewing, pink-colored lighting is sometimes used near the body to lend a warmer tone to the deceased's complexion. A photograph of the deceased in good health is often sought to guide the embalmer's hand in restoring the body to a more lifelike appearance. Blemishes and discolorations (such as bruises, in which the discoloration
636-463: A culture hero . He has a particular association with the Yule holiday. Odin is also associated with the divine battlefield maidens, the valkyries , and he oversees Valhalla , where he receives half of those who die in battle, the einherjar , sending the other half to the goddess Freyja 's Fólkvangr . Odin consults the disembodied, herb-embalmed head of the wise Mímir , who foretells
795-696: A dialect continuum , with no clear geographical boundary between them. Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway , although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, and Old West Norse traits were found in western Sweden . In what is present-day Denmark and Sweden, most speakers spoke Old East Norse. Though Old Gutnish is sometimes included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations, it developed its own unique features and shared in changes to both other branches. The 12th-century Icelandic Gray Goose Laws state that Swedes , Norwegians , Icelanders , and Danes spoke
954-624: A sleeping spell on her which she could not break, and due to that spell she has been asleep a long time. Sigurd asks for her name, and the woman gives Sigurd a horn of mead to help him retain her words in his memory. The woman recites a heathen prayer in two stanzas. A prose narrative explains that the woman is named Sigrdrífa and that she is a valkyrie. A narrative relates that Sigrdrífa explains to Sigurd that there were two kings fighting one another. Odin had promised one of these— Hjalmgunnar —victory in battle, yet she had "brought down" Hjalmgunnar in battle. Odin pricked her with
1113-406: A Christian context 'hanging in heaven' would refer to the crucifixion ; but (remembering that Woden was mentioned a few lines previously) there is also a parallel, perhaps a better one, with Odin, as his crucifixion was associated with learning." The Old English gnomic poem Maxims I also mentions Woden by name in the (alliterative) phrase Woden worhte weos , ('Woden made idols'), in which he
1272-616: A Germanic people who ruled a region of the Italian Peninsula . According to this legend, a "small people" known as the Winnili were ruled by a woman named Gambara who had two sons, Ybor and Aio . The Vandals , ruled by Ambri and Assi , came to the Winnili with their army and demanded that they pay them tribute or prepare for war. Ybor, Aio, and their mother Gambara rejected their demands for tribute. Ambri and Assi then asked
1431-593: A Roman deity)—as the Roman god Mercury . The first clear example of this occurs in the Roman historian Tacitus 's late 1st-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
1590-494: A body. In some ways this mirrors the ancient practice of placing grave goods with a person for their use or enjoyment in the afterlife. In traditional Chinese culture, paper substitutes of the goods are buried or cremated with the deceased instead, as well as paper money specifically purchased for the occasion. Embalming chemicals are a variety of preservatives, sanitizers, disinfectant agents, and additives used in modern embalming to temporarily delay decomposition and restore
1749-727: A change known as Holtzmann's law . An epenthetic vowel became popular by 1200 in Old Danish, 1250 in Old Swedish and Old Norwegian, and 1300 in Old Icelandic. An unstressed vowel was used which varied by dialect. Old Norwegian exhibited all three: /u/ was used in West Norwegian south of Bergen , as in aftur , aftor (older aptr ); North of Bergen, /i/ appeared in aftir , after ; and East Norwegian used /a/ , after , aftær . Old Norse
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#17327651147681908-434: A daily basis, or other favorite attire. The clothing used can also reflect the deceased person's profession or vocation: priests and ministers are often dressed in their liturgical vestments , and military and law enforcement personnel often wear their uniform. Underwear, singlets, bras, briefs, and hosiery are all used if the family so desires, and the deceased is dressed in them as they would be in life. In certain instances
2067-467: A dialogue with an undead völva , who gives him wisdom from ages past and foretells the onset of Ragnarök , the destruction and rebirth of the world. Among the information the völva recounts is the story of the first human beings ( Ask and Embla ), found and given life by a trio of gods; Odin, Hœnir , and Lóðurr : In stanza 17 of the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá , the völva reciting
2226-417: A female raven or a male crow. All neuter words have identical nominative and accusative forms, and all feminine words have identical nominative and accusative plurals. The gender of some words' plurals does not agree with that of their singulars, such as lim and mund . Some words, such as hungr , have multiple genders, evidenced by their determiners being declined in different genders within
2385-412: A front vowel to be split into a semivowel-vowel sequence before a back vowel in the following syllable. While West Norse only broke /e/ , East Norse also broke /i/ . The change was blocked by a /w/ , /l/ , or /ʀ/ preceding the potentially-broken vowel. Some /ja/ or /jɔ/ and /jaː/ or /jɔː/ result from breaking of /e/ and /eː/ respectively. When a noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb has
2544-409: A funeral director will request a specific style of clothing, such as a collared shirt or blouse, to cover traumatic marks or autopsy incisions. In other cases clothing may be cut down the back and placed on the deceased from the front to ensure a proper fit. In many areas of Asia and Europe, the custom of dressing the body in a specially designed shroud or burial cloth, rather than in clothing used by
2703-409: A given sentence. Nouns, adjectives, and pronouns were declined in four grammatical cases – nominative , accusative , genitive , and dative – in singular and plural numbers. Adjectives and pronouns were additionally declined in three grammatical genders. Some pronouns (first and second person) could have dual number in addition to singular and plural. The genitive
2862-646: A heathen invocation known as the Second Merseburg Incantation , which calls upon Odin and other gods and goddesses from the continental Germanic pantheon to assist in healing a horse: Phol ende uuodan uuoran zi holza. du uuart demo balderes uolon sin uuoz birenkit. thu biguol en sinthgunt , sunna era suister, thu biguol en friia, uolla era suister thu biguol en uuodan, so he uuola conda: sose benrenki, sose bluotrenki, sose lidirenki: ben zi bena, bluot si bluoda, lid zi geliden, sose gelimida sin! Phol and Woden travelled to
3021-408: A list of valkyries , referred to as nǫnnor Herians 'the ladies of War Lord'; in other words, the ladies of Odin. In foretelling the events of Ragnarök , the völva predicts the death of Odin; Odin will fight the monstrous wolf Fenrir during the great battle at Ragnarök . Odin will be consumed by the wolf, yet Odin's son Víðarr will avenge him by stabbing the wolf in the heart. After
3180-584: A long vowel or diphthong in the accented syllable and its stem ends in a single l , n , or s , the r (or the elder r - or z -variant ʀ ) in an ending is assimilated. When the accented vowel is short, the ending is dropped. The nominative of the strong masculine declension and some i-stem feminine nouns uses one such -r (ʀ). Óðin-r ( Óðin-ʀ ) becomes Óðinn instead of * Óðinr ( * Óðinʀ ). The verb blása ('to blow'), has third person present tense blæss ('[he] blows') rather than * blæsr ( * blæsʀ ). Similarly,
3339-416: A long, cross-cultural history, with many cultures giving the embalming processes religious meaning. Animal remains can also be embalmed by similar methods, though embalming is distinct from taxidermy . Embalming preserves the body intact, whereas taxidermy is the recreation of an animal's form often using only the creature's skin, fur or feathers mounted on an anatomical form. While the term embalming
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#17327651147683498-410: A moisturizing cream is applied to the face, hands and arms. Ideally the deceased will usually sit for as long as possible for observation by the embalmer. After being dressed for visitation or funeral services, cosmetics are commonly, but not universally, applied to make the body appear more lifelike. For babies who have died, the embalmer may apply a light cosmetic massage cream after embalming to provide
3657-436: A natural appearance for viewing a body after death. A mixture of these chemicals is known as embalming fluid, and is used to preserve deceased individuals, sometimes only until the funeral, other times indefinitely. Typical embalming fluid contains a mixture of formaldehyde , glutaraldehyde , methanol , humectants and wetting agents, and other solvents that can be used. The formaldehyde content generally ranges from 5–35%, and
3816-404: A natural appearance; massage cream is also used on the face to prevent it from dehydrating, and the infant's mouth is often kept slightly open for a more natural expression. If possible, the funeral director uses a light, translucent cosmetic; sometimes, heavier, opaque cosmetics are used to hide bruises, cuts, or discolored areas. Makeup is applied to the lips to mimic their natural color. Sometimes
3975-492: A needle and ligature, using an adhesive, or by setting a wire into the maxilla and mandible with a needle injector, a specialized device most commonly used in North America and unique to mortuary practice. Care is taken to make the expression look as relaxed and natural as possible, and ideally, a recent photograph of the deceased in good health is used as a reference. The process of closing the mouth and eyes, shaving, etc.
4134-474: A noun must mirror the gender of that noun , so that one says, " heill maðr! " but, " heilt barn! ". As in other languages, the grammatical gender of an impersonal noun is generally unrelated to an expected natural gender of that noun. While indeed karl , "man" is masculine, kona , "woman", is feminine, and hús , "house", is neuter, so also are hrafn and kráka , for "raven" and "crow", masculine and feminine respectively, even in reference to
4293-569: A recognized society of professional embalmers. The roles of a funeral director and embalmer are different, depending on the locals custom and licensing body for a region in which the funeral director and/or embalmer operate. A funeral director arranges for the final disposition of the deceased, and may or may not prepare the deceased, including embalming, for viewing (or other legal requirements). Legal requirements over who can practice vary geographically. Some regions or countries do not have specific requirements, while others have clear prohibitions. In
4452-476: A similar development influenced by Middle Low German . Various languages unrelated to Old Norse and others not closely related have been heavily influenced by Norse, particularly the Norman language ; to a lesser extent, Finnish and Estonian . Russian, Ukrainian , Belarusian , Lithuanian and Latvian also have a few Norse loanwords. The words Rus and Russia , according to one theory, may be named after
4611-455: A sleeping-thorn in consequence, told her that she would never again "fight victoriously in battle", and condemned her to marriage. In response, Sigrdrífa told Odin she had sworn a great oath that she would never wed a man who knew fear. Sigurd asks Sigrdrífa to share with him her wisdom of all worlds. The poem continues in verse, where Sigrdrífa provides Sigurd with knowledge in inscribing runes , mystic wisdom, and prophecy . Odin
4770-716: A special embalming powder in a viscera bag. Long-term preservation requires different techniques, such as using stronger preservatives and multiple injection sites to ensure thorough saturation of body tissues. A rather different process is used for cadavers embalmed for dissection by medical professionals, students, and researchers. Here, the first priority is for long-term preservation, not presentation. As such, medical embalmers use anatomical wetting fluids that contain concentrated formaldehyde (37–40%, known as formalin) or glutaraldehyde and phenol , and are made without dyes or perfumes. Many embalming chemical companies make specialized anatomical embalming fluids. Anatomical embalming
4929-655: A variety of countries depending on locality and circumstance. Some international standards do exist however, such as the Strasbourg Agreement of the Council of Europe, agreed to by more than 20 States in Europe, which only requires embalming in cases where the individual died due to an infectious disease. The beneficial perception of the viewing of a properly embalmed deceased person has been challenged by authors such as Jessica Mitford , who points out that there
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5088-420: A very pale or light pink lipstick is applied on males, while brighter colored lipstick is applied to females. Hair gel or baby oil is applied to style short hair; while hairspray is applied to style long hair. Powders (especially baby powder ) are applied to the body to eliminate odors, and it is also applied to the face to achieve a matte and fresh effect to prevent oiliness of the corpse. Mortuary cosmeticizing
5247-608: A voiced velar fricative [ɣ] in all cases, and others have that realisation only in the middle of words and between vowels (with it otherwise being realised [ɡ] ). The Old East Norse /ʀ/ was an apical consonant , with its precise position unknown; it is reconstructed as a palatal sibilant . It descended from Proto-Germanic /z/ and eventually developed into /r/ , as had already occurred in Old West Norse. The consonant digraphs ⟨hl⟩ , ⟨hr⟩ , and ⟨hn⟩ occurred word-initially. It
5406-467: A vowel or semivowel of a different vowel backness . In the case of i-umlaut and ʀ-umlaut , this entails a fronting of back vowels, with retention of lip rounding. In the case of u-umlaut , this entails labialization of unrounded vowels. Umlaut is phonemic and in many situations grammatically significant as a side effect of losing the Proto-Germanic morphological suffixes whose vowels created
5565-416: A woman. The woman's corslet is so tight that it seems to have grown into the woman's body. Sigurd uses his sword Gram to cut the corslet, starting from the neck of the corslet downwards, he continues cutting down her sleeves, and takes the corslet off her. The woman wakes, sits up, looks at Sigurd , and the two converse in two stanzas of verse. In the second stanza, the woman explains that Odin placed
5724-448: A word. Strong verbs ablaut the lemma 's nucleus to derive the past forms of the verb. This parallels English conjugation, where, e.g., the nucleus of sing becomes sang in the past tense and sung in the past participle. Some verbs are derived by ablaut, as the present-in-past verbs do by consequence of being derived from the past tense forms of strong verbs. Umlaut or mutation is an assimilatory process acting on vowels preceding
5883-508: Is a homophone for Old English os , a particularly heathen word for 'god'. Due to this and the content of the stanzas, several scholars have posited that this poem is censored, having originally referred to Odin. Kathleen Herbert comments that " Os was cognate with As in Norse, where it meant one of the Æsir , the chief family of gods. In Old English, it could be used as an element in first names: Osric, Oswald, Osmund, etc. but it
6042-421: Is collectively known as setting the features . Features may also be set after the completion of the arterial embalming process, which allows the embalmer to clean and remove any purge that occurs during the embalming process. The actual embalming process usually involves four parts: The duration of an embalming can vary greatly, but a common approximate time of between two and four hours to complete an embalming
6201-603: Is contrasted with and denounced against the Christian God . The Old English rune poem recounts the Old English runic alphabet, the futhorc . The stanza for the rune ós reads as follows: ōs byþ ordfruma ǣlcre sprǣce wīsdōmes wraþu and wītena frōfur and eorla gehwām ēadnys and tō hiht god is the origin of all language wisdom's foundation and wise man's comfort and to every hero blessing and hope The first word of this stanza, ōs (Latin 'mouth')
6360-465: Is expected to exist, such as in the male names Ragnarr , Steinarr (supposedly * Ragnarʀ , * Steinarʀ ), the result is apparently always /rː/ rather than */rʀ/ or */ʀː/ . This is observable in the Runic corpus. In Old Norse, i/j adjacent to i , e , their u-umlauts, and æ was not possible, nor u/v adjacent to u , o , their i-umlauts, and ǫ . At
6519-440: Is from this association that Odin is referred to as "raven-god". The above-mentioned stanza from Grímnismál is then quoted. In the same chapter, the enthroned figure of High explains that Odin gives all of the food on his table to his wolves Geri and Freki and that Odin requires no food, for wine is to him both meat and drink. Old Norse language Old Norse , also referred to as Old Nordic , or Old Scandinavian ,
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6678-411: Is known by hundreds of names . Odin is frequently portrayed as one-eyed and long-bearded, wielding a spear named Gungnir or appearing in disguise wearing a cloak and a broad hat. He is often accompanied by his animal familiars —the wolves Geri and Freki and the ravens Huginn and Muninn , who bring him information from all over Midgard —and he rides the flying, eight-legged steed Sleipnir across
6837-695: Is mentioned throughout the books of the Prose Edda , composed in the 13th century and drawing from earlier traditional material. The god is introduced at length in chapter nine of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning , which explains that he is described as ruling over Asgard , the domain of the gods, on his throne, that he is the 'father of all', and that from him all the gods, all of humankind (by way of Ask and Embla ), and everything else he has made or produced. According to Gylfaginning , in Asgard: In
6996-584: Is more common in Old West Norse in both phonemic and allophonic positions, while it only occurs sparsely in post-runic Old East Norse and even in runic Old East Norse. This is still a major difference between Swedish and Faroese and Icelandic today. Plurals of neuters do not have u-umlaut at all in Swedish, but in Faroese and Icelandic they do, for example the Faroese and Icelandic plurals of the word land , lond and lönd respectively, in contrast to
7155-477: Is much less frequent in many parts of Europe; most modern countries have embalming available in some manner. As practiced in the funeral home , embalming involves several distinct steps. Modern embalming techniques are not the result of a single practitioner, but rather the accumulation of many decades, even centuries, of research, trial and error, and invention. A standardized version follows below, but variation in techniques are common. The first step in embalming
7314-433: Is near universally accepted as the cosmic tree Yggdrasil , and if the tree is Yggdrasil , then the name Yggdrasil (Old Norse 'Ygg's steed') directly relates to this story. Odin is associated with hanging and gallows ; John Lindow comments that "the hanged 'ride' the gallows". In the prose introduction to the poem Sigrdrífumál , the hero Sigurd rides up to Hindarfell and heads south towards "the land of
7473-422: Is no general consensus that viewing an embalmed corpse is somehow "therapeutic" to the bereaved, and that terms such as "memory picture" were invented by the undertakers themselves, who would have a financial interest in selling the process of embalming to the public. Mitford also points out that, in many countries, embalming is rare, and the populace of such countries are still able to grieve normally. An embalmer
7632-435: Is not done for the same reason as make-up for living people; rather, it is designed to add depth and dimension to a person's features that lack of blood circulation has removed. Warm areas – where blood vessels in living people are superficial, such as the cheeks, chin, and knuckles – have subtle reds added to recreate this effect, while browns are added to the palpebrae ( eyelids ) to add depth, especially important as viewing in
7791-435: Is not in the circulatory system, and cannot be removed by arterial injection) occasioned by the last illness, the settling of blood, or the embalming process itself are also dealt with at this time (although some embalmers utilize hypodermic bleaching agents, such as phenol-based cauterants, during injection to lighten discoloration and allow easier cosmeticizing). It is also common for the embalmer to perform minor restoration of
7950-467: Is performed into a closed circulatory system. The fluid is usually injected with an embalming machine into an artery under high pressure and flow, and allowed to swell and saturate the tissues. After the deceased is left to sit for a number of hours, the venous system is generally opened and the fluid allowed to drain out, although many anatomical embalmers do not use any drainage technique. Anatomical embalmers may choose to use gravity-feed embalming, where
8109-401: Is performed, the type of burial or entombment, and the materials used – such as wood or metal coffins and vaults – the body of the deceased will, under most circumstances, eventually decompose. Modern embalming is done to delay decomposition so that funeral services may take place or for the purpose of shipping the remains to a distant place for disposition. After the body is rewashed and dried,
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#17327651147688268-509: Is said to be the son of a god other than Yahweh. This lines up with the Lindsey genealogy which says that Frealaf was the son of Friothulf, son of Finn, son of Godulf, son of Geat, although Nennius seems to have replaced Godulf with Fodepald. Other genealogies of Odin include further ancestry beyond Geat, giving Geat's father as Tætwa son of Beaw son of Sceldi son of Heremod son of Itermon son of Hathra son of Guala son of Bedwig son of Sceaf, who
8427-577: Is said to have slain a wyrm (serpent, Germanic dragon ) by way of nine "glory twigs". Preserved from an 11th-century manuscript, the poem is, according to Bill Griffiths, "one of the most enigmatic of Old English texts". The section that mentions Woden is as follows: + wyrm com snican, toslat he nan, ða genam woden VIIII wuldortanas, sloh ða þa næddran þæt heo on VIIII tofleah Þær gaændade æppel and attor þæt heo næfre ne wolde on hus bugan. A serpent came crawling (but) it destroyed no one when Woden took nine twigs of glory, (and) then struck
8586-425: Is someone who has been trained and qualified in the art and science of sanitization, presentation, and preservation of the human deceased. The term mortician is far more generic; it may refer to someone who is a funeral director, an embalmer, or just a person who prepares the deceased, with or without the formal qualification of an embalmer. Thus while all embalmers are morticians, many morticians are not embalmers and
8745-540: Is that the inscription "gutaniowi hailag" means "sacred to Wodan-Jove", but this is highly disputed. The earliest clear reference to Odin by name is found on a C- bracteate discovered in Denmark in 2020. Dated to as early as the 400s, the bracteate features a Proto-Norse Elder Futhark inscription reading "He is Odin’s man" ( iz Wōd[a]nas weraz ). Although the English kingdoms were nominally converted to Christianity by
8904-459: Is that the nonphonemic difference between the voiced and the voiceless dental fricative is marked. The oldest texts and runic inscriptions use þ exclusively. Long vowels are denoted with acutes . Most other letters are written with the same glyph as the IPA phoneme, except as shown in the table below. Ablaut patterns are groups of vowels which are swapped, or ablauted, in the nucleus of
9063-645: Is the son of Noah from the Bible . In the 11th century, chronicler Adam of Bremen recorded in a scholion of his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum that a statue of Thor, whom Adam describes as "mightiest", sat enthroned in the Temple at Uppsala (located in Gamla Uppsala, Sweden) flanked by Wodan (Odin) and " Fricco ". Regarding Odin, Adam defines him as "frenzy" ( Wodan, id est furor ) and says that he "rules war and gives people strength against
9222-486: Is to verify the permissions and requests of the family followed by a careful plan for the deceased's preparation, including reviewing the medical certificate of death. The deceased is placed on the mortuary table in the supine anatomical position with the head elevated by a head rest. Before commencing any preparation the embalmer will verify the identity of the body (normally via wrist or leg bracelets or tags). At this point, embalmers commonly perform an initial evaluation of
9381-432: Is typical. However, an embalming case that presents excessive complications could require substantially longer. The treatment of someone who has undergone an autopsy, cases of extreme trauma, or the restoration of a long-bone donor are a few such examples, and embalmings which require multiple days to complete are known. Embalming is meant to temporarily preserve the body of a deceased person. Regardless of whether embalming
9540-557: Is unclear whether they were sequences of two consonants (with the first element realised as /h/ or perhaps /x/ ) or as single voiceless sonorants /l̥/ , /r̥/ and /n̥/ respectively. In Old Norwegian, Old Danish and later Old Swedish, the groups ⟨hl⟩ , ⟨hr⟩ , and ⟨hn⟩ were reduced to plain ⟨l⟩ , ⟨r⟩ , ⟨n⟩ , which suggests that they had most likely already been pronounced as voiceless sonorants by Old Norse times. The pronunciation of ⟨hv⟩
9699-620: Is unclear, but it may have been /xʷ/ (the Proto-Germanic pronunciation), /hʷ/ or the similar phoneme /ʍ/ . Unlike the three other digraphs, it was retained much longer in all dialects. Without ever developing into a voiceless sonorant in Icelandic, it instead underwent fortition to a plosive /kv/ , which suggests that instead of being a voiceless sonorant, it retained a stronger frication. Primary stress in Old Norse falls on
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#17327651147689858-537: Is used for both ancient and modern methods of preserving a deceased person, there is very little connection between the modern-day practices of embalming and ancient methods in terms of techniques or final aesthetic results. The Chinchorro culture in the Atacama desert of present-day Chile and Peru is among the earliest cultures known to have performed artificial mummification, as early as 5000–6000 BCE. The earliest known evidence of artificial preservation in Europe
10017-411: Is usually done to make the deceased suitable for viewing as part of the funeral ceremony or keep them preserved for medical purposes in an anatomical laboratory. The three goals of embalming are sanitization , presentation, and preservation, with restoration being an important additional factor in some instances. Performed successfully, embalming can help preserve the body for many years. Embalming has
10176-490: Is venerated with other Germanic gods in most forms of the new religious movement Heathenry ; some branches focus particularly on him. The Old Norse theonym Óðinn (runic ᚢᚦᛁᚾ on the Ribe skull fragment ) is a cognate of other medieval Germanic names, including Old English Wōden , Old Saxon Wōdan , Old Dutch Wuodan , and Old High German Wuotan ( Old Bavarian Wûtan ). They all derive from
10335-512: The Franks ". On the mountain Sigurd sees a great light, "as if fire were burning, which blazed up to the sky". Sigurd approaches it, and there he sees a skjaldborg (a tactical formation of shield wall ) with a banner flying overhead. Sigurd enters the skjaldborg , and sees a warrior lying there—asleep and fully armed. Sigurd removes the helmet of the warrior, and sees the face of
10494-527: The Latin term vātēs ('prophet, seer') is probably a Celtic loanword from the Gaulish language, making *uoh₂-tós ~ *ueh₂-tus ('god-inspired') a shared religious term common to Germanic and Celtic rather than an inherited word of earlier Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origin. In the case a borrowing scenario is excluded, a PIE etymon *(H)ueh₂-tis ('prophet, seer') can also be posited as the common ancestor of
10653-484: The Latin alphabet , there was no standardized orthography in use in the Middle Ages. A modified version of the letter wynn called vend was used briefly for the sounds /u/ , /v/ , and /w/ . Long vowels were sometimes marked with acutes but also sometimes left unmarked or geminated. The standardized Old Norse spelling was created in the 19th century and is, for the most part, phonemic. The most notable deviation
10812-441: The Prose Edda book Gylfaginning (chapter 38), the enthroned figure of High (Harr), tells Gangleri (king Gylfi in disguise) that two ravens named Huginn and Muninn sit on Odin's shoulders. The ravens tell Odin everything they see and hear. Odin sends Huginn and Muninn out at dawn, and the birds fly all over the world before returning at dinner-time. As a result, Odin is kept informed of many events. High adds that it
10971-667: The Rus' people , a Norse tribe, probably from present-day east-central Sweden. The current Finnish and Estonian words for Sweden are Ruotsi and Rootsi , respectively. A number of loanwords have been introduced into Irish , many associated with fishing and sailing. A similar influence is found in Scottish Gaelic , with over one hundred loanwords estimated to be in the language, many of which are related to fishing and sailing. Old Norse vowel phonemes mostly come in pairs of long and short. The standardized orthography marks
11130-593: The Solomon and Saturn poems is additionally in the style of later Old Norse material featuring Odin, such as the Old Norse poem Vafþrúðnismál , featuring Odin and the jötunn Vafþrúðnir engaging in a deadly game of wits. The 7th-century Origo Gentis Langobardorum , and Paul the Deacon 's 8th-century Historia Langobardorum derived from it, recount a founding myth of the Langobards ( Lombards ),
11289-553: The reconstructed Proto-Germanic masculine theonym *Wōðanaz (or *Wōdunaz ). Translated as 'lord of frenzy', or as 'leader of the possessed', *Wōðanaz stems from the Proto-Germanic adjective *wōðaz ('possessed, inspired, delirious, raging') attached to the suffix *-naz ('master of'). Internal and comparative evidence all point to the ideas of a divine possession or inspiration, and an ecstatic divination . In his Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (1075–1080 AD), Adam of Bremen explicitly associates Wotan with
11448-422: The substantivized forms Old Norse óðr ('mind, wit, sense; song, poetry'), Old English wōþ ('sound, noise; voice, song'), Old High German wuot ('thrill, violent agitation') and Middle Dutch woet ('rage, frenzy'), from the same root as the original adjective. The Proto-Germanic terms *wōðīn ('madness, fury') and *wōðjanan ('to rage') can also be reconstructed. Early epigraphic attestations of
11607-668: The word stem , so that hyrjar would be pronounced /ˈhyr.jar/ . In compound words, secondary stress falls on the second stem (e.g. lærisveinn , /ˈlɛːɾ.iˌswɛinː/ ). Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark , runic Old Norse was originally written with the Younger Futhark , which had only 16 letters. Because of the limited number of runes, several runes were used for different sounds, and long and short vowels were not distinguished in writing. Medieval runes came into use some time later. As for
11766-416: The "normal" case. The restoration of bodies and features damaged by accident or disease is commonly called restorative art or demisurgery , and all qualified embalmers have some degree of training and practice in it. For such cases, the benefit of embalming is startlingly apparent. Normally, a better result can be achieved when a photograph and the decedent's regular make-up (if worn) are available to help make
11925-557: The 11th century in most of Old East Norse. However, the distinction still holds in Dalecarlian dialects . The dots in the following vowel table separate the oral from nasal phonemes. Note: The open or open-mid vowels may be transcribed differently: Sometime around the 13th century, /ɔ/ (spelled ⟨ǫ⟩ ) merged with /ø/ or /o/ in most dialects except Old Danish , and Icelandic where /ɔ/ ( ǫ ) merged with /ø/ . This can be determined by their distinction within
12084-979: The 12th-century First Grammatical Treatise but not within the early 13th-century Prose Edda . The nasal vowels, also noted in the First Grammatical Treatise, are assumed to have been lost in most dialects by this time (but notably they are retained in Elfdalian and other dialects of Ovansiljan ). See Old Icelandic for the mergers of /øː/ (spelled ⟨œ⟩ ) with /ɛː/ (spelled ⟨æ⟩ ) and /ɛ/ (spelled ⟨ę⟩ ) with /e/ (spelled ⟨e⟩ ). Old Norse had three diphthong phonemes: /ɛi/ , /ɔu/ , /øy ~ ɛy/ (spelled ⟨ei⟩ , ⟨au⟩ , ⟨ey⟩ respectively). In East Norse these would monophthongize and merge with /eː/ and /øː/ , whereas in West Norse and its descendants
12243-668: The 13th century there. The age of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland is strongly contested, but Swedish settlement had spread the language into the region by the time of the Second Swedish Crusade in the 13th century at the latest. The modern descendants of the Old West Norse dialect are the West Scandinavian languages of Icelandic , Faroese , Norwegian , and the extinct Norn language of Orkney and Shetland , although Norwegian
12402-710: The 1960s by anatomist Walter Thiel at the Graz Anatomy Institute in Austria has been the subject of various academic papers, as the cadaver retains the body's natural color, texture and plasticity after the process. The method uses 4-chloro-3-methylphenol and various salts for fixation, boric acid for disinfection, and ethylene glycol for the preservation of tissue plasticity. Thiel embalmed cadavers are used in anatomical research, surgical and anaesthesia training, preoperative test procedures, CT image quality studies. Opinions differ among different faiths as to
12561-487: The 8th century, and Old Norse began to develop into the modern North Germanic languages in the mid- to late 14th century, ending the language phase known as Old Norse. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century. Old Norse was divided into three dialects : Old West Norse (Old West Nordic, often referred to as Old Norse ), Old East Norse (Old East Nordic), and Old Gutnish . Old West Norse and Old East Norse formed
12720-572: The Faroe Islands, Faroese has also been influenced by Danish. Both Middle English (especially northern English dialects within the area of the Danelaw ) and Early Scots (including Lowland Scots ) were strongly influenced by Norse and contained many Old Norse loanwords . Consequently, Modern English (including Scottish English ), inherited a significant proportion of its vocabulary directly from Norse. The development of Norman French
12879-550: The Germanic record, although narratives regarding Odin are mainly found in Old Norse works recorded in Iceland , primarily around the 13th century. These texts make up the bulk of modern understanding of Norse mythology. Old Norse texts portray Odin as the son of Bestla and Borr along with two brothers, Vili and Vé , and he fathered many sons , most famously the gods Thor (with Jörð ) and Baldr (with Frigg ). He
13038-707: The Irish missionary Columbanus disrupted an offering of beer to Odin ( vodano ) "(whom others called Mercury)" in Swabia . A few centuries later, 9th-century document from what is now Mainz , Germany, known as the Old Saxon Baptismal Vow records the names of three Old Saxon gods, UUôden ('Woden'), Saxnôte , and Thunaer ('Thor'), whom pagan converts were to renounce as demons . A 10th-century manuscript found in Merseburg , Germany, features
13197-737: The Latin term furor , which can be translated as 'rage', 'fury', 'madness', or 'frenzy' ( Wotan id est furor : "Odin, that is, furor "). As of 2011, an attestation of Proto-Norse Woðinz , on the Strängnäs stone , has been accepted as probably authentic, but the name may be used as a related adjective instead meaning "with a gift for (divine) possession" (ON: øðinn ). Other Germanic cognates derived from *wōðaz include Gothic woþs ('possessed'), Old Norse óðr ('mad, frantic, furious'), Old English wōd ('insane, frenzied') and Dutch woed ('frantic, wild, crazy'), along with
13356-656: The Orders and the Royal Mantle, but it was necessary to close the coffin, because it's not possible to describe the state of dissolution." "His face looks like old wax. His beard, once so fine, so silky, so white, has turned ugly and yellow, like old ivory [...]. When I saw him in February 1912, I did find he was smaller than he had been in late 1909 [...]. The head of Dom Pedro II rests on a pillow filled up with Brazilian sand [...]. The emperor looks so different! How cruel
13515-540: The Roman occupation of regions of Germania (from c. 2 BCE) through movement of peoples during the Migration Period (4th to 6th centuries CE) and the Viking Age (8th to 11th centuries CE). In the modern period, the rural folklore of Germanic Europe continued to acknowledge Odin. References to him appear in place names throughout regions historically inhabited by the ancient Germanic peoples, and
13674-473: The Swedish plural land and numerous other examples. That also applies to almost all feminine nouns, for example the largest feminine noun group, the o-stem nouns (except the Swedish noun jord mentioned above), and even i-stem nouns and root nouns , such as Old West Norse mǫrk ( mörk in Icelandic) in comparison with Modern and Old Swedish mark . Vowel breaking, or fracture, caused
13833-532: The United States, the title of an embalmer is largely based on the state in which they are licensed. Additionally, in many places, embalming is not done by specialist embalmers, but rather by doctors, medical technicians or laboratory technicians who, while they have the required anatomical or chemical knowledge, are not trained specialists in this field. Today, embalming is a common practice in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Ireland, while it
13992-480: The Winnili and their whiskered women and asked, "who are those Long-beards?" Frea responded to Godan, "As you have given them a name, give them also the victory". Godan did so, "so that they should defend themselves according to his counsel and obtain the victory". Thenceforth the Winnili were known as the Langobards ('long-beards'). Writing in the mid-7th century, Jonas of Bobbio wrote that earlier that century
14151-408: The adder so that it flew into nine (pieces). There archived apple and poison that it never would re-enter the house. The emendation of nan to 'man' has been proposed. The next stanza comments on the creation of the herbs chervil and fennel while hanging in heaven by the 'wise lord' ( witig drihten ) and before sending them down among mankind. Regarding this, Griffith comments that "In
14310-399: The adjective include un-wōdz ('calm one', i.e. 'not-furious'; 200 CE) and wōdu-rīde ('furious rider'; 400 CE). Philologist Jan de Vries has argued that the Old Norse deities Óðinn and Óðr were probably originally connected (as in the doublet Ullr–Ullinn ), with Óðr (* wōðaz ) being the elder form and the ultimate source of the name Óðinn ( *wōða-naz ). He further suggested that
14469-696: The anatomists' period of embalming and is characterized by an increased influence of scientific developments in medicine and the need for bodies for dissection purposes. Early methods used are documented by contemporary physicians such as Peter Forestus (1522–1597) and Ambroise Pare (1510–1590). The first attempts to inject the vascular system were made by Alessandra Giliani , who died in 1326. Various attempts and procedures have been reported by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Jacobus Berengar (1470–1550), Bartholomeo Eustachius (1520–1574), Reinier de Graaf (1641–1673), Jan Swammerdam (1637–1680), and Frederik Ruysch (1638–1731). The modern method of embalming involves
14628-575: The art of embalming as part of mortuary practice. He wrote a widely read report on the appropriate methods for arterial and cavity embalming in order to preserve bodies for burial. His brother, John Hunter , applied these methods and advertised his embalming services to the general public from the mid-18th century. One of his more notorious clients was dentist Martin Van Butchell . When his wife Mary died on 14 January 1775, he had her embalmed as an attraction to draw more customers. Hunter injected
14787-567: The attested Germanic, Celtic and Latin forms. More than 170 names are recorded for Odin; the names are variously descriptive of attributes of the god, refer to myths involving him, or refer to religious practices associated with him. This multitude makes Odin the god with the most known names among the Germanic peoples. Steve Martin has pointed out that the name Odinsberg (Ounesberry, Ounsberry, Othenburgh) in Cleveland Yorkshire , now corrupted to Roseberry (Topping) , may derive from
14946-652: The battlefield meant it became common in the United States. The period from about 1861 is sometimes known as the funeral period of embalming and is marked by a separation of the fields of embalming by undertakers and embalming (anatomical wetting) for medical and scientific purposes. Dr Thomas Holmes received a commission from the Army Medical Corps to embalm the corpses of dead Union officers to return to their families. Military authorities also permitted private embalmers to work in military-controlled areas. The passage of Abraham Lincoln 's body home for burial
15105-541: The beginning of words, this manifested as a dropping of the initial /j/ (which was general, independent of the following vowel) or /v/ . Compare ON orð , úlfr , ár with English word, wolf, year . In inflections, this manifested as the dropping of the inflectional vowels. Thus, klæði + dat -i remains klæði , and sjáum in Icelandic progressed to sjǫ́um > sjǫ́m > sjám . The * jj and * ww of Proto-Germanic became ggj and ggv respectively in Old Norse,
15264-425: The body is removed and set aside, and any personal effects such as jewelry are inventoried. A modesty cloth is commonly placed over the genitalia . The body is washed in a germicidal soap. During this process the embalmer bends, flexes, and massages the arms and legs to relieve rigor mortis . The eyes are posed using an eye cap that keeps them shut and in the proper expression. The mouth may be closed via suturing with
15423-727: The body of moisture, and covering the body with natron , a mixture of desiccating salts found naturally in the Wadi El Natrun west of the Nile Delta . The ancient Egyptians believed that mummification enabled the soul to return to the preserved corpse after death. Other cultures known to have used embalming techniques in antiquity include the Meroites , Guanches , Peruvians , Jivaro Indians, Aztecs , Toltecs , Mayans , and Tibetan and southern Nigerian tribes. In China, artificially preserved remains have been recovered from
15582-589: The body with preservatives and color additives that gave a glow to the corpse's cheeks, replaced her eyes with glass eyes , and dressed her in a fine lace dress. The body was embedded in a layer of plaster of Paris in a glass-topped coffin. Butchell exhibited the body in the window of his home and many Londoners came to see it; however, Butchell drew criticism for the display. A rumor, possibly started by Butchell himself, claimed that his wife's marriage certificate had specified that her husband would only have control over her estate after her death for as long as her body
15741-411: The cluster */Crʀ/ cannot be realized as /Crː/ , nor as */Crʀ/ , nor as */Cʀː/ . The same shortening as in vetr also occurs in lax = laks ('salmon') (as opposed to * lakss , * laksʀ ), botn ('bottom') (as opposed to * botnn , * botnʀ ), and jarl (as opposed to * jarll , * jarlʀ ). Furthermore, wherever the cluster */rʀ/
15900-429: The container dispensing the embalming fluid is elevated above the body's level, and fluid is slowly introduced over an extended time, sometimes as long as several days. Unlike standard arterial embalming, no drainage occurs, and the body distends extensively with fluid. The distension eventually reduces, often under extended (up to six months) refrigeration, leaving a fairly normal appearance. No separate cavity treatment of
16059-441: The day of the week Wednesday bears his name in many Germanic languages, including in English. In Old English texts, Odin holds a particular place as a euhemerized ancestral figure among royalty, and he is frequently referred to as a founding figure among various other Germanic peoples, such as the Langobards , while some Old Norse sources depict him as an enthroned ruler of the gods. Forms of his name appear frequently throughout
16218-450: The deceased appear more as they did when alive. Embalming autopsy cases differs from standard embalming because the nature of the post-mortem examination irrevocably disrupts the circulatory system, due to the removal of the organs and viscera. In these cases, a six-point injection is made through the two iliac or femoral arteries, subclavian or axillary vessels, and common carotids, with the viscera treated separately with cavity fluid or
16377-445: The deceased's appearance with tissue building chemicals and a hypodermic syringe. Tissue building chemicals (Tissue Builders) become solid with the introduction of liquids such as water or interstitial fluids. Commonly the area where the sphenoid and temporal bones meet; this can also be referred to the temples. In the event of trauma or natural depressions on the face or hands, tissue builder can also be utilised to return those regions of
16536-459: The deceased's body were the result of post-mortem embalming, not homicide . In 1855, the Russian chemist Alexander Michailowitsch Butlerow discovered formaldehyde , the preservative properties of which were soon noted, and it became the foundation for modern methods of embalming. Dr Frederic Ruysch was the first to have used the arterial injection method for embalming. His work of embalming
16695-459: The deceased's condition, noting things such as rigor mortis , skin condition, edema, intravenous injection sites, presence of fecal matter, tissue gas and numerous other factors which may affect the procedure and outcome. The embalming procedure is a surgical one, albeit rather minimally invasive. The process requires significant effort over the course of multiple hours, including intensive planning, evaluation, and chemical selection. Any clothing on
16854-449: The diphthongs remained. Old Norse has six plosive phonemes, /p/ being rare word-initially and /d/ and /b/ pronounced as voiced fricative allophones between vowels except in compound words (e.g. veðrabati ), already in the Proto-Germanic language (e.g. * b *[β] > [v] between vowels). The /ɡ/ phoneme was pronounced as [ɡ] after an /n/ or another /ɡ/ and as [k] before /s/ and /t/ . Some accounts have it
17013-741: The doom of Ragnarök and urges Odin to lead the einherjar into battle before being consumed by the monstrous wolf Fenrir . In later folklore, Odin sometimes appears as a leader of the Wild Hunt , a ghostly procession of the dead through the winter sky. He is associated with charms and other forms of magic, particularly in Old English and Old Norse texts. The figure of Odin is a frequent subject of interest in Germanic studies , and scholars have advanced numerous theories regarding his development. Some of these focus on Odin's particular relation to other figures; for example, Freyja 's husband Óðr appears to be something of an etymological doublet of
17172-589: The end of the 7th century, Woden is frequently listed as a founding figure among the Old English royalty. Odin is also either directly or indirectly mentioned a few times in the surviving Old English poetic corpus, including the Nine Herbs Charm and likely also the Old English rune poem . Odin may also be referenced in the riddle Solomon and Saturn . In the Nine Herbs Charm , Woden
17331-409: The enemy" and that the people of the temple depict him as wearing armour, "as our people depict Mars". According to Adam, the people of Uppsala had appointed priests ( gothi ) to each of the gods, who were to offer up sacrifices ( blót ), and in times of war sacrifices were made to images of Odin. In the 12th century, centuries after Norway was "officially" Christianised, Odin was still being invoked by
17490-520: The face to the expectations of the family. As with all funeral practises local custom, culture, religion and family request are the key determiners of clothing for the deceased. In the Western world, men are usually buried in business attire , such as a suit or coat and tie, and women in semi-formal dresses or pant suits. In recent years, a change has occurred, and many individuals are now buried in less formal clothing, such as what they would have worn on
17649-427: The forest. Then was for Baldur 's foal its foot wrenched. Then encharmed it Sindgund (and) Sunna her sister, then encharmed it Frija (and) Volla her sister, then encharmed it Woden , as he the best could, As the bone-wrench, so for the blood wrench, (and) so the limb-wrench bone to bone, blood to blood, limb to limb, so be glued. Old English royal genealogies record Woden as an ancestor of
17808-623: The god Godan for victory over the Winnili, to which Godan responded (in the longer version in the Origo ): "Whom I shall first see when at sunrise, to them will I give the victory." Meanwhile, Ybor and Aio called upon Frea, Godan's wife. Frea counselled them that "at sunrise the Winnil[i] should come, and that their women, with their hair let down around the face in the likeness of a beard should also come with their husbands". At sunrise, Frea turned Godan's bed around to face east and woke him. Godan saw
17967-715: The god as Wotan , a spelling of his own invention which combines the Old High German Wuotan with the Low German Wodan . The modern English weekday name Wednesday derives from Old English Wōdnesdæg , meaning 'day of Wōden'. Cognate terms are found in other Germanic languages, such as Middle Low German and Middle Dutch Wōdensdach (modern Dutch woensdag ), Old Frisian Wērnisdei (≈ Wērendei ) and Old Norse Óðinsdagr (cf. Danish, Norwegian, Swedish onsdag ). All of these terms derive from Late Proto-Germanic * Wodanesdag ('Day of Wōðanaz'),
18126-686: The god of rage Óðr–Óðinn stood in opposition to the god of glorious majesty Ullr–Ullinn in a similar manner to the Vedic contrast between Varuna and Mitra . The adjective *wōðaz ultimately stems from a Pre-Germanic form *uoh₂-tós , which is related to the Proto-Celtic terms * wātis , meaning 'seer, sooth-sayer' (cf. Gaulish wāteis , Old Irish fáith 'prophet') and * wātus , meaning 'prophesy, poetic inspiration' (cf. Old Irish fáth 'prophetic wisdom, maxims', Old Welsh guaut 'prophetic verse, panegyric'). According to some scholars,
18285-707: The god was also known in Old English as Wōden , in Old Saxon as Uuôden , in Old Dutch as Wuodan , in Old Frisian as Wêda , and in Old High German as Wuotan , all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym * Wōðanaz , meaning 'lord of frenzy', or 'leader of the possessed'. Odin appears as a prominent god throughout the recorded history of Northern Europe , from
18444-405: The god, while Odin's wife Frigg is in many ways similar to Freyja , and Odin has a particular relation to Loki . Other approaches focus on Odin's place in the historical record, exploring whether Odin derives from Proto-Indo-European mythology or developed later in Germanic society . In the modern period, Odin has inspired numerous works of poetry, music, and other cultural expressions. He
18603-586: The gods Mercury is the one they principally worship" is an exact quote from Julius Caesar 's Commentarii de Bello Gallico (1st century BCE) in which Caesar is referring to the Gauls and not the Germanic peoples. Regarding the Germanic peoples, Caesar states: "[T]hey consider the gods only the ones that they can see, the Sun, Fire and the Moon", which scholars reject as clearly mistaken, regardless of what may have led to
18762-465: The gods, but appears to be due to Mercury's role of psychopomp . Other contemporary evidence may also have led to the equation of Odin with Mercury; Odin, like Mercury, may have at this time already been pictured with a staff and hat, may have been considered a trader god, and the two may have been seen as parallel in their roles as wandering deities. But their rankings in their respective religious spheres may have been very different. Also, Tacitus's "among
18921-403: The injection of various chemical solutions into the arterial network of the body to primarily disinfect and slow the decomposition process. William Harvey , the 17th century English physician who was the first to detail the system of blood circulation , made his discoveries by injecting colored solutions into corpses. The Scottish surgeon William Hunter was the first to apply these methods to
19080-439: The internal organs is given. Anatomically embalmed cadavers have a typically uniform grey colouration, due both to the high formaldehyde concentration mixed with the blood and the lack of red colouration agents commonly added to standard, nonmedical, embalming fluids. Formaldehyde mixed with blood causes the grey discoloration also known as "formaldehyde grey" or "embalmer's grey". A new embalming technique developed gradually since
19239-558: The kings of Lindsey , Mercia , Deira and Bernicia (which eventually became Northumbria , Wessex , and East Anglia accounting for in 7 of the 8 genealogies, and all but Essex, who instead traced their ancestry to Saxnot . Some of these genealogies expand on ancestry beyond Woden, giving his father as Frealaf beginning in the 8th century. The Welsh 9th centurry Historia Brittonum also includes Woden in its pedigree of Hengist, and shows Woden's ancestry as "VVoden, filii Frealaf, filii Fredulf, filii Finn, filii Fodepald, filii Geta", who
19398-487: The living, is preferred. After the deceased has been dressed, they are generally placed in their coffin or casket. In American English , the word coffin is used to refer to an anthropoid (stretched hexagonal) form, whereas casket refers specifically to a rectangular coffin. It is common for photographs, notes, cards, and favourite personal items to be placed in the coffin with the deceased. Bulky and expensive items, such as electric guitars, are occasionally interred with
19557-399: The long vowels with an acute accent. In medieval manuscripts, it is often unmarked but sometimes marked with an accent or through gemination . Old Norse had nasalized versions of all ten vowel places. These occurred as allophones of the vowels before nasal consonants and in places where a nasal had followed it in an older form of the word, before it was absorbed into a neighboring sound. If
19716-484: The methanol content may range from 9–56%. Environmentalists sometimes have concerns about embalming because of the harmful chemicals involved and their potential interactions with the environment. Recently, more eco-friendly embalming methods have become available, including formaldehyde-free mixtures of chemicals. Badly decomposing bodies, trauma cases, frozen, or drowned bodies, and those to be transported over long distances also require special treatment beyond that for
19875-470: The mid-19th century, the newly emerging profession of businessmen-undertakers – who provided funeral and burial services – began adopting embalming methods as standard. Embalming became more common in the United States during the American Civil War , when servicemen often died far from home. The wish of families for their remains to be returned home for local burial and lengthy transport from
20034-730: The most conservative language, such that in present-day Iceland, schoolchildren are able to read the 12th-century Icelandic sagas in the original language (in editions with normalised spelling). Old Icelandic was very close to Old Norwegian , and together they formed Old West Norse , which was also spoken in Norse settlements in Greenland , the Faroes , Ireland , Scotland , the Isle of Man , northwest England, and in Normandy . Old East Norse
20193-401: The mythological (such as Odin's recounting of his retrieval of Óðrœrir , the vessel containing the mead of poetry ), and to the mystical (the final section of the poem consists of Odin's recollection of eighteen charms). Among the various scenes that Odin recounts is his self-sacrifice: While the name of the tree is not provided in the poem and other trees exist in Norse mythology, the tree
20352-514: The nasal was absorbed by a stressed vowel, it would also lengthen the vowel. This nasalization also occurred in the other Germanic languages, but were not retained long. They were noted in the First Grammatical Treatise , and otherwise might have remained unknown. The First Grammarian marked these with a dot above the letter. This notation did not catch on, and would soon be obsolete. Nasal and oral vowels probably merged around
20511-641: The other North Germanic languages. Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, and Gaelic ( Scottish and/or Irish ). Although Swedish, Danish and Norwegian have diverged the most, they still retain considerable mutual intelligibility . Speakers of modern Swedish, Norwegian and Danish can mostly understand each other without studying their neighboring languages, particularly if speaking slowly. The languages are also sufficiently similar in writing that they can mostly be understood across borders. This could be because these languages have been mutually affected by each other, as well as having
20670-687: The period of the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), the main examples being those of Xin Zhui and the Mawangdui Han tombs site . While these remains have been extraordinarily well preserved, the embalming fluids and methods used are unknown. In Europe the ancient practice of artificial preservation had become widespread by about 500 CE. The period of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance is known as
20829-435: The permissibility of embalming. A brief overview of some of the larger faiths’ positions is as follows: "Sad embalming, which took place on November 16th, I was always there. The Infante' s (prince) and Queen's lasted seven hours. Once that affliction was over, it was time to put the clothes on, which was almost impossible due to the state of dissolution [of the body] of Her Majesty, but it was done as well as possible, bearing
20988-511: 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 Týr as " Mars ". The "Isis" of the Suebi has been debated and may represent " Freyja ". Anthony Birley noted that Odin's apparent identification with Mercury has little to do with Mercury's classical role of being messenger of
21147-416: The poem states that Hœnir , Lóðurr and Odin once found Ask and Embla on land. The völva says that the two were capable of very little, lacking in ørlög and says that they were given three gifts by the three gods: The meaning of these gifts has been a matter of scholarly disagreement and translations therefore vary. Later in the poem, the völva recounts the events of the Æsir–Vanir War ,
21306-617: The population, as evidenced by 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. Odin is mentioned or appears in most poems of the Poetic Edda , compiled in the 13th century from traditional source material reaching back to the pagan period. The poem Völuspá features Odin in
21465-466: The potential to prevent mourners from having to deal with the rotting and eventual putrescence of the corpse. Despite a common misconception, embalming is not mandatory in the United States, although it is a general legal requirement for international repatriation of human remains to the U.S. (exceptions do occur). There are no universal international preservation requirements for repatriation of human remains, but requirements for embalming do exist for
21624-536: The root vowel, ǫ , is short. The clusters */Clʀ, Csʀ, Cnʀ, Crʀ/ cannot yield */Clː, Csː, Cnː, Crː/ respectively, instead /Cl, Cs, Cn, Cr/ . The effect of this shortening can result in the lack of distinction between some forms of the noun. In the case of vetr ('winter'), the nominative and accusative singular and plural forms are identical. The nominative singular and nominative and accusative plural would otherwise have been OWN * vetrr , OEN * wintrʀ . These forms are impossible because
21783-456: The rune name without obviously referring to Woden." In the prose narrative of Solomon and Saturn , "Mercurius the Giant" ( Mercurius se gygand ) is referred to as an inventor of letters. This may also be a reference to Odin, who is in Norse mythology the founder of the runic alphabets, and the gloss a continuation of the practice of equating Odin with Mercury found as early as Tacitus. One of
21942-441: The same language, dǫnsk tunga ("Danish tongue"; speakers of Old East Norse would have said dansk tunga ). Another term was norrœnt mál ("northern speech"). Today Old Norse has developed into the modern North Germanic languages Icelandic , Faroese , Norwegian , Danish , Swedish , and other North Germanic varieties of which Norwegian, Danish and Swedish retain considerable mutual intelligibility . Icelandic remains
22101-479: The sky and into the underworld. In these texts he frequently seeks greater knowledge, most famously by obtaining the Mead of Poetry , and makes wagers with his wife Frigg over his endeavors. He takes part both in the creation of the world by slaying the primordial being Ymir and in giving life to the first two humans Ask and Embla . He also provides mankind knowledge of runic writing and poetry , showing aspects of
22260-622: The statement. There is no direct, undisputed evidence for the worship of Odin/Mercury among the Goths , and the existence of a cult of Odin among them is debated. Richard North and Herwig Wolfram have both argued that the Goths did not worship Odin, Wolfram contending that the use of Greek names of the week in Gothic provides evidence of that. One possible reading of the Gothic Ring of Pietroassa
22419-412: The terms are not intrinsically synonymous. Embalming training commonly involves formal study in anatomy , thanatology , chemistry , and specific embalming theory (to widely varied levels depending on the region of the world one lives in) combined with practical instruction in a mortuary with a resultant formal qualification granted after the passing of a final practical examination and acceptance into
22578-618: The time of the Anglian settlements, with nearby Newton under Roseberry and Great Ayton having Anglo Saxon suffixes. The very dramatic rocky peak was an obvious place for divine association, and may have replaced Bronze Age/Iron Age beliefs of divinity there, given that a hoard of bronze votive axes and other objects was buried by the summit. It could be a rare example, then, of Nordic-Germanic theology displacing earlier Celtic mythology in an imposing place of tribal prominence. In his opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , Richard Wagner refers to
22737-497: The umlaut allophones . Some /y/ , /yː/ , /ø/ , /øː/ , /ɛ/ , /ɛː/ , /øy/ , and all /ɛi/ were obtained by i-umlaut from /u/ , /uː/ , /o/ , /oː/ , /a/ , /aː/ , /au/ , and /ai/ respectively. Others were formed via ʀ-umlaut from /u/ , /uː/ , /a/ , /aː/ , and /au/ . Some /y/ , /yː/ , /ø/ , /øː/ , and all /ɔ/ , /ɔː/ were obtained by u-umlaut from /i/ , /iː/ , /e/ , /eː/ , and /a/ , /aː/ respectively. See Old Icelandic for information on /ɔː/ . /œ/
22896-482: The verb skína ('to shine') had present tense third person skínn (rather than * skínr , * skínʀ ); while kala ('to cool down') had present tense third person kell (rather than * kelr , * kelʀ ). The rule is not absolute, with certain counter-examples such as vinr ('friend'), which has the synonym vin , yet retains the unabsorbed version, and jǫtunn (' giant '), where assimilation takes place even though
23055-455: The war between Vanir and the Æsir , two groups of gods. During this, the first war of the world, Odin flung his spear into the opposing forces of the Vanir . The völva tells Odin that she knows where he has hidden his eye; in the spring Mímisbrunnr , and from it " Mímir drinks mead every morning". After Odin gives her necklaces, she continues to recount more information, including
23214-499: The world is burned and renewed, the surviving and returning gods will meet and recall Odin's deeds and "ancient runes". The poem Hávamál (Old Norse 'Sayings of the High One') consists entirely of wisdom verse attributed to Odin. This advice ranges from the practical ("A man shouldn't hold onto the cup but drink in moderation, it's necessary to speak or be silent; no man will blame you for impoliteness if you go early to bed"), to
23373-404: Was a moderately inflected language with high levels of nominal and verbal inflection. Most of the fused morphemes are retained in modern Icelandic, especially in regard to noun case declensions, whereas modern Norwegian in comparison has moved towards more analytical word structures. Old Norse had three grammatical genders – masculine, feminine, and neuter. Adjectives or pronouns referring to
23532-508: Was a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements and chronologically coincides with the Viking Age , the Christianization of Scandinavia , and the consolidation of Scandinavian kingdoms from about the 8th to the 15th centuries. The Proto-Norse language developed into Old Norse by
23691-400: Was also influenced by Norse. Through Norman, to a smaller extent, so was modern French. Written modern Icelandic derives from the Old Norse phonemic writing system. Contemporary Icelandic-speakers can read Old Norse, which varies slightly in spelling as well as semantics and word order. However, pronunciation, particularly of the vowel phonemes, has changed at least as much in Icelandic as in
23850-614: Was found in Osorno (Spain) – approximately 5000-year-old human bones covered in cinnabar for preservation – however embalming remained unusual in Europe up to the time of the Roman Empire. The ancient culture that developed embalming to the greatest extent was probably Egypt . As early as the First Dynasty (3200 BCE), specialized priests were in charge of embalming and mummification . They did so by removing organs, ridding
24009-583: Was heavily influenced by the East dialect, and is today more similar to East Scandinavian (Danish and Swedish) than to Icelandic and Faroese. The descendants of the Old East Norse dialect are the East Scandinavian languages of Danish and Swedish . Among these, the grammar of Icelandic and Faroese have changed the least from Old Norse in the last thousand years, though their pronunciations both have changed considerably from Old Norse. With Danish rule of
24168-506: Was kept unburied. Interest in, and demand for, embalming grew steadily in the 19th century largely for sentimental reasons. People sometimes wished to be buried at far-off locations, which became possible with the advent of the railways, and mourners wanted the chance to pay their last respects beside the displayed body. Other motives behind embalming were prevention of disease and the wish to prepare funerals and burials, which were becoming more elaborate, without undue haste. After Lord Nelson
24327-514: Was killed in the Battle of Trafalgar , his body was preserved in brandy and spirits of wine mixed with camphor and myrrh for over two months. At the time of his state funeral in 1805, his body was found to still be in excellent condition and completely plastic. Alternative methods of preservation, such as ice packing or laying the body on so called 'cooling boards', gradually lost ground to the increasingly popular and effective methods of embalming. By
24486-488: Was made possible by embalming, and it brought wider public attention to the possibilities and potential of embalming. Until the early 20th century, embalming fluids often contained arsenic until it was supplanted by more effective and less toxic chemicals. There was concern about the possibility of arsenic from embalmed bodies contaminating ground water supplies, as well as legal concerns that people suspected of murder by arsenic poisoning might claim that levels of poison in
24645-450: Was not used as a word to refer to the God of Christians. Woden was equated with Mercury, the god of eloquence (among other things). The tales about the Norse god Odin tell how he gave one of his eyes in return for wisdom; he also won the mead of poetic inspiration. Luckily for Christian rune-masters, the Latin word os could be substituted without ruining the sense, to keep the outward form of
24804-535: Was obtained through a simultaneous u- and i-umlaut of /a/ . It appears in words like gøra ( gjǫra , geyra ), from Proto-Germanic *garwijaną , and commonly in verbs with a velar consonant before the suffix like søkkva < *sankwijaną . OEN often preserves the original value of the vowel directly preceding runic ʀ while OWN receives ʀ-umlaut. Compare runic OEN glaʀ, haʀi, hrauʀ with OWN gler, heri (later héri ), hrøyrr/hreyrr ("glass", "hare", "pile of rocks"). U-umlaut
24963-434: Was so nearly perfect that people thought the dead body was actually alive; however, he only used it to prepare specimens for his anatomical work. Modern embalming is most often performed to ensure a better presentation of the deceased for viewing by friends and relatives. It is also used for medical research or training. A successful viewing of the body is considered to be helpful in the grieving process. Embalming has
25122-711: Was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, Kievan Rus' , eastern England, and Danish settlements in Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in various settlements in the East. In the 11th century, Old Norse was the most widely spoken European language , ranging from Vinland in the West to the Volga River in the East. In Kievan Rus' , it survived the longest in Veliky Novgorod , probably lasting into
25281-438: Was used partitively and in compounds and kennings (e.g., Urðarbrunnr , the well of Urðr; Lokasenna , the gibing of Loki). There were several classes of nouns within each gender. The following is an example of the "strong" inflectional paradigms : Embalming Embalming is the art and science of preserving human remains by treating them (with chemicals in modern times) to forestall decomposition . This
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