118-662: Norse , Nordic , or Scandinavian mythology , is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples , stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The northernmost extension of Germanic mythology and stemming from Proto-Germanic folklore , Norse mythology consists of tales of various deities, beings, and heroes derived from numerous sources from both before and after
236-622: A moral , fable , allegory or a parable , or collection of traditional stories, understood to be false. It came eventually to be applied to similar bodies of traditional stories among other polytheistic cultures around the world. Thus "mythology" entered the English language before "myth". Johnson 's Dictionary , for example, has an entry for mythology, but not for myth. Indeed, the Greek loanword mythos ( pl. mythoi ) and Latinate mythus (pl. mythi ) both appeared in English before
354-449: A "disease of language". He speculated that myths arose due to the lack of abstract nouns and neuter gender in ancient languages. Anthropomorphic figures of speech , necessary in such languages, were eventually taken literally, leading to the idea that natural phenomena were in actuality conscious or divine. Not all scholars, not even all 19th-century scholars, accepted this view. Lucien Lévy-Bruhl claimed that "the primitive mentality
472-425: A base-word (Icelandic stofnorð , German Grundwort ) and a determinant (Icelandic kenniorð , German Bestimmung ) which qualifies, or modifies, the meaning of the base-word. The determinant may be a noun used uninflected as the first element in a compound word, with the base-word constituting the second element of the compound word. Alternatively the determinant may be a noun in the genitive case placed before or after
590-405: A base-word (also known as a head-word) and a determinant. So in "whale's road", "road" is the base-word, and "whale's" is the determinant. This is the same structure as in the modern English term " skyscraper "; the base-word here would be "scraper", and the determinant "sky". In some languages, kennings can recurse , with one element of the kenning being replaced by another kenning. The meaning of
708-432: A base-word and its genitive determinant, and occasionally between the elements of a compound word ( tmesis ). Kennings, and even whole clauses, can be interwoven. Ambiguity is usually less than it would be if an English text were subjected to the same contortions, thanks to the more elaborate morphology of Old Norse. Another factor aiding comprehension is that Old Norse kennings tend to be highly conventional. Most refer to
826-449: A book on the comparative study of mythology and religion—argued that humans started out with a belief in magical rituals; later, they began to lose faith in magic and invented myths about gods, reinterpreting their rituals as religious rituals intended to appease the gods. Historically, important approaches to the study of mythology have included those of Vico , Schelling , Schiller , Jung , Freud , Lévy-Bruhl , Lévi-Strauss , Frye ,
944-477: A failed or obsolete mode of thought, often by interpreting myth as the primitive counterpart of modern science within a unilineal framework that imagined that human cultures are travelling, at different speeds, along a linear path of cultural development. One of the dominant mythological theories of the latter 19th century was nature mythology , the foremost exponents of which included Max Müller and Edward Burnett Tylor . This theory posited that "primitive man"
1062-452: A female being of the same name , may be ferried away by valkyries to Odin's martial hall Valhalla , or may be chosen by the goddess Freyja to dwell in her field Fólkvangr . The goddess Rán may claim those that die at sea, and the goddess Gefjon is said to be attended by virgins upon their death. Texts also make reference to reincarnation . Time itself is presented between cyclic and linear, and some scholars have argued that cyclic time
1180-470: A genitive phrase occur too, but rarely: heofones ġim "heaven's gem" = "the sun" (The Phoenix 183). Old English poets often place a series of synonyms in apposition, and these may include kennings (loosely or strictly defined) as well as the literal referent: Hrōðgar maþelode, helm Scyldinga ... " Hrothgar , helm (=protector, lord) of the Scyldings , said ..." (Beowulf 456). Although the word "kenning"
1298-516: A horse named Valr, and thus in Old Norse poetry valr is sometimes used to mean "horse". A term may be omitted from a well-known kenning: val-teigs Hildr "hawk-ground's valkyrie /goddess" ( Haraldr Harðráði : Lausavísa 19). The full expression implied here is "goddess of gleam/fire/adornment of ground/land/seat/perch of hawk" = "goddess of gleam of arm" = "goddess of gold" = "lady" (characterised according to convention as wearing golden jewellery,
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#17327869802111416-427: A knowledge of specific myths or legends. Thus the sky might be called naturalistically él-ker "squall-vat" (Markús Skeggjason: Eiríksdrápa 3) or described in mythical terms as Ymis haus " Ymir 's skull" ( Arnórr jarlaskáld : Magnúsdrápa 19), referring to the idea that the sky was made out of the skull of the primeval giant Ymir. Still others name mythical entities according to certain conventions without reference to
1534-424: A lesser extent, Old English poetry. Snorri's own usage, however, seems to fit the looser sense: "Snorri uses the term 'kenning' to refer to a structural device, whereby a person or object is indicated by a periphrastic description containing two or more terms (which can be a noun with one or more dependent genitives or a compound noun or a combination of these two structures)" (Faulkes (1998 a), p. xxxiv). The term
1652-446: A methodology that allows us to understand the complexity of the myth and its manifestations in contemporary times, is justified. Because "myth" is sometimes used in a pejorative sense, some scholars have opted for "mythos" instead. "Mythos" now more commonly refers to its Aristotelian sense as a "plot point" or to a body of interconnected myths or stories, especially those belonging to a particular religious or cultural tradition. It
1770-535: A myth can be highly controversial. Many religious adherents believe that the narratives told in their respective religious traditions are historical without question, and so object to their identification as myths while labelling traditional narratives from other religions as such. Hence, some scholars may label all religious narratives as "myths" for practical reasons, such as to avoid depreciating any one tradition because cultures interpret each other differently relative to one another. Other scholars may abstain from using
1888-486: A pattern of behavior to be imitated, testifies to the efficacy of ritual with its practical ends and establishes the sanctity of cult . Another definition of myth comes from myth criticism theorist and professor José Manuel Losada . According to Cultural Myth Criticism, the studies of myth must explain and understand "myth from inside", that is, only "as a myth". Losada defines myth as "a functional, symbolic and thematic narrative of one or several extraordinary events with
2006-536: A poetic description of the sea as "raging" was eventually taken literally and the sea was then thought of as a raging god. Some thinkers claimed that myths result from the personification of objects and forces. According to these thinkers, the ancients worshiped natural phenomena, such as fire and air, gradually deifying them. For example, according to this theory, ancients tended to view things as gods, not as mere objects. Thus, they described natural events as acts of personal gods, giving rise to myths. According to
2124-600: A primordial age when the world had not achieved its later form. Origin myths explain how a society's customs , institutions , and taboos were established and sanctified. National myths are narratives about a nation's past that symbolize the nation's values. There is a complex relationship between recital of myths and the enactment of rituals . The word "myth" comes from Ancient Greek μῦθος ( mȳthos ), meaning 'speech, narrative, fiction, myth, plot'. In turn, Ancient Greek μυθολογία ( mythología , 'story', 'lore', 'legends', or 'the telling of stories') combines
2242-600: A religious context among adherents of Germanic Neopaganism . The historical religion of the Norse people is commonly referred to as Norse mythology . Other terms are Scandinavian mythology , North Germanic mythology or Nordic mythology . Norse mythology is primarily attested in dialects of Old Norse , a North Germanic language spoken by the Scandinavian people during the European Middle Ages and
2360-621: A scholarly term for "[a] traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events." The Greek term mythología was then borrowed into Late Latin , occurring in the title of Latin author Fulgentius ' 5th-century Mythologiæ to denote what is now referred to as classical mythology —i.e., Greco-Roman etiological stories involving their gods. Fulgentius' Mythologiæ explicitly treated its subject matter as allegories requiring interpretation and not as true events. The Latin term
2478-427: A specific story: rimmu Yggr " Odin of battle" = "warrior" (Arnórr jarlaskáld: Magnúsdrápa 5). Poets in medieval Iceland even treated Christian themes using the traditional repertoire of kennings complete with allusions to heathen myths and aristocratic epithets for saints: Þrúðr falda "goddess of headdresses" = " Saint Catherine " (Kálfr Hallsson: Kátrínardrápa 4). Kennings of the type AB, where B routinely has
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#17327869802112596-565: A step further, incorporating the study of the transcendent dimension (its function, its disappearance) to evaluate the role of myth as a mirror of contemporary culture. Cultural myth criticism Cultural myth criticism, without abandoning the analysis of the symbolic , invades all cultural manifestations and delves into the difficulties in understanding myth today. This cultural myth criticism studies mythical manifestations in fields as wide as literature , film and television , theater , sculpture , painting , video games , music , dancing ,
2714-436: A transcendent, sacred and supernatural referent; that lacks, in principle, historical testimony; and that refers to an individual or collective, but always absolute, cosmogony or eschatology". According to the hylistic myth research by assyriologist Annette Zgoll and classic philologist Christian Zgoll , "A myth can be defined as an Erzählstoff [narrative material] which is polymorphic through its variants and – depending on
2832-576: A world of the remote past, very different from that of the present. Definitions of "myth" vary to some extent among scholars, though Finnish folklorist Lauri Honko offers a widely-cited definition: Myth, a story of the gods, a religious account of the beginning of the world , the creation , fundamental events, the exemplary deeds of the gods as a result of which the world, nature and culture were created together with all parts thereof and given their order, which still obtains. A myth expresses and confirms society's religious values and norms, it provides
2950-503: Is Njörðr's unnamed sister (her name is unprovided in the source material). However, there is more information about his pairing with the skiing and hunting goddess Skaði . Their relationship is ill-fated, as Skaði cannot stand to be away from her beloved mountains, nor Njörðr from the seashore. Together, Freyja, Freyr, and Njörðr form a portion of gods known as the Vanir . While the Aesir and
3068-469: Is cognate with Old English cennan , Old Frisian kenna , kanna , Old Saxon ( ant ) kennian (Middle Dutch and Dutch kennen ), Old High German ( ir- , in- , pi- ) chennan ( Middle High German and German kennen ), Gothic kannjan < Proto-Germanic * kannjanan , originally causative of * kunnanan "to know (how to)", whence Modern English can 'to be able'. The word ultimately derives from *ǵneh₃ ,
3186-454: Is íss ('ice, icicle') and the determinant is rǫnd ('rim, shield-rim, shield'). The referent is "sword". In Old Norse poetry, either component of a kenning (base-word, determinant or both) could consist of an ordinary noun or a heiti "poetic synonym". In the above examples, fákr and marr are distinctively poetic lexemes ; the normal word for "horse" in Old Norse prose is hestr . The skalds also employed complex kennings in which
3304-421: Is a condition of the human mind and not a stage in its historical development." Recent scholarship, noting the fundamental lack of evidence for "nature mythology" interpretations among people who actually circulated myths, has likewise abandoned the key ideas of "nature mythology". Frazer saw myths as a misinterpretation of magical rituals, which were themselves based on a mistaken idea of natural law. This idea
3422-465: Is a form of understanding and telling stories that are connected to power, political structures, and political and economic interests. These approaches contrast with approaches, such as those of Joseph Campbell and Eliade , which hold that myth has some type of essential connection to ultimate sacred meanings that transcend cultural specifics. In particular, myth was studied in relation to history from diverse social sciences. Most of these studies share
3540-441: Is a kenning only if it contains an incongruity between the referent and the meaning of the base-word; in the kenning the limiting word is essential to the figure because without it the incongruity would make any identification impossible" (Brodeur (1959) pp. 248–253). Descriptive epithets are a common literary device in many parts of the world, whereas kennings in this restricted sense are a distinctive feature of Old Norse and, to
3658-547: Is a kind of redundancy whereby the referent of the whole kenning, or a kenning for it, is embedded: barmi dólg-svölu "brother of hostility-swallow" = "brother of raven" = "raven" (Oddr breiðfirðingr: Illugadrápa 1); blik-meiðendr bauga láðs "gleam-harmers of the land of rings" = "harmers of gleam of arm" = "harmers of ring" = "leaders, nobles, men of social standing (conceived of as generously destroying gold, i.e. giving it away freely)" (Anon.: Líknarbraut 42). While some Old Norse kennings are relatively transparent, many depend on
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3776-497: Is a reference to the sport of falconry , where a bird of prey is perched on the arm of the falconer. By convention, "hawk" combined with a term for a geographic feature forms a kenning for "arm." Fýrisvalla fræ , "gold", from " Fýrisvellir ", the plains of the river Fýri, and fræ , "seed." This is an allusion to a legend retold in Skáldskaparmál and Hrólfs saga kraka in which King Hrolf and his men scattered gold on
3894-574: Is an ad hoc usage by a helicopter ambulance pilot: "the Heathrow of hang gliders " for the hills behind Hawes in Yorkshire in England, when he found the air over the emergency site crowded with hang-gliders. Sometimes a name given to one well-known member of a species, is used to mean any member of that species. For example, Old Norse valr means " falcon ", but Old Norse mythology mentions
4012-782: Is certainly applied to non-metaphorical phrases in Skáldskaparmál : En sú kenning er áðr var ritat, at kalla Krist konung manna, þá kenning má eiga hverr konungr. "And that kenning which was written before, calling Christ the king of men, any king can have that kenning. Likewise in Háttatal : Þat er kenning at kalla fleinbrak orrostu [...] "It is a kenning to call battle 'spear-crash' [...]". Snorri's expression kend heiti "qualified terms" appears to be synonymous with kenningar , although Brodeur applies this more specifically to those periphrastic epithets which do not come under his strict definition of kenning. Sverdlov approaches
4130-490: Is embedded in another like this, the whole figure is said to be tvíkent "doubly determined, twice modified". Frequently, where the determinant is itself a kenning, the base-word of the kenning that makes up the determinant is attached uninflected to the front of the base-word of the whole kenning to form a compound word: mög-fellandi mellu "son-slayer of giantess" = "slayer of sons of giantess" = "slayer of giants" = "the god Thor " ( Steinunn Refsdóttir : Lausavísa 2). If
4248-524: Is engineered by Loki , and Baldr thereafter resides in Hel , a realm ruled over by an entity of the same name . Odin must share half of his share of the dead with a powerful goddess, Freyja . She is beautiful, sensual, wears a feathered cloak, and practices seiðr . She rides to battle to choose among the slain and brings her chosen to her afterlife field Fólkvangr . Freyja weeps for her missing husband Óðr and seeks after him in faraway lands. Freyja's brother,
4366-548: Is extending a kenning to the fifth determinant, but it is out of proportion if it is extended further. Even if it can be found in the works of ancient poets, we no longer tolerate it." The longest kenning found in skaldic poetry occurs in Hafgerðingadrápa by Þórðr Sjáreksson and reads nausta blakks hlé-mána gífrs drífu gim-slöngvir "fire-brandisher of blizzard of ogress of protection-moon of steed of boat-shed", which simply means "warrior". Word order in Old Norse
4484-423: Is nobody's truth. Myths are somebody's truth." One theory claims that myths are distorted accounts of historical events. According to this theory, storytellers repeatedly elaborate upon historical accounts until the figures in those accounts gain the status of gods. For example, the myth of the wind-god Aeolus may have evolved from a historical account of a king who taught his people to use sails and interpret
4602-587: Is not often used for non-Germanic languages, a similar form can be found in Biblical poetry in its use of parallelism . Some examples include Genesis 49:11, in which "blood of grapes" is used as a kenning for "wine", and Job 15:14, where "born of woman" is a parallel for "man". Figures of speech similar to kennings occur in Modern English (both in literature and in regular speech), and are often found in combination with other poetic devices. For example,
4720-472: Is often thought to differ from genres such as legend and folktale in that neither are considered to be sacred narratives. Some kinds of folktales, such as fairy stories , are not considered true by anyone, and may be seen as distinct from myths for this reason. Main characters in myths are usually gods , demigods or supernatural humans, while legends generally feature humans as their main characters. Many exceptions and combinations exist, as in
4838-636: Is sometimes known as "mythography", a term also used for a scholarly anthology of myths or of the study of myths generally. Key mythographers in the Classical tradition include: Other prominent mythographies include the thirteenth-century Prose Edda attributed to the Icelander Snorri Sturluson , which is the main surviving survey of Norse Mythology from the Middle Ages. Jeffrey G. Snodgrass (professor of anthropology at
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4956-510: Is sometimes used specifically for modern, fictional mythologies, such as the world building of H. P. Lovecraft . Mythopoeia ( mytho- + -poeia , 'I make myth') was termed by J. R. R. Tolkien , amongst others, to refer to the "conscious generation" of mythology. It was notoriously also suggested, separately, by Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg . Comparative mythology is a systematic comparison of myths from different cultures. It seeks to discover underlying themes that are common to
5074-579: The Iliad , Odyssey and Aeneid . Moreover, as stories spread between cultures or as faiths change, myths can come to be considered folktales, their divine characters recast as either as humans or demihumans such as giants , elves and faeries . Conversely, historical and literary material may acquire mythological qualities over time. For example, the Matter of Britain (the legendary history of Great Britain, especially those focused on King Arthur and
5192-533: The Poetic Edda , a collection of poems from earlier traditional material anonymously compiled in the 13th century. The Prose Edda was composed as a prose manual for producing skaldic poetry—traditional Old Norse poetry composed by skalds . Originally composed and transmitted orally, skaldic poetry utilizes alliterative verse , kennings , and several metrical forms. The Prose Edda presents numerous examples of works by various skalds from before and after
5310-457: The Republic . His critique was primarily on the grounds that the uneducated might take the stories of gods and heroes literally. Nevertheless, he constantly referred to myths throughout his writings. As Platonism developed in the phases commonly called Middle Platonism and neoplatonism , writers such as Plutarch , Porphyry , Proclus , Olympiodorus , and Damascius wrote explicitly about
5428-860: The Theologia Mythologica (1532). The first modern, Western scholarly theories of myth appeared during the second half of the 19th century —at the same time as "myth" was adopted as a scholarly term in European languages. They were driven partly by a new interest in Europe's ancient past and vernacular culture, associated with Romantic Nationalism and epitomised by the research of Jacob Grimm (1785–1863). This movement drew European scholars' attention not only to Classical myths, but also material now associated with Norse mythology , Finnish mythology , and so forth. Western theories were also partly driven by Europeans' efforts to comprehend and control
5546-622: The Colorado State University ) has termed India's Bhats as mythographers. Myth criticism is a system of anthropological interpretation of culture created by French philosopher Gilbert Durand . Scholars have used myth criticism to explain the mythical roots of contemporary fiction, which means that modern myth criticism needs to be interdisciplinary . Professor Losada offers his own methodologic, hermeneutic and epistemological approach to myth. While assuming mythopoetical perspectives, Losada's Cultural Myth Criticism takes
5664-593: The Madness song " The Sun and the Rain " contains the line "standing up in the falling-down", where "the falling-down" refers to rain and is used in juxtaposition to "standing up". Some recent English writers have attempted to use approximations of kennings in their work. John Steinbeck used kenning-like figures of speech in his 1950 novella Burning Bright , which was adapted into a Broadway play that same year. According to Steinbeck biographer Jay Parini , "The experiment
5782-555: The jǫtnar . The practice of forming kennings has traditionally been seen as a common Germanic inheritance, but this has been disputed since, among the early Germanic languages, their use is largely restricted to Old Norse and Old English poetry. A possible early kenning for "gold" ( walha-kurna "Roman/Gallic grain") is attested in the Proto-Norse runic inscription on the Tjurkö (I)-C bracteate . Kennings are virtually absent from
5900-568: The 13th century by Snorri and Gesta Danorum , composed in Latin by Saxo Grammaticus in Denmark in the 12th century, are the results of heavy amounts of euhemerization. Numerous additional texts, such as the sagas , provide further information. The saga corpus consists of thousands of tales recorded in Old Norse ranging from Icelandic family histories ( Sagas of Icelanders ) to Migration period tales mentioning historic figures such as Attila
6018-752: The Christianization process and also frequently refers back to the poems found in the Poetic Edda . The Poetic Edda consists almost entirely of poems, with some prose narrative added, and this poetry— Eddic poetry—utilizes fewer kennings . In comparison to skaldic poetry, Eddic poetry is relatively unadorned. The Prose Edda features layers of euhemerization , a process in which deities and supernatural beings are presented as having been either actual, magic-wielding human beings who have been deified in time or beings demonized by way of Christian mythology . Texts such as Heimskringla , composed in
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#17327869802116136-616: The Hun ( legendary sagas ). Objects and monuments such as the Rök runestone and the Kvinneby amulet feature runic inscriptions —texts written in the runic alphabet , the indigenous alphabet of the Germanic peoples —that mention figures and events from Norse mythology. Objects from the archaeological record may also be interpreted as depictions of subjects from Norse mythology, such as amulets of
6254-584: The Internet and other artistic fields . Myth criticism, a discipline that studies myths (mythology contains them, like a pantheon its statues), is by nature interdisciplinary: it combines the contributions of literary theory, the history of literature, the fine arts and the new ways of dissemination in the age of communication. Likewise, it undertakes its object of study from its interrelation with other human and social sciences, in particular sociology , anthropology and economics . The need for an approach, for
6372-654: The Norwegian woman Ragnhild Tregagås —convicted of witchcraft in Norway in the 14th century—and spells found in the 17th century Icelandic Galdrabók grimoire also sometimes make references to Norse mythology. Other traces, such as place names bearing the names of gods may provide further information about deities, such as a potential association between deities based on the placement of locations bearing their names, their local popularity, and associations with geological features. Central to accounts of Norse mythology are
6490-567: The Soviet school, and the Myth and Ritual School . The critical interpretation of myth began with the Presocratics . Euhemerus was one of the most important pre-modern mythologists. He interpreted myths as accounts of actual historical events, though distorted over many retellings. Sallustius divided myths into five categories: Plato condemned poetic myth when discussing education in
6608-545: The Vanir retain distinct identification, they came together as the result of the Aesir–Vanir War . While they receive less mention, numerous other gods and goddesses appear in the source material. (For a list of these deities, see List of Germanic deities .) Some of the gods heard less of include the apple-bearing goddess Iðunn and her husband, the skaldic god Bragi ; the gold-toothed god Heimdallr , born of nine mothers ;
6726-599: The ancestor of modern Scandinavian languages . The majority of these Old Norse texts were created in Iceland , where the oral tradition stemming from the pre-Christian inhabitants of the island was collected and recorded in manuscripts. This occurred primarily in the 13th century. These texts include the Prose Edda , composed in the 13th century by the Icelandic scholar, lawspeaker , and historian Snorri Sturluson , and
6844-660: The ancient god Týr , who lost his right hand while binding the great wolf Fenrir ; and the goddess Gefjon , who formed modern-day Zealand , Denmark . Various beings outside of the gods are mentioned. Elves and dwarfs are commonly mentioned and appear to be connected, but their attributes are vague and the relation between the two is ambiguous. Elves are described as radiant and beautiful, whereas dwarfs often act as earthen smiths. A group of beings variously described as jötnar , thursar , and trolls (in English these are all often glossed as " giants ") frequently appear. These beings may either aid, deter, or take their place among
6962-487: The arm-kenning being a reference to falconry ). The poet relies on listeners' familiarity with such conventions to carry the meaning. Some scholars take the term kenning broadly to include any noun-substitute consisting of two or more elements, including merely descriptive epithets (such as Old Norse grand viðar "bane of wood" = "fire" (Snorri Sturluson: Skáldskaparmál 36)), while others would restrict it to metaphorical instances (such as Old Norse sól húsanna "sun of
7080-545: The assumption that history and myth are not distinct in the sense that history is factual, real, accurate, and truth, while myth is the opposite. Kenning A kenning ( Icelandic : [cʰɛnːiŋk] ) is a figure of speech , a figuratively -phrased compound term that is used in place of a simple single-word noun . For instance, the Anglo-Saxon kenning "whale's road" ( hron rade ) means "sea", as does swanrād ("swan's road"). A kenning has two parts:
7198-628: The base of one of these roots live the Norns , female entities associated with fate. Elements of the cosmos are personified, such as the Sun ( Sól , a goddess), the Moon ( Máni , a god), and Earth ( Jörð , a goddess), as well as units of time, such as day ( Dagr , a god) and night ( Nótt , a jötunn). The afterlife is a complex matter in Norse mythology. The dead may go to the murky realm of Hel —a realm ruled over by
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#17327869802117316-434: The base-word, either directly or separated from the base-word by intervening words. Thus the base-words in these examples are fákr "horse" and marr "steed", the determinants báru "waves" and gjálfr "sea". The unstated noun which the kenning refers to is called its referent, in this case: skip "ship". The base-word of the kenning "íss rauðra randa" ('icicle of red shields' [SWORD], Einarr Skúlason : Øxarflokkr 9)
7434-451: The center of the cosmos. Outside of the gods, humanity, and the jötnar, these Nine Worlds are inhabited by beings, such as elves and dwarfs . Travel between the worlds is frequently recounted in the myths, where the gods and other beings may interact directly with humanity. Numerous creatures live on Yggdrasil, such as the insulting messenger squirrel Ratatoskr and the perching hawk Veðrfölnir . The tree itself has three major roots, and at
7552-444: The characteristic A and thus this AB is tautological, tend to mean "like B in that it has the characteristic A", e.g. "shield- Njörðr ", tautological because the god Njörðr by nature has his own shield, means "like Njörðr in that he has a shield", i.e. "warrior". A modern English example is " painted Jezebel " as a disapproving expression for a woman too fond of using cosmetics. Kennings may include proper names. A modern example of this
7670-584: The closely related heiti . Although kennings are sometimes hyphenated in English translation, Old Norse poetry did not require kennings to be in normal word order, nor do the parts of the kenning need to be side-by-side. The lack of grammatical cases in modern English makes this aspect of kennings difficult to translate. Kennings are now rarely used in English, but are still used in the Germanic language family . The corresponding modern verb to ken survives in Scots and English dialects and in general English through
7788-470: The concept of the Oedipus complex in his 1899 The Interpretation of Dreams . Jung likewise tried to understand the psychology behind world myths. Jung asserted that all humans share certain innate unconscious psychological forces, which he called archetypes . He believed similarities between the myths of different cultures reveals the existence of these universal archetypes. The mid-20th century saw
7906-490: The cosmological tree Yggdrasil to gain knowledge of the runic alphabet, which he passed on to humanity, and is associated closely with death, wisdom, and poetry. Odin is portrayed as the ruler of Asgard , and leader of the Aesir . Odin's wife is the powerful goddess Frigg who can see the future but tells no one, and together they have a beloved son, Baldr . After a series of dreams had by Baldr of his impending death, his death
8024-597: The cultures, stories and religions they were encountering through colonialism . These encounters included both extremely old texts such as the Sanskrit Rigveda and the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh , and current oral narratives such as mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas or stories told in traditional African religions . The intellectual context for nineteenth-century scholars
8142-580: The derivative existing in the standard language in the set expression beyond one's ken , "beyond the scope of one's knowledge" and in the phonologically altered forms uncanny , "surreal" or "supernatural", and canny , "shrewd", "prudent". Modern Scots retains (with slight differences between dialects) tae ken "to know", kent "knew" or "known", Afrikaans ken "be acquainted with" and "to know" and kennis "knowledge". Old Norse kenna ( Modern Icelandic kenna , Swedish känna , Danish kende , Norwegian kjenne or kjenna )
8260-402: The determinant, or sometimes the base-word, is itself made up of a further kenning: grennir gunn-más "feeder of war-gull" = "feeder of raven " = "warrior" ( Þorbjörn Hornklofi : Glymdrápa 6); eyðendr arnar hungrs "destroyers of eagle's hunger" = "feeders of eagle" = "warrior" (Þorbjörn Þakkaskáld: Erlingsdrápa 1) (referring to carrion birds scavenging after a battle). Where one kenning
8378-519: The earth." The kennings are: Ullr ... ímunlauks , "warrior", from Ullr , the name of a god, and ímun-laukr , "sword" (literally "war-leek"). By convention, the name of any god can be associated with another word to produce a kenning for a certain type of man; here "Ullr of the sword" means "warrior." "War-leek" is a kenning for "sword" that likens the shape of the sword to that of a leek. The warrior referred to may be King Harald. Hauka fjöllum , "arms", from hauka "hawk" and fjöll mountain. This
8496-399: The events of Ragnarök when an immense battle occurs between the gods and their enemies, and the world is enveloped in flames, only to be reborn anew. There the surviving gods will meet, and the land will be fertile and green, and two humans will repopulate the world. Norse mythology has been the subject of scholarly discourse since the 17th century when key texts attracted the attention of
8614-449: The figure comprises more than three elements, it is said to be rekit "extended". Kennings of up to seven elements are recorded in skaldic verse. Snorri himself characterises five-element kennings as an acceptable license but cautions against more extreme constructions: Níunda er þat at reka til hinnar fimtu kenningar, er ór ættum er ef lengra er rekit; en þótt þat finnisk í fornskálda verka, þá látum vér þat nú ónýtt. "The ninth [license]
8732-493: The first example of "myth" in 1830. The main characters in myths are usually non-humans, such as gods , demigods , and other supernatural figures. Others include humans, animals, or combinations in their classification of myth. Stories of everyday humans, although often of leaders of some type, are usually contained in legends , as opposed to myths. Myths are sometimes distinguished from legends in that myths deal with gods, usually have no historical basis, and are set in
8850-574: The following dróttkvætt stanza, the Norwegian skald Eyvindr skáldaspillir (d. ca 990) compares the greed of King Harald Greycloak (Old Norse: Haraldr ) to the generosity of his predecessor, Haakon the Good ( Hákon ): Bárum, Ullr, of alla, ímunlauks, á hauka fjöllum Fýrisvalla fræ Hákonar ævi; nú hefr fólkstríðir Fróða fáglýjaðra þýja meldr í móður holdi mellu dolgs of folginn —Eyvindr skáldaspillir, Lausavísa A literal translation reveals several kennings: " Ullr of
8968-402: The foremost functions of myth is to establish models for behavior and that myths may provide a religious experience. By telling or reenacting myths, members of traditional societies detach themselves from the present, returning to the mythical age, thereby coming closer to the divine. Honko asserted that, in some cases, a society reenacts a myth in an attempt to reproduce the conditions of
9086-419: The form of three gifts. After the cataclysm of Ragnarok, this process is mirrored in the survival of two humans from a wood; Líf and Lífþrasir . From these two humankind is foretold to repopulate the new and green earth. Myth Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of
9204-485: The god Freyr , is also frequently mentioned in surviving texts, and in his association with the weather, royalty, human sexuality, and agriculture brings peace and pleasure to humanity. Deeply lovesick after catching sight of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr , Freyr seeks and wins her love, yet at the price of his future doom. Their father is the powerful god Njörðr . Njörðr is strongly associated with ships and seafaring, and so also wealth and prosperity. Freyja and Freyr's mother
9322-501: The god Thor's hammer Mjölnir found among pagan burials and small silver female figures interpreted as valkyries or dísir , beings associated with war, fate or ancestor cults. By way of historical linguistics and comparative mythology , comparisons to other attested branches of Germanic mythology (such as the Old High German Merseburg Incantations ) may also lend insight. Wider comparisons to
9440-469: The gods. The Norns , dísir , and aforementioned valkyries also receive frequent mention. While their functions and roles may overlap and differ, all are collective female beings associated with fate. In Norse cosmology , all beings live in Nine Worlds that center around the cosmological tree Yggdrasil . The gods inhabit the heavenly realm of Asgard whereas humanity inhabits Midgard , a region in
9558-411: The gods. The cosmos in Norse mythology consists of Nine Worlds that flank a central sacred tree , Yggdrasil . Units of time and elements of the cosmology are personified as deities or beings. Various forms of a creation myth are recounted, where the world is created from the flesh of the primordial being Ymir , and the first two humans are Ask and Embla . These worlds are foretold to be reborn after
9676-420: The hard feet of the hilt (sword blades)" ( Eyvindr Skáldaspillir : Hákonarmál 6); svarraði sárgymir á sverða nesi "wound-sea (=blood) sprayed on headland of swords (=shield)" (Eyvindr Skáldaspillir: Hákonarmál 7). Snorri calls such examples nýgervingar and exemplifies them in verse 6 of his Háttatal. The effect here seems to depend on an interplay of more or less naturalistic imagery and jarring artifice. But
9794-468: The houses" = "fire" (Snorri Sturluson: Skáldskaparmál 36)), specifically those where "[t]he base-word identifies the referent with something which it is not, except in a specially conceived relation which the poet imagines between it and the sense of the limiting element'" (Brodeur (1959) pp. 248–253). Some even exclude naturalistic metaphors such as Old English forstes bend "bond of frost" = "ice" or winter-ġewǣde "winter-raiment" = "snow": "A metaphor
9912-423: The influential development of a structuralist theory of mythology , led by Lévi-Strauss . Strauss argued that myths reflect patterns in the mind and interpreted those patterns more as fixed mental structures, specifically pairs of opposites (good/evil, compassionate/callous), rather than unconscious feelings or urges. Meanwhile, Bronislaw Malinowski developed analyses of myths focusing on their social functions in
10030-512: The intellectual circles of Europe. By way of comparative mythology and historical linguistics , scholars have identified elements of Germanic mythology reaching as far back as Proto-Indo-European mythology . During the modern period, the Romanticist Viking revival re-awoke an interest in the subject matter, and references to Norse mythology may now be found throughout modern popular culture . The myths have further been revived in
10148-426: The kenning is known as its referent (in the case of "whale's road", "sea" is the referent). Note that "skyscraper" is not a kenning, as it isn't a circumlocution for a simpler term; it just means "a very tall building". Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English alliterative verse . They continued to be a feature of Icelandic poetry (including rímur ) for centuries, together with
10266-711: The knights of the Round Table ) and the Matter of France , seem distantly to originate in historical events of the 5th and 8th centuries, respectively, and became mythologised over the following centuries. In colloquial use, "myth" can also be used of a collectively held belief that has no basis in fact, or any false story. This usage, which is often pejorative , arose from labelling the religious myths and beliefs of other cultures as incorrect, but it has spread to cover non-religious beliefs as well. As commonly used by folklorists and academics in other relevant fields, such as anthropology , "myth" has no implication whether
10384-465: The myth-ritual theory, myth is tied to ritual. In its most extreme form, this theory claims myths arose to explain rituals. This claim was first put forward by Smith , who argued that people begin performing rituals for reasons not related to myth. Forgetting the original reason for a ritual, they account for it by inventing a myth and claiming the ritual commemorates the events described in that myth. James George Frazer —author of The Golden Bough ,
10502-583: The mythical age. For example, it might reenact the healing performed by a god at the beginning of time in order to heal someone in the present. Similarly, Barthes argued that modern culture explores religious experience. Since it is not the job of science to define human morality, a religious experience is an attempt to connect with a perceived moral past, which is in contrast with the technological present. Pattanaik defines mythology as "the subjective truth of people communicated through stories, symbols and rituals." He says, "Facts are everybody's truth. Fiction
10620-400: The mythology of other Indo-European peoples by scholars has resulted in the potential reconstruction of far earlier myths. Only a tiny amount of poems and tales survive of the many mythical tales and poems that are presumed to have existed during the Middle Ages, Viking Age, Migration Period, and before. Later sources reaching into the modern period, such as a medieval charm recorded as used by
10738-435: The mythology, Thor lays waste to numerous jötnar who are foes to the gods or humanity, and is wed to the beautiful, golden-haired goddess Sif . The god Odin is also frequently mentioned in surviving texts. One-eyed, wolf - and raven -flanked, with a spear in hand, Odin pursues knowledge throughout the nine realms. In an act of self-sacrifice, Odin is described as having hanged himself upside-down for nine days and nights on
10856-430: The myths of multiple cultures. In some cases, comparative mythologists use the similarities between separate mythologies to argue that those mythologies have a common source. This source may inspire myths or provide a common "protomythology" that diverged into the mythologies of each culture. A number of commentators have argued that myths function to form and shape society and social behaviour. Eliade argued that one of
10974-565: The narrative may be understood as true or otherwise. Among biblical scholars of both the Old and New Testament, the word "myth" has a technical meaning, in that it usually refers to "describe the actions of the other‐worldly in terms of this world" such as the Creation and the Fall. Since "myth" is popularly used to describe stories that are not objectively true , the identification of a narrative as
11092-471: The pagan period, including medieval manuscripts, archaeological representations, and folk tradition. The source texts mention numerous gods such as the thunder-god Thor , the raven -flanked god Odin , the goddess Freyja , and numerous other deities . Most of the surviving mythology centers on the plights of the gods and their interaction with several other beings, such as humanity and the jötnar , beings who may be friends, lovers, foes, or family members of
11210-652: The picture of the battle being described" (Faulkes (1997), pp. 8–9). Snorri draws the line at mixed metaphor, which he terms nykrat "made monstrous" (Snorri Sturluson: Háttatal 6), and his nephew called the practice löstr "a fault" ( Óláfr hvítaskáld : Third Grammatical Treatise 80). In spite of this, it seems that "many poets did not object to and some must have preferred baroque juxtapositions of unlike kennings and neutral or incongruous verbs in their verses" (Foote & Wilson (1970), p. 332). E.g. heyr jarl Kvasis dreyra "listen, earl, to Kvasir 's blood (=poetry)" ( Einarr skálaglamm : Vellekla 1). Sometimes there
11328-461: The plains ( vellir ) of the river Fýri south of Gamla Uppsala to delay their pursuers. Fróða fáglýjaðra þýja meldr , "flour of Fróði's hapless slaves", is another kenning for "gold." It alludes to the Grottasöngr legend. Móður hold mellu dolgs , "flesh of the mother of the enemy of the giantess." "earth." Here the earth is personified as the goddess Jörð , mother of Thor , enemy of
11446-605: The plights of the gods and their interaction with various other beings, such as with the jötnar , who may be friends, lovers, foes, or family members of the gods. Numerous gods are mentioned in the source texts. As evidenced by records of personal names and place names, the most popular god among the Scandinavians during the Viking Age was Thor the thunder god , who is portrayed as unrelentingly pursuing his foes, his mountain-crushing, thunderous hammer Mjölnir in hand. In
11564-532: The question from a morphological standpoint. Noting that the modifying component in Germanic compound words can take the form of a genitive or a bare root, he points to behavioural similarities between genitive determinants and the modifying element in regular Old Norse compound words, such as the fact that neither can be modified by a free-standing (declined) adjective. According to this view, all kennings are formally compounds, notwithstanding widespread tmesis. In
11682-484: The rationalization of myths, putting themes formerly imbued with mythological qualities into pragmatic contexts. An example of this would be following a cultural or religious paradigm shift (notably the re-interpretation of pagan mythology following Christianization ). Interest in polytheistic mythology revived during the Renaissance , with early works of mythography appearing in the sixteenth century, among them
11800-543: The real world. He is associated with the idea that myths such as origin stories might provide a "mythic charter"—a legitimisation—for cultural norms and social institutions . Thus, following the Structuralist Era ( c. 1960s –1980s), the predominant anthropological and sociological approaches to myth increasingly treated myth as a form of narrative that can be studied, interpreted, and analyzed like ideology, history, and culture. In other words, myth
11918-408: The same Proto-Indo-European root that yields Modern English know , Latin -derived terms such as cognition and ignorant , and Greek gnosis . Old Norse kennings take the form of a genitive phrase ( báru fákr "wave's horse" = "ship" ( Þorbjörn Hornklofi : Glymdrápa 3)) or a compound word ( gjálfr-marr "sea-steed" = "ship" (Anon.: Hervararkviða 27)). The simplest kennings consist of
12036-693: The same small set of topics, and do so using a relatively small set of traditional metaphors. Thus a leader or important man will be characterised as generous, according to one common convention, and called an "enemy of gold", "attacker of treasure", "destroyer of arm-rings ", etc. and a friend of his people. Nevertheless, there are many instances of ambiguity in the corpus, some of which may be intentional, and some evidence that, rather than merely accepting it from expediency, skalds favoured contorted word order for its own sake. Kennings could be developed into extended, and sometimes vivid, metaphors: tröddusk törgur fyr [...] hjalta harðfótum "shields were trodden under
12154-452: The simple type, possessing just two elements. Examples for "sea": seġl-rād "sail-road" ( Beowulf 1429 b), swan-rād "swan-road" (Beowulf 200 a), bæð-weġ "bath-way" (Andreas 513 a), hron-rād "whale-road" (Beowulf 10), hwæl-weġ "whale-way" ( The Seafarer 63 a). Most Old English examples take the form of compound words in which the first element is uninflected: "heofon-candel" "sky-candle" = "the sun" (Exodus 115 b). Kennings consisting of
12272-428: The skalds were not averse either to arbitrary, purely decorative, use of kennings: "That is, a ruler will be a distributor of gold even when he is fighting a battle and gold will be called the fire of the sea even when it is in the form of a man's arm-ring on his arm. If the man wearing a gold ring is fighting a battle on land the mention of the sea will have no relevance to his situation at all and does not contribute to
12390-656: The surviving corpus of continental West Germanic verse; the Old Saxon Heliand contains only one example: lîk-hamo "body-raiment" = "body" (Heliand 3453 b), a compound which, in any case, is normal in West Germanic and North Germanic prose ( Old English līchama , Old High German lîchamo , lîchinamo , Dutch lichaam , Old Icelandic líkamr , líkami , Old Swedish līkhamber , Swedish lekamen , Danish and Norwegian Bokmål legeme , Norwegian Nynorsk lekam ). Old English kennings are all of
12508-421: The symbolic interpretation of traditional and Orphic myths. Mythological themes were consciously employed in literature, beginning with Homer . The resulting work may expressly refer to a mythological background without itself becoming part of a body of myths ( Cupid and Psyche ). Medieval romance in particular plays with this process of turning myth into literature. Euhemerism , as stated earlier, refers to
12626-464: The term "myth" altogether for purposes of avoiding placing pejorative overtones on sacred narratives. In present use, "mythology" usually refers to the collection of myths of a group of people. For example, Greek mythology , Roman mythology , Celtic mythology and Hittite mythology all describe the body of myths retold among those cultures. "Mythology" can also refer to the study of myths and mythologies. The compilation or description of myths
12744-428: The term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the veracity of a myth is not a defining criterion. Myths are often endorsed by secular and religious authorities and are closely linked to religion or spirituality . Many societies group their myths, legends, and history together, considering myths and legends to be factual accounts of their remote past. In particular, creation myths take place in
12862-483: The variant – polystratic; an Erzählstoff in which transcending interpretations of what can be experienced are combined into a hyleme sequence with an implicit claim to relevance for the interpretation and mastering of the human condition." Scholars in other fields use the term "myth" in varied ways. In a broad sense, the word can refer to any traditional story , popular misconception or imaginary entity. Though myth and other folklore genres may overlap, myth
12980-399: The war- leek ! We carried the seed of Fýrisvellir on our hawk-mountains during all of Haakon's life; now the enemy of the people has hidden the flour of Fróði 's hapless slaves in the flesh of the mother of the enemy of the giantess. " This could be paraphrased as "O warrior, we carried gold on our arms during all of King Haakon's life; now the enemy of the people has hidden gold in
13098-739: The winds. Herodotus (fifth-century BCE) and Prodicus made claims of this kind. This theory is named euhemerism after mythologist Euhemerus ( c. 320 BCE ), who suggested that Greek gods developed from legends about humans. Some theories propose that myths began as allegories for natural phenomena: Apollo represents the sun, Poseidon represents water, and so on. According to another theory, myths began as allegories for philosophical or spiritual concepts: Athena represents wise judgment, Aphrodite romantic desire, and so on. Müller supported an allegorical theory of myth. He believed myths began as allegorical descriptions of nature and gradually came to be interpreted literally. For example,
13216-405: The word mȳthos with the suffix - λογία ( -logia , 'study') in order to mean 'romance, fiction, story-telling.' Accordingly, Plato used mythología as a general term for 'fiction' or 'story-telling' of any kind. In Anglicised form, this Greek word began to be used in English (and was likewise adapted into other European languages) in the early 19th century, in a much narrower sense, as
13334-1029: Was central to the " myth and ritual " school of thought. According to Frazer, humans begin with an unfounded belief in impersonal magical laws. When they realize applications of these laws do not work, they give up their belief in natural law in favor of a belief in personal gods controlling nature, thus giving rise to religious myths. Meanwhile, humans continue practicing formerly magical rituals through force of habit, reinterpreting them as reenactments of mythical events. Finally, humans come to realize nature follows natural laws, and they discover their true nature through science. Here again, science makes myth obsolete as humans progress "from magic through religion to science." Segal asserted that by pitting mythical thought against modern scientific thought, such theories imply modern humans must abandon myth. The earlier 20th century saw major work developing psychoanalytical approaches to interpreting myth, led by Sigmund Freud , who, drawing inspiration from Classical myth, began developing
13452-502: Was generally much freer than in Modern English because Old Norse and Old English are synthetic languages , where added prefixes and suffixes to the root word (the core noun, verb, adjective or adverb) carry grammatical meanings, whereas Middle English and Modern English use word order to carry grammatical information, as analytic languages . This freedom is exploited to the full in skaldic verse and taken to extremes far beyond what would be natural in prose. Other words can intervene between
13570-618: Was primarily concerned with the natural world. It tended to interpret myths that seemed distasteful to European Victorians —such as tales about sex, incest, or cannibalism—as metaphors for natural phenomena like agricultural fertility . Unable to conceive impersonal natural laws, early humans tried to explain natural phenomena by attributing souls to inanimate objects, thus giving rise to animism . According to Tylor, human thought evolved through stages, starting with mythological ideas and gradually progressing to scientific ideas. Müller also saw myth as originating from language, even calling myth
13688-530: Was profoundly shaped by emerging ideas about evolution . These ideas included the recognition that many Eurasian languages—and therefore, conceivably, stories—were all descended from a lost common ancestor (the Indo-European language ) which could rationally be reconstructed through the comparison of its descendant languages. They also included the idea that cultures might evolve in ways comparable to species. In general, 19th-century theories framed myth as
13806-481: Was the original format for the mythology. Various forms of a cosmological creation story are provided in Icelandic sources, and references to a future destruction and rebirth of the world— Ragnarok —are frequently mentioned in some texts. According to the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda poem, Völuspá , the first human couple consisted of Ask and Embla ; driftwood found by a trio of gods and imbued with life in
13924-545: Was then adopted in Middle French as mythologie . Whether from French or Latin usage, English adopted the word "mythology" in the 15th century, initially meaning 'the exposition of a myth or myths', 'the interpretation of fables', or 'a book of such expositions'. The word is first attested in John Lydgate 's Troy Book ( c. 1425 ). From Lydgate until the 17th or 18th century, "mythology" meant
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