Wednesday, January 09, 2019

Proto-Germanic mythology vs Norse Mythology


While it's great that we have a pretty good idea of what the Norse mythology would have looked like (if you could take all of the localized Norse beliefs, filter them through one guy in Iceland after Christianization had already come along, and distilled it into a single snapshot, that is) what I really wish is that we had it for the pagan Anglo-Saxon past.  Not that I don't have some Norse ancestry in there a bit (the first person I know of with my last name in the family tree is a Norman who's son came to England with William the Conqueror—and all of the English who come from the border region especially, were under Danelaw at one point) but the Anglo-Saxon is my primary identity (secondarily, it's Scottish and/or British Celtic.)

Anyway, we have a pretty good idea of the names of a number of the earliest proto-Germanic, Nordic Bronze Age *Ansewez and *Wanizaz—who would have been known as the Ese and the Wanes, perhaps, to the Old English, but are better known to us as the Æsir and the Vanir.  Given below is the Proto-Germanic linguistic construction, followed by the familiar Norse evolution of that, and then the Anglo-Saxon (or English, if it survived into the modern age) equivalent.

Also; this list is easier to read if you're familiar with the old Germanic letter of thorn (Þ, þ)

Gods
  • Wōdanaz, Odin or, Woden
  • Þunraz, Thor or Thunor
  • Teiwaz, Tyr or Tiw
  • Ermunaz, Jormun or Eorman
  • Wulþuz, Ullr or Wuldor (although it was debased in Old English to merely being a word for glory rather than the name of a god.)
  • Ingwaz or Inguz, identified with the god addressed as fraujaz "lord", Frey or Frea
Goddesses
  • Nerþuz, described by Tacitus as Mother Earth, converted in Norse to Njord, a God.  No Anglo-Saxon equivalent attested. but the linguistic construction Hertha might be similar to what they would have said.
  • Frijjō, Frigg or Frige.  Possibly also Freyja.
  • Fraujō, Freyja, or Freo
  • Fullō, goddess—or *Fullaz, god—Fulla.  No Anglo-Saxon name attested.
  • Wurdiz, Urd (Urth) or Wyrd.  By the time of Anglo-Saxon attestation, this wasn't a being, just a cosmic force.
  • Sōwilō, Sol, Sunne
Semi-gods or mythical heroes
  • Auzawandilaz, Aurvandil or Earandel
  • Gautaz, Gautr or Geat (mythic ancestor)
  • Wēlanduz, Volund or Weland (Wayland, Weyland)
  • Agilaz, Egil or Ægil
Mythical races
  • Þurisaz, Thurs or Thyrs  
  • Etunaz. Jotunn or Eotan (later ettin or etten)
  • Dwergaz, Dvergr or Dweorg (later Dwarf)
  • Albaz, Alf or Ælf (later Elf).  Modified, at least in Norse, as Ljosalfar (light-elfs), Dokkalfar (dark-elfs), Svartalfar (black-elfs) and Myrkalfar (murky-elfs)
  • Nikwuz, Nekor and Nicor (later Neck, Nixie and even Knucker). 
Cosmology
  • Medjanagardaz, Midgard or Middangeard (later loosely translated as Middle-earth)
  • Wira-alđiz, Verold or Weorold (later World)
  • Haljō, Hel or Helle (later Hell)
  • Muþspell, Muspell.  No Anglo-Saxon attestation, but Old High German has Muspili.
Sadly, the reality "on the ground" in Anglo-Saxon Angle-land, or any other Germanic territory is impossible to recover anymore.  The Christianization of England was more or less complete by 650 AD; a whole fifty-five generations ago.  The Common Germanic linguistic period lasted from c. 500 BC for over 500 years; 81-101 generations ago, and the Nordic Bronze Age, the first culture believed to be directly ancestral to the Germanic peoples exclusively, dates back to 1,700 BC.  That's a whopping 150 generations, almost.

Of course, Germanic paganism seems to be an evolved form of Indo-European paganism.  Late Proto-Indo-European was starting to separate into its constituent language groups by 2,500 BC, another 32 generations earlier than that even, whereas early Proto-Indo-European could have come together in a recognizable form as early as 4,500 BC with the Sredni Stog, Dnieper-Donets and Samara archaeological material cultures.  Can you imagine that, really?  That's more than 260 generations ago.  And, of course, although we can't reconstruct very much (other than a few aspects of material culture and genetic signatures) what came before Indo-European, it didn't spring ex nihilo out of the Eurasian ground like Athena springing from the head of Zeus.  So, ancient analogs of some of these gods probably date back much further, but if it's hard enough to figure out exactly what Anglo-Saxon mythology looked like, pre-Proto-Indo-European is completely lost to us.

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