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94-639: The structure of the Deutsche Mythologie is fairly encyclopaedic. The articles and chapters are discursive of philological, historical, folkloristic, and poetic aspects of the pre-Christian Germanic religions. The sources are varied epochally and geographically. In many instances, Grimm cites the North and West Germanic variants of a religious entity; thus the entry on Thor is titled 'Donar, Thunar (Thôrr)'. Older Germanic words, particularly those concerning ritual, are often compared to Latin equivalents, as evident in

188-416: A cauldron large enough to brew ale for them all. They arrive, and Týr sees his nine-hundred-headed grandmother and his gold-clad mother, the latter of which welcomes them with a horn. After Hymir —who is not happy to see Thor—comes in from the cold outdoors, Týr 's mother helps them find a properly strong cauldron. Thor eats a big meal of two oxen (all the rest eat but one), and then goes to sleep. In

282-418: A boat, out at sea. Hymir catches a few whales at once, and Thor baits his line with the head of the ox. Thor casts his line and the monstrous serpent Jörmungandr bites. Thor pulls the serpent on board, and violently slams him in the head with his hammer. Jörmungandr shrieks, and a noisy commotion is heard from underwater before another lacuna appears in the manuscript. After the second lacuna, Hymir

376-550: A bridal head-dress, and the necklace Brísingamen . Thor rejects the idea, yet Loki interjects that this will be the only way to get back Mjölnir . Loki points out that, without Mjölnir , the jötnar will be able to invade and settle in Asgard . The gods dress Thor as a bride, and Loki states that he will go with Thor as his maid, and that the two shall drive to Jötunheimr together. After riding together in Thor's goat-driven chariot ,

470-759: A major role in dismembering what was left of the Western Roman Empire . Large parts of Germania, including all of Roman Germania, were eventually incorporated into the Frankish Empire . From the 1st to the 4th century AD, Magna Germania corresponds archaeologically to the Roman Iron Age . In recent years, progress in archaeology has contributed greatly to the understanding of Germania. Areas of Magna Germania were largely agrarian , and display archaeological commonalities with each other, while being strongly differentiated from that of Roman Germania, largely due to

564-775: A mixed Celtic, Germanic and Roman population, which became progressively Romanized . By the mid 1st century AD, between eight and ten Roman legions were stationed in Roman Germania to protect the frontiers. From AD 69 to AD 70, Roman Germania was heavily affected by the Revolt of the Batavi . Tacitus writes that the leader of the revolt, Gaius Julius Civilis , recruited a vast amount of warriors from his self-described "kinsmen" all over Germania, and hailed Arminius for having liberated Germania from slavery. Civilis' rebels seized Colonia (modern-day Cologne ), capital of Roman Germania and home of

658-486: A mother whose name is not recorded, he fathered Móði , and he is the stepfather of the god Ullr . Thor is the son of Odin and Jörð , by way of his father Odin, he has numerous brothers , including Baldr . Thor has two servants, Þjálfi and Röskva , rides in a cart or chariot pulled by two goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr (whom he eats and resurrects), and is ascribed three dwellings ( Bilskirnir , Þrúðheimr , and Þrúðvangr ). Thor wields

752-426: A race, gradually prevailed, till all called themselves by this self-invented name of Germans, which the conquerors had first employed to inspire terror." — Tacitus In Latin , the name Germania means "lands where people called Germani live". Modern scholars do not agree on the etymology of the name Germani . Celtic , Germanic , Illyrian and Latin etymologies have been suggested. The main source on

846-447: A rage, causing all of the halls of the Æsir to tremble in her anger, and her necklace, the famed Brísingamen , falls from her. Freyja pointedly refuses. As a result, the gods and goddesses meet and hold a thing to discuss and debate the matter. At the thing, the god Heimdallr puts forth the suggestion that, in place of Freyja , Thor should be dressed as the bride, complete with jewels, women's clothing down to his knees,

940-411: A ride from him. The ferryman, shouting from the inlet, is immediately rude and obnoxious to Thor and refuses to ferry him. At first, Thor holds his tongue, but Hárbarðr only becomes more aggressive, and the poem soon becomes a flyting match between Thor and Hárbarðr , all the while revealing lore about the two, including Thor's killing of several jötnar in "the east" and women on Hlesey (now

1034-480: A set of 'buried theses' which were important to the development of scholarship on mythology: that the study of words as well as stories can reveal past belief-systems, and that 'just as Primitive Germanic word-forms could be "reconstructed" on a comparative basis, so could Primitive Germanic concepts, and the mythology in which they were embedded'. Grimm also assumed a 'thesis of continuity', whereby later sources could be seen as representations of earlier culture, due to

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1128-623: A single time in Västergötland ( VG 150 ), Sweden. A fifth appearance may possibly occur on a runestone found in Södermanland , Sweden ( Sö 140 ), but the reading is contested. Pictorial representations of Thor's hammer appear on a total of five runestones found in Denmark ( DR 26 and DR 120 ) and in the Swedish counties of Västergötland ( VG 113 ) and Södermanland ( Sö 86 and Sö 111 ). It

1222-414: A sitting man, and the man lying down often barks out lies." Loki states that it was indeed an effort, and also a success, for he has discovered that Þrymr has the hammer, but that it cannot be retrieved unless Freyja is brought to Þrymr as his wife. The two return to Freyja and tell her to put on a bridal head dress, as they will drive her to Jötunheimr . Freyja , indignant and angry, goes into

1316-557: A statue of Thor, who Adam describes as "mightiest", sits in the Temple at Uppsala in the center of a triple throne (flanked by Woden and "Fricco") located in Gamla Uppsala , Sweden . Adam details that "Thor, they reckon, rules the sky; he governs thunder and lightning, winds and storms, fine weather and fertility" and that "Thor, with his mace, looks like Jupiter". Adam details that the people of Uppsala had appointed priests to each of

1410-711: A stick bearing a runic message found among the Bryggen inscriptions in Bergen , Norway . On the stick, both Thor and Odin are called upon for help; Thor is asked to "receive" the reader, and Odin to "own" them. In the Poetic Edda , compiled during the 13th century from traditional source material reaching into the pagan period, Thor appears (or is mentioned) in the poems Völuspá , Grímnismál , Skírnismál , Hárbarðsljóð , Hymiskviða , Lokasenna , Þrymskviða , Alvíssmál , and Hyndluljóð . In

1504-532: Is cognate with Old High German Donarestag . All of these terms derive from a Late Proto-Germanic weekday name along the lines of * Þunaresdagaz ('Day of * Þun(a)raz '), a calque of Latin Iovis dies ('Day of Jove '; cf. modern Italian giovedì , French jeudi , Spanish jueves ). By employing a practice known as interpretatio germanica during the Roman period , ancient Germanic peoples adopted

1598-614: Is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning , thunder , storms , sacred groves and trees , strength , the protection of humankind, hallowing , and fertility . Besides Old Norse Þórr , the deity occurs in Old English as Thunor , in Old Frisian as Thuner , in Old Saxon as Thunar , and in Old High German as Donar , all ultimately stemming from

1692-641: Is also seen on runestone DR 48 . The design is believed to be a heathen response to Christian runestones, which often have a cross at the centre. One of the stones, Sö 86 , shows a face or mask above the hammer. Anders Hultgård has argued that this is the face of Thor. At least three stones depict Thor fishing for the serpent Jörmungandr : the Hørdum stone in Thy , Denmark, the Altuna Runestone in Altuna , Sweden and

1786-403: Is because " Freyja " has not slept for eight nights in her eagerness. The "wretched sister" of the jötnar appears, asks for a bridal gift from " Freyja ", and the jötnar bring out Mjölnir to "sanctify the bride", to lay it on her lap, and marry the two by "the hand" of the goddess Vár . Thor laughs internally when he sees the hammer, takes hold of it, strikes Þrymr , beats all of

1880-572: Is described as red-bearded, but there is no evidence for a red beard in the Eddas. The name of the æsir is explained as "men from Asia ", Asgard being the "Asian city" (i.e., Troy). Alternatively, Troy is in Tyrkland (Turkey, i.e., Asia Minor), and Asialand is Scythia , where Thor founded a new city named Asgard. Odin is a remote descendant of Thor, removed by twelve generations, who led an expedition across Germany, Denmark and Sweden to Norway. In

1974-489: Is frequently referred to in place names, the day of the week Thursday bears his name (modern English Thursday derives from Old English thunresdaeġ , 'Thunor's day'), and names stemming from the pagan period containing his own continue to be used today, particularly in Scandinavia. Thor has inspired numerous works of art and references to Thor appear in modern popular culture. Like other Germanic deities, veneration of Thor

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2068-407: Is gone. Þrymr says that he has hidden Mjölnir eight leagues beneath the earth, from which it will be retrieved, but only if Freyja is brought to him as his wife. Loki flies off, the feather cloak whistling, away from Jötunheimr and back to the court of the gods. Thor asks Loki if his efforts were successful, and that Loki should tell him while he is still in the air as "tales often escape

2162-598: Is revived in the modern period in Heathenry . The name Thor is derived from Norse mythology. Its medieval Germanic equivalents or cognates are Donar ( Old High German ), Þunor ( Old English ), Thuner ( Old Frisian ), Thunar ( Old Saxon ), and Þórr ( Old Norse ), the latter of which inspired the form Thor . Though Old Norse Þórr has only one syllable, it too comes from an earlier, Proto-Norse two-syllable form which can be reconstructed as * Þunarr and/or * Þunurr (evidenced by

2256-577: Is sitting in the boat, unhappy and totally silent, as they row back to shore. On shore, Hymir suggests that Thor should help him carry a whale back to his farm. Thor picks both the boat and the whales up, and carries it all back to Hymir 's farm. After Thor successfully smashes a crystal goblet by throwing it at Hymir 's head on Týr 's mother's suggestion, Thor and Týr are given the cauldron. Týr cannot lift it, but Thor manages to roll it, and so with it they leave. Some distance from Hymir 's home, an army of many-headed beings led by Hymir attacks

2350-420: Is so angry, and comments that Thor will not be so daring to fight "the wolf" ( Fenrir ) when it eats Odin (a reference to the foretold events of Ragnarök ). Thor again tells him to be silent, and threatens to throw him into the sky, where he will never be seen again. Loki says that Thor should not brag of his time in the east, as he once crouched in fear in the thumb of a glove (a story involving deception by

2444-613: Is thus considered one of the most important events in European history . The Rhine eventually became the border between the Roman Empire and Magna Germania. Areas of northeast Gaul bordering the Rhine remained under Roman control, and are often referred to as "Roman Germania". Four Roman legions were stationed there, and a Roman fleet, the Classis Germanica , was also established. The area

2538-734: The Limes Germanicus . The 3rd century AD saw the emergence of several powerful Germanic confederations in Magna Germania, such as the Alemanni and Franks . The Crisis of the Third Century included raids on Roman Germania by Alemanni and Franks, and the area briefly became part of the Gallic Empire established by the usurper Postumus . Around 280 AD, the Agri Decumates were evacuated by

2632-607: The Prose Edda euhemerises Thor as a prince of Troy , and the son of Menon by Troana, a daughter of Priam . Thor, also known as Tror , is said to have married the prophetess Sibyl (identified with Sif ). Thor is further said here to have been raised in Thrace by a chieftain named Lorikus , whom he later slew to assume the title of "King of Thrace", to have had a pale complexion and hair "fairer than gold", and to have been strong enough to lift ten bearskins. In later sagas he

2726-587: The Balkans forced the Romans to withdraw troops from Roman Germania. In 406, a large number of people fleeing the Huns crossed the Rhine from Magna Germania into Roman Germania and Gaul, leading to the eventual collapse of Roman rule there, and the emigration of large numbers of Romans, particularly Roman elites. Roman Germania was subsequently occupied by Alemanni and Franks. During subsequent centuries, peoples of Germania played

2820-520: The Canterbury Charm from Canterbury , England , calls upon Thor to heal a wound by banishing a thurs . The second, the Kvinneby amulet , invokes protection by both Thor and his hammer. On four (or possibly five) runestones , an invocation to Thor appears that reads "May Thor hallow (these runes /this monument)!" The invocation appears thrice in Denmark ( DR 110 , DR 209 , and DR 220 ), and

2914-511: The Frankish Empire and later East Francia . The name of Germany in English and many other languages is derived from the name Germania . "The name Germany , on the other hand, they say, is modern and newly introduced, from the fact that the tribes which first crossed the Rhine and drove out the Gauls, and are now called Tungrians, were then called Germans. Thus what was the name of a tribe, and not of

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3008-522: The Gosforth Cross in Gosforth , England. Sune Lindqvist argued in the 1930s that the image stone Ardre VIII on Gotland depicts two scenes from the story: Thor ripping the head of Hymir's ox and Thor and Hymir in the boat, but this has been disputed. In the 12th century, more than a century after Norway was "officially" Christianized, Thor was still being invoked by the population, as evidenced by

3102-529: The Prose Edda , Thor is mentioned in all four books; Prologue , Gylfaginning , Skáldskaparmál , and Háttatal . In Heimskringla , composed in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson , Thor or statues of Thor are mentioned in Ynglinga saga , Hákonar saga góða , Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar , and Óláfs saga helga . In Ynglinga saga chapter 5, a heavily euhemerized account of

3196-824: The Proto-Germanic theonym * Þun(a)raz , meaning 'Thunder'. Thor is a prominently mentioned god throughout the recorded history of the Germanic peoples , from the Roman occupation of regions of Germania , to the Germanic expansions of the Migration Period , to his high popularity during the Viking Age , when, in the face of the process of the Christianization of Scandinavia , emblems of his hammer, Mjölnir , were worn and Norse pagan personal names containing

3290-411: The jötnar , kills their "older sister", and so gets his hammer back. In the poem Alvíssmál , Thor tricks a dwarf , Alvíss , to his doom upon finding that he seeks to wed his daughter (unnamed, possibly Þrúðr ). As the poem starts, Thor meets a dwarf who talks about getting married. Thor finds the dwarf repulsive and, apparently, realizes that the bride is his daughter. Thor comments that

3384-475: The 12th century, folk traditions and iconography of the Christianizing king Olaf II of Norway (Saint Olaf; c. 995 – 1030) absorbed elements of both Thor and Freyr. After Olaf's death, his cult had spread quickly all over Scandinavia, where many churches were dedicated to him, as well as to other parts of Northern Europe. His cult distinctively mixed both ecclesiastical and folk elements. From Thor, he inherited

3478-544: The Danish island of Læsø ). In the end, Thor ends up walking instead. Thor is again the main character in the poem Hymiskviða , where, after the gods have been hunting and have eaten their prey, they have an urge to drink. They "sh[ake] the twigs" and interpret what they say. The gods decide that they would find suitable cauldrons at Ægir 's home. Thor arrives at Ægir 's home and finds him to be cheerful, looks into his eyes, and tells him that he must prepare feasts for

3572-620: The Elbe and the Rhine the Roman rods, axes, and toga... If you prefer your fatherland, your ancestors, your ancient life to tyrants and to new colonies, follow as your leader Arminius to glory and to freedom..." — Arminius In the late 1st century BC, the Roman emperor Augustus launched campaigns across the Rhine, and incorporated areas of Germania as far east as the Elbe into the Roman Empire , creating

3666-518: The Germani. He also writes that Germani had once crossed the Rhine into northeast Gaul and driven away its Gallic inhabitants, and that the Belgae claimed to be largely descended from these Germanic invaders. "There are still to be seen in the groves of Germany the Roman standards which I hung up to our country's gods... [O]ne thing there is which Germans will never thoroughly excuse, their having seen between

3760-517: The Germanic Ubii, who according to Tacitus were considered traitors by other Germani for having "forsworn its native country". After initially seeking to raze all of Colonia to the ground, the forces of Civilis declared the city returned "into the unity of the German nation and name" and "an open city for all Germans". Although initially declaring the rebels and "other Germans" their "kinsmen by blood",

3854-466: The Germanic peoples were recorded by the Romans, and in these works Thor is frequently referred to – via a process known as interpretatio romana (where characteristics perceived to be similar by Romans result in identification of a non-Roman god as a Roman deity) – as either the Roman god Jupiter (also known as Jove ) or the Greco-Roman god Hercules . The first clear example of this occurs in

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3948-580: The Latin weekly calendar and replaced the names of Roman gods with their own. Beginning in the Viking Age , personal names containing the theonym Þórr are recorded with great frequency, whereas no examples are known prior to this period. Þórr -based names may have flourished during the Viking Age as a defiant response to attempts at Christianization, similar to the widespread Viking Age practice of wearing Thor's hammer pendants. The earliest records of

4042-404: The Rhine as "Germania". West of the Rhine, the prosperous Roman provinces of Germania Superior and Germania Inferior, sometimes collectively referred to as "Roman Germania", were established in northeast Roman Gaul , while territories east of the Rhine remained independent of Roman control. The Roman emperors also sought to expand east of the Rhine to the Elbe , but these efforts were hampered by

4136-436: The Roman geographer Ptolemy provides descriptions of the geography of Germania. Modern scholars have been able to localize many of the place names mentioned by Ptolemy, and associated them with place names of the present day. Germania was inhabited by a large number of peoples, and there was not much unity among them. It appears that Germania was not entirely inhabited by Germanic peoples . Hydronymy provides evidence for

4230-454: The Roman historian Tacitus 's late first-century work Germania , where, writing about the religion of the Suebi (a confederation of Germanic peoples ), he comments that "among the gods Mercury is the one they principally worship. They regard it as a religious duty to offer to him, on fixed days, human as well as other sacrificial victims. Hercules and Mars they appease by animal offerings of

4324-568: The Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Superior , was a historical region in north-central Europe during the Roman era , which was associated by Roman authors with the Germanic peoples . According to Roman geographers, this region stretched roughly from the Rhine in the west to the Vistula in the east, and to the Upper Danube in the south, and the known parts of southern Scandinavia in

4418-454: The Romans and occupied by Alemanni. Under Diocletian (3rd century AD), Germania Superior was renamed Germania Secunda , while Germania Inferior was renamed Maxima Sequanorum . Both provinces were under the Diocese of Gaul . The provinces of Roman Germania continued to be subjected to repeated Alemannic and Frankish attacks. In the late 4th century AD and early 5th century AD, Gothic Wars in

4512-620: The Ubii, a Germanic Tribe eventually assisted the Romans in recapturing the Colonia. In the late 1st century AD, under the leadership of the Flavian dynasty , the provinces of Germania Inferior (headquartered at Colonia) and Germania Superior (headquartered at Mogontiacum ) were created out of Roman Germania and other eastern parts of Roman Gaul . They hosted a large military force and carried out lucrative trade with Magna Germania, which greatly contributed to

4606-780: The Vedic weather-god Parjanya is also called stanayitnú- ('Thunderer'). The potentially perfect match between the thunder-gods * Tonaros and * Þunaraz , which both go back to a common form * ton(a)ros ~ * tṇros , is notable in the context of early Celtic–Germanic linguistic contacts, especially when added to other inherited terms with thunder attributes, such as * Meldunjaz –* meldo- (from * meldh - 'lightning, hammer', i.e. * Perk unos ' weapon) and * Fergunja –* Fercunyā (from * perk un-iyā 'wooded mountains', i.e. *Perk unos' realm). The English weekday name Thursday comes from Old English Þunresdæg , meaning 'day of Þunor', with influence from Old Norse Þórsdagr . The name

4700-424: The absence of cities and independent coinage . Archaeological discoveries testify to flourishing trade between Magna Germania and the Roman Empire. Amber was a primary export out of Magna Germania, while Roman luxury goods were imported on a large scale. Such goods have been found as far as Scandinavia and Western Russia . The name Germania is attested in Old English translations of Bede and Orosius . Since

4794-494: The beast: Benjamin Thorpe translation: Then comes the mighty son of Hlôdyn : (Odin's son goes with the monster to fight); Midgârd 's Veor in his rage will slay the worm. Nine feet will go Fiörgyn's son, bowed by the serpent, who feared no foe. All men will their homes forsake. Henry Adams Bellows translation: Hither there comes the son of Hlothyn, The bright snake gapes to heaven above; ... Against

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4888-434: The behavior at odds with his impression of Freyja , and Loki, sitting before Þrymr and appearing as a "very shrewd maid", makes the excuse that " Freyja 's" behaviour is due to her having not consumed anything for eight entire days before arriving due to her eagerness to arrive. Þrymr then lifts " Freyja 's" veil and wants to kiss "her". Terrifying eyes stare back at him, seemingly burning with fire. Loki says that this

4982-440: The classical pantheon, with a clear sense of hierarchy [...] It would contain an element of philosophical profundity, centering on the concept of 'Fate' [...] There would be a healthy element of diversity in it, as shown by the eventually resolved rivalry of Æsir and Vanir pantheons [...] and not too much sign of an organised priestly class — for Grimm was a Protestant [...] [G]ods and goddesses would also be respectably paired off and

5076-569: The dative tanaro and the Gaulish river name Tanarus ), and further related to the Latin epithet Tonans (attached to Jupiter ), via the common Proto-Indo-European root for 'thunder' * (s)tenh₂- . According to scholar Peter Jackson, those theonyms may have emerged as the result of the fossilization of an original epithet (or epiclesis , i.e. invocational name) of the Proto-Indo-European thunder-god * Perk unos , since

5170-559: The event, however, as he is away in the east for unspecified purposes. Towards the end of the poem, the flyting turns to Sif , Thor's wife, whom Loki then claims to have slept with. The god Freyr 's servant Beyla interjects, and says that, since all of the mountains are shaking, she thinks that Thor is on his way home. Beyla adds that Thor will bring peace to the quarrel, to which Loki responds with insults. Thor arrives and tells Loki to be silent, and threatens to rip Loki's head from his body with his hammer. Loki asks Thor why he

5264-455: The feather cloak whistling. In Jötunheimr , the jötunn Þrymr sits on a barrow , plaiting golden collars for his female dogs, and trimming the manes of his horses. Þrymr sees Loki, and asks what could be amiss among the Æsir and the elves ; why is Loki alone in Jötunheimr ? Loki responds that he has bad news for both the elves and the Æsir —that Thor's hammer, Mjölnir ,

5358-476: The god Freyr 's messenger, Skírnir , threatens the fair Gerðr , with whom Freyr is smitten, with numerous threats and curses, including that Thor, Freyr , and Odin will be angry with her, and that she risks their "potent wrath". Thor is the main character of Hárbarðsljóð , where, after traveling "from the east", he comes to an inlet where he encounters a ferryman who gives his name as Hárbarðr (Odin, again in disguise), and attempts to hail

5452-543: The god. In relation, Thunor is sometimes used in Old English texts to gloss Jupiter , the god may be referenced in the poem Solomon and Saturn , where the thunder strikes the devil with a "fiery axe", and the Old English expression þunorrād ("thunder ride") may refer to the god's thunderous, goat-led chariot. A 9th-century AD codex from Mainz , Germany, known as the Old Saxon Baptismal Vow , records

5546-425: The gods is provided, where Thor is described as having been a gothi —a pagan priest—who was given by Odin (who himself is explained away as having been an exceedingly powerful magic-wielding chieftain from the east) a dwelling in the mythical location of Þrúðvangr , in what is now Sweden. The saga narrative adds that numerous names—at the time of the narrative, popularly in use—were derived from Thor . Around

5640-453: The gods, and that the priests were to offer up sacrifices . In Thor's case, he continues, these sacrifices were done when plague or famine threatened. Earlier in the same work, Adam relays that in 1030 an English preacher, Wulfred, was lynched by assembled Germanic pagans for "profaning" a representation of Thor. Two objects with runic inscriptions invoking Thor date from the 11th century, one from England and one from Sweden. The first,

5734-401: The gods. Annoyed, Ægir tells Thor that the gods must first bring to him a suitable cauldron to brew ale in. The gods search but find no such cauldron anywhere. However, Týr tells Thor that he may have a solution; east of Élivágar lives Hymir , and he owns such a deep kettle. So, after Thor secures his goats at Egil 's home, Thor and Týr go to Hymir 's hall in search of

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5828-583: The hall, for "I know alone that you do strike", and the poem continues. In the comedic poem Þrymskviða , Thor again plays a central role. In the poem, Thor wakes and finds that his powerful hammer, Mjölnir , is missing. Thor turns to Loki, and tells him that nobody knows that the hammer has been stolen. The two go to the dwelling of the goddess Freyja , and so that he may attempt to find Mjölnir , Thor asks her if he may borrow her feather cloak. Freyja agrees, and says she would lend it to Thor even if it were made of silver or gold, and Loki flies off,

5922-492: The hammer Mjölnir , wears the belt Megingjörð and the iron gloves Járngreipr , and owns the staff Gríðarvölr . Thor's exploits, including his relentless slaughter of his foes and fierce battles with the monstrous serpent Jörmungandr —and their foretold mutual deaths during the events of Ragnarök —are recorded throughout sources for Norse mythology. Into the modern period, Thor continued to be acknowledged in folklore throughout Germanic-speaking Europe . Thor

6016-404: The historical continuities between the two. However, Grimm's mythological methods have also been criticised extensively. Unlike his linguistic methods for reconstructing past languages, they were unable to produce scientifically falsifiable results. His findings have been shown to have been shaped by his own political leanings: some of his claims in the Deutsche Mythologie related to his views on

6110-399: The latter would have strong connections with the household virtues [...] A strong element of nature-worship, especially of trees and groves, was also a desideratum. The English translation by Stallybrass (3 vols., with vol. 4, supplement), is based on the fourth edition: Thor Thor (from Old Norse : Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism . In Norse mythology , he

6204-558: The magic of Útgarða-Loki , recounted in the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning )—which, he comments, "was hardly like Thor". Thor again tells him to be silent, threatening to break every bone in Loki's body. Loki responds that he intends to live a while yet, and again insults Thor with references to his encounter with Útgarða-Loki . Thor responds with a fourth call to be silent, and threatens to send Loki to Hel . At Thor's final threat, Loki gives in, commenting that only for Thor will he leave

6298-446: The morning, he awakes and informs Hymir that he wants to go fishing the following evening, and that he will catch plenty of food, but that he needs bait. Hymir tells him to go get some bait from his pasture, which he expects should not be a problem for Thor. Thor goes out, finds Hymir 's best ox, and rips its head off. After a lacuna in the manuscript of the poem, Hymiskviða abruptly picks up again with Thor and Hymir in

6392-693: The name from the Gauls . Having defeated the Germanic chieftain Ariovistus in Gaul , Caesar built bridges across the Rhine and conducted punitive expeditions in Germania. He writes the area was composed of numerous Germanic states, which were not entirely united. According to Caesar, the Gallic Volcae Tectosages had once crossed the Rhine and colonized parts of Germania, but had since become militarily inferior to

6486-513: The name of the god appears upon the Nordendorf fibulae , a piece of jewelry created during the Migration Period and found in Bavaria . The item bears an Elder Futhark inscribed with the name Þonar (i.e. Donar ), the southern Germanic form of Thor's name. Around the second half of the 8th century, Old English texts mention Thunor ( Þunor ), which likely refers to a Saxon version of

6580-526: The name of the god bear witness to his popularity. Narratives featuring Thor are most prominently attested in Old Norse, where Thor appears throughout Norse mythology . In stories recorded in medieval Iceland , Thor bears at least fifteen names , is the husband of the golden-haired goddess Sif and the lover of the jötunn Járnsaxa . With Sif , Thor fathered the goddess (and possible valkyrie ) Þrúðr ; with Járnsaxa , he fathered Magni ; with

6674-593: The name of three Old Saxon gods, UUôden (Old Saxon " Wodan ") , Saxnôte , and Thunaer , by way of their renunciation as demons in a formula to be repeated by Germanic pagans formally converting to Christianity . According to a near-contemporary account, the Christian missionary Saint Boniface felled an oak tree dedicated to "Jove" in the 8th century, the Donar's Oak in the region of Hesse , Germany . The Kentish royal legend , probably 11th-century, contains

6768-713: The name was commonly used by Germani to refer to themselves. The boundaries of Germania are not clearly defined, particularly at its northern and eastern fringes. Magna Germania stretched approximately from the Rhine in the west to beyond the Vistula river in the east, and from the Danube in the south and northwards along the North and Baltic seas, including Scandinavia . Germania Superior encompassed parts of modern-day Switzerland, southwest Germany and eastern France, while Germania Inferior encompassed much of modern-day Belgium and Netherlands. In his Geography (AD 150),

6862-504: The north. Archaeologically, these people correspond roughly to the Roman Iron Age of those regions. The Latin name Germania means "land of the Germani ", but the etymology of the name Germani itself is uncertain. During the Gallic Wars of the 1st century BC, the Roman general Julius Caesar encountered Germani originating from beyond the Rhine . He referred to their lands beyond

6956-524: The origin of the names Germania and Germani is the book Germania (98 AD) by Tacitus . Tacitus writes that the name Germania was "modern and newly introduced". According to Tacitus, the name Germani had once been applied only to the Tungri , west of the Rhine, but it became an "artificial name" ( invento nomine ) for supposedly-related peoples east of the Rhine. Many modern scholars consider Tacitus's story to be plausible, but they are unsure whether

7050-598: The permitted kind" and adds that a portion of the Suebi also venerate " Isis ". In this instance, Tacitus refers to the god Odin as " Mercury ", Thor as "Hercules", and the god Týr as " Mars ", and the identity of the Isis of the Suebi has been debated. In Thor's case, the identification with the god Hercules is likely at least in part due to similarities between Thor's hammer and Hercules' club. In his Annals , Tacitus again refers to

7144-432: The poem Grímnismál , the god Odin, in disguise as Grímnir , and tortured, starved and thirsty, imparts in the young Agnar cosmological lore, including that Thor resides in Þrúðheimr , and that, every day, Thor wades through the rivers Körmt and Örmt , and the two Kerlaugar . There, Grímnir says, Thor sits as judge at the immense cosmological world tree, Yggdrasil . In Skírnismál ,

7238-401: The poem Völuspá , a dead völva recounts the history of the universe and foretells the future to the disguised god Odin, including the death of Thor. Thor, she foretells, will do battle with the great serpent during the immense mythic war waged at Ragnarök , and there he will slay the monstrous snake, yet after he will only be able to take nine steps before succumbing to the venom of

7332-406: The poems Hymiskviða and Þórsdrápa , and modern Elfdalian tųosdag 'Thursday'), through the common Old Norse development of the sequence -unr- to -ór- . All these forms of Thor's name descend from Proto-Germanic , but there is debate as to precisely what form the name took at that early stage. The form * Þunraz has been suggested and has the attraction of clearly containing

7426-417: The presence of another Indo-European group, which probably lived under Germanic domination. During the Gallic Wars of the 1st century BC, the Roman general Julius Caesar came into contact with peoples originating east of the Rhine. In his Commentarii de Bello Gallico , Caesar refers to these peoples as the Germani, and the lands from where they originated as Germania. The Romans appear to have borrowed

7520-577: The proper borders of a Unified Germany and particularly the Schleswig-Holstein Question ; others were shaped by his sometimes strident anti-Catholic Protestant sentiments. The Deutsche Mythologie in fact implies a range of views on social questions: He wanted to find a mythology which would not challenge the social structures of his own day, or would even reinforce the social structures which Grimm would have liked to see. It would accordingly have an organized pantheon of gods not dissimilar to

7614-573: The question and answer session turns out to be a ploy by Thor, as, although Thor comments that he has truly never seen anyone with more wisdom in their breast, Thor has managed to delay the dwarf enough for the Sun to turn him to stone; "day dawns on you now, dwarf, now sun shines on the hall". In the poem Hyndluljóð , Freyja offers to the jötunn woman Hyndla to blót (sacrifice) to Thor so that she may be protected, and comments that Thor does not care much for jötunn women. The prologue to

7708-590: The quick temper, physical strength and merits as a giant-slayer. Early depictions portray Olaf as clean-shaven, but after 1200 he appears with a red beard. For centuries, Olaf figured in folk traditions as a slayer of trolls and giants, and as a protector against malicious forces. Germania Germania ( / dʒ ər ˈ m eɪ n i . ə / jər- MAY -nee-ə ; Latin: [ɡɛrˈmaːni.a] ), also more specifically called Magna Germania (English: Great Germania ), Germania Libera (English: Free Germania ), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from

7802-515: The sequence -unr- , needed to explain the later form Þórr . The form * Þunuraz is suggested by Elfdalian tųosdag ('Thursday') and by a runic inscription from around 700 from Hallbjäns in Sundre, Gotland , which includes the sequence "þunurþurus". Finally, * Þunaraz is attractive because it is identical to the name of the ancient Celtic god Taranus (by metathesis –switch of sounds–of an earlier * Tonaros , attested in

7896-461: The serpent goes Othin's son. In anger smites the warder of earth,— Forth from their homes must all men flee;— Nine paces fares the son of Fjorgyn, And, slain by the serpent, fearless he sinks. Afterwards, says the völva , the sky will turn black before fire engulfs the world, the stars will disappear, flames will dance before the sky, steam will rise, the world will be covered in water and then it will be raised again, green and fertile. In

7990-556: The short-lived Roman province of Germania Antiqua in 7 BC, with further aims of establishing a greater province of Magna Germania, with headquarters at Colonia (modern-day Cologne ). The Roman campaign was severely hampered by the victory of Arminius at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9. The outcome of this battle dissuaded the Romans from their ambition of conquering Germania, and

8084-444: The story of a villainous reeve of Ecgberht of Kent called Thunor, who is swallowed up by the earth at a place from then on known as þunores hlæwe (Old English 'Thunor's mound'). Gabriel Turville-Petre saw this as an invented origin for the placename demonstrating loss of memory that Thunor had been a god's name. In the 11th century, chronicler Adam of Bremen records in his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum that

8178-450: The table of contents. The Deutsche Mythologie was an influential study; it has been called 'seminal, and largely unsurpassed'. Previous studies of Germanic mythology had tended to focus strictly on gods, whereas Grimm 'examined the totality of Germanic religious experience, from the creation narratives of the Prose Edda to the superstitions of the German peasant'. Grimm was not given to explicit discussions of method, but his study implies

8272-417: The two, but are killed by the hammer of Thor. Although one of his goats is lame in the leg, the two manage to bring the cauldron back, have plenty of ale, and so, from then on, return to [Týr] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |3= ( help ) 's for more every winter. In the poem Lokasenna , the half-god Loki angrily flites with the gods in the sea entity Ægir 's hall. Thor does not attend

8366-483: The two, disguised, arrive in Jötunheimr . Þrymr commands the jötnar in his hall to spread straw on the benches, for Freyja has arrived to be his wife. Þrymr recounts his treasured animals and objects, stating that Freyja was all that he was missing in his wealth. Early in the evening, the disguised Loki and Thor meet with Þrymr and the assembled jötnar . Thor eats and drinks ferociously, consuming entire animals and three casks of mead . Þrymr finds

8460-504: The veneration of "Hercules" by the Germanic peoples; he records a wood beyond the river Weser (in what is now northwestern Germany ) as dedicated to him. A deity known as Hercules Magusanus was venerated in Germania Inferior ; due to the Roman identification of Thor with Hercules, Rudolf Simek has suggested that Magusanus was originally an epithet attached to the Proto-Germanic deity * Þunraz . The first recorded instance of

8554-507: The victory of Arminius at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. From the 3rd century AD, Germanic peoples moving out of Magna Germania began encroaching upon and occupying parts of Roman Germania. This contributed to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, after which territories of Roman Germania were captured and settled by migrating Germanic people. Large parts of Germania subsequently became part of

8648-496: The wealth of Roman Gaul. Germania (98 AD) by Tacitus provided vivid descriptions of the peoples of Magna Germania. In the late 1st and early 2nd century AD, the Romans reoccupied areas lying between the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers. This area became known as the Agri Decumates . Additional numbers of Germani were settled by the Romans within this area. The Roman fortifications on the border with Magna Germania were known as

8742-457: The wedding agreement was made among the gods while Thor was gone, and that the dwarf must seek his consent. To do so, Thor says, Alvíss must tell him what he wants to know about all of the worlds that the dwarf has visited. In a long question and answer session, Alvíss does exactly that; he describes natural features as they are known in the languages of various races of beings in the world, and gives an amount of cosmological lore. However,

8836-490: Was effectively governed as Roman provinces . Areas of Germania independent of Roman control were referred to as "Magna Germania". Modern scholars sometimes refer to the Magna Germania as "Free Germania" (Latin: Germania Libera ) or Germanic Barbaricum . As parts of Roman social engineering efforts, large numbers of Germani, including Ubii and Sicambri , were settled within Roman Germania in order to prevent revolts by resident Gauls. Roman Germania became characterized by

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