[gothic-l] Re: Heyerdahl, the Goths and the Aesir

[M. Carver]

on 6/7/01 7:37 AM, dirk at smra.co.uk at dirk at smra.co.uk wrote:

> --- In gothic-l at y..., MCLSSAA2 at f... wrote:
>> Is this thread leading anywhere useful? To me, it is plain what
>> happened:-
>> (0) The word [AEsir] (pl.) < [Ansuz] (sg.) and the names of the
> Norse 
>> gods are native to the land.
>> (1) Odin < Wo:danaz means "the mad or furious one", which a wargod
>> might be, compare Anglo-Saxon [wo:d] = "mad".
> 
> Hi,
> 
> can I quickly jump in at this point to ask the question whether Odin
> and Wodan are the same gods? How do the names compare? I know that the
> Frisians called Wodan also Othan, which seems close to Odin. So is
> the one name simply the derivation of the other?
> 
> Thanks for the help
> Dirk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> (2) Vikings from Sweden travelled across Russia via its great rivers
>> and explored around the Black Sea and there some got to the Caucasus
>> and heard of the Azeri people.
>> (3) News of this got back via returning Vikings to Snorri Sturluson,
>> and he imagined a connection wth "AEsir". He may have been
> influenced 
>> by a Christian desire to debunk the old pagan gods.
>> (4) To Thor Heyerdahl, Snorri's story had an aura of respectability
> of 
>> antiquity, and so he goes to Azerbaijan after an old red herring.
> 
> 
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> 

'Odhinn' (< Wodhinaz) shows the North Germanic loss of initial w- before u
or o'. Gothic would have probably been something like "Wodans" if he was
known to them.

I have one question. Is there no longer an Old Norse Net? I don't mean to
sound sarcastic. I was wondering why Northern Germanic (and Western
Germanic) discussions are always so popular on this list. I suppose there
are a lot of us linguistic descendents or inhabitants of these areas. Be
that as it may, please let's stay on topic. Thanks.

-Matþaius


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