"He Is Odin's Man": New Rune Find is Oldest Known To Name Odin

[@JacksonCrawford]

Articles with high-quality images: bit.ly/3YE6nuh and bit.ly/3T81WGX

[@Fylgum]

There might be even older sources, note Codanus sinus for the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea, and Codannovia for Scandinavia, from Pomponius Mela, and Pliny the older, who wrote at the beginning of the first century AD. Apart from the more known forms of the name Odin/Wodan etc. then we know that the Langobards/Lombards had the form Godan for Odin, and something similar (Goen/Goden) exist for one of the Jutish versions of the wild hunters, i.e from folklore/folkbelief, apart from forms with front U etc. (front O and W/V are just the more common versions it seems), what also seems to follow dialect borders to some degree, within Jutland. Garbled versions of Germanic tribe names etc., written down by Roman and Greek sources are not that uncommon either, as the information about these often likely came down over several inbetween persons, often as strange unfamiliar languages, with the errors that could make... Add to it that Latin itself over time underwent a number of sound changes, ex. with the C from a hard near K sound, to softer sounds, and in that light Codan etc. is not that far of from Godan etc. Regarding the sound values of C, K, and G sounds in Latin, then we also know that the Romans also seems to have perhaps mistranslated these sounds with people they lived next to, ex. the Etruscans - Note here ex. that the Romans wrote Tages for what was likely Tarchies in Etruscan etc. (a child looking god of divination central for their religion, since divination was the central pillar there) As a side note regarding the different name forms of Odin, then note that Denmark apart from the folklore/folkbelief versions of the Name Odin/Woden, also show the same difference in terms of town names, ex. Odense vs. Vojens, where Vojens are mentioned first time in 1421 as Wodens (the -se/s are likely as shortning from Odins Vi, with a Vi being a holy place, shrine etc.), while Odense has been mentioned with front O, or W, depending on local dialects on the isle Funen, ex. in 1075 as Odansue (W sounds seems to be centered on the north-western part of the isle, likely due to Jutish influence). In short, just with the O to W shift, then Denmark seems to be the splitzone between North Germanic and Northsea Germanic, with most of the eastern isles being North Germanic dialect(s) (To be fair, then further splits like western vs. eastern Nordic seems to have been an obsolete idea from the start, as ex. Rasmus Rask already noted in the 1800'ies that at least Jutland seemed to be more in the western branch, and likely older Germanic does not Exactly follow terms like North, West, and Eastern Germanic either, even if we add the more speculative Northsea Germanic to the mix..). Regarding the attempts to translate the text, then I speculate that part of it might be misunderstood, but I'll admit I have only read about segments of it, and not seen the text it self. The part that makes me wonder, is the part about what is now presumed to be a person called Jagaz, and a wordplay on hunter perhaps. The reason I wonder is because one of the aspects of the Odins cult that have survived up til my grandparents childhood, is the one about the wild hunters, i,e. in Danish Jægerne (to Jage, one Jager, several Jægere etc.) - Ex. my fathers parents used still in the 70'ies to put a sheaf over the door in december for the "hunters horse" as they said, while those that was afraid of them put iron or steel over the door.. Folklore also states that one could devote one self to become a hunter after death, just as the fact that the king Valdemar Atterdag is believed to be one of the hunters, in parts of Denmark, what points to the idea that rulers etc. automatically was believed to perhaps become these, if they in particular degree has shown to have devoted themselves to the country? As such Jagaz might not be a name, and the bracteate might be a token to ensure that the owner becomes one of the hunters after death?

[@Corvin2696]

At 14:30 you mention that weraz has the form weraR. Is there a possible connection to the term warrior?

[@Spurkadurka]

Thank you! Great quality ones available in those links

[@volfgangtwins]

Awesome, thank you for the info and breakdown🤘🏻⚔⚔🤘🏻

[@hjalmarolethorchristensen9761]

Hostióz Helpu Ufar fatai jaga iz wóðnas weraz 🦌

[@shanpatrickbaker988]

My Mom: "How do you know so much about all that Viking stuff?" Me: "Oh, a highly educated Cowboy informs me, most of the time." My Mom: "What?"

[@vlawyer63]

:)

[@KorbinX]

Don't forget to throw in Gun Jesus teaching you proper firearm influences lol

[@anansisgirl]

Eyup. When I'm talking about this to my husband, I just refer to him as the Viking Cowboy scholar.

[@SungazerDNB]

​@@anansisgirl attractive Viking cowboy scholar*

[@Tumbledweeb]

All this talk of horses and cowboys and not a single one of you even thought to ask the most important question that could be asked here: Does he own a horse named Sleipner? :D

[@kacperwoch4368]

The best part about investigating and studying proto-Norse is that the written evidence exists and new finds are being made. How amazing would it be to have early examples of proto-Slavic or any language in central-eastern europe in the 1st century AD, an area so close to the Roman and Greek worlds yet just beyond our reach.

[@ashaler__]

yeah, i agree, as a slav; we have so much history either going unknown or unnoticed, and hopefully well uncover it soon!

[@ur-inannak9565]

I think proto-Slavic would be younger than that.

[@birnenaugustbirnenaugust321]

I will be right back with a book recommendation

[@birnenaugustbirnenaugust321]

"The origins of Hunnish Runic Writing" from Varga Géza. A primordial being is mentioned several times...Jima (Imir?) I love that book. Its full of truths.

[@birnenaugustbirnenaugust321]

​@@ur-inannak9565 ...same same, but different. Origin is omnipresent...never younger nor older 🙏

[@user-tm8jt2py3d]

It's always wild to realize how little info there is available to scholars. Their conclusions are usually very restrained, but always open to great shakeups as well.

[@DerSchleier]

Huh? Our Earth's history has long been denied us... by design. We are all enslaved by 👃's.

[@lettersnstuff]

enslaved by noses… nice…

[@irishakita]

@@DerSchleier care to elaborate on what you mean by the nose emoji

[@dirtyaznstyle4156]

That’s one way to characterize it but ok

[@firstlast2762]

Scholars are seldom open to shakeups. Egyptian Scholars being the worst of them. The issue is they are so entrenched in what they know, that anything new is seen as a discredit to their expertise; which it isn’t!

[@anon3336]

Thank you so much for informing us what it actually says in proto-norse. I have looked through several Danish articles about this, but none actually stated stated what the inscription sounded like. I tried looking at pictures of the bracteate myself, but the only word I could make out was Wodnas.

[@faramund9865]

I love how close Dutch is in sound to Proto-Germanic. When you said Jaga, I immediately knew it was Jagen/Jager. So little change in 1600 years.

[@torbenkristiansen2742]

Hm. It is "Jeger", in contemporary Norwegian. What madness is this???

[@robinlundh3962]

Jaga. Still used for ”hunt” in swedish.

[@faramund9865]

@@Bjowolf2 That's not what I meant. I just meant that these are the same word in different eras and places and that Dutch has been very conservative in sound (standard Dutch that is). (Only read this part if you are interested in linguistics and ethnicity in Holland) Although actually in the native folk language along the coast it's also "jæger" (e.g. Katwijk). Supposedly these tongues have Ings influence. How that came to be, here's what I think. Tacitus describes North of the Rhine (that's the old Rhine running through Katwijk) the Frisii lived. And in Karls time the Frisians also ruled over parts below the Rhine which are now Zeeland and the southern part of South Holland. So you could say we are Frisians here. But also of course the Franks conquered the area already 1200 years ago. Maybe that's why there's such a significant difference between countryside language (Frisian?) and citiy language (Frankish?).

[@GormHornbori]

@@torbenkristiansen2742 Yes, but that is (most likely) a loan from Low German during the Hanseatic Era.

[@Jernskall]

Well you can ”thank” the askemänner for that 🙄

[@grampsizzakilla7981]

The fact that this phrase appears on a gold pendant (certainly a high-status item for its time) shows how much older the worship of Odin must have been. So much history has been lost to time. It is impossible to know when the worship began, but it's roots probably go back for thousands of years before this pendant...to the ancient stories of the Bronze Age and the Stone Age before that. Culture runs deep.

[@Ballosopheraptor]

One thing we do know is that most all of the "Norse" gods were not worshiped anywhere before the first millenium BC, because the "Norse" did not exist until around then. What we think of as "Norse" people were the result of a later Indo-European invasion from the east, who adapted their deities to accommodate the traditions of the people who lived there before their invasion. We know very little about the deities that were worshiped by Scandinavian cultures before this invasion, although we do know that their leader was likely the god who was renamed "Tyr", and has his hand cut off symbolically in Norse mythology symbolizing how he was kicked out as head of the pantheon. We also know that the goddess who got renamed and syncretized with Frey was extremely important to the culture, and ruled all things mysterious and magical. We know a decent amount about Indo-European deities from before the invasion, and there is no god equivalent or close to Odin. So what seems most likely is that the patriarchal Indo-European invaders were very uncomfortable integrating such a powerful female deity into their religion, so they just made up a male version - Odin - who was really the best at magic and fortune telling and whatever.

[@grampsizzakilla7981]

@@Ballosopheraptor Thank you for your learned response. I would, however, disagree with ascribing modern sensibilities to ancient peoples. To suggest that Odin's roots are not derived from some ancient myth or cultural expression (which might remain unknown to us) but were simply made up at the whim of some all-powerful patriarchy is QUITE the stretch and smacks of a very modern lens applied to truths hidden in the mists of time.

[@dennistofvesson6351]

@Ballosopheraptor I just watched a video about this religion. It was a common religion for germanic tripes all over Europe. The fact that everyone thinks of it as norse religion is that this was the last area that was christianized. Most of the old germanic tribes had no writen tradition and only the nors sagas have been writen down and then only several hundred years after it died out. The rune stones paint a very incomplete picture of the history.

[@grampsizzakilla7981]

@@dennistofvesson6351 Thanks for your input. Renewed interest in these old traditions should help understanding grow. I am fascinated by all the recent discoveries from all around the globe...from Gobekli Tepe to the "He Is Odin's Man" medallion.

[@Kinowolf]

@@grampsizzakilla7981 But we know Odin/Woden worship was secondary to Thor at an earlier phase because of the density of inscriptions and the writing of Romans like Tacitus. This makes sense since Thor as a storm/weather god was likely cognate with Zeus (though the Romans associated him with Hercules in their time so even by the beginning of the first millennium AD he was a giant/monster-slayer). So Woden/Odin as the primary “all-father” god was likely a tradition of the first millennium.

[@lxv97]

Thanks for your work, Dr. Crawford. Sorry to hear you haven't been well - wishing you the best. Take all the time you need for yourself.

[@allisonguthrie8257]

I was surprised to see you haven’t made any videos about the wild hunt. I think this would be a fantastic topic for you to address, as it’s an object of great fascination and great online misinformation.

[@L337P1R4735]

This is so cool, thank you for keeping us up to date on all of this awesome news. It's so exciting to know there is still new stuff being found and expanding our understanding.

[@meredithwraysol1383]

Wow~ this is incredible and huge discovery. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Deeply appreciated!!

[@michaelyount128]

I am relatively new to you, but so far, I am super impressed with how easy you make this to understand !!! Thank you very much greatly appreciated , all the way from Oklahoma !!!

[@kanaaki6826]

Really love how he always gives us those little hints and tips for new people seeing one of his videos for the first time like the ð or þ and what they sound like

[@forceof1]

Thanks!

[@GaryDunion]

I'm very sorry to hear you haven't been well, Dr Crawford. I hope the warmer weather comes quickly and brings you better health.

[@peirigill]

I know it's parasocial but as a Patreon supporter I always feel like Jackson's speaking directly to me. Silly, I know, but it's a nice feeling. So glad I watched to the end of the video.

[@lakrids-pibe]

Jagaz, he Is Odin's man Vote Jagaz!

[@thomasivarsson1291]

In Uppåkra in southern Sweden (Scania) a culthouse was found that stretch from 200 AD to 900 AD in continuity.

[@michaeldrinkard678]

This is a really exciting find! I really appreciate you sharing it, and your expertise, with us, and look forward to seeing more from you. I'm sorry you've felt bad lately, and hope you are fully recovered soon.

[@Alkimi]

This is an awesome channel. Glad to have found it. I'd like to add, in relation to the "chaotic" alternation of right-to-left/left-to-right writing, it's referred to in ancient Greek as 'boustrophedon' which means 'as the Ox plows'. That may be a more memorable & meaningful way to think of it. Keep up the Great Work! Philology is making a comeback! Huzzah!

[@joshaklese4969]

The Cowboy hat symbolizes sage wisdom, unapologetic truth, and inner strength.

[@thorigrimm]

This is great stuff @JacksonCrawford - Wishing you the best as well. Take care. You have more help out there than you may realize, just be sure to ask for it friend. Be well.

[@SvendleBerries]

I always wondered where the "were" in "werewolf" came from. Now I know :D Neat!

[@lakrids-pibe]

Rember: We are werewolves, not swearwolves!

[@SvendleBerries]

@@lakrids-pibe lol I need to go watch that again. Its been too long.

[@faramund9865]

I'm sure you also wondered what the wor in world was. That one is kinda smushed though, like a peepo. Werold smushed is World. Man age.

[@faithlesshound5621]

The Latin word "vir" means man (male person, rather than human in general). David Miano's series about British archaeology pointed out that the Roman town Viroconium was "The town of the werewolf." "Uiroku" was apparently a Brythonic word for werewolf.

[@RaptorJesus]

There's also the "weregeld/wergeld" or "man-gold/man-price".

[@faramund9865]

Hol' up. This is crazy. We never had an inscription of the Proto-Germanic form of Wen? This is the first time? I love how insanely close it is to the reconstruction. Props to the linguists. Too bad they didn't get it exactly right though. I mean we didn't see the nominative form yet so who knows!

[@jbkhan1135]

Really clear breakdown, very informative! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!!

[@MacNab23]

I always appreciate new information on Proto-Germanic!

[@mytube001]

I read about this in the news yesterday. Expected and hoped for a video from you. It arrived earlier than I had thought! :)

[@JaceFlorentine]

This is really cool. Thanks for sharing this information!

[@thomasbergqvist8006]

thank you, when i heard the viking valhalla actor and maker, said that we did not have a written language it made me sad how little they know about the era and make a tv show

[@MilluMArt]

I want to be a patreon and I hope I will be able to, as soon as possible. I highly appreciate your time, effort and passion put into your work Dr. Crawford.

[@craytherlaygaming2852]

I've heard in a number of places that the latin rendition of Odin was Othinus. I first heard it in a light novel series, then checked it a number of times. Of course I may be mistakes, likely am, but it would line up with what im hearing here with Wōthunaz splitting off into different itterations including Odin before merging back together into Othinus when it was brought over into Latin.

[@buhoahogado2993]

Sad to know you're not doing well, Doctor. Hope you get better and everything works out!

[@barretthoven]

I saw an article on this on Wednesday and I just knew to wait for you to make a video on it!

[@historyngames]

This was a really fascinating video; thank you for updating us and sharing your expertise on the subject. :D

[@johanmalm8378]

IReally hope you're feeling better. I like your videos.

[@williamwaylander21]

Just had this pop in my feed, hopefully you are feeling better.

[@SilverScale.]

The excitement knocked the camera off the tripod!

[@Blockhaj]

What if Wōð is related to the later Old Norse "valr": meaning "the slain in battle", thus Wōðnaz means "ruler of the slain in battle"?

[@onurbschrednei4569]

Considering the fact that the pronoun "ir", the name "wothnaz" and the word "jaga" are all much more closely related to modern German than Scandinavian languages, shouldn't we come to the conclusion that this find is actually NOT written in Old Norse or proto-Old Norse at all, but rather in a West Germanic language? And wouldn't this also coincide with the fact that this was found in Southern Jutland, an area then inhabited by the Jutes, which we assume to be a west-germanic tribe? I mean we know that Jutland was only later conquered by the Danes, with the Jutes leaving to Britain.

[@MichaelLoda]

I was waiting so much for your coverage of this one

[@two_motion]

In Afrikaans: Woede(n) - Means rage or anger. Woeden[aar] - Means someone who rages. The word 'woedenaar' does not formally exist in Afrikaans (probably due to lack of necessity). But based on our language rules, 'woedenaar' would have this meaning.

[@Fylgum]

There might be even older sources, note Codanus sinus for the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea, and Codannovia for Scandinavia, from Pomponius Mela, and Pliny the older, who wrote at the beginning of the first century AD. Apart from the more known forms of the name Odin/Wodan etc. then we know that the Langobards/Lombards had the form Godan for Odin, and something similar (Goen/Goden) exist for one of the Jutish versions of the wild hunters, i.e from folklore/folkbelief, apart from forms with front U etc. (front O and W/V are just the more common versions it seems), what also seems to follow dialect borders to some degree, within Jutland. Garbled versions of Germanic tribe names etc., written down by Roman and Greek sources are not that uncommon either, as the information about these often likely came down over several inbetween persons, often as strange unfamiliar languages, with the errors that could make... Add to it that Latin itself over time underwent a number of sound changes, ex. with the C from a hard near K sound, to softer sounds, and in that light Codan etc. is not that far of from Godan etc. Regarding the sound values of C, K, and G sounds in Latin, then we also know that the Romans also seems to have perhaps mistranslated these sounds with people they lived next to, ex. the Etruscans - Note here ex. that the Romans wrote Tages for what was likely Tarchies in Etruscan etc. (a child looking god of divination central for their religion, since divination was the central pillar there) As a side note regarding the different name forms of Odin, then note that Denmark apart from the folklore/folkbelief versions of the Name Odin/Woden, also show the same difference in terms of town names, ex. Odense vs. Vojens, where Vojens are mentioned first time in 1421 as Wodens (the -se/s are likely as shortning from Odins Vi, with a Vi being a holy place, shrine etc.), while Odense has been mentioned with front O, or W, depending on local dialects on the isle Funen, ex. in 1075 as Odansue (W sounds seems to be centered on the north-western part of the isle, likely due to Jutish influence). In short, just with the O to W shift, then Denmark seems to be the splitzone between North Germanic and Northsea Germanic, with most of the eastern isles being North Germanic dialect(s) (To be fair, then further splits like western vs. eastern Nordic seems to have been an obsolete idea from the start, as ex. Rasmus Rask already noted in the 1800'ies that at least Jutland seemed to be more in the western branch, and likely older Germanic does not Exactly follow terms like North, West, and Eastern Germanic either, even if we add the more speculative Northsea Germanic to the mix..). Regarding the attempts to translate the text, then I speculate that part of it might be misunderstood, but I'll admit I have only read about segments of it, and not seen the text it self. The part that makes me wonder, is the part about what is now presumed to be a person called Jagaz, and a wordplay on hunter perhaps. The reason I wonder is because one of the aspects of the Odins cult that have survived up til my grandparents childhood, is the one about the wild hunters, i,e. in Danish Jægerne (to Jage, one Jager, several Jægere etc.) - Ex. my fathers parents used still in the 70'ies to put a sheaf over the door in december for the "hunters horse" as they said, while those that was afraid of them put iron or steel over the door.. Folklore also states that one could devote one self to become a hunter after death, just as the fact that the king Valdemar Atterdag is believed to be one of the hunters, in parts of Denmark, what points to the idea that rulers etc. automatically was believed to perhaps become these, if they in particular degree has shown to have devoted themselves to the country? As such Jagaz might not be a name, and the bracteate might be a token to ensure that the owner becomes one of the hunters after death?

[@johnpowys5755]

It made me chuckle where in the context of Odin you wondered if the "I" was inserted later.

[@talonmclaren2070]

Thank you for all your time and hard work

[@achuvadia]

Thank you Dr. C, this was very accessible and interesting, really helps with being able to see the text variations and hear your pronunciations. Language isn't my natural talent but I've come a long way in understanding the complexity of interpretations and history you provide with your videos, so thank you and your Patreons for sharing so generously. As with many of your videos I'll let it soak in and watch again, but I'm pleasantly surprised with how much clicked for me. Very interesting the masculine form of man/human an archaic word related to werewolf, and the progression of what in English is the name Odin and how much depth and mystery it includes. I do hope you have everything you need to care for your health, I can relate and that comes first always but how could you resist diving into such a wealth of recent finds. May you be well and happy in 2023 and beyond!

[@victorkreig6089]

Nice to see you're doing well Dr, glad to see the channel has taken off properly. Always a pleasure

[@kentallard8852]

They were calling him Wodan/Wotan in the BCs

[@anotherelvis]

I am not an expert, but according to the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English dictionary the word jaga is used in Málsháttakvæði in a slightly different meaning: heyrinkunn er frá hǫ́num saga, hvat þarf ek of slíkt at jaga.

[@OriginalPuro]

I highly enjoy your content, sir. From Norway, thank you and hail Tyr.

[@y11971alex]

Thank you Dr. Crawford for sharing this information- very refreshing.

[@gorillaguerillaDK]

I watched a program on this a couple of days ago, where one of the leading researchers on this was participating. The fact that the treasure found had such high value, also makes them suspect that it belonged to a local king/chieftain. His name is inscribed on the plates as well. I find it quite fascinating - especially when something like this is found so close to where I live. And it's true that we long suspected that Óðinn was a god fairly early, but it's still awesome that they found proof of it. Vindelev where they found the treasure isn't far from Jelling, where King Harald Blåtand, (Bluetooth), buried his parents King Gorm and Queen Thyra...

[@indigomer6801]

Thst is awesome ! I would love to see that area some day Harold Bluetooth Gormmson is my like 38th grandfather

[@gorillaguerillaDK]

@@indigomer6801 That’s really cool, would make Gorm and Thyra your 39th Grandparents or so. You should definitely go if you become able to! If you like Norse history of the late bronze, the iron, and what we call the Viking age, then Denmark is packed with places to visit. Some of it doesn’t necessarily look like much, but has incredible history behind it. Whether it’s hills with Bronze/Iron Age burial mounds, remains of old fortifications, or the museums. Jelling where Gorm and Thera was buried is also the site of the Jelling rune stone, collegially called "the baptism certificate of Denmark" And if you go there, the nearest airport, (Billund Airport), also happens to be in the town where the original Legoland, the LEGO-House, (and the LEGO factory), is! It’s also only around an hours drive away from the Moesgaard Museum, (just south of Denmark second largest "city", Aarhus), which is one of the must see Museums, (they’re also currently safe keepers of a large portion of artefacts from Ukraine due to an exhibition that started before the war about Vikings in Ukraine - unfortunately Russia isn’t only trying to occupy and annex Ukraine, they’re also trying to eradicate Ukrainian culture and own history, so the museums the artefacts belong to has asked Moesgaard Museum to keep it until it can be safely returned). The absolute best time for anyone with love for the Viking age to visit Moesgaard is during Viking Week, during the summer holiday, then there’s live reenactment. But of course, this usually also means lot of people! Around an hours drive north of Aarhus, you’ll find the Viking Fortification FYRKAT, near Hobro, and an hours drive away from that you’ll find Aggersborg. Both are old ring-fortifications, "Trelleborge", most likely build on order by Harald Bluetoot, and we have five of them in Denmark. The oldest and largest is Aggersborg, but there’s not much to see there, so it’s more about the experience of being in a place with such historical significance! There’s more to see at Fyrkat where there during the summertime also are reenactment, so a good chance to meet "Viking warriors", and of course, merchants and craftsmen! If you got time to spare, there’s also a place you can go visit, that may, or may not, have historical significance! I’ve made a small video you can watch on my channel about the place! It’s less than an hour north of Aarhus, on Amleth Heath - where there’s a burial mound named after Amleth. Now the burial mound is from before the time King Amleth allegedly lived, but it is mentioned that he died at a battle and was buried on Amleth heath! Now there’s also the possibility that it happened in North Western part of Jutland - at least there is old stories saying so! In the middle of Jutland, very close to Jelling, you’ll also find the Ox Road/Army Road - this is on the ridge of Jutland, and it has been used as a route of transport connecting north and south for several millennias! It’s also close to this you’ll find one of the oldest known larger settlements that still exist as a town, Viborg, a very cozy "city", (by American standards you would probably call it a town, but it has a Cathedral so it’s technically a city)! In the Western part of Jutland, you’ll find Bork Viking harbour! And it’s also worth it taking a trip down to Northern Germany, to where Hedeby was, and of course, Dannewerk, an old fortification that was spanning across the country from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea! Of course you will also have to go to Roskilde and see the old ships at Roskilde Viking Ship museum, and then there’s the best kept of all the Trelleborge, Trelleborg, where they also have a Viking week, and at the last part of the week, there’s the Battle about Trelleborg! You will of course also have to go to Lejre, just north of Roskilde, where you’ll find both the Land of Legends and Lejre Museum! Lehre is one of the very old settlements as well, and at the time of Harald Blåtand, it was the seat of a rivalling kingdom, which he conquered , and "United the Danes"…. Of course there’s also a lot to see if you go to Norway and Sweden as well! But if your interest is seeing places where Harald Bluetooth played a role, it’s definitely Denmark!

[@achuvadia]

I've been to the Jelling stone, the experience was quite moving, especially visiting the grave mound of the last of the Pagan queens. I wish I had the context for the bigger picture and depth of history I do now (for an American enthusiest) this was early 2000's, but I absorbed so much as I was fortunate to have Danish hosts who toured me around and it's become a life long passion.

[@achuvadia]

@@gorillaguerillaDK Yes to all of this, not sure if I visited all you mentioned but seeing the ships in Roskilde and museum exhibits was phenominal, right up there with the National Museum. Really so much touched me, a surprising visit was to a Farm Museum in Jutland, with an exhibit of the Danish kitchen over the last 1000 years. I still think of that often, an absolute gem that many tourists may miss unless visiting friends in the area. Treasures everywhere, I hope to visit again.

[@gorillaguerillaDK]

@@achuvadia Was it the Farm Museum at the Gammel Estrup Manor? I have a video on my channel, recorded at "Amleth Heath", one of the possible sites where King Amlóði, (King Amleth), might have died. This is maybe 10-15 minutes drive away from Gammel Estrup, the manor/castle where there's a farm museum, might very well be the one you visited!?

[@VermisTerrae]

Hope you feel better soon!

[@davidbraun6209]

I was looking forward to someone's putting out a webpage comment or a video with a reading of this bracteate text. As I had expected, you had come through. Thank you.

[@spencerchamp]

We are so blessed to find new finds, and have a free, qualified educator dissect them :)

[@valhoundmom]

Fascinating, this is very exciting. I always appreciate these factual, critically thought out presentations. Thanks so much Dr. Crawford.

[@Raua12]

Jaga is still in swedish, meaning hunt/chase.

[@atleast400demogorgons3]

It is in Swedish, but it is not "still" in Swedish. It's a low German loan word.

[@RM-zu2nh]

I agree with the psi comments

[@JugglerOfWords]

this was just in the news on Danish TV, coinciding with a new documentary starting on the DR2 channel about Odin....

[@solveigw]

I was hoping you would address this! It was all over Norwegian media.

[@Im-Kaspa]

Hell yeah i just found your channel by accident. Absolutely fascinating channel. Keep it up

[@StormyAfterDark]

Thank you! This news is the most exciting news of the year for me.

[@katepalmer747]

Thanks Dr. C, I knew you'd provide your typical pedagogical clarity on this tantalizing inscription.

[@HelgiThorisson]

As an Icelandic speaker I can easily understand how Óðnn could become Óðinn later but if it had been spelled Óðn with only one n it would not become Óðin (based on modern Icelandic). Similar to maðr becoming maður.

[@chameleonphoenix5956]

The algorithm might not always run you through my timeline but I love your channel, it doesn't seem to take much to have the algorithm go wonky and change everything you're wanting to see, keep up the good work brother 😁

[@sparky791000]

Nice easy delivery of a knowledgable man.

[@LanChiaoPeng]

Very informative video! I noticed that the rune used for 'n' in Wodnas appears to be uruz, which is usually a 'u' sound, rather than 'naudiz', which the usual 'n' sound. Would love to hear your commentary on the conditional uses of this rune!

[@dentonstales2778]

What an interesting discovery. You really give a brilliant breakdown of it, quite fascinating.

[@therat1117]

Yay more runes! I love archaeology!

[@brassteeth3355]

This was a pleasant discovery to hear about. I'm sharing this with my son.

[@scottnance2200]

Is it correct to assume that weraz is related to the Latin word for a man (a male person), vir?

[@Rudol_Zeppili]

It says on the wiktionary Vir is a cognate with Weraz, Vir coming from proto italic *Wiros which comes from PIE *wiHrós which is the common ancestor of both Vir and Weraz.

[@faramund9865]

What if the vowel a/e/i developed after the -az suffix was dropped. Wodnaz is perfectly pronouncable, but Wodn? You automatically insert a vowel to make it work, so you get Wodan/Woden/Wodin. The other solution is of course dropping the d, which happens in both English Wednesday and Dutch Woensdag.

[@faithlesshound5621]

There are towns (suburbs of Wolverhampton) named after Woden in the West Midlands, in the former kingdom of Mercia: Wednesbury, Wednesfield, in which the "d" is softened or elided along with the middle vowel. Hundreds of miles away, Edinburgh may be contracted to "Embro" by the locals, but that is supposed to be "Edwin's Burgh" rather than anything to do with Odin. Here we see unstressed -d*n- contracting to -nn-.

[@F_A_F123]

Nothing hard in pronouncing Woðn. There should be some pattern for your guess to be true, like this happens because of illegalness of ðn on the end of the word. I don't know if there is such, but you certainly can't just randomly insert vowels

[@faramund9865]

@@F_A_F123 I mean, look at Icelandic. The 'r' directly after a consonant was a bit too hard so they inserted the 'u'. ON: Baldr, Icelandic Baldur. Also, it doesn't have to be hard, just inconvenient. Just like bilabial ph(f) is inconvenient and is thus often replaced by a dental fricative.

[@F_A_F123]

@@faramund9865 if in Icelandic it happens everywhere where there's such combination of phonemes in such a place, then it's a pattern (which it probably is). Is there such pattern in the Old Norse? Because it just can't be an individual case for only 1 word P.s. if it's a pattern, then it should be proven (obviously)

[@faramund9865]

@@F_A_F123 I know (obviously). It was merely a theory/suggestion that I hoped others could help fill in. You are critiqueing thin air.

[@impunitythebagpuss]

Love the info! Liked and subbed from Newfoundland....where the Vikings settled long before Columbus "discovered" the New World!

[@nicholasduprel458]

Thank Mr Crawford for these vids!

[@carolduchesneau9719]

Absolutely fantastic work. I also have your Great Course on Norse Mythology in DVD format too. I don't suppose, you'd consider doing on on the Proto-Norse and Old Norse languages?

[@sirnukesalot24]

Now I have to wonder if "mad god" was originally a kenning introduced in a lost story somewhere, where the name and the kenning eventually became two distinct gods.... Maybe that hunter reference is related to an even older identity? It doesn't seem like much to go on. Do any of the academic debates even cover that topic?

[@Nyctophora]

Fascinating, thank you!

[@Commanjo]

you're a real one Jackson Crawford!

[@TarotsApprentice]

Interesting, thank You Dr. Crawford!

[@napalmholocaust9093]

About 18 months ago in an AquaChigger video he was in Maine metal detecting private bays and islands. There was a 6-8 foot rock with a longboat and runes carved in. It was old. I've never heard it mentioned before. If its as good as it looks it might be important.

[@napalmholocaust9093]

Sorry I can't provide more detail. I didn't save it so I can't give you the title. He made about 6 vids up there, maybe 8. I'm only 90% it was Maine. Definitely way up north.

[@Zero0fl0]

Crazy. I chant "Jaga" all the time. Never knew it was an actual word~

[@elightstorm13]

You might be "just posting" on KZbin, but some of us are seeing. Thank you for sharing.

[@ericdburton91]

Super exciting!!! I wonder if that bindrune does incorporate a runic nauðiz, but where it would normally have a strikethrough, maybe the writer put what would be the strikethrough at the top? Almost like a cursive thing.

[@GentlemanAnarchist]

So glad I found this man's channel 🤘🏻

[@annikamyren3026]

You should visit Munsö outside Stockholm in Sweden were Björn Järnsida (Ironside) has his gravemound !

[@julesgosnell9791]

Fascinating :-) - love your content

[@benw9949]

Questions or thoughts: (1) Þowenaz (?) with the thorn and wen swapped, could this have been a name of a person, rather than the god Odin misspelled? So the brachiate might have belonged to a man named Thowenaz? Or could this have been a taboo deformation, in other words, avoiding Odin''s or other gods' wrath by a different form of the word, sort of like we substitute mild versions for cuss words, or like ancient people used other words or modified words for dangerous animals like wolves or bears, or bad.evil occurrences? (2) Difficulties in why Odin or Woden may have evolved differently, an exception to sound changes we'd expect. Couldn't this be conservatism, keeping sacred things unchanged, or purposeful distinctions, exceptions, such as when we exaggerate a given word or contrasting words to be sure what they are, not to confuse them? (3) iz versus (?) Han or hon, the latter as "he yonder" -- So did earlier or photo forms of Germanic have distinct pronouns for nearness or far-ness from the speaker,, like this-one, that-one, yonder-one, with gender and number also? If I understand right, that was what earlier languages used for their third person pronouns and determiners, and I think I've read that some languages still do this today, rather than the he/she/it/they or il/elle/ils/elles/ce/cet/cette/ces forms. (I'm a layman with an amateur interest or learner's interest in linguistics. So I don't know the history of the Germanic pronoun systems and down into the stages of English or the other Germanic languages. So a video on how those transformed over time would be really interesting too.)

[@benw9949]

Just a thought for the form Oðnaz, as an alternative to other vowels between edh and N -- Since the Old Norse (and others) had just R for a syllabic R suffix, could they have omitted a vowel for a syllabic consonant elsewhere in writing a word? So 'm, 'n, 'ng, 'r, 'l either at word-final or word-medial or word-initial? In other words, that Oðnaz might be interpreted as zero vowel or as a syllabic nasal N or was an understood schwa vowel unwritten there? -- I would tend to say no, except later forms in English and Norse descendants have a vowel added, which would tend to support a vowel in there. Just a possibility from an amateur's perspective, in case it might be a valid idea to pursue.

[@erichamilton3373]

It's amazing how unstable the R phoneme is across languages and how it has a relation with sibilants like S (or sh, zh). There is the Czech ř or in Polish rz documents an r becoming zh. In Spanish there are speakers who say things like "amors or hacers" due to their r sliding into s as they speak.

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

Imagine being sat on this information for over a year and not being able to share it.

[@faramund9865]

Heh, check the article. Turns out they had a twin of this one lying around for 170 years, but it was too vague too read, lmao.

[@materliliorum]

8:40 How comes that you put a Caland suffix on the first part of a compound?!

[@erlinggaratun6726]

In western Norway (Eidfjord) we use two words for hunting: Veida (pron. vejja) and jakta, which comes from jaga, which means 'to chase'. We use that about chasing sheep away, fx. It is a very different use than the german, and is connected to the very ancient everyday activity of looking after your crops. I'm pretty sure we did not get that from the germans in the late middle ages.

[@oneukum]

Unclear.whether that is different from German. It used to have a distinction. What today is "Jäger" would be called "Weidmann" or something similar if you go back far enough. That "to drive off" is still "verjagen", which does not mean "hunt down", as one might expect, in modern German suggests to me that Norwegian has kept an old distinction. Do you have something related to "hetzen" as a verb or the noun "Hatz"? It should be "hetta" or something like that.

[@demi3115]

Maybe it would be fun if you would compare germanic runic finds within the same period. :)

[@littlemouse7066]

this made me think about Heilung the norwegian/danish/german band that uses inscriptions like these as lyrics in their music.

[@KillerAngelM40A3]

The "N" looking like a latin capital N and not naudiz really confuses me. Could you go into more detail? I know you mentioned it at 11:50, but not sure why the experts think that's it's a combined NA. Looking at the actual images, looks even more confusing.

[@hglundahl]

5:27 Druid hypothesis refuted. Was it a druid fleeing from Caesar whose Teutates was Nodens, and he changed it to Vodens by omitting one bar of the first letter? _No,_ I don't suppose wo:dinz would have wo:dnas genitive.

[@albertusjung4145]

In modern lithuanian: Jis Vodino vyras!

[@faramund9865]

Helemaal waar Albert, jonge vriend.

[@osgar333]

As it was found in Denmark dated the early 400s, the land was then populated by the pre English i.e Angles and Jutes. Would that be why the writing of the god name is closer to old English?

[@troelspeterroland6998]

Actually no, it would also have this form in Proto-Norse. Odin alliterates with Valhöll because a w disappeared´before the o at a later stage. FYI, there is no scientific evidence that a West Germanic language form was spoken before North Germanic in Jutland. But in a migration situation people mix and their language forms shift.

[@onurbschrednei4569]

that's exactly what I was thinking! Especially because the germanic tribes of the Jutes are classically thought of as west-germanic. I think this finding only strengthens this claim, since it uses words that aren't found in Old Norse but are found in west-germanic languages like German. Especially the use of "Ir" as a pronoun is much closer to German "Er" than Old Norse "Hun". Also "Jaga" for hunt is unattested in Old Norse, but has survived in German and dutch. So yes, it seems like Jutland was inhabited by west-germanic tribes at the time.

[@onurbschrednei4569]

@@troelspeterroland6998 okay, so how do you explain the use of "jaga" for hunt, a word unattested in Old Norse? Or the use of the pronoun "ir" related to modern German "er" but not Old Norse "hun"? It seems very likely that this find is written in West Germanic and not Proto-Norse.

[@troelspeterroland6998]

@@onurbschrednei4569The same way as the researches explain it. The North Germanic and the West Germanic languages come from the same Common Germanic language, so it is obvious that they would have been more alike and formed a dialect continuum at an earlier stage. Words that are not attested in North Germanic in a later period (and are cognates with West Germanic words) would still have existed in an earlier period. And words that are not attested in West Germanic in a later period (and are cognates with North Germanic words) would still have existed in an earlier period. As for the pronoun "iz", it *does* exist in later North Germanic as well, only with the relative pronoun meaning "who", not "he". And as the researchers have now pointed out, we do not have enough context (because the runes are unreadable) to tell whether it says "he is Odin's man" or "[...] who is Odin's man".

[@darraghchapman]

Could it be that the name had a 'ə' between the 'þ' and the 'n' that was spoken but had no glyph to represent it? That way, later writers could interpret the 'ə' in many different ways and form structures around it. If it was widespread in that early form, loads of people could have imposed their own linguistic structures upon it.

[@nickcarr5724]

So cool. Is it possible that the word, as spoken, did have one of the reconstructed vowels, and this two-syllable example is a scribal thing?

[@gamejenk8206]

What does he mean by Othin not being suspected in the Germanic Patheon? Isn't he talked about in the prose and poetic edda?

[@mynorby206]

at jage means to hunt in danish today too , a hunter is a Jaeger today too

[@onurbschrednei4569]

He literally says that that's a much later borrowing from German.