Nine in Norse Mythology

A look at some of the ways that the number nine (9) comes up in significant places in Norse mythology.
Jackson Crawford, Ph.D.: Sharing real expertise in Norse language and myth with people hungry to learn, free of both ivory tower elitism and the agendas of self-appointed gurus. Visit JacksonWCrawford.com (includes bio and linked list of all videos).
Latest FAQs: • Video (updated Nov. 2018).
Jackson Crawford’s Patreon page: / norsebysw
Jackson Crawford’s translation of The Poetic Edda: www.amazon.com/gp/product/162...
Audiobook: www.audible.com/pd/The-Poetic...
Jackson Crawford’s translation of The Saga of the Volsungs: www.amazon.com/gp/product/162...
Audiobook: www.audible.com/pd/The-Saga-o...
Music © I See Hawks in L.A., courtesy of the artist. Visit www.iseehawks.com/
Logos by Elizabeth Porter (snowbringer at gmail).

[@jonko82]

"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die," J.R.R Tolkien Tolkien was really into all that Norse stuff.

[@ladykoiwolfe]

all his Dwarf names are Norse and Gandalf too.

[@charlesdeschampsdeboishebe9672]

So outlawing worship of Talos was a double insult, it meant there are no longer nine divines

[@kyleno4mk27]

Ya'll mother effer's need Talos!

[@kevinsmith9013]

I welcome our elven overlords

[@anthonyhargis6855]

The nine Walkers versus the nine Riders. Norse influence upon Tolkien knows no bounds.

[@kaguth]

Yeah, someone has probably done this but they were to list all the Norse References in Lord of the Rings it would be almost as long as Lord of the Rings.

[@syntaxerror8955]

Some sort of Colorado tourist promotion board couldn't have asked for better advertisement. No flashy video from a marketing agency could produce the authenticity of what you provide. I feel a connection seeing the mountains and the beauty of that nature, and the simple, rusty, and/or timbered dwellings you have showed. The man you come across as enhances the totality of that image in a postitive way.

[@dainejir661]

Who better to teach the Norse language than an outlaw cowboy from the badlands with a Phd???

[@aryasarke7491]

Daine Jir you forgot the doctorate degree!

[@Rehvidepaigaldus]

😂😂

[@iconsumedmt1350]

Hes not an outlaw right

[@dainejir661]

I Consume DMT Well... that's just... like... your opinion.... Man!

[@syntaxerror8955]

@@aryasarke7491 Is that some kind of humor that I don't understand, or do you really not know that Ph.D. stands for "philosophiae doctor"?

[@dwarfzerker9686]

I knew the number 9 was a prominent one in norse myth, but not to this level. This was fascinating!

[@nickca420]

Hi, I'm Old Norse specialist Jackson Crawford, and I am drengr as hell.

[@elfarlaur]

Also something I found interesting is the frequency of the number nine in Anglo-Saxon medical charms. The "Nine Herbs Charm" being the most obvious.

[@syntaxerror8955]

Interesting how my Swedish this time produced the WRONG interpretation of the FIRST of these sentences that I just heard in Old Norse: Nio är jag mödrars måg, (Nine am I mothers' son in law.) WRONG! nio är jag systrars son. (Nine am I sisters' son.) Later did I read that "mǫgr" means "son, boy, youth" (and after hearing Dr. Crawford). Thank you Dr. for enhancing my knowledge.

[@SM_zzz]

Really enjoying this video, thanks Dr Crawford. Greetings from Ireland. Btw, in Gaeilge (Irish) the number nine is "naoi" pronounced like nee.

[@ladykoiwolfe]

Thank you. I love the Irish language. And now I know another word.

[@johnwoyurka5373]

Excellent video Dr. Drengr, I just ordered your translation of the Poetic Edda yesterday and can't wait to start reading it. Thanks for the great content you provide.

[@LordOfTheWhores]

Tesla also spoke of the importance of the number 9.

[@AskTorin]

Beautiful view. Looking forward to your next work. I have been wondering why the number nine is considered sacred. While I really appreciate this video in particular for this reason, it still leaves me with a deep felt need for knowing *why* the number nine is considered sacred, and why it shows up so often. I am aware that any conclusion will be more of a hypothesis than a definite answer, but I still need to know this. Thank you for making the the old sagas available to so many people.

[@xgamerx360x]

9 is three threes, I've always thought that was interesting in regards to 9 being a significant number

[@SpiritualFox]

@@KonKLove After reading wikipedia, it appears that the KZbin algorithm suggested this video since i had a previous one from Crawford, saved, and because i made a reference to the world tree (which is connected to the nine worlds of norse mythology) in my last comment (The KZbin Algorithm considers comments as low priority searches), and put repeating 4's, in a rhyming rhythm, in a quick poem. That, and this: "The Ennead is a group of nine Egyptian deities, who, in some versions of the Osiris myth, judged whether Horus or Set should inherit Egypt." Note: The visual symbol '9' traces from india, and it's evolution was finalized in arabia. It also signals the end of the decimal cycle from 3000 B.C., also from india. The mathematical's 9 connection to the number 4 is as a motzkin number, which is something about counting non-intersectional lines connecting a circle with four points. In conclusion: The emergent pattern reeks of dragon. If we're world scaling, then there's a connection between the base ten system, the bronze age, and possibly breaking the ouroboros cycle of a repeating known world (culture). But i'm really reaching for depth in what is mostly an oral tradition. I figured you might want to read this autistic rant since your avatar has a spectrum.

[@SpiritualFox]

@@KonKLove I stopped watching the video when Tesla invented a perpetual energy machine. The turtle 8 trigram thing traces to chinese culture where it spreads into most disciplines. It all reminds me of Neji, Goku, and Korean Rainicorns. I don't know why multiples of 2 or multiples of 3 need to have a mystical discovered meaning. The Egyptian equivalent is probably Thoth videos about TRUTH, with the truth being aliens on a cartouche. The Ying and Yang being rivers makes the most sense in terms of zero and one, and the multiple of two (4,8,16,32,64) pattern. The dividing embryo in the vid seems like a completely unrelated christian addition. My guess is that primary colours are the 3, and secondary colours the 6, and it's mostly your avatar's self-resonance.

[@SpiritualFox]

@@KonKLove Why thank you. I really like the rainbow horse. I spoke to Internet Rainbowdash a week or two ago ((s)he's latin or something), very sweet. You should have the same _Love Wave_ ability built-in. 😊

[@CharlesOffdensen]

The scenery behind is beautiful!

[@CountsDigGraves]

Can't wait for Dr. Crawford's appearance on Sesame Street to discuss the number 9.

[@theheretic1081]

Thank you for the cool Video Jackson!

[@takingbackthehammer6527]

Thank you, another great video Dr. Jackson, and thank you for showing how breathtakingly beautiful Colorado is. I really need to visit there

[@aryasarke7491]

This was synchronistic, I’ve been trying to answer this exact same question.

[@kyleno4mk27]

9 months ago...

[@animistchannel2983]

Thanks for the review! Sigh, so much for the fragments of my old memories, thinking I could identify a particular one so quickly. After these examples, I think I was thinking of the place of 9 hills/valleys/trolls under the foggy mountain, but that doesn't fully answer the riddle for today. I'll look around some more and see what turns up in time. It's still fascinating to consider, so thanks for all your works!

[@vp4744]

I forget the details now but years ago I read about the frequency of nine in Sanskrit literature in a paper that had some textual analysis (a la Wittgenstein).

[@Daniel509476]

Only gets better! Thanks Doc.

[@ungratefulpeasant8085]

Interesting video, thank you for sharing.

[@anaslotfi4025]

Please do the importance of colors in norse mythology next, I don't think I've ever heard anybody talk about that.

[@jacobandrews2663]

There's a video in this channel covering that topic, you can search for it

[@stellanathaniel3198]

This is Dr. Crawford's video on "Colors in Norse Myth": kzbin.info/www/bejne/kHu5oWCaqaiVnMU

[@orionshaler2782]

cant wait for the wanders havamal. thank you for the knowledge keep up the great work

[@matthew99_]

Hi Professor Crawford! Is it possible that you and some other Old Norse specialists make Old Norse a language we can learn on Duolingo?

[@abagpiperyoumetinmexico211]

Great video as always DR

[@kellyearthrise2453]

Glad to see the snow finally decided to melt (for the next month or so at least)!

[@balkantraveler7674]

Nine also appears in certain Greek Christian practices and is actually explained as three times the number three( the Trinity), as some others have said in the comments. So yes, in this case three is a "magic" or powerful number and nine is the ultimate "magic" number.

[@Raviar3]

Great content! I've been wondering, how do you say "Nine Worlds" in Old Norse? Thank you!

[@ahmetkaraaslan8429]

9 is the most important number in old Turkic mythology too. We see it many times in inscriptions. I have to learn why is that so, we had numbers like 14 or 30 but i don't know why a number would be important for such pagan/shamanist people

[@UnsterblicheKonig]

I hypothesize that some named male figure births a son with a giant woman in jotunheim who then have a son who proceeds to birth a son with a fire giantess of muspelheim the son proceeds to nifelheim have a son, etc etc and the final son is Heimdall who is thus the product of the 9 worlds with all bloodlines, son of 9 mothers. Sorry for the spelling I’m blinded by the sun of our dying planet lol.

[@brodieknight772]

Probably has to do with the fact that nine is an amazing number in terms of the math that you can do with it. There are so many tricks and patterns involving nine, it's crazy.

[@hdhstarwars2723]

Could it be that the 9 mothers are his mom to grandmother and so on to go back 9 generations from him?

[@colenelson6087]

Thank you for this video Dr. Jackson, I love your work, however I feel the question I had when watching this video has still gone unanswered. I understand that the number nine is important with all of these reverences, but why is it important? Why specifically that number?

[@thegoldensandal]

I think perhaps he is saying that nine is important because it appears so much in Old Norse texts (so from our perspective). But from a Old Norse perspective... he doesn't say.

[@avatharbehemoth]

bolverk, there is a Dutch word bolwerk, fortification. who comes up with "evildoer"?

[@christopherhubbard3597]

Mr Crawford I'm trying to write a short story, and I would like to know how to make two words into one word for example Frost fire or something like that.Im stuck, I've been looking online but I'm not having much luck.The only words I could get are fror for Frost and Eldr for fire. Do I just put them together or take some of the letters out.thank you for your time and consideration Christopher L Hubbard

[@christopherhubbard3597]

@@KonKLove okay do you have the answer to my question

[@christopherhubbard3597]

Thank you I have an idea that might work

[@goneforaburton]

That's only eight worlds. The missing world seems to be Niflheimr (Home of Darkness or Home of Mist), mentioned in Gylfaginning. Any views on that?

[@MrJnEnder]

there iss aslo a Nine Herbs Charm, i do not know how well it works tho not to much infomation on that regards

[@huskershomebrew]

These are examples of the number 9 being used in Norse mythology but is there a definitive reason or significance given in an old source as to why 9 is so important?

[@fredblonder7850]

Silly question: How did the Vikings count and represent numbers? Does the number nine have some special representation? Consider that the number 40 shows up in the Bible a lot. In our culture we like numbers like 10 and 100 because we use base-10 system. Did the Vikings use base-9?

[@josephmillraney1061]

Dr. Crawford, this part of Wyoming is beautiful. The part I drove through years ago was ugly.

[@worldtraveler930]

It is interesting that 9 is also number of power in China with 99 being the most powerful use of 9.

[@phillipr.mctear8962]

👍

[@ilyasantonov212]

Related to nine months pregnancy maybe?

[@Rami-ll2bq]

just noticed you are only the second person with jackson as first name in the world. The other guy is obv Pollock

[@zell9058]

Is it possible another Norse myth text could be hiding away in a library somewhere waiting to be rediscovered?

[@stellanathaniel3198]

It's unlikely, but Dr. Crawford does have an older video on that subject (possible new sources in Norse myth): kzbin.info/www/bejne/on2uaI2MrauCqck

[@jonstfrancis]

I read that not so long ago there were several more sagas on loan in Iceland but they were the only copies and people failed to return them. Seems very irresponsible but there you go.

[@syntaxerror8955]

www.op.se/artikel/dokument-fran-vikingatiden-upptackt-i-ostersund This Swedish article (with video and photos!) shows how a handwritten text from 1070-1090 A.D. was found inside the cover of a much newer book (a church accounting book from 1594). The reason is that the late viking age text was written on calf hide, and was therefore strong and reused. Paper was glued on top of it, so it has been in hiding for hundreds of years. By the way, the church is along a travel/transportation/pilgrim route across the middle of the Scandinavian peninsula, from the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. This area is also the home of Sweden's northern-most rune stone from ~1050 A.D., as well as the Överhogdal tapestries from between 1040 and 1170 AD: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Överhogdal_tapestries#/media/File:Wandteppiche_von_Överhogdal_-_1.jpg

[@yusafyould5066]

@@jonstfrancis do you have a link that talks about about this? Seems they could track down the people who checked out the sagas.

[@jonstfrancis]

@@yusafyould5066 It was in a book, so I don't remember the details or when this happened. I assume it was a few generations ago now. Sad to think of so much old literature and knowledge lost over the years.

[@OBXDewey]

Cloud 9, 9 lives, 9 planets.

[@wothanar8516]

A child is in the womb for 9 months.

[@ZuluComander]

But why do so many names have four letters?

[@janobara6337]

I'll have two number nines

[@faramund9865]

I always thought or "hypothesized" that it often (but not always I guess?) symbolizes the nine months of birth and thus is a reference to rebirth. And perhaps they told a lot of stories about rebirth with the number nine in it, which made it a "sacred number" that was then used in other contexts. Just guessing here.

[@faramund9865]

@@boeloevanboeloefontein It was similar enough I think to the point that pregnancy was roughly 9 months then as well. Don't forget that months are originally simply based on the rotation of the moon relative to the earth. Aka on how long it took to get to full moon from full moon.

[@Gondaldin]

Faramund is right. Though these two calendars are different, they were still very similar. The Norse month Þorri for example always begins on the Friday during the 13th week of winter. This day always lands on any of the days from 19th to 25th of January in the Gregorian calendar.

[@13sempere]

From conception it's actually 10 months.

[@EasytheGoon]

In antiquity it wasn't uncommon for pregnancies to last a year. Modern doctors usually induce at the 9 month range.

[@syntaxerror8955]

@@13sempere No it isn't. What are you talking about? Birth normally occurs at a gestational age of about 40 weeks, though it is common for births to occur from 37 to 42 weeks. (www.acog.org/~/media/For%20Patients/faq156.pdf?dmc=1&ts=20130303T2230398164 ) 40 weeks is, on the average, 9.2 months: 40 weeks*7days/week=280 days which is (280 days/365.25 days)* 12 months= 9.2 months. Even if you do the same calculation with 40.5 weeks (the highest number that could be rounded down to a the nearest whole number, and it being 40), and you'll get 9.3 months. Therefore, your claim is FALSE!

[@arempy5836]

I wonder if Sleipnir is another 9 disguised as 8. I thought about this when learning that Yggdrasil means "Odin's horse" and how Sleipnir might then parallel the world tree. Yggdrasil holds the nine realms and Sleipnir has eight legs. My thought was that the 8 legs corresponded to 8 of the realms while odin as king of Aesgard represents that realm and rides above the other realms. Perhaps showing Aesgard as above or ruling over the other realms, showing that Odin and his people have a "foot" in each realm, and mayenter them as they like. Odin made the world tree his steed and so lays claim to all the realms in its possession.

[@runeemblem5628]

"Jotner" and 'riser' are older gods than thor and odin

[@laughingdaffodils5450]

Thanks for the video. You don't say much about *why* 9 is important - but you mention that three is universally important, and 9 is 3x3 of course. Your number card near the beginning goes through 10 but the series actually goes through 12 - 4x3. It's interesting how, for instance, 8 nights can stand for 9 days, or 8 winters for 9 summers, it implies that we always round up; 8.1 is effectively 9.

[@perisemiotics3204]

your avatar image... lol

[@faramund9865]

Not making a video about the number nine nine minutes FeelsBadMan

[@tylermccann9841]

I love this video! I know this isnt relevant to anything but youre always squinting. You really should wear sunglasses outside. I dont think anyone would mind. Sun can be damaging to the eyes

[@asorlokirunarsson9864]

I've always thought that 9 was an extension of the divine number 3 since 3x3=9. Since 3 is a divine number then 3 three times is even more divine. If I'm not mistaken Snorri talks about 3 heavens (or skies), our sky, Andlangur and Víðbláinn, and I've wondered if there are 3 worlds under each sky. Maybe one heaven is over the 3 underworlds, another is over the 3 "middle-worlds" (this heaven would presumably be the head of Ymir) and the third is over the 3 "godly worlds" that being Ásgarður, Álfheimur and Vanaheimur. That way you end up with 9 worlds divided evenly between 3 heavens. Ontop of that, you'd have one well in each plane: Hvergelmir in Niflhel (underworld), Mímisbrunnur in Jötunheimur ("middle-worlds"), and Urðarbrunnur in Ásgarður ("godly worlds"). Just a thought.

[@wlupusborealis]

The world has 'data/info' (most of which is noise), as well as interpretation. The text doesn't 'speak on its own,' anymore than the Fundamentalist version of Scriptures does. Where are your interpretations? The point of skepticism is to aid in your interpretations. Where are they? Why Nine? Not even a guess.

[@quantumsatis2065]

The number 9 also represents the fruits of God's Holy Spirit, which are Faithfulness, Gentleness, Goodness, Joy, Kindness, Long suffering, Love, Peace and Self-control (Galatians 5:22 - 23).