Who was Odin? Was Odin Wodan? What was the origin of Odins names?

[@Crecganford]

Are there other Norse gods for whom you want to understand their origins?

[@zaelitude]

Another great video. I would be curious to know your take on the origins of Heimdallr, since the etymology of the name is relatively obscure as are his affiliations with the Aesir and Vanir. As interesting as these videos are and as well versed as you are in the topics, it is baffling to me that you don't have more subscribers. What I find interesting is that deciphering these ancient religions is like a religion itself; we will probably never know the answers to these questions, all we can do is make intelligent inferences based on the information we have and develop beliefs about them. Sounds a lot like a religion to me.

[@Crecganford]

@@zaelitude Thanks for your feedback Tyler, I will do a video on Heimdallr, as he needs to be understood before I uncover a specific part of Odin's history. And I find the stories and myths fascinating, and when you uncover meanings behind them there is a real sense of pleasure I get from that understanding, like, as you say, a religon.

[@gerardvila4685]

How about Frigg/Freya? Are they the same?

[@Crecganford]

@@gerardvila4685 That is something I've wanted to make a video on, as the rise of Frigg and Freya is interesting. So yes, I'll put that on the To Do list :)

[@igorbrille8222]

I would like to hear why we have a 7 days week with 3 sky bodies and 4 gods and if we had a 9 days week what were the names of the other 2? The names are from before becoming Christians .

[@pierresaelen3097]

I appreciate how you present science in your videos: you are referencing to your most important sources, you explain what is hypothetical, what can be counterarguments and both their strengths and weaknesses and admit that we might never fully unravel everything. In other words, you present a scientific modesty and absence of absolute certainty without falling prey to the other extreme where one would claim that we can't conclude anything about those old myths. The other thing that I appreciate is that without any clickbait you've built up a subscriber base of >45k around the origins of myths as a topic in just 3 years. Congratulations and thank you.

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for your kind words, and I appreciate your recognition of what I am trying to do, to teach honestly and without an agenda.

[@obiwahndagobah9543]

The connection of Wodan with wuot was really a revelation to me. Nowadays "Wut" means "anger" in German, however in the compound words "Tanzwut" (strong, almost forceful desire to dance) and "Arbeitswut" (strong, almost forceful desire to work) the older broader meaning shines through.

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for watching. Wut is also another name for the frenzy used by berserkrs and wolf warriors, something Homer called "lyssa". I have a video about this I released in the last month if you're interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYXIapmJp92krLs

[@willempasterkamp862]

@@Crecganford lyssa = lust, desire ? blood-lust maybe ?

[@Hellemokers]

"Woede" in dutch is Anger.

[@marasi36]

The Kingdom of the Norse which includes "Norway" "Sweden" and "Denmark" are very much related to the Ancient Vedic culture of India as seen in their cosmology and as seen in their pantheon of gods of which the Supreme was "Odin" whose name seems to have its source in the Ancient Sanskrit language. ~ The Norse home of the gods is Asgard which seems to be Sanskrit and the King of Asgard is "Odin" a name which is from "Woden" the Old Saxon god of the wind. "Woden" is the Indo/euro root "Wa" meaning to "blow" its source being the Sanskrit "Va" meaning to "blow" as seen in the Vedic god of the wind "Vata" and "Vayu". ~ "Woden" was originally known as the German storm god "Wode" a simple evolution as the Sanskrit "V" becomes "W" and the Sanskrit "T" becomes "D" hence the Vedic god of the wind "Vata" becomes the German god of the wind "Wode" which then becomes the Old Saxon "Woden" immortalised as "Wednesday" the day of Woden and a name which seems to become "Odin" the god of the Norse and the King of Asgard. ~ "Frigg" is the wife of "Odin" the Queen of heaven and the goddess of love, her name meaning "beloved" "loving" "wife" its source being the Sanskrit "Priya" meaning "beloved" "loving" "wife" and just as "Woden" is immortalised as "Wednesday" the goddess "Frigg" becomes "Friday". ~ "P" becoming a European "F" is a common theme which is seen in the Sanskrit "Panca" becoming "five" the Sanskrit "Pluta" becoming "float" the Sanskrit "Pitr" becoming "father" and here we find the Sanskrit "Priya" becomes the Norse goddess "Frigg". ~ And so we have "Asgard" which is Sanskrit and we have "Odin" which is related to Sanskrit and we have his wife "Frigg" which is definitely Sanskrit, all of which reflects the Sanskrit and Vedic influence upon the Ancient civilisation of the Norse. ~ "The primitive West Europeans had called the god “Wodenaz” this later developed into Wuotan (Old High German) and Wodan (Old Saxon). It is generally believed that he was first thought of as a sky deity, perhaps a wind or storm god with great wisdom and with some sort of powers over life and death." Buckland's Book of Saxon Witchcraft - Raymond Buckland. ~ "This may be evidenced by the derivation of Wodenaz from an Indo-European word, parent also of the Sanskrit vata and the Latin ventus, both meaning 'wind'. He could be compared to the Hindu Lord of the Wind, Vata, and the German storm giant Wode." - Buckland's Book of Saxon Witchcraft - Raymond Buckland. 🍀 💜✌️

[@obiwahndagobah9543]

@@marasi36 The major error in your reasoning is that Vedic culture us not the ancestor of Germanic culture or the other way round. They are related, but that is because they are descended from a common ancestor, the Indoeuropean culture north of the black sea. When Vedic culture emerged as we know it, the European branches of Indo-european culture also already emerged, Vedic was not first.

[@nancymalcom6190]

Your theory about Odin giving 'movement' makes great sense. Another aspect of that is the movement of air in the lungs and through the throat to produce sound. Also the 'breath of life' is sometimes considered a reference to a soul.

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for watching, and I have to give credit to Anatoly Liberman who first made me aware of that meaning.

[@iksRoald]

Thanks for this. I think you may be right. I am a Norwegian, nearing 80, and I used to learh In school that when Norway eas christianed about a thousand yaers ago, Odin was a fairly new arrival, 500 yaers or so. Before the Ynglinge family, the Æsaea, the High ones, the Vanes were the ruling gods in our lands, with Yngve / Frøy as the leading one. These gods were milder, and are considered gods of fruitfullness. They continued to be venerated along with Odin and his lot, mostly by women and the farmers and lower classes, as far as I know.

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for watching, and taking the time to comment. It is appreciated.

[@nicholaspikos7012]

I know you put this out a year ago but I love the way you put these narrative's and how you include not just evidence but what it leads you to think. Thankyou

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for watching and your kind words. I think it is really important to discuss these things and not repeat academia ad nauseam.

[@karphin1]

So fascinating. Was in Oslo recently, and saw the lovely City Hall, with its carvings in the forecourt of the myths including Embla and Asker, with Yggdrasil, and stories with wolves, the Norns, and various gods from the pantheon. Thrilling to see. I have always been fascinated by myths, Norse, Greek, etc.

[@mver191]

There is much more wisdom in "pagan" myths than in the Bible.

[@Jon-pw2ik]

​@@mver191 I mean, that's purely subjective first of all, and if you're saying there much more wisdom in pagan myths than the Bible, I mean...There is endless pagan myths so all of them combined is a n enormous amount of information that would dwarf the contents of the Bible by a thousand times or more. You said pagan myths so comparing all that to the itty bitty Bible is just straight rediculous and still even then subjective. Pagan myths would have wisdom as well as a million times more amounts of just total useless garbage and furthermore wyatever you would consider the opposite of wisdom, essentially things that would not make somebody wise but a truly evil and horrible human being. Basically what I'm trying to say is, your comment isn't just not true it's downright nonsensical and meaningless.

[@heafsudzr-1141]

I like how u thank us for just drinking our tea and watching the video but i wanna thank u for actually making them. I was kicked out of school before i realised i actually wanted to be there and learn. So its actually really nice and satisfying being able to watch these and learn things im interested in. So thanks Jonny boy!

[@Crecganford]

Thank you too!

[@Zoomer_Analysis]

Wasn’t you didn’t like learning before. Was shit teaches making it gay

[@ViniciusScorpio]

Your videos are addictive. Do not stop making them by any chance👏👏👏

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for your kind words.

[@poopsiepop4179]

I'm only recently getting into things like etymology and pre antiquity history and your channel has been a blessing. Can't get enough of your stuff. Everyone just inspires me to write more.

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for your kind words and I hope you find more interesting things to watch.

[@pathologist..23]

Me too i'm a thirty year old White male and i'm at the very beginning

[@Laotzu.Goldbug]

Have really been enjoying your videos. If I can give one suggestion, whenever you were referring to specific words or names, especially in a historical or etymological context, it would be really good if you could just put the text on screen, possibly with a little pronunciation guide.

[@Crecganford]

I will do that from now on. I have tried subtitles, but will do both from now on 👍

[@fredazcarate4818]

I enjoyed your lecture regarding the ancient Germanic and Norse connection of Wotan and Odin. While I am not totally convinced how you arrived at your hypothesis , you have pointed out strong similarities between the two gods. Thank you so much for a brilliant video on the subject. Kudos!

[@Crecganford]

And thank you for watching, I will talk about him more in the future as they are old gods with complex backgrounds.

[@albertito77]

Snorri must be approached with caution. One cannot simply take what he says without careful analysis. But Snorri had access to poems from heathen times which we have lost and our ONLY glimpse at these is Snorri. Although he was 200 years after the conversion of Iceland, I think we can also assume that there must have been some residual folk memory of Germanic heathenry which is also an advantage he has over us. So whilst his list of Othins siblings is different, how can we know that he didn’t have access to some skaldic poem, some Eddie poem which we’ve lost?

[@Crecganford]

I totally agree, there are parts of his work that refer to things we do not know, but also parts that are definitely made up to benefit his current beliefs

[@celtofcanaanesurix2245]

to be fair gods tend to have many names, Odin is the best example of this with names like Yggr and Grimr and so on and so forth, why can't his brother's have more than one name?

[@matthewbroughman6344]

Thanks for your time and energy making these videos

[@Crecganford]

Thanks for watching them Matthew! No point in making them unless you do :) Let me know if there is any specific topic you want to know more of, so I can make more videos that maybe of interest. Thanks again!

[@matthewwolf2054]

This information is very intriguing. I am currently studying religions and myths, and find it to fascinating how things evolve over time, and through linguistic changes. The information you have effectively laid out is exactly what I needed to validate some if my previous positions on the topic. Very well done. Cheers

[@Crecganford]

I would recommend you read Liberman if you wish to study this further, he has an exceptional book called Prayer and Laughter, alongside Dumézil and de Vries. I will do an overview of how Odin became a god in Scandinavia in the month or two so look out for that, and feel free to ask questions if you have any. Thanks for watching and your comments.

[@pyrrhicvictoly]

Oh wow, Anatoly Liberman was one of my uni professors! I'm always surprised by how small the circle of academics is - everyone always seems to know everyone else.

[@carlospenalver8721]

Work you do is admiral man, thanks and here’s when why I tried to do what you do was really hard for me to cypher . Is some old texts like during Hammurabis time the writing was done so you can also read it backwards . That may be a clue when deciding means. Anyway keep up the great work. Learn something new every time I check out your videos . 👍🏼

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for watching them.

[@dancoles2235]

You really are on to something Carlos. I would like if I could keep up with your findings. I've noticed a similar concept in perspective from seeing paleo symbols as if writing on ground rather than precise symbols with strict grammar rules you'd have to learn in an academy from times where there weren't academies.

[@CoolerGuy121]

I love your channel, thank you for the knowledge.

[@emom358]

Hello from Odenville Alabama. I am just catching up on some of your older videos. I really enjoy your channel.

[@maple6573]

Could you please do some videos about Freyja, specifically any connection of hers to pre-Indo-European agricultural matriarchy? I know it's often harder to analyze the goddesses since Christianity found them harder to assimilate than the male gods, and so tended to be more aggressive in outlawing their rituals and destroying their symbols. But the goddesses occupied just as much time and space as the male gods, historically (if not moreso). I'm personally much more interested in unraveling the untold and suppressed mysteries of the ancient goddesses than endlessly analyzing the minute distinctions between every iteration of every comparatively well-familiar sky god.

[@Crecganford]

Yes, this is something I've wanted to do for a while but I keep getting distracted. It will be done though, as soon as I can :)

[@mver191]

It is interesting how Indo European people saw the original population of Europe as having magic. The Celts in Ireland also tell about the people living there before they arrived having magic.

[@jeffhutchins6874]

New subscriber here. Thanks for the great videos! Love the channel and all your incredible knowledge and insight!

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for watching, and taking the time to comment, it is appreciated.

[@dudeistpreist5721]

Personally even though I have no expertise the breath and gift of pokes make sense. This is a society that had an oral tradition and many tricks to improve memory and pass down history with poems. They were also nature lovers and the archetype for druids and nature lovers in video games. The gift of breath and being able to breath in nice clean cold air feels good and enables them to do other things.

[@dudeistpreist5721]

Gift of poems. Dam auto.

[@adanderson8211]

An episode that discussed myths that have a likely origin in actual events would be awesome.

[@Crecganford]

Many myths do, and that is what this channel does. And so if there is a particular myth you had in mind let me know.

[@sahirhassan5234]

Dear sir I have watched your vlog regarding the origin of Odinn . I appreciate and admire your work and research on this topic . You have thourghly and deliberately described the origin of words Odinn and Thor . I would like to share my personal observations with you on this topic are that I am Sindhi speaking person and the Sindhi language is an old language of Indus Civilisation . It belongs to Indic branch of porto Indo- European language . The Sindhi language preserves some old words of the proto Indo-European language ; as in Sindhi we use word "ÖTHRU" for the sand and thunder storm which resembles with word "Thor" , "ÖDR" and ""ORDINN" .In Sindhi we also use word for wind as "WACHĀ" while for word air we use "WAÜ" . It is further to say that in Sindhi we use word "INDĀ LĀTI" for rainbow . "INDĀ" means god of thunder storm and "LĀTI" means stick . Hope you will reply on my comment . REGARDS "ABDUL SATTAR HAKRO"

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for watching and your comments, they’re very interesting. I often refer to Liberman for cognates in the first instance, but will look into these. Thank you again.

[@dermotjones8753]

The best channel on youtube

[@kimwelch4652]

In a lot of ancient cultures breath is life/movement/spirit. The Inuit of North America identify Silla as the god of the breath soul which includes life, movement, spirit and magic. The Egyptian Ka is a breath soul that animates the living and the dead. That which moves breathes; that which breathes moves. Spirit in many cultures is identified as wind -- i.e., breath. So, Odin gave the gift of life or spirit and therefore breath.

[@kimwelch4652]

Just an added note: I think it is interesting that both Buddhist mediation which deals with awareness of spirit/mind and Tai Chi training which deals with manipulating spirit energy or Qi, both begin with the breath.

[@zackgeldhof1206]

Interesting, I would have imagined the gift of "Colour" would have been related to sight, not genitals. I'm super interested how that connection came about, for sure! It's very interesting!

[@BubblegumCreepydoll]

Und or the word “andi” in icelandic can mean spirit and/or breath. I’m impressed by you Icelandic pronunciation, btw 👍🏼👍🏼☺️ I had to learn all this stuff in school as a kid and teenager in iceland, it could be confusing at times keeping track of who was who and what roles the gods played. But I think the primordial god (if I remember right) was Ýmir and he had á cow named Auðumbla.

[@thomaswade3072]

Love your in depth analysis!

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for watching, and taking the time to comment. It all helps.

[@nagillim7915]

So i suppose you could say that Odin is a god of madness or uncontrollable passion. Makes sense how he becomes associated with being the father of gods of thunder, bravery and vengeance.

[@ketoroar1491]

I am loving your videos and just wondered what your thoughts are on "The Oera Linda book" and if you would consider doing a video on it! Keep up the great work x x

[@Crecganford]

I consider The Oera Linda as a forgery, and so I probably won't cover it. But if it was true, then yes, without a doubt.

[@DogWalkerBill]

I just completed, "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World" by, David W. Anthony, published in 2007. I listened on Audible. You may find it interesting. It discusses the derivation of Proto-Indo-European language & culture in light of archeological information available, to the West, since the fall of the Soviet Union. It was long and tedious, but has a depth of information. (Audible does not have pictures or charts.) It seems PIE culture & language arose in the area we would call Ukraine & Armenia today between 4000 and 2500 BCE. It grew up around the domestication of the horse, first as meat, around 4000 BCE, and later as ridden & chariot horses about 3000 BCE.

[@Crecganford]

It is a fantastic book and I recommend it regularly to people. Dr Anthony is currently trying to work out where the PIE speaking people came from, in effect their genetic make up. And so I hope he has a follow up book about that in the future.

[@WOTHAN66666]

There was a natural disaster at 550ad and I think it changed our whole culture so hard that it do not look the same. As before.

[@Crecganford]

Yes, this type of influence is not uncommon and I’m sure had an amount of influence of culture and so beliefs. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment, it is appreciated.

[@debpalm8667]

Was the natural disaster due to a volcanic eruption?

[@WOTHAN66666]

@@debpalm8667 Yes, it was. A vocano lets out so much Co2 in one burp that it overshadows the whole mankinds Co2 alltoger forever!!! A fact that the "globol" convintly forgets...

[@jameswells554]

The references to the Germans' main god being Apollo, or like enough to be, as well as the references of Apollo going to Hyperborea and having dominion as the chief of gods amongst those people may bear some looking into.

[@Crecganford]

Apollo is an interesting god, and so yes, he is definitely worth a video in his own right.

[@thruthebook]

It's funny that Odin gave movement to trees to make them humans if you notice that English 'wood' for 'what comes from a tree' means 'wild' and also is similar to 'wood' for 'crazy', 'frenzied', 'possessed', 'inspired', etc.

[@andreasviklund4097]

Önd is, to my mind, Nw ånd, Swe ande. Ande, in andedräkt, is the clothing of breath. Ande is also spirit (which in Latin also has that same dual meaning). Odin is then The Spirit.

[@kajsany]

I Kina är ”Chi” att andas, andan, ande och liv allt i ett. Min tanke var precis som din. So, ”Chi” in China is breath, breating, Life, spirit all in one. A force that can be controlled and utilized by a person for example in fighting. I think we in Sweden think of Odin as breathing life into the tree, gifting the spirit of life and the force that life is. Your link between breathing and wind movement is interesting.

[@marywatkins4335]

I like your question of the origin of Odins names.

[@natewikman]

I would also like to add that a religious studies professor of mine (albite it at a bar after a conference) said that he had a pet theory that Nirvana (to blow out), Ni wa (negate spirit/wind/breath) and Valhalla (hall of the fallen?) Wa(l?)-hall, spirit hall derive from a single concept (very separated by time though). He mentioned Valhawks or hawks of the fallen ((spirits?/ Wa(l?)hawk- spirit hawk flys spirits up)). Also wod meaning "wood" isnt wood as a noun, it's wooden as an adjective which we don't use anymore. He's wooden, would have meant "he's enraged", so wod-ono the wooden/angry one. So if we take the village to be safe, and the woods to be full of wild spirits, then i think refering to the 'wood' as being also 'furious' makes a lot more sense. So if he's the god of wind/breath/poems/spirits, and angry spirits are in the woods.... Warrior poet in Irish also is related to his name. Idk, I smoked a few joints before watching this not going to lie, so lmao

[@Pengalen]

In many old languages, "breath" is more or less equivalent to "animating force". Like the words spirit, pneuma and ruach, all mean, at face value "breath" but they also all mean "animating force". So I don't think you have to look any further than that to see that Ond means breath in the sense of "animating force". Also, could lito goðr mean "good appearance"? Essentially, making them have the right look/form? Seems reasonable to interpret óðr as speech or mental faculties. So those are all important.

[@sabinrosenbaum3713]

Flavius Valerianus Odenathos b. 370 Emessa, Syria, d. 449 Wansborough, UK. Aka: Vertiginos 'swivel eye', cyclops Macc Cuill moccu Greccae, bale-eye, etc..

[@CeleriaRosencroix]

Ah... the power of *animus,* of *spirit.* Wind being associated with life in the form of breath. Very reasonable link, there.

[@BubblegumCreepydoll]

I find this talk about the origin of Óðinn interesting, because in Icelandic, the word “andi” “air” can mean a spirit of another realm, a soul and a breath, even a monotheistic god is referred to as and “andi” I don’t know if I can explain it well enough, but that word is in our consciousness as air, the meaning can float around and contain all meanings at ones or dissolve into only one meaning. Skáld had a very high status, because of their ability to tell a story in the way you describe, it also had to be done with a certain rhythm, maybe those Skáld were the first rappers 😁 So it about delivering the gift of Óðin, namely the air you breathe and the spirit which is in our Icelandic consciousness the same thing. This is harder to explain than I thought.

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for sharing that, that is interesting and I will look into this some more. Many thanks.

[@jennypoussin3866]

Great video. Thanks!

[@Crecganford]

Thank you so much :)

[@differous01]

Odinic dancers on the Sutton Hoo helmet are identified by their ravens, looking like a horned helmet in relief, but which, in 3D carvings, clearly fly straight from Odin's head. An injury to the left hemisphere of the brain results in loss of short-term 'Thought' (Huginn), to the right a loss of 'Memory' (Muninn): the dialogue between the two we call consciousness, but it seems our ancestors called it Odin.

[@celtofcanaanesurix2245]

to me it seems pretty clear that Odin's name does mean crazy or enraged, because he is the god of the berserkers, and drank the mead of poetry, and poetry is considered something to come from mad-ness or craziness, and so to is war, something he is always starting. It doesn't seem like all that hard of an etymology to me, however if his name was related to wood or wild then that might link him to a similar figure in welsh myth called Gwydion meaning "the wood born" or "the wild one" which would make sense as Gwydion is a poet and the father of a great hero god (Lleu, who is a bit like Baldr and Thor) and he is always making crafty solutions to difficult problems as well as starting wars, perhaps even with other groups of gods like the aesir vanir war, but in his case the war between Gwynedd and south wales which has been seen by some as a Christianization of a myth of the underworld and otherworld gods fighting each other in a war

[@myrdin90history87]

Odin has always been a weird god. Within his domains are death, war, eternal life, wisdom, prophesy, both male and female magic, trickery, kingship, and fatherhood. He is the god of kings, leadership, wisdom and war, but then he also adopted Loki the Trickster. He humiliated himself to steal the mead of poetry. He disguises himself as an old man to prank and scare mortals, or to gather information about them. He hang himself to death on Yggdrasil and returned to life with knowledge beyond what mortals should know. He is so full of contradictions. He is in many ways quite similar to Dionysius

[@TheHollomap]

I always thought the Scandinavian pantheon was in fact the German pantheon since they where all Germanic tribes. I mean the similarities just linguistically between English, Danish/Norwegian/Swedish, and German is enough of an example of that. I mean didn't the Angles kinda migrate to England from locations around southern Denmark. In the end I was always taught linguistically and culturally we are all like 1st or 2nd cousins.

[@beebee7834]

Woden was born is Asaheim, in the province of Asgard, in Anatolia. He led his followers to Sweden. When he died, he was deified and inserted to the local pantheon. His descendants Hengest and Horsa invaded Britain and their descendants became kings of Kent. Many are his descendants.

[@overratedprogrammer]

Source?

[@deadcakesandpanlifts2019]

@@overratedprogrammer "It came to me in a dream"

[@armata_strigoi_0]

@@deadcakesandpanlifts2019 Based

[@Dice_roller]

I’m just gonna say: *𝗡𝗼.*

[@roy9161]

Honestly, when I became Pagan and I started to work with some I realized that there's a lot of God's similar to each one... In my opinion

[@muffpotter2651]

Apparently, Liberman's Book "In Prayer and Laughter" is currently completely out of stock.

[@Crecganford]

This is a problem with some academia, it is so difficult to get hold of the books. You just have to search online and hope a 2nd hand dealer has one come up, on ebay or Abebooks etc.

[@maarakmehdi5294]

Insta like and subscribe, we need more of this in KZbin ! Thank you man and I will definitely buy the book "In Prayer and Laughter"

[@Crecganford]

Thank you for watching, and that is an amazing book, but very hard to get hold of right now.

[@maarakmehdi5294]

@@Crecganford let's hope for the best 🙏🏻🙏🏻 thank you again

[@domagojvaci4723]

I've read somewhere about similarities with a deity called "Thracian horseman".

[@NIDELLANEUM]

Were did you read it? I would like to research about it

[@kaushalsuvarna5156]

Lovely

[@NIDELLANEUM]

It seems so curious how the Norse creation myth is one of the closest to the Proto Indo-European one, and yet the ones sacrificing Ymir are deities whose origin is still somewhat a mystery among scholars

[@treering8228]

If you think we are relatives of trees then it makes sense all they need is a change of color and poetry to be human. Some Native American peoples called trees “standing people”. Many ancient philosophers thought what separates humans from other life is our poetry.

[@jandobber316]

Woede we say in Dutch if we mean anger and the Frisian tribe called Wodan Wedda in a christian wedding act that survived i think from about.1000-1100 ad. The Vidarr Fenrir story has a hindoe equivalent whit a snake and the story of lady holle in the well is known in India. I know there was a indo-European invasion of India i think 4500-5000 years ago so there is some connection, Survive the Jive has some good video's about that and more.

[@jandobber316]

There is also the god Votan in South-America, he's depicted whit a far to skinny face, there is also a story about people from the east bringing wisdom they came by canoe and in roman times there where Germanic tribes that built big canoe's, for up to 30 men. About Odin and movement, there is a story about a king being trapt on a island and Odin demanding him to be sacrificed, but the wire as in 1 of the 3 abilities that make a volu(priest(es)) compleet is a possibility.

[@Aldinonexilus]

Didn't Jackson Crawford make a video on this like two years ago?

[@Crecganford]

It wouldn't surprise me if Jackson Crawford made a video on Odin, but I would imagine mine went into a more detail.

[@christergranerud4697]

The gift of breath...in Norwegian today "ånd", means breath and also spirit(ghost). Maybe helpful info...?

[@Crecganford]

Thank you. Yes, which is why many translations use that as opposed to considering what the word meant 1,000 years ago.

[@tompatterson1548]

Odin and Wodan are connected because the name of Odin, apart from the /i/ in the name, is what you would expect from the sound changes in Old Norse. The /w/ sound was lost before rounded vowels, so what we would expect is something like O∂ann, rather than O∂inn. Plus, Old English seems to have undergone umlaut in some places, as Weden, (cf. Wednesday), so it probably had both *Wodinaz and *Wodanaz. With Wodanaz used in the south (Lombardic Godan, OHG Wotan), and *Wodinaz in the north.

[@justinpridham7919]

That shirt looks great

[@Crecganford]

Made it myself, so alas it's a one off, but a great picture of Odin on it :)

[@CeltMcCeltson]

At one point you referenced a book called In Prayer and Laughter, looking into it for further reading I'm having difficulty locating a copy, do you have any recommendations for being able to find one? Either print or digital. Love your content! Keep up the amazing work!

[@Crecganford]

Ah yes, that is a tough book to get now as published in Moscow. I'm aware that Liberman has posted the odd section as papers you can probably download from some academic repositories. Myself, I emailed the publisher in Moscow, and about 4 weeks later the book turned up, but things may not be so easy. Just keep searching, or go to your closest major library to see if they can get it.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

Dustin, you can buy a PDF version ($15 I think) that you could download to read from the Scholarly Publishing Collective. I'll leave a link in a second comment in case YT eats it.

[@redwaldcuthberting7195]

Wodan turned into wotan due to d>t in the high Geman sound shift with the d being the elder form.

[@adventussaxonum448]

So the Old English Woden was an older version, presumably because they migrated to Britain, clung to their old speech and then converted to Christianity earlier (thus fixing the pronunciation as historical)?

[@redwaldcuthberting7195]

@@adventussaxonum448 Both Woden and Wodan fall in line with the Proto-Germanic reconstruction of *Wodanaz. Whence also Proto-Norse Wodinz...

[@marcusrhodes1318]

The Hero with a Thousand Faces is far from the only universal deity. In every branch of the ur-myth, you will find a father/master/god of time/eternity/lights/spirits/gods/men/agriculture, such as Chronos, Cronus, El, Adam, Odin, Wotan, Merlin, Huangdi, Sol, Shamash, Saturn, Izanagi, Enki, Atum, Nahhunte, Khors, ...

[@claudia.k.g.1271]

The 2nd part of Woden's or Wuotan's name - 'tan' is a reference to the Germanic 'tun', - to do. A Tan in high old German was a chieftain. It is referenced in the play 'Macbeth' who is introduced as a 'thane' of the North. So the 'thanes' were doers. Wuot-Tan would mean to do s.th. with passion or fervor.

[@KitAlda]

I always thought what Odin gave was "ånd" meaning spirit (the word for breath in Danish being "ånde" rather than "ånd"). But I guess the closest current word would be "onde" meaning something bad/evil.

[@chandlerbryant6680]

I had a theory that Odin was Athena before she was female, perhaps retaining the role of a war god like Tyr. This way Dyaus Pater is sky father, Perquonos the thunderer is a war god related to individual skill and Odin relating to strategy and tactical war involving armies.

[@mickylove76]

I listen to videos while I work. Your articulate and gently spoken presentations are very informative. But it just so happens that your accent sounds just like someone from my home town is being super quiet and aggressive before beating me up. It’s MY issue of course.

[@Crecganford]

I have had all sorts of things said about my accent, but never that. I promise you I have no intention of being aggressive towards you! :) Thank you for watching.

[@kaarlimakela3413]

I wonder if anything this in-depth has been done on early Finnish religions. The trouble on this channel, with locating a title to guide me, is I get distracted from my search by so many topics and angles to check out!

[@Crecganford]

I would love to talk about the Finnish religions, and early culture, but there isn’t so much written about it. I did talk to my friend,also called Jon, about the the Finnish Epic and I posted that on my channel.

[@samuelesanfilippo222]

While i know that the etimology of a word tend to tie into the culture of a group of people, can a word also associate with a practice like some form of lamguage joke like we do now in modern time? Since i am not sure if i explained it well i'll write a wrong example using what you talked in this video. If odin name can tie with poetry and also with the idea of movement is there a chance for poetry to be a word used to define fratic movements? Like a metaphor i am not good enough in wnglish to express this idea perhaps.

[@osten14]

Ånd - in Danish means either a spirit, breath or the mind or soul. Seems like a cognate?

[@R1ckr011]

That intro is 10x better than Mythvision oml.

[@TheBayru]

When you said Odin gave him und, for a moment I thought you said 'ungd (how they say hound where I'm from), which would have been funny if man was defined by having man's best friend XD.

[@WildMen4444]

Hail Odin!

[@kathleenbotelho3307]

Thank you

[@Crecganford]

And thank you for watching :)

[@digilyd]

(t=3:33) Of course we can say where the name "Loki" comes from, it is in the sagas that his real name is "Lue" which means "flame".

[@Crecganford]

Alas there is no academic consensus on this, some think that, or fire, but it is by no means an agreed upon cognate.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

I really enjoy these videos tying one god story to another. I left a link in a comment below here as answer to someone else. Can you see if it can be made to stay, and not be removed?

[@Crecganford]

Alas KZbin auto deletes comments with links in... perhaps you should suggest a search term they could use to find the link.

[@Carlskwell]

What do you think of Richard Wagners portray of Wotan (Wodan/Odin) in "Der Ring des Nibelungen". I'm curious, because in modern productions of the Ring the mythological aspect is mostly totally avoided. But I feel there is an intuitiv understanding in Wagners Version of Wotan.

[@Crecganford]

In terms of the Opera? It is produced with a very "romantic" feel about the mythology. And that can resonate with many people, but I don't think it really portrays the gritty, earthly, chaotic feel of Wotan.

[@Carlskwell]

@@Crecganford Well actually I'm preparing a production of the 4 Operas. And some of the Elements you explain as Wotan as Leader of the wild hunt (Which is in another opera: "Der Freischütz"), are kind of inspiring, because I want to go a more mythological way without avoiding the political aspects. (Wagner was involved in the 1848 Revolution in Germany and put some of his thoughts into the Ring). Anyway: Wagner used the Edda and put certain moments of that source into the Operas. The Bet with Mimir (Mime in Wagner's Siegfried), The Völuspa Dialog Odin /Wala. And also the tendency to death and destruction in the Character of Wagner's Wotan.

[@dantanner6631]

Fascinating 🙌

[@judewarner1536]

The pronunciation of Odin as Othin, with a 'th' sound as in 'the' (which I'd never heard before your videos) reminds me that we have lost the letter 'Y', as seen in ''Ye Olde Booke Shoppe'' = The Old Book Shop. Hereafter where I use 'th', assume that it's pronounced as in 'the', unless otherwise indicated. The 'curly d' with a cross stroke, presumably is an Old Norse letter pronounced 'th' but now represented by a Latin 'd' and pronounced as a 'd' in English. BTW did you mention somewhere else that Odin is the root of Oath? And what about Ode, as in poetry? (Again I am reminded that in the Polish alphabet a capital 'L' with a cross stroke on the upright is pronounced 'W'; 'o' is pronounced as a short 'oo', as in wood; 'd' is a short 'd', and 'the combination of 'd' and 'z' is pronounced 'dge', as in budge. Taken together the name of the city (sans cross-stroke on the 'L' since I do not have a Polish character keyboard) Lodz, is pronounced ''Woodge''.) To get back to the point: in Welsh there is the construct 'dd' pronounced 'th' as in 'thin'; 'u' is pronounced as short 'i' as in 'in'; 'y' as a short 'u', as 'cum'. Hence Cymru > Cumri and Gruffydd > Griffith (OK the y > i, bends the rule, but hey!) Anyway, the point is that 'dd' becomes 'th'in as the curly Nordic 'd' becomes 'th'. Is there some crossover here between Celtic and Old Nordic, signified by 'd' becomes some form of 'th'? (Sorry it took so long to get there... not sorry!)

[@Crecganford]

Yes, the pronunciation of the d in Odin that way is how it would have sounded 1,000 or so years ago (to our best estimates). And I talk of his names meaning in a couple of videos, touching on odr, the noun and the verb. I hope you enjoy those videos too.

[@judewarner1536]

@@Crecganford I'm sure I'll get to them. Your stuff is popping up in my feed on a regular basis since I'm subscribed, watching & liking, but there's no rhyme or reason to it. Even when I go to your section there doesn't appear to be a logical sequence of events in temporal order. There are at least two halves (a little math joke there, qv) to my brain. One half of it likes to see stuff in a logical linear order with rules that are explained. For some reason I'm not very good at figuring out rules but very good at applying them when provided. When there is no good reason why stuff should be random, that half throws an epi. Another half connects random pieces of information and produces a workable solution to problems that ''experts'' claim are impossible to fix. That part usually causes experts to throw an epi. Yet another half dabbles in esoterica; that part that's pulling connections out of my nether regions as I watch your videos. That half has seen a ''thing'' that wavered and disappeared in front of my eyes as I talked to it and when younger I had a ''power'' that enabled me to locate any ''lost ''object belonging to any of my four children or wife in a 4-bed house & loft space. As a result of these experiences I am open to the supranormal, but instinctively reject some stuff that smells of pure opinion, which is say doesn't connect with anything I know, or directly contradicts stuff that I'm reasonably sure of. The reason why this all works is that part of the mind exists out of normal space-time where knowledge exists as a barrier-free, multiply-connected hypersphere. That's my theory anyway and I'm sticking to it.

[@judewarner1536]

@@Crecganford PS regarding finding stuff in a regular, logical order, when I type ''Crecganford'' in the youtube Search window you do not come up. ''That'', as the great philosopher said, ''is a bummer''.

[@timlawrence654]

I just found your channel. So can you do a video on Buri Odin's father or the Arrata the people the sumerians said they got their culture and other things from.

[@Crecganford]

Yes, I am slowly working on a Buri video, as well as Vili and Ve. Not sure how long it will be, but it will be made!

[@timlawrence654]

@@Crecganford awesome thank you

[@marygeiger7409]

Did Tolkien pick up the 2 trees from the creation myth of the Old Norse?

[@Crecganford]

I don't know, I think there might be a part of that, but part fantasy/giant/old age motif. I may do an analysis of his work one day and make a video of it to try and understand some of these more subtle artefacts of his work. Thank you for your question.

[@differous01]

"To allow a tree to become human", one 'splits' (PIE Bheid) the tree to make the 'boat' (Old Norse 'batr', Irish 'bhata'), or 'boatman' (fir a bhata) to travel between the conscious left hemisphere and unconscious right of the brain. Recovering from brain injury, many (eg. via art therapy classes) are surprised they have breath, much less "colour and poetry" [11:55].

[@steelfloor10]

Special request cernunnos/Herne connection to Shiva

[@Crecganford]

Interesting thought, I shall add it to the list of research ideas. Thank you.

[@timothywootton5331]

As you can tell from my surname this topic has me personally very curious.

[@drJoep043]

if you translate the word 'anger' to dutch you get 'woede' (oe is pronounced like thee english oo). just popped into my head at 15.21. also wednesday is 'woensdag'. we learn in primary school that also comes from Wodan.

[@turtle4llama]

Me, arguing with neolithic people: "Trees have genitals! Look at all the pollen on my porch! IT'S JIZZ!"

[@Crecganford]

That made me laugh more than it should have. Thank you :)

[@cellitha4906]

It’s a very nice introduction to your channel, but I don’t get it - the connection between Odin and Woden has been a known fact/leading theory since…forever, since I was a child at least (30 years at least). Same as Woden is theorized to be connected with the “speargod” depiction in Nordic Bronze Age (like 1800-500bc) stone carvings. Point is, its interesting, but it’s hardly a question “if” anymore.

[@Crecganford]

Yes they are connected, but they are also different, and so did Woden go directly to Odin? I’m not sure it was a direct 1:1 relationship, but I have other videos around this topic going deeper a this was just an introduction to suggest things are more complicated than just a simple yes. Thanks for watching.

[@toddmcdaniels1567]

Fabulous. I don’t ultimately agree with your analysis, but this was a fine and enlightening discussion nonetheless. I was wondering about and have wondered many times about the Lithuanian Velenas/Vilnius who seems to be a character leaning toward the darker side of the Woden figure. How does that name fit with Woden etymologically and with regular sound rule changes. Btw, I’m actually a linguist myself, but my primary historical linguistics expertise is in Uto-Aztecan not Indo-European.

[@Crecganford]

Thank you, this isn't the only analysis, but just one view, I will do more. Thank you for watching and. The comment :)

[@pilenai]

Velinas (root word vele) is cognate with the "val" in valhalla.

[@thenuthouse5485]

In some mythologies Jupiter or Zeus (the thunder god) is the king of the gods, but in Scandinavia or Tuetonic mythology Thor (the thunder god ) is not the king of the gods. Why is that?

[@Vindold]

For some time Thor was their main God and original germanic main God was Tyr(means Lord\God) and if research is made Tyr -> Tiwas(anglosax) -> Deus(latin) -> Zeus. One of his characteristics is 'brightness' or smth like this, can't remember exactly, but that's 100%, you can say that he is sort of Sky father like Zeus.

[@thenuthouse5485]

@@Vindold Thanks!!!

[@N8TVTripper]

Do you think the western god Votan is the same god as wodan/othin/odin? I think so also I think there's a connection between the western native god of breath and njord

[@Crecganford]

No, they sound the same but have no connections. Njord is usually related to Earth, not wind, which would have been a property of the sky/storm gods.

[@nicholaspikos7012]

Obviously I'm not a linguist or historian so please be patient with my stupid question. Could the Sanskrit for wind somehow link the breath of life or life with the god?

[@Crecganford]

There are no stupid questions, so thank you for taking your time to comment after watching; and that is a theory that some have held, but I’m an advocate of Lieberman’s work, who doesn’t believe it is.

[@bradhartliep879]

I, Brad, breed of Vahalla and Scotia; The blood-born heir, begotten of Odin; Fired of Ice; from Ashen Tree o'er Standing Rock; God-made-Man; aged in the Aquarian Sun .. I know that I hung on a wind-rocked tree; Hung swaying with the breeze, for nine full nights. With my spear was I wounded, my flesh to my heart; Pouring my living waters of blood out to all; From basin to mouth; All-Father to Gaul; And to Odin did I offer my Flesh as my Lamb, Myself to myself, for one and all: my sacrifice; And on that tree, the sap of which no one knows; From what root it springs; from what soil it grows; Bread no one gave me; no food for them all to eat; Nor life from my blood-stained cauldron of mead; Downward I peered, to runes engraved myself; Wailing to teach them; screaming I took them - Then fell I back from there; arisen at last; My steed riding me higher .. into the stars .. I am the Creator in all Cultures: Whether Maya, Aztec, Hopi, Zuni, Shoshoni, Apache, Pictish, Scottish, Scandinavian, Irish or Celtic, I am the God that your Ancestors' Dreamed: I, Brad, breed of Vahalla and Scotia; The blood-born heir, begotten of Odin; Fired of Ice; from Ashen Tree o'er Standing Rock; God-made-Man; aged in the Aquarian Sun ..

[@Skaldor]

The way I see what Odin is a spiritual entity that we will never understand.

[@photinodecay]

That's what he wants you to do :)

[@redwaldcuthberting7195]

Would your name not be like the cg in brycg and sound more like the dge in bridge? Thus crechjanford something of that sort...

[@adventussaxonum448]

Yes. I already suggested that-it would also elide to modern Crayford more easily.

[@redwaldcuthberting7195]

@@adventussaxonum448 Definitely, especially if the e is like the ey sound in beo.

[@magnusjensson8199]

Hi, what do you think about "önd" meaning spirit? That would be my understanding as an icelandic speaker. And what do you think of "litu góða" being "litu goða" or the looks of the gods?

[@Crecganford]

It's clear that there are quite a number of possibilities for these terms, and I much prefer Liberman's considerations over the standard translations, they seem to fit more. I'm not so sure spirit was really a thing highly considered amongst the Nordic, and certainly not discussed much in Old Norse. And so I feel there isn't enough in it on just that basis to consider it in any more detail. But I will happily listen to a deeper argument with some context. Thank you for commenting, I do appreciate good questions.

[@stigsaxegaard3128]

Snorre was not a Christian monk! He was an islandic nobleman. He was a political player who seems to have cared a lot about old norse poetry and history.

[@nathanvinson7992]

Would it be worthy to consider the fact the Vat/Vata= wind etymology makes his more inline with his brothers Vili and Vē? Consider their roles in giving life to men?

[@Crecganford]

That has been looked at, but the etymology does stand up to academic scrutiny. I think I talked about this in another of my videos, as well as the fact that there are different versions of the story about creation. I would certainly like to look more into Vili and Ve, to fully understand their origin.

[@nathanvinson7992]

@@Crecganford maybe the possibility that Odin would be an amalgamation of the 2 or more of the brothers? Considering that a brother gave Odr, which was as possible origin of the character? I recall a source that mentioned Odr being the wife of Freya/Frigg

[@Crecganford]

@@nathanvinson7992 I’ll defiantly do a video on this, and although I don’t think there is an answer that has a majority verdict, it would be good to understand and talk about the various possibilities

[@Snoeijhard]

Yw 😁👍

[@jesperandersson889]

yo ravin again, oh spirits fly, spannxxx!!!

[@fillipcig590]

wodan can come from water in many indoeorpean languages udensin Latvian is water odin ... in slavic languages woda(voda) also u need to pronounce w like v

[@willmosse3684]

I don’t really understand this. Why does there have to be different meaning? Is it not simply a case of parallel dialectic evolution from the common Proto-Germanic source Wothanaz?