(no subject)
Just read a really interesting article that starts with the information that very rich woman in the Oseberg ship burial (in Norway) is not genetically Scandinavian, but appears to come from the Black Sea area.
It goes on from there into Snorri Snurluson and Thor Heyerdahl and the origins of the Aesir. Brings up some interesting theories, and some interesting points. (and a really cool painting of Odin)
One fascinating point is the claim that the Sky Father figure (inherited from the common set of proto-Indo-European myths, the Zeus figure who appears in many indo-european pantheons) in Norse mythology, is Tyr who is one of the Vanir, the Old Gods. So Odin and the Aesir supplanted Zeus (called for the sake of storytelling), in the North. This is a very interesting story.
However there are some problems. One is that Tyr is not normally considered to be Vanir. In fact, I don't think he's ever considered to be Vanir. I would call him a straight-up Aesir in almost every way. Though it's possible that might be later shuffling, as the war-type Vanir got moved into the Aesir, leaving the only fertility-prosperity types as Vanir. But in any case, I don't think there's any evidence to say Tyr is Vanir.
Also, there are some claims that there are two separate roots in PIE: *dyu-, and *diw-, the first is the Sky Father by name, and the second is a general noun "god", and that Tyr's name is derived from the second, not the first. However, this claim of distinction seems to be a minority position, the AHD4, for example, does not recognize them as two separate roots (notice that the two roots are featurally identical except for the placement of the [+syllabic] feature).
If there was anything else, i forgot it while researching. Anyway, I find fascinating the phenomenon of mythologies of warring or supplanting gods reflecting the pantheons of conquered peoples getting added as back story. On that note, here's a greek god family tree that's been being handed around lately.
Writing mainly on in the moment inspirations at the moment. I keep the running to-do list here to provoke me.
*boot to the apple store head
*reading: monkeys
*kermit the frog and paladins
It goes on from there into Snorri Snurluson and Thor Heyerdahl and the origins of the Aesir. Brings up some interesting theories, and some interesting points. (and a really cool painting of Odin)
One fascinating point is the claim that the Sky Father figure (inherited from the common set of proto-Indo-European myths, the Zeus figure who appears in many indo-european pantheons) in Norse mythology, is Tyr who is one of the Vanir, the Old Gods. So Odin and the Aesir supplanted Zeus (called for the sake of storytelling), in the North. This is a very interesting story.
However there are some problems. One is that Tyr is not normally considered to be Vanir. In fact, I don't think he's ever considered to be Vanir. I would call him a straight-up Aesir in almost every way. Though it's possible that might be later shuffling, as the war-type Vanir got moved into the Aesir, leaving the only fertility-prosperity types as Vanir. But in any case, I don't think there's any evidence to say Tyr is Vanir.
Also, there are some claims that there are two separate roots in PIE: *dyu-, and *diw-, the first is the Sky Father by name, and the second is a general noun "god", and that Tyr's name is derived from the second, not the first. However, this claim of distinction seems to be a minority position, the AHD4, for example, does not recognize them as two separate roots (notice that the two roots are featurally identical except for the placement of the [+syllabic] feature).
If there was anything else, i forgot it while researching. Anyway, I find fascinating the phenomenon of mythologies of warring or supplanting gods reflecting the pantheons of conquered peoples getting added as back story. On that note, here's a greek god family tree that's been being handed around lately.
Writing mainly on in the moment inspirations at the moment. I keep the running to-do list here to provoke me.
*boot to the apple store head
*reading: monkeys
*kermit the frog and paladins