What is Asatru? Series: Episode 4

Here in this short 20 minute video, I talk about the concept of the holy and then talk about some Old Norse metaphysical terms that will be used in the upcoming episodes.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• asatru
• heathen
• norse
• pagan

[Masterless2012]

Hello Vinterulf. Here's an interesting theory; The Vikings that explored and settled Eastern Europe came to be known as 'the Rus'. Their center of operations was in Kievan-Rus, governed by a Viking ruling class, (modern day Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.) In the Ukrainian language, the number 1 is pronounced ' Odin '. My theory is because Kievan-Rus was established by the Viking warrior elite around 880 A.D. one of the oldest and truest definitions of Odin is ' Oneness'.

[Vinterulf]

You might want to check that out farther. Slavic languages are quite different than the basis for old norse. Probably more of a coincidence. Plus, the Rus were Swedish speaking a form of East Old Norse and would not have pronounced it with the Anglicized "d" sound you're thinking of. It is actually Óðinn..the funny "d" is actually not a "d" but a thick "th" sound to my knowledge. But re better linguists could explain better.

[Damitarosie]

hamingja means happines,

Heppni is Luck ;-)

[Vinterulf]

I am referring to "hamjngja" in the Old Norse context within the videos. Although, indeed in the MODERN Icelandic it has come to mean "luck, good fortune, and happiness" the Old Norse context was more a of spiritual power that could be roughly called "luck" as in a spiritual, personal power context. This is in accordance with frankly every academic (including ones from Scandinavian countries) study to date. .

[Yellothar4]

Informative. I had learned that Odin's name was derived from the ancient Germanic word "Othin", meaning "angry".

[Vinterulf]

Actually that is incorrect. "Odin" is just anglized form of the proper "Óðinn", which is sometimes translated in texts phonically as "Othin" due to being unable to easily utilize the proper characters. It actually means "Fury" or "Frenzy" generally in the tone of wild exhuberance rather that actual anger. (See various mythologists from Davidson to Orchard, to Simek.)

[seanlenny]

Vinterulf, I like how you dont use notes during your talk. Makes me feel like we are sitting down to a coffee and generally chatting bout all this thus making it more interesting.

[SpykeVampyre]

Thank you, Vinterulf, for helping me understand this confusing terminology! Each of your videos is insanely helpful

[pupsenok]

@Masterless2012

The Finns mispronounce the name Odin in much the same manner that they mispronounce any foreign name, like Smith or Jones. Equally, Americans mispronounce foreign names like Mao Ze Dong (Chairman Mao) or Iosip Dzhugashvili (Joseph Stalin's original name).

Lastly, I note that the native English form of Odin is Woden and in German it is Wotan, reflecting the original /w/ which was lost in Old Norse.

[pupsenok]

@Masterless2012

The word for "one" in Old Slavonic was /edinu/ or /odinu/. This word predated the founding of Kievan Rus by many hundreds of years and is present in the earliest Slavonic texts from what is now Bulgaria and Macedonia.

Accordingly, the word for "one" in the Slavic languages cannot be based upon the name of Odin.  It is simple logic that the earlier word cannot be based on the later word...unless you are going to argue for some sort of time travel for the Vikings.

[Masterless2012]

@Vinterulf With all due respect, there is nothing I need to check out further, I need to explain it further. In the Ukrainian/ Russian language and Cyrillic alphabet, there is no sound or letter for "th" so I would imagine they used 'd' instead. Riurik was the Viking Lord who established Kievan-Rus, and was from Finland. I imagine Swedish Vikings were present, however Riurik held power and influence in Kiev. I wonder how 'Odin' is pronounced in Finnish? (Even though many Finns speak Swedish).

[00fatmat00]

Thanks so much man for your videos. Lately I've been getting into the religion of my ancestors after going from christian to deist, and now arriving at what feels right in my spirit. Other than my book on norse mythology ive had no help gotting info on the religion. Thanks for sharing this info with everyone.

[justintime4nothing]

Is that Barney in the background? lol Asatru and children's television go together like PB and J.

[Damitarosie]

No no he got it right ;-)