top of page
Search

The psychopomp

  • Oct 15, 2015
  • 1 min read

Vanth, Etruscan Psychopomp

Ningishzida

Odin

While the name of the tree is not provided in the poem and other trees exist in Norse mythology, the tree is near universally accepted as the cosmic tree Yggdrasil, and if the tree is Yggdrasil, then the name Yggdrasil (Old Norse ‘Ygg’s steed’) directly relates to this story. Odin is associated with hanging and gallows; John Lindow comments that “the hanged ‘ride’ the gallows”.

The generally accepted meaning of Old Norse Yggdrasill is “Odin’s horse”, meaning “gallows”. This interpretation comes about because drasill means “horse” and Ygg(r) is one of Odin’s many names.

The Poetic Edda poem Hávamál describes how Odin sacrificed himself by hanging from a tree, making this tree Odin’s gallows. This tree may have been Yggdrasil. Gallows can be called “the horse of the hanged” and therefore Odin’s gallows may have developed into the expression “Odin’s horse”, which then became the name of the tree.

Hermes/Mercury

Recent Posts

See All
The Concept of Western Azerbaijan

Pan-Turkism is a political movement which emerged during the 1880s among Turkic intellectuals of the Russian region of Shirvan (now central Azerbaijan) and the Ottoman Empire (modern day Turkey). The

 
 
 
Operation Ring

Operation Ring, known in Azerbaijan as the Chaykend Operation, was the codename for the May 1991 military operation conducted by Soviet Internal Security Forces and OMON units in the Armenian populate

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page