NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Wyrd

Wyrd is a concept in ancient Anglo-Saxon and Nordic cultures roughly corresponding to fate. It is ancestral to Modern English weird, which has acquired a very different meaning. The cognate term in old Norse is urðr, with a similar meaning, but also personalized as one of the Norns, Urðr (anglicized Urd). The concept corresponding to "fate" in Old Norse is Ørlǫg. The famous parade helmet found at Sutton Hoo, probably belonging to King Raedwald of East Anglia circa 625. ... Political map of the Nordic countries and associated territories. ... For other uses of Fate, see Fate Destiny refers to a predetermined course of events. ... The Norns spin the threads of fate at the foot of Yggdrasil, the tree of the world. ... Old Norse is the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. ...

The Well of Urd is the holy well supposed to harbor the head of Mímir the giant and the source of water for the world tree Yggdrasil. Mimir was a primal god of Norse mythology whose head was severed and sent to Odin during the war between the Aesir and the Vanir deities. ... This illustration shows a 19th century attempt to visualize the world view of the Prose Edda. ...

Etymology

Old English wyrd is, derived from Proto-Germanic *wurþiz, Proto-Indo-European *wrti-, a verbal abstract from the root *wert- "to turn" (Latin vertere), related to the Old English verb weorþan, meaning "to grow into, to become". In its literal sense, it refers to "that which turns out, that which comes to pass". Map of the Pre-Roman Iron Age culture(s) associated with Proto-Germanic, ca 500 BC-50 BC. The area south of Scandinavia is the Jastorf culture Proto-Germanic, the proto-language believed by scholars to be the common ancestor of the Germanic languages, includes among its descendants Dutch, Yiddish... The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages. ...

Modern English weird developed its sense from weird sisters for the three fates or Norns (Shakespeare in Macbeth has the three witches so called). They were usually portrayed as odd or uncanny in appearance, which led to the adjectival meaning (first recorded 1815). The Norns spin the threads of fate at the foot of Yggdrasil, the tree of the world. ... Scene from Macbeth, depicting the witches conjuring of an apparition in Act IV, Scene I. Painting by William Rimmer The Tragedy of Macbeth is among the most famous of William Shakespeares plays, as well as his shortest tragedy. ... This article is part of the Witchcraft series. ...

The term ørlǫg is from ór "out, from, beyond" and lǫg "law", and may be interpreted literally as "beyond law", or as "fundamental/absolute/primary law".

Concept

In its wider sense, wyrd refers to how past actions continually affect and condition the future. It also stresses the interconnected nature of all actions, and how they influence each other. The concept has some relation to the ideal of predestination. Unlike predestination, however, the concept of wyrd allows for human agency, constrained and by past events, but nevertheless capable of shaping reality, an idea that is also prominent in the Dharmic concept of karma. Wyrd is "inexorable"^[1] and "goes as she shall"^[2], the fate (Norse ørlǫg) woven by the Norns. Indeed, the term's Norse cognate urðr, besides meaning "fate", is the name of one of the Norns, closely related to the concept of necessity (skuld). The name of the younger sister, Verðandi, is strictly the present participle of the verb cognate to weorþan. Predestination is a religious concept, under which the relationship between the beginning of things and the destiny of things is discussed. ... map showing the prevalence of Dharmic (yellow) and Abrahamic (purple) religions in each country. ... Karma (Sanskrit act, action, performance[1]; PÄli kamma) ( ) is the concept of action or deed in Dharmic religions understood as denoting the entire cycle of cause and effect described in Hindu and Buddhist philosophies. ... For other uses of Fate, see Fate Destiny refers to a predetermined course of events. ... The Norns spin the threads of fate at the foot of Yggdrasil, the tree of the world. ... In Norse mythology, Skuld was one of the Norns, and she was also one of the Valkyries. ... In Norse mythology, Verdandi (ON: VerÃ°andi), also known as Verthandi, is one of the three norns, along with Urd and Skuld. ...

According to Voluspa 20, the three Norns "set up the laws", "decided on the lives of the children of time" and "promulgate their Ørlǫg"^[3]. Frigg, on the other hand, while she "knows all ørlǫg", "says it not herself" (Lokasenna 30). ørlǫglausa "ørlǫg-less" occurs in Voluspa 17 in reference to trees (as opposed to humans). Voluspa or Völuspá means The Prophecy of the Seeress and tells the story of the creation and coming destruction of the world related by a völva or seeress in what could be described as a shamanic trance to Odin. ... Frigg spinning the clouds In Norse mythology, Frigg (Eddas) or Frigga (Gesta Danorum) was said to be foremost among the goddesses, 1 the wife of Odin, queen of the Ã†sir, and goddess of the sky. ... Lokasenna (Lokis flyting, Lokis wrangling, Lokis quarrel) is one of the mythological poems of the Poetic Edda. ...

Well of Urd

The Well of Urd (ON: Urðarbrunnr) is the well in Asgard which fed one of the roots of the Yggdrasil. Also near the well in a hall are three Norns that tend the well. They engrave the fate of all humans onto the trunk of the Yggdrasil and attend to the needs of the tree. Odin dropped his eye into the well to gain the "Gift of Knowledge." Odin completed two other tasks to gain the "Gift of Poetry" and the "Mysteries of Nature." Old Norse is the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. ... In Norse mythology, Asgard (Old Norse: ÃsgarÃ°ur) is the realm of the gods, the Ã†sir, thought to be separate from the realm of the mortals, Midgard. ... This illustration shows a 19th century attempt to visualize the world view of the Prose Edda. ... For other meanings of Odin, Woden or Wotan see Odin (disambiguation), Woden (disambiguation), Wotan (disambiguation). ...

References

The gat is an Old English poem from the 10th century, preserved in the Exeter Book. ... The first page of Beowulf This article is about the epic poem. ...

See also

Depictions of Norns appear infrequently in modern popular culture, often largely unrelated to their historical inspiration. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 150 languages. ...

External links

Categories: Germanic paganism | Anglo-Saxon mythology | Magical terms in Germanic mysticism | Norse goddesses | Norse mythology | Time and fate goddesses | Locations in Norse mythology Image File history File links Mjollnir_icon. ... Norse or Scandinavian mythology comprises the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... Divided between the Ã†sir and the Vanir, and sometimes including the jÃ¶tnar (giants), the dividing line between these groups is less than clear. ... In Old Norse, the Ã†sir (singular Ãs, feminine Ãsynja, feminine plural Ãsynjur, Anglo-Saxon Ã“s, from Proto-Germanic *Ansuz) are the principal gods of the pantheon of Norse mythology. ... Vanir is the name of one of the two groups of gods in Norse mythology, the other and more well known being the Ã†sir. ... The giants Fafner and Fasolt seize Freyja in Arthur Rackhams illustration to Richard Wagners version of the Norse myths. ... A small forest elf (Ã¤lva) rescuing an egg, from SolÃ¤gget (1932), by Elsa Beskow An elf is a mythical creature of Germanic mythology and Germanic paganism which still survives in northern European folklore. ... In Norse mythology, the dwarves (Old Norse: dvergar, sing. ... Trolls with an abducted princess (John Bauer, 1915). ... The Valkyries Vigil, by the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Robert Hughes. ... In Norse religion the einherjar or einheriar, were spirits of warriors who had died bravely in battle. ... The Norns spin the threads of fate at the foot of Yggdrasil, the tree of the world. ... For other meanings of Odin, Woden or Wotan see Odin (disambiguation), Woden (disambiguation), Wotan (disambiguation). ... Thors battle against the giants, by MÃ¥rten Eskil Winge, 1872 Thor (Old Norse: ÃžÃ³rr) is the red-haired and bearded god of thunder in Norse Mythology and more generally Germanic mythology (Old English: Ãžunor, Old Dutch and Old High German: Donar, from Proto-Germanic *Ãžunraz). ... This 19th century representation of Freyr shows him with his boar Gullinbursti and his sword. ... Freyja, in an illustration to Wagners operas by Arthur Rackham. ... This picture, from an 18th century Icelandic manuscript, shows Loki with his invention - the fishing net. ... Balders death is portrayed in this illustration from an 18th century Icelandic manuscript. ... This article is about the musical group TÃ½r, for the Norse god see Tyr. ... This illustration shows a 19th century attempt to visualize the world view of the Prose Edda. ... In Norse mythology, Ginnungagap (seeming emptiness or gaping gap) was a vast chasm that existed before the ordering of the world. ... In Norse mythology, RagnarÃ¶k (fate of the gods[1]) is the battle at the end of the world. ... The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems from the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. ... The Younger Edda, known also as the Prose Edda or Snorris Edda is an Icelandic manual of poetics which also contains many mythological stories. ... Excerpt NjÃ¥ls saga in the MÃ¶Ã°ruvallabÃ³k (AM 132 folio 13r) circia 1350. ... The Volsung Cycle is the name of a series of Germanic legends based on the same matter as Niebelungenlied, and which were recorded in medieval Iceland. ... The Tyrfing Cycle is a collection of legends united by the magic sword Tyrfing. ... A rune stone in Lund Rune stones are stones with runic inscriptions dating from the early Middle Ages but are found to have been used most prominently during the Viking Age. ... Old Norse is the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. ... The orthography of the Old Norse language since the introduction of the Latin alphabet in Iceland is a thorny subject. ... Norse mythology provides a rich and diverse source which many later writers have borrowed from or built upon. ... The Viking Age is the name of the period between 793 and 1066 AD in Scandinavia and Britain, following the Germanic Iron Age (and the Vendel Age in Sweden). ... The skald was a member of a group of courtly poets, whose poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry. ... In literature, a kenning is a compound poetic phrase, a figure of speech, substituted for the usual name of a person or thing. ... The BlÃ³t was the pagan Germanic sacrifice to Norse gods and Elves. ... Seid (Old Norse: seiÃ°r, sometimes anglicized as seidhr, seidh, seidr, seithr or seith) was a form of shamanism practised by pre-Christian Norse and arguably other Germanic cultures and continued in modern times by people who practice the reconstructionist beliefs of ÃsatrÃº or heathenry. ... Numbers are significant in Norse mythology although not to the extent which they are in some traditions e. ... Norse cosmology, as it is given us in the source material for Norse mythology recognizes the existence of nine worlds, assigned the ending -heimr (home, realm, or world) or in some cases -garÃ°r (homestead, yard or earth). ... // Places Asgard BifrÃ¶st Bilskirnir Breidablik Elivagar Fyris Wolds Gandvik Ginnungagap Helgardh Hlidskjalf Hvergelmir JÃ¶tunheimr Leipter River Kormet Midgard Muspelheim Nastrond Nidavellir Niflheim Ormet Reidgotaland Slidr River Svartalfheim Utgard Valhalla Vanaheim Vimur Yggdrasil Events Fimbulwinter RagnarÃ¶k Artifacts Balmung Brisingamen Draupnir Dromi Eitr Mjolnir SkÃÃ°blaÃ°nir Gram Gungnir...

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