The Sun in Norse Myth 

Related videos: Vafþrúðnismál (Vafthruthnismal / Vafthrudnismal): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RhRqtdlt9I4.html Vǫluspá (Voluspa): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5q6-owZc1zA.html The Moon in Norse Myth: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7K16KaktVwY.html

"I don't have the heart of a poet" says the poetry writing scholar cowboy with the sunset backdrop.

Another thing I think contributes to the compulsion to lay a "god of ____" framework over the Norse pantheon is that the first world mythology that many of us learn about as kids is the Greek pantheon. Regardless of the historicity of the practice, those gods all have a fairly cut and dried portfolio, so it might be natural for people to assume all mythologies work the same way.

Greetings from the beautiful Wasatch mountains in Utah! Since you mentioned merch, I thought I'd mention that I would totally buy a coffee cup with "Vituð ér enn, eða hvat?" on it. Thank you for your great work - you exemplify what I think is the very best of our emerging Rocky Mountain culture. Peace! Kenny Post Script - I'm a couple decades older, and I can tell you from experience that it's not always possible to differentiate between "going as planned" and "devastating emotional nightmare" ...just sayin... Buena suerte, compadre!

Maybe people also get some perceptions about the sun's importance from the hints and theories about solar cults and sun worship in the earlier eras, the Nordic Bronze Age. All the petroglyphs interpreted as sun symbols, and artifacts like the Trundholm sun chariot. 28:30 another perhaps just random etymology theory I think I read was about the god Ullr, derived from Wulþuz meaning glory, shining, radiating or something, might once been associated with the sky or sun.

I think it makes sense that the Sol (the sun) is much more important than the moon. Because the winter is long and dangerous, while the summer is shorter and brings life. In the summer we have sun until late in the evening and it associated with pleasant temperature and never with harsh burning, as in the southern part of Europe or other warmer cultures. The moon is less important for our survival, but it has been important for time keeping, as in many cultures.

Salute the shot selection, cant ask for a better backdrop than that.

as a fellow grown man, i just wanted to let you know that you are exceptionally handsome good sir. just wanted to compliment you. also, love this talk since history is absolutely so fascinating and growing up I was never interested, but now I am :) so thanks!

Glædelig midsommer. Han er Odins mand!

You too Crawford, all the best and bright days ahead.

Hey! Great video! I found it really interesting that the gender of these astrological bodies are the opposite from Romance languages. And, if I recall correctly, Sun and Moon are both feminine in Old Tupi. The etymology of the their names in this language are respectively "mother of the day" and "mother of the night". "Sun" is *arasy*, *ara* "day" and *sy* "mother". This has an impact on Tupi mythology. Well, this is at least what I now from some Tupi material, and also the epic novel *Macunaíma*, by the brazilian author Mário de Andrade. This writer did a lot of research on various indigenous groups (other than Tupi) and their religions and legends.

Hebrew has a feminine word for the sun (שמש) but two words for the moon, ירח (from the same root as the word for a month) which is masculine, and לבנה (="the white one") which is feminine. In Genesis 1 they are simply called "the big illuminator" and the "the small illuminator". That said Semitic language disagree here. In Arabic and Hebrew the word is feminine, but the Akkadian word is masculine, as is the Akkadian sun god with the same name.

16:40 Another good example is that I've sometimes seen stars poetically described as daughters of the moon.

I think it is fine to tell the story as it says on paper, because then people can unfold the riddles themselves. As you say, if you don't have the heart of a poet, just go with what feels right to you. No use in convincing us of an interpretation you don't believe in. But I'm glad you mentioned it at least.

Personification is personification. The gods very clearly are concepts personified as can be taken from their names. As you are trying to maybe say, the sun and the moon don't really feature in elaborate personified stories like Wen, Thur and Bald do. And they're never referred to as any type of god as far as I know (edit: you show an example that it is referred to as a god in Grímnismál). But when they say that Night is the mother of Day. It is very easy to link that to Tacitus who says that Germans believe that night begets day, night comes before day. It's a personification of a natural phenomenon.

I do a lot of gardening and live in California. I care a lot about shade and sunlight and so often think of the sun as being to the south when planning out the garden layout for the year. So I get it.

The sun and moon chariots have a peculiar detail, I don't know if this is a later thing, but in Scandinavia the sun is usually associated with the feminine and the moon with the masculine. If it is an older tradition I guess Snorri could have depicted a juxtaposition of genders though. Edit: that's what I get for commenting early

in polish sun is neutral while moon is male the same as summer and winter but we have word similar to Luna, łuna which means afterlight, aura, halo which. is female type also etymology of moon says word means a prince, so son of king storm is female (in Hungarian male ) but wind is male as well as thunder and lightningbolt air neutral spirit, ghost, breath is male soul is female heart is neutral we see directions of world in terms of sun movement, rising sun is east setting sun is west halfday is south halfnight is north indieuros buried dead to south so to sun so up as sun is on top at noon figuring at night it's lower and lower is obviously underworld dead didn't go to underworld or did but wanted to look at divine realm for us sun walks/moves "chodzi" so it can be also double object or person but more object the same as moon as we say moon decreases like a resource something to count measure if your myths consider sun being eaten then you probably should literally look at words related with eating as mouth here it's related with feminin or plural feminine how about Surya? and how in celtic? how in iranic

Just a (very) minor suggestion: It would be helpful to either include a card in the video linking to other videos of yours you reference or just include the link to them in the description below the video. I intend to watch your Vafthruthnismal video next (or, as it appears to be over an hour, as soon as time permits), but it was a little hard to find since I can't easily type out "Vafþrúðnismál" without cutting and pasting (which could not be done in the case the reference in this video).

We do not know all Odin's powers, but we do know his spell list.

My interpretation of himinjodyr is more simple. Horses ride through it every day to pull the heavenly bodies up and down into and out of the sky, thus, the horizon is the heaven-horse-door. I hope that makes sense linguistically.

17:20 about Tungl being used for all heavenly bodies. The moder Icelandic word for satellite is gervitungl meaning fake-tungl

Japanese has no grammatical gender, but Amaterasu, the Shinto solar deity is female.

As someone born and raised in Sweden without being influenced by chistianity until I started school I understand a couple of things that most people don't. It doesn't really matter how old it is or isn't. My world view as a child was what my grandmother told me about her ancestors and the things that live around us. Without making any further claims about anything the most important thing she passed on to me wasn't the stories but her world view. The world is just there. It does have a sort of spiritual level but it doesn't affect our every day life. Things are just things including the sun and the moon. There is no need for an explanation of everything. My personal experience from living with cultural christians is that most can't see how christian ideas limit their world view. They populate their world with angels, demons, a creator and an immortal soul and so on. Even if they reject the religion the ideas remain and they use those words to describe the world. Using the word 'soul' to describe something refers to the christian understanding of the word. Someone raised in a christian society will think of religion as something with a bible and rules and a god ruling and demanding obedience and servitude. In the western world christianity defines what a religion is. That means all savages by default live in fear of their gods because that's the way it always must be? Does a religion have to be like that? What if people in the Viking age was more like me and didn't think the gods were that important since they live in their own world? That is how I understand the sun and the moon. They are just there. The rest is entertainment. Enjoy it.

In regards of gendering of sun and moon - in Slavic languages, _crescent_ moon is masculine, sun (gramatically) is neuter, while sun (poetically), _round moon_ and stars are all feminine. And, while there is very very little information in regards of what pre-Christian beliefs were like, none of the four or so deities - Svarog, Svarozits, Dazhbog, and Khors - that could be associated with sun are feminine.

I can’t help but notice that you no longer add that your translation of the prose Edda is forthcoming, is that project on ice?

I too am a little leary of the attempt to attach too much religious significance to many of the ancient tales. Maybe they just Are what they are. It Is perhaps possible that certain people could have become associated with certain elements, much as many South American native groups are known to do, which were then misunderstood by outsiders in an attempt to interpret these myths as one would a Greek or Roman myth. Which by the way, may also be at least partially misunderstood. Just my two cents worth.

Sol Invictus was worshipped at the end of the Roman Empire. Interesting that the Norse word for Sun is Sol.

23:27 That card. I wasn't expecting to laugh so much over my morning tea, but I threw my head back and roared like a musketeer. Not with any cruelty, you understand, but in recognition.

I've heard it from different people who study different ancient cultures and religions and they say the same thing about all the deities and pantheons. It isn't about elements and powers but personalities. I think the modern day association with powers comes from two things. First I think with atheists attempting to rationalize these traditions and views without actually researching them or talking to similar surviving cultures or just different cultures in general. The second I think comes from super heroes. Going back on the viewing things in the second thing we learn, the second culture we often learn in the west is superheroes and the big thing with superheroes is they often got a 1 power gimmick. In many ways they are like modern day pagan gods. Or at least a modern interpretation of how we think it should be romanticized. But even those superhero movies aren't about the gimmick but the personalities and the adversities they have to over come.

Good Video sir as always. You also always have me missing Colorado. I lived in Bailey, far from the now Moscow. Anyway I wondered and i'm guessing you have heard this before but if not have you have looked at some comparisons of Norse mythology and the religion/mythos of Siberia , in particular the steppes, Mongolia and Tengri. Tengriism and Norse mythology could have been written by cousins except Tengrism is one of the oldest religions in the world. There is no doubt the Norse, travelled through here and likewise nomads from here visited all of Europe. Its a fascinating comparison even down to the similar runes. Anyway all the best.

Five minutes in and so far I definitely disagree with your interpretation. I think the allegories about nature that you mention are often very clear in Norse Myth. And almost always concerning the sun, night and day etc. For example I read Baldrs draumar as representing the coming and going of the light, day/night cycle, or as we're very aware of on this day, the summer/winter cycle. E.g. The part where the maidens throw up their necklaces into the sky, that's the stars at night. There's something like a ring on his boat and Wen throws his golden ring in the boat too. I personally think the symbolism is pretty clear. And there's a lot of it. (And yeah I'm pulling from Snorri as well as the poem).

This story tells me about How the Norse were able to navigate great bodies of water and how they new the best times to raid upriver. The Norse were not only feared raiders but renowned travelers and traders. They must have had a superior system that allowed for both sea travel and river navigation.

You explained why my other languages take a kind of Swedish accent (which is my second language!) How interesting. I’m always learning on your channel :)

The reason the Sun doesn’t get mentioned? It was the DARK AGES.

I’m a Boulderite too😊I like carving into stones so I’m trying to find something like “home sweet home” or “bless this house” in Norse. Are there runes that make phrases like that or do I need to spell it out in English words?

-He's dying we need a doctor!!!! -Hi im old norse specialist, doctor Jackson Crawford...

In Tolkien mythology, too, the sun is female (guided by Arien, a female Maia) and the moon is male (guided by a male Maia, Tilion). The moon rose before the sun, but Arien is significantly more powerful than Tilion.

3:05 This interesting point made me bewildered, as I was trying to think about how my learning French is affected by my knowing German already. I forgot that my second language is English. 😂

20:55 in Lithuanian, Sun is feminine (Saulė) and Moon is masculine (Mėnulis). Just an example

Ah. Now Dr Crawford I'd like you to put a few things straight about this 'Atgeirr' Norse firearm thing ....

My dad used to call me Jackson. I like your channel

"It's just there." We can't forget that American culture was begun by the descendants of the Norse, so I think it's no accident that we're more pragmatic than poetic.

For some reason (not sure why) I’ve named every bike I’ve owned after a mythical horse, and my current one is bright orange so I named it Skinfaxi. My last one was Sleipnir (though sadly it was stolen)

In Tolkien mythology, the sun is also female, and the moon is male, and rose before the sun.

So is Death of Baldur all post christian retroactive stuff? It does fit solar archetypes really well. He's the kind of guy anyone can't help but love. Super generous and friendly and good looking and majically bulletproof. I could see shamash,legba, or apollo being like that as a young god but dying tragically.

In French the south cardinal direction is called the midi (noon) instead of a cognate of South like Spanish Sur. Somehow the concept must come from Norse speakers, perhaps the Normans

Ok hold on.. how can that landscape behind you be real? It’s beyond words..

Beaucoup de cultures voient la Soleil comme féminin. Et le Lune comme masculin. C'est très intéressant merci :)

maybe it’s a kenning. Daughter of summer might be the ripened wheat or barley or some thing.

In regards to the moon preceding the sun - roman sources mentions that the germanic tribes considered the day to begin at sunset, thus the moon would would (in this context) precede the sun.

I think the other cultural track Western culture has is Roman and Ancient Greek since we hear so much about their deities. Especially since those sources have a tradition of distilling or identifying deities with natural forces. We also have the Christian/Judeo tradition that historically often distinguishes God from natural forces and competing cultures often identifying their deities with nature. And if you are in the US, Mexico, and Canada, then it’s Native cultures that I’d say also occupy that second track, where some emphasized nature more (for example, Aztecs appeasing their sun god). I don’t think Dungeons and Dragons has a lot to do with it, although I’m not saying it’s absent. It’s too much of a transitory force and active only in pop culture, whereas the others I mentioned permeate our culture and have for thousands of years. Potentially this “D&D” influence is already piggybacking on earlier Tolkien fame and pre-existing Norse fixation in the West that has (as I understand) existed since at least the 19th century. It might even be possible to claim that the West has fixated on the Norse since Medieval Europe, with Christian concern and fear of Vikings raids on Christian religious communities.

Hope things that are weighing down on you lighten. Thank you for your videos.

Does anyone know if there are any parallel text translations of the norse texts - not necessarily into English, any Scandinavian language, or German works for me too - for studying the stories and learning a bit of norse at the same time? Out-of-print probably is available in a library somewhere, but they‘d be easier to find if their existence and authors are known. 😏

Sólar? That word surprises this viewer.

look i ain't really that into poetry but after advertising it like that imma have to give that video a go. very efficient strategy

interesting how they took Skoll & Hati for Star Wars.

Perfect timing for the midsummer solstice!

Same in German, the sun is feminine. Die Sonne, der Mond🌞🌝

Ride or Die Jackson. I love your work.

Ha en glad midsommar!

The Norse Pantheon seems to acknowledge a distant admiration or vestige for "natural Gods" (i.e. the Vanir Gods), but I assume that these were abandoned at some point between the cultures that spoke PIE and Proto-Germanic--or perhaps later. I also assume that Latin influences (alphabetical system, cultural trade, etc.) likely influenced the cultural and linguistic development of peripheral peoples.

I should really find out more about oblique in language, I see it all the time in etymology.

Old English had feminine Sunne, but also masculine Sunna (like Wicca *male* and Wicce *female*) and masculine Sigel. Have you elsewhere encountered Wulþuz > Ullr being mentioned as the Nordic bronze age male sun deity, and that being a reason why Ullr is singled out in Grimnismal "Ullr and all the gods", because of the sun's previously greater importance in the bronze age before the mini ice age and the rise in importance of the storm and weather deities, and placenames of Ullr often being at or very near placenames of Freyr?

Hm I don't really understand your perspective regarding allegory. You say, what is the point of allegory? Yet instead you oughta ask, what is the point of these stories? What are these stories telling us? And the symbolism comes very naturally with all else that is riddled in these poems. I suppose you need a certain type of feeling for this kind of stuff, although I'll admit sometimes people go into a tunnel vision with it. I found it also interesting you mentioned Baldrs draumar as an allegory for the light/darkness cycle, summer/winter. Because I came up with this on my own and then I found someone else had also thought it up and now you say that it's a common interpretation. You always like to bring occams razor into it so... :)

Fab' vid' thx ... would be good to see you expand on sun symbolically, metaphorically and archetypically and the relation to Baldr

well, its japan. so...

in Polish, "moon" is also masculine, "księżyc", and "Sun" is neuter, "słońce"

The moon is odins one eye. Opening and closing through time.

Thought provoking

In the Central Indian tribal religion (Gond, Savar, Munda) there is a creator God called Singbonga, Bhagwan, or Takkur Jiu, or even Narayan. He is called the “ sun god” but is not actually the Sun or a Sun god like Ra or Helios or even Surya. I wonder how this dichotomy exists. The Vedic god Vishnu was a solar deity but became detached from the solar orb we call the sun.

hej

I know you meant "god of" titles, but I heard it as "god of titles". I imagined some ancient god worshiped by some ancient bureaucrat.

Just watched this after viewing the new "Ahsoka" series on Disney. It's fascinating to learn the source of the names of the two Sith in the series, Baylan Skoll, and Shin Hati. I'm curious to see if the story will draw any further from Norse mythology in it's plot, or if only the cool names will apply.

I remember hearing a lot about Egypt while growing up, especially on TV, and the thing always stressed with that was the sun god Ra.

I'm so confused, of course the sun shines from the south... As in, it's highest point is in the south, thus it rotates around the south from our perspective. Do Americans have the sun in the North? (that's rhetorical by the way)

Iceland used to have more forests before overgrazing and felling.

How a person comes across can lend a lot to the validity of the substance being sent one’s way. This mad seems a gentleman. He seems humble in his knowledge and obviously responsible to share it. I enjoy him. I enjoy learning from him. Would love fifteen minutes to have coffee with him and I would drive from Seattle to do it…in a heartbeat. Thank you, sir, for all your work. Here comes a second thanks on this one alone.

As I was listening, I thought about epic poetry in general. The poets were inspired. So what inspired them,was it daily life or did they go into some dream like state, we'd call it day dreaming. Only way back it might have been called something else. In dreams anything is possible and in day dreams the imagination is allowed to run wild and if they followed that the sun and moon could very likely been real people. Just a thought.

Himinjódýr? So like... the sky-rim?

What about Dag riding Skinfaxi and the wolf Skol

Hel yeah! This is an intriguing and timely and awesome topic of the Norse!

May of the Vedic gods can be seen as personifications of forces of nature. Indra to the storm, Vayu to the wind, etc.

Brilliant

👍

Excellent video, Sir. 🙌

Haven’t read a comment. Still listening to this for the first time. Sun=light=life giver=female/mother…

I wonder if the sun cross symbol has any relation to Sundogs

Concerning Svalinn, you'd almost think they knew about the atmosphere which protects us from burning up. Or was it the ozon layer... Either way, if they did then I wonder how. Perhaps they just saw that the stars came out at night and that when the sun shines there is something that obstructs the view of said stars, and that that's the shield. Which would be pretty close to understanding we have an atmosphere, not bad.

Happy Solstice Sir

love your videos.

Thanks!

Thanks!

The sun is an orb carried by a chariot and also muspelheim. Niflheim is the dark space at night. And we are in the middle.

Unrelated to the video... have u lost weight?

Thank you Dr Crawford. Do you know what a Sundog is? And if so what did the Norse think it meant?

As an obviously well learned gentleman,I wonder what your studies have revealed about our planets polar excursion and the Sun's predicted near future nova? As for me there seems to be nothing we can do to prevent our reacquiring history but prepare.

Didn't Snorri mention something similar that probably refers to that 'man in the moon'? Like a boy and a girl with a stick and a bucket or something?

This guy has got to play dnd right