Fenrir bites off Tyr’s hand. Illustration from a 17th century Icelandic manuscript.Tyr is the god of war and justice in Norse mythology, and the etymology of his name suggests that he once was at the top of the Germanic pantheon, although he had been replaced by Odin/Wodan relatively early.Fenrir is one of the children of… Read More Fenrir and Tyr
Map showing the German Eastward Expansion, starting in the early Middle Ages at the zenith of Charlemagne’s Frankish Empire. Although first German settlements east of the river Elbe in modern Eastern Germany started relatively early, it wasn’t until the 10th and 11th centuries, that larger amounts of Germans moved eastward and assimilated most of the… Read More The German Eastward Expansion
This article is a re-blog from HERITAGEDAILY (link to original article at the bottom of the page). HERITAGEDAILY is an independent publisher of the latest scientific discoveries, research, and travel news. First launched as a small archaeology blog in 2011, the platform has grown into a general science publisher with a focus on archaeology, anthropology,… Read More THE ANGLO-SAXON MIGRATION: NEW INSIGHTS FROM GENETICS
Languages are always evolving in a process that is never truly finished. So to ask what the oldest word in a given language is, is a bit pointless. We can ask, however, what the oldest attested word in a given language, like English, is, which is what’s examined in this article.… Read More What Is the Oldest English Word?
The High German Consonant Shift gave rise to the High and Upper German dialects of the West Germanic Dialect Continuum. It’s cause is still debated, however, although a Gallo-Roman substrate seems to be the most likely explanation.… Read More The Cause of the High German Consonant Shift
Originally posted on Tattúínárdǿla saga:
A long time ago, in a North Atlantic far far away… Introduction Earlier this week I was drawn into an enlightening discussion with my colleague Ben Frey about the complicated textual tradition that lies behind George Lucas’s “Star Wars,” which few outside the scholarly community realize is…
Originally posted on Kristyn J. Miller:
Epic poems have incredible staying power both as literary achievements and as historical resources. The Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf is one of the foremost examples of this. Despite its mythological themes, the story offers historians a rare insight into Anglo-Saxon ideals of masculinity, heroism, and society. At the same time,…
Ragnarok describes the end of the world in Norse Mythology. Or does it really? Not only the world itself is reborn after its destruction, but one of the gods as well. Could this be an indication for reincarnation in Germanic myth or perhaps even evidence for a pan-Indo-European phenomenon of rebirth?… Read More Ragnarok and Reincarnation in Norse Mythology
European Origins 