New Anglo Saxon horned Woden mount recently found in Norwich. ᚩ

Verse from the Old English poem ‘The Fortunes of Men’ from the Exeter Book.

Sum sceal on geapum galgan ridan,
seomian æt swylte, oþþæt sawlhord,
bancofa blodig, abrocen weorþeð.
þær him hrefn nimeþ heafodsyne,
sliteð salwigpad sawelleasne;
noþer he þy facne mæg folmum biwergan,
laþum lyftsceaþan, biþ his lif scæcen,
ond he feleleas, feores orwena,
blac on beame bideð wyrde,
bewegen wælmiste. Bið him werig noma!

'One (man) must ride the gaping gallows,
hang to death, until his soul-hoard,
his bloody bone-coffer, becomes broken.
There (on the gallows) the raven takes his eye,
the dark-cloaked one tears at the soulless;
nor is he able to ward off that evil,
that loathsome thief of the air,
with his hands-- his life is fled,
and he, senseless, without hope of living,
pale on the tree, awaits his fate,
covered by the mists of slaughter. His name is cursed!'

The OE term freca is cognate with the Old Norse Freki, used to mean brave rather than ravenous, and was a kenning for warriors; perhaps denoting cultic wolf warriors. Freca survives in the English village name Freckenham, meaning Home of the Warriors. Freckenham is very close to Lakenheath where an Anglo Saxon cemetery (427 graves including the famous Lakenhearth Warrior) was found.

The archeological piece pictured is said to be dated to the 6th-7th century, and shows a Wolf Warrior or even Woden wearing a headdress similar to figures from the Sutton Hoo finds.

The body of the ‘Lakenheath Warrior’ and his horse, discovered at RAF Lakenheath in 1997. Believed to be an Anglo-Saxon of about 30 years of age he was discovered buried with his sword and shield and a prepared meal of lamb for the journey to the underworld. Buried alongside him was his horse, a bridle and a bucket (believed to have contained food for the horse) placed next to the horse's head.

This large wooden carving greets visitors to the West Stow Anglo Saxon museum and shows the gods and goddess who give their names to Tuesday (Tiwesdaeg) Wednesday (Wednesdaeg) Thursday (Thunresdaeg) and Friday (Frigesdaeg).

photo by Hāmasson

Liða (Liþa or Litha) was the OE word for summer, Ærra Liða being the name for the month which fell around our June, Æftera Liða was the name for July and is cognate with the Slavic term léto, also meaning summer.

Liþa is also cognate with the OE word Liþe which meant ‘calm’ and this is how Bede described the English summer - ‘Litha is called calm or navigable, that is in both the month and the pleasant serenity of the breezes and is usual to navigate the sea's surface'. It is interesting that he also associated the month with navigation (sailing) as the OE verb líðian meat to sail or travel. We find the same concept with the rune name Sigel (the sun) and the phonetically similar ‘segl’ meaning to sail.

Hjúki and Bil are two children who became servants of Máni (OE Mōna) the moon god. They carry between them a pole called Simul from which hangs a pail called Sæg. Bil is later listed as a goddess in both Gylfaginning and Skáldskaparmál and is believed to be the same figure as Bilwis, a female corn spirit.

The names Hjúki and Bil survive in the traditional English nursery rhyme ‘Jack and Jill’. In the rhyme Jack and Jill climb a hill to fetch a pail of water, whilst in Norse myth they collect water from the well Byrgir, that is until Jack falls down and broke his crown. This is a reflection of the name Hjúki, which (according to Simek) means ‘the one returning to health’.

In OE there were a couple of words for swan. The OE word swan remains unchanged. This comes from the proto-Germanic swanaz or the ‘singing bird’. Another OE word for swan was ilfetu, which might be cognate with the name Alvitr, a swan-maiden who along with her sister Hlaðguðr svanhvít (swanwhite) and Ölrún became the swan-wives of Völundr (Weland the smith) Slagfiðr and Egil.

art - Swan Maidens by English artist Walter Crane

Pictured above is a section of the Saxon Cross in St Peter’s Minster Church, Leeds. It’s not so easy to make out the image, but it depicts Weland the smith with a pair of wings, in the guise of his Eagle fetch (Fylgja) holding Böðvildr (OE Beadohild) by the waist with his beak. To the side of Welands legs are the tools of his smith-trade.

On the Nordendorf I fibulae there is a runic innoscription which invokes wigiþonar. Þonar is Thunor whilst the prefix is believed to come from either the Proto-Germanic *wīhaz ‘sacred’ or *wīgą / *wiganą ‘battle’ which is itself the root of the OE wīġ meaning both war (warrior) but can also mean weoh (idol).

Hāl Holy Thunor! Hāl Warrior Thunor!

image - Thunor weoh from Gudahagen's Viking Market.

Impressive Frēa - Thunor - Woden weoh godpoles.

image source

Gunnlöð was responsible for guarding the mead of poetry, however Woden in the form of a snake finds a way into the Hnitbjörg mountain where the mead is kept. There he seduced Gunnlöð for three nights and in return she allows Woden three drinks of the mead, after which he leaves in haste in the form of an eagle.

Gunnlöð by Anders Zorn (1886).

Thursley (Þunres lēah) common, Surrey.

Eolh-secg eard hæfþ oftust on fenne
wexeð on wature, wundaþ grimme,
blode breneð beorna gehwylcne
ðe him ænigne onfeng gedeþ

The Eolh-sedge is mostly to be found in a marsh;
it grows in the water and makes a ghastly wound,
covering with blood every warrior who touches it.

The Eolh-secg is often translated as Elk-Grass, however according to Johannes Hoops in his book 'Über Die Altenglischen Pflanzennamen' (1889) this rune actually refers to a plant recorded in OE as eolugsecg and eolxsegc or sea holly, also called sea thistle, a plant native to England.

It is suggested that Eolh originally meant eoletes from the root *ēalēt, itself from ēa meaning water. Secg translates as Sedge (grass) but secg was used in OE compound words to mean 'sword' which describes the sharp ended holly.