# Norse Mythology **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 4, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121 "2011-02-04T05:00:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![N8N8N8N](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@N8N8N8N](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N8N8N8N)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/1 "2011-02-04T05:00:05Z")
I read about an eight legged horse that flies called Sleipnir owened by Odan… is it just me or is there somthing just wrong about that? SO I look it up because I have no idea what its about or what that means. I look up Sleipnir and sure enough its an eight legged horse that flies… So undaunted I look up Sleip-nir and there she be… Sleip - is a slider or slipper nir - plow Slider plow … A sleigh pulled by two horses that flies thru the snow add an old white haired bearded Viking and who do we have? Odan Kringle 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/2 "2011-02-04T05:03:45Z")
> [@N8N8N8N](#): > > I read about an eight legged horse that flies called Sleipnir owened by Odan… is it just me or is there somthing just wrong about that? > > SO I look it up because I have no idea what its about or what that means. I look up Sleipnir and sure enough its an eight legged horse that flies… > > So undaunted I look up Sleip-nir and there she be… > Sleip - is a slider or slipper > nir - plow > > Slider plow … A sleigh pulled by two horses that flies thru the snow add an old white haired bearded Viking and who do we have? Odan Kringle 🙂 Even worse, Loki is Sleipnir’s mother! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/3 "2011-02-04T05:04:52Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Even worse, Loki is Sleipnir’s mother! Even worse, Nathan Ate Nathan! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/4 "2011-02-04T05:05:26Z")
Welcome to the boards, **N8N8N8**. Since I don’t see a real question here, this is probably better suited to our MPSIMS forum than General Questions. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![N8N8N8N](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@N8N8N8N](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N8N8N8N)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/5 "2011-02-04T05:07:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Welcome to the boards, **N8N8N8**. Since I don’t see a real question here, this is probably better suited to our MPSIMS forum than General Questions. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator oky doky ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/6 "2011-02-04T06:43:55Z")
> [@N8N8N8N](#): > > Slider plow … A sleigh pulled by two horses that flies thru the snow add an old white haired bearded Viking and who do we have? Odan Kringle 🙂 Emoticon should read .) ---
**Author:** ![VanillaGorilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@VanillaGorilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VanillaGorilla)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/7 "2011-02-04T06:50:21Z")
> [@3trew](#): > > Emoticon should read .) Oh my. Oden related humour, NOT that common these days. I actually laughed, too! ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/8 "2011-02-04T07:08:55Z")
> [@VanillaGorilla](#): > > Oh my. Oden related humour, NOT that common these days. I actually laughed, too! And many people wouldn’t understand it, but it’s one I’d get. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/9 "2011-02-04T07:44:25Z")
> [@3trew](#): > > Emoticon should read .) “… and now I know my ABCs!” My favorite story was always the story of how Balder died: Balder, the most beloved of the gods, had nightmares of his own death. So Frigg, Odin’s wife and his mother, rode out into all of the nine worlds and made everything swear not to harm him. Then the gods got drunk and decided to start throwing shit at Balder, since nothing could hurt him. (You get the impression the Norse gods would be massive fans of Jackass.) Loki, pissed everything was going so well (since gods are all massive, spoiled children), found out from a drunk Frigg that she had neglected to extract an oath from mistletoe. I think you know what happens next: Loki finds some mistletoe and gives it to Hod, Balder’s blind brother. Then, since playing “pin the sacred plant on the Aesir” hadn’t been invented yet, Loki steered Hod’s arm so that when Hod threw the mistletoe, it killed Balder. Loki ran like a bitch and now the world is going to end sooner. Moral of the story: Wherever you find a drunk Frigg, you’ll find a way to catch something nasty. Dragging this back to the topic, Loki is Sleipnir’s mother-father. A giant came to Asgard, where the Norse gods live, disguised as a builder and said that he’d build a wall in a year and a half in exchange for Frigg. The gods, arrogant as usual, took him up on the offer. Unknown to the gods, the giant had a wonderful stallion that actually could do the task. Loki, apparently interested in a little horseplay at this point, changed into a beautiful mare and lured the stallion away. Then had sex with the stallion. That union produced Sleipnir and a good million or so really shameful wet dreams before Freud had even wrapped his lips around his first ‘cigar’. Moral of the story: The furries moved to Norway and started writing fanfic before anyone could stop them. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/10 "2011-02-04T07:49:48Z")
> [@3trew](#): > > Emoticon should read .) 🆒 Perhaps we’re having too much fun in this thread for a serious question, but I’ve been curious about [David Faux’ theory](http://www.davidkfaux.org/CentralAsiaRootsofScandinavia-Y-DNAEvidence.pdf). I won’t try to summarize his theory; but one curiosity is the high incidence of Y-haplogroup Q in Norway (and Norse colonies like Iceland) which is also found in Hungary and otherwise rare in Europe. Q is likely associated with the Huns; Snorri’s myths seem to describe Odin as King of Huns; … 😕 It would be nice to hear reaction of SDMB experts to Faux’ theory. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/11 "2011-02-04T11:41:44Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > 🆒 > > Perhaps we’re having too much fun in this thread for a serious question, but I’ve been curious about [David Faux’ theory](http://www.davidkfaux.org/CentralAsiaRootsofScandinavia-Y-DNAEvidence.pdf). > > I won’t try to summarize his theory; but one curiosity is the high incidence of Y-haplogroup Q in Norway (and Norse colonies like Iceland) which is also found in Hungary and otherwise rare in Europe. Q is likely associated with the Huns; Snorri’s myths seem to describe Odin as King of Huns; … 😕 > > It would be nice to hear reaction of SDMB experts to Faux’ theory. If he wants to get into steppes culture and linguistics, he really should get a copy of [The World of the Huns](http://www.amazon.com/World-Huns-Studies-History-Culture/dp/0520015967/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296819055&sr=1-3) which even though incomplete thanks to the death of the author is about the best and most in depth study of the steppes cultures through the study of extant documents written in period by the people actually dealing with the tribes [generally through letters, treaties and trade agreements] salted with interesting archeological finds. [on an odd aside, I find the interesting fact of intricate bronze castings of household goods, and mention of an interesting nomadic variant on agriculture fascinating considering most people think they were nothing but horse riding barbarians with no real culture.] As to Faux’ theories … well - considering that it is well known that groups of nomads roamed all the way from siberia to scandanavia, and still do [with a few constraints] I do not find it unusual to find genetic material shared the entire swatch of the arctic circle. I will also add that the rate of casual bastardy in history is in excess of what most people believe between casual affairs, prostitution in the lack of effective birth control, rape and unrecognized intermarriage/concubinage. The rather widespread practice of slave trading moved a lot of genetic material around, as did the Roman practice of the auxiliaries to the legions being hired in blocks of mercenary groups [thracian cataphracts serving in Africa, or Nubian spearmen being shifted to Britannia. Which actually makes me laugh at the white supremecists, because there were “niggers in the woodpile” 1900 years ago :smack::D] ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/12 "2011-02-04T15:10:44Z")
You think that’s weird? Check out how Thrymr the giant stole Mjolnir, Thor’s Hammer, and Thor and Loki had to dress in drag to get it back. And then there’s the [Lokasenna](http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe10.htm), in which Loki shows up in Aegir’s hall uninvited and basically turns the whole party into a taping of the Jerry Springer show. And we all know how Freya acquired Brisingamen. More power to ya, Lady! I’m a heathen. My gods party harder than your gods. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/13 "2011-02-04T17:21:56Z")
You just gotta love Oðin. He’s the god of warriors, right? So warriors pray to Oðin for success in battle, and the bravest and most powerful he helps out. Except if you accumulate a lot of renown, Oðin will cause your shield strap to break, or your foot to slip, and you’ll be killed in battle. Because Oðin is gathering the best warriors killed in battle, because he needs them for Ragnarok, when the Gods battle the Giants and the world ends. So Oðin will help you out, but he’s going to betray you and get you killed. Whatta card. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/14 "2011-02-04T17:28:51Z")
One wonders whether Thor, in the upcoming movie, will ride in a chariot drawn by goats. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/15 "2011-02-04T18:56:36Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Loki, pissed everything was going so well (since gods are all massive, spoiled children), found out from a drunk Frigg that she had neglected to extract an oath from mistletoe. The way I was told the story was that the mistletoe was too young to give an oath, so Frigg didn’t ask it for one. ---
**Author:** ![Cyningablod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Cyningablod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyningablod)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/16 "2011-02-04T18:58:38Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > You just gotta love **Oðin**. He’s the god of warriors, right? So warriors pray to **Oðin** for success in battle, and the bravest and most powerful he helps out. Except if you accumulate a lot of renown, **Oðin** will cause your shield strap to break, or your foot to slip, and you’ll be killed in battle. Because **Oðin** is gathering the best warriors killed in battle, because he needs them for Ragnarok, when the Gods battle the Giants and the world ends. > > So **Oðin** will help you out, but he’s going to betray you and get you killed. Whatta card. Um, I might be talking outta my ass here, 'cause I’m an Italic (ie, Romance) linguist, not a Germanic linguist, but I’m pretty sure the Norse name “Odin” doesn’t include a voiced dental fricative, as spelled in the **bolded** words, above. I think it’s just a regular [d] (a voiced dental plosive). That’s what the comparative phonology would suggest, at least, looking at the Old English cognate “Woden”. (It could also be that the letter ‘eth’ [ð] actually only did say a voiced dental plosive, in Old Norse. Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/17 "2011-02-04T20:55:47Z")
Don’t know about that, but when we were kids we used to re-enact the battle of Ragnarok. Years later I reread the Norse Myths and concluded that mighty Thor could have used anger management counseling. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/18 "2011-02-04T21:08:01Z")
> [@Cyningablod](#): > > Um, I might be talking outta my ass here, 'cause I’m an Italic (ie, Romance) linguist, not a Germanic linguist, but I’m pretty sure the Norse name “Odin” doesn’t include a voiced dental fricative, as spelled in the **bolded** words, above. > > I think it’s just a regular [d] (a voiced dental plosive). That’s what the comparative phonology would suggest, at least, looking at the Old English cognate “Woden”. > > (It could also be that the letter ‘eth’ [ð] actually only did say a voiced dental plosive, in Old Norse. > > Anybody know? That’s how Snorri Sturluson spelled it in the Prose Edda, so that’s good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/19 "2011-02-04T21:36:21Z")
> [@N8N8N8N](#): > > Slider plow … A sleigh pulled by two horses that flies thru the snow add an old white haired bearded Viking and who do we have? Odan Kringle 🙂 [Yep, many have theorized that Odin has contributed to the image of Santa Claus.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin#Santa_Claus) ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/20 "2011-02-05T00:53:35Z")
I love Norse mythology. Oddly, the Dungeons And Dragons (second edition) book on Vikings is chock full of history, Norse folklore and Viking culture. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121.md?page=2)