# 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:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**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 6, 2011, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/21 "2011-02-06T07:36:10Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > 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. This subtopic didn’t “take off” in this thread – just as well, perhaps, as all the conjectures seem so speculative – but I should comment as regards the Q Y-Dna haplogroup. (Or rather Q1a2 and/or Q1a3 since subclades are needed to deal with detail.) The actic nomads, including Saami, are largely of N haplogroup, not Q. In Scandinavia, Q population correlates with R1a population, not the N in the North. Speculation about the origin of Norse Q includes the Huns and Etruscans! There is a [forum for discussing this haplogroup](http://dna-forums.org/index.php?/forum/64-q-haplogroup-y-dna/), though you may need a (free) account just to read it. ---
**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 6, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/22 "2011-02-06T12:44:57Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > This subtopic didn’t “take off” in this thread – just as well, perhaps, as all the conjectures seem so speculative – but I should comment as regards the Q Y-Dna haplogroup. (Or rather Q1a2 and/or Q1a3 since subclades are needed to deal with detail.) > > The actic nomads, including Saami, are largely of N haplogroup, not Q. In Scandinavia, Q population correlates with R1a population, not the N in the North. > > Speculation about the origin of Norse Q includes the Huns and Etruscans! There is a [forum for discussing this haplogroup](http://dna-forums.org/index.php?/forum/64-q-haplogroup-y-dna/), though you may need a (free) account just to read it. I do not do genetics, I do dig in the dirt archeology. What genetic typing are the Ramda Chert/Red Paint People? They went around from New England to Europe. I have gotten into several arguments with archeologists about their beliefs with respect to settlement movement dating, sort of chicken and egg [why does a group that starts in europe have a ritual item that is only able to be made with material from the new world - though it does involve needing to find the swamped settlements under the north sea] ---
**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 6, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/23 "2011-02-06T15:59:19Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I do not do genetics, I do dig in the dirt archeology. > > What genetic typing are the Ramda Chert/Red Paint People? They went around from New England to Europe… I _think_ one of the posts in the forum I mentioned did suggest them as the possible source of Scandinavian Q, and I _think_ one of the replies suggested their haplogroup was unknown or unclear. Did you read Faux’ paper by the way? It mentions dirt diggings as well, e.g. > [@](#): > > For example in Eveboe at Nordfjord in Western Norway is seen a burial mound that duplicates what is seen in the East. Here is found a 5th Century grave with Syrian glass, a geometric toy seen only in Iran and Afghanistan and inhumations of three chiefs “connected in a way which involved the Huns or Eastergermanic horsemen in the Danubian area” (Brandt, 2004). I’ve no clue whatsoever whether the guy is a genius or a crackpot … that’s why I asked. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/24 "2011-02-06T16:24:03Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > [Yep, many have theorized that Odin has contributed to the image of Santa Claus.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin#Santa_Claus) This is a nice idea but rather unlikely. There’s over a thousand years between the last time the Dutch worshipped their Odin cognate and the creation of Santa Claus as we know him. It’s not impossible, but it seems more like someone noticing a neat but coincidental parallel and assuming a connection. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/25 "2011-02-06T16:46:49Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > 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) ] Sold! I am definitely interested, so thanks for the recommendation. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121/26 "2011-02-06T22:45:34Z")
There is a direct tie between Norse mythology and Cecil Adams. According to Paul S. Piper’s “What Makes Cecil Adams the world’s greatest reference librarian”, from the February 1995 _American Libraries_, “How did he get into this profession? Reputedly it is a divine calling, with the archetype of Cecil, a relative of the Norse god Odin, coming to him in a dream and saying ‘take the helm’.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norse-mythology/570121.md?page=1)