# Oh Mighty Odin! Hear My Plea! Answer this question about Valkyries? The word, I mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-mighty-odin-hear-my-plea-answer-this-question-about-valkyries-the-word-i-mean/251717>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 22, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-mighty-odin-hear-my-plea-answer-this-question-about-valkyries-the-word-i-mean/251717 "2004-06-22T22:59:00Z")\
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**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-mighty-odin-hear-my-plea-answer-this-question-about-valkyries-the-word-i-mean/251717/1 "2004-06-22T22:59:00Z")

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Valkyrie–a Chooser of the Slain.  
One of the mythic warrior women who gathered the souls of dead Viking Warriors to Valhalla.

But the **word!**

Valkyrie.

Val-kyrie.

“Kyrie” is the Greek word for “Lord”.

Huh?

How did the name of a Scandanavian demi-goddess get a Greek suffix?

Or, perhaps, this isn’t really the word the Vikings used, but rather something Xian monks used when writing down the sagas?

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**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-mighty-odin-hear-my-plea-answer-this-question-about-valkyries-the-word-i-mean/251717/2 "2004-06-22T23:26:53Z")

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According to my books on the subject the “altnordisch” (“old norse”, I’m not sure about the correct English term) word was _Valkyrja_. It is a relatively direct translation of “chooser of the slain”. I can’t think of an English example, but German has several words related to choosing that share a common root with the _-kyrja_ part (kiesen (obscure), Kür, Kurfürst…) I wouldn’t be surprised if there were English examples as well.

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-mighty-odin-hear-my-plea-answer-this-question-about-valkyries-the-word-i-mean/251717/3 "2004-06-23T03:43:50Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Valkyrie - 1768, one of 12 war-maidens who escorted the brave dead to Valhalla, from O.N. _valkyrja_, lit. “chooser of the slain,” from _valr_ “those slain in battle” + _kyrja_ “chooser,” from ablaut root of _kjosa_ “to choose,” from P.Gmc. \*_keusan_, from PIE \*_geus-_ “to taste, choose.”

[http://www.etymonline.com/v1etym.htm](http://www.etymonline.com/v1etym.htm)

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**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-mighty-odin-hear-my-plea-answer-this-question-about-valkyries-the-word-i-mean/251717/4 "2004-06-23T19:50:23Z")

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The word “kyrie” (kurie) is in the vocative case. Therefore it translates not just to “Lord”, but “O Lord”. That is to say, it is only used when directly addressing someone.

In its more standard form (nominative), the word is “kyrion” (kurion) for lord, or “kyria” (kuria) for mistress.