Thor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigation Jump to search

Thor's Fight with the Giants (Tors strid med jättarna) by Mårten Eskil Winge (1872).
In Norse mythology, Thor (/θɔːr/; from Old Norse: Þórr [ˈθoːrː]) is a hammer-wielding god
associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of
mankind, hallowing, and fertility. Besides Old Norse Þórr, the deity occurs in Old English as
Þunor, in Old Frisian as Thuner, in Old Saxon as Thunar, and in Old High German as Donar, all
ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym *Þun(a)raz, meaning 'Thunder'.

Thor is a prominently mentioned god throughout the recorded history of the Germanic peoples,
from the Roman occupation of regions of Germania, to the Germanic expansions of the Migration
Period, to his high popularity during the Viking Age, when, in the face of the process of the
 Christianization of Scandinavia, emblems of his hammer, Mjölnir, were worn and Norse pagan
personal names containing the name of the god bear witness to his popularity.

Due to the nature of the Germanic corpus, narratives featuring Thor are only attested in Old Norse,
where Thor appears throughout Norse mythology. Norse mythology, largely recorded in Iceland
from traditional material stemming from Scandinavia, provides numerous tales featuring the god. In
these sources, Thor bears at least fteen names, is the husband of the golden-haired goddess Sif, is
the lover of the jötunn Járnsaxa, and is generally described as erce eyed, with red hair and red
beard.[1] With Sif, Thor fathered the goddess (and possible valkyrie) Þrúðr; with Járnsaxa, he
fathered Magni; with a mother whose name is not recorded, he fathered Móði, and he is the
stepfather of the god Ullr. By way of Odin, Thor has numerous brothers, including Baldr. Thor has
two servants, Þjál and Röskva, rides in a cart or chariot pulled by two goats, Tanngrisnir and
Tanngnjóstr (that he eats and resurrects), and is ascribed three dwellings (Bilskirnir, Þrúðheimr, and
Þrúðvangr). Thor wields the hammer Mjölnir, wears the belt Megingjörð and the iron gloves
Járngreipr, and owns the staff Gríðarvölr. Thor's exploits, including his relentless slaughter of his
foes and erce battles with the monstrous serpent Jörmungandr—and their foretold mutual deaths
during the events of Ragnarök—are recorded throughout sources for Norse mythology.

Into the modern period, Thor continued to be acknowledged in rural folklore throughout Germanic-
speaking Europe. Thor is frequently referred to in place names, the day of the week Thursday bears
his name (modern English Thursday derives from Old English þunresdæġ, 'Þunor's day'), and names
stemming from the pagan period containing his own continue to be used today, particularly in
Scandinavia. Thor has inspired numerous works of art and references to Thor appear in modern
popular culture. Like other Germanic deities, veneration of Thor is revived in the modern period in
Heathenry.

Contents
• 1 Name
• 2 Historical attestations
◦ 2.1 Roman era
◦ 2.2 Post-Roman era
◦ 2.3 Viking age
◦ 2.4 Post-Viking age
▪ 2.4.1 Poetic Edda
▪ 2.4.2 Prose Edda, Heimskringla, and sagas
▪ 2.4.3 Saint Olaf
◦ 2.5 Modern folklore
• 3 Archaeological record
◦ 3.1 Hammer pendants, hammer coins, and Eyrarland Statue
◦ 3.2 Swastikas
• 4 Eponymy and toponymy
• 5 Origin, theories, and interpretations
• 6 Modern in uence
• 7 See also
• 8 Notes
• 9 References
• 10 External links
Name
fi
fl
fi
fi
fi
 The medieval Germanic forms Þórr (Old Norse), Donar (Old High German), Þunor (Old English),
Thuner (Old Frisian) and Thunar (Old Saxon) are cognates—linguistic siblings of the same origin.[2]
They descend from the Proto-Germanic reconstructed theonym *Þun(a)raz ('Thunder'),[3] which is
identical to the name of the Celtic god Taranus (by metathesis–switch of sounds–of an earlier
*Tonaros, attested in the dative tanaro or the Gaulish river name Tanarus), and further related to the
Latin epithet Tonans (attached to Jupiter), via the common Proto-Indo-European root for 'thunder'
*(s)tenh₂-.[4] According to scholar Peter Jackson, those theonyms may have originally emerged as
the result of the fossilization of an original epithet (or epiclesis, i.e. invocational name) of the Proto-
Indo-European thunder-god *Perkwunos, since the Vedic weather-god Parjanya is also called
stanayitnú- ('Thunderer').[5]

The perfect match between the thunder-gods *Tonaros and *Þun(a)raz, which both go back to a
common form *ton(a)ros ~ *tṇros, is notable in the context of early Celtic–Germanic linguistic
contacts, especially when added to other inherited terms with thunder attributes, such as
*Meldunjaz–*meldo- (from *meldh- 'lightning, hammer', i.e. *Perkwunos' weapon) or *Fergunja–
*Fercunyā (from *perkwun-iyā 'wooded mountains', i.e. *Perkwunos' realm).[6]

The English weekday name Thursday comes from Old English Þunresdæg, meaning 'day of Þunor'.
It is cognate with Old Norse Þórsdagr and with Old High German Donarestag. All of these terms
derive from the Late Proto-Germanic weekday *Þonaresdag ('Day of *Þun(a)raz'), a calque of
Latin Iovis dies ('Day of Jove'; cf. modern Italian giovedì, French jeudi, Spanish jueves). By
employing a practice known as interpretatio germanica during the Roman period, ancient Germanic
peoples adopted the Latin weekly calendar and replaced the names of Roman gods with their own.[7]

Beginning in the Viking Age, personal names containing the theonym Thórr are recorded with great
frequency, whereas no examples are known prior to this period. Thórr-based names may have
ourished during the Viking Age as a de ant response to attempts at Christianization, similar to the
wide scale Viking Age practice of wearing Thor's hammer pendants.[8]
fl
fi