Norse Mythology Study Guide
Days of the Week
Overall Explanation: The days of the week were once named after the Roman (Greek) deities. However, when the days were adapted to the Saxon language (Old English), the names were changed to ones that were identifiable by the Saxon (and eventually Norse) culture.
Sunday – Originally called Dies Sol, it was changed to ‘Sun Daeg’ by the Saxons as they had no god which represented the sun.
Monday – Originally called Dies Luna, it was changed to ‘Moon Daeg’ by the Saxons as they had no god which represented the moon.
Tuesday – Originally called Dies Mars (the god of war), it was changed to Tiwaz (Tyr) Daeg, a Saxon god who was associated with war.
Wednesday –Originally called Dies Mercury (the messenger god), it was changed to Wotan (Odin) Daeg. The reason for this odd change was that in Roman mythology, Mercury is the collector of dead souls, and since in the Norse myths, Odin receives the souls of dead warriors, they considered him the best fit.
Thursday – Originally called Dies Jupiter (Zeus), it was changed to Thor’s Day, as both deities were sky gods and were associated with thunder and lightning.
Friday – Originally called Dies Venus (the goddess of beauty), it was changed to Frigga (Freyja) Daeg, who is appropriately the most beautiful of the Norse goddesses.
Saturday – This is the one day of the week which still bears a Roman name. It is named after the Titan Saturn (Chronos).
The World Tree (Yggdrasil)
WARNING – The following information is NOT the only interpretation of how the world tree is organized, and there is a lot of debate over which locations are the ‘Nine Worlds’, and how they are grouped. (For example: In some myths Nidavellir and Svartalfheim are the same place.)
The above world
-Asgard – The world of the Gods.
- Valhalla – The home of the Gods
- The Bitfrost Bridge – The ‘Rainbow’ bridge. The Bridge that connects the above world with Midgard. It was the mythical representation of the aurora borealis (the northern lights).
- Ratatosk – The giant squirrel which tends to the world tree.
-Alfheim – The home of the Light Elves.
-Vanaheim – The home of the Vanir, the old gods.
Midgard (Middle Earth) – The land of humans (our world).
-Nidavellir – The land of the Dwarves. This was an underground realm.
-Svartalfheim – The land of the Dark Elves.
-Jotunheim – The land of the Frost Giants.
- Utgard – The Hall of the Frost Giants, ruled by a giant named Utgard-Loki (not to be confused with the Asgardian Loki).
- Jormungandr – The giant serpent (a child of Loki) which circles the oceans of the Earth and which can bite its own tail.
Niflheim (The under worlds)
-Muspelheim – The land of the Fire Giants.
-Helheim – The land of the dead. Home to the goddess Hel (another of Loki’s children) who was a beautiful woman from the waist up, but a corpse from the waist down.
- Nidhogg – A giant serpent who eats at the roots of the world tree and will one day cause it’s collapse.
- Hvergelmir – The eternity well. It is said that all waters can trace their flow back to the eternity well.
Necklace of the Brisings
- Freyja – The goddess of beauty. There are some interpretations of Norse myths where she is synonymous with Frigga (the queen of Asgard and wife of Odin). This myth seems to follow that theory.
- Odin – The ruler of the gods, and he becomes very upset with the actions that Freyja takes in this story.
- Alfrigg, Dvalin, BerlingGrerr – The four dwarves who create the necklace of the Brisings.
- Sessrumnir – Freyja’s hall. Half of the souls of the dead go to Valhalla (Odin’s hall) and the other half go to Frejya.
The Lay of Thrym
- Thrym – The Frost Giant who steals Thor’s hammer.
- Mjolnir – Thor’s hammer. Supposedly, only Thor can lift his hammer, but for some reason that does not seem to apply to this tale.
- Thor – The god of storms and thunder. He is known as the protector of Asgard, and spends a lot of time fighting Giants.
Thor’s Journey ToUtgard
- Utgard – The hall of the Frost Giants (The capitol of Jotunheim).
- Jotunheim – The land of the Frost Giants, it is a mountainous realm.
- Utgard-Loki/Skrymir – The ruler of the Frost Giants and a powerful illusionist. During the course of the story, he fools Thor and his companions several times with his magic.
- Thor’s Goats – These animals pull Thor’s chariot. However, when he gets hungry, he can butcher them and eat them, as their flesh regenerates over their bones on the next morning.
- ThialfiRoskva – Two humans who become Thor’s servants after Thialfi (the young man) accidentally cripples one of Thor’s goats by breaking a bone. Thialfi is represented as very fast in the story.
- The Contest – Thor fails to lift a cat (Jormungandr serpent), he loses a drinking contest (because he’s actually drinking from the ocean), and he loses a wrestling contest (because he’s actually wrestling with death/old age).
Loki loses an eating contest (to fire).
Thialfi loses a race (to the speed of thought).
They lost their competitions, because they were not aware that they were fighting illusions of actual objects.
- The Return – Utgard-loki compliments the three on how well they competed, and reveals the nature of their competitors. However, he also taunts them, and tells Thor that he will never see Utgard again, and he makes the city vanish.