- “A hall she saw standing…”: Voluspa 38.
- “I was young before… Man is man’s joy.”: Havamal 47.
- “The lame rides a horse…”: Havamal 71.
- “There she saw in fighting currents…”: Voluspa 39.
- Aegir: A giant and a personification of the sea. Married to Rán.
- Aesir: Gods of the principal pantheon in Norse religion. The group of deities called Vanir eventually became a subgroup of the Æsir. Thus, Vanir are sometimes referred to as Æsir, and are included in this list:
- Male: Loki, Forseti, Ullr, Váli, Viðarr, Höðr, Heimdallr, Bragi, Týr, Njörðr, Baldr, Freyr (Yngvi), Thor, Odin
- Female: Frigg, Sága, Eir, Gefjon, Fulla, Freyja (Gefn), Sjöfn, Lofn, Var, Vör, Syn, Hlin, Snotra, Gná
- Alva: Blót that was celebrated in late autumn; it remains unclear why. Perhaps the dead were honored (like All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween).
- Arms ting: mustering of warriors and their weapons, often at one of the winter festivities.
- Arvakr: ‘The early awake’.
- Asgard: The heavenly home of the Æsir.
- Aurvandil, or rather his toe: May have been Venus, Rigel in the constellation Orion, or Sirius. Here it is assumed to be Venus, the evening and morning ‘star’ (actually a planet).
- Baugi: A giant, Suttungr’s brother.
- Benedictio: Blessing.
- Berserker: Literally, bear shirt. Denoted a fighter who, in battle, took on a wild animal’s powers and temperament.
- Bless: From Anglo-Saxon bletsian, blood splatter at blót and consecration. Cf. blesser and blessure, French words of Germanic origin.
- Blót: Blood sacrifice in Norse paganism.
- Blót-giant: Someone who had overeaten of blót and become unnaturally strong.
- Blótgoði: Goði.
- Boar snout: A combat formation with pointed flanks of melee fighters in front, javelin throwers behind, then sling throwers and finally archery. At the very back, an additional group of melee fighters faced backwards for protection.
- Brage: The god of poetry.
- Corpse-cuckoo: A metaphor – kenning – for raven.
- Draug: Living corpses, often with supernatural powers. Zombie.
- Edda: ‘Grandfather’s mother.’ ‘The old’. Also the title of two Old Norse literary works set down on parchment on Iceland in the medieval times.
- Einherjar: Those who died in battle and were believed to resid in Valhall, where, among other things, they feasted and practiced martial arts in preparation of Ragnarök.
- Faering: Rowing boat with two pairs of oars (‘four-oaring’ = faering).
- Fenrir: A huge wolf in Norse mythology.
- Fensalir: ‘The swamp halls’, Frigg’s dwelling.
- Fimbul: Enormous, great.
- Fimbulwinter: The immediate prelude to the events of Ragnarök. It meant ‘great winter’. The mythology might be related to the extreme weather following three large volcanic eruptions in 536, 539/540 and 547, which resulted in a notable drop in temperature across northern Europe. The volcanic eruptions, accompanied by the Plague of Justinian which began in 541, caused crop failures, famine, and millions of deaths across the northern hemisphere.
- Fixed or loose grips: Either you wrestled with your hands locked at each other’s trouser waistbands (trouser grips) or around the other’s upper body (waist grips), or your hands were free to grab your opponent where you wanted (loose grips).
- Fólkvangr: The field of the host. Half of those who died in combat went to Valhall upon death, while the other half were chosen by the goddess Freyja for Fólkvangr.
- Frankland: A ‘pre-France’, heir to the Western Roman Empire.
- Freyja: The goddess of love.
- Freyr: Fertility god.
- Friesland: The northwestern part of present-day Holland.
- Frigg: The omniscient goddess.
- Frigg’s grass: An orchid, scientific name: Dactylorhiza maculata ssp. maculata. The tubers of the orchids have been likened to testicles and since ancient times have been used as a means of increasing sexual drive.
- Frigg’s spinning wheel: The constellation Orion (or its belt).
- Fylgja: Personal protective spirit. Etymologically related to ‘follow’.
- Galdr: Enchantment, often with the intent of influencing events, harming opponents, or strengthening oneself.
- Garmr: A dog, the blood-stained guardian of Hel's gate.
- Geatjod: ‘The kin of Geats’, tjod = folk.
- Geats: A large Germanic tribe inhabiting Geatland, now Götaland, in what is now Sweden. There were western and eastern Geats, living west or east of the large lake Vättern.
- Gefn: Another name for Freyja.
- Gladsheim: Magnificent building that encloses Valhall.
- Glíma: An ancient Nordic martial art wrestling with strict rules.
- Gnipahellir: The home of Garmr.
- Goði, or blótgoði: The cult leader and the one who performed blót, usually a king, chief, or master.
- Graves: It was believed you could bring things over to the other side, why grave goods were as abundant as could be afforded. It was important to make a stately entrance to Valhall.
- Gríð: Free rent, decreed at various locations and occasions, like the ting while it was assembled, and near and around the king and his court.
- Gutes: The population of Gotland, a large island off Sweden’s east coast, in the Baltic Sea.
- Gyðja or blótgyðja: Woman who performed blót. Cf. goði, i.e. a male blót performer.
- Gypeswic: Ipswich, at that time a thriving trading town in East Anglia (then a kingdom, now part of the UK).
- Götaland: The southern quarter of what is now Sweden.
- Hall: The farm’s large building where both people and animals lived.
- Hel: The goddess of death, who was believed to rule the realm of the dead with the same name.
- Hersir: Chief at the local level. In recent times the king ruled over the kingdom, the earl ruled over each land and the hersir over a hundred (county division, also called a wapentake).
- Hlin: Goddess of protection and compassion, believed to protect in the event of imminent danger. Another name for the omniscient Frigg.
- Hnefatafl: A common board game enjoyed by the Norsemen.
- Holmgang: A form of regulated duel to resolve legal disputes.
- Hræsvelgr: A giant in the shape of a giant eagle. All winds were created when he flapped his wings.
- Hróðvitnir: Another name for Fenrir.
- Húsbóndi: A male free landowner.
- Idavall: A large plain at Asgård. After Ragnarök, the surviving gods would meet there.
- Jutes: The population of Jutland.
- Jörmungandr, aka the Midgard Serpent: A monster serpent, believed to live in the sea, that grew so large that it was able to surround the Earth and grasp its own tail.
- Kenning: A metaphorical compound word or phrase, often used in poetry, e.g., “horse of the sea” for “ship”.
- Kent: Today a county in the south-east of the UK. At the time of this story, one of the seven small kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon England.
- Knarr: A type of cargo ship, sturdy and with a broad hull.
- Leidang: Campaign at sea. The name was based on an Old Norse word for (warrior) entourage, ‘led’ (lead).
- Livonia: An area in present-day Estonia and Latvia.
- Long hundred: 120, also known as the great hundred or twelfty.
- Magne: Thor’s son.
- Midsummer: About the middle of today’s July. The year was divided into two halves: dark days and night lights, changing approximately in mid-April and in mid-October. Midsummer was in the middle – in other words, in mid-July. This midsummer followed the climate more than the sun because in the northern hemisphere this time of year is usually warmer than during the astronomical midsummer (20-22 June).
- Midwinter: Approximately mid-January. The year was divided into two halves: dark days and night lights. The transition took place approximately in mid-October and mid-April. Midwinter was in the middle, that is, in the middle of January. This is logical from the perspective that the climatic seasons lag after the astronomical ones. Yule and Midwinter were probably two different holidays.
- Mímir: The deity of wisdom and knowledge, a giant. Guardian of the well of wisdom.
- Mistblinde: Aegir’s father.
- Months:
- Thor’s month: January/February
- Goe’s month: February/March
- Spring month: March/April
- Grass month: April/May
- Flower month: May/June
- Bloom or solar month: June/July
- Summer or hay month: July/August
- Harvest month: August/September
- Autumn month: September/October
- Slaughter month: October/November
- Yule month: November / December
- Marrow sucking month: December/January
- Nanna: The goddess of mourning. She died of grief when her husband Balder was shot and was burned along with him.
- Náströnd: ‘Corpse beach’, an inhospitable beach in Hel.
- Níðhöggr: A malicious dragon who were believed to gnaw at the roots of the world tree Yggdrasil.
- Nīðing: A person without honor, a villain or perpetrator, especially one who had committed serious violent crimes against children or against those unable to defend themselves.
- Njaerð and Njörðr: Fertility gods, the former the feminine and the latter the masculine aspect. Njörðr appears in mythology and manuscripts while evidence of Njaerð is primarily manifest through place names. Njaerð was the same as the female Germanic fertility goddess Nerthus, described by Tacitus. In Old Norse mythology she was referred to as Njörðr’s sister, without a name.
- Njuding: Someone from the petty kingdom of Njudung.
- None: Daily Christian prayer in the middle of the afternoon.
- Norns: Three goddesses of fate, spinning the threads of life for all humans. These were Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld. Urd cared about the past, Verdandi about the present, and Skuld about the future.
- Nótt: Both night and goddess of night. Her horse was called Rimfaxe (rime or frost in the mane). Her son was Dagr (Day). His horse was called Skinfaxe (shining mane).
- Obotrites: West Slavic people.
- Odin: The Allfather, the foremost among the Aesir, called by many names, also in this book.
- Outlaw: If sentenced as an outlaw, one were not permitted to remain in inhabited areas. It was allowed to kill such people without penalty.
- Prime: Daily Christian prayer in the morning.
- Rán: Goddess and a personification of the sea, often associated with a net, which she used to capture seafarers.
- Ratatoskr: A squirrel who ran up and down the world tree Yggdrasil to carry insults and messages between Hræsvelgr perched atop Yggdrasil, and the serpent Níðhöggr at its roots.
- Rimfaxe: Nótt’s horse. Its froth is the dew.
- Rind: One of the female Aesir, who was raped by Odin. The protector of all raped people.
- Saracens: Muslims. During this period, the Umayyad Caliphate conquered almost the entire Iberian Peninsula and was eventually halted in present-day France.
- Seiðr: Divination, often during a trance, sometimes induced by drugs. Henbane and hemp seeds have been found in Old Norse cultic contexts. Seiðr often belonged to the female domain. Although Odin conducted seiðr it was seen as unmanly to engage in this practice. However, Odin was the great shape shifter, crossing many delimitations.
- Sext: Daily Christian prayer in the middle of the day.
- Sjofn: The encourager of physical love.
- Skirner: A deity, master of seduction.
- Snotra: Goddess of wisdom.
- Surtr: A giant, ruler and guardian of Muspelheim.
- Suttungr: A giant who had hidden the dwarves’ poetic mead inside the mountain and set his daughter Gunnlöd to guard it.
- Svealand: The second southernmost quarter of present-day Sweden, inhabited by the Sweones.
- Sweones: A large Germanic tribe inhabiting Svealand.
- Svitjod: Svi = Sweon and tjod = people. Ancient name of the entire population of Svealand.
- Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr: The goats who pulled Thor's chariot. Tanngrisnir meant ‘one with gaps between their teeth’, and Tanngnjóstr ‘teeth grinder’.
- Thor: The hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, strength, and the protection of mankind.
- Thul: Speaker or orator, i.e., one who speaks (wisely).
- Thunder: The Old Norse word asaekia was composed of ‘Aesir’ (especially Thor) and ‘åka’, Norse word meaning ‘to ride/go’. People used to say the Aesir were out and about when thunder approached.
- Ting: Political assemblies for legislation, administration of justice, and management, in the ancient Norse societies.
- Troy: The Trojan War was probably a familiar narrative among the Norse at this time.
- Týr: God of war and heaven, the boldest warrior of the Aesir. Had only one hand after Fenrir bit off the other when he put it in his jaw, as a pledge.
- Ullr: Hunting god.
- Uplands: A collective term for the countryside in present-day Uppland, a province of Sweden.
- Uppsala: During the migration period (~400-800 AD), a political, religious, economic, and, possibly, military center in Svealand, the land of the Sweones. Today Sweden’s fourth most populated city, and home to the oldest university in the Nordic countries still in operation.
- Valhall: A majestic hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Half of those who died in combat were believed to go to Valhall upon death, led there by Valkyries to be with Odin, while the other half were chosen by the goddess Freyja for the field of the host, Fólkvangr.
- Valkyries: Female spirit beings who, among other things, were believed to pick up fallen warriors from the battlefield and carry them to Valhall. Often, their names were descriptive of their roles and abilities. Some mentioned in this book are Eir(bjorg), Geirskögul, Gunnr, Hildr, Herfjötur, Skögul, Skuld, and Þrúðr.
- Vanir: A group of deities associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future, believed to have formed the pantheon preceding the introduction of the Aesir. Eventually, the Vanir became a subgroup of the Aesir, and members of the Vanir are often referred to as members of the Aesir.
- Warden: An elf, gnome, or equivalent being, that dwelled at homesteads and farms, usually protecting the farm and its inhabitants but at times turning against them if badly treated. It was often believed that the warden lived in a particular tree of the property.
- Veðrfölnir: A hawk, bleached by the wind and weather, that perched between the eyes of Hræsvelgr at the top of Yggdrasil.
- The Vik: The land around the current Oslo Fjord all the way down to Gothenburg. Vik means bay or cove in Scandinavian languages.
- Viking: Generally, and spelled with lower-case v, meant the occupation of ravaging and plundering, i.e., not an ethnicity! Spelled with a capital V, it can also mean someone from the Vik. Both meanings are used in this story. (Some believe that the occupational sense originated from the geographical sense.)
- Vili and Vé: Brothers of Odin.
- Wind-eye: Window, or, rather, triangular hole at each end of the rooftop where smoke was let out.
- Virdings: Residents of Vaerend in southern Geatland.
- Worlds: Old Norse mythology included nine worlds:
- Midgard for humans
- Asgard for Aesir
- Vanaheimr for Vanir
- Útgarðar for giants
- Álfheimr for elves
- Svartalfheimr/Niðavellir for dwarves
- Hel/Helheim for the dead
- Niflheim, a cold hell, constantly wrapped in a damp, frosty mist
- Muspelheim, where unbearable heat prevailed
- Yggdrasil: An immense and central sacred tree. Around it existed all else, including the Nine Worlds.
- Ymir: A giant from whose body heaven and earth were created.
- Yngvi: Another name for Freyr.
- Yule: The origin of the word is shrouded in obscurity. One explanation may be that Yule comes from jór ale, i.e. deer/animal ale in the sense of horse beer. Horsemeat and ale were consumed at Yule.