Chapter XXI: Section I: Odin

The first and eldest of the asas is Odin. His name is derived from the verb _vada_ (imperfect _ód_), to walk, (compare watan, wuot, wuth, wüthen, wuothan, wodan). He is the all-_pervading_ spirit of the world, and produces life and spirit (_önd_, _aand_). He does not create the world, but arranges and governs it. With Vile and Ve he makes heaven and earth from Ymer’s body; with Hœner and Loder he makes the first man and woman, and he gives them spirit. All enterprise in peace and in war proceeds from him. He is the author of war and the inventor of poetry. All knowledge comes from him and he is the inventor of the runes. As the spirit of life he permeates all animate and inanimate matter, the whole universe; he is the infinite wanderer. He governs all things, and although the other deities are powerful they all serve and obey him as children do their father. He confers many favors on gods and men. As it is said in the Elder Edda, in the lay of Hyndla:

FREYJA.

Wake maid of maids!
Wake, my friend!
Hyndla! Sister,
Who in the cavern dwellest.
Now there is dark of darks;
We will both to Valhal ride
And to the holy fane.

Let us Odin pray
Into our minds to enter;
He gives and grants
Gold to the deserving.
He gave Hermod
A helm and corselet,
And from him Sigmund
A sword received.

Victory to his sons he gives,
But to some riches;
Eloquence to the great
And to men wit;
Fair wind he gives to traders,
But visions to skalds;
Valor he gives
To many a warrior.

Especially are the heroes constantly the object of his care. He guides and protects the brave hero through his whole life; he watches over his birth and over his whole development; gives him wonderful weapons, teaches him new arts of war; assists him in critical emergencies, accompanies him in war, and takes the impetus out of the enemy’s javelins; and when the warrior has at last grown old, he provides that he may not die upon his bed, but fall in honorable combat. Finally, he protects the social organization and influences the human mind. He revenges murder, protects the sanctity of the oath, subdues hatred, and dispels anxieties and sorrows.

SECTION II. ODIN’S NAMES.

Odin is called Allfather, because he is the father of all the gods, and Valfather (father of the slain), because he chooses for his sons all who fall in combat. For their abode he has prepared Valhal and Vingolf, where they are called einherjes (heroes). In Asgard, Odin has twelve names, but in the Younger Edda forty-nine names are enumerated, and if to these are added all the names by which the poets have called him, the number will reach nearly two hundred. The reason for his many names, says the Younger Edda, is the great variety of languages. For the various nations were obliged to translate his name into their respective tongues in order that they might supplicate and worship him. Some of his names, however, are owing to adventures that have happened to him on his journeys and which are related in old stories. No one can pass for a wise man who is not able to give an account of these wonderful adventures.