Woden Sentence Examples

Those offered to Odin (Woden) were generally, if not always, men, from the time of Tacitus onwards.

The Danish king " Scyld Scefing," whose story is told in the opening lines of the poem, and his son Beowulf, are plainly identical with Sceldwea, son of Sceaf, and his son Beaw, who appear among the ancestors of Woden in the genealogy of the kings of Wessex given in the Old English Chronicle.

From Woden also most of the anglo-Saxon royal families traced their descent.

By the Romans he was identified at an early date with Mercurius, whence our name "Wednesday" (Woden's day) as a translation of dies Mercurii.

There is evidence, however, that deities similar to Woden were known to some of the ancient peoples of central Europe, e.g.

Wanstead is mentioned in Domesday, and the name is considered by some to be derived from Woden's stead or place, indicating a spot dedicated to the worship of Woden.

It is traditionally supposed to occupy the site of a place of the worship of Woden or Odin, and the name of the town to be derived from this god through the form Wodensborough.

Wednesday was assigned to the planet Mercury, the equivalent of the Germanic god Woden; Thursday to Jupiter, the equivalent of Thor; and Friday to Friga, the goddess of love, who is represented by Venus among the Romans and among the Babylonians by Ishtar.

Near the town is Bad Helmstedt, which has an iron mineral spring, and the Lubbensteine, two blocks of granite on which sacrifices to Woden are said to have been offered.

Among these were Odin (Woden), Thor (Thunor) and Tyr (Ti); so also Frigg (Frig), the wife of Odin (see Frigg, Odin, Woden, Thor, Tyr).

Robin Hood is Hod, the god of the wind, a form of Woden; Maid Marian is Morgen, the dawn-maiden; Friar Tuck is Toki, the spirit of frost and snow."

Of the latter the number has tended to diminish in the light of modern scholarship. The fashion during the 19th century set strongly in the other direction, and the " degraded gods " theory was applied not only to such conspicuous heroes as Siegfried, Dietrich and Beowulf, but to a host of minor characters, such as the good marquis Rudeger of the Nibelungenlied and our own Robin Hood (both identified with Woden Hruodperaht).

In connexion with this it is interesting to notice that the East Saxon dynasty claimed descent from Seaxneat, not Woden.

To the Anglo-Saxons he was known as Woden and to the Germans as Wodan (Wuotan), which are the regular forms of the same name in those languages.

See TEUTONIC PEOPLES, ad fin.; and WODEN.

There can be little doubt that the heathen Angli worshipped certain gods, among them Ti (Tig), Woden, Thunor and a goddess Frigg, from whom the names Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are derived.

From Woden (q.v.) most of the royal families traced their descent.

The royal family of Norway claimed descent from Frey, and many royal families, both English and Northern, from Woden (Odin).

The position of Sceldwea and Beaw (in Malmesbury's Latin called Sceldius and Beowius) in the genealogy as anterior to Woden would not of itself prove that they belong to divine mythology and not to heroic legend.