Ask and Embla

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Ask and Embla, with Odin in the background. Postverk Føroya postage stamp based on a design by Anker Eli Petersen , 2003.

Ask and Embla ( Old Norse Askr ok Embla ) are the names of the first two people in Norse mythology . They created three gods , among them Odin , the supreme god, from the wood of two tree trunks that they found on the beach.

The origin of man ( anthropogony ) is the end of the Nordic creation story . Various traditions have evidently emerged in this myth. The oldest of them deal with the origin of man from the tree and perhaps the acquisition of fire .

swell

Nordic literature transmits the myth of Ask and Embla in two similar but different versions. On the one hand through the Völuspá , a song of the song Edda , which may have been written in the 10th or 11th century and is available in copies from the 13th century. On the other hand, through the Prose Edda that Snorri Sturluson wrote in the 13th century.

Song Edda

“Unz þrír qvómo ór því liði,
ǫflgir oc ástgir, æsir, at húsi;
fundo á landi, lítt megandi,
Asc oc Emblo, ørlǫglausa.

ǫnd þau né átto, óð þau né hǫfðo,
lá né læti né lito góða;
ǫnd gaf Óðinn, óð gaf Hœnir,
lá gaf Lóðurr oc lito góða. "

“Finally three of this crowd,
powerful and well-meaning wohlsir, came to the house,
they found
Ask and Embla on the beach, hardly having any strength, without fate.

They had no soul, they had no reason,
neither blood nor movement nor good color;
Soul gave Odin , reason gave Hönir ,
blood gave Lodurr and good color. "

- Völuspá 17-18

Ask and Embla á landi find three sir , that is gods , in the country. Based on the Prose Edda, this mostly means the beach of the sea. There is no mention of what material they are made of, but the name Askr indicates that they are made of wood, as its name means 'ash'. The two are not yet humans, but plants. Apparently they came from the ocean and were washed up on the beach.

The sea water is the former blood of the giant Ymir , from whose body parts the gods built the world. Sea water also played a role in the creation of the dwarfs , which arose shortly before humans. It is said that they were formed in part from Ymir's blood. But the other part does not come from wood, as with humans, but from stone.

What separates Ask and Embla from being human is the lack of certain qualities. The Völuspá lists a total of seven characteristics, the first two seem to be of a superordinate nature, which are determined by the following five. As a result, Ask and Embla lack vitality and life purpose, because in their herbal pre-form they are still lítt megandi 'not very strong' and ørlǫglausa 'without fate'.

Revitalization of the people in the Völuspá
No. What Ask and Embla was missing What the gods gave What god translation
1 megin - Strength, power
2 örlög - fate
3 önd önd Odin Breath, life, soul
4th or or Honir Anger, frenzy, excitement, poetry ≈ spirit, mind, soul?
5 la la Lodur Warmth of life ?, blood?
6th läti - Voice? / Move?
7th lito goda lito goda Lodur good color ≈ good looks? / divine appearance?

The translations of this passage from Völuspá face the insoluble task of having to translate several ambiguous or unclear terms with one German word each, without the content of the Nordic source text being able to be reproduced precisely.

  • Odin gives Ask and Embla the önd , that is the 'breath' and therefore the 'life'. Odin, the supreme god, whose essence is originally closely connected with storm and wind, blows in them the wind of life, so to speak.
  • Hönir gives both of them the óðr , which means 'anger, frenzy, excitement', but also 'poetry'. Since the understanding of anger at that time included not only anger, but also ecstatic states, óðr is more aptly translated as spirit at this point. ( Spirit originally meant well, agitation '.) Depending on how you want to understand the poet can be in the mental spirit (the mind, at least ) or the intrinsic spirit (the spirit see). According to the Christian definition, the soul is the spirit that has connected itself to a body, so óðr can also be translated here as 'soul'.
  • The third god is the otherwise unknown Lodur , who is equated with Loki by some researchers . He gives Ask and Embla gross, human characteristics. On the one hand the lá , which can perhaps be translated as 'blood' or 'warmth of life'. Like breath or spirit, blood is another carrier of life force. On the other hand, Lodur gives the two lito góða , literally 'the good color'. This is mainly interpreted as good looks, that is, human looks. A minority opinion in research reads lito goða , the 'divine appearance' in the original text . That would mean that Lodur molded the two to look like the gods.

However, the Völuspá does not explicitly explain how Ask and Embla came to their fate . Either it is created at the same time through the act of creation, or it is given to them by the three Norns (see below).

Prose Edda

"[...] ok hvaðan kómu mennirnir þeir er heim byggja? - […] Þá er þeir gengu með sævarströndu Borssynir, fundu þeir tré tvau ok tóku upp trén ok sköpuðu af menn. Gaf inn fyrsti önd ok líf, annarr vit ok hræring, þriði ásjónu, mál ok heyrn ok sjón, gáfu þeim klæði ok nöfn. Hét karlmaðrinn Askr en konan Embla, ok ólst þaðan af mannkindin, sú er byggðin var gefinn undir Miðgarði. "

“But where did the people who colonize the world come from? - […] When Borr's sons were walking along the beach, they found two tree trunks. They picked it up and created people from it. The first gave them soul and life, the second mind and the ability to move, the third external form, speech, hearing and the ability to see. They gave them clothes and names; the man's name was Ask, the woman Embla, and they gave birth to the human race to which Midgard was given home. "

- S NORRI S TURLUSON : Prose Edda: Gylfaginning 9

According to the Prose Edda , the gods expressly find two nameless tré on the beach of the sea , that is, 'tree trunks or woods'. In the case of the first two gods, the process of creation roughly corresponds to that of the Völuspá ; in the case of the gifts of the third god, however, the Prose Edda emphasizes more the material characteristics in the form of shape, perception and the ability to express themselves. The giving of clothes to the people does not come from the Völuspá . But it does not have to represent an invention of Snorri Sturluson, as this passage from Havamál shows, which could be an echo of a passage in the creation myth that has perished:

“Váðir mínar gaf ec velli at
tveim trémǫnnom; [...] "

“I gave [Odin] my clothes to
two woodmen in the field ; [...] "

- Havamál 49

Only after the two woods have been provided with everything they need to be people do they get their names. This sequence is also described in a comparable manner in the Völuspá in the establishment of the world. Since the prose Edda lacks the attribute of fatelessness and the gods Ask and Embla expressly give the middle world to their home, the creative power of the gods is more strongly emphasized overall.

The greatest break with the Völuspá , however, is represented by the acting trinity of gods. Not Odin, Hönir and Lodur, but the sons of Borr animate Ask and Embla. Elsewhere, Snorri explains to Sturluson that he means Odin, Vili and Ve .

reception

People from trees

The making of Askr and Embla. Illustration by Robert Engels , 1913.

Myths according to which man emerged from the tree are spread all over the world. They are told in America, Australia and Indonesia and especially among the Indo-European peoples such as the Teutons, Greeks, Iranians and Indians.

In Nordic literature, the primeval relationship between man and tree can be found not only in the myth of Ask and Embla, but also generally in the language of poets, in which man was often described as a tree. Snorri Sturluson's textbook The Language of Poetry makes this clear:

"Af þessum heitum hafa skáldin kallat manninn ask eða hlyn, lund eða öðrum viðarheitum karlkenndum [...]
Fyrir því er kona kölluð til kenningar öllum kvenkenndum viðarheitum."

"The skalds [have] called the man ash or maple, also Hain or with another male tree name [...]
[The] woman [is] named in the kennings with all female tree names."

- S NORRI S TURLUSON : Prose Edda: The Language of Poetry 31

The Germanic complex of ideas man-and-tree also includes legends and customs that have been handed down from several German regions since the Middle Ages. Accordingly, in certain areas of Tyrol and Switzerland, children come out of the trees. The custom of planting a tree for a newborn is more widespread, which links the two fates so that one can say: If the tree dies, the person dies.

One characteristic that distinguishes humans from animals is their upright gait. Its upright body resembles the upright trunk of the trees, and thus, like the tree, it connects the worlds of the underworld and the heavenly world. The deciduous tree is also an image of the change in human life. But especially the tree of birth shows that there is a magical, sympathetic relationship between tree and human, based on an animistic worldview. Sometimes the Germanic relationship between man and tree, as expressed in the Nordic myth of Ask and Embla, was classified as totemism .

The first human couple

Ask and Embla are not only the first people, they also form the first pair of people, from whom, according to Snorri Sturluson, all people are descended. The fact that Ask is male and Embla is female can only be found in the Prose Edda .

Older research saw the pair of Ask and Embla as the Nordic images of Adam and Eve . This was not only due to the fact that both couples begin with the same initials, but also because both are enlivened by a trinity, because according to the medieval interpretation of the biblical creation saga, the trinity was responsible for animating the first humans. Today, however, one sees this as an interesting coincidence rather than causal relationships.

Current research at Ask and Embla is based either on an Indo-European myth or on a secondary tradition of Norse mythology, which was influenced by myths from the Near East. In Iranian mythology , a rhubarb plant grows out of the earth, the stem of which forms meschia and meschiane 'mortals and mortals', which are so fused together that their arms rest on the back of each other's shoulders. Ahura Mazda , the god of light, gives them their breath after they have assumed human form and thus animates them. Obviously, the rhubarb stems from a later layer of tradition and replaced a tree species that can no longer be determined, because the ancient writings still describe the plant of Meschia and Meschiane as a tree, in places even explicitly.

Ask

Ask, Old Norse Askr goes back to Old Norse askr , which means 'ash' .

old north. askr 'ash' <    germ. * askaz 'ash' <    idg. * osk- 'ash'.

The name probably belonged to a mythical progenitor in ancient Germanic times. While Askr is the progenitor of humans in western Norse mythology, the semi-legendary Æsc 'ash' is considered the progenitor of the Anglo-Saxon royal family of Kent. In older research it was assumed that the name of the legendary first king of the Saxons, Aschanes (Latinized Askanius) also means 'ash'. According to a German legend, the king and his people grew out of a stone rock in the Harz Mountains, which was in the forest near a spring. The name is now traced back to Ascanius , the son of the Trojan hero Aeneas .

It is conceivable that the relationship man-as-ash stems from Indo-European times, since there are also comparable myths among the ancient Greeks. In research, the myth handed down by Hesiod is particularly emphasized, according to which the man of the Iron Age emerged from the μελία (melia) 'ash'. In the myth of the fire robbery turn Hesiod uses the word melioi for 'People', the male form of Meliai is, bringing the ash nymphs are called. The melioi are thus 'the men who belong to the ash nymphs '.

Interestingly, there is a connection between the world tree Yggdrasil and Ask in Völuspá , because both share the ash nature with each other. For more information see below.

Embla

In contrast to Ask, Embla, in Old Norse Embla , has not yet been interpreted convincingly. Despite many efforts it was not possible to derive the name conclusively from the Old Norse or an older language level, which can be seen as an indication of a very old age of the name.

The two common interpretations that have so far received the most attention in research are both based on the assumption that Embla, like Ask, is derived from a tree name.

Embla translates one of these two interpretations as 'elm' ( Sophus Bugge ).

old north. * Elmla <old north. * Almilon <old north. almr 'elm' <    germ. * elmaz 'elm' <idg. * elem 'elm' <idg. * el- '(reddish, brownish) shiny'.

Embla translates the other interpretation as 'creeping plant' ( Hans Sperber ).

Greek άμπελος (ampelos) ‚vine, creeper '<    germ. * ambilo‚ tendril, vine, creeper'> old north. Embla

Both interpretations suffer from the fact that they are based on language acrobatics. Nevertheless, a large part of the research toying with Sperber's interpretation, as it builds a bridge to an Indo-European myth, according to which making fire with a wooden stick and wooden board was viewed as making love. Perhaps this is a myth that expresses the Incarnation through the acquisition of fire. The wood of the creeper would actually be suitable as a soft and easily flammable wood, but so far there is no evidence that ash wood was used as a drill.

However, Embla does not necessarily have to go back to a tree name. There is no rule in the myths of the peoples that says that the name of the first man gives information about what material he was created from. New ways of interpretation have been pursued even more recently. For example, Embla was translated as 'companion'. Another interpretation emphasizes the myth of making fire and understands Embla as 'vagina' and Askr as 'sword' (Henning Kure). According to another opinion, one sees in the two names microcosmic equivalents of the macrocosm, which represent the tree Yggdrasil and the source of fate . In this context, Embla is understood as the equivalent of the source and its name is interpreted as a 'water pot' (Karl G. Johannson).

Were there different stages of human incarnation?

The Völuspá is usually read in such a way that man was created in a single act of creation. But that is not certain. In the Völuspá there are two unclear passages in the text about the creation of man, which make it possible that it took perhaps two or even three acts of creation before man became man.

According to some scientists, the dwarves made the (wooden) preforms of the people, which were then finally brought to life by the gods. The relevant passage can be found in the creation of the dwarfs, which arose before humans.

„Þar var Mótsognir mæztr um orðinn
dverga allra, enn Durinn annarr;
þeir manlícon mǫrg um gorðo,
dvergar, ór iorðo [í iorðu], sem Durinn sagði. "

“ Modsognir
had become the most excellent of all the dwarfs , and Durinn the second; they created
many human forms ,
dwarfs from earth [or: in the earth] , as Durinn said. "

- Völuspá 10

According to this opinion, Old Norse manlikon 'human figures ' refers to the incarnation and not to the becoming dwarf. With the result: Modsognir and Durin produce human forms. But since the context is about the dwarf creation, manlikon is more likely to express that the gods (or the first two dwarfs) created dwarves in human form.

Individual researchers take from the Völuspá another act of creation, namely the assignment of a fate. Because when the gods found Ask and Embla, they were still örlöglausa ' fateless '. Accordingly, the bestowal of fate could also be part of the Incarnation. In Norse mythology, however, it was not the gods who were responsible for this, but the Norns, as can be seen from this Völuspá stanza, which only follows two stanzas after the origin of man:

„Þaðan koma meyiar, margs vitandi,
þriár, ór þeim sæ, he and þolli stendr;
Urð héto eina, aðra Verðandi
- scáro á scíði -, Sculd ina þriðio;
þær lǫg lǫgðo, þær líf kuro
alda bornom, ørlǫg seggia. "

“From there [Yggdrasil] girls,
three who know a lot, come out of the water that lies under the tree;
Urd was called the one that other Werdandi ,
- they scratched into the wood - Skuld the third;
they laid down rules, they chose the life of
human children , the fate of men. "

- Völuspá 20

Against this understanding, the objection is that the aforementioned Völuspá stanza only reproduces an analogy which, strictly speaking, only relates to all alda bornom 'born human children ' and not to the created human beings.

What the old texts really meant can no longer be determined. Whichever opinion one takes, ultimately the creation of man remains essentially the work of the gods. The following table summarizes the various possibilities discussed in research.

step Acting power activity context Völuspá stanza
1 Dwarfs Making the human forms Creation of the Dwarfs 10
2 Gods Revitalization of the people Creation of man 17 f.
3 Norns Determination of human destinies The Norns on the World Tree 20th

The creators

Different trinity of gods

The two sources, Völuspá and Prosa-Edda , disagree about which gods make Ask and Embla human. After the Völuspá there are Odin , Hönir and Lodur . According to the Prose Edda , it is Borr's sons , Odin, Vili and Ve .

The creator gods
entirety God 1 God 2 God 3 source
- Odin Hœnir Loðurr Völuspá
Borr's sons (Odin) (Vili) (Vé) Prose Edda

The contradiction between the two sources can only be explained by the fact that Snorri Sturluson either reproduced a different tradition in the Prose Edda ( Eugen Mogk ) or replaced the three gods of the Völuspá with another ( Sigurdur Nordal ).

The fact that both trinity of gods are ancient speaks for two separate traditions. The trinity Odin, Vili and Ve goes back to the old allusion rhyme Wodanaz, Wiliaz and We, which dates back to ancient Germanic times. But Hönir and Lodur must also be old god names, because their myths had already faded or forgotten in the Middle Ages when the Völuspá was written down.

The narrative context of the Prose Edda speaks for an arbitrary exchange of the three gods . In the Völuspá , before the three gods Odin, Hönir and Lodur, a different ensemble of gods already acts, namely the creators of the world, i.e. Burr's sons. From the song Hyndlulióð it follows that one of these sons is Odin. According to the Lokasenna , his brothers were Odin, Vili and Ve. Snorri Sturluson may have done nothing more than follow the logic of these divine songs that were before him, and possibly replaced the trinity of gods Odin, Hönir, Lodur with Odin, Vili and Ve. One motive results from the effort to harmonize the story of creation. If one follows this view, the version of the Völuspà would be the older.

The problem with Hönir and Lodur

Odin, Lodur, Hoenir create Ask and Embla. Illustration by Lorenz Frølich , 1895

Why Hönir and Lodur were chosen to make people out of wood, as well as Odin, is no longer comprehensible, as no clear picture can be obtained of both deities.

Many researchers are puzzling about the fact that Hönir of all people gave man the spirit, since the Ynglinga saga describes him as weak in decision- making and not very strong in spirit. Otherwise the god appears very passively in myths, but mostly in a prominent position. Undoubtedly, he is of great importance for the creation of the world, since according to the Ragnarök he exercises a special priestly and cultic office in connection with the return of the earth.

Lodur, on the other hand, is a completely unknown deity. It occurs only in the triad Odin – Hönir – Lodur and in the designation of Odins as Lodur's friend . However, a trinity of gods Odin – Hönir – Loki is mentioned several times in Nordic literature, the similarity of which leads some research to equate Lodur with Loki . As with Hönir, it is difficult in research to want to give the ambiguous Loki an important role in the incarnation. A connection could be that Loki fills a trickster role among the gods, which belongs to the tribe of the Indo-European mythical world. So it could be understood as a rogue Lodur-Lokis that he shaped man after the face of the gods.

Ash man and world ash

After the revival of Asc ok Emblo , the Völuspá begins the next stanza with "Asc veit ec standa [...]" 'Ash I know stand', but only in the second part of the stanza does it become clear that it is not the person Ask, but an ash tree , namely the world tree Yggdrasil, is meant:

“Asc veit ec standa, called Yggdrasil,
hár baðmr, ausinn hvítaauri;
þaðan koma dǫggvar, þærs í dala falla,
stendr æ yfir, green, Urðar brunni. "

“ I know there is an ash tree, it's called Yggdrasil ,
a tall tree, showered with glistening water;
from there comes the dew that falls in the valleys,
it is always green above the primeval fountain [ the source of fate]. "

- Völuspá 19

Through this poetic device, the man named Esche and the ash named Yggdrasil are united into one. The three levels of the tree (roots, trunk, crown) correspond to the three levels of humans (feet, body, head). Man and tree connect earth and sky through their trunk. The world tree, however, still connects the sphere of the earth deities with those of the heavenly deities. Since the poet unites the world tree and man, he expresses that man also connects the two spheres with one another, even if he himself strives up to the gods.

Occasionally it is also said that the ash nature of Ask and Yggdrasil expresses that man is a real child of the World Tree, a fruit of the universal sperm that is produced by the Yggdrasil ash. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Age of Tradition

At the core of the Ask and Embla myth is certainly the archaic idea that man descends from trees. The division of the revitalization processes into three steps does not require a particularly high level of civilization, as the comparison with other original cultures shows. In contrast, the idea that man is a creation of the gods must be comparatively young. According to a competing and better attested tradition, man was not a creature of the gods, but their child. Research sees it as the older idea, because it is also attested several times in Germanic ancestry myths.

See also

literature

In the order of the year of publication.

  • Sophus Bugge : Helge-digtee i den Aeldre Edda. In the English translation: The Home of the Eddic Poems, London 1896 (1899), p. XXVIII.
  • Hans Sperber : Embla. In: Contributions to the history of the German language and literature 36 (34). 1910. pp. 219-222
  • Franz Rolf Schröder : Germanic creation myths I-II. In: Germ.-Roman. Monthly 19. 1931. pp. 1-26, 81-99.
  • Jan de Vries : Old Germanic history of religion, Volume 2: Religion of the North Germanic. Verlag Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin - Leipzig 1937.
  • Sigurdur Jóhannesson Nordal : Völuspá. 2nd edition (1952). Translation by Ommo Wilts, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1980, ISBN 978-3-534-04430-6
  • Large stone country : Antropogonimyten i Vǫluspá. En tekst- og tradisjonskritisk anlyse. In: Arkiv för nordisk filologi 98. 1983, pp. 80-107.
  • Gro Steinsland: Ask og Embla - fri fantasi or gammel tradisjon? Om et mulig imago dei-motiv i Vǫluspás skapelsesmyte. In: S agnaheimur (Studies in Honor of Hermann Pálsson on his 80th birthday, May 26, 2001). Vienna 2001, pp. 247–262.
  • Rudolf Simek : Religion and Mythology of the Teutons . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2003, ISBN 3-534-16910-7 .
  • Anders Hultgård : Creation Myths. In: Heinrich Beck, Dieter Geuenich, Heiko Steuer (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde - Vol. 27. 2nd edition. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin - New York 2004, ISBN 978-3-110-18116-6 .
  • Anders Hultgård: The Askr and Embla myth in a comparative perspective. In: A. Andren, K. Jennbert, C. Raudvere: Old Norse Religion in Long Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes and Interactions, an International Conference in Lund, Sweden, June 3-7, 2004. Nordic Academic Press, 2006, ISBN 978-9-18911-681-8 .
  • Henning Kure : Hanging on the world tree. Man and cosmos in Old Norse mythic poetry. In: A. Andren, K. Jennbert, C. Raudvere: Old Norse Religion in Long Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes and Interactions, an International Conference in Lund, Sweden, June 3-7, 2004. Nordic Academic Press, 2006, ISBN 978-9-18911-681-8 .
  • Rudolf Simek : Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Simek 2006, p. 24
  2. ↑ a b Hultgård 2004, p. 254
  3. ↑ Lieder-Edda: Völuspá, 17-18. Text edition based on the Titus project, URL: http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/germ/anord/edda/edda.htm , accessed on December 4, 2009.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Translation after Arnulf Krause : Die Götter- und Heldenlieder der Älteren Edda. Philipp Reclam jun. Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 978-3-15050-047-7 .
  5. ↑ Hultgård 2006, p. 56 + Steinsland 1983, p. 88, point out that this can also just mean the ground.
  6. ↑ Lieder-Edda: Vafþrúðnismál 20 f .; Song Edda: Grímnismál 40
  7. ↑ Völuspá 10 reports that the dwarves were made from Blainn's bones and Brimir's blood. Both names are believed to be paraphrases of Ymir, so that the dwarfs were created from Ymir's bones (these are the rocks and therefore the stones) and his blood (that is the sea).
  8. ↑ a b Hultgård 2004, p. 253
  9. ^ Compare Heinrich Beck: Body and Body Care. In: Heinrich Beck, Dieter Geuenich, Heiko Steuer (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde - Vol. 18. 2nd edition. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin - New York 2001, ISBN 978-3-11016-950-8 , p. 226 f.
  10. ↑ Translated as spirit , for example: Hultgård 2004, p. 253
  11. ↑ Günther Drosdowski (Ed.): Duden - Etymologie - dictionary of origin of the German language. 2nd Edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim - Vienna - Zurich 1989, ISBN 978-3-411-20907-1 , p. 226, keyword: Geist
  12. ^ Translated for example by Simek 2006, p. 29.
  13. ↑ List of representatives at Hultgård 2004, p. 253. This is reminiscent of the biblical statement that God created man in his own image.
  14. ↑ a b Prosa-Edda: Gylfaginning 9th text edition after CyberSamurai Encyclopedia of Norse Mythology, URL: Archivlink ( Memento from January 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 4, 2009.
  15. ↑ a b translation after Arnulf Krause: The Edda of Snorri Sturluson. Philipp Reclam jun. Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 978-3-15-000782-2
  16. ↑ Lieder-Edda: Havamál 49. Text edition based on the Titus Project, URL: http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/germ/anord/edda/edda.htm , accessed on December 23, 2009.
  17. ^ Prose Edda: Gylfaginning 6
  18. ↑ Stith Thompson : Motif-index of folk-literature: a classification of narrative elements in folktales, ballads, myths, fables, mediaeval romances, exempla, fabliaux, jest-books, and local legends. Indiana University Press, 1955-1958. There the number "A1251: Creation of man from tree."
  19. ^ Heinrich Marzell: Tree. In: Hanns Bächtold-Stäubli, Eduard Hoffmann-Krayer, u. a. [Ed.]: Concise dictionary of German superstition . Volume 1. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin - Leipzig 1927 (reprint 1987), Sp. 955.
  20. ↑ Bernhard Kummer: Birth Tree. In: Hanns Bächtold-Stäubli, Eduard Hoffmann-Krayer, u. a. [Ed.]: Concise dictionary of German superstition . Volume 3. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin - Leipzig 1931 (reprint 1986), column 421.
  21. ^ Karl Helm: Old Germanic history of religion. Volume 1. Heidelberg 1913, p. 157 ff.
  22. ^ Jacob Grimm: German Mythology, 3 volumes. 1875-1878. New edition: Marix, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-143-8 , p. 1062 [old volume 3, p. 162] - Wolfgang Golther: Handbuch der Germanischen Mythologie . Leipzig 1875, reissued Marix Verlag, 2004, p. 628
  23. ↑ Wolfgang Golther: Handbook of Germanic Mythology . Leipzig 1875, reissued Marix Verlag, 2004, p. 629 - A. Chr. Bang: Völuspá and the Sibylline oracles. Translation of Jos. Cal. Poestion. Vienna 1880
  24. ↑ Compare Simek 2006, p. 29
  25. ↑ Compare Simek 2006, p. 24
  26. ↑ Or Maschja and Maschjanag, Mescia and Mesciane, Matro and Matrojao, Mahle and Mahliyane
  27. ↑ Sarkhosh Curtis: Persian Myths. Translation from English by Michael Müller. Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-15-010399-1 , p. 32 f. with reference to Bundahishn XV, 1-9.
  28. ↑ Hultgård 2006, p. 60
  29. ↑ Simek 2006, p. 29 puts it this way: "not [...] a rather young mythograph"
  30. ↑ a b c d e f g Jan de Vries: Old Germanic Religious History , Volume 2; 1937, § 322
  31. ↑ Jacob Grimm : German Mythology. 3 volumes. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, reprint of the 4th edition Berlin 1875-78, ISBN 978-3-86539-143-8 , p. 436 (vol. 1, p. 474 in old print) - Paul Herrmann: Deutsche Mythologie. 8th edition, Aufbau Verlag Berlin 2007 (abridged version of the first edition by Verlag Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1898), ISBN 978-3-7466-8015-6 , p. 366
  32. ^ Brothers Grimm : Origin of the Saxons in the Gutenberg-DE project
  33. ^ Hesiod, Werke und Tage , 145. Original text and Gebhard translation online . Led by de Vries 1937 § 322 ...
  34. ^ Hesiod, Theogony, 563.
  35. ↑ Karl Kerényi : The mythology of the Greeks. 11th edition. dtv-Verlag, 1988, vol. 1, p. 165; 179.
  36. ↑ Bernhard Maier : The religion of the Teutons - gods, myths, world view. Verlag Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 978-3-406-50280-4 , p. 64.
  37. ↑ Compare Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Teutons - gods, myths, worldview. Verlag Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 978-3-406-50280-4 , p. 64.
  38. ↑ Sophus Bugge: Helge-digtee i den Aeldre Edda. In the English translation: The Home of the Eddic Poems , 1896, p. XXVIII.
  39. ↑ The first three members according to Simek 2006, p. 90.
  40. ↑ Hans Sperber: Embla. In: Contributions to the history of the German language and literature 34 (1910). Pp. 219-222
  41. ↑ Compare Simek 2006, p. 90 - de Vries 1937 § 322.
  42. ↑ Simek 2006, p. 90
  43. ↑ a b c d Hultgård 2006, p. 59 f.
  44. ↑ a b Wolfgang Golther: Handbook of Germanic Mythology. Leipzig 1875, reissued Marix Verlag, 2004, p. 628
  45. ^ Adolfo Zavaroni: Mead and Aqua Vitae: Functions of Mímir, Oðinn, Viðofnir and Svipdagr. In: Amsterdam Contributions to Older German Studies, Volume 61. Editions Rodopi BV, 2006, ISBN 978-9-04201-859-4 , p. 74 from * emla , from Germanic * emno- , * ebno- 'Eben , equal'
  46. ↑ Hultgård 2006, p. 58: Nordal, Gro Steinsland, Clunie Ross.
  47. ↑ Hultgård 2004, p. 254. Gro Steinsland: Antropogonimyten i Vǫluspá. En tekst- og tradisjonskritisk anlyse. In: Arkiv för nordisk filologi 98 (1983), pp. 80-107.
  48. ↑ Lieder-Edda: Völuspá, 10th text edition based on the Titus Project, URL: http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/germ/anord/edda/edda.htm , accessed on January 16, 2010.
  49. ↑ According to Hultgård 2006, p. 58 are the Steinsland 1983 + 2001, Dronke 1997, Johannsson 2000
  50. ↑ Hultgård 2004, p. 254: Gro Steinsland: Ask og Embla - fri fantasi eller gammel tradisjon? Om et mulig imago dei-motiv i Vǫluspás skapelsesmyte. In: Sagnaheimur (Studies in Honor of Hermann Pálsson on his 80th birthday, May 26, 2001). Vienna 2001, pp. 247–262.
  51. ↑ Lieder-Edda: Völuspá, 20th text edition based on the Titus Project, URL: http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/germ/anord/edda/edda.htm , accessed on December 4, 2009.
  52. ↑ Hultgård 2006, p. 58
  53. ↑ Jan de Vries: Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte , Volume 2, 1937, § 316. Eugen Mogk: Grundriss der Germanischen Philologie. Volume 1, p. 235.Sigurður Jóhannesson Nordal: Völuspà, p. 120.
  54. ↑ Simek 2006, pp. 199, 246
  55. ↑ Heinrich Beck: Hœnir. In: Heinrich Beck, Dieter Geuenich, Heiko Steuer (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde - Vol. 15. 2nd edition. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin - New York 2000, ISBN 978-3-11016-649-1 , p. 54 f.
  56. ↑ Arguments in Simek 2006, p. 246, with the note that Franz Rolf Schröder last represented this equation.
  57. ↑ For example Simek 2006, p. 246
  58. ↑ See presentation of the state of research in Anders Hultgård: Loki. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Vol. 18. 2001. pp. 591, 593
  59. ↑ Lieder-Edda: Völuspá, 19th text edition based on the Titus Project, URL: http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/germ/anord/edda/edda.htm , accessed on December 4, 2009.
  60. ↑ Kure 2006, p. 70 Online
  61. ↑ Kure 2006, p. 71 Online
  62. ^ Adolfo Zavaroni: Mead and Aqua Vitae: Functions of Mímir, Oðinn, Viðofnir and Svipdagr. In: Amsterdam Contributions to Older German Studies, Volume 61. Editions Rodopi BV, 2006, ISBN 978-9-04201-859-4 , p. 74
  63. ↑ See Hultgård 2004, p. 254