Tanngnjostr and Tanngrisnir
Tanngnjostr (teeth Crunch) and Tanngrisnir (teeth Blecker) as Thor's goats named, are in Norse mythology Thor's goats that pull the carriages.
Translated, the names mean: "Grinding your teeth, tooth grinding", from the Old Norse "Tann" for tooth and "gnjóstr" from the verb "gnísta" for rub against each other . Tanngrisnir is also translated as tooth grinding, or rather with the meaning "teeth standing apart". The names are interpreted in such a way that they onomatopoeically imitate the sound of lightning falling in spikes, analogous to the onomatopoeic noise made by Thor's moving car as thunder ( see Öku-Thor ).
In particular, the goats are described in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda , in Gylfaginning Chapters 21, 44. Since the personal names only appear at Snorri, it can be assumed that these are his invention.
"Þórr á hafra ii er svá heita: Tanngnióstr ok Tanngrisnir ..."
"Þórr owns two bucks Tanngnióstr and Tanngrisnir ..."
"Þat er upphaf þessa máls, at Öku-Þórr fór með hafra sína ok reið ok með honum sá áss, er Loki er heitir."
"This is the beginning of the story that Öku-Þórr set off with his billy goats, and Ase Loki with him and his cart"
The Scandinavian custom of the " Yule goat ", a goat made of straw that is used as Christmas decorations, goes back to Thor's goats.
Interpretations
In research on Germanic religion and comparative mythology, the scene in Gylfagnig Kap. 44 discussed and interpreted, in which Thor ate the goats and reincarnated , revived. The motif of the eating of an animal and its subsequent resurrection can also be found in Nordic-Germanic mythology in Snorri in the Gylfagning Kap. 38 again - in the boar Sæhrímnir .
"..Koma þeir at kveldi til eins búanda ok fá þar náttstað. En um kveldit tók Þórr hafra sína ok skar báða. Eftir þat váru þeir flegnir ok bornir til ketils. En er soðit var, þá settist Þórr til náttverðar ok þeir lagsmenn. Þórr bauð til matar með sér búandanum ok konu hans ok börnum þeira. Sonr búanda hét Þjálfi, en Röskva dóttir. Þá lagði Þórr hafrstökurnar útar frá eldinum ok mælti, at búandi ok heimamenn hans skyldu kasta á hafrstökurnar beinunum. Þjálfi, sonr búanda, holds á lærlegg hafrsins ok spretti á knífi sínum ok bridal til mergjar. Þórr dvalðist þar of nóttina. En í óttu fyrir dag stóð hann upp ok klæddi sik, tók hamarinn Mjöllni ok brá upp ok vígði hafrstökurnar. Stóðu þá upp hafrarnir, ok var þá annarr haltr eftra fæti. Þat fann Þórr ok talði, at búandinn eða hans hjón myndu eigi skynsamliga hafa farit með beinum hafrsins. Kennir hann, at brotinn var lærleggrinn. Eigi þarf reaches frá því at segja. Vita mega þat allir, hversu hræddr búandinn mundi vera, er hann sá, at Þórr lét síga brýnnar ofan fyrir augun, en þat er hann sá augnanna, þá hugðist hann falla mundu fyrir sjónum hans einum saman. Hann herði hendrnar at hamarskaftinu, svá at hvítnuðu knúarnir. En búandinn gerði sem ván var ok öll hjúnin, kölluðu ákafliga, báðu sér friðar, buðu at yfirbótum allt þat, er þau áttu. En er hann sá hræðslu þeira, þá gekk af honum móðrinn, ok sefaðist hann ok tók af þeim í sætt börn þeira, Þjálfa ok Röskvu, ok gerðust þau þá skylí þjónust honumenn jan jónust honumenn jan.
“..They (Thor and Loki) came to a farmer in the evening and received night quarters from him. Before dinner, Thor grabbed his goats and slaughtered them both. Then they were skinned and trimmed for the kettle. And when they were done, Thor sat down with his companion to eat. He invited the farmer with his wife and children to join them; the farmer's son was called Thjalfi, the daughter Röskva. Then Thor put the goat skins on the ground in front of the fire and said that the farmer and his followers should throw the bones on the skins. Thjalfi, the farmer's son, took hold of the buck's thighbone, split it on his knife, and broke it apart to get to the marrow. Thor stayed there overnight. At dawn, days ago, he got up, dressed, took the Mjolnir hammer, raised it, and consecrated the goatskin. Then the goats got up. But one of them was paralyzed at the hind foot. Thor noticed this and said that the farmer or his housemates would not have been careful with the bones; he indicated that the thighbone was broken. We do not need to dwell long on this: everyone can imagine the peasant's fear when he saw Thor lower his eyelashes over his eyes; and as little of the eyes could be seen, he thought he had to sink to the ground before the god's mere gaze; he gripped the hammer shaft so tightly that his knuckles turned white. The farmer behaved as was to be expected, and so did his own. They wailed loudly, asked for protection and offered all their possessions as penance. And when he saw her fear, his anger passed away, and soothed he accepted her children, Thjalfi and Röskva, as compensation. They were committed to his service and have always accompanied him ever since. "
“Fóroð lengi, áðr liggia nam hafr Hlórriða hálfdauðr fyrir; var scirr scǫculs scaccr á banni, enn því inn lævísi Loki um olli. Enn ér heyrt hafið - hverr may um þa goðmálugra gørr at scilia -, hver af hraunbúa hann laun um fecc, he hann bæði was born sín fyrir "
“They didn't go far, when suddenly Hlorridi's goat fell down half dead: one of the guide rope walker's legs was paralyzed; that was Loki's, the cunning, work. Have you heard - can a Moravian expert say more about this? - what Thor took as a reward from Thursen, who gave both children as penance. "
Jan de Vries interprets the story of the meal as an allusion to the ritual of animal sacrifice, which, among other things, prohibited damaging the bones, and sees a connection with the cult of vegetation. Kaarle Krohn traces the story back to legends and sagas in popular belief that were widespread throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. The story has little mythical significance and is limited to the connection between Þórr and billy goats. Vilhelm Grønbech discusses the slaughter and resurrection of the billy goats in connection with his thesis of the cult drama: The billy goats represent the holy flock, which gives the sacrifice its essence through consumption without losing its vitality. The bones are sacred and should not be injured. Rudolf Simek also interprets the myth of the feeding and restoration of the goats as an old sacrificial rite, which can thus also be proven outside the Germanic-pagan context. In addition, shamanistic traits play an important role here, since in the shamanistic rite slaughter - Thor's following instruction to throw the gnawed bones onto the de-skinned skin - and reincarnation is a form of contact with the spiritual world of the gods. Franz Rolf Schröder examined the meaning of the goats, or the goat, within the Germanic myths and cults with those of the other Indo-European cultures and Semitic cultures of Mesopotamia under the aspects of sacrifice, fertility rites, and the embodiment and attributes of individual deities.
literature
- Walter Baetke : Dictionary of Norse prose literature . WBG Darmstadt, 1976.
- Vilhelm Grønbech : Culture and Religion of the Teutons . 2 volumes. 8th edition. WBG, Darmstadt 1978.
- Gustav Neckel : The Younger Edda - With the so-called first (1st) grammatical treatise. In: Thule Collection - Old Norse Poetry and Prose , Felix Niedner (Ed.), Vol. 20. (reprint of the last edition, afterword by Siegfried Gutenbrunner ). Eugen Diedrichs, Cologne 1966.
- Franz Rolf Schröder : Skadi and the gods of Scandinavia . In: Studies on Germanic and Comparative Religious History, Vol. 2. JCB Mohr, Tübingen 1941.
- Rudolf Simek : Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X .
- Jan de Vries : Old Germanic history of religion (2 volumes) . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1970.