Týr

(; Old Norse: , ) is a god in Germanic mythology, a valorous and powerful member of the and patron of warriors and mythological heroes. In Norse mythology, which provides most of the surviving narratives about gods among the Germanic peoples, sacrifices his hand to the monstrous wolf , who bites it off when he realizes the gods have bound him. is foretold of being consumed by the similarly monstrous dog during the events of Ragnarök.

The generally renders the god as ''Mars'', the ancient Roman war god, and it is through that lens that most Latin references to the god occur. For example, the god may be referenced as (Latin 'Mars of the Assembly Thing]') on 3rd century Latin inscription, reflecting a strong association with the Germanic thing (assembly), thing, a legislative body among the ancient Germanic peoples. By way of the opposite process of , Tuesday is named after (''s day'), rather than Mars, in English and other Germanic languages.

In Old Norse sources, is alternately described as the son of the (in ) or of the god Odin (in ). makes reference to an unnamed and otherwise unknown consort, perhaps also reflected in the continental Germanic record (see Zisa).

Due to the etymology of the god's name and the shadowy presence of the god in the extant Germanic corpus, some scholars propose that may have once held a more central place among the deities of early Germanic mythology.

Name

In wider Germanic mythology, he is known in Old English as and in Old High German as , all stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym , meaning 'God'. Little information about the god survives beyond Old Norse sources. is the eponym of the Tiwaz rune (), a letter of the runic alphabet corresponding to the Latin letter ''T''. By way of the process of , the deity is the namesake of Tuesday (''s day') in Germanic languages, including English.

Various place names in Scandinavia refer to the god, and a variety of objects found in England and Scandinavia seem to depict or invoke him.

Etymology

The Old Norse theonym stems from an earlier Proto-Norse form reconstructed as , which derives – like its Germanic cognates (Old English) and (Old High German) – from the Proto-Germanic theonym , meaning 'God'. The name of a Gothic deity named (later ) may also be reconstructed based on the associated rune '' tyz''. In Old Norse poetry, the plural is used for 'the gods', and the singular , meaning '(a) god', occurs in kennings for Odin and Thor. Modern English writers frequently anglicize the god's name by dropping the proper noun's diacritic, rendering Old Norse's ''Týr'' as ''Tyr''.

The Proto-Germanic masculine noun ( ) means 'a god, a deity', and it probably served as a title that came to be associated with a specific deity whose original name is now lost. It stems from Proto-Indo-European , meaning 'celestial, heavenly one', hence a 'god' (cf. Sanskrit: 'heavenly, divine', Old Lithuanian: , la, deus 'a god, deity'), itself a derivation from , meaning 'diurnal sky', hence 'daylight-sky god' (cf. sa, Dyáuṣ, grc, Zeus, la, Jove). The Germanic noun is further attested in the Finnic loanword , found as a suffix in the deities and . The Romano-Germanic deity may also be related, although its origin remains unclear.

Due to linguistic evidence and early native comparisons between and the Roman god Mars, especially under the name , a number of scholars have interpreted as a Proto-Germanic sky-, war- and thing-god. Other scholars reject however his identification as a 'sky-god', since was likely not his original name but rather an epithet that came to be associated with him and eventually replaced it.

Origin of ''Tuesday''

The modern English weekday name ''Tuesday'' comes from the Old English , meaning 'day of Tīw'. It is cognate with Old Norse , Old Frisian , and Old High German (Middle High German ). All of them stem from Late Proto-Germanic ('Day of '), a calque of Latin ('Day of Mars'; cf. modern Italian , French , Spanish ). This attests to an early Germanic identification of with Mars.See discussion in and .

Germanic weekday names for ''Tuesday'' that do not transparently extend from the above lineage may also ultimately refer to the deity, including Middle Dutch and , Middle Low German , and Old High German (modern ). These forms may refer to the god's association with the thing, a traditional legal assembly common among the ancient Germanic peoples with which the god is associated. This may be either explained by the existence of an epithet, ( 'thing-god'), frequently attached to Mars (), or simply by the god's strong association with the assembly.

T-rune

The god is the namesake of the rune representing (the Tiwaz rune) in the runic alphabets, the indigenous alphabets of the ancient Germanic peoples prior to their adaptation of the Latin alphabet. On runic inscriptions, often appears as a magical symbol. The name first occurs in the historical record as ''tyz'', a character in the Gothic alphabet (4th century), and it was also known as or in Old English, and in Old Norse. The name of may also occur in runes as on the 8th century Ribe skull fragment.

Toponyms

A variety of place names in Scandinavia refer to the god. For example, , in Viby, Jutland, Denmark (Old Norse , ''s meadow') was once a stretch of meadow near a stream called ('stream of the dead' or 'dead stream'). Viby also contained another theonym, ("Odin's Holt"), and religious practices associated with Odin and may have occurred in these places. A spring dedicated to Holy Niels that was likely a Christianization of prior indigenous pagan practice also exists in Viby. may mean 'the settlement by the sacred site'. Archaeologists have found traces of sacrifices going back 2,500 years in Viby.

The forest , between Närke and Västergötland, in Sweden, may mean 'Tyr's forest', but its etymology is uncertain, and debated. may refer to meaning 'god' generally, and so the name may derive from Proto-Indo-European , meaning 'the forest of the gods'. According to Rudolf Simek, the existence of a cult of the deity is also evidenced by place names such as (''s grove'), which is frequent in Denmark, or (''s peninsula') and ('Tysnes island') in Norway, where the cult appears to have been imported from Denmark.

Attestations

Roman era

While 's etymological heritage reaches back to the Proto-Indo-European period, very few direct references to the god survive prior to the Old Norse period. Like many other non-Roman deities, receives mention in Latin texts by way of the process of , in which Latin texts refer to the god by way of a perceived counterpart in Roman mythology. Latin inscriptions and texts frequently refer to as Mars.

The first example of this occurs on record in Roman senator Tacitus's ethnography :
:Among the gods Mercury is the one they principally worship. They regard it as a religious duty to sacrifice to him, on fixed days, human as well as other sacrificial victims. Hercules and Mars they appease by animal offerings of the permitted kind. Part of the Suebi sacrifice to Isis as well.
::: A.R. Birley translation
These deities are generally understood by scholars to refer to (known widely today as ''Odin''), (known today widely as ''Thor''), and , respectively. The identity of the "Isis" of the Suebi remains a topics of debate among scholars. Later in , Tacitus also mentions a deity referred to as venerated by the Semnones in a grove of fetters, a sacred grove. Some scholars propose that this deity is in fact .

A votive altar has been discovered during excavations at Housesteads Roman Fort at Hadrian's Wall in England that had been erected at the behest of Frisian legionaries. The altar dates from the 3rd century CE and bears the Latin inscription . In this instance, the epithet is a Latin rendering of Proto-Germanic theonym . This deity is generally interpreted by scholars to refer to . The goddesses referred to as and are otherwise unknown, but their names may refer to Old Frisian legal terms.See discussion in and .

In the sixth century, the Roman historian Jordanes writes in his that the Goths, an east Germanic people, saw the same "Mars" as an ancestral figure:

:Moreover so highly were the Getae praised that Mars, whom the fables of poets call the god of war, was reputed to have been born among them. Hence Vergil says:
::"Father Gradivus rules the Getic fields."
:Now Mars has always been worshipped by the Goths with cruel rites, and captives were slain as his victims. They thought that he who was lord of war ought to be appeased by the shedding of human blood. To him they devoted the first share of the spoil, and in his honor arms stripped from the foe were suspended from trees. And they had more than all races a deep spirit of religion, since the worship of this god seemed to be really bestowed upon their ancestor.
::: C.C. Mierow translation

Old English

The Latin deity Mars was occasionally glossed by Old English writers by the name or . The genitive also appears in the name for Tuesday, .

Viking Age and post-Viking Age

By the Viking Age, had developed among the North Germanic peoples into . The god receives numerous mentions in North Germanic sources during this period, but far less than other deities, such as Odin, Freyja, or Thor. The majority of these mentions occur in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from traditional source material reaching into the pagan period, and the ''Prose Edda'', composed by Icelandic skald and politician Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century.

''Poetic Edda''

Although receives several mentions in the ''Poetic Edda'', of the three poems in which he is mentioned—, , and —only the incomplete poem, , features him in a prominent role. In , says that his father, , owns a tremendous cauldron with which he and his fellow gods can brew fathoms of ale. Thor and set out to retrieve it. meets his nine-hundred headed grandmother ("who hates him"), and a girl clad in gold helps the two hide from .

Upon his return from hunting, 's wife (unnamed) tells that his son has come to visit, that has brought with him Thor, and that the two are behind a pillar. With just one glance, immediately smashes the pillar and eight nearby kettles. The kettle containing and Thor, particularly strong in its construction, does not break, and out of it the two gods stride.

sees Thor and his heart jumps. The orders three headless oxen boiled for his guests, and Thor eats two of the beasts. tells the two that the following night, "we'll have to hunt for us three to eat". Thor asks for bait so that he might row out into the bay. says that the god can take one of his oxen for bait; Thor immediately chooses a black ox, and the poem continues without further mention of .

In , the valkyrie imparts in the hero Sigurd knowledge of various runic charms. One charm invokes the god :
:'You must know victory-runes
:if you want to know victory. Carve them
:into your sword's hilt, on the blade guards
:and the blades, invoking Tyr's name twice.'
:::Jeramy Dodds translation

In , the gods hold a feast. Loki bursts in and engages in flyting, a contest of insults, with the gods. The prose introduction to the poem mentions that "Tyr was in attendance, even though he had only one hand because the wolf Fenrir had recently ripped off the other while the wolf was being bound." Loki exchanges insults with each of the gods. After Loki insults the god , comes to 's defense. Loki says that "you can't be the right hand of justice among the people" because his right hand was torn off by Fenrir, elsewhere described as Loki's child. says that although he misses his hand, Loki misses , who is now bound and will remain so until the events of Ragnarök.

''Prose Edda''

The ''Prose Edda'' sections and reference several times. The god is introduced in part 25 of the section of the book:
:High said: 'There is also an As called Tyr. He is the bravest and most valiant, and he has great power over victory in battles. It is good for men of action to pray to him. There is a saying that a man is ''ty''-valiant who surpasses other men and does not hesitate. He was so clever that a man who is clever is said to be ''ty''-wise. It is one proof of his bravery that the were luring Fenriswolf so as to get the fetter on him, he did not trust them that they would let him go until they placed Tyr's hand in the wolf's mouth as a pledge. And when the refused to let him go then he bit off the hand at the place that is now called the wolf-joint rist and he is one-handed and he is not considered a promoter of settlements between people.
::: A. Faulkes translations (notes are by Faulkes)

This tale receives further treatment in section 34 of ("The brought up the wolf at home, and it was only Tyr who had the courage to approach the wolf and give it food."). Later still in , High discusses 's foreseen death during the events of Ragnarök:
:Then will also have got free the dog Garm, which is bound in front of . This is the most evil creature. He will have a battle with Tyr and they will each be the death of each other.
::: A. Faulkes translation

opens with a narrative wherein twelve gods sit upon thrones at a banquet, including . Later in , the skald god tells (described earlier in as a man from the island of ) how kennings function. By way of kennings, explains, one might refer to the god Odin as "Victory-Tyr", "Hanged-Tyr", or "Cargo-Tyr"; and Thor may be referred to as "Chariot-Tyr".

Section nine of provides skalds with a variety of ways in which to refer to , including "the one handed As", "feeder of the wolf", "battle-god", and "son of Odin". The narrative found in occurs in prose later in . Like in , appears here among around a dozen other deities. Similarly, appears among a list of in section 75.

In addition to the above mentions, 's name occurs as a kenning element throughout in reference to the god Odin.

Archaeological record

Scholars propose that a variety of objects from the archaeological record depict . For example, a Migration Period gold bracteate from Trollhättan, Sweden, features a person receiving a bite on the hand from a beast, which may depict and .
A Viking Age hogback in Sockburn, County Durham, England may depict and . In a similar fashion, a silver button was found in Hornsherred, Denmark, during 2019 that is interpreted to portrait Týr fighting against the wolf .

Scholarly reception

Due in part to the etymology of the god's name, scholars propose that once held a far more significant role in Germanic mythology than the scant references to the deity indicate in the Old Norse record. Some scholars propose that the prominent god Odin may have risen to prominence over in prehistory, at times absorbing elements of the deity's domains. For example, according to scholar Hermann Reichert, due to the etymology of the god's name and its transparent meaning of "''the'' god", "Odin ... must have dislodged from his pre-eminent position. The fact that Tacitus names two divinities to whom the enemy's army was consecrated ... may signify their co-existence around 1 A.D."

The passage above has resulted in some discourse among runologists. For example, regarding the passage, runologists Mindy MacLeod and Bernard Mees say:
:Similar descriptions of runes written on swords for magical purposes are known from other Old Norse and Old English literary sources, though not in what seem to be religious contexts. In fact very few swords from the middle ages are engraved with runes, and those that are tend to carry rather prosaic maker's formulas rather than identifiable 'runes of victory'. The call to invoke Tyr here is often thought to have something to do with T-runes, rather than Tyr himself, given that this rune shares his name. In view of Tyr's martial role in Norse myth, however, this line seems simply to be a straightforward religious invocation with 'twice' alliterating with 'Tyr'.

In popular culture

The 15th studio album by the English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, '' Tyr'', released in 1990, is named after .

is featured in several video games, in Ensemble Studios' 2002 game ''Age of Mythology'' (spelled Tyr in the English version of the game) is one of nine minor gods Norse players can worship. (spelled Tyr in game) is also one of the playable gods in the third-person multiplayer online battle arena game ''Smite's 2018 game ''God of War'' and appears in its sequel ''God of War Ragnarök'', which was released in 2022. Týr (spelled Tyr) is one of the available healer mechs in Pixonic's ''War Robots'' (released as "Walking War Robots" in 2014).

appears in the third season of the TV series ''American Gods'' where he lives as a dentist under the name of Dr. Tyrrel. He is recruited by Mr. Wednesday (Odin) for the war against the New Gods.

Notes

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyr
Æsir
Germanic gods
Justice gods
Killed deities
Norse gods
War gods
Mars (mythology)