Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

, Vili ( ;

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ) and Vé ( ; O.N.: ) are the brothers of the god

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

(from Old Norse ''Óðinn''), sons of Bestla, daughter of Bölþorn; and

Borr In Norse mythology, Borr or Burr (Old Norse: 'borer' sometimes anglicized Bor, Bör or Bur) was the son of Búri. Borr was the husband of Bestla and the father of Odin, Vili and Vé. Borr receives mention in a poem in the ''Poetic Edda'', comp ...

, son of Búri.

Name

The

theonym A theonym (from Greek (), 'god', attached to (), ) is a proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics, the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. Theonymy helps develop an und ...

''Vé'' (or ''Véi'') is

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

with Gothic ''weiha'' ('priest'), both stemming from

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

*''wīhōn'', itself from the adjective *''wīhaz'', meaning 'holy' (cf. Goth. ''weihs'', Old High German ''wīh'')''.'' A related noun, *''wīhan'' ('sanctuary'), can also be reconstructed on the basis of Old Norse ''vé'' ('sanctuary'), Old English ''wēoh'' ('idol'), and Old Saxon ''wīh'' ('temple').' ''Vili'' transparently means 'will' in Old Norse. It stems from the Proto-Germanic noun *''weljōn'' ~ *''weljan'' ('will, wish'; cf. Gothic ''wilja'', Old English ''willa'', and Old High German ''willo'').

Attestations

Proto-Norse Proto-Norse (also called Ancient Nordic; Danish and ; ; ; ) was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic in the first centuries CE. It is the earliest stage of a c ...

, the three brothers' names were alliterating, *'' Wōdinaz, Wiljô, Wīhaz'', so that they can be taken as forming a triad of *'' wōdaz, wiljô, wīhą'', approximately inspiration (transcendent, mantic or prophetic knowledge),

cognition Cognition is the "mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

(will, desire, internal thought that leads to action) and

numen Numen (plural numina) is a Latin term for "divinity", "divine presence", or "divine will". The Latin authors defined it as follows:For a more extensive account, refer to Cicero writes of a "divine mind" (), a god "whose numen everything obeys", ...

(spiritual power residing in the external world, in sacred objects). Compare to this alliteration in a verse found in the Exeter Book, ''Wôden worhte weos'' "Woden wrought the sanctuaries"when compared to the "triad" above, just the middle ''will'' etymon has been replaced by the ''work'' etymon. The name of such sanctuaries to Woden, ''Wôdenes weohas'' (

Old Saxon Old Saxon (), also known as Old Low German (), was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Eur ...

''Wôdanes wih'',

''Óðins vé'') survives in

toponymy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper na ...

as ''Odinsvi'', ''Wodeneswegs''. Vili and Vé, together with Óðinn, are portrayed as the three brothers who slew

Ymir In Norse mythology, Ymir (), also called Aurgelmir, Brimir, or Bláinn, is the ancestor of all jötnar. Ymir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, in the ''Prose Edda'', writte ...

— ending the primeval rule of the race of

giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) * Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'g ...

— and are the first of the

Æsir Æsir (Old Norse; singular: ) or ēse (Old English; singular: ) are deities, gods in Germanic paganism. In Old Nordic religion and Nordic mythology, mythology, the precise meaning of the term "" is debated, as it can refer either to the gods i ...

. Of the three, Óðinn is the eldest, Vili the middle, and Vé the youngest. To the first human couple,

Ask and Embla In Norse mythology, Ask and Embla ()—man and woman respectively—were the first two humans, created by the gods. The pair are attested in both the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Pros ...

, Óðinn gave soul and life; Vili ( Hœnir) gave wit (intelligence) and sense of touch; and Vé ( Lóðurr) gave countenance (appearance, facial expression),

speech Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

, hearing, and sight. While Vili and Vé are of little prominence in Norse mythology as attested; their brother Óðinn has a more celebrated role as the chief of the Norse pantheon. Óðinn remains at the head of a triad of the mightiest gods: Óðinn, Þórr, and

Freyr Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested Æsir, god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, prosperity, fair weather, and good harvest. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was ...

. In the

Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first main part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'', after the initial Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' takes the form of ...

, first book of the

prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

, Óðinn is also styled ''Þriði'' "the third", in which case he appears by the side of '' Hárr'' and '' Jafnhárr'' (the "high" and the "even-high" or "co-equal"), as the "Third High". At other times, he is Tveggi "the second". In relation to the Óðinn-Vili-Vé triad, Grimm compares Old High German ''willa'', which not only expressed ''voluntas'', but also ''votum, impetus, spiritus'', and the personification of Will, to ''Wela'' in Old English sources.Grimm, ch.7, 19 Keyser interprets the triad as "Spirit, Will and Holiness", postulating a kind of Germanic

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

in Vili and Vé to be "blended together again in the all-embracing World-spiritin Odin. .. he alone is Al-father, from whom all the other superior, world-directing beings, the Æsir, are descended." According to

Loki Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...

, in

Lokasenna ''Lokasenna'' (Old Norse: 'The Flyting of Loki', or 'Loki's Verbal Duel') is one of the poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki. It is written in the ljóðaháttr metre, typical for wisdom verse. ''L ...

, Vili and Vé had an affair with Óðinn's wife,

Frigg Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wetl ...

. This is taken by Grimm as reflecting the fundamental identity of the three brothers, so that Frigg might be considered the wife of either. According to this story Óðinn was abroad for a long time, and in his absence his brothers acted for him. It is worthy of note that

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author ...

also makes Óðinn (Latin: ''Othinus'') travel to foreign lands and Mitoðinn (Latin: ''Mithothyn'') fill his place, and therefore Mitoðinn's position throws light on that of Vili and Vé. But Saxo represents Óðinn as once more an exile, and puts

Ullr In Norse mythology, Ullr (Old Norse: ) is a Æsir, god associated with skiing. Although literary attestations of Ullr are sparse, evidence including relatively ancient place-name evidence from Scandinavia suggests that he was a major god in ear ...

(Latin: ''Ollerus'') in his place. Chapter 3 of says that Odin had two brothers, Vili and Vé. While Odin was gone, his brothers governed his realm. Once Odin was gone for so long that the believed that he would not return, his brothers began to divvy up Odin's inheritance, "but his wife they shared between them. However, afterwards, dinreturned and took possession of his wife again".

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Name

Attestations

See also

Notes

References

Further reading