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, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern per ...

, Hœnir (also Hǿnir; modern Icelandic , modern Swedish ) is one of the

Æsir The Æsir (Old Norse: ) are the gods of the principal pantheon in Norse religion. They include Odin, Frigg, Höðr, Thor, and Baldr. The second Norse pantheon is the Vanir. In Norse mythology, the two pantheons wage war against each other, ...

. He is mentioned in Vǫluspá as one of the three gods (along with

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...

and

Lóðurr Lóðurr ( Old Norse: ; also Lodurr) is a god in Norse mythology. In the poem he is assigned a role in animating the first humans, but apart from that he is hardly ever mentioned, and remains obscure. Scholars have variously identified him wit ...

) that created the first humans.

Attestations

In ''

Völuspá ''Vǫluspá'' (also ''Völuspá'', ''Vǫlospá'' or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress'; reconstructed Old Norse: ) is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It tells the story of the creation of the world and ...

'', at the creation of the first human beings,

Ask and Embla In Norse mythology, Ask and Embla ( non, Askr ok Embla )—male and female 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 ...

, Hœnir and

help

. According to the ''

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

'', Hœnir is said to have given reason to man. In ''

Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; c. 20,000 words; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'' after the Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' deals with t ...

'', Vili and Vé are mentioned instead. As

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

knew ''

'', it is possible that Hœnir was another name for Vili. Also according to ''Völuspá'', Hœnir was one of the few gods that would survive

Ragnarök In Norse mythology, (; non, wikt:ragnarǫk, Ragnarǫk) is a series of events, including a great battle, foretelling the death of numerous great figures (including the Æsir, gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), natural disast ...

. In ''

Ynglinga saga ''Ynglinga saga'' ( ) is a Kings' saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his '' Heimskringla''. It was first translated into English and published in 1 ...

'', along with

Mímir Mímir or Mim is a figure in Norse mythology, renowned for his knowledge and wisdom, who is beheaded during the Æsir–Vanir War. Afterward, the god Odin carries around Mímir's head and it recites secret knowledge and counsel to him. Mímir ...

, he went to the

Vanir In Norse mythology, the Vanir (; Old Norse: , singular Vanr ) are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods (the other being the Æsir) and are the namesake of the ...

as a hostage to seal a truce after the Æsir-Vanir War. There, Hœnir was indecisive and relied on

for all of his decisions, grunting noncommital answers when Mímir was absent. Hœnir also has a minor role in ''

Haustlöng ''Haustlǫng'' (Old Norse: 'Autumn-long'; anglicized as ''Haustlöng'') is a skaldic poem composed around the beginning of the 10th century by the Norwegian skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir. The poem has been preserved in the 13th-century ''Prose E ...

'' and ''

Reginsmál ''Reginsmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Reginn') is an Eddic poem interspersed with prose found in the Codex Regius manuscript. It is closely associated with ''Fáfnismál'', the poem that immediately follows it in the Codex, and it is likely tha ...

''. In the medieval Faroese ballad Lokka táttur, Hœnir protects a farmer's boy through summoning seven

swans Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...

Theories

According to

Viktor Rydberg Abraham Viktor Rydberg (; 18 December 182821 September 1895) was a Swedish writer and a member of the Swedish Academy, 1877–1895. "Primarily a classical idealist", Viktor Rydberg has been described as "Sweden's last Romantic" and by 1859 was ...

and other scholars, such as Gudbrand Vigfusson, the epithets ''langifótr'' 'Long-legs' and ''aurkonungr'' 'mud-king', together with the Greek

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

κύκνος 'swan' and Sanskrit शकुन (''śakuna'') 'bird of omen', suggest that Hœnir was connected with the

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons an ...

.Rydberg 1886, p. 552 This would also seem to be confirmed by the European children's story of the stork delivering babies to their parents, and Hœnir's role in Lokka táttur, which further confirms his associations with birds.

Notes

Sources

1886, '' Undersökningar i germanisk mythologi, first part''.

External links

MyNDIR (My Norse Digital Image Repository)
Illustrations of Hœnir from manuscripts and early print books. Clicking on the thumbnail will give you the full image and information concerning it. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoenir Creator gods Æsir Norse gods Animal gods Storks