Odin 

(/ˈoʊdɪn/;[1] from Old Norse: Óðinn, IPA: [ˈoːðenː]) is a widely revered god in Germanic

mythology. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, generally portrays
Odin as king of the gods[citation needed] and associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the
gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, and depicts
him as the husband of the goddess Frigg. In wider Germanic mythology and paganism, the god was
known in Old English as Wōden, in Old Saxon as Wōdan, in Old Dutch as Wuodan, and in Old High
German as Wuotan, all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym *Wōđanaz, meaning
'lord of frenzy', or 'leader of the possessed'.
Odin appears as a prominent god throughout the recorded history of Northern Europe, from the
Roman occupation of regions of Germania (from c.  2 BCE) through movement of peoples during
the Migration Period (4th to 6th centuries CE) and the Viking Age (8th to 11th centuries CE). In the
modern period the rural folklore of Germanic Europe continued to acknowledge Odin. References to
him appear in place names throughout regions historically inhabited by the ancient Germanic
peoples, and the day of the week Wednesday bears his name in many Germanic languages,
including in English.
In Old English texts, Odin holds a particular place as a euhemerized ancestral figure among royalty,
and he is frequently referred to as a founding figure among various other Germanic peoples, such as
the Langobards. Forms of his name appear frequently throughout the Germanic record, though
narratives regarding Odin are mainly found in Old Norse works recorded in Iceland, primarily around
the 13th century. These texts make up the bulk of modern understanding of Norse mythology.
Old Norse texts portray Odin as the son of Bestla and Borr along with two brothers, Vili and Vé, and
he fathered many sons, most famously the gods Thor (with Jörð) and Baldr (with Frigg). He is known
by hundreds of names. Odin is frequently portrayed as one-eyed and long-bearded, wielding a spear
named Gungnir or appearing in disguise wearing a cloak and a broad hat. He is often accompanied
by his animal familiars—the wolves Geri and Freki and the ravens Huginn and Muninn, who bring
him information from all over Midgard—and he rides the flying, eight-legged steed Sleipnir across
the sky and into the underworld. In these texts he frequently seeks greater knowledge, most
famously by obtaining the Mead of Poetry, and makes wagers with his wife Frigg over his
endeavors. He takes part both in the creation of the world by slaying the primordial being Ymir and in
giving life to the first two humans Ask and Embla. He also gives mankind knowledge of runic
writing and poetry, showing aspects of a culture hero. He has a particular association with
the Yule holiday.
Odin is also associated with the divine battlefield maidens, the valkyries, and he oversees Valhalla,
where he receives half of those who die in battle, the einherjar, sending the other half to the
goddess Freyja's elysian Fólkvangr. Odin consults the disembodied, herb-embalmed head of the
wise Mímir, who foretells the doom of Ragnarök and urges Odin to lead the einherjar into battle
before being consumed by the monstrous wolf Fenrir. In later folklore Odin appears as a leader of
the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession of the dead through the winter sky. He is associated with charms
and other forms of magic, particularly in Old English and Old Norse texts.
The figure of Odin is a frequent subject of interest in Germanic studies, and scholars have advanced
numerous theories regarding his development. Some of these focus on Odin's particular relation to
other figures; for example, Freyja's husband Óðr appears to be something of an etymological
doublet of the god, while Odin's wife Frigg is in many ways similar to Freyja, and Odin has a
particular relation to Loki. Other approaches focus on Odin's place in the historical record, exploring
whether Odin derives from Proto-Indo-European mythology or developed later in Germanic society.
In the modern period Odin has inspired numerous works of poetry, music, and other cultural
expressions. He is venerated with other Germanic gods in most forms of the new religious
movement Heathenry; some branches focus particularly on him.

Etymology[edit]
Woðinz (read from right to left), a probably authentic attestation of a pre-Viking Age form of Odin, on
the Strängnäs stone.

The Old Norse theonym Óðinn (runic ᚢᚦᛁᚾ on the Ribe skull fragment)[2] and its various

Germanic cognates – including Old English Wōden, Old Saxon Wōdan, Old Dutch Wuodan,
[3]
 and Old High German Wuotan (Old Bavarian Wûtan),[4] – all derive from the reconstructed Proto-
Germanic masculine theonym *Wōđanaz (or *Wōdunaz).[5][6] Translated as 'lord of frenzy'[7] or 'leader
of the possessed',[8] *Wōđanaz stems from the Proto-Germanic adjective *wōđaz ('delirious, raging')
attached to the suffix *-naz ('master of').[7] Recently, an attestation of Proto-Norse Woðinz, on
the Strängnäs stone has been accepted as probably authentic, but the name may be used as a
related adjective instead meaning "with a gift for (divine) possession" (ON: øðinn).[9]
Other Germanic cognates derived from *wōđaz include Gothic woþs ('possessed'), Old
Norse óðr ('mad, frantic, furious'), Old English wōd ('insane, frenzied') or Dutch woed ('frantic, wild,
crazy'), along with the substantivized forms Old Norse óðr ('mind, wit, sense; song, poetry'), Old
English wōþ ('sound, noise; voice, song'), Old High German wuot ('thrill, violent agitation') and Middle
Dutch woet ('rage, frenzy'), where the original adjective turned into a noun. The Proto-Germanic
terms *wōđīn ('madness, fury') and *wōđjanan ('to rage') can also be reconstructed.[5] Jan de
Vries has argued that the Old Norse deities Óðinn and Óðr were probably originally the same (as in
the doublet Ullr–Ullinn), with Óðr (*wōđaz) being the elder form and the ultimate source of the
name Óðinn (*wōđa-naz).[10]
The adjective *wōđaz ultimately stems from Pre-Germanic *uoh₂-tós and is related to Proto-
Celtic *wātis (from an earlier *ueh₂-tus), which means 'seer, sooth-sayer'.[11][12] According to linguist
Guus Kroonen, the Latin term vātēs ('prophet, seer') is probably a Celtic loanword from the Gaulish
language, making *uoh₂-tós / *ueh₂-tus a Germanic-Celtic isogloss rather than a term of Proto-Indo-
European (PIE) origin.[11] In the case a borrowing scenario is excluded, a PIE etymon *(H)ueh₂-
tis ('seer') can also be posited as the common ancestor of the attested Germanic, Celtic and Latin
forms.[6]

Other names[edit]
More than 170 names are recorded for Odin; the names are variously descriptive of attributes of the
god, refer to myths involving him, or refer to religious practices associated with him. This multitude
makes Odin the god with the most known names among the Germanic peoples.[13] Prof Steve Martin
has pointed out that the name Odinsberg (Ounesberry, Ounsberry, Othenburgh)[14] in Cleveland
Yorkshire, now corrupted to Roseberry (Topping), may derive from the time of the Anglian
settlements, with nearby Newton under Roseberry and Great Ayton [15] having Anglo Saxon suffixes.
The very dramatic rocky peak was an obvious place for divine association, and may have replaced
bronze age/iron age beliefs of divinity there, given that a hoard of bronze votive axes and other
objects was buried by the summit.[16][17] It could be a rare example, then, of Nordic-Germanic theology
displacing earlier Celtic mythology in an imposing place of tribal prominence.
In his opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, Richard Wagner refers to the god as Wotan, a spelling
of his own invention which combines the Old High German Wuotan with the Low German Wodan.[18]