SIGGY

Glossary

Earl - a member of the nobility among some of the early Norsemen, though they were properly pronounced as jarl. The earl/jarl is usually seen as a chieftain of a particular territory.

Freyja - the goddess of love, sexuality, beauty, fertility, gold, war, and death. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, keeps the boar Hildisvíni by her side, possesses a cloak of falcon feathers, and, by her husband Óðr, is the mother of two daughters, Hnoss and Gersemi. Along with her brother Freyr, her father Njörðr, and her mother, she is a member of the Vanir.

Frigg - the wife of Odin, the queen and the foremost among the goddesses of the Æsir in Asgard. Frigg appears in stories as a wife and a mother. She is also described as having the power of prophecy.

Kattegat - village in Scandinavia, bounded by parts of Denmark and Sweden which connect the Baltic sea with the North sea. Kattegat is a continuation of the Skagerrak. It means "cat hole" in the Dutch language.

Odin - the chief Viking god and the ruler of Asgard, who sacrificed his eye to acquire knowledge and wisdom.

Seer - mystics and soothsayers with supernatural powers who can communicate with the gods and answer questions about the future and one's fate in life.

Thor - the god of thunder and the protector of mankind, and the son of Odin and Fjorgyn.

Uppsala - an important religious, economic and political centre in Svithjod or Svealand (Land of the Swedes). It is located in a cultivated plain in the valley of the River Fyris on Fyris Wolds. The temple at Uppsala is a shrine to three of the major Æsir gods: Thor, Odin, and Freyr.

Valkyries - the servants of the gods Odin and Freyja. They are essentially angels of death, hosts of female figures who decide which soldiers die in battle and which live.

Viking - seafaring northern Germanic people who raided, traded, explored, and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia, and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th centuries.