Funny that I’m sitting here in Norway learning about old Scandinavian history by what looks like a cowboy in deep America speaking in near perfect old norse or icelandic language, man this world actually really small. I completely agree with your opinions too. 👍🏻
Ég(which means I in icelandic) can not related because ég am learning icelandic or as they say íslanska might be wrong and I am american that loves norse mythology ég also want to go to the university of iceland
Yes, after the collapse of this civilization and the rise of the next, those future archaeologists will be digging up Ballantine beer cans and theorizing about those three interlocking rings.
The best thing about this channel is that Dr. Crawford is unwilling to entertain modern projections upon the past. Such things may be entertaining, but I am typically interested in authentic information evidenced by period sources. I only want to hear speculative answers that can acknowledge the limitations of evidence at hand and emphasize the importance of definite knowledge as the extent of certainty. Thanks! It must be tiring to continuously battle what we wish the past to be.
Richard Morrison, I agree, actually, on the subject of runes that there is much evidence that they were regarded as magical/mystical. Crawford himself has translated the Völsunga saga, wherein examples of runic "spells" are given to Sigurđr by Sigrdrífa (Sigrdrífamál), so he's certainly aware of this. Yet there's much to be left to the imagination. It's uncertain how magic itself was practiced, and what the meaning/function/use of each rune was. The runes poems are very obscure in their meanings, and why the "need" rune should be inscribed on a fingernail (of all things) to charm a woman is all pretty unclear. Or, we why the "aurochs" rune is needed by doctors (Hávamál) is also pretty uncertain. This is the realm of speculation. It's easy to indroduce our own cosmological notions into the past, and it's hard to fully comprehend the cosmology of a person from the time period. I think what's disagreeable is the creative license taken by many where there's an open ended question to speculatively elaborate and draw conclusions that hang upon multiple uncertain details. People are entitled to be artistic - let the past inspire the present - but distinguish between theory and hypothesis.
Richard... oh, I know. He is more skeptical on this subject than you or me. I recently researched archaeological finds of a long seax that has the Anglo-Saxon "Fuþorc" inlaid in the blade with silver... How weird would it be for someone today to inscribe the ABCs on the barrel of their gun? It's doubtful the runes were purely utilitarian, as the Roman alphabet is for us.
That raven at the end was actually sent by Odin himself to yell at you Professor because you said runes probably didn't have any magic/mystic meaning 😂
Well, considering that Jackson usually wears a wide-brimmed hat, is unusually knowledgable about Old Norse, is living in the land of ravens, and talks like an "old soul," he probably IS Othinn incognito . . . .
Ofcourse runes on occasion did have magical meanings. Havamál is clear about that for starters. Magic formulae in runes are also well documented. Interesting is that in the end of the Viking age, people in, say Bergen, Norway, seem to become more literate than in other parts of the germanic world. Vulgar and religious/magical practises were not seperated but one and the same. The same counts for the use of runes.
Not disappointed at all! Refreshing and comforting to know there is actually an objective perspective on what pieces we have of the past, and is willing to admit when there IS no answer. I've always rolled my eyes at artsy people trying to sell meanings to letters. They usually describe all the meanings to runes in the same breath as horoscopes, so I'm super glad to finally hear an academic speak on things!
I just discovered your channel, and as a Swede who's very interested in this part of our history, I'm deeply, deeply grateful for you scepticism. Thank you for a great video!
The truth is much more appreciated from a logical standpoint, rather than catering to people who only rely on assumptions and fictitious information. 3 years old but good stuff, I wish I could speak the language as well as you do, the blood runs through my veins but sadly the language eludes my tongue.
@7:10 - Or it could just be a popular bit of decoration with no meaning beyond "people liked the pattern, so it got put on a lot of art for a while". Why we assume people in the Old Days didn't have decoration for the sake of decoration like we do is beyond me.
Hey, don't let the haters get you down. You're the truth-rockin' viking cowboy in these parts, and its good onya. I, for one, LOVE that you value accuracy and admit what we don't know, and talk about it. You're awesome, and TEACH ON, Professor Crawford!
Appreciate your skepticism, it’s very nice knowing when I watch your videos I’m not hearing an opinion. Just cold hard facts from all your knowledge your willing to pass on. Thank you
I love all the Rune groups who assume they know so much then I come here and actually feel educated. Thank you for your time and effort to out these videos out
@Dr. Crawford: I just want to say how much I appreciate your stoic dedication to skepticism -- especially in this age where unsupported belief and opinion is afforded equal footing with respect to knowledge!
Gosh, that 3 horns motif really looks like the symbol on the Manx coat of arms. That symbol actually dates back to the coat of arms of a norse Gaelic ruler of the isles, so I wonder if they’re connected somehow.
It is a pity we know so little. The recurring trinity seen in so many ancient symbols makes it tempting to connect many of them to the circle of life (life, death, rebirth), at least in some manner. Maybe the Valknut represents some Norse equivalent of the soul or spirit within a person, that leaves the physical form upon death?
When you said most runic inscriptions are things like "this is my sword" it reminded me of Full Metal Jacket: This is my mækir, this is my geirr! This is for víg, and this is for leikr!
There's one thing to be said here. As Dr. Crawford pointed out, the desire to comprehend and attach a particular set of meanings to every symbol is indeed a part of modern mindset influenced by scientific approach. We know how fluid folklore can be - there's hardly ever one single interpretation for anything. Beliefs and meanings change with time, like the language does. So, I feel like ancient people might not necessarily object to our modern interpretations of their symbols. People who share this kind of magical worldview just think differently.
This is why I always laugh at people that say they KNOW what certain things mean, specifically the Valknut. I met a guy that was 100% positive that it meant a commitment to die in battle and go to Valhalla and I could not convince him otherwise. In the absence of a large amount of written artifacts we are mostly left with inferences.
It is intereesting that many ancient people from the Neolithic onward used various symbols composed of three sections, three lewgs, three spirals, all the way into "modern' usage as a aprotection symbol used on early American Barns, I believe.
I find it interesting, at least in my perception, that we know more about Ancient Greece and Rome than we do about the Norsemen who came so many years later...
The Norse culture and religion suffered greatly under religious persecution during the catholic period. The church would have eliminated its memory if it could have. Just like they did to the original American spiritual traditions.
This video is the opposite of disappointing. I wanted to know more about what the symbols mean and you told me - we don't know. I'd rather just understand we won't know than be told by some random person on youtube who thinks cause they play with wiccan magic sets they know what they're talking about. "the symbols are pleasing to the eye and we like them, maybe we can't explain what they are" clearly not a quote but it's what it comes down to, and I would feel better about wearing them as a pendant/piece of jewelery or tattoo to explain no one knows the truth about the symbols and what they mean. Thanks Jackson
I never really understood why people liked vegvisir or bindrunes so much-- the explanations I've found on the internet all seemed inauthentic and superficial. It makes sense now that these are later inventions.
This is so wonderful, I was just thinking about trying to do some research on these old symbols because I wondered how much we actually knew. Nice to have some perspective from someone who isn't just trying to romanticize the symbol they got tattooed on themselves. Which is mostly what I've seen, especially on the staves.
Thank you for producing content like this. It’s incredibly helpful for those of us trying to parse capital-h History from contemporary imagination/elaboration.
With the Valknut, we should be careful to distinguish two versions - both are shown here on runestones! The first one, at 3:28, is a trefoil knot made of one continuous strand passing under and over itself, whereas the one immediately after that is formed by Borromean rings, made of three triangles.
Another example of a design based on three things is the "triskelion" a set of three legs radiating from a central point, on the flag of the Isle of Man, probably introduced by the Norse.
Thank you I keep looking around for good sources just so I can put together what I think is right for me at least for now and you've helped me on my journey
I watch your channel for Medieval Icelandic pronunciation so I can recite poems in a re-creation context. I guess I'm one of those ten people! Woo! (I will also admit I do follow along with the written text frequently, particularly since I still struggle with some of the vowel sounds.)
Thank you for continuing to hold the line of science regarding such topics. Yes, it would be convenient to the general public for all the ancient ways to be spelled out, but they weren't spelled out, and for the same reasons that similar specific knowledge is not necessarily spelled out today. Some things can be learned academically, and some things must be lived to understand. It is important not to confuse the one for the other. Each has its place in the culture. You can learn a lot about the anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry of cows. You can even become a qualified veterinarian for cattle. That doesn't mean you're ready to ride the bull. These different kinds of wisdom are kept separate for good reason.
While it's true that much is lost to antiquity; Enough lore, poetry, and superstition has survived from enough regions, to where I'm grateful for how much has survived, and what we are able to unearth, if we look. Some cultures don't even have that.
It's like the Cool S. There are a few generations of people, generally in Middle School in the States that just write the Cool S. It just appeared and just appears.
Stunned by your detailed knowledge on languages, especially Old Norse. I’ve ben watching several of your videos now. History fascinates me. History of any kind, any people or time. The last ten years, after I was contacted by the “Familiene fra Nordbygda” foundation, I have been studying my family history. The foundation has over many years been able to confirm 30 generations, about 1000 years, with names of forefathers. Long story, but it started in Ringerike, Norway, then centuries on Isle of Man and the Hebrides, and finally back to Helgeland, Norway, at the end of the viking age. Anyways, keep at it, I will follow you. Btw, my brother went to Texas Tech 🙂. All the best! Ørjan.
In Frisian there is the word 'skare', meaning 'joined crowd'. In Dutch 'schare' (joined crowd)', in German 'schar' (joined crowd). This word looks like 'shire' and sure can be explained like equal.
I have a silver ring, made in Orkney featuring the dragon from the Viking graffiti on Maes Howe. I expect at the time it was just somebody's version of Kilroy was here.
Teacher Crawford, thank you so much for this video and teaching about the history of symbols and everything else, I'm just fascinated and love Nordic culture and it's great to see someone who understands so well and teaches and shows that it can have so much meaning, and I met your video this one especially , from a Brazilian channel, that I recommend your video. thank you very much , and something i intend to study too
Fascinating. I was discussing this topic yesterday because me and spouse are trying to learn more about our ancestor's meanderings southeastwards into what is commonly thought about as Russia, Romania, Bulgaria and the area around The Black Sea and The Caspian. I stated pretty strongly that the (what did you call it?) Ägishjálmr and the lot just does not look or feel authentic. You mentioning the Rök stone made me cringe slightly. It sits 46 km from here and a 140 km drive away, and I still haven't gotten around to go look at it.
Archaeology involves many pieces of many jig-saw puzzles scattered over the countryside; in fact in ancient history is established when an artefact points to a piece of ancient literature and vice versa. Even then, there is only a probable coincidence of evidence. But it is fun to discover the pieces and to see them as they are, without necessary solution.
@@nikburisson9-pissedoffpeasant- It is scary how good Algorithms are nowadays. I even sometimes suspect that Google has some kind of microphone in my house listening in. I sometimes have very specialised conversations with my son on topics not common at all. And a day later, I get a recommended video on it. Eery.
I feel that statement you can use something reconstructed in your way but doesn't mean thats what it is or was. Had a debate on Facebook about the Triquetra and people who try to be pagan did not like my statement about how the oldest reference to it is Christian and brought up how it could have been possibly made after pagan times and yet if it was pagan it has no meaning because it's lost to history if it was. But some people don't wanna hear that type of knowledgeable I guess
Very much enjoyed this video - Id naggingly like to note though that you would have to be psychic to know for sure that no one else has the psychic powers to know the original meaning. But the point is well taken - the meaning of such symbols simply lies in their form, and they dont need to have names, or rather they are their own names.
Remember though that runes were still in use in Sweden until relative modern age, so if people in early modern times write about the magical meaning of certain runes, this may be based on tradition inherited from pre christian times. It is of course hard to know for sure.
Most common answer to any question you ask a historian - "well, we don't really know". If you're lucky, you might get a "well, we don't really know... but check this out...".
Question on the runes as symbols. I think i remember a part in Egill's saga where he comes across someone who had runes written on something and put under a bed (going off memory here) and it was making the girl sick, and Egill had to correct the way the runes were written to accomplish whatever the goal of those were. Is this more of a writing in runes of a 'spell' or arrangement of runes as symbols to accomplish the spell? Or could this be an example of how the then christian authors viewed the runes?
The idea that letters as individuals are invested with special, unchanging power is distinctly late medieval, early Renaissance and Western European-not that they invented the idea, only that your average westerner walking around today with that notion probably inherited it from that space and that time. I don’t think you could separate it from the origins of chemistry. I think it’s important therefore to make a distinction between the idea of letters having magic (being from another world, having power, having potential for power) and having the sort of mechanical magic people like assigning to runes. Runes could be described as magical without ever having been considered discrete, individually invested magical objects.
I mean about the runes and symbolism, people make money from selling stuff like that, making all kinds of claims. But that's a thing with say, egyptian stuff as well, and others. Whatever floats their goat but don't pretend it's rooted in history.
Sorry to be a pain: Cambridgeshire is pronounced -shurr or -sheer at the end, never -shire. This depends where you come from in Britain (I say -shurr as a southerner but Americans might be safer with -sheer). But you would say shire on its own when saying something like 'he came from one of the shires'. I'm only saying this should you be interested in such things, otherwise ignore me.
@@AllotmentFox The "rr" sound is missing completely from the midlands accent, unlike in the south or west country, where it's really pronounced; you'd never confuse the two, hearing them side by side.
And not just Cambridgeshire. All the English counties ending in ‘shire’ (which is a lot of them) are pronounced that way. I speak as one born and brought up in Lancashuh!
Hello Dr. Crawford, have you ever come across an inverted Volknut and or found the meaning behind it? I created an alter table with Thor's hammer, Runes, and in the hammer I made (inadvertently) an inverted Volknut. Is there any history of this? Great channel, I appreciate the way you educate this language and it's cultural significance. Have a great day and new year! Thank you for your time and consideration.
Thanks to previous videos, Dr. Crawford brings my mind to notice that the Valknut is also a symbolization of the sacred number 9. What happens when you put three triangles together? You get three apexes. ◀️🔼🔽. 3x3=9 😁 @Jackson Crawford
Those aztecish designs are quite similar to greek designs and asian and that meditating viking wood carving lol the way i like to put it its like the way water flows or the way smoke rolls
Large bird was God Taara, which likely came from Thor. Taara was worshipped by Oselians, on the Saaremaa island where they found 2 viking Vendel Age boat burials in Salme.
Thank you. I do quite a bit of old norse/viking art for my hobbies and I'm always in the back of my mind aware that I have no idea what a set of symbols and knots would have meant. This looks cool but prolly curses your ducks and wishes Thor's glory to the rocks in the wheels of your car!
You mention wolves, ravens, horses and snakes as having importance in Norse mythology. I would appreciate any comments you might have on the sigficance of snakes in Norse mythology. I just check Wikipedea, and there are 4 species of snakes in Denmark and Norway and three species in Sweden. Further, there are no snakes native to Iceland, which in turn implies that no one who lived his/her entire life in Iceland would have any actual experience with snakes. In view of the Norse people's actual life experience, what would snakes symbolize?
The word for snakes at the time was Orm which we today use as simply "worm" - but back then this word also applied to dragons like Nidhogg. Jormundgandr goes by "Midgaardsormen" - the Midgard Worm. This use of "worm" is also why modern fantasy properties like DnD name the elder stages of a dragon's age wyrm or wurm. Thus, the snake is not readily separate from some of the mightiest creatures in Norse mythology - even though the common adder is a relatively harmless creature in the region. As a bonus: When Ragnar Lothbrok is thrown in a snakepit at the end of his legend, a Nordic word often used for the pit is "ormegrav". Now, I covered the translation of "orm"; "grav" is hole, pit... or grave. This offers some different connotations for his contemporaries than the word "snakepit" does for us today. Now, Ragnar supposedly slew two dragons at the start of his career, so tying a word with that sort of double meaning into his death could have been a story device to bring his story "full circle" - people who messed with dragons generally suffered some ill as a consequence in Nordic mythology, though it might catch up only late in their life.
It's possible that simple geometric symbols like this had no meaning at all originally - consider the "Cool S", a universal symbol that has appeared in countless doodlings since it became popular in the mid-20th Century. It's easy to replicate and thus became extremely common, it has no definitive origin or meaning, it's just catchy.
What about the symbolism in the ornaments of the stave churches and the preserved viking ships ? And when you mention runes and they having no magic meaning, what about Sigrdrifumál ?
The triskell and (Anglo-Saxon) tréfot have a origin in at least the Iron Age. The three legged symbol of Man could be Celtic in origin, despite 'Viking' influences. Art styles from the middle ages often resemble the influences of peoples who interacted with each other. That explains germanic and Viking anymal styles in Irish art, Scandinavian influences in Angli- Saxon art, etc.
Some people claim the meaning of runes are found in rune poems in such texts as the Codex Sangallensis, written centuries afterward in a Christian Scandinavia, saying they're passing down the oral tradition that dates back to the Viking age. Personally, I'm certain the rune poems were arbitrarily made up by someone with an interest in paganism but was obviously very disconnected from it, so the poems are a load of BS (historically speaking). I'd love to see Crawford's take on this, and how much it may differ from mine.
Rune poems were meant to remind you the name of the rune and by the name of the rune you can know what sound the rune made. This is from what i can understand Take a look at Anglo Saxon Futhorc rune poems. Like for example, the Anglo Saxon ᚪ rune was called Ac and you knew that ᚪ rune made the a sound because that's what the a in Word Ac made.
"A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence" - David Hume. "That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence." - Christopher Hitchens. Thank you for being a model of sound judgment... it is in short supply these days.
Funny that I’m sitting here in Norway learning about old Scandinavian history by what looks like a cowboy in deep America speaking in near perfect old norse or icelandic language, man this world actually really small. I completely agree with your opinions too. 👍🏻
He's up in the mountains in Colorado :)
Ég(which means I in icelandic) can not related because ég am learning icelandic or as they say íslanska might be wrong and I am american that loves norse mythology ég also want to go to the university of iceland
Samme her. Social media has really shrunken the map hasn't it?
@@thegentlemanreturned most definitely
Do they not have cool hats where you are from? Lol
Thousands of years from now, archaeologists will be tearing their hair out trying to figure out the deeper meaning behind corporate logos.
Any designer worth their salt would have that information documented in a brand standards manual.
@@lcmiracle We have the internet and computers. Those things are now stored digitally rather than simply physically.
Yes, after the collapse of this civilization and the rise of the next, those future archaeologists will be digging up Ballantine beer cans and theorizing about those three interlocking rings.
Technology has solved that issue now
@@ChillPillDyl exactly my point. :)
The best thing about this channel is that Dr. Crawford is unwilling to entertain modern projections upon the past. Such things may be entertaining, but I am typically interested in authentic information evidenced by period sources. I only want to hear speculative answers that can acknowledge the limitations of evidence at hand and emphasize the importance of definite knowledge as the extent of certainty.
Thanks! It must be tiring to continuously battle what we wish the past to be.
Richard Morrison, I agree, actually, on the subject of runes that there is much evidence that they were regarded as magical/mystical. Crawford himself has translated the Völsunga saga, wherein examples of runic "spells" are given to Sigurđr by Sigrdrífa (Sigrdrífamál), so he's certainly aware of this. Yet there's much to be left to the imagination. It's uncertain how magic itself was practiced, and what the meaning/function/use of each rune was. The runes poems are very obscure in their meanings, and why the "need" rune should be inscribed on a fingernail (of all things) to charm a woman is all pretty unclear. Or, we why the "aurochs" rune is needed by doctors (Hávamál) is also pretty uncertain. This is the realm of speculation. It's easy to indroduce our own cosmological notions into the past, and it's hard to fully comprehend the cosmology of a person from the time period. I think what's disagreeable is the creative license taken by many where there's an open ended question to speculatively elaborate and draw conclusions that hang upon multiple uncertain details.
People are entitled to be artistic - let the past inspire the present - but distinguish between theory and hypothesis.
Richard... oh, I know. He is more skeptical on this subject than you or me.
I recently researched archaeological finds of a long seax that has the Anglo-Saxon "Fuþorc" inlaid in the blade with silver... How weird would it be for someone today to inscribe the ABCs on the barrel of their gun?
It's doubtful the runes were purely utilitarian, as the Roman alphabet is for us.
I agree. There's a lot of room to speculate and fantasize once you know the extent of what is actually known.
"we need to be comfortable with that uncertainty" I love your skepticism and the attempt at keeping things as factual as possible.
That raven at the end was actually sent by Odin himself to yell at you Professor because you said runes probably didn't have any magic/mystic meaning 😂
100%
Odin: “Did you stab yourself to tree for days? I didn’t think so. So don’t tell me what runes mean.”
Modern gurus: *Surprised Pikachu meme*
Well, considering that Jackson usually wears a wide-brimmed hat, is unusually knowledgable about Old Norse, is living in the land of ravens, and talks like an "old soul," he probably IS Othinn incognito . . . .
Ofcourse runes on occasion did have magical meanings. Havamál is clear about that for starters. Magic formulae in runes are also well documented. Interesting is that in the end of the Viking age, people in, say Bergen, Norway, seem to become more literate than in other parts of the germanic world. Vulgar and religious/magical practises were not seperated but one and the same. The same counts for the use of runes.
But clearly we all heard it caw "Truuue", so Odin would be in agreement with the video. :-)
Not disappointed at all! Refreshing and comforting to know there is actually an objective perspective on what pieces we have of the past, and is willing to admit when there IS no answer. I've always rolled my eyes at artsy people trying to sell meanings to letters. They usually describe all the meanings to runes in the same breath as horoscopes, so I'm super glad to finally hear an academic speak on things!
I just discovered your channel, and as a Swede who's very interested in this part of our history, I'm deeply, deeply grateful for you scepticism. Thank you for a great video!
The truth is much more appreciated from a logical standpoint, rather than catering to people who only rely on assumptions and fictitious information. 3 years old but good stuff, I wish I could speak the language as well as you do, the blood runs through my veins but sadly the language eludes my tongue.
This guy's got the voice of a born narrator.
Been a fan for years and then I heard you consulted for Assassin's Creed Valhalla! That's awesome, hope you get more work like that!
Assas sin = Asa's synd
@@SvensktTroll whatever, nerd!
@7:10 - Or it could just be a popular bit of decoration with no meaning beyond "people liked the pattern, so it got put on a lot of art for a while". Why we assume people in the Old Days didn't have decoration for the sake of decoration like we do is beyond me.
I dont think it was on a lot of stuff like 3 pic stones n they are all kinda similar
Hey, don't let the haters get you down. You're the truth-rockin' viking cowboy in these parts, and its good onya. I, for one, LOVE that you value accuracy and admit what we don't know, and talk about it. You're awesome, and TEACH ON, Professor Crawford!
Appreciate your skepticism, it’s very nice knowing when I watch your videos I’m not hearing an opinion. Just cold hard facts from all your knowledge your willing to pass on. Thank you
I love that a raven started yelling at the end. Thanks for all the fascinating information, Dr. Crawford.
love the channel and what you do and how you bring the facts to the lost norse danish ways
I love all the Rune groups who assume they know so much then I come here and actually feel educated.
Thank you for your time and effort to out these videos out
the raven in the background : " me munin , aproves of this humans speech"
There is wisdom in knowing what you don't know.
Thank you for your honesty.
@Dr. Crawford: I just want to say how much I appreciate your stoic dedication to skepticism -- especially in this age where unsupported belief and opinion is afforded equal footing with respect to knowledge!
This is why it makes it hard to get any proper science knowledge online anymore!
You said it, bruddah! Jackson is one in a million for intellectual integrity . . . .
Lukas Sprehn: You just have to be extra vigilant with respect to which sources you lay your trust in.
Gosh, that 3 horns motif really looks like the symbol on the Manx coat of arms. That symbol actually dates back to the coat of arms of a norse Gaelic ruler of the isles, so I wonder if they’re connected somehow.
Still wonder what a thular might have been .-.
It is a pity we know so little. The recurring trinity seen in so many ancient symbols makes it tempting to connect many of them to the circle of life (life, death, rebirth), at least in some manner. Maybe the Valknut represents some Norse equivalent of the soul or spirit within a person, that leaves the physical form upon death?
When you said most runic inscriptions are things like "this is my sword" it reminded me of Full Metal Jacket:
This is my mækir, this is my geirr!
This is for víg, and this is for leikr!
Lol
Laughed way too hard at this, awesome x)
There's one thing to be said here. As Dr. Crawford pointed out, the desire to comprehend and attach a particular set of meanings to every symbol is indeed a part of modern mindset influenced by scientific approach. We know how fluid folklore can be - there's hardly ever one single interpretation for anything. Beliefs and meanings change with time, like the language does. So, I feel like ancient people might not necessarily object to our modern interpretations of their symbols. People who share this kind of magical worldview just think differently.
Another great video Dr. Crawford, thanks so much. I just received my copy, of your translations of the Poetic Edda and Saga of the Volsungs!
This is why I always laugh at people that say they KNOW what certain things mean, specifically the Valknut. I met a guy that was 100% positive that it meant a commitment to die in battle and go to Valhalla and I could not convince him otherwise. In the absence of a large amount of written artifacts we are mostly left with inferences.
I mean... It is what it means *to him* ... interplay of sign and signifier and all that
It is intereesting that many ancient people from the Neolithic onward used various symbols composed of three sections, three lewgs, three spirals, all the way into "modern' usage as a aprotection symbol used on early American Barns, I believe.
I find it interesting, at least in my perception, that we know more about Ancient Greece and Rome than we do about the Norsemen who came so many years later...
The Norse culture and religion suffered greatly under religious persecution during the catholic period. The church would have eliminated its memory if it could have. Just like they did to the original American spiritual traditions.
This video is the opposite of disappointing. I wanted to know more about what the symbols mean and you told me - we don't know. I'd rather just understand we won't know than be told by some random person on youtube who thinks cause they play with wiccan magic sets they know what they're talking about. "the symbols are pleasing to the eye and we like them, maybe we can't explain what they are" clearly not a quote but it's what it comes down to, and I would feel better about wearing them as a pendant/piece of jewelery or tattoo to explain no one knows the truth about the symbols and what they mean. Thanks Jackson
Thank you for you very reasonable and evidential based analysis!!
" A voice crying in the wilderness." ( literally!)
the wilderness is always full of cries, but if the heart is a desert, you won't hear them,...
Good job! I love your videos 🥰
Your pronunciation is brilliant... most of us can't speak old norse so well done..
Really enjoy your videos. Keep them coming!
Thank you Professor for another great video.
I never really understood why people liked vegvisir or bindrunes so much-- the explanations I've found on the internet all seemed inauthentic and superficial. It makes sense now that these are later inventions.
This is so wonderful, I was just thinking about trying to do some research on these old symbols because I wondered how much we actually knew. Nice to have some perspective from someone who isn't just trying to romanticize the symbol they got tattooed on themselves. Which is mostly what I've seen, especially on the staves.
Great work as always
Thank you for producing content like this. It’s incredibly helpful for those of us trying to parse capital-h History from contemporary imagination/elaboration.
We should nickname you "The Handsome Professor" 😉
With the Valknut, we should be careful to distinguish two versions - both are shown here on runestones! The first one, at 3:28, is a trefoil knot made of one continuous strand passing under and over itself, whereas the one immediately after that is formed by Borromean rings, made of three triangles.
Excellent - tho' it is a sad world where a scholar has to be apologetic in stating the truth and limits of evidence.
Another example of a design based on three things is the "triskelion" a set of three legs radiating from a central point, on the flag of the Isle of Man, probably introduced by the Norse.
You should check out the Sicilian flag .
I really appreciate your honest straight forward approach to this subject rather than going down a rabbit trail of esoteric speculation!
Thank you I keep looking around for good sources just so I can put together what I think is right for me at least for now and you've helped me on my journey
I watch your channel for Medieval Icelandic pronunciation so I can recite poems in a re-creation context. I guess I'm one of those ten people! Woo!
(I will also admit I do follow along with the written text frequently, particularly since I still struggle with some of the vowel sounds.)
This isn’t the video we want. But it is the video we need.
Thank you for continuing to hold the line of science regarding such topics. Yes, it would be convenient to the general public for all the ancient ways to be spelled out, but they weren't spelled out, and for the same reasons that similar specific knowledge is not necessarily spelled out today.
Some things can be learned academically, and some things must be lived to understand. It is important not to confuse the one for the other. Each has its place in the culture.
You can learn a lot about the anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry of cows. You can even become a qualified veterinarian for cattle. That doesn't mean you're ready to ride the bull. These different kinds of wisdom are kept separate for good reason.
I agree with you wholeheartedly 100%!
imagine all the lost literary works of the vikings that were burnt or destroyed or just lost to time
While it's true that much is lost to antiquity;
Enough lore, poetry, and superstition has survived from enough regions, to where I'm grateful for how much has survived, and what we are able to unearth, if we look. Some cultures don't even have that.
People thought they looked cool back then, they still look cool today.
Good enough for me
It's like the Cool S. There are a few generations of people, generally in Middle School in the States that just write the Cool S. It just appeared and just appears.
Stunned by your detailed knowledge on languages, especially Old Norse. I’ve ben watching several of your videos now.
History fascinates me. History of any kind, any people or time. The last ten years, after I was contacted by the “Familiene fra Nordbygda” foundation, I have been studying my family history. The foundation has over many years been able to confirm 30 generations, about 1000 years, with names of forefathers. Long story, but it started in Ringerike, Norway, then centuries on Isle of Man and the Hebrides, and finally back to Helgeland, Norway, at the end of the viking age. Anyways, keep at it, I will follow you. Btw, my brother went to Texas Tech 🙂. All the best!
Ørjan.
In Frisian there is the word 'skare', meaning 'joined crowd'.
In Dutch 'schare' (joined crowd)', in German 'schar' (joined crowd).
This word looks like 'shire' and sure can be explained like equal.
I have a silver ring, made in Orkney featuring the dragon from the Viking graffiti on Maes Howe. I expect at the time it was just somebody's version of Kilroy was here.
You know, a Jackson Crawford, Justin Sledge, Isar Oakmund round table about this would be awesome...
This was fascinating; thank you :)
Teacher Crawford, thank you so much for this video and teaching about the history of symbols and everything else, I'm just fascinated and love Nordic culture and it's great to see someone who understands so well and teaches and shows that it can have so much meaning, and I met your video this one especially , from a Brazilian channel, that I recommend your video. thank you very much , and something i intend to study too
Thank you for the video, I learned a lot.
Fascinating. I was discussing this topic yesterday because me and spouse are trying to learn more about our ancestor's meanderings southeastwards into what is commonly thought about as Russia, Romania, Bulgaria and the area around The Black Sea and The Caspian. I stated pretty strongly that the (what did you call it?) Ägishjálmr and the lot just does not look or feel authentic.
You mentioning the Rök stone made me cringe slightly. It sits 46 km from here and a 140 km drive away, and I still haven't gotten around to go look at it.
Love ur videos 😊 love from Denmark
I don't see how people dislike this. Oh wait, because they cannot accept that they make things up and believe gurus and lies
Archaeology involves many pieces of many jig-saw puzzles scattered over the countryside; in fact in ancient history is established when an artefact points to a piece of ancient literature and vice versa.
Even then, there is only a probable coincidence of evidence.
But it is fun to discover the pieces and to see them as they are, without necessary solution.
Yay the topic that always brings me here...
Very good video!
From what i know three is a very ancient and somewhat common symbol for the middle road, balance and stability
Oh doc, you just ruined a bunch of bro's tats. 😂🤣
Thanks for your work
Meh not really, they're still cool looking and have interesting history. Just no verified inherent meaning :)
Doc, have you got a degree in parapsychology too? Because the last two days I was researching norse symbolism and now you upload this
Synchronicity.
I have experienced the same. Something stuck in my mind. Next day or two, notification about Ol' Doc Norse©® uploading a video about what has been on my mind.
@@nikburisson9-pissedoffpeasant- It is scary how good Algorithms are nowadays. I even sometimes suspect that Google has some kind of microphone in my house listening in. I sometimes have very specialised conversations with my son on topics not common at all. And a day later, I get a recommended video on it. Eery.
I feel that statement you can use something reconstructed in your way but doesn't mean thats what it is or was. Had a debate on Facebook about the Triquetra and people who try to be pagan did not like my statement about how the oldest reference to it is Christian and brought up how it could have been possibly made after pagan times and yet if it was pagan it has no meaning because it's lost to history if it was. But some people don't wanna hear that type of knowledgeable I guess
Haha the irony of the raven at the end adds a lovely touch
Very much enjoyed this video - Id naggingly like to note though that you would have to be psychic to know for sure that no one else has the psychic powers to know the original meaning. But the point is well taken - the meaning of such symbols simply lies in their form, and they dont need to have names, or rather they are their own names.
What does the cool S mean? It's conemporary and we don't know.
He gives off cowboy/red dead redemption vibes sometimes😂
Remember though that runes were still in use in Sweden until relative modern age, so if people in early modern times write about the magical meaning of certain runes, this may be based on tradition inherited from pre christian times. It is of course hard to know for sure.
The wolfheaded "Thorshammer" from Iceland at 10:51 is not a Thor's hammer but a christian cross with a wolf terminal. It's a common misconception.
The truth should never disappoint
Most common answer to any question you ask a historian - "well, we don't really know".
If you're lucky, you might get a "well, we don't really know... but check this out...".
Question on the runes as symbols. I think i remember a part in Egill's saga where he comes across someone who had runes written on something and put under a bed (going off memory here) and it was making the girl sick, and Egill had to correct the way the runes were written to accomplish whatever the goal of those were. Is this more of a writing in runes of a 'spell' or arrangement of runes as symbols to accomplish the spell? Or could this be an example of how the then christian authors viewed the runes?
Ol' Doc Norse©® has many videos about runes. From what I understand, its more about what the runes say as words ( example: "give me strength Thor") spelled out in runes. And the mind set you have to be in ( example: feel as you are asking Thor himself.)
Netflix execs and writers oughtta listen to that lesson at the end of the video.
Hi I was wondering how close is elfdalian compared to old norse?
The idea that letters as individuals are invested with special, unchanging power is distinctly late medieval, early Renaissance and Western European-not that they invented the idea, only that your average westerner walking around today with that notion probably inherited it from that space and that time. I don’t think you could separate it from the origins of chemistry. I think it’s important therefore to make a distinction between the idea of letters having magic (being from another world, having power, having potential for power) and having the sort of mechanical magic people like assigning to runes. Runes could be described as magical without ever having been considered discrete, individually invested magical objects.
I’m saying this having binge watched the rune playlist and realizing this was completely the wrong video to comment this on, haha
I mean about the runes and symbolism, people make money from selling stuff like that, making all kinds of claims. But that's a thing with say, egyptian stuff as well, and others. Whatever floats their goat but don't pretend it's rooted in history.
Sorry to be a pain: Cambridgeshire is pronounced -shurr or -sheer at the end, never -shire. This depends where you come from in Britain (I say -shurr as a southerner but Americans might be safer with -sheer). But you would say shire on its own when saying something like 'he came from one of the shires'. I'm only saying this should you be interested in such things, otherwise ignore me.
...or honestly even just "shuh", in the midlands
@@SmevMev Ah. I, uh, included you midlanders in *ahem* the south.I suspect -shurr and -shuh are practically identical.
@@AllotmentFox The "rr" sound is missing completely from the midlands accent, unlike in the south or west country, where it's really pronounced; you'd never confuse the two, hearing them side by side.
And not just Cambridgeshire. All the English counties ending in ‘shire’ (which is a lot of them) are pronounced that way. I speak as one born and brought up in Lancashuh!
shibboleth.
Hello Dr. Crawford, have you ever come across an inverted Volknut and or found the meaning behind it? I created an alter table with Thor's hammer, Runes, and in the hammer I made (inadvertently) an inverted Volknut. Is there any history of this?
Great channel, I appreciate the way you educate this language and it's cultural significance.
Have a great day and new year! Thank you for your time and consideration.
Where can I learn about what they engraved in their tools, weapons, etc.? Was it usually phrases, or singular runes with meanings?
Thanks to previous videos, Dr. Crawford brings my mind to notice that the Valknut is also a symbolization of the sacred number 9. What happens when you put three triangles together? You get three apexes. ◀️🔼🔽. 3x3=9 😁 @Jackson Crawford
Those aztecish designs are quite similar to greek designs and asian and that meditating viking wood carving lol the way i like to put it its like the way water flows or the way smoke rolls
@@robertohlen4980 exactly
Large bird was God Taara, which likely came from Thor. Taara was worshipped by Oselians, on the Saaremaa island where they found 2 viking Vendel Age boat burials in Salme.
i have never heard anyone say anything bad about colorado. i need to get there one day.
Thank you. I do quite a bit of old norse/viking art for my hobbies and I'm always in the back of my mind aware that I have no idea what a set of symbols and knots would have meant. This looks cool but prolly curses your ducks and wishes Thor's glory to the rocks in the wheels of your car!
You mention wolves, ravens, horses and snakes as having importance in Norse mythology. I would appreciate any comments you might have on the sigficance of snakes in Norse mythology. I just check Wikipedea, and there are 4 species of snakes in Denmark and Norway and three species in Sweden. Further, there are no snakes native to Iceland, which in turn implies that no one who lived his/her entire life in Iceland would have any actual experience with snakes. In view of the Norse people's actual life experience, what would snakes symbolize?
The word for snakes at the time was Orm which we today use as simply "worm" - but back then this word also applied to dragons like Nidhogg. Jormundgandr goes by "Midgaardsormen" - the Midgard Worm. This use of "worm" is also why modern fantasy properties like DnD name the elder stages of a dragon's age wyrm or wurm. Thus, the snake is not readily separate from some of the mightiest creatures in Norse mythology - even though the common adder is a relatively harmless creature in the region.
As a bonus: When Ragnar Lothbrok is thrown in a snakepit at the end of his legend, a Nordic word often used for the pit is "ormegrav". Now, I covered the translation of "orm"; "grav" is hole, pit... or grave. This offers some different connotations for his contemporaries than the word "snakepit" does for us today. Now, Ragnar supposedly slew two dragons at the start of his career, so tying a word with that sort of double meaning into his death could have been a story device to bring his story "full circle" - people who messed with dragons generally suffered some ill as a consequence in Nordic mythology, though it might catch up only late in their life.
That boing and running critter at 0:31 tho
It's possible that simple geometric symbols like this had no meaning at all originally - consider the "Cool S", a universal symbol that has appeared in countless doodlings since it became popular in the mid-20th Century. It's easy to replicate and thus became extremely common, it has no definitive origin or meaning, it's just catchy.
Meaning and context com and goes; best to speak our own stories, love, wins and losses. 😏
What about the symbolism in the ornaments of the stave churches and the preserved viking ships ? And when you mention runes and they having no magic meaning, what about Sigrdrifumál ?
Very well done my man! Don't jump off that cliff
In your opinion, what would be the best form of evidence to shed some like on these kinds of symbols?
Any link between the first symbol a the three legged symbol of the Isle of Man? Just speculating as the Isle of Man was a Viking colony.
The triskell and (Anglo-Saxon) tréfot have a origin in at least the Iron Age. The three legged symbol of Man could be Celtic in origin, despite 'Viking' influences. Art styles from the middle ages often resemble the influences of peoples who interacted with each other. That explains germanic and Viking anymal styles in Irish art, Scandinavian influences in Angli- Saxon art, etc.
Some people claim the meaning of runes are found in rune poems in such texts as the Codex Sangallensis, written centuries afterward in a Christian Scandinavia, saying they're passing down the oral tradition that dates back to the Viking age. Personally, I'm certain the rune poems were arbitrarily made up by someone with an interest in paganism but was obviously very disconnected from it, so the poems are a load of BS (historically speaking). I'd love to see Crawford's take on this, and how much it may differ from mine.
Rune poems were meant to remind you the name of the rune and by the name of the rune you can know what sound the rune made. This is from what i can understand Take a look at Anglo Saxon Futhorc rune poems. Like for example, the Anglo Saxon ᚪ rune was called Ac and you knew that ᚪ rune made the a sound because that's what the a in Word Ac made.
@@user-gj1np9rp4d Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, hell, people do that even today, though not necessarily in poetic form.
"A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence" - David Hume. "That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence." - Christopher Hitchens. Thank you for being a model of sound judgment... it is in short supply these days.