Norse Symbols (and Their Unknowable Meanings)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.ย. 2020
- Certain visual designs--such as the "Valknútr"--are found on Norse artifacts, but their meanings (and even true Norse names) aren't really known or knowable.
Jackson Crawford, Ph.D.: Sharing real expertise in Norse language and myth with people hungry to learn, free of both ivory tower elitism and the agendas of self-appointed gurus. Visit jacksonwcrawford.com/ (includes bio and linked list of all videos).
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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. :-)
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!
This guy's got the voice of a born narrator.
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!
@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
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)
the raven in the background : " me munin , aproves of this humans speech"
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!
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?
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 love that a raven started yelling at the end. Thanks for all the fascinating information, Dr. Crawford.
@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.
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
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!
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 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 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.
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 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.
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.
There is wisdom in knowing what you don't know.
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
Really enjoy your videos. Keep them coming!
Thank you for your honesty.
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.
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!
Excellent - tho' it is a sad world where a scholar has to be apologetic in stating the truth and limits of evidence.
Great work as always
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.
Good job! I love your videos 🥰
Thank you Professor for another great video.
Thank you for you very reasonable and evidential based analysis!!
Your pronunciation is brilliant... most of us can't speak old norse so well done..
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
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.
I really appreciate your honest straight forward approach to this subject rather than going down a rabbit trail of esoteric speculation!
love the channel and what you do and how you bring the facts to the lost norse danish ways
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.)
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 .
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.
This was fascinating; thank you :)
" 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,...
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
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.
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.
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.
Thank you for the video, I learned a lot.
Thank you J! Symbols everywhere to be unveiled in a time of ignorance... Hug from Norway
This isn’t the video we want. But it is the video we need.
Very good 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.
Haha the irony of the raven at the end adds a lovely touch
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%!
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...".
Love ur videos 😊 love from Denmark
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.
Yay the topic that always brings me here...
imagine all the lost literary works of the vikings that were burnt or destroyed or just lost to time
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 :)
People thought they looked cool back then, they still look cool today.
Good enough for me
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.
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.
There was an aeroplane flying over my house just as he said that he was close to where they fly over. I had one of those moments where I couldn't tell if the sound was coming from my phone or somewhere else close by...
There is no coincidence; they were valkyries . . . .
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!
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.
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.
Hi I was wondering how close is elfdalian compared to old norse?
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.
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
From what i know three is a very ancient and somewhat common symbol for the middle road, balance and stability
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.)
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.
Where can I learn about what they engraved in their tools, weapons, etc.? Was it usually phrases, or singular runes with meanings?
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
Netflix execs and writers oughtta listen to that lesson at the end of the video.
What does the cool S mean? It's conemporary and we don't know.
In your opinion, what would be the best form of evidence to shed some like on these kinds of symbols?
That boing and running critter at 0:31 tho
He gives off cowboy/red dead redemption vibes sometimes😂
I never would have expected to find a Texan cowboy talking so intricately about norse mythology and culture. As an Icelander your pronunciation is very impressive. Also In case you read this, if you're not already familiar, there is a website which is dedicated to digital photographic copies of ancient norse manuscripts: (handrit.is/). I love looking through it from time to time, you have most of the Icelandic sagas, and I think Snorra-Edda is in there as well.
The man probably already knows about it, considering Old Norse is what he did his PHD on. In fact, I think he mentions he did actually once read some of the manuscripts in person.
He is not Texan. Those mountains are in Colorado.
@@wim0104 Oh where in Texas is Colorado? Would love to visit
@@wim0104 He was born in Houston
His videos are shot in the state of Colorado, and the "cowboy affect" is just a fashion preference . . . .
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.
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.
Meaning and context com and goes; best to speak our own stories, love, wins and losses. 😏
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.
i have never heard anyone say anything bad about colorado. i need to get there one day.
Very well done my man! Don't jump off that cliff
Doesn't the Stentoften Runestone Uz the j rune to mean "year" because th@'s how the word was pronounced?
The person lying down on the "big hammer's" picture stone probably gets the "blood eagle".
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 ?
Hej from Sweden, I understand that this modern thing maybe isn't factual in an older perspective, but isn't this just an update? The old stuff is just tales and superstition made up by some bored dude not unlike today. Culture will always change and i don't think we should stop that. But i appreciate what you are doing :)
i love u dr crawford
What?! You have no psychic powers!? I am sooooo disappointed....
But seriously, great video! It's an interesting problem - to keep in mind that, as you said, there is no evidence of what these meant in ancient times. I think it probably requires context and understanding of the culture at that time to make sense of what they might represent. Thanks again for a great video!
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.
I don't see how people dislike this. Oh wait, because they cannot accept that they make things up and believe gurus and lies
I'd say blind assumption would have one believing the valknut is similar to the triskelion or triquetra, etc. Or, y'know, the Tri-Force. ;)