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Æsir (Old Norse; singular: áss) or ēse (Old English; singular: ōs) are deities in Germanic paganism. In Old Nordic religion and Nordic mythology, the precise meaning of the term " Æsir" is debated, as it can refer either to the gods in general or specifically to one of the main families of gods, in contrast to the Vanir, with whom the Æsir waged war, ultimately leading to a joining of the families. The term can further be applied to local gods that were believed to live in specific features in the landscape - such as fells. The Old English medical text Wið færstice refers to the Ēse, along with elves, as harmful beings that could cause a stabbing pain, although exactly how they were conceived of by the author of the text is unclear.
Áss and its cognate forms feature in many , such as Oswald and Ásmundr, and in some place-names in Norway and Sweden. The Æsir further likely give their name to the A-rune, attested in the Elder Futhark, Anglo-Saxon Futhorc and Younger Futhark.
The corresponding feminine form in Old Norse is ásynja (:ásynjur), formed by the addition of the -ynja suffix, denoting a female form. A cognate word for "female áss" is not attested outside Old Norse, and a corresponding West Germanic word would have been separately derived with the feminine suffixes - inī or - injō.
The Proto-Germanic form is typically reconstructed as ansuz]]. This form of the word is attested in Proto-Germanic during the Roman Empire as a component of the name of the goddess Vih-ansa (potentially translating to "Battle-goddess") and probably also in an inscription from around 200 CE on a Vimose buckle that reads a(n)sau wīja ("I dedicate this to the Æsir"). The word *ansuz is in turn is typically derived from Proto-Indo-European * , making the terms closely related to , ("god" or "lord") and ("to give birth" or "to beget"). An alternative is that the terms for "Æsir" are related to ans-]] ("beam" or "post"), the ancestor of ("the main beam of a house"). In this case, the name would likely have originated due to the equation of gods and carved posts in Germanic religion.
Snorri Sturluson and Saxo Grammaticus proposed that the term "Æsir" instead derives from "Ásiamenn ("Asians"), and the idea that the gods originated in Asia, later migrating into Northern Europe. This is however not supported by modern scholars and attributed to medieval scholarship on the matter and an attempt to connect the Scandinavian peoples with Classical antiquity and Christianity rather than a reflection of actual Germanic mythology.
Terms for Æsir form parts of Germanic names in multiple Germanic languages. Examples of this include , Oslac]], Ósweald (Modern English: Oswald) and their corresponding Old Norse equivalents, Ásbjörn, Áslákr and Ásvaldr. Other examples include and . Some Proto-Norse personal names feature *ansuz such as Ansugastiz, Ansugīslaz and *Ansulaibaz.
The main tales that present the Æsir and Vanir as distinct family groups are those concerning the Æsir-Vanir war, which are contained within Völuspá, Ynglinga saga and Skáldskaparmál. This conflict between the gods occurred long in the past and in Ynglinga saga ends with the exchange of Hœnir and Mímir as hostages from the Æsir with Njörðr, Freyr and Kvasir from the Vanir. Skáldskaparmal alternatively says that at the end of the war, the two groups mixed their spit in a vat and created Kvasir from it. The inclusion of gods typically referred to as Vanir as Æsir is that the Vanir may have been seen as fully integrated into the Æsir after the resolution of this war between the two groups.
One idea is that the Vanir (and the fertility cult associated with them) may be more archaic than that of the more warlike Æsir, such that the mythical war may mirror a half-remembered religious conflict. This argument was first suggested in Wilhelm Mannhardt's Antike Vald-und Feldkulten.
On a similar note, Marija Gimbutas argues that the Æsir and the Vanir represent the displacement of an indigenous group by a tribe of warlike Indo-European invaders as part of her Kurgan hypothesis. Another historical theory is that the inter-pantheon interaction may be an of the conflict between the Roman Kingdom and the Sabines. Given the difference between their roles and emphases, some scholars have speculated that the interactions between the Æsir and the Vanir reflect the types of interaction that were occurring between social classes (or clans) within Norse society at the time.
Finally, the noted comparative religion scholar Mircea Eliade speculated that this conflict is actually a later version of an Indo-European myth concerning the conflict between and eventual integration of a pantheon of sky/warrior/ruler gods and a pantheon of earth/economics/fertility gods, with no strict historical antecedents.
Beyond this, a runic inscription on the 9th century CE Engstad whalebone pin has been interpreted as referencing an ("yard-áss" or "áss of the settled space"). In this context, it has been proposed that the term would refer to a local god or being of that specific farmstead rather than of the whole world more generally. Similarly, the Old Norse term landáss ("land-áss") is used in a poem attributed to Egill Skallagrímsson to refer to one of a list of gods which he wishes to turn against Erik Bloodaxe. This god is often interpreted as being Thor, though it is also possible that it refers to a local land spirit, possibly the landálfr ("land-elf") referred to in the next stanza of the poem. Æsir closely associated with specific fells or hills are also found in the Old Norse record such as Svínfellsáss ("the áss of Svínfell"), referred in an insult in Njáls saga, and Barðr Snæfellsáss ("áss of Snæfell"), a man who got his name, according to his eponymous saga, because he of the worship he received by those living around Snæfell and the help he in turn gave them when they were in need.
In the context of ritual speech, an unnamed áss is the almáttki áss ("almighty áss") mentioned along with Frey and Njörð in a formula said by individuals swearing an oath on a ring. This has been variously identified by scholars as Thor, Ullr and Odin, although the possibility remains that it is a result of Christian work that was written as a foreshadowing of the establishment of Christianity, as an example of the "noble pagan" motif.
The term áss is further used in translations of works into Old Norse such as in Díalógar Gregors páfa, in which the phrase sólar áss ("áss of the sun") is used to refer to Apollo, in the phrase sævar goð ("god of the sea") and in drauma goð ("god of dreams"). Morkinskinna further describes copper images of æsir, Völsungs and Gjúkings at the hippodrome in Constantinople. This has been interpreted as translating Greek gods and heroes into a Germanic context, however, other proposals include that this should be seen as stemming from a euhemeristic angle, with the Æsir being descended from Trojans, as they are depicted by Snorri in the Prose Edda and Ynglinga Saga.
Despite this general juxtaposition between the Æsir and the jötnar, they were not conceived of as necessarily "biologically" distinct from one another, with many of the Æsir being descended from jötnar such as Odin, Thor, and Loki. Many Æsir also marry and have children with gýgjar (jötunn women) such as Odin, who marries Jörð and fathers Thor with her, and Freyr who weds Gerð, founding the Yngling family. In descriptions of weddings celebrated by the Æsir, the gýgjar spouses appear to be fully integrated into the Æsir.
Furthermore, the Æsir are depicted as having strong positive relations with some jötnar such as Ægir, who hosts them for a feast where they all drink together in the poem Lokasenna. Other jötnar are seen by the Æsir as sources of knowledge, such as Vafþrúðnir, with whom Odin has a wisdom contest in Vafþrúðnismál, and Hyndla to whom Freyja travels in the poem Hyndluljóð to find out the lineage of Ottar.
The collocation of ēse and elves Wið færstice is paralleled in Old Norse writings as the alliterative phrase "æsir and álfar". It is not clear whether this formula dates back to the ancestral community speaking the ancestor of Old Norse and Old English and thus had always existed in both languages, or was the result of a later loaning due to the close cultural contact.
It has been proposed that just like in early Old Norse-speaking communities, those speaking Old English early on would also have placed ēse and ælfe in contrast with monstrous beings such as eotenas and wyrmas, although it is unclear exactly how the beings were conceived of in English-speaking communities by the time that Wið færstice was written.
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Some scholars have translated the name of the rune in the Old English rune poem as ōs ("god"), with the word commonly accepted as being a cognate of áss, however others interpret it as meaning "mouth" that would have come to Old English from Proto-Germanic or result from influence from either ("river mouth") or ("mouth"). The Old Swedish and Old Norwegian rune poems both refer to the name as meaning "river mouth" rather than "god".
Most adherents do not emphasise worship of the Æsir in particular and may also refer to their practice as "forn sed / sidr / siður" meaning old customs. The Icelandic Ásatrúarfélagið describes Ásatrú as "Nordic pantheism" involving "belief in the Icelandic/Nordic folklore" including all the "spirits and entities" besides "gods and other beings" this entails.
Sweden:
Norway
No such locations have yet been found in England that are widely accepted by scholars.
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