Abstract
The origin of Germanic deities poses the question familiar from the study of phonemes, grammatical forms, and syntactic constructions: Indo-European heritage or local descent? Since from medieval Germania only Scandinavian mythology has come down to us, discussion centers around Othin, Thor, Týr, Baldr, etc. None of them has ascertainable roots in Indo-European, even when etymology points in that direction. Nor has George Dumézil succeeded in showing that the Indo-European and the Scandinavian pantheon, with their alleged tripartite division, are a good match, but from the nature of the case the question remains open.
Highlights
The topic of this paper needs justification
If even a small percentage of Germanic words, nowadays so generously being attributed to the substrate was really taken over from the indigenous languages of ancient Europe, it follows that Germanic speakers were not among its first inhabitants
Indo-European religious studies deal with Indo-Iranian, Greek, Roman, and Germanic traditions
Summary
The topic of this paper needs justification. It is far from clear what the terms Indo-European, Germanic, and even Scandinavian mean when applied to mythology, for the first two were coined only with reference to linguistics. The main Scandinavian divinities are Othin (for simplicity’s sake, I will use the Anglicized form of their names), Thor, Baldr, Loki, Frey, Týr, Heimdal, and Njörth.
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