Convergence of Fire and Water

There are not that many mentions of Wodan in the continental Germanic literature. One of the more famous ones is the one from the Life of Columban by Jonas of Bobbio. The mention of the Slavs in that work was already discussed here. But the same work talks of the Swabians and their worship of Wodan – a practice that Saint Columban was, of course, upset with. The manuscripts use the following words for the case:

  • Vodano
  • Vadono
  • Wodano
  • Woda

Now, woda means, of course, “water” in Slavic – an interesting form of the above Wodan name. More on that topic here.

At the same time, it is interesting to notice that the Lueneburg Slavs or, if you will, Wends who were also known as the Drevané, Drzewianie, Draväno-Polaben or Drevanen had a similar term for “fire”Karol Arnošt Muka observes that these Slavs took the word for fire and, as was common for words otherwise beginning with a vowel, added a “w” (pronounced “v”) in front.  Thus agni or ogień becomes gin. What is even more interesting, however, is that the pronunciation of this then became actually wüdjin.

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May 30, 2018

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