Aesir

The Aesir (written Æsir /ˈaɪsɪər/) are the gods of the principal pantheon in Norse religion. They include Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Týr. The second Norse pantheon is the Vanir. In Norse mythology, the two pantheons wage war against each other, resulting in a unified pantheon.

Unlike the Old English word god (and Old Norse 'goð'), the term was never adopted into Christian use.

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Etymology
In the Old Norse language, one of the Æsir is masculine ǫ́ss (or 'áss, ás', with the plural æsir) or feminine ásynja (plural 'ásynjur'). The cognate term in Old English is ōs (plural 'ēse'), denoting a deity in Anglo-Saxon paganism. The Old High German is 'ans', plural 'ensî'. The Gothic language had 'ans-' (based only on Jordanes, who glossed anses with uncertain meaning, possibly 'demi-god' and presumably a Latinized form of actual plural *anseis). The reconstructed Proto-Germanic form is *ansuz' (plural *ansiwiz'). The ansuz rune, ⟨ᚫ⟩, was named after the Æsir.

Æsir is thus the plural of áss, óss "god" (genitive case āsir), which is attested in other Germanic languages, e.g., Old English ōs (gen. pl. ēsa), Old Dutch ans and Gothic (as reported by Jordanes, who wrote in the 6th century CE) anses "half-gods". These all stem from Proto-Germanic *ansuz, which itself comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énsus (gen. h₂n̥sóus) "life force" (cf. Avestan aŋhū "lord; lifetime", ahura "godhood", Sanskrit ásu "life force", ásura "demons" ( *h₂n̥suró). It is widely accepted that this word is further related to *h₂ens- "to engender" (cf. Hittite hass- "to procreate, give birth", Tocharian B ās- "to produce").

Old Norse 'áss' has the genitive 'áss' or 'ásar', the accusative 'æsi' and 'ásu'. In genitival compounds, it takes the form 'ása-', e.g. in 'Ása-Þórr' ("Thor of the Æsir"), besides 'ás-' found in ás-brú "gods' bridge" (the rainbow), 'ás-garðr', 'ás-kunnigr' "gods' kin", 'ás-liðar' "gods' leader", 'ás-mogin' "gods' might" (especially of Thor), 'ás-móðr' "divine wrath" etc. 'Landâs' "national god" ('patrium numen') is a title of Thor, as is 'allmáttki ás' "almighty god", while it is Odin who is "the" 'ás'.

The feminine suffix '-ynja' is known from a few other nouns denoting female animals, such as 'apynja' "female monkey", 'vargynja' "she-wolf". The word for "goddess" is not attested outside Old Norse.

The latinization of Danish Aslak as Ansleicus, the name of a Danish Viking converted to Christianity in 864 according to the Miracles de St. Riquier, indicates that the nasalization in the first syllable persisted into the 9th century.

The cognate Old English form to 'áss' is 'ōs', preserved only as a prefix 'Ōs-' in personal names (e.g. Osborne, Oswald) and some place-names, and as the genitive plural 'ēsa' ('ēsa gescot' and 'ylfa gescot, "the shots of anses and of elves", i.e. "elfshot", 'jaculum divorum et geniorum).

In Old High German, Old Dutch and Old Saxon, the word is only attested in personal and place names, e.g. Ansebert, Anselm, Ansfrid, Vihans. Jordanes has anses for the gods of the Goths.
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