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Dr.
J. Michael Stitt | ||||||||||||||||
| THE
GERMANIC PANTHEON: TÝR | ||||||||||||||||
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CHARACTERISTICS |
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| Týr was so completely assimilated to Óðinn that little remains of his original identity. Sources portray him as a god of war to whom human sacrifices were made. Physically he is distinctive because of the missing right hand that he gave as false surety to Fenrir. The gods wanted to bind the great wolf in an effort to hold off Ragnarøkr. Týr enticed the beast into the bonds by telling the wolf they simply wanted to see if the bonds would fit the great animal. To reassure the wolf, Týr placed his right hand into the animal's mouth. When Fenrir realized he had been tricked, he bit off the hand. | ||||||||||||||||
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NAME |
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| Týr's name is related to the Indo-European *dyaus of "God the Father," but the lack of the apellation "Father" suggests that his name derives from the related form *deywos, "deity," or even more likely, given that Týr is one-handed, from a proper noun *Dyews, making his name cognate to Dius Fidius, the Latin god of pledges whose priests wore bandages on one hand in imitation of their mutilated god. Further support of this derivation is found in the fact that Týr was the patron god of the legal assembly, the Þing. | ||||||||||||||||
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FOLLOWERS
AND WORSHIP | | ||||||||||||||
| Because of Týr's complete assimilation to Óðinn, his followers were the same kinds of warrior bands dedicated to Óðinn, and sacrifices were made in the same manner -- hanging or stabbing. | ||||||||||||||||
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DECEIT
AND NECESSITY | | ||||||||||||||
| Like Óðinn, Týr is driven to deceit by necessity. The god of pledges foreswears himself to Fenrir in a desperate attempt to stave off Ragnarøkr. | ||||||||||||||||
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