Questions about Proto-Germanic folklore
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What is Proto-Germanic folklore and how is it reconstructed?
Proto-Germanic folklore refers to the beliefs, mythology, and folk beliefs of the speakers of Proto-Germanic, the reconstructed common ancestor of the Germanic languages. Germanic philologists use the comparative method to recover entities, locations, and concepts by comparing words across the Germanic languages and related families like Celtic, Baltic, and Uralic. Reconstructed terms are marked with an asterisk to signal that no direct written record survives.
Where does the English word Easter come from in Proto-Germanic religion?
Easter derives from Austrōn, a West Germanic spring goddess whose festival filled the 'Easter-month', roughly equivalent to modern April. The Old English Ēostre and Old High German Ôstara both descend from her name. The German Ostern traces to the same root.
Which days of the week come from Proto-Germanic deity names?
Sunday comes from Sowēlo, the sun goddess; Monday from Mēnōn, the moon deity; Tuesday from Tīwaz; Wednesday from Wōđanaz; Thursday from Þun(a)raz; and Friday from Frijjō. Each Germanic day name calqued the equivalent Roman planetary day, substituting a Germanic deity for a Roman one.
What did Proto-Germanic speakers believe about the soul?
The Proto-Germanic word for 'soul', *saiwalō, may derive from the word for 'sea' or 'lake'. Scholar Vladimir Orel suggests this reflects a Germanic belief that souls were born out of and returned to sacred lakes.
What is the Proto-Germanic origin of the werewolf?
The Proto-Germanic wira-wulfaz, meaning 'man-wolf', is the ancestor of modern English werewolf. The Norse branch underwent taboo modification, replacing the element wiraz ('man') with vargr ('outlaw, wolf'), producing vargúlfr. The modern Scandinavian forms varulv and varulf were probably borrowed from Middle Low German rather than descended from Old Norse.
How were Proto-Germanic and Proto-Celtic religious traditions connected?
Historian John T. Koch argues that Pre-Germanic and Pre-Celtic speakers were in contact from around 1800 BCE to roughly 1200-900 BCE, partly through the long-distance metal trade with Scandinavia. Shared religious terms include rūnō ('secret, magic, mystery') from Proto-Celtic rūna, and lēk(i)jaz ('healer') from Proto-Celtic lēagis. The 'All-Father' epithet Ala-fader is identical to the Proto-Celtic Olo-(p)atīr, used for Óðinn in Old Norse and paralleled by the Middle Irish Eochu Ollathair for the Dagda.