Æsir
In the Old English Wið færstice, the Ēse are referred to, along with elves, as harmful beings that could cause a stabbing pain, although exactly how they were conceived of by the author of the text is unclear.
[10][11] This form of the word is attested in Proto-Germanic during the Roman Imperial Age as a component of the name of the goddess *Vih-ansa (potentially translating to "Battle-goddess") and probably also in an inscription from around 200 CE on a buckle from Vimose that reads a(n)sau wīja ("I dedicate this to the Æsir").
[2] The word *ansuz is in turn is typically derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ems-u-, making the terms closely related to Sanskrit: ásura, Avestan: ahura ("god" or "lord") and Hittite: ḫāši ("to give birth" or "to beget").
[2] Snorri Sturluson and Saxo Grammaticus proposed that the term "Æsir" instead derives from "Ásiamenn ("Asians"), and the idea that the gods originated in Asia, later migrating into Northern Europe.
This is however not supported by modern scholars and attributed to medieval scholarship on the matter and an attempt to connect the Scandinavian peoples with Classical antiquity and Christianity rather than a reflection of actual Germanic mythology.
[18] The main tales that present the Æsir and Vanir as distinct family groups are those concerning the Æsir-Vanir war, which are contained within Völuspá, Ynglinga saga and Skáldskaparmál.
This conflict between the gods occurred long in the past and in Ynglinga saga ends with the exchange of Hœnir and Mímir as hostages from the Æsir with Njörðr, Freyr and Kvasir from the Vanir.
On a similar note, Marija Gimbutas argues that the Æsir and the Vanir represent the displacement of an indigenous group by a tribe of warlike Indo-European invaders as part of her Kurgan hypothesis.
[29] Some scholars have noted, however, that the Prose Edda does not reflect a worldview held by all heathen Nordic, or more widely Germanic, people throughout time and space.
Terry Gunnell further challenges the idea that all North-Germanic people conceived of the gods as Snorri portrays them - living as a pantheon of Æsir and Vanir in Ásgarð together and all being ruled by Óðinn who is the ancestor of many of them.
[33] Beyond this, a runic inscription on the 9th century CE Engstad whalebone pin has been interpreted as referencing an Old Norse: garðáss ("yard-áss" or "áss of the settled space").
[note 6][34] Similarly, the Old Norse term landáss ("land-áss") is used in a poem attributed to Egill Skallagrímsson to refer to one of a list of gods which he wishes to turn against King Eiríkr.
[50] Other jötnar are seen by the Æsir as sources of knowledge, such as Vafþrúðnir, with whom Odin has a wisdom contest in Vafþrúðnismál, and Hyndla to whom Freyja travels in the poem Hyndluljóð to find out the lineage of Ottar.
[51] The Wið færstice text from the late 10th or early 11th century Lācnunga is an Old English remedy against harm caused by several beings including ēse and ælfe (often translated as "elves").
[note 7][54] It is not clear whether this formula dates back to the ancestral community speaking the ancestor of Old Norse and Old English and thus had always existed in both languages, or was the result of a later loaning due to the close cultural contact.
The Icelandic Ásatrúarfélagið describes Ásatrú as "Nordic pantheism" involving "belief in the Icelandic/Nordic folklore" including all the "spirits and entities" besides "gods and other beings" this entails.
[68] Place-names containing the word áss or cognate terms have been proposed for the following: Sweden: Norway No such locations have yet been found in England that are widely accepted by scholars.
