Vili and Vé

The Old Norse theonym Vé (or Véi) is cognate with Gothic weiha ('priest'), both stemming from Proto-Germanic *wīhōn, itself from the adjective *wīhaz, meaning 'holy' (cf.

[4][5] In Proto-Norse, the three brothers' names were alliterating, *Wōdinaz, Wiljô, Wīhaz,[6][failed verification] so that they can be taken as forming a triad of *wōdaz, wiljô, wīhą, approximately inspiration (transcendent, mantic or prophetic knowledge), cognition (will, desire, internal thought that leads to action) and numen (spiritual power residing in the external world, in sacred objects).

The name of such sanctuaries to Woden, Wôdenes weohas (Old Saxon Wôdanes wih, Old Norse Óðins vé) survives in toponymy as Odinsvi, Wodeneswegs.

Vili and Vé, together with Óðinn, are portrayed as the three brothers who slew Ymir — ending the primeval rule of the race of giants — and are the first of the Æsir.

In relation to the Óðinn-Vili-Vé triad, Grimm compares Old High German willa, which not only expressed voluntas, but also votum, impetus, spiritus, and the personification of Will, to Wela in Old English sources.

[7] Keyser interprets the triad as "Spirit, Will and Holiness", postulating a kind of Germanic Trinity in Vili and Vé to be "blended together again in the all-embracing World-spirit – in Odin.