Tyr

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Tyr sacrifices his arm

Tyr (Old Norse: Týr or Tívar) is the god of warfare and battle in Norse mythology, portrayed as a one-handed man. He was a son of either Odin or Hymir. Corresponding names in other Germanic languages include Tyz (Gothic), Ty (Old Norwegian), Ti (Old Swedish), Tiw, Tiu or Tew (Old English) and Ziu (Old High German).

Origins

The god's name goes back to a Proto-Germanic Tîwaz, continuing Proto-Indo-European Dyeus, originally the chief god, the precursor also of e. g. Zeus in Greek mythology, and Dyaus Pitar in Vedic religion. The oldest attestation of the God is Gothic Tyz (Vienna cod. 140 [1])

Tîwaz was overtaken in popularity and in authority by Odin at some point in both the North Germanic and West Germanic religions. In among East Germanic tribes, however, he seems to have remained the supreme god: the Goths of the 3rd century were feared because they sacrificed the captives they took in battle to Tyz, their god of war, and the hung the arms of the victims in trees as a token-offering. This custom of human sacrifice seems to have been transferred to Odin in Scandinavia, as reported by Adam von Bremen in the 11th century (c. f. also Odin himself hanging from a tree as a sacrifice to himself in the Havamal).

It is possible that the transfer of supremacy from Tyr to Odin was facilitated by the Germanic custom of diarchy (see Germanic king and c.f. e.g. Hengest and Horsa, Yngvi and Alf and Erik and Alrik), so that the two gods might have ruled the early Germanic pantheon as equals at some point. A trace of their relationship may be seen in the appearance of Tyr as Odin's son in Norse mythology, and also in Anglo-Saxon, if Tiw is identified with Saxnot (Seaxneat), the 'war-god' and son of Woden, who was revered as the ancestor of the Saxons.

There is sketchy evidence of a consort, in German named Zisa: Tacitus mentions one Germanic tribe who worshipped "Isis", and Jacob Grimm pointed to Cisa/Zisa, the patroness of Augsburg, in this connection. The name Zisa would be derived from Ziu etymologically, in agreement with other consorts to the chief god in Indo-European pantheons, e. g. Zeus and Dione.

Tyr in the Edda

According to the Edda, at one stage the gods decided to shackle the wolf Fenrisulfr, but the beast broke every chain they put upon him. Eventually they had the dwarfs make them a magical ribbon called Gleipnir from such items as a woman's beard and a mountain's roots. But Fenrir sensed the gods' deceit and refused to be bound with it unless one of them put his hand in the wolf's mouth. Tyr, known for his great courage, agreed, and the other gods bound the wolf. Fenrir sensed that he had been tricked and bit off the god's hand. Fenrir remained bound until the day of Ragnarok. During Ragnarok, Tyr is destined to kill and be killed by Garm, the guard dog of Helheim.

In the Lokasenna, Tyr is taunted with cuckoldry by Loki, maybe another hint that he had a consort or wife at one time.

Other traces

Tyr/Tiw had become relatively unimportant compared to Odin/Woden in both North and West Germanic. Traces of the god remain, however, in Tuesday ("Tiw's day"), named for Tyr in both the North and the West Germanic languages, as well as in the names of some plants: Old Norse Týsfiola (after the Latin Viola Martis), Týrhialm (Aconitum, whose helmet-like shape might suggest a warlike connection) and Týviðr, "Tý's wood", in the Helsingor dialect Tistbast (the Daphne mezereum, a beautiful poisonous flower). The Swedish forest Tiveden may also be named after Tyr.

In the Anglo-Saxon rune poem, the Tyr rune (ᛏ) is identified with polaris (c.f. Shakespeare's sonnet 116):

ᛏ is a star,

it keeps faith well

With athlings, always on its course

Over the mists of night it never fails.

External links

• Grimm's Teutonic Mythology (English translation, chapter 9)
• Tyr in Germanic Religion
• Týr and Zisa by William Bainbridge

da:Tyr (krigsgud) de:Tyr fr:Tyr (dieu) gl:Týr nl:Tyr ja:テュール pl:Tyr (bóg) sv:Tyr