Definitions
Definitions
1 hangi
a, m. a law term, a body hanging on a gallows, Fms. v. 212: the mythol. phrase, sitja, setjask undir hanga, to sit under a gallows, of Odin, in order to acquire wisdom or knowledge of the future;—for this superstition see Yngl. S. ch. 7;—whence Odin is called hanga-guð, hanga-dróttinn, hanga-týr, the god or lord of the hanged, Edda 14, 49, Lex. Poët.; varðat ek fróðr und forsum | fór ek aldregi at göldrum | … nam ek eigi Yggjar feng und hanga, I became not wise under waterfalls, I never dealt in witchcraft, I did not get the share of Odin (i. e. the poetical gift) under the gallows, i. e. I am no adept in poetry, Jd. 3 (MS., left out in the printed edition). According to another and, as it seems, a truer and older myth, Odin himself was represented as hangi, hanging on the tree Ygg-drasil, and from the depths beneath taking up the hidden mystery of wisdom, Hm. 139; so it is possible that his nicknames refer to that; cp. also the curious tale of the blind tailor in Grimm’s Märchen, No. 107, which recalls to mind the heathen tale of the one-eyed Odin sitting under the gallows.
Runic Inscription
Runic Inscription
hangi
The runic text above represents the Old Norse word "hangi" as it might appear in runic inscriptions from the Viking Age (c. 800-1100 CE).