Mistil-teinn

Significato della parola Old Norse "mistil-teinn"

Come definito dal dizionario Old Norse to English di Cleasby & Vigfusson:

mistil-teinn

m. [O. H. G. mistil; Germ. mistel; A. S. mistel or mislel-tâ; Engl. mistletoe]:—the mistletoe or mistle-twig, the fatal twig by which Balder, the white sun-god, was slain, see Vsp. 36 sqq., and the legend in Edda 36, 37. After the death of Balder the Ragnarök (the last day of the heathen mythology) set in. Balder’s death was also symbolical of the victory of darkness over light, which comes every year at midwinter. The mistletoe in English households at Christmas time is, no doubt a relic of a rite lost in the remotest heathenism, for the fight of light and darkness at midwinter was a foreshadowing of the final overthrow in Ragnarök. The legend and the word are common to all Teutonic people of all ageS.

Possibile iscrizione runica in Fuþark recente:ᛘᛁᛋᛏᛁᛚ-ᛏᛁᛁᚾᚾ
Le rune Fuþark recenti sono state utilizzate dal 8° al 12° secolo in Scandinavia e nei loro insediamenti all'estero