- This article is about Tyr, the god. Tyr is also the abbreviation for the amino acid tyrosine.
Tyr, whose name simply means "god", is the god of warfare and battle in
Norse mythology, portrayed as a one-armed man. He was a son of either
Odin or Hymir. He also seems to have been called
Saxnot (A-S Seaxneat), the 'war-god' and son of Wotan/Odin, who was the ancestor of the Saxons.
Scholars believe that he was the original chief god, the Germanic equivalent of the Indo-European gods Zeus in Greek mythology, and Dyaus Pitar in Hinduism, who was later overtaken in popularity and therefore in authority by Odin. He was known for his courage: at one stage the gods decided to shackle the wolf Fenrir, but the beast broke every chain they put
upon him. Eventually they had the dwarfs make them a magical ribbon (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. This, we are told, is how Fenrir was bound until the day of Ragnarok and how Tyr lost his hand.
The Fountain of Tyr was a trick used by berserkers in which they would cut off a hand and use the blood from the spurting artery to blind an
opponent.
During Ragnarok, Tyr is destined to kill and be killed by Garm, the guard dog of Helheim.
Tuesday is named for Tyr (in Old English, Tiw) in both English and in the
Scandinavian languages. The Swedish forest Tiveden may also be named after Tyr.
Other names
- Ti (Old Swedish)
- Tiw (Old English)
- Tîwaz (Old German)
- Ty (Old Norwegian)
- Ziu
See also
External links
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