( 96 )
lightning[1]. In the system of the primitive Religion, the God Thor was probably only one of those genii or subaltern divinities, sprung from the union of Odin or the supreme being, and the Earth. The Edda calls him expresly the most valiant of the sons of Odin[2], but I have not discovered that the employment of launching the thunder was ever attributed to him. In reading the Icelandic mythology, I find him rather considered as the defender and avenger of the Gods. He always carried a mace or club, which as often as he discharged it, returned back to his hand of itself; he grasped it with gauntlets of iron, and was further possessed of a girdle which
- ↑ Thor præsidet in aere; fulmina, fruges gubernat. (Adam Brem. Hist. Eccles. c. 233.) Dudo de St. Quentin observes the fame thing of the Normans and Goths, adding that they offered human sacrifices. There was also a day consecrated to Thor, which still retains his name in the Danish, Swedish, English, and Low-dutch languages. [e. g. Dan. Thorsdag, Sued. Tors-dag. Eng. Thursday. Belg. Donderdag. Vide Jun. Etym.] This word has been rendered into Latin, by Dies Jovis, or Jupiter’s day; for this Deity, according to ideas of the Romans also, was the God of Thunder. In consequence of the same opinion, this day hath received a similar name in the dialect of High-Germany. It is called there by a name composed of the word Pen or Penning, which signifies the summit of a mountain, and the God, who presides (in that place) over thunder and tempest.
- ↑ Edda Mythol. 7.
