Vodanus

Latin

Etymology

From Old High German Wōdan, from Proto-Germanic *Wōdanaz. A well-known attestation is from between 639 and 641, and relates an event most probably from 610 at Tuggen by Lake Zürich in today's Switzerland, although it has often been understood to have happened not far away at Bregenz by Lake Constance in today's western Austria, from an unscrupulous reading of the text by Jonas of Bobbio.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯oː.da.nus/, [ˈu̯oːd̪änʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvo.da.nus/, [ˈvɔːd̪änus]

Proper noun

Vōdanus m sg (genitive Vōdanī); second declension

1. (Medieval Latin, Germanic paganism) the Germanic chief god, Odin
   • c. 639 CE – 641 CE, Ionas Bobiensis, Vita Sancti Columbani Abbatis Mabillon: Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti, Vol. I, Venice, 1733, pp. 3-26. Latin; edited by Dana C. Munro in University of Pennsylvania. Department of History: Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European history, published for the Department of History of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press [1897-1907]. Vol. II. No. 7:

     Deinde perveniunt ad locum, quem peragrans vir Dei non suis placere animis ait, sed tamen ob fidem in eis serendam inibi paulisper moraturum se spopondit. Sunt etenim inibi vicinae nationes Suevorum. Quo cum moraretur, et inter habitatores loci illius progrederetur, reperit eos sacrificium profanum litare velle, vasque magnum, quod vulgo cupam vocant, quod viginti et sex modios amplius minusve capiebat, cervisia plenum in medio habebant positum. Ad quod vir Dei accessit, et sciscitatur quid de illo fieri vellent. Illi aiunt Deo suo Vodano, quem Mercurium vocant alii, se velle litare. Ille pestiferum opus audiens, vas eminus sufflat, miroque modo vas cum fragore dissolvitur, et in frusta dividitur, visque rapida cum fragore cervisiae prorumpit: manifesteque datur intelligi diabolum in eo vase fuisse occultatum, qui per profanum litatorem caperet animas sacrificantium. Videntes barbari obstupefacti aiunt magnum virum Dei habere anhelitum, qui sic possit dissolvere vas ligaminibus munitum: castigatosque dictis evangelicis, ut ab his segregarentur sacrificiis, domibus redire imperat. Multi ergo eorum tunc per beati viri suasum ad doctrinam et ad Christi fidem conversi, baptismum consecuti sunt; aliosque etiam, quos jam lavacro ablutos error detinebat profanus, ad cultum evangelicae doctrinae monitis suis ut bonus pastor Ecclesiae seminibus reducebat sparsis.

     At length they arrived at the place designated, which did not wholly please Columban; but he decided to remain, in order to spread the faith among the people, who were Swabians. Once as he was going through this country, he discovered that the natives were going to make a heathen offering. They had a large cask that they called a cupa, and that held about twenty-six measures, filled with beer and set in their midst. On Columban’s asking what they intended to do with it, they answered that they were making an offering to their God Wodan (whom others call Mercury). When he heard of this abomination, he breathed on the cask, and lo! it broke with a crash and fell in pieces so that all the beer ran out. Then it was clear that the devil had been concealed in the cask, and that through the earthly drink he had proposed to ensnare the souls of the participants. As the heathens saw that, they were amazed and said Columban had a strong breath, to split a wellbound cask in that manner. But he reproved them in the words of the Gospel, and commanded them to cease from such offerings and to go home. Many were converted then, by the preaching of the holy man, and turning to the learning and faith of Christ, were baptized by him. Others, who were already baptized but still lived in the heathenish unbelief, like a good shepherd, he again led by his words to the faith and into the bosom of the church.

Usage notes

• Identified with Mercury.

Declension

Second-declension noun, singular only.

	singular
nominative	Vōdanus
genitive	Vōdanī
dative	Vōdanō
accusative	Vōdanum
ablative	Vōdanō
vocative	Vōdane

Synonyms

• Ōdinus (representing Old Norse)

References

• Vodanus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)