Balder
See also: balder
English
Proper noun
Balder
- (Norse mythology) The Norse god of light and purity, a son of Odin and Frigg, known for his beauty and near-invulnerability.
- 2005, A. Bhatnagar, William Charles Livingston, Fundamentals of Solar Astronomy, page 3:
- Among the Norse, the god Balder is the most closely associated with the solstices. In a myth that explains the actions of the midsummer and midwinter Sun, Balder, the son of the god Odin, was said to die at the hands of his evil brother, who wielded a mistletoe stake each summer solstice. He was reborn at the winter solstice, or what is still known in Germany as Mother Night (the 'mother' in question being the goddess who brings the new born Sun back into existence).
- 2008, Bernard Thomas Mees, The Science of the Swastika, page 175:
- It is difficult to understand how the author of The Traditions of the God Balder (Die Uberlieferungen vom Gone Balder) from 1920 in which he compared the Balder cult with earlier Mediterranean beliefs could come out so strongly in favor of Kossinna's ex Septentrione lux scarcely a decade later.
- 2008, Michael Ward, Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis, unnumbered page:
- What he does not mention is that Balder is the Norse counterpart of Helios (the Greek forerunner of Sol); he was the god of light, son of Odin and Frigg, as Helios was the son of Hyperion and Theia.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Pronunciation
- Homophone: balder
Old English
Old High German
Etymology
From the adjective bald (“brave”).
Proper noun
Balder
- Balder
- c. 9th-10th c, Unknown author, Second Merseburg Charm:
- du uuart demo Balderes uuolon sin uuoz birenkit
- and the foot of Balder's foal was sprained
Usage notes
The Phol mentioned in the same charm where Balder is attested may be the same figure.
Swedish
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