Wōdmã

Wōdmã is the messenger god and god of spirits and miracles in the Northian pantheon in the Epic age. He is associated with supernatural phenomenon, clairvoyance, trance, and sorcery in Northian religious beliefs, in which he may or may not also be the agent of another divinity.

Name

Wōdmã is usually traced to the Proto-Erani-Eracuran word formation *woh₂t-mn̥, from the root *woh₂t- meaning "excitement, madness". Phonologically, it is a regular outcome of the development from Proto-Nordic-Northian to Epic Northian.

Wōdmã is an ablauting noun of the 3rd declension in the Epic language; the genitive form is Ūzmāe̯ṅ < PNN *udmens, cp. nom. *wodmun.

Image

In traditions that reflect an earlier conceptualization, Wōdmã lacks a physical form and is linked to other phenomena that lack physical forms, such as the wind. In turn, these phenomena served as Wōdmã's physical form. Wōdmã is "carried" (vrīoi̯ < PNN *bʰreyeoi) through the wind or "comes by means of the wind" (ānθē īti). Likewise, Wōdmã is associated with birds as animals that also ride the wind.

By the late Epic period, Wōdmã seems to have acquired the concrete, humanoid image of a young, beardless man with lanky limbs and long hair. His attire is usually described as traveller's garb, wearing a cloak, hat, light body armour for protection, and leg wrappings. Characteristic of divinities, the personified Wōdmã travels with a quadriga of horses, while human vehicles typically were biga. He carries a spear on his chariot.

Mythology

In the Epic of Namena, Wōdmã is explicitly said to be the companion of wanderers, magicians, healers, and poets. Sheller says that the category of magicians, healers, and poets were notably itinerant professionals in the Epic age and so could be grouped under the heading of "wanderer" in the sense that a wanderer does not have a specified profession.

Wōdmã and Óðinn

A portion of scholarly attention to Wōdmã is his possible connection to Óðinn, the chief god of Valstígr. This comparison is based on the observation that Wōdmã shares a common root with Óðinn.

Linguistically, Wōdmã points to PNN *wōt-mun, from the o-grade derivation of PEE *weh₂t-; from the e-grade *wāt-on-o-, the word Óðinn descends. However, Wōdmã contains the suffix *-mn̥, which forms abstract nouns in Proto-Erani-Eracuran, that Óðinn does not contain. Wōdmã is neuter in Epic Northian, like all nouns ending in -mã, while Óðinn is masculine.

Chronologically, the first time Wōdmã is attested in the Epics as an animate being is around 300 BCE, or the transitional period between the middle and late Epic era in Northian culture. There are earlier mentions of the word wōdmã as a passive state of mind dating to the early Epic period, but there is insufficient evidence for scholars to determine if this force had been anthropomorphized. The figure of Óðinn has been consistently venerated in Valstígr since the 12th century BCE.

See also

• Ponθōiš Wiḥštō
• Pōnθōiš Wohuš