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In Old Norse, (or ', plural '; feminine ', plural ') is the term denoting a member of the principal pantheon in the indigenous Germanic religion known as Norse religion. This pantheon includes Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Týr. The second pantheon comprises the Vanir. In Norse mythology, the two pantheons wage the Æsir-Vanir War, which results in a unified pantheon. The cognate term in Old English is ' (plural ') denoting a deity in Anglo-Saxon paganism. The Old High German is ', plural '.〔Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie〕 The Gothic language had ' (based only on Jordanes who glossed ''anses'' with uncertain meaning, possibly 'demi-god' and presumably a Latinized form of actual plural ').〔Grimm, ch. 2〕 The reconstructed Proto-Germanic form is '' *'' (plural '' *''). The ''a''-rune was named after the æsir. Unlike the Old English word ''god'' (and Old Norse '), the term ' (') was never adopted into Christian use and survived only in a secularized meaning of "pole, beam, stave, hill" or "yoke". ==Etymology== ''Æsir'' is the plural of ''áss'', ''óss'' "god" (gen. ''āsir'') which is attested in other Germanic languages, e.g., Old English ''ōs'' (gen. pl. ''ēsa'') and Gothic (as reported by Jordanes) ''anses'' "half-gods". These all stem from Proto-Germanic *''ansis ~ ansuz'', which itself comes from Proto-Indo-European *' (gen. ') "life force" (cf. Avestan ''aŋhū'' "lord; lifetime", ''ahura'' "godhood", Sanskrit ''ásu'' "life force",〔()〕 ''ásura'' "god" (< *')). It is widely accepted that this word is further related to *'- "to engender" (cf. Hittite ''hass-'' "to procreate, give birth", Tocharian B ''ās-'' "to produce").〔D.Q. Adams, "King", in ''Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture'' (London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997), 330.〕 Old Norse ' has the genitive ' or ', the accusative ' and '. In genitival compounds, it takes the form ', e.g. in ' "Thor of the Aesir", besides ' found in ''ás-brú'' "gods' bridge" (the rainbow), ', ' "gods' kin", ' "gods' leader", ' "gods' might" (especially of Thor), ' "divine wrath" etc. ' "national god" (''ラテン語:patrium numen'') is a title of Thor, as is ' "almighty god", while it is Odin who is "the" '. The feminine's ' suffix is known from a few other nouns denoting female animals, such as ' "female monkey", ' "she-wolf". The word for "goddess" is not attested outside Old Norse. The latinization of Danish ''''Aslak'''' as ''Ansleicus''〔the name of a Danish Viking converted to Christianity in AD 864 according to the ''Miracles de St. Riquier''〕 indicates that the nasalization in the first syllable persisted into the 9th century. The cognate Old English form to ' is ', preserved only as a prefix ' in personal names (e.g. Oscar, Osborne, Oswald) and some place names, and as the genitive plural ' (' and '','' "the shots of anses and of elves", ''ラテン語:jaculum divorum et geniorum''). In Old High German and Old Saxon the word is only attested in personal and place names, e.g. Ansebert, Anselm, Ansfrid, Vihans. Jordanes has ''anses'' for the gods of the Goths.〔"ラテン語:Tum Gothi, magna potiti per loca victoria, jam proceres suos quasi qui fortuna vincebant, non puros homines, sed semideos, id est anses vocavere." (ch. 13)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Æsir」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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