Etymology

Æsir

Æ·sir

Today it means: The principal group of benevolent deities in the Norse pantheon, representing power and war; opponents of the Vanir. Full definition →

Old Norse æsir ← Proto-Norse *ᚨᛊᚢᛉ (*asuʀ) ← Proto-Germanic *ansuz
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ems-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂émsus
  3. Proto-Germanic*ansuz
  4. Proto-Norse*ᚨᛊᚢᛉ (*asuʀ)
  5. Old Norseæsir
  6. English todayÆsir

Borrowed from Old Norse æsir (nominative plural of áss), from Proto-Germanic *ansuz (“god”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂émsus, from *h₂ems- (“to engender, beget”); cf. Old English ēse, Sanskrit असुर (ásura). Doublet of Asura and Ahura.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*ansuz all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.