Etymology

Odin

O1D2I1N1

Today it means: A major Germanic god, often described as chief of the pantheon, in his Norse form a member of the Æsir, married to Frigg and associated with knowledge, poetry and war. Wednesday refers to him by way of interpretatio germanica. Full definition →

Old Norse Óðinn ← Proto-Germanic *Wōdanaz ← Proto-Indo-European *weh₂t-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*weh₂t-“to be excited”
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*wōdaz“rage, manic inspiration, furor poeticus”
  3. Proto-Germanic · derived from*Wōdanaz
  4. Old Norse · learned borrowing fromÓðinn
  5. English todayOdin

Learned borrowing from Old Norse Óðinn (whence Icelandic Óðinn, Norwegian Nynorsk Oden), akin to Old High German Wodan and Old English Wōden. From Proto-Germanic *Wōdanaz, derived from Proto-Germanic *wōdaz (“rage, manic inspiration, furor poeticus”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂t- (“to be excited”). Compare Old Norse óðr (“rage”) and Dutch woede (“rage”) and woeden (“to rage”), Irish fáidh, Latin vātēs. Doublet of Woden and Wotan. Related to English wode.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*Wōdanaz all →

Woden

Proto-Germanic*wōdaz all →

wode

Proto-Indo-European*weh₂t- all →

vatesÓðr

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.