wyrd

plural wyrds

1. countableuncountableFate, destiny, particularly in an Anglo-Saxon or Old Norse context.

   Wyrd is too vast, too complex for us to comprehend, for we are ourselves part of wyrd and cannot stand back to observe it as if it were a separate force.

   1983, Brian Bates, The Way of Wyrd: Tales of an Anglo-Saxon Sorcerer, Century

   2 more examples

   I had journeyed back to England as part of my research on this book to meet with two Englishmen who were practicing Anglo-Saxon shamans who had been researching and practicing the sounds and ways of wyrd.

   1992, Fred Alan Wolf, The eagle's quest: a physicist's search for truth in the heart of the shamanic world, Simon and Schuster, page 51

   His three sisters sat, beneath the tree, one twisting the wyrd on her distaff, one spinning the wyrd on her wheel, one weaving the wyrds of gods and men on her loom.

   2009, Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Bones of the Dragon: Volume 1, Macmillan, page 78

   Synonyms: orlay, weird, chance, destin, destiny, doom, fatality, fate

1. human sciencesAn Old English deity, goddess of fate.

   No one spoke of where he had gone, or of how he had ended his days. Wyrd had doomed him to die.

   1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 31

   3 more examples

   Both Wyrd (2574, 2526) and the Mighty Maker (979) measure out dooms, though God is said to control fate (1056).

   1925, Caroline Harris Stevens, The Treatment of Death in Anglo-Saxon Poetry, page 18

   At last she spoke, “My name is Anawin. I am the valla. I am the keeper of secrets. I am the teller of truths. I speak for the Wyrd, the three goddesses of fate. I speak for past, for present, for future. What is it that you wish to know?”

   2007, Holly Taylor, Crimson Fire: Book Two in the Dreamer's Cycle Series

   He recognises these women, and with dawning realization so do I. The Queen within, is the Wyrd, Goddess of chance, destiny and death.

   2015, CJ Moseley, Chronoclysm: The Paradox War