KVASIR SYMBOL DATABASE

NUMBERS: THREE & NINE

Entry by Joseph Hopkins with art by Rim Baudey for Kvasir Symbol Database at Mimisbrunnr.info, May 2020. Updated April 2024. Hopkins extends special thanks to the several reviewers who provided recommendations and corrections for this entry.

DESCRIPTION

The numbers three and nine (three thrice) occur with great frequency throughout the ancient Germanic corpus. This is so much the case that if a number is mentioned in ancient Germanic texts, that number is most likely the number three, nine, or some other multiple of three.

DATING

The fixation on these particular numbers occurs throughout the corpus, particular where specific numbers receive mention.

SOURCES

OLD ENGLISH METRICAL CHARMS

Some of the earliest items in the Old English record contain mentions of indigenous deities, such as Odin (Old English Wōden), alongside entities from the Germanic folklore record known primarily to modern readers from modern popular culture, such as the dwarf (dweorg) and elf (ælf)—although evidently envisioned in a very different manner than what we think of today when we hear these words.

Most notable of these numerical mentions are the Old English metrical charms, which frequently place a particular emphasis on the numbers three and nine. The so-called Nine Herbs Charm (Nigon Wyrta Galdor) makes for an excellent example, placing emphasis on nine specific holy herbs and nine ‘glory twigs’ (wuldortānas) in association with the god Odin (Old English Wōden). Consider the following quote:

Translation by J. S. Hopkins for Mimisbrunnr.info. Read the entire translation here.

Nine and other multipliers of three occur throughout the poem, notably in the list of venom colors, where the choice is quite deliberate despite the requirements of alliterative verse. Notably, the number seven appears a single time in the poem, perhaps a later introduction.

OLD HIGH GERMAN: MERSEBURG CHARM II

Composed in Old High German, the second Merseburg Charm (MZ II) is an enigmatic text stemming from continental Germanic paganism that focuses on six deities, and emphasizes the number three and its multiples throughout (readers can find a annotated English translation for Mimisbrunnr.info here). This intense emphasis on the value of three is one of the charm’s most notable structural qualities when compared to other, related charms in the continental Germanic corpus: As Patricia Giangrosso notes, “no other charms so clearly follow the structure of the number three” (Giangrosso 2001: 113)

NORTH GERMANIC TEXTUAL RECORD

The Germanic emphasis on the numbers three and nine continues into the North Germanic record, specifically in texts in a language that we know today as Old Norse. Poems from the Poetic Edda provide a bounty of examples. Consider the following sample values from Vǫluspá, Hávamal, and Vafþrúðnismál, traditionally presented as the first three poems of the collection (For this text, Mimisbrunnr.info recommends Larrington’s revised translation, which we’ve cited throughout the examples below):

• Sample values in Vǫluspá:

  • The seeress recalls nine heimar (translated by Larrington—and most scholars—as Nine Worlds) and nine íviðjur, word that may be rendered a few different ways—Larrington translates the word as ‘ogresses’, but other scholars go with very different interpretations (Larrington 2014: 4; just as a few examples, Orchard provides “nine wood-dwelling witches” or “nine wood-supports”, Orchard 2011: 5, 268; Hollander chooses “nine abodes”, Hollander 1990 [1962]: 2; Bellows translates the phrase as “the nine in the tree”, Bellows 2004 [1923]: 3)

  • Three gods give life to Ask and Embla (Larrington 2014: 6)

  • Three norns shape wyrd (Larrington 2014: 6)

  • Gullveig is killed and reborn three times (Larrington 2014: 6)

  • Three roosters are foretold to crow at the beginning of Ragnarök (Larrington 2014: 9)

  • The god Thor is foretold to take nine steps before succumbing to venom and dying (Larrington 2014: 11)

• Sample values in Hávamal:

  • Odin recalls that he hung from Yggdrasil, the central sacred tree, for nine nights (Larrington 2014: 32)

  • Odin recalls that he learned nine mighty songs (Fimbulljóð) from an unnamed entity, likely Mímir (Larrington 2014: 32)

  • Odin mentions 18 magical songs (Larrington 2014: 33-35)

• Sample values in Vafþrúðnismál:

  • The primordial jǫtunn Ymir bears a six-headed son by rubbing his feet together (Larrington 2014: 42, compare the three-headed entity holding what appears to be an axe and leading a goat-like entity on the Golden Horns of Gallehus, dated to around the 400 CE)

  • In a head-scratching stanza, the wise jǫtunn Vafþrúðnir describes three rivers, evidently in a post-Ragnarǫk world (for discussion, see Larrington 2014: 45, cf. 288, notes 48 and 49)

A sample of any eddic poem that mentions numbers will reveal much the same. While other numbers do appear here and there, multiples of three, particularly nine, dominate the record. Like the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda furnishes numerous examples. Consider the union of Skaði and Njǫrðr, deities strongly associated with mountains and the sea, respectively. Like several other items recorded in the Prose Edda, a preserved stanza appears to stem from an otherwise lost eddic poem (discussion in Hopkins, upcoming), but prose surrounding the stanza indicates variations in the manuscript tradition: As Jesse Byock highlights (Byock 2006: 141), the Codex Regius version of the Prose Edda says that the couple spent nine winters in their respective locations together, whereas other manuscripts say they spent nine nights in the mountains, and three subsequent nights by or in the sea.

So, which came first? Unfortunately, we lack the earliest forms of the Prose Edda manuscripts and we therefore cannot say with certainty, but the emphasis on these numerical values was evidently hard-wired into the tradition, capable of absorbing alteration or variation as needed—and well after the tales of North Germanic deities transfered into literary tradition after Christianization.

In some instances, the Old Norse record employs what we might call an implied nine. For example, in the introductory text to Grímnismál, where two numbers are needed two describe the ages of two brothers, the number nine is implied by using the numbers eight and ten, the number nine being what separates the two. This approach continues further into the prose lead, where Odin, disguised as Grímnir, remains silent among two flames for eight nights. Geirrod’s ten-year-old son approaches the tortured and disguised man on the ninth night, unleashing the events of the poem that follows. (Larrington 2014: 48-49)

This emphasis on the numbers three and nine continues well beyond eddic poetry and its satellites, the runic corpus contains a variety of inscriptions and charms that emphasize or invoke the numbers three and nine (for a few examples, see McLeod and Mees 2006: 38, 112, 118, 121-122, 159, see also discussion from 126-127).

Beyond a variety of charms, inscriptions, and the Old Norse corpus, the North Germanic record also provides readers with other examples. For example, the 11th century commentary of Christian chronicler Adam of Bremen. While Adam’s commentary may ultimately be a result of ‘rationalization’ of tradition he or his source encountered, perhaps even an interpretation of North Germanic myth, a few elements shine through. One of those elements is the frequent mention of sacred trees in ancient Germanic religion, but also the repeated mention of the number nine. According to Adam:

It is customary also to solemnize in Uppsala, at nine-year intervals, a general feast of all the provinces of Sweden. From attendance of this festival no one is exempted. Kings and people all and singly send their gifts to Uppsala and, what is more distressing than any kind of punishment, those who have already adopted Christianity redeem themselves through these ceremonies. The sacrifice is of this nature: of every living thing that is male, they offer nine heads, with the blood of which is customary to placate gods of this sort. The bodies they hang in the sacred grove that adjoins the temple. Now this grove is so sacred in the eyes of the heathen that each and every tree in it is believed divine because of the death or putrefaction of the victims. Even dogs and horses hang there. (Tschan & Reuter 2002 [1959]: 208)

Archaeology has not backed Adam’s claims (for a quick and recent overview, see for example Abrams 2011: 69-70) and, ultimately, Adam’s claims seem to be the result of Classical Greek and subsequently Christian tradition of ‘the other’ or ‘barbarians’ performing grisly human sacrifice, a notion continued into the modern era in the form of moral panics like the Satanic Panic of the 1980s (for some discussion on this ancient cultural fixation, see Dowden 2002 [2000]: 179-188). Nonetheless, Adam’s emphasis on the number nine and sacred groves appears to reflect some element of genuine tradition, and further attests to the particular fixation on the number nine among these groups of ancient Germanic peoples.

Later instances of charms in the North Germanic record here and there continue to mention entities from the ancient Germanic record and at times also continue the focus on threefold elements. For example, well into Christianization of the region, records of a 14th century witchcraft trial of Norwegian woman Ragnhild Tregagås contain a charm that invokes a notable name from the Old Norse record, Gǫndul. Gǫndul—probably ‘wand-wielder’—is mentioned as the name of a valkyrie at various points in the Old Norse record. The charm ‘sends’ three ‘spirits’ from this supernatural female entity to harm a target. (cf. McLeod and Mees 2006: 37)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

The fixation on multiples of three appears to be expressed in a variety of ‘threefold’ symbols in the ancient Germanic record. One such example is what is today broadly known as the valknut. While no textual reference to this symbol comes down to us today, the symbol appears on various objects found in England and Scandinavia in a wide variety of contexts that date from around the Viking Age: To name a handful of examples, it appears on the Nene river ring and on Northumbrian coins (sceattas) in England, carved into a wooden object of unclear purpose (a bowl?) and a bedpost in the Oseberg ship burial in Norway, on coins from Ribe and Viborg, Denmark, and on two picture stones from Gotland, Sweden (Tängelgårda and Stora Hammars I).

The valknut is the subject of an upcoming Mimisbrunnr.info entry, where it will be discussed more in depth, but in the meantime we recommend that German readers refer to the now classic study of the symbol, Hallers 2012.

The valknut symbol consists of three interlaced triangles, yielding nine points.Similarly, the unique symbol on the Snoldelev Stone consists of three interlocked drinking horns (readers can view an image from the National Museum of Denmark of it here, but Wikimedia Commons hosts clearer images here). Ultimately, the core of the valknut and similar symbols is the triskele, a radial symbol consisting of three components. Such threefold symbols have a long and varied history throughout Europe: Examples include 5th century Greek BCE coins (view an image from the Classical Numenistics Group here), and various stone carvings at Newgrange, a Neolithic megalith in what is today Ireland (readers may view a photo of an example on Wikimedia Commons here). Comparable symbols are common throughout the world, no doubt a testament to their structural simplicity, and evidence the compositional value of the number three.

While scholars have proposed various theories about what symbols like the valknut and the triple horns on the Snoldelev Stone represent, due to the limitations of the record, nothing about them can be said with certainty. However, these threefold symbols fit the broader ancient Germanic emphasis on the number three and its multiplicands, particularly nine.

ANALYSIS

An emphasis on the number three is by no means limited to the ancient Germanic peoples. Threefold divisions are common throughout the world, yet the emphasis on the number nine (three thrice) is especially notable in this cultural sphere, as indicated by its relentless expression throughout the ancient Germanic corpus. Some scholars have speculated that there may be some connection between the emphasis on the number three, nine, and the number 27 (3 x 9 = 27, cf. brief discussion in Simek 1996: 232-233) and the lunar calendar of the ancient Germanic peoples (for example, see discussion throughout Nordberg 2006). The average nine-month gestation period of the human fetus may also be somehow notable here. Whatever the case, the employment of these numbers is by no means restricted to references to time.

It’s notable that the frequent occurrence of threes and nines in the corpus receives little mention in tertiary sources commonly used in the field. For example, although the number nine appears as commonly as one would expect throughout his handbook, John Lindow’s handbook contains no entry dedicated to the topic of Germanic numerology and no commentary aside from “nine is of course the most charged number in the mythology …” (Lindow 2001: 248). Rudolf Simek’s handbook does contain a dedicated entry to the number nine with some discussion of notable examples from the corpus, but he provides no further reading (Simek 1996: 232-233). Orchard’s handbook does not appear to make any mention of the topic (Orchard 1997).

The numbers three also plays a particular role among contemporary Germanic language speakers, including in modern number-lore, where one can encounter a rule of thirds and a similar rule of three motif under a great variety of circumstances. Both make for interesting comparative examples from the modern era (see Dundes 1968 for some excellent discussion on this). Readers can find a recent summary of number symbolism and its reception in folklore studies in Leonid Zhmud’s “From Number Symbolism to Arithmology” (Zhmud 2019: 25-32, which readers can find online here).

ABOUT THE ART

This entry contains three original pieces by artist Rim Baudey. They are as follows:

• I: A visual representation of the number three by way of Roman numerals.

• II: The symbol known today as the valknut, based on the Oseberg ship burial post carving.

• III: A visual representation of the number nine by way of Roman numerals.

Readers can find wallpaper-quality versions by clicking the images. Please contact Mimisbrunnr.info for image use requests.

REFERENCES

• Abram, Christopher. 2011. Myths of the Pagan North: The Gods of the Norsemen. Continuum.

• Byock, Jesse. 2006. The Prose Edda. Penguin Classics.

• Bellows, Henry Adams. 2004 [1923]. The Poetic Edda: The Mythological Poems. Dover Publications Inc.

• Dowden, Kenneth. 2002 [2000]. European Paganism: The Realities of Cult from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Routledge.

• Dundes, Alan. 1968. “The Number Three in American Culture” in Dundes, Alan. Ed. Every Man His Way: Readings in Cultural Anthropology. Prentice-Hall.

• Giangrosso, Patricia. 2001. “Charms” in Jeep, John (ed.). Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia, pp. 111-114. Routledge.

• Gorden, R. K. 1922. Anglo-Saxon Poetry. J. M. Dent & Sons. Online.

• Hallers, Tom. 2012. Valknútr: Das Dreiecksymbol der Wikingerzeit. Fassbaender.

• Hollander, Lee. 1990 [1962]. The Poetic Edda. Second edition. University of Texas Press.

• Larrington, Carolyne. 2014. The Poetic Edda. Revised edition. Oxford University Press.

• Lindow, John. 2001. Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford University Press.

• MacLeod, Mindy & Bernard Mees. 2006. Runic Amulets and Magic Objects. Boydell Press.

• Nordberg, Andreas. 2006. Jul, disting och förkyrklig tideräkning. Uppsala. Online.

• Orchard, Andy. 1997. Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell.

• Orchard, Andy. 2011. The Elder Edda: A Book of Viking Lore. Penguin Classics.

• Simek, Rudolf. 1996. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Boydell & Brewer.

• Tschan, Francis J. & Timothy Reuter. 2002 [1959]. History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen. Columbia University Press.

• Zhmud, Leonid. 2019. “From Number Symbolism to Arithmology” in L. Schimmelpfennig (ed.). Zahlen- und Buchstabensysteme im Dienste religiöser Bildung, pp. 25-45. Seraphim. Online.