For other meanings of Vili, see Vili (disambiguation)

Vili (disambiguation)

Vili may be:*a Norse deity, see Vili and Ve*a people of Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville Vili *a male first name in Finland*a male nickname in Hungary *a common name ending in Georgian, see Georgian names...

.

In Norse mythology

Norse mythology

Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

, Vili and Vé are the brothers of Óðinn (often Anglicized Odin), sons of Bestla

Bestla

In Norse mythology, Bestla is the mother of the gods Odin, Vili and Vé by way of Borr, the sister of an unnamed being who assisted Odin, and the daughter or, depending on source, granddaughter of the jötunn Bölþorn...

 daughter of Bölþorn and Borr

Borr

Borr or Burr was the son of Búri and the father of Odin in Norse mythology. He is mentioned in the Gylfaginning, part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda....

 son of Búri

Búri

Búri was the first god in Norse mythology. He is the father of Borr and grandfather of Odin, Vili and Ve. He was formed by the cow Auðumbla licking the salty ice of Ginnungagap. The only extant source of this myth is Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda.Búri is mentioned nowhere in the Poetic Edda and...

:

Hann [Borr] fekk þeirar konu er Bettla hét, dóttir Bölþorns jötuns, ok fengu þau þrjá sonu. Hét einn Óðinn, annarr Vili, þriði Vé.

Old Norse Vili means "will

Will (philosophy)

Will, in philosophical discussions, consonant with a common English usage, refers to a property of the mind, and an attribute of acts intentionally performed. Actions made according to a person's will are called "willing" or "voluntary" and sometimes pejoratively "willful"...

". Old Norse Vé refers to a type of Germanic shrine; a vé

Vé (shrine)

In Germanic paganism, a vé or wēoh is a type of shrine or sacred enclosure. The term appears in skaldic poetry and in place names in Scandinavia , often in connection with a Norse deity or a geographic feature. The name of the Norse god Vé, refers to the practice...

.

Creation

The three brothers are the first generation of the Æsir

Æsir

In Old Norse, áss is the term denoting a member of the principal pantheon in Norse paganism. This pantheon includes Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Tyr. The second pantheon comprises the Vanir...

 who slay Ymir

Ymir

In Norse mythology, Ymir, also called Aurgelmir among the giants themselves, was the founder of the race of frost giants and was later killed by the Borrs.-Etymology:...

 ending the primeval rule of the race of giants (and can be compared to the three brothers Zeus

Zeus

In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

, Poseidon

Poseidon

Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...

 and Hades

Hades

Hades , Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs , meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek god of the underworld. The genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative came to designate the abode of the dead.In Greek mythology, Hades...

 defeating the Titans

Titan (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age....

 in Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

). To the first human couple, Ask and Embla

Ask and Embla

In Norse mythology, Ask and Embla —male and female respectively—were the first two humans, created by the gods. The pair are attested in both the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...

, Óðinn gave soul and life; Vili gave wit (intelligence) and sense of touch; and Vé gave countenance (appearance, facial expression), speech

Mythical origins of language

There have been many accounts of the origin of language in the world's mythologies and other stories pertaining to the origin of language, the development of language and the reasons behind the diversity in languages today....

, hearing, and sight. The names given to Óðinn's brothers in the Völuspá

Völuspá

Völuspá is the first and best known poem of the Poetic Edda. It tells the story of the creation of the world and its coming end related by a völva addressing Odin...

 are Hœnir

Hœnir

In Norse mythology, Hœnir is one of the Æsir. He is mentioned as the one who helped Odin to create humans.- Attestations :In Ynglinga saga, along with Mímir, he went to the Vanir as a hostage to seal a truce after the Æsir-Vanir War...

and Lóðurr

Lóðurr

Lóðurr is a god in Norse mythology. In the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá he is assigned a role in animating the first humans, but apart from that he is hardly ever mentioned, and remains obscure. Scholars have variously identified him with Loki, Vé, Vili and Freyr, but consensus has not been reached on...

.

Triad

In Proto-Norse, the three brothers' names were alliterating

Alliteration

In language, alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of Three or more words or phrases. Alliteration has historically developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to...

, *Wódin, Wili, Wé (Proto-Germanic *Wōdinaz, Wiljon, Wǣhaz), so that they can be taken as forming a triad of *wódz, wiljon, wǣhaz, approximately "inspiration

Óðr

In Norse mythology, Óðr or Óð, sometimes angliziced as Odr or Od, is a figure associated with the major goddess Freyja...

 (transcendent, mantic or prophetic knowledge), cognition

Cognition

In science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...

 (will, desire, internal thought that leads to action) and numen

Numen

Numen is a Latin term for a potential, guiding the course of events in a particular place or in the whole world, used in Roman philosophical and religious thought...

 (spiritual power residing in the external world, in sacred objects)".

Compare to this the alliteration in a verse found in the Exeter Book

Exeter Book

The Exeter Book, Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501, also known as the Codex Exoniensis, is a tenth-century book or codex which is an anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry. It is one of the four major Anglo-Saxon literature codices. The book was donated to the library of Exeter Cathedral by Leofric, the...

, Wôden worhte weos "Woden wrought the sanctuaries" where compared to the "triad" above, just the middle will etymon has been replaced by the work etymon. The name of such sanctuaries to Woden Wôdenes weohas (Saxon Wôdanes wih, Norse Óðins vé) survives in toponymy

Toponymy

Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...

 as Odinsvi, Wodeneswegs.

While Vili and Vé are of little prominence in Norse mythology as attested, their brother Óðinn has a more celebrated role as the chief of the Norse pantheon. Despite his importance, Óðinn remains at the head of a triad of the mightiest gods: Óðinn, Thórr, and Freyr

Freyr

Freyr is one of the most important gods of Norse paganism. Freyr was highly associated with farming, weather and, as a phallic fertility god, Freyr "bestows peace and pleasure on mortals"...

. Óðinn is also styled Thriði "the third", in which case he appears by the side of Hárr and Jafnhárr

Jafnharr

Jafnharr is a member of the "Mysterious Three," those who guard Valhalla, the three kings of the Gylfaginning who sat on three thrones in Asgard and who answered the questions of King Gylfi. The other two were Harr and Thridi . Each of them was, as it turned out, an incarnation of Odin....

(the "high" and the "even-high" or co-equal), as the "Third High". At other times, he is Tveggi "the second". In relation to the Óðinn-Vili-Vé triad, Grimm compares Old High German willa, which not only expressed voluntas, but also votum, impetus, spiritus, and the personification of Will, to Wela in Old English sources. Keyser interprets the triad as "Spirit, Will and Holiness", postulating a kind of Germanic Trinity

Trinity

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...

 in Vili and Vé to be "blended together again in the all-embracing World-spirit in Odin. [...] he alone is Al-father, from whom all the other superior, world-directing beings, the Æsir, are descended."

According to Loki

Loki

In Norse mythology, Loki or Loke is a god or jötunn . Loki is the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. By his wife Sigyn, Loki is the father of Nari or Narfi...

, in Lokasenna

Lokasenna

Lokasenna is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki....

, Vili and Vé had an affair with Óðinn's wife, Frigg

Frigg

Frigg is a major goddess in Norse paganism, a subset of Germanic paganism. She is said to be the wife of Odin, and is the "foremost among the goddesses" and the queen of Asgard. Frigg appears primarily in Norse mythological stories as a wife and a mother. She is also described as having the power...

. This is taken by Grimm as reflecting the fundamental identity of the three brothers, so that Frigg might be considered the wife of either. According to this story Óðinn was abroad for a long time, and in his absence his brothers acted for him. It is worthy of note that Saxo Grammaticus

Saxo Grammaticus

Saxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, foremost advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :The Jutland Chronicle gives...

also makes Óðinn (Latin: Othinus) travel to foreign lands and Mitoðinn (Latin: Mithothyn) fill his place, and therefore Mitoðinn's position throws light on that of Vili and Vé. But Saxo represents Óðinn as once more an exile, and puts Ullr (Latin: Ollerus) in his place. The distant journeys of the god are implied in the Norse by-names Gângrâðr, Gângleri, Vegtamr, and Viðförull. It is not to be overlooked that even Paulus Diaconus (1, 9) knows of Wodan's residence in Greece while Saxo removes him to Byzantium, and Snorri to Tyrkland.