Hail to Thor

Forgive me- I work with the Egyptians not the norse- but I know that its called mjolnir ( or mjollnir, whichever) so why is it so commonly called his hammer instead of its actual name?

People nay not know how to pronounce Mjolnir. And because it is a hammer it just may be easier to say "hammer" instead. I guess it's a matter of preference.

Also keep in mind that in the Eddas, they often simply refer to it as "Thor's Hammer" or "His Hammer" "The Hammer". They don't call it by it's name more than once or twice.

Thank you! I knew I could count on you Personified! :)

and thank you Vanity! By the way how do you pronounce Mjolnir?

Watch the Thor movie :3 joking, joking...

M- yol- near

The J is pronounced as a Y

Thank you all!

The Norse (in the later times when Christianity began to seep in) began to bless their food with the sign of Thors Hammer and basically use it in everyway the Christians used their cross. They would trace the hammer in the air. This actually is said to have begun when someone traced the sign of the cross in a room full of Norse religion followers! (If I'm not mistaken it was a King or General, someone of authority.) When asked in so many words, "what did you just do?" I'm sure he thought he was a dead man. He quickly explained that he was not making the sign of the cross, that would be so foolish if he had haha. No one was laughing. So he explained it was Thors hammer. It saved his embarassment, as well as possible injury or death, and apparently, the idea caught on a bit, and people began tracing thors hammer in the air as a way to bless and honor the god. There is a phrase that was said with it, but I can't recall it, I'm sorry. I read this a long time ago and I found the story so amusing it stuck in my mind. Quick wit saved the day and created a new practice. Makes you wonder how many things we do began that way.

Besides what personified has given you, that's all I can add. She covered a lot.

Thank you!

This thread has been moved to Heathenism from Misc Topics.