ármaðr
deity earth Icelandic single tradition · 1
A heathen idol worshipped in 10th century Iceland, called 'year-man' in the saga and 'prophet' (spámaðr) in the Þáttr. The deity was embodied in stone and received worship from Koðrán, father of Þorvaldr Koðránsson. This spirit has been suggested as a precursor to the nisse and may alternatively be categorized as a landvættr or 'land spirit'.
When
- First attested
- 900 CE
- Attested period
- 900 – 1000
- Historical notes
- Documented in 10th century Icelandic sagas as a household deity worshipped before Christianization.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- puge, jordvætten, haugbue, undervætte, husvætte, tomta gudhane
Sources
wikipedia (1)
Source passages
“the 10th century figure attended to his father Koðrán giving up worship of the heathen idol (called ármaðr or 'year-man' in the saga: spámaðr or 'prophet' in the Þáttr) embodied in stone”
#10318 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5