Note 133 — SECTION III. HISTORICAL NOTES.[111]

Properly written Thórr, a congener of the Mæso-Gothic Thunrs, the Thunder-god who named our Thursday. Whilst his golden-haired wife, Sif, who represented mother earth, with her sheaves of ripe grain, and the sanctity of wedlock and the family, is wholly forgotten, this terrigenous deity still lives, as we shall see, in modern Icelandic names. It is usually said that Iceland, following Norway, preferred Thórr, whilst the Danes paid the highest honours to Odin, and the Swedes to Freya (Venus), or rather to Freyr, her brother, the sun-god, who presided over the seasons and bestowed peace, fertility, and riches.