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IAROVIT: God of the Rugii whose name might mean “the harsh lord.” He was worshipped in Wolgast and Havelberg (Germany). A shield was kept in his temple and brought out to ensure victory in war.

Kantzow, Pomerania, vol. I.

IBOR and AIO: One of several pairs of mythic twins who appear in Germanic traditions. In his Historia Langobardorum (History of the Lombards), written in the eighth century, Paul the Deacon mentions two chieftains with these names who were the leaders of a band of exiles. Overpopulation had caused their people, the Winnili, to divide into three camps, and, after drawing lots, the group led by Ibor and Aio was chosen to emigrate and seek out new lands. These two brothers, in the prime of life and superior to all others, bid farewell to their people and left to explore where they might settle. The mother of these two leaders, Gambara, had a wealth of good advice. When they reached a region called Scoringa they encountered the Vandals, who demanded that the Winnili pay tribute or engage in battle. Godan (Odin) decided to grant victory to those he saw first at sunrise. Gambara visited the goddess Frea, who suggested that the Winnili women disguise themselves as men and take up places that would ensure Godan saw them first when rising. They attracted the attention of Godan, who asked his wife, “Who are these long-beards?” Frea responded that he should give victory to those whom he had just named. Godan granted victory to the Winnili.

IÐAVÖLLR (“Shining Plain”): A site belonging to the Æsir that lies near Ásgarðr. This is where the gods will meet again after Ragnarök to recall the great events and the ancient runes. At Iðavöllr wonderful gold tablets are found in the grass; these had belonged to the people of the distant past. This is a legend that is further supported in medieval German literature: all the knowledge of men was carved on tablets or pillars that the Deluge was unable to destroy.

IÐI (“The Industrious One”): A giant who is the son of Ölvaldi and brother of Þjazi and Gangr. Ölvaldi divided his possessions in such a way that each of his sons received a mouthful of gold. This is the reason why skaldic poets call this metal “Iði’s (or Þjazi’s, or Gangr’s) mouthful.”

IDISI: Supernatural beings that incarnate fate and are mentioned in the First Merseburg Charm. They have been likened to valkyries, who also know how to paralyze an army (HERFJÖTURR). Two corresponding words, Old English ides and Old High German itis, designate a matron in the old sense of the word (as in Latin matrona).

VALKYRIE

Beck, Die Merseburger Zaubersprüche.

IÐUNN (“Youth”): A minor goddess assumed to be the wife of Bragi, the god of poetry. She is the keeper of the apples that the aging gods eat to restore their youth. As a result of Loki’s scheming, she is abducted by the giant Þjazi.

Sophus Bugge, “Iduns Æbler,” Arkiv för nordisk filologi 5 (1889): 1–45.

IFING: The river that marks out the terrain and serves as the frontier between the sons of giants and the gods. It will never freeze.

IMÐ (“Scruffy”): One of Heimdallr’s nine mothers.

INVISIBILITY: One of the greatest dreams for human beings was to be able to make themselves invisible like certain gods, demons, and fantastic creatures such as fairies, dwarves, and spirits. The invisibility of the dwarves has been attributed to ownership of a cape or cap (Tarnkappe, Nebelkappe, Helkappe, Helkleit, Verheltniskappe, Wünschhütlein) made famous by the legend of Siegfried, or even a ring. Beginning in the sixteenth century a variety of other means were promoted as methods for gaining the ability to disappear. It was necessary to get hold of the finger of a child who died unbaptized, or of one who was stillborn. Sometimes it had to be dried and lit like a candle. As long as it was burning, no one could see you. As early as 1580 the records of a witchcraft trial spoke of the use of a candle whose wick was made of threads pulled from a shroud. The same results could be obtained by using a lamp whose flame was fed with the fat of a murder victim. As a general rule, it was enough to procure body parts from a hanged man, a virgin, or someone who died prematurely. In central Franconia the blood from the genitals of an innocent child would suffice. In the Tyrol region the method involved taking a dead man’s shirt from his body and replacing it with one of your own.

Among this vast number of “practices,” we find one that consisted of taking the fresh and intact tongue of a dead person, having it cooked, and then putting it back in the corpse’s mouth. The following spring the head would be buried and three bean seeds planted on top of it, each in the name of the Holy Trinity. By putting one of the beans that then grew in this location in your mouth, you would become invisible. In 1546 a witch from Styria in Austria used the eyes that she had cut out from a crucified Christ figure in this way.

Plants are also used, such as a fern harvested on Saint John’s Night or Christmas, or one that has been picked at a crossroads at midnight or on the summer solstice. Wild chicory picked on May 1 could be used the same way.

IRMIN: A god about whom little is known. His name refers to the Herminones (or Irminones), one of the three basic groups that, according to Tacitus (in his Germania), together made up the Germanic peoples. The other two groups are the Ingvaeones—a name that reflects that of the god Yngvi-Freyr—and the Istvaeones. Irmin would thus be the major god of the Herminones. Widukind of Corvey mentions the god Hirmin in his chronicle Res gestae saxonicae (Deeds of the Saxons), written circa 970, and conflates him with Mars or Hermes, saying that the Germans had a custom of erecting a gigantic column to him, which they then worshipped. A correspondence to “Irmin” can also be seen in Old Norse jörmun, a word that is also used in reference to the Midgard Serpent (Jörmun-gandr). One of Odin’s names is Jörmunr (“Powerful One”), and the Old High German poem the Hildebrandslied (Lay of Hildebrand), written down in the ninth century, also mentions a “people of Irmin” (irmindeot).

Norbert Wagner, “Irmin in der Sachsen-Origo: Zur Arbeitsweise des Widukind von Corvey,” Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift 59 (1978): 385–97.

IRMINSÛL (“Irmin’s Column”): During his war against the Saxons, Charlemagne captured Eresburg (in 772) and destroyed such a column, a tree trunk that had been erected outside. The Latin glosses indicate that the location of the Irminsûl was sacred and constituted a holy site. The Irminsûl has been recognized as a depiction of the cosmic tree, the world pillar called Yggdrasill in Scandinavian mythology.

IRON FOREST: JÁRNVIÐR

IRON GLOVES: Among the wondrous objects owned by Thor, such as the hammer Mjöllnir and his belt of power, there is also a pair of gloves made of iron. “He cannot do without them when he picks up Mjöllnir,” Snorri Sturluson tells us. The giantess Gríðr also has a pair of iron gloves and lends them to Thor when he goes to free Loki, who has been imprisoned by the giant Geirröðr.

IRPA: A goddess worshipped in the tenth century in Hålogaland (Norway) at the same time as Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr. The Njáls saga (Saga of Burnt Njál) describes a temple containing images of Irpa, Þorgerðr, and Thor.

ÍVALDI: Father of the dwarves who built the marvelous boat Skíðblaðnir, which belongs to Freyr (and sometimes Odin), and who crafted Sif ’s golden hair and Odin’s spear, Gungnir.