Why was leek considered holy in the Edda?
score:8
Why not?
First off, this is the original:
Áðr Burs synir
bjöðum um ypðu,
þeir er Miðgarð
mœran skópu;
sól skein sunnan
á salar steina,
þá var grund gróin
grœnum lauki.
"Leek" is one of the reconstructed meanings of the laguz / laukaz rune, a symbol of fertility, so there is a chance that "lauki" stands here as a "backronym" symbol for general fertility.
It is a hardy plant that grows well even far to the north, and can be left in the ground for later harvesting during early winter, making it an excellent food source. That alone would probably be sufficient to explain it being mentioned in that way.
The leek is the national emblem of Wales, where it was considered...
...a medicine to cure a variety of illnesses [...] a cure for the common cold, alleviating the pains of childbirth...
...which is still true today, a good hot soup would still be considered "a good thing to do" when you don't feel that well.
Wikipedia (with attribution to Glantz, Animal and plant life in the Torah) states:
The Hebrew Bible talks of חציר, identified by commentators as leek, and says it is abundant in Egypt.
Which is corroborated by archaeological evidence. So it was not just the Norse that valued it.
As for general Norse mysticism, note that it is very different from monotheistic mysticism. Things are not always huge and majestic (like oaks), because the gods are not associated with omnipotence. "Holy" therefore means a lot less. Odin did not create the world and all there was on it, but is the son of the son of the giant that was licked from primeval ice by a cow. Thor's chariot was drawn by goats, Freija's chariot by cats...
More post
- 📝 Did Bamako exist as a major settlement of trade and culture during the Mali empire?
- 📝 What did the Jews during the First Jewish-Roman War know about other anti-Roman revolts?
- 📝 When & where were three masted ships invented?
- 📝 Can anyone verify this story about the President's driver?
- 📝 What was Bess of Hardwick’s net worth?
- 📝 Does anyone know a quote, from an opponent of MLK (e.g. a sheriff) which presents him as radical?
- 📝 What uniform is this man wearing (circa 1940's)?
- 📝 What was a turf rick in Ireland, circa 1833?
- 📝 Why didn't the Persians create good infantry units?
- 📝 Why is rum naval?
- 📝 There are two restaurants (one in Saigon, one in Hong Kong) called "全記". Where does that name come from and what does it mean?
- 📝 What animals did South East Asians ride in the Middle Ages?
- 📝 Did Argentine President Juan Peron grant free access to the radio, the press and two soccer stadiums to a preacher called Tommy Hicks in 1954?
- 📝 Were ancient (Greek) battles fought like duels between heroes?
- 📝 Is there any research on the (possible) ancient origins of populations in different regions in Cyprus and their movements on the island?
- 📝 Did Gorbachev say that his intention was to destroy Communism?
- 📝 Were the officers assigned to Kamchatka being punished?
- 📝 Was there a church around 1800 in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky?
- 📝 Is there an edition of Gibbon's *Decline and Fall* that has been annotated by a modern historian?
- 📝 How was the Baalbek Trilithon dated?
- 📝 What did US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart study as an undergraduate?
- 📝 Has the "lion dormant" ever been used in heraldry?
- 📝 Can someone give me the history on this Japanese Crest symbol
- 📝 Why were penal colony members from Australia moved to San Francisco in 1840's?
- 📝 Can the Queen of England fire the prime minister of Australia?
- 📝 What did the paper money of the Ilkhanate look like?
- 📝 What treatment did Allied Jewish POWs get when captured by the Germans?
- 📝 Why did Europeans call Native Americans Indians in the 18th Century AD, After they had found out they were in the wrong continent?
- 📝 Nymphodorus of Syracuse
- 📝 Is there an example of Egypt recording defeat?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why was leek considered holy in the Edda?
- 📝 Why was the Roman Empire considered an empire rather than a kingdom (again)?
- 📝 Why was Truman considered a heavy underdog in the 1948 election?
- 📝 Why is Musselburgh considered the first golf course, when St. Andrews was where golf was first played?
- 📝 Why was the arrival of the Hindenburg considered newsworthy?
- 📝 Why was fellatio considered so horrible during the XIX century in Europe?
- 📝 Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union when he was still busy fighting the United Kingdom?
- 📝 Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
- 📝 Why did archery not make a comeback when armor was phased out in the 18th century?
- 📝 Why was Poland spared from the Black Death?
- 📝 Why was Africa colonized last of the continents in the Age of Discovery?
- 📝 Why was the Scout movement so successful?
- 📝 Why was the Council of Nicea held in Nicea rather than Rome or Constantinople?
- 📝 Why was World War I ended on Nov 11 11:00, rather than immediately upon signing the armistice?
- 📝 In the Soviet Union, why was the Cheka renamed so many times?
- 📝 Why was "leaping into the river" a valid trial outcome to prove one's innocence?
- 📝 Why was the Japanese Army's fatalities inflicted:suffered ratio so low in the Pacific theatre?
- 📝 Why was capturing the south of Okinawa necessary?
- 📝 Why were the drawings of Colossus burnt after WW2 and why was its very existence "of course" kept secret?
- 📝 Why was there a surge in the US incarceration rate during the 1990s?
- 📝 Why was the Treaty of Versailles so harsh?
- 📝 If the Ch’in dynasty was so short-lived, why was China named for it?
- 📝 Why was Switzerland not attacked during the two World Wars?
- 📝 Why was sugar cultivation more profitable in the Caribbean/Brazil than West Africa?
- 📝 Why was PTSD not written about as much before the 20th century?
- 📝 Why are the French and Indian Wars / Seven Years' War not considered WW 1?
- 📝 Why was Kaliningrad placed under the Russian SFSR rather than the Lithuanian SSR?
- 📝 Why was the northern boundary of the Mongol empire set where it was?
- 📝 When and why was the samurai class abolished?
- 📝 Why was uranium mined in the 1500s, but only "discovered" in 1789?