Origin of Ti, Tis, Tiw, Tyr

Generally these names are thought to mean the same thing. However in true science it is better to sort out Tyr that in OHG and Nordic means bull/ oxen and the origin is on the Animal Round in 4th and 3^rd millennium. At Vitlycke Bohuslen there are Bronze Age rock-carvings showing the Oxen on the Round.

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The last signs of the heavenly Bull is the horns seen in the crown of Roman emperors and as horns on the Horse = Pegasus at the golden bracts. Then it means simply spring equinox that moved from Oxen to Horse/ Stag in more than 4000 years due to precession. The Stag is seen for instance on the scepter from the Sutton Hoo grave and especially in Frisien but also in rest of Scandinavia.

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From an English Viking Age poem we get:

Tiw is a guiding star; well does it keep faith with princes;
it is ever on its course over the mists of night and never fails.
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From there the step is short to the golden bracts with the known motif in which he put his arm into the gap of the Fenriswolf. The other elderly people tie the heavenly beast. They decided to fetter it and tried the bonds Lauding and Drome but the Fenris-Wolf was too strong. At last they invented the tricky Gleipne made of cat noise, woman's beard, mountain roots, fish breath and birds spittle and that fixed it. But they had to ask Tyr to put his arm in the gap when they made the knot….a remark is that gods/ idols exist only in the fictive world of sagas and ritual as role models.

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Once the brave Tyr got his arm off he knew what pain is and the assembly thought he was suited as judge. We have some rock-carvings from Bronze Age with the one armed judge and he is also seen in a boat and a bullhead as bait. That associates to the heavenly Oxen as well as to the saga about Thor and Tyr "on tour". Thor is seemingly the asterism Gemini. On and the golden bract from Trollhättan we see Tyr with one arm in the gap and the other holding the Gemini-symbol.

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This bract and others indicates that he is in the center of the world like the fertility Laur. In Danish TI means "flow/ place of outflow" and according to very old ritual it was the flood in spring that gave fertility. When they bind Fenriswolf it is a line from Sagittarius to Cancer or Gemini that gives the World Order/ Time Order = celestial calendar. The attribute "hand-in-gap" we see also on the 'snake-pit' bracts, which symbolise the sowing or going for resurrection.

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If we think it through this idol is an old idol that was designed for the small societies with a thane/ thegn as leader. In wartime he became leader idol for the local defence that was meant for the unusual case of aggression form outside. This attitude we have in the Herulian league to 6^th century. We see it is the total culture phase shift with the so-called Edda Age that began with Viking Age in 8^th century.

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The earliest written evidence of Ti/ Tiw/ Tyr as judge we find at Housestead /VERCOVICIUM the Hadrian wall 3^rd century AD on an altar stone

DEO MARTI THINGSO ET DVABVS ALAISAGIS BEDE ET FIMMILENE ET N AVG GERM CIVES TVIHANTI VSLM

 "To the god Mars Thingso the two Alaisagae, Bede and Femmilene and the divine spirit of the emperor, the German tribesmen from Tvihanti, true servants of the Augustus, willingly and deservedly fulfil their vow."

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The Romans saw Tyr / Tis / Ti /Tiw as the war god Mars Thingsus maybe because they did not know about normal Germanic peaceful society and law. The thing/ court was naturally the core of the society in Scandinavia and especially in Denmark there are many "tinghaug" = thing/ court mound. Best known is Tynwald Hill at Isle of Man. Since I have found notes about a low round mound with ditch around in neighbouring parish I would like to think they got the idea from my province.

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Next "written" evidence are the weekday names (Tuesday) created in time of Constantine in beginning 4^th century. It was also the beginning heydays of the Scandinavian Heruli at duty at Rhine and other places. The leading classes of merchants and legionaries were "brothers in arms" with Frisian and Germanian troops so it is no wonder that both in English and Skandinavian the weekday names are nearly the same. The only real exception is Saturday from the Roman Saturn god of harvest. Scandinavians have instead the god LAUR that now is forgotten. As THURS I would rather put the "tri-headed thurs" idol of the tri section of the year.

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Many academics prefer when they can read the names in plain English or Old Nordic and that is the ultimate evidence. Better is for instance the Gosforth Cross and other carved stones in churches. But besides the figurative evidence we have also the place names with no dating.

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In Denmark the normal root is TI/ TIS/ TIR/ an we find them in places where there have been a vi / wih since he was the idol even at local ritual. In England we have  Tysoe, Tuesnoad, Tuesley, Tifield, Great Tew, Dun's Tew, Tewin, Tysoe (Tiw's hill-spur), Tyesemere 'Tiw's pool' and Deverstone Cliff.

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In Scandinavia we have none of the Edda gods in early rune texts. In England the runic inscriptions of TIU are found stamped into three urns found in a 5th century cemetery at Spong Hill in Norfolk, and on a 7th century spear blade from Holborough, Kent. The Rune Age began in 2^nd century AD and we must include the Germanic Area that in west included Germania Inferior within Limes. That is Luxembourg and Belgium south of Rhine. The Runes are seen mostly at Lower Rhine and in Friesland - Niedersachsen

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We cannot apply our days' frames and national borders on those days. We have the old tribal bonds within Germania that was a branch of Celtic culture. We must remember that the Belgae moved to England before the Romans. At some places there were a core of Germanic Celts before the first migration of Anglo-Saxons. There was a flow of especially Frisian people and culture through legionaries and trade.

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We get a hint of changing culture and language when we think of that some Heruli settled in the end of Roman rule in northern France. The Normands that originally hold a core of Scandinavians were and are seen as French. I noticed from the TIME TEAM programs that the English often prefer Saxon roots and see the Anglii and Scandinavians as wild barbarians. If they could they would prefer Roman roots … at such time I am ashamed of science when it becomes politics and religious instead of neutral searching after roots and truth. Seldom I have seen genuine English interest for the very deep Scandinavian roots.

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I do not give much for modern mythical interpreting that tries to make it teleological and theological. As far as I can see from Migration Age the myths were arche-ideologies for the rural society. Edda is made of bear-drunk bards dreaming of days that have never been.

Cheers catshaman