#tuisto

Tuisto

"In their ancient songs, their only form of recorded history, the Germani celebrate the earth-born God Tuisto. They assign to him a son, Mannus, the author and founder of their race, and to Mannus three sons, after whom the people nearest the ocean are named Ingvaeones, those of the centre Herminones, the remainder Istvaeones. -Tacitus"

Who is this Tuisto described by the Romans to be the ancestor of the Germanic people?

If we look at the etymology of the word, we can see that Tuisto is connected to the proto-Germanic root twai which means two. Another possibility is that the name comes from the Proto-Germanic Tiwisto which is connected to tiwaz. The two main theories about the identity of Tuisto is that he is now known as Tyr or the primeval giant Ymir.

Ymir: The theory with the most support is that Tuisto is the giant Ymir. Both are hermaphroditic beings, in Dutch it is called tweeslachtig, twee can be found in the name Tuisto. Ymir lived when our world did not exist yet. From his corpse, the world was shaped. His blood became the seas, his bones became the hills, his hair became the trees and plants and the sky was made from his skull. Ymir was the first living being and from him, the race of the Jötunn was created. This supports Tacitus's words that Tuisto created humans.

Maybe the Germanic creation story changed overtime as so many other aspects of the Germanic lore changed. Tuisto, the first being created mankind. This story might have turned into the Norse story of Ymir creating the Jötnar. What is still however a puzzle is the mention of Tuisto being an earth-God. There was no earth when Ymir lived but maybe this is just a part of the creation story that changed over time or the Romans did not write it down correctly. We can only guess.

Tiwaz: The biggest argument against Ymir is that Tuisto was a praised God amongst the Germanic people. Ymir however wasn't, the giants are generally considered to be the enemies of the Gods. If you look at the other possible meaning of the name Tuisto, Tiwistaz, which means the most divine, it makes suddenly more sense that he might be connected to Tyr. Tyr was considered the chief God of the Germanic people until Wodan took his place, Tuisto is also named as the most important, the founder of the human race.

Maybe the Germanic people at first called him Tiwisto but languistic changes over time turned tiwisto into Twisto. Tacitus in turn might have written this name down as Tuisto. Tiwaz literally means God and Tuisto could have simply meant the most divine of the Gods. We know that Tyr is most likely related to the proto-indo European God Dyeus and we can see parallels in proto-indo European cultures of a God who created mankind through three sons. A small interesting thing about Ymir I want to add here, in the old Norse story concerning Ymir, he was slaughtered by Odin and his two brothers, three sons.

These three sons of Tuisto, refer to the people living in certain geographical regions of Germania. The Ingvaeones can be found in modern day Netherlands, Northern Germany and Denmark. The Herminones people are those of modern day east Germany, Austria, Poland, Czech. And final the Istvaeones people can be found in modern day south-Netherlands, South Germany, Belgium and parts of Northern France.

Unfortunately due to lack of archeological evidence and written down words, we do not know for certain who Tuisto was, these are all just theories.

This is a story I have been thinking about for a while. And as I feared it will not be done as a one shot (as I fear this will end being between 10-12k). Because I wanted to have a Hector story on today... Have at it.

Note: This will include some religious discussion, though not in the first chapter.

The Old God

Fandom: Castlevania (Netflix) Genre: Hurt/Comfort

While exploring the mountains surrounding the Styrian castle, Hector meets a vagabond camping in a cave. Before he knows it, the stranger starts talking to him...

In "Germania," (section 2) Tacitus writes: 'They relate in ancient songs, which is the only historical tradition among them, that the god Tuisto was born from earth. They assign him a son, Mannus, the source and founder of the race, and to Mannus three sons, from whose names those nearest the oceans are called Ingaevones, those in the center Herminones, the rest Istaevones. Certain sources claim, as customarily happens with the license of antiquity, that the god had more offspring and that there were more designations of the people, Marsi, Gambrivii, Suebi, Vandilii, and that these are real and ancient names..."

The subject of a Germanic creation myth is complicated, though Grimm cites (pp. 564-576, particularly 567-569) some syncretic and post-conversion sources that paint some differences among the Continental Germanic creation understandings and the Scandinavian lore, and some of these differences are turning up in the oral lore of Braucherei and Hexerei. Just as an example, one stark difference that comes in our oral lore is that the race of the Zwarich (Dwarves) was created before the Giants and that the Zwarich have a role in helping to maintain order against the forces of chaos. Another difference is the reference to Wurt (Wyrd, though often other terms, especially "Schicksaal" are used for the same concept) as a maker force or personified as a deity, though whether the force is conscious, proto-conscious, or unconscious is not particularly clear.

Some theories within the Urglaawe community:

A relationship between Tuisto and Ewicher Yeeger based in part on the earth-sprung god aspect. I personally can see a relationship between Ewicher Yeeger and Ullr, but I am increasingly less inclined to see Tuisto and Ewicher Yeeger as the same deity.

A relationship between Tuisto and Ziu, based partially on linguistic conjecture or on a possible relationship of Tuisto being the son of Ziu. I am not so inclined toward this theory anymore.

Tuisto as an equivalent of Norse Buri and Mannus as the equivalent of Borr. This idea is hard to follow through, but it is worth exploring.

Tuisto and Ymir being two different perceptions of the same entity. Linguistically, there is a connection, though the viewpoints end up being quite different. In the case of Ymir, the body is taken apart to by the gods to create the universe whereas the notions associated with Tuisto are those of a proactive creator, regardless of consciousness level. As Grimm (568) states, "The main difference between the Scandinavian view and all the others is, as I said before, that the one uses the microcosm as material for the macrocosm, and the other inversely makes the universe contribute to the formation of man. There the whole of nature is but the first man gone to pieces, here man is put together out of the elements of nature." His exploration goes on well beyond that onto page 569, so it is an interesting section for this topic.

Tuisto, Ymir and Hindu Tvastar as perceptions of the same entity. This one I am increasingly buying into, particularly as some of the characteristics of Tvastar match the "maker" concept that turns up in our oral lore but is ascribed more to Wurt or Schicksaal than to a deity by name.