Nordendorf fibula
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The Nordendorf fibula is an early 7th century Alamannic fibula found in Nordendorf near Augsburg (Bavaria). It bears an Elder Futhark inscription:
- logaþorewodanwigiþonar
usually interpreted as
- Logaþore Wodan Wigiþonar
Containing the names of Wodan, the chief god of the Alamanni, and Donar, the thunder god. It would seem plausible for logaþore to be the name of another god, yielding a divine triad, but there is no obvious identification in Norse mythology as we know it. Both Lóðurr and Loki have been proposed but the etymological reasoning is tenuous.
K. Düwel interprets logaþore as "magician, sorcerer", and translates "Wodan and Donar are magicians/sorcerers", which could indicate either an early Christian protective charm against the old gods, or, on the other hand, an invocation of the gods' beneficient or healing power by an adherent of the old faith. The fibula's date falling precisely in the period of gradual Christianization of the Alamanni (the bishopric of Konstanz was established around AD 600), both possibilities are equally probable.
