What is a Gode?
 

I was just curious about some of the -heim units and the origins of their names. For instance, "Jarl" is the Scandinavian form of "Earl", the title of nobility equivalent to a Duke and generally referring to someone of at the level of a chieftain. But there are some others I don't know:

EDIT: Posted the answers, thank you to those who contributed!

Gode - Godi were Aesir priests
Herse - Hersir were military leaders under Jarls.
Van (prefix) - Short for Vanir a house of Norse gods
Skratti - Icelandic for "Devil". Also, a wizard.
Huskarl - "House man" or bodyguard of some kind
Hirdman - Another personal bodyguard
Asmeg - Descendant of the Aesir after Ragnarok

Can anyone help me out? :)

Re: What is a Gode?
 

I don't know about the ones you listed, but I think "Huscarl" means "House Man" referring to the men who attended a noble's house. Atleast I think so :).

Re: What is a Gode?
 

"Van" is the singular form of Vanir, a group of gods in Norse mythology opposed to the Aesir.

I'd looked up Skratti and got the same answer you did... there's probably another spelling involved, but the meaning shouldn't be too far off from 'witchery is involved!'.

I think Herse is another spelling for Hersir, a sort of warrior/lord under a Jarl who commands a band of warriors.

Gode is a different spelling for Godi, which was a fairly high-ranking priest involving in a particular aspect of the cult, but the specifics escape me at the moment.

Unless I am sorely mistaken, Huscarls are indeed "Housecarls", yet another spelling that may be more obvious for the modern eye... they were armed, though, so don't get them confused with lowly servants :)

Re: What is a Gode?
 

Well, some of the words have been used slightly differently over time and in different areas, but they are all from the Nordic culture.

Gode - essentially a priest of the Aesir
Herse - a chieftain
Van - this prefix is taken from the other (not the Aesir) family of gods called the Vanir.
Skratti - wizard


Hope that helped.

Edit:
A bit late, I see.

And now that I am at it, I might as well mention that 'Skratti' may mean troll as well.

Re: What is a Gode?
 

I think you can find those in the Edda. Vanir live in Vanaheimr. Skrattinn seems to be another name for Satan, yes.

Van seems to mean something like "the Glamorous", "the Habituals", "the familiar gods of fields and meadows".

Edit: the others are right, goði is a priest. And the hersir was a military commander.

Re: What is a Gode?
 

ON a related note, what is the meaning of asmeg ? Does those people appear in nordic mythology too ?

Re: What is a Gode?
 

Thanks, everybody. You all get a forum "thanks" and I put the answers in the first post.

Re: What is a Gode?
 

"meg" should be "might" and "as" should be short for the aesir, so someone who is a personification of the power of the aesir...

/speculation ;)

Re: What is a Gode?
 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have a vague recollection of "gode" having a Saxon meaning too.

Re: What is a Gode?
 

Presumably 'Old Scratch' would be derived from that, then. Cool.