View source for Yngvi

{{short description|Germanic deity}}
[[Image:Yngve Frey bygger Gamla Upsala tempel by Hugo Hamilton.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|"Yngvi-Freyr builds the [[Temple at Uppsala|Uppsala temple]]" (1830) by Hugo Hamilton.]]

[[Old Norse]] '''Yngvi''' {{IPA|non|ˈyŋɡwe|}}, [[Old High German]] '''Ing/Ingwi'''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Seibricke |first=Wilfried |title=Historisches Deutsches Vornamenbuch |publisher=de Gruyter |year=1996 |isbn=3-11-014445-X |pages=712 |language=German}}</ref> and [[Old English]] '''Ing''' are names that relate to a [[Lists of deities|theonym]] which appears to have been the older [[List of names of Freyr|name for the god Freyr]]. [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] '''Ingwaz''' was the legendary ancestor of the [[Ingaevones]], or more accurately ''Ingvaeones'', and is also the reconstructed name of the [[Elder Futhark]] [[runes|rune]] ᛜ and [[Anglo-Saxon runes|Anglo-Saxon]] rune ᛝ, representing ''[[ŋ]]''.

==Etymology==
{{further|Fraujaz}}
Old Norse ''Yngvi'' as well as Old High German ''Inguin'' and Old English ''Ingƿine'' are all derived from the [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] *Ingwaz. Sound changes in late-Proto-Germanic transformed *Ingwaz into *Ingwi(z) in the [[nominative case]] and *''Ingwin'' in the [[accusative case]]. His epithet *[[Fraujaz]] appears in Old Norse compounds ''Ingvifreyr'' and ''Ingunarfreyr''. In Beowulf we see Hrothgar called (OE) ''fréa inguina'',  which means 'Lord of the Inguins', i.e. lord of the Ingvaeones, the 'friends of Ing'. This strongly indicates that the two deities, Ing and [[Freyr]] are indeed the same. However, it is also possible that Ing and Freyr were separate people because they had different fathers. Ing's father was [[Mannus]]. Freyr's father was [[Njörðr]]. The Ingvaeones, who occupied a territory roughly equivalent to modern [[Denmark]], [[Frisia]], [[Northern Germany]], and the [[Low Countries]] at the turn of the millennium, were mentioned by [[Pliny the Elder]] in his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural Histories]]'' as one of "five Germanic tribes". [[Tacitus]] asserts their descent from the three sons of [[Mannus]] or *[[Mannaz]] cognate with [[Manu (Hinduism)|Manus in Hinduism]], the 'first man', of whom *Ingwaz may have been one. Other names that retain the [[theonym]] are {{lang|la|[[Inguiomerus]]}} or ''[[Ingemar]]'' and ''[[Yngling]]'', the name of an old Scandinavian dynasty.<ref>Cf. for a grammar of Proto-Germanic from the University of Texas at Austin: {{cite web |url=http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/books/pgmc03.html |title=A Grammar of Proto-Germanic: Chapter 3: Inflectional Morphology |access-date=2010-03-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623163039/http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/books/pgmc03.html#3_7_1 |archive-date=2007-06-23 }}.</ref>

==The Ingwaz rune==
{{infobox rune
| lang1 = pg | lang2 = oe 
| name1 = '''*Ingwaz'''
| name2 = '''Ing'''
| meaning1 = 
| meaning2 =
| shape12 = [[File:Runic letter ingwaz.svg|x50px|class=skin-invert-image]] [[File:Runic letter ingwaz variant2.svg|x50px|class=skin-invert-image]] [[File:Runic letter ingwaz variant.svg|x50px|class=skin-invert-image]]
| unicode hex12 = 16DC, 16DD
| transliteration12 = '''ŋ''' 
| transcription12 = ''ŋ'' 
| IPA12 = {{IPA|[ŋ]}}
| position12 = 22
}}
The ''{{transliteration|Runr|ŋ}}'' rune [[Image:Runic letter ingwaz.svg|frameless|12px]] (with variants [[Image:Runic letter ingwaz variant.svg|frameless|12px]] and [[Image:Runic letter ingwaz variant2.svg|frameless|12px]]) together with [[Peorð]] and [[Eihwaz]] is among the problematic cases of runes of uncertain derivation unattested in early inscriptions. The rune may have been an original innovation, or it may have been adapted from the [[History of the Latin alphabet#Classical Latin period|classical Latin alphabet's]] ''Q''.<ref>{{Citation | last = Odenstedt | first = Bengt | year = 1990 | title = On the Origin and Early History of the Runic Script, Typology and Graphic Variation in the Older Futhark | place = Uppsala | isbn = 91-85352-20-9}}.</ref> The rune first appears independently on the ''futhark'' row of the [[Kylver Stone]], and is altogether unattested as an independent rune outside of such rows. There are a number{{vague|date=November 2025}} of attestations{{citation needed|date=November 2025}} of the ''{{transliteration|Runr|i&#x361;ŋ}}'' [[bind rune]] [[Image:ing bindrune.png|frameless|12px]] or [[Image:Ing bindrune variant.png|frameless|12px]] (the "lantern rune", similar in shape to the Anglo-Saxon  [[Jēran|gēr]] rune {{runic|ᛄ}}), but its identification is disputed in most cases, since the same sign may also be a [[cipher runes|cipher rune]] of [[wynn]] or [[thurisaz]]. The earliest case of such an ''{{transliteration|Runr|i&#x361;ŋ}}'' bindrune of reasonably certain reading is the inscription ''{{transliteration|Runr|mari&#x361;ŋs}}'' (perhaps referring to the "Mærings" or [[Ostrogoths]]{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}) on the silver buckle of Szabadbattyán, dated to the first half 5th century and conserved at the [[Hungarian National Museum]] in Budapest.<ref>J.H. Looijenga, [http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/FILES/faculties/arts/1997/j.h.looijenga/thesis.pdf ''Runes Around The North Sea And On The Continent Ad 150-700''], Ph.D. dissertation, [[Groningen]] 1997, p. 80.</ref>

The [[Old English rune poem]] contains these obscure lines:

{|cellpadding=3
|
{{runic|ᛝ}} <i>{{lang|ang|Ing ƿæs ærest mid Eástdenum<br/>
geseƿen secgum, oð he síððan e[á]st<br/>
ofer ƿæg geƿát. ƿæn æfter ran.<br/>
þus Heardingas þone hæle nemdon.}}</i>
| width="30"|
|
"{{runic|ᛝ}} Ing was first amidst the [[East Danes]]<br/>
seen by men, until he eastward<br/>
over the sea departed; his wagon ran after.<br/>
Thus the Heardings named that hero."
|}

A [[torc]], the so-called "[[Ring of Pietroassa]]", part of a late third to fourth century [[Goths|Gothic]] [[hoard]] discovered in [[Romania]], is inscribed in much-damaged runes, one reading of which is ''gutanī [i(ng)]wi[n] hailag'' "to Ingwi[n] of the Goths holy".<ref name="North1997">{{cite book|last=North|first=Richard|title=Heathen Gods in Old English Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_LKUIqNvPQC&pg=PP140|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-55183-0|page=132 and note 16}}</ref>

== Norse mythology ==
In [[Norse mythology]], Yngvi, alternatively spelled Yngve, was the progenitor of the [[Yngling]] lineage, a legendary dynasty of [[Sweden|Swedish]] kings, from whom also the earliest historical [[Norway|Norwegian]] kings claimed to be descended. Yngvi is a [[List of names of Freyr|name of the god Freyr]], perhaps [[Freyr|Freyr's]] true name, as ''freyr'' means 'lord' and has probably evolved from a common invocation of the god.

In the ''[[Íslendingabók]]'' (written in the early twelfth century by the Icelandic priest [[Ari Þorgilsson]]) ''Yngvi Tyrkja konungr'' 'Yngvi king of [[Name of Turkey#Greek_and_Latin_sources|Turkey]]' appears as the father of [[Njörðr]] who in turn is the father of Yngvi-Freyr, ancestor of the Ynglings. According to the ''[[Skjöldunga saga]]'' (a lost epic from 1180 to 1200, saved only partially in other sagas and later translation) [[Odin]] came from Asia and conquered Northern Europe. He gave Sweden to his son Yngvi and Denmark to his son [[Skjöldr]]. Since then the kings of Sweden were called Ynglings and those of Denmark [[Scylding|Skjöldungs]].

In the ''[[Gesta Danorum]]'' (late twelfth century, by [[Saxo Grammaticus]]) and in the ''[[Ynglinga saga]]'' (ca. 1225, by [[Snorri Sturluson]]), Freyr is euhemerized as a king of Sweden. In the ''Ynglinga saga'', Yngvi-Freyr reigned in succession to his father [[Njörðr]] who had&nbsp;– in this variant&nbsp;– succeeded Odin. In the ''[[Historia Norwegiæ]]'' (written around 1211), in contrast, Ingui is the first king of Sweden, and the father of a certain [[Njörðr|Neorth]], in his turn the father of [[Freyr|Froyr]]: "Rex itaque Ingui, quem primum Swethiæ monarchiam rexisse plurimi astruunt, genuit Neorth, qui vero genuit Froy; hos ambos tota illorum posteritas per longa sæcula ut deos venerati sunt. Froyr vero genuit Fiolni, qui in dolio medonis dimersus est […]"

In the introduction to his ''[[Edda]]'' (originally composed around 1220) Snorri Sturluson claimed again that Odin reigned in Sweden and relates: "Odin had with him one of his sons called Yngvi, who was king in Sweden after him; and those houses come from him that are named Ynglings." Snorri here does not identify Yngvi and Freyr, although Freyr occasionally appears elsewhere as a [[sons of Odin|son of Odin]] instead of a son of Njörðr.

In the ''[[Skáldskaparmál]]'' section of his ''[[Prose Edda]]'' Snorri brings in the ancient king [[Halfdan the Old]] who is the father of nine sons whose names are all words meaning "king" or "lord" in [[Old Norse]], as well as of nine other sons who are the forefathers of various royal lineages, including "Yngvi, from whom the Ynglings are descended". But rather oddly Snorri immediately follows this with information on what should be four other personages who were not sons of Halfdan but who also fathered dynasties, and names the first of these again as "Yngvi, from whom the Ynglings are descended". In the related account in the ''Ættartolur'' "Genealogies" attached to ''[[Hversu Noregr byggðist]]'', the name ''Skelfir'' appears instead of ''Yngvi'' in the list of Halfdan's sons.

The ''Ynglinga Saga'' section of Snorri's ''[[Heimskringla]]'' (around 1230) introduces a second Yngvi, son of [[Alaric and Eric|Alrekr]], who is a descendant of Yngvi-Freyr and who shared the Swedish kingship with his brother Álf (''see'' [[Yngvi and Alf]]).

==Given names and family names==
The element ''Ing(o)-'' was widely used in [[Germanic name]]s from an early period; it is not clear whether it originally referred to the [[Ingaevones]], or to the god Yngwi directly. ''[[Inguiomer]]'' (''Inguiomarus'') was a relative of the [[Cherusci]]an [[Arminius]] in the first century.<ref>Krappe, Alexander H. "YNGVI-FREY AND AENGUS MAC OC". In: ''Scandinavian Studies'' 17, no. 5 (1943): 174. Accessed March 30, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40915560.</ref> ''Ingundis'' was a wife of the Frankish king [[Chlothar I]], whose son [[Charibert I]] married an ''Ingoberga'' (all in the sixth century). Other combinations such as masculine ''Inguin'', ''Ingulf'', ''Ingobald'', feminine ''Inghildis'', ''Ingedrudis'', ''Ingoflidis'', as well as the short forms ''Ingo'' (masculine) and ''Inga'' (feminine) are recorded in the early medieval period (seventh to ninth centuries).<ref>Ernst Förstemann, [https://archive.org/stream/altdeutschesnam00frgoog#page/n412/mode/1up 780-787 ''Altdeutsches namenbuch''], vol. 1, Fürstemann: Nordhausen 1856, col. 779 sqq.</ref> In Scandinavia and Germany, and areas where these groups settled, names beginning with ''Ing'' survived into modern usage, e.g. [[Ingmar (disambiguation)|Ingmar]], [[Ingvar (name)|Ingvar]], [[Ingvild]], [[Ingeborg]], [[Ingrid (given name)|Ingrid]], [[Ingegerd]] and the family name Ingalls. In most [[Slavs|Slavic]] nations there also exists a name of [[Igor (given name)|Igor]], of Scandinavian origin, supposedly having the same origin as many similar Scandinavian names, possibly coming from the name [[Ingvar (name)|Ingvar]].

==See also==
* [[Manu (Hinduism)|Manus in Vedic history]]
* [[Ingunar-Freyr]]
* [[Yngve]] (a [[given name]])

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Yngling|House of Yngling]]}}
{{succession box|title=[[Mythological king of Sweden]]|years=|before=[[Njörðr]]|after=[[Fjölnir]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Freyr}}
{{Norse paganism topics}}
{{Anglo-Saxon paganism}}
{{Legendary progenitors}}
{{Runes}}

[[Category:Freyr]]
[[Category:Semi-legendary kings of Sweden]]
[[Category:Runes]]
[[Category:History of Uppsala]]
[[Category:Legendary progenitors]]
[[Category:Sons of Odin]]
[[Category:Ingaevones]]