The skaldic poetry of the Viking Age often uses kennings involving ravens to refer to Odin, and vice versa. Already in the sixth and seventh centuries AD – well before the beginning of the Viking Age in the late eighth century – visual depictions of Odin on helmets and jewelry frequently picture him accompanied by one or more ravens. The connection between Odin and ravens is very old and very deep. Hugin and Munin Fly every day Over all the world I worry for Hugin That he might not return, But I worry more for Munin. Snorri’s main source for this passage seems to be an evocative stanza in the Eddic poem Grímnismál, in which Odin says: Thus, he finds out many new things and this is why he is called ‘raven-god’ (hrafnaguð). He sends them out in the morning to fly around the whole world, and by breakfast they are back again. Two ravens sit on his (Odin’s) shoulders and whisper all the news which they see and hear into his ear they are called Huginn and Muninn. According to the medieval Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, Hugin and Munin (pronounced “HOO-gin” and “MOO-nin” Old Norse Huginn and Muninn, the meaning of which will be discussed below) are two ravens in Norse mythology who are helping spirits of the god Odin.
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