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2. The Meaning of "As"

On the Trail of the Danes - In Asia

1. The Aesirs Came from Asia

When I came to China ten years ago, I met my wife and her girlfriends. The teased me because I drank so much water, they said. You know, westerners drink water to the food, and they make sure they get enough water when it is hot. They called me something like "swe'e tung", it means heavy from water or full of water. I was surprised, that the word "tung" means the same in Danish as in Chinese (heavy).

So I remembered the well-known joke making fun with the Chinese language, in which a policeman beats a pickpocket with a "lang tung ting" ( Danish, meaning a "long heavy thing")

Well, then how do you say "long"? I asked. Long is called "trang", they answered. This means "narrow" in Danish. Also this meaning is not so far from Danish when something is long, it is by its logical nature also relatively narrow in the other dimension.

Water, "swe-e", was also rather close. It sounds completely as saying "sweat" in the Danish dialect of the Funen island. It is also something with water.

Snorre Sturlason

Drawing representing Snorre Sturlason from an illustration in a modern publishing of the sagas. Reality is that nobody knew, how he looked like.

China calls itself "Zhong Guo", pronounced something like "djung gjaar". It does indeed mean the "Center Country". The Nordic gods created also a "Center Country" as a home for the humans. The ancient named it "Mid-gaard" (Middle Earth). Both the first and the second part of the word have the same meaning in Chinese and in Scandinavian as well. The last part of the words is also pronounced very similar in both languages.

All this appeared for me very strange, Danish and Chinese should for me be something so totally different, I had always been told.

Since then I have collected words, quotes, history, everything that can illustrate the link between Denmark and China in the early history. I've sorted, systematized, concluded and put it up in reasonable logical order. I hope someone will enjoy reading.

The Icelandic saga writer Snorre Sturlason told, that the Aesirs came from Asia. He called them "the Asia Men". Snorre lived hundreds of years closer to the actual events, than we do, and especially he lived before, the Christian tradition turned all history prior to Christianity into some unimportant, outdated pagan stories. Many traditional oral stories and manuscripts must surely have been lost in the early Christian period. In the time of Snorre and Saxo, the traditional stories, handed down from our ancestors, must have been much more alive.

So, why not believe them. They were serious men, who carefully wrote down, what they have been told.

Odense has been named after Odin

Odense has been named after Odin.

Snorre wrote, that the Aesirs came from Asia. In Asia was, according to his Edda Saga, "Middle Earth" situated.

The Norman history writer, Dudo, wrote, that the Danes came from "Svitjod". He must have meant, the "Great Svitjod", now-a-days Russia and the endless steppes in the east.

They built a fortress in the middles of the island, which they called Odins-oye. It was named after the god, "Odin", and "-oye" meant "island", perhaps it was surrounded by the river for defence purpose.

The term Odins-oye were used by Snorre. Try to say "Odins-oye" 20 times in succession, and it will sound like "Odense", the modern main city of the island of Funen.

Snorre wrote, that "Vodin broke up from Turk-Land, and with him, he had a large troop of old and young people, men and women, and with them, they had many precious things. And everywhere, they traveled over the land; they were held in high esteem. They seemed to be more like gods than like humans. And they did not stop their journey, until they came to the north of the country, now named Sax-land. Here Odin dwelled for a long time and conquered to a great extent this land. Odin assigned three of his sons as rulers over this country. Vegdegg ruled East Saxland, Beldeg ruled Vestfal and Seggi ruled over Frakkland. "From all these great and many powerful families had come." Snorre wrote. He noted, that Veggdeg was the great-grandfather to Hejngest.

A wagon train of American settlers at Santa Fe

A Wagon train of American settlers at Santa Fe.

Some may argue, that it is the most unrealistic theory, they have ever heard. Traveling from Asia to Scandinavia two thousand years ago, before the modern means of transport, it could not be done. It is too far and the terrain was too difficult.

But try to consider how the American settlers came from the Mississippi area to Oregon and California. They also traveled over long distances, through deserts and over mountains. The journey to Oregon could be done in three to six months. The settlers' technology was wagons with large wheels, drawn by mules or oxen. This technology was in general also available for Dan of the Aesirs descent two thousand years ago. It was entirely possible to travel from the heart of Asia to Scandinavia in a reasonably short span of years.

Asernes Aet - Dan-Danir-Vandfolket (danish) Flemming Rickfors
Danernes Lande II - Nyrup Kristian Andersen Nyrup
Heimskringla Texts in Danish

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