Huginn and Muninn sit on Odin's shoulders in this illustration from an 18th century Icelandic manuscript
"Odhin" (1901) by Johannes Gehrts.
Huginn and Muninn, sometimes anglicised Hugin and Munin, are a pair of ravens associated with the Norse god Odin.
In Norse mythology, Hugin and Munin travel the world bearing news and information they have collected to Odin. Hugin is "thought" and Munin is "memory". They are sent out at dawn to gather information and return in the evening. They perch on the god's shoulders and whisper the news into his ears. It is from these ravens that the kenning 'raven-god' for Odin is derived.
Attestations
From Grímnismál:
Old Norse:
- Huginn ok Muninn fliúga hverian dag
- iörmungrund yfir;
- óomk ek of Huginn, at hann aptr ne komit,
- ţó siámk meirr um Muninn.
English:
- The whole world wide, every day,
- fly Hugin and Munin;
- I worry lest Hugin should fall in flight,
- yet more I fear for Munin.
Another translation reads,
Every morning the two ravens Huginn and Muninn, are loosed and fly over Midgard; I always fear that Thought may not wing his way home, but my fear for Memory is greater.
In Pop Culture
In the book American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Hugin and Mudin accompany Odin several times when meeting the main character Shadow.
See also
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