Listen to the Summary of Daniel McCoy's The Viking Spirit in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. The most widely used word for god in Old Norse was áss, or æsir in the plural, which was derived from two Proto-Germanic roots: *ansaz, pole, beam, rafter, or *ansuz, life, vitality. The gods were the metaphorical poles or vital forces that held together and sustained the cosmos and its order...