I just read that the raven Munin is translated as memory, but that according to Turville-Petre, E.O.G. 1964. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia, the linguist root munr means thought but also desire and emotion. Is this true or is this outdated nonsense? Thanks!!
The part about desire is true, yes, but it does not mean ‘memory.’ This is a very persistent misconception. The ‘memory’ definition comes from the verb muna ‘to remember’ and clearly these were related at some point in the distant past, but not during Old Norse. Theoretically if Muninn were built off of the verb muna then it would be something like ‘the one who remembers(?)’ but these -inn/-ann formations do not typically form to verbs (only -unn, as in jǫtunn from the verb eta ‘to eat,’ or so goes the predominant theory). The primary meaning of munr is ‘mind.’ Meaning that the two ravens Huginn and Muninn may have both had names meaning pretty much the same thing, although there is enough lexical range among both of those words that that is not necessarily the case.
Cleasby’s/Vigfússon’s entry on munr (2)
