E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Promise of Odin (The).
The most binding of all promises to a Scandinavian. In making this promise the person passed his hand through a massive silver ring kept for the purpose; or through a sacrificial stone, like that called the “Circle of Stennis.”
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“I will bind myself to you … by the promise of Odin, the most sacred of our northern rites.”—Sir W. Scott: The Pirate, chap. xxii.
