White horse (mythology) Poseidon was also the creator of horses, creating them out of the breaking waves when challenged to make a beautiful land animal. In Norse mythology, Odin's eight-legged horse Sleipnir, "the best horse among gods and men", is described as grey. Sleipnir is also the ancestor of another grey horse, Grani, who is owned by the hero Sigurd. In Slavic mythology, the war and fertility deity Svantovit owned an oracular white horse; the historian Saxo Grammaticus, in descriptions similar to those of Tacitus centuries before, says the priests divined the future by leading the white stallion between a series of fences
Odin Middle Dutch "woet" 'madness' (modern Dutch:"woede" 'anger'), and Old High German "wuot" 'thrill, violent agitation'. Additionally the Old Norse noun "æði" 'rage, fury' and Old High German "wuotī" 'madness' derive from the feminine noun "*wōđīn", from "*wōđaz". The weak verb "*wōđjanan", also derived from "*wōđaz", gave rise to Old Norse "æða" 'to rage', Old English "wēdan" 'to be mad, furious', Old Saxon "wōdian" 'to rage', and Old High German "wuoten" 'to be insane, to rage'. Over 170 names are recorded for Odin. These names are variously descriptive of attributes of the god, refer to myths involving him, or refer to