Is "Asatru" a bit of a misnomer?

I mean, you guys are as true to the Vanir as you are to the ?sir.

Sorry to bug you with so many pointless questions. I think Asatru is pretty nifty but I don't personally believe it myself.

I still celebrate Yule.

Vanatru is separate.

It's rarer, but it does exist.

Heilsan,

Actually, ?ss, originally just meant god. Linguistically it seems to have moved towards the Aesir and emphasis ed them later. The entry for the word in Cleasby Vigfusson is given:

?SS, m. [that the word existed in Goth, may be inferred from the words of Jornandes--Gothi procures sous quasi qui fortun? vincebant non pares homines sed semideos, id est Anses, vocavere. The word appears in the Engl. names Osborn, Oswald, etc. In old German pr. names with n, e. g. Ansg?r, A. S. Oscar: Grimm suggests a kinship between ?ss, pole, and ?ss, deus; but this is uncertain. In Icel. at least no such notion exists, and the inflexions of the two words differ. The old gen. asar is always used in the poems of the 10th century, Korm. 22 (in a verse), etc.; dat. ?si, in the oath of Glum (388), later ?s; nom. pl. ?sir; acc. pl. ?su (in old poetry), ?si (in prose). The old declension is analogous to ?rr; perhaps the Goth, form was sounded ansus; it certainly was sounded different from ans, GREEK]:--the Ases, gods, either the old heathen gods in general, or esp. the older branch, opp. to the new one, the d? ascripti, the Vanir, q. v., Edda 13 sqq. ?. the sing, is used particularly of the different gods, e. g. of Odin; ?lverk ?sar, the brewing of the As (viz. Odin), i. e. poetry, Korm. 208 (in a verse); of Loki, Bragi, etc.; but GREEK it is used of Thor, e. g. in the heathen oaths, segi ek ?at ?si (where it does not mean Odin), Gl?m. 388; Freyr ok Nj?r?r ok hinn alm?tki ?ss, Landn. (Hb.) 258: in Swed. ?ska means lightning, thunder, qs. ?s-ekja, the driving of the As, viz. Thor: ?ss as a prefix to pr. names also seems to refer to Thor, not Odin, e. g. ?sbj?rn = ?orbj?rn, Asm??r = ?orm??r (Landri. 307 in a verse). In Scandinavian pr. names ?ss before the liquid r assumes a t, and becomes ?st (?str??r, not ?sr??r; ?str??r = ?sr??r); and sometimes even before an l, ?stl?kr -- ?sl?kr, Fb. i. 190; ?stleifr -- ?sleifr, Fms. xi. (Knytl. S.)

COMPDS: ?sa-gisling, f. hostage of the Ases, Edda 15. ?sa-heiti, n. a name of the Ases, Edda (Gl.) ?sa-?orr, m. Thor the As 'par excellence,' Edda 14, Hbl. 52. ?sa-?tt, f. the race of Ases, Edda 7.

From this we can see the assertion that ?ss originally would have probably meant the Vanir first, and that it changed to the Aesir afterwards, and that the workd became almost exclusively associated with the Aesir in later usage.

The word itself was coined in the late 19th Century in Iceland to refer to the beliefs in the old traditions. Hence the word Asatru itself is a modern invention.

According to our Lore, the Vanir we are true to are counted among the Aesir . . . Njord, Freyr, and Freyja.

Also, "Ase" simply means "gods" . . . not necessarily just *Aesir.*

Hey, the Gods believe in YOU, and one of these days if you keep hanging out with us on line, they might come calling. They might come calling even if you don't. I know several agnostics and atheists whose worlds were rocked when that happened! :-) The comment you made about us also being true to the Vanir is absolutely true, and you're not the first person by any means to point it out. Asatru can mean several things in a Heathen context. One is Norse Heathenism in general, as contrasted with Continental Germanic and Anglo-Saxon Heathenisms. It is also an "umbrella" for variations of Norse Heathenism, Vanatru being one of them. Other possibilities would be specifically Swedish-based Heathenism, etc. Many if not most Norse Heathens say that Asatru is an umbrella term since the Vanir we know of came to join the AEsir after their war.

For most Asatruar, it is not a misnomer as they focus on the Aesir primarily, then the Vanir. I suppose you could get legalistic and call yourself by what you worship the most, but since Asatru are the most common, it is handy for one who mostly seeks Vanir, or one who mostly is true to Wights, Trolls and such, to also use the moniker.

For safety, use a more blanket term like "Heathen" or "Germanic Noe-pagan". Just be careful about using the latter among people who think Noe-pagan means Wiccans only (and not a broader term that covers all revival and re constructionist pagan religions)