vi (OGu) noun

The context in which vi, ON vé, is used in GL is as one of five objects of the verb heta (OGu haita), ‘pray to’ and in GS as one of the five objects of the verb troþa, ‘believe in’. The other objects of these verbs are ‘groves and grave howes, ancient sites and heathen idols’. This suggests that, at least in Gotland, it might have meant something more concrete and specific than simply a ‘holy place’, but no assumptions can be made from any archaeological finds yet made. It seems to have referred to a place in which pagan sacrifices were conducted, sometimes specifically to one god, although not all place-names containing the element vi, either as a prefix or suffix, can be associated with that meaning. Many seem to derive from viþer, ‘wood’. The etymological relationship between vi and the town name Visby is debatable and references in Peel 2015 discuss this. It appears that there was a place-name Vi at the time that GS was written, since it is referred to in one of the story elements, but there are arguments for the name referring to a natural feature of the land, rather than its being a ‘holy place’.

Brink 2004a, 291−316; KLNM s.v. vi; Peel 2015, 97 note 4/4, 261−62, 290 note 1/44−46, 302−03 note 3/8; Schlyter 1877, s.v. vi; SL GL, 248−49 note 2, 304 note 13, 312 note 33