My name is Myriad Hallaug Lokadís. It is not my legal name, but it is the name that is spiritually meaningful for me.
Recently there have been several people who claim and/or believe that they are, in some way or another, incarnate goddesses. As I learned, one of these people carries/uses the name Lokadis — which is identical with the name I use except that I use the Old Norse spelling; at least one other person likewise uses the name element dís. They each have either stated or heavily implied that they, as well as the Gods they primarily worship, use dís in the meaning of goddess.
I feel I need to clarify something here. Dís can mean a lot of different things, one of which is goddess; however, that is not how I use the name, and I want to make this perfectly clear to everyone: I do not use the name Lokadís in any way implying that I consider myself a goddess.
The word dís itself is quite complex, and I cannot claim that I have fully, extensively done all the reading there is on its various meanings. However, I have done my research insofar as I deemed it necessary, at the time I took/was given this name.
The three main resources that I used are as follows:
1.) An Icelandic-English Dictionary by Cleasby/Vigfusson (1874), available online here [click]
2.) Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch by Jan de Vries (1961), generally not easily available, but available if you look in the right places. This one is in German.
3.) by Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1854), available online here [click]. This one is in Latin.
Additionally (and initially), I used the Nordic Names Wiki, which despite the German top level domain, is actually in English and is a very useful resource for nordic names in general.
In the Old Norse section, the wiki lists the following meaning variations of the name element dís:
- female deity
- Norse goddess
- wise woman, seeress
- goddess
- lady (in poetry)
- woman, lady
- woman, virgin
- woman, sister
The Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch lists the following meanings for the Old Norse word dís:
- weibliches göttliches wesen (i.e., female divine being)
- frau (i.e., woman)
Cleasby/Vigfusson list the following:
- a sister
- a goddess or priestess
- a female guardian angel
- a maid
And finally, the Lexicon poëticum has this to say:
- soror (i.e., sister)
- femina (i.e., woman)
- dea, nympha (i.e., goddess, nymph [although the latin term nympha is in itself ambiguous and can mean a variety of things, including bride, young woman, so all in all the general sense of virgin; however given the context, the meaning nymph, as a semi-divine being, is probably the intended meaning])
The Lexicon poëticum has a lot of finer points to each of the primary entries (esp 3.), but I’m not 100% confident in my Latin so that I don’t feel I should analyse them here.
So, what do I take from this? The primary meaning is, indeed, that of a female deity or spirit entity, or goddess. However: a close second is the meaning of woman in some capacity — as a sister, priestess, a seeress, a lady, a virgin, a maid, you name it.
TL;DR — I use Lokadís in the sense of one or several of these latter variants of the general meaning of woman, that is:
Lokadís as Loki’s woman.
No more, no less. This has been a PSA.
Weaving the Net 
I learned something new today. It’s interesting that the word “dis” has so many similar but different meanings. Like ‘maid’ and ‘goddess’. I can see how some might take liberties with it.
I’m glad you found it useful! Dís is really an interesting word, I agree :)
Ah! As as another woman using a name formed from -dís, this is great! I had no idea there were folks trying to claim themselves as incarnate Godesses (I love that – because if you’re a God in the flesh, you totally need to tell people. We would never figure that out.)
I took Úlfdís Járnviðar, which translates to ‘Wolf-Lady of the Ironwood’ in honor of my Lady, Angrboda. She’s the Úlfdís, technically. Or perhaps that I am a lady of the Wolf, the wolf being Herself. :)
Thank you! To be honest, much of this divinity claiming, and the discourse attached to it, appears to me as humblebragging at best, making people feel bad/guilty for doubting the legitimacy of the claims, or, at worst, plain old power tripping.
I find the sneakiness particularly distasteful — it’s a question of manipulative speech. Oh, I could rant about manipulative speech in the online communities for hours…! If I didn’t know exactly that the most persistent offenders are in fact ragebaiting, I probably would.
Whoops. I’m sorry….!. It’s just that things like this make me so angry.
But, I like your name at any rate — As far as I can see, it’s fitting!
Names have power. Some of this is the power they carry on their own, but a lot of it is the power we assign to them. If you don’t assign a certain type of power to the name you bear, then it doesn’t necessarily have to affect you. (Conversely, if other people do not recognize whatever power your name may hold, it doesn’t necessarily have an affect on them.)
Reblogged this on Úlfdís Járnviðar and commented:
Its amusing to get excited from something like having a share named root, but I am, because this is all the same information I found when researching my name!
For those that weren’t sure, for Úlfdís I tend to favour the translation of ‘Wolf-Lady’; the loose translation of Úlfdís Járnviðar is ‘Wolf-Lady of the Ironwood’, and I use this name in honor of my Lady, Angrboda. She is the Wolf-lady. I’ve also come to think of it, though the translation would likely be incorrect, as the Wolf’s woman, the wolf being Herself, the woman being me.
I should be clear that I am very much not a wolf. I am a cat.
I have nominated you for the One Lovely Blog award.
Se more details about it here: http://darkamberdragon.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/blog-award/