the cup of vows
Preserved but no longer current.
In Scandinavia it was anciently customary at feasts to drink from cups of mead, and vow to perform some great deed worthy of the song of a skald. There were four cups: one to Odin, for victory; one to Freyja, for a good year; one to Niord, for peace; and one to Bragi, for celebration of the dead in poetry.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “the cup of vows” mean?
In Scandinavia it was anciently customary at feasts to drink from cups of mead, and vow to perform some great deed worthy of the song of a skald. There were four cups: one to Odin, for victory; one to Freyja, for a good year; one to Niord, for peace; and one to Bragi, for celebration of the dead in poetry.
Is “the cup of vows” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.