While the oldest use of this term was in the 1820’s, it was first used definitively in the 1840’s by the author Thomas Carlyle in his book On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History. The phrase he used was “Odinism was Valour; Christianism was humility, a nobler kind of Valour.”

Photograph of Thomas Carlyle.

Last revised on December 31, 2021.