Editing Symbel (section)

===Minni===
The term ''minni'' "remembrance, memory" was used for ritual drinking dedicated to the remembrance of the gods. Terms used in this context, both in the Eddaic poems and in the sagas, include ''minnis-öl'' "memory-ale", ''minnis-horn'' "memory-horn", ''minnis-full'' "memory-cup", ''minni-sveig'' "memory-draught".
The term ''minnisveig'' is used by the annotator of the [[Sigrdrífumál]] before the valkyrie's invocation of the gods. [[Heimskringla|Olafssaga]] has ''minniǫl signuð ásom'' "memory-ale dedicated to the æsir". "Memory-cups" dedicated to individual gods are also named ''Oðins full, Niarðar full, Freys full'' etc.
The custom was continued uninterrupted by Christianization, and ''minni'' was now drunk to Christ, Mary and the saints (''Krists minni, Michaêls minni'', etc.).<ref>[[Jacob Grimm]], ''[[Deutsche Mythologie]]'' (1835), [http://www.northvegr.org/secondary%20sources/mythology/grimms%20teutonic%20mythology/003_11.html chapter 3].</ref>

But the ''minni'' given to gods or saints was only the most prominent instance of this custom, placed at the beginning of the ritual drinking. Later on, drinkers would also give ''minni'' to their departed friends.
The term ''minni'' is the exact cognate of the [[Middle High German]] ''minne''. The German word had the same meaning of "remembrance of absent or departed loved ones", but acquired the meaning of "romantic longing for an unattainable woman of higher status" in courtly culture, giving rise to the genre of ''[[Minnesang]]'', and the personification of "remembrance" as [[Frau Minne]].