WUOTAN.  In old German mythology another form of the name of the principal Scandinavian divinity Wodin, or Odin, which see. (An Archaic Dictionary, Cooper, 1876).

"Grimm, in his Deutsche Mythologie, treats the name of Wuotan and Odin as from the beginning a name of a superhuman being, and derives the Old-High-German Wuotan, the Lombardian Wôdan or Guódan, the Old-Saxon Wuodan and Wôdan (Westphalian Guódan and Gudan), the Anglo-Saxon Wóden, Frisian Wéda, the Old-Norse Óðinn, from the Old High-German verb watan, wuot; Old-Norse vaða, ôð, meaning to move along quickly, then to be furious, a transition of meaning which is likewise found in Latin vehi and vehemens.  This root watan cannot be connected with Latin vâdere, because d would become t in Low, but not in High, German.  From this verb watan Grimm derives the substantive wuot, wuth, 'fury,' δυμός; and the Old-Norse ôðr, 'mind.'
    "As the supreme god of the Teutonic nations, Wuotan's character is summed up by Grimm in the following words (Translation by Stallybrass, vol. i., p. 132):  'He is the all-pervading creative and formative power, who bestows shape and beauty on men and all things, from whom proceeds the gift of song and the management of war and victory, on whom, at the same time, depends the fertility of the soil, nay, wishing, and all highest gifts and blessings'..." (Academy, v.27, 1885)