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1 goîafræîi
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2 goîsagnir
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3 Múspell
n. the name of an abode of fire; in the old mythology peopled by Múspells lýðir, the men of Muspell, a host of fiends, who are to appear at Ragnarok and destroy the world by fire; the prose in Edda 3 may have been derived from some lost verses of the Völuspá, for the name appears at the end of that poem (Vsp. 51) as if it were already known; it occurs nowhere else in the Norse mythical songs, except in Ls. 42 (múspells-megir). Múspells-heimr, the abode of Muspell, Edda 4. This interesting word was not confined to the Norse mythology, but appears twice in the old Saxon poem Heliand—mutspelli cumit on thiustra naht, also thiof ferit, m. comes in dusky night, as a thief fares, i. e. but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, 2 Pet. iii. 10; and, mutspellis megin obar man ferit, the main of m. fares over men, see Schmeller’s Edition; a third instance is in an Old High German poem on the Last Day—dâr ni mac denne mac andremo helfan vora demo muspille = there no man can help another against the muspell-doom. In these instances muspell therefore stands for the day of judgment, the last day, and answers to Ragnarok of the Northern mythology. The etymology is doubtful, for spell may be = the weird, doom, = Lat. Fatum; or it may be = spoil, destruction; the former part mut or muod is more difficult to explain. The Icel. mús is an assimilated form. -
4 al-föðr
m. father of all, the name of Odin as the supreme god in Scandinavian mythology, Edda i. 37 (Ed. Havn.) Now used (theol.) of God. -
5 FENRIR
m. the monster wolf of heathen mythology, Edda, Vþm., Ls. -
6 GANDR
(-s, -ar), m. magic staff; renna göndum, to ride a witch-ride.* * *m.:—the exact sense of this word is somewhat dubious; it is mostly used in poetry and in compds, and denotes anything enchanted or an object used by sorcerers, almost like zauber in Germ., and hence a monster, fiend; thus the Leviathan of northern mythology is called Jörmun-gandr, the great ‘gand;’ or Storðar-gandr, the ‘gand’ of the earth: a snake or serpent is by Kormak called gandr or gandir, Korm. ch. 8: wildfire is hallar g., a worrier of halls, and selju g., a willow-worrier, Lex. Poët.: the wolf Fenrir is called Vonar-gandr, the monster of the river Von, vide Edda.COMPDS: Gandálfr, gandfluga, gandrekr, Gandvík, gandreið.☞ Some commentators render gandr bv wolf, others by broom; but the sense no doubt lies deeper. Gunnar Pálsson (died 1793) says that gandr is used in Icel. of the helm of a ship; but no such word is known, at least in the west of Icel. -
7 GOÐ
n. (heathen) god.* * *n. pl. [all the Teutonic languages have this word in common; Ulf. guþa, n. pl., Gal. iv. 8; guda, id., John x. 34, 35; and Guþ, m.; A. S. godu, n. pl., and God, m.; O. H. G. Cot: in mod. languages masc.; Engl. God; Germ. Gott; Dan.-Swed. Gud].A. HISTORICAL REMARKS.—In heathen times this word was neuter, and was used almost exclusively in plur., as were also other words denoting Godhead, e. g. regin or rögn = numina, q. v.; and bönd, höpt, prop. = bonds, and metaph. gods:—this plur. usage seems not to refer to a plurality of gods, but rather, as the Hebrew אלהים, to the majesty and mystery of the Godhead; it points to an earlier and purer faith than that which was current in the later ages of the Scandinavian heathendom; thus the old religious poem Völuspá distinguishes a twofold order of gods,—the heavenly powers (regin or ginn-heilög goð) who had no special names or attributes, and who ruled the world, like the Μοιρα or Αισα of Gr. mythology;—and the common gods who were divided into two tribes, Æsir ( Ases) and Vanir, whose conflict and league are recorded in Vsp. 27, 28, and Edda 47.II. after the introduction of Christianity, the masculine gender (as in Greek and Latin) superseded the neuter in all Teutonic languages, first in Gothic, then in Old High German and Anglo-Saxon, and lastly in the Scandinavian languages; but neither in Gothic nor in Icel. did the word ever take the masc. inflexive r or s, so that it remains almost unique in form.2. in Scandinavian the root vowel was altered from o to u (goð to guð), [Swed.-Dan. gud], yet in old poems of the Christian age it is still made to rhyme with o, Goðs, boðnum; Goð, roðnar, Sighvat; as also in the oldest MSS. of the 12th century; sometimes however it is written ḡþ, in which case the root vowel cannot be discerned.3. in Icel. the pronunciation also underwent a change, and the g in Guð ( God) is now pronounced gw (Gwuð), both in the single word and in those proper names which have become Christian, e. g. Guðmundr pronounced Gwuðmundr, whence the abbreviated form Gvendr or Gvöndr. The old form with o is still retained in obsolete words, as goði, goðorð, vide below, and in local names from the heathen age, as Goð-dalir; so also Gormr (q. v.), which is contracted from Goð-ormr not Guð-ormr. On the other hand, the Saxon and German have kept the root vowel o.III. in old poems of heathen times it was almost always used without the article; gremdu eigi goð at þér, Ls.; áðr vér heilög goð blótim, Fas. i. (in a verse); ginnheilög Goð, Vsp. passim; goðum ek þat þakka, Am. 53; með goðum, Alm.; in prose, en goð hefna eigi alls þegar, Nj. 132.2. with the article goð-in, Vsp. 27: freq. in prose, um hvat reiddusk goðin þá er hér brann hraunit er nú stöndu vér á, Bs. i. (Kr. S.) 22; eigi eru undr at goðin reiðisk tölum slíkum, id.; Hallfreðr lastaði eigi goðin, þó aðrir menn hallmælti þeim, Fms. ii. 52; allmikin hug leggr þú á goðin, Fs. 94; eigi munu goðin þessu valda, Nj. 132, passim.3. very seldom in sing., and only if applied to a single goddess or the like, as Öndor-goðs (gen.), Haustl. 7; Vana-goð, of Freyja, Edda; enu skírleita goði, of the Sun, Gm. 39.IV. after the introduction of Christianity, the neut. was only used of false gods in sing. as well as in pl., Sólar-goð = Apollo, Orrostu-goð = Mars, Drauma-goð = Morpheus, Bret. (Verel.); and was held up for execration by the missionaries; gör þik eigi svá djarfa, at þú kallir goð hinn hæsta konung er ek trúi á, Fb. i. 371. Yet so strongly did the neut. gender cleave to the popular mind that it remains (Grág. Kb. i. 192) in the oath formula, goð gramt = Goð gramr; and Icel. still say, í Guðanna (pl.) bænum.2. guðír, masc. pl., as in A. S. gudas, is freq. in eccl. writers, but borrowed from the eccl. Lat.B. IN COMPDS:I. with nouns, goða-blót, n. sacrifice to the gods, Fb. i. 35. goða-gremi, f. a term in the heathen oath, wrath of the gods, Eg. 352. goða-heill, f. favour of the gods, Þorst. Síðu H. 9. goða-hús, n. a house of gods, temple, Dropl. 11, Nj. 131, Fb. i. 337. goða-stallar, m. pl. the altar in temples, Fas. i. 454. goða-stúka, u, f. the sanctuary in heathen temples, answering to the choir or sanctuary in churches, Landn. 335 (App.) goða-tala, u, f. in the phrase, í goðatölu, in the tale ( list) of gods, 625. 41. goð-borinn, part. διογενής, god-born, Hkv. 1. 29. goð-brúðr, f. bride of the gods (the goddess Skaði), Edda (in a verse). Goð-dalir, m. pl. a local name, hence Goð-dælir, m. pl. a family, Landn. goð-gá, f. blasphemy against the gods, Nj. 163, Ld. 180. goð-heimr, m. the home of the gods, Stor. 20, cp. Ýt. goð-konungr, m. (cp. Gr. διογενής βασιλεύς), a king,—kings being deemed the offspring of gods, Ýt. goð-kunnigr and goð-kyndr, adj. of the kith of gods, Edda 6, 11, 13. goð-lauss, adj. godless, a nickname, Landn. goð-lax, m. a kind of salmon, Edda (Gl.) goð-leiðr, adj. loathed by the gods, Korm. goð-máligr, adj. skilled in the lore of the gods, Hým. 38. goð-mögn, n. pl. divine powers, deities, Edda 1; biðja til þinna goðmagna, Bret. (Verel.) goð-reið, f. ‘a ride of gods’ through the air, a meteor, thought to forebode great events, Glúm. (in a verse), cp. the Swed. åska. goð-rifi, n. scorn of the gods, Sks. 435. goð-rækr, adj. ‘god-forsaken,’ wicked, 623. 30. goðum-leiðr, adj. = goðleiðr, Landn. (in a verse). goð-vargr, m. a ‘god-worrier,’ sacrilegus, ‘lupus in sanctis,’ Bs. i. 13 (in a verse). goð-vefr, vide guðvefr. goð-vegr, m. the way of the gods, the heaven, the sky, Hdl. 5. Goð-þjóð, f. the abode of the gods, Vsp.:—but Goth. Gut-þjuda = the land of the Goths, by assimilation Goð-þjóð, passim in old poems and the Sagas.II. with pr. names, originally Goð-, later and mod. Guð-; of men, Guð-brandr, Guð-laugr, Guð-leifr, Guð-mundr, Guð-röðr, Guð-ormr or Gutt-ormr, etc.; of women, Guð-björg, Guð-finna, Guð-laug, Guð-leif, Guð-ný, Guð-ríðr, Guð-rún, etc.; cp. the interesting statement in Eb. (App.) 126 new Ed. (from the Hauks-bók), that men of the olden time used to call their sons and daughters after the gods (Goð-, Þór-, Frey-, Ás-); and it was thought that a double (i. e. a compound) name gave luck and long life, esp. those compounded with the names of gods; menn höfðu mjök þá tvau nöfn, þótti þat likast til langlífis ok heilla, þótt nokkurir fyrirmælti þeim við goðin, þá mundi þat ekki saka, ef þeir ætti eitt nafn, though any one cursed them by the gods it would not hurt if they had ‘one’ name, i. e. if they were the namesakes of the gods, Eb. l. c.;—we read ‘eitt nafn’ for ‘eitt annat nafn’ of the Ed. and MS. In Fb. i. 23, the mythical king Raum is said to have had three sons, Alf, Björn, and Brand; the first was reared by the Finns, and called Finn-Alf; Björn by his mother (a giantess), and called Jötun-Björn; and Brand was given to the gods, and called Goð-Brand (Guð-brandr, whence Guðbrands-dalir, a county in Norway); cp. also Eb. ch. 7.☞ For the Christian sense of God and its compds vide s. v. Guð. -
8 GRÁP
n. a storm, sleet; grund var grápi hrundin, Haustl. 15; Egils hryn-gráp, the hail of Egil, poët. arrows; Egil, brother of Völund, is the Tell of the northern mythology, vide Lex. Poët.; in prose this word seems not to occur, whereas krap, n. sleet (q. v.), and krapi, a, m. id., are common words; cp, the mod. grape-shot. -
9 HAMARR
(gen. -s, dat. hamri, pl. hamrar), m.1) hammer; hann gerði hamar yfir, he made the sign of the hammer over it;2) back of an axe;3) crag, precipice (þar stendr hamarr mikill fyrir þeim); þrítugur hamarr, a crag thirty fathoms high.* * *m., dat. hamri, pl. hamrar, [A. S. hamor; Engl. hammer; O. H. G. hamar; Germ. and Dan. hammer; Swed. hammare]:—a hammer; h. töng, steði, Edda 9, Vkv. 18, Landn. 212 (in a verse); the thunderbolt was in the northern mythology represented as a hammer,—the hammer Mjölnir, Edda (Sksm.) 15, 26, 28–30, 58, 70, passim, Þkv. passim, Hbl. 47; hann (the idol) var merkðr eptir Þór ok hefir hamar í hendi, Ó. H. 108, O. T. 44; Þrúð-hamarr, the mighty hammer, Ls. 57, 59, 61, 63: the hammer was the holy sign with the heathens, answering to the cross of the Christians, hann görði hamar yfir, he made the sign of the hammer over it, Fms. i. 35; Þórr tók hamarinn Mjölni ok brá upp ok vígði hafr-stökurnar, Edda 28, cp. also Þkv. 30, where the bride and bridegroom were to be marked with the holy sign; hence Þórs-hamarr = the character RUNE which occurs on a few of the earliest heathen Runic stones (e. g. Thorsen, pp. 17, 329), cp. also Ísl. Þjóðs. i. 446; this RUNE is evidently an imitation of the thunderbolt.β. the back of an axe, Eg. 769.COMPDS: hamargangr, hamarshögg, hamarsmuðr, hamarskalli, hamarskapt, hamarspor.II. metaph. a hammer-shaped crag, a crag standing out like an anvil; þar stendr hamarr mikill fyrir þeim, Bs. i. 601; þeir leggja skip sín millum hamra tveggja, Grett. 83, Fas. iii. 257; þrítugr, fertugr … hamarr, a crag thirty, forty … fathoms high, i. 159: so in the saying, kljúfa þrítugan hamarinn til e-s, to split a thirty fathoms’ rock, to make great efforts, to make Herculean efforts in a thing, metaph. from cutting roads through rocks: in pl. hamrar, crags; fluga-hamrar, sjávar-hamrar, sea-crags; ogres were believed to live in crags, hence the phrase, sem genginn út úr hömrum, i. e. looking as wild as a crag-ogre, svá ílliligr sem genginn sé út ór sjávar-hömrum, Nj. 182.COMPDS: ( hamar- and hamra-), hamar-tröll, n. a crag-ogre, Grett. (in a verse). hamar-dalr, m. a ravine, Karl. 292. hamar-gnípa, u, f. the peak of a crag, Stj. 134, Fms. v. 323, Þorf. Karl. 414. hamar-klettr, m. a crag (isolated), Fms. ii. 92, Nj. 264, v. l. hamar-klif, n. a craggy cliff, Gísl. 137. hamar-rifa, u, f. a rift in a crag, Fb. iii. 447. hamar-skarð and hamra-skarð, n. a scaur, cleft or ravine, Grett. 132, Gísl. 51, Grág. i. 17. hamar-skúti, a, m. a jutting crag, Nj. 264; gjá-h., q. v.: esp. freq. in local names in Icel. and Norway, Hamarr, Hamrar, Hamra-endar, Hamars-á: in compds, Smá-hamrar, Ein-hamarr, a single crag, Gísl., etc., vide Landn., Fms. xii, Fb. iii.2. a kind of mark on sheeps’ ears, prob. of heathen origin, denoting the holy mark of the hammer of Thor: cutting the top of the ear thus UNCERTAIN is called hamar, whence hamar-skora, u, f. a cleft hamar UNCERTAIN; cp. the ditty of Stef. Ól., Hamarinn mér í greipar gékk | það gæfu-markið fína, and hamar-skoru og gloppu-gat | görðu í hægra eyra.3. a kind of fish, Edda (Gl.): prop. a false reading for humarr (q. v.), a lobster. -
10 Heim-dalr
m., with single l, not Heimdallr, as shewn from the gen. -dalar, not -dalls; a later form used in the Rímur was Heimdæl-l, Þrymlur 1. 8:—the god Heimdal, Edda, whence the poem Heimdalar-galdr, m. id. The etymology has not been made out: Heimdal was the heavenly watchman in the old mythology, answering to St. Peter in the medieval legends; respecting him vide Edda 17 (Sksm.) and passim, Gm. 13: he was also regarded as the father and founder of the different classes of mankind, see Rm. and Vsp. 1,—meiri ok minni mögu Heimdalar, the higher and lower sons of H., i. e. all men.II. a ram in Edda (Gl.) is called heimdali. -
11 HJÁLMR
(-s, -ar), m.1) helm, helmet;* * *m. [Goth. hilms; A. S., Engl., Hel., O. H. G., and Germ. helm; Dan.-Swed. hjalm; Ital. elmo; old Fr. heaume; a Teut. word prob. derived from hylja, to hide]:—a helm, helmet; distinguished from stálhúfa, a steel hood; luktr hjálmr, a closed, shut helm, only occurs in very late writers, e. g. D. N. i. 321; steyptir hjálmar, Gkv. 2. 19, cannot mean cast-iron helmets, but must be helmets coming over the face, as cast-iron was unknown in the Middle Ages, see Aarb. for Nord. Oldk. 1868, p. 9; aringreypir hjálmar, helms shaped like an eagle’s beak, Akv. 3; gull-h., a gilt helm; ár-hjálmr, a brazen helmet, Hkm.: the word âr is A. S., since helmets were of English workmanship, as is seen also in Valskir hjálmar, foreign helmets, which are mentioned by Sighvat.2. in the mythology Odin is called Hjálm-beri, a, m. helm-bearer, Gm.; he and the Valkyrias were represented as wearing helmets, Edda, Hkm. 9, Hkv. 1. 15; whence the poets call the helmet the hood of Odin (Hropts höttr): the vault of heaven is called the ‘helm’ of the wind, sun, etc., lopt-h., vind-h., sólar-h., Lex. Poët.: the head is called hjálm-stofn, hjálm-staup, hjálm-stallr, hjálm-setr, the stem, knoll, seat of the helm: the weapons, hjálm-angr, -grand, -gagarr, -gríðr, -reyr, -skass, -svell, are called the bane, ogre, etc. of the helm: battle is hjálm-drífa, -grap, -hríð, -rödd, -skúr, -þrima, the storm, gale of the helm: a warrior is hjálm-lestir, -njótr, -njörðungr, -rækjandi, -stafr, -stýrandi, -týr, -þollr, -þróttr: it appears in adjectives, hjálm-faldinn, helm-hooded; hjálm-göfugr, -prýddr, -samr, -tamiðr, decked with, wearing a helm, Lex. Poët.3. metaph. and mythol.; huliðs-hjálmr, a ‘hiding-helm,’ cap of darkness, Germ. tarn-kappe, which in the popular tales makes the wearer invisible, in Alm. the clouds are so called; ægis-hjálmr (ýgrs-h.), cp. the Αιγίς of the Greek, helm of terror, properly used of serpents, Sæm. 13 (prose), Edda 73, Fas. i. 175: in the phrase, bera ægishjálm yfir e-m, to bear the ægis over or before another, i. e. to hold him in awe and submission, Fm. 16, 17, Ld. 130, Fms. viii. 101, Fas. i. 162, Sd. 155, Hrafn. 19, cp. Ad. 4: in mod. usage, hafa ægis-hjálm í augum, to have an ægis in one’s eyes, i. e. a magical overawing power of eye; cp. hjalm = horror, Ivar Aasen: in pr. names, Hjálmr, Hjálmarr, Hjálm-geirr, Hjálm-grímr, Hjálm-gunnarr, Hjálm-týr, Hjálmr-gerðr, not freq., Landn., Fbr. iii, Edda; suffixed in Vil-hjálmr, William.II. of helmet-shaped things:1. a rick of barley, hay, or the like (bygg-h., hey-h., korn-h., q. v.); hlaða korni í hjálma, Ó. H. 30, Stj. 413, N. G. L. ii. 358: also a hay-house, barn, hjálma ok hús, i. 38; cp. hjálm-hús.2. kerta-hjálmr, ljósa-h., a chandelier. -
12 Hrím-þursar
m. pl. ‘Rime-giants;’ the Titans of the Scandin. mythology were so called, as opposed to and older than the common Jötnar ( Giants), Vþm. 33, Hm. 109, Gm. 31, Skm. 34; hrímþursar ok bergrisar, Edda 10, 15, 25, 38. -
13 HÖLL
* * *(-s, -ar), m. = hváll.* * *f., gen. hallar, often spelt hall without umlaut, Fb. i. 212, 1. 26, Fas. iii. 42, 87, Fms. viii. 191, v. l.; as also rhymed so in poets, e. g. Geisli 11; [A. S. heal, gen. healle; Engl. hall; Hel. halla; but not found in old and mid. H. G., the mod. Germ. halle being a borrowed word, Grimm’s Gr. iii. 427]:—a hall, but in the Norse only of a king’s or earl’s hall, whereas a private dwelling is called skáli, eldhús, q. v.; and thus ‘hall’ never could be used of an Icel. dwelling. In earlier times it seems to have had a more general sense, which remains in a verse of Kormak, Korm. 42:—in the mythology and old poems ‘hall’ is also used of the hall of gods, giants, Vþm., Hým., Lv.; Val-höll, Valhalla, the hall of the slain, of Odin, Gm., Edda: as also Guðs höll, God’s hall = the heaven, Geisli; dags höll, days’ hall, the sky; höll fjalla, mountain hall, the sky; lífs höll, life’s hall, the breast, Lex. Poët.:—in prose constantly, konungs-höll, a king’s hall, or hall simply, passim. For the building, structure, seats of a hall, see the Sagas passim, Fagrsk. ch. 219, 220, Hrólfs S. Kr. ch. 34, 40, Jómsv. S. ch. 5, 22, Völs. S. ch. 3, Hálfs S. ch. 12, Eg. S. ch. 8, Edda 2, 30–33, 82. As all heathen Scandinavian buildings were of timber, the hall of stone of Nj. ch. 6 is no doubt an anachronism.COMPDS: hallar-búnaðr, -búningr, m. the hangings of a hall, Fms. x. 235, xi. 16. hallar-dyrr, n. pl. hall-doors, Edda 2, Fas. i. 15, Al. 70. hallar-gólf, n. a hall-floor, Edda 31, Fms. iii. 188, vii. 157, Fas. i. 284. hallar-veggr, m. the wall of a hall, Fms. iv. 189, Sks. 709: Höll, name of an Icel. farm, Skáld H., whence Hallar-Steinn, a pr. name. -
14 kenning
* * *(pl. -ar), f.1) teaching, doctrine, lesson, esp. of preaching; kenna kenningar, to preach;* * *f. doctrine, teaching, lesson, esp. of preaching, Fms. i. 148; kenna kenningar, to teach, preach, 625. 24, K. Á. 22, Bs. i. 140, N. T., Vídal.; tíðagörð ok k., passim; á-kenning, q. v.; viðr-k., acknowledgment.2. a mark of recognition, Grett. 132 A; kenningar-orð, words of admonition, Hkr. iii. 23, Fb. iii. 279; kenningar-maðr = kennimaðr, Rb. 366; kenningar-sveinn, an apprentice, N. G. L. ii. 204.II. a poetical periphrasis or descriptive name (see kenna A. V. 2), Edda passim, opp. to ókennd heiti ( simple appellatives); a kenning is either simple (kennt), double (tví-kennt), or triple (rekit). The ancient circumlocutions were either drawn from mythology, as to call Thor the son of Earth (Jarðar sunr), and the heaven the skull of Ymir; or from the thing itself (sann-kenning), as to call the breast the mind’s abode: similar phraseology is found in all ancient poetry, but in the old northern poets it was carried farther and was more artificial than in other languages.COMPDS: kenningarfaðir, kenningarnafn, kenningarson. -
15 Loki
1.a, m. [perh. akin to lokka], the evil giant-god of the Northern mythol., see Edda passim, Vsp. 39. Loka-senna, u, f. the banter of Loki, the name of an old poem: as a nickname, Landn. The name of Loki is preserved in a few words, Loka-sjóðr, m., botan. rhinanthus crista galli, Loki’s purse, the name for cockscomb or yellow rattle; and Loka-sjóðs-bróðir, m. bartsia alpina, Maurer’s Volks. 1: Loka-brenna, u, f. fire, the ‘blazing’ of Loki = Sirius, according to a statement of Finn Magnusson: Loka-ráð and Loka-heilræði, n. pl. Loki’s advice, i. e. ironical, misanthropic advice, see Snot 192; cp. the Ditmarscher-lügen in Grimm’s Märchen: Loka-lykt, f. a close smell, as from an evil spirit haunting the room, Ísl. Þjóðs. ii. 556.II. as an appellative, a loop on a thread, Dan. ‘kurre paa traaden;’ opt er loki á nálþræði, Hallgr.2.the name of the terrible fire-demon, half god, half giant, the friend and companion of the gods, and yet their most fearful foe. We have a new suggestion to make as to the origin of this name. The old Northern Loki and the old Italic Volcanus are, we believe, identical; as thus,—the old Teutonic form of Loki, we suppose, was Wloka, whence, by dropping the w before l, according to the rules of the Scandinavian tongue, Loki. A complete analogy is presented in Lat. voltus, vultus, A. S. wlits, but Icel. lit (in and -lit, a face); and, in point of the character of the two demons, the resemblance is no less striking, as we have on the one hand Vulcanus with Etna for his workshop (cp. the mod. volcano), and on the other hand the Northern legends of the fettered fire-giant, Loki, by whose struggles the earthquakes are caused. Of all the personages of the Northern heathen religion, the three, Oðinn, Þórr, and Loki, were by far the most prominent; but not even the name of Loki is preserved in the records of any other Teutonic people. Can the words of Caesar B.G. vi, x. xi, Solem ‘Vulcanum’ et Lunam. refer to our Loki? probably not, although in Caesar’s time the form would have been Wlokan in acc., a form which a Roman ear might well have identified with their own Vulcanus. The old derivation from loka, to shut, is inadmissible in the present state of philological science: a Wôdan from vaða, or Loki from loka, is no better than a ‘Juno a juvando,’ or a ‘Neptunus a nando.’ May not Loki (Wloka) be a relation to the Sansk. vrika, Slav. vluku, Lith. vilkas, Icel. vargr, álfr, meaning a destroyer, a wolf? it is very significant that in the Norse mythology Loki is the father of the world-destroying monsters,—the wolf Fenrir, the World-serpent, and the ogress Hel; and, if the etymology suggested be true, he was himself originally represented as a wolf. -
16 Löðurr
or Loðurr, m. [cp. Germ. lodern], one of the names of Loki,—Loðurr is the Prometheus of the Northern mythology, see læ and óðr. Odin, Hænir, and Löðurr were the three gods who created Ask and Embla, Vsp.: vinr Löðurs, the friend of Löður, = Odin, Ht. (Hkr. i. 88). -
17 mið-garðr
m. [in Cumberland three farms, High-garth, Middle-garth, Low-garth]I. the ‘mid-yard’ ‘middle-town,’ i. e. the earth, a mythol. word common to all ancient Teut. languages; thus Ulf. renders the Gr. οἰκουμένη by midjungards; Hel, calls the earth middil-gard; the. A. S. homilies instead of earth say middan-geard (meddlert, Jamieson), and use the word as an appellative; but the Icel. Edda alone has preserved the true mythical bearing of this old Teut. word.—The earth (Miðgarð), the abode of men, is seated in the middle of the universe, bordered by mountains and surrounded by the great sea (úthaf); on the other side of this sea is the Út-garð ( out-yard), the abode of giants; the Miðgarð is defended by the ‘yard’ or ‘burgh’ Ás-garð ( the burgh of the gods), lying in the middle (the heaven being conceived as rising above the earth). Thus the earth and mankind are represented as a stronghold besieged by the powers of evil from without, defended by the gods from above and from within; see Vsp. 4, Gm. 41, Edda 6, 25, 26, 35: mankind is said to abide ‘undir Miðgarði,’ under the Midgard, Hbl. 23; mest manna-val und Miðgarði, Hdl. 11, 16, Fms. vi. 423 (in a verse); um allan Miðgarð, Blanda. Miðgarðs-ormr, m. the Serpent of Midgard. the world serpent of the ancient mythology hidden in the ocean, whose coils gird round the whole Midgard, Edda 18, 34–36, 41, 42; dólgr Miðgarðs-orms, the antagonist of the M. = Thor, Edda 53; muntú vera ormr sá er verstr er til er menn kalla Miðgarðsorm, Fas. i. 373. In old Icel. translations of legends Leviathan is rendered by Miðgarðsormr, Niðrst. 3, Post. 686 C. 2. The god Thor is called Miðgarðs-véorr, m. = the holy one of M., Vsp.; miðgarðs verjandi, the defender of Midgard, Edda 53; cp. Þórr hefir varðan Miðgarð af þrek, Edda (in a verse).II. Miðgarðr, as a local name. Icel. map. -
18 Mistil-teinn
m. [O. H. G. mistil; Germ. mistel; A. S. mistel or mislel-tâ; Engl. mistletoe]:— the mistletoe or mistle-twig, the fatal twig by which Balder, the white sun-god, was slain, see Vsp. 36 sqq., and the legend in Edda 36, 37. After the death of Balder the Ragnarök (the last day of the heathen mythology) set in. Balder’s death was also symbolical of the victory of darkness over light, which comes every year at midwinter. The mistletoe in English households at Christmas time is, no doubt a relic of a rite lost in the remotest heathenism, for the fight of light and darkness at midwinter was a foreshadowing of the final overthrow in Ragnarök. The legend and the word are common to all Teutonic people of all ages. -
19 MÍMIR
m. name of the wise giant of Norse mythology, the keeper of the holy well Mímis-brunnr, m. = the burn of Mimir, the well of wisdom, in which Odin pawned his eye for wisdom, a myth which is explained as symbolical of the heavenly vault with its single eye, the sun, setting in the sea, Vsp. 22. Mímir also occurs in the following compds, hregg-mímir = the ‘tempest-sky,’ and vett-mímir = the top sky = the uppermost heaven, Edda (Gl.), which are among the nine heavens, such as the ancients fancied it, which shews a connection of this name with the sky; Sökk-mímir, the M. of the depth, is the name of a giant (representing the sky of the Inferno?), Gm. Again, another myth says that Odin carried with him the cut off head of the giant Mímir ( Míms-höfuð), which told him all hidden things, Vsp. 47, Yngl. S. ch. 7, Edda: Odin is called Míms-vinr, m. = the friend of Mímir, Stor. Míms-synir, m. pl. the sons of Mímir = the winds (?), Vsp.II. hold-mímir, flesh-maimer (?), is the poët. name of a sword, Edda (Gl.); cp. also Ulf. mimz = κρέας, 1 Cor. viii. 13, (= a chop, butcher’s meat?). ☞ Is the word to be derived from maiming, cutting, and is the likeness to Lat. memor only accidental? cp. also the following word. -
20 mjötuðr
m.1) dispenser of fate, ruler, judge;2) bane, death (sverð heitir manns m.);3) = mjötviðr.* * *m., spelt mjotviðr, Vsp. 2, which form can only be an error of the transcriber, for both passages, verses 2 and 47, represent the same word; [A. S. metoð; Hel. metod; by which word the A. S. homilies, as well as the Heliand, denote God, prop. the ‘Meter,’ Dispenser]; the word itself is of heathen origin: in the Icel. it only occurs in old poets, and there in but a few passages, all of which agree, if rightly interpreted, with the A. S. use of the word. It occurs twice in the Vsp.; in verse 47,—Leika Míms synir, en mjötuðr kyndisk, but the meotud is kindled, lighted, where it seems to be applied to the god Heimdal, (the dawn in the Eastern sky, the morning star? see Prof. Bergmann in his Ed. of Gm. 1871, p. 169); in verse 2,—níu man ek heima, níu íviðjur, mjötuð mæran fyrir mold neðan, I mind the nine abodes, the nine giantesses (the nine mothers of Heimdal?), the worthy Dispenser beneath earth; this ‘meotud beneath earth’ seems here to represent the god of the nether world, the Pluto of the Northern mythology, with whom all things above originated (Heimdal?); somewhat similar views are expressed in the Platonic Dialogue Axiochus, ch. 12 and 13.2. sá er hann með mönnum mjötuðr, such a guardian (helper) is he among men, Fsm.II. metaph. and in an evil sense, weird, bane; mjtuðr is glossed by bani ( a bane), Edda (Gl.) ii. 494; mjötuðr Heimdals, the bane of Heimdal = the head; Heimdalar höfuð heitir sverð … sverð heitir manns-mjötuðr, a sword is the bane of men, Edda 55, from a myth that Heimdal was pierced by a head (used as a bolt): nema mjötuðr spilti, unless death spoiled her, unless she died, Og. 14; ef mér meirr m. málrúm gæfi, if death would give me more time for speech (says the dying Brynhild), Skv. 3. 71; sá manns mjötuðr, this bane of men, of a charmed, poisoned sword, Fas. i. (in a verse). The word is found only in the above passages; the explanation given in Lex. Poët. can hardly be the true one. For Hm. 60 see mjöt above.
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