Germanic dragon
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Worm, wurm or wyrm (Template:Langx, Template:Langx, ormr, Template:Langx), meaning serpent, are archaic terms for dragons (Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx) in the wider Germanic mythology and folklore, in which they are often portrayed as large venomous snakes and hoarders of gold. Especially in later tales, however, they share many common features with other dragons in European mythology, such as having wings.
Prominent worms attested in medieval Germanic works include the dragon that killed Beowulf, the central dragon in the Völsung Cycle – Fáfnir, Níðhöggr, and the great sea serpent, Jǫrmungandr, including subcategories such as lindworms and sea serpents.
Terminology
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Etymology
In early depictions, as with dragons in other cultures, the distinction between Germanic dragons and regular snakes is blurred, with both being referred to as: "worm" (Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Langx), "snake" (Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Langx), "adder" (Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx), and more, in writing; all being old Germanic synonyms for serpent and thereof (compare the English names for the common legless lizard: blindworm, hazelworm, slowworm, deaf adder etc). The descendent term worm remains used in modern English to refer to dragons, such as those similar to snakes or without wings,Template:Sfn while the Old English form wyrm has been borrowed back into modern English to mean "dragon".Template:Sfn The Nordic descendants of Template:Langx – Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx – beyond being the common word for snake in Faroese, Norwegian and Swedish, in Danish and Icelandic instead being more ambiguous with invertebrate worms, remain a poetic or archaic word for dragon and similar mythological serpentine creatures.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn A similar theme can be seen in German, with surviving compositions such as Script error: No such module "Lang". and Script error: No such module "Lang". etc.
The word "dragon", contemporaneously also appear: Template:Langx, Old West Norse: Script error: No such module "Lang"., Old East Norse: Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Langx, Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang"., meaning "dragon, sea serpent or sea monster" etc, stemming from Template:Langx, meaning "big serpent or dragon", itself from Template:Langx (drákōn) of the same meaning.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The form "dragon", in modern English, stems from Template:Langx, while the Germanic Old English form survives as drake.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
A poem, by 11th-century Icelandic skáld Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, manages to use all four above mentioned terms in a single poem about Sigurd the dragon slayer, based on a fight between a blacksmith and a leather worker, which Arnórsson supposedly composed spontaneously upon request:[2]
Related are also the French guivre/vouivre (from Old French for "snake") and English wyvern (Template:Langx, from Template:Langx), ultimately deriving from Template:Langx ("viper").Template:Sfn Other words include Knucker, a dialect word for a sort of water dragon in Sussex, England.
Written corpus
In the 10th century Old English epic poem Beowulf, "the dragon" is referred to as both a Script error: No such module "Lang". and a Script error: No such module "Lang"..Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the Middle High German epic poem Nibelungenlied, written around 1200, the unnamed dragon ("Fáfnir") is referred to as a Script error: No such module "Lang". ("lin-drake", ie, lindworm),Template:Sfn which associate professor of German, George Henry Needler (1866–1962), translated as "worm-like dragon".[3] The Old Norse Eddic poem Fáfnismál, written around 1270, tells an alternate version of the same root story as Nibelungenlied, were the dragon, Fáfnir, is described as flightless and snake-like, and is referred to as an Script error: No such module "Lang"..Template:Sfn[4] In the later, late 13th century Icelandic saga, Völsunga saga, Fáfnir is instead described with shoulders, suggesting legs, wings or both, and is referred to as both a Script error: No such module "Lang". and an Script error: No such module "Lang"..Template:Sfn Both of these descriptions are consistent with 11th century depictions of Fáfnir as a runic animal on various picture stones, sometimes being limbless and other times featuring various forms of limbs. Such stones are collectively called Sigurd stones, after Fáfnir's killer, Sigurd, who often acts as the indicator for the motif.
In the later, 14th century, Icelandic sagas: Ketils saga hœngs, and Konráðs saga keisarasonar, ormar and drekar are portrayed as distinct beings, with winged dragons sometimes specified as Script error: No such module "Lang"., "flying dragon" (Template:Lit).[5] The evolution of wingless and legless worms and lindworms to flying, four-legged romanesque dragons in Germanic folklore and literature is most likely due to influence from continental Europe that was facilitated by Christianisation and the increased availability of translated romances. It has thus been proposed that the description in Völuspá of Níðhöggr with feathers and flying after Ragnarök is a late addition and potentially a result of the integration of pagan and Christian imagery.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Technical terminology
To address the difficulties with categorising Germanic dragons, the term drakorm (Swedish for "dragon serpent") has been proposed, referring to beings described as either a dreki or ormr.[6] Irish historian A. Walsh used the term "worm-dragon" already in 1922 to describe the runic dragon like ornament found side by side with the Celtic interlaced patterns on the Cross of Cong from 1123.Template:Sfn
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There are also dragon-like monsters in Germanic folklore which continue the use of worm or other synonyms in the ambiguous sense of either dragon or snake, such as lindworm (Template:Langx, Template:Langx) and sea serpent (Template:Langx, Template:Langx), the latter popularized by Swede Olaus Magnus through his Carta marina (1539) and A Description of the Northern Peoples (1555), in the latter describing a sea serpent found in Bergen, Norway. Olaus gives the following description of a Norwegian sea serpent:
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Those who sail up along the coast of Norway to trade or to fish, all tell the remarkable story of how a serpent of fearsome size, from Script error: No such module "convert". to Script error: No such module "convert". long, and Script error: No such module "convert". wide, resides in rifts and caves outside Bergen. On bright summer nights this serpent leaves the caves to eat calves, lambs and pigs, or it fares out to the sea and feeds on sea nettles, crabs and similar marine animals. It has ell-long hair hanging from its neck, sharp black scales and flaming red eyes. It attacks vessels, grabs and swallows people, as it lifts itself up like a column from the water.[7][8]
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List of Germanic dragons in legend
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- An unnamed dragon is the third and last of the central monsters in Beowulf, ultimately fighting and killing the hero after whom the poem is named.Template:Sfn
- Script error: No such module "Lang". is a widely attested dragon that has a prominent role in the Script error: No such module "Lang". Cycle.Template:Sfn Fafnir took the form of a dragon after claiming a hoard of treasure, including Andvaranaut, from his father. He was later killed by a Völsung (typically Sigurd), who in some accounts hid in a pit and stabbed him from underneath with a sword.[9][10]
- Script error: No such module "Lang"., also known as the Midgard Serpent, or the "Midgard worm" (Template:Langx), is described as a giant, venomous beast and the child of Loki and Angrboða.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn[11]
- Script error: No such module "Lang". is a dragon attested in the Eddas that gnaws at the roots of Yggdrasil and the corpses of Náströnd.[4][11]
- The Script error: No such module "Lang". contains a description of a dragon killed by Frotho I.[12] The dragon is described as "the keeper of the mountain." After Frotho I kills the dragon, he takes its hoard of treasure.[12] The Gesta Danorum describes another dragon fight where a dragon is slain by Friðleifr and it is similar to the story of Frotho I.[12][13]
- King Lindworm, of Scandinavian folklore, features a lindworm as one of the main characters.
- Stoor worm, a gigantic evil sea serpent of Orcadian folklore.
Furthermore, there are many sagas with dragons in them, including Þiðreks saga, Övarr-Odds saga, and Sigrgarðs saga frækna.[14]
Among local legends and tales:
- Klagenfurt lindworm, Austria
- Knucker of Lyminster, England
- Lagarfljót Worm, Iceland (Template:Langx)
- Lambton Worm, England
- Selma (lake monster), Norway (Template:Langx, "Seljord worm").
- Storsjöodjuret, Sweden
- Worm of Linton, Scotland
Common traits, roles and abilities
Guarding treasure and supernatural properties
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The association between dragons and hoards of treasure is widespread in Germanic literature, however the motifs surrounding gold are absent from many accounts, including the Sigurd story in Þiðreks saga af Bern.Template:Sfn
A motif could potentially be an old myth in Germanic folklore, were it is said 'that which lies under a lindworm will grow at the rate of the snake', thus they brood over treasure to get richer. Here follows a revolving quote from Fru Marie Grubbe, by Danish author Jens Peter Jacobsen (1876), given in its Swedish (1888), and English (1917), translation, due to availability. Of note: the book does not cover mythology, rather, the segment is spontaneous and written like something commonplace for the reader, used as a parable in an otherwise unrelated story. The English translation, while fairly direct, does not use the word lindworm (Template:Langx), instead opting to translate it as serpent and reptile.
| Swedish | English |
|---|---|
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Still it was not done, and he could not rid himself of a sense that these unspoken accusations lay like serpents in a dark cave (Swedish: like lindworms laying in their dark dens), brooding over sinister treasures, which grew as the reptiles grew, blood-red carbuncles rising on stalks of cadmium, and pale opal in bulb upon bulb slowly spreading, swelling, and breeding, while the serpents lay still but ceaselessly expanding, gliding forth in sinuous bend upon bend, lifting ring upon ring over the rank growth of the treasure.[16] |
In the Völsung Cycle, Script error: No such module "Lang"., upon claiming a hoard of treasure, including the ring Andvaranaut, transforms into a dragon to protect and brood over it. Fáfnir's brother, Regin, reforges the sword Gram from broken shards, and gives it to the hero Sigurd, who uses it to kill the dragon by hiding in a hole in its path to drink water, waiting until the worm slithers over and exposes his underbelly. While dying, Fáfnir speaks with Sigurd and shares mythological knowledge. Sigurd then cooks and tastes the dragon's heart, allowing the hero to understand the speech of birds who tell him to kill Regin, which he does and then takes the hoard for himself.[4] In the Nibelungenlied version of the story, it is said Sigurd (Sigfried) bathed in the blood of the dragon, making him invincible against all weapons, however, while bathing in the dragon's blood, a leaf fell from a tree onto his back, directly between his shoulder blades, keeping the blood from that one spot, allowing weapons to hurt him there, which later became his doom.[17] In Beowulf, it is Sigmund (the father of Sigurd in Old Norse tradition) who kills a dragon and takes its hoard.Template:Sfn
In Beowulf, the dragon slain by the poem's eponymous hero, is awoken from the burial mound in which it dwells when a cup from its hoard is stolen, leading it to seek vengeance from the Geats. After both the dragon and Beowulf die, the treasure is reinterred in the king's barrow.Template:Sfn The Old English poem, Maxims II, further states that the dragon was left in or on the mound, potentially as to increase its grave goods (Template:Langx, "frood, treasure proud", could potentially indicate this):
| Old English | Direct translation | Free translation |
|---|---|---|
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Sword shall on barm, |
Sword shall be on the chest, |
In Ragnars saga loðbrókar, Thóra, the daughter of a Geatish earl, is given a snake by her father which she puts on top of a pile of gold. This makes both the snake and the treasure grow until the dragon is so large its head touches its tail.[18] The image of an encircled snake eating its own tail is also seen with Jörmungandr.[11] The hero Ragnar Lodbrok later wins the hand of Thóra and the treasure by slaying the dragon.[18] The motif of gold causing a snake-like creature to grow into a dragon is seen in the Icelandic tale of the Lagarfljót Worm recorded in the 19th century.[19]
Breathing fire and atter
Dragons with poisonous breath, or rather, breathing "atter", an old Germanic word for morbid fluid, including snake venom, are believed to predate those who breathe fire in Germanic folklore and literature, consistent with the theory that Germanic dragons developed from traditions regarding wild snakes, some of whom produce venom.Template:Sfn The Nine Herbs Charm describes nine plants being used to overcome the venom of a slithering Script error: No such module "Lang".. It tells that Wōden defeats the Script error: No such module "Lang". by striking it with nine twigs, breaking it into nine pieces.[20]
In Eddic poetry, both the sea serpent Jörmungandr, and Fáfnir in dragon-hamr, are described as having attery breath.[4] In Gylfaginning, it is told that during the final battle at Ragnarök (the end of the word), Thor will kill Jörmungandr; however, after taking nine steps, he will be in turn killed by the worm's atter.[11] A similar creature from later Orcadian folklore is the attery stoor worm which was killed by the hero Assipattle, falling into the sea and forming Iceland, Orkney, Shetland and the Faroe Islands. As in the English tale of the Linton worm, the stoor worm is killed by burning its insides with peat.[21]
Beowulf is one of the earliest examples of a fire-breathing dragon, yet it is also referred to as Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Lit (infinitive) or 'the atter scather'. After burning homes and land in Geatland, it fights the eponymous hero of the poem who bears a metal shield to protect himself from the fire. The dragon wounds him but is slain by the king's thane Wiglaf. Beowulf later succumbs to the dragon's atter and dies. The other dragon mentioned in the poem is further associated with fire, melting from its own heat once slain by Sigmund.Template:Sfn Both fire and atter are also spat by dragons in the Chivalric saga Sigurðr saga þögla and in Nikolaus saga erkibiskups II, written around 1340, in which the dragon is sent by God to teach an English deacon to become more pious.Template:Sfn
Narrative importance
In Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, Tolkien argued that the only dragons of significance in northern literature are Fáfnir and that which killed Beowulf. Similarly, other scholars such as Kathryn Hume have argued that the overabundance of dragons, along with other supernatural beings, in later riddarasögur results in monsters serving only as props to be killed by heroes.Template:Sfn
Material culture
Vendel helmets
During the second half of the Germanic Migration Period, periodically called the Vendel Period (c. Template:TrimScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".), spanning the late 6th century to the cusp of the Viking Age in the late 8th century, Germanic helmet finds overwhelmingly show that most helmets were decorated with dragon heads. Most common was for a dragon head to be placed between the brow protection of said helmets, with a comb spanning over the helmet as its body, but some helmets also feature dragon heads or thereof on the outer edges of the brow protection. Archeological finds of such helmets have been made in both Scandinavia and the British isles, showing a common material connection between the cultures.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
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Dragon head on the Hellvi helmet eyebrow (550–600)
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Central brow dragon head on the Vendel XIV helmet (560–575)
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Central and outer brow dragon heads on the Vendel I helmet (580–630)
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Central brow dragon heads on the Sutton Hoo helmet (613–635)
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Central and right brow dragon head on the Coppergate Helmet (8th century)
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Figureheads
Longships known as "dragons" (Template:Langx) were ships used by the Norse in the Medieval period that predominantly featured carved prows in the shape of dragons and other animalistic creatures.Template:Sfn[22][23] One version of the Icelandic Landnámabók states that the ancient Heathen law of Iceland required any ship having a figurehead in place on one's ship "with gaping mouth or yawning snout" to remove the carving before coming in sight of land because it would frighten the landvættir.[24]
Stave churches are sometimes decorated by carved dragon heads which has been proposed to have originated in the belief in their apotropaic function.Template:Sfn[25]
Picture stones
Medieval depictions of worms carved in stone feature both in Sweden and the British Isles. In Sweden, runic inscriptions dated to around the 11th century often show a lindworm bearing the text encircling the remaining picture on the stone.Template:Sfn Some Sigurd stones such as U 1163, Sö 101 (the Rasmund carving) and Sö 327 (the Gök inscription) show a Sigurd thrusting a sword through the worm which is identified as Fáfnir.Template:Sfn The killing of Fáfnir is also potentially pictured on four crosses from the Isle of Man and a now lost fragment, with a similar artistic style, from the church at Kirby Hill in England.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
The fishing trip described in Hymiskviða in which Thor catches Script error: No such module "Lang". has been linked to a number of stones in Scandinavia and England such as the Altuna Runestone and the Hørdum stone.[26][27][28]
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Lindworm from the U 871 runestone.
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U 1163, the Drävle runestone, showing Sigurd slaying Fáfnir at the top.
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![Sigurd killing Fáfnir, from The Jurby Cross 119, Jurby, Isle of Man.[29]](/wiki143/index.php?title=File:Sigur%C3%B0r_and_F%C3%A1fnir,_Stone_cross_from_Jurby,_Redrawn_1907.png){kind=link}
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Stave churches
From around the 12th century, stave churches started being erected, in Norway mostly. Such are infamous for their many wooden carvings of both Christian and Viking Age motifs, depiction varius mythological creatures, such as dragons.[30]
Wooden carvings from the Hylestad Stave Church of scenes from the Völsunga saga include Sigurd killing Fáfnir, who is notably shown with two legs and two wings.[31]
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Urnes Stave Church pillars
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Urnes Stave Church dragons
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Urnes Stave Church dragon
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See also
- Hyrrokkin, a gýgr in Norse mythology who uses snakes as reins
- Ormhäxan, a picture stone from Gotland depicting a woman with snakes
- Runic dragon, Germanic dragons acting as the runic sling on runestones
- Biscione
Notes
Citations
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- ↑ Beowulf; a heroic poem of the 8th century, with tr., note and appendix by T. Arnold, 1876, p. 196.
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- ↑ de Vries, p. 260, referring to Ulfljót's Law, at Google Books (Old Norse) [1] Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Bugge (1994), s. 48
- ↑ Meulengracht Sørensen (1986) p. 260, (2002) p. 123.
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- ↑ Gunnar Nordanskog, Föreställd hedendom: tidigmedeltida skandinaviska kyrkportar i forskning och historia, 2006, p. 241. Template:ISBN
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References
Primary
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Secondary
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External links
Template:Dragons Template:Norse mythology Template:Anglo-SaxonPaganism