Myrkviðr

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Myrkviðr (from Proto-Germanic *merkʷjo-widuz) was the name of a forest in Norse mythology. The Old Norse word means "darkwood", anglicized as mirkwood in the fiction of William Morris and J. R. R. Tolkien (mirk is an archaic/dialectal word for "dark", cf. murky).

The expression "dark wood" in Germanic and Slavic is idiomatized to mean "coniferous forest", as opposed to the "light" deciduous forests, compare "Black Forest", Russian chyornyi les.

The localisation varies between the sources.

• 1) The Maeotian marshes which separated the Goths from the Huns in the Norse Hervarar saga.
• 2) The forest that separates the Huns from the Burgundians.
• 3) Kolmården ("the dark forest"), in Sweden, in Sögubrot and in legends such as that of Helge Hundingsbane.
• 4) The forest south of Uppsala in Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa. What remains of this forest today is called Lunsen.
• 5) Uncertain locations, such as in the Völundarkviða, where it is probably located somewhere else in Scandinavia (Weyland is here described as a Finnish prince, which would make him a Saami prince). Stanza 1 (on the swan maidens):

Meyjar flugu sunnan myrkvið í gögnum, Alvitr unga, örlög drýgja; þær á sævarströnd settusk at hvílask drósir suðrænar, dýrt lín spunnu.[1]

Maids from the south through Myrkwood flew, Fair and young, their fate to follow; On the shore of the sea to rest them they sat, The maids of the south, and flax they spun.(Bellows' translation)

• 5) Mythological. In other sources, such as the Edda, e.g. Lokasenna, the location seems to be between Asgard and Muspelheim, as Muspell's sons ride through it at Ragnarök. Stanza 42:

Loci qvaþ: «Gvlli keypta leztv Gymis dottvr oc seldir þitt sva sverþ; enn er Mvspellz synir ríða Myrcviþ yfir, veizta þv þa, vesall! hve þv vegr.»[2]

Loki spake: "The daughter of Gymir with gold didst thou buy, And sold thy sword to boot; But when Muspell's sons through Myrkwood ride, Thou shalt weaponless wait, poor wretch."(Bellows' translation)

The Old Norse term was projected by J. R. R. Tolkien into Old English as myrcwudu, and into Modern English as Mirkwood (see there).

[edit] See also

• Black Forest
• Hercynia silva

v • d • e Norse Paganism and Mythology The Æsir Baldr • Frigg • Heimdall • Hel • Hermóðr • Höðr • Hœnir • Idunn • Loki • Mímir • Odin • Thor • Týr • Ullr • Váli • Viðarr • Vili and Vé The Vanir Freyr • Freyja • Njörðr • Óðr Other races Dís (Norns) • Dwarves • Einherjar • Elves (Light elves • Dark elves) • Giants • Trolls • Valkyries Locations Asgard • Bifröst • Ginnungagap • Hel • Midgard • Muspelheim • Niflheim • Yggdrasil Sources Poetic Edda • Prose Edda • Sagas • Gesta Danorum • Volsung Cycle • Tyrfing Cycle • Runestones • Old Norse language • Orthography • Later influence Origins Germanic paganism Society Viking Age • Skald • Völva • Kenning • Heiti • Blót • Félag • Seid • Runic calendar • Germanic calendar • Numbers • Mead hall See also: Norse gods • People, places and things • Æsir-Vanir War‎ • Ragnarök • Asatru