Germanic dragon

Worm, wurm or wyrm (

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" (

The word "

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:^[10]

Related are also the French

In the 10th century Old English epic poem Beowulf, "the dragon" is referred to as both a wyrm and a draca.^[13][14] In the Middle High German epic poem Nibelungenlied, written around 1200, the unnamed dragon ("Fáfnir") is referred to as a lintrache ("lin-drake", ie, lindworm),^[15] which associate professor of German, George Henry Needler (1866–1962), translated as "worm-like dragon".^[16] 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 ormr.^[17][18] 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 dreki and an ormr.^[19] 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 flugdreki, "flying dragon" (lit. 'fly-dragon').^[20] 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.^[21][22][23]

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.

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 (Swedish: lindorm, German: Lindwurm) and sea serpent (Swedish: sjöorm, German: Seeschlange), 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:

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 200 feet [60 m] to 400 feet [120 m] long, and 20 feet [6 m] 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.^[25][26]

• 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.^[13]
• Fáfnir is a widely attested dragon that has a prominent role in the Völsung Cycle.^[19] 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.^[27][28]
• Old Norse: Miðgarðsormr), is described as a giant, venomous beast and the child of Loki and Angrboða.^[23][29][30]
• Eddas that gnaws at the roots of Yggdrasil and the corpses of Náströnd.^[18][30]
• The Gesta Danorum contains a description of a dragon killed by Frotho I.^[31] The dragon is described as "the keeper of the mountain." After Frotho I kills the dragon, he takes its hoard of treasure.^[31] The Gesta Danorum describes another dragon fight where a dragon is slain by Friðleifr and it is similar to the story of Frotho I.^[31][32]
• 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.^[33]

Among local legends and tales:

• Klagenfurt lindworm, Austria
• Knucker of Lyminster, England
• Lagarfljót Worm, Iceland (Icelandic: Lagarfljótsormur)
• Lambton Worm, England
• Selma (lake monster), Norway (Norwegian: Seljordsormen, "Seljord worm").
• Storsjöodjuret, Sweden
• Worm of Linton, Scotland

Common traits and roles

Guarding treasure

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.^[34]

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. The English translation, while fairly direct, does not use the word lindworm (Swedish: lindorm), instead opting to translate it as serpent and reptile.

Swedish

English

Men det skedde icke, och han kunde icke låta bli att tänka sig, att dessa outtalade förebråelser nu lågo som lindormar ligga i sina mörka hålor, rufvande öfver dystra skatter, som växte allt efter som ormarna växte, blodröd karbunkel, lyftande sig fram på guldröd stjelk, och blek opal, långsamt utvidgande sig i knöl på knöl, svällande och ynglande, under det ormarnas kroppar, stilla, men ohejdadt växande, gledo ut i bugt på bugt, lyftande sig i ring på ring öfver skattens frodiga hvimmel.[35]

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.[36]

In the Völsung Cycle, Fáfnir was a dwarf, who, 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 waiting in a hole 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.^[18] In Beowulf, it is Sigmund (the father of Sigurd in Old Norse tradition) who kills a dragon and takes its hoard.^[13]

In

Old English

: frod, frætwum wlanc, "frood, treasure proud", could potentially indicate this):

Old English	Direct translation	Free translation
Sweord sceal on bearme, drihtlic isern. Draca sceal on hlæwe, frod, frætwum wlanc. Fisc sceal on wætere cynren cennan. Cyning sceal on healle beagas dælan.[37]	Sword shall on barm, drightly iron. Dragon shall in/on low, frood, treasure proud. Fish shall in water kin ken. King shall in hall bees deal.	Sword shall be on the chest, the regal iron. Dragon shall be in/on the mound, venerable, of treasure proud. Fish shall in the water its kind propagate. King shall in the hall armlets deal out.[b]

In

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.^[39] The image of an encircled snake eating its own tail is also seen with Jörmungandr.^[30] The hero Ragnar Lodbrok later wins the hand of Thóra and the treasure by slaying the dragon.^[39] 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.^[40]

Breathing fire and atter

Dragons with poisonous breath, or rather, breathing "

Wōden defeats the wyrm by striking it with nine twigs, breaking it into nine pieces.^[41]

In

Linton worm, the stoor worm is killed by burning its insides with peat.^[42]

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.^[19]

Narrative importance

In

riddarasögur results in monsters serving only as props to be killed by heroes.^[43]

Material culture

Vendel helmets

During the second half of the Germanic Migration Period, periodically called the Vendel Period (c. 540–790), 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.^[44][45]

• 
  Dragon head on the Hellvi helmet eyebrow (550–600)
• 
  Central brow dragon head on the Vendel XIV helmet (560–575)
• 
  Central and outer brow dragon heads on the Vendel I helmet (580–630)
• 
  Central brow dragon heads on the Sutton Hoo helmet (613–635)
• 
  Central and right brow dragon head on the Coppergate Helmet (8th century)

Figureheads

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.^[48]

apotropaic function.^[21][49]

Picture stones

Medieval depictions of worms carved in stone feature both in

Kirby Hill in England.^[52][53][54]

The fishing trip described in Hymiskviða in which Thor catches Jörmungandr has been linked to a number of stones in Scandinavia and England such as the Altuna Runestone and the Hørdum stone.^[55][56][57]

• 
  Sigurd killing Fáfnir, from The Jurby Cross 119, Jurby, Isle of Man.^[58]
• 
  Lindworm from the U 871 runestone.
• 
  U 1163, the Drävle runestone, showing Sigurd slaying Fáfnir at the top.
• 
  Jörmungandr on the Altuna Runestone.
• 
  Urnes style

  .

Stave churches

Hylestad Stave Church

portal plank (late 12th century)

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.^[59]

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.^[60]

• 
  Urnes Stave Church pillars
• 
  Urnes Stave Church dragons
• 
  Urnes Stave Church dragon

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

1. ^ Compare Danish: da:Midgårdsormen, Icelandic: Lagarfljótsormur, Norwegian: Seljordsormen.
2. rings.^[38]

Citations

1. ^ ^{a b} worm.
2. ^ wyrm.
3. ^ ormr.
4. ^ orm.
5. ^ ormur.
6. ^ Beowulf; a heroic poem of the 8th century, with tr., note and appendix by T. Arnold, 1876, p. 196.
7. ^ dreki.
8. ^ ^{a b} drake.
9. ^ ^{a b} dragon.
10. ^ "Norse Serpents and Dragons (with Robert Cutrer)". youtube.com. Jackson Crawford. 29 November 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2025. timestamp: 25:36
11. ^ ^{a b} "ÞjóðA Lv 6II". skaldic.org. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
12. ^ wyvern.
13. ^ ^{a b c d e} Beowulf.
14. ^ wyrm/dreca.
15. ^ Nibelungenlied.
16. ^ Needler, George Henry. "The Nibelungenlied". gutenberg.org. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
17. ^ Fáfnismál (ON).
18. ^
    ISBN 0486437108
    .
19. ^ ^{a b c d} Acker 2013, pp. 53–57.
20. ^ Ryan E. R. Stewart. "Diction in the Description of Dragons in Icelandic Texts from c. 871–1600". mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca. Canada: University of Manitoba. pp. 27, 44, 45, 50, 57. Retrieved 2 February 2025.
21. ^ ^{a b} Simek 1993.
22. ^ Somerville & McDonald 2013, p. 125.
23. ^ ^{a b c} Fee 2011, pp. 8–10.
24. ^ Johansen, Birgitta (1997). "Ormalur. Aspekter av tillvaro och landskap". Stockholm Studies in Archeology. 14.
25. ^ "Norse Mythology – Jormungandr". Oracle Thinkquest. Archived from the original on 21 August 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
26. ISBN 978-1-60152-345-7
    .
27. OCLC 930364175. Archived from the original on 27 March 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
28. OCLC 44964973
    .
29. ^ Thompson 2015.
30. ^
    ISBN 9780520273054
    .
31. ^
    ISBN 0-85991-592-1
    .
32. ^ Saxo (Grammaticus) (1894). The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus. Nutt. Archived from the original on 16 February 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
33. JSTOR 45020180. Archived
    from the original on 16 February 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
34. ^ Cutrer 2012, p. 4.
35. ^ "Fru Marie Grubbe : interiörer från 1600- talet". runeberg.org. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
36. ^ "Marie Grubbe, a lady of the seventeenth century". runeberg.org. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
37. ^ "Maxims II (Old English)". sacred-texts.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
38. ^ "Maxims II, Old English Poetry Project, (Modern English)". oldenglishpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu. Archived from the original on 20 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
39. ^
    ISBN 9781624666346
    .
40. ^ Árnason, Jón (1862). Íslenzkar Þjóðsögur og Æfintýri. Vol. I. Ormurinn í Lagarfljóti.
41. ^ "Nigon Wyrta Galdor: "The Nine Herbs Charm"". Mimisbrunnr.info: Developments in Ancient Germanic Studies. 20 February 2022. Archived from the original on 20 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
42. ISBN 978-1-84158-048-7
    .
43. ^ Cutrer 2012, p. 5.
44. ^ Bruce-Mitford 1978, p. 225.
45. ^ Steuer 1987, pp. 199–200.
46. ISBN 9780851158266
    .
47. ^ E. Magnússon (1906). Notes on shipbuilding & nautical terms of old in the North. Magnússon. p. 45.
48. ^ de Vries, p. 260, referring to Ulfljót's Law, at Google Books (Old Norse) [1] Archived 17 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine
49. ^ Bugge (1994), s. 48
50. ^ Düwel 2005, p. 114-115.
51. ^ Millet 2008, p. 163.
52. ^ Millet 2008, p. 160.
53. ^ McKinnell 2015, p. 62.
54. ^ McKinnell 2015, p. 61.
55. ^ Meulengracht Sørensen (1986) p. 260, (2002) p. 123.
56. ISBN 978-1-316-50129-0
    .
57. ISBN 0-19-513479-6. Archived
    from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
58. ^ "The Jurby Cross 119". viking.archeurope.com. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
59. ^ "Stavkyrkor i Norge". visitnorway.se. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
60. ISBN 978-91-89116-85-6

References

Primary

• "Beowulf on Steorarume [Beowulf in Cyberspace]: Bilingual Edition (OE text & translation)". heorot.dk. Archived from the original on 20 November 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
• "Fáfnismál – heimskringla.no". heimskringla.no. Archived from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022.

Secondary

• Acker, Paul (2013). "Dragons in the Eddas and in Early Nordic Art". In Acker, Paul;
  ISBN 978-0-415-88861-5
  .
• Cutrer, Robert E (2012). "The Wilderness of Dragons" (PDF). Háskóli Íslands.
• Düwel, Klaus (2005). "Sigurddarstellung". In Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.). Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Vol. 28. New York/Berlin: de Gruyter. pp. 412–422.
• ISBN 978-0-275-98406-9
  .
• McKinnell, John (2015). "The Sigmundr / Sigurðr Story in an Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norse Context". In Mundal, Else (ed.). Medieval Nordic Literature in its European Context. Oslo: Dreyers Forlag. pp. 50–77.
  ISBN 978-82-8265-072-4
  .
• Millet, Victor (2008). Germanische Heldendichtung im Mittelalter. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter.
  ISBN 978-3-11-020102-4
  .
• Simek, Rudolf (1993). Dictionary of northern mythology. Cambridge [England]: D.S. Brewer. pp. 64–65.
  ISBN 9780859915137
  .
• Somerville, Angus A.; McDonald, R. Andrew (2013). The Vikings and their Age. Companions to Medieval Studies.
  ISBN 978-1-4426-0522-0
  .
• Thompson, Ben (2015).
  ISBN 9780316320559
  .
• "drake | Etymology, origin and meaning of drake by etymonline". www.etymonline.com. 20 February 2022. Archived from the original on 20 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
• "dragon | Etymology, origin and meaning of drake by etymonline". www.etymonline.com. 20 February 2022. Archived from the original on 20 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
• "wyvern | Etymology, origin and meaning of wyvern by etymonline". www.etymonline.com. 28 September 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
• "dreki". saob.se (in Swedish). 1922. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
• "Ordbok i fabelläran eller Allmän mythologi / Förra delen". runeberg.org (in Swedish). 1831–1836. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
• "ormr". saob.se (in Swedish). 1950. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
• "ormur". Wiktionary. 29 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
• "worm". runeberg.org. 1922. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
• "wyrm". Wiktionary. 5 January 2022. Archived from the original on 29 January 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
• "Undersökningar i germanisk mythologi / Del 1". runeberg.org (in Swedish). 1886–1889. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
• "Das Nibelungenlied. Nach der Ausg. von Karl Bartsch hg. von Helmut de Boor. 22., rev. und von Roswitha Wisniewski erg. Aufl. (Deutsche Klassiker des Mittelalters), Mannheim 1988 (Nachdr. Wiesbaden 1996)". runeberg.org (in German). Retrieved 19 January 2025.
• ISBN 0-7141-1335-2
  .
• ISBN 3-7848-1617-7.

External links

• Media related to Germanic dragons at Wikimedia Commons