Alberich (mythology)
In Germanic mythology, Alberich is the king of a race of elves or dwarfs who corresponds to the Norse Andwari . The first component Alb- means "Elb" or "Naturgeist". The second component -rich comes from the Germanic -rik and means "ruler, prince, king".
In the Nibelungenlied, Alberich tends the Nibelungen hoard . By means of a magic hat he can make himself invisible (actually a jacket); Siegfried is able to steal his cap of invisibility and thus arrives at the treasure of the Nibelungs. As a result of the 14th century saga of Huon de Bordeaux , Alberich is included as Auberon, and finally as Oberon , in the circle of legends about King Arthur , where he is widely known as the elf king . In addition, his name is also mentioned in the Middle High German heroic epic Ortnit . Based on the Nibelungenlied and the reports about Andwari from the Song and Prose Edda , Richard Wagner created the Alberich figure in his opera tetralogy The Ring of the Nibelung . Here Alberich appears as the tyrannical king of the black albums, or Nibelungs.
The German withdrawal to the Siegfried Line in the First World War was given the name " Company Alberich ". Under the code name "Alberich", attempts were made from 1943 onwards with U 480 for the acoustic camouflage of submarines. (Rubber coating for the absorption of undersea locating signals ). In the Antarctic, a glacier is named as the Alberich Glacier .
literature
- Norbert Borrmann: Lexicon of monsters, ghosts and demons. The creatures of the night from myth, legend, literature and film. The (slightly) different who's who . 2nd Edition. Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-233-4
- Leander Petzoldt : Small lexicon of demons and elementals . 3. Edition. Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-49451-X , page 18