Hundinge

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The Hundinge are a sex, a clan or a tribe in Old Norse and Old English poetry .

Hundinge appear regularly as opponents of the Wulfinge (Ylfinge). In the Edda three different songs are handed down about a hero - or several heroes - named Helgi ; in one of them kills Helgi Hundingsbani (the Hundingstöter) the Hunding . The other two songs are also taken from the literature that they deal with this conflict material. Since a multiple revision of the original legend can be assumed, however, much is ultimately in the dark. It is generally recognized that the connection between Helgi Hundingstöter and the Wälsung family represents a later mixture of the two substances. In the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus , a Danish king kills Helgo a Hundingus , King of Saxony, and thus conquered Jutland by the Saxons. Hundingas (Hundinge) are also mentioned in the epic Beowulf and Widsith . In Widsith poetry the Hundinge are mentioned twice: once as a tribe,

Lines 20 to 25:

Casere weold Creacum ond Cælic Finnum,
Hagena Holmrygum ond Heoden Glommum.
Witta weold Swæfum, Wada Hælsingum,
Meaca Myrgingum, Mearchealf Hundingum.
þeodric weold Froncum, þyle Rondingum,

who is ruled by a " Mearchealf ", and a second time in line 81,

Lines 80 and 81:

mid Lidwicingum ic wæs ond mid Leonum ond mid Longbeardum,
mid hæðnum ond mid hæleþum ond mid Hundingum.

- for example: " I was with Heiden, Helden and Hundingen ".

In pre-Christian times, the Germanic peoples did not regard the term "dog" as an insult, but on the contrary stood symbolically for warriorism. After Christianization , on the other hand, the dog was associated with paganism , so that "pagan dog" as a derogatory term for pagans was suitable for swear words. Otto Höfler shows that the dog as a proper name and coat of arms symbol was held in high esteem by families of Longobard descent long since Romanized in the 13th and 14th centuries - contrary to the later Christian sense of opportunity. Furthermore, he uses numerous examples, such as that of the Thore Hund s, to show that the dog was respected because of its ability to defend itself and in pre-Christian times - but also beyond - was considered an advantageous patron saint.

Rudolf Much and others believe that the conflict material around the Hundinge and Ylfinge (Wulfinge) was originally located in what is now northeastern Germany. As the sex of the Ylfinge - that of Helgi - the rulers of the Glommas or Lemovians can be identified, which can be located in what is now West Pomerania. As a result of the withdrawal of these groups and the arrival of the Wends , the locations of the saga were moved to Norway and Denmark (Saxo Grammaticus) by the later Saga editors. The neighboring Svafaland in the Helgiliedern (cf. Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar - "Song of Helgi Hjörvarðsson") is said to be the land of the Semnones - which after Tacitus are to be regarded as the most important tribe of the Suebi . The bondage grove in which Helgi Hundingstöter is killed corresponds to the Semnonenhain . The Lombards, who were sitting on the Lower Elbe at this time, would be considered as carriers of the Hundinge or they or one of their subgroups would be identical with them. This is also supported by the fact that the origin of the name von Hödbrodd, Helgis rival, could be interpreted according to Sophus Bugge on headobards , so Much; These headobards , which are mentioned in Beowulf and Saxo Grammaticus as opponents of the scyldingas / Danes, are again mostly assigned to the Lombards.

While the Wulfinge in the sources are associated with werewolves , there is a passage in Paulus Diakonus that seems to indicate similar ideas. Deaconus interprets the legends to be conveyed by him, however, in the sense of the mythical creatures of the Cynocephalic known in Roman antiquity and presents him primarily as a ruse against the numerically far superior Assipites .

"They acted as if they had kynokephalers in their camp, that is, people with dog heads, and spread among the enemies; they fight with great tenacity, drink human blood and, if they do not get the enemy under their control, their own."

Similar to a werewolf or berserker -like creatures Hindeutendes which rather has dogs shape instead wolf or bear, is, however, reported no other Germanic people. A totemic connection can be assumed here, which can be traced back to the contrast between Hundingen and Wulfingen. Furthermore it is conceivable that the original name of the Lombards, the Winniler , could be interpreted as the "angry dogs"; but this is countered in recent research, which assumes “the fighters” for this.

The legend of the later King Lamicho (Lamissio) also speaks for the connection between Lombards and Hundingen. After this, a prostitute ("meretrix") gave birth to seven children at once and threw them into a fish pond so that they drown. When King Hagelmund passes this pond and pokes in it with the spear, one of the children grabs the spear and King Hagelmund, who regards this as a special sign, has the child saved and raised. Later he becomes a great hero and king of the Lombards himself. Much argues that 'prostitutes' may have been used here in the form of related swear words such as zöhensun, merhensun or huorensun and that the large number of children, perhaps also drowning in the pond, come from the idea of ​​newborn dogs. This is similar to the use of the word “bitch” in English, which actually means “bitch” but can also mean “slut” in the vulgar language. Jacob Grimm already puts the legend about Lamissio in a series of similar legends of puppies, welves, [..] that are supposed to be drowned but saved and later make it big. Although the deacon himself states that the name Lamissios derives from the pond from which it was drawn, which is called "in their language" Lama "", the name was also interpreted as "little Beller".

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kim R. McCone, Hund, Wolf, und Krieger bei den Indoermanen in W. Meid (ed.), Studies on Indo-European vocabulary , Innsbruck, 1987, 101–154
  2. ↑ Otto Höfler, Cangrande von Verona and the dog symbol of the Lombards in: Kleine Schriften: selected works on Germanic antiquity and the history of religion, on medieval literature, on Germanic linguistics and on cultural philosophy and morphology , Buske 1992, 42-82. mwN (limited preview on Google Books)
  3. ↑ Rudolf Much, "The Germanic East in the heroic saga." Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature, 57 (1920), 145-176, p. 161
  4. ↑ ( Germania , 39); see. Publius Cornelius Tacitus: The Germania of Tacitus . Herder'sche Verlagshandlung, Freiburg i. Br. 1876, page 36 full text on Wikisource
  5. ↑ Rudolf Much, "The Germanic East in the heroic saga." Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature, 57 (1920), 145-176, p. 172
  6. ↑ cf. Sophus Bugge, Helge-Digtee i Den Ældre Edda: deres Hjem og Forbindelser . 1896. Copenhagen in the English translation: The Home of the Eddic Poems, 1899 , p. 157 f
  7. ^ Rudolf Much: Balder, in: ZfdA 61 (1924) 93-126 , p. 108 f (mediaevum.de / Gallica)
  8. ↑ Rudolf Much, "The Germanic East in the heroic saga." Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature, 57 (1920), 145-176, p. 175
  9. ↑ quoted from Otto Abel (trans.), Alexander Heine (ed.) In: History of the Langobards - Paulus Diakonus and the historians of the Langobards , first edition Berlin 1849, p. 17 (digitized at Google Books)
  10. ↑ Paulus Diaconus , Historia Langobardorum , 11, In: Ludwig Bethmann, Georg Waitz (ed.): Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum saec. VI-IX. Hannover 1878, p. 53 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version ).
  11. ^ Rudolf Much: Balder, in: ZfdA 61 (1924) 93-126 , p. 110 (mediaevum.de / Gallica)
  12. ^ R. Nedoma, Dog and Dog Graves - b. Name Kund Royal , 214 -215 in: Germanische Altertumskunde Online , Volume 15, Walter de Gruyter, 2000, p 215 (limited preview on Google Books)
  13. ↑ Paulus Diaconus , Historia Langobardorum , 15, In: Ludwig Bethmann, Georg Waitz (ed.): Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum saec. VI-IX. Hannover 1878, p. 54 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version ).
  14. ↑ Otto Abel (transl.), Alexander Heine (ed.) In: History of the Longobards - Paulus Diakonus and the Historians of the Longobards , first edition Berlin 1849, p. 19 (digitized at Google Books)
  15. ^ Rudolf Much in Widsith. Contributions to a commentary in: ZfdA 62 (1925) 113-150, p. 121 (digitized at Archive.org)
  16. ^ Jacob Grimm in: History of the German language. Weidmann'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig, 4th edition, 1880, p. 394, margin no. 568
  17. ↑ Otto Abel adds “Lehm, Schlamm” in brackets
  18. ↑ Doubtful regarding this information, already Jacob Grimm: History of the German language. Weidmann'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig, 4th edition, 1880, p. 482, margin no. 694
  19. ^ Joseph Harris, Myth and Literary History: Two Germanic Examples , Oral Tradition 19.1 (2004) 3-19.