Valkyrie
A valkyrie ( pronunciation : [ valˈkyːrə ], also [ ˈvalkyːrə ]), also battle maiden or shield maiden , is a female spirit being in the entourage of the god father Odin (Wodan) in Norse mythology . The Valkyries are related to the Norns , Fylgias and Disen through the possibility of destiny . They select the Einherjer ("honorable fallen") who died on the battlefield to lead them to Valhalla .
etymology
The name Valkyrie is a modern borrowing from Old Norse . The Old Norse word is valkyrja , plural valkyrjar . It comes from the Old Norse words valr ("the corpses lying on the battlefield") and kjósa ("choose"). The Old Norse kjósa is related to the German kiesen ( Part. Perf. Gekoren ); valkyrja is translated as dead pisser . The old English term is wælcyrge .
Their appearance in northern and central Europe was considered to be deathly for centuries. As “ spirit beings ” they meant to the warrior of earlier times their quality as “ angel of death ” who led man into the world of his ancestors.
Names and numbers of the Valkyries
In Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar the number of Valkyries is given as nine, in Darraðarljóð as twelve. In fact, according to popular belief, the number should have been unlimited.
In the song Grímnismál (verse 36) thirteen names are mentioned of Valkyries who pour beer in Valhöll ( Walhall ): Hrist, Mist, Skeggjöld, Skögull, Hildr, Þrúðr, Hlökk, Herfjötur, Göll, Geirölul (Geirrömul, Geirðahöd), Radgríðr and Reginleifr. The Darraðarljóð also called: Göndul, Guðr (Gunnr) Hjörþrimul, Sanngríðr and Svipul. The Þulur (Thulur) also name: Herja, Geiravör, Skuld, Geirönul, Randgníð, Geirskögul, Hrund, Geirdriful, Randgríðr, Sveið, Þögn, Hjalmþrimul, Þrima, Skalmöld. The names Sigrún, Kára, Sváfa and Brynhildr also appear in heroic songs.
Most of the Valkyrie names are speaking names that indicate the warrior function of the wearer. Hardly anyone is particularly old: most of them stem more from the creativity of the poets than from popular belief.
Origin of the Valkyries
The Valkyries were originally likely to have been demons of the dead who fell to the warriors who had fallen on the battlefield. Gradually, the idea of Valhöll (Walhall) changed: At first, Valhöll was the battlefield littered with corpses, from which the dead demons (Valkyries) lead the fallen to a god of the dead. Later Valhöll was pictured as Óðinn's festival hall. At the same time, the Valkyries changed from dead demons to earthly warriors with human features who can also fall in love with warriors, such as B. the Valkyrie Sigrdrífa in the Sigrdrífumál or Sváfa in the Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar .
Mythological references
The Vikings saw in the northern lights , or more appropriately the "Nordlys", a sign of the presence of Valkyries on earth and that a great battle had been fought somewhere on Midgard . In the belief of the people it was the Valkyries who rode through the firmament after a successful battle and who chose the most heroic fighters to be allowed to dine as Einherjer at Odin's table. In the imagination, the light of the moon was reflected in her bare armor and was the explanation for the play of colors in the night sky.
Early medieval depiction
The rune box by Auzon (Frank's Casket, 7th century) with its sequence of images vividly depicts the appearance of the Fylgja or Valkyrie: In the magician's picture (birth) she takes the place of the angel as a water bird (swan?). In the Wieland picture next to it, she appears - here the swan girl as companion and helper - hidden between two floral symbols (runes) that characterize the Valkyrie. It is hardly a coincidence that this mark resembles the print of a bird's foot. In the picture of Romulus and Remus, their fylgias seem to be shown with the two wolves. On the back, the image of Titus, there are three pairs of animals (presumably horse, wolf and raven) under an arcade, while the mark of the Valkyrie is placed above the arch of the arcade. These animals are related to Wotan / Odin and the whale place. The illustration on the right shows a warrior who meets his Valkyrie and is then visited by her in the grave. As with corresponding representations on Gotland picture stones, two Valknutr or Odin's knots mark the horse at the grave, probably Wotan / Odin's Sleipnir . Finally, the cover picture shows an archer Ægil (perhaps the Wielan brother and also in a relationship with a swan girl), behind him, under a bow, a combat assistant who hands him arrows. This will be about the defense of Walhall (which the valknutr suggest here as well ) against the frost giants - according to this interpretation, the pictorial program tries to trace the life of a high-ranking person from his birth to his life in Wotan / Odin's Hall via the Fylgien or Valkyries to steer.
German Romanticism (Richard Wagner)
In the 19th century, the German composer Richard Wagner processed the legendary material in his four-part cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (1848–1874), especially in the “First Day” of this tetralogy under the title Die Walküre . At Wagner, the Valkyries are nine sisters, all daughters of the god Wotan with various women. In addition to Brünnhilde , the child of Wotan and Erda , eight other Valkyries appear here, the names of which were invented by Wagner, except for Siegrune (by Sigrún). The others are called Waltraute, Ortlinde, Roßweiße, Schwertleite, Gerhilde , Grimgerde and Helmwige.
Others
The resistance fighters around Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg described their planned coup attempt in 1944 as Operation Valkyrie . Originally it was a plan by the Wehrmacht to suppress potential uprisings against National Socialism .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mackensen, Deutsche Etymologie , Bremen 1977, VI a 24 = p. 182. According to Grimm (German dictionary), a Kieser is an examiner or (select) voter.
- ↑ a b c d e Rudolf Simek : Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 368). 2nd, supplemented edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-520-36802-1 .
- ↑ Elena Gurevich (ed.): Anonymous Þulur. Vol. III, Heiti valkyrja.
- ↑ Nordlys - Experience Northern Lights in Norway. (No longer available online.) Norge-urlaub.de, archived from the original on February 10, 2015 ; accessed on March 13, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Franks Casket - Mythenwesen - Fylgja und Walküre
literature
- Alfred Becker: Frank's Casket. To the pictures and inscriptions of the rune box by Auzon . Regensburg 1973.
- Matthias Egeler: Valkyries, Bodbs, Sirens. Thoughts on the religious-historical connection of northwest Europe to the Mediterranean region. (= Real Lexicon of Germanic Archeology - Supplementary Volumes 71), Berlin - New York: de Gruyter 2011.
- Wolfgang Golther : Handbook of Germanic Mythology . 1895, p. 98 ff.
- Rudolf Simek : Valkyries . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 8, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-89659-908-9 , Sp. 1978.
- Zimmermann, Ute: fight, death and the awakening of the hero. On the Valkyries in medieval Scandinavian literature. (= Writings on Medieval Studies, Volume 20), Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovač 2012.
