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German Nibelung and the corresponding Old Norse form Niflung (Niflungr) refers in most of the German texts and in all the Old Norse texts to the royal family or lineage of the Burgundians who settled at Worms. The vast wealth of the Burgundians is often referred to as the Niblung or Niflung hoard. In some German texts Nibelung appears instead as one of the supposed original owners of that hoard, either the name of one of the kings of a people known as the Nibelungs, or in variant form Nybling, as the name of a dwarf. In Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, Nibelung is used to mean "dwarf". This is the approximate extent of Old Norse and related languages in the early 10th century. ...
The Burgundians or Burgundes were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr (the Island of the Burgundians), and from here to mainland Europe. ...
// Worms (pronounced ) is a city in the southwest of Germany. ...
DWARF (short for Debug With Arbitrary Record Format although rarely seen that way) is a widely used, standardized debugging data format. ...
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813 in Leipzig – February 13, 1883 in Venice) was an influential German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his groundbreaking symphonic-operas (or music dramas). His compositions are notable for their continuous contrapuntal texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and elaborate...
Valkyrie Warrior Maiden by artist Arthur Rackham (1912) Der Ring des Nibelungen translated commonly into English as The Ring of the Nibelung or The Nibelungs Ring, is a series of four epic operas. ...
In Waltharius The earliest probable surviving mention of the name is in the Latin poem Waltharius (lines 555–6) in which Walter, seeing Guntharius (Gunther) and his men approaching says (in the Chronicon Novaliciense text, usually taken to be the oldest): Waltharius, a Latin poem founded on German popular tradition, relates the exploits of the west Gothic hero Walter of Aquitaine. ...
For the character of the sitcom Friends see here. ...
"Non assunt Avares hic, sed Franci Nivilones,
cultures regionis." The translation is: "These are not Avars, but Frankish Nivilons, inhabitants of the region." The other texts have nebulones 'worthless fellows' instead of nivilones, a reasonable replacement for an obscure proper name. In medieval Latin names, b and v often interchange, so Nivilones is a reasonable Latinization of Germanic Nibilungos. This is the only text to connect the Nibelungs with Franks. Since Burgundy was conquered by the Franks in 534 Burgundians could loosely be considered Franks of a kind and confused with them. The name Nibelunc became a Frankish personal name in the 8th and 9th centuries, at least among the descendants of Childebrand I ( who died in 752). (See Dronke, p. 37). Yet, in this poem, the center of Gunther's supposedly Frankish kingdom is the city of Worms on the Rhine. The Eurasian Avars were a nomadic people of Eurasia who migrated into central and eastern Europe in the 6th century. ...
Look up Frank and frank in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Flag of Burgundy Burgundy (French: Bourgogne) is a historic region of France, inhabited in turn by Pre-Indo-European people, Celts (Gauls), Romans (Gallo-Romans), and various Germanic peoples, most importantly the Burgundians and the Franks. ...
Events January 1 - Decimus Theodorius Paulinus appointed consul, the last to hold this office in the West. ...
(7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ...
As a means of recording the passage of time the 9th century was that century that lasted from 801 to 900. ...
Childebrand (678, Heristal-751) was a Frankish duke (dux), son of Pepin of Heristal and Alpaida, brother of Charles Martel. ...
Events Pope Stephen II, pope for 3 days in March. ...
At 1,320 kilometres (820 miles) and an average discharge of more than 2,000 cubic meters per second, the Rhine (German Rhein, French Rhin, Dutch Rijn, Romansch: Rein, Italian: Reno) is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe. ...
Norse tradition In the eddic poem Atlakvida, the word Niflungar is applied three times to the treasure (arfr) or hoard (hodd) of Gunnar (the Norse counterpart of German Gunther). It is also applied once to Gunnar's warriors and once to Gunnar himself. It elsewhere appears unambiguously as the name of the lineage to which the brothers Gunnar and Högni (Hǫgni) belong and seems mostly interchangeable with Gjúkingar, meaning descendants of Gjúki, Gjúki being Gunnar's father. Atlakvi a (The Lay of Atli) is a heroic lay from the Elder Edda. ...
Gunnar is the most attractive and unreservedly admired of Icelandic saga heroes,a man of heroism, energy, virtue, and --- above all --- unswerving loyalty to the land of his birth and love for its overpowering physical beauty Tricked by his enemies into disobeying the warnings of his prescient friend Njáll...
Gjúki is the king of the Burgundians in the eddic poem Atlakvida, and he was the father of Gunnar (see Gunther). ...
The variant form Hniflungr also occurs, as the name of Högni's son in the eddic poem Atlamál and as a term for the children born by Gunnar's sister Gudrún (Guðrún) to Atli (Attila the Hun). It appears to be a general term for "warrior" in Helgakvida Hundingsbana. Hniflungar might be of separate origin, meaning descendants of Hnef, referring to the Hnæf son of Hoc who is prominent in the Old English Finnsburg Fragment. However h was early dropped initially before other consonants in Norwegian dialects which might lead to the adding of h to names in other dialects where it did not originally belong. Gudrun and Sigurd In Norse mythology, Gudrun, who is called Kriemhild in the Niebelungenlied, was the sister of Gunnar. ...
For other uses, see Attila (disambiguation). ...
Helgi returns to Valhalla Helgi Hundingsbane was a hero in the Norse sagas, who appears in the Volsunga saga and in two lays in the Poetic Edda named Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and II. The Poetic Edda relates that Helgi and his mistress Sigrún were Helgi Hjörvarðsson...
Hnæf (d. ...
Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ...
The Finnsburg Fragment is a fragment of an Old English poem, found in the Exeter Book. ...
Niblung genealogy
Lex Burgundionum In the Lex Burgundionum, issued by the Burgundian king Gundobad (c. 480–516), it is decreed that those who were free under the kings Gibica, Gundomar, Gislaharius, and Gundaharius will remain free. But as will be seen below, legendary tradition often makes Gibiche or Gjúki (that is Gibica) the father of Gunther/Gunnar and names Giselher (the same name as Gislaharius) as one of Gunther/Gunnar's brothers. In Norse tradition another brother is named Gutthom (Gutþormr) which looks like a slight garbling of Gundomar. German tradition provides instead a third brother named Gernot, which may be a substitution of a more familiar name for an unfamiliar one. In the Nibelungenlied, all three brothers are called kings. If these legends preserve authentic tradition, than historically Gibica of the Burgundian Laws might have been the father of the three kings Gundomar, Gislaharius, and Gundaharius who shared the kingdom among them, presumably with Gundaharius as the high king (the sharing of the throne between brothers was a common tradition among the Germanic tribes, see Germanic king). But if so, the order of the names here is puzzling. One would expect Gundaharius to be named immediately after Gibica. First page from Manuscript C of the Nibelungenlied (ca. ...
The Germanic king originally had three main functions. ...
German tradition In the Waltharius King Gibicho of the Franks is father of Guntharius, that is Gunther, and both father and son are called kings of the Franks, not kings of the Burgundians, though their city is Worms on the Rhine. Another king called named Heriricus rules the Burgundians and is father of Hiltgunt, the heroine of the tale. The only other kinsman of Gunther who appears here is Hagen. But Hagen's exact familial relation to Gunther is not given.
The Old Norse Thidreks saga is a medieval translation of German legendary material into Norwegian. Here Gunther (the name Norsed as Gunnar) and his brothers are sons and heirs of Irung (in one place) or Aldrian (elsewhere) by Aldrian's wife Ode. The sons are named Gunnar (that is Gunther), Gernoz, and Gisler. Ode also bears a daughter named Grímhild. One later passage adds Guthorm. But Guthorm is never mentioned again and is possibly an addition from Norse tradition by the translator or by an early copyiest. Högni (German Hagen) appears as their maternal half-brother, fathered on Ode by an elf when Ode once fell asleep in the garden while her husband was drunk. Yet one passage names Högni's father as Aldrian. There are confusions and doublings in the Thidreks saga and it may be that Aldrian was properly the name of Högni's elf father. Gunnar and his legitimate brothers are often called Niflungar and their country is named Niflungaland. Their sister Grímhild bore to Atli (Attila) a son named Aldrian who is slain by Högni. At the end of the resultant battle, Högni, though mortally wounded, fathered a son on Herad, one of Thidrek's relations. This son, named Aldrian, accomplished Atli's death and became Jarl of Niflungaland under Brynhild (Brynhildr). In the Faroese Högnatáttur a similar tale is told. Here Gunnar and Högni have two younger brothers named Gislar and Hjarnar, both slain along with their elder brothers. Högni, lies with a Jarl's daughter named Helvik on his deathbed and prophecies to Helvik that a son born to her will avenge him. The son in this account is named Högni. On the birth of the child, Helvik, following Högni's advice, secretly exchanged it with a newborn child of "Gudrún" and "Artala". As a result, Gudrún slew the supposed child of Högni, thinking to have put an end to Högni's lineage, but in fact killed her own child and then brought up Högni's child as her own. This second Högni learned of his true parentage and took vengeance on Artala as in the Thidreks saga. Thidreks saga (also Thidreksaga, Thidrekssaga, Niflungasaga) is a saga of the adventures of the hero Dietrich von Bern, believed to be based on the historical Theodoric the Great, and written down about 1250. ...
Sigurd and Brynhilds funeral In Norse mythology, Brynhildr (German: Brünnehilde) was a shieldmaiden and a valkyrie. ...
In the Nibelungenlied and its dependant poems the Klage and Biterolf, the father of Gunther, Gernot, Giselher, and Kriemhild is named Dankrat and their mother is named Uote. Hagen is their kinsman (exact relationship not given), and has a brother named Dancwart whose personality is bright and cheerful in contrast to Hagen's. Hagen also has a sister's son named Ortwin of Metz. These family relationships might seem to prohibit any elvish siring, but in the cognate story of Brân the Blessed in the second branch of the Mabinogion, Hagen's counterpart Efnisien had a brother named Nisien who was similarly his opposite and Efnisien and Nisien are maternal half-brothers to Brân and Manawyddan just as in the Thidreks saga, Högni was maternal brother to Gunnar and Gernoz. In the second half of the Nibelungenlied both Hagen and Dankwart are called sons of Aldrian. Nothing further is told of Aldrian here. Also in the Nibelungenlied, Gunther and Brünhild had a son named Siegfried and Siegfried and Kriemhild had a son name Gunther. Kriemhild's later son born to Etzel (= Attila) who is slain by Hagen is here named Ortlieb. The Klage relates that Gunther's son Siegfied inherited the kingdom. First page from Manuscript C of the Nibelungenlied (ca. ...
Bran the Blessed (aka Bendigeidfran) was a character in Welsh mythology, a son of Llyr and Penarddun, who appears in the Mabinogion. ...
The Mabinogion is a collection of prose stories from medieval Welsh manuscripts. ...
In Welsh mythology, Efnisien was the son of Penarddun and Eurosswydd. ...
In Welsh mythology, Nisien was the son of Penarddun and Eurosswydd and twin of Efnisien. ...
In Irish mythology, Manannan mac Lir was a sea and weather god. ...
Siegfried could refer to: The opera by Richard Wagner; see Siegfried (opera). ...
Norse tradition The Skáldskaparmál names the founder of the Niflung lineage as Nefi, one of the second set of nine sons of Halfdan the Old who founded many famous legendary lineages. The Ættartolur (genealogies attached to the Hversu Noregr byggdist) call this son of Halfdan by the name Næfil (Næfill) and relate that King Næfil was father of Heimar, father of Eynef (Eynefr), father of Rakni, father of Gjúki. The second part of the Younger Edda of Snorri Sturluson. ...
Halfdan the Old (Old Norse Hálfdanr gamli and Hálfdanr inn gamli) was an ancient, legendary king from whom descended many of the most notable lineages of legend. ...
Hversu Noregr byggdist (Old Norse Hversu Noregr byggðist) meaning How Norway was inhabited, which survives only in the Flatey Book, is a account of the origin of various legendary Norwegian lineages. ...
The form Gjúki is etymologically equatable to Gebicca of the Lex Burgundionum. According to the Skáldskaparmál and the Ættartolur, Gjúki was father of two sons named Gunnar (Gunnarr) and Högni (Hǫgni) and of two daughters named Gudrún (Guðrún) and Gudný (Guðný). Their mother was named Grímhild (Grímhildr). Gudný is mentioned in no other extant texts. A younger brother named Gutthorm (Gutþormr) take on the role of Sigurd's slayer, after being egged on by Gunnar and Högni in the eddic poems Brot of Sigurtharkvidu (stanza 4), in Sigurdarkvida hin skamma (stanzas 20–23), and in the Völsunga saga (as well as being mentioned in the eddic poems Grípisspá and Gudrúnarkvida II). According to the eddic poem Hyndluljód, stanza 27: The second part of the Younger Edda of Snorri Sturluson. ...
The Ramsund carving in Sweden depicts 1) how Sigurd is sitting naked in front of the fire preparing the dragon heart, from Fafnir, for his foster-father Regin, who is Fafnirs brother. ...
Gunnar and Högni, the heirs of Gjúki,
And Gudrún as well, who their sister was;
But Gotthorm was not of Gjúki's race,
Although the brother of both he was:
And all are thy kinsmen, Óttar, thou fool! If Gotthorm or Gutthorm, the slayer of Sigurd in northern tradition, is brother of Gunnar and Högni, but is not a son of Gjúki, he must be a maternal half-brother, just as Hagen, the slayer of Siegfried in the German tradition, is a maternal half-brother in the Thidreks saga.
Gudrún bore to Sigurd a son named Sigmund according to the Völsunga saga, presumably the same as the unnamed son mentioned in stanza 5 of Sigurdarkvida hin skamma. But nothing more is said of him. More often mentioned is Gudrún's daughter named Svanhild (Svanhildr) who became the wife of Jörmenrek (Jǫmrenrkr). By her third husband Jónakr, Gudrún is mother of Hamdir (Hamðir) and Sörli (Sǫrli). In the eddic poems Guðrúnarhvöt and Hamðismál, Erp (Erpr), a third son of Jónakr, was born by a different mother. But in the Skáldskaparmál and the Völsunga saga Erp is also a son of Gudrún. Svanhild was the daughter of Sigurd and Gudrun in the Volsung Cycle. ...
Ermanaric (d. ...
Hamdir, Sörli and Erp (ice. ...
Hamdir, Sörli and Erp (ice. ...
Guðrúnarhvöt is a skaldic poem of the Poetic Edda. ...
The Hamðismál is a poem which ends the Skaldic poetry of the Poetic Edda, and thereby the whole collection. ...
Hamdir, Sörli and Erp (ice. ...
The second part of the Younger Edda of Snorri Sturluson. ...
In the Atlakvida (stanza 12), a son of Högni says farewell to his father as Gunnar and Högni depart to visit Atli. The Atlamál (stanza 28) brings in two sons of Högni by his wife Kostbera, named Snævar (Snævarr) and Sólar (Sólarr). They accompany their father and uncle on their fateful journey to Atli's court where they also meet their deaths. These sons are also mentioned in the prose introduction to the eddic poem Dráp Niflunga along with a third son Gjúki. The Atlamál later introduces another son of Högni (or possibly Gjúki son of Högni under another name) who, along with Gudrún, kills Atli. In the Völsunga saga this son is named Niflung (Niflungr). He may be a reflex of the posthumous son of Högni who is called Aldrian in the Thidreks saga. The Danish Hven Chronicle also tells the story of Högni's posthumous son begotten as Högni is dying, of the switching of children so that Högni is brought up as son of Atli and "Gremhild", and of how this son lures Gremhild to the cave of treasure and seals her in.
Other interpretations of Nibelung
A northern people Although Nibelungs refers to the royal family of the Burgundians in the second half of the Nibelunglenlied (as well as in many other texts), in the first half Nibelungenlant is instead a kingdom on the borders of Norway of which Siegfried becomes the ruler.
In Adventure 3 Hagen tells how Siegfried came by chance upon the two sons of the king of the Nibelungs who had just died. Their names were Schilbung and Nibelung and they were attempting to divide their father's hoard, the hoard of the Nibelungs. They asked Siegfried to make the division for him. For a reason not explained, Siegfried was unable to make the division despite much effort. Fighting broke out and Siegfried slew Schilbung, Nibelung, twelve giants, and seven hundred warriors, at which point those still alive, not unreasonably, surrendered and took Siegfried as their king. In this way Siegfried gained the Nibelung treasure, though he still had to fight the dwarf Alberich whom he defeated and made guardian of the hoard. We are to presume that when the treasure passed to the Burgundian kings after Siegfried's death, the name Nibelung went with it. It is a common folklore motif that the protagonist comes upon two or three persons or creatures quarreling about a division of treasure or magical objects among themselves, that they ask the protagonist to make the division for them, and that in the end it is the protagonist who ends up as owner of the treasure. Schilbung and Niblung are otherwise unknown. It may be coincidence that in the Ættartolur, Skelfir ancestor of the Skilfings and Næfil ancestor of the Niflungs (Nibelungs) are brothers, though there they are two of nine brothers. Old English Scylfing and Old Norse Skilfing (Skilfingr) is the name of a legendary genealogical lineage or clan. ...
Referring to dwarfs In a later poem Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfried ('The Lay of Horney Siegfried'), known only from 16th century printed versions, the owner of the original owner of the hoard is a dwarf named Nybling. Siegfried happened to find it one day and bore it away. At Worms Siegfried met King Gybich, his three sons Gunther, Hagen, and Gyrnot, and his daughter Kriemhild. When Kriemhild was abducted by a dragon, Siegfried rescued her and was given her hand in marriage. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...
This variant usage of Niblung may arise from the identification of the hoard of the Burgundians, or at least most of it, with the hoard of treasure won by Siegfried. The German versions of the tale make much of Kriemhild's right to the "Nibelungen" treasure through her previous marriage to Siegfried. Some seemingly took Nibelung to apply primarily to Siegfried's treasure, in which case it must mean something else than the Burgundian royal family, and so another explanation was contrived.
The alternate theory is that the connection with the treasure was indeed primary, and that nibel-, nifl-, meaning 'mist, cloud', referred originally to a dwarfish origin for the hoard, though this was later forgotten and the application of the name to the Burgundian royal family arose from misunderstanding. In the first half of the Nibelungenlied, Siegfried's last fight to win the treasure is against the dwarf Alberich. In Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfried the treasure belonged to the dwarf Nybling. Though the kings of the Nibelungs named Schilbung and Nibelung in the first half of the Nibelungenlied are humans as far as is told, it would not be impossible that in earlier tradition they were explicitly dwarfs like Alberich. The people of the Nibelungs also have giants in their service, perhaps an indication of their earlier supernatural stature. In the Norse tales the hoard originates from a dwarf named Andvari, thence passes to Odin, and then to Hreidmar (Hreiðmarr), and then to Hreidmar's son Fáfnir who changes into dragon form, and from him to Sigurd (Siegfried). In Norse mythology, Andvari was a dwarf. ...
For other meanings of Odin see Odin (disambiguation) Odin (Old Norse Óðinn) is considered the highest god in Norse mythology, he is often called the high one; but you somtimes all hear him being called The terrible one; and Norse paganism, like West Germanic Woden continuing Proto-Germanic *Wodanaz His...
In Norse mythology, Fafnir was a son of the dwarf king Hreidmar and brother of Regin and Otr. ...
Niflheim 'Mist-home', is a mythical region of cold and mist and darkness in the north. Niflhel is a term for part of all of Hel, the land of the dead. As dwarfs are subterranean creatures in these tales, who live in darkness, Niflung would seem a reasonable name for these beings, an old name forgotten in the north and only preserved in the garblings of some German accounts of the origin of the Niblung hoard. In "Silver Fir Cones", one of the tales found in Otmar's Volcks-Sagen (Traditions of the Harz) (Bremem, 1800), the king of the dwarfs is named Gübich. Niflheim (Land of Mists) is the realm of ice and cold in Norse Mythology. ...
HEL can mean: Helsinki-Vantaa Airport High energy laser (weapon) This is a disambiguation page, a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ...
It cannot be proved which meaning was primary, that of dwarf or Burgundian prince. Scholars today mostly believe that the Burgundian connection is the more original one. In the 19th century, the dwarf theory was popular and was adopted by Richard Wagner for his operatic Ring cycle which was very freely adapted from the tales surrounding Siegfried and the Burgundians. In Wagner's operas Nibelungs refers to the race of dwarfs. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Variant spellings Variant anglicizations are: Brân the Blessed: Bran the Blessed, Bendigeidvrân, Bendigeidvran ; Dankrat: Dancrat ; Dankwart: Dancwart ; Efnisien: Evnisien ; Fáfnir: Fafnir ; Gjúki: Gjuki, Giuki ; Grímhild: Grimhild ; Gübich: Gubich ; Gudrún: Gudrun, Guthrun, Guthrún, Gudhrun ; Gudný: Gudny, Guthny, Gudhny Hamdir: Hamthir, Hamdhir; Hnæf: Hnaef ; Högni: Hogni ; Jónakr: Jonakr, Ionakr ; Jörmenrek: Jormenrek; Iormenrek; Iormenrekk ; Snævar: Snaevar ; Sólar: Solar ; Sörli: Sorli.
References See Norse mythology for general references. Norse or Scandinavian mythology comprises the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ...
- Dronke, Ursula (1969). "Arfr Niflunga" in The Poetic Edda: Volume I: The Heroic Poems. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
External links - "The Nibelungen: the historical truth" - a site opposing the traditional view of the Nibelungs as based on history
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