Germanic mythology Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism. Origins As the Germanic langu ...

, an idis (

Old Saxon Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). It ...

, plural idisi) is a divine female being. ''Idis'' is cognate to

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

itis and

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

ides, meaning 'well-respected and dignified woman.' Connections have been assumed or theorized between the idisi and the North Germanic

dís In Norse mythology, a dís (Old Norse: , "lady", plural dísir ) is a female deity, ghost, or spirit associated with Fate who can be either benevolent or antagonistic toward mortals. Dísir may act as protective spirits of Norse clans. It ...

ir; female beings associated with fate, as well as the amended place name

Idistaviso Idistaviso is the location on the Weser river where forces commanded by Arminius fought those commanded by Germanicus at the Battle of the Weser River in 16 CE, attested in chapter 16 of Tacitus' ''Annales'' II. The name was amended by Karl Müllen ...

Attestations

First Merseburg Charm

One of the two

Merseburg Incantations The Merseburg charms or Merseburg incantations (german: die Merseburger Zaubersprüche) are two medieval magic spells, charms or incantations, written in Old High German. They are the only known examples of Germanic pagan belief preserved in the ...

call upon female beings—''idisi''—to bind and hamper an army. The incantation reads:

:'Once the ''Idisi'' sat, sat here and there, :some bound fetters, some hampered the army, :some untied fetters: :Escape from the fetters, flee from the enemies.'Simek (2007:171).

Beowulf

In the

poem '' Beowulf'', the term ''ides'' is used multiple times to describe female beings. In line 1074 and again in line 1117, the queen Hildeburh is described as an ''ides'' while mourning the death of her kin after the Battle of Finnsburg. In line 620,

Hrothgar Hrothgar ( ang, Hrōðgār ; on, Hróarr) was a semi-legendary Danish king living around the early sixth century AD. Hrothgar appears in the Anglo-Saxon epics '' Beowulf'' and ''Widsith'', in Norse sagas and poems, and in medieval Danish chr ...

's wife, Wealhtheow is described as the "''ides'' of the Helmings" and again in line 1168 as the "''ides'' of the

Scyldings Old English Scylding (plural Scyldingas) and Old Norse Skjǫldung (plural Skjǫldungar), meaning in both languages "children of Scyld/Skjǫldr" are the members of a legendary royal family of Danes, especially kings. The name is explained in many ...

". In line 1259, the

mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...

of the '' Jotunn, thurs'' Grendel is introduced as an ''ides''.Chickering (2006:120).

Theories

The idisi mentioned in the first Merseburg Incantation are generally considered to be valkyries. Rudolf Simek says that "these Idisi are obviously a kind of valkyrie, as these also have the power to hamper enemies in Norse mythology" and points to a connection with the valkyrie name ''

Herfjötur In Norse mythology, Herfjötur (Old Norse: ''Herfjǫtur'', "host-fetter"Orchard (1997:194). or "fetter of the army"Simek (2007:142).) is a valkyrie. Herfjötur is attested as among the 13 valkyries listed in the ''Poetic Edda'' poem ''Grímnismál' ...

'' (Old Norse "army-fetter").

Hilda Ellis Davidson Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson (born Hilda Roderick Ellis; 1 October 1914 – 12 January 2006) was an English folklorist. She was a scholar at the University of Cambridge and The Folklore Society, and specialized in the study of Celtic and G ...

compares the incantation to the Old English ''

Wið færstice "Wið færstice" is an Old English medical text surviving in the collection known now as ''Lacnunga'' in the British Library. ''Wið fǣrstiċe'' means 'against a sudden/violent stabbing pain'; and according to Felix Grendon, whose collection of An ...

'' charm, and theorizes a similar role for them both.Davidson (1990:63). Simek says that the

West Germanic The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages). The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into ...

term ''Idisi'' (Old Saxon ''idis'', Old High German ''itis'', Anglo-Saxon ''ides'') refers to a "dignified, well respected woman (married or unmarried), possibly a term for any woman, and therefore glosses exactly Latin '' matrona''" and that a link to the

North Germanic The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also r ...

term ''dísir'' is reasonable to assume, yet that it is not undisputed. In addition, the place name Idisiaviso (meaning "plain of the Idisi") where forces commanded by Arminius fought those commanded by Germanicus at the Battle of the Weser River in 16 CE. Simek points to a connection between name Idisiaviso, the role of the Idisi in one of the two Merseburg Incantations, and

valkyries In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ("chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become (Old Norse "single (or once) fighters"Orchard (1997:3 ...

.Simek (2007:171). Regarding the dísir, Simek states that Old Norse ''dís'' appears commonly as simply a term for 'woman,' just as Old High German ''itis'', Old Saxon ''idis'', and Anglo-Saxon ''ides'', and may have also been used to denote a type of goddess. According to Simek, "several of the Eddic sources might lead us to conclude that the ''disir'' were valkyrie-like guardians of the dead, and indeed in '' Guðrúnarkviða'' I 19 the valkyries are even called ''Herjans disir'' 'Odin's disir'. The ''disir'' are explicitly called dead women in ''

Atlamál ''Atlamál in grǿnlenzku'' (''The Greenlandic Lay of List of names of Thor, Atli'') is one of the heroic poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. It relates the same basic story as ''Atlakviða'' at greater length and in a different style. The poem is beli ...

'' 28 and a secondary belief that the ''disir'' were the souls of dead women (see '' fylgjur'') also underlies the '' landdísir'' of Icelandic folklore."Simek (2007:61–62). Simek says that "as the function of the matrons was also extremely varied – fertility goddess, personal guardians, but also warrior-goddesses – the belief in the ''dísir'', like the belief in the valkyries, norns, and matrons, may be considered to be different manifestations of a belief in a number of female (half-?) goddesses." Jacob Grimm proposes a potential connection to the name of the Norse goddess

Iðunn In Norse mythology, Iðunn is a goddess associated with apples and youth. Iðunn is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri St ...

and the idisi. Grimm states that "with the original form ''idis'' the goddess Idunn may possibly be connected."Grimm (1882:402-403).

Notes

References

* Chickering Jr., Howell D. (2006). ''Beowulf: A Dual Language Edition''. Anchor Books. * Davidson, H. R. Ellis (1990). ''Gods and Myths of Northern Europe''.

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Teutonic Mythology: Translated from the Fourth Edition with Notes and Appendix by James Stallybrass''. Volume I. London: George Bell and Sons. * Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D.S. Brewer {{Germanic peoples Germanic goddesses Germanic deities