Aurvandill (
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
) is a figure in
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 ...
. In
Norse mythology, the god
Thor
Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, an ...
tosses Aurvandill's toe – which had frozen while the
thunder god
Polytheistic peoples from many cultures have postulated a thunder god, the personification or source of the forces of thunder and lightning; a lightning god does not have a typical depiction, and will vary based on the culture. In Indo-European c ...
was carrying him in a basket across the
Élivágar
In Norse mythology, Élivágar (Old Norse: ; "Ice Waves") are rivers that existed in Ginnungagap at the beginning of the world. The ''Prose Edda'' relates:
The streams called Ice-waves, those which were so long come from the fountain-heads that ...
rivers – into the sky to form a star called ' ('Aurvandill's toe'). In wider medieval Germanic-speaking cultures, he was known as ' in
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 ...
, ' in
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 ...
, ' in
Lombardic, and possibly as ' in
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
. An
Old Danish Latinized version, ''Horwendillus'' (Ørvendil), is also the name given to the father of ''
Amleth
Amleth (; Latinized as ''Amlethus'') is a figure in a medieval Scandinavian legend, the direct inspiration of the character of Prince Hamlet, the hero of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet, Prince of Denmark''. The chief authority for the l ...
us'' (Amleth) in
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark ...
' ''
Gesta Danorum
''Gesta Danorum'' ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark an ...
''.
Comparative studies
Cross-cultural studies, sometimes called holocultural studies or comparative studies, is a specialization in anthropology and sister sciences such as sociology, psychology, economics, political science that uses field data from many societies thr ...
of the various myths where the figure is involved have led scholars to reconstruct a
Common Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic br ...
mythical figure named ', which seems to have personified the 'rising light' of the morning, possibly the Morning Star (
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
). However, the German and – to a lesser extent – the Old Danish evidence remain difficult to interpret in this model.
Name and origin
Etymology
The
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
name ' stems from a
Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...
form reconstructed as ', ', or '. It is
cognate with
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 ...
',
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 ...
' (≈ '), and
Lombardic '.
The
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
word ', translating the
Koine Greek
Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...
(''
eosphoros
Phosphorus () is one of the ''Astra Planeta'', specifically the god of the planet Venus in its appearance as the Morning Star. Another Greek name for the Morning Star is "Eosphorus" ( grc, Ἑωσφόρος, Heōsphoros, link=no), which means ...
'', 'dawnbringer'), may also be related.
The original meaning of the Common Germanic name remains obscure. The most
semantically
Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and compu ...
plausible explanation is to interpret ' as a
compound
Compound may refer to:
Architecture and built environments
* Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall
** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...
meaning 'light-beam' or 'ray of light', by deriving the
prefix '- from Proto-Germanic ' ('shiny, shiny liquid'; cf. ON ' 'gold', OE ' 'wave, sea'), and ' from ' ('rod, cane'; cf. Goth. ', ON ').
This theory is encouraged by the Old English association of the idea of 'rising light' with ',
whose name has been translated as 'radiance, morning star',
or as 'dawn, ray of light'.
Alternatively, the Old Norse prefix ' has also been interpreted as coming from Proto-Germanic ' ('mud, gravel, sediment'; cf. ON ' 'wet clay, mud', OE ' 'earth'), with ' being rendered as 'gravel-beam' or 'swamp-wand'. According to philologist
Christopher R. Fee
Christopher R. Fee is an American philologist and medievalist. He is a professor of English at Gettysburg College.
Biography
An alumnus of Saint Edward High School, the English Departments of Loyola University Chicago and Baldwin-Wallace College ...
, this may imply the idea a phallic figure related to fertility, the name of his spouse in the Old Norse myth,
Gróa
In Norse mythology, Gróa (possibly from Old Norse "growing"Orchard (1997:63).) is a völva (seeress) and practitioner of ''seiðr''. She is the wife of Aurvandil the Bold.
Attestations ''Prose Edda''
Gróa appears in the ''Prose Edda'' book ...
, literally meaning 'Growth'.
In less frequent scholarly interpretations, the second element has also been derived by some researchers from ' ('
Vandal
The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century.
The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...
'; i.e. 'the shining Vandal'), from a stem ' ('beard'), or else compared to a
Norse word for ''sword''.
Origin
Commentators since at least the time of
Jacob Grimm's ''
Deutsche Mythologie
''Deutsche Mythologie'' (, ''Teutonic Mythology'') is a treatise on Germanic mythology by Jacob Grimm. First published in Germany in 1835, the work is an exhaustive treatment of the subject, tracing the mythology and beliefs of the ancient Germani ...
'', first published in 1835, have emphasized the great age of the tradition reflected in the mythological material surrounding this name, without being able to fully reconstruct the motifs of a Common Germanic myth. The task is complicated because the mythical stories of Orendel and Horwendillus appear to be unrelated to that of Ēarendel and Aurvandill. However, some scholars, including
Georges Dumézil, have attempted to demonstrate that Saxo's Horwendillus and Snorri's Aurvandill are based on the same archetypal myth. Furthermore, the apparent discrepancies may be explained by the fact that derivatives of ' were also used as personal names in the Lombardic and German traditions, as attested by historical figures who are named ' and ' by the 8th century AD.
Thus, the ''
Orendel
''Orendel'' is a Middle High German epic poem. Composed of around 4,000 lines, it is traditionally dated to the end of the 12th century. The earliest known manuscript (1477) was lost in a fire in 1870.
Synopsis
The story is associated with the tow ...
'' of the
Middle High German
Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...
myth may have been a different figure sharing the same name.
At any rate, scholars
Rudolf Simek
Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German and Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in Germanic studies, and is the author o ...
and
John Lindow
John Frederick Lindow (born July 23, 1946) is an American philologist who is Professor Emeritus of Old Norse and Folklore at University of California, Berkeley. He is a well known authority on Old Norse religion and literature.
Biography
John Lin ...
contend that the linguistic relation between the Old Norse and Old English names may suggest a Common Germanic origin of the myth despite the absence of Aurvandill from the
Poetic Edda
The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic med ...
. They argue that Aurvendill was probably already connected with a star in the original myth, but that Snorri may have modelled the story of ' ('Auvandill's Toe') on the tale of the stars emerging from
Þjazi
In Norse mythology, Þjazi (Old Norse: ; anglicized as Thiazi, Thjazi, Tjasse or Thiassi) was a giant. He was a son of the giant Ölvaldi, brother of giants Iði and Gangr, and the father of Skaði. His most notable misdeed was the kidnapp ...
's eyes while Thor throws them into the sky.
Attestations
Old Norse
The
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
' is mentioned once in
Norse mythology, in ''
Skáldskaparmál
''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Language of Poetry'; c. 50,000 words; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda''.
The section consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, ...
'', a book of
Snorri Sturluson's 13th-century ''
Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...
'', where he is described as the husband of the witch Gróa:
Thor went home to Thrúdvangar, and the hone Honing is a kind of metalworking.
Hone may also refer to:
* Hone (name) (incl. Hōne), a list of people with the surname, given name or nickname
* Hõne language
Hõne is a Jukunoid language spoken in Gombe State and Taraba State, Nigeria
...
remained sticking in his head. Then came the wise woman who was called Gróa
In Norse mythology, Gróa (possibly from Old Norse "growing"Orchard (1997:63).) is a völva (seeress) and practitioner of ''seiðr''. She is the wife of Aurvandil the Bold.
Attestations ''Prose Edda''
Gróa appears in the ''Prose Edda'' book ...
, wife of Aurvandill the Valiant: she sang her spells over Thor until the hone was loosened. But when Thor knew that, and thought that there was hope that the hone might be removed, he desired to reward Gróa for her leech-craft and make her glad, and told her these things: that he had waded from the north over Icy Stream and had borne Aurvandill in a basket on his back from the north out of Jötunheim. And he added for a token, that one of Aurvandill's toes had stuck out of the basket, and became frozen; wherefore Thor broke it off and cast it up into the heavens, and made thereof the star called Aurvandill's Toe. Thor said that it would not be long ere Aurvandill came home: but Gróa was so rejoiced that she forgot her incantations, and the hone was not loosened, and stands yet in Thor's head. Therefore it is forbidden to cast a hone across the floor, for then the hone is stirred in Thor's head.
This passage seems to be part of a larger story where Aurvandill is abducted by the
jǫtnar; the thunder-god Thor confronts one of them (
Hrungnir
Hrungnir (Old Norse: , 'brawler') is a jötunn in Norse mythology. He is described as made of stone and is ultimately killed in a duel with the thunder god Thor.
Prior to his demise, Hrungnir engaged in a wager with Odin in which Odin stakes his ...
in Snorri's version) and eventually liberates Aurvandill, but leaves the scene with the weapon of the jǫtunn stuck in his head.
At the end of the story, Aurvandill's frost-bitten toe is made into a new star by Thor. However, it is not clear what celestial object is indicated in this passage. Guesses as to the identity of this star have included
Sirius
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated Alpha CM ...
, the planet
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
, or the blue-white star
Rigel
Rigel is a blue supergiant star in the constellation of Orion. It has the Bayer designation β Orionis, which is Latinized to Beta Orionis and abbreviated Beta Ori or β Ori. Rigel is the brightest and most massive componentand ...
, which could be viewed as forming the foot of the constellation
Orion.
''Gothica Bononiensia''
The oldest attestation of this name may occur in the ''Gothica Bononiensia'', a sermon from
Ostrogothic Italy
The Ostrogothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of Italy (), existed under the control of the Germanic Ostrogoths in Italy and neighbouring areas from 493 to 553.
In Italy, the Ostrogoths led by Theodoric the Great killed and replaced Odoacer, ...
written in the
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct East Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the ''Codex Argenteus'', a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizeable text c ...
not later than the first half of the 6th century, and discovered in 2009. On
folio
The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...
2
recto
' is the "right" or "front" side and ''verso'' is the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on a leaf of paper () in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet.
Etymology
The terms are shortened from Latin ...
, in the context of a quotation from
Isaiah 14:12, linguist P. A. Kerkhof suggested to see the word (''
auzandil'') in a difficult-to-read part of the
palimpsest
In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid skin an ...
. This reading, which has been accepted by various experts such as
Carla Falluomini
Carla Falluomini (born 1970) is an Italian philologist who specializes on Gothic and Lombardic palaeography, languages and cultures. She is currently professor at the University of Perugia.
Biography
Carla Falluomini was born in 1970 in Ferrara ...
and Roland Schuhmann, translates the
Koine Greek
Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...
word (''
heōsphóros'', 'dawnbringer') from the
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...
, which in Latin is rendered ''
lucifer
Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passa ...
'' ('light-bringer, morning star'):
''... ...''
... how Lucifer did fall from heaven, he who emerges in the morning ...
Old English
The term ' (≈ ', ') appears only seven times in the
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 ...
corpus, where it is used in certain contexts to interpret the Latin ' ('rising sun'), ' ('light-bringer'), ' ('dawn') or ' ('radiance'). According to scholar J. E. Cross, textual evidence indicate that it originally meant 'coming or rising light, beginning of light, bringer of light', and that later innovations led to an extended meaning of 'radiance, light'. In the words of philologist Tiffany Beechy, the "Anglo-Saxons appear to have known ' as a quasi-mythological figure who personified a natural phenomenon (sunrise) and an astrological/astronomical object (the morning star)."
''Crist I''
The lines 104–108 of the Old English poem ''
Crist I'' (''Christ I'') describe the coming of Ēarendel to the earth:
The impetus of the poem comes from the Latin
Advent antiphon: ' – "O Orient/Rising One, splendour of eternal light and sun of justice: come and illuminate one sitting in darkness and the shadow of death". Scholars agree that ' was chosen in ''Crist I'' as an equivalent of the Latin ', understood in a religious-poetic context as the 'source of true light', 'the fount of light', and the 'light (which) rises from the Orient'.
Ēarendel is traditionally taken to personify in ''Crist I'' either
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
or
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
himself, figuring him as the rising sun, morning star, or dawn. He is portrayed in the poem as the "true(st) light of the sun" (') and the "brightest of angels
messengers ('), implying the idea of a heavenly or divine radiance physically and metaphorically sent over the earth for the benefit of mankind. The lines 107b–8 ('), translated as "all spans of time you, of yourself, enlighten always", or as "you constantly enlighten all seasons by your presence", may also suggest that Ēarendel exists in the poem as an eternal figure situated outside of time, and as the very force that makes time and its perception possible.
Beechy argues that the expression ' ('O ') could be an Old English poetic stock formula, as it finds "phonetic-associative echoes" in the expressions ' and ' from the Durham Hymnal Gloss.
''Blickling Homilies''
also appears in the ''
Blickling Homilies
The Blickling Homilies is the name given to a collection of anonymous homilies from Anglo-Saxon England. They are written in Old English, and were written down at some point before the end of the tenth century, making them one of the oldest colle ...
'' (10th c. AD), where he is explicitly identified with
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
:
The passage is based on a Latin sermon by the 5th-century Archbishop of Ravenna
Petrus Chrysologus: ' – "But since he is about to appear, now let John spring forth, because the birth of Christ follows closely; let the new Lucifer arise, because now the light of the true Sun is breaking forth". Since the Old English version is close to the original Latin, ' can be clearly identified in the ''Blickling Homilies'' with ''
lucifer
Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passa ...
'', meaning in
liturgical language
A sacred language, holy language or liturgical language is any language that is cultivated and used primarily in church service or for other religious reasons by people who speak another, primary language in their daily lives.
Concept
A sacr ...
the 'light bearer, the planet Venus as morning star, the sign auguring the birth of Christ'. In this context, ' is to be understood as the morning star, the light whose rising signifies Christ’s birth, and whose appearance comes in the poem before the "gleam of the true Sun, God himself".
Glosses
In the Durham Hymnal Gloss (early 11th c. AD), the term ' is used in specific contexts to gloss the Latin ''
aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
'' ('dawn; east, orient') instead of the more frequent equivalent ''dægrima'' ('dawn'), with the hymns 15.8 and 30.1 implying that ' appears ''with the dawn'', as the light that "quite suffuses the sky", rather than being the ''dawn itself'' ("the dawn comes up in its course, steps fully forth").
The Épinal Glossary, written in England in the 8th century, associates ' with the Latin ' ('brightness, radiance'; especially of heavenly bodies) as an alternative to the more frequent equivalent ' (Old English: 'ray of light, gleam'). Two copies of the Épinal Glossary were made in the late 8th or early 9th century: the
Épinal-Erfurt Glossary, which gives the equation ' (≈ '), and the
Corpus Glossary The Corpus Glossary is one of many Anglo-Saxon glossaries. Alongside many entries which gloss Latin words with simpler Latin words or explanations, it also includes numerous Old English glosses on Latin words, making it one of the oldest extant text ...
, redacted from an archetype of Épinal-Erfurt exemplar.
German
The forms ' (≈ ', '), dating from the 8th century, and ' (≈ '), dating from the 9th–10th century, were used in
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 ...
as personal names.
A Bavarian count named ' is recorded in 843.
The
Middle High German
Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...
epic poem ''
Orendel
''Orendel'' is a Middle High German epic poem. Composed of around 4,000 lines, it is traditionally dated to the end of the 12th century. The earliest known manuscript (1477) was lost in a fire in 1870.
Synopsis
The story is associated with the tow ...
'', written in the late 12th century, provides a fictional account of how the Holy Mantle of Christ came to the city of
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
that was probably inspired by the actual transfer of the Mantle to the main altar of
Trier Cathedral in 1196. The style of the poem, characterized by its "
paratactic
Parataxis (from el, παράταξις, "act of placing side by side"; from παρα, ''para'' "beside" + τάξις, ''táxis'' "arrangement") is a literary technique, in writing or speaking, that favors short, simple sentences, without conju ...
organization of episodes and the repetition of poetic formulas", may point to an older oral tradition. The eponymous hero of the tale, Orendel, son of King Ougel, embarks on the sea with a mighty fleet in order to reach the Holy Land and seek the hand of Bride,
Queen of Jerusalem
This is a list of queens of Jerusalem, from 1099 to 1291.
Throughout 200 years of its existence, the Kingdom of Jerusalem had one protector, 18 kings (including 7 ''jure uxoris'') and five queens regnant. Six women were queens consort, i.e. qu ...
. Suffering shipwreck, Orendel is rescued by a fisherman and eventually recovers the lost Mantle in the belly of a whale. The coat provides him protection and he succeeds in winning Bride for his wife. After ruling Jerusalem with Bride for a time, the two of them meet with many adventures. At the end of the story, Orendel finally disposes of the Holy Coat after bringing it to Trier.
The appendix to the ''
Strassburger Heldenbuch'' (15th c.) names King Orendel (≈ ') of Trier as the first of the heroes that were ever born.
The name also gave way to various toponyms found in present-day Germany, including ' (in
Grabfeld
The Grabfeld is a region in Germany, on the border between Bavaria and Thuringia. It is situated southeast of the Rhön Mountains. Its highest elevation is 679 metres high in the little Gleichberge mountain range. The Grabfeld gave its name to t ...
), ' (now part of
Zweiflingen
Zweiflingen is a town in the district of Hohenlohe in Baden-Württemberg in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russ ...
), and ' (in
Öhringen
Öhringen ( East Franconian: ''Ähringe'') is the largest town in Hohenlohe (district) in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in southwest Germany, near Heilbronn. Öhringen is on the railline to Schwäbisch Hall and Crailsheim.
With a population o ...
).
Lombardic
The
Lombardic form ' appears as a personal name in the 8th century.
Danish
A Latinized version of the
Old Danish name, ''Horwendillus'' (Ørvendil), appears in
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark ...
' ''
Gesta Danorum
''Gesta Danorum'' ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark an ...
'' (ca. 1200) as the father of ''
Amleth
Amleth (; Latinized as ''Amlethus'') is a figure in a medieval Scandinavian legend, the direct inspiration of the character of Prince Hamlet, the hero of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet, Prince of Denmark''. The chief authority for the l ...
us'' (Amlet):
Now Ørvendil, after controlling the utlandprovince for three years, had devoted himself to piracy and reaped such superlative renown that Koller, the king of Norway, wishing to rival his eminent deeds and widespread reputation, judged it would suit him very well if he could transcend him in warfare and cast a shadow over the brilliance of this world-famed sea-rover. He cruised about, combing various parts of the seas, until he lit upon Ørvendil's fleet. Each of the pirates had gained an island in the midst of the ocean and they had moored their ships on different sides. (...)
Both gave and accepted their word of honour on this point and fell to battle. They were not deterred from assailing each other with their blades by the novelty of their meeting or the springtime charm of that spot, for they took no heed of these things. Ørvendil's emotional fervour made him more eager to set upon his foe than to defend himself; consequently he disregarded the protection of his shield and laid both hands to his sword. This daring had its results. His rain of blows deprived Koller of his shield by cutting it to pieces; finally he carved off the other’s foot and made him fall lifeless. He honoured their agreement by giving him a majestic funeral, constructing an ornate tomb, and providing a ceremony of great magnificence. After this he hounded down and slew Koller's sister Sæla, a warring amazon and accomplished pirate herself and skilled in the trade of fighting.
Three years were passed in gallant military enterprises, in which he marked the richest and choicest of the plunder for Rørik, to bring himself into closer intimacy with the king. On the strength of their friendship Ørvendil wooed and obtained Rørik's daughter Gerutha for his bride, who bore him a son, Amleth.
In view of Saxo's tendency to
euhemerise and reinterpret traditional Scandinavian myths, philologist
Georges Dumézil has proposed that his story was based on the same archetype as Snorri's Aurvandill. In what could be a literary inversion of the original myth, Horwendillus is portrayed as a warrior who injures and vanquishes his adversary, whereas Aurvandill was taken as a hostage by the
jǫtnar and wounded during his deliverance. Dumézil also notes that, although the event does not take a cosmological turn in Saxo's version, Aurvandill's toe was broken off by Thor, while Collerus' (Koller's) entire foot is slashed off by Horwendillus.
In popular culture
British writer
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
discovered the lines 104–105 of Cynewulf's ''Crist'' in 1913. According to him, the "great beauty" of the name Ēarendel, and the myth he seems to be associated with, inspired the character of
Eärendil depicted in ''
The Silmarillion
''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavri ...
''. In 1914, Tolkien published a poem originally entitled "The Voyage of Earendel the Evening Star" as an account of Ēarendel's celestial course as the bright Morning-star. In a personal letter from 1967, Tolkien wrote:
When first studying A gloSxon
Software flow control is a method of flow control used in computer data links, especially RS-232 serial. It uses special codes, transmitted in-band, over the primary communications channel. These codes are generally called XOFF and XON (from ...
professionally (1913) ... I was struck by the great beauty of this word (or name), entirely coherent with the normal style of A-S, but euphonic to a peculiar degree in that pleasing but not 'delectable' language ... it at least seems certain that it belonged to astronomical-myth, and was the name of a star or star-group. Before 1914, I wrote a 'poem' upon Earendel who launched his ship like a bright spark from the havens of the Sun. I adopted him into my mythology in which he became a prime figure as a mariner, and eventually as a herald star, and a sign of hope to men. ''Aiya Earendil Elenion Ancalima'' (II 329) 'hail Earendil brightest of Stars' is derived at long remove from ''Éala Éarendel engla beorhtast''.
Tolkien interpreted Ēarendel as a Messenger, probably inspired by his association with the word ' ('angel, messenger') in both ''Crist I''
(104) and the ''Blickling Homilies''
(21 & 35), and his identification with
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
in the latter text. Tolkien's depiction of Eärendil as a Herald also has echoes in the interpretation of the Old English Ēarendel as the Morning-star physically heralding the rising of the sun, which finds a figurative parallel in the ''Blickling Homilies'', where Ēarendel heralds the coming of the "true Sun", Christ. Another pervasive aspect of Tolkien's Eärendil is his depiction as a Mariner. Carl F. Hostetter notes that, although "the association of Eärendil with the sea was for Tolkien a deeply personal one", the Danish Horvandillus and the German Orendel are both portrayed as mariners themselves.
In 2022, a group of scientists led by astronomer Brian Welch named star
WHL0137-LS
WHL0137-LS, also known as Earendel, is a star in the constellation of Cetus. Discovered in 2022 by the Hubble Space Telescope, it is the earliest and most distant known star, at a comoving distance of . The previous furthest known star, MACS J ...
"Earendel" from the Old English meaning.
See also
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Iubar
In Greek mythology, Hesperus (; grc, Ἕσπερος, Hésperos) is the Evening Star, the planet Venus in the evening. He is one of the ''Astra Planeta''. A son of the dawn goddess Eos (Roman Aurora), he is the half-brother of her other son, Ph ...
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Proto-Germanic folklore
Proto-Germanic folklore is the folklore of the speakers of Proto-Germanic and includes topics such as the Germanic mythology, legendry, and folk beliefs of early Germanic culture. By way of the comparative method, Germanic philologists, a variety ...
*
Lucifer
Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passa ...
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{{Norse mythology
Characters in Norse mythology
Germanic given names
Amleth
Venusian deities
Dawn gods