hörgr
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A hörgr (
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
, plural ''hörgar'') or hearg (
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 settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
) was a type of
altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
or cult site, possibly consisting of a heap of stones, used in
Norse religion Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is the most common name for a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into a distinct branch of the Germanic peopl ...
, as opposed to a roofed hall used as a ''hof'' (temple). The Old Norse term is attested in both 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 me ...
'' and the ''
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 ...
'', in the
sagas of Icelanders The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early el ...
,
skaldic poetry A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally ...
, and with its Old English cognate in ''
Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
''. The word is also reflected in various
place names Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
(in
English placenames The toponymy of England derives from a variety of linguistic origins. Many English toponyms have been corrupted and broken down over the years, due to language changes which have caused the original meanings to be lost. In some cases, words used ...
as '' harrow''), often in connection with
Germanic deities In Germanic paganism, the indigenous religion of the ancient Germanic peoples who inhabited Germanic Europe, there were a number of different gods and goddesses. Germanic deities are attested from numerous sources, including works of literature, ...
.


Etymology

Old Norse '' hǫrgr'' means "altar, sanctuary"; Old English '' hearg'' "
holy grove Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees and have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. They were important features of the mythological landscape and ...
; temple, idol";Simek (2007:156). and
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 ...
''harug'' continues 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 branc ...
'' *harugaz'', possibly cognate with
Insular Celtic Insular Celtic languages are the group of Celtic languages of Brittany, Great Britain, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. All surviving Celtic languages are in the Insular group, including Breton, which is spoken on continental Europe in Brittany, ...
'' carrac'' "cliff".


Old Norse tradition


Literary

The term ''hörgr'' is used three times in poems collected in 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 me ...
''. In a stanza early in the poem ''
Völuspá ''Vǫluspá'' (also ''Völuspá'', ''Vǫlospá'' or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress'; reconstructed Old Norse: ) is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It tells the story of the creation of the world and ...
'', the
völva In Germanic paganism, a seeress is a woman said to have the ability to foretell future events and perform sorcery. They are also referred to with many other names meaning "prophetess", "staff bearer", "wise woman" and "sorceress", and they are f ...
says that early in the mythological timeline, the gods met together at the location of
Iðavöllr Iðavöllr (Old Norse Iðavǫllr, possibly "splendour-plain"Orchard (1997:95).) is a location referenced twice in ''Völuspá'', the first poem in the ''Poetic Edda'', as a meeting place of the gods. Attestations In a stanza early in the poem ''V ...
and constructed a hörgr and a hof ( Henry Adams Bellows and
Ursula Dronke __NOTOC__ Ursula Miriam Dronke (née Brown, 3 November 1920 – 8 March 2012Heather O'Donoghue"Ursula Dronke obituary: Inspirational teacher of Old Norse literature specialising in the sagas and poetry of medieval Iceland" ''The Guardian'' 25 M ...
here gloss ''hörgr'' as "temples"):
In the poem ''
Vafþrúðnismál ''Vafþrúðnismál'' (Old Norse: "The Lay of Vafþrúðnir") is the third poem in the ''Poetic Edda''. It is a conversation in verse form conducted initially between the Æsir Odin and Frigg, and subsequently between Odin and the jötunn Vafþrú ...
'' Gagnráðr (the god
Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...
in disguise) engages in a game of wits with the
jötunn A (also jotun; in the normalised scholarly spelling of Old Norse, ; ; plural / ) or, in Old English, (plural ) is a type of supernatural being in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, they are often contrasted with gods (Æsir and Vanir) ...
Vafþrúðnir Vafþrúðnir (Old Norse: ; "mighty weaver"Orchard (1997:170).) is a wise jötunn in Norse mythology. His name comes from ''Vaf'', which means weave or entangle, and ''thrudnir'', which means strong or mighty. Some interpret it to mean "mighty in ...
. Gagnráðr asks Vafþrúðnir whence the Van god
Njörðr In Norse mythology, Njörðr (Old Norse: ) is a god among the Vanir. Njörðr, father of the deities Freyr and Freyja by Sister-wife of Njörðr, his unnamed sister, was in an ill-fated marriage with the goddess Skaði, lives in Nóatún (myt ...
came, for though he rules over many hofs and hörgar, Njörðr was not raised among the Æsir (
Benjamin Thorpe Benjamin Thorpe (1782 – 19 July 1870) was an English scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature. Biography In the early 1820s he worked as a banker in the House of Rothschild, in Paris. There he met Thomas Hodgkin, who treated him for tuberculosis. A ...
here glosses ''hörgr'' with "offer-steads" and Bellows glosses with "shrines"):
In the poem ''
Hyndluljóð ''Hyndluljóð'' (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Hyndla') is an Old Norse poem often considered a part of the ''Poetic Edda''. It is preserved in its entirety only in ''Flateyjarbók'', but some stanzas are also quoted in the ''Prose Edda'', where they ...
'', the goddess
Freyja In Norse paganism, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chario ...
speaks favorably of Óttar for having worshiped her so faithfully by using a hörgr. Freyja details that the hörgr is constructed of a heap of stones, and that Óttar very commonly reddened these stones with sacrificial blood (Thorpe glosses ''hörgr'' with "offer-stead", Bellows with "shrine", and Orchard with "altar"):


Epigraphic

The place name Salhøgum, that is mentioned on a 9th-century Danish
runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones da ...
known as the
Snoldelev Stone The Snoldelev Stone, listed as DR 248 in the Rundata catalog, is a 9th-century runestone that was originally located at Snoldelev, Ramsø, Denmark. Description The Snoldelev Stone, which is 1.25 meters in height, is decorated with painted scratc ...
, has a literal translation which combines Old Norse ''sal'' meaning "hall" with ''hörgar'' "mounds," to form "on the hall mounds," suggesting a place with a room where official meetings took place. The inscription states that the man Gunnvaldr is the '' þulaR'' of Salhøgum, which has been identified as referring to the modern town Salløv, located in the vicinity of the original site of the runestone.


Toponymy

Many place names in
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
and
Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
contain the word hörgr or hörgur, such as Hörgá and Hörgsdalur in Iceland and Harg in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. When
Willibrord Willibrord (; 658 – 7 November AD 739) was an Anglo-Saxon missionary and saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands. He became the first bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg. Early life His fathe ...
Christianized the Netherlands (~700 AD) the church of Vlaardingen had a dependency in Harago/Hargan, currently named Harga. This indicates that near those places there was some kind of religious building in medieval times.


Old English tradition

In the interpretation of Wilson, ''Anglo-Saxon Paganism'' (1992), ''hearg'' refers to "a special type of religious site, one that occupied a prominent position on high land and was a communal place of worship for a specific group of people, a tribe or folk group, perhaps at particular times of the year", while a '' weoh'', by contrast, was merely a small shrine by the wayside. ''
Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
'' has the compound ''hærgtrafum'' in the so-called "Christian excursus" (lines 175–178a), translated as "tabernacles of idols" by Hall (1950). Following the regular evolution of English phonology, Old English ''hearg'' has become ''harrow'' in modern
English placenames The toponymy of England derives from a variety of linguistic origins. Many English toponyms have been corrupted and broken down over the years, due to language changes which have caused the original meanings to be lost. In some cases, words used ...
(unrelated to the homophone '' harrow'' "agricultural implement"). The London Borough of Harrow derives its name from a temple on Harrow Hill, where St. Mary's Church stands today. The name of
Harrow on the Hill Harrow on the Hill is a locality and historic village in the borough of Harrow in Greater London, England. The name refers to Harrow Hill, ,Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) and is located some half a mile south of the mod ...
(''Harewe atte Hulle'') was adopted into Latin as ''Herga super montem''; the Latinized form of the Old English name is preserved in the name of ''Herga Road'' in Harrow.Room, Adrian: “Dictionary of Place-Names in the British Isles”, Bloomsbury, 1988.


Notes


References

* Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (1936). ''The Poetic Edda''.
Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
. New York:
The American-Scandinavian Foundation The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) is an American non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting international understanding through educational and cultural exchange between the United States and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway ...
. * Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (1923).
The Poetic Edda
'. American-Scandinavian Foundation. * Dronke, Ursula (Trans.) (1997). ''The Poetic Edda: Volume II: Mythological Poems''.
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. * Kvaran, Guðrún (May 29, 2006).
Hvað þýðir orðið hörgur?
" Vísindavefurinn. * Orchard, Andy (1997). ''Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend''. Cassell. * Peterson, Lena (2002).
Nordisk runnamslexikon
'. Swedish Institute for Linguistics and Heritage (Institutet för språk och folkminnen). * Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D.S. Brewer. * * Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1866).
Edda Sæmundar Hinns Frôða: The Edda of Sæmund the Learned
'' Part I. London: Trübner & Co. {{DEFAULTSORT:Horgr Altars Germanic paganism Norse mythology