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Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
, Hjúki (
Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...
: , possibly meaning "the one returning to health"Simek (2007:151).) and Bil (O.N.: , literally "instant"Cleasby (1874).) are a brother and sister pair of children who follow the personified
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
,
Máni Máni (Old Norse: ; "Moon"Orchard (1997:109).) is the Lunar deity, Moon personified in Germanic mythology. Máni, personified, is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edd ...
, across the heavens. Both Hjúki and Bil are solely attested in the ''
Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...
'', written in the 13th century by
Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
. Scholarly theories that surround the two concern their nature, their role as potential personifications of the craters on the Moon or its phases, and their relation to later folklore in Germanic Europe. Bil has been identified with the
Bilwis ''Feldgeister'' ('field spirits'; ; singular: ''Feldgeist'') or ''Korndämonen'' ('corn demons'; ; singular: ''Korndämon'') are corn spirits in German folklore. ''Feldgeister'' are often also wind spirits,Wolfgang Golther, ''Germanische Mytholo ...
, an agriculture-associated figure that is frequently attested in the folklore of German-speaking areas of Europe.


Attestations

In chapter 11 of the ''Prose Edda'' book ''
Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first main part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'', after the initial Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' takes the form of ...
'', the enthroned figure of High states that two children by the names of Hjúki and Bil were fathered by
Viðfinnr In Norse mythology, Viðfinnr ("wood- Finn"Lindow (2001:315).) is the father of Hjúki and Bil, a brother and sister who, according to ''Gylfaginning'', were taken up from the earth by Máni, the personified moon, as they were fetching water from ...
. Once while the two were walking from the well Byrgir (Old Norse "Hider of Something"Byock (2005:156).) — both of them carrying on their shoulders the pole Simul (Old Norse, possibly meaning "eternal"Orchard (1997:147).) that held the pail Sæg between them – Máni took them from the Earth, and they now follow Máni in the heavens, "as can be seen from the earth".Byock (2005:20). Hjúki is otherwise unmentioned, but Bil receives recognition. In chapter 35 of ''Gylfaginning'', at the end of a listing of numerous other goddesses in Norse mythology, both Sól (the personified Sun) and Bil are listed together as
goddesses A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all reality, is ...
"whose nature has already been described".Byock (2005:44). Bil appears twice more in the ''Prose Edda'' book ''
Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'Poetic Diction' or 'The Language of Poetry'; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda'', compiled by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bra ...
''. In chapter 75, Bil appears within another list of goddesses,Faulkes (1995:157). and her name appears in chapter 47 in a
kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech, a figuratively-phrased compound term that is used in place of a simple single-word noun. For instance, the Old English kenning () means , as does (). A kenning has two parts: a base-word (a ...
for "woman".Faulkes (1995:47).


Theories


Identification and representation

As the two are otherwise unattested outside Snorri's ''Prose Edda'', suggestions have been made that Hjúki and Bil may have been of minor mythic significance, or that they were made up outright by Snorri, while
Anne Holtsmark Anne Elisabeth Holtsmark (21 June 1896 – 19 May 1974) was a Norwegian philologist. Personal life She was born in Kristiania, the second of five children of Gabriel Gabrielsen Holtsmark (1867–1954) and Margrete Weisse (1871–1933), and grew ...
(1945) posits that Snorri may have known or had access to a now lost verse source wherein Hjúki and Bil personified the waxing and waning moon. Holtsmark further theorizes that Bil may have been a
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 ...
(a type of female deity).Lindow (2001:78) referencing Holtsmark (1945:139–154). Scholars have theorized that Hjúki and Bil may represent lunar activity, including that they may represent the
phases of the moon A lunar phase or Moon phase is the apparent shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion as viewed from the Earth. Because the Moon is Tidal locking, tidally locked with the Earth, the same Hemisphere (geometry), hemisphere is always facing the ...
or may represent the
craters of the Moon Craters of the Moon may refer to: * Lunar craters, craters on the Earth's Moon * Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a National monument (United States), U.S. national monumen ...
. 19th century scholar
Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He formulated Grimm's law of linguistics, and was the co-author of the ''Deutsch ...
rejects the suggestion that Hjúki and Bil represent the phases of the moon, and states that Hjúki and Bil rather represent the craters on the Moon seen from the Earth. Grimm says that the evidence for this "is plain from the figure itself. No ''change'' of the moon could suggest the image of ''two children'' with a ''pail slung over their shoulders''. Moreover, to this day the Swedish people see in the ''spots'' of the Moon two persons carrying a big ''bucket on a pole''."Grimm (1883:717). Grimm adds that:
:What is most important for us, out of the heathen fancy of a ''kidnapping man of the moon'', which, apart from Scandinavia, was doubtless in vogue all over Teutondom, if not farther, there has evolved itself since a Christian adaptation. They say the man in the moon is a ''wood-stealer'', who during church time on the holy sabbath committed a trespass in the wood, and was then transported to the moon as a punishment; there he may be seen with the ''axe on his back'' and the ''bundle of brushwood'' (dornwelle) ''in his hand''. Plainly enough the water-pole of the heathen story has been transformed into the axe's shaft, and the carried pail into the thornbrush; the general idea of theft was retained, but special stress laid on the keeping of the christian holiday; the man suffers punishment not so much for cutting firewood, as because he did it on Sunday.
Grimm gives further examples from Germanic folklore until the time of his writing (the 19th century) and notes a potential connection between the German word ''wadel'' (meaning the full moon) and the dialectal employment of the word for "brushwood, twigs tied up in a bundle, esp ciallyfir-twigs, ''wadeln'' to tie up brushwood", and the practice of cutting wood out in the full moon.
Benjamin Thorpe Benjamin Thorpe (1782 – 19 July 1870) was an English scholar of Old English language, 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 hi ...
agrees with the theory of Hjúki and Bil as the personified shapes of Moon craters.Thorpe (1851:143).
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 ...
states that the obscurity of the names of the objects in the tale of Hjúki and Bil may indicate that Snorri derived them from a folktale, and that the form of the tale of the
Man in the Moon In many cultures, several pareidolic images of a human face, head or body are recognized in the disc of the full moon; they are generally known as the Man in the Moon. The images are based on the appearance of the dark areas (known as lunar m ...
(featuring a man with a pole and a woman with a bushel) is also found in modern folklore in Scandinavia, England, and Northern Germany.Simek (2007:201). In both the story Hjúki and Bil found in the Icelandic ''Prose Edda'' and the English nursery rhyme "
Jack and Jill "Jack and Jill" (sometimes "Jack and Gill", particularly in earlier versions) is a traditional English nursery rhyme. The Roud Folk Song Index classifies the commonest tune and its variations as number 10266, although it has been set to severa ...
", two children, one male and one female, fetch a pail of water, and the pairs have names that have been perceived as phonetically similar. These elements have resulted in theories connecting the two,Streatfield (1884:68). and the notion has had some influence, appearing in school books for children from the 19th century and into the 20th century.Judd (1896:39–40) features such a retelling entitled "JACK AND JILL. A SCANDINAVIAN MYTH". The theory is repeated in the late 20th century by Jones (1998:6). A traditional form of the rhyme reads:
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. Up Jack got and home did trot as fast as he could caper. He went to bed to mind his head with vinegar and brown paper.Jones (1998:6).


Bilwis

A figure by the name of ''
Bilwis ''Feldgeister'' ('field spirits'; ; singular: ''Feldgeist'') or ''Korndämonen'' ('corn demons'; ; singular: ''Korndämon'') are corn spirits in German folklore. ''Feldgeister'' are often also wind spirits,Wolfgang Golther, ''Germanische Mytholo ...
'' is attested in various parts of German-speaking Europe starting in the 13th century. Scholar
Leander Petzoldt Leander is one of the protagonists in the story of Hero and Leander in Greek mythology. Leander may also refer to: People * Leander (given name) * Leander (surname) Places * Leander, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Leand ...
writes that the figure seems to stem from the goddess and over time saw many changes, later developing "an
elf An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic peoples, Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in Norse mythology, North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' ...
in,
dwarf Dwarf, dwarfs or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a supernatural being from Germanic folklore * Dwarf, a human or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a sh ...
ish aspect and the ability to cripple people or cattle with the shot of an arrow" (such as in
Wolfram von Eschenbach Wolfram von Eschenbach (; – ) was a German knight, poet and composer, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of medieval German literature. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry. Life Little is known of Wolfram's life. Ther ...
's 13th century poem "
Willehalm ''Willehalm'' is an unfinished Middle High German poem from the early 13th century, written by the poet Wolfram von Eschenbach. In terms of genre, the poem is "a unique fusion of the courtly and the heroic, with elements of the saintly legend attac ...
"). Petzoldt further surveys the development of the figure:
During the course of the thirteenth century, the Bilwis is less and less frequently treated as the personification of a supernatural power but becomes increasingly identified as a malevolent human being, a
witch Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...
. Still later, with the rise of the witch persecution at the end of the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, the Bilwis was demonized; she becomes an incarnation of the devil for the witch and sorcerer. A final development has taken place since the sixteenth century, especially in northeast Germany, the Bilwis has been conceived of as a grain spirit bringing wealth; yet this latest manifestation of the Bilwis has its harmful side, the Bilwis-cutter, who is blamed for the unexplained patterns that are formed among the rows of standing grain. The cutter is a sorcerer or witch that cuts down the corn with sickles that are fastened to its feet. He is classified as an essentially malevolent Corn Spirit. Thus, the Bilwis is exceedingly polymorphous, taking on many appearances and meaning in all German-speaking areas throughout the Middle Ages. The Bilwis is one of the strangest and most mysterious beings in all folklore; its varying forms reflect the concerns of a farm culture, and it serves to explain the eerie appearance of turned-down rows of plants in cornfields.Petzoldt (2002:393—394).


Toponyms

The village of
Bilsby Bilsby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the main A1111 road between Alford and Sutton-on-Sea, east of Alford. Thurlby and Asserby are hamlets within Bilsby parish. The censuses sh ...
in Lincolnshire, England (from which the English surname ''Billing'' derives) has been proposed as having been named after Bil.


See also

*
Sinthgunt Sinthgunt is a figure in Germanic mythology, attested solely in the Old High German 9th- or 10th-century "horse cure" Merseburg Incantation. In the incantation, Sinthgunt is referred to as the sister of the personified sun, Sunna (whose name is ...
, a Germanic goddess possibly connected to the Moon *
List of lunar deities A lunar deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The following is a list of lunar deities: African American Aztec mythology * ...


Notes


References

* Byock, Jesse (Trans.) (2005). ''The Prose Edda''.
Penguin Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint (trade name), imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English language, English, Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese, and Korean language, Korean amon ...
. * Cleasby, Richard & Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874). ''An Icelandic-English Dictionary''. London: Henry Frowde. * Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995). ''Edda''.
Everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin and history The term ''everyman'' was used ...
. * Grimm, Jacob (James Steven Stallybrass Trans.) (1883). ''Teutonic Mythology: Translated from the Fourth Edition with Notes and Appendix by James Stallybrass''. Volume II. London: George Bell and Sons. * Holtsmark, Anne (1945). "Bil og Hjuke" as collected in ''Maal og minne''. * Jones, Toni. Gordon, Rachel (1998). ''English Grammar, Book 1''. R.I.C. Publications. * Judd, Mary Catherine (1896). ''Classic Myths: Greek, German, and Scandinavian''. School Education Co. * Lindow, John (2001). ''Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs''.
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. * Orchard, Andy (1997). ''Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend''. Cassell. * Petzoldt, Leander (2002). "Spirits and Ghosts" as collected in Lindahl, Carl. McNamara, John. Lindow, John. (2002). ''Medieval Folklore''.
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. * Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D.S. Brewer. * Streatfield, George Sidney (1884). ''Lincolnshire and the Danes''. K. Paul, Trench & Co. * Thorpe, Benjamin (1851). ''Northern Mythology: Comprising the Principal Popular Traditions and Superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany, and the Netherlands.'' E. Lumley. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hjuki and Bil Bil Brother-sister duos Lunar deities Mythological duos Norse deities