The Nixie, Nixy,
Nix,
Näcken, Nicor, Nøkk, or Nøkken (; , ; ; Norwegian ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; or ) are
humanoid
A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of ...
, and often
shapeshifting
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest existen ...
water spirit
A water spirit is a kind of supernatural being found in the folklore of many cultures:
African
Some water spirits in traditional African religion include:
* Mami Wata is a transcultural pantheon of water spirits and deities of the African ...
s in
Germanic mythology
Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon paganism#Mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism.
O ...
and
folklore
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
.
Under a
variety of names, they are common to the stories of all
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts of ...
,
[The article ''Näcken'']
tome 20, p. 317
in (1914) although they are perhaps best known from
Scandinavian folklore
Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been under mutual influence with, folklore in England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Baltic countries, Finland and S� ...
. The related English ''
knucker
Knucker is a dialect word for a sort of Sea serpent, water dragon, living in ''knuckerholes'' in Sussex, England. The word comes from the Old English language, Old English which means "water monster" and is used in the poem ''Beowulf''. It may ...
'' was generally depicted as a
worm or dragon, although more recent versions depict the spirits in other forms. Their sex, bynames, and various transformations vary geographically. The German and his Scandinavian counterparts were male. The German was a female river
mermaid
In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
Mermaids are ...
.
Similar creatures are known from other parts of Europe, such as the
Melusine
Mélusine () or Melusine or Melusina is a figure of European folklore, a nixie (folklore), female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a Serpent symbolism, serpent or Fish in culture, fish fr ...
in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, the
Xana in
Asturias
Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain.
It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...
(Spain), and the
Slavic water spirits (e.g., the
Rusalka
In Slavic folklore, the rusalka (plural: rusalki; , plural: русалки; , plural: ''rusałki'') is a female entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water. It has counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as th ...
) in Slavic countries.
Names and etymology
The names are held to derive from
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 bra ...
or , derived from
PIE
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), fruit preserves ( jam tart ...
("to wash"). They are related to
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
, Greek and , and
Irish (all meaning to wash or be washed).
The form ''neck'' appears in English and Swedish (, definite form ''näcken'').
The Swedish form is derived from Old Swedish , which corresponds to Old Icelandic ( ), and in
Norwegian Nynorsk.
In Finnish, the word is . In Old Danish, the form was and in modern Danish and Norwegian
Bokmål
Bokmål () (, ; ) is one of the official written standards for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is by far the most used written form of Norwegian today, as it is adopted by 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. There is no cou ...
it is /.
The Icelandic and Faroese are horselike creatures. In
Middle Low German
Middle Low German is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented in writing since about 1225–34 (). During the Hanseatic period (from about 1300 to about 1600), Mid ...
, it was called and in
Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or , there was no overarching sta ...
(compare also or plus ).
The
Old High German
Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...
form also meant "crocodile",
while the
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
could mean both a "water monster" like those encountered by
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...
,
and a "
hippopotamus
The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...
".
The Norwegian and Swedish are related figures sometimes seen as by-names for the same creature.
The southern Scandinavian version can take on the form of a horse named ("the brook horse"), similar to other
water horses such as the Scottish ''
kelpie
A kelpie, or water kelpie (Scottish Gaelic: '' each-uisge''), is a mythical shape-shifting spirit inhabiting lochs in Scottish folklore. Legends of these shape-shifting water-horses, under various names, spread across the British Isles, appea ...
'' and the Welsh .
England
English folklore contains many creatures with similar characteristics to the ''Nix'' or . These include
Jenny Greenteeth, the
Shellycoat, the river-hag
Peg Powler, the -like
Brag, and the
Grindylow
In English folklore, Grindylow or Grundylow is a creature in the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire. The name is thought to be connected to Grendel, a name or term used in ''Beowulf'' and in many Old English charters where it is seen in connect ...
.
At
Lyminster, near
Arundel
Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England.
The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much la ...
in the English county of
West Sussex
West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...
, there are today said to dwell "water-wyrms" called
knucker
Knucker is a dialect word for a sort of Sea serpent, water dragon, living in ''knuckerholes'' in Sussex, England. The word comes from the Old English language, Old English which means "water monster" and is used in the poem ''Beowulf''. It may ...
s, in a pool called the ''Knucker-hole''. The Victorian authority
Walter William Skeat
Walter William Skeat, (21 November 18356 October 1912) was a British philologist and Anglican deacon. The pre-eminent British philologist of his time, he was instrumental in developing the English language as a higher education subject in th ...
had plausibly suggested the pool's name of ''knucker'' (a name attested from 1835, Horsfield) was likely derived from the
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
, a creature-name found in ''
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...
''.
The Nordic countries
Näck, Nøkk
The Nordic , , were male water spirits who played enchanted songs on the violin, luring women and children to
drown
Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others presen ...
in lakes or streams. However, not all of these spirits were necessarily malevolent; many stories indicate at the very least that were entirely harmless to their audience and attracted not only women and children but men as well with their sweet songs. Stories also exist wherein the spirit agrees to live with a human who had fallen in love with him. Still, many of these stories ended with the returning to his home, usually a nearby waterfall or brook. The were said to grow despondent unless they had free, regular contact with a water source.
The Norwegian or , Swedish , is a related figure who, if properly approached, will teach a musician to play so adeptly "that the trees dance and waterfalls stop at his music".
It is difficult to describe the appearance of the nix, as one of his central attributes was thought to be
shapeshifting
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest existen ...
. Perhaps he did not have any true shape. He could show himself as a man playing the violin in brooks and waterfalls (though often imagined as fair and naked today, in folklore, he was more frequently described as wearing more or less elegant clothing) but also could appear to be treasure or various floating objects, or as an animal—most commonly in the form of a "brook horse" (see below). The modern Scandinavian names are derived from , meaning "river horse". Thus, it is likely that the figure of the brook horse preceded the personification of the nix as the "man in the rapids". and derivatives were almost always portrayed as gorgeous young men whose clothing (or lack thereof) varied widely from story to story.
The enthralling music of the was most dangerous to women and children, especially pregnant women and
unbaptised children. He was thought to be most active during
Midsummer's Night, Christmas Eve, and Thursdays. However, these superstitions do not necessarily relate to all the versions listed here. Many, if not all, developed after the Christianizing of the northern countries, as was the case of similar stories of faeries and other entities in other areas.
When malicious attempted to carry off people, they could be defeated by calling their name; this was believed to cause their death.
Another belief was that if a person bought the a treat of three drops of blood, a black animal, some (Scandinavian
vodka
Vodka ( ; is a clear distilled beverage, distilled alcoholic beverage. Its varieties originated in Poland and Russia. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is ...
) or (wet snuff) dropped into the water, he would teach his enchanting form of music.
The was also an omen for drowning accidents. He would scream at a particular spot in a lake or river in a way reminiscent of the
loon
Loons (North American English) or divers (British English, British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus ''Gavia'', family (biolog ...
, and a fatality would later occur on that spot. He was also said to cause drownings, but swimmers could protect themselves against such a fate by throwing a bit of steel into the water.
In the later Romantic folklore and folklore-inspired stories of the 19th century, the sings about his loneliness and his longing for salvation, which he purportedly never shall receive, as he is not "a child of God". In a poem by Swedish poet
E. J. Stagnelius, a little boy pities the fate of the (), and so saves his own life. In the poem, arguably Stagnelius's most famous, the boy says that the will never be a "child of God", which brings "tears to his face" as he "never plays again in the silvery brook".
On a similar theme, a 19th-century text called "Brother Fabian's Manuscript" by
Sebastian Evans has this verse:
(The source has "bloometh" for "boometh", but this is an error; a bittern is not a plant but a bird, and it is known for its booming call. A "ghittern" is a guitar. The spelling "Nickar" ''vice'' "Neckar" is sometimes used.)
In Scandinavia,
water lilies are called "nix roses" (/). A tale from the forest of
Tiveden
Tiveden is a long and wide densely forested rocky ridge in Sweden, throughout history notorious for its wilderness and dangers; historically a hiding place for outlaws. In historic times it, along with Tylöskog and Kolmården, formed the border b ...
relates that a father promised his daughter to a who offered him great hauls of fish in a time of need; she refused and stabbed herself to death, staining the water lilies red from that time on:
In horse form
In
Faroese, the word refers specifically to a supernatural horse, described in one Faroese text thus:
The equivalent term in Continental Scandinavian languages is or ('brook horse'). It has a close parallel in the Scottish
kelpie
A kelpie, or water kelpie (Scottish Gaelic: '' each-uisge''), is a mythical shape-shifting spirit inhabiting lochs in Scottish folklore. Legends of these shape-shifting water-horses, under various names, spread across the British Isles, appea ...
and the Welsh .
The was often described as a majestic white horse that would appear near rivers, particularly during foggy weather. Anyone who climbed onto its back could not get off again. The horse would then jump into the river, drowning the rider. The brook horse could also be harnessed and made to plough, either because it was trying to trick a person or because the person had tricked the horse into it. The following tale is a good illustration of the brook horse:
Germany
The German ''Nix'' and ''Nixe'' (and ''Nixie'') are types of river
merman
A merman (: mermen; also merlad or merboy in youth), the male counterpart of the mythical female mermaid, is a legendary creature which is human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes mer ...
and
mermaid
In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
Mermaids are ...
who may lure men into drowning, like the Scandinavian type, akin to the
Melusine
Mélusine () or Melusine or Melusina is a figure of European folklore, a nixie (folklore), female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a Serpent symbolism, serpent or Fish in culture, fish fr ...
and similar to the Greek
Siren. The German epic ''
Nibelungenlied
The (, or ; or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poetry, epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germanic hero ...
'' mentions the nix in connection with the
Danube
The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
, as early as 1180 to 1210.
Nixes in folklore became
water sprites[Grimm 1835:17:11.] who try to lure people into the water. The males can assume many different shapes, including that of a human, a fish, and a snake. The females bear the tail of a fish. When they are in human form, they can be recognised by the wet hem of their clothes. The Nixes are portrayed as malicious in some stories but harmless and friendly in others.
The 1779 poem
Der Fischer by
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
handles of a fisherman who meets his end when he is lured into the water by a Nixe
By the 19th century,
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 ...
mentions the Nixie to be among the "
water-sprites" who love music, song, and dancing, and says, "Like the sirens, the Nixie by her song draws listening youth to herself, and then into the deep."
According to Grimm, they can appear human but have the barest hint of animal features: the nix had "a slit ear", and the Nixie had "a wet skirt". Grimm thinks these could symbolise they are "higher beings" who could
shapeshift
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest exist ...
to animal form.
One famous Nixe of recent
German folklore
German folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in Germany over a number of centuries. Seeing as Germany was divided into numerous polities for most of its history, this term might both refer to the folklore of Germany proper and of all ...
, deriving from 19th-century literature, was
Lorelei; according to the legend, she sat on the rock at the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
which now bears her name and lured fishermen and boatmen to the dangers of the reefs with the sound of her voice. In Switzerland, there is a legend of a sea-maid or Nixe that lived in
Lake Zug (the lake is in the Canton of Zug).
''
The Yellow Fairy Book'' by
Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a folkloristics, collector of folklore, folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectur ...
includes a story called "
The Nixie of the Mill-Pond" in which a
malevolent spirit
In mythology and folklore, a vengeful ghost or vengeful spirit is said to be the ghost, spirit of a dead person who returns from the afterlife to seek revenge for a cruel, unnatural or unjust death. In certain cultures where funeral and burial o ...
that lives in a mill pond strikes a deal with the miller that she will restore his wealth in exchange for his son. This story is taken from ''
Grimms' Fairy Tales
''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (, , commonly abbreviated as ''KHM''), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, Jacob Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm, first publish ...
''.
The legend of
Heer Halewijn, a dangerous lord who lures women to their deaths with a magic song, may have originated with the nix.
Alternate names for the female German Nixe are Rhine maidens () and
Lorelei.
In a fictional depiction, the Rhine maidens are among the
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...
s in the four-part Opera ''
Der Ring des Nibelungen
(''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the . The compo ...
'' by the composer
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
, based loosely on the nix of the ''Nibelungenlied''.
The Rhine maidens
Wellgunde,
Woglinde, and
Floßhilde (
Flosshilde) belong to a group of characters living in a part of nature free from human influence.
Erda and the
Norns
The Norns ( , plural: ) are a group of deities in Norse mythology responsible for shaping the course of human destinies.''Nordisk familjebok'' (1907)
The Norns are often represented as three goddesses known as Urd ( Urðr), Verðandi, and S ...
are also considered a part of this 'hidden' world.
They are first seen in the first work of the Nibelungen cycle, ''
Das Rheingold
''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 86A, is the first of the four epic poetry, epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Literary cycle, cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nib ...
'', as guardians of the ''Rheingold'', a treasure of gold hidden in the
Rhein
Rhein may refer to:
Places
* Rhine, a major river in Europe ()
* Rhein, a village in the municipality of Morsbach in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
* Rhein (Ostpreussen), a former name of the town Ryn in Poland
* Rhein, Saskatchewan, a village w ...
river. The dwarf
Alberich, a
Nibelung
The term Nibelung ( German) or Niflungr (Old Norse) is a personal or clan name with several competing and contradictory uses in Germanic heroic legend. It has an unclear etymology, but is often connected to the root ''Nebel'', meaning mist. The ...
, is eager to win their favour, but they somewhat cruelly dismiss his flattery. They tell him that only one who cannot love can win the ''Rheingold''. Thus, Alberich curses love and steals the ''Rheingold''. From the stolen gold, he forges a
ring
(The) Ring(s) may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV
* ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...
of power. Further in the cycle, the Rhine maidens are seen trying to regain the ring and transform it into the harmless ''Rheingold''. But no one will return the ring to them; not even the supreme god
Wotan
(''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the . The compos ...
, who uses the ring to pay the giants Fasolt and Fafner for building
Valhalla
In Norse mythology, Valhalla ( , ; , )Orchard (1997:171–172) is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. There were five possible realms the soul could travel to after death. The first was Fólkvang ...
, nor the hero
Siegfried
Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace".
The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...
, when the maidens appear to him in the third act of ''
Götterdämmerung
' (; ''Twilight of the Gods''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 86D, is the last of the four epic poetry, epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Literary cycle, cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). I ...
''. Eventually,
Brünnhilde returns it to them at the end of the cycle, when the fires of her funeral pyre cleanse the ring of its curse.
Descendants of German immigrants to
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
sometimes refer to a mischievous child as "nixie".
In popular culture
In ''The Nixie's Song'', the first book in the children's series
Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, the main characters rescue a Nixie named Taloa after fire-breathing giants destroy her pond. Nixies are depicted as aquatic female humanoids related to mermaids but with frog-like legs instead of tails.
In the 2019 film ''
Frozen II'', Queen
Elsa of Arendelle encounters and tames the Nøkk (in the form of a horse), the Water spirit who guards the sea to the mythical river Ahtohallan.
In the video game ''
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege'', there is a mysterious and spooky Danish operator named Nøkk. During gameplay she uses a glove attachment called HEL to disappear from cameras and sneak up on enemies.
See also
*
Årets Näck, a Swedish competition where constestants play music whilst dressed as Näcken
*
Hulder
A hulder (or huldra) is a seductive forest creature found in Scandinavian folklore. Her name derives from a root meaning "covered" or "secret". In Norwegian folklore, she is known as huldra ("the rchetypalhulder", though folklore presuppose ...
*
Kelpie
A kelpie, or water kelpie (Scottish Gaelic: '' each-uisge''), is a mythical shape-shifting spirit inhabiting lochs in Scottish folklore. Legends of these shape-shifting water-horses, under various names, spread across the British Isles, appea ...
*
Nāga
In various Asian religious traditions, the Nāgas () are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...
*
Naiad
In Greek mythology, the naiads (; ), sometimes also hydriads, are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water.
They are distinct from river gods, who embodied ...
*
Nuckelavee
*
Rusalka
In Slavic folklore, the rusalka (plural: rusalki; , plural: русалки; , plural: ''rusałki'') is a female entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water. It has counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as th ...
*
Selkie
Selkies are mythological creatures that can shapeshift between seal and human forms by removing or putting on their seal skin. They feature prominently in the oral traditions and mythology of various cultures, especially those of Celtic and ...
*
Taniwha
*
Undine
*
Wetlands and islands in Germanic paganism
A prominent position was held by wetlands and islands in Germanic paganism, as in other pagan European cultures, featuring as sites of Germanic paganism, religious practice and belief from the Nordic Bronze Age until the Christianisation of the Ge ...
Notes
References
*
Riordan, Rick (2017). ''
Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgard: The Ship of the Dead''
* Grimm, Jacob (1835). ''Deutsche Mythologie'' (German Mythology); From English released version ''Grimm's Teutonic Mythology'' (1888); Available online by Northvegr 2004–2007
Chapter 17, page 11 File retrieved 4 June 2007.
* Hellström, AnneMarie (1985). ''Jag vill så gärna berätta...''. .
* Karlsson, S. (1970). ''I Tiveden'', Reflex, Mariestad.
*
External links
an amateur translation (no rhyme, no meter) of Stagnelius's poem.
Scandinavian Folklore
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nixie
Creatures in Norse mythology
Danish folklore
Danish legendary creatures
English folklore
English legendary creatures
Faroese folklore
German legendary creatures
Medieval literature
Mermaids
Scandinavian folklore
Folklore of the Benelux
Scandinavian legendary creatures
Swedish folklore
Shapeshifters
Water spirits
Mythic humanoids