The Simonside Dwarfs, also known as Brownmen,
Bogles and Duergar, are in English folklore a race of
dwarfs, particularly associated with the
Simonside Hills of
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a ceremonial counties of England, county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Ab ...
, in
northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
. Their leader was said to be known as ''Heslop''.
[''Ghosts of The North Country'', Henry Tegner, 1991 Butler Publishing , page 62]
In F. Grice's telling of the traditional story ''The Duergar'' in ''Folk Tales of the North Country'' (1944), one of them is described as being short, wearing a lambskin coat, moleskin trousers and shoes, and a hat made of moss stuck with a feather.
The legendary dwarfs of Simonside were mentioned in the local newspaper, the ''Morpeth Gazette'', in 1889, and in Tyndale's ''Legends and Folklore of Northumbria'', 1930. They delighted in leading travellers astray, especially after dark, often carrying lighted torches to lead them into bogs, rather like a
Will-o'-the-wisp
In folklore, a will-o'-the-wisp, will-o'-wisp or ''ignis fatuus'' (, plural ''ignes fatui''), is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes. The phenomenon is known in English folk belief, ...
.
The menacing creatures would often disappear at dawn.
The word ''duergar'' is likely to be derived from the
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 ...
word for dwarf or dwarfs (
''dvergar''), but it may also come from the dialectal words for ''"dwarf"'' on the
Anglo-Scottish border
The Anglo-Scottish border () is a border separating Scotland and England which runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The surrounding area is sometimes referred to as "the Borderlands".
Th ...
which include ''dorch'', ''dwerch'', ''duerch'', ''Duergh'' and ''Duerwe'' amongst others
[''Familiar letters of Sir Walter Scott, Volume 1'', Sir Walter Scott, Houghton Mifflin, 1894, page 151][''Concise Scots dictionary'' Mairi Robinson, Edinburgh University Press, 1999, , pages 162-166][http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dwarf] with the added Norse ''-ar'' plural.
These ''Border'' words for ''"dwarf"'', like the
Standard English form, all derive from the
Old English ''dweorh'' or ''dweorg'' via the
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
''dwerg''.
/ref>
In the 2004 film ''Van Helsing
A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across ...
'', the Duergar are the minions of Count Dracula
Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some ...
.
See also
* Brown Man of the Muirs
In the folklore on the Anglo-Scottish border, the Brown Man of the Muirs is a dwarf who serves as a guardian spirit of wild animals.Briggs, Katharine (1976). ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies''. Pantheon Books. pp. 44–5. .Henderson, William (1879). ...
* English mythology
English mythology is the collection of myths that have emerged throughout the history of England, sometimes being elaborated upon by successive generations, and at other times being rejected and replaced by other explanatory narratives. These nar ...
* 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, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern peri ...
References
*Atkinson, Philip ''Folk Tales of North East England'' (http://viewbook.at/FolkTalesEngland)
*Grice, F, ''Folk Tales of the North Country'' (Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd, London & Edinburgh, 1944) pp130–133
Simonside Folklore
External links
Dwarves (folklore)
Northumbrian folklore
English folklore
English mythology
English legendary creatures
Northumbrian folkloric beings
{{Europe-myth-stub