Chapter 18

King Frôði had two captive giant-maidens Fenja and Menja as mill-maids; the grist they had to grind him out of the quern Grôtti was gold and peace, and he allowed them no longer time for sleep or rest than while the gowk (cuckoo) held his peace or they sang a song. We have a startling proof of the former prevalence of this myth in Germany also, and I find it in the bare proper names. Managold, Manigold frequently occurs as a man's name, and is to be explained from mani, ON. men [[neck ring, torque]] = monile; more rarely we find Fanigold, Fenegold, from fani, ON. fen [[bog, quagmire]] = palus, meaning the gold that lies hidden in the fen. One Trad. atav. of the first half of the twelfth cent. (MB. 28b, pp. 90-1) furnishes both names Manegolt and Fenegolt out of the same neighbourhood. We may conclude that once the Bavarians well knew how it stood with the fanigold and manigold ground out by Fania and Mania (see Suppl.).

Ymir, or in giant's language Örgelmir, was the first-created, and out of his body's enormous bulk were afterwards engendered earth, water, mountain and wood. Ymir himself originated in melted hoarfrost or rime (hrîm), hence all the giants are called hrîmþursar, rime-giants, Sn. 6. Sæm. 85ª,b; hrîmkaldr, rime-cold, is an epithet of þurs and iötunn, Sæm. 33b 90ª, they still drip with thawing rime, their beards (kinnskôgr, chin-forest) are frozen, Sæm. 53b; Hrîmnir, Hrîmgrîmr, Hrîmgerðr are proper names of giants, Sæm. 85ª 86ª 114. 145. As hrîn also means grime, fuligo, Ymir may perhaps be connected with the obscure MHG. om, ome (rubigo), see Gramm. 3, 733. At the same time the derivation from ymja, umði (stridere) lies invitingly near, so that Ymir would be the blustering, noisy, and one explanation of Örgelmir would agree with this; conf. chap. XIX. (see Suppl.).

Herbs and heavenly bodies are named after giants as well as after gods: þursaskegg, i.e. giant's beard (fucus filiformis); Norw. tussegras (paris quadrifolia); Brönugras (satyrium, the same as Friggjargras, p. 302), because a giantess Brana gave it as a charm to her client Hâlfdân (Fornald. sög. 3, 576); Forneotes folme, p. 240; Oðinn threw Thiassi's eyes, and Thôrr Örvandil's toe, into the sky, to be shining constellations, Sn. 82-3. 111.

Giants, like dwarfs, show themselves thievish. Two lays of the Edda turn upon the recovery of a hammer and a cauldron which they had stolen.

The giants form a separate people, which no doubt split into branches again, conf. Rask's Afhand. 1, 88. Thrymr is called þursa drôttinn, Sæm. 70-74; a þursa þioð (nation) is spoken of, 107ª, but iötunheimr is described as their usual residence. Even our poem of Rother 767 speaks of a riesenlant. On the borders of the giant province were situate the griottûna garðar, Sn. 108-9. We have already noticed how most of the words for giant coincide with the names of ancient nations.

Giants were imagined dwelling on rocks and mountains, and their nature is all of a piece with the mineral kingdom: they are either animated masses of stone, or creatures once alive petrified. Hrûngnir had a three-cornered stone heart, his head and shield were of stone, Sn. 109. Another giant was named Vagnhöfði (waggon-head), Sn. 211ª, in Saxo Gram. 9. 10. Dame Hütt is a petrified queen of giants, Deut. sag. no. 233.

Out of this connexion with mountains arises another set of names: bergrisi, Sn. 18. 26. 30. 45-7. 66. Grôttas. 10. 24. Egilss. 22; (35) bergbûi, Fornald. sög. 1, 412; hraunbûi (saxicola), Sæm. 57b 145ª; hraunhvalr (-whale) 57b; þussin af biargi, Fornald. sög. 2, 29; bergdanir (gigantes), Sæm. 54b; bergrisa brûðr (bride), mœr bergrisa, Grôttas. 10. 24, conf. the Gr. oreiaj: on this side the notion of giantess can easily pass into that of elfin. Thrymheimr lies up in the mountains, Sn. 27. It is not to be overlooked, that in our own Heldenbuch Dietrich reviles the giants as mountain-cattle and forest-boors, conf. bercrinder, Laurin 2625, and waltegebûren 534. 2624. Sigenôt 97. walthunde, Sigenôt 13. 114. waldes diebe (thieves), 120. waldes tôre (fool), waldes affe (ape), Wolfd. 467. 991 (see p. 481-2 and Suppl.).

Proper names of giants point to stones and metals, as Iarnsaxa (ironstony), Iarnhaus (ironskull); possibly our still surviving compound steinalt, old as stone (Gramm. 2, 555), is to be explained by the great age of giants, approaching that of rocks and hills; gîfur rata (gigantes pedes illidunt saxis) is what they say in the North.

Stone and rocks are weapons of the giant race; they use only stone clubs and stone shields, no swords. Hrûngni's weapon is called hein (hone); when it was flung in mid air and came in collision with Thôr's hammer, it broke, and a part fell on the ground; hence come all the 'heinburg,' whinstone rocks, Sn. 108-9. Later legends add to their armament stahelstangen (steel bars) 24 yards long, Roth. 687. 1662. Hürn. Sîfr. 62, 2. 68, 2. Sigenôt (Lassb.) 14, (Hag.) 69. 75. Iwein 5022 (-ruote, rod 5058. -kolbe, club 6682. 6726). Trist. 15980. 16146; îsenstange, Nib. 460, 1. Veldek invests his Pandurus and Bitias (taken from Aen. 9, 672) with giant's nature and îserne kolven, En. 7089; king Gorhand's giant host carry kolben stähelîn, Wh. 35, 21. 395, 24. 396, 13; and giant Langben a staalstang (Danske viser 1, 29). We are expressly told in Er. 5384, 'wâfens wâren si blôz,' i.e. bare of knightly weapon, for they carried 'kolben swære, grôze unde lange.' (36) Yet the 'eald sweord eotonisc' probably meant one of stone, though the same expression is used in Beow. 5953 of a metal sword mounted with gold; even the 'entisc helm,' Beow. 5955 may well be a stone helmet. It may be a part of the same thing, that no iron sword will cut into giants; only with the pommel of the sword can they be killed (Ecke 178), or with the fist, p. 530 (see Suppl.).

Ancient buildings of singular structure, which have outlasted many centuries, and such as the men of today no longer take in hand, are vulgarly ascribed to giants or to the devil (conf. p. 85, not on devil's dikes): 'burg an berge, hô holmklibu, wrisilîc giwerc' is said in Hel. 42, 5 of a castle on a rock (risônburg, N. Bth. 173); a Wrisberg, from which a Low Saxon family takes its name, stood near the village of Petze. These are the enta geweorc of AS. poetry (p. 524): 'efne swâ wîde swâ wegas tô lâgon enta ærgeweorc innan burgum, stræte stânfâge,' Andr. 2466. 'stapulas storme bedrifene, eald enta geweorc,' 2986. Our Annolied 151 of Semiramis: 'die alten Babilônie stiphti si van cigelin den alten, die die gigandi branten,' of bricks that giants burnt. And Karlmeinet 35: 'we dise burg stichte? ein rise in den alten zîden.' In O. French poems it is either gaiant or paian (pagans) that build walls and towers, e.g. in Gerars de Viane 1745:

Les fors tors, ke sont dantiquitey,

ke paian firent par lor grant poestey.

Conf. Mone's Unters. 242-4-7. 250. Whatever was put together of enormous blocks the Hellenes named cyclopean walls, while the modern Greeks regard the Hellenes themselves as giants of the old world, and give them the credit of those massive structures. (37) Then, as ancient military roads were constructed of great blocks of stone (strâta felison gifuogid, Hel. 164, 27), they also were laid to the account of giants: iötna vegar (viæ gigantum), Sæm. 23b; 'usque ad giganteam viam: entisken wec,' MB. 4, 22 (about 1130). The common people in Bavaria and Salzburg call such a road, which to them is world-old and uncanny, enterisch (Schm. 4, 44); the tröllaskeid was mentioned p. 508-9, and tröllahlað is septum gigantum. Some passages in Fergût are worthy of notice; at 1576:

Die roke was swert ende eiselike,

want wîlen êr ên gigant,

hie hieu hare ane enen cant

ên padelkîn tote in den top,

daer en mach ghên paert op,

ên man mochter opgaen te voet.

And at 1628 seq. is described the brazen statue of a dorper, (38) standing outside the porch of a door:

het dede maken ên gigant,

die daer wilen woende int lant (see Suppl.).

Giant's-mountains, giant's-hills, hünen-beds may be so named because popular legend places a giant's grave there, or sees in the rock a resemblance to the giant's shape, or supposes the giant to have brought the mountain or hill to where it stands.




ENDNOTES:

35. In the case of mixed descent: hâlf bergrisi, hâlfrisi, hâlftröll, Egilss. p. 22. Nialss. p. 164; see Gramm. 2, 633. Back

36. Goliath too, 1 Sam. 17, 7, and 2 Sam. 21, 19 is credited with a hastile (spear-staff) quasi liciatorium texentium (like a weaver's beam). Back

37. Conf. Niebuhr's Rom. Hist. i. 192-3. An ancient wall is in Mod. Greek to ellhniko, Ulrich's Reise 1, 182. Back

38. This dorper grôt again we are tempted to take for the old thundergod, for it says: 'hi hilt van stale (of steel) enen hamer in sine hant.' Back