tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post7318982457651411360..comments2024-03-11T16:29:13.619-05:00Comments on Lingwë - Musings of a Fish: Dwarves and spiders — another angleJason Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05809154870762268253noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-34988168440123654612009-10-30T09:35:36.643-05:002009-10-30T09:35:36.643-05:00But I’m straying from the subject again. :)
Hard ...<i>But I’m straying from the subject again. :)</i><br /><br />Hard not to, isn’t it? Since you mentioned the <i>mære</i>, allow me to point you in the direction of <a href="http://journeytothesea.com/weirdstone-of-brisingamen/" rel="nofollow">an essay</a> I wrote on Alan Garner and his use of Northern Germanic mythological elements in his Alderley Edge novels. These elements include the adaptation of <i>mære</i> as his Mara, huge ogre-like creatures (exclusively female, of course :). And see also Alaric Hall’s “The Evidence for <i>Maran</i>, the Anglo-Saxon ‘Nightmares’.” <i>Neophilologus</i> Vol. 91, No. 2. (April 2007): 299-317.<br /><br />A fascinating subject!Jason Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05809154870762268253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-41626645919470874172009-10-29T17:30:12.332-05:002009-10-29T17:30:12.332-05:00Well, that's what happens when I try to work a...Well, that's what happens when I try to work and comment at the same time. My bad. :)<br /><br />It seems to me that we have a case of nightmare. <br />We know that the Anglo-Saxons believed the dwarves to be disease-causing, hm, agents; they are a synonym for "fever". <br />As other wights, such as the elves (G Alptraum, lit. "elf-dream") and mære (the nightmare itself) are capable of causing nightmares, then it seems reasonable to assume dwarves are too. Moreover, dwarves and elves are closely related.<br />So, perhaps the charm is intended to ward-off a nightmare. :)<br /><br />In Icelandic the word for "nightmare" is martröð, D mareridt, N mareritt - "mare-ride".<br /><br />It has also been suggested (Stuart, 'The Anglo-Saxon Elf', pp. 314-315. Cf also Jamborn, 'Peri Didaxeon') that dwarf - and mære - riding refers to epileptic fits and other spasms, including those caused by asthma.<br /><br />... But I'm straying from the subject again. :)Evanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-9943218680727521842009-10-29T10:38:01.829-05:002009-10-29T10:38:01.829-05:00Hi Eva. Yes, your larger quote is the one I gave a...Hi Eva. Yes, your larger quote is the one I gave a few days ago, in <a href="http://lingwe.blogspot.com/2009/10/attercops-of-mirkwood.html?showComment=1256582448592#c171315344977522216" rel="nofollow">this comment</a>. It’s actually p. 471 (p. 447 is the earliest part of Grimm’s elf / dwarf discussion). And the other passage you quote (p. 1497) basically just redirects readers back to p. 471. :) But yes, all of this supports the main point of comparison.<br /><br />As for the incanation, the translation you give looks pretty good to me. According to Sedgefield, “<b>þu</b> (l. 118) refers to the plaguing dwarf responsible for the attack” (<i>Anglo-Saxon Prose-Book</i>, p. 419), but I tend to agree on the whole this doesn’t really make much sense. Good thing there’s not much need for the charm nowadays; we’d probably do it wrong! :)Jason Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05809154870762268253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-27792666408997900822009-10-29T04:32:09.483-05:002009-10-29T04:32:09.483-05:00In Teutonic Mythology, Jacob Grimm writes that &qu...In Teutonic Mythology, Jacob Grimm writes that "Spiders are akin to dwarfs" (p. 1497). :)<br />At page 447 we find the following: "And in this point of view it is not without significance, that elves and dwarfs ply the spinning and weaving so much patronized by Dame Holda and Frikka. The flying gossamer in autumn is in vulgar opinion the thread spun by elves and dwarfs;... The Swed. dverg signifies araneus as well as nanus, and dvergs-nät a cobweb." <br /><br />The incantation goes like this: "A spider-creature came in here; he had his garment in his hands. He said that you were his horse and laid his fetters on your neck. They began to travel from the land; as soon as they came from the land, their limbs began to cool. Then the dwarf's sister came in..."<br /><br />I believe it's rather the dwarf that 'rides' the victim or the 'patient'. :)Evanoreply@blogger.com