Midgard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other things of this name, see Midgard (disambiguation).
Midgard (the common English transliteration of Old Norse Miðgarðr), Miðgarður (Icelandic), Midjungards (Gothic), Middangeard (Old English), Midgård (common Danish and Swedish), Midgard or Midgård (Norwegian) and Mittilagart (Old High German), from Proto-Germanic *medja-gardaz (*meddila-, *medjan-, projected PIE *medhyo-ghartos), is an old Germanic name for our world, the places inhabited by men, with the literal meaning "middle enclosure". In Middle English, the name was transformed to Middellærd or Middel-erde ("Middle-earth").
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[edit] Old Norse
Midgard is a realm in Norse mythology. Pictured as placed somewhere in the middle of Yggdrasil, Midgard is surrounded by a world of water or ocean, which is impassable. The ocean is inhabited by the great sea serpent Jormungand, who is so huge that he encircles the world entirely, grasping his own tail. In Norse mythology, Miðgarðr became applied to the wall around the world that the gods constructed from the eyebrows of the giant Ymir as a defence against the Jotuns who lived in Jotunheim, west of Mannheim, "the home of men," a word used to refer to the entire world (there is no direct relation to the German city of Mannheim, which is attested from the 8th century, named after an early settler called Manno). It is depicted as an intermediate world between heaven (Asgard) and hell (Niflheim or Hel). Thus it is part of a triad of upper (Heaven), middle (Earth), and lower (Underworld). It was said to have been formed from the flesh and blood of Ymir, his flesh constituting the land and his blood the oceans, and was connected to Asgard by the Bifrost Bridge, guarded by Heimdall.
According to the Eddas, Midgard will be destroyed in Ragnarok, the battle at the end of the world. Jormungand will arise from the ocean, poisoning the land and sea with his venom and causing the sea to rear up and lash against the land. The final battle will take place on the plain of Vigrond, following which Midgard and almost all life on it will be destroyed, with the earth sinking into the sea.
[edit] Old and Middle English
The name middangeard occurs half a dozen times in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, and is the same word as Midgard in Old Norse. The term is equivalent in meaning to the Greek term Oikoumene, as referring to the known and inhabited world.
The concept of Midgard occurs many times in Middle English. The association with earth (OE eorðe) in Middle English middellærd, middelerde is by popular etymology; the continuation of geard "enclosure" is yard. An early example of this transformation is from the Ormulum:
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- þatt ure Drihhtin wollde / ben borenn i þiss middellærd
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- that our Lord wanted / be born in this middle-earth.
The usage of "Middle-earth" as a name for a setting was popularized by Old English scholar J. R. R. Tolkien in his The Lord of the Rings and other fantasy works; he was originally inspired by the references to middangeard and Éarendel in the Old English poem Crist.
[edit] Old High German
Mittilagart is mentioned in the 9th century Old High German Muspilli (v. 54) meaning "the world" as opposed to the sea and the heavens:
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- muor varsuuilhit sih, suilizot lougiu der himil,
- mano uallit, prinnit mittilagart
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- Sea is swallowed, flaming burn the heavens,
- Moon falls, Midgard burns
[edit] Popular culture
- In the TV series Stargate SG-1, Midgard is how natives of the Protected Planets refer to Earth.
- Midgard was the default starting city in MERC-based MUDs.
- In Gene Wolfe's Wizard Knight series, the middle world is called Mythgarthr, which has a resemblance to Midgard.
- In the campaign of the PC game Age of Mythology, Midgard appears as a place. The heroes try to reach Midgard with the help of the dwarves.
- The MMORPG Dark Age Of Camelot has a realm called Midgard, which is loosely based on Norse legend.
- Stephen King also used a mutation of Midgard in his works, naming the parallel universe in his Dark Tower series "Mid-World", although that may be only the name of an ancient kingdom.
- There is a song entitled "Midgård" released by Therion, originally on Secret of the Runes. They also used this term for album title Live in Midgård.
- The Lord of the Rings, written by J. R. R. Tolkien, takes place in Middle-earth. See #Old and Middle English above.
- The MMORPG Ragnarok Online, which borrows from much of Norse mythology, is set in the world of Midgard. Most of the world is part of the empire of Rune-Midgard, ruled by King Tristam.
- The MMORPG MU Online has a realm called Midgard, and all its Game Masters (MU Masters) have their names based on the Norse mythology.
- In the game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, there is a whole level taking place with norse mythology including playing the character, Thor.
- The Japanese anime, Ah My Goddess!, uses this name to refer to the Earth's protector.
- The Japanese role-playing game, Alshard, which borrows from many Norse references, is set in the world of Midgard.
- Another Japanese anime The Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok is about Loki being banished to Midgard by Odin for a crime Loki doesn't know about. The creator uses many Norse references for the storyline.
- Midgards is the name of a city in the game Tales of Phantasia (released for SNES/SF, PSX, GBA, and PlayStation Portable)
- In the role-playing game Final Fantasy VII, Midgar is the name of the highly mechanized city in which argueably most of the population lives.
- In Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, Midgard is the name of the world which humans lives.
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Norse mythology |
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| List of Norse gods | Æsir | Vanir | Giants | Elves | Dwarves | Troll | Valkyries | Einherjar | Norns | Odin | Thor | Freyr | Freyja | Loki | Balder | Týr | Yggdrasil | Ginnungagap | Ragnarök | |
| Sources: Poetic Edda | Prose Edda | The Sagas | Volsung Cycle | Tyrfing Cycle | Rune stones | Old Norse language | Orthography | Later influence | |
| Society: Viking Age | Skald | Kenning | Blót | Seid | Numbers | |
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