B

BABA: Name of Berchta/Perchta in Carinthia (Austria).

BAFANA: An otherworldly figure who represents the personification of Epiphany. It is believed an ancient psychopomp deity is concealed beneath this name, which is variously spelled as Befana, Bephana, or Befania; in Swiss German the Epiphany is Buania.

BALDR (“Lord”): He is the son of Odin and Frigg. He is the best of the Æsir and all give him praise; he is nicknamed “the Good.” He married Nanna, and they had one son, Forseti. His home in the heavens is called Breiðablikk. He owns a boat called Hringhorni and the magical ring Draupnir, forged by the dwarves. Baldr has dire dreams that he recounts to the other Æsir. They ask all of creation to spare Baldr. Frigg is given an oath that her son will be spared by water, fire, all metals, earth, wood, stones, animals, and diseases.

When this had been ratified, the Æsir organized a game in which each one could throw whatever they liked at Baldr. This irritated Loki, who took on the guise of an old woman and went to Frigg to ask her if all things had indeed sworn an oath to spare her son. She answered that she had not demanded the oath of a very young mistletoe sprig. Loki tore off this sprig and gave it to Baldr’s blind brother, Höðr, and then told him in which direction to throw it. Höðr cast the mistletoe at Baldr, who was pierced through by it and died.

A splendid funeral was held for him. He was burned on his ship once the giantess Hyrrokkin launched it out to sea, and Thor blessed the pyre with his hammer, Mjöllnir. Nanna died of grief and was placed alongside her husband. Attending the ceremony were Odin and his valkyries, Freyr and Freyja, Heimdallr, the frost giants, and the mountain giants. Another son of Odin, Hermóðr, set off for the realm of the dead to convince the goddess Hel to let Baldr return to the Æsir. Thanks to Loki, however, his mission fails.

Fig. 10. The Death of Baldr. Illustration by Ólafur Brynjúlfsson, Snorra Edda, 1760.

Baldr corresponds with the archetype of an ideal being whose innocence is intolerable to a world that knows itself to be imperfect and blameworthy. After Ragnarök, Baldr will return to the world of men. The great antiquity of this god seems to be demonstrated by an inscription found in Utrecht dating back to the third or fourth century and dedicated to a deity named Baldruus.

Lindow, Murder and Vengeance among the Gods; Ferdinand Detter, “Der Baldrmythus,” Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 19 (1894): 495–510; Otto Höfler, “Balders Bestattung und die nordischen Felszeichnungen,” Anzeiger der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-Hist. Klasse 88 (1952): 343–72; Rudolf Much, “Balder,” Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum 61 (1924): 93–126.

BALDUNC: The Middle High German poem from the thirteenth or fourteenth century known to us the Jüngerer Sigenot (The Younger Version of the Sigenot Epic) informs us that during the course of his adventures, Dietrich von Bern frees the dwarf Baldunc from the clutches of a wild man. Baldunc expresses his gratitude by giving Dietrich a root which, when held in the same hand as a sword, makes it possible to pierce the wild man’s skin. This dwarf has another root that destroys the properties of the first. Once their adversary is dead, more than a thousand dwarves emerge from the hollow mountain and celebrate. Dietrich informs Baldunc that he is looking for the giant Sigenot, and the dwarf gives him a stone that confers courage and strength on its owner as well as protection from hunger and thirst.

SIGENOT

BÁLEYGR (“Eye of Fire”): One of Odin’s bynames. In the work of Saxo Grammaticus, it appears as Bolwisus, who is described as the brother of a certain Bilwisus.

Falk, Odensheiti.

BARA (“Wave”): One of the daughters of Ægir, the sea giant.

BARRI, BARRE: This is the name of the place where the god Freyr met the giantess Gerðr. It is either a small grove or an island, depending on the tradition.

BEATRIK (masc.): The Beatrik is a giant who appears in Tyrolean legends. He lives in inaccessible caves or in the deepest forests. He is so terrifying that no one has ever looked him in the face. In winter he haunts the summer grazing lands in the Alps, and woe to anyone who stumbles upon him there! He is not wicked and will do nothing to brave men who see him pass by and pretend not to see him. He is accompanied by a pack of puppies that barks constantly and are so furry that their heads, paws, and tails are invisible. He only comes close to settled areas in winter, most particularly at Christmas. It is said that he hunts witches called Eguane.

According to a tradition collected in Castelnuovo, near Borgo (Trentino, South Tyrol), the Beatrik owns a bowl of milk that he uses to put to sleep any people who are presumptuous enough to respond to his shout; he then cuts open their bellies and coils their intestines around a large comb that is close at hand!

Schneller, Märchen und Sagen aus Wälschtirol, 203–9.

BELI (“Bawler”): The name of the giant who challenges the god Freyr during Ragnarök. Because Freyr had earlier given his sword to Gymir as a bride price for the hand of Gerðr, he fights with a stag’s horn. He pierces Beli with it, killing him.

BELT OF POWER: One of the extraordinary objects owned by the god Thor. As indicated by its name (Old Norse megingjörð), this belt has the power to increase its owner’s strength.

BEOWULF: Eponymous hero of Beowulf, the Old English epic that was composed in alliterative verse at some point between the seventh and ninth centuries. Beowulf is the nephew of Hygelac, king of the Geats. He goes to Denmark to help King Hroðgar, whose prestigious hall has been repeatedly visited by a demon named Grendel who has been carrying off his men, one after another. Beowulf meets Grendel in single combat and tears off one of his arms. The monster retreats to his lair, a lake in the middle of the marshes. Grendel’s mother then enters the stage. Beowulf is forced to dive into the lake, at the bottom of which he finds a cave. There is a sword hanging on one wall of the cave, and Beowulf takes the weapon and uses it to slay the monstrous creature. Much later Beowulf learns that a dragon is ravaging his lands. Accompanied by the young Wiglaf, he confronts it in battle, kills it, and takes possession of the treasure the gigantic reptile had been guarding. He dies soon afterward, however, having succumbed to the wounds he received in the battle. His body is burned and buried in a mound together with the treasure.

Some of the episodes in this epic have analogs in other mythological lays and sagas, and several of the figures mentioned—such as Wayland the Smith, Attila, and Ermanaric—can also be found elsewhere. Beowulf ’s battle with Grendel corresponds closely to that of the Icelandic outlaw Grettir against the revenant Glamr; the two tales share a common source, most likely a story of a battle against a destructive dead man. The fight with a dragon is a common motif in tales of the Middle Ages.

Fulk, Bjork, and Niles, eds., Klaeber’s ‘Beowulf ’; Crépin, ed., Beowulf; Willem Helder, “Beowulf and the Plundered Hoard,” Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 88 (1977): 317–25; Sylvia Huntley Horowitz, “The Ravens in Beowulf,” Journal of English und Germanic Philology 80 (1981): 502–11; Harald Kleinschmidt, “Architecture and the Dating of Beowulf,” Poetica 34 (1991): 39–56; Tomoaki Mizuno, “The Magical Necklace and the Fatal Corslet in Beowulf,” English Studies 80 (1999): 377–97; Thomas Pettitt, “Beowulf: The Mark of the Beast and the Balance of Frenzy,” Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 77 (1976): 526–35.

BERGELMIR: Grandson of the primordial giant Ymir and son of Þrúðgelmir. He and his wife survived the flood caused by the flowing of Ymir’s blood, which drowned the rest of the giants. All the frost giants (hrímþursar) are descendants of Bergelmir.

BERGMÄNNCHEN (Bergmännlein, Bergmönch, Knappenmanndl, Kobel, Gütel; gruvrå in Sweden): A spirit of the mines, he is male and anthropomorphic but sometimes appears in animal form (horse, blackbird, fly, hornet). The ancient texts call him daemon subterraneus and daemon metallicus. Sometimes he is dangerous, sometimes helpful.

There is a story that in the eighteenth century two arquebusiers were sent to visit the mines between Innsbruck and Milo; they emerged twelve days later near Kitzbühl and reported what they had seen: villages, streams, a road. They met a small hunchbacked dwarf with a long gray beard carrying a staff and a lantern. He told them that they were among an underground people who had nothing in common with those living on the surface. He put them on the path to the exit. A similar legend appears to be connected to a Loiblerberg cave in Carniola (a region of present-day Slovenia).

Agricola, De re metallica; Agricola, De animantibus subterraneis; G. Heilfurth, Der Vorstellungskreis vom “Berggeist” bei Georg Agricola und seinen Zeitgenossen; Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, no. 298.

Fig. 11. Bergmännchen

BERGMÖNCH (“Monk of the Mines”): In the Harz Mountains of Saxony, the land of Baden, and the Grisons (Switzerland), this is a spirit of the mines who is giant in size and has white or gray hair. He punishes anybody who whistles or curses.

BERGMÄNNCHEN

BERILLE: A wild woman who is the sister of the giant Tressan in the Wolfdietrich epic. She seeks to hang Wolfdietrich and attacks him with an iron club with sharpened corners because he killed her brother. She captures the hero, binds him, and goes to hide his weapons in a cave. While she is doing this a dwarf rescues Wolfdietrich from this dangerous predicament. One detail worth noting: her breasts are so large that she hits them with her feet when she runs.

BERLINGR (“Small Beam”): One of the four dwarves who forged Freyja’s necklace, Brísingamen.

BERSERKR (pl. Berserkir; “Bear-shirt”): A race of Odinic warriors famous for their fury in battle. “[Odin’s] men went to battle without coats of mail and acted like mad dogs or wolves. They bit their shields and were as strong as bears or bulls. They killed people, and neither fire nor iron affected them” (Ynglinga saga, chap. 6, in Sturluson, Heimskringla, trans. Hollander). They are also called ulfheðnar, “wolfcoats.” A term that appears in the Eddic poem Hárbarðsljoð (Lay of Hárbarð) may possibly also represent a female counterpart in the form of “wolf women” (vargynjur). The figure of the beserkr frequently appears in the sagas. It was first mentioned in the ninth century.

HAMR, WEREWOLF

Fig. 12. Helmet plates found in Torslunda, Sweden, dating from around the year 1000

Fig. 13. Masked warriors. Detail from the Gallehus Horn, early fifth century.

Holbek and Piø, Fabeldyr og sagnfolk, 165–66; Güntert, Über altisländische Berserker-Geschichten; Samson, Les Guerriers-fauves dans la Scandinavie ancienne, de l’âge de Vendel aux Vikings (VIe-XIe siècle); François Delpech, “Hommes-fauves et fureurs animales. Aspects du thème zoomorphe dans le folklore de la péninsule Ibérique,” in Jean-Paul Duviols and Annie Molinié-Bertrand, eds., La Violence en Espagne et en Amérique (XVe–XIXe siècle) (Paris: P.U.P.S., 1997), 59–82.

BESTLA: A giantess who is the daughter of Bölþorn. She married Borr, son of Búri, with whom she had three children: Odin, Vili, and Vé. Her name probably means “Bark.”

BEYLA: Wife of Byggvir, servant or hypostasis of the god Freyr. Her name has been interpreted to mean either “Cow” or “Little Bee.”

BIBUNG: In the Wolfdietrich epic, version D, this dwarf helps Wolfdietrich against Belmunt, brother of the giant Olfan, by giving him a ring and telling him about a spring whose water will endow whoever drinks it with the strength of fifteen men. He also tells him to stick his sword in sand, which will cause the giant’s armor to soften. Bibung does this on account of his gratitude toward the hero’s father, Hugdietrich.

BIL: An enigmatic goddess who is closely connected to the moon. According to Snorri Sturluson, she is an Ásynja and the daughter of Viðfinnr. Bil is most likely the personification of one of the moon’s phases, the waning phase, which was considered harmful as it halted the growth of things. What we have here is apparently the transposition of a folk belief into the sphere of mythology.

BILWIZ, MANI

BILEYGR (“Shifty-eyed” or “Feeble-eyed”): Another of Odin’s titles; it alludes to the fact that this god is one-eyed because he offered one eye as a pledge to the giant Mímir to obtain knowledge.

Falk, Odensheiti.

Fig. 14. Bileygr

BILLINGR: This was most likely a giant. He is the father of a young woman Odin wished to seduce, but she managed to slip away, leaving a female dog in the bed in her place.

BILLUNC: A kidnapping dwarf who dwells in a castle behind a fountain; it is impossible to get past it unless one has a certain root in the mouth and is clad in a cloak of invisibility. Through deceit Billunc had taken over the lands of the son of Tarnunc, another dwarf. He owns two automatons—one plays music and the other pours water—and has two giants in his service. Billunc abducts the wife of Wolfdietrich. Later, when freeing his wife, Wolfdietrich kills him.

BILRÖST, BIFRÖST (“Trembling Road of the Sky”): The bridge built by the gods connecting Ásgarðr to the Earth. At its end in Ásgarðr is Himinbjörg where the god Heimdallr keeps watch against any potential assault by the giants. This construction is also called the Bridge of the Æsir (Ásbrú), because the Æsir cross it each day when going to the Well of Urðr. Snorri Sturluson describes Bifröst as a rainbow.

Alfred Ebenbauer, “Bilröst,” in Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumkunde, 2nd ed., vol. III, 1–2.

BILSKÍRNIR: Name of the hall owned by Thor. It is in Þrúðvangr, and, like Valhalla, it has 540 doors.

BILWIZ: A small demon akin to a dwarf that has been the subject of legend since the Middle Ages. It shoots invisible arrows that carry disease. It is a representative of the goddess Bil, who is the personification of the waning moon and has a paralyzing effect on living beings. He was transformed into a crop demon at the end of the fifteenth century, and the last sheaf of the harvest was called “the Bilwiz cut” (Bilwisschnitt) and set aside for him.

Lecouteux, “Der Bilwiz: Überlegungen zu seiner Entstehungs- und Entwicklungsgeschichte,” Euphorion 82 (1988): 238–50.

BLAUHÜTL (“Blue Hat”): The name of the Wild Huntsman in Saxon Lusatia. According to one legend his actual identity was the Lord of Biberstein, whose obsession for hunting led to his being condemned to an afterlife in which he eternally indulges his passion for hunting.

Haupt, Sagenbuch der Lausitz, 122.

BLAUMANTEL (“Blue Mantle”): One of the names of the devil.

BJÖRN (“Bear”): One of Odin’s titles that surely relates to his role as the leader of the berserkers.

Falk, Odensheiti.

BLÁINN: Another name for Ymir, the primordial giant.

COSMOGONY

BLÅKULLA: The name of the Sabbat location for Swedish witches. It is an immense plain that has a large house at its center. It is said that a church is there with a demon the size of a twelve-year-old child on the altar; this is where the ceremony takes place.

BLIKJANDABÖL (“Pale Misfortune”): The name of the bed curtains in the dwelling of Hel, the goddess of the dead.

HEL

BLINDI (“Blind”): One of Odin’s titles; it alludes to the fact that the god has only one eye.

Falk, Odensheiti.

BLOCKSBERG: The former name for Brocken (Harz, Germany). Since the fourteenth century this mountain has been considered to be the site for the nocturnal gatherings of spirits and witches who travel there on Saint John’s Day, All Souls’ Day, May Day, the third Thursday in Lent, and Saint Michael’s Day.

BLÓÐUGHADDA (“The One with the Blood-stained Hair”): One of the daughters of Ægir and Rán, the goddess of the sea.

BLOOD EAGLE: This is a torture that consists of making vertical incisions in the victim’s back on each side of the spine, through which the lungs are then pulled out from the rib cage and splayed on the back like wings. This bears a strong resemblance to a ritual procedure; perhaps the victims were dedicated to Odin this way.

BLOÞÖRN: BLOOD EAGLE

BLOTKELDA: SACRIFICIAL BOG

BOÐN (“Vessel”): One of the two vessels in which the blood of Kvasir was kept; the other was called Són. With this blood the dwarves Fjalarr and Galarr brewed a wondrous mead that transforms every man who drinks of it into a poet.

KVASIR

BOGEYMAN: There are hundreds of these kinds of creatures in the Germanic regions. Besides the characters that are fabricated in an impromptu fashion to scare children so they will not behave foolishly, there are a number of these beings in folk mythology. Among them are the Bogeyman of the Woods (Mecklenburg), a wild huntsman; the Night Hunter (Nachtjäger, Silesia); the Alp (Transylvania), an incarnation of the elf; the Rye Wolf (Roggenwolf) and the Tittenwîf (Mecklenburg); the Erftenmöin (Altmark region, Germany); the Huri or Nachthuri (Four Canton region, Switzerland), who throws children into a large sack, which brings to mind the Klaubauf of Bavaria and Austria, an individual who accompanies Saint Nicholas and carries disobedient and lazy children away in his sack (KNECHT RUPRECHT); and Hanselina who cuts off the hands of children who steal grapes (Switzerland). In Schleswig-Holstein the Büsemann lives in the stable, but he is also a merman. On the German island of Föhr in the North Sea we have Jug the Blind (der blinde Jug), and in Dithmarschen, the Pulterklaas.

BÖLÞORN (“Thorn of Woe”): Father of the giantess Bestla, the mother of Odin and his brothers.

BÖLVERKR (“Evil-doer”): This is the name that Odin uses for himself in the following tale. One day Odin encounters the mowers of the giant Baugi and provokes a quarrel between them over a whetstone, causing them all to kill each other. Odin takes their place in Baugi’s service and is promised a sip of the wondrous mead owned by his brother Suttungr as compensation. Odin does not receive this payment.

KVASIR

Falk, Odensheiti.

BÖXENWOLF (“Wolf in Short Pants”): This is the name for werewolf in northern Germany. It designates an individual who has made a pact with the devil in return for a belt that allows him to change into a powerful wolf. He sometimes behaves like a perching spirit, hurling himself on people’s backs and forcing them to carry him a great distance.

AUFHOCKER

Kuhn and Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche, 245.

BRACTEATE: A type of embossed single-sided medallion. Most of the Germanic bracteates date from the first to fourth centuries CE. A man’s head or a horseman is often depicted on them with solar symbols, swastikas, and triskeles.

Fig. 15. Two examples of Germanic bracteates with mythological and runic motifs; first to fourth century CE

BRAGARFULL: Name of the toast that accompanies solemn oaths. It is primarily made on two specific occasions: the winter solstice Jól feast and during the funeral libation. Snorri writes the word as bragafull, meaning “toast of the god Bragi.”

BRAGI: God of poetry. He is an Æsir god famous for his wisdom and eloquence. He married Iðunn, the goddess who possessed the apples of eternal youth. It is thought that this god could be simply a deification of the great ninth-century skald Bragi Boddason the Old, but it would be more reasonable to assume that this historical figure was assimilated into an older god bearing the same name. Kennings for Bragi call him Son of Odin, Long-bearded God, and First Maker of Poetry.

Heinz Klingenberg, “Bragi,” Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, 2nd ed., vol. III, 334–37.

BREIÐABLIK (“Far Shining”): Name of the dwelling of Baldr, the son of Odin and Frigg.

BREITHUT, LANGHUT (“Broad Hat,” “Long Hat”): This is a spirit that sometimes takes on the appearance of a perching entity, a ghostly tree, or a chopping block, forms often assumed by the Night Huntsman. In Norse mythology one of Odin’s bynames, Síðhöttr, has the same meaning. In Germany, Breithut is a demon dressed in the style of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In the Alemannic domain the leader of the Wild Hunt is called der Muet (Muot) mit dem Breit huot, “The Muot with the wide-brimmed hat,” with Muot being a corruption of “Wod, Wodan.”

Meyer, Germanische Mythologie, 231.

BRIDGI: A kind of monstrous shark found in the waters off the Shetland Islands that can approach boats unnoticed, because its dorsal fin resembles a sail. It either breaks boats apart or drags them to the sea bottom by seizing them between its dorsal and ventral fins. Sailors always bring an ax aboard ship in case they need to defend themselves against this beast. An amber pearl dropped into the sea from time to time is often enough to send it fleeing.

Jean Renaud, “Le peuple surnaturel des Shetland,” Artus 21–22 (1986): 28–32.

BRIMIR: Hall where the gods make their libations.

BRÍSINGAMEN (“Necklace of Brisings”): This necklace was forged by the dwarves Alfrigg, Dvalinn, Berlingr, and Grerr. To obtain it, Freyja had to sleep with each of them. Loki found this out and repeated it to Odin, who ordered him to bring the necklace to him. Odin returned it to Freyja on condition she provoke an eternal battle between two kings, and the goddess complied with his command.

HJAÐNINGAVÍG

BROCKEN: BLOCKSBERG

BROKKR (“Smith”): A dwarf who was brother and companion to Sindri. These two dwarves forged the treasures of the gods: Draupnir, the ring of Baldr; Gullinborsti, Freyr’s boar; and Mjöllnir, Thor’s hammer.

BROONIE: The name of a household spirit of the Shetland Islands, to whom modest offerings are made on various occasions, such as when brewing beer, making butter, or milling flour. On the western part of the archipelago it is also considered to be a guardian of the grain stores on the farm.

Jean Renaud, “Le peuple surnaturel des Shetland,” Artus 21–22 (1986): 28–32.

BROWNIE: Dwarf and domestic spirit found in England and Ireland. It is helpful and intrepid. If compensated for its labors by giving it a green garment, it will vanish. Once upon a time it was said that a brownie was part of every good family.

BRÚNI (“Brown”): One of Odin’s names. It is also the name of a dwarf, and it so happens that in England small supernatural creatures are called brownies.

Falk, Odensheiti.

BRYNHILDR (“Hildr with the Breastplate”): A valkyrie who disobeyed Odin by giving the victory to Agnarr. Odin punished her by pricking her with the thorn of sleep as she lay behind a rampart of shields and a wall of fire on Hindarfjall Mountain. Sigurðr made his way there, removed her breastplate, and awakened her. She told him of her life and taught him wisdom and learned arts. Supplanted by Guðrún in Sigurðr’s heart, she commits suicide after he is murdered. In the Nibelungenlied, Brünhild retains some traits indicative of the mythic origin: she has extraordinary strength, but this is tied to her virginity. She is deceived by Siegfried on two occasions and disappears from the story once the hero has died.

Fig. 16. Primary scenes from the legend of Sigurðr/Siegfried on a wooden portal of Hylestad Church (Norway), circa 1200

A:	Death of Reginn
B:	Burning of Sigurðr		The engraved runes in the border state: “Si(g)rid, mother of Alfrik, daughter of Orm, made this bridge for the spirit of Holmger, her husband, the father of Sigröd.”
C:	The nuthatches’ prediction
D:	The treasure carried by Grani, Sigurðr’s steed

Fig. 17. Carved stone of Ramsund in Södermanland (Sweden)

BUKOW, BOODIE: The name of a household spirit in the Shetland Islands and Scotland; he wears bells on his clothes.

BURGUNDIANS: A Germanic people who most likely originated on the island of Bornholm, once called Borgundarholm, in the Baltic Sea south of Sweden, or they may have possibly originated from Bordung in Norway. They traveled south in the fifth century, capturing Mainz, and settled along the Rhine. Defeated by the Hun auxiliaries of the Roman Patrician Aetius, the Burgundians moved on into Savoy and Provence. Their king, Gundobad (ca. 473–516), ordered the Lex Burgundorum (Burgundian Legal Code) to be set down in writing. The preface to the laws provides a list of kings, many of whose names appear in Germanic heroic poetry and in the Nibelungenlied; for example, Gibica, Gudomar, Gislahar (= Giselher), and Gundaharius (= Gunther). The Burgundian kings were famous for the treasure they owned, which entered into legend as the gold of the Nibelungenlied. In the latter poem the Burgundian noblemen are named Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher; they live in Worms, and their sister is Kriemhild, who marries Siegfried. After his murder she marries Etzel (Attila) and lures her brothers to Etzelburg to avenge the murder of her husband, and they are all massacred.

ALBERICH, ANDVARI

BÚRI (“Begetter”): The ancestor of all the gods. They emerged thanks to Auðumla the cow licking the ice that covered the world. Búri was capable of self-reproduction, and he had a son named Burr (or Borr), who married Bestla; she gave birth to Odin, Vili, and Vé.

BURR or BORR (“Son”): The son of Búri, he wed the giantess Bestla, daughter of Bölþorn, and she bore him three children: Odin, Vili, and Vé.

BUTZ (German Putz, Box, Butzenmann; Danish busemand, boesman, böög): A generic word used to designate demons, ghosts, dwarves, kobolds, and household spirits. It sometimes assumes the form of an old peasant or a soldier. It is thought to take its name from an old verb meaning “to make noise,” or else the term reflects an aspect of its personality, with Butz then meaning “little chopping block.”

Lindig, Hausgeister, 55 et passim.

BUTZEGRAALE (neut.): The name of a bogeyman of Württemberg.

BYGGVIR (“Barley”): Servant or hypostasis of the god Freyr. He boasts of knowing the art of brewing good beer. Byggvir was most likely originally a grain spirit.

BYLEISTR: One of the two brothers of the god Loki.

BYLGJA (“Wave”): One of the nine daughters of the sea giant Ægir.