H

HABERMANN: A household spirit that wears a multicolored robe with small bells. In the region of Württemberg it watches over children.

HACKELBERG: One of the names for the Wild Huntsman in the Germanic regions. This Master of the Hunt in the region of Brunswick (Braunschweig) was allegedly punished for asking God, while on his deathbed, to let him hunt until Final Judgment in exchange for his place in paradise.

Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, no. 219.

HADDINGJAR/HADDINGI: The names of the inseparable brothers in the family of Óttar the Simple. They have ten older brothers and are so close to each other that together they only have the strength of a single man. Georges Dumézil suggests they can be viewed as the heroic and epic version of the mythical twins, the Alci, mentioned by Tacitus.

ALCI, DIVINE TWINS, HENGIST and HORSA, IBOR and AIO

HADINGUS: Odinic hero in Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum. According to Georges Dumézil, Hadingus is the euhemeristic transposition of the god Njörðr, his transformation into a Danish king.

Dumézil, From Myth to Fiction.

HAGEN (Old Norse Högni): In the Nibelungenlied, he is the faithful vassal of King Gunther, and he rids his retinue of the burdensome Siegfried, steals his treasure, and casts it into the Rhine. When Etzel (Attila) invites the Burgundians to his court, Hagen realizes that this invitation is a trap. He dies, slain by Kriemhild.

In the Völsunga saga (Saga of the Völsungs), Högni is only the half-brother of Gunnar, whose father is Aldrian. Högni was sired by an elf, hence his exceptional vigor and singular appearance: he has very pale features, and his facial expression is terrifying. He and Gunnar are called Niflungar (Nibelungen). Broadly speaking, the outline of the rest of the story corresponds with that of the Nibelungenlied.

Gouchet, Hagen von Tronje.

HALDE (Sámi hal’di): An anthropomorphic guardian spirit in Lappland (Sámi) belief. It is often a legacy in certain families, but in certain circumstances it can be purchased. The Haldes appear as minuscule individuals resembling infants or elderly persons. They correspond quite closely with the Norse fylgjur.

HALLINSKIÐI: A byname of the god Heimdallr.

HAMINGJA: This word designates a tutelary spirit that becomes attached to the head of a clan, generation after generation.

Lecouteux, “Une singulière conception de l’âme: remarque sur l’arrière-plan de quelques traditions populaires,” Medieval Folklore 2 (1992): 21–47.

HAMR: This Old Norse word designates the Double (alter ego) of an individual. Some people possess from birth the ability to split themselves in two and are called hamrammr, “possessors of a powerful Double,” or eigi einhamr, “those who do not have only one Double.” This Double leaves the body when the individual is sleeping or in a state of trance or lethargy. It is three-dimensional and can act and speak like its owner. This sending of one’s Double poses a risk to those who indulge in this activity: if someone moves their sleeping body, the Double will no longer be able to reenter it. The hamr can assume a human or an animal shape; the most common forms of the latter are a bear, bull, or wolf.

ALP, FYLGJA, MAHR, SCHLEMIHL, WEREWOLF

Lecouteux, “Une singulière conception de l’âme: remarque sur l’arrière-plan de quelques traditions populaires,” Medieval Folklore 2 (1992): 21–47.

HANGAGUÐ (“God of Hanged Men”): One of Odin’s titles. It refers to a ritual hanging—which allows a warrior or the sacrificial victim to reach Valhalla—as well as to the initiatory ordeals through which Odin acquired sacred knowledge. Wounded by the thrust of a spear, Odin hung for nine days and nine nights on a wind-battered tree whose roots were of unknown origin. Several of Odin’s other bynames allude to this as well: Hangatýr (“God of the Hanged”) and Hangi (“The Hanged One”).

Falk, Odensheiti.

HANGING: Men sacrificed to Odin were ritually hung, and this deity is the god of hanged men. After being wounded by a spear, Odin hung himself and swayed for nine nights from “the wind-battered tree” in order to gain sacred knowledge. A passage from the Gautreks saga tells how when King Vikar’s fleet was immobilized for lack of wind, it was learned through divination that Odin demanded the sacrifice of the king. Starkaðr (STARKAÐR) proposes a mock hanging. He ties calves’ intestines around Vikar’s neck and then attaches these to a tree branch and pretends to stab the king with a reed. But the intestines transform into a solid rope that strangles the king, while the reed changes into a deadly spear.

HAPHLIUS (Old Norse Hafli): The giant who, according to Saxo Grammaticus, raised the two sons of Gram: Guthormus and Hadingus.

HAPTAGUÐ (“God of Fetters”): A byname for Odin. As Mircea Eliade recognized, the Indo-European gods are binders (Varuna, Ouranos). Haptaguð alludes to the fact that Odin knows how to paralyze an army.

HERFJÖTURR

Falk, Odensheiti.

HÁRBARÐR (“Graybeard”): One of Odin’s bynames.

Falk, Odensheiti.

HARÐVÉURR (“Strong Guardian”): One of Thor’s titles.

HARE-MILKER: MÆLKEHARE

HARKE, FRAU (HERKEN, HACKE, HARFE, HARE, ARCHEN, “Dame Knife”): A female demon of northern Germany who corresponds with the figure of Berchta/Percht found in the southern areas of the country. She roams during the Twelve Days (between Christmas and Epiphany) and punishes lazy servants, especially spinners who have not finished spinning their linen. She lives in the mountain bearing her name, Harkenberg, which lies near Kamern in the Havel region.

HARLUNGEN: One of the representations of the Germanic divine twins in continental heroic legend. The Harlungen are the sons of one of Ermrich’s (Ermanaric) brothers; they are persecuted by their uncle and eventually hung. According to many texts the reason for this execution was unfounded. When reasons were supplied, all the sources agree on the role played by the traitor Sibeche, who advised Ermrich to kill his nephews. This figure opposed the efforts of the old servant Eckart (Fritla in the Old Norse version of the legend) to protect the young princes. Depending on the version of the story, the expedition against the Harlungen was inspired by different motives. According to the Heldenbuch, Ermrich was seeking to recover the lands of his nephews; whereas in the Þiðreks saga af Bern (Saga of Dietrich von Bern), Sifka (the Old Norse version of Sibeche) accuses them of attempting to impugn the honor of the queen. Another important variation is the location of the Harlungen territory: according to the Heldenbuch it is in Brisgovia; in the Þiðreks saga it is near Trelinburg on the banks of the Rhine. Outside of these two primary sources, the Old English poem Widsith relates a list of names that includes the Harlungen, Emerca, and Fridla. The Annals of Quedlinburg, dating from the tenth century, present the hanging of the Harlungen by their uncle Ermanaric as a hard fact: “At that time, Ermanaric ruled over all the Goths; he was the most cunning of all in deceit, and the most generous with gifts; after the death of his son, Frederic, whom he had ordered executed, he had his nephews Embrica and Fritla hung from a gibbet.”

DIVINE TWINS, SVANHILDR

Georges Zink, Les Légendes héroïques de Dietrich et d’Ermrich dans les littératures germaniques, 201–11.

HÁRR (“The High One”): A name of Odin reflecting his rank as sovereign god.

Falk, Odensheiti.

HARTHGREPA (“Firm Grip”): Daughter of the giant Vagnopthus, the foster father of Hadingus. She was Hadingus’s wet nurse and later his mistress, for she could change size at will. She knew necromancy and awoke a dead man so he could predict Hadingus’s future for her, but the infernal powers, outraged by this sacrilege, tore her to pieces one night. Harthgrepa plays the role of a guardian spirit for Hadingus.

HADINGUS

HATI (“Hate” or “Hateful”): A mythical wolf and the son of Hroðvitnir. He seeks to capture the moon, which he will eventually devour. His companion is Sköll who pursues the sun.

Fig. 31. The wolf Hati trying to swallow the moon. North portal of the Scots Church of St. James in Regensburg.

HAVMAND, HAVFRUE: NYKR, WASSERMANN

Keightley, The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little People, 152–55.

HAYMON: An Italian giant that came to the Inn Valley around 860. He confronted and killed Thyrsus, another giant living in the same valley, and the site of their battle is called Thyrschenbach (present-day Dirschenbach). A short time later he slew a dragon that was preventing the construction of a monastery dedicated to Saint Benedict in Wilten, near Innsbruck. He cut out its tongue and placed it in the monastery, where it remained on view for a long time. This dragon tongue eventually made its way to a museum, and today we can recognize it as the beak of a sawfish.

It should be noted that the name of Haymon’s adversary is simply a Latinized version of the Germanic word thurs, meaning “giant.”

HECKETHALER: An enchanted coin that always returns to its owner’s pocket after every purchase. In France it is known as the “flying pistole (doubloon).” This belief in a magic penny can be found throughout Europe and even in the countries of the Middle East.

HEFRING (“She Who Rises Up,” “Wave”): One of the daughters of the sea deities Ægir and Rán.

HEIÐRÚN: The goat that perches on the roof of Valhalla and feeds on the leaves of Læraðr. From its udder flows the mead that valkyries serve to the warriors called the einherjar.

Fig. 32. The goat Heiðrún on the roof of Valhalla. Illustration by Ólafur Brynjúlfsson, Snorra Edda, 1760.

HEIMDALLR: A mysterious god of the Æsir family, to which he serves as a guardian. He is the father of all men. He lives in Heaven’s Mount (Himinbjörg), at the end of the sky, and keeps watch over the bridge that leads to Ásgarðr (Bifröst, “rainbow”). He can see great distances and can hear the grass growing in the meadows and the wool growing on the backs of sheep, for his hearing is concealed beneath the roots of Yggdrasill, the cosmic tree. He needs no more sleep than a bird. Also referred to as the “white áss (Æsir god),” he is the son of nine sisters. His teeth are made of gold. His horse’s name is Gulltoppr (“Golden Mane”). He owns a horn called Gjallarhorn (“Resounding Horn”), so named because it can be heard throughout the entire world, and a sword named Höfuð (“Man’s Head”). When the world ends at Ragnarök he is killed while slaying Loki.

It is thought that his byname Hallinskiði connects him to the ram, which would then be a counterpart to other divine animals such as Thor’s goats, Odin’s ravens, and Freyr’s boar.

Heimdallr appears in the role of a god-king, and he is linked with the symbolism of the World Tree (Yggdrasill). He is of great antiquity and is in some way a precursor of the cosmic order. He seems to have emerged from the waters of chaos as the son of nine mothers (waves?). However, the information we have at our disposal about him is most fragmentary.

Cöllen, Heimdallr-der rätselhafte Gott: Eine philologische und religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung; Jan De Vries, “Heimdallr, dieu énigmatique,” Études Germaniques 4 (1955): 257–68.

HEIME (Old English Hama; Old Norse Heimir): Warrior and inseparable companion of Witege. He first served Ermanaric, then Theodoric, but was forced to flee after stealing the Brôsinga mene, “the necklace of the Brisinga,” a name that corresponds to that of Freyja’s necklace, Brísingamen.

HEITI: A kind of synonym used in skaldic poetry. There are two types: (1) the heiti that names in a relatively direct way, without the involvement of extensive knowledge; and (2) the heiti that, to the contrary, requires effort to elucidate because it makes use of metonymy. Two designations for Odin may serve as respective examples: the first type of heiti would be Gautr (“Goth”) and an example of the second type would be Grímnir (“Masked”). In a religious context a heiti suggests that a taboo may exist against uttering the actual name of a god.

HEL (“Concealer”): This is both the name of the goddess Hel and of the realm of the dead over which she presides. Hel is the daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrboða, thus the sister of the wolf Fenrir and the Midgard Serpent. She is half white and half blue and lives in the Niflheimr (“World of Darkness”). Her hall is called Éljúðnir (“Dank”?); her plate is Hungr (“Hunger”); her knife is Sulltr (“Famine”); her serving man, Gangláti (“the Slow One”); her serving maid, Ganglöt (“the Slow One”); the threshold of her home is called Fallanda forað (“Stumbling Block”); her bed, Kör (“Illness”); and her bedcurtains are called Blikjanda böl (“Pale Misfortune”). All men that die in bed or of illness come to her.

The realm of the dead has several names: Niðavellir (“Obscure Plains” or “Fields of Darkness”), Náströnd (“Corpse-shore”), or Násheimr (“Corpse-world”). It seems to consist of nine dwellings, the most terrible of which is Náströnd, in the southern reaches of Hel, where those who broke the moral laws, especially oath breakers, are cast. The dragon Níðhöggr gnaws on their corpses.

Fig. 33. Hermóðr arrives at Hel’s Hall to ask for the release of Balder. Illustration by Ólafur Brynjúlfsson, Snorra Edda, 1760.

Another conception of the otherworld emerges from the sagas and the historiographical sources: the deceased continue to live in their mounds or rejoin their ancestors in the hollow mountains.

HELBLINDI (“Hel-blinder”): One of Loki’s two brothers. Also a byname of Odin.

Falk, Odensheiti.

HELGI (“Holy One”): 1. Son of Sigmundr and Borghildr of Bralundr (Denmark). He is remembered for having slain Hundingr, king of Hunaland (Land of the Huns), and for having wed the valkyrie Sigrún, who helps him to slay his enemies and with whom he had children. At Odin’s instigation, Sigrún’s brother Dagr slew Helgi, who made his way to the home of the dead; later, Helgi emerged from his burial mound to converse with his wife. Sigrún eventually died of grief, but both of them were reincarnated, as is explicitly stated in Helgakviða Hundingsbana II (The Second Lay of Helgi).

2. After his reincarnation, Helgi took the family name Haddingjaskati. He married Kara, a valkyrie who was the daughter of Halfdan.

3. There is also a third Helgi, who is the son of Hjörvarðr and Sigrlinn. A large, handsome, taciturn individual, he was not given a name. One day he saw nine valkyries riding by who predicted his future, and one of them, Sváva, daughter of Eylimi, gave him the name of Helgi. She subsequently provided him with protection in battle. Helgi performed many great deeds, went to the home of Eylimi, and gained Sváva’s hand in marriage. He was slain in a duel. He too was reincarnated.

HELGRINDR (“Hel’s Fence”): A wall that encloses the kingdom of the dead. It is also called Nágrindr (“Corpse-fence”) or Valgrindr (“Fence of the Slain”).

HEL

HELLE: Helle is a giant that appears in the cycle of legends concerning Wolfdietrich. He works in the service of the pagan king Machorel. On the latter’s orders Helle transported eggs into Lombardy that hatch into dragons, which later lay waste to the land and cause the death of King Ortnit. Helle was accompanied by the giantess Runze. Ortnit encountered Helle and was overmatched; he took refuge beneath a tree that the giant knocked down and then managed to cut off his two legs before slaying him.

HELVEGR (“Hel’s Way”): The road that leads to the realm of the dead. This name can be found in various Germanic lands, where it indicates the road that should be taken to bring the deceased to the cemetery. Similar concepts can be found in Celtic Brittany: there is the hent ar c’ horfou (“Road of the Body”) as well as the hent an Anaon (“Road of Departed Souls”). In Old Celtic, however, Anawnn (Anaon) is also the name of the otherworld.

HEL

HEMANN: This is a Rufgeist, a calling or hailing spirit, still called Hoymann (Palatinate), Heitmännchen (Westphalia), and Hojemandl (southern Germany). He terrifies people at night by chasing them and sometimes knocking them down on their backs. One should never respond to his call, for it could have disastrous consequences. It is said that the Hoymann is a devil or a soul in torment. He comes in the guise of a large man wearing a wide-brimmed hat, like a giant or hunter. His cry is heard most often during the autumn and during Advent. Along the banks of the river Lech (Austria), the Hojemandl is a kobold that lives in abandoned farms and forests. He is a tease and does handstands.

HENGIST and HORSA (“Stallion” and “Horse”): The military leaders of the Angles when they invaded England. Their names may reflect a belief that in ancient times these two men were divine twins who took the form of horses. It should be noted that in the nineteenth century the carved horse heads adorning the farms of Holstein in northern Germany were still called Hengist and Hors. Writing in the sixth century in his De excidio et conquestu Britanniae, Gildas only indicates that the Saxons reached Great Britain in three boats, stayed on the Isle of Thanet, and battled Aurelius Ambrosius.

In his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, dating from 731, the Venerable Bede provides more details to Gildas’s story. He gives the names of the three Germanic tribes, of the two brothers Hengist and Horsa, and traces the genealogies of the two leaders back to Wodan himself. Bede also states that Horsa was later killed in combat and that a monument to his memory still existed in east Kent. In his Historia Brittonum, written around 679, Nennius also mentions the names of Hengist and Horsa and provides a genealogy that goes back from Hengist to Wodan.

ALCI, DIVINE TWINS, IBOR and AIO

HERÁSS (“Army God”): A name of Odin found on a seventh-century Norwegian funeral inscription.

Falk, Odensheiti.

HERBLINDI (“Army-blinder”): One of Odin’s bynames. It is explained by Snorri Sturluson, who tells us that “in combat, Odin had the power to render his enemies deaf and blind.”

Falk, Odensheiti.

HERCULES: In Germano-Roman epigraphy the name Hercules is most likely a subsitute for Donar/Thor. The name is generally accompanied by an adjective; for example, “powerful,” “bearded,” and so forth.

HERFJÖTUR (“Army-fetter”): The name of a valkyrie. It refers to a dire scenario: the sudden paralysis that grips warriors when fighting.

HERFJÖTURR

HERFJÖTURR: This word designates something that paralyzes an army (in other words, it is a decree of fate). It can take the form of an invisible net or of deadly arrows.

Régis Boyer, “Herfjötur(r),” in Visages du destin dans les mythologies: Mélanges Jacqueline Duchemin, ed. François Jouan (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1983), 153–68.

HERJA (“Devastating One”): The name of the valkyrie who should be compared to Hariasa, a deity whose existence is confirmed by second-century epigraphy.

HERJANN (“Lord of the Army”): One of Odin’s names. It is generally believed to be an allusion to Odin as leader of the “single warriors” (einherjar) who live in Valhalla.

Falk, Odensheiti.

HERLA: According to twelfth-century English historians, Herla would be a king of the very ancient Britons, although both his name as well as his legend are clearly Germanic. Accepting a dwarf ’s invitation, Herla follows him into a hollow mountain. Following his host’s wedding, Herla and his companions take the road back home, laden with gifts, horses, dogs, and falcons. As the dwarf leads the king out of the mountain he gives him a small bloodhound, forbidding the entire company to dismount and set foot on the ground before the dog jumps down on it. Shortly after parting with the dwarf, Herla meets a shepherd and realizes that during the three days he spent inside the mountain several hundred years have elapsed in the land of mortals. Heedless of the dwarf’s order, several of the king’s companions get down from their horses and crumble into dust. The dog has never leaped down to the ground, and King Herla has been pursuing his mad rounds in the company of his army ever since. He became the leader of the Wild Hunt, commonly known under the name of Familia Herlethingi or Mesnie Hellquin (in more recent folklore, the leader of the Wild Hunt is Odin). The legend of Herla tells of a journey into the otherworld and reflects the belief that dwarves are the dead and that the moutains are the realm of shades.

OSKOREIA, WILD HUNT

Claude Lecouteux, Phantom Armies of the Night.

HERMÓÐR: Brother of Baldr. He borrowed Odin’s steed, Sleipnir, to go visit Hel, the goddess of the underworld, to request that she release Baldr, whom Höðr had slain by accident. He rode for nine days and nine nights on Hel’s Road (Helvegr), crossed the river Gjöll over the Gjallarbrú bridge, leaped over the Hel’s Fence, thanks to Sleipnir, and reached the goddess’s hall. Hel accepted on condition that all creation, both the living and the dead, mourned for Baldr. Humans, minerals, plants, and animals all mourned except for one giantess, named Þökk. She was none other than Loki in disguise, who refused to shed a single tear, ensuring that Baldr had to stay among the dead.

HERNE THE HUNTER: A famous English ghost who appears in the park of Windsor Castle near a large oak tree. He has the appearance of a hunter clad in a deer’s hide and wearing deer’s antlers on his head.

He is said to be a forester who committed suicide for fear of the punishment he would receive for a murder. Shakespeare mentions him in The Merry Wives of Windsor (IV, 4).

Fig. 34. Herne the Hunter. Winkfield Inn sign (Berkshire).

There is an old tale goes that Herne the hunter,

Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest,

Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight,

Walk round about an oak, with great ragg’d horns;

And there he blasts the tree and takes the cattle

And makes milch-kine yield blood and shakes a chain

In a most hideous and dreadful manner.

On the Danish peninsula of Jutland we find a Horns Jaeger who rides a horse in the Aarhus region and attempts to carry off female elves.

Petry, Herne the Hunter; Thiele, Danmarks Folkesagn, vol. II, 116.

HERNOSS: An idol mounted on a stake with a human head but no arms, which still existed in Sørum and Rike, Norway, in the nineteenth century. Elsewhere people revered the Faksar, wooden statuettes depicting a bearded man the size of a twelve-year-old child; these statues are called vätte and tusse. Food offerings are made to them at Jól. The ancient Norse worshipped posts (stafr) as domestic gods and did so despite the ban on this practice written down in Eidsivathings Kristenrett in 1152.

Linhart, Hausgeister in Franken, 35; Olav Bø, “Faksar og kyrkjerestar,” By og Bygd 12 (1969): 43–76; Inger M. Boberg, “Gardvordens seng i dansk tradition,” Maal og Minne (1956); Reidar T. Christiansen, “Gårdvette og markavette,” Maal og Minne (1943): 137–60; Lily Weiser, “Germanische Hausgeister und Kobolde,” Niederdeutsche Zeitschrift für Volkskunde 4 (1926): 1–19.

HERTÝR (“Army-god”): One of Odin’s bynames.

Falk, Odensheiti.

HERVÖR, ALVITR: A valkyrie and swan maiden and the daughter of King Hlöðver. She is also called alvitr (“all-white” or “all-wise”). Her sisters are Ölrun and Hlaðguðr svanhvít (“swan-white”). These three women married Völundr (Wayland) and his two brothers.

HLAÐGUÐR SVANHVÍT, ÖLRUN, SWAN MAIDEN, VALKYRIE, WAYLAND THE SMITH

HILDE: An aquatic demon of Thuringia. She has blue hair and bewitches people with her song.

HILDÓLFR (“Battle-wolf”): A byname of Odin in the Hárbarðsljóð (Lay of Hárbarðr) in which he plays the role of a ferryman who refuses to give Thor transport.

Falk, Odensheiti.

HILDR (“Battle”): Several female figures have this name: 1. A valkyrie. 2. The daughter of Högni. 3. A giantess. 4. A female magician who resuscitates the dead warriors every night in the myth of the Eternal Battle.

HJAÐNINGAVÍG

HIMINBJÖRG (“Heaven-mount”): The dwelling of Heimdallr. It is located at the end of heaven, where the rainbow that serves as a bridge between Ásgarðr and the rest of the world begins.

HEIMDALLR

HIMINHRJÓÐR (“Devastator of Heaven”): A bull belonging to the giant Hymir. The god Thor tears off its head and puts it on a fishhook to serve as bait for catching the Midgard Serpent. A tenth-century carved stone cross in Gosforth, England, depicts this bull’s head, which is clearly recognizable, at the end of Thor’s fishing line.

HINZELMANN (“Little Heinz”): The most famous of the German sprites who lived in the castle of Hudemühlen, not far from Lüneburg (Lower Saxony). He showed his little hand for the first time in 1584 and vanished in 1588. He behaved like a household spirit and was friendly, but he sometimes acted like a rapping spirit and kobold, sowing disorder throughout the castle whenever someone treated him badly. He demanded a bowl full of milk and white breadcrumbs every day. He kept watch over people’s behavior, punished careless servants, and helped in the kitchen and stables. He was able to predict the future and avert imminent misfortune. There were attempts to rid the castle of him with exorcisms, but they had no effect.

Fig. 35. Hinzelmann

When asked, he said he was called Hinzelmann but that he was also named Lüring and his wife was named Hille Bingels, that he came from the mountains of Bohemia, and that his mother was a Christian. His voice was that of a child or young girl. The lord of Hudemühlen asked him to show himself. Hinzelmann refused but let him pass his hand across his invisible face. The lord had the impression that he was touching teeth or a skeleton.

A serving maid persuaded Hinzelmann to show himself; when she went down into the cellar she saw a small, naked child lying on the ground with two knives stuck into his heart. It so happens that Martin Luther (1483–1546) tells a similar story in his Table Talk, which shows that this theme already existed in the sixteenth century and most likely earlier.

Lindig, Hausgeister; Linhart, Hausgeister in Franken.

HITT/HUTT, FRAU: Queen of the giants living above Innsbruck. God turned her to stone for squandering bread. According to another tradition she is a giantess dressed in white who can be seen sitting on a stone combing her hair. She would abduct any children who came too close and carry them off to the inside of the mountain, where they would never be seen again.

Alpenburg, Mythen und Sagen Tirols, 239; Zingerle, Sagen aus Tirol, 127–28.

HJAÐNINGAVÍG (“Battle of the Hjadningar”): This is the name for the Eternal Battle, a very ancient myth that appears in several texts sharing the same structure. A woman, whose name is Freyja, Hildr, or Göndul, provokes a battle that never ends, because every evening and morning she resurrects the slain to allow them to resume their combat. One of the adversaries is named Hedinn, which means “the man with the hat” or “the man with the fur mantle,” a name referring to the beserkir, the wild warriors also called ulfheðnar (“wolf-coats”). The word Hjadningar refers to “Hedinn’s warriors.” One interesting detail in the story is that all the dead turn into stones at night.

Responding to the question of why the battle is called “the Hjaðningar weather or storm?” Snorri explains in chapter 61 of his Skáldskaparmál (Treatise on the Skaldic Art) that Hedinn carried away on his boat the daughter of King Högni, who instantly set off in pursuit and caught up with his daughter’s abductor on a small island. The battle resumes and rages every day because Hogni’s daughter Hildr reawakens the dead every night by magic. The battle will go on until Ragnarök.

In Germany the myth can be recognized in the heroic poem Kudrun, written circa 1240. Around 1190, Saxo Grammaticus retold a version of the myth in which the protagonists were named Hithinus, Höginus, and Hilda. Hithinus had abducted Höginus’s daughter, Hilda. The king pursued the kidnapper and found him near the Orcades (Orkneys). Hilda attempted to reconcile Höginus and Hithinus, but the battle began and continues eternally.

HJÁLMBERI (“Helm-bearer”): One of Odin’s names. It corresponds exactly with the depiction of this god on petroglyphs and bronze helmet panels found in Scandinavia. According to Snorri Sturluson, his helmet is made of gold.

Falk, Odensheiti.

HJALMÞRIMUL (“Battle-helm”): The name of a valkyrie.

VALKYRIE

HJÖRÞRIMUL (“Battle-sword”): The name of a valkyrie.

VALKYRIE

HJUKI: Brother of Bil and foster son of Máni (the moon). Hjuki is most likely the personification of the moon’s waxing and beneficial phase, whereas his brother is that of the harmful, waning aspect of this astral body.

HLAÐGUÐR, SVANHVÍT (“Hlaðguðr Swan-white”): A valkyrie and swan maiden whose proper name, Hlaðguðr, refers to the notion of “weaving on the loom of battle.” She is also called svanhvít (“swanwhite”). She is the daughter of King Hlöðver and the sister of Hervör and Ölrun. Slagfiðr, one of the brothers of Völundr (Wayland), obliged her to remain with him by stealing her clothes while she bathed.

HERVÖR ALVITR, ÖLRUN, SWAN MAIDEN, VALKYRIE, WAYLAND THE SMITH

HLÉR (“Sea”): One of the names of Ægir, the sea giant. This name is evident in that of the Danish island Hléysey (present-day Laessö), “Hler’s Island.”

HLIÐSKJÁLF (“Guard Tower”): Odin’s throne. When he is seated there the god can see the entire world. It is also the name of the hall in which this throne is housed.

HLÍN (“Protectress”): Goddess to whom Odin’s wife, Frigg, assigned the duty of protecting mankind. She is most likely simply a hypostasis of Frigg.

HLÓÐYN: Mother of the god Thor. As he is regularly called the son of Jörð (“the Earth”), the deduction has been made that Hlóðyn and Jörð are one and the same. Her great antiquity is proved by five Germano-Roman votive inscriptions found in Frisia and along the lower course of the Rhine, dating from the second and third centuries, which are addressed to the goddess Hludana.

HLÓRA: Thor’s foster mother. This figure who plays no role whatsoever appears to be a recent creation extrapolated from Hlóriði, a nickname for this god.

HLÓRIÐI (“The Loud Rider”): Thor’s most frequent title.

HNIKARR (“Rapper,” “Instigator”): The name Odin uses to introduce himself to Sigurðr when the latter is caught in a storm at sea. Odin calms the waves.

Falk, Odensheiti.

HNITBJÖRG (“Clashing Mountain”): The mountain in which Gunnlöð, the guardian of the sacred vessels holding the wondrous mead, lives. It is reminiscent of the Symplegades in Greek mythology.

KVASIR

HNOSS (“Jewel”): Daughter of Freyja and Óðr.

HODDMÍMIR (“Treasure-Mímir”): The wood in which the survivors of Ragnarök, Líf and Lif þrasir, hide and live on dew. This wood is nothing other than Yggdrasill, the World Tree, at the foot of which is located the Well of Wisdom, the “treasure” of Mímir.

HÖÐR (“Warrior”): One of Odin’s sons. He is blind and unintentionally kills Baldr by casting a sprig of mistletoe at him. Váli slays him for this deed. Both Höðr and Baldr return to the reborn world.

HŒNIR: A secondary god about whom little is known. He is mentioned in the Odin-Hœnir-Lóðurr triad with regard to the myth of the creation of mankind. It is Hœnir who endowned human beings with the faculty of reason. In other triads he is cited alongside Odin and Loki. He is one of the Æsir who will survive after Ragnarök in the new world. According to Snorri Sturluson the Æsir gave Hœnir as a hostage to the Vanir along with Mímir, without whom he is incapable of thinking. The Vanir suspect the Æsir of deceiving them and decapitate Mímir.

In skaldic poetry Hœnir is called “the quick god,” “long foot,” “clayking,” and the “friend of the Raven-God (Odin).”

Willy Krogmann, “Hœnir,” Acta Philologica Scandinavica 6 (1930–1931): 311–31; Franz Rolf Schröder, “Hœnir, eine mythologische Untersuchung,” Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 43 (1918): 219–52.

HÖFUÐ (“Man’s Head”): Heimdallr’s sword. The name may be an allusion to a lost myth, a fragment of which says that the god was killed by a human head.

HÓFVARPNIR (“Hoof-tosser”): Horse of the goddess Gná.

HOLLE, FRAU (HOLDA, HULDA): A syncretic figure whose features derive from a variety of sources. She is the leader of the female Wild Hunt, which sows abundance along its passage.

In Norway her appearance promises health to the flocks and fertility to women. Frau Holle lives in a spring or lake on the Hörselberg in Thuringia. She corresponds to the Roman fairies Lady Abundia (“Abundance”) and Satia (“Satiety”). According to the accounts, Frau Holle can be beautiful or ugly, good or malevolent. She is sometimes depicted as a large woman with black hair who travels the world in a black cart. Her presence is first attested around the year 1000 in the Decretum of Burchard of Worms (ca. 960–1025), which conflates her with Herodias. In the thirteenth century it was said that people would set a table for her on Christmas night in their homes so she would treat them kindly.

Frau Holle appears in the Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (no. 24) and in the German Legends (no. 4) by the same authors. She is said to reside near the Hoher Meißner, and cavities and caves are identified there as being her dwelling. But other traditions place her in various mountains: the Venusberg, the Hörselberg, the Untersberg, or the Kyffhäuser. When it snows, it is said that Frau Holle is shaking out her eiderdown quilt.

Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, nos. 4–8; Waschnitius, Perht, Holda und verwandte Gestalten: Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Religionsgeschichte.

HOLLEN: Tiny wild men of Westphalia who live in a cave and are inclined to thievery. They abduct children. They take care of horses and only eat wild game.

Weddingen and Hartmann, Der Sagenschatz Westfalens, 162.

HÖRN: One of Freyja’s names. It can be seen in Swedish place-names such as Härnevi, “Hörn’s Sanctuary.”

HORSE: This animal played an important role in worship and was often sacrificed during religious ceremonies. Tacitus informs us that the Germans paid attention to the omens and warnings given by horses. In mythology the gods are always transported to the realm of the dead by these animals. The role of the horse as a psychopomp has been confirmed by the discovery of horses in tombs, sacrificed at the sides of their masters. The presence of horse skulls found under the threshold stone of old dwellings testifies that it was the subject of specific worship and played a tutelary role, which can be compared to the building decorations in northern Germany where horse heads were sculpted on farm gables. In folk belief, the horse is the most common form taken by water spirits.

FALHÓFNIR, NYKR

Wagner, Le Cheval dans les croyances.

Fig. 36. Estonian house with horsehead gables

HÖRSELBERG (Horsel-, Hursel-, Hosel-, Oselberg): This Thuringian mountain is believed to house hell and purgatory. It is also the residence of Frau Holle (Holda), Venus, and the Loyal Eckart.

Georg Michael Pfefferkorn (1646–1732), a pastor of Freimar and Gräfentonna, said:

We need now speak of Hörselberg, which stands between Gotha and Eisenach, and about which the old monks have lied and claimed, among other things, that this mountain was part of purgatory, for souls were tortured here. They therefore gave this place the name of “Hear Souls” (Hör-Seel), and they also said this: if in the evening you smooth the ground in front of this mountain’s large cave, the next morning you will find the footprints of all manner of men and beasts, as if they had been entering and leaving. They also say the Loyal Eckart, as the peasantry calls him, lives in this mountain, and that he goes before the Furious Army to warn people of the danger. For this reason, it is said that the nearby village of Settelstädt should be called Satan-Stadt (“Satanville”). It would appear that the prince of darkness was often up to his old tricks at the time of the superstitious papacy.

Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, nos. 5, 7, 170, 173; Lecouteux, Phantom Armies of the Night.

HORWENDILLUS: The father of Amlethus (Hamet). Although his name is a Latinized rendering of Aurvandill (“morning star”), there is nothing mythical about him.

HÖTHERUS: This is the name that Saxo Grammaticus gives to the son of the Swedish king Hothbrodus, and he describes him as a rival with Balderus for the affections of the beautiful Nanna. Hötherus married Nanna and killed Balderus before perishing at the hands of Bous. Hötherus is identical to the god Höðr, but Saxo euhemerized him.

HOUSEHOLD/PLACE SPIRITS: In folk beliefs and mythology every dwelling is supposed to be under the protection of a spirit. This could be a land spirit whose good will was earned by inviting it to take up residence, or a dead ancestor since the good dead were once buried inside the house. In more recent Scandinavian traditions, it is said that the first inhabitant of the house will transform into a spirit when he or she dies. We thus find among the Germanic peoples a notion similar to that of the Roman manes, penates, and lares. These house spirits are called cofgodas in Old English, which means “the gods of the house.”

A word with a similar sense is the German Kobold, which literally means “he who rules over the room”—in other words, “he who rules over the house,” since ancient dwellings formerly consisted of only one room. Tenth-century glosses in Old High German have given us the names ingoumo and ingesind as translations of the Latin penates and lares. As it happens, ingesind can be translated as “servant,” which is also the designation of a French sprite. We have the valuable testimony of the Cistercian monk Rudolf of Silesia, who was active between 1230 and 1250, which gives us an extremely ancient name: “In the new homes, or in the houses where they have just moved in, they bury pots filled with various things in different corners and sometimes even behind the hearth for the household gods they call stetewaldiu.”

Fig. 37. Household spirits

House spirits have a multitude of names that they also share with place spirits. In Danish we have Nisse, Lile Niels, Nis, Nis Puge, Puge, gaardbo, gaardbonisse, gaardbuk; in Norwegian tuss(e), bokke, tomte, tomtegubbe, tufte (often as a compound with -folk, -bonde, -kall), tunkall, tunvord, gardvord, and gardsbonde; and in Swedish vätte, gårdsråd, tomte (tomtegubbe, tomtenisse), tomtkall, nisse, goa nisse, nisse-go-dräng.

These spirits gradually became conflated with dwarves and lost their specific characteristics. Today they survive in the form of garden gnomes and dwarves.

FAKSAR, HERNOSS

Bø, Grambo, Hodne, and Hodne, Norske Segner, no. 70; Hartlaub, Der Gartenzwerg und seine Ahnen; Holbek and Piø, Fabeldyr og sagnfolk, 142–55; Lecouteux, The Tradition of Household Spirits; Lindig, Hausgeister; Linhart, Hausgeister in Franken; Joseph Klapper, “Deutscher Volksglaube in Schleisen in ältester Zeit,” Mitteilungen der Schlesischen Gesellschaft für Volkskunde 17 (1915): 19–57.

HRÆSVELGR (“Corpse-eater”): A gigantic eagle that perches at the end of the world and creates the winds with the beating of its wings. It is also the name of a giant.

Régis Boyer, “Hraesvelgr,” in Foi, Raison, Verbe: Mélanges in honorem Julien Ries, ed. Charles Marie Ternes (Luxemburg: Centre Universitaire du Luxembourg, 1993), 29–36.

HRAFNAGUÐ (“God of the Ravens”): One of the names for Odin. It refers to his two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, whose names mean “Thought” and “Memory,” respectively. The god sends them out at dawn to fly throughout the worlds, and they return to tell him what they have seen. It is possible that these birds were the personification of Odin’s double in animal form, for we know that this god could change his shape at will. A skaldic synonym for Hrafnaguð is Hrafnáss (“Raven-god”).

Falk, Odensheiti.

HRIÐ (“Gust”): One of the mythical rivers that issues from the spring Hvergelmir.

HRÍMFAXI (“Frost-mane”): Horse that “pulls one of the useful gods at evening; he lets the foam fall from his bit each morning from which comes the dew over the valleys,” says an Eddic poem. The horse that brings the day is Skinfaxi.

HRÍMGRIMNIR (“Frost-masked”): A giant who dwells near the realm of the dead. Nothing more is known about him.

HRÍMNIR (“Frost-covered”): A giant whose daughter is Heiðr (“Witch”) and whose son is Hrossþjófr (“Horse-thief”). He is mentioned in a fourteenth-century poem.

HRÍMÞURS (“Frost Giant”; pl. hrímþursar): Original powers whom the gods are continuously fighting. The hrímthursar bear descriptive names coined from the words snow, cold, wintry weather, ice, and so forth. Their great ancestor is the primordial giant Ymir, born from the melting of the glaciers. They have the power to shapeshift, and they know magic and all the secrets of the world, of which they are the oldest inhabitants.

HRINGHORNI: Name of the ship on which the body of Baldr was cremated. When the gods are unable to launch it out into the waters, they request help from the giantess Hyrrokkin. The corpse is then placed on the ship. When Baldr’s wife, Nanna, sees it there, she dies of grief. She is placed next to her husband, and the boat is set on fire after Thor blesses it with his hammer, Mjöllnir. At that very moment a dwarf named Litr (“The Colored One”) runs in front of his feet. Thor casts him into the flames.

Evidence for this type of funeral has been provided by the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan, who attended a similar ceremony in 922. A Swedish chieftain was placed in his boat with a slave, a dog, two horses, two cows, a hen, and a rooster, all of which was then burned and a mound erected on the site. Archaeologists have unearthed numerous ship-burials, notably the famous Oseberg Ship that was excavated in Norway.

BALDR, MJÖLLNIR

HROÐVITNIR: Father of Hati, the wolf that seeks to capture the moon.

HATI

HRÖNN (“Wave”): One of the mythical rivers originating in the spring Hvergelmir. It is also the name of one of the daughters of Ægir, the giant of the sea.

HVERGELMIR

HROPTATÝR (“God of Shouts”): A byname of Odin, who is also quite simply called Hroptr (“Shout”). We have no idea why.

Falk, Odensheiti.

HROSSHÁRSGRANI (“Horsehair’s Grani”): This nickname for Odin is an allusion to the Gautreks saga in which Odin pretends to be Grani, the foster father of Starkaðr. But Grani is also the name of the son of Odin’s horse, Sleipnir. In this name for the god we can therefore see an allusion to the importance of the horse in his worship.

Pálsson and Edwards, trans., Gautrek’s Saga and Other Medieval Tales, 23–55.

HROSSÞJÓF (“Horse-thief ”): Giant described as the son of Hrímnir.

HRUNGNIR: Giant that challenges Odin and his horse to a race. Carried away by his enthusiasm, he enters Ásgarðr behind Odin. The gods invite him to drink, but the giant becomes intoxicated and claims he is going to pick up Valhalla and carry it off with him to Jötunheimr and that he will bury Ásgarðr under the ground, kill all the gods, and abduct Freyja and Sif. Exasperated, the gods call Thor, and single combat is organized between him and the giant, who goes home to retrieve his weapons.

In Grjótúnagarðar the giants craft a clay man that is nine leagues long and three leagues wide. They give him a mare’s heart and name him Mökkurkálfi. Hrungnir has a heart of stone; his head is also made of stone, as is his shield. Thor goes to the duel accompanied by Þjálfi. He throws his hammer at Hrungnir, splintering his flint club to pieces. One piece falls to the ground and becomes a mountain; another embeds itself in Thor’s head. The god then breaks the giant’s skull while Þjálfi kills Mökkurkálfi. Thor then goes to the home of Gróa, Aurvandill’s wife, so that she can remove the piece of flint stuck in his skull.

A decorative motif found on the carved picture stones of Gotland is called “Hrungnir’s heart” (Hrungnis hjarta). It is formed of three interlacing triangles; it is also known as the “knot of the slain” (valknútr).

HRYMR: Giant that steers the ship Naglfar when the giants launch their assault on the gods during Ragnarök.

HUDEMÜHLEN: The name of a castle in Lüneberg, Saxony, that was haunted by a spirit between 1584 and 1588. This spirit first called attention to itself by tapping, then it began speaking to the servants in the middle of the day, and people became accustomed to its presence. He laughed, performed all kinds of tricks, and sang canticles in a pleasant voice that sounded like that of a young girl. It said it was Christian and had nothing in common with sprites or brownies.

HINZELMANN

HUGINN (“Thought”): One of Odin’s two ravens.

Odin has been associated with these two birds since the Migration Age (fourth to seventh centuries CE). Evidence for this is provided by archaeological finds, notably that of bracteates.

Fig. 38. Huginn, one of Odin’s ravens. This is a piece of a bronze harness found in Vadstena on the island of Gotland in Sweden.

HULDREFOLK: Name of the underground dwellers in Denmark.

Holbek and Piø, Fabeldyr og sagnfolk, 136.

HULDRESLATT, HULDRELAAK (“Music, or Play, of the Underground Folk”): These terms designate the music of dwarves or elves, which lures men into their realm.

HULDUFÓLK: A collective name for elves in Iceland.

ELLEFOLK, ELVES

HÜTATA: In the Saint-Nabor region of Alsace at the foot of Mont Saint Odile, the Hütata leads the Infernal Hunt, while shouting the cry that gives this entity its name. He is most likely to appear on stormy nights, and woodcutters know the precise boundaries of his domain and take great care not to cross them. They know that if they do, the giant Hütata will loom up at their side wearing a wide-brimmed hat and staring at them with his single eye. If a person is frightened when seeing him, Hütata forms a horn with his hand and roars into his ear, which will leave the individual deaf and ill for several weeks. The description of this man with only one eye and a hat that conceals his features is strongly reminiscent of Odin.

HÜTCHEN (“Little Hat”): This is the name of a sprite that appeared in the court of Bishop Bernard of Hildesheim. He was wearing traditional peasant garb and a small felt hat. He procured an earldom for Bernard and warned him of all kinds of dangers. He promised a traveling merchant of the city who was about to leave on another trip that he would keep an eye on his promiscuous wife, and he threw all the lovers out of bed whom she had invited to share it with her.

Linhart, Hausgeister in Franken.

HVEÐRUNGR (“The Foaming One”): One of Loki’s bynames.

HVERGELMIR (“Noisy Cauldron”): The spring in the World of Darkness (Niflheimr) that gave birth to the rivers collectively known as the Élivágar. According to other traditions, Hvergelmir gushes forth from beneath the roots of Yggdrasill, the cosmic tree, and is the lair of the dragon Níðhöggr. This spring may be identical to the Well of Urðr (Urðarbrunnr) and the Well of Mímir (Mímisbrunnr), both of which are located close to Yggdrasill.

HYMIR: Giant that gives lodging to Thor when he comes to fish for the Midgard Serpent. They set off together in a boat, but because of Hymir’s fearful mistake of cutting the fishing line too soon, Thor is unable to capture the serpent. Furious, he punches Hymir overboard with a single blow of his fist.

According to another tradition, Hymir is the father of the god Týr. He lives east of the Élivágar, at the borders of the sky. Thor and Týr pay him a visit so they can borrow a cauldron large enough for Ægir to brew the beer of the Æsir. They first meet a giantess with nine hundred heads, then the mother of Hymir, and finally his wife. When Hymir returns from the hunt and learns his visitors’ identity, his gaze darts to the roof pillar behind which they are standing, and it bursts into pieces. The pillar breaks, and eight cauldrons tumble out, one of which does not break when it strikes the floor. A meal is prepared, and Thor devours two of the three bulls provided by Hymir.

The next day the giant catches two whales while Thor vainly strives to catch the Midgard Serpent. Hymir wants to test the god’s strength and asks him to break a cup. Thor throws it against a column, which breaks. Then, heeding the advice of his hostess, he strikes the giant’s head with the goblet and passes the test. Thor steals the cauldron and flees with Týr. The giants pursue them, but Thor’s hammer causes a massacre. This was how Ægir was able to brew the beer of the Æsir.

HYNDLA (“Puppy”): A giantess that Freyja visits in order to bring her back to Valhalla so she can give Óttarr the Simple the genealogy of his ancestors. Hyndla rides astride her wolf and follows Freyja mounted on her wild boar, Hildsvíni. She fulfills her mission but is greatly irritated when Freyja asks her to serve Óttarr the “beer of remembrance,” which will prevent him from forgetting everything he heard. Hyndla scolds the goddess to “scamper off . . . among the he-goats” (Hyndluljóð [The Lay of Hyndla], found in the Flateyjarbók manuscript but probably part of the original Eddic corpus). In wrath, Freyja threatens the giantess with death by fire, and Hyndla gives in but tries to serve Óttarr poisoned beer. Thanks to a magical spell, Freyja destoys the poison.

HÝR (“Joyous” or “Fire”): A dwelling surrounded by a wall of flames. This was most likely the home of Menglöð, which also has a rampart of fire.

Fig. 39. The giantess or witch Hyrrokkin arrives at Baldr’s funeral riding a wolf. Carved picture stone from Hunnestad (Skåne, Sweden).

HYRROKKIN (“Withered by Fire”): The giantess to whom the gods turn when trying to launch Balder’s ship Hringhorni. She arrives from Jötunheimr “riding a wolf, with a viper for reins” (Snorri). Odin summons four berserkers to hold her mount, but they are unsuccessful until they knock it upside down.