a:miþkarþi for Old Norse à Miðgarði meaning "in Midgard" - "in Middle Earth", on the runestone Sö 56 in Södermanland, Sweden. Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age sometimes referred to under its Latin form Sudermannia, is a historical province or landskap on the south eastern coast of Sweden. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation.

This article is part of the Nine Worlds series
The Nine Worlds of Germanic Paganism
Álfheimr Asgard Jötunheimr Midgard Muspelheim Niðavellir Niflheim Svartálfaheim Vanaheimr
Connected by
Yggdrasil
Aspect of
Norse cosmology

Midgard (an Anglicized ^[1] form of Old Norse Miðgarðr), is an old Germanic name for our world, the places inhabited by humans, with the literal meaning "middle enclosure". Alfheim redirects here For other uses see Alfheim (disambiguation Álfheimr or Alfheim ( Elf-home) is the abode of the This article is about the realm of Norse Mythology For other uses of the names Asgard, Asgaard and Asgård, see Asgard (disambiguation Jötunheimr (often anglicized Jotunheim) is the world ( Heim 'home homeland' of the Jötunn (two types rock (or hill giants and frost (or Muspelheim ("Flameland" also called Muspel ( Old Norse Múspellsheimr and Múspell, respectively is the realm of Fire In Norse mythology, Niðavellir ( Dark fields) is a land inhabited by the dwarves. Niflheimr or Niflheim (" Mist Home" the "Abode of Mist" or "Mist World" Nifl being cognate with the Old English In Norse mythology, Svartálfheimr is the underground domain and home of the Svartálfar (meaning the ' Black elves ' and possibly referring to Norse dwarves For the imprint see Aardvark-Vanaheim. For the Norwegian metal band see Vanaheim (band. In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil ( Old Norse Yggdrasill, ˈyɡˌdrasilː the extra -l is a Nominative case marker is the World In Norse Cosmology the World Tree Yggdrasil unifies nine worlds ( Old Norse: níu heimar) that represent all that exists Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family. "The world " is a proper noun for the planet Earth envisioned from an Anthropocentric or Human Worldview, as a place *Mannaz or *Manwaz (ᛗ is the Proto-Germanic term for " Man " in the gender-neutral sense of "individual human being"

Etymology

This name is attested in many ancient Germanic languages. It occurs in Old Norse literature as Miðgarðr. Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age In Old High German poem Muspilli it appears as Mittilagart. Muspilli is one of but two surviving pieces of Old High German Epic poetry (the other being Hildebrandslied) dating to around The Gothic form Midjungards is attested in Luke's Gospel as a traduction of the word "earth". Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. The word is present in Old English epic and poetry as Middangeard; later transformed to Middellærd or Middel-erde ("Middle-earth") in Middle English literature. Middle-earth refers to the fictional lands where most of the stories of author J Middle English is the name given by Historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of "Middle-earth" is usually avoided in modern English, as it has strong associations with J.R.R. Tolkien's fantastic "legendarium". Fantasy literature is Fantasy in written form Historically speaking the majority of fantasy works have been literature Tolkien's Legendarium (ISBN 0-313-30530-7 is a collection of scholarly essays edited by Verlyn Flieger and Carl F

All these forms are from a conjectural Proto-Germanic *medja-gardaz (*meddila-, *medjan-). Proto-Germanic, or Common Germanic, is the hypothetical common ancestor ( Proto-language) of all the Germanic languages such as modern English Even if the two terms derive from Indo-European roots *medhyo ("middle") and *ghartos ("enclosure"), the construct exists only in Germanic. It's possible to speculate about the ancientness of this cosmological concept, but it may be inappropriate to trace back the Germanic terminology in common Indo-European. Cosmology (from Greek grc κοσμολογία - grc κόσμος kosmos, "universe" and grc -λογία -logia) is study

The Danish and Swedish form Midgård, the Norwegian Midgard or Midgård, derive from the Old Norse term. Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the Norwegian ( norsk) is a North Germanic Language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language

Old Norse

Midgard is a realm in Norse mythology. Norse mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and Legends of the Scandinavian peoples including those who settled on Iceland Pictured as placed somewhere in the middle of Yggdrasil, Midgard is surrounded by a world of water, or ocean, that is impassable. In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil ( Old Norse Yggdrasill, ˈyɡˌdrasilː the extra -l is a Nominative case marker is the World The ocean is inhabited by the great sea serpent Jörmungandr (Miðgarðsormr), who is so huge that he encircles the world entirely, grasping his own tail. Jörmungandr, alternately referred to as the Midgardsormr or World Serpent, is a Sea serpent of the Norse mythology, the middle child of the The concept is similar to that of the Ouroboros. The Ouroboros (Greek grc Ουροβόρος from grc ουροβόρος όφις "tail-devouring snake" also spelled Ourorboros, Oroborus, Uroboros

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). In Norse mythology, Ymir, also named Aurgelmir ( Old Norse gravel-yeller) among the giants themselves was the founder of the race of A jötunn, sometimes anglicized as jotun (pronounced yotun is a giant in Norse mythology, a member of a race of nature spirits with superhuman strength Jötunheimr (often anglicized Jotunheim) is the world ( Heim 'home homeland' of the Jötunn (two types rock (or hill giants and frost (or Mannheim is a City in Germany. With 327318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart The 8th century is the period from 701 to 800 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era.

The realm 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. Bifröst ( Old Norse bifrǫst, literally the "tremulous way" from bifask "to tremble" and rǫst "a distance" in Heimdall ( Old Norse Heimdallr, the prefix Heim- means home, the affix -dallr is of uncertain origin is one of the Æsir

The runestone Sö 56.

According to the Eddas, Midgard will be destroyed at Ragnarök, the battle at the end of the world. In Norse mythology, Ragnarök (rɑgnɑrɔk Old Norse "Final destiny of the gods" refers to a series of major events including a great battle foretold Jörmungandr 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 Vígríðr, following which Midgard and almost all life on it will be destroyed, with the earth sinking into the sea. In Norse mythology, Vígríðr is the giant plain where Ragnarök will be fought

Although most surviving instances of the word refer to spiritual matters, it was also used in more mundane situations, as in the Viking Age runestone poem Sö 56:

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. Beowulf is an Old English Heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age The term is equivalent in meaning to the Greek term Oikoumene, as referring to the known and inhabited world. Ecumene (also spelled œcumene or oikoumene) a term originally used in the Greco-Roman world to refer to the inhabited earth (or at least the known

The concept of Midgard occurs many times in Middle English. Middle English is the name given by Historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of The association with earth (OE eorðe) in Middle English middellærd, middelerde is by popular etymology; the continuation of geard "enclosure" is yard. Folk etymology is a term used in two distinct ways A commonly held misunderstanding of the origin of a particular word a False etymology. A yard is an enclosed area of land usually tied to a building An early example of this transformation is from the Ormulum:

þatt ure Drihhtin wollde / ben borenn i þiss middellærd

that our Lord wanted / be born in this middle-earth. The Ormulum or Orrmulum is a 12th-century work of Biblical Exegesis, written in early Middle English verse by a monk named Orm (or

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. Middle-earth refers to the fictional lands where most of the stories of author J The Lord of the Rings is an epic The Old Norse term Aurvandil, Old English Ēarendel, the Lombardic Auriwandalo, the German Orentil (or Crist is the title given to a group of Anglo-Saxon religious Poems by the medieval poet Cynewulf, divided into Crist I II

Old High German

Mittilagart is mentioned in the 9th century Old High German Muspilli (v. The 9th century is the period from 801 to 900 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. Muspilli is one of but two surviving pieces of Old High German Epic poetry (the other being Hildebrandslied) dating to around 54) meaning "the world" as opposed to the sea and the heavens:

muor varsuuilhit sih, suilizot lougiu der himil,

mano uallit, prinnit mittilagart

Sea is swallowed, flaming burn the heavens,

Moon falls, Midgard burns

In Literature, Games, and other Media Today

• In the MMORPG "Dark Age of Camelot", Midgard refers to the ancient Norway as the realm of the Viking, just after the time of Arthurs death in Albion, and along with Albion and Hibernia is one of three realms at war with one another which player characters can choose to originate from. Dark Age of Camelot is a 3D Medieval Fantasy MMORPG that revolves around the war between three realms at the end of A Viking is one of the Norse ( Scandinavian Explorers Warriors Merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas Albion (Ἀλβιών in Greek) is the oldest known name of the island of Great Britain. Albion (Ἀλβιών in Greek) is the oldest known name of the island of Great Britain. Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of Ireland. Playable 'races' from the realm of Midgard are Norseman, Kobold, Troll, Frostalf (frost elf), Valkyn, and Dwarf. Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who speak one of the North Germanic languages as their native language The kobold is a sprite of German folklore. Although usually invisible a kobold can materialise in the form of an animal fire a human being and a mundane A troll is a fearsome member of a race of creatures from Norse mythology. DWARF is a widely used standardized Debugging data format. DWARF was originally designed along with ELF, although it is independent of Object file
• The Korean MMORPG "Ragnarok" references Midgard.
• The Playstation RPG Final Fantasy VII features Midgar, a divided city where the human population inhabits different enclosed sections all meeting at a central hub, which is clearly a nod to the Norse mythos. is a Console role-playing game developed by Square (now Square Enix) and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Another city is Nibelheim, apparently taken from another Norse realm of Niflheim. At the nearby swamp resides the Midgar Zolom, a giant serpent, referencing the Midgard Serpent.
• Swedish symphonic metal band, Therion, has an album entitled "Secret of the Ruins" which features a track called Midgård.
• Age of Mythology, by Microsoft/Ensemble Studios

References