Nixie (folklore)

Template:Lang by Norwegian artist Theodor Kittelsen, 1904

Template:Lang ("The Stream Man") by Swedish painter Ernst Josephson, 1884. In Sweden, the Nixie is often depicted as a fair naked man, playing music to lure people in.

The nixie, nixy,<ref name="Britannica"/> nix,<ref name="Britannica">Template:Cite web</ref> neckTemplate:Efn, or nickerTemplate:Efn (Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx, Template:Lang; Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Norwegian Template:Langx, nøkken; Template:Langx; Template:Langx, näcken), are humanoid, and often shapeshifting, water spirits in Germanic mythology and folklore.

Under a variety of names, they are common to the stories of all Germanic peoples,<ref name="nordisknäck">The article Näcken, tome 20, p. 317, in Template:Lang (1914)</ref> although they are perhaps best known from Scandinavian folklore. The related English knucker was generally depicted as a worm or dragon, although more recent versions depict the spirits in other forms. Their sex, bynames, and various transformations vary geographically. The German Template:Lang and Scandinavian counterparts were male. The German Template:Lang was a female river mermaid.<ref name="nordisknäck"/> Similar creatures are known from other parts of Europe, such as the Melusine in France, the Xana in Asturias (Spain), and the Slavic water spirits (e.g., the Rusalka) in Slavic countries.

Template:AnchorNames and etymology

The names are held to derive from Common Germanic Template:Lang or Template:Lang, derived from PIE Template:Lang ("to wash").<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They are related to Sanskrit Template:Lang, Greek Template:Lang Template:Lang and Template:Lang Template:Lang, and Irish Template:Lang (all meaning to wash or be washed).<ref name="hellquist">Template:Cite web</ref>

The form neck appears in English, as well as in Swedish, although spelled as Template:Lang (definite form näcken).<ref name="hellquist"/> The Swedish form is derived from Old Swedish Template:Lang, which corresponds to Old Icelandic Template:Lang (Template:Abbr Template:Lang), and Template:Lang in Norwegian Nynorsk.<ref name="hellquist"/> In Finnish, the word is Template:Lang. In Old Danish, the form was Template:Lang and in modern Danish and Norwegian Bokmål it is Template:Lang/Template:Lang.<ref name="hellquist"/> The Icelandic and Faroese Template:Lang are horselike creatures. In Middle Low German, it was called Template:Lang and in Middle Dutch Template:Lang (modern Template:Langx, compare also Template:Lang or Template:Lang plus Template:Lang).<ref name="hellquist"/> The Old High German form Template:Lang also meant "crocodile",<ref name="nordisknäck"/><ref name="hellquist"/> while the Old English Template:Lang<ref name="nordisknäck"/><ref name="hellquist"/> could mean both a "water monster" like those encountered by Beowulf,<ref name="Kemble1837">Template:Cite book</ref> and a "hippopotamus".<ref name="hellquist"/> The Norwegian Template:Lang and Swedish Template:Lang are related figures sometimes seen as by-names for the same creature.<ref name="hellquist"/> The southern Scandinavian version can take on the form of a horse named Template:Lang ("the brook horse"), similar to other water horses such as the Scottish kelpie and the Welsh Template:Lang.Template:Citation needed

The modern English form nixie stems from Template:Langx (feminine form of Nix), from Template:Langx, from an earlier nickes, from Template:Langx (feminine form of nichus, nihhus), meaning "water-spirit, water-elf, crocodile".

England

English folklore contains many creatures with similar characteristics to the Nix or Template:Lang. These include Jenny Greenteeth, the Shellycoat, the river-hag Peg Powler, the Template:Lang-like Brag, and the Grindylow.

At Lyminster, near Arundel in the English county of West Sussex, there are today said to dwell "water-wyrms" called knuckers, in a pool called the Knucker-hole. The Victorian authority Walter William Skeat had plausibly suggested the pool's name of knucker (a name attested from 1835, Horsfield)<ref>Thomas Walker Horsfield, The History, Antiquities, and Topography of the County of Sussex, Volume 2, 1835.</ref> was likely derived from the Old English Template:Lang, a creature-name found in Beowulf.<ref>Dragons & Serpents In Sussex Template:Webarchive</ref>

Nordic folklore

"The Water Sprite" by Norwegian Theodor Kittelsen (1857–1914)

The Nordic nixies (Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx; Template:Langx, Template:Langx; Template:Langx, Template:Langx) are male water spirits who plays enchanted songs on instruments, luring women and children to drown in lakes or streams. Such can also drown people directly by dragging them down into water (compare Template:Lang, "the well man", from Sweden and Finland, and the Sami Template:Lang). However, not all of these spirits were necessarily malevolent; many stories indicate at the very least that nixies were entirely harmless to their audience and attracted not only women and children but men as well with their sweet songs. Stories also exist wherein the spirit agrees to live with a human who had fallen in love with him. Still, many of these stories ended with the nixie returning to his home, usually a nearby waterfall or brook. The nixie were said to grow despondent unless they had free, regular contact with a water source.Template:Citation needed

Template:Lang ("The Nixie") by Johan Tirén (1853–1911), featuring a young boy learning violin from The Nixie in the waterfall.

The Norwegian Template:Lang or Template:Lang, Swedish Template:Lang ("The Nixie") or Template:Lang,<ref>Or strömkarl (singular), per Grimm 1835:17:11.</ref> is a related powerful figure, a powerful nature spirit, who, if properly approached, will teach a musician to play so adeptly "that the trees dance and waterfalls stop at his music".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

It is difficult to describe the appearance of the nix, as one of his central attributes was thought to be shapeshifting. Perhaps he did not have any true shape. He could show himself as a man playing the violin in brooks and waterfalls (though often imagined as fair and naked today, in folklore, he was more frequently described as wearing more or less elegant clothing) but also could appear to be treasure or various floating objects, or as an animal—most commonly in the form of a "brook horse" (see below). The modern Scandinavian names are derived from Template:Lang, meaning "river horse". Thus, it is likely that the figure of the brook horse preceded the personification of the nix as the "man in the rapids". Template:Lang and derivatives were almost always portrayed as gorgeous young men whose clothing (or lack thereof) varied widely from story to story.

The enthralling music of the nixie was most dangerous to women and children, especially pregnant women and unbaptised children. He was thought to be most active during Midsummer's Night, Christmas Eve, and Thursdays. However, these superstitions do not necessarily relate to all the versions listed here. Many, if not all, developed after the Christianizing of the northern countries, as was the case of similar stories of faeries and other entities in other areas. When malicious nixies attempted to carry off people, they could be defeated by calling their name; this was believed to cause their death.<ref>Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 95-6, Dover Publications, New York 1965.</ref> Another belief was that if a person bought the nixie a treat of three drops of blood, a black animal, some Template:Lang (Nordic spirit) or Template:Lang (wet snuff) dropped into the water, he would teach his enchanting form of music.

The nixie was also an omen for drowning accidents. He would scream at a particular spot in a lake or river in a way reminiscent of the loon, and a fatality would later occur on that spot. He was also said to cause drownings, but swimmers could protect themselves against such a fate by throwing a bit of steel into the water.<ref name="phantoms" />

In the later Romantic folklore and folklore-inspired stories of the 19th century, the nixie sings about his loneliness and his longing for salvation, which he purportedly never shall receive, as he is not "a child of God". In a poem by Swedish poet E. J. Stagnelius, a little boy pities the fate of the nixie, and so saves his own life. In the poem, arguably Stagnelius's most famous, the boy says that the nixie will never be a "child of God", which brings "tears to his face" as he "never plays again in the silvery brook".

On a similar theme, a 19th-century text called "Brother Fabian's Manuscript" by Sebastian Evans has this verse:

In Scandinavia, water lilies are called "nixie roses" (Template:Langx, Template:Langx). A tale from the forest of Tiveden, Sweden, relates that a father promised his daughter to a nixie who offered him great hauls of fish in a time of need; she refused and stabbed herself to death, staining the water lilies red from that time on: Template:Blockquote

Swedish and Finnic folklore

Template:Lang ("The Water Sprite") by Ernst Josephson, 1882

In Sweden, nixies (Template:Langx) are said to be water spirits, or similar, living in lakes and streams. By some accounts, they take the shape of gnomes (Swedish: tomte), but they are also said to appear in the shape of animals, most often in black or white, such as a dog, a cat, a bull, a horse, among others (compare strömkatten, "the stream cat"; see the brook horse). It can also take the shape of inanimate objects, like any floating object or treasure.<ref name="nfbt">Template:Runeberg</ref><ref name="ISOF"/> A trait shared with other folk beliefs is that the animal forms sometimes appears with three legs.<ref name="nfbt"/>

Drawing of the Nixie with aquatic plants for hair. The Nixie is said to have green hair or foliage in the hair.

Beyond minor or regional spirits, there is also a major collective nature spirit known as Template:Lang ("The Nixie"), or Strömkarlen ("The Stream Man"), among others (in Norway Template:Lang), appearing as a slender young or old undressed man, the latter bearded, sitting on a rock near water, masterfully playing an instrument to lure people to and into water.<ref name="nfbt"/> He can play many instruments, with the instrument varying, such as a horn, a flute, a harmonica, etc, but most commonly a violin or similar. The hair color varies but is often said to be green, or rather made of foliage, with other hair colors worth mentioning being red. The Nixie is both powerful and dangerous in its abilities, bordering on being a quasi-deity. Even in shallow water, it can lock peoples' footing in place. Other names include: bäckamannen ("the brook man"), dammapågen ("the dam boy"), forskarlen ("the rapid man"), gölamannen ("the pool man"), kvarngubbe ("watermill man"), kvarnrå ("watermill rå"), strömkatten ("the stream cat"), älven ("the river") etc.<ref name="ISOF">Template:Cite web</ref>

A depiction of The Nixie, playing a horn, on the altar cloth of the Ii church, in North Ostrobothnia, Finland

The Swedish Template:Lang was loaned into Finnish as Template:Lang and Estonian as Template:Lang. Näkki was seen as a water haltija, primarily depicting the dangerous side of a water spirit. It lied in ambush for swimmers it could pull down to its underwater kingdom, drowning them. It was common to say "näkki onto the land, me into the water" before going swimming and the other way around when coming back onto land; this was also learned from Swedes. Näkki also made its way into runic songs where a disease was cast away into the black mud in water, where the dog of water and näkki of water would catch it.<ref name="krohn">Krohn (1914:102).</ref>

In North Karelia, a distinction was sometimes made with water spirits, as a Template:Lang grabbed onto a swimmer while a Template:Lang caught the swimmer as an illness. Template:Lang was also considered a newer name for Template:Lang who one could see sitting on a rock, brushing its long hair, before drowning. In South Karelia, this creature was thought to be Template:Lang 'mother of water'.<ref name="krohn2">Krohn (1914:103).</ref>

In Estonia, it was thought that näkks originated from children thrown into the water by their mothers, those who drowned themselves, and those submerged by previous näkks. This motif is also found in other Nordic folklore, like the Sami Template:Lang. In southeastern Estonia, the corpses of those who suffered a violent death were called näkks: the corpses still held their spirits as prisoners. If one sat or laid on ground where such a corpse had been buried, one would fall ill and die: this was caused by a Template:Lang 'land näkk'. If one swam over a drowned corpse, one suffered a cramp in the leg as the Template:Lang 'water näkk' grabbed onto them. There were also Template:Lang 'bog näkk' and Template:Lang 'dry grassland näkk'.<ref name="krohn"/><ref name="krohn2"/>

The brook horseTemplate:Anchor

The Neck as a brook horse by Theodor Kittelsen, a depiction of the Neck as a white horse

Template:Lang (Boy on white horse) by the same Kittelsen

One of the more infamous shapes, in which the Nordic nixie appears in, is the "Template:ILL" (Template:Langx, Template:Lang), also simply referred to as nixie (especially Template:Langx). It has a close parallel in the Scottish kelpie and the Welsh Template:Lang.

The Template:Lang was often described as a majestic white horse that would appear near rivers, particularly during foggy weather. Anyone who climbed onto its back could not get off again. The horse would then jump into the river, drowning the rider. The brook horse could also be harnessed and made to plough, either because it was trying to trick a person or because the person had tricked the horse into it. The following tale is a good illustration of the brook horse: Template:Blockquote

In Faroese, the word Template:Lang ("nixie") specifically refers to the "brook horse", described in one Faroese text as the following: Template:Blockquote

German folklore

The German Nix and Nixe (and Nixie) are types of river mermen and mermaids who may lure men into drowning, like the Scandinavian type, akin to the Melusine and similar to the Greek Siren. The German epic Nibelungenlied mentions the nix in connection with the Danube, as early as 1180 to 1210.

Nixes in folklore became water sprites<ref name=autogenerated1>Grimm 1835:17:11.</ref> who try to lure people into the water. The males can assume many different shapes, including that of a human, a fish, and a snake. The females bear the tail of a fish. When they are in human form, they can be recognised by the wet hem of their clothes. The Nixes are portrayed as malicious in some stories but harmless and friendly in others.

The 1779 poem Der Fischer by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe handles of a fisherman who meets his end when he is lured into the water by a Nixe.

By the 19th century, Jacob Grimm mentions the Nixie to be among the "water-sprites" who love music, song, and dancing, and says, "Like the sirens, the Nixie by her song draws listening youth to herself, and then into the deep."<ref name=autogenerated1 /> According to Grimm, they can appear human but have the barest hint of animal features: the nix had "a slit ear", and the Nixie had "a wet skirt". Grimm thinks these could symbolise they are "higher beings" who could shapeshift to animal form.<ref>Grimm 1835:33:2.</ref>

One famous Nixe of recent German folklore, deriving from 19th-century literature, was Lorelei; according to the legend, she sat on the rock at the Rhine which now bears her name and lured fishermen and boatmen to the dangers of the reefs with the sound of her voice. In Switzerland, there is a legend of a sea-maid or Nixe that lived in Lake Zug (the lake is in the Canton of Zug).

The Yellow Fairy Book by Andrew Lang includes a story called "The Nixie of the Mill-Pond" in which a malevolent spirit that lives in a mill pond strikes a deal with the miller that she will restore his wealth in exchange for his son. This story is taken from Grimms' Fairy Tales.

The legend of Heer Halewijn, a dangerous lord who lures women to their deaths with a magic song, may have originated with the nix.

Template:See also Template:See also Alternate names for the female German Nixe are Rhine maidens (Template:Langx) and Lorelei.

In a fictional depiction, the Rhine maidens are among the protagonists in the four-part Opera Der Ring des Nibelungen by the composer Richard Wagner, based loosely on the nix of the Nibelungenlied.

The Rhine maidens Wellgunde, Woglinde, and Floßhilde (Flosshilde) belong to a group of characters living in a part of nature free from human influence. Erda and the Norns are also considered a part of this 'hidden' world.

They are first seen in the first work of the Nibelungen cycle, Das Rheingold, as guardians of the Rheingold, a treasure of gold hidden in the Rhein river. The dwarf Alberich, a Nibelung, is eager to win their favour, but they somewhat cruelly dismiss his flattery. They tell him that only one who cannot love can win the Rheingold. Thus, Alberich curses love and steals the Rheingold. From the stolen gold, he forges a ring of power. Further in the cycle, the Rhine maidens are seen trying to regain the ring and transform it into the harmless Rheingold. But no one will return the ring to them; not even the supreme god Wotan, who uses the ring to pay the giants Fasolt and Fafner for building Valhalla, nor the hero Siegfried, when the maidens appear to him in the third act of Götterdämmerung. Eventually, Brünnhilde returns it to them at the end of the cycle, when the fires of her funeral pyre cleanse the ring of its curse.

Descendants of German immigrants to Pennsylvania sometimes refer to a mischievous child as "nixie".

In popular culture

In The Nixie's Song, the first book in the children's series Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, the main characters rescue a Nixie named Taloa after fire-breathing giants destroy her pond. Nixies are depicted as aquatic female humanoids related to mermaids but with frog-like legs instead of tails.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In the 2019 film Frozen II, Queen Elsa of Arendelle encounters and tames the Nøkk (in the form of a horse), the Water spirit who guards the sea to the mythical river Ahtohallan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the video game Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, there is a Danish operator named Nøkk. During gameplay she uses a glove attachment called HEL to disappear from cameras and sneak up on enemies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Årets Näck, a Swedish competition where constestants play music whilst dressed as Näcken
• Hulder
• Kelpie
• Nāga
• Naiad
• Nuckelavee
• Rusalka
• Selkie
• Taniwha
• Undine
• Wetlands and islands in Germanic paganism

References

• Riordan, Rick (2017). Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgard: The Ship of the Dead
• Grimm, Jacob (1835). Deutsche Mythologie (German Mythology); From English released version Grimm's Teutonic Mythology (1888); Available online by Northvegr 2004–2007: Chapter 17, page 11; Chapter 33, page 2. File retrieved 4 June 2007.
• Hellström, AnneMarie (1985). Jag vill så gärna berätta.... Template:ISBN.
• Karlsson, S. (1970). I Tiveden, Reflex, Mariestad.
• Krohn, Kaarle (1914). Suomalaisten runojen uskonto. Porvoo: WSOY, Finnish Literature Society.
• Template:Nuttall

External links

• The Watersprite, an amateur translation (no rhyme, no meter) of Stagnelius's poem.
• Manxnotebook
• Sacred-Texts.com
• Scandinavian Folklore Template:Webarchive