View source for Midgard

{{short description|Location in Germanic cosmology}}{{about|the concept in Germanic cosmology|the fictional city from Final Fantasy VII|Midgar|other uses}}
{{redirect|Midgaard|the historic place in Michigan|Midgaard (Marquette, Michigan)}}
[[Image:Midgard (Sö 56, Fyrby).jpg|350px|right|thumb|The runes ''a:miþkarþi'', [[Old Norse]] ''á Miðgarði'', meaning "in Midgard" – "in Middle Earth", on the [[Fyrby Runestone]] (Sö 56) in [[Södermanland]], [[Sweden]].]]

In Germanic [[cosmology]], '''Midgard''' (an anglicised form of [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] {{lang|non|Miðgarðr}}; [[Old English]] {{lang|ang|Middangeard}}, [[Old Saxon]] {{lang|osx|Middilgard}}, [[Old High German]] {{lang|goh|Mittilagart}}, and [[Gothic language|Gothic]] ''Midjun-gards''; "middle yard", "middle enclosure") is the name for [[Earth]] (equivalent in meaning to the Greek term {{lang |grc|[[Ecumene|οἰκουμένη]]}} : oikouménē, "inhabited") inhabited by and known to humans in early Germanic cosmology. The Old Norse form plays a notable role in [[Norse cosmology]].

==Etymology==
{{wiktionary|middangeard}}
{{wiktionary|𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌿𐌽𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐍃}}
The [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] name {{lang|non|Miðgarðr}} is [[cognate]] with [[Gothic language|Gothic]] {{lang|got|Midjungards}} (attested in the [[Gospel of Luke]] as a translation of the Greek {{lang|grc|[[Ecumene|οἰκουμένη]]}}), [[Old Saxon]] {{lang|osx|Middilgard}} (in ''[[Heliand]]''), [[Old High German]] {{lang|goh|Mittilagart}} (in ''[[Muspilli]]''), and [[Old English]] {{lang|ang|Middangeard}}. The latter, which appears in both prose and poetry, was transformed to {{lang |enm|Middellærd}} or {{lang |enm|Mittelerde}} ("Middle-earth") in [[Middle English]] literature.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Midgard | title = Online Etymology Dictionary | contribution = Midgard}}.</ref>

All these forms stem from [[Common Germanic]] {{lang|mis|*Meðjana-garðaz}}, a [[Compound (linguistics)|compound]] of {{lang|mis|[[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/midjaz|*meðjanaz]]}} ("middle") and {{lang|mis|[[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/gardaz|*garðaz]]}} ("yard, enclosure").
In early Germanic cosmology, it stands alongside the term ''[[:wikt:world|world]]'' (cf. [[Old English]] {{lang|ang|weorold}}, [[Old Saxon]] {{lang|osx|werold}}, [[Old High German]] {{lang|goh|weralt}}, [[Old Frisian]] {{lang|ofs|wrald}}, [[Old Norse]] {{lang|non|verǫld}}), itself from a Common Germanic compound ''*wira-alđiz'' ("man-age"), which refers to the inhabited world, i.e. the realm of humankind.<ref>Orel, Vladimir E. (2003). ''A Handbook of Germanic Etymology''.  Leiden: Brill. pp.  264, 462. {{ISBN|90-04-12875-1}}</ref>

==Old Norse==
In Norse mythology, ''Miðgarðr'' became applied to the wall around the world that the gods constructed from the eyebrows of the {{lang|non|[[jötunn]]}} [[Ymir]] as a defense against the {{lang|non|jötnar}} who lived in [[Jotunheim]], east of ''Manheimr'', the "home of men", a word used to refer to the entire world. The gods slew the {{lang|non|jötunn}} [[Ymir]], the first created being, and put his body into the central void of the universe, creating the world out of his body: his flesh constituting the land, his [[Ymir's blood|blood]] the oceans, his bones the mountains, his teeth the cliffs, his hairs the trees, and his brains the clouds. Ymir's skull was held by four dwarfs, [[Nordri, Sudri, Austri, and Vestri]], who represent the four points on the compass and became the dome of heaven. The sun, moon, and stars were said to be scattered sparks in the skull.

[[Image:Sö 56, Fyrby.jpg|200px|right|thumb|The Fyrby Runestone.]]
According to the [[Eddas]], Midgard will be destroyed at [[Ragnarök]], the battle at the end of the world. [[Jörmungandr]] (also known as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent) 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 only to rise again, fertile and green when the cycle repeats and the creation begins again.

Although most surviving instances of the word Midgard refer to spiritual matters, it was also used in more mundane situations, as in the [[Viking Age]] [[runestone]] poem from the inscription [[Fyrby Runestone|Sö 56]] from Fyrby:

{|
|
:Iak væit Hāstæin
:þā Holmstæin brø̄ðr,
:mænnr rȳnasta
:ā Miðgarði,
:sattu stæin
:auk stafa marga
:æftiʀ Frøystæin,
:faður sinn.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://skaldic.arts.usyd.edu.au/db.php?table=verses&id=10055 | title = Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages | publisher = USYD | place = [[Australia|AU]] | access-date = 2007-06-23 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110518040755/http://skaldic.arts.usyd.edu.au/db.php?table=verses&id=10055 | archive-date = 2011-05-18 | url-status = dead }} for a version in normalized [[Old Norse orthography]].</ref>
|
:I know Hásteinn
:(and) Holmstein, brothers,
:the most rune-skilled men
:in Middle Earth,
:placed the stone
:and many letters
:in memory of Freysteinn,
:their father.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022|reason=need a citation for the translation}}
|
|}

The [[Danish language|Danish]] and [[Swedish language|Swedish]] form {{lang|sv|Midgård}} or {{lang|da|Midgaard}}, the [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] {{lang|no|Midgard}} or {{lang|no|Midgård}}, as well as the [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] and [[Faroese language|Faroese]] form {{lang|is|Miðgarður}}, all derive from the Old Norse term.

==English==
The name ''middangeard'' occurs six times in the [[Old English language|Old English]] epic poem ''[[Beowulf]]'', and is the same word as Midgard in [[Old Norse]]. The term is equivalent in meaning to the Greek term [[Oikoumene]], as referring to the known and inhabited world.

The concept of Midgard occurs many times in [[Middle English]]. The association with ''earth'' (OE ''eorðe'') in Middle English ''middellærd'', ''middelerde'' is by [[popular etymology]]; the modern English cognate of ''geard'' "enclosure" is ''[[yard (land)|yard]]''. 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 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 ''[[Christ A|Crist&nbsp;A]]''.

==Other languages==
''Mittilagart'' is mentioned in the 9th-century [[Old High German]] ''[[Muspilli]]'' (v. 54) meaning "the world" as opposed to the sea and the heavens:
::{{lang|goh|muor varsuuilhit sih, suilizot lougiu der himil,}}
::{{lang|goh|mano uallit, prinnit mittilagart}}

::Sea is swallowed, flaming burn the heavens,
::Moon falls, Midgard burns

''Middilgard'' is also attested in the [[Old Saxon language|Old Saxon]] ''[[Heliand]]'':
::{{lang|osx|oƀar middilgard,}}
::{{lang|osx|endi that he mahti allaro manno gihwes}}

::Over the middle earth;
::And all men He could help

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Anglo-SaxonPaganism}}
{{Norse cosmology}}
{{Norse mythology}}

[[Category:Places in Norse mythology]]
[[Category:Religious cosmologies]]
[[Category:Earth in religion]]