Description: A mermaid drowning a man during Fimbulvetr, the period
of war and chaos that precedes Ragnarök in Norse
mythology. This scene is from Louis Moe's Ragnarok: En Billeddigtning. Moe's
retelling of the events of Fimbulvetr includes mermaids.
Source: Ragnarok: En Billeddigtning
Folio or Page: [36]
Medium: Not known
Date: 1929
Dimensions (mm): 120 x 150
Provenance:
Gift of Estate of Richard Beck to Special Collections at the
University of Victoria. This illustration from Den Ældre Eddas Gudesange was photographed by
P. A. Baer in August 2011.
Call number: NE962 N67M64
Rights:
This illustration from Ragnarok: En
Billeddigtning is in the public domain.
Research notes, early print reviews, etc.:
Louis Moe's mermaids owe more to folklore than to Norse mythology. The
Old Norse compound word “mar-gýgur” (marr + gýgur) is usually translated into
English simply as “mermaid.” However, although “marr” means “sea,” “gýgur” can
be translated as “giantess,” “witch,” or “ogress.” In Old Norse mythology, the
race of giants are shape-shifters and sometimes assume the shape of merfolk. For
example, in Þriðrek’s Saga, King Vilkinus is sailing
home when a giantess in the form of a mermaid comes to tell him that she is
pregnant with his son. The child was conceived during an afternoon’s dalliance
with her when Vilkinus was hunting in the forest.
Some of the illustrations in Ragnarok: En
Billeddigtning have two digit numbers, along with Louis Moe's name,
within the illustration. This one has the number 27, likely indicating the year
1927.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources
Moe,
Louis Maria Niels Peder
Halling. Ragnarok: En
Billeddigtning. København, A.F.
Høst, 1929.
Secondary Sources
Cleasby, Richard
and
Vigfússon
Guðbrandur
. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1957.
Simek,
Rudolf.
Angela
Hall
. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. W
Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer,
2007.
Fimbulvetr (non.)
The series of three unusually harsh winters, without intervening
seasons, that preceded Ragnarök.
Ragnarök (non.)
Ragnarok (en.)
The final great battle between the gods and the giants.
Source Materials:
Ragnarok: En Billeddigtning (da.)
Louis Moe's illustrated retelling of the Battle of Ragnarok and the
events that preceded it.
Source Persons
Moe,
Louis (no.)
b. 1857
d. 1945
Nationality: Norwegian/Danish.
Occupation: illustrator
Residence: Copenhagen
Moe was an illustrator who was born in Norway but became a Danish
citizen in 1919.
