place

Midgard

Places

The middle enclosure of humans in Norse cosmography. Not Asgard as the gods’ home, and not Midgard Serpent as the world-circling being.

Also known as Miðgarðr

Norse tradition

  • Midgard appears in Norse tradition.

    Völuspá, Grímnismál, and neighboring Poetic Edda lays name Miðgarðr as the human middle-enclosure. A named Norse cosmographic place in that verse corpus, not Asgard and not the Midgard Serpent as a being.

    from Anonymous (Eddic poems); Carolyne Larrington (translation) · Poetic Edda, medieval Icelandic compilation; Larrington trans. 1996/2014

    appears in · sourced · documented

  • Thor appears in Midgard.

    Snorri’s Gylfaginning seats Thor as the defender who strides Midgard against giants and the Midgard Serpent. A named god appearing in the human enclosure, not midgard→appears_in→norse as the place tradition seat alone and not jormungandr as the serpent alone.

    from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

    appears in · sourced · documented

sources

  • Poetic Edda · Anonymous (Eddic poems); Carolyne Larrington (translation)

    The Poetic Edda, trans. Carolyne Larrington.

  • Gylfaginning · Snorri Sturluson

    Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning, in the Prose Edda.