Midgard
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Midgard in Germanic Cosmology
In Germanic cosmology, Midgard (an anglicised form of Old Norse Miðgarðr [ˈmiðˌɡɑrðz̠]; Old English Middangeard, Old Saxon Middilgard, Old High German Mittilagart, and Gothic Midjun-gards; "middle enclosure" or "middle yard") refers to the earth inhabited and known by humans. This concept is equivalent to the Greek term οἰκουμένη (oikouménē), meaning "inhabited world," in early Germanic cosmology. The Old Norse form plays a prominent role in Norse cosmology.
Etymology
The Old Norse name Miðgarðr is related to Gothic Midjungards (attested in the Gospel of Luke as a translation of the Greek oikouménē), Old Saxon Middilgard (in Heliand), Old High German Mittilagart (in Muspilli), and Old English Middangeard. The latter appears in both prose and poetry and evolved into Middellærd or Middle-earth in Middle English literature.
All these forms derive from the Germanic term Meðjana-garðaz, a compound of meðjanaz ("middle") and garðaz ("yard, enclosure"). In early Germanic cosmology, it stands alongside the term world (cf. Old English weorold, Old Saxon werold, Old High German weralt, Old Frisian wrald, Old Norse verǫld), itself derived from the Proto-Germanic compound wira-alđiz ("man-age"), referring to the inhabited world—the realm of humans.
Old Norse
In Norse mythology, Miðgarðr referred to the wall surrounding the world, which the gods constructed from the eyebrows of the giant Ymir to protect it from the Jotnar (giants) who dwelled in Jotunheim, east of Manheimr ("home of men"), a term for the entire world. After slaying Ymir, the gods sank his body into the central void of the universe. They used his body to shape the world: his flesh became the land, his blood the oceans, his bones the mountains, his teeth the rocks, his hair the trees, and his brain the clouds. Ymir’s skull, held aloft by the four dwarves Norðri, Suðri, Austri, and Vestri (representing the cardinal directions), formed the sky. The sun, moon, and stars were depicted as scattered sparks within this skull.
According to the Eddas, Midgard will be destroyed during Ragnarök, the apocalyptic battle at the end of the world. Jörmungandr (also known as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent) will rise from the sea, poisoning land and water with its venom and causing the sea to surge against the land. The final battle will take place on the plain of Vígríðr, after which Midgard and almost all life will be destroyed. The earth will then sink into the sea, only to rise again, fertile and green, as the cycle of creation begins anew.
While most surviving examples of the word Midgard pertain to spiritual matters, it was also used in more secular contexts, such as in the Viking Age runestone poem inscribed on Sö 56 from Fyrby:
Iak væit Hastæin
þa Holmstæin brøðr,
mænnr rynasta
a Miðgarði,
sattu stæin
auk stafa marga
æftiR Frøystæin,
faður sinn.
Translation:
I know Hásteinn,
Holmsteinn's brother,
the most skilled in runes
among men in Midgard.
They placed the stone
and many runes
in memory of Freysteinn,
their father.
The Danish and Swedish forms Midgård or Midgaard, the Norwegian Midgard or Midgård, and the Icelandic and Faroese Miðgarður all derive from the Old Norse term.
Old English
The name Middangeard appears six times in the Old English epic Beowulf and is the same word as Old Norse Midgard. The term corresponds to the Greek oikouménē, referring to the known and inhabited world.
The term Midgard also appears multiple times in Middle English. Its association with earth (Old English eorðe) in Middle English middellærd or middelerde is a folk etymology; the modern English counterpart of geard ("enclosure") is yard. An early example of this transformation appears in the Ormulum:
þatt ure Drihhtin wollde / ben borenn i þiss middellærd
("That our Lord / would be born in this Middle-earth").
The use of Middle-earth as a name for a setting was popularised by Old English scholar J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings and other fantasy works. He was inspired by references to middangeard and Éarendel in the Old English poem Crist A.
Old High German and Old Saxon
Mittilagart is mentioned in the Old High German Muspilli from the 9th century (v. 54), where it means "the world" in contrast to sea and sky:
muor varsuuilhit sih, suilizot lougiu der himil,
mano uallit, prinnit mittilagart
("The sea will swallow itself, the heaven will burn,
the moon falls, Midgard burns").
Middilgard is also attested in the Old Saxon Heliand:
oƀar middilgard,
endi dass er mahti allaro manno gihwes
("above the middle earth;
and that he could help every man").