Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 8353072" data-attributes="member: 58172">Among the North European traditions, there are at least two kinds of dwarves, the Norse dvergar and the Germanic dweorgas.The Germanic one is in Saxon areas of Germany, and Anglo-Saxon areas of Britain. Here for this one, the term &quot;dweorgas&quot; is the plural of Old English dweorg.The Norse dvergar appears to be normal human size. The Germanic dweorgas appears to be short, perhaps about hip-high to an average height human, or perhaps about knee-high.A late Norse legendary saga translates German heroic texts into Old Norse around 1300. It takes place in Germany, relating to the life of Thidrekr (Theodoric the Great who lived around 500). It mentions an encounter with the German dwarf Alfrikr (Alberich), reacting to his small size. This Germanic dweorgas is the very first reference to a short dwarf in Norse texts.British texts include Anglo-Saxon marginal glosses using the term dweorh to translate terms like Latin nanus, evidencing how the Germanic dwarf is short. Hence, the English term &quot;dwarf&quot; also comes to mean small.By contrast, earlier, native, Norse texts, describe the dvergar as having the body of a &quot;giant&quot; (thurs), where most giants are human size, despite individuals that can grow indefinitely larger.The Dvergatal identifies Regin as a dvergar. Viking Era carvings about 1000, and Post-Viking Era about 1300, visually depict Regin as the same size as the human he interacts with.The overall assessment is, different localities have different views about what a dwarf is, and what an elf is. Generally, the Norse dvergar is human size, and the Germanic dweorgas is short.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 8353072, member: 58172"] Among the North European traditions, there are at least two kinds of dwarves, the Norse dvergar and the Germanic dweorgas. The Germanic one is in Saxon areas of Germany, and Anglo-Saxon areas of Britain. Here for this one, the term "dweorgas" is the plural of Old English dweorg. The Norse dvergar appears to be normal human size. The Germanic dweorgas appears to be short, perhaps about hip-high to an average height human, or perhaps about knee-high. A late Norse legendary saga translates German heroic texts into Old Norse around 1300. It takes place in Germany, relating to the life of Thidrekr (Theodoric the Great who lived around 500). It mentions an encounter with the German dwarf Alfrikr (Alberich), reacting to his small size. This Germanic dweorgas is the very first reference to a short dwarf in Norse texts. British texts include Anglo-Saxon marginal glosses using the term dweorh to translate terms like Latin nanus, evidencing how the Germanic dwarf is short. Hence, the English term "dwarf" also comes to mean small. By contrast, earlier, native, Norse texts, describe the dvergar as having the body of a "giant" (thurs), where most giants are human size, despite individuals that can grow indefinitely larger. The Dvergatal identifies Regin as a dvergar. Viking Era carvings about 1000, and Post-Viking Era about 1300, visually depict Regin as the same size as the human he interacts with. The overall assessment is, different localities have different views about what a dwarf is, and what an elf is. Generally, the Norse dvergar is human size, and the Germanic dweorgas is short. [/QUOTE]

Verification