Miriquidi

As Miriquidi and Mircwidu the early medieval historian Thietmar of Merseburg designated ( Chron 6, 10, 8, 28) the Ore Mountains and part of the wooded at the time foothills and a forest on the Dutch Merwede a branch of the river the Meuse. Latin silva Miriquidi means to German " dark, sinister forest ." Thietmar reflected with the vernacular altniederdeutschen ( Old Saxon ) terms Miriquidi, Mircwidu older naming motifs from myths and legends for a great and Border Forest. In shape and articulation, the two forms of the name to connect with forms of other names treasure ( Onomastikum ) within the Germania.

Name Kund Royal

The basic form of the name there is a two-tier composition, the Germanic from the molds * merkwaz ( Old Saxon Mirki, Old English mierce ), German dark and * wiðuz, German tree, wood, forest is formed. The Old English and Saxon evidence comes in the first term a meaning extension of " evil" at. The analog gutbelegte Norse form Myrkviðr appears in the high medieval Icelandic- Norwegian saga literature and texts in the Edda.

Historical evidence

Thietmar mentioned in the site Chron 6, 10 the Miriquidi in the context of the first campaign of the East Frankish king and later Holy Roman Emperor Henry II against the Polish prince and later king Bolesław I the Brave in the summer of 1004. Heinrich decided about yourself the Ore Mountains in Bohemia collect and conquer the castle Saaz. In the place Chron 8, 28 he mentions that the Count Dietrich III. of Holland in 1018, in Mircwidu east of Dordrecht in Sliedrecht can not illegally a larger farm / estate has appropriated and the dispossessed to the then Emperor Heinrich whether the " nefarious act" complained. The oldest evidence of Miriquidi in concrete terms to Erzgebirge region dated to the year 974 in the form Miriquido. Emperor Otto II (CDS 1.1, 19) gave the Merseburg Foundation a forest or a forest area in the district Chutizi between the Saale and the Mulde, the Miriquidi is called.

Reception

The ( original ) forest as the boundary is found for the Magna Germania by the ancient geographers / historians like Tacitus in the description of the Hercynia silva. This set - the Ore Mountains as a portion of it - for the Germanic cultural area a major topographical object whose influence was reflected in the spiritual culture as in the composition of myths, legends and performances, up in the North - Western European High Middle Ages - the dark schwerdurchdringliche potentially hazardous forest. The phrase in the eddischen Lokasenna, verse 42, " he Muspelz Synir Rida Myrkvid yfir " ("if Muspels sons ( by ) the Myrkwid ride " ) is seen as a representation of the Hercynian forest. Another reception in the Nordic sources of Miriquidi - Mirkwidu - Myrkviðr as outspoken Grenzwald can be found from the saga literature in the Hlöðskviða ( " Battle of the Huns song" ) as peoples divide between Goths and Huns. Wolfgang Haubrichs suspected in the document Mircwidu at Dordrecht in a popular etymological modification Thietmar from Meri - Widu ( Merwede ) to German " bog or swamp forest " due to an influence Thietmar from its knowledge of the myths and heroic legends. In the 11th century this name appears bog forest beside the river name as flumen et silva Merewido. To Thietmar documents of Holstein early medieval frontier forest is Old Saxon to provide " Isarnho " ( Old Danish Jarnvið ) comparative, the Saxons, Danes and warning demarcated against each other.

Both Thietmar use and mention of the traditional term as the reception in the eddischen and saga literature (12th-13th century ) show the function of the forest as a partition of the real world of the built environment and peoples. In the spiritual culture as a motif in the fictional oral and verschriftlichten tradition which in turn actively influential increasingly participated in the naming of places and landmarks.