Page:Norse mythology or, the religion of our forefathers, containing all the myths of the Eddas, systematized and interpreted with an introduction, vocabulary and index.djvu/462



[Old High Germ. mistil; Germ. mistel; Anglo-Sax. mistel or mistel-tâ; Eng. mistletoe]. The mistletoe or mistle-*twig, the fatal twig by which Balder, the white sun-god, was slain. After the death of Balder, Ragnarok set in. Balder's death was also symbolical of the victory of darkness over light, which comes every year at midwinter. The mistletoe in English households at Christmas time is no doubt a relic of a rite lost in the remotest heathendom, for the fight of light and darkness at midwinter was a foreshadowing of the final overthrow in Ragnarok. The legend and the word are common to all Teutonic peoples of all ages. Mistletoe.

[Courage]. A son of Thor. Mode.

The dwarf highest in degree or rank. Modsogner.

A serpent under Ygdrasil. Moin.

Father of the sun and moon. Mundilfare.

[Memory]. One of Odin's ravens. Munin.

The name of an abode of fire. It is peopled by Múspells lýðir (the men of Muspel), a host of fiends, who are to appear at Ragnarok and destroy the world by fire. Muspel. (See next word.)  The abode of Muspel. This interesting word (Múspell) was not confined to the Norse mythology, but appears twice in the old Saxon poem Heliand, thus: (1) mutspelli cumit on thiustra naht, also thiof ferit (mutspelli comes in dusky night, as a thief fares,—that is, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night), and (2) mutspellis megin obar man ferit (the main of mutspelli fares over men). A third instance is an Old High German poem on the Last Day, thus: dâr ni mac denne mac andremo helfan vora demo muspille (there no man can help another against the muspel-doom). In these instances muspel stands for the day of judgment, the last day, and answers to Ragnarok of the Norse mythology. The etymology is doubtful, for spell may be the weird, doom, Lat. fatum; or it may be spoil, destruction. The former part, mús or muod, is more difficult to explain. The Icelandic mús is an assimilated form. Muspelheim.

[mökkr means a dense cloud]. A clay giant in the myth of Thor and Hrungner. Mokkerkalfe.