In Germanic cosmology, Midgard (an anglicised form of Old NorseMiðgarðr; Old EnglishMiddangeard, Old SaxonMiddilgard, Old High GermanMittilagart, and GothicMidjun-gards; "middle yard", "middle enclosure") is the name for Earth (equivalent in meaning to the Greek term οἰκουμένη : oikouménē, "inhabited") inhabited by and known to humans in early Germanic cosmology. The Old Norse form plays a notable role in Norse cosmology.
All these forms stem from Common Germanic*Meðjana-garðaz, a compoundof*meðjanaz ("middle") and *garðaz ("yard, enclosure").
In early Germanic cosmology, it stands alongside the term world (cf. Old Englishweorold, Old Saxonwerold, Old High Germanweralt, Old Frisianwrald, Old Norseverǫld), itself from a Common Germanic compound *wira-alđiz ("man-age"), which refers to the inhabited world, i.e. the realm of humankind.[2]
In Norse mythology, Miðgarðr became applied to the wall around the world that the gods constructed from the eyebrows of the jötunnYmir as a defense against the jötnar who lived in Jotunheim, east of Manheimr, the "home of men", a word used to refer to the entire world. The gods slew the jötunnYmir, the first created being, and put his body into the central void of the universe, creating the world out of his body: his flesh constituting the land, his blood the oceans, his bones the mountains, his teeth the cliffs, his hairs the trees, and his brains the clouds. Ymir's skull was held by four dwarfs, Nordri, Sudri, Austri, and Vestri, who represent the four points on the compass and became the dome of heaven. The sun, moon, and stars were said to be scattered sparks in the skull.
The Fyrby Runestone.
According to the Eddas, Midgard will be destroyed at Ragnarök, the battle at the end of the world. Jörmungandr (also known as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent) will arise from the ocean, poisoning the land and sea with his venom and causing the sea to rear up and lash against the land. The final battle will take place on the plain of Vígríðr, following which Midgard and almost all life on it will be destroyed, with the earth sinking into the sea only to rise again, fertile and green when the cycle repeats and the creation begins again.
Although most surviving instances of the word Midgard refer to spiritual matters, it was also used in more mundane situations, as in the Viking Agerunestone poem from the inscription Sö 56 from Fyrby:
The Danish and Swedish form MidgårdorMidgaard, the NorwegianMidgardorMidgård, as well as the Icelandic and Faroese form Miðgarður, all derive from the Old Norse term.
The name middangeard occurs six times in the Old English epic poem Beowulf, and is the same word as Midgard in Old Norse. The term is equivalent in meaning to the Greek term Oikoumene, as referring to the known and inhabited world.
The concept of Midgard occurs many times in Middle English. The association with earth (OEeorðe) in Middle English middellærd, middelerde is by popular etymology; the modern English cognate of geard "enclosure" is yard. An early example of this transformation is from the Ormulum:
þatt ure Drihhtin wollde / ben borenn i þiss middellærd
that our Lord wanted / be born in this Middle-earth.
The usage of "Middle-earth" as a name for a setting was popularized by Old English scholar J. R. R. Tolkien in his The Lord of the Rings and other fantasy works; he was originally inspired by the references to middangeard and Éarendel in the Old English poem Crist A.
