The Nibelungenlied: The Lay of the Nibelungs (Oxford World's Classics) (47 page)

Azagouc
fictitious oriental country, source of silk, also in Wolfram’s
Parzival

Balmunc
Sivrit’s sword

Bavaria
(
der Beyer lant, Beyerlant, Peyer lant
)

Bern
home of Dietrich and Hildebrant (historically Verona). Dietrich is sometimes referred to as ‘the man of Bern’ (
der Bernœre
), as is his vassal Wolf hart

Blœdelin
(
Blœdelîn
; also
Blœdel
) of Hungary, brother of Etzel

Botelunc
father of Etzel

Burgundians
(
Burgonden
) inhabitants of Burgundy

Burgundy
(
Burgonden lant, Burgonden
) kingdom of Gunther and his brothers

Dancrat
(
Dancrât
) husband of Uote, father of the Burgundian kings

Dancwart
son of Aldrian, Hagen’s younger brother, marshal of the Burgundian kings

Danes
(
Tenen
) men of Denmark (
Tenemarke, Tenelant
)

Danube
(
Tuonouwe
) oft-crossed river

Denmark
(
Tenemarke, Tenelant
) land of Liudegast

Dietrich of Bern
(
Dietrich von Berne
) King of the Amelungs, in exile at Etzel’s court (historically Theodoric the Ostrogoth)

East Franconia
(
Ôstervranken
) on the Burgundians’ route to Hungary

Eckewart
Count and margrave of the Burgundians

Eferding
(
Everdingen
) town near the south bank of the Danube in Upper Austria

Elbe
name of the river

Else
Lord of the march in Bavaria, on the southern bank of the Danube; brother of Gelpfrat

Enns
(
Ense
) river in Upper Austria; also Austria’s oldest town

Etzel
King of the Huns (historically Attila the Hun)

Etzelnburc
Etzel’s residence in Hungary. Possibly Gran (Esztergom)

Gelpfrat
(
Gelpfrât
) Margrave of Bavaria, brother of Else

Gerbart
(
Gerbârt
) one of Dietrich’s men

Gere
(
Gêre
) Duke and margrave, kinsman of the Burgundian kings

Gernot
(
Gernôt
) son of Dancrat and Uote, second of the Burgundian kings

Gibeche
a Hunnish king at Etzel’s court

Giselher
(
Gîselher
) youngest of the Burgundian kings

Gotelint
Margravine, wife of Rüedeger, cousin of Dietrich

Gran
(
Etzelnburc
) town where Etzel is resident in the Twenty-fourth Adventure (Esztergom in Hungary)

Greece
(
Kriechen
) Greek warriors are present at Etzel’s court

Gunther
son of Dancrat and Uote, eldest of the Burgundian kings

Gunther
son of Sivrit and Kriemhilt

Hadeburc
a water-sprite

Hagen(e) of Tronege
(also
der Tronegœre
) elder son of Aldrian, kinsman of the Burgundian kings

Hawart
(
Hâwart
) of Denmark, an exiled prince in Etzel’s retinue

Hainburg
(
Heimburc
) unidentified town on the border between Hungary and Austria

Helche
wife of King Etzel

Helmnot
(
Helmnôt
) one of Dietrich’s men; he figures in some of the Dietrich epics

Helpfrich
(
Helpfrîch
) one of Dietrich’s men

Herrat
(
Herrât
) niece of Helche, daughter of Näntwin, bride of Dietrich

Hessen
on the Burgundians’ route to Saxony

Hildebrant
of Bern. In exile at Etzel’s court, in the service of Dietrich

Hiltegunt
beloved of Walther of Spain

Hornboge
Hunnish warrior in Etzel’s retinue

Hun
(
Hiune
) inhabitant of Hungary

Hungary
(
Ungern
; also
der Hiunen lant
) land of King Etzel

Hunolt
(
Hûnolt
) chamberlain of the Burgundian kings

Iceland
(
Îslant
) realm of Prünhilt

India
(
Indîâ
) source of precious stones

Inn
(
In
) Bavarian river

Irinc
(
Îrinc
) Margrave of Denmark, vassal of Hawart, in exile at Etzel’s court

Irnfrit
Landgrave of Thuringia, in exile at Etzel’s court

Isenstein
(
Îsenstein
) Prünhilt’s Icelandic capital

Kiev
(
Kiewen
) home of warriors in Etzel’s retinue

Kriemhilt
daughter of Dancrat and Uote, sister of the Burgundian kings

Liudegast
King of Denmark, brother of Liudeger of Saxony

Liudeger
(
Liudegêr
) King of Saxony, brother of Liudegast of Denmark

Lochheim
(
Lôche
) place where the Nibelung treasure is sunk; possibly the hamlet of Lochheim in the Rhineland Palatinate

Lybia
(
Lybîâ, Lybîân
) exotic source of silks

Main
(
Meune
) river on the Burgundians’ route to Hungary

Mautern
(
Mûtâren
) town on the Danube in Lower Austria

Mediterranean
(
daz mer
)

Melk
(
Medelicke
) town on the Danube in Lower Austria

Metz
(
Metz(e)
) home of Ortwin, now a French city

Misenburc
possibly Wieselburg in Lower Austria

Möhringen
(
Mœringen
) or Mehring? Or Großmehring? Town on the Danube

Morocco
(
Marroch
) exotic source of silks

Näntwin
(
Näntwîn
) father of Herrat

Netherlands
(
Niderlant
) land of Sigmunt and Sigelint, and their son

Nibelunc
King of the Nibelungs, father of the young kings Schilbunc and Nibelunc

Nibelunc
son of the above

Nibelungs
(
Nibelungen
) dynastic name of the people of Nibelunc; later a name given to the Burgundians

Nineveh
(
Ninnivê
) Oriental city, source of precious silk

Norway
(
Norwœge
) part of Sivrit’s realms

Nuodunc
kinsman of Gotelint (a figure in the Dietrich legends)

Ortliep
ill-fated son of Etzel and Kriemhilt

Ortwin
(
Ortwîn
) of Metz, nephew of Hagen, steward of the Burgundian kings

Passau
(
Pazzouwe
) Bavarian city at the intersection of the Inn and the Danube, seat of Bishop Pilgrim

Pechenegs
(
Petschenœre
) warriors of Finno-Ugrian descent in Etzel’s retinue. The Pechenegs lived in the steppes between the sixth and twelfth centuries

Pföring
(
Vergen
) Bavarian town near the Danube

Pilgrim
(
Pilgerîm, Pilgrîn
) Bishop of Passau, brother of Queen Uote

Pöchlarn
(
Bechelâren
) seat of Margrave Rüedeger, on the Danube in Lower Austria

Poles
(
Pœlân
) men in Etzel’s retinue

Prünhilt
Queen of Iceland

Ramunc
(
Râmunc
) Duke of Wallachia, in Etzel’s retinue

Rhine(land)
(
Rîn
) the Rhine, the homeland of the Burgundian kings

Rhone
(
Rote
) river Marking a boundary of Etzel’s kingdom

Ritschart
one of Dietrich’s men

Rüedeger
Margrave of Pöchlarn, vassal of Etzel

Rumolt
(
Rûmolt
) Master of the kitchen in Burgundy

Russia
(
Rtuzen
) Russian warriors are present at Etzel’s court

Saxons
(
Sachsen
) enemies of the Burgundians

Saxony
(
Sachsen
) the land of the Saxons

Sc(h)ilbunc
son of Nibelunc

Schrutan
(
Schrûtân
) Hunnish warrior at Etzel’s court

Sig(e)lint
wife of Sigmunt, mother of Sivrit

Sigelint
a water-sprite

Sig(e)munt
King of the Netherlands, father of Sivrit

Sigestap
Duke of Bern, nephew of Dietrich. In other Dietrich epics a giant-killer, son of Amelunc and brother of Wolf hart

Sindolt
cup-bearer of the Burgundian kings

Sivrit
(
Sîvrit, Sîfrit
) son of Sigmunt and Sigelint of the Netherlands

Spain
(
Spânje
) kingdom of Walther

Speier
(
Spîre
) seat of a bishop

Spessart
(
Spehtshart
) forest in central Germany

Swabia
(
Swâben
) south-west Germany, on the route taken by Wärbel and Swemmel from Burgundy to Hungary

Swalefeld
(
Swalevelt
) Swabian town on the River Swalb, a tributary of the Wörnitz

Swemmelin
(also
Swemmel, Swämmelîn
) minstrel at Etzel’s court

Thuringia
(
Düringen
) land of Irnfrit, in central Germany

Traisen
(
Treisem
) river in Lower Austria, tributary of the Danube

Traismauer
(
Zeizenmûre
) town on the Traisen in Lower Austria, confused by the poet with Zeiselmauer in Upper Austria

Traun
(
Trûne
) tributary of the Danube in Upper Austria

Tronege
Hagen’s birthplace, perhaps Burg Tronek in the Hunsrück. Hagen is sometimes called
der Tronegœre
, ‘the man of Tronek’

Tulln
(
Tulne
) town on the Danube in Lower Austria

Uote
queen, wife of Dancrat, mother of the Burgundian kings and Kriemhilt

Vienna
(
Wiene
) Austrian city

Volker
(
Volkêr
) of Alzey, fiddler, vassal of the Burgundian kings

Vosges
(
Waskenwalt
;
Waskenstein
) forest and mountain in the north-east of France

Wallachians
(
Walachen
) Romance-speaking warriors in Etzel’s retinue, from Walachia, now part of Romania

Walther
of Spain hostage at Etzel’s court, hero of the Latin epic
Waltharius

Wärbel
(also
Wärbelin, Werbel
) minstrel at Etzel’s court

Waske
sword of Irinc of Denmark. In
Biterolf
it is the sword of Walther, perhaps because of the connection with the Waskenstein

Waskenstein
a rock-face in the Vosges, scene of a battle involving Walther and Hagen

Wichart
(
Wîchart
) one of Dietrich’s men, brother of Wolfwin, Wolfprant, and Gerbart in the Dietrich epics

Wieselburg
(
Misenburc
) town on the Lower Danube, now Mosonmagyaróvár (Hungary)

Witege
(
Wîtege
) slayer of Nuodunc, a figure in the Dietrich epics

Wolfhart
Hildebrant’s nephew, in the service of Dietrich

Wolfprant
one of Dietrich’s men. Elsewhere the brother of Wolfwin and Ritschart

Wolfwin
(
Wolfwîn
) of Bern, of the Amelungs, one of Dietrich’s men, brother of Ritschart and Wolfprant in the epic
Biterolf

Worms
(
Wormez, Wormz
) on the Rhine, capital of the Burgundian kings

Xanten
(
Santen
) Sivrit’s birthplace in the Netherlands, now in North Rhine–Westphalia

Zazamanc
oriental source of silk, a city in Wolfram von Eschenbach’s
Parzival