In the Depths of Midgard: Jǫrmungandr (Midgard Serpent)

[@williameichmann3037]

Never clicked a link so fast in my life. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you're a legend Dr. Crawford. Never stop doing what you do.

[@VVayVVard]

​@@Catonius I feel you're setting the bar for attaining legendhood a bit too low there.

[@theskoomacat7849]

I'm actually fascinated by both paleontology and norse myth. Thank you for this video!

[@JTD19881369]

Here I always thought the Morrison formation was named after a guy.. not a town

[@northstarvikings5360]

I love hearing the translations of the individual words and the kennings. There is just something extra to the poems that gets lost in translation to English. Great video. I enjoyed the added touch of the Tylosaurus skull in the background and the explanation. Now we just need a video series of you in Viking Age reenactment clothing, sitting next to the long-fire in a longhouse telling us stories in Old Norse . . . with English subtitles of course.

[@ZeroGravityFuneral]

I was never so happy to see a KZbin video in my life. About time Jǫrmungandr gets a spot light!

[@ruairimasun1073]

Norse mythology will be a big part of one of my archaeology tests next week. I will have to restrain myself from mentioning all the stuff you have taught us, and stick to what we had to learn.

[@lindaliljecrona4404]

He doesn't speak much of archaeology so it is a good idea to stick to your subject.

[@axebearer]

We still keep some of that weird taxonomy in modern Swedish. A squid and an octopus are both bläckfiskar, literally ink-fish. And an older term for whale is valfisk, whale-fish. Because everything in the sea is obviously some manner of fish. This is known. :D

[@creatureris]

Extra thanks from a palaeo nerd.

[@anthonyj.manttan9986]

Wasn't expecting to learn something about cattle.

[@ingerandersson2449]

Tack Dr Crawford för dina mycket intressant videos. Jag följer dig och uppskattar det du gör.Hälsningar från Sverige!

[@michaelmyers3044]

An excellent story! Thank you for all the details!

[@italoximenes8755]

Those videos really make me want to learn more about nordic culture. Keep the good job man, you are awesome!

[@LL-gf6dr]

I love your videos. My brother is a career academic in different field (history) but some of your mannerisms positively remind me of him, even though I haven't seen him in a while. I enjoy that, as well as your great content. Thanks for that

[@StMiBll]

Tylosaurus is my favorite Mesozoic reptile. Its skull in the background made this video even more awesome!

[@sarahmixon7699]

I could listen to you all day. Very informative video!

[@juliaciantar1472]

Jackson you're an absolute legend

[@timothydoughty8246]

Great setting. This is really well done!

[@triumphoverdeath]

That skull at the end made me think about the ocean moons in our solar system and the maybe giant aquatic monsters there. Great info! Thank you.

[@ericmueller6836]

Who the hell "thumbs-downed" this video. Someone out there really hates learning.

[@reikiorr8217]

Argr men

[@Rivenshield]

A mosasaur with Internet access.

[@advance600]

Argir, indeed.

[@nebyaaaaaaaaattttt]

i got very interested in the magnus chase book series and now im here.

[@kampfiretv9309]

Great video! Thank you for taking the time to tell us in the old language and helping us to understand in English...

[@DeFactoLeader]

I was hoping you'd do a video on Jormungandr, Dr Crawford. I'm sure a lot of people really want to learn more about him after the latest God of War. Clever environment for such a topic, by the way.

[@joaogustavocabral]

Outstanding Job!!!

[@MidgardMusings]

Very informative and enjoyable as always!

[@VVayVVard]

Exactly what I was looking for. Very helpful, thank you.

[@CRISNCHIPS12398]

Great content as always, great logo at the end as well!

[@tamanassman]

can't remember where I heard this, but turns out my family's home island in Norway, Karmøy, is the scene of a daily battle between Thor and the Midgardsormr in the Karmsund between the headland with the Kongshauge at the north end of Karmøy opposite the city of Haugdesund (which gets its name for kinda obvious reasons). i.e. that Thor swam the Haugesund (N. end of the Karmsund) daily to wrestle with the World-Serpent. Needless to say there's a huge rip there, what we call in British Columbia a skookumchuck (strong water), a tidal rapid. Worth adding that tidal rapids in BC are often legendarily the home of sea monsters.... the most famous being the Sisiutl, the two-headed serpent that lay across First Narrows of Burrard Inlet until slain by an ancestor of the Skwxwxu7mesh ("Squamish")......actually it had three heads, as a third lay on the bottom of the narrows and it was down to there the hero of the Skwxwxu7mesh swam to kill it..... to me that sounds more like an octopus or giant squid, but ..... tradition says it was a serpent.

[@juliaconnell]

ahhh just what I need, thank you as always Dr Crawford - with added bonus content even... though seeing that jaw - hoping for some more info about the mysterious back scratching claw... but info about Tylosaurus and the ancient seas of Colorado made up for it ;) (plus the image of Odin's foot sticking out of the boat!)

[@ulfdanielsen6009]

Thor´s foot.

[@germanolivares4772]

This vídeo is just amazing, I loved it.

[@thormusique]

Brilliant, thanks!

[@dboyen]

the reference to beef/beeves brought to mind the more other almost obsolete term ku/kine

[@theolewell7535]

thanks very nice to hear these words ...

[@RadianHelix]

If you also went across campus to grab either Webster Cash, Axel Brandenburg, or Erica Ellingson, from the Astrophysics department, you could combine Matt and Jackson's funtime education adventure into all 3 of my topmost important interests: Stars, Old Norse, and Dinosaurs. :p

[@Artemisia.Hedgerow]

Thank you!

[@emilysteffensen5822]

Well done!

[@joshg.3640]

I saw an image once where someone took a renderimg of some current that allegedly wraps almost all the way around the world and drew it into a serpent with, "Midgard Serpent," written by it

[@martinnyberg6882]

1:17 How much poetry/writing do we have that can be attributed to Brage? Is there a scholarly consensus on what his "corpus" encompasses?

[@mikeholt2112]

Any thoughts about Jormungander being related to Ororborous both being serpents that swallow their own tails.

[@Axel-ch9nk]

I know you've already done a video on the history of the aegishjalmur. Was wondering if you could do a history on some other symbols like the Valknut, Horn Triskilion etc... I'm trying to find the history on these symbols myself but a lot of the information that I've been looking through is fairly contradictory. Thanks

[@bearofthunder]

Well, have to say that all in all Loke has the most incredible children. Not only these 3 monsters, but also Sleipnir and others.

[@KentuckySunset]

Love the graphic at the end. The horses legs in shadow give it 8 :).

[@jamescotter]

Awesome video Dr. Crawford, I'm also currently reading your book and must say I love it! One question though: Do you think you could do a video on the Gambanteinn and other legendary/magical items in the Eddas and Norse lore?!

[@lindapolle1665]

Lost in the mist of time is the fear of the Beckhest (sp?). Is it Norske?

[@sunshinesilverarrow5292]

Thank you! Hugs & sunshine 🌞 N

[@timurban9015]

Love the mosasaur in the background haha

[@andrewhe8854]

Nice video and so informative!

[@kellybraille]

I feel like that new logo needs a little something... like maybe an Ehwaz brand on the horse's hindquarter...;-)

[@lindapolle1665]

Yes, about the logo: So here I am a little American kid trying to grow up in Germany. On a trip home to America, my Father, a Wyoming man, would offer my brother and myself a quarter to the first one who could spot the bucking horse on passing license plates.

[@kiffermachon]

I apprecaite giving the currator some time

[@matthewcuellar7879]

Paleontologists are always funny when they chime. "What does it have to do with Norse mythology? Not a damn thing!"

[@sirseigan]

The old norse word "Óhapp" is really interesting. In Hälsingemål (dialect of Hälsingland Sweden) there is the word "Ohappa" meaning "random", "surpricing", "unplanned", "unpredictable" and "unintentional". This is said to come from the Swedish word "Oförhappandes" with the same meaning. This in turn is relared to "Hoppas" meaning "to hope". If we break it down; the "O" is a opposite or negative similar to english "un-". The "för" is indicating "too" as in "too much" (Sw.; "för mycket"). The ending "-andes" is indicating a state you are in: ex "vetandes" = "being knowing", "väntandes" = "being in waiting", "sörjandes" = "being in mourning". So "oförhappandes" would be something along the line "not being in too 'happ' state". So if "happ" means happy or luck this seem kind of weird. Try it: "not being in too 'happy' state" or "not being in too luck state"... and that should equals to something similar to "random". Do not seem to fit do it? If we instead use the meaning of happen and happening it might fit a bit better: "not being in too 'happening' state" - it is not perfect but a bit closer to "random". At the same time we have a saying in Swedish that something is: "hipp som happ", meaning; without a plan, without structure, all over the place, without a thought behind. My theory is that the original meaning of "happ" is close to "fate bound", "something that is planned to happen", "anticipated" - probably something that you look forward to (so you will be "happy" when it "happens"). So "Óhapp" is NOT what you anticipated (which can both be "bad luck" but also just "random"). Just a thought... 😊

[@SolPhoebusApollo]

I can’t believe “beeves” is an actual word (which it is), I’ve never seen/heard it used before.

[@cyber5659]

Awesome video! You should really play God of war 4 and make an analysis of it's portrail of the norse mythos.

[@maggykuhn3387]

I'm glad that you have a PhD and you talk highly about paleontologist and have it all this knowledge. But not one of your colleagues could recognize a fossil that I have. So you earned the secret society pin for a PhD wow

[@shannonalaminski2619]

This story, in front of a Kronosaur skull, is priceless! Edit: or Tylosaurus. I wouldn't swim with either.

[@iancook9308]

Your vids are fascinating and informative as usual, Dr. Crawford. Also, it just so happens that I actually attend CU Boulder. I took Latin recently and now I really want to learn more historical languages. Do you happen to teach Old Norse at CU? Any idea if such classes may become available if not?

[@monikerrr]

Весьма интересное видео, жду рассказ про роль Валькирий в мифологии скандинавов

[@vagabondwastrel2361]

I was thinking about this story in a different context. What if it was talking about tribal warfare and the end of a person's life. Taking the snake being an example of banishing someone or a family only for them to come back with an army.

[@Druzica18]

Thanks for these videos, they are always educational and fascinating. Thor, stop being mean to Jormungandr. He's just playing with u. --Loki, probably

[@legionitalia309]

Is it possible that the Midgard serpent is a representation of the equator? As a sea faring people, navigation would have been pivotal to success. It bites it’s tail, showing that the world is round. It’s directly in the middle of the upper and lower worlds (hemispheres). To cross it would have seemed as if they were on the back of a serpent (doldrums). The point about it being represented as a thread is also curious, perhaps indicating they knew it was indeed a line rather than a band or zone. Just an idea, I ain’t nobody, and doubtful I’m the first to make the connection. Great video, you always get me thinking.

[@tiffanyhaberacker]

Your comment made me think of a picture I once saw. If you Google "Midgard Serpent Ocean" and look at the images there's one that outlines the underwater ridges in the shape of Jormungandr. I know there's no way this is what they meant to portray, but it's a pretty neat coincidence. There are so many seafaring cultures that depict enormous sea creatures though. I don't think they'd use Jormungandr to symbolize a perceived boundary. I think it would be more likely used to explain rough seas, as if something was thrashing about below, or currents of the ocean. I'm no expert though, it's only my personal guess. As for possibly knowing more than they should; in Grimnismal verse 38, there is mention of the shield Svol. It sits between Midgard and the Sun and if it were to ever fall, the mountains and sea would burn up. Reading this made me think that they may have known a bit about the atmosphere and how it protects the Earth from the radiation or "heat" of the Sun. This may be a bit of a stretch, but it would be interesting to find out that they knew more than we thought. Hel, they were able to across the Atlantic to North America, so you never know. 🤷‍♀️

[@MediaFaust]

The Midgard Serpent is a metaphor for Oceanos, the sea current that circumvents the earth due to the coriolis force. There are numerous references to "serpents" in old texts, and they typically refer to "old string theory" (joke), in the sense that for instance a red serpent is a bloodline, whereas a silver serpent is a river, and so forth. Poetic code, I guess we can say. Sea serpents is metaphor for oceanic currents. You can "ride on a serpent's back" to get from one place to another. (Such as the Egyptian sun did during the night hours.) Faeroe Islands fishermen orient themselves along routes created by "sea serpents" to this very day. People had to be smart back in the old days. Being able to survive even whilst being a moron is a new thing. That's why modern people are so deaf, dumb and blind.

[@xxXXZEZXXxx]

Was thinking it could just be like an ouroboros, representing the cycle of life and death. The cycle stops when the serpent stops biting its tail during ragnarok and the world itself ends

[@MismeretMonk]

We could use the Midgard Serpent as a metaphore for the global conveyor belt, a current that moves seawater throughout most oceans. It conveyor belt also bites its own tail.

[@paulaunger3061]

Oh wow, that is such a cool idea!

[@arnimellner3357]

for not knowing what beeves are, my latin teacher would call us "city folk"

[@marckoszoomaster9006]

I have a question of which I have not been able to find the answer on the internet: "How long ago was Midgard, and/or the Universe, created?"

[@martialartsnerd3253]

Dr. Crawford, are there Buddhist parallels in historical Norse religion? I know that ginnungagap exists as a primordial void, but is this comparable to sunyatta or no-self?

[@TransSappho]

Amazingly, since this video was made, a new mosasaur was discovered and its genus name is Jormungandr

[@phixter]

Gandr, Gand can also mean (magical)staff, it would make sense since a snake is long and narrow like a staff. :D the word "Wand" probably comes from "gand"?

[@anguswu2685]

El Fixo No, Wand is from ON Vondr

[@Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaartin]

I don't think so: From Proto-Germanic *wanduz, from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn, twist, weave, braid”). Noun (Old Norse) vǫndr m (genitive vandar, plural vendir) wand, switch, twig The Icelandic cognate for wand is vöndur or vendi. I did find out that Gandálfr is from Old Norse gandr (“magic staff”) +‎ alfr (“elf”), thus meaning "Elf with a Magic Staff". en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gandur en.wiktionary.org/wiki/v%C7%ABndr#Old_Norse en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gand%C3%A1lfr

[@hoathanatos6179]

The German Wand, meaning an interior wall, also shares the same origin where walls were constructed from pieces of lumber like a staff or wand.

[@haganegenkotsu2180]

Can the Frankish "G" also pronounced as "W" also be attested to here? It might explain gand and vond.

[@paterliber]

Thus Gand ALF = Elf wand!

[@rasapplepipe]

Wow I once paid my debt to to society cleaning snake shit out fish tanks in that very museum.

[@AngelicBeatdown]

Livestream you playing God of War 4 it’s got a lot of Norse content and I’d like to hear your opinion on all the pronunciations and runes.

[@tengufitness2507]

AngelicBeatdown I AGREE

[@MazeOfClover]

Why do some people pronounce the R at the end and others do not? Is there any significance to this?

[@yungdolo8035]

So I have this locket that has on one side the symbol for the world tree and on the other there’s a rune and I can’t find the meaning for it anywhere, if there’s any way you could translate it for me please respond to my comment and I can give you my contact info

[@noakj006]

Great video, Jackson have you played the recently released God of War? It's great and features the world-serpent.

[@bluewhaleking6227]

Poor Jormungandr, he really did nothing wrong.

[@LegitFUry]

Why doesn't the horse in your logo have eight legs?

[@northenby8288]

I am currently learning Old Norse in order to read the Poetic and Prose Eddas in the original language. With that in mind, I was wondering what you would recommend as a good edition of these texts? If there are notes, English, German, or Norwegian would be best (in fact I may prefer without notes). I would very much appreciate your thoughts.

[@lindaliljecrona4404]

They are written in Old Icelandic.

[@northenby8288]

Old Icelandic is a dialect of Old Norse like Old Danish

[@codyleeamrhein]

Speaking of mosasaurs and jormungandr did you see that they've named one Jormungandr

[@JellyfishButterGaming]

❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@LiquidBlackWolf]

Well.. not serpent.. but Worm.. but it is kinda off still.. because we have a snake in Denmark that have Worm in its name.. so.. yer.. its strange

[@paulaunger3061]

LiquidBlackWolf Worm is an old name for snake, like serpent. Not sure how it’s related to ‘wyrm’ which sometimes refers to dragons. Maybe a fantasy story invention.

[@LiquidBlackWolf]

@@paulaunger3061 fair enough.. learned something new :)

[@garychynne1377]

thank yew

[@teiwo6952]

So...etymologically Jǫrmungandr = kaiju?

[@edrick106]

Kaiju means STRANGE monster rather than huge

[@dumbage]

Yormin-gandar

[@SonofMóði97]

Jormungandur son of Loki and Angrboda and brother to Hel and Fenrir and half brother to Slepinir

[@Marius696969]

how much of norse literature could possibly be due to influence of christianity? the story of ragnarok was always interesting to me since it ended pretty much in the way christianity started, a man and woman being the "first" people. in fact most scholars that i know of claim that this was due to christians rewriting the old norse tales to favor their stories in order to help transition the conversion into christianity. could it be possibly that a great deal of what we know about norse religion could come from modified stories? it seems to me that the whole concept of all the gods dying doesnt really sound like traditional norse attitude. i know the norse were more than just warriors but from what i've read their lives still had that sort of warrior mentality, and living within the cold north would bury that fight to survive concept into you. it seems more probable that ragnarok, if the story is in fact from the time before christians started converting them, would likely have ended in favor of the gods rather than everyone dying. it seems strange that a people who loved Thor as the protector of man would have him killed off, even if dying in battle was considered a glorious death i doubt they would want their gods to die.

[@Marius696969]

but the problem i see with this is many of these cultures were not like the vikings who prized battles so much. while i can agree the pre christian cultures did have differing views on how gods are portrayed none that i know of actually died for real, and i mean that as in within the myths. i studied religion, in egyptian mythology Osiris died when his brother Set killed him. however even then he was not fully dead, Isis was able to gather his parts and revive him. even in Greek mythology the gods never die really. the old gods the Titans werent killed. man treated them as dead however in the stories they were just imprisoned in Tarturus. maybe i'm just rusty in my religions but i cant remember at all a single instance where a god legitimately died and did not come back. yes mankind understood nothing is forever however at the same time there isnt a single story i can recall in which the gods die in the end times other than in norse literature which was heavily influenced later on by christianity. what better way to help facilitate the conversion from heathen to christian than to make all your gods die and adam and eve pop out of your world tree following the path of the new abrahamic god. its no different than what christians did with yule, turning it into christmas and making it jesus's birthday. all across europe they did things to help ease the transition into christianity for those who were more accepting to it.

[@lindaliljecrona4404]

Ask yourself where Christian mythologic comes from instead of being so christo-centric. Your religion and culture is not the norm of the world to judge everything by. Free your mind. Try to see things from others perspective instead of trying to squeeze everything in to your world view. It is easy to presume that you are from USA.

[@JoelK1991]

There is a misconception here. The Norse culture did not worship, or loved war. There is only a minority of the people that would be identified as Vikings. Thor for instance, who probably is one of the most popular god's, is a weather god. Odin who could be identified as a god of war was a god people trued to avoid as he is dangerous. We can see this in that people and places generally where not named after Odin when others god's like Thor, Frej and Ull where quite common. The story of ragnarök probably comes from a natural catastrophy where people wondered why the god's had abandoned them. The conclusion is offcorse that something have happened to the gods

[@beautygrey5635]

Some seriously funny generated translation from KZbin here...

[@johnsanford4428]

Vaneers are the only ones scared of Jormangander also what kind of teeth can anything with teeth like that eat??? weird teeth...

[@asafupps]

Anyone know what that skull’s from? Cuz all this talk about Jormungandr is makin me sort of wonder..

[@Lauren_MUFC16]

Do you have any information on Jomsvikings? The information is so scarce, but I’d like to know more about them.

[@ilovelamp22]

Thanks for the video, do you have any thoughts on the new God of War game?

[@nicks5122]

I was curious specifically with regards to the cyclical story aspects they included with regards to the Norse gods, I wondered if he had any thoughts as to what they were planning.

[@raven4469]

in a flat earth model makes sense

[@asbjrnpoulsen9205]

ongul húkur hook

[@MatejRRL]

Hello (=

[@juliaconnell]

hello :)

[@MatejRRL]

Hi Julia (=

[@heges1606]

Hei:)

[@MatejRRL]

Greetings, Hege S (=

[@urgaalnoir5268]

This jaw has survived millions of years?

[@glenn_gallaher]

Good story, I really enjoy them. But not so much the indoctrination of dinosaurs or rock art in other words, not interested, because they tell me what this is, but can not name who invented the wheel? Sorry, that is indoctrination, and has nothing to do with your story at all as you stated. Please there are some of us with eyes open, and will call you out stuff like this, not appreciated or welcome. So please have a little respect for us, thank you.

[@glenn_gallaher]

I mean for you to claim that... Next you will tell me who the inventor of the greatest human discovery and that was who made the wheel? But you do not know, but for some reason beyond measure, there are somehow records from a time that predates the records that record who made the wheel. Sounds like a pile of manure you are trying to sell to be honest. I mean it is known that there are no skeletons in a museum. They are made from plaster and rubber. And just because some animals that were around at one time are no longer here. This is the land of a wasteland that was left to us by those that came before. And what I mean by rock art, it means that it is made of rock and that is what is in every single museum in the world. And rune stones are not rock art, they are rune stones. they are stones that are stones and not pretending to be something they are not.Rock Art like the fake bones that all dinosaurs are made of is not stone runes, sorry you think they are the same thing. It shows your lack of knowledge.