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Midgard, also Middel-erde, Middangeard or Middle-earth is an old Germanic name for this world, derived from the Old Norse word Midhgardhr ("middle garden").
Midgard is the realm of the humans in Norse mythology. Pictured as placed somewhere in the middle of Yggdrasil, Midgard is surrounded by a world of water or ocean, which is impassable. The ocean is inhabited by the great sea serpent Jormungand, who is so huge that he encircles the world entirely, grasping his own tail.
It is depicted as an intermediate world between heaven ( Asgard) and hell (Nifelheim or Hel). Thus it is part of a triad of upper (Heaven), middle (Earth), and lower (Underworld). It was said to have been formed from the flesh and blood of the frost giant Ymir, his flesh constituting the land and his blood the oceans, and was connected to Asgard by the Bifrost Bridge, guarded by Heimdall.
According to legend, Midgard will be destroyed in Ragnarok, the battle at the end of the world. Jormungand 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 Vigrond, following which Midgard and almost all life on it will be destroyed, with the earth sinking into the sea.
The concept of Midgard occurs many times in Middle English (as Middel-erde). The name was popularized in the form Middle-earthMiddle-earth is the name for the lands on J. Tolkien's fictional ancient Earth where most of the tales of his legendarium take place. Middle-earth is a literal translation of the Old Norse mythological term Midgard, referring to this world, the realm of h by J. R. R. TolkienHe is wearing a WWI-era British Army uniform in this photograph. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien ( January 3, 1892 September 2, 1973) was the author of The Hobbit and its sequel The Lord of the Rings his most famous work. A former pupil of King Edward's School,, a noted Old English scholar. He drew heavily upon Middle-earth and other Germanic concepts in his fictional works. Consider this fragment in the CristCrist is a poem by the medieval poet Cynewulf, written in Anglo-Saxon. Together with Beowulf it is one of the primary examples of Anglo-Saxon literature. The poem was one of the inspirations for J. Tolkien's Middle-earth Earendel becoming Earendil. Excerp poem of CynewulfThis article is about Cynewulf the Anglo-Saxon poet. See Cynewulf of Wessex for the king of the same name. Cynewulf, an Anglo-Saxon poet who lived in Northumbria or Mercia, flourished circa 750. Four poems can be definitely ascribed to him on the basis of, which references Middangeard and someone named Éarendel. (The connection with Tolkien's character EärendilThis article deals with the Half-elven Earendil. For the Gondorian king, see Earendil of Gondor. For the use of the name before J. Tolkien, see Aurvandil. In the fiction of J. Tolkien, Earendil the Mariner is one of the most important figures in the mytho is not accidental.):
The name middangeard occurs half a dozen times in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem BeowulfThis article describes Beowulf the epic poem. For the person Beowulf see Beowulf (hero For other uses, see Beowulf (disambiguation . Beowulf is a traditional heroic epic poem in Old English alliterative verse. At 3182 lines, it is far more substantial tha, and is the same word as Midgard in Old Norse. The term is equivalent in meaning to the Greek term OikoumeneOikoumene from the Greek which is the present participle of the verb meaning to inhabit''. Oikoumene usually refers to the part of the Earth that is inhabited, by all men or by only a subset of men. Often it referred to the lands inhabited by Greeks, excl, as referring to the known and inhabited world. It is consistently misspelled as 'Middle Earth' by journalists.