Aptrganga: The Old Norse “Zombie”
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2017
- The sagas tell us that the Vikings believed in an undead creature much like the zombie or traditional Eastern European portrayals of the vampire.
Dr. Jackson Crawford is Instructor of Nordic Studies and Nordic Program Coordinator at the University of Colorado Boulder (formerly UC Berkeley and UCLA). He is a historical linguist and an experienced teacher of Old Norse, Modern Icelandic, and Norwegian.
Visit JacksonWCrawford.com (includes a linked list of all videos).
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Jackson Crawford’s translation of The Poetic Edda: www.amazon.com/gp/product/162...
Jackson Crawford’s translation of The Saga of the Volsungs with The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok: www.amazon.com/gp/product/162...
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"dying disappointed in your son": yeah... I can just hear that one, "Boy, you'd better straighten up and quick, or you're going to turn me into an Aptrganga, and I'll make you regret it!" haha
Damn, a Viking horror story... Thank you Dr. Crawford!
In modern icelandic, at least the way I was raised, the word afturganga (again-walker) refers to an entity more like a apparition, something untouchable, unlike a zombie. Your grandma would typically shame you by saying that someone (recently deceased) would walk again to haunt you (hann mun ganga aftur til að hrella þig). Afturganga is more like a poltergeist or a haunting. Uppvakningur (up-wake-r) on the other hand, that’s a bonafide zombie. We would say that we’re watching uppvakningar on tv, when watching the Walking Dead. But when watching the Sixth Sense, we’re watching an afturganga.
There is a more benign entity called vofa, that’s more like a ghost that means you no harm, something that maybe floats around and is see-through, like a spirit (not unlike Patrick Swayze in Ghost). I wonder if that word came from Old-Norse ?
I guess the icelandic language has expanded the terms for after-death-beings over the millenia.
Too be fair, Icelandic ghosts of all kind of all kinda except for the vofa (in old norse váfa) are classically very physical, and would be considered by English speakers to be more of a revenant or zombie. They are still ghosts, that is to say they are the common spirit of the dead returned in Icelandic folklore, but they are mostly described as very physical beings, either the actual body or a spirit that is so physical that it works like it has an actual body. This seemed to be also the common spirit of dead in old norse, hence why many translate draugr (the old norse for ghost, i.e. spirit of the dead, undead being) as zombie or revenant. The word doesn't specifically mean that type of being, but that kind of undead beings were the common ones, just like a seethrough nonphysical spirit is the common ghost in English.
It is not long ago since draugar and apturgöngur were physical beings. You see them even in 20th century folktales (Sigðar Nordals ofl). These untouchable beings are very recent thing.
@@nexioniceland1716 yup dude, here in Argentina some folkloric "ghosts" can touch you and in the reverse, spread infections, and do other zombiesque acts. It's pausible the zombies, vampires, and ghosts were the same entity, only separated years later. An explanation of the cassification of the jiang-shi, the nachzerer, and the strigoi, vampires in some books, zombies in others. And the Xidachane (voodoo zombie), was a ghost in some stories.
Personally, I love much the broken borderlines:
zombie-yokai (gahsadokuro, jikininki, kasha, bakeneko, gaki, hone-onna)
zombie-vampire (sanguisuga, neutoter, nachzerer, drakul, jiang-shi, gjenganger, draugar, pontianak, langsuir, ubour, kathakano, some versions of the Baba Yaga),
zombie-ghost (some onryos, kykotsu,)
zombie-ghost-vampire (strigoi mort, nzambi, vetala, tokoloshe).
Zombie-demon (hannya, ghoul)
Absolutely one of the best YT channels.
Balrogs and Bagginses
Agreed!
indeed
There is a genre of horror called "Folk Horror". This is some of the best Folk Horror I've heard!
Long time ago I was told that the reason for taking the dead out through a wall or a opening in the wall that later was nailed shut was to make it so that the dead would not find their way back in.
I just watched The Northman last night. There is a scene in which Amleth fights an aptrganga. The aptrganga was shown sitting upright with its eyes open. Well done by the director for this level of attention to detail.
These are fantastic professor! As always thank you for doing them.
This is all very helpful for my research for a viking based fantasy novel series. It is always fun to learn new pieces of information about the culture and the language of the Vikings. Although my work goes a little far afield of direct historic connections all this information serves to build a great foundation for my writing. Keep up the great work. And yes those backgrounds are very nice to see.
Thank you so much for making all of your videos available to all! I agree with your philosophy of making this knowledge available for all to enjoy - including myself. I'm not rich, by any means, but I do want to help what little I can to help fund your work. I wish it could be much more.
Thank you Dr. Crawford
Are Draugr separate from Aptrganga? It seems I've found mixed opinions on that and would love to hear from an expert.
All will be well until the Aptrganga Apocalypse...
With many people spending a lot of their time sitting down, working from home, drinking unhealthy energy drinks to keep their eyes open, and with the older generation being constantly disappointed with their offspring, I reckon we have around 10-15 years until Andrew Lincoln takes the lead in fighting the Aptrganga.
In Danish we still have a slightly archaic term "Genganger", probably from Igen Ganger (Again Walker). Also genfærd, "færd" meaning travel.
Awesome, thanks for excellent videos. Cant wait to get you book on the poetic edda.
Very good work Mr. Crawford! Thank you for your work!
Norse Myth is so creative and out there, i love it!
Such good information best teacher ever
I was expecting something that sounds similar to "wight" to be the old Norse word for zombie. I looked up the word after seeing it used by Tolkein and George RR Martin to describe zombies in their books, and I remember reading that "wight" is an old English word that has a Germanic root
Wight means man in Welsh, so you are correct but it did not historically mean an undead creature.
I could be wrong about this but I think that the word wight is related to the Swedish word “vätte” which is a type of goblin.
“Wyght” also means “man” in Middle English, London dialect.
your videos are an inspiration! I have just ordered your Poetic Edda. :)
Very cool video and thanks for sharing Jackson Crawford.
Dr Crawford, for Halloween please do a video on the other monsters/evil spirits of Norse mythology. Thank you so very much from us all.
If you want to look a bit on your own, you should look up the 'mara', 'bäckahästen' (the river horse), näcken and myling. Spirits of nature or the dead, who may not exactly be called evil (it is unusual within norse myth to find such simple definitions as good or evil), but wich certenly were dangerous and often terrifying.
The mara and myling are most noteworthy in this, being dead beings. The mara, a simple woman by day, a horrifying creature riding on the chests of the sleeping by night, could seem alive without this being the case.
The myling, however, is the scarier of the two, as it is the ghost of a mudered child. If you walked by a swamp or lake, the laughter or crying of a small child could be heard. If you saw a myling, you better carry something made of steel (thought to protect from anything supernatural), becourse without it there was no telling what kind of game the myling would make you part of. Somtimes it was an innocent prank., somtimes painful death would be preferd to what they had in mind.
Very cool comment, we have some folktales on the mara as well as the draugr.
I got chills reading that damn...
You spoke of the translation of blue/black in the Saga of Hrafnkel and contemplated why he wore blue to kill Einar. My understanding of it is that at that time blue clothing was quite expensive for the only way to make blue dye back then was with woad. Woad's not native to Iceland and the closest place to get it was either in the Americas (if discovered by then) or Europe. Gotta wear your finest clothes for sacrifices to the gods.
I adore your videos. Please keep it up. I'm joining your Patreon group as soon as I figure out how.
I hate when a thumper tries to ride me Swollen as big as an ox and blue as Hel after he's been riding sheep all day. You're a lustrous one Dr. Crawford. ;)
I agree with you on blá(r) meaning blue. For example, "blå" is Norwegian for blue.
Today, yes, but blá/blå once ment both black and blue. This is why Africa was called Blåland, and the reason why Harald Blutooth got his name (his mouth hygiene must have been pretty bad).
wait wait wait. so he didn't get his name from eating too many blueberries?
Tumnus he did not get it from blueberries. Scholars believe it is due to a dead tooth. Or are u joking? Lol...hard to tell sentiment w/ comments in text
Well the dead tooth definetely sounds more likely :D
I don't actually remember where I had heard the story with the blueberries but now that I think of it, it might've been on one of these "facts" pages on facebook, so I guess it's just a joke :)
I just had this piece of information floating around in my head, and history can be pretty silly sometimes, so I didn't really question it :D
Thank you, great video! Cheers 🍻
Great stuff, thank you.
Great video Dr Jackson very informative
Another great video, thanks! Could you please make a video about the Valkyries?
Did you nervously look over your shoulder after mentioning the aptrganaga coming to life??
Dr. Crawford is not a believer.
Doctor Crawford,
is there any chance that there will be audiobooks of your books, on audible or some other platform? I for one think your voice would be perfectly suited to it, but even with another voice, an audiobook would be a great medium to consume your work.
You might already know this because its a year latet but f*ck it both the saga of the volsungs (ragnar loðbrok's saga included) and the poetic edda are available in audio format read by Dr. Jackson Crawford
What a metal story. Awesome stuff
It's interesting how much of this is similar to Dutch. The "ganga" in "aptrganga" must be a cognate to the Dutch verb "gaan" ("to go") - for example, "voetganger" means pedestrian, but literally means "foot-goer".
However we have no version of "aptr" except maybe "achter", meaning "behind", not "after".
Same in German, which has the noun Gang that describes the act (or manner) of going/walking and can also refer to a long corridor.
Got to be a movie. Iam sure that's been said..Great tale
"gjenganger" in Norwegian today. Not necessarily a zombie, more a ghost in his own home.
Where I grew up, I heard tales of the "ittegongar" much closer to what's described in the video
"Gengångare" in Swedish. I wouldn't say "today", but...
The moral of the story be: listen to the warnings of your old foster-mother.
Oh my God you're the best!
Something just occurred to me: if "aptrganga" means "after-walker" or "again-walker", it stands to reason that "doppelganger" (which I'm pretty sure is German, and thus related to Norse) probably means something like "double-walker".
As a nativ german speaker, I have to say your translation of "Doppelgänger" is quite right and yes it's 100% german. It is a word for a perfekt double of a (living) person. This can relate to a real human (like impersonators and/or lookalikes ) but also to a more vague or ghost like being (like a visual impression of a known person, while the "real one" is actually far away).
there is also wieder-gänger and of course re-venant.
Clap clap clap
@@froschnmaximus9108 This walking meaning is also preserved in English gangplank.
Are the aptrganga synonymous with the draugr?
That is my question also.
Yes it is, however, Draugr was used for ghosts and apparitions as well, aptrganga is specifically the undead.
+Hooga
Accualy, aptrganga, or gengångare as we call them in Sweden, can refer to both spectral ghosts and the more zombie-like corpse ghost. But when you look at the soul aspects within old nordic belief, draugr/draugar refers to the dead body, wich 'lives' on within the burial mound. They were not always of a negative type, tho. Some draugar could be quite helpful, especialy towards their own family, as can be seen in Grógaldr. What Jackson describes are not accualy things that can make one a draugar, but reasons for somone to become the vengeful, dangerous version of it.
Neil S. Price, among other archeologists, are clear on this matter in their works.
+R3ika
It is certenly more common to find the corpse ghost in older texts, altho from my studies I have found examples of spectral-like ghosts even concerning earlier tales. However, they usuly serves a diffrent purpose. This can be seen with the fylgja, also known as 'vård' or 'vålnad', wich was a type of spectral ghost, altho it was exclusively a well meaning spirit, connected to a living being.
Then there is the 'hugr' and 'hamingja' to consider. Especialy the hugr is interesting in its connection to spectral ghosts, as it could be dangerous in a poltergeist way even when the individual was alive.
That is definitely an interesting hypothesis, well worth considering.
we also call the Aptrganga for Draug
Old Norse Horror Stories
the norwegian word might be "gjenganger", "gjenferd", which usually refers to ghosts! (the gjen part comes from igjen, which also means "again")
Dr. Crawford, are you updating all your old videos? I know you have an old video about the aptrganga that's set in your office.
Great video! Blue was a common color for ghosts, demons, monsters, and gods in ancient times in much of Eurasia.
So a river of compressed snow should be glossy. Or is my cognition a little off with glacier.
I will never look at Belgian Blues the same way ever again!
Sounds like a good horror movie if you ask me
Is it safe to say that these zombies are always evil in nature?
Are there people that can create zombie through magic and are they viewed as evil?
wouldn’t “it walks again“ be a suitably unspecific, floating-anxiety type of horror-stalker name?
It can also be called "draugr" I believe, that give elder scrolls the idea for " draugrs" in the barrows
You dont say that isnt the only thing bethesda "borrowed" from norse mythology
okay, so do the Aptrganga have any relation to the Draugr?
I've heard about afterwalker.. But How about draugr? Are both of them the same (just a matter of names only) or is there any real difference between them?
Good story.
I will never look at zombies the same.
aren't those Books on Amazon?
'Blue as Hel" probably refers to the godess Hel which is half a blue corpse and half a woman.
What's the difference between this and a Gjenganger
What about draugr
Very scary indeed! 👻👻👻
Have they something to do with draugr, if draugr even exist in north mythology?
Kahlo K Well I heard that they do, but I've only seen them in Skyrim and only heard that fact in videos related to Skyrim so yeah, not much historical backing to this....
In Modern Icelandic: Draugur = ghost. And I'm pretty certain they do exist.
I've seen them in that context in other games as well--the computer game "Heroine's Quest: the Herald of Ragnarok" and the board game "Champions of Midgard" both depict draugr as zombies, of a sort.
Having said that, jonko82 is correct; according to my English-Icelandic (and vice-versa) dictionary, a draugur is a ghost. That dictionary translates "zombie" as "uppvakningur".
Sheetedkid, When I hear the Icelandic word 'afturganga' (Old Norse: aptrganga), I think of a ghost but if you'd ask me to translate the English word 'zombie' into Icelandic that would be 'uppvakningur' (literally: upwakened).
To me the word 'afturganga' is simply a synonym for a 'draugur'. The meaning probably just changed a bit over time. I'm a native speaker of Icelandic, by the way.
if you google „old-norse undead” or something around that you should stumble uppon some very interesting essays and articles on that topic :)
What the..? Lovecraft's Dunwich Horror!
That sneaky bastard.
In Sweden today we still use the word Gengångare. Againwalker, I suppose. Gen being igen (again)? Gångare (walker).
Well we is a broad statement, the feebleminded do, most don't believe in the supernatural.
Is this also a draugr?
So "Hel" here is Hell as in underworld afterlife and not as in bright? Bright sky is blue as evident in the video.
Who can dislike this? Wtf?
Might the Modern German word "doppelgänger" come from the same linguistic root that the Old Norse "ganga" does?
Correct. Also the (nautical) English words gangway and gangplank and the name Wolfgang.
May I pay you to do a fifteen sentence translation from English to either Futark or Viking age runes?
That would be English to Old Norse, to the rune set appropriate to 400-1100ad
Info under Rewards, on the right:
www.patreon.com/norsebysw/
Isn't Hel supposed to have a normal upper body and everything below the waist (or at least some part of the body) is completely rotten, green and black. or blue ofc..? Maybe the 'Blár sem Hel' is meant as a simile / parabel on how ppl pictured Hel back then? Just a thought.. Sorry about my shitty grammar, I've forgotten so much of my english as I rarely speak it nowadays, and haven't studied in like 20 years...
It was my understanding She was divided vertically rather than horizontally. Half was beautiful and young, half was dessicated like a mummy, or corpse.
I love you
That was scary.
Undead activities 😹
Rachael
Gotta love them undead activities🤣
"Wiedergänger" in german language
Great, viking zambies. Just what we need now. :P
Riding their wives????!!!! Ahahahahaha, The zombie movies would be a lot more fun if that part of the legend was kept in.Can you imagine the walking dead movies?
So is the word Dragur a modern word made up for video games/fantasy lol? And no im not thinking of the Norse word for badass ;)
Thor smite the 1 person that disliked this video