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Simonside

The Duergar?

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Dvergish_King D
Dvergish_King Apr 14, 2007 15:54:00
Replying to Hob

Thank you for you gracious reply. Usually when I point to something being Germanic, I get 'flamed'!

A yes, the Duergar are sometimes called 'Brown men of the moor' by local story tellers.

Another interesting fact about Simonside is that is was once Simundessete. The name 'Simund' is most likely from Sigemund. The most famous Sigemund (not including Sigmund Freud!) is a hero featured in the Volsunga Saga (as Sigmund) and the Nibelunglied (as Siegmund) and in Beowulf. I think the place is named after the same Sigemund as a local folkloric hero 'Simon' is a dragon-slayer as Sigemund is in Beowulf. In German/Teutonic and Norse mythology it is his son, Siegfried/Sigurd who is famous for killing a dragon.

I think 'The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh' could also be connected to the stories of the Waelsungs.

H Hob
Hob Apr 14, 2007 21:34:25
Replying to Dvergish_King

Interesting thoughts about the Old English dragon killing. I wonder if it's possible that Simund and Sigemund might be derivatives of an earlier Anglian/Norse archetype.

It's odd that Simonside has kept both an Anglian name and Anglian folklore. Entities very similar to the Duergar/Brown men also make an appearance in the tales of St Cuthbert, whom they tormented on his island hermitage. There's obviously a whole tangled skein of links between different times amd cultures going on in Northumbrian Folklore. But I can't wonder if the same Anglian/Scandinavian fellas who named Simundsette were aware of the prehistoric rock art nearby, and even if they were the same ones who saw fit to engrave comment on such things, not a million miles away at Lemmington Wood

DK, have you any ideas about the meaning of 'Lordenshaws'?

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