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For other things of this name, see Midgard (disambiguation).

Midgard (the common English transliteration of Old Norse Miðgarðr), Midjungards (Gothic), Middangeard (Old English), Middellærd (Middle English), Midgård (common Danish and Swedish) and Mittilagart (Old High German), from Proto-Germanic *medja-garda (*meddila-, *medjan-, projected PIE *medhyo-gharto), is an old Germanic name for our world, the places inhabited by men, with the literal meaning "middle enclosure". In Middle English, the name was transformed to Middellærd, Middel-erde ("Middle-earth").

Old Norse

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. In Norse mythology, Miðgarðr became applied to the wall around the world that the gods constructed from the eyebrows of the giant Ymir as a defence against the Jotuns who lived in Jotunheim, east of Mannheim, "the home of men," a word used to refer to the entire world (there is no direct relation to the German city of Mannheim, which is attested from the 8th century, named after an early settler called Manno). It is depicted as an intermediate world between heaven (Asgard) and hell (Niflheim 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 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.

Old and Middle English

The name middangeard occurs half a dozen times in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, and is the same word as Midgard in Old Norse. The term is equivalent in meaning to the Greek term Oikoumene, as referring to the known and inhabited world.

The concept of Midgard occurs many times in Middle English, The association with earth (OE eorðe) in Middle English middellærd, middelerde is by popular etymology; the continuation of geard "enclosure" is yard. An early example of this transformation is from the Ormulum: þatt ure Drihhtin wollde / ben borenn i þiss middellærd "that our Lord wanted / be born in this middle-earth".

The name was popularized, in his Lord of the Rings and other works, in the form Middle-earth by J. R. R. Tolkien, a noted Old English scholar, who was originally inspired by the reference to Middangeard, and Éarendel, in the Old English poem Crist (see there for details).

Old High German

Mittilagart is mentioned in the 9th century Old High German Muspilli (v. 54) meaning "the world" as opposed to the seas and the heavens:

muor varsuuilhit sih, suilizot lougiu der himil,

mano uallit, prinnit mittilagart,

"Sea is swallowed, flaming burn the heavens,

Moon falls, Midgard burns"

Popular culture

• In the TV series Stargate SG-1, Midgard is how natives of the Protected Planets refer to Earth.
• Supposedly, the metropolis Midgar in the video game Final Fantasy VII was to be named "Midgard", but the final D was dropped. This is fitting, as the city is almost destroyed by Meteor at the end of the game, just as Midgard is supposedly destroyed in Ragnarok.
• In the campaign of the PC game Age of Mythology, Midgard appears as a place. The heroes try to reach Midgard with the help of the dwarves.
• The MMORPG Dark Age Of Camelot has a realm called Midgard, which is loosely based on Norse legend.
• Stephen King also used a mutation of Midgard in his works, naming the parallel universe in his Dark Tower series "Mid-World", although that may be only the name of an ancient kingdom.
• There is a song entitled "Midgård" released by Therion, originally on Secret of the Runes. They also used this term for album title Live in Midgård.
• The Lord Of The Rings, written by J.R.R. Tolkien, takes place in Middle-earth. See #Old and Middle English above.
• The MMORPG Ragnarok Online, which borrows from many Norse references, is set in the world of Midgard.
• The Japanese anime, Ah My Goddess!, uses this name to refer to the Earth's protector.

• Locations in Norse mythology