Kraken (SeaWorld Orlando) 01

The kraken () is a legendary sea monster of enormous size said to appear in the sea between Norway and Iceland.

Kraken, the subject of sailors' superstitions and mythos, was first described in the modern era in a travelogue by Francesco Negri in 1700. This description was followed in 1734 by an account from Dano-Norwegian missionary and explorer Hans Egede, who described the kraken in detail and equated it with the '' hafgufa'' of medieval lore.

However, the first description of the creature is usually credited to the Norwegian bishop Pontoppidan (1753). Pontoppidan was the first to describe the kraken as an octopus (polypus) of tremendous size, and wrote that it had a reputation for pulling down ships. The French malacologist Denys-Montfort, of the 19th century, is also known for his pioneering inquiries into the existence of gigantic octopuses.

The great man-killing octopus entered French fiction when novelist Victor Hugo (1866) introduced the ' octopus of Guernsey lore, which he identified with the kraken of legend. This led to Jules Verne's depiction of the kraken, although Verne did not distinguish between squid and octopus.

The legend of the Kraken may have originated from sightings of giant squid, which may grow to in length.

Linnaeus may have indirectly written about the kraken. Linnaeus wrote about the ''Microcosmus'' genus (an animal with various other organisms or growths attached to it, comprising a colony). Subsequent authors have referred to Linnaeus's writing, and the writings of Bartholin's ''cetus'' called ''hafgufa'', and Paullini's ''monstrous marinum'' as "krakens".

That said, the claim that Linnaeus used the word "kraken" in the margin of a later edition of '' Systema Naturae'' has not been confirmed.

Etymology

The English word ''kraken'' (in the sense of sea monster) derives from Norwegian ''kraken'' or ''krakjen'', which are the definite forms of ''krake'' ("the krake").

According to a Norwegian dictionary, the root meaning of ''krake'' is "malformed or overgrown, crooked tree". It originates from Old Norse , which is etymologically related to Old Norse , , cognate with "crook". This is backed up by the Swedish dictionary SAOB, published by the Swedish Academy, which gives essentially the exact same description for the word in Swedish and confirming the lead ''krak'' as a diminutive form of ''krok'', Norwegian and Swedish for 'hook/crook'. With time, "krake" have come to mean any severed tree stem or trunk with crooked outgrowths, in turn giving name to objects and tools based on such, notably for the subject matter, primitive anchors and ''drags'' ( grapnel anchors) made from severed spruce tops or branchy bush trunks outfitted with a stone sinker, known as ''krake'', but also ''krabbe'' in Norwegian or ''krabba'' in Swedish ()., sv, krabba () as a word for ''drag'' ( grapnel anchor) is assumed to be figuratively derived from the animal of the same name, as both shares the nature of crawling on the sea bed. The word stems from non, krabbi, etymologically root cognate with gml, krabbe, ang, crabba, 'to crawl'. Old Norse mostly corresponds to these uses in modern Icelandic, meaning, among other things, "twig" and "drag", but also "pole, stake used in " and "boat hook". Swedish SAOB gives the translations of Icelandic as "thin rod with hook on it", "wooden drag with stone sinker" and "dry spruce trunk with the crooked, stripped branches still attached".

It is thought that ''krake'' in the sense of a "multi-armed sea monster" or " octopus" is derived from the meaning "crooked tree", as trunks with crooked branches or outgrowths, as well as drags, wooden or not, readily conjure up the image of a cephalopod, making it a descriptive name initially. This idea seems to first have been notably remarked by Icelandic philologist Finnur Jónsson in 1920. A synonym for kraken has also been ''krabbe'' (see below), which further indicates a name-theme referencing drags.

Synonyms

Besides ''kraken'', the monster went under a variety of names early on, the second to kraken being ''horven'' ("the horv"). Icelandic philologist Finnur Jónsson explained this name in 1920 as an alternative form of ' () and conjectured that this name was suggested by the inkfish's action of seeming to plow the sea.

Some of the synonyms of ''krake'' given by Erik Pontoppidan were, in Danish:
* (''horven'') – harrow
* (''søe-horven'') – sea-harrow
* (''søe-kraken'') – sea-krake
* (''kraxen'') – alternate spelling of "krakse"
* (''krabben'') – named after the ''drag'' ( grapnel anchor) "crab" (see above)
* – anchor-troll

Related words

Since the 19th century, the word ''krake'' have, beyond the monster, given name to the cephalopod order '' Octopoda'' in Swedish (''krakar''), is a more common synonym. and German (''Kraken''), resulting in many octopi species partly named such, such as the common octopus (''Octopus vulgaris''), which is named '' jättekrake'' ("giant kraken") in Swedish and '' Gewöhnlicher Krake'' ("common kraken") in German. The family ''Octopodidae'' is also known as ''Echte Kraken'' ("true krakens") in German. In Icelandic, octopoda is instead named ''kolkrabbar'' ("coal crabs") after the crab nickname, the common octopus simply named '' kolkrabbi''.

The Swedish diminutive form ''kräkel'', a word for a branchy/spiny piece of wood, have given name to a variety of sea dwelling plants in Swedish, most notably furcellaria lumbricalis, a species of red algae. There is also the morphological derivation ''kräkla'' (dialectal no, krekle), meaning crooked piece of wood, which has given name to primitive forms of whisks and beaters (cooking), made from the tops of trees by keeping a row of twigs as the beating element, resembling the appearance of a cephalopod, but also crosiers and shepherd's crooks.

Shetlandic ''krekin'' for "whale", a taboo word, is listed as etymologically related.

First descriptions

The first description of the ''krake'' as "''sciu-crak''" was given by Italian writer Negri in ''Viaggio settentrionale'' (Padua, 1700), a travelogue about Scandinavia. The book describes the ''sciu-crak'' as a massive "fish" which was many-horned or many-armed. The author also distinguished this from a sea-serpent.

The kraken was described as a many-headed and clawed creature by Egede (1741)729 who stated it was equivalent to the Icelanders' '' hafgufa'', but the latter is commonly treated as a fabulous whale. Erik Pontoppidan (1753), who popularized the kraken to the world, noted that it was multiple-armed according to lore, and conjectured it to be a giant sea-crab, starfish or a ''polypus'' (octopus). Still, the bishop is considered to have been instrumental in sparking interest for the kraken in the English-speaking world, as well as becoming regarded as the authority on sea-serpents and krakens.

Although it has been stated that the kraken ( no, krake) was "described for the first time by that name" in the writings of Erik Pontoppidan, bishop of Bergen, in his ''Det første Forsøg paa Norges naturlige Historie'' "The First Attempt at Natural History of Norway" (1752–53), a German source qualified Pontoppidan to be the first source on ''kraken'' available to be read in the German language. A description of the kraken had been anticipated by Hans Egede.

Denys-Montfort (1801) published on two giants, the "colossal octopus" with the enduring image of it attacking a ship, and the "kraken octopod", deemed to be the largest organism in zoology. Denys-Montfort matched his "colossal" with Pliny's tale of the giant ''polypus'' that attacked ships-wrecked people, while making correspondence between his kraken and Pliny's monster called the ''arbor marina''. Finnur Jónsson (1920) also favored identifying the kraken as an inkfish (squid/octopus) on etymological grounds.

Egede

The ''krake'' (English: kraken) was described by Hans Egede in his ''Det gamle Grønlands nye perlustration'' (1729; Ger. t. 1730; tr. ''Description of Greenland'', 1745), drawing from the fables of his native region, the of Norway, then under Danish rule.; (English); (German)

According to his Norwegian informants, the kraken's body measured many miles in length, and when it surfaced it seemed to cover the whole sea, and "having many heads and a number of claws". With its claws it captured its prey, which included ships, men, fish, and animals, carrying its victims back into the depths.

Egede conjectured that the ''krake'' was equitable to the monster that the Icelanders call ''hafgufa'', but as he had not obtained anything related to him through an informant, he had difficulty describing the latter.. p. 48: "Det 3die Monstrum, kaldet Havgufa som det allerforunderligte, veed Autor ikke ret at beskrive" p. 49: " af dennem kaldes Kraken, og er uden Tvil den self jamm; som Islænderne kalde Havgufa"; . p. 86: "The third monster, named ''Hafgufa''.. the Author does not well know ow to describe.. he never had any relation of it." p. 87: "''Kracken''.. no doubt the same that the Islanders call ''Hafgufa''"

According to the lore of Norwegian fishermen, they could mount upon the fish-attracting kraken as if it were a sand-bank ( 'fishing shoal'), but if they ever had the misfortune to capture the kraken, getting it entangled on their hooks, the only way to avoid destruction was to pronounce its name to make it go back to its depths. Egede also wrote that the krake fell under the general category of "sea spectre" ( da, søe-trold og 'søe''), adding that "the Draw" ( da, Drauen, definite form) was another being within that sea spectre classification.

Hafgufa

Egede also made the aforementioned identification of ''krake'' as being the same as the '' hafgufa'' of the Icelanders, though he seemed to have obtained the information indirectly from medieval Norwegian work, the ''Speculum Regale'' (or '' King's Mirror'', ).

Later, in ''Historie von Grönland'' (''History of Greenland'', 1765) also reported ''kraken'' and the ''hafgufa'' to be synonymous.

An English translator of the ''King's Mirror'' in 1917 opted to translate ''hafgufa'' as ''kraken''.

The hafgufa (described as the largest of the sea monsters, inhabiting the Greenland Sea) from the ''King's Mirror'' continues to be identified with the ''kraken'' in some scholarly writings, and if this equivalence were allowed, the kraken-hafgufa's range would extend, at least legendarily, to waters approaching Helluland ( Baffin Island, Canada), as described in '' Örvar-Odds saga''.

Contrary opinion

The description of the ''hafgufa'' in the ''King's Mirror'' suggests a garbled eyewitness account of what was actually a whale, at least to . also reads the work as describing the ''hafgufa'' as a type of whale.

Finnur Jónsson (1920) having arrived at the opinion that the kraken probably represented an inkfish (squid/octopus), as discussed earlier, expressed his skepticism towards the standing notion that the kraken originated from the ''hafgufa''.

Pontoppidan

Erik Pontoppidan's ''Det første Forsøg paa Norges naturlige Historie'' (1752, actually volume 2, 1753) made several claims regarding kraken, including the notion that the creature was sometimes mistaken for a group of small islands with fish swimming in-between, Norwegian fishermen often took the risk of trying to fish over kraken, since the catch was so plentiful (hence the saying "You must have fished on Kraken").

However, there was also the danger to seamen of being engulfed by the whirlpool when it submerged, and this whirlpool was compared to Norway's famed Moskstraumen often known as "the Maelstrom".

Pontoppidan also described the destructive potential of the giant beast: "it is said that if he creature's armswere to lay hold of the largest man-of-war, they would pull it down to the bottom".Sjögren, Bengt (1980). ''Berömda vidunder''. Settern.

Kraken purportedly exclusively fed for several months, then spent the following few months emptying its excrement, and the thickened clouded water attracted fish. Later Henry Lee commented that the supposed excreta may have been the discharge of ink by a cephalopod.

Taxonomic identifications

Pontoppidan wrote of a possible specimen of the krake, "perhaps a young and careless one", which washed ashore and died at Alstahaug, Norway, in 1680. He observed that it had long "arms", and guessed that it must have been crawling like a snail/slug with the use of these "arms", but got lodged in the landscape during the process. 20th century malacologist Paul Bartsch conjectured this to have been a giant squid, as did literary scholar Finnur Jónsson.

However, what Pontoppidan actually stated regarding what creatures he regarded as candidates for the kraken is quite complicated.

Pontoppidan did tentatively identify the kraken to be a sort of giant crab, stating that the alias ''krabben'' best describes its characteristics.) described by Swedish magnate in ''Min son på galejan'' ("My son on the galley", 1781):

However, further down in his writing, compares the creature to some creature(s) from Pliny, Book IX, Ch. 4: the sea-monster called ''arbor'', with tree-branch like multiple arms, complicated by the fact that Pontoppidan adds another of Pliny's creature called ''rota'' with eight arms, and conflates them into one organism. Pontoppidan is suggesting this is an ancient example of ''kraken'', as a modern commentator analyzes.

Pontoppidan then declared the kraken to be a type of ''polypus'' (octopus) or "starfish", particularly the kind Gesner called ''Stella Arborescens'', later identifiable as one of the northerly ophiurids or possibly more specifically as one of the Gorgonocephalids or even the genus '' Gorgonocephalus'' (though no longer regarded as family/genus under order ''Ophiurida'', but under '' Phrynophiurida'' in current taxonomy).

This ancient ''arbor'' (admixed ''rota'' and thus made eight-armed) seems like an octopus at first blush but with additional data, the ophiurid starfish now appears bishop's preferential choice.

The ophiurid starfish seems further fortified when he notes that "starfish" called "Medusa's heads" (''caput medusæ''; pl. ''capita medusæ'') are considered to be "the young of the great sea-krake" by local lore. Pontoppidan ventured the 'young krakens' may rather be the eggs (''ova'') of the starfish. Pontopiddan was satisfied that "Medusa's heads" was the same as the foregoing starfish (''Stella arborensis'' of old), but "Medusa's heads" were something found ashore aplenty across Norway according to von Bergen, who thought it absurd these could be young "Kraken" since that would mean the seas would be full of (the adults). The "Medusa's heads" appear to be a Gorgonocephalid, with '' Gorgonocephalus spp. being tentatively suggested.

In the end though, Pontoppidan again appears ambivalent, stating "Polype, or Star-fish elongs tothe whole genus of Kors-Trold cross troll' ... some that are much larger, .. even the very largest ... of the ocean", and concluding that "this Krake must be of the Polypus kind". By "this Krake" here, he apparently meant in particular the giant ''polypus'' octopus of Carteia from Pliny, Book IX, Ch. 30 (though he only used the general nickname " ozaena" 'stinkard' for the octopus kind).

Denys-Montfort

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Plate XXX (The Kraken)
"The Kraken supposed a sepia or cuttle fish (from Denys Montfort)", p. 326a via Biodiversity.
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digital copy
National Library Norway
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External links

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Monster
Mythological cephalopods
Scandinavian legendary creatures
Sea monsters