Alruna (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

Ǫlrún,

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

Ailrun, Modern German Alruna,

Alraune ''Alraune'' (German for ) is a novel by German novelist Hanns Heinz Ewers published in 1911. It is also the name of the female lead character. The book originally featured illustrations by Ilna Ewers-Wunderwald. Legend The basis of the story o ...

) is a Germanic female personal name, from Proto Germanic ''*aliruna'' (or possibly ''*agilruna''), which is formed from ''

runa Runa may refer to: People American * Runa Lucienne (born 1988), model and actress Bengali * Runa Islam (born 1970), artist * Runa Laila (born 1952), singer * Runa Basu, cricketer Canadian * Runa Reta (born 1980), squash player Japanese ...

'' "secret, rune" and a debated prefix that may be ''ali-'', ''agil-'', or '' alu-''. In German, ''Alruna'' was also used as a short form of ''Adelruna'', a different name with a first element ''*athal-'' "noble". In

Germanic mythology Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism. Origins As the Germanic language ...

, Ailrun is the wife of

Agilaz Egil is a legendary hero of the ''Völundarkviða'' and the '' Thidreks saga''. The name is from Proto-Germanic *Agilaz,https://web.archive.org/web/20110225031159/http://www.sofi.se/servlet/GetDoc?meta_id=1472 (archived link, 25 February 2011) and ...

, the legendary archer. In the poem ''

Völundarkviða ''Vǫlundarkviða'' (Old Norse: 'The lay of Völund'; modern Icelandic spelling: ''Völundarkviða'') is one of the mythological poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. The title is anglicized in various ways, including ''Völundarkvitha'', ''Völundarkvi ...

'', Ölrun (possibly

"ale rune"Simek (2007:251).) is identified as a

valkyrie In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ("chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become (Old Norse "single (or once) fighters"Orchard (1997:36) ...

, and as a daughter of Kiár of

Valland In Norse legend, Valland is the name of the part of Europe which is inhabited by Celtic and Romance peoples. The element ''Val-'' is derived from *''Walhaz'', a Proto-Germanic word whose descendants were used in various Germanic languages to refer ...

Alruna of Cham Alruna (Old Norse Ǫlrún, Old High German Ailrun, Modern German Alruna, Alraune) is a Germanic female personal name, from Proto Germanic ''*aliruna'' (or possibly ''*agilruna''), which is formed from ''rune, runa'' "secret, rune" and a debated pref ...

was an 11th-century

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n recluse, the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

patroness of pregnancy. It is also the name for the '' Mandragora'' or mandrake plant in a number of

Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...

, the name of the plant being alruna in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, alrune in

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

and

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Notes

References

* Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D.S. Brewer. Germanic mythology Valkyries Germanic given names {{norse-myth-stub