Sinfjötli ( non, Sinfjǫtli ) or Fitela (in Old English) in

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern peri ...

was born out of the

incestuous relationship Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity ( marriage or stepfamily), ad ...

between

Sigmund In Norse mythology, Sigmund ( non, Sigmundr , ang, Sigemund) is a hero whose story is told in the Völsunga saga. He and his sister, Signý, are the children of Völsung and his wife Hljod. Sigmund is best known as the father of Sigurð the ...

and his sister Signy. He had the half-brothers

Sigurd Sigurd ( non, Sigurðr ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon and was later murdered. It is possible he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Merovi ...

Helgi Hundingsbane Helgi Hundingsbane is a hero in Norse sagas. Helgi appears in '' Volsunga saga'' and in two lays in the ''Poetic Edda'' named ''Helgakviða Hundingsbana I'' and ''Helgakviða Hundingsbana II''. The ''Poetic Edda'' relates that Helgi and his mistre ...

and Hamund.

Etymology and orthography

''Sinfjǫtli'' is formed from two parts, ''sin-'', and ''fjǫtli''. The latter is

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical e ...

with the Old English ''Fitela''. In the standardized

Old Norse orthography The orthography of the Old Norse language was diverse, being written in both Runic and Latin alphabets, with many spelling conventions, variant letterforms, and unique letters and signs. In modern times, scholars established a standardized spellin ...

, the name is spelled ''Sinfjǫtli'', but the letter ' ǫ' is frequently replaced with the Modern Icelandic ö for reasons of familiarity or technical expediency.

Life

In ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English Epic poetry, epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translations of Beo ...

'', Fitela is the nephew of

, whereas the ''

Völsunga saga The ''Völsunga saga'' (often referred to in English as the ''Volsunga Saga'' or ''Saga of the Völsungs'') is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century poetic rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the st ...

'' describes him as both Sigmund's son and nephew due to incest. In the ''

'', Sinfjǫtli is the grandson of King

Völsung In Norse mythology, Völsung ( non, Vǫlsungr ) was the son of Rerir and the eponymous ancestor of the ill-fated Völsung clan (), which includes the well known Norse hero Sigurð. He was murdered by the Geatish king Siggeir and later avenged by ...

. Signý, King Völsung's daughter, despises her husband King Siggeir, and begs "that she may not be made to return to King Siggeir." Völsung denies her request to leave, reminding her of the commitment their family must maintain. Despite a warning from Signý, King Völsung and his 10 sons engage in a battle as King Siggeir's unbeatable army treacherously murders King Völsung. Signý pleads with her husband not to dispose of her 10 brothers, but rather Siggeir grants her request "because e thinksit better that they suffer more and are tortured longer before they die." Through 9 long nights, a returning she-wolf (thought to be King Siggeir's mother) kills 9 of Signý's brothers in turn. A message is passed to the last brother remaining, Sigmund, to smear honey on his face and bite the tongue out of the she-wolf's mouth, thus killing her and saving himself. Since Sigmund has lost his father and brothers, Signý wishes to support him in avenging their family by sending her son to be his companion in his hideout in the forest. However, each of her sons by King Siggeir proves cowardly: they cannot withstand the pain of having the cuffs of their kirtles sewn to their skin. So Signý has Sigmund kill them as they are no longer of any use. Sigmund being of the Völsung line, Signý believes her brother will produce a son worthy of claiming a place in that line, and one night she "exchange shape" with a

völva In Germanic paganism, a seeress is a woman said to have the ability to foretell future events and perform sorcery. They are also referred to with many other names meaning "prophetess", "staff bearer", "wise woman" and "sorceress", and they are f ...

, goes to Sigmund in his underground dwelling, and spends three nights in his bed with Sigmund unaware that she is his sister in another form. Very unlike her previous sons born of the devious and unpleasant King Siggeir, Signý then bears a son who is no less strong, handsome, and fearless than Völsung himself. This is Sinfjǫtli, who together with Sigmund will avenge their clan by killing Siggeir. Sinfjǫtli ignores the pain, saying that "such pain would seem trifling to Völsung." The incestuous product of the coalesced Völsung line, he is capable of the great deeds Signý requires. Sigmund and Sinfjǫtli go to

Hunaland Hunaland and its people are mentioned several times in the Poetic Edda, and in the Fornaldarsagas. Its origins are partly the old Frankish kingdom (the Franks were once called ''Hugones'', in Latin, and ''Hūgas'' in Old English) and partly in t ...

where Sigmund is proclaimed king of the Huns. He marries

Borghild In Norse mythology, Borghild was the first wife of Sigmund. They had two sons, Hamund and Helgi. ''Völsunga saga'' Sinfjötli (Borghild's step-son) "saw a lovely woman and strongly desired to have her. The brother of Borghild, the wife of ...

and has the sons

and Hámundr. Sinfjötli slays Borghild's brother while vying for a woman both the brother and Sinfjǫtli want. Borghild avenges her brother by poisoning Sinfjötli. In order to dispose of him, Borghild gives Sigmund three cups of wine, of which the last contains poison. Sigmund, suspecting Borghild drinks two of the cups, but inebriated, encourages Sinfjǫtli to drink the third, which he does, and subsequently dies. Sigmund brings his son's corpse to the

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

s, where he meets Odin disguised as a ferryman. The ferryman says that he can only take one passenger at a time and takes Sinfjǫtli's body first. Out on the water, he and Sinfjǫtli disappear, and go to

Valhalla In Norse mythology Valhalla (;) is the anglicised name for non, Valhǫll ("hall of the slain").Orchard (1997:171–172) It is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. Half of those who die in combat ...

. Sigmund goes home and banishes Borghild. This is roughly the tale told in

J.R.R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works '' The Hobbit'' and '' The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Ra ...

's '' The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún''. In the First Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane, from the

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the '' Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic me ...

, Gudmund accuses Sinfjǫtli of being a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposel ...

References

* David Clark, ''Gender, Violence, and the Past in Edda and Saga'', Oxford UP, 2012.

Etymology and orthography

Life

References

Further reading