Surtur

See also: surtur

English

Surtur mit dem Flammenschwerte (Surtur with the flaming sword), illustration by F. W. Heine for 1882, Wilhelm Wägner, Nordisch-germanische Götter und Helden, based on a plaster frieze designed by Friedrich Wilhelm Engelhard (1859)

Alternative forms

• Surtr (mythological giant)

Etymology

From Old Norse Surtr (“the swarthy one”).

Proper noun

Surtur

1. (Norse mythology) A very powerful jotun (giant) and chief of Muspellheim, described in the Eddas as wielding a flaming (or shining) sword and as battling the gods and killing Freyr during Ragnarok.
   • 1839, Samuel Astley Dunham, History of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway‎^[1], volume 2, page 44:

     (Muspelheim, we suppose, with its numerous fiery inhabitants, and their mighty chief Surtur, the dark, the incomprehensible, the great evil principle, had no beginning; or if it had, the Odinian theologians were unacquainted with it.)

   • 1847 [1770], Paul Henri Mallet, Thomas Percy (translator), I. A. Blackwell, Walter Scott (editors), Northern Antiquities, [1756, Paul Henri Mallet, Monuments de la mythologie et de la poesie des Celtes, et particulierement des anciens Scandinaves], page 496,

     We must also remark, that in the Eddaic Poems there is no mention made of Surtur and the Elves of Light existing in Muspellheim previous to the formation of Ymir, […] .

   • 2006, Gina Renée Misiroglu, Michael Eury, The Supervillain Book: The Evil Side of Comics and Hollywood, page not identified:

     In Journey into Mystery #97 (1963), writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/cc-plotter Jack Kirby introduced their version of Surtur, one of the greatest enemies of the gods in Norse mythology.

2. (astronomy) A moon of Saturn. [Discovered 2006.]

Related terms

• Surt (volcano on the moon Io)
• Surtsey (volcanic island near Iceland)