InGermanic mythology, anidis (Old Saxon, pluralidisi) is a divine female being.Idis is cognate toOld High Germanitis andOld Englishides, meaning 'well-respected and dignified woman.' Connections have been assumed or theorized between the idisi and the North Germanicdísir; female beings associated with fate, as well as the amended place nameIdistaviso.
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One of the twoOld High GermanMerseburg Incantations call upon female beings—idisi—to bind and hamper an army. The incantation reads:
- 'Once theIdisi sat, sat here and there,
- some bound fetters, some hampered the army,
- some untied fetters:
- Escape from the fetters, flee from the enemies.'[1]
In theOld English poemBeowulf, the termides is used multiple times to describe female beings.
In line 1074 and again in line 1117, the queenHildeburh is described as anides while mourning the death of her kin after theBattle of Finnsburg.[2] In line 620,Hrothgar's wife,Wealhtheow is described as the "ides of theHelmings" and again in line 1168 as the "ides of theScyldings".[3]
In line 1259, themother of thethursGrendel is introduced as anides.[4]
The idisi mentioned in the first Merseburg Incantation are generally considered to be valkyries. Rudolf Simek says that "these Idisi are obviously a kind of valkyrie, as these also have the power to hamper enemies in Norse mythology" and points to a connection with the valkyrie nameHerfjötur (Old Norse "army-fetter").[1]Hilda Ellis Davidson compares the incantation to the Old EnglishWið færstice charm, and theorizes a similar role for them both.[5]
Simek says that theWest Germanic termIdisi (Old Saxonidis, Old High Germanitis, Anglo-Saxonides) refers to a "dignified, well respected woman (married or unmarried), possibly a term for any woman, and therefore glosses exactly Latinmatrona" and that a link to theNorth Germanic termdísir is reasonable to assume, yet that it is not undisputed. In addition, the place nameIdisiaviso (meaning "plain of the Idisi") where forces commanded byArminius fought those commanded byGermanicus at theBattle of the Weser River in 16 CE. Simek points to a connection between name Idisiaviso, the role of the Idisi in one of the two Merseburg Incantations, andvalkyries.[1]
Regarding the dísir, Simek states that Old Norsedís appears commonly as simply a term for 'woman,' just as Old High Germanitis, Old Saxonidis, and Anglo-Saxonides, and may have also been used to denote a type of goddess. According to Simek, "several of the Eddic sources might lead us to conclude that thedisir were valkyrie-like guardians of the dead, and indeed inGuðrúnarkviða I 19 the valkyries are even calledHerjans disir 'Odin's disir'. Thedisir are explicitly called dead women inAtlamál 28 and a secondary belief that thedisir were the souls of dead women (seefylgjur) also underlies thelanddísir ofIcelandic folklore."[6] Simek says that "as the function of thematrons was also extremely varied – fertility goddess, personal guardians, but also warrior-goddesses – the belief in thedísir, like the belief in the valkyries, norns, and matrons, may be considered to be different manifestations of a belief in a number of female goddesses."[6]
Jacob Grimm proposes a potential connection to the name of the Norse goddessIðunn and the idisi. Grimm states that "with the original formidis the goddess Idunn may possibly be connected."[7]
