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Thenixie,nixy,[1]nix,[1]neck[a], ornicker[b] (Old English:nicor;Danish:nøkke;Dutch:nikker,nekker;Estonian:näkk;Faroese:nykur;Finnish:näkki;German:Nixe;Icelandic:nykur;NorwegianBokmål:nøkk,nøkken;Nynorsk:nykk;Swedish:näck,näcken), arehumanoid, and oftenshapeshifting,water spirits inGermanic mythology andfolklore.
Under avariety of names, they are common to the stories of allGermanic peoples,[2] although they are perhaps best known fromScandinavian folklore. The related Englishknucker was generally depicted as aworm or dragon, although more recent versions depict the spirits in other forms. Their sex, bynames, and various transformations vary geographically. The GermanNix and Scandinavian counterparts were male. The GermanNixe was a female rivermermaid.[2] Similar creatures are known from other parts of Europe, such as theMelusine inFrance, theXana inAsturias (Spain), and theSlavic water spirits (e.g., theRusalka) in Slavic countries.
The names are held to derive fromCommon Germanic*nikwus or*nikwis(i), derived fromPIE*neigʷ ("to wash").[3] They are related toSanskritnḗnēkti, Greekνίζωnízō andνίπτωníptō, andIrishnigh (all meaning to wash or be washed).[4]
The formneck appears in English, as well as in Swedish, although spelled asnäck (definite formnäcken).[4] The Swedish form is derived from Old Swedishneker, which corresponds to Old Icelandicnykr (gen.nykrs), andnykk inNorwegian Nynorsk.[4] In Finnish, the word isnäkki. In Old Danish, the form wasnikke and in modern Danish and NorwegianBokmål it isnøkke/nøkk.[4] The Icelandic and Faroesenykur are horselike creatures. InMiddle Low German, it was callednecker and inMiddle Dutchnicker (modernDutch:nikker, compare alsoNickel orNikkel plusKobolt).[4] TheOld High German formnihhus also meant "crocodile",[2][4] while theOld Englishnicor[2][4] could mean both a "water monster" like those encountered byBeowulf,[5] and a "hippopotamus".[4] The NorwegianFossegrim and SwedishStrömkarlen are related figures sometimes seen as by-names for the same creature.[4] The southern Scandinavian version can take on the form of a horse namedBäckahästen ("the brook horse"), similar to otherwater horses such as the Scottishkelpie and the WelshCeffyl Dŵr.[citation needed]
The modern English formnixie stems fromGerman:Nixe (feminine form ofNix), fromMiddle High German:nixe, from an earliernickes, fromOld High German:nicchessa (feminine form ofnichus,nihhus), meaning "water-spirit, water-elf, crocodile".
English folklore contains many creatures with similar characteristics to theNix orNäck. These includeJenny Greenteeth, theShellycoat, the river-hagPeg Powler, theBäckahäst-likeBrag, and theGrindylow.
AtLyminster, nearArundel in the English county ofWest Sussex, there are today said to dwell "water-wyrms" calledknuckers, in a pool called theKnucker-hole. The Victorian authorityWalter William Skeat had plausibly suggested the pool's name ofknucker (a name attested from 1835, Horsfield)[6] was likely derived from theOld Englishnicor, a creature-name found inBeowulf.[7]
The Nordic nixies (Danish:nøkke,Norwegian:nøkk,Swedish:näck;Icelandic:nykur,Faroese:nykur;Finnish:näkki,Estonian:näkk) are male water spirits who plays enchanted songs on instruments, luring women and children todrown in lakes or streams. Such can also drown people directly by dragging them down into water (comparebrunnsgubben [sv], "the well man", from Sweden and Finland, and the Samirávga). However, not all of these spirits were necessarily malevolent; many stories indicate at the very least that nixies were entirely harmless to their audience and attracted not only women and children but men as well with their sweet songs. Stories also exist wherein the spirit agrees to live with a human who had fallen in love with him. Still, many of these stories ended with the nixie returning to his home, usually a nearby waterfall or brook. The nixie were said to grow despondent unless they had free, regular contact with a water source.[citation needed]
The NorwegianFossegrim orGrim, SwedishNäcken ("The Nixie") orStrömkarlen,[8] is a related powerful figure, a powerfulnature spirit, who, if properly approached, will teach a musician to play so adeptly "that the trees dance and waterfalls stop at his music".[9]
It is difficult to describe the appearance of the nix, as one of his central attributes was thought to beshapeshifting. Perhaps he did not have any true shape. He could show himself as a man playing the violin in brooks and waterfalls (though often imagined as fair and naked today, in folklore, he was more frequently described as wearing more or less elegant clothing) but also could appear to be treasure or various floating objects, or as an animal—most commonly in the form of a "brook horse" (see below). The modern Scandinavian names are derived fromnykr, meaning "river horse". Thus, it is likely that the figure of the brook horse preceded the personification of the nix as the "man in the rapids".Fossegrim and derivatives were almost always portrayed as gorgeous young men whose clothing (or lack thereof) varied widely from story to story.
The enthralling music of the nixie was most dangerous to women and children, especially pregnant women andunbaptised children. He was thought to be most active duringMidsummer's Night, Christmas Eve, and Thursdays. However, these superstitions do not necessarily relate to all the versions listed here. Many, if not all, developed after the Christianizing of the northern countries, as was the case of similar stories of faeries and other entities in other areas. When malicious nixies attempted to carry off people, they could be defeated by calling their name; this was believed to cause their death.[10] Another belief was that if a person bought the nixie a treat of three drops of blood, a black animal, somebrännvin (Nordic spirit) orsnus (wet snuff) dropped into the water, he would teach his enchanting form of music.
The nixie was also an omen for drowning accidents. He would scream at a particular spot in a lake or river in a way reminiscent of theloon, and a fatality would later occur on that spot. He was also said to cause drownings, but swimmers could protect themselves against such a fate by throwing a bit of steel into the water.[11]
In the later Romantic folklore and folklore-inspired stories of the 19th century, the nixie sings about his loneliness and his longing for salvation, which he purportedly never shall receive, as he is not "a child of God". In a poem by Swedish poetE. J. Stagnelius, a little boy pities the fate of the nixie, and so saves his own life. In the poem, arguably Stagnelius's most famous, the boy says that the nixie will never be a "child of God", which brings "tears to his face" as he "never plays again in the silvery brook".
On a similar theme, a 19th-century text called "Brother Fabian's Manuscript" bySebastian Evans has this verse:
In Scandinavia,water lilies are called "nixie roses" (Norwegian:nøkkeroser,Swedish:näckrosor). A tale from the forest ofTiveden, Sweden, relates that a father promised his daughter to a nixie who offered him great hauls of fish in a time of need; she refused and stabbed herself to death, staining the water lilies red from that time on:
At the lake of Fagertärn, there was once a poor fisherman who had a beautiful daughter. The small lake gave little fish and the fisherman had difficulties providing for his little family. One day, as the fisherman was fishing in his littledugout of oak, he met The Nixie, who offered him great catches of fish on the condition that the fisherman gave him his beautiful daughter the day she was eighteen years old. The desperate fisherman agreed and promised The Nixie his daughter. The day the girl was eighteen she went down to the shore to meet The Nixie. The Nixie gladly asked her to walk down to his watery abode, but the girl took forth a knife and said that he would never have her alive, then stuck the knife into her heart and fell down into the lake, dead. Then, her blood coloured the water lilies red, and from that day the water lilies of some of the lake's forests are red.[12]
In Sweden, nixies (Swedish:näck) are said to be water spirits, or similar, living in lakes and streams. By some accounts, they take the shape of gnomes (Swedish:tomte), but they are also said to appear in the shape of animals, most often in black or white, such as a dog, a cat, a bull, a horse, among others (compareströmkatten, "the stream cat"; seethe brook horse). It can also take the shape of inanimate objects, like any floating object or treasure.[13][14] A trait shared with other folk beliefs is that the animal forms sometimes appears with three legs.[13]
Beyond minor or regional spirits, there is also a major collectivenature spirit known asNäcken ("The Nixie"), orStrömkarlen ("The Stream Man"), among others (in NorwayFossegrim), appearing as a slender young or old undressed man, the latter bearded, sitting on a rock near water, masterfully playing an instrument to lure people to and into water.[13] He can play many instruments, with the instrument varying, such as ahorn, aflute, aharmonica, etc, but most commonly aviolin or similar. The hair color varies but is often said to be green, or rather made of foliage, with other hair colors worth mentioning being red. The Nixie is both powerful and dangerous in its abilities, bordering on being a quasi-deity. Even in shallow water, it can lock peoples' footing in place. Other names include:bäckamannen ("the brook man"),dammapågen ("the dam boy"),forskarlen ("the rapid man"),gölamannen ("the pool man"),kvarngubbe ("watermill man"),kvarnrå ("watermillrå"),strömkatten ("the stream cat"),älven ("the river") etc.[14]
The Swedishnäck was loaned into Finnish asnäkki and Estonian asnäkk. Näkki was seen as a waterhaltija, primarily depicting the dangerous side of a water spirit. It lied in ambush for swimmers it could pull down to its underwater kingdom, drowning them. It was common to say "näkki onto the land, me into the water" before going swimming and the other way around when coming back onto land; this was also learned from Swedes. Näkki also made its way intorunic songs where a disease was cast away into the black mud in water, where the dog of water and näkki of water would catch it.[15]
InNorth Karelia, a distinction was sometimes made with water spirits, as anäkki grabbed onto a swimmer while avetehinen caught the swimmer as an illness.Näkki was also considered a newer name forvetehinen who one could see sitting on a rock, brushing its long hair, before drowning. InSouth Karelia, this creature was thought to beveden emo 'mother of water'.[16]
InEstonia, it was thought that näkks originated from children thrown into the water by their mothers, those who drowned themselves, and those submerged by previous näkks. This motif is also found in other Nordic folklore, like the Samirávga. In southeastern Estonia, the corpses of those who suffered a violent death were called näkks: the corpses still held their spirits as prisoners. If one sat or laid on ground where such a corpse had been buried, one would fall ill and die: this was caused by amaanäkk 'land näkk'. If one swam over a drowned corpse, one suffered a cramp in the leg as theveenäkk 'water näkk' grabbed onto them. There were alsosoonäkk 'bog näkk' andarunäkk 'dry grassland näkk'.[15][16]
One of the more infamous shapes, in which the Nordic nixie appears in, is the "the brook horse [sv]" (Swedish:bäckahästen,åhästen), also simply referred to as nixie (especiallyFaroese:nykur). It has a close parallel in the Scottishkelpie and the WelshCeffyl Dŵr.
Thebäckahäst was often described as a majestic white horse that would appear near rivers, particularly during foggy weather. Anyone who climbed onto its back could not get off again. The horse would then jump into the river, drowning the rider. The brook horse could also be harnessed and made to plough, either because it was trying to trick a person or because the person had tricked the horse into it. The following tale is a good illustration of the brook horse:
A long time ago, there was a girl who was not only pretty but also big and strong. She worked as a maid on a farm by Lake Hjärtasjön in southernNerike. She was ploughing with the farm's horse on one of the fields by the lake. It was springtime and beautiful weather. The birds chirped, and thewagtails flitted in the girl's and the horse's tracks to pick worms. All of a sudden, a horse appeared out of the lake. It was big and beautiful, bright in colour and with large spots on the sides. The horse had a beautiful mane which fluttered in the wind and a tail that trailed on the ground. The horse pranced for the girl to show her how handsome he was. However, the girl knew it was the brook horse and ignored it. Then the brook horse came closer and closer, and finally he was so close that he could bite the farm horse in the mane. The girl hit the brook horse with the bridle and cried: "Disappear you scoundrel, or you'll have to plough so you'll never forget it." As soon as she had said this, the brook horse had changed places with the farm horse, and the brook horse started ploughing the field with such speed that soil and stones whirled in its wake, and the girl hung like a mitten from the plough. Faster than the cock crows seven times, the ploughing was finished, and the brook horse headed for the lake, dragging both the plough and the girl. But the girl had a piece ofsteel in her pocket, and she made thesign of the cross. Immediately she fell down on the ground and saw the brook horse disappear into the lake with the plough. She heard a frustrated neighing when the brook horse understood his trick had failed. Until this day, a deep track can be seen in the field.[17]
InFaroese, the wordnykur ("nixie") specifically refers to the "brook horse", described in one Faroese text as the following:
Thenykur dwells in water; at the bottom, down in the depths, he has his lair; from here he often goes onto land and it is not good to meet him.
Sometimes he is like a beautiful little horse which seems to be good and tame, and thus he lures people to draw near to him to pat him and stroke him along the back. But when they come to touch the tail, they become stuck fast to him, and then he releases no-one, but he drags them with him to the bottom of the water.
Sometimes he encounters people in human form, as a handsome youth, to lure young women to himself, and promises them joy and gladness in his hall if they want to go along with him. But if they get a suspicion of who he is, when they are giving themselves away, such that they can call him by his true name —nykur — then he loses the power over them and must release them and go along into his waters.
It is said that thenykur can equally well change itself into the form of all quadrupedal animals, except that he does not know how to create the horn-points of a ram or a male lamb on himself.
But when he hasn't changed his form, he is like a horse, and it has come about that people gain power over him by carving a cross into his back, and then they have been able to have him drag great stones by his tail down from the mountains to homesteads or houses. Some are still seen inHúsavík inSandoy and onEiði inEysturoy and the big rocks that are gathered together there bear witness to how strong he is. At Takmýri in Sandoy lies one huge rock, which they wanted to have him draw to Húsavík, but his tail broke here, and the stone remains there. One part of thenykur's tail, which was attached to the stone, is visible on it still.[18]
The GermanNix andNixe (andNixie) are types of rivermermen andmermaids who may lure men into drowning, like the Scandinavian type, akin to theMelusine and similar to the GreekSiren. The German epicNibelungenlied mentions the nix in connection with theDanube, as early as 1180 to 1210.
Nixes in folklore becamewater sprites[19] who try to lure people into the water. The males can assume many different shapes, including that of a human, a fish, and a snake. The females bear the tail of a fish. When they are in human form, they can be recognised by the wet hem of their clothes. The Nixes are portrayed as malicious in some stories but harmless and friendly in others.
The 1779 poemDer Fischer byJohann Wolfgang von Goethe handles of a fisherman who meets his end when he is lured into the water by a Nixe.
By the 19th century,Jacob Grimm mentions the Nixie to be among the "water-sprites" who love music, song, and dancing, and says, "Like the sirens, the Nixie by her song draws listening youth to herself, and then into the deep."[19] According to Grimm, they can appear human but have the barest hint of animal features: the nix had "a slit ear", and the Nixie had "a wet skirt". Grimm thinks these could symbolise they are "higher beings" who couldshapeshift to animal form.[20]
One famous Nixe of recentGerman folklore, deriving from 19th-century literature, wasLorelei; according to the legend, she sat on the rock at theRhine which now bears her name and lured fishermen and boatmen to the dangers of the reefs with the sound of her voice. In Switzerland, there is a legend of a sea-maid or Nixe that lived inLake Zug (the lake is in the Canton of Zug).
The Yellow Fairy Book byAndrew Lang includes a story called "The Nixie of the Mill-Pond" in which amalevolent spirit that lives in a mill pond strikes a deal with the miller that she will restore his wealth in exchange for his son. This story is taken fromGrimms' Fairy Tales.
The legend ofHeer Halewijn, a dangerous lord who lures women to their deaths with a magic song, may have originated with the nix.
Alternate names for the female German Nixe are Rhine maidens (German:Rheintöchter) andLorelei.
In a fictional depiction, theRhine maidens are among theprotagonists in the four-part OperaDer Ring des Nibelungen by the composerRichard Wagner, based loosely on the nix of theNibelungenlied.
The Rhine maidensWellgunde,Woglinde, andFloßhilde (Flosshilde) belong to a group of characters living in a part of nature free from human influence.Erda and theNorns are also considered a part of this 'hidden' world.
They are first seen in the first work of the Nibelungen cycle,Das Rheingold, as guardians of theRheingold, a treasure of gold hidden in theRhein river. The dwarfAlberich, aNibelung, is eager to win their favour, but they somewhat cruelly dismiss his flattery. They tell him that only one who cannot love can win theRheingold. Thus, Alberich curses love and steals theRheingold. From the stolen gold, he forges aring of power. Further in the cycle, the Rhine maidens are seen trying to regain the ring and transform it into the harmlessRheingold. But no one will return the ring to them; not even the supreme godWotan, who uses the ring to pay the giants Fasolt and Fafner for buildingValhalla, nor the heroSiegfried, when the maidens appear to him in the third act ofGötterdämmerung. Eventually,Brünnhilde returns it to them at the end of the cycle, when the fires of her funeral pyre cleanse the ring of its curse.
Descendants of German immigrants toPennsylvania sometimes refer to a mischievous child as "nixie".
InThe Nixie's Song, the first book in the children's seriesBeyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, the main characters rescue a Nixie named Taloa after fire-breathing giants destroy her pond. Nixies are depicted as aquatic female humanoids related to mermaids but with frog-like legs instead of tails.[21]
In the 2019 filmFrozen II, QueenElsa of Arendelle encounters and tames the Nøkk (in the form of a horse), the Water spirit who guards the sea to the mythical river Ahtohallan.[22]
In the video gameTom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, there is a Danish operator named Nøkk. During gameplay she uses a glove attachment called HEL to disappear from cameras and sneak up on enemies.[23]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). "Nixie".The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne.
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