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TilK DOWNFALL OF THE WOELD. 143
or Jotunheim. The latter is represented as a genuine
Jotun, hideous in his whole being. It would
appear that in him was meant to be presented phys-
ical and moral Evil in all its naked loathsomeness,
while in Loki, as he makes his appearance among
the JtUsh; it was intended to represent the same in
the seductive and seemingly beautiful form under
which it glides about through the world of man-
kind.
"With the Jotun-woman AngrboSi— (the Anguishboding),*
Loki begets the three most bitter enemies
of the ^sir, Mi5gar6sorm, , Fenrisulf, and Hel.f
The two former express the disturbing powers in
the Sea and the interior of the Earth, which, though
bound for a time by the power of the ^sir, will one
day burst their chains and work together for the
destruction of the world. Hel (Death) is the dis-
turbing power in man's being, which, without satie-
ty, calls his bodily part to her abode, a cold, dark
world of shades, fall of want and loathsomeness.
* Angr; A.-S. Ang^; vexation, grief, anguish; by5, bj65a; A.
S. beodan ; to invite, offer, eommand.
f Ormr, a serpent (A.-S. wyrm, wurna, worm). Fenrir or Fenris-ulfr,
from fen, a tnorass, gulf; ulfr, A.-S. -wulf, a wolf, hence,
the Monster of the Abyss. Hel, Death, the Goddess of Death.
Some suppose the primary signification of the word to have been
intense cold, eogn. with the Lat. gelu. Grimm derives it from
hilan, to conceal, in the sense of a subterranean cavity (A.-S. hoi,
any rate, all
a cavern, jUngl. hole, being probably cognate). , At
the Germanic nations when converted to Christianity applied this
name to the place where the souls of the wicked were supposed to
be punished; thus, Mceso- Gothic halja; Old Germ, hellia, hell a
Germ. Eolle; A.-S. helle; Ungl. hell; JVorse, helviti (prop, the
punishment of death); Swed. helvete; JDan, Helvede; &c.
;