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In Norse mythology, a dís ("lady", plural dísir) is a ghost, spirit or deity associated with fate who can be both benevolent and antagonistic towards mortal people. Dísir may act as protective spirits of Norse clans. Their original function was possibly that of fertility goddesses who were the object of both private and official worship called dísablót,〔The article ''Diser'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1991).〕 and their veneration may derive from the worship of the spirits of the dead.〔 The dísir, like the valkyries, norns, and vættir, are almost always referred to collectively.〔〔Else Mundal, "The Position of the Individual Gods and Goddesses in Various Types of Sources - With Special Reference to the Female Divinities," (1990) Bergen Open Research Archive, (pp. 310-11 ) (pdf).〕 The North Germanic dísir and West Germanic Idisi are believed by some scholars to be related due to linguistic and mythological similarities,〔Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H. Davidson, Penguin Books, 1990, pp. 62-64, ISBN 0-14-013627-4〕 but the direct evidence of Anglo-Saxon and Continental German mythology is limited. The dísir play roles in Norse texts that resemble those of fylgjur, valkyries, and norns, so that some have suggested dísir is a broad term including the other beings.〔The article ''(Dis )'' in ''Nordisk familjebok'' (1907).〕 ==Etymology and meaning== The basic meaning of the word dís is "goddess".〔August Fick, ''Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der Indogermanischen Sprachen'' Part 3 ''Wortschatz der Germanischen Spracheinheit'', 4th ed. rev. Alf Torp, Hjalmar Falk, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1909, OCLC 491891019, "dîsî, dîsi," (p. 206 ).〕 It is now usually derived from the Indo-European root *''dhēi-'', "to suck, suckle" and a form ''dhīśana''.〔Jan de Vries, ''Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte'', 2 vols., vol. 2, 2nd ed. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1957, repr. as 3rd ed. 1970, p. 299, note 2 (German); the etymology was proposed by K.F. Johansson, ''Über die Altindische Göttin Dhisana und Verwandtes: Beiträge zum Fruchtbarkeitskultus in Indien'', Skrifter utgifna af Kungl. Vet. Samf. i Uppsala 20.1 (1918).〕 Scholars have associated the dísir with the West Germanic Idisi,〔 seeing the initial ''i-'' as having been lost early in Old or Proto-Norse. Jacob Grimm points out that ''dís Skjöldunga'' in the Eddic Helgakviða Hundingsbana II (v. 52) is exactly parallel to ''ides Scildinga'' "Scylding queen" in Beowulf (l. 1168).〔Jacob Grimm, ''Teutonic Mythology'', tr. James Steven Stallybrass, 4 vols., vol. 1, London: Bell, 1882, (p. 402 ).〕 He also suggests that Iðunn may be a reflex of the original form of the word.〔Grimm, vol. 1, (pp. 402-3 ); the promised treatment in the Supplement, vol. 4, does not appear to exist.〕 However, except for the Second Merseburg Charm, in which they work battle-magic, ''idis'' only occurs with the meaning "lady," sometimes "maiden."〔De Vries, ''Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte'', vol. 1, 2nd ed. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1956, repr. as 3rd ed. 1970, p. 322 (German).〕〔E.O.G. Turville Petre, ''Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia'', London: Weidenfeld, 1964, (p. 222 ).〕 The words are not assumed to be directly related by some scholars, although the resemblance evidently led to influence on Old Norse poetic usage.〔Turville-Petre, (p. 222 ).〕 Other scholars group all female spirits and deities associated with battle under the class of idis, dis, valkyrie and other names such as sigewif (victory-women, associated by the Anglo-Saxons with a swarm of bees) and find the commonalities both linguistically and in surviving myths and magic charms sufficient cause to group together all variations on this theme from various Germanic cultures.〔 Stories from these other cultures survive from earlier dates than the Eddas and it is difficult to conclusively construct a clear pre-Christian mythology without conjecture. However, the Germanic languages appear to have had a northward rather than southward progression from the initial contact with the speakers of Indo-European languages near Denmark or Jutland〔A Linguistic History of English: From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic by Donald Ringe, Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN 0-19-955229-0〕 H. Davidson notes a similar northward progression of mythology where elements of Proto-Germanic concepts have morphed or been combined by the time of the recording of the Icelandic sagas.〔 According to Rudolf Simek, Old Norse ''dís'' appears commonly as simply a term for 'woman,' just as Old High German ''itis'', Old Saxon ''idis'', and Anglo-Saxon ''ides'', 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 the ''disir'' were valkyrie-like guardians of the dead, and indeed in ''Guðrúnarkviða'' I 19 the valkyries are even called ''Herjans disir'' 'Odin's disir'. The ''disir'' are explicitly called dead women in ''Atlamál'' 28 and a secondary belief that the ''disir'' were the souls of dead women (see ''fylgjur'') also underlies the ''landdísir'' of Icelandic folklore."〔Simek (2007:61–62).〕 Simek says that "as the function of the matrons was also extremely varied – fertility goddess, personal guardians, but also warrior-goddesses – the belief in the ''dísir'', like the belief in the valkyries, norns, and matrons, may be considered to be different manifestations of a belief in a number of female (half-?) goddesses."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dís」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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