The nixie, nixy, nix, neck, or nicker (; ; , ; ; ; ; ; ; Norwegian , nøkken; ; , näcken, French: neckre), are humanoid, and often shapeshifting, water spirits in Germanic mythology and folklore.
Under a variety of names, they are common to the stories of all Germanic peoples,The article Näcken, tome 20, p. 317, in (1914) although they are perhaps best known from Scandinavian folklore. The related English knucker was generally depicted as a worm or dragon, although more recent versions depict the spirits in other forms. Their sex, bynames, and various transformations vary geographically. The German and Scandinavian counterparts were male. The German was a female river mermaid. Similar creatures are known from other parts of Europe, such as the Melusine in France, the Xana in Asturias (Spain), and the Slavic water spirits (e.g., the Rusalka) in Slavic countries.
Names and etymology The names are held to derive from Proto-Germanic or , derived from Proto-Indo-European ("to wash"). They are related to Sanskrit , Greek and , and Irish (all meaning to wash or be washed).
The form neck appears in English, as well as in Swedish, although spelled as (definite form näcken). The Swedish form is derived from Old Swedish , which corresponds to Old Icelandic ( ), and in Norwegian Nynorsk. In Finnish, the word is . In Old Danish, the form was and in modern Danish and Norwegian Bokmål it is or . The Icelandic and Faroese are horselike creatures. In Middle Low German, it was called and in Middle Dutch (modern , compare also or plus ). The Old High German form also meant "crocodile", while the Old English could mean both a "water monster" like those encountered by Beowulf, and a "hippopotamus". The Norwegian and Swedish are related figures sometimes seen as by-names for the same creature. The southern Swedish (Scanian) version can take on the form of a horse named ("the brook horse"), similar to other water horses such as the Scottish kelpie and the Welsh .
The modern English form nixie stems from (feminine form of Nix), from , from an earlier nickes, from (feminine form of nichus, nihhus), meaning "water-spirit, water-elf, crocodile".
England English folklore contains many creatures with similar characteristics to the Nix or . These include Jenny Greenteeth, the Shellycoat, the river-hag Peg Powler, the -like Brag, and the Grindylow.
At Lyminster, near Arundel in the English county of West Sussex, there are today said to dwell "water-wyrms" called knuckers, in a pool called the Knucker-hole. The Victorian authority Walter William Skeat had plausibly suggested the pool's name of knucker (a name attested from 1835, Horsfield)Thomas Walker Horsfield, The History, Antiquities, and Topography of the County of Sussex, Volume 2, 1835. was likely derived from the Old English , a creature-name found in Beowulf.Dragons & Serpents In Sussex
Nordic folklore
The Nordic nixies (, , ; , ; ) are male water spirits who play enchanted songs on instruments, luring women and children to drown in lakes or streams. Such can also drown people directly by dragging them down into water (compare , "the well man", from Sweden and Finland, and the Sami ). 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.
The Norwegian or , Swedish ("The Nixie") or ,Or strömkarl (singular), per Grimm 1835:17:11. is a related powerful figure, a powerful nature spirit, who, if properly approached, will teach a musician to play so adeptly "that the trees dance and waterfalls stop at his music".
It is difficult to describe the appearance of the nix, as one of his central attributes was thought to be shapeshifting. 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 from , 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". 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 and unbaptised children. He was thought to be most active during Midsummer'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.Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 95-6, Dover Publications, New York 1965. Another belief was that if a person bought the nixie a treat of three drops of blood, a black animal, some (Nordic spirit) or (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 the loon, 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.
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 poet E. 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" by Sebastian Evans has this verse:
In Scandinavia, water lilies are called "nixie roses" (, ). A tale from the forest of Tiveden, 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:
Swedish and Finnic folklore
In Sweden, nixies () 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 (compare strömkatten, "the stream cat"; see the brook horse). It can also take the shape of inanimate objects, like any floating object or treasure. A trait shared with other folk beliefs is that the animal forms sometimes appears with three legs.
Beyond minor or regional spirits, there is also a major collective nature spirit known as ("The Nixie"), or Strömkarlen ("The Stream Man"), among others (in Norway ), 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, especially women, to and into water. He can play many instruments, with the instrument varying, such as a horn, a flute, a harmonica, etc, but most commonly a violin 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"), trasken, nixen, ellen, neken" forskarlen ("the rapid man"), gölamannen ("the pool man"), kvarngubbe ("watermill man"), kvarnrå ("watermill rå"), strömkatten ("the stream cat"), älven ("the river") etc.
To protect oneself against the powers of Näcken, it is said that one must stick a knife in the ground before entering the water to swim. If one does not, Näcken can overpower you and drown you. If one fiddler wants to learn to play like Näcken, he should go to a stream three Thursday nights in a row, sit down and play. The first two nights nothing will happen, but on the third, Näcken shows up. The fiddler must bring a black cat as offering. He who survives the class without being drowned, will be able to play so moving that even chairs and tables start to dance.
The Swedish was loaned into Finnish as and Estonian as . Näkki was seen as a water haltija, primarily depicting the dangerous side of a water spirit. It lay 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 into runic 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.Krohn (1914:102).
In North Karelia, a distinction was sometimes made with water spirits, as a grabbed onto a swimmer while a caught the swimmer as an illness. was also considered a newer name for who one could see sitting on a rock, brushing its long hair, before drowning. In South Karelia, this creature was thought to be 'mother of water'.Krohn (1914:103).
In Estonia, 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 Sami . 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 a 'land näkk'. If one swam over a drowned corpse, one suffered a cramp in the leg as the 'water näkk' grabbed onto them. There were also 'bog näkk' and 'dry grassland näkk'.
The brook horse
One of the more infamous shapes, in which the Nordic nixie appears in, is "" (, ), also simply referred to as nixie (especially ). It has a close parallel in the Scottish kelpie and the Welsh .
The 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:
In Faroese and Icelandic, the word ("nixie") specifically refers to the "brook horse", described in one Faroese text as the following:
German folklore The German Nix and Nixe (and Nixie) are types of river mermen and mermaids who may lure men into drowning, like the Scandinavian type, akin to the Melusine and similar to the Greek Siren. The German epic Nibelungenlied mentions the nix in connection with the Danube, as early as 1180 to 1210.