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In Norse mythology
Norse mythology

Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the beliefs, myths and legends of the Norse paganism of the North Germanic language people, including those who settled on Faroe Islands and Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled....
, Fimbulvetr is the immediate prelude to the events of Ragnarök
Ragnarök

In Norse mythology, Ragnar?k is a series of major events, including a great battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures , the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water....
. Fimbulvetr is three successive winters where snow comes in from all directions, without any intervening summer. During this time, there will be innumerable wars and brothers will kill brothers.

The prefix 'fimbul' means "the great/big" so the correct interpretation of the word is "the great winter".

There have been several popular speculations about whether this particular piece of mythology has a connection to the climate change
Climate change

Climate change is any long-term significant change in the expected patterns of average weather of a specific region over an appropriately significant period of time....
 that occurred in the Nordic countries at the end of the Nordic Bronze Age
Nordic Bronze Age

The Nordic Bronze Age is the name given by Oscar Montelius to a period and a Bronze Age archaeological culture in Scandinavian pre-history, ca 1800 BCE - 500 BCE, with sites that reached as far east as Estonia....
, about 650 BC.






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In Norse mythology
Norse mythology

Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the beliefs, myths and legends of the Norse paganism of the North Germanic language people, including those who settled on Faroe Islands and Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled....
, Fimbulvetr is the immediate prelude to the events of Ragnarök
Ragnarök

In Norse mythology, Ragnar?k is a series of major events, including a great battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures , the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water....
. Fimbulvetr is three successive winters where snow comes in from all directions, without any intervening summer. During this time, there will be innumerable wars and brothers will kill brothers.

The prefix 'fimbul' means "the great/big" so the correct interpretation of the word is "the great winter".

There have been several popular speculations about whether this particular piece of mythology has a connection to the climate change
Climate change

Climate change is any long-term significant change in the expected patterns of average weather of a specific region over an appropriately significant period of time....
 that occurred in the Nordic countries at the end of the Nordic Bronze Age
Nordic Bronze Age

The Nordic Bronze Age is the name given by Oscar Montelius to a period and a Bronze Age archaeological culture in Scandinavian pre-history, ca 1800 BCE - 500 BCE, with sites that reached as far east as Estonia....
, about 650 BC. Before this climate change, the Nordic countries were considerably warmer.

In Denmark
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
, Norway
Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
, Sweden
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
 and other Nordic countries, the term fimbulvinter is also used to refer to an unusually cold and harsh winter.

See also

  • Eschatology
    Eschatology

    Eschatology is a part of theology and philosophy concerned with what is believed to be the final events in the history of the world, or the ultimate destiny of All humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world....