Lorelei

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Lorelei

The Loreley (also written as Lorelei) is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine

Rhine

File:Swiss Grand Canyon.jpgThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
near St. Goarshausen

Sankt Goarshausen

Sankt Goarshausen is a town located in the States of Germany Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. The town has 1,585 inhabitants and is the site of the township association Loreley ....
, Germany

Germany

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Lorelei'

Start a new discussion about 'Lorelei'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

The Loreley (also written as Lorelei) is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine

Rhine

File:Swiss Grand Canyon.jpgThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
near St. Goarshausen

Sankt Goarshausen

Sankt Goarshausen is a town located in the States of Germany Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. The town has 1,585 inhabitants and is the site of the township association Loreley ....
, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, which soars some 120 meters above the water line. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents there.

Loreley is also the name of one of the beautiful Rhine Maidens

Nix

The Neck or the Nix/Nixe refer to shapeshifting water spirits who usually appear in human form. The spirit has appeared in the myths and legends of all Germanic peoples in Europe....
who lured navigators of this river to their dooms with their alluring singing, much as the ancient Greek Sirens did.

In 1395 the Loreley showed up as vineyard of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen

Katzenelnbogen

Katzenelnbogen is the name of a castle and small city in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde Katzenelnbogen ....
.

The name comes from the old German words "lureln" (Rhine dialect for "murmuring") and the Celtic term

Celtic languages

The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic", a branch of the greater Indo-European languages language family. The term "Celtic" was used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, having much earlier been used by Greek and Roman writers to describe tribes in central Gaul....
"ley" (rock). The translation of the name would therefore be: "murmur rock" or "murmuring rock". The heavy currents, and a small waterfall

Waterfall

A waterfall is usually a geology geologic formation resulting from water, often in the form of a stream, flowing over an erosion-resistant rock formation that forms a nickpoint, or sudden break in elevation....
in the area (still visible in the early 19th century) created a murmuring sound, and this combined with the special echo the rock produces which acted as a sort of amplifier, then gave name to the rock itself. The murmuring is hard to hear today due to the urbanization of the area. Other theories attribute the name to the many accidents, by combining the word "luren" (lurk) with the same "ley" ending, with the translation "lurking rock".

In folklore and poetry

The rock is associated with several legendary tales originating in German folklore

German folklore

German folklore shares many characteristics with Scandinavian folklore and English folklore due to their origins in a common Germanic mythology....
. It appears in many forms. The legend was first created by the German author Clemens Brentano in his novel "Godwi oder Das steinerne Bild der Mutter" (1801); Brentano was inspired by Ovid, especially by the Echo-Narcissus myth.

One of the legends is that Loreley, a beautiful young maiden, committed suicide because of an unfaithful lover. She jumped from the steep rock into the Rhine River, thus killing herself. She then became a siren

Siren

In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses, who lived on an island called Sirenum scopuli. In some later, rationalized traditions the literal geography of the "flowery" island of Anthemoessa, or Anthemusa, is fixed: sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the Sirenusian islands near Paestum...
, luring shipmen to their fates with her hypnotizing voice. The echoing heard today is said to be Loreley.

External links

by Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine

Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was a journalist, essayist, and one of the most significant German literature German Romanticism poets. He is remembered chiefly for selections of his lyric poetry, many of which were set to music in the form of lieder by German composers....
with English translation
by Clemens Brentano
Clemens Brentano

Clemens Brentano, or Klemens Brentano was a German language poet and novelist....
Information all around the Lorelei