Lorelei

Encyclopedia : L : LO : LOR : Lorelei

For other uses, see Lorelei (disambiguation)}}}.

The Rock of Lorelei by the Rhine

Lorelei

Lorelei

Loreley sign on the bank of the Rhine

The Lorelei (originally written as Loreley) is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, 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 caused many boat accidents in former times.

The name comes from the old German words "lureln" (Rhine dialect for "murmuring") and "ley" (rock). The translation of the name would therefore be: "murmur rock" or "murmuring rock". The heavy currents, and a small waterfall 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.[Loreley - Ein Beitrag zur Namendeutung]. Accessed June 16, 2006. The murmuring is hard to hear today due to the urbanization of the area. Other theories include attributing the name to the many accidents, by combining the word "luren" (lurk) with the same "ley" ending, with the translation "lurking rock".

The rock is associated with several legendary tales originating in German folklore. It appears in many forms, but is best known through a poem by Heinrich Heine that begins "Ich weiss nicht was soll es bedeuten" (which means in English, "I don't know what to make of it"). In the most common form of the story, the Lorelei is a maiden who threw herself into the Rhine in despair over a faithless lover, and became a nixe whose voice lured fishermen to destruction.

A 13th-century legend entitled Der Marner says that the Nibelung treasure was hidden beneath the rock. The tale may be connected with the myth of Holda, queen of the elves. The queen supposedly sits combing her locks on the Hullenstein, and the man who sees her loses sight of reason, while he who listens is condemned to wander with her for ever. The legend, which Clemens Brentano claimed as his own invention when he wrote his poem "Zu Bacharach am Rheine" in his novel of Godwi (1801), bears all the marks of popular mythology. In the 19th century it formed material for a great number of songs, dramatic sketches, and operas, which are enumerated by Dr Hermann Seeliger in his Loreleysage in Dichtung und Musik (Leipzig-Reudnitz, 1898). The favourite poem with composers was Heine's, set to music by some twenty-five musicians, the settings by Friedrich Silcher (from an old folk-song) and by Liszt being the most famous.

Translation of Heine's \"Die Lorelay\"

I don’t know what it could mean,
that I’m so sad: I find,
A fairy-tale, from times unseen,
Won’t vanish from my mind.

The air is cool and it darkens,
And quiet flows the Rhine:
The tops of the mountains sparkle,
In evening’s after-shine.

The loveliest of maidens,
She’s wonderful, sits there,
Her golden jewels glisten,
She combs her golden hair.

She combs it with a comb of gold,
And sings a song as well:
Its strangeness too is old
And casts a powerful spell.

It grips the boatman in his boat
With a wild pang of woe:
He only looks up to the heights,
Can’t see the rocks below.

I believe the waves swallowed
The boat and its boatman,
That’s what, by her singing,
The Lorelei has done.

Trivia

• Lorelei is the subject of When Mermaids Cry, a song by Eagle-Eye Cherry.

• Lorelei is the name of a sacred weapon (a Diviner) used by Ledah, a companion and eventual rival of the main character in the video game .
• Lorelei is the name of a character in the Pokémon universe.
• Lorelai is the name of Lauren Graham's character on Gilmore Girls.

Notes