Myrkviðr

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Myrkviðr was the name of a forest in Norse mythology. The Old Norse word means "darkwood", anglicized as mirkwood (mirk is an archaic/dialectal word for "dark", cf. ). The expression "dark wood" in Germanic and Slavic is idiomatized to mean "coniferous forest", as opposed to the "light" deciduous forests, compare "Black Forest", Russian chyornyi les.

The localisation varies between the sources.

The Maeotian marshes which separated the Goths from the Huns in the Norse Hervarar saga.
The forest that separates the Huns from the Burgundians.
Kolmården ("the dark forest"), in Sweden, in Sögubrot and in legends such as that of Helge Hundingsbane.
Uncertain locations, such as in the Völundarkviða, where it is probably located somewhere else in Scandinavia (Weyland is here described as a Finnish prince, which would make him a Saami prince).
Mythological. In other sources, such as the Edda, e.g. Lokasenna, the location seems to be between Asgard and Muspelheim, as Muspell's sons ride through it at Ragnarök. Stanza 42:

Loci qvaþ:

«Gvlli keypta

leztv Gymis dottvr

oc seldir þitt sva sverþ;

enn er Mvspellz synir

ríða Myrcviþ yfir,

veizta þv þa, vesall! hve þv vegr.»[link]

Loki spake:

"The daughter of Gymir

with gold didst thou buy,

And sold thy sword to boot;

But when Muspell's sons

through Myrkwood ride,

Thou shalt weaponless wait, poor wretch."([Bellow's translation])

The Old Norse term was projected by J. R. R. Tolkien into Old English as myrcwudu, and into Modern English as Mirkwood (see there).

Myrkviðr

See also