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Heinzelmännchen

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The Heinzelmännchen (German pronunciation: [ˈhaɪntsl̩ˌmɛnçɛn] ⓘ) are a mythical race of creatures, appearing in a tale connected with the city of Cologne in Germany akin to gnomes, or elves.

Heinzelmännchen-diorama

The little house gnomes are said to have done all the work of the citizens of Cologne during the night, so that the inhabitants of Cologne could be very lazy during the day. According to the legend, this went on until a tailor's wife got so curious to see the gnomes that she scattered peas onto the floor of the workshop to make the gnomes slip and fall. The gnomes, being infuriated, disappeared and never returned. From that time on, the citizens of Cologne had to do all their work by themselves.

Nomenclature

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Hänneschen once used to be a commonplace character in Cologne's puppet theater.[1] The genuine Kölsch (Colognian) dialect form should be Heizemann/Heizemännche (pl. Heizemänncher), while Heinzelmänchenn is the normalized High German form.[2]

A two-pronged theory on the origin of the name was proposed by Marianne Rumpf [de] (1976),[3] first from the form "Heinzelmännlein" as a colloquial name for mandrake dolls,[4] which evolved into lore about them acting as animated house spirits.[5] Secondly, other than being a personal name, "Heize"[6] or "Heizenkunst" was the name for a water-draining contraption in the Erzgebirge mining region of Saxony.[7] By extrapolation, the operators of the contraption could have also been called Heinz, according to Rumpf.[8]

Weyden (1826)

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This legend of the Heinzelmänchenn was first written down by the Cologne teacher Ernst Weyden (1805–1869) in 1826.[9][10][11] It was translated into English by Thomas Keightley and published 1828 in his book The Fairy Mythology.[12][10]

Weyden's account opens thus:

While the lore of the Heinzelmänchenn in the city of Cologne was very much alive until c. 1780 according to Weyden, everything about the sprite before that time remains completely in the dark.[14] Weyden seems to have begun his "restoration" effort around 1821.[15]

Kopisch's ballad (1836)

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In 1836 the painter and poet August Kopisch published a famous poem beginning with the words:[16]

It has been asserted that the "literary" lore of Heinzelmänchenn only became widely known through Kopisch's poem.[17]

Criticism

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Folklorist Marianne Rumpf [de] (1976) argued that the oral origins material Ernst Weyden (1826) compiled was essentially the sole source Kopisch used to craft his ballad. Some of the underlying assumption, such as Weyden must have owned a considerable library of folkloric writings while Kopisch had none such, has been challenged by Heribert A. Hilgers [de].[18] Hilgers considers Weyden's effort to be a "restoration" of the Heinzelmännchen-story begun in 1821.[19]

In the HdA or Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens [de], contributor Lily Weiser-Aall classed the Heinzelmännchen as a "literary name" type of "kobold", crediting Kopisch for its fame.[17]

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Heinzelmännchen skiing on the rooftop.
―Köln Heinzels Wintermärchen]

Figures of Heinzelmännchen are is featured in various situations at Cologne's annual Christmas season markets held at the Heumarkt and the Alter Markt square (the "Heinzels Wintermärchen").

Monuments

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Heinzelmännchenbrunnen fountain
Detail of the Heinzelmännchenbrunnen

In Cologne, a fountain (Heinzelmännchenbrunnen) commemorates the Heinzelmännchen and the tailor's wife.

Musical adaptations

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A carnival song about dedicated helpers "Heizemänncher" was authored by Johannes Matthias Firmenich [de] for the year 1844.[20]

The words were set to music by the German Lieder composer Carl Loewe, a contemporary of Schubert.[21]

See also

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References

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German Wikisource has original text related to this article:
  1. ^ Grässe, Johann Georg Theodor (1856). "Zur Geschichte des Puppenspiels". Die Wissenschaften im neunzehnten Jahrhundert, ihr Standpunkt und die Resultate ihrer Forschungen: Eine Rundschau zur Belehrung für das gebildete Publikum. 1. Romberg: 559–660.
  2. ^ Hilgers (2001a), p. 49.
  3. ^ Johann Christoph Adelung: Das Heinzelmännlein
  4. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1796). "Das Heinzelmännlein Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, Band 2. e-text @ Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum
  5. ^ Rumpf (1976), pp. 64, 68–69.
  6. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1796). "2. Der Heinz Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, Band 2. e-text @ Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum
  7. ^ Rumpf (1976), p. 63.
  8. ^ Rumpf (1976), p. 70.
  9. ^ a b Weyden, Ernst (1826). "Heinzelmännchen" . Cöln's Vorzeit. Geschichten, Legenden und Sagen Cöln's, nebst einer Auswahl cölnischer Volkslieder  (in German). Cöln am Rhein: Pet. Schmitz. pp. 200–202 – via Wikisource.
  10. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar, eds. (2012) [1899]. "Heinzelmännchen". Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (25 ed.). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 406. ISBN 9783110223651.
  11. ^ Hilgers (2001a), p. 30: "Diese Aufzeichnung von Ernst Weyden aus dem Jahr 1826 ist diee älteste bisher bekannt gewordene Version der Kölner Heinzelmännchensage".
  12. ^ Keightley (1828), 2: 29–31.
  13. ^ Keightley (1828), 2: 29.
  14. ^ Hilgers (2001a), p. 49: "Die Herkunft der Kölner Heinzelmännchen in der Zeit vor 1826 (oder vor 1780) bleibt, wie es sich für solche Wesen gehört , im Dunkeln.
  15. ^ Hilgers (2001b), p. 119.
  16. ^ August Kopisch: Gedichte. Berlin, Duncker und Humblot, 1836, p. 98, the first stanza; full text on the German language version of Wikisource.
  17. ^ a b Weiser-Aall, Lily (1987) [1933]. "Kobold". In Bächtold-Stäubli, Hanns [in German]; Hoffmann-Krayer, Eduard (eds.). Handwörterbuch des Deutschen Aberglaubens. Vol. Band 5 Knoblauch-Matthias. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 31–33. ISBN 3-11-011194-2.
  18. ^ Hilgers (2001a), p. 33.
  19. ^ Hilgers (2001b), p. 113.
  20. ^ Hilgers (2001a), p. 48.
  21. ^ "Loewe: Lieder".
Bibliography
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