{{Short description|Old Germanic term for toxic fluid or venom}} {{other uses}} [[File:Komodo Dragon, Komodo, 2016 (01) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Atter dripping from a Komodo dragon]] '''Atter''' ({{langx|ang|āttor}}; {{compare}} {{langx|non|eitr}}) is an archaic, and poetic, term for poisonous bodily fluid, especially venom of a venomous animal, such as a snake, dragon or other reptile, but also other vile, corrupt or morbid substance from the body, such as pus from a sore or wound, as well as bitter substance, such as bile.<ref name="quod.lib.umich: atter">{{cite web |title=atter n. |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED2924 |website=quod.lib.umich.edu |access-date=2024-06-03}}</ref><ref name="merriam-webster: atter">{{cite web |title=atter |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atter |website=merriam-webster.com |access-date=2024-06-03}}</ref><ref name="SAOB: etter subst">{{cite web |title=etter |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=E_0669-0383.L84H&pz=3 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2024-06-03}}</ref> Figuratively, it can also be moral corruption or corruptness; noxious or corrupt influence, poison to the soul, evil, anger, envy, hatred; as well as destruction and death.<ref name="quod.lib.umich: atter"/><ref name="SAOB: etter subst"/>
Cognates in other Germanic languages are less archaic. Its Nordic cognates ({{langx|da|edder}}; {{langx|fo|eitur}}; {{langx|is|eitur}}; {{langx|no|eiter}}; {{langx|sv|etter}}) are terms for venom and poison, while its Dutch and German cognates ({{langx|nl|etter}}; {{langx|de|Eiter}}) refer to pus.
Today, atter is commonly associated with the Norse mythology, where it plays an important role in various contexts – see subsequent section: {{sectionlink||In Norse mythology}}. In Eddic poetry, both the sea serpent ''Jörmungandr'', and the dwarf ''Fáfnir'' in dragon-hamr, are described as having attery breath. A similar creature from later Orcadian folklore is the attery ''stoor worm'' which was killed by the hero Assipattle, falling into the sea and forming Iceland, Orkney, Shetland and the Faroe Islands. As in the English tale of the ''Linton worm'', the ''stoor worm'' is killed by burning its insides with peat.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Marwick |first1=Ernest W. |title=The folklore of Orkney and Shetland |date=2000 |publisher=Birlinn |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-1-84158-048-7}}</ref>
== Etymology == ''Atter'' is derived from {{langx|ang|āttor}}, ''ātor'' and ''ǣttor'', which in turn derives from {{langx|gmw|aitr}}, which stems from a {{langx|gem-x-proto|aitrą}},{{efn|name=*|An asterisk (*-) before a word means it is a reconstruction of an unrecorded word assumed to have existed, based around various metrics.}} meaning "poison, pus", ultimately stemming from a Proto-Indo-European root of "to swell; swelling, tumour, abscess", related to {{langx|grc|οἶδος}} (''oîdos''), "swelling, tumour, abscess, produced by internal action".<ref name="SAOB: etter subst"/><ref>{{cite web |title=οἶδος |url=https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CE%BF%E1%BC%B6%CE%B4%CE%BF%CF%82 |website=lsj.gr |publisher=Liddell, Scott, Jones Ancient Greek Lexicon (LSJ) |access-date=2024-06-18}}</ref> It is directly cognate with {{langx|non|eitr}} and its derivatives, {{langx|is|eitur}}, {{langx|no|eiter}}, {{langx|sv|etter}}, {{langx|da|edder}}, as well as {{langx|de|Eiter}} and {{langx|nl|etter}}, all with similar meaning.<ref name="SAOB: etter subst"/> In Scots, the cognate terms are ''atter'' and ''etter'', variously meaning "poison", "purulent matter from a sore" and "quarrelsomeness".{{sfn|atter/etter}}
While mostly archaic or archaized in English, the word lives on with some strength in other languages. The Icelandic form ''eitur'' is the common word for "poison", while the Swedish form ''etter'' is a word for “venom”, as well as the full poetic meaning in dialectal and archaized language.<ref name="SAOB: etter subst"/> The German form ''Eiter'' and the Dutch form ''etter'' are the common word for “pus”.
Its derivative, ''attery'' means "venomous", "poisonous" or "bitter".{{sfn|attery}} It is also found in compound nouns such as the now dialectal term for a spider ''attercop'', literally "atter-top" or "atter-cup" (compare cobweb, previously (atter)copweb), cognate with Norwegian and {{langx|da|edderkop}}, and {{langx|sv|etterkoppa}}.{{sfn|attercop}}{{sfn|edderkopp}}{{sfn|edderkop}} It is also found in the term ''atterlothe'', meaning "an antidote to poison".{{sfn|atterlothe}}
== Atter breathing dragons == [[File:Borgund stavkirke 2016, ute, detalj-5.jpg|thumb|One of the four dragon heads adorning the ridges of the Borgund Stave Church, possibly depicted breathing atter]]
Germanic dragons with poisonous breath, or rather, breathing ''atter'', are believed to predate those who breathe fire in Germanic folklore and literature, consistent with the theory that Germanic dragons developed from traditions regarding wild snakes, some of whom produce venom.<ref name="Acker">{{cite book |author-last=Acker |author-first=Paul |editor1-last=Acker |editor1-first=Paul |editor2-last=Larrington |editor2-first=Carolyne |editor2-link=Carolyne Larrington |date=2013 |title=Revisiting the Poetic Edda: Essays on Old Norse Heroic Legend |publisher=Routledge |chapter=Dragons in the Eddas and in Early Nordic Art |pages=53–57 |isbn=978-0-415-88861-5}}</ref> The Nine Herbs Charm describes nine plants being used to overcome the venom of a slithering {{lang|ang|wyrm}}. It tells that Wōden (Odin) defeats the {{lang|ang|wyrm}} by striking it with nine twigs, breaking it into nine pieces.<ref name='Nigon Wyrta Galdor: "The Nine Herbs Charm"'>{{cite web |title=Nigon Wyrta Galdor: "The Nine Herbs Charm" |url=https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/nigon-wyrta-galdor |website=Mimisbrunnr.info: Developments in Ancient Germanic Studies |date=20 February 2022 |access-date=23 February 2022 |archive-date=20 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220160440/https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/nigon-wyrta-galdor |url-status=live }}</ref>
In Eddic poetry, both the sea serpent ''Jörmungandr'', and the dwarf ''Fáfnir'' in dragon-hamr, are described as having attery breath. A similar creature from later Orcadian folklore is the attery ''stoor worm'' which was killed by the hero Assipattle, falling into the sea and forming Iceland, Orkney, Shetland and the Faroe Islands. As in the English tale of the ''Linton worm'', the ''stoor worm'' is killed by burning its insides with peat.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Marwick |first1=Ernest W. |title=The folklore of Orkney and Shetland |date=2000 |publisher=Birlinn |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-1-84158-048-7}}</ref>
Beowulf is one of the earliest examples of a fire-breathing dragon, yet it is also referred to as ''{{langx|ang|attorsceaðan}}'', {{lit|the atter scathe}} (infinitive) or 'the atter scather'. After burning homes and land in Geatland, it fights the eponymous hero of the poem who bears a metal shield to protect himself from the fire. The dragon wounds him but is slain by the king's thane Wiglaf. Beowulf later succumbs to the dragon's atter and dies. The other dragon mentioned in the poem is further associated with fire, melting from its own heat once slain by Sigmund.{{cn|date=July 2025}} Both fire and atter are also spat by dragons in the Chivalric saga ''Sigurðr saga þögla'' and in ''Nikolaus saga erkibiskups II'', written around 1340, in which the dragon is sent by God to teach an English deacon to become more pious.<ref name="Acker"/>
== In Norse mythology{{anchor|eitr}} == {{redirect|Eitr|for the similarly named Norse dwarf|Eitri}} [[File:Thor und die Midgardsschlange.jpg|thumb|Jörmungandr blowing atter on Thor during Ragnarök, fatally poisoning him. Painting by Emil Doepler, 1905.]]
In Norse mythology, atter ({{langx|non|eitr}}) plays an important role in various contexts. In one instance in ''Gylfaginning'', atter is dripped on Loki by a snake placed above him by Skaði. In another, it is blown by the worm Jörmungandr during Ragnarök, leading to the death of Thor.{{sfn|Sturluson|2018|loc=Gylfaginning, chapter 50 & 51}}{{sfn|Gylfaginning|loc = Chapter 50 & 51}}{{bsn|date=February 2023|reason=WP:UGC}}{{sfn|Simek|2008|p=324}} Also in ''Gylfaginning'', atter is described as forming in Ginnungagap, which gave rise to the primordial being Ymir,{{sfn|Sturluson|2018|loc=Gylfaginning, chapter 5}}{{sfn|Gylfaginning|loc = Chapter 5}} as described by the jötunn Vafþrúðnir in Vafþrúðnismál:
{| width="50%" ! width="25%" | Old Norse text{{sfn|Vafþrúðnismál (ON)|loc=Stanza 31}}{{nobold|{{bsn|date=February 2023|reason=WP:UGC}}}} ! width="25%" | Bellows translation{{sfn|Bellows|2004|loc=Vafþrúðnismál stanza 31}} |- | :{{lang|non|Ór Élivágum stukku eitrdropar,}} :{{lang|non|svá óx, unz varð jötunn;}} :{{lang|non|þar eru órar ættir komnar allar saman;}} :{{lang|non|því er þat æ allt til atalt.}} | :Down from Elivagar did atter drop, :And waxed till a giant it was; :And thence arose our giants' race, :And thus so fierce are we found. |}
== See also == * Germanic dragon
== Footnotes == {{notelist}}
== Citations == {{Reflist|30em}}
== Bibliography == === Primary === {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last1=Bellows |first1=Henry Adam |title=The poetic Edda: the mythological poems |date=2004 |publisher=Dover Publications |location=Mineola, NY |isbn=9780486437101 |url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/index.htm}} * {{cite book |last1=Sturluson |first1=Snorri |translator-last=Brodeur|translator-first=Arthur Gilchrist|title=The Prose Edda |date=2018 |publisher=Franklin Classics Trade Press |isbn=9780344335013}} * {{cite web |ref={{SfnRef|Gylfaginning}}| title=Gylfaginning (Old Norse) |url=https://heimskringla.no/wiki/Gylfaginning |website=heimskringla.no |access-date=26 November 2022}} * {{cite web |ref={{SfnRef|Vafþrúðnismál (ON)}}| title= Vafþrúðnismál (Old Norse) |url=https://heimskringla.no/wiki/Vaf%C3%BEr%C3%BA%C3%B0nism%C3%A1l |website=heimskringla.com|access-date=26 November 2022}} * {{cite web |ref={{SfnRef|attery}}|title=attery |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/attery_adj?tab=factsheet#34203119 |website=OED |access-date=27 December 2024}} * {{cite web |ref={{SfnRef|atterlothe}}|title=atterlothe |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/atterlothe_n?tab=factsheet |website=OED |access-date=27 December 2024}} * {{cite web |ref={{SfnRef|atter/etter}}|title=atter/etter |url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/atter_n |website=Dictionary of the Scots language |access-date=21 December 2024}} * {{cite web |ref={{SfnRef|attercop}}|title=attercop |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/attercop_n?tab=etymology |website=OED |access-date=21 December 2024}} * {{cite web |ref={{SfnRef|edderkopp}}|title=edderkopp |url=https://ordbokene.no/bm/edderkopp |website=ordbøkene |access-date=21 December 2024}} * {{cite web |ref={{SfnRef|edderkop}}|title=edderkop |url=https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=edderkop |website=Den Danske Ordbog |access-date=21 December 2024}} {{refend}}
=== Secondary === {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last1=Simek |first1=Rudolf |author-link=Rudolf Simek |translator1-last=Hall |translator-first=Angela |title=A Dictionary of Northern Mythology |date=2008 |publisher=BOYE6 |isbn=9780859915137}} {{refend}}
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090123082459/http://www3.hi.is/~eybjorn/gg/ggtpar01.html Snorra-Edda: Gylfaginning]
Category:Mythological poisons Category:Norse mythology Category:Germanic words and phrases Category:Fáfnir