{{Short description|Nordic revenant folklore}} {{about|revenants in Nordic folklore||Revenant}} [[File:Thorvald Niss - The drowned man's ghost tries to claim a new victim for the sea - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Gjenganger tries to claim a new victim for the sea, Thorvald Niss (1932)]]
In Nordic folklore; {{langx|da|'''genganger'''}}, {{langx|no|'''gjenganger'''}}, {{langx|sv|'''gengångare'''}} ("(a)gain-walker"), among more, is a term for a revenant or ghost, meaning "someone which goes again", from the Scandinavian verb of "going again" ({{langx|no|gå igjen}}, {{langx|sv|gå igen}}) in the sense, of a deceased walking beyond the grave, haunting post-mortem;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://snl.no/gjenganger |title=gjenganger |publisher=Store norske leksikon |access-date=June 1, 2019}}</ref><ref name="SAOB gengångare">{{cite web |title=gengångare sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=geng%C3%A5ngare&pz=1#U_G221_6295 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2025-01-26}}</ref> compare {{langx|de|Wiedergänger}} ("Re-walker").
Other forms include: {{langx|is|afturganga}}, {{langx|no|attergangar}}, stemming from {{langx|non|aptrgangr}} ("re-walker"); {{langx|da|genfærd}}, {{langx|no|gjenferd}} ("again-travel or after-journey").
== Etymology == ''Gjenganger'', and thereof, consists of two parts; the prefix ''gen-'' ({{langx|no|gjen-}}), a shortened form of {{lang|sv|igen}} ({{langx|no|igjen}}), the same as "again" → (a)gain; and the suffix ''-ganger'' ({{langx|sv|-gångare}}), "-ganger, -goer, -walker" (compare doppelganger); thus meaning "again-walker" ({{lit|gainganger}}), "walking again", as in "walking after death". It is related to the Scandinavian verb of "going again" ({{langx|sv|gå igen}}) with the sense of going around beyond the grave and haunting post-mortem,<ref name="SAOB gengångare"/> for example: {{langx|sv|en död som går igen}}, "a dead which goes beyond → a dead person which refuses the afterlife to walk the earth again as a revenant".
The Norwegian form {{lang|no|attergangar}} means the same but uses the prefix {{lang|no|atter}} (compare {{langx|sv|åter}}), meaning roughly "re-", but also "again", "once (again)" ({{langx|sv|återigen}}), "back" etc.; thus meaning "re-walker", which is also found as a root-cognate in {{langx|non|aptrgangr}} and {{langx|is|afturganga}}.
The forms, {{langx|da|genfærd}}, {{langx|no|gjenferd}}, switches the suffix for {{langx|da|færd}}, {{langx|no|ferd}}, "travel, journey, trip", related to "fare", "ferry" etc.
== Characteristics == A ''gjenganger'' could have several reasons to return from the afterlife. Murdered people and their murderers could seldom sleep peacefully in their graves. People who had committed suicide often came back as ''gjengangere''. At other times, people came back from the grave because they had left something undone. Most often they needed someone to help them do this, before they could finally be at peace.
The ''gjenganger'' in the Scandinavian tradition took on an entirely corporeal form. It normally had no spectre-like qualities whatsoever. In older traditions, the ''gjenganger'' was very malicious and violent in nature, coming back from the grave to torment its family and friends. Their relatives took extensive precautions to make sure they stayed in their graves.
This tradition of the violent ''gjenganger'' goes back to the Viking Age, where they are present in many of the Icelandic sagas, among others: Grettis saga, Eyrbyggja saga and The Saga of Eric the Red. In this tradition, the ''gjenganger'' was a mortal creature. An example of this is Grettir slaying the ''gjenganger'' Glámr with his sword. These Viking-age ''gjengangere'' were often called ''draugr'', and the two are likely to be different names for the same phenomenon.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.sagadb.org/grettis_saga.en |title=Grettir's Saga |newspaper=Icelandic Saga Database |author=William Morris & Eirikr Magnusson (trans) |access-date=July 1, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.sagadb.org/eyrbyggja_saga.en |title=Eyrbyggja saga |newspaper=Icelandic Saga Database |author=William Morris & Eirikr Magnusson (trans) |access-date=July 1, 2019}}</ref>
== Protection and prevention == People had numerous ways of both defending themselves against the ''gjenganger'', and stopping people from becoming one in the first place. * Crucifixes and Christian incantations * Painting symbols, especially the cross * Coffin was carried three times around the church before being buried.
The tradition of a pile of stones or twigs (''varp'') often marked a place where someone has died. It was believed that when you passed this place, you should throw another stone/twig on the ''varp'', to commemorate what had happened there. Doing so would sometimes bring luck on your further travels, while not doing so would result in bad luck and dangerous accidents. Many of these ''varps'' have now disappeared, but in a few places the ''varp'' is marked with a sign or something similar.
== Modern era == In slightly newer tradition, the ''gjenganger'' remains a violent entity, though in a less direct way, now becoming more of a disease-spreader. These ''gjengangere'' would attack people with their so-called dead man's pinch (''dødningeknip''). The pinch was often administered when the person was asleep. Both the forest creature (''huldra'') and the water spirits (''nøkken'') were also accused of doing the same, using bites instead of pinches, often aimed at the victim's face. This belief in beings attacking people in their sleep was used as a warning against going to sleep in specific places; near the graveyard, mountains or water.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ne.se/uppslagsverk/encyklopedi/l%C3%A5ng/huldra |title=huldra |publisher=Nationalencyklopedin AB |access-date=June 1, 2019}}</ref>
In later Swedish folklore, a distinction is made between the traditional ''gjenganger'', in Swedish called ''gengångare'', and another type of ghost known as ''gast''. Whereas the ''gengångare'' looked virtually identical to a living human, the ''gast'' was known to be transparent and/or skeletal in appearance, making it impossible to see who the phantom had been while alive. And whereas the Swedish version of the ''gengångare'' were usually said to be rather harmless, it was the ''gast'' who was known to cause diseases. They were also known to cause accidents and scare people for no apparent reason other than that they enjoyed doing so.
Today it mostly compares with the modern perception of ghosts, most often being ethereal in form, and non-violent in nature. The word ''gjenganger'' is being used less, the contemporary word ghost (''spøkelse'') having mostly taken over. Where the term ''gjenganger'' does occur, it may be treated simply as a synonym for ghost. The corresponding verbal phrase walk again (''gå igjen'') is just one way of saying "haunt" with reference to ghosts.
== See also == * Draugr * Wiedergänger
== References == {{reflist}}
== Bibliography == * Espeland, Velle (2002) ''Spøkelse! Hvileløse gjengangere i tradisjon og historie'' (Oslo: Humanist forlag) {{ISBN|9788290425574}} * Hodne, Ørnulf (1995) ''Vetter og skrømt i norsk folketro'' (Oslo: J.W. Cappelens forlag) {{ISBN|978-8202154967}} * Hodne, Ørnulf (2008) ''Mystiske steder i Norge'' (Oslo: J.W. Cappelens forlag) {{ISBN|9788202282134}} * Sivertsen, Birger (2000) ''For noen troll'' (Oslo: Andresen & Butenschøn AS) {{ISBN|9788276940701}}
{{Scandinavian folklore}}
Category:Danish folklore Category:Norwegian folklore Category:Swedish folklore Category:European ghosts Category:Scandinavian folklore Category:Corporeal undead Category:Revenants