Fasolt

Fasolt, Fasold or Vasolt is a giant or knight who appears in the following works:

• The Middle High German heroic poem Eckenlied (c. 1230).

• The Old Norse compendium of German legends known as the Thidrekssaga (c. 1250).

• Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold (1869).

The name Fasolt likely derives from a root similar to Old High German faso, thread, and most likely refers to the long braided hair he is described as having in the Eckenlied.^[1] He may have originally been a storm demon, as evidenced by a 17th-century prayer to witches at the mountain Jochgrimm outside of Bozen to cause "ffasolt" to send storms far away.^[2]

Notes

1. Gillespie 1973, p. 44.
2. Heinzle 1999, p. 121.

References

• Gillespie, George T. (1973). Catalogue of Persons Named in German Heroic Literature, 700-1600: Including Named Animals and Objects and Ethnic Names. Oxford: Oxford University. ISBN 9780198157182.

• Heinzle, Joachim (1999). Einführung in die mittelhochdeutsche Dietrichepik. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-015094-8.