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Lotte Motz

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Lotte Motz, née Edlis, (August 16, 1922 – December 24, 1997) was an Austrian-American scholar who published five books and over 50 scholarly papers, primarily in the fields of Norse mythology and folklore.

As a Jew, she was denied the right to attend Gymnasium (high school), and was forced to flee, along with her family, from her native Austria upon the rise of the Nazis. In 1941, she escaped to America with her mother and two brothers, immigrating to New York. It was there that she completed high school and college, receiving a B.A. from Hunter College. She did a year of graduate work at Stanford University, completing her degree at the University of Wisconsin, obtaining a Ph.D. in German and philology in 1955.

In 1959, she moved to Oxford England, following her husband who took a position lecturing Engineering. In 1971, she returned to America with her daughter, obtaining a position at Brooklyn College. She later taught at Hunter College, until contracting bronchiectasis in 1984. She subsequently returned to Oxford.

In her later years, unable to teach, she turned to writing. In the spirit of the Women's movement of the time, her research interests focused narrowly on female figures in Norse and Germanic mythology, especially the nature and function of giantesses in that tradition. She integrated features of mythologies in Europe and beyond, reaching as far as Alaska and Japan for contrasting material exposing her papers to criticism that similar phenomena can easily have different meanings in different contexts. She was undeterred by this criticism. For this reason, her work has been described as "provocative".[1] No doubt effected by her childhood experiences at the hands of the Nazis, she was unafraid to attack the icons of Germanic scholarship, as when she became the first scholar in recent history to question the validity of the name Nerthus in Tacitus' Germania, pointing out once again, without regard to the linguistic evidence, that Nerthus is only one of the manuscript reading, causing more responsible scholars to reiterate the linguistic principles establishing this as the best reading.[2] In the same vein, Motz was one of the first scholars to question the tripartite theory of Georges Dumézil,[3] Similarly, more than a decade after its publication, her view is not held by a majority scholars in the field. Although her work has been described as innovative, it has never been described as substanative.

Motz was posthumously honored with a conference held in her memory at Bonn University in 1999, which led to the publication of a commemorative volume of scholarly articles, largely in German, concerning female entities in Northern mythology.[4] At the conference, her ideas were "ventilated" arousing vigorous debate, the speeches frequently overrunning their allotted times. Those in attendance recognized that such intense passion would have been to her liking.<ref>Mythological Women, p. 11<ref> Authors contributing to the work include: Alexandra Pesch, Margrethe Watt, Rudulf Simek, Ute Schwab, Else Mundal, Wilhelm Heizmann, Anatoly Liberman, John McKinnell, Lise Præstgaard Anderson, and Ándís Egilsdóttir. It should be noted that although she was respected as a college, these scholars seldom concur with her maverik conclusions. Notably, it was John McKinnell who quietly condemned her remarks on Nerthus, with a thorough review of the manuscripts and linguistic evidence re-establishing Nerthus as the best reading.

Notes

  1. ^ Mythological Women, edited by Rudolf Simek and Wilhelm Heinzmann, p. 10
  2. ^ McKinnell, John. Meeting the Other in Norse Myth and Legend.
  3. ^ See especially The King, the Champion and the Sorcerer (1996).
  4. ^ Mythological Women: Studies in Memory of Lotte Motz (1922-1997) (2002).

Sources

  • Edlis, Herbert (her brother), Anna Motz (her daughter) and Rudolf Simek, “Lotte Motz.” Saga-Book 25:217-218 (1999).
  • “Introduction: In Honour of Lotte Motz.” Mythological Women: Studies in Memory of Lotte Motz (1922-1997), ed. Rudolf Simek and Wilhelm Heizmann. Wien: Fassbaender, 2002, pp. 7-11. ISBN 3900538735.

Selected works

  • "Female Characters of the Laxdoela Saga." Monatshefte 55(4): 162-166 (1963).
  • "New Thoughts on Dwarf-Names in Old Icelandic." Frühmittelalterliche Studien 7:100-117 (1973).
  • "Withdrawal and Return: A Ritual Pattern in the Grettis Saga." Arkiv för nordisk filologi 88:91-110 (1973).
  • "Of Elves and Dwarfs." Arv 29/30:93-127 (1973/1974).
  • "The King and the Goddess: An Interpretation of Svipdagsmal." Arkiv för nordisk filologi 90:133-150 (1975).
  • "Burg-Berg, Burrow-Barrow." Indogermanische Forschungen 81:204-220 (1976).
  • "The Craftsman in the Mound." Folklore 88:46-60 (1977).
  • "Snorri's Story of the Cheated Mason and Its Folklore Parallels." Maal og Minne 1977:115-122.
  • "Driving Out the Elves: A Euphemism and a Theme of Folklore." Frühmittelalterliche Studien 13:439-441 (1979).
  • "The Rulers of The Mountain: A Study of the Giants of the Old Icelandic Texts." Mankind Quarterly 20: 393-416 (1979-1980).
  • "Old Icelandic Völva: A New Derivation." Indogermanische Forschungen 85:196-206 (1980).
  • "Sister in the Cave: The Stature and the Function of the Female Figures of the Eddas." Arkiv för nordisk filologi 95:168-182 (1980).
  • "Gerðr: A New Interpretation of the Lay of Skirnir." Maal og Minne 1981:121-136.
  • "Giantesses and their Names." Frühmittelalterliche Studien 15:495-511 (1981).
  • "Aurboða-Eyrgjafa: Two Icelandic Names." Mankind Quarterly 22:93-105 (1981).
  • "Giants in Folklore and Mythology: A New Approach." Folklore 93:70–84 (1982).
  • "The Chanter at The Door." Mankind Quarterly 22:237-256 (1982).
  • "Freyja, Anat, Ishtar and Inanna: Some Cross-Cultural Comparisons." Mankind Quarterly 23:195-212 (1982).
  • "The Northern Heritage of Germanic Religion." Mankind Quarterly 23:365-382 (1983).
  • The Wise One of the Mountain: Form, Function and Significance of the Subterranean Smith: A Study in Folklore. Göppingen: Kümmerie 1983. ISBN 3874525988.
  • "Giants and Giantesses:A Study in Norse Mythology and Belief." Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteran Germanistik 22:83-108 (1984).
  • "Gods and Demons of the Wilderness: A Study in Norse Tradition." Arkiv för nordisk filologi 99:175-187 (1984).
  • "The Winter Goddess: Percht, Holda and Related Figures." Folklore 95:151-166 (1984).
  • "Trolls and the Æsir: Lexical Evidence concerning North Germanic Faith." Indogermanische Forschungen 89:179-195 (1984).
  • "Oðinn and the Giants: A Study in Ethno-Cultural Origins". Mankind Quarterly 25:387-418 (1985).
  • "New Thoughts on Volundarkviða.” Saga-Book 22:50-68 (1986).
  • "The Divided Image: A Study of the Giantesses and Female Trolls in Norse Myth and Literature." Mankind Quarterly 27:463-478 (1987).
  • "Old Icelandic Giants and their Names." Frühmittelalterliche Studien 21:295-317 (1987).
  • "The Families of Giants." Arkiv för nordisk filologi 102:216–236 (1987).
  • "The Storm of Troll-Women." Maal og Minne 1988:31-41.
  • "The Sacred Marriage: A Study in Norse Mythology, Languages and Cultures.” Languages and Cultures: Studies in Honor of Edgar C. Polomé, ed. Mohammad Ali Jazayery and Werner Winter. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1988, pp. 449-459. ISBN 089925442X.
  • "The Divided Image: A Study of the Giantesses and Female Trolls in Norse Myth and Literature." Mankind Quarterly 27:463-478 (1989).
  • "The Conquest of Death: The Myth of Baldr and Its Middle Eastern Counterparts." Collegium Medievale 4:99-116 (1991).
  • "The Cosmic Ash and other Trees of Germanic Myth." Arv 47:127-141 (1991).
  • "The Goddess Nerthus: A New Approach." Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteran Germanistik 36:1-19 (1992).
  • "The Goddess Freyja.” Snorrastefna, 25-27 júlí 1990, ed. Úlfar Bragason. Reykjavik: Stofnun Sigurðar Nordals, 1992, pp. 163-178 ISBN 9979540435.
  • "New Thoughts on an Archaic Artifact." Mankind Quarterly 32:231-240 (1992).
  • "The Host of Dvalinn: Thoughts on Some Dwarf-Names in Old Icelandic.” Collegium Medievale 6:81-96 (1993).
  • "Gullveig's Ordeal: A New Interpretation.” Arkiv för nordisk filologi 108: 80-92 (1993).
  • The Beauty and the Hag: Female Figures of Germanic Faith and Myth. Wien: Fassbaender, 1993. ISBN 3900538409.
  • "þorr's River Crossing." Saga-Book 23:469-487 (1993).
  • Entries in Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia, ed. Phillip Pulsiano. New York: Garland, 1993. ISBN 0824047877:
"Supernatural Beings 1. Elves, Dwarfs and Giants," pp. 622-623.
"Svipdagsmal," p. 629.
"Völundr," p. 713
  • "The Magician and His Craft." Collegium Medievale 7:5-31 (1994; publ. 1995).
  • "The Hammer and the Rod: A Discussion of þorr's Weapons." Germanic Studies in Honor of Anatoly Liberman, ed. Kurt Gustav Goblirsch, Martha Berryman Mayou, and Marvin Taylor. Odense: Odense University Press, 1996, pp. 243-252. ISBN 8778383595.
  • The King, the Champion and the Sorcerer: A Study in Germanic Myth. Wien: Fassbaender, 1996. ISBN 3900538573.
  • "Kingship and the Giants." Arkiv för nordisk filologi 111:73–88 (1996).
  • "Note on a Bracteate from Trollhättan." Collegium Medievale 9:153-155 (1996).
  • "The Power of Speech: Eddic Poems and their Frames." Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteran Germanistik 46:105-117 (1996).
  • The Faces of the Goddess. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN 0195089677.
  • "The Germanic Thunderweapon." Saga-Book 24:329-350 (1997).
  • "The Sky God of the Indo-Europeans." Indogermanische Forschungen 103:28-39 (1998).
  • "The Great Goddess of the North." Arkiv för nordisk filologi 113:29-57 (1998).
  • "Oðinnn's Vision." Maal og Minne 1998:11-19.
  • "The Dwarf Litr and Concepts of the Soul." De Consolatione Philologiae: Studies in Honour of Evelyn S. Firchow, ed. Anna Grotans, Anna Grotans, Heinrich Beck and Anton Schwob. Göppingen: Kümmerle, 2000, pp. 269-280. ISBN 3874529290.
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