Balmung

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Balmung

(ˈbælmʊŋ) or

Balmunc

n
(European Myth & Legend) (in the Nibelungenlied) Siegfried's sword
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
References in periodicals archive
They had brought out the Treasure from the cave where it usually lay; but how to part it was the difficulty; for, not to speak of gold, there were as many jewels alone "as twelve wagons in four days and nights, each going three journeys, could carry away"; nay, "however much you took from it, there was no diminution": besides, in real property, a Sword, Balmung, of great potency; a Divining-rod, "which gave power over every one"; and a Tarnkappe (or Cloak of Darkness).which not only rendered the wearer invisible, but also gave him twelve men's strength.
For example, in Das Nibelungenlied, Siegfried undergoes a heroic initiation in an otherworld where he finds the two princes, Schilbung and Nibelung who give him Nibelung's sword, Balmung as a reward for his help to divide their treasure (Aventiure 3 93), following which he ends up surviving a violent conflict against the princes, twelve giants, seven hundred warriors, and the dwarf Alberich (Aventiure 3 93-96) and consequently gains access to their hoard and the Tarnkappe, the cloak of invisibility.
"This," said Galaad, "is the sword Balmung, forged by Wayland Smith in the dawn times.
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