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Sunday, October 11, 2015

A Page of the Voynich Translated: #f5v

During spring when sunlight (Phes/Hulda's bright phase) heats the fallow ground at the time when life wakes to migrate, the hoofed animals moving from the south, the moon low or new, then walk south by the singing Ukelei river--make a joyful sound and walk southward.
The above is a translation of the page shown below. It would be interesting to discover whether a certain Rumex does bloom along the river Ukleja during the spring months or whether the waters of the river are known to make a sound either from ice break-up or snow melting off the mountains and swelling the river, causing rapids.

These lines bring to mind what nearly every middle-schooler learns by heart: Chaucer's Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, which may have been a literary convention of the day, that is, to say picturesquely that when spring arrives it's time to move south on a pilgrimage.(1)

Several aspects about the Voynich made arriving at this transcription and translation a challenge.

Different letters look alike. It is especially easy to mistake the k with the u.
Double letters are not necessarily double but rather single. This is often so with the l, the k, and the f.
The phrases have not an English syntax but a Finnic syntax so that word order matters less than declension, and the declension does not necessarily follow Finnish to the letter so that only the root or lemma can be surmised. What might be helpful pronouns are thus subsumed under suffixes that are not always obvious. Example:
It is often difficult to tell where a new word begins. For example, is the first word or two Lekker, Le eker, Leukker, Leeker, La eker, Laeker…? One of many inaccurate presumptions about the Voynich is that it was written with absolutely no mistakes. This is asserted by people who can't begin to read the thing. Actually, sketchy letters, foibled letters, tired handwriting, and creative spelling (as was the rule during this time in history) abound, making it even more of a challenge to transcribe.
It's not in Finnish and may not even be in Livonian. Rather, it could be the ancient Kven tongue, some mixture of old Slovene, Hungarian, and old Norse, or perhaps a dialect used by the Estonian Swedes or aibofolket in the 15th century. When I began this translation, I thought for certain that it would be about the plant itself, but as you can see, the words don't really point directly to sorrel except in a contextual sense. A sorrel where I live shows up in early spring along with toadflax, indeed in fallow fields. I don't know whether this is the case with this Rumex.

Interestingly, three geographical sites mentioned in this blog as being included in the Voynich manuscript form an almost straight vertical line from Torups in Sweden through Ukleja (mentioned here) down to Prague with surrounding castles that resemble those in the Voynich. This all ties into the discussion in the Language Candidates post about the likelihood of the Voynich being about a pre-Christian pilgrimage.

Below is a table showing a breakdown of how I arrived at this translation. You can find a more comprehensive list of words translated from the Voynich manuscript here: Voynich Lexicon.

Voynich word	Possible Meaning
Lekker	play (I'm at last taking basic Norwegian and this word is now an absolute no-brainer)
ker	oak/cows/during
alkua	A start, beginning, inception, incipience. (Finnish) Partitive singular form of alku. From the verb alkaa ‎(“to begin”) +‎ -u. From Proto-Finnic alkadak, from Proto-Uralic alka- ‎(“beginning”). Cognates include Mansi овл ‎(ōwl, “head”).
Phes	Name of a nature deity akin to Lagran Madre, la Madre de i dei, Ope (Ops), Cibelle, Vesta, Ceres, Proserpina, and others* Phes - From Proto-Indo-European *bʰehos (compare φάω ‎(pháō), φαίνω ‎(phaínō)). Cognates include Latin iubar ‎(“radiance, light”), Sanskrit ‎(bhās, “light, brilliance”), ‎(bhāsa, “luster, light”), and Old English basu ‎(“purple”).
keit	heat (Finnish)
kesom	summer/gather/fallow (related to Proto-Finnic kesä; Proto-Samic keasē.)
alem	low
som	which
skei	occurs/occurred
da	when - From Old Norse þá and þó (adverb); and Old Norse þá er (when, conjunction), and German da (because, conjunction)
kei	walk or path (Livonian)
elom	life
som	thus
fer	to go, to travel. From Old Norse fara, from Proto-Germanic faraną, from Proto-Indo-European por- ‎(“going, passage”).
kelt	refresh, waken
akeperss (a keperss)	From Middle Dutch keper, from Latin capreus, capreō, from caper ‎(“male goat”), the same metonymy as modern Dutch bok. Cognate with Middle High German kepfer, French chevron.
jelke	do/perform
aller	all
som	thus
som	as
elker	the elk
som	kind (of animals)
je	and
sør	south: from Old Norse suðr, from Proto- Germanic *sunþrą.
ker	during
se	the
jeller	signs
kuut	moon/month - From Proto-Finnic kuu, From Proto-Uralic kuŋe. Cognates include Estonian kuu and Hungarian hold.
elei	signals
alem	low
hei	they
som	thus or also
fer	to go, to travel. From Old Norse fara, from Proto-Germanic faraną, from Proto-Indo-European por- ‎(“going, passage”).
elkalom	animals
helkei	jingle
ker	during
Ukelei	a fish in Germany/Poland OR a river in Poland called the Ukleja (formerly in Livonia)
el	?
kei	walk
som	that
soi	make a musical sound
kei	walk
kelom	make
elei	gesture/sign
kei	walk
sa?ress	southward

See Voynich Lexicon for a more comprehensive list of transliterations.

(1)1 Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
When April with its sweet-smelling showers
2 The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
Has pierced the drought of March to the root,
3 And bathed every veyne in swich licour
And bathed every vein (of the plants) in such liquid
4 Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
By the power of which the flower is created;
5 Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
When the West Wind also with its sweet breath,
6 Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
In every holt and heath, has breathed life into
7 The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
The tender crops, and the young sun
8 Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne,
Has run its half course in Aries,
9 And smale foweles maken melodye,
And small fowls make melody,
10 That slepen al the nyght with open ye
Those that sleep all the night with open eyes
11 (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages),
(So Nature incites them in their hearts),
12 Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
Then folk long to go on pilgrimages,
13 And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
And professional pilgrims (long) to seek foreign shores,
14 To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
To (go to) distant shrines, known in various lands;
15 And specially from every shires ende
And specially from every shire's end
16 Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,
Of England to Canterbury they travel,

(2) The quote below is from Le immagini de i dei antichi (Images of the Ancient Gods) by Vincenzo Cartari. This book was an immense success, it went through numerous editions and was translated into many languages, including English in 1599. It became the iconographic handbook of painters throughout Europe for the next 250 years. The woodcuts are based on those of Bolognino Zalteri printed in the Venice 1571 edition with some revision for modesty's sake. Catari's book on the images of ancient gods was first published by Francesco Marolini in 1556, and the first illustrated edition followed in 1571. His work on the gods and their symbols is a key work in the history of symbolism in the Renaissance and the manual for artists as to the proper attributes of the deities. [See Seznec's The Survival of the Pagan Gods for a full discussion of the importance of this text.] According to Seznec, Cartari (b. ca. 1500) was probably a protégé of the duke of Ferrara. In his work Imagini colla sposizione degli dei degli antichi ("Images depicting the gods of the ancients") of 1556, he identifies Lilio Gregorio Diraldi's De deis gentium varia et multiplex historia of 1548 as one of his sources. Despite the success of De deis, Cartari's work competed with it by going for a populist approach, with woodcuts of the ancient gods by Bolognino Zaltieri. Cartari focused on the gods' iconography and explained their clothing, expressions, poses and attributes. Cartari's work was an influence on that of Gian Paolo Lomazzo. Unlike the treatises of the other Italian mythographers (Bocaccio, Conti, Giraldi), Cartari's work was profusely illustrated with captioned images of the pagan gods, and composed in the Italian vernacular. The systematic integration of text and image constituted an original approach to the classical myths, and the use of the vernacular made the text accessible to learned and unlearned alike. Cartari's iconographical, symbolic interpretation of the images of the pagan gods as they were represented in antiquity and discussed by Renaissance antiquarians proved to be an enormously popular approach to pagan myth. His 'Images' was well known to Renaissance artists, poets and critics - "an extremely useful work for historians, poets, painters, sculptors and professors of polite literature."

And as they perceived in her sundry natures, and divers properties, so they ascribed unto her divers and several names, and erected Statues and Altars unto her, according to those names, under which they then so worshiped and adored her, who (as I have already written) was with many taken and understood for Juno: and those flatus and images which were dedicated unto her, were made also many times of many other goddesses: whose properties signified them to be in nature the same as the earth, as first Lagran Madre, la Madre de i dei, Ope (Ops), Phes, Cibelle, Vesta, Ceres, Proserpina, and many others* which of their places and habitations where they then remained, had their names accordingly, all signifying one & the same thing, being as I have said, the Earth, for which indeed, & from whose fruits, all things here in the world seem to receive their life and being, and are nourished & conserved by these fertileness thereof, and in this respect she was called the mother of the gods, insomuch, as all those gods of the Ancients, which were so superstitiously adored and held in that respective regardance, lived here once on the earth, and were fed and maintained by the increases, fruits, & suppeditaments thereof.

I extracted the passage above from Steve Nichols' TARO of the FOUR WORLDS, p139 (ISBN 1874603073), which is a collection of these images along with explanatory quotes from that era. This quote in particular lists known names for an ancient sky deity, a woman in front and tree in back, that indeed was tied to the fruitfulness of the earth but had as much to do with the sun as she did with the earth. At base, she is a personification of sunlight, as the title Phes would suggest (Phes - From Proto-Indo-European *bʰehos (compare φάω ‎(pháō), φαίνω ‎(phaínō)). Cognates include Latin iubar ‎(“radiance, light”), Sanskrit ‎(bhās, “light, brilliance”), ‎(bhāsa, “luster, light”), and Old English basu ‎(“purple”)) and is related to the sky deity discussed by Pavel Limerov in FOREST MYTHS: A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF IDEOLOGIES BEFORE ST. STEFAN:

In other words, for the peoples of North-Eurasia, the mythological fertility does not have an earthly origin, but descends from the heavenly spheres. In the Finno-Ugric mythology, it is represented by the motif of the descent of heavenly goddesses or animals to the earthly world. Such is the Finnish world maiden Ilmatar, who entered to the waters of primordial ocean to give birth to the future creator of world Väinämöinen; such is the Ob-Ugrian Kaltash, the giver of life, who was pushed down from the sky by Torum and gave birth to Mir-Susne-Hum in the air, between heaven and earth (among the Karelians Kaltas-san-taaram – Kaltas is the heavenly mother, quoted in Ignatov 2004: 101); such is the Mordvin Ange-Patjaj, who resides in heaven and gives life on the ground. The myth about a heavenly maiden is known in the mythology of the Sami, Estonians, Mari, Komi-Permyaks, where the idea of fertility is probably less pronounced. As to North Siberia, there are a number of goddesses – the Old Women of Life, who reside in the heavenly world somewhere in the south: the Selkup Yljunda Kotta, the Nganasan Ninulemy Mou njamy, the Ket Tomam, and the Evenk Bugady Enityn. All these divine characters give fertility of earth but reside in heaven. Next to the mentioned female deities, there are also others, including the Earth Mother, but the functions of all of them are secondary.

And in Anssi Alhonen's Notes on the Finnish Tradition:

The upper world is located in the skies and also to the south. The great birch tree (or in Finnish tradition, the giant oak) grows there. At the roots of the tree, a spring flows and marks the source of the world river. Near the tree and spring there is a warm lake, or 'sea of life', where water birds and human souls are renewed. In the Finnish folk religion this upper world became a warm and light world located in the south called Lintukoto (or 'home of the birds') and the sea of life became a body of warm water surrounding the Lintukoto. This upper world is ruled by an old woman, the ruler of all life, protector of childbirth, motherhood and water birds. She is the sender of souls and the mother of the gods. In Finnish mythology a mysterious virgin by the name of Iro is said to have given birth to the three divine brothers at the beginning of times. In Finnish folk religion, the divine mother is the Virgin Mary (or 'Maaria' in Finnish) and she is remembered in songs and spells as a spiritual mother, healer, helper and protector of motherhood.

This sky deity of agriculture and women's craft embodied light, darkness, and death and was responsible for the seasons. She was often referred to in complimentary titles such as The Shining One, as often happens in for example Homeric verse, and these could easily be mistaken by outside cultures as the deity's given name. More about this deity can be found in The Rites of Hulda. Her main celebration occurred at the intercalary transition between the old and new year around mid-November. More about the seasons and the calendar can be found here in The Calendar and Seasonal Year.

Monday, June 8, 2015

The Huldra/Hiisi and the Voynich Manuscript

Past time for a change in perspective

By now a fair amount of people understand that the Old Norse word víkingr denoted not a nationality, but an occupation: a Viking was anyone who took part in an overseas expedition.

Even so, the term "Viking" is very often used to cover all sorts of artifacts that in fact may simply be from

Punkva, Czech Republic

northern people who existed during the age of the viking expeditions. When we think of a northern woman during this time, we might gravitate toward the image of shield maidens, thanks to the media, because, let's face it, the postmodern male will pay handsomely for such graphics that are both sexy and kickass. And certainly, evidence for shield maidens exists.

But I think classicism as a whole has skewed our perspective miserably on the mythopoeic cosmos that was the playing field for the vast amount of north Europeans up until the late 16th century. We fall back on talk of Pan, Dionysus, Sybils, etc., when in fact it's entirely the wrong vocabulary and as much a bad habit as "Viking"-izing everything coming from the north in the Middle Ages. This leads to an over-simplification of the cultural forces at play in the North lands and furthermore almost entirely nixes an already elusive strain of cultural tradition that can be traced to very ancient times.

It could very well be that warriorhood, while certainly a part of life, was very much seen as a subcontext of the whole and that the main engine that ran the vehicle of Nordic life was in fact somewhere entirely elsewhere--that we've thrown a classical lens up, emphasizing one aspect of their world while wholly missing the boat on the root and crux of it.

Try to imagine a world in which all things Viking are simply a subdivision of that vaster world, and more toward the head isn't Thor or even Odin but the demagogue who spins out, pulls along, weaves, and snips their strings. It's why their world, they knew, had an end, and why there was an entity outside of their world who could tell them the end of it. Some people are not going to like that interpretation, but it is useful to remember that in the Völuspá a so-called god is being hushed.

According to many myths told around the world, in the past women used to be disguised as spirits to control

men. Then the men discovered the masquerade and in turn threatened the women as spirits. According to the men, the women never learned that the masked males were not truly spirits, but that was the big secret to be found out at a male's initiation rite:
The Old Man pops open a Beck's, says, "Welp, Junior, the boogie-man scaring the Hell out of your mother and sister is me," haves a good laugh with him; Junior's a man now. A more scholastic example of such a male initiation ceremony is described at the bottom of this post. Very old story, very prevalent. But what's going on from the woman's perspective? What happens when Mom gets fed up? Or Sis? Most women throughout history probably did not want to be big-bosomed, kickass shield-maidens or sex-slaves or chess pieces. They actually probably now and again wanted peace and quiet and a thought or two put behind the actions of men. They may even never have abandoned seeking out a secluded place or two where they could get on with the business of culture: pass on their own knowledge to one another, sing among themselves, tell their stories, paint the walls, come up with inventions like the loom, the flute, the quern, the pot, other necessities of life...

This could be why deep in the recesses of caves you will find art on the walls and they, it has been discovered recently, were most likely made by women.

Of course this is all a gross oversimplification of actual history, but there's a gist to it, and what's more, and utterly fascinating is that there's evidence that women did precisely that--they hid out. It was common enough not to be an anomaly but rather something of a tradition--an accepted fact, and they were good at it.

Various types of past female utopias have been constructed by scholars like Gimbutas, Eisler, Stone, Mor, Sjoo, and Dashu--epochs, whole civilizations where and when "once somehow we got it right though now somehow we lost it," or so the refrain goes. Perhaps to some extent some cultures did grant more freedom and power to higher ranking women than the rest of the world at the time, especially the classical world--Greece, Rome, the Levant, which, you know, if you think about it, isn't really saying that much. We got a sky god swooping down as various animals and raping girls and as his punishment they get turned into stuff by his wife. See that little flower over there? Well there was this pretty little maid and the god Blah-Blah.... We teach these stories in our universities and call them high-brow.

I find them sick.

Anywhere these cultures have touched you're bound to dig up some pretty brutal misogyny, which is going on...still. Adoring his mother and revering the Virgin Mary appears to have done little to stop a man from beating "his" wife, which has been seen as his right, even his duty, to do, in some pockets of the world, still is. Up to the 17th century in Britain, you could even sell your wife. That is, if she survived childbirth, witch hunts, plague, and no washing machine. Until Catholicism and then the Restoration swept through Fennoscandia, those women did fare better than their southern sisters. Various shades of egalitarianism existed. The mere fact that Finnish women owned their own boats should cause anyone to just pause and consider: we're talking having your own wheels in the fifteenth century. That's big.

A map created by Olaus Magnus in 1539 shows a possible Kven settlement in northern Norway - Berkara Qvenap. Nearby is this couple.

If he was a world-class trader, perhaps she was a world-class administrator. Perhaps these were occupations as real as that of any Viking, but far more quiet, far less heard of, and curiously far less celebrated. The great epics of the North lands have as central themes wooing savvy, beautiful, not-easy-to-impress women of a different but indigenous tribe and going to such women for wisdom. She's everywhere in the tales and yet at the same time apart and inaccessible.

The Huldra as a professional escape artist is an ancient theme. She spans epochs and continents. She calls the shots, and if she can't, she disappears underground until she can. It's called survival. She's wily like that, which is why it's so hard to catch up with her. Even her name means hidden. Dylan Thomas speaks of "the force that through the green fuse drives the flower." She's that force and the green fuse her tool (read Tannhäuser, Eric of Pomerania, Dvergatals, leeks, or the Dønna stones...), and indeed, there was a whole following devoted to her, which to this day resists a precise name, so let's just say the Huldra (or if you're Finnish, Hiisi).

In Lore

The Huldra is a figure found in Scandinavian folklore, including Norwegian Swedish, and Sámi. In Norwegian, they are known as skogsfru, or skovfrue, meaning “Lady of the Forest”. In Swedish they are known as skogsra, “forest spirit” or Tallemaja, “pine tree Mary”. They are often referred to as Ulda in Sámi. Their male counterpart is known as a huldu, or huldrekarl in Norwegian.

Both the male huldrekarl, and female huldra, are forest and mountain dwelling creatures, that take the form of tall, very beautiful humans with long, flowing hair. Their backs are hollow, like a rotting tree trunk, and they often have animal-like tails. They may appear nude in their most basic form, or disguise themselves and hide among humans, masquerading as farm maidens. If a human manages to somehow see their back or tail, the spell is broken, and the human is no longer susceptible to the huldra or huldrekarl’s advances.

Tales of huldra and huldrekarl tell of them using their beautiful appearance, and seductive charm to lure young men and women back to their caves, or subterranean homes, where they may be kept a slaves, lovers, or worse - depending on the tale. Sometimes the humans are released, but are cursed with the constant temptation to return to their captor. Other tales describe them getting married to humans, losing their tails, and becoming human themselves - but retaining their magic.

Some huldra or huldrekarl are inherently deceptive, and evil, but many respond to the treatment they receive.

If treated kindly, they have been known to use their magic to help humans, and solve their problems. If treated unkindly, they can be hateful, and vengeful.

The Huldra, Hylda, Skogsrå or Skogfru (Forest wife/woman) as a dangerous seductress who lives in the forest is said to lure men down into endless cave systems, that they would not be able to find their way out from, or lure them into the forest in order to secure her freedom or sometimes to suck the life out of a man. One of her methods is to appear suddenly out of the rain and mist, friendly and enticing to the point that no man can resist her charm. She has a long cow's tail that she ties under her skirt in order to hide it from men.

If she can manage to get married in a church, her tail falls off and she becomes human. However, she also becomes very ugly. It is often said, however, that the young and beautiful Huldra is moody and dangerous, but when she becomes old and ugly, she also becomes gentle and caring to the man who made her Christian.

She has an aquatic counterpart called "havsfrun" or "Havsrå" (sea wife/woman) who is very similar to the Sirens Odysseus meets in The Odyssey.

In Iceland

Huldufólk (Icelandic hidden people from huldu- "pertaining to secrecy" and fólk "people", "folk") are elves in Icelandic folklore. Building projects in Iceland are sometimes altered to prevent damaging the rocks where they are believed to live. According to these Icelandic folk beliefs, one should never throw stones because of the possibility of hitting the huldufólk.

President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson has explained the existence of huldufólk tales by saying: "Icelanders are few in number, so in the old times we doubled our population with tales of elves and fairies."

They are also a part of folklore in the Faroe Islands. In Faroese folk tales, Huldufólk are said to be "large in build, their clothes are all grey, and their hair black. Their dwellings are in mounds, and they are also called Elves." They also dislike crosses, churches and electricity.

There are four Icelandic holidays considered to have a special connection with hidden people: New Year's Eve, Twelfth Night (January 6), Midsummer Night and Christmas night. Elf bonfires (álfabrennur) are a common part of the holiday festivities on Twelfth Night (January 6). There are many Icelandic folktales about elves and hidden people invading Icelandic farmhouses during Christmas and holding wild parties. It is customary in Iceland to clean the house before Christmas, and to leave food for the huldufólk on Christmas. On New Year's Eve, it is believed that the elves move to new locations, and Icelanders leave candles to help them find their way. On Midsummer Night, folklore states that if you sit at a crossroads, elves will attempt to seduce you with food and gifts; there are grave consequences for being seduced by their offers, but great rewards for resisting.

Michael Strmiska writes: "The Huldufólk are... not so much supernatural as ultranatural, representing not an overcoming of nature in the hope of a better deal beyond but a deep reverence for the land and the mysterious powers able to cause fertility or famine."

Anthropologist Jón Haukur Ingimundarson claimed that huldufólk tales told by 19th century Icelandic women were a reflection of how only 47% of women were married, and "sisters often found themselves relegated to very different functions and levels of status in society... the vast majority of Icelandic girls were shunted into supporting roles in the household." He goes on to say that these stories justified the differences in role and status between sisters, and "inculcated in young girls the... stoic adage never to despair, which was a psychological preparedness many would need as they found themselves reduced in status and denied the proper outlet for their sexuality in marriage, thereby sometimes having to rely on infanticide to take care of the unsolicited and insupportable effects of their occasional amours, an element... related in huldufólk stories."

In Nordic Names - excerpt from www.nordicnames.de

Old Norse

1) hulda = 'hiding, secrecy'
1) hylja = 'to hide, cover'
2) hollr = 'faithful, loyal, gracious'

Gothic

1) huljan = 'to hide, cover'
2) hulþ-s = 'lovely, faithful, reliable, loyal'
Old High German
1) hullen = 'to hide, cover'
2) hold = 'lovely, faithful, reliable, loyal'

Old Saxon

1) hullian = 'to hide, cover'
2) hold = 'lovely, faithful, reliable, loyal'

Old Frisian

1) hella = 'to hide, cover'
2) hold = 'lovely, faithful, reliable, loyal'

Old English

1) hyllan = 'to hide, cover'
2) hold = 'lovely, faithful, reliable, loyal'

Swedish

2) huld = 'lovely, delightful'

Related Names

See Hulda and Holtti

Combinations
Name
Element Example
BORG    see Huldeborg
DIS    see Hulddís
GUD    see Gotthold (German)
HER    see Huldar
JUL    see Júlíhuld
RAGN    see Reinhold (German)
RIK    see Huldrika
RUN   see Huldrún

First Element Forms

Huld- Hulde-

Last Element Forms

-hold -holdt -holt -holtti
-huld

References

Ferdinand Holthausen: Vergleichendes und Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altwestnordischen (1948)
Leiv Heggstad, Finn Hødnebø og Erik Simensen: Norrøn Ordbok (1997)
Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn (1979)
Elias Wessén: Våra ord (1997)
Kristoffer Kruken og Ola Stemshaug: Norsk Personnamnleksikon (1995)

Where, Specifically

Fertility cults were common throughout Europe in pre-Christian times, and Norway also still has signs of them.

Tacitus called them the Sitones. Adam von Bremen called them northern Amazons who resided in "The Land of Women." Scholars like to say there was a mix-up with the word "Kvenland," ancient scribes taking the name too literally as meaning women. But upon further study, the evidence mounts that, no, it's not a mistake or a flight of fancy. There really was a land of women, once extensive, and in later years shrinking, receding, getting more and more elusive, until it all but entered myth. The focal point of this land appears to have been Lofoten. Doggerland might have been included in the realm's range. Certainly Orkney and the Shetlands were, and other places in the British Isles. Indeed, the Huldra by various names were throughout Europe, for example, Great Britain's shell grotto of Margate. We don't know them on their own terms and may never know them on their own terms, though the Voynich manuscript should help, as well as studying the cradle of their belief systems, which may be found in the Perm and may also have been influenced by the Scythians.

Hell is a manuscript you can begin to read and yet remain baffled by what in creation they're doing.
Hell is also in Norway, a little north of Trondheim.

If ever you do go hiking deep in the wilderness and stumble across a grotto with lots of intricate, circular, reticulated patterning, sun-swirls, eight-pointed stars, cave entrances, streams flowing as if into and out of the rock, spoons, stone phalluses (scads of them), wittily-named gnomey dwarves carved to resemble that self-same adored shape, implements for spinning like distaffs and drop spindles, a quern motif, a little celebrated lizard or snake, a strange wee roly-poly/pangolin/water vole beastie that could be the Para, a shang-hai'ed musical young man who's a little pale from being kept inside a mountain and milked of his seed, little coracle-like vehicles that seem to fly with the lick of a broomstick, possibly the thunderous sound of water drumming, and you spot some naked women with head-dresses, long single braids down the back, chanting loud and nonlinear songs in a trochaic cadence, then welp, it's too late for you. You are among the Huldra.