Gjúki

King Geppich battles Hildebrand in Rosengarten zu Worms

Gjúki (also Gebicca, Gifica, Gibica, Gebicar, Gibicho or Gippich) was a figure of Germanic heroic legend.

The historical Gibica is listed as the ancestor of the kings of the Burgundians, along with Gundomar, Gislaharius, and Gundaharius, in the Lex Burgundionum (516 AD). While Gundaharius is attested in Roman sources, no other information about Gibica or Gundomar and Gislaharius is known and the Lex does not indicate how the kings are related. In later legend, Gibica becomes the father of the three subsequent kings.

He is mentioned in Widsith as Gifica and as Gjúki in the eddic poem Atlakviða, where he was the father of Gunnar (see Gunther). While the name Gibech is replaced with Dancrat in the Nibelungenlied, other German sources such as the Rosengarten zu Worms use this name for the father of the Burgundian kings.

In the Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson says that Gjúki was the father of sons Gunnar and Hogni and a daughter Gudrun. Gotthorm (slayer of Sigurd) is his stepson from his wife Grimhild's previous marriage.

The Prose Edda mentions Gudny, a second daughter of Gjúki and Grimhild. In the Gudrunarkvida, this second daughter is named Gullrond.

See also

• Völsunga saga
• Tribes of Widsith
• Rosengarten zu Worms

Works cited

• 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 978-0-19-815718-2.
• Nedoma, Robert; Anton, Hans H. (1998). "Gibichungen". In Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.). Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Vol. 12. New York/Berlin: de Gruyter. pp. 66–69.