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In Roger Zelazney's Creatures of Light and Darkness, he imagines the Egyptian Typhon, brother of Set, as a void that often takes the form of a stallion. He calls this entity "Skagganauk Abyss", which I always took to be a form of Ginnungagap, the primordial void of Norse mythology. This modern interpretation is resonant, so I'm wondering about its mythical roots.

  • What is the possible meaning of "Skagganauk"?

Was it purely invented, or does it come from somewhere?

DukeZhou
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1 Answers1

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As stated here: "Typhon appears as a black horse-shadow, without a horse to cast it. He contains within himself something called Skagganauk Abyss, which resembles a black hole, not a term in common use at the time"

So perhaps composed form Old Norse words with little regard for grammar:

  • skaði - death, harm
  • ganga - to go (into), to reside in
  • auka - increase, augment; add; exceed, surpass;

as in "the abyss, going into it exceeds death", which would be a very poetic description for a black hole.

Codosaur
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