Editing Dwarf (folklore) (section)

===Causing disease===
[[File:Lead middle Saxon lead plaque with runic inscription (FindID 751600) (cropped).jpg|thumbnail|250px|right|[[Near Fakenham plaque|Lead plaque found near Fakenham]], in [[Norfolk]], believed to be a charm against a dwarf]]
The term '{{lang|ang|dweorg}}' can be used in [[Old English]] texts to describe an illness; it is commonly used in medical texts derived from Greek or Latin sources, where it is used to gloss symptoms such as fever.{{sfn|Hines|2019|p=37}} The "Dictionary of Old English" divides the definition of {{langx|ang|dweorg}} into either "a dwarf or pygmy" or "a fever"; however, it has been argued that the distinction between the two meanings may not have been prevalent among [[Germanic peoples]] in the [[Early Middle Ages]], due to the close association between the beings and sickness in medicinal charms.{{sfn|Hall|2009|pp=206-207}}

The 8th century [[Ribe skull fragment]], found in [[Jutland]], bears an inscription that calls for help from three beings, including [[Odin]], against either one or two harmful dwarfs.{{sfn|Hall|2009|p=206}}{{sfn|Nordström|2021|pp=1,22}} The item's function has been compared to the [[Sigtuna amulet I]] and [[Canterbury charm]] that seek to drive away a "lord of [[Jötunn|þursar]]" that is causing an infection, the latter explicitly with the help of Thor.{{sfn|Hall|2009|pp=201,204}} A similar inscription dating between the 8th and 11th century is found on a [[Near Fakenham plaque|lead plaque discovered near Fakenham]] in [[Norfolk]], which reads "dead is dwarf" ({{langx|ang|dead is dwerg}}), and has been interpreted as another example of a written charm aiming to rid the ill person of the disease, identified as a dwarf.{{sfn|Hines|2019|pp=36-37}} The [[Lacnunga]] contains the [[Anglo-Saxon metrical charms|Anglo-Saxon charm]] {{lang|ang|Wið Dweorh}} XCIIIb (''[[Against a Dwarf]] XCIIIb'') that refers to a sickness as a {{lang|ang|dweorg}} that is riding the afflicted person like a horse, similar to the harmful ''[[Mare (folklore)|mare]]'' in the later [[folklore of the Germanic-speaking peoples]].{{sfn|Hall|2009|p=207}} Despite the Christian elements in the {{lang|ang|Wið Dweorh}} charms, such as the saints called upon for help, their foundations likely lie in a shared North-Sea Germanic tradition that includes inscribed runic charms such as those found in Ribe and Norfolk.{{sfn|Nordström|2021|p=21}}

The conception of diseases as being caused by projectiles from supernatural beings is widespread in Germanic folklore through time, such as in the phenomenon of [[elfshot]], in [[Wið færstice]], where they are thrown by [[elves]], [[Ēse]] and witches, and in the Canterbury charm in which an infection is caused by the 'wound-spear' ({{langx|non|sár-þvara}}) used by the "lord of þursar".{{sfn|elf-shot}}{{sfn|Hall|2009|p=214}} In the case of dwarfs, this association has continued in places into the modern period, such as in the [[Norweigian language|Norwegian]] words {{lang|no|dvergskot}} or {{lang|no|dvergskott}} which refer to an 'animal disease' and translate literally as '{{not a typo|dwarfshot}}'.{{sfn|Simek|2008|p=68}}{{sfn|dvergskott}}