Title
Wagner's title is most literally rendered in English as The Ring of the Nibelung. The Nibelung of the title is the dwarf Alberich, and the ring in question is the one he fashions from the Rhinegold. The title therefore denotes "Alberich's Ring". The "-en" suffix in "Nibelungen" can occur in either a genitive singular or a plural, though the article "des" preceding it makes clear that the singular is here intended: hence "Nibelungen" is occasionally mistaken as a plural, though the Ring of the Nibelungs (in German Der Ring der Nibelungen) is incorrect.
Read more about this topic: Der Ring Des Nibelungen
Famous quotes containing the word title:
“A familiar name cannot make a man less strange to me. It may be given to a savage who retains in secret his own wild title earned in the woods. We have a wild savage in us, and a savage name is perchance somewhere recorded as ours.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“That title of respect
Which the proud soul ne’er pays but to the proud.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“It is impossible to strive for the heroic life. The title of hero is bestowed by the survivors upon the fallen, who themselves know nothing of heroism.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)