The kraken is a legendary sea monster of enormous size, per its etymology something akin to a cephalopod, said to … See more

The English word "kraken" (in the sense of sea monster) derives from Norwegian kraken or krakjen, which are the definite forms of krake ("the krake").
According to a Norwegian dictionary, the root meani… See more

In Norwegian sailor folklore, kraken ("the krake" or "the crookie"), also known as horven (among others), is a legendary sea monster said to appear in the sea between Norway and Iceland.
It is said th… See more

The first description of the krake as "sciu-crak" was given by Italian writer Negri in Viaggio settentrionale (Padua, 1700), a travelogue about Scandinavia. The book describes the sciu-crak as a massive "fish" which was … See more

The krake (English: kraken) was described by Hans Egede in his Det gamle Grønlands nye perlustration (1729; Ger. t. 1730; tr. Description of Greenland, 1745), drawing from the fables of his native region, the Nordlanden… See more