{

TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY.
BY

JACOB GRIMM.% *

TRANSLATED FROM THE FOURTH EDITION

WITH

NOTES AND APPENDIX

BY

JAMES STEVEN STALLYBRASS.

VOL. I.

LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET,

COVENT GARDEN.
1882.
 TKANSLATOK S PKEFACE.

"

I THINK Scandinavian Paganism, to us here, is more interesting

than any other. is, one thing, the latest it continued in
It for ;

these regions of Europe till the eleventh century 800 years ago ;

the Norwegians were still worshippers of Odin. It is interesting

also as the creed of our fathers ;

the men whose blood still runs in
our veins, whom doubtless we still resemble in so many ways.
. . . There is another point of interest in these Scandinavian

mythologies, that they have been preserved so well." CARLYLE S

"

HERO-WORSHIP ".

What Mr. Carlyle says of the Scandinavian will of course apply

to all Teutonic tradition, so far as it can be recovered and it was ;

the task of Grimm in his Deutsche Mythologie to supplement the

Scandinavian mythology (of which, thanks to the Icelanders, we

happen to know most) with all that can be gleaned from other
High-Dutch and Low-Dutch, and build it up into a whole.
sources,
And indeed to prove that it was one connected whole for, strange ;

as it seems to us, forty years ago it was still considered necessary to

it.
prove
Grimm was perhaps the first man who commanded a wide
Jacob
enough view of the whole field of Teutonic languages and literature
to be able to bring into a focus the scattered facts which show the

prevalence of one system of thought among all the Teutonic nations

from Iceland to the Danube. In this he was materially aided by
his mastery of the true principles of Philology, which he was the
first to establish on a firm scientific basis, and which enabled him
to trace a word with certitude through the strangest disguises.
The Comparative Mythology of all nations has made great
strides since Grimm first wrote his book ;
but as a storehouse of facts
within his special province of Teutonic Mythology, and as a clue to
the derivation and significance of the Names of persons and things
vi Translator s Preface.

in the various versions of a myth, it has never been superseded

and perhaps it never can be. Not that he confines himself to the
Teutonic field he compares it at every point with the classical
;

mythus and the wide circle of Slavic, Lettic and occasionally of

Ugric, Celtic, and Oriental tradition. Still, among his Deutsch

kindred he is most at home ;

and Etymology is his forte. But then
etymology in his hands is transfigured from random guessing into
scientific fact.

There is no one to whom Folk-lore is more indebted than to

Grimm. Not
mention the loving care with which he hunted up
to

his Kinder und Haus-marchen from all over Germany, he delights

to detect in a nursery-tale and popular custom of to-day the
many
beliefs and habits of our forefathers thousands of years ago. It is

impossible at times to forbear a smile at the patriotic zeal with

which he hunts the trail of his German gods and heroes the glee ;

with which he bags a new goddess, elf, or swan-maid and his ;

indignation at any poaching Celt or Slav who has spirited away a

mythic being that was German born and bred :
"

Ye have taken
away my gods, and what have I more ?
"

The present translation of the Deutsche Mytlwlogie will, like the

last (fourth) edition of the original, be published in three volumes ;

the first two of which, and part of the third, will contain the trans
lation of Grimm s text, and the remainder of the third volume will

consist of his own Appendix and a Supplement.

The author s second and third editions (1844 and 1854) were
each published in 2 vols., accompanied by an APPENDIX consisting,

first, of a short treatise on the Anglo-Saxon Genealogies, and secondly,

of a large collection of the Superstitions of various Teutonic nations.

This Appendix will form a part of our Vol. III. After Grimm s
death his heirs entrusted to Prof. E. H. Meyer, of Berlin, the task
of bringing out a fourth edition, and including in it such additional

matter as the author had collected in his note-books for future use.
If Grimm had lived to finish his great Dictionary, which engrossed
1
the latter years of his life, he would, no doubt, have incorporated

1 He used to say, lie had a book ready to run out of each of his ten fingers,
but he was no longer free.
 Translator s Preface. vii

the pith of these later jottings in the text of his book, rejecting
much that was irrelevant or pleonastic. The German editor, not

feeling himself at liberty to select and reject, threw the whole of

this posthumous matter into his third volume (where it occupies
370 pages), merely arranging the items according to the order of
subjects in the book, and numbering each by the page which it
illustrates. This is the SUPPLEMENT so frequently referred to in
the book, under the form ("
see have already introduced
Suppl.").
I

a few extracts from it in the Foot-notes, especially where it appeared ;

to contradict, or materially to confirm, the author s opinion ex- \

pressed in the text. But in the present English edition it is intended

to digest this Supplement, selecting the most valuable parts, and
adding original articles by the editor himself and by other gentlemen
who have devoted special attention to individual branches or the
science of Folk-knowledge. A full classified Bibliography and an
accurate and detailed Index to the whole work will accompany the
book. It is hoped by this means to render the English Edition as

complete and serviceable as possible.

Grimm s Preface to the edition of 1844, giving a vigorous re
sume" of the book, and of the whole
subject, will, as in the German

accompany Vol. II. There is so much in it, which implies the

reader acquaintance with every part of the book, that I have
s felt

bound to keep it where I find it in the original.

The only additions or alterations I have ventured to make in

the text are the following :

1. The book bristles with quotations in various languages, for

the most part untranslated. An ordinary German reader might

find theOld and the Middle High German about as intelligible as
an ordinary Englishman does Anglo-Saxon and Chaucer respec
tively. But when it comes to making out a word or passage in
Old Norse, Greek, and even Slavic, I must suppose the author to
have written for a much more limited and learned public than that
which, I hope, will find this English edition sufficiently readable.
I have therefore translated a
great many words and sentences,
viii Translator s Preface.

where the and even the argument, of the paragraph de

interest,

pended on the reader s understanding the quotations. To have

translated all that is not English would have swelled the size of
the book too much. Apart from such translation, any additions of
my own are always placed in square brackets [ ], except a few
notes which bear the signature "

TRANS.".

For the sake of clearness, I have divided some of the chapters

2.

(XII. to XVI.) into smaller sections with headings of their own.

3. I have consulted the
English reader s convenience by sub
stituting the w and #?, which he is accustomed to see in Anglo-
Saxon words, for Grimm s v and d, aswseg instead of viig I ,

have also used the words Dutch, Mid. Dutch in a wider sense
comprehending all the Teutonic dialects of the Netherlands, instead
of coining the awkward adjective Netherlandish .

One word on the title of the book. Ought not "

Deutsche
"

Mythologie to be translated German, rather than Teutonic Myth

ology ? I am bound
admit that the author aimed at building
to

up a Deutsch mythology, as distinct from the Scandinavian, and

that he expressly disclaims the intention of giving a complete
account of the latter, because its fulness would have thrown the
more meagre remains of the Deutsch into the shade. At the same
time he necessarily draws so much upon the richer remains of the
Norse mythology, that forms quite a substantive portion of his
it

book, though not exhaustive as regards the Norse system itself.

But what does Grimm mean by Deutsch ? To translate it by
German would be at least as misleading in the other direction. It
would not amongst us be generally understood to include what he
expressly intends the Netherlands and England for
it to include ;

the English are simply a branch of the Low German race which

happened to cross the sea. I have therefore thought, that for the

English ear the more comprehensive title was truer to the facts on
the whole than the more limited one would have been.
 TO

Professor MAX MULLER, M.A., &c., &e.,

IS

EESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

BY PERMISSION.
.
J<ING
AND po., J^NTEf^S,
 CONTENTS.

VOL. I.

CHAPTER
I. Introduction . . .
*
;, . 112
II. God ... . . 1328
III. Worship . , 2965
....
.

IV. Temples . 6687

V. Priests . . . . . . . 8898
VI. Gods . 99130
VII. Wnotan, Wodan (OSinn) . . 131165
VIII. Donar, Thnnar (Thorr) .... 166192
IX. Zio, Tiw (Tyr) . . 193208
X. Fro (Freyr) (NiorSr) . . . 209219
220232
~"

XI. Balder, Phol Hadu Heremod Fosite .

XII. Other gods : Heimdall Brego Uogi For-

neote (Loki) Ssetere . . ... 233249
XIII. Goddesses Erda : Isis Holda, Berhta Hrede
Eastre Zisa Fricka Frua Folia . , 250315
XIV. Condition of gods . ; . . . . 316339
XV. Heroes .
.
. . 340395
XVI. Wise-women 396437
 CHAPTER T.

INTRODUCTION. 1
From the westernmost shore of Asia, Christianity had turned at
once to the opposite one of Europe. The wide soil of the continent
which had given it birth could not supply it long with nourish
ment; it strike deep root in the north of Africa.
neither did

Europe soon became, and remained, its proper dwelling-place and

home.
It is worthy of notice, that the direction in which the new faith
worked its way from South to North, is contrary to the current of
>

migration which was then driving the nations from the East and
North to the West and South. As spiritual light penetrated from
the one quarter, life itself was to be reinvigorated from the other,

1
In a book that deals so much with Heathenism, the meaning of the term
ought not to be passed over. The Greeks and Romans had no special name for
nations of another faith (for eYepoSooi, /3ap/3apoi were not used in that sense) ;

but with the Jews and Christians of the N.T. are contrasted edvos, fdvea,
cQviKoi, Lat. gentes, gentiles ; Ulphilas uses the pi. thiudos, and by preference in
the gen. after a pronoun, thai thiudo, sumai thiudo (gramm. 4, 441, 457), while
thiudiskus translates edviicws Gal. 2, 14. As it was mainly the Greek religion
that stood opposed to the Judaso-Christian, the word "EXXyv also assumed the
meaning edviKos, and we meet with lX\r)vtK)s = f6viKa)s, which the Goth would
still have rendered
thiudisJcds, as he does render "EXXr/i/es thiudds, John 7, 35.
1

^12,
20. 1 Cor. 1, 24. 12, 13 only in 1 Cor. 1, 22 he prefers Krekos. This
;

"EXX7;y=gentilis bears also the meaning of giant, which has developed itself
out of more than one national name (Hun, Avar, Tchudi) ;
so the Hellenic
walls came to be heathenish, gigantic (see ch. XVIII). In Old High German,
Notker still uses the pi. diete for gentiles (Graff 5, 128). In the meanwhile
pagus had expanded its narrow meaning of Kvp-r) into the wider one of ager,
campus, in which sense it still lives on in It. paese, Fr. pays ; while paganus
began to push out gentilis, which was lapsing into the sense of nobilis. All the
Romance languages have their pagano, pay en, &c., nay, it has penetrated into
Boh em. pohan, Pol. poganin, Lith. pac/onas [but Russ. pogan= unclean]. The
Gothic hdithi campus early developed an adj. hdithns agrestis, campestris
paganus (Ulph. in Mark 7, 26 renders eXXr/i/t y by hdithnd), the Old H.G. heida
an adj. heidan, Mid. H.G. and Dutch heide heiden, A.S. hseS hwftin, Engl. heath
heathen, Old Norse heiSi heiftinn ; Swed. and Dan. use hedning. The O.H.G
word retains its adj. nature, and forms its gen. pi. heidanero. Our present
heide, gen. heiden (for heiden, gen. heidens) is erroneous, but current ever since
Luther. Full confirmation is afforded by Mid. Lat. agrestis = paganus, e.g. in
the passage quoted in ch. IV from Vita S. and the wilde heiden in
Agili ;

our Heldenbuch is an evident

pleonasm (see Supplement).
2 INTRODUCTION.

The worn out empire of the Romans saw both its interior con
vulsed, and its frontier overstept. Yet, by the same mighty
doctrine which had just overthrown her ancient gods, subjugated
Eome was able to subdue her conquerors anew. By this means the
flood-tide of invasion was gradually checked, the newly converted
lands began to gather strength and to turn their arms against the
heathen left in their rear.

Slowly, step by step, Heathendom gave way to Christendom.

Five hundred years after Christ, but few nations of Europe believed
in him; after a thousand years the majority did, and those the
most important, yet not all (see Suppl.).
From Greece and Italy the Christian faith passed into Gaul first
of all, in the second and third centuries. About the year 300, or
soon after, we find here and there a Christian among the Germans
on the Rhine, especially the Alamanni and about the same time
;

among the Goths. The Goths were the first

1
or a little earlier
Teutonic people amongst whom Christianity gained a firm footing ;

this occurred in the course of the fourth century, the West-goths

leading the way and the East-goths following and after them the ;

Vandals, Gepidse and Rugii were converted. All these races held
by the Arian doctrine. The Burgundians in Gaul became Catholic
at the beginning of the century, then Arian under their
fifth

Visigoth rulers, and Catholic again at the commencement of the

sixth century, The Suevi in Spain wT ere at first Catholic, then
Arian (about 469), until in the sixth century they, with all the

West-goths, went over likewise to the Catholic church. Not till the
end of the fifth or the beginning of the sixth did Christianity win
the Franks, soon after that the Alamanni, and after them the

Langobardi. The Bavarians were converted in the seventh and

eighth centuries, the Frisians, Hessians and Thuringians in the

eighth, the Saxons about the ninth.

Christianity had early found entrance into Britain, but was
checked by the irruption of the heathen Anglo-Saxons. Towards
the close of the sixth and in the course of the seventh century, they
also went over to the new faith.
The Danes became Christians in the tenth century, the Norwe
gians at the beginning of the eleventh, the Swedes not completely

1
Waitz s Ulfila, p. 35.
 INTRODUCTION.

till the second half of the same century. About the same time
Christianity made its way to Iceland.
Of the Slavic nations the South Slavs were the first to adopt
the Christian faith: the Carentani, and under Heraclius (d. 640)
the Croatians, then, 150 years after the former, the Moravians in
the eighth and ninth centuries. Among the North Slavs, the
Obotritse in the ninth, Bohemians 1 and Poles in the tenth, Sorbs
in the eleventh,and Eussians at the end of the tenth.
Then the Hungarians at the beginning of the eleventh, Li-
vonians and Lettons in the twelfth, Esthonians and Finns in the
twelfth and thirteenth, Lithuanians not even till the commencement
of the fifteenth.
All these data are only to be taken as true in the main they ;

neither exclude some earlier conversions, nor a longer and later

adherence to heathenism in limited areas. Eemoteness and inde
pendence might protect the time-honoured religion of a tribe.

Apostates too would often attempt at least a partial reaction.

Christianity would sometimes lead captive the minds of the rich
and great, by whose example the common people were carried
away ;
sometimes it affected first the
poor and lowly.
When Chlodowig (Clovis) received baptism, and the Salian
Franks followed his lead, individuals out of all the Frankish tribes
had already set the example. Intercourse with Burgundians and
West-goths had inclined them to the Arian doctrine, while the
Catholic found adherents in other parts of Gaul. Here the two
came into collision. One sister of Chlodowig, Lanthild, had become
an Arian Christian before his conversion, the other, Albofled, had
remained a heathen the latter was now baptized with him, and
;

the former was also won over to the Catholic communion. 2 But
even in the sixth and seventh centuries heathenism was not yet
uprooted in certain districts of the Frankish kingdom. Neustria
Fourteen Bohemian princes baptized 845
1
see Palacky 1, 110.
;
The
Middle North-slavs Riaderi, Tolenzi, Kycini, Circipani still heathen in the
latter half of the llth century; see Helmold 1, 21. 23 (an. 1066). The
Rugians not till 1168 Helm. 2, 12. 13.
;
2
baptizata est Albofledis. . . . Lanthildis chrismata est, Greg. Tur. 2,
31. So among the Goths, chrismation is administered to Sigibert s wife Brune-
child (4, 27), and to Ingund s husband Herminichild (5, 38, who assumes the
new name of Joannes. The Arians appear to have re-baptized converts from
Catholicism Ingund herself was compelled by her grandmother-mother in
;

law Goisuintha ut rebaptizaretur Rebaptizare katholicos, Eugippii vita

.

Severini, cap. 8.
4 INTRODUCTION.

had heathen inhabitants on the Loire and Seine, Burgundy in the

Vosges, Austrasia in the Ardennes and heathens seem still to
;

have been living in the present Flanders, especially northwards

towards Friesland. 1 Vestiges of heathenism lingered on among the
Frisians into the ninth century, among the Saxons into the tenth,
and in like manner among the Normans and Swedes into the
eleventh and twelfth. 2 Here and there among the northern Slavs
idolatry was not extinct in the twelfth century, and not universally
so among the Finns and Lithuanians in the sixteenth and seven
teenth 3 nay, the remotest Laplanders cling to it still.
;

Christianity was not popular. It came from abroad, it aimed at

supplanting the time-honoured indigenous gods whom the country
revered and loved. These gods and their worship were part and
parcel of the people s traditions, customs and constitution. Their
names had their roots in the people s language, and were hallowed

by antiquity ; kings and princes traced their lineage back to

individual gods forests, mountains, lakes had received a living
;

consecration from their presence. All this the people was now to
renounce ; and what is elsewhere commended as truth and loyalty
was denounced and persecuted by the heralds of the new faith as a
sin and a crime. The source and seat of all sacred lore was
shifted away to far-off regions for ever, and only a fainter borrowed

glory could henceforth be shed on places in one s native land.

The new faith came in escorted by a foreign language, which
the missionaries imparted to their disciples and thus exalted into a
sacred language, which excluded the slighted mother-tongue from
almost all share in public worship. This does not apply to the
Greek-speaking countries, which could follow the original text of
the Christian revelation, but it does to the far wider area over
which the Latin church-language was spread, even among
Eomance populations, whose ordinary dialect was rapidly emanci
pating itself from the rules of ancient Latin. Still more violent

was the contrast in the remaining kingdoms.

The converters of the heathen, sternly devout, abstemious,
mortifying the flesh, occasionally peddling, headstrong, and in
1
Authorities given in Ch. IV. Conf. lex Frisionum, ed. Gaupp, p. xxiv,
19, 47. Heathenism lasted the longest between Lauhuch and the Weser.
a
Fornmanna sogur 4, 116. 7, 151.
3
Wedekind s notes 2, 275, 276. Rhesa dainos, p. 333. The Lithuanians
proper converted 1387, the Samogits 1413.
 INTRODUCTION. 5

Eome, could not fail in many ways to

slavish subjection to distant
offend the national feeling. Not only the rude bloody sacrifices,
but the sensuous pleasure-loving side of heathenism was to them
an abomination (see Suppl.). And what their words or their
wonder-working gifts could not effect, was often to be executed
against obdurate pagans by placing fire and sword in the hands of
Christian proselytes.
The triumph of Christianity was that of a mild, simple, spiritual

doctrine over sensuous, cruel, barbarizing Paganism. In exchange

for peace of spirit and the promise of heaven, a man gave his
earthly joys and the memory of his ancestors. Many followed the
inner prompting of their spirit, others the example of the crowd,
and not a few the pressure of irresistible force.
Although expiring heathenism is studiously thrown into the
shade by the narrators, there breaks out at times a touching
lament over the loss of the ancient gods, or an excusable protest
1
against innovations imposed from without (see Suppl.).
The missionaries did not disdain to work upon the senses of the
heathen by anything that could impart a higher dignity to the
Christian cultus as compared with the pagan by white robes for :

subjects of baptism, by curtains, peals of bells (see Suppl.), the

lighting of tapers and the burning of incense. 2
was also a wise It
or politic measure to preserve many heathen sites and temples by

simply turning them, when suitable, into Christian ones, and

assigning to them another and equally sacred meaning. The
heathen gods even, though represented as feeble in comparison with
the true God, were not always pictured as powerless in themselves ;

they were perverted into hostile malignant powers, into demons,

sorcerers and giants, who had
put down, but were never
to be
theless credited with a certain mischievous activity and influence.
Here and there a heathen tradition or a superstitious custom lived
on by merely changing the names, and applying to Christ, Mary
and the saints what had formerly been related and believed of idols
(see Suppl.). On the other hand, the piety of Christian priests
suppressed and destroyed a multitude of heathen monuments,
poems and beliefs, whose annihilation history can hardly cease to
1
Fornmanna sogur 1, 31-35. Laxdoela, p. 170. Kralodworsky rukopis,
72.74.
2
Greg. Tur. 2, 31. Fornm. sog. 1, 260. 2, 2QO.
 INTRODUCTION.

lament, though the sentiment which deprived us of them is not to

be blamed. The practice of a pure Christianity, the extinction of
all trace of heathenism was of infinitely more concern than the
advantage that might some day accrue to history from their longer
preservation. Boniface and Willibrord, in felling the sacred oak,
in polluting the sacred spring, and the
image-breaking Calvinists
long after them, thought only of the idolatry that was practised by
such means (see Suppl.). As those pioneers purged their floor a
first time, it is not to be denied that the Pieformation eradicated

aftergrowths of heathenism, and loosing the burden of the Romish

ban, rendered our faith at once freer, more inward and more
domestic. God is near us everywhere, and consecrates for us every
country, from which the fixing of our gaze beyond the Alps would
alienate us.

Probably some sects and parties, non-conformity here and there

among the heathen themselves, nay, in individual minds a precoci
ous elevation of sentiment and morals, came half-way to meet
the introduction of Christianity, as afterwards its purification

(see Suppl.). remarkable that Old Norse legend occasionally

It is

mentions certain men who, turning away in utter disgust and doubt
from the heathen faith, placed their reliance on their own strength
and virtue. Thus in the Solar Iio5 17 we read of Vebogi and
Eadey a sik ]?au truftu, in themselves they trusted ;
of king Hakon
(Fornm. sog. 1, 35) konungr gerir sem allir aftrir, ]?eir sem trua a
matt sinn ok megin, the king does like all others who trust in their
own might and main of BarSr (ibid. 2, 151) ek trui ekki a skurSgoS
;

eSr fiandr, hefi ek )?vi lengi truat a matt minn ok megin, I trust not
in idols and fiends, I have this long while, &c. ;
of Hiorleifr
*
vildi
aldri biota, would never sacrifice
(Landn. 1, 5.7) and ;
of Hallr
Thorir goolaus^s vildu eigi biota, ok truSu a matt sinn (Landn. 1,
11) of king Hrolfr (Fornm. sog. 1, 98) ekki er J^ess getit at Hrolfr
;.

konungr ok kappar hans hafi nokkurn tima blotat go5, heldr truftu
& matt sinn ok megin, it is not thought that king H. and his cham
pions have at any time, &c.; of Orvaroddr (Fornald. sog. 2, 165 cf. ;

505) ekki vandist blotum, J?vi hann trufti a matt sinn ok megin ;

of Finnbogi (p. 272) ek trui a sialfan mik. This is the mood that
still finds utterance in a Danish folk-song (D.V. 4, 27), though

without a reference to religion :

 INTRODUCTION. 7

Forst troer jeg mit gode svard.

Og saa min gode hest,

Dernast troer jeg mine dannesvenne,
Jeg troer mig self allerbedst ;

and it is Christian sentiment besides, which strives to elevate and

consecrate the inner man (see Suppl.).
We may assume, that, even if Paganism could have lived and
luxuriated a while longer, and brought out in sharper relief and
more spontaneously some characteristics of the nations that obeyed
it, yet it bore
within itself a germ of disorganisation and disrup
of Christian teaching,
tion, which, even without the intervention
1
would have shattered and dissolved it. I liken heathenism to a

strange plant whose brilliant fragrant

blossom we regard with
wonder Christianity
;
to the crop of nourishing grain that covers
wide expanses. To the heathen too was germinating the true God,
who to the Christians had matured into fruit.
the time when Christianity began to press forward, many of
At
the heathen seem to have entertained the notion, which the mis
sionaries did all in their power to resist, of combining the new
doctrine with their ancient faith, and even of fusing them into one.

Of Norsemen as well as of Anglo-Saxons we are told, that some

believed at the same time in Christ and in heathen gods, or at least
continued to invoke the latter in particular cases in which they

1
Old Norse sagas and songs have remarkable passages in which the gods
are coarsely derided. A
good deal in Lokasenna and Harbard s song may
holiest things unshaken (see
pass for rough joking, which still leaves the
Suppl.). But faith has certainly grown fainter, when a daring poet can com
pare Ooinn and Freyja to dogs (Fornm. sog. 2, 207. Islend. sog. 1,
11. ed. nov.
372. Nialss. 160) ;
when another the gods rangeyg (squint-eyed, unfair)
calls
and rokindusta (Fornm. sog. 2, 154). When we come
to Freyr, I shall quote a
for him but here is a pas
story manifestly tending to lessen the reverence ;

sage from Oswald 2913 din got der ist ein junger tor (fool), ich wil glouben
:
*

an den alten. If we had a list of old and favourite dogs -names, I believe we
should find that the designations of several deities were bestowed upon the
brute by way of degradation. Vilk. saga, cap. 230. 235, has handed down
Thor (but cf. ed. nov., cap. 263) and Paron, one being the 0.1ST., the other the
Slav name in the Slovak form Parom = Perun ch. VIII. With the Saxon
herdsmen or hunters Thunar was doubtless in use for dogs, as perhaps Donner
is to this day. One sort of dog is called by the Poles Grzmilas (Linde 1, 7<i9a.

2, 798), by the Bohemians Hrmiles (Jimgm. 1, 759)

= Thunder, Forest-thunder.
In Helbling 4, 441 seq. I find a dog WunscHi (not Wiinsch). Similar to this is
the transference of national names to dogs the Bohemian BodroJc is a dog s
:

name, but signifies an Obotrite (Jungm. 1, 150) Sclmr in the Nialssaga seems
;

to mean a Same, Sabme = Lapp Helbling 4, 458 has a Frank (see Suppl.).
;
8 INTRODUCTION.

had formerly proved helpful to them. So even by Christians much

later, the old deities seem to have been named and their aid
invoked in enchantments and spells. Landnfimabok 3, 12 says of
Helgi : hann truSi a Krist, en Ipo het hann a Thor til scefara ok
harSrsefta ok alls J?ess, er honum Ipotti mestu varoY he believed in
;

Christ, and yet he called upon Thor in voyages and difficulties,

&c. Hence the poets too transferred heathen epithets to Christ.
Beda 1, 15 relates of Redwald, an East- Anglian king in the begin-
ing of the 7th century rediens domum ab uxore sua, a quibusdam
:

perversis doctoribus seductus est, atque a sinceritate fidei depravatus,

habuit posteriora pejora prioribus, ita ut in morem antiquorum
Samaritanorum, et Christo servire videretur et diis quibus antea
serviebat, atque in eodem fano et altare habebat in sacrificium
Christi et arulam ad victimas daemoniorum (see Suppl.). This
helps to explain the relapses into paganism.
The history of heathen doctrines and ideas is easier to write,
according as particular races remained longer outside the pale of
baptism. Our more intimate acquaintance with the Greek and
Roman religion rests upon writings which existed before the rise of

Christianity; we are oftener at fault for information as to the

altered shape which that religion had assumed among the common
people in Greece and Italy during the first centuries of our era.
Eesearch has yet to penetrate, even deeper than it has done, into
the old Celtic faith we must not shrink from recognizing and ex
;

amining Celtic monuments and customs on ground now occupied

by Germans. Leo s important discovery on the real bearings of the
Malberg glossary may lead to much. The religion of the Slavs and
Lithuanians would be far more accurately known to us, if . these
nations, in the centuries immediately following their conversion,
had more carefully preserved the memory of their antiquities; as it
is, much scattered detail only wants collecting, and traditions still

alive in many districts afford rich material. On the Finnish

mythology we possess somewhat fuller information.
Germany holds a middle place, peculiar to herself and not un
favourable. While the conversion of Gaul and that of Slavland
were each as a whole decided and finished in the course of a very
few centuries, the Teutonic races forsook the faith of their fathers
very gradually and slowly, from the 4th to the llth century.
Eemains of their language too have been preserved more fully and
 INTRODUCTION . 9

from the successive periods. Besides which we possess in the

works of Eoman writers, and especially Tacitus, accounts of the
earlier undisturbed time of Teutonic heathenism, which, though

scanty and from a foreign source, are yet exceedingly important,

nay invaluable.
The religion of the East and South German races, which were
converted first, is more obscure to us than that of the Saxons ;

about the Saxons again we know incomparably less than about the
Scandinavians. What a far different insight we should get into the
character and contents of the suppressed doctrine, how vastly the

picture we are able to form of it would gain in clearness, if some

clerk atFulda, Eegensburg, Eeichenau or St. Gall, or one at
Bremen, Corvei or Magdeburg, had in the eighth, ninth or tenth

century, hit upon the plan of collecting and setting before us, after
the manner Saxo Grammaticus, the still extant traditions of his
of
tribe on the beliefs and superstitions of their forefathers Let no !

one tell me, that by that time there was nothing more to be had ;

here and there a footmark plainly shows that such recollections

could not really have died out. 1 And who will show me in Sweden,
which clung to heathenism longer and more tenaciously, such a

composition as actually appeared in Denmark during the twelfth

century ? But for this fact, would not the doubters declare such a
thing impossible in Sweden ? In truth, the first eight books of
Saxo are to me the most welcome monument of the Norse mytho
logy, not only for their intrinsic worth, but because they
show in
what an altered light the ancient faith of the people had to be
placed before the recent converts. I especially remark, that Saxo

suppresses all mention of some prominent gods ;

what right have
we then to infer from the non-mention of many deities in the far
scantier records of inland Germany, that they had never been heard
of there ?

Then, apart from Saxo, we find a purer authority for the Norse
religion preserved for us in the remotest -corner of the North,
whither it had fled as it were for more namely, in
perfect safety,
Iceland. It is preserved not only in the two Eddas, but in a
multitude of Sagas of various shape, which, but for that emigration

1 As
late as the tenth century the heroic tale of Walther and Hildegund was
poetized in Latin at St. Gall, and a relic of heathen poetry was written
down in
German [deutlich, a misprint for deutsch ?], probably at Merseburg.
10 INTRODUCTION.

coming to the rescue, would probably have perished in Norway,

Sweden and Denmark.
To genuineness of the Norse mythology is as much as
assail the

to cast doubt on the genuineness and independence of the Norse

language. That it has been handed down to us both in a clearer
and an obscurer shape, through older and more modern authorities,
makes it all the easier to study it from many sides and more
historically.
Just as little can we fail to perceive the kinship and close con
nexion of the Norse mythology with the rest of Teutonic mythology.
I have undertaken to collect and set forth all that ca.n now be

known of German heathenism, and that exclusively of the complete

system of Norse mythology. By such limitation I hope to gain

clearness and space, and to sharpen our vision for a criticism of
the Old German faith, so far as it stands opposed to the Norse, or
aloof from it ;
so that we need only concern ourselves with the
latter, where in substance or tendency it coincides with that of
inland Germany.
The and affinity of the German and Norse
antiquity, originality
mythologies rest on the following grounds :

1. The undisputed and very close affinity of speech between the

two races, and the now irrefutably demonstrated identity of form

in their oldest poetry. It is impossible that nations speaking

languages which had sprung from the same stock, whose songs all
wore the badge of an alliteration either unknown or quite differently
applied by their neighbours, should have differed materially in their
religious belief. Alliteration seems to give place to Christian

rhyme, first in Upper Germany, and then in Saxony, precisely

because had been the characteristic of heathen songs then still
it

existing. Without prejudice to their original affinity, it is quite

true that the German and the Norse dialects and poetries have
their peculiarities of form and finish but it would seem incredible
;

that the one race should have had gods and the other none, or that
the chief divinities of the two should have been really different
from one another. There were marked differences no doubt, but
not otherwise than in their language and as the Gothic, Anglo-
;

Saxon and Old High German dialects have their several points of
superiority over the Old Norse, so may the faith of inland Germany
have in many points its claims to distinction and individuality.
 INTRODUCTION. 11

2. The joint possession, by all Teutonic tongues, of many terms

relating to religious worship. are able to produce a word
If we
used by the Goths in the 4th century, by the Alamanni in the
8th, in exactly the same form and sense as it continues to bear in
the Norse authorities of the 12th or 13th century, the affinity of
the German faith with the Norse, and the antiquity of the latter,
are thereby vindicated.
3. The identity of mythic notions and nomenclature, which

ever and anon breaks out thus the agreement of the O.H.G.
:

muspilli, 0. Sax. mudspelli, with the Eddie muspell, of the O.H.G.

itis, A. Sax. ides, with the Eddie dis, or of the A. Sax. brosinga mene
with the Eddie brisinga men, affords perfectly conclusive evidence.
4. The precisely similar way in which both there and here the

religious mythus tacks itself on to the heroic legend. As the

Gothic, Frankish and Norse genealogies all run into one another,
we can scarcely deny the connexion of the veiled myths also which
stand in the background.
5. The
mingling of the mythic element with names of plants
and constellations. This is an uneffaced vestige of the primeval
intimate union between religious worship and nature.
6. The gradual transformation of the gods into devils, of the
wise women into witches, of the worship into superstitious customs.
The names of the gods have found a last lurking-place in disguised
1
ejaculations, oaths, curses, protestations. is some analogy There
between this and the transfer of heathen myths from goddesses
and gods to Mary and the saints, from elves to angels. Heathen
festivals and customs were transformed into Christian, spots which
heathenism had "already consecrated were sometimes retained for
churches and courts of justice. The popular religion of the Catho
lics,particularly in the adoration of saints, includes a good many
and often graceful and pleasing relics of paganism (see Suppl.).
7. The evident deposit from god-myths, which is found to this

day in various folk-tales, nursery-tales, games, saws, curses, ill-

understood names of days and months, and idiomatic phrases.
8. The undeniable intermixture of the old
religious doctrine
with the system of law ;
for the latter, even after the adoption of

1
Conf. our dormer hammer
! the Serv. ! lele ! lado ! the Lat. pol !

aedepol ! me hercle nie castor mediustidius, &c.

! !
12 INTRODUCTION.

the new faith, would not part with certain old forms and
usages
(see JSuppl.).
In unravelling these complex relations, it
appears indispensable
not to overlook the mythologies of
neighbouring nations, especially
of the Celts, Slavs, Lithuanians and Finns, wherever they afford
confirmation or elucidation. This extension of our scope would
find ample reason and mere contact (so fruitful
justification in the
in many ways) of the languages of those nationalities with Teu
tonic ones, particularly ofthe Celtic with Old Frankish, of the
Finnish and Lithuanian with Gothic, and of the Slavic with
High
German. But also the myths and superstitions of these very
nations are peculiarly adapted to throw light on the course taken

by our domestic heathenism in its duration and decadence.

Against the error which has so frequently done damage to the
study of the Norse and Greek mythologies, I mean the mania of
foisting metaphysical or astronomical solutions on but half-dis
covered historical data, I am sufficiently guarded by the
incomplete
ness and loose connexion of all that has been preserved. My object
is, faithfully and simply to collect what the distortions early
introduced by the nations themselves, and afterwards the scorn and
aversion of Christians have left remaining of heathenism and to ;

enlist fellow-labourers in the slow task of securing a more solid

store of facts, without which a general view of the substance and
worth of our mythology is not to be attained (see Suppl.).
 CHAPTER II.

GOD.

In all Teutonic tongues the Supreme Being has always with

one consent been called by the general name God. The dialectic
varieties are Goth, guff, A.S., O.S., 0. Fris. god, O.H.G. cot, 0.
:

Norse goff ; Swed. Dan. gud, M.H.G. got,

M.L.G. god and here ;

there is a grammatical remark to make. Though all the dialects,

even the Norse, use the word as masculine (hence in O.H.G. the ace.
sing, cotan ;
I do not know of a M.H.G. goten), yet in Gothic and
0. Norse it lacks the nom. sing, termination
(-s, -r) of a masc. noun,
and the Gothic gen. sing, is formed guffs without the connecting-
vowel i, agreeing therein with the three irreg. genitives mans,
fadrs, broSrs. Now, as O.H.G. has the same three genitives irreg.,
man, fatar, pruodar, we should have expected the gen. cot to bear
them company, and I do not doubt its having existed, though I
have nowhere met with it, only with the reg. cotes, as indeed
mannes and fateres also occur. It is more likely that the sanctity
of the name had preserved the oldest form inviolate, than that fre
1
quent use had worn it down. The same reason preserved the
O.H.G. spelling cot (Gramm. 1, 180), the M. Dut. god (1, 486), and
2
perhaps the Lat. vocative deus (1, 1071). Moreover, God and
other names of divine beings reject every article (4, 383. 394. 404.
424. 432) they are too firmly established as proper nouns to
;

need any such distinction. The der got in MS. 2, 260a. is said of a
heathen deity.
On the radical meaning of the word God we have not yet
3
it is not
arrived at certainty ; immediately connected with the adj.
1
The drift of these remarks seems to be this The word, though used as a
:

masc., has a neut. form ; is this an archaism, pointing to a time when the
word was really neuter ; or a mere irregularity due to abtrition, the word
having always been masc. ? TRANS.
2
Saxo does not inflect Thor Uhland p. 198.
;
3
The Slav, bogh is connected with the Sanskr. bhaga felicitas, bhakta
devotus, and bhaj colere perhaps also with the obscure bahts in the Goth,
;

andbahts minister, cultor conf. p. 20, note on boghat, dives. Of 6e6s, deus
;

we shall have to speak in ch. IX.

14 GOD.

good, Goth, gods, O.N, go or, A.S. god, O.H.G. cuot, M.H.G., guot, as
the difference of vowel shows ; we should first have to show an
intermediacy of the gradations gida gad, and gada god, whicli
does take place in some other cases and certainly God is called the ;

Good. 1 removed from the national name of the

It is still farther

Goths, who called themselves Gutans (O.H.G. Kuzun, O.N. Gotar),

and who must be distinguished from Gautar (A. S. Geatas, 0.~N".

O.H.G. Koza Goth. Gautos ?).;

The word God has long been compared with the Pers. Klwdd
(Bopp, comp. gram., p. 35). If the latter be, as has been supposed,

a violent contraction of the Zend qvadata (a se datus, increatus,

r
Sanskr. svadata, conf. Devadatta eoSoro?, Mitradatta .EDu<$SoT09,
word must have been originally a com
Sridatta), then our Teutonic
pound, and one with a very apt meaning, as the Servians also
address God as samozazdani bozhe ! self-created God ;
Vuk 741.
The O.H.G. cot forms the first half of many proper names, as
Cotadio, Cotascalh, Cotafrit, Cotahram, Cotakisal, Cotaperaht,
Cotalint, but not so that we can infer anything as to its meaning .

they are formed like Irmandio, Hiltiscalh, Sikufrit, and may just as
well carry the general notion of the Divine Being as a more definite
one. When cot forms the last syllable, the compound can only
stand for a god, not a man, as in Irmincot, Hellicot.
In derivatives Ulphilas exchanges the TH for a D, which ex
plains the tenuis in O.H.G. thus guda-faurhts (god-fearing) Luke
;

2, 25,gagudei (godliness) Tit. 1, 1 though the dat. sing, is invari ;

2
ably guSa. Likewise in speaking of many gods, which to Christians
would mean idols, he spells guda, using it as a neuter, John 10,
34-5. The A.S. god has a neut. meant pi. godu, when idols are

(cod. exon. 250,2. 254,9. 278,16.). In like manner the O.H.G. and
M.H.G. compound apcot, aptcot (false god) is commonly neuter, and
forms its pi. apcotir whether the M.H.G. dcr aptgot in Geo.
;

3254. 3302 can be correct, is questionable ;

we have taken to

1
ovdels dyatibs
fl M
efj 6 6(6s, Mark 10, 18, Luke 18, 19, which in Gothic
is rendered hvashun ]mu5eigs alja ains GuS but in A.S, nis nan man
ni ,

god buton God ana God is the giver of all good, and himself the highest
.

good, summum bonum. Thus Plato names him TO dyadov.

2
In Gothic the rule is to change TH into D before a vowel in inflection,
as, faSs, fadis, fada, faG ; haubio, -dis, -da, -5. The peculiarity of gut) is
that it retains TH
throughout the sing., giu5, guSs, guSa, guG ; though in pi.
and in derivatives it falls under rule again. TEANS.
 GOD. 15

our pi. goiter itself

using algott as a masc. throughout, yet
can only be as originally neuter, since the true God is
explained
one, and can have no plural and the O.H.G. cota,;
M.H.G. gote
contain so far a contradiction. In Ulph. afguds is only an adj., and
denotes impius Sk. 44, 22 ; afgudei impietas, Rom. 11, 26 ;
et%w\a
he translates by galiuga (figmenta), 1 Cor. 5, 10. 10, 20. 28, or by
galiugaguda, 1 Cor. 10, 20
and eiv\eiov by galiug sta^s, 1 Cor.
;

8, 10. Another KH.G. expression gotze I have discussed, Gramm.

3, 694 Luther has in Deut. 12, 3 die gotzen ihrer goiter, making
;

1
gotze =idolum.
In Er. Alberus fab. 23, the gotz is a demigod (see
Suppl.). The O.K language distinguished the neut. goff idolum
1

from the masc. guff deus. Snorri 119 says of Sif it harfagra goo ,

the fail-haired god I do not know if a heathen would have said it.
;

In curses and exclamations, our people, from fear of desecrating

the nameof God, resort to some alteration of it?potz wetter!

tausend or, kotz tausend kotz wunder instead of Gottes

! ! ;
potz !

but I cannot trace the custom back to our ancient speech. The
similar change of the Fr. dieu into lieu, lieu, guieu* seems to be
older (see Suppl.).
Some remarkable uses of the wordGod in our older speech and
that of the common people jnay also have a connexion with
heathen notions.
Thus it is thrown in, as it were, to intensify a personal pronoun

(see Suppl.).
Poems in M.H.G. have, by way of giving a hearty

welcome :
gote unde mir willekomen ;
Trist. 504. Frib. Trist. 497.

1
Writers of the 16- 17th centuries use olgotze for statue (Stieler says, from
an allegorical representation of the apostles asleep on the Mount of Olives,
61 = oil). Hans Sachs frequently has den olgotzen tragen for doing house
d
drudgery, I. 5, 418 528
d III. 3, 24a 49 d
. IV. 3, 37 b 99 a The O.H.G. coz,
. .

simpuvium Nuniae (Juvenal 6, 343), which Graff 4, 154 would identify with
gotze, was a vessel, and belongs
to giozan=fundere.
2 Such a fear
may arise from two causes a holy name must not be abused,
:

or an unholy dreaded name, e.g., that of the devil, has to be softened down by
modifying its form see Chap. XXXIII, how the people call formidable animals
;

by another name, and for Doimer prefer to say donnerwetter (Dan. tordenveir
for Thursday), donnerwettstein (wetterstein or wetzstein ?), donnerkeil, donner-
wasche, dummer. In Fornm. sog. 10, 283 we have Oddiner for OSinn ; per
haps Wuotansheer (Woden s host) was purposely changed into Mutesheer ;
whether Phol into Falant, is worth considering.
Sangbieu (sang de Dieu), corbieu (corps de D.) vertubleu (vertu de D.),
3

morbleu (mort de D.), parbleu (par D.), vertuguieu, vertugoi (vertu de D.),
morguoi (mort de D.), &c. As early as Renart 18177, por la char bieu. So
the Engl. cock s bones, od s bones, od s wounds, zounds, &c. Conf. Weber
metr. rom. 3, 284.
16 GOD.

gote suit ir iurem lande uncle mir (ye sliall be

willekomen sin,
welcome God, your country, and me) Trist. 5186. got alrest,
to ;

dar ntich mir, west willekomen Parz. 305, 27. wis willekomen ;

mir und got ;

Frauend. 128, 13. sit mir gote wilkomen 1 ;
Eilh.
Trist. wilkomen mir Dietr. 5200.
248. rente got Nu sit ouch ;

mir wilkomen Dietr. 5803. sit willekomen got und oueli mir
got ; ;

Dietr. 4619. nu wis mir got wilkomen; Oswalt 208. 406. 1163.
1268. 1393. 2189. du solt groz willekomen sin dem riclien got
unde mir Lanz. 1082. wis mir unde ouch got wilkomen; Ls. 1,
;

514. Occasionally gote stands alone diu naht si gote willekomen :

;

Iw. 7400, explained in the note, p. 413, as devoted to God, though

it only means to-night be (thou) welcome Upper Germany has .

to this day retained the greeting gottwilche, gottwillkein, gotti-

kum, skolkuom (Staid. 1, 467. Schm. 2, 84). I do not find it in
Romance poems but the Saxon-Latin song of the 10th century
;

on Otto I. and his brother Heinrich has sid wilicomo bethiu goda :

ende mi. The Supreme Being conceived as omnipresent, and is

is

expected, as much as the host himself, to take the new-comer under

his protection ;
so the Sloveny say to the arriving guest bSgh te

vsprimi, God receive you

2
and we to the parting guest God
!

guide, keep, bless you ! We

call it commending or committing
one to God, M.H.G. gote ergeben, Er. 3598. I compare with these
the Hail ! called out to one who arrives or departs (heill ver J?u !

a b
Seem. 67 86 ), with which are also associated the names of helpful
gods heill J?u
:
farir, heill J?u dsyniom ser fare thou well, be thou !

a
well by (the aid of) the Asynior; Ssem. 31 . heill scaltu Agnarr,
allz J?ic heilan biftr vera t$r vera Ssem. 40. !

In the same way the name of the omniscient God emphasizes

an assurance of knowledge or ignorance daz weiz got unde ick :
;

Trist. den schatz weiz nu nieman wan (except) got unde

4151.
3
min; Nib. 2308, 3. This comfortable combination of /with God
has for its counterpart the opprobrious one of a thou with devil, ch.
XXXIII. Here too the got alone is enough ingen vet min sorg :

utan gud; Svenska visor 2, 7. That we are fully justified in

a The omission of and between the two datives is archaic, conf. Zeitschr.
f. d. a. 2, 190.

Buge waz primi, gralva Venus! Frauend. 192, 20 ; conf. 177, 14.
2

hie hcert uns anders nieman dan got unde diu waltvogellin ; Ecke 96.
3

niemen bevinde daz wan er und ich und ein kleinez vogellin, das mac wol
getriuwe sin ; Walth. 40, 15. Birds play the spy on men s privacy.
 GOD. 17

referring thesemodes of speech so far back as to the heathen time,

is shown by a remarkable passage in Fornald. sog. 1, 380 ek hugSa :

engan kunna nema mik ok O&inn. By secrets which none can

know save OSinn and to whomsoever he has whispered them, his
b b
divinity is at once revealed, Stem. 38 95 Fornald. sog. 1, 487. Not a>

, ,

quite parallel are phrases such as daz geloube gote unde : mir ;

Amis 989. in unde gote von himile klage ich unser leit ;
Nib.
1889, 3. ik klage gode unde m; Eichtsteig landr. 11. 16. 37. sane
diemesse beide got u. in Parz. 378, 25. Wh. 289, 5. neic ;
si im
unde gote ; Iw. 6013. Also in O.Fr., jel te pardoins de diu et de
mi ;
Mones untersuch. 245. Sometimes the Evil One is named by
the side of the Deity got : noch den tiuvel loben Iw. 1273. in ;

beschirmet der tiuvel noch got ; Iw. 4635, i.e. no one protects him.
Poems Middle Ages attribute human passions to God
of the ;

especially oftenis He
pictured in a state of complacency and joy
(see Suppl.), and again in the contrary state of wrath and vengeance.
The former is favourable to the creation of eminent and happily
endowed men got was an einer suezen zukt, do r Parzivalen
:

worhte (in form, training when he made Perci-

amiable trim
val) ;
Parz.
148, 26. got der was vil senftes muotes. do er
b
geschuof so reine ein wip ; MS. 1, 17 got der was in frdiden, do .

er dich als ebene maz (so evenly meted) MS. 1, 22 b got in grossen ;
.

freuden was, do er dich schuof (i.e., created wine) Altd. bl. 1, 413. ;

got der was in Jwhem werde, do er geschuof die reinen fruht, wan
l

ime was gar wol ze muote MS. 1, 24b

;
.
got si zer werlde brahte, do
ze freuden stuont sin 9282. muot Wigal.
got der was vil.woJ
;

gemuot, do er schuof so reinem wibe tugent, wiinne, schcene an libe ;

MS. 1, 201 a got was gezierde milte, der si beide schuof nach lobe;
.

Troj. 19922. got selb in richen freuden was, do er ir lip als ebene
maz; Misc. 2, 186. ich weiz daz got in frdiden was, do er niht,
frouwe, an dir vergaz waz man ze lobe sol schouwen. Ls. 1, 35.
So a troubadour sings belha domna, de cor y entendia Dieus, quan
:

formet vostre cors amoros; Eayn. 1, 117. 2 It is an equally heathen

1 The Gothic gavairthi = peace.

2
To the creative God rejoicing in his work, the M.H.G. poets especially
attribute diligence and zeal an den henden lac der gotes fliz ; Parz. 88, 15.
:

jach, er triiege den gotes fliz ; Parz. 140, 5. got het sinen fliz gar ze wunsche
wol an si geleit ; Wigal. 4130. ich ween got selbe worhte dich mit siner got-
licher hant ; Wigal. 9723. zware got der hat geleit sine kunst mid sine kraft,
sinen fliz und sine meisterschaft an disen loblichen lip; Iw. 1685. So in
2
18 GOD.

sentiment, that imputes to God a propensity to gaze at human

beauty, or to do whatever men do
got mohte selbe gerne seken die :

selben juncfrouwen Fragm. 22*. gott moht in (him, i.e. the

;

musician) gerne hwren in sinen himelkoeren; Trist. 7649. den slac

scolte got selbe haben gesehen (should have seen that stroke) Eol. ;

198, 18. Karl 72 got selbe moht ez gerne sehen Trist. 6869. ein
.
;

puneiz (diadem), daz in got selber mohte sehen Frauend. 84, 16. ;

gestriten dazz d engel mohten hoeren in den niun kceren Willeh. ;

230, mohte nach betwingen mite (might nigh compel

27. si

withal) eines engels gedanc, daz er vil lihte einen wane durch si
von himcle tcete (fail from heaven for her) Iw. 6500 (imitated by ;

Ottocar 166 a). ich weiz daz wol, daz sin got nicht verdruzze MS. ;

a
2, 127 . ir har gelich dem golde, als ez got wunschen solde; MS. 2

62 b sin swert dat geinc (ging, went) an siner hant, dat got selve
.

vrdchde mere (would ask to know), we der ritter were ? dey engele
muosten lachen, dat hey is sus kunde machen Haupts zeitschr. 3, ;

24. This hilarity of the attendant guardian-angels (ch. XXVIII)

or valklirs must be thought of in connexion with the laughing of

ghosts (ch. XXXI). In Hartmann s Erec, when Enite s white hands

groomed (begiengen) a horse, says 355 und waere, daz got Menit :

erde rite, ich wa3n, in genuocte da mite, ob er solhen marstaller liode.

This view of a sympathizing, blithe and gracious god, is particularly
expressed in the subst. Jmldi, O.N. liylli : Oolns hylli ;
Seem. 47 a .

Ullar hylli ok allra goSa Seem. 45 b ;

.

On the other hand, of the primitive sensuous representation of

an angry avenging deity (see Suppl.), the most striking example
will be treated of presently in ch. VIII, under Donar, thunder. 1
The idea recurs several times in the Edda and elsewhere reiffr er :

J?er OSinn, reiffr er j?er Asabragr ;

Seem. 85 b . OSinn ofreid~r\ Siem.
228 b . reiff varS ]?a Freyja oc fnasaSi ;
Stum. 71 b . she was wroth,

Chrestien: jaia fist Dex de sa main nue, por nature fere muser, tout le mont i
porroit user, s ele la voloit contret ere, que ja nen porroit a chief trere no Dex, ;

s il sen voloit pener, mi porroit, ce cuit, assener, que ja line telle feist, por peine

que meist (see Suppl.).

il i
1
Piacula ires dcum, Liv. 2, 9. deos iratos habeam dii immortelles liomin- !

il)iis irasci et succensere consueverunt, Cic. pro Rose. 16. And Tacitus on this
very subject of the Germans propitiine an irati dii, Genii. 5. ira dei, Hist. \
:

26. infensi Batavis dii, Hist. 5, 25. And in the Mid. Ages tu odium Dei :

nniniumque sanctorum habeas Vita Meinwerci, cap. 13! 95. crebrescen-

tibus juui jainque cottidie Dei justo judicio in populo diversis calamitatibus et
flagellis .... quid esset in quo Deus offensus esset, vel quibus
posset operibus ;
Pertz 2, 547.
 GOD. 19

and snorted or panted, as the angry wolf in Eeinli. XLII spirtles out
his beard. guSin reift ordin Fornm. sog. 2, 29. 231. ; gofta gremi
(deorum ira) is announced ; Egilss. 352. at gremia go5 (offendere
deos); Fornald. sog. 2, 69. was imo god dbolgan ; Hel. 157, 19.
than wirdid iu waldand gram, mahtig modag; Hel. 41, 16 (elsewhere :

diu Sselde, or the world, earth, is gram), ein zornec got in daz gebot

(bade them), daz uns hie suohten mit ir her Parz. 43, 28. hie ist ;

geschehen gotes rdche ; Reinh. 975. got wil verviieren sinen zorn ;
Os w. 717 ich wsene daz got rosche da selbe sinen anden (wreak his

vengeance) Gudr. 845, 4. daz riuwe got

; (God rue it) Trist. !
;

12131. daz ez got immer riuwe ! Trist. 11704. The Lex Bajuv.
6, 2, in forbidding Sunday labour, says quia talis causa vitanda :

est, quae Deum ad iracundiam provocat, et exinde flagellamur in

frugibus et penuriam patimur. How coarse were the expressions

still used in the 17th century
"

An abuse that putteth God on

his mettle, and maketh him to hold strict and pitiless inquisition,

that verily he shall, for saving of his honour, smite thereinto with
and again to run upon the spears of an offended
" "

his fists ;
:

jealous God ".

l
A wicked man was in the Mid. Ages called gote hide,
loathed by God. One form of imprecation was to consign a man
to God s hatred uz in gotes haz ! Trist. 5449. uz strichet (sheer
:

off) balde
in gotes haz ! Trist. 14579. nu vart den gotes haz alsam
ein boeswiht von mir hin
Frauend. 109, 12. mich hat der gotes !

haz bestanden iuch hat rehte gotes haz (al. foul weather,
;
Kl. 518.
the devil, &c.) daher gesendet beide Iw. 6104. so miieze ich ;

haben gotes haz ; Altd. w. 3, 212. varet hen an godcs haz ! Wiggert
2, 47. nu mueze gewinnen gotes haz; Roth 611. In like manner
er
the MLG.
godsat hebbe Huyd. op St. 2, 350. Reinaert 3196. !
2

But, what deserves particular notice, this formula in gotes haz, or

in ace. without prepos. gotes haz varn, strichen has a perfect
parallel in another which substitutes for God the sun, and so heigh
tens the heathenish colouring ;
ir suit farn der sunnen haz ! Parz.

247, 26. var der sunnen haz ! Unprinted poems of Riiediger 46.
hebe dich der sunnen haz ! Er. 93. nu ziuhe in von mir der sunnen
haz Helmbr. 1799. si hiezen in strichen in der sunnen haz; Eracl.
!

1100. hiez in der sunnen haz hin varn; Frauend. 375, 26. A man
so cursed does not deserve to have the sun shine on him
kindly.
1
Hartmann on benedictions, Niirnb. 1680, p. 158, 180.
2
Serious illness or distress is habitually called der gotes slacj stroke. *
20 GOD.

The Vandal Gizerich steps into his ship, and leaves it to the winds
where they shall drive it to, or among what people he shall fall
that God is angry with, e<
ofc 6 0eo? a>pyi.iTai. Procop. de bello
Vand. 1, 5.

Such hostile attitude breeds now and then a rebellious spirit in

men, which breaks out in promethean defiance and threats, or even
takes a violent practical turn (see SuppL). Herodotus 4, 94 says of
the Thracians : ovrot, ol avrol Sprj iiees KOI Trpo? Ppovrrjv re /cat

acrrpaTrrjv To^eijovTes avw Trpo? rov ovpavov, a-TretXeOcrt ra) dew. If

the god denied the assistance prayed for, his statue was flung into
the river by the people, immersed in water, or beaten. In the

Carolingian romances we repeatedly come upon the incident of

Charles threatening the Deity, that if he deny his aid, he will throw
down his altars, and make the churches with all their priests to

cease from the land of the Franks ; e.g. Ferabr. 1211, 1428, &c.
So dame Breide too threatens to uncover the altar and break the
holy relics ;
Orendel 2395 ;
and Marsilies actually, after losing the

battle, has the houses of his gods pulled down ; Eol. 246, 30. If

the vintage failed, the statue of Urban was thrown into a bath or
the river. 1 The Arcadians would scourge their Pan with squills

(ovaXAat?), when they returned bootless from the chase (Theocr. 7,

106). The Greeks imputed to their gods not only anger and hate,
but envy, love of mischief,

EPITHETS OF GOD (see SuppL). In our modern speech der Hebe, :

liebste, gnadige? grosse, gute, allmdchtige. In our older tongue herre :

got der guote ; Keinh. 1296. Gute frau, 276. herro the godo ; Hel.

78, 3. 90, fro min the godo ; 143, 7.

6. ynwdcger trehtin; Eeinh.
1309. Freq. the rich God: thie rikeo Christ; Hel. 1, 2. riki

god; Hel. 195,9. riki drohtin Hel. 114,22. der riche got von ;

himele; Eoth. 4971. got der riche; Nib. 1793, 3. Trist. 2492.
(lurch den richen got von himel Morolt 3526. der riche got mich ,

3
ie gesach V.d. wibe list 114.
;
Cot almahtico, cot heilac; Wesso-
1
When lightning strikes, our people say If God can burn, we can Imild :

again ;
Ettners hebamme, p. 16.
2
Where God is, there is grace and peace of a solemn spot it is said ;
:

Here dwells der liebe Gott And, to drive den lieben Gott from a person s
!

room (Lessing 1, 243), means, to disturb a solitary in his sanctum.

3
OHG. rihhi dives, potens, also beatus and dives is near akin to Divus, ;

as Bis, Ditis springs out of divit. From the Slav, btighis derived boghdt (dives),
Lith. bagotas compare ops, in-ops (Euss. u-boghiy), opulentus with Ops, the
;

liona Dea. Conf. Dieienb. celt. 1, 196.

 GOD. 21

brunn. Gebet. mahtig drohtin Hel. 2,2. frea cdmildig ; Csedm.

;

1,9. 10,1. SQ celmihtigawealdend; Thorpe s anal. 83. manno

mtitisto (largissimus) Wessobr. Geb. vil milter Christ Cod. pal.
; ;

350, 56. The AS. has freq. : ece dryhten, aeternus ;

Caidm. 246,
I 11. Beow. 3382. 3555. 4655. Also witig god, sapiens
: Beow. ;

1364,2105. Csedm. 182, 24. witig dryhten; Beow. 3101. 3679.

Cnedin. 179, 8. witig wuldorcyning ;
Csedm. 242, 30. Waltant got ;
I

iHild. waldindinger got; Eoth. 213. 523. 1009. 2332. 4031.

waltant Krist 0V. 25, 91.
: Gudr. 2243. (AS.) luealdend ;
Credm.
9, 25. wuldres wealdend; Beow. 4. heofnes wealdend; Csedm.
17, 15. J?eoda wealdend. feeder alwealda-, Beow. 630. (OS.)
waldand ; Hel. 4, 5. 6, 6. waldand god 3, 17. waldand drohtin
1,19. alowaldo^S. 5,20. 8,2. 69,23. This epithet is not found
in the Edda. The notion of wielding , dominari, regere, is further

applied to the Supreme Being in the phrase es walten, Parz. 568, 1.

En. 7299. 10165. 13225. So our gottwalt s ! M. But. godwouds !
Huyd. op St. 2, 548. Our ace. in das wait Gott ! is a blunder ;

Agricola 596. Praet. weltb. 2, 50. God is occasionally called the

Old der alte Gott lebt noch,
: i.e. the same as ever. A.S. eald metod.
MHG. hat got sin alt gemiiete ;
Wh. 66, 20. der aide got ;
Eoth.
4401. popul. der alte Vater In a Servian song (Vuk 2, 244.
.

Montenegro 101), bogh is named stari krvnik the old blood- ,

b
shedder, killer; and in Erauenlob MS. 2, 214 der alte friedel

(sweetheart). The 13th century poets sometimes use the Lat.

epithet altissimus, Wh. 216, 5. 434, 23. Geo. 90, 401 with which ;

may be compared the MHG.

diu hohste hant, Parz. 484, 6. 487, 20.
568, 8. Wh. 134, 7. 150, 14. and the OHG. zi waltanteru henti,
0V. 25, 91. The all- wielding God is at the same time the all-
seeing, all-knowing, all-remembering hence it is said of fortunate ;

men, that God mw them,

and of unfortunate, that God forgot them :

(OHG.) kesah tih kot = te felicem ! N. Boeth. 145. (MHG.) !

gesach in got! Chappy he! Altd. bl. 1, 347. so mir got ergaz ;

Troj. kr. 14072. so hat got min vergezzen ; Mb. 2256, 3. wie gar
iuwer got vergaz (how utterly God forgot you) ;
Iw. 6254. got min

vergaz ;
Ecke 209. got haete siri vergezzen ;
Trist. 9243. gensede-
licher trehtin, wie vergaeze du ie min so ? Trist. 12483. For other
examples, see Gramm. 4, 175. God, by regarding, guards : daz si

got iemer schouwe ! Iw. 794. 0. Engl. God you see ! God keep
you in his sight !
22 GOD.

Among substantive epithets are several which God has in com

mon with earthly rulers (see Suppl.) : Gothic frduja OS. frd/w,
frd, AS. frcd; which name I shall treat of more fully by and by.
OIIG. truktin, MHG. trehtin, OS. drohtin, AS. dryhten, ON".

drdttinn. OHG. heriro, MHG. herre, which however, when used

of God, is never contracted into her, any more than Dominus into
the Romance domnus, don. Conspicuous above all is the name
Father (see Suppl.). In the Edda, alfo&r. (Seem. 46 b 88 a 154 b Sn. .

3. 11. 17), herfacfir, herja fa&ir, valfaffir are applied to OSinn as

the father of all gods, men and created things. Such compounds
are not found in the other dialects, they may have sounded heathen
ish though the AS. could use feeder alwealda, Beow. 630, and the
;

idea of God as Fatherbecame more familiar to the Christians than

to heathens. The OHG. altfatar = grandfather, 0. 3, 6. AS. i.

ealdfaider, Beow. 743. 1883, I have nowhere seen applied to God.

As the Greeks coupled together Zevs jrarrjp, esp. in the voc. ZeO
Trdrep,and the Eomans Jupiter, Diespiter, Dispiter, Mars pater, 1
as well as Ajj^r^p, Aa/mdrrjp, Terra mater, so the Lettons bestow
on almost every goddess the epithet mahte, mahmina= mater,
matercula (Biittner 244. Bergmann 142), on which we shall have
more to say hereafter. To all appearance, father Goth, fadr is
connected with fa];s lord, as pater Tran^p is with ITOTL^, TroVt?, Lith.

pats. The AS. meotod, metod, Credm. 223, 14. eald metod, Beow.
1883. s65 metod, Beow. 3222. OS. metod, Hel. 4, 13. 15, 17. 66, 19,
an expression which likewise appears in the Edda, miotu&r Sa3m.
226 b 241,b seems to signify Creator, as verbally it bears the sense of
mensor, moderator, finitor. The full meaning of metod will not be

disclosed, till we have a more

exact knowledge of the relation
between the Goth, mitan (to mete) and maitan (to cut), the OHG.
mezan and meizan; in the Lat. metiri and metere, besides there
being no shifting of consonant (d for t), the quantity is inverted.
The ON", miotuffr appears to be also sector, messor in Snorri 104. ;

105, the wolfs head with which Heimdall was killed is called
1
miotuSr HeimSallar, and the sword is mans miotuSr so in ;

Eornald. sog. p. 441, manna miotuSr (see Suppl.). In MHG.

too, the poets use mezzan of exquisite symmetry in creating do :

sin (Wunsch s) gewalt ir bilde maz ; Troj. 19626. got selb in

1
Jane
pater
! Cato 134 : but what can Dissunapiter mean in the remark
able conjuring-spell, Cato 1GO ?
 COD. 23

riclien frouden was, do er ir lip als ebcne maz ; Misc. 2, 186. er sol
ze relite lange wwzzen, tier an si so efofte wa2, daz er an si zer weiite
uie mich vollem wunsche weder des nocli des vergaz MS. 1, 154 b ;
.

got der was in iroiden, do er dich als ebene maz; MS. 1, 22 b

wer kunde in so gemezzen, Tit. 130. 1. anders denne got uns
maz, do er ze werke liber mich gesaz, Parz. 518, 21. em bilde
inezzen is therefore the same thing as ein bilde sckaffen
to create (Troj. 19805), or giezen to cast, mould (Walth. 45,

25. MS. 1, 195 b 2, 22G b . and in Suchenwirt 24, 154 it says

) ;
:

ir vel, ir miindel rot und wiz ir kel which

*

got het gcgozzen uf ;

throws a significant light on the Gothic tribal name Gduts, A.S.

Gedt OHG. K6z (see SuppL). AS. scippend, creator, OHG-. scefo,
scephio, MHG. scliepfcere, Wh. 1, 3. NHG. sclwpfer. Some of

these names can be strung together, or they can be intensified by

composition : drolitin god, Hel. 2. 13. waldand fro min, Hel. 148,
14. 153, 8. fred dryhten, Beow. 62. 186. lif-fred, Ceedm. 2, 9. 108,
18. 1.95, 3. 240, 33. Beow. 4. The earthly cuning with a prefix can
be used of God loiddorcyning, king of glory, Caedm. 10, 32. hevan-
:

cuning, Hel. 3, 12, 18. 4, 14. 5, 11. and synonymously with these,
rodora weard, Csedm. 11, or the epic amplification, irmin-got
2.

obana abhevane,~RM. got von kimele, Nib. 2090,4. 2114, 1. 2132, 1.

2136, 1.

Of such epic formulas (see SuppL), beautiful specimens, all of

one tenour, can be cited from the poets, especially the Komance :

they are mostly borrowed from God s dwelling-place, his creative

power, his omnipotence, omniscience and truth Dios aquel, que :

esta en alto, Cid 800. 2352. 2465. qui la amont el seint eel

inaint (abides), Een. 26018. qui maint el firmament, Berte

129. 149. der hoho sizet unde nideriu sihet, qui 1ST.
ps. 112, 5.
haut siet etde loing mire, Een. 11687. qui haut siet et loins
voit, Berte 44, 181. Guitecl. 2, 139. der liber der blauen decke
sitzt,Melander Jocoseria 1, 439. cot almahtico, du himil inti
erda gaworahtos (wroughtest heaven and earth), Wessobr. Geb. eel

senhor, qui lo mon a creat, Ferabr. 775. qui tot le mont forma,
Berte 143. que fezit nueyt e dia, Ferabr. 3997. per aycel senhor que
fetz eel e rozada (sky and dew), Ferabr. 2994. 4412. qui fist ciel et
rousee, Berte 28. 66. 111. 139. 171. 188. Aimon 876. qui feis mer
salee, Berte 67. qui fist et mer et onde, Meon 3, 460. des hant
daz mer gesalzen hat, Parz. 514, 15. qui fait courre la nue, Berte
24 GOD.

136. 183 (v<f>e\7jyepTa Zevtf. par celui qui fait toner, Ren.
10658. 17780. par qui li soleus raie, Berte 13. 81. der himel und
erde gebot und die mergriezen
zelt (counts the sea-sands, or pebbles),
Mar. der der sterne zal weiz, Wh. 466, 30.
18. der die sterne hat
gezalt, Parz. 629, 20. der uns gap des manen (moon s) schin, Wh.
a
476, 1. qui fait croitre et les vins et les blez, Ferabr. 163 der .

mir ze lebenegeriet (planned), Nib. 2091, 4. Kl. 484. der mir ze

lebene gebot (bade), Roth. 215. 517. 4552. der uns daz leben
gebot, Mar. 24. (M. Dut.) bi den here die mi ghebot (Gramm.
4, 134), die mi ghewrochte, Elegast 345. 451. 996. qui tot
a a baillier (oversee), Berte 35. qui tot a a garder, Berte 7.
que totz nos a jutgier, Ferabr. 308. 694. 1727. the man-
cunnies forwardot, Hel. 152, 5. qui sor tos homes puet et vaut,
Meon 4, 5. dominus qui omnia potest, Docum. of 1264 in Wenk 3,
no. 151. wider den nieman vermac, A. Heinr. 1355. der aller
wunder hat gewalt, Parz. 43, 9. der git tmde nimt (gives and
takes), Parz. 7 9. der weinen und lachen geschuof, Wh. 258, 19.
der beidiu krump unde sleht gescuof (both crooked and plain),
Parz. 264, 25. der ane sihet alle getougen (secrets), Diut. 3, 52.
der durch elliu herzen siht, Frid. 355. der in diu herze siht, Wh.
30, 29. der ie daz guote geriet (aye the good devised), Greg. 2993.
ther suntiloso man (sinless), 0. iii. 21, 4. dem nie voller genaden
zeran Er. 2490.
(tear, waste), qui onques ne menti (nunquam
mentitus), Berte 82. 96. 120. 146. Me on 3, 8. icil dieu qui ne
ment, et qui fist tot quanque mer serre, Ren. 19338. er mik skop
ok ollu ra35r, Fornm. sog. 1, 3. sa er 6 llu neftr, ibid. 8, 107. er
solina hefol skapat, ibid. 1, 242. het a ]?ann sem solina skapaSi,
Landn. p. 139.
If, some of the preceding names, epithets and phrases descrip
in
tive of God, unmistakable traces of Heathenism predominate, while
others have barely an inkling of it, the following expressions are
still more indisputably connected with the heathen way of
thinking.
In the Norse mythology, the notion of a Deus, Divus, if not of
the uppermost and eldest, yet of a secondary rank, which succeeded
topower later, is expressed by the word as, pi. cesir (see Suppl.).
Landds (Egilss. pp. 365-6) patrium numen, and by it Thor, the
is

chief god of the North, is designated, though d-s and allmdttki as is

given to OSinn (Landn. 4, 7). dsmeg-in is divine power tha vex :

 GOD. 25

honum asmegin halfu, Sn. 26. fceraz i asmegin, Sn. 65. But the
name must at one time have been universal, extending over Upper
Germany and Saxony, under such forms as : Goth. OHG. ans, pi.
anseis, ensi, AS. pi. 6s,(conf. our gans, with ON. gas, pi.
es

gaess, AS. gos, pi. ges and hose; hansa). It continued to form
a part of proper names Goth. Ansila, OHG. Anso
: the OHG. ;

Anshelm, Anshilt, Anspald, Ansnot coriespondin sense to Cotahelm,

Cotahilt, &c. ;
AS. Osweald, Oslaf, Osdaag, Osred ;
ON. Asbiorn,1
Asdis, Asgautr, Aslaug, Asmundr, &c. Now in Ulphilas Lu. 2,
41-2, ans denotes a beam, So/eo?, which is also one meaning of the
OK as, whether because the mighty gods were thought of as joist,
rafter and ceiling of the sky, or that the notions of jugum and

mountain-ridge were associated with them, for as is especially used

of jugum mountain-ridge, Pan. bierg-aas (dettias
terrae, sliding =
beam, portcullis, Landn. 3, 17). But here we have some other
striking passages and proofs to weigh. An AS. poem couples
together esa gescot and ylfa gescot/ the shots of anses and of
elves, jaculum divorum et geniorum, just as the Edda does sesir and
b
aifar, Ssem. 8 71* 82 a 83 b Jornandes says, cap. 13 Turn Gothi,
. :

magna jam proceres suos quasi qui fortuna

potiti per loca victoria,
vincebant, non puros homines, sed semideos, id est anses (which
would be anseis) vocavere. What can be plainer ? The Norse sesir
in likemanner merge into the race of heroes, and at much the
same distance from an elder dynasty of gods whom they have
dethroned. And here the well-known statement of Suetonius and
2
Hesychius, that the Etruscans called the gods cesares or cesi, may
fairly be called to mind, without actually maintaining the affinity
of the Etruscan or Tyrrhenian race with the ancient German,

striking as is the likeness between Tvpprjvos, Tupa-r^vos and the ON.

Jmrs, OHG. durs. 3
The significance of this analogy, however, is heightened, when

I 1
Ursus divinus, Asbirna (ursa divina), for which the Waltharius has the
brid Ospirn, prop. Anspirn ; conf. Reinh. fuchs p. ccxcv. For Asketill,
Oscytel, see end of ch. III.
2
Suet. Octavian. cap. 97. futuriimqiie, nt inter deos referretur, quod
cesar, id est reliqua pars e Csesaris nomine, Etrusca lingua deus vocaretur.

Hesych. s.v. alvoi. @ol VTTO r&v Tvpfavuv. Conf. Lanzi 2, 483-4 ; also Dio
Cass. 56, 29.
3
Unfortunately ]?urs means a giant, and durs a demon, which, if they
have anything to do with the Tvpa-rjvoi, would rather imply that these were a
hostile and dreaded people. TRANS,
26 GOD.

we observe that the Etruscan religion, and perhaps also the Roman
and the Greek, supposed a circle of twelve superior
beings closely
bound together and known by the name of dii consentes or
complices
(see SuppL), exactly as the Edda uses the expressions hdpt and bond,
a b
literally meaning vincula, high numina (Seem. 24 89
for those .

Sn. 176. 204), and also the

sing, hapt and land for an individual god
b
(Soem. 93 ). Though haptbandun in the Merseburg poem cannot
with certainty be taken to mean the same
thing (the compound
seems here to denote mere bodily chains), it is possible that deus
and Sto? are referable to Sew I bind that same f ans a yoke, is the
;

same thing as the brace and band

of all things neither can we ;

disregard the fact that twelve is likewise the number of the Norse
sesir ; conf. Ssem. 3 b sesir or Jm liSi
: of the set, kindred.
Some other may be added in support. In the
appellations
our language, the neut. ragin meant consilium.
earliest period of
Xow the plural of this, as used in the Edda, denotes in a special
manner the plurality of the gods (see SuppL). Regin are the
powers that consult together, and direct the world ;
and the expres
1
sions regin, holl regin (kind, merciful gods), uppregin, ginregin
blift

(su perse potestates) have entirely this technical meaning. Ragna-

rdkr (Goth, ragine riqvis ? dimness, darkness of
gods) signifies the
end of the world, the setting of the divine luminaries. Saem.
89 b has "rognir ok regin" coupled together, a
rognir (cf. 196 ) being
used to distinguish the individual ragincis
(raguneis ? ), masc.
These ON. regin would be Goth, ragina, as the
hopt and bond are
Gothic hafta and banda, all neut. The same heathen
conception
peeps out in the OS. re#<mgiscapu, m/cmogiscapu, Hel. 79, 13. 103,
3,equivalent to fatum, destiny, the decree and counsel of the gods,
and synonymous with wwdgiscapu, Hel. 103, 7, from wurd, fatum.
And again in mctodogiscapu, Hel. 66, 19. 147, 11. We have seen
that metod likewise a name
is for the Supreme Being, which the
Christian poet of the Heliand has ventured to retain from the

1
The happy gods when people stepped along in stately gorgeous
blithe, ;

attire, menthought that gods had appeared menn hugiSu at ccsir vseri ]mr
:

konmir, Landn. 3, 10. The Vpls. saga c. 26 says of SigurS ]?at hygg ec at
:

her /art einn afgofrunum, I think that here rides one of the So in Parz.
gods.
36, 18 :alda wip und man verjach, si ne gesachen nie holt so wiinneclich, ir
gote im solten sin gctich (declared, they saw never a hero so winsome, their gods
must be like him). The more reason is there for
my note on Siegfried (ch.
XV), of whom the Nib. 84, 4 says der dort s6 herUchen gdt (see SuppL).
:
 GOD. 27

heathen poetry. But these gen. plurals regano, metodo again point
to the plurality of the binding gods.
The collection of Augustine s letters contains (cap. 178), in the
altercatio with Pascentius, a Gothic or perhaps a Vandal formula
meaning of which is simply tcvpie eXerjcrov. Even
sihora armen, the 1

if it be an
interpolation, and written in the fifth or sixth century,
instead of at the end of the fourth, it is nevertheless remarkable
that sihora should be employed in it for God and Lord. Ulphilas
would have said frauja armai.: The inf. armen, if not a mistake
for arme, might do duty as an imperative at the same time there ;

is a Finn, and Esth. word armo

signifying gratia, misericordia. But
sihora, it seems, can only be explained as Teutonic, and must have
been already in heathen times an epithet of God derived from his
victorious might (see SuppL). Goth, sigis, ON. sigr, OHG. sigu y

AS. sige victoria, triumphus. OcSinn is styled sigrgo ft, sigtfjr,

sigfoftur ; and the Christian poets transfer to God sigidrohtin ,

Hel.
47, 13. 114, 19. 125,6. sigidryhten, Ceedm. 33, 21. 48, 20.
2
sigmetod, Beow. 3544. vigsigor, Beow. 3108. elsewhere sigoradryhten,
sigorafred, sigorawealdend, sigoragod, sigoracyning. It is even pos
sible that from that ancient sihora sprang the title sira, sire still
current in Teutonic and Ptomance languages. 3
The gods being represented as superi and uppffyin, as dwelling
on high, in the sky, uphimin, up on the mountain height (as, ans),
it was natural that individual
gods should have certain particular
mountains and abodes assigned them.

Thus, from a mere consideration of the general names for God

and gods, we have obtained results which compel us to accept an
intimate connexion between expressions in our language and con
ceptions proper to our heathenism. The me and God, the graci
ous and the angry God, the froho (lord) and the father, the behold

ing, creating, measuring, casting, the images of ans, fastening, band,

1
The Tcheremisses also pray juma sirlaga, and the Tchuvashes tora c

i.e., God have mercy

sirlag, G. J. Miillers saml. russ. gesch. ?, 359.
;
The
Morduins say when it thunders pashangui Porgiiini pas, have mercy, god
Porguini ; Georgi description 1, 64.
2 a
den sig hat got in siner hant, MS. 2,16 .
3
Gott. anz. 1833, pp. 471-2. Diez however raises doubts, Roman, gram.
1,41.
28 GOD.

and ragin, all lead both individually, and with all the more weight
collectively, into the path to be trod. I shall take up all the threads
again, but I wish first to determine the nature and bearings of the
cultus.
 CHAPTEK III.

WOKSHIP.

The simplest actions by which man expressed his reverence1 for

the gods (see Suppl.), and kept up a permanent connexion with
them, were Prayer and Sacrifice. Sacrifice is a prayer offered up
with gifts. And wherever there was occasion for prayer, there was
also for sacrifice (see Suppl. ).
PRAYER. When we consider the word employed by Ulphilas
to express adoration, we at once come upon a correspondence with
the Norse phraseology again. For Trpoo-fcvvea) the Goth, equivalent
is inveita, invait, invitum, Matt. 8, 2. 9, 18. Mk. 5, 6. 15, 19.
Lu. 4, 7-8. John 9, 38. 12, 20. 14, and once for 1 Cor. 25 ;

aaird^ofjiai, Mk. 9, 15 (see Suppl.). Whether in using this word

the exact sense of Trpoa/cvvrjo-w was caught, may be doubted, if only
because it is invariably followed by an ace., instead of the Greek
dat. In Mod. Greek popular songs, Trpocr/cvvelv is used of a van
quished enemy s act of falling to the ground in token of surrender.
We do not know by what gesture inveitan was accompanied,
whether a bowing of the head, a motion of the hand, or a bending
of the knee. As we read, 1 Cor. 14, 25 : driusands ana anda-
vleizn (=antlitz), inveitiS gu5; a suppliant prostration like irpoa-
is not at variance with the sense of the word.
Kvv7)<Ti,<$
An OS.
giwitan, AS. gewitan, means abire could inveitan also have signi
;

fied merely going up to, approaching ? Paul. Diac. 1, 8 twice uses

accedere. Fraveitan is vindicare. Now let us compare the ON. vita
2
inclinare, which Biorn quotes under veit, and spells, erroneously,
I

Verehrung, O.H.G. ra, Goth. prob. aiza. The O.H.G. er6n is not merely
1

our ehren, to honour, but also verehren, revereri (as reverentia is adoration,
cultus) A.S. weorftian, O.S. giwerthon. All that comes from the gods or con
;

cerns them is holy, for which the oldest Teutonic word is Goth, veihs, O.H.G.
wih but only a few of the O.H.G. documents use this word, the rest preferring
;

heilac, O.S. lias only helag, A.S. hdlig, O.N. Jieilagr. On the connexion of wih
with the subst. wih, more hereafter. Fr6n denotes holy in the sense of
dominicus.
2
Cleasby- Vigfusson gives no meaning like inclinare, either under vita
to
*
fine, or under vita to wit. TRANS.
30 WORSHIP.

think, vita. From it is derived veita (Goth, vaitjan ?) ;

veita heifir,
honorem peragere ;
veita tiolr, sacra peragere ; veitsla, epulum,
l
Goth, vaitislo ?

The Goth. Hda preces, lidjan precari, rogare, orare, are used
both in a secular and a spiritual sense. The same with OHG.
peta sm&pittan; but from peta is derived a petdn adorare, construed
with ace. of the person whom: O.i. 17, 62. ii. 14, 63. nidar-
fallan joh mill beton, 0. ii. 4,86-9. 97. iii. 11,25. T. 46, 2. 60,
1. petota inan, Diut. 1, 513 b . But beton can also express a spiri
tual orare, T. 34, 1, 2, 3. Mo-man cultores, 0. II. 14, 68. In
MHG. I find beten always followed by the prep, an (see Suppl.) :

beten an diu abgot, Barl. 72, 4. an ein bilde beten, ibid. 98, 15.
so muoz si iemer me nach gote sin min anebet, she must after God
be my (object of) adoration, Ben. 146. Our bitten ask, beten pray,
anbeten adore, are distinct from one another, as bitte request is from

gebet prayer. The OS. beddn is not followed by ace., but by prep.
te : bedon te miimn barma, Hel. 33, 7. 8 ;
and this of itself would
suggest what I conjectured in my Gramm. 2, 25, that bidjan origin

ally contained the physical notion of jacere, prosterni, which again

is the only explanation of Goth, badi K\W&IOV a bed, and also of
the old badu, AS. beado rr canles, strages. 2 The AS. New Test,
translates adorare by ge-edft-medan, i.e., to humble oneself. The
MHG. flehen, when it signifies supplicare, governs the dat. :
gote
flehen, Aegid. 30. den goten vlehen, Parz. 21, 6. Wh. 126, 30.
a
Tiirl. Wh. 71 ;
but in the sense of demulcere, solari, the ace., Parz.
3
119, 23. 421, 25. Nib. 499, 8 (see Suppl.). It is the Goth frldihan,
fovere, con solari. An OHG. flehon vovere I only know from N.
cap. 8, Bth. 178, and he spells it flehon: ten (ace. quern) wir fle-
hoton. We
say zu gott flehen j but gott anflehen The Goth. .

aihtron irpocrev-^eadai, Trpoo-aireiv expresses begging rather than

asking or praying. The OHG. diccan, OS., thiggian, is both
precari and impetrare, while AS. fricgan, ON., Mggja, is invariably

1
Bopp, Comp. grain, p. 128, identifies inveita with the Zend nivaedhayemi
invoco.
2
What was the physical meaning of the Slav, moliti rogare, molitise orare,
Boh. modliti se, Pol. modlid si^ ] The Sloven, moliti still means porrigcTc,
conf. Lith. meldziu rogo, inf. melsti, and malda oratio. Pruss. madia, conf.
Goth. ma]?ljan loqui, ma]?leins loquela, which is next door to oratio.
3
Iw. 3315 vlegete got but in the oldest MS. vlehete gote.
;
 PRAYER. 31

impetrare, accipere, so that asking has passed over into effectual

asking, getting (see Suppl.).
Another expression for prayer is peculiar to the Norse and AS.
dialects, and foreign to all the rest : OK
Ion or been, Swed. Dan.
Ion, AS. len, gen. bene f., Csedm. 152, 26, in Chaucer bone, Engl.
boon ; from it, bena supplex, bensian supplicare. Lastly the Icel.
Swed. dyrka, Dan. dyrke, which like the Lat. colere is used alike of
worship and of tillage, seems to be a recent upstart, unknown to
the OIsT. language.
On the form and manner of heathen prayer we lack informa
tion ;
I merely conjecture that it was accompanied by a looking lip
to heaven, lending of the body (of which bidjan gave a hint), folding
of hands, bowing of knees, uncovering of the head. These gestures
out of a crude childlike noti ;n of antiquity, that the human
grow
suppliant presents and submits himself to the mighty god, his
conqueror, as a defenceless victim (see Suppl.). Precari deos ccelum-

que suspicere is attested by Tacitus himself, Germ. 10. Genuflec-

tere is in Gothic knussjan, the supplicare of the Eomans was flexo
corpore adorare. Falling down and bowing were customs of the
Christians too thus in Hel. 47,
;
6. 48, 16. 144, 24 we have : te
bedu hnigan. 58, 12 : te drohtine hnigan. 176, 8 : te bedu fallan.
145, 3 gihneg an kniobeda. In the SolarlioS is the remarkable
:

tt

expression henni ec laut, to her (the sun) I bowed, Ssem. 126

:
;

from luta inclinare. falla a kne ok luta, Vilk. saga cap. 6. nu

strauk kongsdottir sinn legg, ok mselti, ok ser i loptiff upp, (stroked
her leg, and spoke, and looks up to the sky), Vilk. saga cap. 61.
O of St. Olaf tells how the men bowed before the statue
So the saga
of Thor, lutu Ipvi skrimsli, Fornm. sog. 4, 247. fell til iardar fyrir
likneski earth before the likeness).
(fell to Fornm. sog. 2, 108.
The Langobards are stated in the Dial. Gregorii M. 3, 28 to have
adored submissis cervicibus a divinely honoured goat s head. In the
Middle Ages people continued to bow to lifeless objects, by way of
blessing them, such as a loved country, the road they had traversed,
or the day. 1Latin writers of the time, as Lambert, express urgent
entreaty by pedibus provolvi ; the attitude was used not only to

1
Dem stige nigen, Iw. 5837, dem wege nigen, Parz. 375, 26. clem lande
nigen, Trist. 11532. nigen in daz lant, Wigal. 4018. nigen in elliu lant, Iw.
7755. in die werlt nigen, Frauend. 163, 10. den stigen und wegen segeu
tuon, Iw. 357 (see Suppl.).
32 WORSHIP.

God, but to all whom one wished to honour neig im uf den fuoz, :

Morolt 41 b . hie viel sie uf sinen vuoz, Iw. 8130. ouch nige ich ir
unz uf den fuoz, MS. 1, 155 a
. valle fiir si
(fall before her), und nige
a
uf ir fuoz, MS. 54
buten sich (bowed) weinende uf sinen vuoz,
1, .

b
Greg. 355. neig im nider uf die hant, Dietr. 55 These passages show .

that people fell before the feet, and at the feet, of him who was to
be reverenced : wilt fallan te minun fotun, bedos te minun barma,
Hel. 33, 7. sich bot ze tal (bowed to the ground) gein sinen fu ezen

nieder, Wh. 463, 2.

1
An 0. Boh. song has
sie klanieti bohu, to :

bow before God, Koniginh. hs. 72

but the same has also the un- ;

Teutonic se Uti w celo prede bohy, to beat one s brow before God. 2
Uncovering the head (see Suppl.) certainly was from of old a token
of respect with our ancestors, which, like bowing, was shown to

deity as well as to kings and chiefs. Perhaps the priests, at least

those of the Goths, formed an exception to this, as their name
pile-
ati is thus accounted for
by Jornandes, qui&.opertis tiaris capitibus
litabant, while the rest of the people stood uncovered. In a
survival of heathenish harvest-customs we shall find this uncover

ing further established, ch. VII.In Nicolai Magni de Gow

registrum superstitionum (of 1415) it is said Insuper hodie :

inveniuntur homines, qui cum novilunium priino viderint flexis

gcnibus adorant vel deposito caputio vel pileo, inclinato capite
honorant alloquendo et suscipiendo. 3 An AS. legend of Cuftberht
relates how that saint was wont to go down to the sea at
1
Fial in sine fuazi, 0. III. 10, 27. an sine fiieze, Karl 14 b The Chris .

tians in the Mid. Ages called it venie fallen, Parz. 460, 10. Karl 104*. Berth.
173. Ksrchr. 2958. 3055. Kneeling and kissing the ground, to obtain abso
lution da er uf siner venie lac (lay), Barl. 366, 21. den anger maz mit der langen
:

venie, Frib. Trist. 2095. venien suoclien, MS. 1, 23 b Morolt. 28 a Troj. . .

9300. terrae osculationibus, quas venias appellant, Fez. bibl. ascet. 8, 440. gie
ze kirchen und banekte (prostrated ?) ze gote siniu glider mit venien und gebet,
Cod. kolocz. 180.
2
The tchelo-bitnaya, beating of the forehead in presenting a petition, was
prohibited in Russia by Catherine II. Conf. pronis vultibus adorare, Helm old
1, 38.
3 Whatelse I have collected about this practice, may be inserted here :

elevato a capite pileo alloquitur seniorem, Dietm. Merseb. p. 824 (an. 1012).
sublata cydare surgens inclinat honeste, Ruodlieb 2, 93. Odofredus in I.
secundo loco digest, de postulando Or signori, hie colligimus argumentum,
:

quod aliquis quando veniet coram magistratu debet ei revereri, quod est contra
Ferrarienses, qui, si essent coram Deo, non extraherent sibi capellum vel birretum
de capite, nee flexis genibus postularent. Pilleus in capite est, Isengrimus 1139.
oster la chape (in saluting), Meon 4, 261. gelupfet den huot, Ms H. 3,330.
sinen huot er abenam, hiemit eret er in also, Wigal. 1436. er z6di durch sin
hubscheit den huot gezogenlichen abe, Troj. 1775. do stuont er uf geswinde
 PRAYER. 33

night, and standing up to his neck in the briny breakers, to sing his
prayers, and afterwards to kneel down on the shingles, with palms
1
stretched out to the firmament. Lifting up and folding of the
hands (sne Suppl.) was also practised to a master, particularly to a
feudal lord. 78 we have bat mit zertdnen armen prayed
In Ls. 3,
with outspread arms. The Old Bavarian stapfsaken (denial of
indebtedness) was accompanied by elevation of the hands, EA. 927
(see Suppl.). It is not impossible that the Christian converts
retained some heathen customs in praying. In a manuscript, pro
bably of the 12th century, the prayers are to be accompanied by
some curious actions: so miz (measure) den ubir dinherza in modum
crucis, unde von dem brustleffile zuo demo nabile, unde miz denne von
eime rippe unz an daz andire, unde sprich alsus. Again so miz :

denne die rehtun hant von deme lengistin vingire unz an daz resti
(wrist), unde miz denne von deme dumin zuo deme minnisten vin

gire. One prayer was called der vane (flag) des almehtigin gotis ;

nine women are to read it nine Sundays, so ez morginet ; the

ninth has to read the psalm Domini est terra, in such a posture
daz ir lib niet ruore die erde, wan die ellebogin unde diit, chnie
that her body touch not the ground, except at the elbows and knees;
the others are all to stand till the lighted candle has burnt out ;
Diut. 2, 292-3.
We cannot now attach any definite meaning to the Gothic
aviliudon ev^apiaTelv ; it is formed from aviliud which %?,
resembles an O. Sax. alat, olat gratiae does it contain liuS cantus,
;

and was there moreover something heathenish about it? (See

Suppl.). The old forms of prayer deserve more careful collecting;
the Norse, which invoke the help of the gods, mostly contain the

gnuoc, ein schapel daz er uf truoc von gimmen und von golde fin, daz nam er ab
dem houpte sin, Troj. 18635. er zucket im sin feopoft, l^ 8 3, 35. er was gereit,
*

daz er von dem houbt den liuot liez vliegen imd sprach, Kolocz. 101. Festus
explains lucem facere dicuntur Saturno sacrificantes, id est capita detegere;
:

again Saturno fit sacrificium capite aperto ; conf. Macrob. Sat. 1, 8. Serv. in
:

Virg. 3, 407.
1
Waes gewunod Ipset he wolde gan on niht to sae, and standan on ]?am
sealtum brimme, 0(5 his swuran, singende his gebedn, and siSSan his cneowu
on ]?am.ceosle gebygde, astrehtum handbredum to heofenlicum rodere; Thorpe s
analecta, pp. 76-7. homil. 2. 138. [I have thought it but fair to rescue the
saint from a perilous position in which the German had inadvertently placed
him by making him wade into the sea up to his neck, and kneel down to
"

sing his prayers TRANS.] In the O.Fr. jeu de saint Nicolas, Tervagant
".

has to be approached on bare elbows and knees ; Legrand fabl. 1, 343.

3
34 WOKSHIP.

verb dug a with the sense propitium esse: biS ec Ottari oil goS duga,
b a
(I Ot. pray all, &c.), Seem. 120 bio> J?a disir duga, S^ern. 195
. .

Duga means to belp, conf. Gramm. 4, 687. There is beauty in the

ON. prayer: biSjom herjafoSr i hugom sitja (rogemus deum in
animis sedere nostris), Ssem. 113 just as Christians pray the Holy
,

Ghost to descend in herzen unsen sdzi, 0. iv. 5, 30 (see Suppl.).

:

Christians at prayer or confession looked toward the East, and

lifted up their arms (Bingham lib. xi. cap. 7, ed. hal. 3, 273) and ;

so we read in the Kristinbalkr of the old Gulathing law: ver skulum

Itita austr, oc biSja til ens helga Krists ars ok friSar/ we must bow
east,and pray the holy Christ for plenty and peace (conf. Syntagma
do baptismo p. 65) in the Waltharius 1159
; contra orientalem :

prostratus corpore partem precatur in AS. formulas edstweard

; :

ic stande and in Troj. 9298. 9642 keret iuch gen orient. The
;
:

heathens, on the contrary, in praying and sacrificing, looked North

wards horfa (turn) i norftr, Fornm. sog. 11, 134. leit (looked) i
:

a
b
norftr, Ssem. 94 beten gegen mitternacht, Keisersperg omeiss 49
. .

And the North was looked upon by the Christians as the unblessed
heathen quarter, on which I have given details in EA. 808 it was ;

unlucky to make a throw toward the north, EA. 57 ;

in the Lombard
boundary-treaties the northern tract is styled nulla ora/ E A. 544.
These opposite views must serve to explain a passage in the Eoman
de Eenart, where the fox prays christianly, and the wolf heatlitnly,
Eeinh. fuchs p. xli. 1
As the expressions for asking and for obtaining, pp. 30, 31, are
identical, a prayer was thought to be the more effectual, the more
people it was uttered by :

got enwolde so manegem munde

sin genade niht versagen. Wigal. 4458.
die juncvrouwen baten alle got,
nu ist er so gneedec unt so guot
unt so reine gemuot,
daz er niemer kunde
so manegem siiezen munde
betelichiu dine versagen. Iw. 5351.

1
At the abrenuntiatio one had to face the sunset, with wrinkled brow (fronte
caperata), expressing anger and hatred ; but at the confession of faith, to face
the sunrise, with eyes and hands raised to heaven
Bingham lib. xi. cap. 7.
;

13.14. Conf. Joh. Olavii synt. de baptismo, pp. 64-5.

 SACRIFICE. 35

in (to the nuns) waren de munde so royt,

so wes si god baden,
of syt mit vlize daden,
he id in nummer inkunde
dem rosenroten munde
bedelicher dinge versagen.

Ged. von der vrouwen sperwere, Cod. berol. 184, 54 d . Hence :

a b
Mfen singen, MS. 1, 57 2, 42 Conf. cento novelle 61. 1
. .

SACRIFICE. The word opfer, a sacrifice, was introduced into

German by Christianity, being derived from the Lat. offero. offe/rre?
The AS. very properly has only the verb offrian and its derivative
offrung (oblatio). In OHG., from opfaron, opforon there proceeded
also a subst. opfar, MHG. ophern and opher 3 and from Germany
the expression seems to have spread to neighbouring nations, ON".

offr Swed. Dan. offer Lith. appiera, Lett, uppuris, Esth. ohwer, Fin.
t t

uhri, Boh. ofera, Pol. qfiara, Sloven, ofer. Everywhere the original
heathen terms disappeared (see Suppl.).
The oldest term, and one universally spread, for the notion to
worship (God) by sacrifice, was llotan (we do not know if the
Goth. pret. was baiblot or blotaida) ;
I incline to attach to it the
full sense of the Gk. Oveirf (see Suppl.). Ulphilas saw as yet no
objection to translating by it cre/Bea-Oat, and \arpevew, Mk. 7, 7.

1
Mock-piety, hypocrisy, was branded in the Mid. Ages likewise, by strong
phraseology er wil gote die fueze abezzen (eat the feet off), Ls. 3, 421. Fragm.
:

28*. Mones anz. 3, 22. unserm Herrgott die fuess abbeissen wollen (bite off),
Schmeller 2, 231. den heiligen die fuss abbeten wollen (pray the saints feet off
them), Simplic. 1. 4, 17. herrgottbeisser, Hofer 2, 48. herrgottfisler (fiiszler),
Schmid 1, 93. heiligenfresserin, 10 ehen, p. 62. So the Ital. mangiaparadiso,
Fr. mangeur de crucefix, Boh. Pol. liciobrazek (licker of saints). A sham
saint is
indifferently termed kapeltrete, tempeltrete, tempelrinne, Hones schausp.
p. 123. 137 (see Suppl.).
Not from operari, which in that sense was unknown to the church, the
2

.Romance languages likewise using It. offerire, Sp. ofrecer, Fr. offrir, never
operare, obrar, ouvrer the same technical sense adheres to offerta, ofrenda,
;

o/rande. From oblata come the Sp. oblea, Fr. oublie, and perhaps the MHG.
oblei, unless it is from eulogia, oblagia. From offre and offerta are formed the
Wei. offryd, Ir. oifrion, aifrion, offrail. Lastly, the derivation from ferre,
offerre, is confirmed by the German phrase ein opfer bringen, darbringen.
3
Ophar, opfer could hardly be the Goth, aibr dwpov, in which neither the
vowel nor the consonant agrees. The Wei. abert, Gael, iobairt, Ir. iodbairt,
(sacrificium) probably belong also to offerta.
4
^When Sozomen hist. eccl. 6, 37 in a narrative of Athanaric uses Trpocncvi/eii/
/cat 6vi v the Gothic would be inveitan jah
, blotan.
36 WORSHIP.

Lu. 2, 37; he construes it with an ace. of the person: blotan

fraujan is to him simply Deum colere, with apparently no thought

of a bloody sacrifice. For \arpeia Eom. 12, 1, he puts Uotinassus,
and for John 9, 31 gpKUdstrtis. The latter presupposes a
0eocre/3r)<;

subst. Uostr (cultus, oblatio), of which the S is explained in

Gramm. 2, 208. Usbloteins (TrapaxXTjcris) 2 Cor. 8, 4 implies a verb
usbldtjan to implore. Coedmon uses the AS. Uotan pret. bleot,
onllotan pret. onbleot, of the Jewish sacrifice, and follows them up
with ace. of thing and dat. of person blotan sunu (filium sacri- :

ficare) 173, 5. Gode (obtulit hostiam Deo) 177, 21.

onbleot J?set lac
In Alfred s Orosius we have the same Udtan pret. blotte. I derive
from it lletsian, later blessian, to bless. The OHG. pluozan, pret.
pliez and pluozta, appears only in glosses, and renders libare, litare,
a a b b
victimare, immolare, Gl. Hrab. 959 960 966 968 Diut. 1, 245, .

a
258 . No case-construction found, but an ace. of the thing may
is

be inferred from partic. kaplozaniu immolata. A subst. pluostar

sacrificium, Ihwstar, Is. 382. GL emm. 411. Gl. jun. 209. T. 56, 4.

95, 102 *; pluostarhtis idolium, Gl. emm. 402. ploazlius fanum,

pluostrari sacrificator, ibid. 405. It is plain that here the word has
more of a heathen look, and was not at that time used of Christian
worship ;
with the thing, the w^ords for it soon die out. But its

universal use in Norse heathendom leaves no doubt remaining, that

it was equally in vogue among Goths, Alamanni, Saxons, before

their conversion to Christianity. The ON. verb llota, pret. blet and
blota<5i, takes, like the Gothic, an ace. of the object worshipped ;

thus, Gragas 2, 170, in the formula of the trygdamal: sva vi5a sem
(as widely as) kristnir menu kirkior scekia, heiSnir menn hof llota
(fana colunt); and in the Edda: Thor llota, mik llota, llotafti 05in.
a b
Sa3m. lll 113 141 165 a2 always the meaning is sacrificio vene-
a
:
, , ,

rari. So that in Goth, and ON. the verb brings out more the idea
of the person, in OHG. and AS. more that of the thing. But
even the O.Dan, version of the OT. uses llothe immolare,

1
Gl. Hrab. 954 a
The bao,ha, plostar, is incomplete
: in Gl. Ker. 45. Dint. ;

1, 166 astands
it bacha sacriticat, ploastar ploazit, or zepar pWzit; so that it is
:

meant to translate only the Lat. verb, not the subst. bacha (/Su^r?). Or per
haps a better reading is bachat for bacchatur, and the meaning is non
Kicrificat .

2
Landn. 1,2: blotaOi hrat na ]?ria, worshipped three ravens, \vho were
going to show him the road ; so, in Soem. 141 a a bird demands that cows lie
,

sacrificed to him the victim

;
itself is ON. and we are told occasionally
bltit, :

feck at bloti, ak bloti miklu, oti ered a sacrifice, a great sacrifice, Landn. 2, 29.
 SACRIFICE. 37

Molbech s ed. pp. 171. 182. 215. 249.

libamina, Uotelsa holocaustum,
Also the O.Swed. Uplandslag, at the very beginning of the church-
balkr has sengin skal affguSum Uotce, with dat. of person, implying
:

1
an ace. of the The true derivation of the word I do not know.
thing.
At all events it is not to be looked for in bloS sanguis, as the dis

agreeing consonants of the two Gothic

words plainly show; equally
divergent are the OHG. pluozan and pluot from one another;
besides, the worship so designated was not necessarily bloody. A
remarkable passage in the Livonian rhyming chronicle 4683 tells of
the Sameits (Schamaits, Samogits) :

ir Uuotekirl der warf zuo hant

sin loz nach ir alden site,

zuo hant er Uuotete alles mite

ein quek.

Here, no doubt, an animal is sacrificed. I fancy the poet retained

a term which had penetrated from Scandinavia to Lithuania with
out understanding it himself ;
for bluotkirl is merely the O.Swed.
blotkarl, heathen priest ;
the term is foreign to the Lithuanian
2
language.
A few more of these general terms for sacrifice must be added

(see Suppl.). OHG.

antheiz (hostia, victima), Diut. 1, 240 a 246, .

b
258. 278 and as verbs, both antheizon and inheizan (immolare),
;

b
Diut. 1, 246. 258. OHG. insaken (litare), Gl. Hrab. 968 ,
insaJcet pirn
a a
(delibor), ibid. 959 960 ,
to which add the Bavarian stapfsaken,
EA. 927 ; just so the AS. onsecgan, Cod. exon. 171, 32. 257, 23.

onsecgan .to tibre (devote .as sacrifice), Csedm. 172, 30. tiber

onscegde, 90, 29. 108, 17. tifer onsecge, Ps. 65, 12. lac onsecge
Cod. exon. 254, 19. 257, 29 ; lac onscegde, Csedm. 107, 21. 113,
15. Cod. exon. 168, 28. gild onscegde, fedrn. 172, 11. and
onscegdnes (oblatio). As inheizan and onsecgan are formed
with the prefix and-, so is apparently the OHG. ineihan pirn
a
(delibor), Hrab. 960 which would yield a Goth, anddikan ; it is
,

1
Letter for letter it agrees with <Aotdeo I light up, burn, which is also ex
pressed in and the Lat. suffio ; but, if the idea of burnt-offering was
0u<0

originally contained in blotan, it must have got obscured very early.

2
Even in MHG. the word seems to have already become extinct ; it
may survive still in terms referring to place, as Wofegraben, frfofegarten in
Hessen, conf. the phrase Uotzen mussen, to have to fork out (sacrifice) money.
An old knife or sword also is called blotz (see Suppl.).
38 WORSHIP.

from this OHG. ineihhan, which I think Graff 1, 128 has misread
ireihan, that a later neihhan immolare, libare Graff (2, 1015) seems
to have risen by apha3resis (Gramm. 2, 810), as neben from ineben ;

conf. eichon (dicare, vindicare), Graff 1, 127. To this place also

belongs the OHG. pifelahan (libare, immolare), Diut. 1, 245. 248.

All this strictly denotes only the on-saying, dedication, conse
cration of the offering and it follows from the terminology at least
;

that particular objects were selected beforehand for sacrifice. 1

Thus antheiz is elsewhere simply a vow, votum, solemn promise,
intheizan vovere ;
hence also the AS. onsecgan has determinative
substantives added to it.

In the same sense biudan (offerre) seems to have been in use

very early, AS. lac bebeodan, C;edm. 173, 9. ON. lodn (oblatio).
From this biudan I derive liuds (mensa), ON. bioftr (discus), AS.
Icod (mensa, lanx), OHG. piot, from its having originally signified
the holy table of offerings, the altar.
The Goth, fullafahjan (with dat. of pers.)
prop, to please, give
satisfaction, is used for \arpeveiv, Lu. 4, 8 (see Suppl.). In Mk. 1,
44. Lu. 5, 14 afbairan adferre, Trpocrfapeiv, is used of sacrifice ; and
in AS. the subst. "bring by itself means oblatio ;
so Wolfram in
Parz. 45, 1 says si Irahten opfer vil ir goten, and Fundgr. II. 25
: :

ein lam zopphere brdhte. It is remarkable that the Goth, saljan,

which elsewhere is intransitive and means divertere, manere [put
up, lodge, John 1, 39. 40] is in Lu. 1, 9. Mk. 14, 12. 1 Cor. 10,
20. 28 used transitively for Bvpiav and 6veiv, and hunsla saljan,
John 16, 2 stands for \arpeiav Trpocrtyepew, which brings it up to
the meaning of OHG. and AS. sellan, ON. selja, tradere, to hand
over, possibly because the solemn presentation included a personal

approach. The OHG. pigangan (obire) is occasionally applied to

worship :
piganc (ritus), Diut. 1, 272 a .
afgoda legangan, Lacomblet
1, 11. Gildan, Jceltan, among its many meanings, has also to do
with worship and sacrifice ;
it was from the old sacrificial banquets
that our guilds took their name. OS. waldandes (God s) geld, Hel.
3, 11. 6, 1. that geld lestian, Hel. 16, 5. AS. bryne^Wd, holo-
caustum, Csedm. 175, 6, 177, 18. gild onsecgan, 172, 11. Abel s
offering is a gield, 60, 5. deofotytWd, idololatria, Beda 3, 30. Cod.

1
So the O.Boh. obiecati obiet (Koniginh. hs. 72) is
strictly opfer verheisscn,
to promise or devote an offering.
 SACRIFICE. 39

exon. 245, 29. 251, 24. h^Qugield, Cod. exon. 243, 23. OHG.
heidan&e/ gote
sacrilegium bringent,
: ir gelt offer- Warn. 2906.
micghelstar, sacrificium, 395. dhiu blostar
Is. iro ghelstro, Is. 382.
Peculiar to the AS. dialect is the general term Idc, neut., often
rendered more definite by verbs containing the notion of sacrifice :

onbldot J?et Idc gode, Csedm. 177,, 26. dryhtne Idc brohton, 60, 2.
Idc bebeodan v 173, 9. Idc onssegde, 107, 21. 113, 15. ongan Idc,

90, 19 (see SuppL). The word seems to be of the same root as the
Goth. masc. laiks (saltatio), OHG. leih (Indus, modus), leikr, ON",

and to have dance and play that accompanied a

signified at first the
sacrifice, then gradually the gift itself. 1 That there was playing
and singing at sacrifices is shown by the passages quoted further
on, from Gregory s dialogues and Adam of Bremen.
The following expressions I regard as more definite (see SuppL).
Ulph. in Eom. 11, 16 renders airap-)^, the offering of firstfruits at
a sacrifice, delibatio, by ufarskafts, which I derive not from skapan,
but from skaban (shave) radere, since airapyai were the first
422. 3, 446.
clippings of hair off the victim s forehead, Odyss. 14,
If we explain it from skapan, this word must have passed from its
meaning of creare into that of facere, immolare. The Goth, vitod
is lex, the OHG. ivizot (Graff 1, 1112. Fundgr. 1, 398 b ) both lex
and eucharistia, the Fris. vitat invariably the latter alone just as ;

zakon in Serv. has both meanings [but in Euss. only that of lex].
-Ulph. translates Ovaia by Goth, hunsl, Matt. 9, 13. Mk. 9, 49.

Trpocrtyepeiv in John 16,

Lu. 2, 24 ;
then again \arpe(av 2 by Jmnsla

saljan, where the reference is expressly to killing. And Qvo-iao-rrjpiov

is called hunslastafis, Matt. 5, 23-4. Lu. 1, 11. But the corre

sponding AS. Msel, Engl. housel, allows of being applied to a

Christian sacrament, and denotes the eucharist, huselgong the

partaking of it, kdselfat the sacred vessel of sacrifice conf. Csedm. ;

260, 5 hdselMu halegu for the sacred vessels of Jerusalem. Like-

.wise the OK Ms/ in the Norw. and Swed. laws is used in a
Christian, never in a heathen sense. No Jiunsal is found in OHG.;
neither can I guess the root of the word. Twice, however, Ulph.

Serv. prilog offering, what is laid before, prilozhiti to offer ; Sloven, dar,
1

darina, daritva =
dwpov. [Buss. clarii sviatiiye
=
dupa iepa means the ^

eucharist.] The Sloven aldov, bloodless offering, seems not to be Slavic, it

resembles Hung, aldozat. Qvaia is rendered in 0. Slav, by zhrtva (Kopitar s
Glagol. 72 ), in Russ. by zhertva [fr. zhariti to roast, burn ? or zhrati devour,
C

zhe ra glutton ?].

 40 WORSHIP.

renders Ovcrla by sduffs, pi. saudeis, Mk. 12, 33. Eom. 12, 1. I
sup-
suppose he thought of the sacrifice as that of an animal slaughtered
and boiled the root seems to be siuSan to seethe, and the
; has OK
sauffr a ram, probably because its flesh is boiled. 1 In 2 we
5, Eph.
have hunsl jah sdu& side by side, for trpocrfopav real dvaiav, and
in Skeir. 37, 8 gasaljands sik hunsl
jah sauft The OHG. zepar is
also a sacrifice in the sense of hostia, victima,
Hymn. 10, 2. 12, 2. 21,
5. Hrab. 965 b Diut. 240 a 272* (see SuppL). We could match
Gl. ,

it with a Goth, tibr, if we might venture on such an emendation of

the unique dilr Swpov, Matt. 5, 23 (conf. Gramm. 1, 63). con My
jecture that our German nngeziefer (vermin), formerly migeziber?
and the O.Fr. atoivre also belong to this root, has good reasons in
its favour. To this day in Franconia and Thuringia, zicfer, gcziefer

(insects) not
only designate poultry, but sometimes include even
goats and swine (Reinwald henneb. id. 1, 49. 2, 52, conf. Schm. 4,
228). What seems to make against my view is, that the A.S. tiler
cannot even be restricted to animals at all, Csedm. 90, 29. 108, 5.
172, 31. 175, 3. 204, 6. 301, 1.
sigefi&er, 203, 12. sigorfo/er, Cod.
exon. 257, 30 ;
on the contrary, in 60, 9 it is Cain s offering of
grain that is called tiler in distinction
t
from Abel s gield ;
and in
b
^Elfr. gl. 62 we find vtmtifer, libatio. But might be a later
this
confusion ;
or our twigeziefer may have extended to weeds, and con
sequently zepar would include anything fit for sacrifice in
itself
3
plants and trees. Meanwhile there is also to be considered the
ON. tafn, victima and esca ferarum. Lastly, I will mention a
term peculiar to the ON. language, and certainly heathen forn, :

fern, victima, hostia, fdrna, immolare, or instead of it fornfara,

conf. Fornm. sog. 1, 97 2, 76. this forna at the same time,
according
to Biorn, meaning elevare, tollere. AS. forn porcus, porcaster (?).

1
1. Rom.
present your bodies a living sauS was scarcely a happy
12,
combination, sauSs conveyed the notion of something boiled
if Can nothing !

made of s6(5jan satiare soothe (Milton s the soothest shepherd

l>e

sweetest, =
Goth, sutista) ? Grimm s law of change in mutes has many exceptions
pater :

father fajder vater (4 stages instead of 3, so sessel a and sattel

mater) settle, ;

a saddle, both from sit sat treu true, but trinken drink, &c. ; TRANS.
2
Titur. 5198, ungezibere stands for monster ; but what can
ungezibele mean
in Lanz. 5028 vor grozem ungezibele ? nibele ?
3
Caedm. 9, 2 ]?a seo tid gewat ofer tiber sceacan middangeardes. This
:

passage, whose meaning Thorpe himself did not rightly seize, I understand
thus As time passed on over (God s) gift of this earth. The inf. sceacan
:
(elabi)
depends on gewat so in Judith anal. 140, 5 gewiton on fleam sceacan, began
; :

to flee ; and still more freq. gewiton gangan.

 SACRIFICE. 41

If the 6 did not hinder, we

it with the adj. forn
could identify
vetus, forn and the OHG-. furnic
sorcerer, fornceskia sorcery,
antiquus, prisons, canus (Graff 3, 628) and in particular, use the;

same glosses for the illustration of baccha pluostar. Forn would

then be the term applied by the Christians to heathen sacrifices of
the farmer olden time, and that would easily glide into sorcery, nay,
there would be an actual kinship conceivable between zepar and
zoupar (zauber, magic), and so an additional link between the
notions of sacrifice and sorcery, knowing as we do that the verbs

garawan, wihan and perhaps zouwan [AS. gearwian to prepare,

Goth, veihan to consecrate, and taujan to bring about] are appli
cable to both, though our OHG. karo, karawi victima, Graff 4, 241

(Germ, gar, AS. gearw, yare) expresses no more than what is made
ready, made holy, consecrated.
1
We shall besides have to separate

more exactly the ideas vow and sacrifice, Mid. Lat. votum and census,

closely as they border on one another : the vow is, as it were, a

private sacrifice.
Here then our ancient language had a variety of words at its
command, and it may be supposed that they stood for different
things but the difficulty is, to unravel what the differences in the
;

matter were.
Sacrifice rested on the supposition that human food is agreeable
to the gods, that intercourse takes place between gods and men,
The god is invited to eat his share of the sacrifice, and he really

enjoys Not till later is

it. a separate divine food placed before him

(see Suppl.). The motive of sacrifices was everywhere the same :

either to render thanks to the gods for their kindnesses, or to

appease their anger ; the gods were to be kept gracious, or to be

made gracious again. Hence the two main kinds of sacrifice :

tf/wwi&-offerings and sw-offerings. 2 When a meal was eaten, a head of

1
Skr. kratu sacrifice, or accord, to Benfey 2, 307 process, comes from
The
kri facere and in Latin, facere (agnis, vitula, Virg. eel. 3, 77) and operari were
,

used of the sacred act of sacrifice ; so in Grk, pegeiv = cpfaw, Boeot. pe88ew of
offering the hecatomb, and epSeti/ is epyeii/, our wirken, work , einppsfciv Od. 17,
211. Qvtiv, pffriv, Spqv, Athenseus
403, as dpa* for dveiv, so dpao-is
5, dvaia.
The Catholic perjicere for consecrare (Csesar. heisterbac.
priest also uses co7ifi,cere,
9, 27) ; compare the aliquid plus novi facere in Burcard of Worms 10, 16
and p. 193 C The Lat. agere signified the slaughtering of the victim.
.

a
Sw/m-opfer, strictly, conciliatory offerings ; but as these were generally
identical with Swid-opfer, sin-offerings, I have used the latter expression, as
short and familiar. THANS.
42 WORSHIP.

game killed, the enemy conquered (see Suppl.), a firstling of the cattle
born, or grain harvested, the gift-bestowing god had a firstright to
a part of the food, drink, produce, the spoils of war or of the chase
(the same idea on which tithes to- the church were afterwards
grounded). If on the contrary a famine, a failure of crops, a

pestilence had set hi among a people, they hastened to- present

propitiatory gifts (see Suppl.) . These sin-offerings have by their
nature an occasional and fitful character, while those performed to
the propitious deity readily pass into periodically recurring festivals.
There is a third species of sacrifice, by which one seeks to know
the issue of an enterprise, and to -secure the aid of the god to whom
it is presented (see Suppl.). Divination however could also be

practised without sacrifices. Besides these three, there were special

sacrifices for particular occasions, such as coronations, births,

weddings and funerals, which* were also for the most part coupled
with solemn banquets.
As the gods show favour more than anger, and as men- are
oftener cheerful than oppressed by their sins and errors, thank-

offerings were the earliest and commonest, sin-offerings the more

rare and impressive. Whatever in the world of plants can be laid
before the gods is gay, innocent, but also less imposing and effective
than an animal sacrifice. The streaming blood, the- life spilt out
seems to have a stronger binding and atoning power. Animal
sacrifices are natural to the warrior, the hunter, the herdsman,
while the husbandman will offer up grain and flowers.
The great anniversaries of the heathen coincide with po
1
pular assemblies and In the Ynglinga saga cap. 8 they
assizes.

are specified thus ]?a skyldi biota i moti vetri (towards winter) til
:

ars, enn at miSjum vetri biota til groSrar, it Jmoja at sumri, j?at
var sigrblot (for victory). In the Olafs helga saga cap. 104 (Fornm.
sog. 4, 237) en J?at er siSr J?eirra (it is their custom) at hafa blot
.

a haustum (autumn) ok fagna J?a vetri, annat blot hafa at )>eir

miojum en hit Jmftja at sumri, J?a fagna ]?eir sumari eonf. ed.
vetri, ;

holm. cap. 115 (see Suppl.). The Autumn sacrifice was offered to
welcome the winter, and til ars (pro annonae ubertate) t)he Mid ;

winter sacrifice tfl grooYar (pro feracitate) ;

the Summer one to

welcome the summer, and til sigrs (pro victoria). Halfdan the Old

1
KA. 245. 745. 821-5.
 SACRIFICE. 43

held a great midwinter sacrifice for the long duration of his life and
kingdom, Sn. 190. But the great general blot held at Upsal every
(
til ars ok friSar ok
winter included sacrifices sigrs, Fornm. sog. 4,
154. The formula sometimes runs til arbotar (year s increase),
or til friftar ok vetrarfars gofts (good wintertime). In a striking
passage of the Gutalagh, p. 108, the great national sacrifices are
distinguished from the smaller offerings of cattle, food and drink :

firiJ?ann tima oc lengi eptir si]?an troj^u menn a hult oc a

hauga, vi ok staf-garjm, oc a hai]?in gu]? blotajm J?air synum oc
dydrum sinum, oc filepi mi]? mati oc mundgati, J?at gier]?u J?air
eptir vantro sinni. Land hoystu Uotan
alt hafj?i sir inij? fulki,
ellar hatyi huer ]?rij?iungr sir. En hatyu mindri
smeri J?ing
Uotan med, filepi mati oc mungati, sum haita supnautar : j?i et
J?air supu allir saman.

Easter-fires, Mayday-fires, Midsummer-fires, with their numerous

ceremonies, carry us back to heathen sacrifices ; especially such
customs as rubbing the sacred flame, running through the glowing
embers, throwing flowers into the fire, baking and distributing large
and the circular dance. Dances passed into plays
loaves or cakes,
and dramatic representations (see ch. XIII, drawing the ship, ch.

XXIII, and the witch-dances, ch. XXXIV), Afzelius 1, 3

describes a sacrificial play still performed in parts of Gothland,
acted by young fellows in disguise, who blacken and
rouge their
faces (see ch. XVII, sub fine). One, wrapt in fur, sits in a chair as
the victim, holding in his mouth a bunch of straw-stalks cut fine,
which reach as far as his ears and have the appearance of sow-
bristles :
by this is meant the boar sacrificed at Yule, which in

England is decked with laurel and rosemary (ch. X), just as the
devil s offering is with rue,
rosemary and orange (ch, XXXIII).
The great sacrificial feast of the ancient Saxons was on Oct. and 1,
istraced to a victory gained over the
Thuringians in 534 (see ch.
VI) ; in documents of the Mid. Ages this festival stills bears
high
the name of the gemeinwoche or common week
(see ch. XIII, Zisa),
Wiirdtwein dip! magunt. 1 praef. III-V. Sclieffers Haltaus
p. 142^
conf. Hofers ostr. wb. 1, 306. Another chronicle places it on Sept.
25 (Ecc. fr. or. 1, 59) Zisa s day was celebrated on St.
;
Sept. 29,
Michael on the 28th; so that the holding of a
s
harvest-offering must
be intended all In addition to the great festivals, they
through.
also sacrificed on
special occasions, particularly when famine or
 44 WORSHIP.

disease was rife ;

sometimes for long life :
(
biota til
langlifi, Landn.
3, 4 ;
or for favour (thockasaeld) with the people :
Grimr, er
blotinn var daucSr (sacrificed when dead) fiir thokkasaeld, ok kallaftr
kamban , Landn. 1, 14. 3, 16. This epithet kamban must refer to
the sacrifice of the dead man s body ;
I connect it with the OHG.
a
pichimpida funus, Mid. Dut. kwiban comere, Diut. 2, 207 . conf.
note to Andr. 4.

Human Sacrifices are from their nature and origin expiative ;

some great disaster, some heinous crime can only be purged and
blotted out by human blood. With all nations of antiquity they
were an old-established custom l the following evidences place it ;

beyond a doubt for Germany (see Suppl.). Tac. Germ. 9 Deorum :

maxime Mercurium colunt, cui certis diebus humanis quoque hostiis

litare fas habent. Germ. 39
tempore in silvam coeunt, : stato

caesoque publice (in the people s name) homine celebrant barbari

ritus horrenda primordia. Tac. Ann. 1, 61 lucis propinquis bar- :

barae arae, apud quas tribunes ac primonim ordinum centuriones

mactaverant. Tac. Ann. 13, 57 sed bellum Hermunduris pros- :

perum, Cattis exitiosius fuit, quia victores diversam aciem Marti ac

Mercuric sacravere, quo voto equi, viri, cuncta victa occidioni
dantur. Isidori chron. Goth., aera 446 quorum (regum Gothi- :

corurn) unus Eadagaisus Italiam belli feritate aggreditur, . . .

promittens sanguinem Christianorum diis suis litare, si vinceret.

Jornandes cap. 5 quern Martem Gothi semper asperrima placavere
:

cultura, nam victimae ejus mortes fuere captorum, opinantes bellor-

um praesulem aptius humani sanguinis effusione placandum.
2

Orosius 7, 37 of Eadagaisus, whom he calls a Scythian, but

makes him lead Goths to Italy qui (ut mos est barbaris :

hujusmodi generis) sanguinem diis suis propinare devoverat?

1
Lasaulx die siihnopfer der Grieclien u. Romer, Wiirzburg 1841. pp.
813.
2
Conf. COBS, de B. Gall. 6, 17 on the worship of Mars among the Gauls ;

and Procop. de B. Goth. 3, 14 on the Slavens and Antes 6ebv p.ev -yap eva TOV :

TTJS dfTTpaTrrjs 8r]p,iovp-yov arrdvrutv Kvpiov p.6vov avrov vopi^ovcriv eivai, KOI dvnvcriv
avTM /3da? re Kal tepeia avraj/ra. . . . czXX eVfiSai/ avrols ev Ttocr\v fjtir) 6
Odvaros e ir], fj
j/o cro) a.Xovo t fj es
TroXeynoj/ Kadi(TTap.fvois, eVayye XXoi/rai /ueV, fjv
$ia<pvyaxn, Qwiav avri rr/s "^v^fjs ai/ritca Troirjcrfiv, 8ta(pvy6vTs fie
ra> $ea>

flvovaiv oTrcp v7Tf(r^ovTO, KOI o lovrai TTJV aa)TT]pia.v ravTTjs dr) rfjs dvaias avrols
f(i)vfj(Tdai.
3
Of him Augustine says, in sermo 105, cap. 10 :
Rhadagaysus rex Goth-
orum . . . Romae . . . Jovi sacrificabat quotidie, nimtiabaturque
ubique, quod a sacrifices non desisteret.
 SACRIFICE. 45

Procopius de bello Goth. 2, 15 of the Thulites, i.e. Scandinavians :

Ovovcrt, $6 6vSe\e%e(7TaTa lepeia irdvra Kal evayi&vcri,. ra>v e

G$
lepeiwv rb Ka\\icrTov av6 pa)7T 6 ? eaTLV, ovirep cuv
I<JI
Sopid-
\COTOV TrOiriO~aLVTO 7T p CO TO V. TOVTOV jap TO) "Ap6L OvOVCTlV,
eVel 6ebv CLVTOV von itpvai peyio-rov elvcu. Ibid. 2, 14, of the
Heruli : TTO\VV TIVCL vofJbl^ovTes 6ewv opCkov, oD? Srj KOI
dv0 PCDTTWV Qvaiais Ckdcnteo-Qai ocriov aural? eSo/cet elvat. Ibid.

2, 25, of the already converted Franks at their passage of the Po :

eTTika^o/jievoi 8e r?}? ol iralSas re KOI y vv ac

<ye(f>vpas <f>pdry<yoi,

ted $ T&V ToTdc&v, ovsTrep evTCLvOd evpov I e

p e vov T Kal avrcov
TO, aco/jLara 9 rbv irora/jibv d/c pod iv la r ov TT o\e pov eppiir-
TOVV. ol fidpftapo!, jap OVTOL, Xpio-riavol 76701/0x6?, ra 7ro\\a TT}?

TraXata? 0^77? $v\do-o-ovcri,, Qvcriais re ^wfievoi

Kal a\\a oi>%
ocria iepevovres, ravrrj re ra? pavreias
Sidonius Apollinaris 8, 6 of the Saxons: mos est remeaturis
decimnm quemque captorum per aequales et cruciarias poenas,
plus ob hoc tristi quod superstitioso ritu necare. Capitul. de partib.
Saxon. 9 si quis hominem diabolo sacrificaverit et in hostiam, more
:

paganorum, daemonibus obtulerit. Lex Frisionum, additio sap. tit.

42 qui fanum effregerit

: . . . immolatur diis, quorum templa
violavit the law affected only the Frisians trans Laubachi/ who
;

remained heathens longer. What Strabo relates of the Cimbri, and

Dietmar of the Northmen, will be cited later. Epist. Bonif. 25 (ed.
Wiirdtw.) hoc quoque inter alia crimina agi in partibus illis
:

dixisti, quod quidam ex fidelibus ad immolandum paganis sua

venundent mancipia ; masters were allowed to sell slaves, and
Christians sold them The captive prince
to heathens for sacrifice.
Graecus Avar de Suevis pecudis more litatus (ch. XIII, the
(a)
1
goddess Zisa). For evidences of human sacrifice among the Norse,
see Mliller s sagabibl. 2, 560. 3, 93. As a rule, the victims were
captive enemies, purchased slaves or great criminals the sacrifice ;

of women and children by the Franks on crossing a river reminds

2
of the Greek $ia{3arrjpia ; the first fruits of war, the first prisoner

1 Adam of Bremen de situ Daniae cap. 24, of the Lithuanians : draconcs

adorant cum
volucribus, quibus etiam vivos litant homines, quos a mercatoribus
emunt, diligenter omnino probates, ne maculam in corpore habeant.
2 Hence in our own
folk-tales, the first to cross the bridge, the first to
enter the new building or the country, pays with his life, which meant, falls a
sacrifice. Jornandes cap. 25, of the Huns ad Scythiam properant, et quantos- :

cunque prius in ingressu Scytharum habuere, litavere Vidoriae.

46 WORSHIP.

taken, was supposed to bring luck. In folk-tales we find traces of

the immolation of children ; they are killed as a cure for
leprosy,
they are walled up in basements (ch. XXXV. XXXVI, end) and ;

a feature that particularly points to a primitive sacrificial rite is,

that toys and victuals are handed in to the child, while the
roofing-in
iscompleted. Among the Greeks and Eomans likewise the victims
fell amid noise and flute-playing, that their cries
might be drowned,
and the tears of children are stilled with caresses, ne flebilis hostia
immoletur Extraordinary events might demand the death of
.

kings sons and daughters, nay, of kings themselves. Thoro offers

up his son to the gods Worm mon. dan. 285. King

; Oen the Old
sacrificed nine sons one after the other to Oo in for his long life ;

Yngl. saga cap. 29. And the Swedes in a grievous famine, when
other great sacrifices proved unavailing, offered up their own king
Domaldi; ibid. cap. 18.

Animal sacrifices were mainly thank-offerings, but sometimes

also expiatory, and as such they not seldom, by way of mitigation,
took the place of a previous human sacrifice. I will now quote the
evidences (see Suppl.). Herculem et Martem concessis aniwalibus
placant, Tac. Germ. 9 ; i.e., with animals suitable for the purpose
(Hist. 5, 4), meaning sacrum as against profanum
concessurn ;

and only those animals were suitable, whose flesh could be eaten
by men. It would have been unbecoming to offer food to the god,
which the sacrificer himself would have disdained. At the same
time these sacrifices appear to be also banquets ;
an appointed
portion of the slaughtered beast is placed before the god, the rest is
cut up, distributed and consumed in the assembly. The people
thus became partakers in the holy offering, and the god is regarded
as feasting with them at their meal (see Suppl.). At great sacri
ficesthe kings were expected to taste each kind of food, and down
to late times the house-spirits and dwarfs had their portion set
aside for them by the superstitious people. Quadraginta rustici a
Langobardis capti carnes immolatitias comedere compellebantur,

Greg. M. dial. 3, 27 ;
which means no more than that the heathen
Langobards permitted or expected the captive Christians to share
their sacrificial feast 1
These immolatitiae carnes and hostiae im-
1
I do not know how cvmpellere can be softened down to
*

permitting or
expecting . TRANS.
 SACRIFICE. 47

molatitiae, quas stulti homines juxta

pagano faciunt ecclesias ritu
are also mentioned 25 and 55, ed. Wiirdtw.
in Bonifacii epist.
In the earliest period, the Horse seems to have been the
favourite animal for sacrifice there is no doubt that before the
;

introduction of Christianity its flesh was universally eaten. There

was nothing in the ways of the heathen so offensive to the new
converts, as their not giving up the slaughter of horses (hrossa-sldtr)
and the eating of horseflesh ;
conf. Malss. cap. 106. The Christian
Northmen reviled the Swedes as hross-ceturnar ; Fornm. sog. 2,
309. King Hakon, whom his subjects suspected of
Fagrsk. p. 63.
Christianity, was called upon at hann skyldi eta hrossasldtr Saga ;

Hak goSa cap. 18. From Tac. ann. 13, 57 we learn that the Her-
munduri sacrificed the horses of the defeated Catti. As late as the
time of Boniface (Epist. ed. Wiirdtw. 25. 87 Serr. 121. 142), 1
the Thuringians are strictly enjoined to abstain from horseflesh.

Agathias bears witness to the practice of the Alamanni LTTTTOVS :

re KOL /3o<z?,
KOI a\\a aTTa fj,vpia /ca par o /JLOVVT e (beheading),
<?

e7ri0eid&va-i, ed. bonn. 28, 5. Here we must not overlook the

cutting off of the head, which was not consumed with the rest, but
consecrated by way of eminence to the god. Csecina, on When
approaching the scene of Varus s overthrow, saw horses heads
fastened to the stems of trees (equorum artus, simul truncis arborum

antefixa ora, Tac. ann. 1, 61), these were no other than the Roman
horses, which the Germans had seized in the battle and offered up
to their gods 2 (see Suppl.). A similar immolati diis equi abscissum

caput meets us in Saxo gram. p. North they fixed it on

75 ;
in the
the neidstange (niftstong, stake of envy) which gave the power to
bewitch an enemy, Egilss. p. 389. In a Hessian kmdermarchen
(no. 89) we have surviving, but no longer understood, a reminiscence

1
Inter cetera agrestem caballum aliquantos comedere adjunxisti, plerosque
et domesticum. hoc nequaquam fieri deinceps sinas. And iiiprimis de volatili- ,

bus, id est graculis et corniculis atque ciconiis, quae omnino cavendae sunt ab
esu christianorum. etiam et fibri et lepores et equi silvatici multo amplius
vitandi. Again, Hieronymus adv. Jov. lib. 2 (ed. basil. 1553. 2, 75) Sar-
matae, Quadi, Vandali et inmimerabiles aliae gentes equorum et vulpimn carnibus
delectantur. Otto frising. 6, 10 audiat, quod Pecenati (the wild Peschensere,
.

Nib. 1280, 2) et hi qui Falones vocantur (the Valwen, Nib. 1279, 2. Tit.
4097), crudis et irnmimdis carnibus, utpote equinis et catinis usque hodie
vescuntur. Rol. 98, 20 of the heathen sie essaent diu ros. Witches also are
:

charged with eating horseflesh (see Suppl.).

2
Also in that passage of Jornandes about Mars : huic truncis suspende-
bantur exuviae.
48 WORSHIP.

1
of the mysterious meaning of a suspended horse s head. But on
horse-sacrifices among the heathen Norse we have further informa
tion of peculiar value. The St. Olaf s saga, cap. 113 (ed. holm. 2,

181), says J?at :

fylgSi ok
]?eirri sogn, at ]?ar vasri drepit naut ok
hross til arbotar (followed the saying that there were slain neat and
horse for harvest-boot). A tail-piece at the very end of the
Hervararsaga mentions a similar sacrifice offered by the apostate
Swedes at the election of king Svein (second half of llth century):
var framleidt hross eitt a ]?ingit, ok hoggvit i sundr, ok skipt til
]?a

dts,en rio)?uSu bloolnu llottrd; kostucSu ]?a allir Sviar kristni ok

hofust blot then was led forward a horse into the Thing, and hewed
;

in sunder, and divided for eating, and they reddened with the blood
the blot- tree, &c. Fornald. sog. 1, 512. Dietmar of Merseburg s
description of the great Norse (strictly Danish) sacrificial rite,
which however was extinct a hundred years before his time,
evidently contains circumstances exaggerated legendwise and dis
torted he says 1, 9 Sed quia ego de hostiis (Northmannorum)
;
:

mira audivi, haec indiscussa praeterire nolo. est unus in his

partibus locus, caput istius regni, Lederun nomine, in pago qui
Selon 2 dicitur, ubi post novcm annos mense Januario, post hoc
tempus quo nos theophaniam domini celebramus, omnes con-
venerunt, et ibi diis suismet Ixxxx. et ix. homines, et totidem equos,
cum canibus et gallis pro accipitribus oblatis, immolant, pro certo,
ut praedixi, putantes hos eisdem erga inferos servituros, et commissa
crimina apud eosdem placaturos. quam bene rex noster (Heinrich 1.
an. 931) fecit, qui eos a tarn execrando ritu prohibuit grand ! A
festive sacrifice, coming once in nine years, and costing a consider
ablenumber of animals in this there is nothing incredible. Just
as thename hecatomb lived on, when there was nothing like that
number sacrificed, so here the legend was likely to keep to a high-
sounding number; the horror of the human victims perhaps it
threw in bodily. But the reason alleged for the animal sacrifice
is evidently wide of the mark ;
it mixes up what was done

Gregory the Great 7, 5) admonishes Brunichild to take pre

1
fepist.
cautions with her Franks, ut de animalium capitibus sacrificia sacrilega non
exhibeant.
Selon for Seloncl, ON. Stelundr, afterwards Sioland, Seeland, i.e., Zea
2

land. Lederun, the Sax. dat. of Ledera, ON. HleiSra, afterwards Lethra,
Leire ; conf. Goth. hlei]?ra tabernaculum.
 -SACRIFICE. 49

at funerals
l
with what was done for expiation. It was only

the bodies of nobles and rich men that were followed in death
by bondsmen and by domestic and hunting animals, so that
they might have their services in the other world. Suppose 99
men, we will say prisoners of war, to have been sacrificed

to the gods, the animals specified cannot have been intended to

escort those enemies, nor yet for the use of the gods, to whom
no one ever set apart and slaughtered horses or any beasts of the
chase with a view to their making use of them. So whether the
ambiguous eisdem refers to homines or diis (as eosdem just after
stands for the latter), either way there is something inadmissible
asserted. At the new year s festival I believe that of all the victims
named the horses alone were sacrificed ; men, hounds and cocks
the legend has added on. 2 How Dietmar s story looks by the side
of Adam of Bremen s on the Upsal sacrifice, shall be considered on

p. 53.

Among all animal sacrifices, that of the horse was preeminent

and most solemn. Our ancestors have this in common with several
Slavic and Finnish nations, with Persians and Indians with all of :

them the horse passed for a specially sacred animal. 3

Sacrifice of Oxen (see SuppL). The passage from Agathias
(tWou? re real /3 6 a 5) proves the Alamannic custom, and that from
the Olafssaga (naut ok hross) the Norse. A letter to Saint Boniface
(Epist. 82, Wlirdtw.) speaks of ungodly priests qui tauros et hircos
diispaganorum immolabant. And one from Gregory the Great
ad Mellitum (Epist. 10, 76 and in Beda s hist. eccl. 1, 30) affirms
of the Angles : loves solent in sacrificio daemonum multos occidere.

1
With Sigurftr servants and hawks are burnt, Saem. 225 b elsewhere horses
;

and dogs as well, conf. RA. 344. Asvitus, morbo consumptus, cum cane et equo
terreno mandatur antro Saxo gram. p. 91, who misinterprets, as though the
;

dead man fed upon them nee contentus equi vel canis esu,
p. 92.
:

Pro accipitribus means, that in default of hawks, cocks were used.

Some have taken it, as though dogs and cocks were sacrificed to deified birds of
prey. But the pro is unmistakable.
3
Conf. Bopp s Nalas and Damajanti, p. 42, 268. The
Hyperboreans sacri
ficed asses to Apollo Pindar Pyth. 10. Callimach. fr. 187. Anton. Liberal,
;

metam. 20. The same was done at Delphi Bockh corp. inscr. I, 807. 809.
;

In a Mod. Greek poem

Taddpov, \VKOV KCU aXanrovs StTjy^crts- vv. 429-434, a
similar offering seems to be spoken of; and
Hagek s bohm. chron. p. 62 gives
an instance among the Slavs. the Silesians are
That, I is
suppose, why
called ass-eaters (Zeitvertreiber 1668, and if the Gottingers receive the
p. 153) ;
same nickname, these popular jokes must be
very old in Germany itself (see
Suppl.).
4
50 WORSHIP.

The Hack ox and Hack cow, which are not to be killed for the house
hold (Superst. 887), were they sacred sacrificial beasts ? Yal.
Suplit, a free peasant on the Samland coast (Samogitia or Semi-

galia), sacrificed a black bull with strange ceremonies. 1 I will add

a few examples from the Norse. During a famine in Sweden under
king Domaldi :
}?a eflSo (instituted) Sviar blot stor at
Uppsolum, it
fyrsta haust (autumn) blotuSu )?eir yxnum and the oxen proving
;

insufficient, they gradually went up to higher and higher kinds ;

Yngl. saga, c. 18. J?a gekk hann til hofs (temple) Freyss, ok
leiddi ]?agat uxan gamlan (an old ox), ok mselti sva Freyr, nu :

gef ek ]?er uxa J?enna ;

en uxanum bra sva viS, at hann qva> vi5,
ok niSr dauSr (dealt the ox such a blow, that he gave a groan
fell

and fell down dead) ; Islend. sog. 2, 348. conf. Vigaglumssaga, cap.
9. At a formal duel the victor slew a bull with the same weapons
that had vanquished his foe: ]?a var leiddr fram grdffAngr mildll ok

gamall, var J?at kallat blotnaut, ]?at skyldi sa hoggva er sigr hefol
(then was led forth a bull mickle and old, it was called blot-neat,
that should he hew who victory had), Egilss. p. 506. conf. Kormaks-
saga p. 214-8. Sacrifice of Cows, Ssem. 141. Fornm. sog. 2, 138.
The Greek e/caro^r) (as the name shows, 100 oxen) consisted at
first of a large number of neat, but very soon of other beasts also.

The Indians too had sacrifices of a hundred Holzmann 3, 193. 2

;

Boars, Pigs (see Suppl.). In the Salic Law, tit. 2, a higher

composition is set on the majalis sacrivus or votivus than on any
other. This seems a relic of the ancient sacrifices of the heathen
Franks ;
else why the term sacrivw ? True, there is no vast differ

ence between 700 and 600 den. (17 and 15 sol.); but of animals
so set apart for holy use there must have been a great number in
heathen times, so that the price per head did not need to be high.
Probably they were selected immediately after birth, and marked,
and then reared with the rest till the time of sacrificing. In
Frankish and Alamannic documents there often occurs the word
friscing, usually for porcellus, but sometimes for agnus, occasionally
in the more limited sense of porcinus and agninus; the word
may by
1Berlin, monatschr. 1802. 8, 225. conf. Lucas David 1, 118-122.
2In many districts of Germany and France, the butchers at a set time of
the year lead through the streets a fatted ox decked with flowers and ribbons,
accompanied by drum and fife, and collect drink-money. In Holland they call
the ox bclder,and hang gilded apples on his horns, while a butcher walks in
front with the axe (beil). All this seems a relic of some old sacrificial rite.
 SACRIFICE. 51

express recens natus, new-born, but it now lives only in

1
its origin

the sense of porcellus (frischling). How are we to explain then,

that this OHG-. friscing in several writers translates precisely the
Lat. hostia, victima, holocaustum (Notker cap. 8, ps. 15, 4. 26, 6.

33, 1. 39, 8. 41, 10. 43, 12. 22. 50, 21. 115, 17. osterfriscing, ps. 20,
3. lamp unkawemmit kakepan erdu friscing, i.e. lamb unblemished
given to earth a sacrifice, Hymn 7, 10), except as a reminiscence of
heathenism The Jewish paschal lamb would not suggest it, for in
?

friscing the idea of porcellus was predominant. In the North, the

expiatory boar, sonargoltr, offered to Freyr, was a periodical sacri
fice; and Sweden has continued down to modern times the practice
of baking loaves and cakes on Yule-eve in the shape of a boar.
This golden-bristled boar has left his track in inland Germany too.
2
According to popular belief in Thuringia, whoever on Christmas
eve abstains from all food till suppertime, will get sight of a young
i.e. in olden times it was
golden pig, brought up last at the even
ing banquet. Lauterbach A
ordinance (weisthum) of 1589 decreed
(3, 369), that unto a court holden the day of the Three-kings,
therefore in Yule time, the holders of farm-steads (hlibner)
should furnish a clean goldferch (gold-hog) gelded while yet under
milk ;
it was led round the benches, and no doubt slaughtered

afterwards. 3 So among the Welsh, the swine offered to the gods

* v. Eccard Fr. or. 2, 677. Dorows denkm. I. 2, 55.

Ducange sub Lacom-
blet 1, 327. Graff 3, 833. Schmeller wtb. 1, 619.
2
Gutgesells beitr. zur gesch. des deutsclien alterthums, Meiningen 1834,
p. 138.
3
This passage from the Lauterb. ordin. I can now match by another from
those of Vinkbuch in the Alamann country. It says 1, 436 : the provost shall
pick out in the convent a swine worth 7 schilling pfennig, and as soon as harvest
begins, let it into the convent crewyard, where it must be allowed generous
fare and free access to the corn ; there it is left till the Thursday after St. Adolf s
day, when it is slaughtered and divided, half to the farm-bailiff, half to the
parish ; on the same day there is also a distribution of bread and cheese to
the parish. The price of seven shillings tallies with the seven and a half
fixed by the Lauterb. ordin., and is a high one, far exceeding the ordinary
value (conf. Gott. anz. 1827, pp. 336-7) it was an arrangement long continued
;

and often employed in these ordinances, and one well suited to a beast selected
for sacrifice. The Lauterbach goldferch, like that of Vinkbuch, is doled out
and consumed at a festive meal ; the assize itself is named after it (3, 370) ;

at Vinkbuch the heathenish name only has been forgotten or suppressed.

Assuredly such assize-feasts were held in other parts of Germany too. St.
Adolf was a bishop of Straszburg, his day falls on August 29 or 30 (Conr. v.
Dankr. namenb. p. 117), and the assize therefore in the beginning of September.
Swine are slaughtered for the household when winter sets in, in Nov. or Dec. ;
and as both of these by turns are called schlachtmon&t, there might linger in
52 WORSHIP.

became one destined for the King s table. It is the swin ealgyldcn,
eofor irenheard of the Anglo-Saxons, and of its exact relation to
the worship of Froho (Freyr) we have to treat more in detail by
and by. The Greeks sacrificed swine to Demeter (Ceres), who as
Nerthus stands very near to NiorSr, Freyr and Freyja.
Earns, Goats (see Suppl.). As friscing came to mean victima, so
conversely a name for animal sacrifice, Goth. saufts, seems to have

given rise to the ON. name for the animal itself, sauffr= wether.
This species of sacrifice was therefore not rare, though it is seldom
expressly mentioned, probably as being of small value. Only the
saga Hakonar goSa cap. 16 informs us ];ar var oc drepinn (killed)
:

allskonar smali, ok sva hross. Smali (/jiijXa) denotes principally

sheep, also more generally the small beasts of the flock as opposed
to oxen and horses, and as alls konar (omnis generis) is here

added, it seems to include goats. The sacrifice of he-goats (hircos)

is spoken of in the above-quoted Epist. Bonif. 82. In the Swedish
superstition, the water-sprite, before it will teach
any one to play
the harp, requires the sacrifice of a Uack lamb ; Svenska folkv. 2,
128. Gregory the Great speaks once of she-goats being sacrificed;
he says the Langobards offer to the devil, i.e.,to one of their gods,
caput caprae, hoc ei, per circuitum currentes, carmine nefando
dedicantes ;
This head of a she-goat (or he-goat ?) was
Dial. 3, 28.
reared aloft, and the people bowed before it. The hallowing of a
he-goat among the ancient Prussians is well known (Luc. David 1,
87, 98). The Slavonian god Triglav is represented with three
goats heads (Hanka s zbjrka 23). If that Langobardic carmen
.

nefandum had been preserved, we could judge more exactly of the

rite than from the report of the holy father, who viewed it with
hostile eyes.
About other sacrificial beasts we cannot be certain, for of Diet-
mar s dogs and hawks and cocks, hardly any but the last are to be
depended on (see Suppl.). But even then, what of domestic poultry,
fowls, geese, pigeons ? The dove was a Jewish and Christian

this also a reference to heathen sacrifices an AS. name for Nov. is expressly
;

6Wmonec5. The common man at his yearly slaughtering gets up a feast, and
sends meat and sausages to his neighbours (conf. mauchli, Stalder 2, 525),
which may be a survival of the common sacrifice and distribution of ili-sh.
It is remarkable that in Servia too, at the solemn burning of the badnyak,
which is exactly like the yule-log (ch. XX, Fires), a whole swine is roasted, and
often a sucking pig along with it ; Vuk s Montenegro, pp. 103-4.
 SACRIFICE. 53

sacrifice, the Greeks offered cocks to Asldepios, and in Touraine a

white cock used to be sacrificed to St. Christopher for the cure of a

bad finger (Henri Estienne cap. 38, 6). Of game, doubtless only
thosefit to eat were fit to sacrifice, stags, roes, wild boars, but never

bears, wolves or foxes, who themselves

possess a ghostly being, and
receive a kind of worship. Yet one might suppose that for expiation
uneatable beasts, equally with men, might be offered, just as slaves
and also hounds and falcons followed the burnt body of their
master. Here we must first of all place Adam of Bremen s descrip
tion (4, 27) of the great sacrifice at Upsala by the side of Dietmar s
account of that at Hlethra (see p. 48) Solet quoque post novem
:

annos communis omnium Sveoniae provinciarum solennitas

celebrari, ad quam nulli praestatur immunitas reges et populi,
;

omnes et singuli sua dona ad Ubsolam transmittunt, et, quod omni

poena crudelius qui jam induerunt christianitatem ab illis
est, illi
ceremoniis se redimunt. Sacrificium itaque tale est ex omni :

animante quod masculinum novem capita offeruntur quorum

est, ;

sanguine deos tales placari mos est. Corpora autem suspenduntur

in lucum qui proximus est templo. Is enim lucus tarn sacer est

gentilibus, ut singulae arbores ejus ex morte vel tabo immolatorum

divinae credantur. Ibi etiam canes, qui pendent cum Jwminibus,

quorum corpora mixtim suspensa narravit mihi quidam christian-

orum se septuaginta duo vidisse. Ceterum naeniae, quae in
ejusmodi ritibus libatoriis fieri solent, multiplices sunt et inhonestae,
ideoque melius reticendae. The number nine is prominent in this
Swedish sacrificial feast, exactly as in the Danish ;
but here also all
isconceived in the spirit of legend. First, the heads of victims
seem the essential thing again, as among the Franks and Langobards ;

then the dogs come in support of those Hlethra hounds and hawks/
but at the same time remind us of the old judicial custom of hanging
up wolves or dogs by the side of criminals (EA. 685-6). That only
the male sex of every living creature is here to be sacrificed, is in

striking accord with an episode in the Eeinardus, which was

composed less than a century after Adam, and in its groundwork
might well be contemporary with him. At the wedding of a king,
the males of all quadrupeds and birds were to have been slaughtered,
but the cock and gander had made their escape. It looks to me
like a legend of the olden time, which still circulated in the ll-12th

centuries, and which even a nursery-tale (No. 27, the Town-

54 AVOESHIP.

musicians)knows something of. 1 Anyhow, in heathen times vide

animals seem to be in special demand for sacrifice. 2 As for
killing
one of every species (and even Agathias s KOI d\\a drra
nvpia does
not come up to that), it would be such a stupendous affair, that its
actual execution could never have been conceivable it can
only ;

have existed in popular tradition. It is something like the old

Mirror of Saxony and that of Swabia assuring us that
every living
creature present at a deed of rapine, whether oxen, horses, cats,

dogs, fowls, geese, swine or men, had to be beheaded, as well as the

actual delinquent (in real fact, only when they were his 3
property) ;

or like the Edda relating how oaths were exacted of all animals
and plants, and all beings were required to weep. The creatures
belonging to a man, his domestic animals, have to suffer with him
in case of cremation, sacrifice or punishment.
Next to the kind, stress was undoubtedly laid on the colour of
the animal, white being considered the most favourable. White
horses are often spoken of (Tac. Germ. 10. Weisth. 3, 301. 311.
831), even so far back as the Persians (Herod. 1, 189). The friscing
of sacrifice was probably of a spotless white ; and in later law-
records snow-ivhite pigs are pronounced inviolable. 4 The Votiaks
sacrificed a red stallion, the Tcheremisses a white. When under
the old German law dun or pied cattle were often required in
pay
ment of fines and might have some connexion with
tithes, this
sacrifices 5 for witchcraft also, animals of a particular hue were
;

requisite. The water-sprite demanded a black lamb, and the huldres

have a black lamb and Hack cat offered up to them (Asb. 1. 159).
Saxo Gram. p. 1 6 says rem divinam facere furvis hostiis does
; ;

that mean black beasts ? We may suppose that cattle were

1
Or will any one trace this incident in the Reynard to the words of the
Vulgate in Matt. 22, 4 tauri mei et altilia occisa sunt, venite ad nuptios
:
;

which merely describe the preparations for the wedding-feast 1 Any hint
about males is just what the passage lacks.
2
The Greeks offered male animals to gods,/emZe to goddesses, II. 3, 103 :

a white male lamb to Helios (sun), a black ewe lamb to Ge (earth). The
Lithuanians sacrificed to their earthgod Zemiennik utriusque sexus domestica
animalia Haupt s zeitschr. 1, 141.
;
3
Reyscher and Wilda zeitschr. fur deutsches recht 5, 17, 18.
4
RA. 261. 594. Weisth. 3, 41. 46. 69. conf. Virg. Aen. 8, 82 : Candida
cum foetu concolor albo sus ;
and the Umbrian trif apruf rufru ute peiu
:
(tres
apros rubros aut piceos), Aufrecht und Kirchh. umbr. sprachd. 2, 278-9.
8
RA. 587. 667. Weisth. 1, 498. 3, 430. White animals hateful to the
gods Tettau and Temme preuss. sag. 42.
;
 SACRIFICE. 55

garlanded and adorned

for sacrifice. passage in the Edda A
a
requires gold-horned cows,
Seem. 14 l and in the village of Fienstadt ;

in Mansfeld a coal-black ox with a white star and white feet, and

1
a he-goat with gilded horns were imposed as dues. There are indi
cations that the animals, before being slaughtered, were led round

within the circle of the assembly that is how I explain the

52
leading round the benches, and per circuitum currere, pp. 51,
perhaps, as among the
Greeks and Komans, to give them the
2
appearance of going voluntarily to death (see Suppl.). Probably
care had to be taken also that the victim should not have been used
in the service of man, e.g., that the ox had never drawn plough or

waggon. For such colts and bullocks are required in our ancient
law-records at a formal transfer of land, or the ploughing to death
of removers of landmarks.
On the actual procedure in a sacrifice, we have scarcely any
information except from Norse authorities. While the animal
laid down its life on the sacrificial stone, all the streaming blood

(OK hlauf) was caught either in a hollow dug for the purpose, or
in vessels. With this gore they smeared the sacred vessels and
3
utensils, and sprinkled the participants. Apparently divination
was performed by means of the blood, perhaps a part of it was
mixed with ale or mead, and drunk. In the North the blood-
bowls (hl&utbollar, \Aotbollar) do not seem to have been large;
some nations had big cauldrons made for the purpose (see Suppl.).
The Swedes were taunted by Olafr Tryggvason with sitting at home
and licking their sacrificial pots, at sitja heima ok sleikja Uot-
lolla sina, Fornm. sog. 2, 309. A cauldron of the Cimbri is noticed
in Strabo 7, 2 : e#o? Be n TMV Ki/jL(3p(0v Snyyovvrai, TOIOVTOV, on
rat? <yvvaiiv
CLVTWV o-varparevovcra^ 7rapr)Ko\ov0ovv

lepeiat, TToX/.oTp^e?, Xef^ei/ioi e?, Kapiracrlvas

1
Neue mitth. des thiir. sachs. vereins V. 2, 131, conf. II. 10, 292. Od.
3, 382 ;

<roi 8 av eyob pe o>

/3ovi/ rjviv, evpv/ierwTroj/,

a.p.r)Tr)v t fjv OVTTO) VTTO vybv fjyayev avrjp

rf)v TOI eyo) pe xpuo-oi/ Kepaaiv Trepixevas.
o>,

2
Oc eingu skyldi tortyna hvarki fe ne monnum, nema sialft gengi i burt.
Eyrb. saga, p. 10. And none should they kill (tortima?) neither beast nor
man, unless of itself it ran a-tilt.
3
Saga Hakonar goSa, cap. 16. Eyrb. saga p. 10. rauS horgin, reddened
the (stone) altar, Fornald. sog. 1, 413. stalla lata rioSa bloSi, 1, 454. 527.
Sasm. 114b rio&u&u bloSinu Udttre, Fornald. sog. 1, 512. the Grk alpa TK>

. conf. Exod. 24, 8.

 56 WORSHIP.

.8

aurov? ?yyoz>
ar
p a %a\Kovv, baov d/uifopewv e^tcocn el^ou
eVt K p rj

8e dvaftdOpav, fy dva/3aora (77 /Ltai^rt?) vTrepTrerrjs TOV \ e /3 77 r o 9

\cuijLOTOfj,ei eKaarov fjierecopLadevra IK, e TOU

TTpo^eofjuevov ai/^aro?
6t9 TW
Kparrjpa, /jLavreiav TIVOL eVotoiWo. Another cauldron of 1

the Suevi, in the Life of St. Columban Sunt etenim inibi vicinre :

nationes Suevorum ; quo cum moraretur, et inter habitatores illius

leci progrederetur, reperit eos sacrificium profanum litare velle,

vasque magnum, quod vulgo cupam vocant, quod viginti et sex

modios amplius minusve capiebat, cerevisia plenum in medio habe-
bant positum. Ad quod vir Dei accessit et sciscitatur, quid de illo
fieri vellent 1 Illi aiunt : deo suo Wodano, quern Mercurium
vocant alii, Jonas Bobbiensis, vita Columb. (from
se velle litare.
the first half of the 7th cent. Mabillon ann. Bened. 2, 26). Here
we are expressly told that the cauldron was filled with ale, and not
that the blood of a victim was mixed with it ; unless the narrative
is incomplete, it may have meant only a drink-offering.
Usually the cauldron served to cook, i.e. boil, the victim s flesh ;

it never was roasted. Thus Herodotus

61 describes a boiling 4,

(tyew) of the sacrifice in the great cauldron of the Scythians.

From my conjecture, the ram was called
this seething, according to

saufis,and those who took part in the sacrifice su&nautar (partakers

of the sodden), Gutalag p. 108 the boilings, the cauldrons and pots
;

of witches in later times may be connected with this. 2 The distri

bution of the pieces among the people was probably undertaken by
a priest on great holidays the feast 3 was held there and then in
;

the assembly, on other occasions each person might doubtless take

They say the Cimbri had this custom, that their women marching with
1

them were accompanied by priestess-prophetesses, gray-haired, white-robed,

with a linen scarf buckled over the shoulder, wearing a brazen girdle, and
bare-footed these met the prisoners in the camp, sword in hand, and having
;

crowned them, led them to a brass basin as large as 30 amphora? (180 gals) ;

and they had a ladder, which the priestess mounted, and standing over the
basin, cut the throat of each as he was handed up. With the blood that gushed
into the basin, they made a prophecy.
2
The trolds too, a kind of elves, have a copper kettle in the Norw. saga,
Faye 11 the Christians Ion" believed in a Saturni dolium, and in a large
;

cauldron in hell (chaudiere, Meon 3, 284-5).

3
They also ate the strong broth and the fat swimming at the top. The
heathen offer their king Hakon, on his refusing the flesh, drecka so3~i-and eta
jlotit ; Saga Hakonar goSa cap. 18. conf. Foinm. sog. 10, 381.
 SACRIFICE. 57

his share home with him. That priests and people really ate the
food, appears from a number of passages (conf. above, p. 46). The
Capitularies 7, 405 adopt the statement in Epist. Bonif. cap.
25

(an. 732) of a Christian presbyter Jovi mactans, et immolatitias

carnes vescens, only altering it to diis mactanti, et immolatitiis

carnibus vescenti . We may suppose that private persons were

allowed to offer small gifts to the gods on particular occasions, and
consume a part of them this the Christians ;
more gentiliumcalled

offerre, et ad honorem daemonum eomedere/ Capit. de part. Sax. 20.

It is likely also, that certain nobler parts of the animal were

assigned to the gods, the head, liver, heart, tongue}- The head and
skin of slaughtered game were suspended on trees in honour of
them (see Suppl.).
Whole where the animal was converted into
~burnt offerings,

ashes on the pile of wood, do not seem to have been in use. The
Goth, allbrunsts Mk 12., 33 is made merely to translate the Gk.
o\oKavrwfJia, so the OHG. albrandopher, N. ps. 64,
2 and the AS. ;

6. 177, 18 is meant
Irynegield onhredft rommes bloSe, Caedni. 175,
2
to express purely a burntoffering in the Jewish sense.

Neither were incense-offerings used the sweet incense of the ;

Christianswas a new thing to the heathen. Ulphilas retains the

Gk. thymiama Lu. 1, 10. 11 and our weih-rauch (holy-reek), O.
;

Sax. wiroc Hel. 3, 22, and the OK reykelsi, Dan. rogelse are
formed according to Christian notions (see SuppL).

While the sacrifice of a slain animal is more sociable, more

the collective nation or
universal, and is usually offered by
community ;
fruit or flowers, milk or honey is what any household,
or even an individual may give. These Fruit-offerings are therefore
more solitary ; history scarcely mentions them, but they
and paltry
have lingered the longer and more steadfastly in popular customs
(see Suppl.).
When the husbandman cuts his corn, he leaves a clump of ears

standing for the god who blessed the harvest, and he adorns it with

KOL xotXia (tongue and entrails) iepciov SmTreTrpayjue i/ov, Plutarch,

Phoc. 1.
yXcoo-o-ay Tapvfiv
and eV TTV/H fiuXXeiv, Od. 3, 332. 341. conf. De
.

lingua usu in sacrifices, Nitzsch ad Horn. Od. 1, 207. In the folk-tales, who
ever has to kill a man
or beast, is told to bring in proof the tongue or heart,
apparently as being eminent portions.
2
Sl&v.pdliti obiet, to kindle an. offering, Koniginh. hs. 98.
58 WORSHIP.

ribbons. To this day, at a fruit-gathering in Holstein, five or six

apples are left hanging on each tree, and then the next crop will thrive.
More striking examples of this custom will be given later, in treat
ing of individual gods. But, just as tame and eatable animals
were especially available for sacrifice, so are fruit-trees (frugiferae
arbores, Tac. Germ. 10), and grains; and at a formal transfer of
land, boughs covered with leaves, apples or nuts are used as earnest
of the bargain. The MHG. poet (Fundgr. II, 25) describes Cain s
eine garb er nam, er wolte sie oppheren mil
*
sacrifice in the words :

eheren joch mit agenen a sheaf he took, he would offer it with ears
and eke with spikes a formula expressing at once the upper part
:

or beard (arista), and the whole ear and stalk (spica) as well.
Under this head we also put the crowning of the divine image, of a
sacred tree or a sacrificed animal with foliage or flowers ; not the
faintest trace of this appears in the Norse sagas, and as little in our
oldest documents. From later times and surviving folk-tales I can
bring forward a few things. On Ascension day the girls in more
than one part of Germany twine garlands of white and red flowers,
and hang them up in the dwellingroom or over the cattle in the
1
stable, where they remain till replaced by fresh ones the next year.
At the village of Questenberg in the Ilarz, on the third day in
Whitsuntide, the lads carry an oak up the castle-hill which
overlooks the whole district, and, when they have set it upright,
fasten to it a large garland of branches of trees plaited together,

and as big as a cartwheel. They all shout the queste (i.e. garland)
*

hangs, and then they dance round the tree on the hill top ;
both
tree and garland are renewed every year. 2 Not far from the
Meisner mountain in Hesse stands a high precipice with a cavern
opening under it, which goes by the name of the Hollow Stone.
Into this cavern every Easter Monday the youths and maidens of
the neighbouring villages carry nosegays, and then draw some

cooling water. No one will venture down, unless he has flowers

with him. 3 The lands in some Hessian townships have to pay a
~bunch of mayflowers (lilies of the valley) every year for rent. 4 In
all these examples, which can easily be multiplied, a heathen
1
Bragur VI. 1, 126.
2
Otmars volkssagen, pp. 128-9. What is told of the origin of the custom
seems to be fiction.
3
Wigands archiv 6, 317.
4
Wigands archiv C, 318. Casselsches wochenbl. 1815, p. 928b .
 MINNE-DRINKING. 59

practice seems to have been transferred to Christian festivals and

1
offerings.
As it was a primitive and widespread custom
at a banquet to
set aside a part of the
food household gods, and particularly
for the
to place a dish of broth before Berhta and Hulda, the gods were
also invited to share the festive drink. The drinker, before taking
any himself, would pour some out of his vessel for the god or house-
sprite, as the Lithuanians, when they drank beer, spilt some of it
2
on the ground for their earth-goddess Zemynele. Compare with
this the Norwegian sagas of Thor, who appears at weddings when

invited, and takes up and empties huge casks of ale. I will now
turn once more to that account ol the Suevic ale-titb (cupa) in Jonas
.(see p. 56), and use it to explain the heathen practice of minne-

drinking, which is far from being extinct under Christianity. Here

also both name and custom appear common to all the Teutonic
races.
The Gothic man (pi. munum, pret. munda) signified I think ;

gaman (pi. gamunum, pret. gamunda) I bethink me, I remember.

From the same verb is derived the OHG. minna = minia amor,
minnon == minion amare, to remember a loved one. In the ON.
language we have the same man, munum, and also minni memoria,
minna recordari, but the secondary meaning of amor was never
developed.
It was customary to honour an absent or deceased one by
making mention of him at the assembly or the banquet, and
draining a goblet to his memory: this goblet, this draught was
called in ON. erfi drychja, or again minni (erfi funeral feast). =
At grand sacrifices and banquets the god or the gods were
b
remembered, and their minni drunk: minnis-ol (ale), Saem. 119
(opposed to ominnis 61), minnis-hom, minnis-full (cupful), foro
minni morg, ok skyldi horn dreckia 1 minni hvert (they gave many
a m., and each had to drink a horn to the m.). um golf ganga at
minnom ollum, Egilss. 206. 253. minniol signoff asom, Olafs helga.

1
Beside cattle and grain, other valuables were offered to particular gods
and in special cases, as even in Christian times voyagers at sea e.g. t would vow
a silver ship to their church as a votive gift in Swedish folk-songs, offra en
;

yryta af malm (vessel of metal), Arvidss. 2, 116 en gryta af blankaste malm (of
;

silver) Ahlqvists Oland II. 1, 214 also articles of clothing, e.g. red shoes.
;

2
In the Teut. languages I know of no technical term like the Gk.
Xe//3co, Lat. libo, for drink-offerings (see Suppl.). ,
 60 WORSHIP.

saga (ed. holm.) 113. signa is the German segnen to bless, conse
crate. signa full OSni, Thor. 051ns full, NiarSar full, Treys
full
drecka, Saga Hakonar goSa cap. 16.18. In the Herraufts-saga cap.
11, Thor s, OSin s and Freya s minne is drunk. At the burial of a
king there was brought up a goblet called Bragafull (funeral toast
cup), before which every one stood up, took a solemn vow, and
emptied it, Yngl. saga cap. 40; other passages have Iragarfull,
Soem. 146 a Fornald. sog. 1, 345. 417. 515.
.
The goblet was also
called minnisveig (swig, draught), Ssem. 193 b
After conversion .

they did not give up the custom, but drank the minne of Christ,
Mary, and the saints Krists minni, Michaels minni, Fornm. sog.
:

1, 162. 7, 148. In the Fornm.

sog. 10, 1781, St. Martin demands of
Olaf that his minni be proposed instead of those of Thor, 05in, and
the other ases.
The other races were just as little weaned from the practice ;

only where the term minne had changed its meaning, it is trans
lated by the Lat. amor instead of memoria 1 notably as early as in
j

Liutprand, hist. 6, 7 (Muratori II. 1, 473), and Liutpr. hist. Ott. 12:
didboli in amorem vinum bibere. Liutpr. antapod. 2, 70 amoris :

salutisque mei causa bibito. Liutpr. leg. 65 potas in amore beati

:

Johannis prsecursoris. Here the Baptist is meant, not the Evan

gelist; but in the Fel. Faber evagat. 1, 148 it is distinctly the
latter. In Eckehard casus S. Galli, Pertz 2, 84: amoreque, ut
nioris est, osculato et epoto, laetabundi discedunt. In the Rudlieb
2,162:
post poscit vinum Gerdrudis amore, quod haustum
participat nos tres, postremo basia fingens,
quando vale dixit post nos gemit et benedixit.
In the so-called Liber occultus, according to the Miinchen MS., at
the description of a scuffle :

hujus ad edictum nullus plus percutit ictum,

sed per clamorem poscunt Gertrudis amorem.
In the Peregrinus, a 13th cent. Latin poem,.v. 335 (Leyser 2114) :

et rogat ut potent sanctae Gertrudis amore,

ut possent onini prosperitate frui.

1
cent, poem Von dem gelouben 1001 says of the institution of
The 12th
the Lord Supper, whose cup is also a drink of remembrance to Christians
s :

den cof nam er mit dem wine, uncle secjente darinne ein vil guote minne. Conf.
loving cup, Thorn s Ai.ecd. 82.
 MIXNE-DEINKING. 01

At Erek s departure :der wirt neig im an den fuoz, ze hand truog

er irn do ze lieiles gewinne sant Gertrude minne, Er. 4015. The
armed champion tranc sant Johannes segcn, Er. 8651. Hagene,
while killing Etzel s child, says, Nib. 1897, 3 :

mi trinken wir die minne unde gelten skiineges win,

izmac anders niht gesin
wan trinkt und geltet Ezeln win; Helbl. 6, 160. 14. 86.

Here the very word meaning it had acquired in

gelten recalls the
connexion with sacrificing conf. Schm. 2, 40. si do zucten di suert
;

unde scancten eine minne (drew their swords and poured out a m.);
Herz. Ernst in Hoffm. fundgr. 1, 230, 35. minne schenken,
Berthold 276-7. sant Jftliannis minne geben, Oswald 611. 1127.
1225 (see Suppl.). No doubt the same thing that was afterwards
called einen ehrenwein schenken for even in our older speech
;

era, ere denoted verehrung, reverence shown to higher and loved

beings.
In the Mid. Ages then, it was two saints in particular that had
minne drunk in honour of them, John the evangelist and Gertrude.
John is said to have drunk poisoned wine without hurt, hence
a drink consecrated to him prevented all danger of poisoning.
Gertrude revered John above all saints, and therefore her memory
seems to have been linked with his. But she was also esteemed as
a peacemaker, and in the Latinarius metricus of a certain Andreas
rector scholarum she is invoked :

pia Gerdrudis, quae pacis commoda cudis

bellaque concludis, nos caeli mergito ludis !

A clerk prayed her daily, dass sie ihm schueffe herberg guot, to
find him lodging good; and in a MS. of the 15th cent, we are
informed aliqui dicunt, quod quando anima egressa est, tune prima
:

nocte pernoctabit cum beata Gerdrude, secunda nocte cum arcli-

angelis, sed tertia nocte vadit sicut diffinitum est de ea. This
remarkable statement will be found further on to apply to Freya,
of whom, as well as of Hulda and Berhta, Gertrude reminds us the

more, as she was represented spinning. Both John s and Ger

trude s minne used especially to be drunk by
parting friends,
travellers and lovers of peace, as the passages
quoted have shown.
I know of no older testimony to Gertrude s minne (which presup
poses John s) than that in Paidlieb in ;
later centuries we find
62 WORSHIP.

plenty of them der brahte mir sant Jolians segen, Ls. 3, 336.
: ,

sant Johans segen trinken, Ls. 2, 262. ich daht an sant Jolians

minne, Ls; 2, 264. varn (to fare) mit sant Gertrude minne,

Amgb. 33 b . setz sant Johans ze biirgen inir, daz du komest

b
gesunt lierwider schier, Hiitzl. 191 . sant Johannes namen
trinken, Altd. bl. 413. sant Gfertrdde minne, Cod. kolocz. 72.
trinken sant Johannes segen und scheiden von dem lande, Morolt.
3103. diz ist sancte Johans minne, Cod. pal. 364, 158. S. Johans

segen trinken, Anshelm 3, 416. Johans segen, Fischart gesch. kl.

99 b .
Simpliciss. 2, 262.
1

Those Suevi then, whom Columban was approaching, were pro

bably drinking Wuotan minne ; Jonas s relates how the saint blew
the whole vessel to pieces and spoilt their pleasure : manifesto
datur intelligi, dicibolum in eo vase fuisse occultatum, qui per pro-
famim litatorem caperet animas sacrificantium. So by Liutprand s

devil, whose minne is drunk, we may suppose a heathen god to

have been meant, gefa priggja sdlda ol Oftni (give three tuns of
ale to Oolnn), Fornm. sog. 2, 16. gefa Thor ok Oftni 61, ok signa
full asum, ibid. 1, 280. drecka minni Thors ok Oftins, ibid. 3, 191.
As the North made the sign of Thor s hammer, Christians used the
cross for the blessing (segnung) of the cup ;
conf. poculum signare,
Walthar. 225, precisely the Norse signa full.
Minne-drinking, even as a religious rite, apparently exists to
this day in some parts of Germany. At Otbergen, a village of
Hildesheim, on Dec. 27 every year a chalice of wine is hallowed by
the priest, and handed to the congregation in the church to drink
as JoJiannis segen (blessing) it is not done in any of the neigh
;

bouring places. In Sweden and Norway we find at Candlemas a

dricka ddborgs skal, drinking a toast (see Superst. &, Swed. 122).

1
Thomasius de poculo S. Johannis vtilgo Johannistrunk, Lips. 1675.
Scheffers Haltaus p. 165. Oberlin s. vb. Johannis miim und trunk. Schmeller
2,593. Hannov. mag. 1830, 171-6. Ledeburs archiv 2, 189. On Gertrude
espec., Huyd. op St. 2, 343-5. Clignett s 392-411. Hoffm. horae belg.
l>idr.

b 132 a
2, 41-8. Antiqvariske annaler 1, 313. Hanka s Boh em. glosses 79
render Johannis amor by swatd mina (holy m.). And in that Slovenic docu
ment, the Freysinger MS. (Kopitar s Glagolita xxxvii, conf. xliii) is tlie
combination da klanyamse, i modlimse, im i tchesti ich piyem, i obieti nashe
:

im nesem (ut genutiectanms et precemur eis et honores eorum bibamus et obli-

gationes nostras illis feramus); tchest is honor, TI/ZT), cultus, our old era but ;

I also find slava (fame, glory) used in the sense of minne, and in a Servian

song (Vuk, 1 no. 94) wine is drunk za slave bozhye to the glory of God. In
the Finnish mythology is mentioned an Ukkon malja, bowl of Ukko inalja = ;

Swed. skal, strictly scutella, potatio in inemoriam vel sanitatem.

 MINNE-DRINKING. 63

Nowthat Suevic cupa filled witli beer (p. 75) was a hallowed
sacrificial cauldron, like that which the Cimbri sent to the emperor

Augustus.
1
Of the Scythian cauldron we have already spoken,
p. 75 and
;
we know what part the cauldron plays in the Hymis-
qviSa and at the god s judgment on the seizure of the cauldron (by

Thor from giant Hymir). Nor ought we to overlook the ON.

proper names Asketill, Thorketill (abbrev. Thorkel) AS. Oscytel
(Kemble 2, 302) they point to
;
kettles consecrated to the as and
to Thor.
Our knowledge of heathen antiquities will gain both by the
study of these drinking usages which have lasted into later times,
and also of the shapes given to baked meats, which either retained
the actual forms of ancient idols, or were accompanied by sacrificial
observances. A
history of German cakes and bread-rolls might
contain some unexpected disclosures. Thus the Indicul. superstit.
26 names simulacra de consparsa farina. Baked figures of animals
seem to have represented animals that were reverenced, or the
attributes of a god. 2 From a striking passage in the Fridthiofssaga

(fornald. sog. 2, 86) it appears that the heathen at a disa blot baked
images of gods and smeared them with oil : satu konur viS eldinn
ok bokuSu en sumar srnurSu ok J?erc5u me5 dukum, women
go<5in,

sat by the and baked the gods, while some anointed them with
fire

cloths. By FriSJriof s fault a baked Baldr falls into the fire, the fat
blazes up, and the house is burnt down. According to Yoetius de
a
superstit. 3, 122 on the day of Paul s conversion they placed
figure of straw before the hearth on which they
were baking, and
brought a fine bright day, they anointed it with butter other
if it ;

wise they kicked it from the hearth, smeared it with dirt, and
threw it in the water.
Much therefore that is not easy to explain in popular offerings
and rites, as the colour of animals (p. 54), leading the boar round
(p. 51), flowers (p. 58), minne-drinking (p. 59), even the shape
of cakes, is a reminiscence of the sacrifices of heathenism (see

SuppL).

TOO 2e/3ao-r<3 Saipoi/ TOV iepa>raroi/ Trap auroi? Xei}ra, the most
1

sacred cauldron tWy had, ktrabo VII. 2.

Baking in the shape of a boar must have been much more widely spread
2

than in the North alone, see below, Fro s boar ; even in France they baked
cochelins for New Year s day, Mem. de 1 ac. celt. 4, 429.
64 WORSHIP.

Beside prayers and sacrifices, one essential feature of the

heathen cultus remains to be brought out the solemn carrying
:

about of divine images. The divinity was not to remain rooted to

one spot, but at various times to bestow its presence on the entire
compass of the land (see ch. XIV). So Nerthus rode in state (in-
vehebatur populis), and Berecyrithia (ch. XIII), so Fro travelled out
in spring, so the sacred ship, the sacred plough was carried round

(ch. XIII Isis). The figure of the unknown Gothic god rode in its
waggon (ch. VI). Fetching-in the Summer or May, carrying-out
Winter and Death, are founded on a similar view. Holda, Berhta
and the like beings all make their circuit at stated seasons, to the
heathen s joy and the Christian s terror even the march of
;

Wuotan s host may be so interpreted (conf. ch. XXXI. Frau

Gauden). When Fro had ceased to appear, Dietrich with the ber
.(boar) and Dietrich Bern still showed themselves (ch. X. XXXI),
or the sonargoltr (atonement-boar) was conveyed to the heroes

banquet (ch. X), and the boar led round the benches (p. 51).
Among public legal observances, the progress of a newly elected
king along the highways, the solemn lustration of roads, the beating
of bounds, at which in olden times gods images and priests can

hardly have been wanting, are all the same kind of thing. After
the conversion, the church permanently sanctioned such processions,

except that the Madonna and saints images were carried, particu
larly when drought, bad
crops, pestilence or war had set in, so as to
bring back rain (ch. XX), fertility of soil, healing and victory sacred
;

images were even carried to help in putting out a fire. The Indicul.
paganiar. XXVIII tells de simulacra quod per campos portant, on
which Eccard 1, 437 gives an important passage from the manuscript
Vita Marcsvidis (not Maresvidis) statuimus ut annuatim secunda
:

feria pentecostes patronum ecclesiae in parochiis vestris longo

cwibitu circumferentes et domos vestras lustrantes, et pro gentilitio
amlarvali in lacrymis et varia devotione vos ipsos mactetis et ad
refectionem pauperum eleemosynam comportetis, et in hac curti
pernoctantes super reliquias vigiliis et cantibus solennisetis, ut
praedictomane determinaturn a vobis anibitum pia lustratione com-
plentes ad monasterium cum honore debito reportetis. Confido
autem de patroni hujus misericordia, quod sic db ca gyrade tcrrae
scmina ulcrius provcniant, et variae aeris inclementiae cessent. The
Roman ambarvalia were purifications of fields, and sacrifices were
 PROCESSIONS. 65

offered at the terminus publicus;

the May procession and the riding
of bounds and roads during the period of German heathenism must
have been very similar to them. On the Gabel-heath in Mecklen
burg the Wends as late as the 15th century walked round the
budding corn with loud cries ;
Giesebrecht 1, 87-
 CHAPTEE IV.

TEMPLES.

In our inquiries on the sacred dwelling-places of the

gods, it
will be safest to begin, as before, with expressions which
preceded the
Christian terms temple and church, and were supplanted by them.

The Gothic allis fern, translates the Jewish- Christian notions of

vabs (Matt. 27, 5. 51. Mk. 14, 58. 15, 29. Lu. 1, 9. 21. 2 Cor. 6,

16) and Upov (Mk. 11, 11. 16. 27. 12, 35. 14, 49. Lu. 2, 27. 46. 4, 9.
18, 10. 19, 45. John 7, 14. 28. 8, 20. 59. 10, 23). To the Goth
it would be a time-hallowed word, for it shares the
anomaly of
several such nouns, forming its gen. alhs, dat. alii, instead of alhais,
alhai. Once only, John 18, 20, gudhus stands for iepov ; the simple
hus never has the sense of domus, which is rendered razn. Why
should Ulphilas disdain to apply the heathen name to the Christian
thing, when the equally heathen templum and i/ao? were found
quite inoffensive for Christian use ?

Possibly the same word appears even earlier ; namely in Tacitus,

Germ. 43 :
apud Naharvaloe antiquae religionis lucus ostenditur ;

praesidet sacerdos muliebri ornatu, sed deos interpretatione romana

Castorem Pollucemque memorant. Ea vis numini, nomen Aids ;
nulla simulacra, nullum peregrinae superstitionis vestigium. Ut
fratres tamen, ut juvenes venerantur. This alcis is either itself the

nom., or a gen. of alx (as falcis of falx), which perfectly corresponds

to the Gothic alhs. A
pair of heroic brothers was worshipped,
without any statues, in a sacred grove the name can hardly be ;

ascribed to them, 1 it is the abode of the divinity that is called alx.

Numen is here the sacred wood, or even some notable tree in it.
2

1
Unlessit were dat. pi. of alcus [or alca aX^]. A Wendicholz, Bohem.
holec, which has been adduced, is not to the point, for it means strictly a bald
naked wretch, a beggar boy, Pol. golec, Russ. gholiak. Besides, the Naharvali
and the other Lygian nations can scarcely have been Slavs.
2
1 am
not convinced that numen can refer to the place. The plain sense
seems to be the divinity has that virtue (which the Gemini have), and the
:

name Alcis, or of Alx, or if dat. pi., the Alcae, Alci May not Alcis be* conn.
.

with a\Kr) strength, safeguard, and the dat. aA/a pointing to a nom. aX aXxa) ;

I defend or even Caesar s alces and Pausanias s aX/cat elks ? TRANS.

;
 TEMPLES. 67

Four or five centuries after Ulphilas, to the tribes ofUpper

Germany their word must have had an old-fashioned heathen
alali

ish sound, but we know it was still there, preserved in composition

with proper names of places and persons (see Suppl.) Alaholf, :

Alahtac, Alahhilt, Alahgund, Alahtrut Alahstat in pago Hassorum

;

(A.D. 834), Schannat trad. fuld. no. 404.

Alahdorp in Mulahgowe
The names Alahstat, Alahdorf may have
(A.D. 856), ibid. no. 476.
been borne by many places where a heathen temple, a hallowed place
of justice, or a house of the king stood. For, not only the fanum, but
the folk-mote, and the royal residence were regarded as consecrated,
or, in the language of the Mid. Ages, as frdno (set apart to the

fro, lord). Alstidi, a king s pfalz (palatium) in Thuringia often

mentioned in Dietmar of Merseburg, was in OHG. alahsteti, nom.
alahstat. Among the Saxons, who were converted later, the word
kept itself alive longer. The poet of the Heliand uses alah masc.

exactly as Ulphilas does alhs (3, 20. 22. 6,2. 14,9. 32,14. 115,9.
15. 129, 22. 130, 19. 157, 16), seldomer godes 155, 8. 130, Ms
18, or, that helaga Jills 3, 19. Ceedm. 202, 22 alhn (1.
alii haligne

holy temple) 258, 11 ealhstede (palatium, aedes regia).

;
In
Andr. 1642 I would read ealde ealhstedas (delubra) for eolhstedas ,

conf. the proper names Eallistdn in Kemble 1, 288. 296 and Ealli-
heard 1, 292 quasi stone-hard, rock-hard, which possibly leads us to

the primary meaning of the word. 1 The word is wanting in ON.

documents, else it must have had the form air, gen. als.

Of another primitive word the Gothic fragments furnish no

example, the OHG. wih (nemus), Dint. 1, 492 a 0. Sax. wih masc. ;

(templum), Hel. 3, 15. 17. 19. 14, 8. 115, 4. 119, 17. 127, 10.
129, 23. 130, 17. 154, 22. 169, 1 ;friduwih, Hel. 15, 19 AS. ;

wih wiges, or weoh weos, also masc. :

wiges (idoli), Csedm. 228, 12.
J?isne wig wurSigean (hoc idolum colere), Casdm. 228, 24. conf.
wigweorSing (cultus idolorum), Beow. 350. weohweorSing Cod.
exon. 253, 14. wihgild (cultus idol), Csedm. 227,5. weobedd (ara),
for weohbedd, wihbedd, Cgedm. 127, 8. weos (idola), for weohas,
Cod. exon. 341, 28. The alternation of i and eo in the AS. indicates
a short vowel ;
and in spite of the reasons I have urged in Gramin. 1,
462, the same seems to be true of the ON. ve, which in the sing., as

1
There is however a noun Hard, the name of many landing-places in the
south of England, as Cracknor Hard, &c. TRANS.
 68 TEMPLES.

Ve, denotes one particular god ;

but lias a double pi, namely, a masc.
vear dii, idola, and a neut. ve loca sacra.
Gutalag 6, 108. Ill:
haita a Imlt hauga, a m
stafgarjra (invocare lucos aut tumulos,
e>a e>a

idola aut loca palis

circumsepta) trua a hult, a liauga, oc staf- ; m
garj?a han standr i
; m
(stat in loco sacro). In that case we have
here, as in alah, a term alternating between nemus,
templum, fanum,
idolum, numen, its root being doubtless the Gothic veilia
(I hallow)^
vaih, vaihum, OHG. wihu, weih, wihum, from which also comes
the adj. veins sacer, OHG. wih and we saw on 41 that wihan ;
p.
was applied to sacrifices and worship. In Lappish, vi is said to
mean silva.

Still more decisive is a third heathen word, which becomes

specially important to our course of inquiry. The OHG. liaruc
masc., pi. haruga, stands in the glosses both for fanum, Hrab. 963 b .

for delubrum, Hrab. 959 a for lucus, Hrab. 9G9 a Jun. 212.
.
,

Dint. 1, 495 b and for nemus, Diut. 492 a The last

,
1, .
gloss,
in full, runs thus: nemus plantavit=/0rs flanzota, edo (or)
hanw, edo wih! So that liaruc, like wih, includes on the one
hand the notion of templum, fanum, and on the other that of
wood,
1
grove, lucus. It is remarkable that the Lex
Eipuar. has preserved,
evidently from heathen times, harahus to designate a place of
judgment, which was originally a wood (EA. 794. AS. 903). hearg
masc., pi. heargas (fanum), Beda 2, 13. 3, 30. Orosius 3, 9, p. 109.
kean/tittf (fani tabulatum), Beow. 349. set hcarge, Kemble, 1, 282.
OX. horgr masc, pi. horgar (delubrum, at times idolum, simulacrum)
Saern. 3G a 42 a 91 a 114 b 141 a ; b
especially worth notice is Srcm. 114 !

horgr hlaSinn steinom, griot at gleri orSit, roSit i nyio nauta blool
(h.paven with stones, grit made smooth, reddened anew with neat s
blood). Sometimes horgr is coupled with hof (fanum, a
tectum), 3G
141 a in which case the former is the amidst woods and
,
holy place
rocks, the built temple, aula conf. hamarr ok horgr; Fornm.;
sog.
5, 239. To both expressions belongs the notion of the as well place

1
And in one place haraga = nrae. Elsewhere the heathen term for altar,
Ok /3&>/idy,
was Goth, OHG. piot, AS. beod. strictly a table (p. 38)
binds, ;
likewise the Goth, badi, OHG. petti, AS. bed, bedd (lectus, p. 30) gets to mean
ara, areola, fanum, conf. AS. wSKbed. weohbcd, vxobed, afterwards distorted into
weofed (ara, altare), OHG. kotapetti (gods -bed, lectus, pulvinar templi), Graff
3, 51 ; with which compare Brunhild s bed and the like, also the Lat. lectister-
nium. Ad altare S. Kiliani, quod vulgo lectus dicitur, Lang res. 1. 239. 255
(A.D. 1160-5) ; (see Suppl.).
 GROVES. 69

as that of the numen and the image itself (see Suppl.). Haruc seems
unconnected with the 0. Lat. haruga, aruga, bull of sacrifice, whence
haruspex, aruspex. The Gk re/ze^o? however also means the sacred
grove, II. 8, 48. 23, 148. re/Aei/os -rdpov, II. 20, 184.

Lastly, synonymous with haruc is the OHG. paro, gen. parawes,

AS. bearo, gen. bearwes, which betoken lucus 1 and arbor, a sacred
grove or a tree aet bearwe, Kemble.
; 1, 255. ON. barr (arbor),
Seem. 109 a ;
barri (nemus) 86 b 87 a qui ad aras sacrificat=:de za.

demo parawe (al. za themo we) ploazit, Diut. 1, 150 ara, or rather ;

the pi. arae, here stands for templum (see Suppl).

Temple then means also wood. What we figure to ourselves as
a built and walled house, resolves itself, the farther back we go,
into a holy place untouched by human hand, embowered and
shut in by self -grown trees. There dwells the deity, veiling his
form in rustling foliage of the boughs there is the spot where ;

the hunter has to present to him the game he has killed, and the
herdsmen his horses and oxen and rams.
What a writer of the second century says on the cnltus of the
Celts, will hold good of the Teutonic and all the kindred nations :

KeXrot crepovai Se ALOS KekTLKov vtyrjXr)

fj,ev Ala, /}?,
a<ya\/j,a

Maximus Tyrius (diss. 8, ed. Eeiske 1, 142). Compare Lasicz. 46 :

deos nemora incolere persuasum habent (Samogitae). Habitarunt

di quoque sylvas (Haupts zeitschr. 1, 138).

I am
not maintaining that this forest- worship exhausts all the
conceptions our ancestors had formed of deity and its dwelling-
place it was only the principal one.
;
Here and there a god may
haunt a mountain-top, a cave of the rock, a river ;
but the grand

general worship of the people has

its seat in the grove.. And no
where could it have found a worthier (see Suppl.).
At a time when rude beginnings were all that there was of the
builder s art, the human mind must have been roused to a higher
devotion by the sight of lofty trees under an open sky, than it could
feel inside the stunted structures reared by unskilful hands.
When
to the Teutons reached its
long afterwards the architecture peculiar

1 To the Lat. lucus would

correspond a Goth, lauhs,
and this is confirmed
the meaning
by the OHG. I6h, AS. leak. The Engl. lea, ley has acquired
of meadow, field also the Slav, lug, Boh. lutz, is at once grove, glade, and
;

meadow. Not only the wood, but wooded meadows were sacred to gods (see
Suppl.).
70 TEMPLES.

perfection, did it not in its boldest creations still aim at reproducing

the soaring trees of the forest ? Would not the abortion of
miserably carved or chiselled images lag far behind the form of the
god which the youthful imagination of antiquity pictured to itself,
throned on the bowery summit of a sacred tree ? In the sweep
and under the shade 1 of primeval forests, the soul of man found
itself filled with the nearness of sovran deities.The mighty
influence that a forest life had from the first on the whole being
of our nation, is attested by the march-fellowships marka, the ;

word from which they took their name, denoted first a forest, and
afterwards a boundary.
The earliest testimonies to the forest-cultus of the Germans are
furnished by Tacitus. Germ. 9
ceterum nee cohibere parietibus
:

deos, neque in ullam human! oris speciem adsimulare ex magni-

tudine coelestium arbitrantur. Lucos ac nemora consecrant, deorum-
que nominibus adpellant secretum illud quod sola revereritia vident.
2

Germ. 39, of the Semnones ;

Stato tempore in silvam auguriis
3
patrum et omnes ejusdem sanguinis
prism formidine sacram
populi legationibus coeunt. est et alia luco rcverentia. nemo nisi
vinculo ligatus ingreditur, ut minor et potestatem numinis prae se
ferens. si forte prolapsus est, attolli et
insurgere baud licitum :

per humum evolvuntur. 4 cap. 40 : est in insula oceani castum

1 Waldes (umbra, umbra cnlum) Hel. 33, 22. 73, 23. AS. hleo,
hleo, Tilea ,

ON. hlie, OHG.

liwa, Graff 2, 296, MHG.
lie, liewe.
2
Ruodolf of Fuld (f 863j has incorporated the whole passage, with a few
alterations, in his treatise De translatione Alexandri (Pertz 2, 675), perhaps
from some intermediate source. Tacitus s words must be taken as they stand.
In his day Germany possessed no masters who could build or chisel temples
statues ; so the grove was the dwelling of the and a sacred symbol did
gods,
instead of a statue. Mb ser 30 takes the passage to mean, that the divinity
common to the whole nation was
worshipped unseen, so as not to give one dis
trict the advantage of possessing the temple but that separate gods did have
;

their images made. This view is too political, and also ill-suited to the isolation
of tribes in those times. No doubt, a region which included a god s hill would
acquire the more renown and sacredness, as spots like Rhetra and Loreto did
from containing the Slavic sanctuary or a Madonna that did not prevent the :

same worship from obtaining seats elsewhere. With the words of Tacitus
compare what he says in Hist. 2, 78 est Judaeam inter Syriamque Carmelus,
:

ita vocant montem

deumque, nee simulacrum deo aut templum, sic tradidere
majores, ara tantum et reverentia ; and in Dial, de Orat. 12 nemora vero et :

luci et secretum ipsum. In Tacitus secretum

3
=
secessus, seclusion, not arcanum.
This hexameter is not a quotation, it is the author s own.
4
Whoever is engaged in a holy office, and stands in the presence and pre
cincts of must not stumble, and if he falls to the ground, he forfeits
^the god,
his privilege. So he who in holy combat sinks to the earth, may not set
 GROVES. 71

nemus, dicatumque in eo vehiculum veste contectum. cap. 43 :

apud Naharvalos antiquae religionis lucus ostenditur . , .

numini nomen Aids, nulla simulacra, cap 7 effigies et signa (i.e. :

effigiata signa) quaedam detractae lucis in proelium ferunt ;

with
which connect a passage in Hist. 4, inde depromptse silvis 22 :

lucisqiieferarum imagines, ut cuique genti inire proelium mos est.

Ann. 2, 12 Caesar transgressus Visurgim indicio perfugae
:

cognoscit delectum ab Arminio locum pugnae, convenisse et

alias nationes in silvam Herculi sacram. Ann. 4, 73 : mox
conpertum a transfugis, nongentos Komanorum apud lucum,
quern Baduhennae vocant, pugna in posterum extracta con-
fectos ; though it does not appear that this grove was a con
secrated one. 1 Ann. 1, 61 : lucis propinquis barbarae arae, apud

quas tribunes mactaverant conf. 2, 25 propinquo luco defossam

;
:

Varianae legionis aquilam modico praesidio servari. Hist. 4, 14 :

Civilis primores gentis sacrum in nemus vocatos. These

. . .

expressions can be matched by others from Claudian three

centuries later, Cons. Stilich. 1, 288 :

Ut procul Hercyniae per vasta silentia silvae

venari tuto liceat, lucosquQ vetusta

religione truces, et robora numinis instar

larlarici nostrae feriant impune bipennes.
De bello Get. 545 :

liortantes his adde dcos. Non somnia nobis,

nee volucres, sed clam palam vox edita luco est :

rumpe omnes, Alarice, moras !

It is not pure nature- worship that we are told of here ;

but Tacitus
could have had no eye for the mores Germanorum/ if their most
essential feature had escaped him. Gods dwell in these groves no ;

images (simulacra, in human form) are mentioned by name as being

set up, no temple walls are reared. 2 But sacred vessels and altars
himself on his legs, but must finish the fight on his knees, Danske viser 1, 115 ;
so in certain places a stranger s carriage, if overturned, must not be set upright
again, RA. 554. What is fabled of an idol called Sompar at Gorlitz (neue
lausitz. monatsschr. 1805, p. 1-18) has evidently been spun out of this passage
in Tac. the Semnones are placed in the Lausitz country, as they had been
;

b
previously by Aventin (Fraiikf. 1580, p. 27 ), who only puts a king Schwab in
the place of Sompar.
1
Baduhenna, perhaps the name of a place, like Arduenna. Miillenhoff
adds Badvinna, Patunna (Haupts zeitschr. 9, 241).
2
Brissonius de regno Pers. 2, 28 Persae diis suis nulla templa vel altaria
;

constituunt, nulla simulacra after Herodot. 1, 131.

;
/ 1 TEMPLES.

stand in the heads of animals (ferarum imagines)

forest, hang on
the boughs of trees. There divine worship is performed and
sacrifice offered, there is the folk-mote and the assize,
everywhere a
sacred awe and reminiscence of antiquity. Have not we here
alak, wih, paro, haruc faithfully portrayed ? How could such
technical terms, unless they described an organized national
worship presided over by priests, have sprung up in the language,
and lived ?

During many centuries, down to the introduction of Christianity,

this custom endured, of venerating deity in sacred woods and trees.
I will here insert the detailed narrative given by Wilibald
(t 786) in the Vita Bonifacii (Canisius II. 1, 242. Pertz 2, 343) of
the holy oak of Geismar (on the Edder, near Fritzlar in Hesse). 1
The event falls between the years 725 and 731. Is autem (Boni-
facius) ... ad obsessas ante ea Hessorum metas cum consensu
Carli ducis (i.e. of Charles Martel) rediit. turn vero Hessorum jam
multi catholica fide subditi ac septiformis spiritus gratia confirmati
maims impositionem acceperunt, et quidem, nondum animo
alii

confortati, intemeratae fidei documenta integre percipere renuerunt,

alii etiain linguis et faucibus clanculo, alii vero aperte sacrificdbant,
alii vero auspicia et divinationes, praestigia atque incantationes
occulte, alii quidem manifesto exercebant, alii quippe auspicia et

auguria intendebant, diversosque sacrificandi ritus incoluerunt, alii

etiam, quibus mens sanior inerat, omni abjecta gentilitatis pro-

phanatione nihil horum commiserunt. quorum consultu atque
consilio arborem quandam mirae maynitudinis, qu&Q prisco Pagan-
orum vocdbulo appellatur robur Jovis, in loco, qui dicitur Gaesmere,
servis Dei secum astantibus, succidere tentavit. cumque mentis
constantia confortatus arborem succidisset, magna quippe aderat

copia Paganorum, qui et inimicum deorum suorum intra se diligen-

tissime devotabant, sed ad modicum quidem arbore praecisa
confestim immensa roboris moles, divino desuper flatu exagitata,
palmitum confracto culmine, corruit, et quasi super! nutus solatio
in quatuor etiam partes disrupta est, et quatuor ingentis magnitu-
dinis aequali longitudine trunci, absque fratrum labore astantium

apparuerunt. quo viso prius devotantes Pagani etiam versa vice

benedictionem Domino, pristina abjecta nialedictione, credentes

1
A shorter account of the same in the annalist Saxo, p. 133.
 GROVES. 73

reddiderunt. Tune autem summae sanctitatis antistes consilio inito

cum ex supradictae arboris materia *) oratorium construxit,
fratribus

illudque in honore S. Petri apostoli dedicavit. From that time

Christianity had in this place a seat in Hesse hard by was the ;

ancient capital of the nation, Mattium (Marburg), id genti caput,

Tac. Ann. 1, 56 ; which continued in the Mid. Ages to be the chief
seat of government. According to Landau, the oak and the church
built out of it stood on the site of St. Peter s church at Fritzlar.
The whole region well wooded (see Suppl.).
is

Not unsimilar are some passages contained in the Vita S.

Amandi (f 674), on the wood and tree worship of the northern

Franks: Acta Bened. sec. 2. p. 714, 715, 718) : Amandus audivit

pagum esse, cui vocabulum Gandavum, cujus loci habitatores ini-

quitas diaboli eo circumquaque laqueis vehementer irretivit, ut
incolae terrae illius, relicto deo, arbores et ligna pro deo colerent,
atque fana Ubi fana destruebantur, statim
vel idola adorarent.
monasteria aut ecclesias construebat. Amandus in pago belvacense
verbum domini dum praedicaret, pervenit ad quendam locum, cui
vocabulum est Rossonto juxta Aronnam fluvium respondit . . .

ilia, quod non ob aliam causam ei ipsa coecitas evenisset, nisi quod

auguria vel idola semper coluerat. insuper ostendit ei locum, in

quo praedictum idolum adorare consueverat, scilicet arborem, quae
erat daemoni dedicate/, . .
f
nunc igitur accipe securim et hanc
nefandam arborem quantocius succidere festina .

Among the Saxons and Frisians the veneration of groves lasted

much longer. the beginning of the llth century, bishop Unwan
At
of Bremen (conf. Adam. Brem. 2, 33) had all such woods cut down

among the remoter inhabitants of his diocese lucos in episcopatu :

suo, in quibus paludicolae regionis illius errore veteri cum profes-

sione falsa christianitatis immolabant, succidit; Vita Meinwerci,
cap- 22. Of the holy tree in the Old Saxon Irminsijul I will treat
in ch. VI. Several districts of Lower Saxony and Westphalia
have until quite recent times preserved vestiges of holy oaks, to
which the people paid a half heathen half Christian homage. Thus,
in the principality of Minden, on Easter Sunday, the young people
of both sexes used with loud cries of joy to dance a reigen (rig,

1
Other MS. have mole or metallo (
A brazen image on the oak is not
.

to be thought of, as such a thing would have been alluded to in what precedes
or follows.
74 TEMPLES.

circular dance) round an old oak. 1 In a thicket near the village of

Wormeln, Paderborn, stands a holy oak, to which the inhabitants
of Wormeln and Calenberg still make a solemn procession every
2
year.
I am inclined to trace back to heathenism the proper name of

Holy Wood so common in nearly all parts of Germany. It is not

likely that from a Christian church situated in a wood, the wood

itself would be named holy and in such forests, as a rule, there is
;

not a church to be found. can the name be explained by

Still less

the royal ban-forests of the Mid. Ages; on the contrary, these

forests themselves appear to have sprung out of heathen groves,
and the king s right seems to have taken the place of the cultus
which first withdrew the holy wood from the common use of the
people. In such forests too there used to be sanctuaries for crimi
nals, EA. 886-9.
An old account of a battle between Franks and Saxons at
Notteln in the year 779 (Pertz 2, 377) informs us, that a badly
wounded Saxon had himself secretly conveyed from his castle into a
holy wood Hie vero (Luibertus) magno curn merore se in castrum
:

recepit. Ex quo
post aliquot dies mulier egrotum humeris clam in
sylvam Sytheri, quae fuit tliegathon sacra, nocte portavit. Vulnera
ibidem lavans, exterrita clamore effugit. Ubi multa lamentatione
animam expiravit. The strange expression thegathon is explained
by T ayaOov (the good), a name for the highest divinity (summus
et princepsomnium deorum), which the chronicler borrowed from
Macrobius s somn. Scip. 1, 2, and may have chosen purposely, to
avoid naming a well-known heathen god (see Suppl.). Sytheri,
the name of the wood, seems to be the same as Sunderi (southern),
a name given to forests in more than one district, e.g. a Sundernhart
in Franconia (Hofers urk. p. 308). Did this heathen hope for heal

ing on the sacred soil ? or did he wish to die there ?

The forest called Dat hillige holt is mentioned by a document
in Kindlinger s Miinst. beitr. 3, 638. In the county of Hoya there
stood a Hdligen-loh
(Pertz 2, 362). long list of Alsatian A
documents in Schopflin allude to the holy forest near Hagenau no. ;

218 (A..D. 1065) cum foresto

:
heiligenforst nominato in comitatu

Gerhardi comitis in pago Nortcowe. no. 238 (1106) : in sylva

1
Weddigen s westphal. mag. 3, 712,
2 121.
Spilckers beitrage 2,
 GROVES. 75

heiligeforst. no. 273 (1143) praedium Loubach in sacro nemore

:

situm. no. 297 (1158) utantur pascuis in sacra silva. no. 317
:

(1175) : in silva sacra, no. 402 (1215) in sacra silva. no. 800 (1292):
:

conventum in konigesbriicken in Jieiligenforst. no. 829 (1304) :

nemus nostrum et imperil dictum heiligvorst. no. 851 (1310) :

pecora in foresta nostra, quae dicitur der lieilige forst, pascere et

tenere. no. 1076 (1356) :
porcos tempore glandium nutriendos in
silva sacra. The alternating words forst, silva, nemus, are enough
to show the
significance of the term. The name of the well-known
Dreieich (Drieichahi) is probably to be explained by the heathen

worship of three oaks a royal ban-forest existed there a long time,

;

and its charter (I, 498) is one of the most primitive.

The express allusion to Thuringia and Saxony is remarkable in
the following lines of a poem that seems to have been composed
soon after the year 1200, Eeinh. F. 302 ; the wolf sees a goat on a
tree, and exclaims :

ich sine ein obez hangen, I see a fruit hanging,

ez habe har ode borst ; That it has hair or bristles ;

in einem heiligen vorste In any holy forest

ze Diiringen noch ze Sachseu Of Thuringia nor of Saxony

enkimde niht gewahsen There could not grow
bezzer obez uf rise. Better fruit on bough.

The allusion is surely to sacrificed animals, or firstfruits of the

chase, hung up on the trees of a sacred wood ? Either the story is
based on a more ancient original, or may not the poet have heard
tell from somewhere of heathenish doings going on in his own day

among Saxons and Thuringians ? (see SuppL).

And in other poems of the Mid. Ages the sacredness of the
ancient forests still exerts an after-influence. In Alex. 5193 we
read der edele wait frone ;
and we have inklings now and again,
ifnot of sacrifices offered to sacred trees, yet of a lasting indestruc
tible awe, and the fancy that ghostly beings haunt particular trees.

Thus, in Ls. 2, 575, misfortune, like a demon, sat on a tree ; and in

Altd. w. 3, 161 it is said of a hollow tree:
da sint heiligen inne, There are saints in there,
1
die hcerent aller liute bet. That hear all people s prayers
(see SuppL).

1
From the notion of a forest temple the transition is easy to paying divine
honours to a single tree. Festus has delubrum fustis delibratus (staff with
:
76 TEMPLES.

Still more unmistakably does this forest cultus prevail in the

North, protected by the longer duration of heathenism. The great

sacrifice at Ledera described by Dietmar (see p. 48) was performed
in the island which, from its even now magnificent beech- woods,
bore the name of Scelundr, sea-grove, and was the finest grove in all
Scandinavia. The Swedes in like manner solemnized their festival
of sacrifice in a grove near Upsala ;
Adam of Bremen says of the
animals sacrificed: Corpora suspenduntur in lucum qui proximus
est templo is enim lucus tarn sacer est gentibus, ut singulae
;

arbor es ejus ex morte vel tabo immolatorum divinae credantur. Of

HlotJr HeiSreksson we are told in the Hervararsaga cap. 16
(fornald. sog. 1, 491), that he was born with arms and horse in the
Iwly wood (a mork hinni helgu). In the grove Glasislundr a bird
sits on the boughs anddemands sacrifices, a temple and gold-horned
cows, Saem. 140-1. The sacred trees of the Edda, Yggdrasil and
a
Mimamei&r, Ssem. 109 hardly need reminding of.
,

Lastly, the agreement of the Slav, Prussian, Finnish and Celtic

paganisms throws light upon our own, and tends to confirm it.
Dietmar of Merseburg (Pertz 5, 812) affirms of the heathen temple
at Eiedegost quam undique sylva ab incolis intacta et venerabilis
:

circumdat magna ; (ibid. 816) he relates how his ancestor Wibert

about the year 1008 rooted up a grove of the Slavs lucum Zuti- :

bure dictum, ab accolis ut deum in omnibus honoratum, et ab aevo

antiquo nunquam violatum, radicitus eruens, sancto martyri
Eomano in eo ecclesiam construxit. Zutibure is for Sveti bor
holy forest, from bor (fir), pine-barren a Merseburg document of
;

1012 already mentions an ecclesia in Scutibure, Zeitschr. f.

archivkunde, 1, 162, An ON. saga (Fornm. sog. 11, 382) names a
Uotlundr (sacrificial grove) at Strsela, called Boku, Helmold 1, 1
says of the Slavs :
usque hodie profecto inter illos, cum cetera

bark peeled off) quern venerabantur pro deo. Names given to particular trees
are at the same time names of goddesses, e.g. ON. Hlin, Gna. it is worthy of
notice, that the heathen idea of divine figures on trees has crept into Christian
legends, so deeply rooted was tree worship among the people. I refer doubters
to the story of the Tyrolese
image of grace, which grew up in a forest tree
(Deutsche sagen, no. 348). In Carinthia you find Madonna figures fixed on the
trees in gloomy groves (Sartoris reise Of like seem to be the
2, 165). import
descriptions of wonderful maidens sitting inside hollow trees, or perched on the
boughs (Marienkind, hausmarchen no. 3. Romance de la infantina, see ch.
XVI.). Madonna in the wood, Mar. legend. 177. Many oaks with Madonnas
in Normandy, Bosquet 196-7.
 GROVES. 77

onmia communia sint cum nostris, solus prohibetur accessus lucorum

ac fontium, quos autumant pollui christianorum access 11. song A
in the Koniginhof MS. p. 72 speaks of the grove (hain, Boh. hai,

hag, Pol. gay, Sloven, gaj ; conf. gaius, gahajus, Lex Eoth. 324,
kaheius, Lex Bajuv. 21, 6) from which the Christians scared away
the holy sparrow. 1 The Esth. sallo, Finn, salo means a holy wood,
especially a meadow with thick underwood ; the national god Thara-
pila is described by Henry the Letton (ad. ann. 1219) in confmio :

Wironiae erat mons et silva pulcherrima, in quo dicebant indigenae

magnum deum Osiliensium natum qui Tharapila 2 vocatur, et de
loco illo in Osiliam volasse, in the form of a bird ? (see Suppl.).
To the Old Prussians, Romove was the most sacred spot in the land,
and a seat of the gods there stood their images on a holy oak hung
;

with cloths. No unconsecrated person was allowed to set foot in

the forest, no tree to be felled, not a bough to be injured, not a
beast to be slain. There were many such sacred groves in other
parts of Prussia and Lithuania. 3
The Vita S. Germani Autisiodorensis (b. 3 78, d. 448) written
by Constantius as early as 473 contains a striking narrative of a
peartree which stood in the middle of Auxerre and was honoured
4
by the heathen. As the Burgundians did not enter Gaul till the
beginning of the 5th century, there is not likely to be a mixture in
it of German tradition. But even if the story is purely Celtic, it
deserves a place here, because it shows how widely the custom

prevailed of hanging the heads of sacrificial beasts on trees.

5
Eo
tempore (before 400) territorium Autisiodorensis urbis visitatione
propria gubernabat Germanus. Cui mos erat tirunculorum potius
industriis indulgere, quam christianae religioni operam dare, is

ergo assidue venatui invigilans ferarum copiam insidiis atque artis

strenuitate frequentissime capiebat. Erat autem arbor pirus in

1
Brzetislav burnt down the heathen groves and trees of the Bohemians in
1093, Pelzel 1, 76. The Poles called a sacred grove rok and uroczysko, conf.
Russ. roshtcha, grove [root rek rok =
fari, fatum ; roshtcha is from rosti, rasti
= grow]. On threat of hostile invasion, they cut rods (wicie) from the grove,
and sent them round to summon their neighbours. Mickiewicz 1, 56.
2
Conf. Turupid in Fornm. sog. 11, 385; but on Slav nations conf. Schief-
ner on Castren 329.
3
Joh. Voigts gesch. Preussens 1, 595 597.
4
Acta sanctor. Bolland. July 31, p. 202 ; conf. Legenda aurea, cap. 102.
5
Huic (Marti) praedae primordia vovebantur, huic truncis susptndebantur
exuviae, Jornandes cap. 5.
78 TEMPLES.

urbe media, amcenitate gratissima ad cujus ramusculos ferarum ab

:

eo deprehensarum capita pro admiratione venationis nimiae depen-

debant. Quern Celebris ejusdem civitatis Amator episcopus his

frequens compellebat eloquiis :

desine, quaeso, vir honoratorum
splendidissime, haec jocularia, quae Christianis offensa, Paganis vero
imitanda sunt, exercere. hoc opus idololatriae cultura est, non chris-
tianse elegantissimae disciplinae/ Et licet hoc indesinenter vir deo
dignus perageret, tamen
ille nullo modo admonenti se adquiescere
voluit aut obedire. vir autem domini iterum atque iteruni eum horta-

batur, ut non solum a consuetudine male arrepta discederet, verum

etiam ipsam arlorem, ne Christianis offendiculum esset, radici-
et

tus exstirparet. sed ille nullatenus aurem placidam applicare voluit

admonenti. In hujus ergo persuasionis tempore quodam die Ger-
manus ex urbe in praedia sui juris discessit. tune beatus Amator
opportunitatem opperiens sacrilcc/am arborem cum caudicibus ab-
scidit, et ne aliqua ejus incredulis esset memoria igni concreman-
dam illico
1
deputavit. oscilla } vero, quae tanquam tropliaea cujus-
dam certaminis umbram dependentia ostentabant, longius a civitatis
terminis projici praecipit. Protinus vero fama gressus suos ad
aures German! retorquens, dictis animum incendit, atque iram suis
suasionibus exaggerans ferocem effecit, ita ut oblitus sanctae

religionis, cujus jam fuerat ritu atque munere insignitus, mortem

beatissimo viro minitaret.
A poem of Herricus composed about 876 gives a fuller descrip

tion of the idolatrous peartree :

altoque et lato stabat gratissima quondam

urbe pirus media, populo spectabilis omni ;

non quia pendentum flavebat honore pirorum,

nee quia perpetuae vernabat munere frondis :

mollia
Virg. Georg. 2, 388 tibique (Bacche) oscilla ex alta suspendunt
1
:

pinu. In the story, however, it is not masks that are hung up, but real heads
of beasts; are the ferarum imagines in Tac. Hist. 4, 22 necessarily images ?
Does oscilla mean capita oscillantia ? It appears that when they hung up the
heads, they propped open the mouth with a stick, conf. Isengr. (345.
Reinardus
3, 293 (see Suppi). Nailing birds of prey to the gate of a burg or barn is well
known, and is practised to this day. Hanging up horses heads was mentioned
on p. 47. The Grimnismal 10 tells us, in Corn s mansion there hung a wolf
outside the door, and over that an eagle ; were these mere simulacra and insignia ?
Witechind says, the Saxons,
when sacrificing, set up an eagle over the gate: Ad
orientalem pertain ponuntaquilam, aramque Victoriae construentes ;
this eagle
seems to have been her emblem. A dog hung up over the threshold is also

mentioned, Lex. Alain. 102.

 BUILDINGS. 79

sed deprensarum passim capita alta ferarum

arboris obscoenae patulis Jiaerentia ramis

praebebant vano plausum spectacula vulgo.

horrebant illic trepidi ramalia cervi
et dirum frendentis apri, fera spicula, dentes,
acribus exitium meditantes forte molossis.
tune quoque sic variis arbos induta tropaeis
fundebat rudibus lascivi semina risus.

It was not the laughter of the multitude that offended the Christian
priests they saw in the practice a performance, however degene
;

rate and dimmed, of heathen sacrifices. 1

Thus far we have dwelt on the evidences which go to prove

that the oldest worship of our ancestors was connected with sacred
forests and trees.
At the same time
it cannot be doubted, that even in the earliest

times there were temples built for single deities, and perhaps rude
images set up inside them. In the lapse of centuries the old forest
worship declined and been superseded by the structure
may have
of temples, more with some populations and less with others. In
fact, we come across a good many statements so indefinite or incom

plete, that it is impossible to gather from them with any certainty

whether the expressions used betoken the ancient cultus or one
departing from it.
The most weighty and significant passages relating to this part
of the subject seem to be the following (see SuppL) :

Tac. Germ. 40 describes the sacred grove and the worship of

Mother Earth when the priest in festival time has carried the
;

goddess round among the people, he restores her to her sanctuary :

satiatam conversatione mortalium deam templo reddit.

Tac. ann. 51
1, Csesar avidas legiones, quo latior populatio
:

foret, quatuor in cuneos dispertit, quinquaginta millium spatium

ferro flammisque pervastat ; non sexus, non aetas miserationem

1
St. Benedict found at Montecassino vetustissimum
fanum, in quo ex
antique more gentilium a stulto rusticano populo Apollo colebatur, circumquaque
enim in cultum daemoniorum hid succreverant, in quibus adhuc eodem tempore
infidelium insana multitude sacrificiis
sacrilegis insudabat. Greg. Mag. dialogi
2, 8. These were not German heathens, but it proves the custom to have been
the more universal.
80 TEMPLES.

attulit: profana simul et sacra } et celeberrimum illis gentibus

1
templum, quod Tanfanae vocabant, solo aequantur. The nation to
which this temple belonged were the Marsi and perhaps some
neighbouring ones (see Suppl.).
Vita S. Eugendi abbatis Jurensis (f circ. 510), auctore monacho
Condatescensi ipsius discipulo (in Actis sanctor. Bolland. Jan. 1, p.
50, and in Mabillon, acta Ben. sec. 1, p. 570) Sanctus igitur
:

famulus Christi Eugendus, sicut beatorum patrum Bomani et

Lupicini in religione discipulus, ita etiam natalibus ac provincia

extitit indigena atque concivis. ortus nempe est haud longe a vico
cui vetusta paganitas ob celebritatem clausuramque fortissimam
superstitiosissimi templi Gallica lingua Isarnodori, id est, ferrei ostii
indidit nomen. quo mine quoque in loco, ddubris ex parte jam
:

dirutis, sacratissime micant coelestis regni culmina dicata Christi-

colis; inibi pater sanctissimae prolis judicio pontifical!
atque
plebisque testimonio extitit in presbyterii dignitate sacerdos. If

Eugendus was born about the middle of the 5th century, and his
father already was a priest of the Christian church which had been
erected on the site of the heathen temple, heathenism can at the
latesthave lingered there only in the earlier half of that century,
at whose commencement the West Goths passed through Italy into
Gaul. Gallica lingua here seems to be the German spoken by the

invading nations, in contradistinction to the Eomana the name of ;

the place is almost pure Gothic, eisarnadaiiri, still more exactly it

might be Burgundian, isarnodori.

2
Had either West Goths or
Burgundians, or perhaps even some Alamanns that had penetrated
so far, founded the temple in the fastnesses and defiles of the Jura? 3
The name is well suited to the strength of the position and of the
building, which the Christians in part retained (see Suppl.).
A Constitutio Childeberti I of about 554 (Pertz 3, 1) contains
the following Praecipientes, ut quicunque admoniti de agro suo,
:

ubicumque fuerint simulacra constructa vel idola daemoni dedicata

1
An inscription found in Neapolitan territory, but supposed
*
by Orelli
2053 to have been made by Ligorius, has Tamfanae sacrum (Gudii inscript.
untiq. p. Iv. 11, de Wai p. 188) ;
the word is certainly German, and formed like
Hludana, Sigann CSeqiwiia), Liutana (Lngdtmum), Rabana (Ravenna), &c.
2
Yet the Celtic forms also are not far removed, Ir. iaran, Wei. haiarn,
Armor, uarn (ferrum) Ir. doras, Wei. dor (porta) haearndor
;
:
=
iron gate,
quoted in Davies s Brit, Mythol. pp. 120, 560.
3
Frontier mountains held sacred and made places of sacrifice by some
nations ;
Hitters erdkunde 1, aufl. 2, 79. vol. 2, p. 903.
 BUILDINGS. 81

ab hominibus, factum non statim abjecerint vel sacerdotibus haec

destruentibus prohibuerint, datis fidejussoribus non aliter discedant

nisi in nostris obtutibus praesententur.

Vita Eadegundis (( 587) the wife of Clotaire, composed by a
S.

contemporary nun Baudonivia (acta Bened. sec. 1, p. 327) Dum :

iter ageret (Eadegundis) secular!

pompa se comitante, interjecta
longinquitate terrae ac spatio, fanum quod a Francis colebatur in
itinere beatae reginae quantum miliario uno proximum erat. hoc
ilia audiens jussit famulis fanum igne comburi,
iniquum judicans
Deum coeli contemn! et diabolica machinamenta venerari. Hoc
audientes Franc! uni versa multitudo cum gladiis et fustibus vel
omni fremitu conabantur defender, sancta vero regina immobilis
perseverans et Christum in pectore gestans, equum quern sedebat
in antea (i.e. ulterius) non movit antequam et fanum perureretur
et ipsa orante inter se populi pacem firmarent. The situation of
the temple she destroyed I do not venture to determine; Eadegund
was journeying from Thuringia to France, and somewhere on that
line, not far from the Ehine, the fanum may be looked for.

Greg. Tur. vitae patrum 6 Eunte rege (Theoderico) in Agrip-

:

pinam urbem, et ipse (S. Gallus) simul abiit. erat autem ibi fanum
quoddam diversis ornamentis refertum in quo barbaris (1. Barbaras)
;

opima libamina exhibens usque ad vomitum cibo potuque repleba-

tur. ibi et simulacra ut deum adorans, membra, secundum quod

unumquemque dolor attigisset, sculpebat in ligno. quod ubi S.

Gallus audivit, statim illuc cum uno tantum clerico properat, ac-

censoque igne, cum nullus ex stultis Paganis adesset, ad fanum

applicat et succendit. at illi videntes fumum delubri ad coelum

usque conscendere, auctorem incendii quaerunt, inventumque eva-

ginatis gladiis prosequuntur ille vero in fugam versus aulae se
;

regiae condidit. verum postqnam rex quae acta fuerant Paganis

minantibus recognovit, blandis eos sermonibus lenivit. This Gallus
is distinct from the one who appears in Alamannia half a century

later ;
he died about 553, and by the king is meant Theoderic I of
Austrasia.
Vita S. Lupi Senonensis (Duchesne 1, 562. Bouquet 3, 491) :

Rex Chlotarius virum Dei Lupum episcopum retrusit in pago quodam

Jeustriae nuncupante Vinemaco (le Vimeu), traditum duci pagano
(i.e. duci terrae), nomine Boson! Landegisilo (no doubt a Frank)

quern ille direxit in villa quae dicitur Andesagina super fluvium

82 TEMPLES.

Auciam, ubi erant templet fanatica a decurionibus culta. (A.D.

614.) Andesagina is Ansenrie, Aucia was afterwards called la

Bresle, Briselle.
Beda, hist. eccl. 2, 13, relates how the Northumbrian king
Eadwine, baptized 627, slain 633, resolved after mature consultation
with men of understanding to adopt Christianity, and was especially
made to waver in his ancient faith by Coin (Ccefi) his chief heathen
priest himself: Cumque a praefato pontifice sacrorum suorum
quaereret, quis aras et fana idolorum cum septis quibus erant cir-
cumdata primus profanare deberet ? respondit ego. quis enim ea, :

quae per stultitiam colui, nunc ad exemplum omnium aptius quam

ipse per sapientiam mihi a Deo vero donatam destruam ? . . .

Accinctus ergo gladio accepit lanceam in maim et ascendens

emissarium regis (all three unlawful and improper things for a
heathen priest), pergebat ad idola. quod aspiciens vulgus aesti-
mabat eum insanire. nee distulit ille. mox ut appropinquabat ad

fanum, profanare illud, injecta in eo lancea quam tenebat, multum-

que gavisus de agnitione veri Dei cultus, jussit sociis destruere ac
succendere fanum cum omnibus septis suis. ostenditur autem locus
ille quondam idolorum non longe ab Eboraco ad orientem ultra

amnem Dorowentionem et vocatur hodie Godmundinga ham, ubi

pontifex ipse, inspirante Deo vero, polluit ac destruxit eas, quas
1
ipse sacraverat, aras.
Vita S. Bertuffi Bobbiensis (f 640) in Acta Bened. sec. 2, p.
164 Ad quandam villam Iriae fluvio adjacentem accessit, ubi
:

fanum quoddam arboribus consitum videns allatum ignem ei admovit,

congestis in modum pirae lignis. Id vero cernentes fani cultores
Meroveum apprehensum diuque fustibus caesum et ictibus con-

tusum in fluvium illud demergere conantur. The Iria runs into

the Po ;
the event occurs among Lombards.
Walafridi Strabonis vita S. Galli (f 640) in actis Bened. sec. 2

p. 219, 220 :
(S. Columbanus et Gallus) infra partes
Venerunt
Alemanniae ad fluvium, qui Lindimacus vocatur, juxta quern ad
superiora tendentes pervenerunt Turicinum. cumque per littus
ambulantes venissent ad caput lacus ipsius, in locum qui Tucconia
dicitur, placuit illis loci qualitas ad inhabitandum. porro homines

1
The A.S. translation renders arae by wigbed (see p. 67), fana by heargas,
idola by deofolgild, septa once by hegas (hedges), and the other time by getymbro.
The spear hurled at the hearg gave the signal for its demolition.
 BUILDINGS. 83

ibidem commanentes crudeles erant et impii, simulacra colentcs,

idola sacrificiis venerantes, observantes auguria et divinationes et

multa quae contraria sunt cultui divino superstitiosa sectantes.
Sancti igitur homines cum coepissent inter illos habitare, docebant
eos adorare Patrem
et Filium et Spiritum sanctum, et custodire
fidei veritatem. Beatus quoque Gallus sancti viri discipulus zelo
pietatis armatus fana, in quibus daemoniis sacrificdbant, igni suc-
cendit et quaecumque invenit oblata demersit in lacum. Here
follows an important passage which will be quoted further on ;
it

says expressly cumque :

ejusdem templi solemnitas ageretur.
Jonae Bobbiensis vita Columbani ([ 615) cap. 17. in act.
S.

Bened. 2, Cumque jam multorum monachorum societate

12. 13 :

densaretur, coepit cogitare, ut potiorem locum in eadem ereino

(i.e. Vosago saltu) quaereret, quo monasterium construeret. in-
venitque castrum firmissimo munimine olim fuisse outturn, a supra
dicto loco distans plus minus octo millibus, quern prisca tempora
Luxovium nuncupabant, ibique aquae calidae cultu eximio constru-
ctae habebantur. ibi imaginum lapidearum densitas vicina saltus
1
densabat, quas cultu- miserdbili rituque profano vetusta Payanorum
tempora honorabant. This Burgundian place then (Luxeuil in
Tranche Comte, near Vesoul) contained old Eoman thermae
adorned with statues. Had the Burgundian settlers connected
their own worship with these ? The same castrum is spoken of
in the
Vita S. Agili Eesbacensis (f 650), in Acta Ben. sec. 2, p. 317 :

Castrum narnque intra vasta eremi septa, quae Vosagus dicitur,

fuerat fanaticorum cultui olim dedicatum, sed tune ad solum usque

dirutum, quod hujus saltus incolae, quamquam ignoto praesagio,

Luxovium [qu. lux ovium?] nominavere. A church is then built
on the heathen site ut, ubi olim prophano ritu veteres coluerunt
:

fana, ibi Christ! figerentur arae et erigerentur vexilla, habitaculum

Deo militantium, quo adversus aerias potestates dimicarent superni

Regis tirones. p. 319 :

Ingressique (Agilus cum Eustasio) hujus
itinerisviam, juvante Christo, Warascos praedicatori accelerant,
qui agrestium fanis decepti, quos vulgi faunos vocant, gentilium

1
The multitude of statues made the adjoining wood thicker ? Must we not
supply an ace. copiam or speciem after imag. lapid. 1
[vicina saltus densabat
evidently means crowded the adjoining part of the wood . So in Ovid: densae
foliis "buxi.
TRANS.]
84 TEMPLES,

quoque errore seducti, in perfidiam devenerant, Fotini sen Bonosi

virus infecti, quos, errore depulso, matri ecclesiae reconciliatos veros
Christi fecere servos.
Vita S. Willibrordi (f 789), in Acta Bened. sec. 3, p. 609 :

Pervenit in confinio Fresonum et Danorum ad quandam insulam,

quae a quodam deo suo Fosite ab accolis terrae Fositesland appel-
latur, quia in ea ejusdem dei fana fuere constructa. Qui locus a
ut nil in eo vel animalium
paganis tanta veneratione habebatur,
ibi pascentium vel aliarum quarumlibet rerum gentilium quisquam
haurire
tangere audebat, nee etiam a fonte qui ibi ebulliebat aquam
nisi tacens praesumebat.
Vita S. Willehadi (f 793), in Pertz 2, 381 Unde contigit, ut
:

quidam discipulorum ejus, divino compuncti ardore, /&7ia in morem

evertere et ad nihilum,
gentilium circumquaque erecta coepissent
prout poterant, redigere ; quo facto barbari, qui adhuc forte

irruerunt super eos repente cum

perstiterant, furore nimio succensi,
impetu, volentes eos funditus interimere, ibique Dei famulum
fustibus caesum multis admodum plagis affecere. This happened
in the Frisian pagus Thrianta (Drente) before 779.
Vita Ludgeri (beginning of the 9th cent.) 1,8 (In Frisia) Paganos
:

mitigavit, ut sua ilium

delubra destruere corarn
asperrimos . . .

oculis paterentur. Inventum in fanis aurum et argentum plurimum

Albricus in aerarium regis intulit, accipiens et ipse praecipiente

Carolo portionem ex illo. Conf. the passage cited p. 45 from the
Lex Frisionum.
Folcuini gesta abb. Lobiensium (circ. 980), in Pertz 6, 55 Est :

locus intra terminos pagi, quern veteres, a loco ubi superstitiosa

(jentilitas Marti sacraverat, Fanum Martinse dixeruut. This

fanum
is Farnars in Hainault, not far from Valenciennes.

In of Tanfana which Germanicus

probability the sanctuary
all

demolished in A.D. 14 was not a mere grove, but a real building,

it a
otherwise Tacitus would hardly have called the destruction of
centuries
levelling to theground During the next three or four
.

in Germany. In
we are without any notices of heathen temples
the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries, as I have shown,
we come

upon tcmpla, fana

castra, among Burgundians, Franks, Lombards,
fana-
Alamanns, Anglo-Saxons, and Frisians. By fanum (whence
seems often to have been understood a building of smaller
ticus)
 BUILDINGS. 85

extent, and by templum one of larger ;

the Indiculus superstit. xxxi.
4 has : de casulis (huts),
fanis i.e. (see Suppl.). I admit that

some of the authorities cited leave it doubtful whether German

heathen temples- be intended, they might be Eoman ones which
had been left standing in which case there is room for a twofold
;

hypothesis that the dominant German nation had allowed certain

:

communities in their midst to keep up the Eoman-Gallic cultus, or

that they themselves had taken possession of Eoman buildings for
the exercise of their own religion (see Suppl.). No thorough 1

investigation has yet been made of the state of religion among the
Gauls immediately before and after the irruption of the Germans ;

side by side with the converts there were still, no doubt, some
heathen Gauls; it is difficult therefore to pronounce for either

lypothesis, cases of both kinds may have co-existed. So much for

ihe doubtful authorities ; but it is not all of them that leave us in

any doubt. If the Tanfana temple could be built by Germans, we

can suppose the same of the Alamann, the Saxon and the Frisian
mples; and what was done in the first century, is still more likely
to have been done in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.
Built Temples must in early times have been named in a variety
of ways (see Suppl.) : OHG. AS. OS. ON".
Jwf, aula, atrium ;
2

OHG. holla, templum (Hymn. 24, 8), AS. heal, ON. holl (conf. hallr,

lapis, Goth, hallus); OHG. sal, ON. salr, AS. sele, OS.seli, aula;
AS. reced, domus, basilica (Ca^dm. 145, 11. 150, 16. 219, 23), OS.
aloud (Hel. 114, 17. 130, 20. 144, 4. 155, 20), an obscure word not
found in the other dialects ; OHG. petaptir, delubrum (Drat. 1,

1
As the vulgar took Roman
fortifications for devil s dikes, it was natural
to with Roman castella the notion of idolatry. Rupertus Tuitiensis
associate
t 1135) in his account of the fire of 1128 that levelled such a castellum at
Deuz, which had been adapted to Christian worship, informs us that some
thought it was built by Julius Caesar, others by Constantius and Constantine.
In the emperor Otto s time. St. Mary appears by night to archbishop Heribert:
*

surge, et Tuitiense castrum petens, locum in eodem mundari praecipe, ibique

monasterium Deo mihique et omnibus sanctis constitue, nt, ubi quondam
habitavit peccatum et cultus daemonum, ibi justitia regnet et memoria
sanctorum/ with more of the like, in the Vita Heriberti cap. 15. Conf. the
fanum at Cologne above, p. 81.
2
The asylum that atrium and temple offered within their precincts is in
ON. gri&asta&r, OHG. frtthof, OS. vrtthob, Hel. 151, 2, 9. MHG. vrone
vrithof, Nib. 1795, 2 not at all our friedhof [but conn, with frei, free], conf.
;

Goth, freidjan, OS. fridon That the constitution of the Old

(parcere).
German sanctuaries was still tor tl^e most part heathenish, is discussed in RA.
86 TEMPLES.

1
195*) ;
to which were afterwards added petahds, minores ecclesiae
(Gl. sletst. 21, 32) and chirihhd, AS. cyrice. The MHG. poets like
to use betehus of a heathen temple as opposed to a Christian church

(En. 2695. Earl. 339, 11.28. 342,6. Athis 93. D

Herb. 952. Wigal.
8308. Pass. 356, 73. Tit. 3329), so in M. Nethl. ledeMs (Maerl.

1, 326. 3, 125), much as the Catholics in their own countries do not

allow to Protestants a church, but only a bethaus, praying-house

(see Suppl.). 0. iv. 33, 33 has the periphrase gotes hus, and ii. 4,
52 druhtines Jills. Notker cap. 17 makes no scruple of translating
the Lat. fanis by chilcchon, just as bishop does duty for heathen

priest as well. In the earliest times temple was retained, Is. 382.
395. T. 15,4. 193,2. 209,1. Diut. 1, 195. a
The hut which we are to picture to ourselves under the term
fanum or pur (A.S. bur, bower) was most likely constructed of logs
and twigs round the sacred tree a wooden temple of the goddess
;

Zisa will find a place in ch. XIII. With halla and some other
names we are compelled to think rather of a stone building.
We see all the Christian teachers eager to lay the axe to the
sacred trees of the heathen, andfire under their temples. It would
.almost seem that the poor people s consent was never asked, and
the rising smoke was the first thing that announced to them the
broken power of their gods. But on a closer study of the details in
the less high-flown narratives, it comes out that the heathen were
not so tame and simple, nor the Christians so reckless. Boniface
resolved on hewing down the Thunder-oak after taking counsel with
the already converted Hessians, and in their presence. So too the
Thuringian princess might not have dared to sit so immovable on
her palfrey and give the order to fire the Prankish temple, had not
her escort been numerous enough to make head against the heathen.
That these did make an armed resistance, appears from Radegund s
request, after the fane was burnt down, ut inter se populi pacem
firmarent.
In most of the cases it is expressly stated that a church was
erected on the site of the heathen tree or temple. 2 In this way the

1
Actum
in illo bctaptire (the church at Fulda) publice, Trad. Fuld. ed.
Schannat in bedebur, Lacombl. no. 412 (A.D. 1162). in bedebure, Erhard
no. 193.
p. 148 (A.D. 1121). betbur, Meyer Ziirch. ortsn. 917.
2
Sulp. Severus (ed. Amst. 1665), p. 458 Nam
ubi fana destruxerat
:

(Martinus), statim ibi aut ecclesias ant monasteria construcbat. Dietmar of Merseb.
7, 52, p. 859 (speaking of Bishop Reinbern on Slav, territory, A.D. 1015) :
 TEMPLES. 87

people s habits of thinking were consulted, and they could believe

that the old sacredness had not departed from the place, but hence
forth flowed from the presence of the true God (see Suppl.).
At the same time we
here perceive the reason of the almost
entire absence of heathen monuments or their remains, not only
in Germany proper, but in the North, where certainly such
temples existed, and more plentifully ;
conf. in chaps. VI. X. XVI.
the temple at Sigtun, baer i Baldrshaga, and the Nornas temple.
Either these were levelled with the ground to make room for a
Christian church, or their walls and halls were worked into the new
building. We may be
slow to form any high opinion of the build
ing art among the heathen Germans, yet they must have understood
how to arrange considerable masses of stone, and bind them firmly
together. We this in the grave-mounds and places
have evidence of
of sacrifice still
preserved in Scandinavia, partly also in Friesland
and Saxony, from which some important inferences might be drawn
with regard to the old heathen services, but these I exclude from
my present investigation.
The the earliest seat of heathen worship was
results are these :

in groves,whether on mountain or in pleasant mead there the first ;

temples were afterwards built, and there also were the tribunals of
the nation.

Fana idolorum destruens incendit, et mare daemonibus cultum, immissis quatuor

lapidibus sacro chrismate pemnctis, et aqua purgans benedicta, novam Domino

.
.
plantationem eduxit. On the conversion of the Pantheon into a
.

church, see Massmann s Eradius 476.

 CHAPTEE V.

PEIESTS.

The most general term for one who is called to the immediate
service of deity (minister deoram, Tac. Germ. 10) is one derived
from the name of deity itself. From the Goth. gu8 (deus) is formed
the adj. gaguds (godly, pius, evo-e{3r)<;),
\hen. gagudei (pietas, euo-e/3eta).
In OHG. and MHG., I find pius translated erhaft, strictly reverens,
but also used for venerandus ;
our fromm has only lately acquired
this meaning, the MHG. vrum
being simply able, excellent. The
God-serving, pious man is in Goth, gudja (tepeu?, Matt. 8, 4, 27, 1.
63. Mk. 10, 34. 11, 27. 14, 61. Lu. 1, 5. 20, 1. Jo. 18, 19.
22. 19, 6.
ufargudja (ap^iepeu?) Mk
10, 33. gudjindn (lepareveiv),
Lu. gudjinassus (lepareia) Lu. 1, 9. (see Suppl.).
1, 8.

That these were heathen expressions follows from the accordance

of the ON. gofti (pontifex), Jwfs goffi (fani antistes), Egilss. 754.
Freys goffi, Nialss. cap. 96. 117. Fornm. sog. 2, 206. godbrd
(sacerdotium). An additional argument is found in the disappear
ance of the word from the other dialects, just as our alah dis
appeared, though the Goths had found alhs unobjectionable. Only
a faint vestige appears in the OHG. cotinc by which tribunus is
glossed, Diut. 1, 187 (Goth, gudiggs ?). Now as 1
Ulphilas associates
gudja and sinista (Trpeo-fivrepos, elder, man of standing, priest), a
remarkable sentence in Amm. MarcelL 28, 5 informs us, that the
high priest of the Burgundians was called sinisto: Nam sacerdos
omnium maximus apud Burgundies vocatur sinistus, et est perpetu-
2
us, obnoxius discriminibus nullis ut reges. The connexion of
priests with the nobility I have discussed in EA. 267-8 (see Suppl.).
More decidedly heathen are the OHG. names for a priest
514 b 3 andparaivari, Diut. 1, 150 a (being derived
liarugari, Diut. 1, ,
,

from haruc and paro, the words for temple given on

p. 68-9, and

*
Strictly the Evangelist ; the> translator had no choice. TRANS.
For the sense of perpetuity sin- in composition, see Gramm.
attaching to
2, _54-5.
554-5.
3
If haruc meant wood or rock, and harugari priest, they are very like the
. and Gael, and
earn, cairn, cairneac priest. O Brien 77 a .
 PRIESTS. 89

confirming what I have maintained, that these two terms were

synonymous). They can hardly have been coined by the glossist
to interpret the Lat. aruspex, they must have existed in our ancient
speech. A priest who sacrificed was named pluostrari (see p. 36).
The fact that cotinc could bear the sense of tribunus shows the
close connexion between the and judge, which
offices of priest
comes out still more clearly in a term peculiar to the High Germ,
dialect ewa, ea signified not only the secular, but the divine law,
:

these being closely connected in the olden times, and equally

sacred ; hence eowart, dwart law- ward, administrator of law, Z/O/UATO?,
AS. se-gleaw, ge-lareow, Goth, vitodafasteis, one learned in the law,
K. 55 a 56% b Gl. Hrab. 974 a N. ps. 50, 9. ewarto of the weak decl.
. .

in O.I. 4, 2. 18. 72. gotes ewarto I. 4, 23. and as late as the 12th
century ewarte, Mar. 21. and, without the least reference to the
Jewish office, but quite synonymous with priest der heilige :

dwarte, Eeinh. 1705. der baruc und die ewarten sin, Parz. 13, 25.
Wh. 217, 23 of Saracen priests (see SuppL). The very similar

eosago, esago stood for judex, legislator, EA. 781.

The poet of the Heliand uses the expression wihes ward (templi
custos) 150, 24; to avoid the heathen as well as a foreign term, he
adopts periphrases: the gierddo man (geehrte, honoured), 3, 19.
the frodo man (frot, fruot, prudens) 3, 21. 7, 7. frodgumo (gumo,

homo) 5, 23. 6, 2. godcund gumo 6, 12, which sounds like gudja

above, but may convey the peculiar sense in which Wolfram uses
der guote man 1 In the Eomance expressions prudens homo, bonus
.

homo (prudhomme, bonhomme) there lurks a reference to the

ancient jurisprudence. Once Ulphilas renders dpxiepevs by auhu-
mists veiha, John 18, 13, but never iepevs by veiha.
With Christianity there came in foreign words (see SuppL).
The Anglo-Saxons adopted the Lat. sacerdos in abbreviated form :

sacerd, pi. sacerdas and ^Elfred translates Beda s pontifex and

;

summus pontificum (both of them heathen), 2, 13 by biscop and

ealdorbiscop. T. and 0. use in the same sense bisgof, biscof (from

1 Parz.
457, 2. 458, 25. 460, 19. 476, 23. 487, 23. The godo gumo, Hel. 4, 16
is said of John ther guato man, 0. ii. 12, 21. 49 of Nicodemus in Ulrich s Lan-
; ;

zelot, an abbot is styled der guote man, 4613. 4639. conf. 3857, 4620 ewarte, 4626
priester. But with this is connected diu guote.frouwe (v. infra), i.e. originally
bona socia, so that in the good man also there peeps out something heathenish,
heretical. In the great Apologue, the cricket is a clergyman, and is called
(Ren. 8125) preudoms and Frobert =Fruotbert (see SuppL j.
90 PRIESTS.

episcopus), 0. I. and the Hel. 150, 24 Uscop. Later

4, 4. 27. 47 ;

on, priester (from presbyter, following the idea of elder and superior),

audpfajfe (papa) came to be the names most generally used AS. ;

preost, Engl. priest, Fr. prestre, pretre ;

in Veldek, prester rhymes
with mester, En. 9002.
When Caesar, bell. Gall. 6, 21, says of the Germans: Neque
druides habent qui rebus divinis praesint, neque sacrificiis student,
the statement need not be set down as a mistake, or as contra

dicting what Tacitus tells us of the German priests and sacrifices.

Csesar is all along drawing a contrast between them and the Gauls.
He had described the latter 6, 16 as excessively addicted to
sacrificesand his non studere sacrificiis must in the connexion
;

mean no more than to make a sparing use of sacrifices. As little

did there prevail among the Germans the elaborately finished
Druid-system of the Gauls ;
but they did not want for priests or
sacrifices of their own.

The German priests, as we have already gathered from a cursory

review of their were employed in the worship of the gods
titles,
and in judging the people. In campaigns, discipline is entrusted
to them alone, not to the generals, the whole war being carried on
as it were in the presence of the deity Ceterum neque animad- :

vertere neque vincire nee verberare nisi sacerdotibus per-

quidem
missum, non quasi in poenam, nee ducis jussu, sed velut deo

imperante, quern adesse bellantibus credunt, Germ. 7 (see Suppl).

The succeeding words must also refer to the priests, it is they that
take the effigies et signa from the sacred grove and carry them
into battle. We learn from cap. 10, that the sacerdos civitatis

superintends the divination by rods, whenever it is done for the

nation. If the occasion be not a public one, the paterfamilias
himself can direct the matter, and the priest need not be called in :

a remarkable limitation of the priestly power, and a sign how far the
rights of the freeman extended in strictly private life on the same ;

principle, I suppose, that in very early times covenant transac

tions could be settled between the parties, without the interven
tion of the judge (EA. 201). Again, when the divination was by
the neighing of the white steeds maintained by the state, priests
accompanied the sacred car, and accredited the transaction. Tlie priest
alone may touch the car of Nerthus, by him her approaching
presence is perceived, he attends her full of reverence, and leads
 PRIESTS. 91

her back at last to her sanctuary, cap. 40. Segimund, the son of
Segestes, whom Tac. Ann. 1, 57 calls sacerdos, had been not a
German but a Roman priest (apud aram Ubiorum), and after tearing
up the alien chaplet (vittas ruperat), had fled to his home.

These few incidental notices of priests give us anything but a

complete view of their functions (see SuppL). On them doubtless
devolved also the performance of public prayers, the slaying of
victims, the consecration of the kings and of corpses, perhaps of
marriages too, the administering of oaths, and many other duties.
Of and gradations, we hear nothing at
their attire, their insignia
all once Tacitus cap. 43 speaks of a sacerdos muliebri ornatu, but
;

gives no details. No doubt the priests formed a separate, possibly

a hereditary order, though not so powerful and influential as in
Gaul. Probably, beside that sacerdos civitatis, there were higher
and low^er ones. Only one is cited by name, the Cattian, i.e.

Hessian, Libes in Strabo (Ai/Bys rwv Xdrrwv lepevsi), who with

other German prisoners was dragged to Rome in the pompa of
Germanicus. Of him Tacitus (so far as we still have him) is
1
silent. Jornandes s statement is worthy of notice, that the Gothic
priestswere termed pileati in distinction from the rest of the people,
the capillati, and that during sacrifice they had the head covered
with a hat conf. RA. 271 (see SuppL). 05inn is called SiShottr,
;

broadhat.
The succeeding period, down to the introduction of Christi

anity, scarcely yields any information on the condition of the

priesthood in continental Germany their existence we infer from
;

that of temples and sacrifices. A

some importance has been
fact of

preserved by Beda, Hist. eccl. 2, 13 a heathen priest of the Anglo-

:

Saxons was forbidden to carry arms or to ride a male horse Non :

enim licuerat, pontificem sacrorum vel arma ferre, vel praeterquam

in equa equitare. Can this have any connexion with the regulation
which, it is true, can be equally explained from the Bible, that
Christian clergymen, when riding about the country, should be
mounted on asses and colts, not horses (RA. 86-88) ? Festus also
remarks :
Equo vehi flamini diali non licebat, ne, si longius digre-
deretur, sacra neglegerentur(see SuppL). The transmission of
such customs, which have themselves on the habits of
impressed
1
Libes might be Leip, Leb, O.N. A var.
Leifr, Goth. Laibs ? lect. has A#W.
92 PEIESTS.

life, would seem to have been quite admissible. I shall try else
where to show in detail, how a good deal in the gestures and atti
tudes prescribed for certain legal transactions savours of
priestly
ceremony at sacrifice and prayer (see Suppl.). It is not unlikely,
as heathen sacred places were turned into Christian ones, that it
was also thought desirable amongst a newly converted to people
attract their former priests to the service of the new religion.
They were the most cultivated portion of the people, the most
capable of comprehending the Christian doctrine and recommending
it to their countrymen. Prom the ranks of the heathen priesthood
would therefore proceed both the bitterest foes and the warmest
1
partizans of innovation. The collection of the Letters of Boniface
has a passage lamenting the confusion of Christian and heathen
rites, into which foolish or reckless and guilty priests had suffered
themselves to fall. 2 This might have been done in blameless ignor
ance or from deliberate purpose, but scarcely by any men except
such as were previously familiar with heathenism.
Even the Norse priesthood is but very imperfectly delineated in
the Eddas and sagas. A noteworthy passage in the Ynglingasaga
cap. 2 which regards the Ases altogether as colonists from Asia,
and their residence Asgard as a great place of sacrifice, makes the
twelve principal Ases sacrificial priests (hofgoSar) skyldu J?eir rafta
:

fyrir blotum ok domum manna i milli (they had to advise about

sacrifices and dooms) and it adds, that they had been named diar
;

(divi) and drottnar (domini). This representation, though it be but

a conjecture of Snorri s, shows the high estimation in which the
priestly order stood, so that gods themselves were placed at the
head of sacrifices and judgments. But we need not therefore con
found diar and drottnar with real human priests.

1
Just as the Catholic clergy furnished as well the props as the opponents of
the Reformation. The notable example of a heathen priest abjuring his ancient
faith, and even putting forth his hand to destroy the temple he had once held
sacred, has been quoted from Beda on p. 82. This priest was an English, not
a British one, though Beda, evidently for the mere purpose of more exactly
marking his station, designates him by a Gaefic word Coin (choibi, choibhidh,
cuimhi, see Jamieson, supplement sub. v. coivie, archdruid). Coifi is not a
proper name, even in Gaelic and it is incredible that Eadwine king of Nor-
;

thumbria should have adopted the British religion, and maintained a British
priest.
2
Ed. Wiirdtw. 82. Serr. 140 Pro sacrilegis itaque presbyteris, ut scripsisti,
:

qui tauros et hircos diis paganorum immolabant, manducantes sacrificia mor-

tuorum. . . modo vero incognitum esse, utruni baptizantes trinitatem
.

dixissent an non, &c. Connect with this the presbyter Jovi mactans, Ep. 25.
 PKIESTS-. 93

I must draw attention to the fact, that certain men who stood
nearer to the gods by services and veneration, and priests first of
1
all, are entitled friends of the gods (see SuppL). Hence such names
as Freysvinr, AS. Fredwine, Bregowine for heroes and kings (see ch.

X, Fro win). According to Eyrbygg. pp. 6, 8, 16, 26, Kolfr was a

Thdrs vinr ; he had a hof of that god on a meadow, and was there
fore named Thorrolfr, he dedicated to him his son Steinn and named
him Thorsteinn, who again dedicated his son Grimr to the god and
named him Thorgrimr by this dedicating (gefa), was meant the
;

appointing to the office of goc5i or priest. And (according to Landn.

2, 23) Hallstein gave his son as gool to Thorr. Here we see the
priestly office running on through several generations (see SuppL).
However, Odysseus is also called ALL <t
Xo?, II. 10, 527. Also
ALO\O<;
</>t
Xo? dOavdroLcn Oeolvi, Od. 10, 2 ;
but then in Od. 10, 21
he is TttjcuV ave/jiwv, director of winds, therefore a priest.

How deeply the priestly office in the North encroached on the

administration of justice, need not be insisted on here in their ;

judicial character the priests seem to have exercised a good deal of

control over the people, whereas little is said of their political
influence at the courts of kings ; on this point it is enough to read
the ISTialssaga. In Iceland, even under Christianity, the judges
retained the name and several of the functions of heathen goffar,

Gragas 1, 109-113. 130. 165. Convents, and at the same time

state-farmers, especially occupiers of old sanctuaries (see p. 85, note)
apparently continue in the Mid. Ages to have peculiar privileges,
on which I shall enlarge in treating of weisthiimer. They have the
keeping of the county cauldron, or weights and measures, and above
all, the brood-animals, to which great favour is shown everywhere

(see SuppL).
The go<5i
is also called a Uotma&r (sacrificulus), Uiotr (Egilssaga
p.209), but all blotmenn need not be priests the word denoted ;

rather any participant in sacrifices, and afterwards, among Christians,

the heathen in general. It tallies with the passage in Tacitus
about the paterfamilias, that any iarl or hersir (baron) might per
form sacrifice, though he was not a priest. Saxo Gramm. p. 176

1
The MHG. poets still bestow on hermits and monks the epithets gotes
friunt, gotes degen (]?egn, warrior). In the Renner 24587, St. Jost is called
heiliger gotes Jcneht (cniht, servant). [See however servus dei, famulus dei
passim in the lives of saints],
94 PRIESTS.

relates of Harald after

his baptism Delubra diruit, wctimarios :

proscripsit,flaminium abrogavit. By victimarii he must mean

blotmenn, by flamens the priests. He tells us on p. 104, that at
the great Upsala sacrifices there were enacted effoeminati corporum
motus, scenicique mimorum plausus, ac mollia nolarum crepitacula;
Greek antiquity has also something to tell of choruses and dances
of priests.
On the clothing of the Norse priests, I have not come across

any information. Was there a connexion between them and the

poets ? Bragi the god of song has nothing to do with sacrifices ;

yet the poetic art was thought a sacred hallowed thing OSinn :

spoke in verse, he and his hofgo&ar are styled lioffasmidir (song-

smiths), Yngl. saga cap. 6. Can skald (poeta, but neut.) be the
same as the rare OHG. sgalto (sacer) ? Diut. 1, 183. Gl. ker. 69,
scaldo. Even of Christian minstrels soon after the conversion one
thing and another is told, that has also come down to us about
heathen skalds.
Poetry borders so closely on divination, the Roman vates is

alike songster and soothsayer, and soothsaying was certainly a

priestly function. Amm. Marcell. 14, 9 mentions Alamannian

and Agathias
"*

auspices, 6 /za^ret? or ^^a^dKoyoi A\an,avviKoL

2,

Ulphilas avoids using a Gothic word for the frequently occur

ring Trpofajrrjs, he invariably puts praiifetus, and for the fern.

praufeteis, Lu. 2, 36
7rpo</>r?5 why not veitaga and veitago ? The
;

OHG. and AS. versions are bolder for once, and give wizayo, witeya. 1
Was the priest, when conducting auguries and auspices, a veitaga ?
conf. inveitan, p. 29. The ON. term is spdmadr (spae-man), and for
prophetess spdkona (spae-woman, A.S. witegestre). Such diviners
were Mhnir and Gripir. In old French poems they are devin
(divini, divinatores), which occasionally comes to mean poets :

uns devins, qui de voir dire est esprovez, Meon 4, 145. ce dient li
devin, Een. 7383 ;
so Tristr. 1229 : li contor dient (see SuppL).

We
have now to speak of the prophetesses and priestesses of
antiquity. The mundium (wardship) in which a daughter, a sister,
a wife stood, appears in the old heathen time not to have excluded

1
The J. become ei in our weissager, MHG. wissage for wizege equally
is ;

erroneous is our verb weissagen, MHG. wissagen, Iw. 3097 (OHG. \vizagou, AS.
witegian).
 PEIESTESSES. 95

them from holy offices, such as sacrificing (see Suppl.), or from a

good deal of influence over the people. Tacitus, after telling us
how mightily the German women wrought upon the valour of their
warriors, and that the Eomans for greater security demanded noble
maidens from particular nations, adds Inesse quin etiam sanctum
:

1
et providum (feminis) putant nee aut consilia earum aspernantur,
,

aut responsa negligunt. And before that, Caesar 1. 50 Quod apud :

Germanos ea consuetude esset, ut matres fam. eorum sortibus et

vaticinationibus declararent, utrum proelium comnritti ex usu esset,
necne ;
eas ita dicere : non esse fas Germanos superare,, si ante
no vain lunam proelio contendissent (see Suppl.).
While history has not preserved the name of one German vates,
it has those of several prophetesses. Tac. Germ. 8 Vidimus sub :

divo Vespasiano Veledam (as a prisoner in his triumph) diu apud

plerosque numinis loco habitant. Hist. 4, 61 Ea mrgo nationis :

Bructerae, late imperitabat, vetere apud Germanos more, quo

plerasque feminarum/afoVfoms, et augescente superstitione arbitrantur
deas. Tuncque Veledae auctoritas adolevit nam prosperas ;

Germanis excidium legionum praedixerat. In 4, 65, when

res et
the people of Cologne were making an alliance with the Tencteri
they made the offer Arbitrum habebimus Civilem et Veledam
:

apud Sic lenitis Tencteris, legati ad Civilem

quos pacta sancientur.
et Veledam missi cum donis, cuncta ex voluntate Agrippinensium

perpetravere. Sed coram adire, alloquique Veledam negatum.

Arcebantur aspectu, quo venerationis plus Ipsa edita in
inesset.
turre ; delectus e propinquis consulta responsaqiie ut intermmtius
numinis portabat. 5, 22 : Praetoriam triremem flumine Luppia
donum Veledae traxere. 5, 25 Veledam propinquosque monebat.
;

Her captivity was probably related in the lost chapters of the fifth
book. 2 This Veleda had been preceded by others Sed et olim :

Auriniam (hardly a translation of any Teutonic name, such as the

ON. Gullveig, gold-cup some have guessed Aliruna, Olrun,
;

Albruna) et complures alias venerati sunt, non adulatione nee

tamquam facerent deas, Germ. 8. A later one, named Ganna, is

1 Awild force of phantasy, and the state called clairvoyance, have shown
themselves preeminently in women.
2
Statius silv. I. 4, 90 Captivaeque pieces Veledae he scans the first
:
;

two syllables as short, which seems more correct than Dio s BeX^da. Zeuss 436
thinks BeXeSa, BeXt Sa = Vilida. Graff has a n. prop. Wallodu 1, 800. I would
suggest the Gothic fern, name Valadamarca, in Jornancles cap. 48, and the Thur-
ingian name of a place Walada ia Pertz I. 308.
 96 PRIESTS.

cited by Dio Cassius, 67, 5 j

1
and in the year 577 Gunthcramnus
consulted a woman habentem spiritum phitonis, ut ei quae erant
eventura narraret/ Greg. Tur. 5, 14 Aimoin 22 she is mulier
(in 3,
phytonissa, i.e.
7rv0<*)vi,o-o-a).
One much later still, Thiota, who had
come to Mentz out of Alamannia, is noticed in the Annals of Fulcla,
anno 847 (Pertz 1, 365). 2 As Cassandra foretold the fall of Troy,
our prophetesses predict the end of the world and
(v. infra) ;

Tacitus Ann. 14, 32 speaks of British druidesses in these words :

Feminae in furore turbatae adesse exitium canebant conf. 14, 30. ;

But we have the sublimest example before us in the Voluspa (see

Suppl.).
Those grayhaired, barefooted Cimbrian priestesses in Strabo (v.
supra, p. 55) in white robe and linen doublet, begirt with brazen
clasps, slaughtering the prisoners of war and prophesying from

1
Tdvva (al. Tavva) TrapOevos /xera rfjv BeXrjSai/ eV rrj KC\TIKTJ
conf. the masc. name Gannascusin Ann. 11, 18. 19 ;
the fern. Gonna, dat. Gan-
nane, in a Lothr. urk., as late as 709, Don Calmet, ed. 1728, torn. 1. preuves p.
265.
2
Traditions, which Hubertus Thomas of Liittich, private secretary to the
Elector Palatine, according to his book De Tungris et Eburonibus 1541,
pro
fesses to have received from an
antiquary Joan. Berger out of an old book
(libello vetustissimis characteribus descripto), and which he gives in his treatise
De Heidelbergae antiquitatibus, relate as follows Quo tempore Velleda virgo
:

in Bruchteria imperitabat, vetula quaedam, cui nomen Jettha, eum collem,

ubi mine est arx Heidelbergensis et Jetthae collis etiam nunc nomen
habet, inhabitabat, vetustissimumque phanum incolebat, cujusfragmenta adhuc
nuper vidimus, dum comes palatinus Fridericus factus elector egregiam domum
construxit, quam novam aulam appellant. Haec mulier vaticiniis inclyta, et
quo venerabilior foret, raro in conspectum hominum prodiens, volentibus con-
silium ab ea petere, defenestra, non prodeunte vultu, respondebat. Et inter cetera
praedixit, ut inconditis versibus canebat, suo colli a fatis esse datum, ut futuris
temporibus regiis viris, quos nominatim recensebat, inhabitaretur et templis
celeberrimis ornaretur. Sed ut tandem fabulosae antiquitati valedicamus, lubet
adscribere quae is liber de infelici morte ipsius Jetmat continebat. Egressa
quondam amoenissimo tempore phanum, ut deambulatione recrearetur, progre-
diebatur juxta montes, donee pervenit in locum, quo montes intra convallem
declinant et multis locis scaturiebant pulcherrimi fontes, quibus vehementer
ilia coepit delectari, et assidens ex illis bibebat, cum ecce
lupa famelica cum
catulis e silva prorupit, quae conspectam mulierem nequicquam divos invocan-
tem dilaniat et frustatim discerpsit, quae casu suo fonti nomen dedit, vocaturque
in hodiernum diem fons luporum ob amoenitatem loci omnibus notus.
?uippe
t is
scarcely worth while trying to settle how much in this may be genuine
tradition, and how much the erudition of the 16th century foisted in, to the
glorification of the new palace at Heidelberg (
= Heidberg) the very window ;

on the hill would seem to have been copied from Veleda s tower, though
Brynhild too resides upon her rock, and has a high tower (Vols. saga, cap. 20,
24, 25 conf. MengloS, OHG. Maniklata ?) on the rock, with nine virgins at
;

her knees (Sasm. 110. 111). If the enchantress s name were Heida instead of
Jettha, it would suit the localitv better, and perhaps be an echo of the ON.
Heifir.
 PRIESTESSES. 97

their blood in the sacrificial cauldron, appear as frightful witches by

the side of the Bructerian Maid together with divination they
;

exercise the priestly office. Their minutely described apparel, we

may suppose, resembled that of the priests.
While in Tac. Germ. 40 it is a priest that attends the goddess,
and guides the team of kine in her car in the North conversely, ;

we have handmaids waiting upon gods. From a remarkable story

the 01 af Tryggv. seq.), which the
in saga (Fornm. sog. 2, 73
Christian composer evidently presents in an odious light, we at all
events gather that in Sweden a virgin attended the car of Freyr on
its travels among the people
Frey var fengin til j?ionosto Jcona
:

ung ok MS
(into Frey s service was taken a woman young and
fair), and she is called kona Freys. Otherwise a priestess is
called gyffja, Jiofgy&ja, corresponding to goSi, hofgoSi l see TuriSr ;

hofgyoja, Islend. sog. 1, 205. ]?orlaug gyftja, Landn. 1, 21.

Steinvor and FridgerSr, Sagabibl. 1, 99. 3, 268.
But the Norse authorities likewise dwell less on the priestly
functions of women, than on their higher gift, as it seems, of
divination: Perita augurii femina, Saxo Gram. 121. Valdamarr

konungr atti moftur miok gamla ok orvasa, sva at hun la 1 rekkju,

en J?o hun framsyn af Fitons anda, sem margir heiftnir menn
var

(King V. had a mother very old and feeble, so that she lay in bed,
and there was she seized by a spirit of Python, like many heathen
folk), Fornm. sog. 1, 76. Of like import seems to be a term which
borders on the notion of a higher and supernatural being, as in the
case of Veleda and that is dis (nympha, numen).
;
It may be not

accidental, that the spakona in several instances bears the proper

name Thordis (Vatnsd. p. 186 seq. Fornm. sog. 1, 255. Islend. sog.
1, 140. Kormakkss. p. 204 seq.) dis however, a very early word,
;

which I at one time connected with the Gothic filudeisei (astutia,

dolus), appears to be no other than our OHG. itis, OS. idis, AS.
ides (femina, nympha). As famous and as widely spread was the
term volvo, 2 which first denotes any
magic-wielding soothsayeress
(Vatnsd. p. 44. Fornm. sog. 3, 214. Fornald. sog. 2, 165-6.
506),
and is afterwards attached to a particular
mythic Volva, of whom
one of the oldest Eddie
songs, the Voluspd, treats. Either volu
1
Can our gotte, gothe, goth for godmother (taufpathin, susceptrix e sacro
fonte) be the survival of an old heathen term 1 Morolt 3184 has gode of the
baptized virgin.
a
The Slavic volkhv magus. TRANS.
7
98 PRIESTS.

stands here for volvu, or the claim of the older form Vala may he
asserted ;
them would correspond an OHG. Walawa or
to each of

suggests the Walada above, being only derived

which in a
Wala,
different way. In the saga Eiriks raufta we come upon ThorUorg,
the little Vala (Edda Sseni. Hafn. 3, ty.HeicFr is the name not
only of the volva in the Edda (Sa3m.
4 b , conf. 118 b ) but also of the
one in the Orvarodssaga (conf. Sagabibl. 3, 155). Hyndla (canicula)
is a prophetess that rides on wolves, and dwells in a cave. I guess

also that the virgins Thorger&r and Irpa (Fornm. sog. 2, 108. 3, 100.

11, 134-7. 142. 172), to whom

but divine honours were paid,
all

and the title of horgabruSr (nympha lucorum) and even the name
of guS (numen) was accorded, Nialss. cap. 89, are not to be excluded
from this circle. So in the valkyrs, beside their godhood, there
resides somewhat of the priestly, e.g. their virginity (see ch. XVI
and SuppL).
We gleg and wise women (and they
shall return to these
have other names who, in accordance with a deeply
besides),
marked feature of our mythology, trespass on the superhuman.
Here we had to set forth their connexion with sacrifice, divination
and the priesthood.
 CHAPTEE VL
GODS.

Now,I think, we are fully prepared for the inquiry, whether

real godscan be claimed for Germany in the oldest time. All the
branches of our language have the same general name for deity,
and have retained it to the present day all, or at any rate most of
;

them, so far as the deficiency of documents allows the chain of

evidence to be completed, show the same or but slightly varying
terms for the heathen notions of worship, sacrifice, temples and
priesthood. Above all there shines forth an unmistakable analogy
between the Old Norse terminology and the remains, many cen
turies older, of the other dialects the Norse sesir, biota, horgr,
:

gool were known long before, and with the same meanings, to the
Goths, Alamanns, Franks and Saxons. And this identity or
similarity extends beyond the words to the customs themselves :

in sacred groves the earliest human and animal victims were

offered, priests conducted sacrifices and divinations, wise women
enjoyed all but divine authority.
The proof furnished by the sameness of language is of itself
sufficient and decisive. When the several divisions of a nation
speak one and the same language, then, so long as they are left to
their own nature and are not exposed to violent influences from

without, they always have the same kind of belief and worship.
The Teutonic race lies midway between Celts, Slavs, Lithu
anians, Finns, all of them populations that acknowledge gods,
and practise a settled worship. The Slav nations, spread over
widely distant regions, have their principal gods in common ;
how
should it be otherwise in Teutondom ?
As for demanding proofs of the genuineness of Norse mythology,
we have really got past that now. All criticism cripples and anni
hilates itself, that sets out with denying or doubting what is trea
sured up in song and story born alive arid propagated amongst an
entire people, and which lies before our eyes. Criticism can but
collect and arrange it, and unfold the materials in their historical

sequence.
100 GODS.

Then the only question that can fairly be raised, is Whether :

the gods of the North, no longer disputable, hold good for the rest
of Teutondom ? To say yea to the question as a whole, seems,
from the foregoing results of our inquiry, altogether reasonable
and almost necessary.
A negative
answer, if it knew what it was about, would try to
maintain, that the circle of Norse gods, in substance, were formerly

common to all Germany, but by the earlier conversion were extin

guished and annihilated here. But a multitude of exceptions and
surviving vestiges would greatly limit the assertion, and materially
alter what might be made out of the remainder.
In the meanwhile a denial has been attempted of quite another
kind, and the opinion upheld, that those divinities have never
existed at all in Germany proper, and that its earliest inhabitants
knew nothing better than a gross worship of nature without gods.
This view, drawing a fundamental distinction between German
and Scandinavian heathenism, and misapprehending all the clues
which discover themselves to unprejudiced inquiry as infallible

evidence of the unity of two branches of a nation, lays special stress

upon a few statements on the nature of the heathen faith, dating
from about the sixth century and onwards. These for the most
part proceed from the lips of zealous Christians, who did not at all
concern themselves to understand or faithfully portray the paganism
they were assailing, whose purpose was rather to set up a warning
against the grosser manifestations of its cultus as a detestable abo
mination. It will be desirable to glance over the principal passages
in their uniformity and one-sidedness.

Agathias ([" newly converted Greek, who

before 582), himself a
could only know from christianly coloured reports what he had
heard about the distant Alamanns, thus exhibits the Alamannic
worship as opposed to the Frankish SevSpa re yap nva iXdaKovrai
:

KOI peWpa Trora/jiMV KOI \6(f)ov$ KOI (>dpayyas,

KOL TOVTOLS axnrep
oVta Spares 28, 4. Then follow the words quoted on p. 47 about
their equine sacrifices.
But his contrast to the Franks breaks down at once, when
we hear almost exactly the same account of them from the lips of
their first historian Gregory Sed haec generatio fanaticis semper
:

cultibus visa est obsequiurn praebuisse, nee prorsus agnovere Deuin,

sibique silvarum atque aquarum, avium bestiarumque et aliorum

 GODS. 101

quoque elementorum finxere formas, ipsasque ut deum colere eisque

sacrificia delibare consueti. Greg. Tur. 2, 10. Similarly, Einhard
(jEginhartJ) in Vita Caroli cap. 7, about the Saxons Sicut omnes :

fere Gerrnaniam incolentes nationes et natura feroces et cultui

daemonum nostraeque religioni contrarii. Euodolf of Euld,
dediti,
after quoting Tacitus and Einhard, adds (Pertz 2, 676) Nam et :

frondosis arboribus fontibusque venerationem exhibebant 1 and then j

mentions the Irminsul, which I shall deal with hereafter (see

Suppl). Lastly, Helmold 1, 47 affirms of the Holsteiners Nihil :

de religione nisi nomen tantum christianitatis habentes nam ;

lucorum fontium ceterarumque superstitionum multiplex error

et

apud eos habetur Yicelinus

. . . lucos et omnes . . .

ritus sacrileges destruens, &c.

Conceived in exactly the same spirit are the prohibitions of

heathenish and idolatrous rites in decrees of councils and in laws.
Concil. Autissiod. anno 586, can. 3 : Non licet inter sentes aut ad
arbores sacrivos vel ad fontes vota exsolvere ;
conf. Concil. Turoii.
II. anno 566, can. 22. Leges Liutpr. 6, 30 : Simili modo et qui ad
arborem, quam rustici
sanguinum (al. sanctivam, sacrivam) vocant,
atque ad fontanas adoraverit. Capit. de partibus Sax. 20 Si quis :

ad fontes aut arbores vel lucos votum fecerit, aut aliquid more
gentilium obtulerit et ad honorem daemonum comederit. And the
converters, the Christian clergy, had for centuries to pour out their
wrath against the almost ineradicable folly. It is sufficient merely
to allude to the sermons of Caesarius episcopus Arelatensis (*f* 542)
Contra sacrileges et aruspices, contra kalendarum quoque pagan-
issimos ritus, contraque augures lignicolas, fonticolas, Acta Bened.
sec. 1, p. 668.

All these passages contain, not an untruth, yet not the whole
truth. That German heathenism was destitute of gods, they can
not possibly prove; for one thing, because they all date from
periods when heathenism no longer had free and undisturbed sway,
but had been hotly assailed by the new doctrine, and was well-
nigh overmastered. The general exercise of it had ceased, isolated

partizans cherished timidly in usages kept up by stealth at the

it ;

same time there were Christians who in simplicity or error con

tinued to practise superstitious ceremonies by the side of Christian
ones. Such doings, not yet extinct here and there among the

1
Adam of Bremen again copies Ruodolf, Pertz 9, 286.
102 GODS.

common people, but withdrawn from

all
regulating guidance by
heathen priests, could not
soon to become vulgarized, and to
fail

appear as the mere dregs of an older faith, which faith we have no

right to measure by them. As we do not fail to recognise in the
devils and witches of more modern times the higher purer fancies of
antiquity disguised, just as little ought we to feel any scruple about
tracing back the pagan practices in question to the untroubled foun-
tainhead of the olden time. Prohibitions and preachings kept strictly
to the practical side of the matter, and their very purpose was to put
down these last hateful remnants of the false religion. sentence A
in Cnut s AS. laws (Schmid 1, 50) shows, that fountain and tree

worship does not exclude adoration of the gods themselves :

Hasftenscipe bi(5, J?a3t man deofolgild weorSige, }?iut is, )?a3t man
weorSige hseftene godas, and sunnan oo15e
monan, fyre oftfte fl65\va3-
ter, wyllas stanas oftSe ffiniges cynnes wudutreowa; conf.
o<55e

Hornil. 1, 366. Just so it is said of Olaf the Saint, Fornm. sog. 5,

239, that he abolished the heathen sacrifices and gods Ok morg :

onnur (many other) blotskapar skrimsl, b?e5i hamra ok horga,

skoga, vb tn ok tre ok 611 onnur blot, biefti meiri ok ininni.
But we can conceive of another reason too, why on such occa
sions the heathen gods, perhaps still unforgotten, are passed over in
silence Christian priests avoided uttering their names or describing
:

their worship minutely. was thought advisable to include them

It
all under the general demons or devils, and utterly uproot
title of

their influence by laying an interdict on whatever yet remained

of their worship. The Merseburg poems show how, by way of
exception, the names of certain gods were still able to transmit
themselves in formulas of conjuring.
Pictures of heathenism in its debasement and decay have no
Tacitus
right to be placed on a level with the report of it given by
from five to eight centuries before, when itwas yet in the fulness
of its strength. If the adoration of trees and rivers still lingering
in the habits of the people no longer bears witness to the existence
of gods, is it not loudly enough proclaimed in those imperfect and

by a Roman stranger ? When he expressly

defective sketches tells

us of a deus terra editus, of heroes and descendants of the god

(plures deo ortos), of the god who rules in war (velut
deo imperante),

of the names of gods (deorum nominibus) which the people trans

ferred to sacred groves, of the priest who cannot begin a divination
 GODS.

without invoking the gods (precatus deos) and who regards

himself

the of a regnator omnium

as a servant of gods (ministros deorum),
of deos in aspectu, Hist. 5,
deus, of the gods Germany (Germaniae
the diis patriis to whom the captured signa Eomana were
IT), of
between penetrate
hung up (Ann. 1, 59); when
he
distinguishes
Germaniae deos or dii penates (Ann. 2, 10. 11, 16),
communes dii
when he even distin
(Hist. 4, 64), and conjugates
dii (Germ. 18) ;

individual and tries to suit them with Eoman names,

guishes gods,
and actually names (interpretatione Eomana) a Mars, Mercurius,
the German
Hercules, Castor and Pollux, Isis, nay, has preserved
of the deus terra editus and of his son, and of a goddess,
appellations
how deny that at that time the
the terra mater ;
is it possible to
Germans worshipped veritable gods ? How is it possible, when we
take into account all the rest that we know of the language, the

manners, and virtues of the German!, to maintain

the
liberty, the
notion that, sunk in a stolid fetishism, they cast themselves down
before logs and puddles, and paid to them their simple adoration ?
The opinion of Caasar, 1 who knew the Germans more super
ficially than Tacitus a hundred and fifty years later, cannot be
allowed to derogate from the truth. He
wants to contrast our
ancestors with the Gauls, with whom he had had more familiar
converse but the personifications of
;
the sun, fire, and the moon,
to which he limits the sum total of their gods, will hardly bear even
a forced interpretatio Eomana If in the place of sun and moon
.

we put Apollo and Diana, they at once contradict that deeply rooted
peculiarity of the Teutonic way of thinking, which conceives
of the

sun as a female, and of the moon as a male being, which could not
have escaped the observation of the Eoman, if it had penetrated
deeper. And Vulcan, similar to the Norse Loki, but one of those
divinities of whom there is least trace to be found in the rest of

Teutondom, had certainly less foundation than the equally visible

and helpful deities of the nourishing earth, and of the quickening,
fish-teeming, ship-sustaining water. I can only look upon Caesar s
statements as a half-true and roughcast opinion, which, in the face
of the more detailed testimony of Tacitus, hardly avails to cast a

1
Deorum numero eos solos ducunt, quos cernunt, et quorum opibus aperte
juvantur, Solem et Vulcanum et Lunam; reliquos ne fama quidem acceperunt.
B.G. 6, 21. Compare with this E.G. 4, 7 where the Usipetes and Tenchtheri
say to Csesar Sese unis Suevis concedere, quibus ne dii quidem immortelles
:

pares esse possint.

 10-4 GODS.

doubt on other gods, much less to prove a bare worship of elements

among the German!.
All the accounts that vouch for the early existence of individual
gods, necessarily testify at the same time to their great number and
their mutual relationship. When Procopius ascribes a TroXu? Oewv
o/u\o9 to the Heruli, this great host must also be good for the
Goths, just those of whom we know the fewest particulars, and for
all the Germans together. Jornandes would have us believe that
Diceneus was the make
the Goths acquainted with gods,
first to

cap. 11 Elegit ex eis tune nobilissimos prudentiores viros, quos

:

theologiam instruens numina quaedam et sacella venerari suasit ;

here evidently we see the ruler who promoted the service of

particular gods.But that Jornandes himself credited his Goths

with unmistakably native gods, is plain from cap. 10: Unde et
sacerdotes Gothorum aliqui, illi qui pii vocabantur, subito patefactis
portis cum citharis et vestibus candidis obviam sunt egressi paternis
diis,ut sibi propitii Macedones repellerent voce supplici modulantes.
The fact here mentioned may even have been totally alien to the
real Goths, but anyhow we gather from it the opinion of Jornandes.
And if we
want evidence about a race lying quite at the
also

opposite extremity of Germany, one that clung with great fidelity

to their old-established faith, we have it in the Lex Frisionum,
addit. tit. 13, where the subject is the penalty on temple-breakers :

Immolatur diis quorum templa violavit.

We have now arrived at the following result. In the first

century of our era the religion of the Germans rested mainly upon
gods a thousand or twelve hundred years later, among the northern
;

section of the race, which was the last to exchange the faith of its
fathers for a new one, the old system of gods is preserved the most

perfectly. Linked by language and unbroken tradition to either

extremity of heathenism, both its first appearance in history and its

fall, stands central Germany from the fifth to the ninth century.

During this period the figures of the heathen gods, in the feeble
and hostile light thrown upon them by the reports of recent con
verts, come before us faded and indistinct, but still always as gods.
I must here repeat, that Tacitus knows no simulacrum of
German gods, no image l moulded in human shape what he had ;

1
Grk. ayaXpa, signum, statue ; Goth, manleika, OHG. manalthho, ON.
Uknesld (see Suppl.) ; can the Sloven, malik, idol, have sprung from manleika?
 IMAGES. 105

stated generally in cap. 9, he asserts of a particular case in cap. 43,

and we have no ground for disbelieving his assertion. The exist
ence of real statues at that time in Germany, at least in the parts
best known to them, would hardly have escaped the researches of
the Romans. He knows of nothing but signa and formas, appar
ently carved and coloured, which were used in worship as symbols,
and on certain occasions carried about probably they contained
;

some reference to the nature and attributes of the several deities.

The model of a boat, sigmmi in modum liburnae figuratum (cap. 9),
betokened the god of sailing, the formae aprorum (cap. 45) the god
to whom the boar was consecrated ;
and in the like sense are to be
taken the ferarum imagines on trees and at certain sacrifices (see

Suppl.). The vehiculum veste contectum of the goddess Earth

will be discussed further on.
The absence of statues and temples, considering the impotence
of all artistic skill at the period, is a favourable feature of the
German cultus, and pleasing to contemplate. But
by no means it

follows that in the people s fancy the gods were destitute of a form
like the human without this, gods invested with all human
;

attributes, and brought into daily contact with man, would be

simply inconceivable. If there was any German poetry then in
existence, which I would sooner assert than deny, how should the
poets have depicted their god but with a human aspect ?
Attempts to fashion images of gods, and if not to carve them
out of wood or stone, at least to draw and paint them, or quite
roughly to bake them of dough (p. 63), might nevertheless be made
at any period, even the earliest it is possible too, that the interior
;

parts of Germany, Romans, concealed here

less accessible to the
and there temples, statues and pictures. In the succeeding cen
turies, however, when temples were multiplied, images also, to fill
their spaces, may with the greatest probability be assumed.
The terminology, except where the words simulacra, imagines,
which leave no room for doubt, are employed, makes use of several

Bohem. malik, the little finger, also Thumbkin, Toin Thumb? which may
have to do with idol. [In the Slavic languages, mal = little, s-mall]. Other
OHG. terms are avard ; piladi, pilidi (bild) effigies or imago in general in the
;

Mid. Ages they said, for making or forming (p. 23), ein bilde giezcn, eine
scheme juncfrouwen ergiezen, Cod. Vindob. 428, num. 211, without any refer
ence to metal-casting ; ein bilde mezzen, Troj. 19626, mezzen, Misc. 2, 186. On
the Lith. balwonas, idolum, statua, conf. Pott de ling. Litth. 2, 51, Russ.
bolvdn, Hung, bah any ; Russ. kumtr, idol, both lit. and lig. (object of affection).
10G GODS.

terms whose meaning varies, passing from that of temple to that of

of grove mixed up with that of
image, just as we saw the meaning
numen. If, as is possible, that word alah originally meant rock or
stone (p. 67), might easily, like haruc and wilt, melt into the
it

sense of altar and statue, of ara, fanum, idolum. In this way the
OIIG. about, abcuti (Abgott, false god) does signify both fana and
idola or statuae, Diut. 497 b 513 a 515 a 533 b just as our gotze is at
1, ,

once the false god and his image and his temple (see above, p. 15.
Gramm. 3, 694). Idolum must have had a similar ambiguity,
where it is not expressly distinguished from delubrum, fanum and
idola adorare,
templum. In general phrases sucli as idola colere,
idola destruere, we cannot be sure that images are meant, for just
as often and with the same meaning we have adorare fana, des
truere fana. Look at the following phrases taken from OHG.
a
glosses abcuti
: wihero stetio, fana excelsorum, Diut. 1, 515 eibcut .

in lieilagem stetim, fana in excelsis, Diut. 1, 213 a steininu zeihan

.

b manalikun
inti abcuti, titulos et statuas, Diut. 1, 49 7 . altara inti
inti haruga, aras et statuas et lucos, Diut. 1, 513 b .
afgoda began-
gana, Lacombl. arch. 1, 11. Saxo Gram, often uses simulacra for

idols, pp. 249, 320-1-5-7, The statement in Aribonis vita S.

Emmerammi (Acta sanct. Sept. 6, 483) : tradidera te genti

Saxonum, quae tot idolorum cultor existit is undeniable evidence
that the heathen Saxons in the 8th century served many false gods

(Aribo, bishop of Freisingen in the years 764-783).

The vita
Lebuini, written Hucbald between 918-976, says of the ancient
by
Saxons (Pertz 2, 361-2): Inservire idolorum cultibus . . .

numinibus suis vota solvens ac sacrificia . simulacra quae . .

deos esse putatis, quosque venerando colitis. Here, no doubt,

statues must be meant (see Suppl.).
In a few instances we find the nobler designation deus still
employed, as it had been by Tacitus Cumque idem rex (Eadwine
:

in 625) gratias ageret diis suis pro nata sibi filia, Beda 2, 9.
The following passages testify to visible representations of gods ;

they do not condescend to describe them, and we are content to

pick up hints by the way.

The very earliest evidence takes us already into the latter half
of the 4th century, but it is one of the most remarkable. Sozomen,
Hist. eccl. 6, 37, mentions the manifold dangers that beset Ulphilas

among the heathen Goths : While the barbarians were yet heathens
 IMAGES. 107

(ert TWV fBapjBdptov e\\rjviK(o$ 6pr)a-tcev6vTa)v) e\\vjviic&s here

means in heathen fashion, and Opya/ceveiv (to worship) is presently
described more minutely, when the persecution of the Christians

by Athanaric Athanaric, having set the statue (evidently

is related
of the Gothic deity) on a waggon (%oavov apjuLa/jLafys eoTw?),l(f>

ordered it to be carried round to the dwellings of those suspected

of Christianity ;
if they refused to fall down and sacrifice (Trpocncv-
velv teal 6i>6iv\
their houses were to be fired over their heads. By
is not this exactly the
dpfidfia^a is understood a covered carriage ;

vehiculum, veste contectum, in which the goddess, herself unseen, was

carried about (Tac. Germ. 40) ? Is it not the vagn in which Freyr
and his priestess sat, when in holy days he journeyed round among
the Swedish people (Fornm. sog. 2, 74-5) ? The people used to
carry about covered images of gods over the fields, by which fertility
was bestowed upon them. 1 Even the Jcarrdschen in our poems of
the Mid. Ages, with Saracen gods in them, and the carroccio of the
Lombard cities (RA. 263-5) seem to be nothing but a late reminis
cence of these primitive gods -waggons of heathenism. The Roman,
Greek and Indian gods too were not without such carriages.
What Gregory of Tours tells us (2, 29-31) of the baptism of
Chlodovich (Clovis) and the events that preceded it, is evidently
touched up, and the speeches of the queen especially I take to be
fictitious yet he would hardly have put them in her mouth, if it
;

were generally known that the Franks had no gods or statues at all.
Chrothild (Clotilda) speaks thus to her husband, whom she is try
ing to prepossess in favour of baptism Nihil sunt
dii quos colitis,
:

qui neque sibi neque aliis poterunt subvenire sunt enim aut ex ;

lapide aut ex ligno aut ex metallo aliquo sculpti, nomina vero, quae
eis indidistis, homines fuere, non dii. Here she brings up Saturnus
and Jupiter, with arguments drawn from classical mythology;
and then Quid Mars Ifercttruaque potuere ? qui potius sunt
:

magicis artibus praediti quam divini numinis potentiam habuere.

Sed ille magis coli debet qui coelum et terrain, mare et omnia quae
in eis sunt, verbo ex non extantibus procreavit, &c. Sed cum haec
regina diceret, nullatenus ad credendum regis animus movebatur,
sed dicebat Deorum nostrorum jussione cuncta creantur ac pro-
:

1
De simulacra quod per campos portant (Indie, superstit. cap. 28) one vita ;

S. Martini cap. 9 (Surras 6, 252) Quia esset haec Gallorum rusticis consue
:

tude, simulacra daemonum, candido tecta velamine, misera per agros suos cir-
cumlerre dementia.
 108 GODS.

deunt deus vero vester nihil posse manifestatur, et quod

;
magis est,
nee de deorum genere esse probatur (that sounds German
enough!).
When boy dies soon after receiving Christian baptism,
their little
Chlodovich remarks Si in nomine deorum meorum puer fuisset
:

dicatus, vixisset utique nunc autem, quia in nomine dei vestri

;

baptizatus est, vivere omnino non potuit. So detailed a report of

Chlodovich s heathenism, scarcely a hundred years after the event,
and from the mouth of a well instructed priest, would be absurd, if
there were no truth at the bottom of it. When once Gregory had
put his Latin names of gods in the place of the Frankish (in which
he simply followed the views and fashion of his time), he would as
a matter of course go on to surround those names with the
appro
priate Latin myths and it is not to be
; overlooked, that the four
deities named are all gods of the days of the week, the very kind
which it was quite customary
to identify with native gods. I
think myself entitled therefore, to quote the passage as
proving at
least the existence of images of gods
among the Franks (see Suppl.).
The narrative of an incident from the early part of the 7th
century concerns Alamannia. Columban and St. Gallus in 612
came upon a seat of idolatry at Bregenz on the Lake of Constance :

Tres ergo imagines aereas et deauratas superstitiosa gentilitas

ibi colcbat, quibus magis quam Creatori mundi vota reddenda
credebat. So says the Vita S. Galli (Pertz 2, 7) written in the
course of the next (8th) century. A
more detailed account is given
by Walafrid Strabo in his Vita S. Galli (acta Bened. sec. 2. p. 233) :

Egressi de navicula oratorium in honore S. Aureliae constructum

adierunt. . . . Post orationem, cum per gymm oculis cuncta
lustrassent, placuitillis qualitas et situs locorum, deinde oratione

praemissa circa oratorium mansiunculas sibi fecerunt. Repererunt

autem in templo ires imagines aereas deauratas parieti qffixas, 1 quas
populus, dimisso altaris sacri cultu, adorabat, et oblatis sacrificiis
clicere consuevit isti sunt dii veteres et antiqui hujus loci tutores,
:

quorum solatio et nos et nostra perdurant usque in praesens. . . .

Cumque ejusdem templi solemnitas ageretur, venit multitude non

minima promiscui sexus et aetatis, non tantum propter festivitatis
honorem, verum etiam ad videndos peregrinos, quos cognoverant
1
So then, in a church really Christian, these old heathen gods images had
1

^een let into the ivall, probably to conciliate the people, who were still attached
to them ? There are several later instances of this practice, conf. Ledebur s
archiv. 14, 363. 378. Thiir. mitth. VI. 2, 13 (see
 IMAGES. 109

advenisse. . . . Jussu venerandi abbatis (Columbani) Gallus

coepit viam veritatis ostendere populo. . . . et in conspectu

omnium comminuens pro-

arripiens simulacra, et lapidibus in frusta
jecit in locum. His visis nonnulli conversi sunt ad dominum. Here
is a strange jumble of heathen and Christian worship. In an
oratory built in honour of St. Aurelia, three heathen statues still
stand against the wall, to which the people continue to sacrifice,
without going near the Christian altar: to them, these are still their
old tutelary deities. After the evangelist has knocked the images
to pieces and thrown them into Lake Constance, a part of these
heathen turn to Christianity. Probably in more places than one
the earliest Christian communities degenerated in like manner,

owing to the preponderance of the heathen multitude and the

supineness of the clergy. A doubt may be raised, however, as to
whether by these heathen gods are to be understood Alamannish, or
possibly Roman gods ? Roman paganism in a district of the old
Helvetia is quite conceivable, and dii tutores loci sounds almost like
the very thing. On the other hand it must be remembered, that
Alamanns had been settled here for three centuries, and any other
worship than theirs could hardly be at that time the popular one. That
sacrifice to Woden on the neighbouring Lake of Zurich 1
(supra, p. 56)
mentioned by Jonas in his older biography of the two saints,
was altogether German. Lastly, the association of three di
vinities to be jointly worshipped stands out a prominent feature in
our domestic heathenism ;
when the Romans dedicated a temple to
several deities, their images were not placed side by side, but in

separate cellae (chapels). Ratpert (Casus S. Galli, .Pertz 2, 61)

seems to have confounded the two events, that on L. Zurich, and
the subsequent one at Bregenz: Tucconiam
(to Tuggen) advenerunt,
quae est ad caput lacus Turicini, ubi cum consistere vellent, popu-
lumque ab errore demonum revocare (nam adhuc idolis immoldbant\
Gallo idola vana confringente et in lacum mcinum
demergente, populus
in iram conversus. . sanctos exinde pepulerunt.
. . Inde iter
agentes pervenerunt ad castrum quod Arbona nuncupatur, juxta
1
Curiously,Mone (Gesch. des heid. 1, 171-5) tries to put this Woden-
worship Tuggen upon the Heruli, who had never been heard of there, instead
cat

of the Alamanns, because Jonas Sunt inibi wcinae nationes Suevorum.

says :

But this means simply those settled thereabouts there was no occasion to
; speak
ol distant ones. Columban was staying in a place not agreeable to himself, in
order to convert the heathen inhabitants and by Walafrid s description too,
;
the district lies
infra partes Alamanniae, where intra would do just as well.
110 GODS.

lacum potamicum, ibique a Willimaro presbytero honorifice suscepti,

septem dies cum gaudio permanserunt. Qui a sarictis interrogatus,
si sciret locum in solitudine illorum
proposito congruum, ostendit
eis locum jocundissimum ad inhabitandum nomine
Brigantium.
Ibique reperientes templum olim christianae religioni dedicatum,
nunc autem demonum imaginibus pollutum, mundando et conse-
crando in pristinum restituerunt statum, atque pro statuis quas
ejecerunt, sanctae Aureliae reliquias ibidem collocaverunt. By this
account also the temple is first of all Christian, and afterwards
occupied by the heathen (Alamanns), therefore not an old Eoman
one. That Woden s statue was one of those idola vana that were
broken to pieces, may almost be inferred from Jonas s account of
the beer-sacrifice offered to him. Eatpert s cantilena S. Galli has

only the vague words :

Castra de Turegum adnavigant Tucconium,

Decent fidem gentem, Jovem linquunt ardentem.
This Jupiter on fire, from whom the people apostatized, may very
well be Donar (Thunar, Thor), but his statue is not alluded to.
According to Arx (on Pertz 2, 61), Eckehardus IV. quotes Jovis
et Neptuni idola, but I cannot find the passage conf. 122 ; p.
Ermoldus Nigellus on Neptune. It is plain that the three statues
have to do with the idolatry on L. Constance, not with that on L.
Zurich and if Mercury, Jupiter and Neptune stood there together,
;

the first two at all events may be easily applied to German deities.
In ch. VII, I will impart my conjecture about Neptune. But I think
we may conclude from all this, that our ires imagines have a better
claim to a German origin, than those imagines lapideae of the
Luxovian forest, cited on p. 83 1 .

1
Two narratives by Gregory of Tours on statues of Diana in the Treves
country, and of Mercury and Mars in the south of Gaul, though they exclude
all thought of German deities, yet offer striking comparisons. Hist. 8, 15 :

Deinde territorium Trevericae urbis expetii, et in quo nunc estis monte

habitaculum, quod cernitis, proprio labore construxi reperi tainen hie Dianae
;

simulacrum, quod populus hie incredulus quasi dcum adorabat. columnam etiam
statui, in qua cum grand! cruciatu sine ullo peduni stabam tegmine. . . .

Verum ubi ad me multitude vicinarum civitatum coniluere coepit, praedicabam

jugiter, nihil esse Dianam, nihil simulacra, nihilque quae cis videbatur exerceri
cult ura indigna etiam esse ipsa, quae inter pocula luxuriasque profluas cantica
:

proferebant, sed potius deo omnipotent!, qui coelum fecit ac terram, digimm
sit Bacrificium laudis impendere. orabam etiam saepius, ut simulacra dominus
diruto dignaretur populuni ab hoc errore discutere. Flexit clomini nnVcri-
cordia meiitcm rusticam, ut inclinaret aurem suam in verba oris mei, ut scilicet
relictis iilolis dominum sequeretur, (et) tune convocatis quibusdam ex cis
simulacrum hoc immensum, quod elidere propria virtute non poteram, cum
 IMAGES. Ill

The chief authority for images of gods among the Saxons is the
famous passage in Widekind of Corvei (1, 12), where he relates
their victory over the Thuringians on the E. Unstrut (circ. 530),
ut majorum memoria prodit Mane autem facto, ad orientalem
:

portam Schidungen) ponunt aquilam, aramque victoriae

(of castle
construentes, secundum errorem paternum, sacra sua propria vener-
atione venerati sunt, nomine Martem, effigie columnarum imitantes
fferculem, loco Solem quern Graeci appellant Apollinem. This
important witness will have to be called up again in more than one
connexion.
To the Corvei annals, at year 1145, where the Eresburg is
spoken of, the following is added by a 12th century hand (Pertz
5, 8 note) : Hec eadem Eresburg est corrupto vocabulo dicta, quam
et Julius CesarRomano imperio subegit, quando et Arispolis
nomen habuit ab eo qui Aris Greca designatione ac Mars ipse
dictus est Latino famine. Duobus siquidem idolis hec dedita fait,
id est Aris, qui urbis mcniis insertus, quasi dominator dominantium,
et Ermis, qui et Mercurius mercimoniis insistentibus colebatur in
forensibus. According to this, a statue of Mars seems to have stood
on the town-wall.
That the Frisian temples contained images of gods, there seems
to be sufficient evidence. It is true, the passage about Fosite (p.
84) mentions only fana dei ; we are told that Wilibrord laid violent
hands on the sacred fountain, not that he demolished any image.
eorum adjutorio possem eruere ; jam enim reliqua sigillorum (the smaller
figures) quae faciliora erant, ipse confregeram. Convenientibus autem multis
ad hanc Dianae statuam, missis funibus trahere coeperunt, sed nihil labor eorum
proficere poterat. Then came prayers egressusque post orationem ad operarios
;

veni, adprehensumque funem ut primo ictu trahere coepimus, protinus simula

crum ruit in terram, confractumque cum malleis ferreis in pulverem redegi. So
images went to the ground, whose contemplation we should think very in
structive now. This Diana was probably a mixture of Roman and Gallic
worship there are inscriptions of a Diana arduinna (Bouquet 2, 319). The
;

second passage stands in Mirac. 2, 5 Erat autem haud procul a cellula,

:

quam sepulchrum, martyris (Juliani Arvernensis) haec matrona construxerat

(in vico Brivatensi), grande delubrwn, ubi in columna altissima siinulachrum
Martis Mercuriique colebatur. Cumque delubri illius festa a gentilibus agerentur
ac mortui mortuis thura deferrent, medio e vulgo commoventur pueri duo in
scanclalum, nudatoque unus gladio alterum appetit trucidandum. The boy
runs to the saint s cell, and is saved. Quarta autem die, cum gentilitas vellet
iterum diis exhibere libamina, the Christian priests offer a fervent prayer to the
martyr, a violent thunderstorm arises, the heathens are terrified Recedente :

autem tempestate, gentiles baptizati, statuas quas coluerant confringentes, in

lacum vico amnique proximum projecerunt. Soon after this, the Burgundians
settled in the district. The statues broken down, crushed to powder, and flung
into the lake, every bit the same as in that story of Ratpert s.
112 GODS.

On the other hand, the Vita Bonifacii (Pertz 2, 339), in describing

the heathen reaction under King Bedbod (circ. 716), uses this

language : Jam pars ecclesiarum Christi, quae Francorum prius

subjecta erat imperio, vastata erat ac destructa, idolorum quoque
cultura exstructis delubrorum fanis lugubriter renovata. And if it
should be thought that idolorum here is equivalent to deorum, the
Vita Willehadi (Pertz 2, 380) says more definitely Insanum esse :

et vanuin a lapidibus auxilium petere et a simulacris mutis et surdis

subsidii sperare solatium. Quo audito, gens fera et idololatriis
nimium dedita stridebant dentibus in eum, dicentes, non debere
profanurn longius vivere, imo reum esse mortis, qui tarn sacrilegia
contra deos suos invictissimos proferre praesumsisset eloquia. The
event belongs to the middle of the 8th century, and the narrator
Anskar (| 865) comes a hundred years later : still we are not
warranted in looking upon his words as mere flourishes. And I
am not sure that we have
a right to take for empty phrases, what is
said in a Vita S. Goari (( 049), which was not written till 839 :

Coepit gentilibus per circuitum (i.e.

in Eipuaria), simulacrorum
cultui deditis et vana idolorum superstitionis deceptis, verbum
salutis annuntiare (Acta Bened. sec. 2, p. 282). Such biographies
are usually based on older memorials.
The Frisians
are in every sense the point of transition to the
Scandinavians considering the multifarious intercourse between
;

these two adjoining nations, nothing can be more natural than to

suppose that the Frisians also had in common with their neighbours
the habit of temple and image worship. Even Fosete s temple in
Heligoland I can hardly imagine destitute of images.
Some facility in carving figures out of wood or chiselling them
out of stone no more than we should have expected from those
is

signa and effigies in Tacitus, and the art might go on improving up

to a certain stage. Stone weapons and other implements that we
find in barrows testify to a not unskilful handling of difficult
materials. That not a single image of a Teutonic god has escaped
the destructive hand of time and the zeal of the Christians, need
surprise us less than the total disappearance of the heathen temples.
Why, even in the North, where the number of images was greater,
and their destruction occurred much later, there is not one preserved ;

allthe Lethrian, all the Upsalian idols are clean gone. The technical
term in the Xorse was dcurdgod" (Fomm. sog. 2, 73-5), from skera
 IMAGES. 113

(sculpere),skurd (sculptura) in the two passages referred to, it is

;

likneski af Freyr. Biorn gives sfctirgoft, idolum, sculptile, from

skur, subgrundium (penthouse), because it had to be placed under
cover, in sheds as it were with which the OHG. skurguta (Graff
;

6, 536) seems to agree. But there is no distinct proof of an ON.

skurgoft
T
Dietmar s account is silent about the gods images at Lethra ;

in Adam of Bremen s
description of those at Upsal (cap. 233), the
most remarkable thing is, that three statues are specified, as they
were in that temple of the Alamanns : Nunc de superstitione
Sveonum pauca dicemus. Nobilissimum gens templum habet, ilia

quod Ubsola dicitur, non longe positum a Sictona civitate (Sigtun)

vel Birka. In hoc templo, quod totum ex auro paratum est, statuas
trium deornm veneratur populus, ita ut potentissimus eorum Thor
in medio solium habeat triclinio. Hinc et inde locum possident
Wodan et Fricco. The further description we have nothing to do
with here, but there occurs in it also the term sculpere ; as the
whole temple was ex auro paratum, i.e. decorated with gold, he t

might doubtless have described the figures of the gods above all as
gilded, just as those in Alamannia were aereae et deauratae. Saxo
p. 13 a golden statue of Othin Cujus numen Septentrionis
tells of ;

reges propensiore cultu prosequi cupientes, effigiem ipsius aureo

complexi simulacro, statuam suae dignationis indicem maxima cum
religionis simulatione Byzantium transmiserunt, cujus etiam
brachiorum lineamenta confertissimo armillarum pondere per-
stringebant. The whole passage, with its continuation, is not only
unhistorical, but contrary to the genuine myths ; we can only see
in it the view of the gods taken by Saxo and his period, and
inasmuch as golden and bedizened images of gods were consonant
with such view, we may infer that there still lived in his time a
recollection of such figures (see Suppl.). Ermoldus Nigellus, in
describing Herold
(Harald s) interview with King Charles,
s .

mentions 4, 444 seq. (Pertz 2, 509-10) the gods images (sculpta) of

the heathen, and that he was said to have had ploughshares,
kettles and water-buckets forged of that metal. According to the
Nialssaga cap. 89, in a Norwegian temple (goSahus) there were to
be seen three figures again, those of Thor and the two half -goddesses

ThorgerSr and Irpa, of human size, and adorned with armlets ;

1
On recently discovered figures of Odin, v. infra. "Wodan
8
114 GODS.

probably Thor sat in the middle on his car. Altogether the

portraitures of Thor seem
have been those most in vogue, at least
to
in Norway. 1 One temple in which many skurdgoS were wor
shipped, but Thor most of all, is described in Fornm. sog. 2, 153 and
159, and his statue 1, 295. 302-6; in 2, 44 we read: Thorr sat i
miffju ok var mest tignaSr, hann var mikill ok allr gulli Itiinn ok
(ex auro et argento confectus)
silfri conf. Olafs helga saga, ed. ;

Holm. cap. 118-9, where a large standing figure of Thor is described ;

and Fornm. sog. 4, 245, ed. Christ, p. 26. Freyr giorr of silfri, Isl.

sog. 1, 134. Landn. 3, 2. One man carried a statuette of Thor

carved in whalebone (likneski Thors af tonn gert) in his pocket, so
as to worship him when living among Christians, Fornm.
secretly,
sog. 2, 57. Thor was carved on the ondvegis-pillars,
s figure,

Eyrbygg. p. 8. Landnamab. 2, 12 and on the prows of ships,

;

Fornm. sog. 2, 324. A

figure of ThorgerSr holgabruSr, with rings
of gold round the arm, to which people kneel, Fornm. sog. 2, 108. 2

Finn Magnusen, bidrag til nordisk archaeologie, pp. 113-159.

1

2
There is another thing to notice in this passage. The figure of Thorgerftr
bent its hand up, when some one tried to snatch a ring off its arm, and the
goddess was not disposed to let him have it. The same man then brought a
lot of money, laid it at the figure s feet, fell on his knees and shed tears, then
rose up and once more grasped at the ring, which now the figure let go. The
same is told in the Foereyingasaga, cap. 23, p. 103. I regard it as a genuine
trait of heathen antiquity, like others which afterwards passed into Christian
folk-tales of the Mid. Ages (see SuppL). Of more than one image of grace we
are told that it dropt a ring off its finger or a shoe off its foot as a gift to those
who prayed before it. A figure of Christ gave its shoes to a poor man
(Nicolai
abbatis peregrinutio, ed. Weiiauff p. 20), and a saint s image its gold slippers
(Mones anz. 7, 584. Archiv. des Henneb. vereins, pp. 70, 71). figure of A
Mary accepts a ring that is presented to it, and bends her finger as a sign that
she will keep it (Meon nouv. recueil 2, 296-7. Maerl. 2, 214). The two
Virgin-stories in Meon and Maerlant, though one at bottom, have very differ
ent turns given them. In the latter, a young man at a game of ball pulls the
ring off his finger, and puts it on the hand of a Madonna in the former, the ;

youth is boxing in the Colosseum at Rome, and puts his ring on the finger of a
heathen statue, which bends the finger. Both figures now hold the man to his
engagement. But the 0. French poem makes the afflicted youth bring an
image of Mary to bear on the heathen one, the Mary takes the ring ofi the
other figure, and restores it to the youth. Conf. Kaiserchr. 13142. 13265.
13323. Forduni Scoti chroiiicon 1, 407 (W. Scott s minstr. 2, 136), relates
this fable as an event of the llth century a nobleman playing at ball slips his
:

slip for wrdeutsch]. Even in a painting of Mary, the infant in her lap hands her
a casket to give to a suppliant, Cod. pal. 341 fol. 63). Similarly, statues turn
the face away, stretch out the arm to protect, they speak, laugh, weep, eat and walk ;
thus a figure of Christ turns itself away (Ls. 3, 78. 262), another begins to eat
and grow bigger (Kinderm. legenden no. 9), to weep, to beckon, to run away
 IMAGES. 115

Frey s statue of silver, silfri), Vatnsd. p. 44. 50

(Freyr markaftr af
carried about in a waggon Fornm.
in Sweden,
sog. 2, 73-7. The
Jomsvikingasaga tells of a temple on Gautland (I.
of Gothland), in
which were a hundred gods, Fornm. sog. 11, 40 truly a densitas ;

imaginum/ as Jonas has it (see p. 83). Saxo Gram. 327 mentions

a simulacrum quercu factum, carved in oak ? or an oaktree
worshipped as divine ? (see Suppl.).
Not only three, but occasionally two figures side by side are
mentioned, particularly those of Wuotan and Donar or of Mars and
Mereurius, as we see from the passages cited. Figures of Freyr
and Thor together, and of Frigg and Freyja, occur in Miiller s
sagabibl. 1, 92. Names of places also often indicate such joint
worship of two divinities, e.g. in Hesse the Donnerseiche (Thor s

oak) stood close by the Wodansberg and explorers would do well

;

to attend to the point.

But neither the alleged number of the statues, nor their descrip
tions in the sagas can pass for historical ; what they do prove is,
that statues there were. They appear mostly to have been hewn
out of wood, some perhaps were painted, clothed, and overlaid with
silver or gold but no doubt stone images were also to be met with,
;

and smaller ones of copper or ivory. 1

I have put off until now the mention of a peculiar term for

statue, with which some striking accounts of heathen idols connect

themselves.
OHG. glosseshave the word irman&Alt, pyramides, Mons. 360.
b
avar^n, irmansdtt, pyramides, Doc. 203 irmansij.l, colossus,
.

altissima columna, Florent. 987 a Bias.

, 86. eolossus est irminsdl,
Gl. Schletst. 18, 1. 28, 1. The
meaning seems to be statue,
literal
to judge by the synonym avard, which in Gl. Jun. 226 is used for

(Deutsche sagen, no. 347. Tettaus, preuss. sagen, pp. 21 1-5-8). In Reinbot s
Georg the idol Apollo is flogged with rods by a child, and forced to walk away
(3258-69), which, reminds one of the god Perun, whom, according to monk
Nestor, Vladimir the Apostolic caused to be scourged with rods. In an Indian
story I find a statue that eats the food set before it, Polier 2, 302-3. Antiquity
then did not regard these images altogether as lumps of dead matter, but as
penetrated by the life of the divinity. The Greeks too have stories of statues
that move, shake the lance, fall on their kness, close their eyes (Kara/iuo-eij),
bleed and sweat, which may have been suggested by the attitudes of ancient
images but of a statue making a movement of the hand, bending a finger, I
;

have nowhere read, significant as the position of the arms in images of gods
was held to be. That the gods themselves xelpa inrep^xova-iv over those whom
they wish to protect, occurs as early as in Homer.
1
Finn Magnusen ibid. 132-7.
116 GODS.

statua and imago. It was not yet extinct in the 12th century, as

appears from two places in the Kaiserchronik, near the beginning

of the poem, and very likely there are more of them it is said of ;

Mercury (Massmann 129) :

uf einir yrmensule Upon an yrmensul

stuont ein abgot ungehiure, Stood an idol huge,
den hiezen sie ir koufnian. Him they called their
merchant.
Again of Julius Caesar (Massm. 624) :

Eomere in ungetruweliche Eomans him untruly slew,

sluogen, On an yrm. they buried him.

{if einir yrmensul sie in begruoben.
And of Simon Magus 24 C (Massm. 4432) :

uf eine yrmensul er steic, On an yrmensul he climbed,

daz lantvolc im allesamt neic. The land-folk to him all bowed.
That worshipped him as a god. Nay, in
is, Wolfram s Titurel, last
chapter, where the great pillars of the (christian) temple of the
Grail are inneren seul
described, instead
of of the printed
text (Halm 6151), the Hanover MS. more correctly reads irmensul.
Further, in the Frankish annals ad aim. 772 it is repeatedly
stated, that Great in his conquest of the Saxons
Charles the
destroyed a chief seat of their heathen superstition, not far from
Heresburg in Westphalia, and that it was called Irminsul. Arm.
1

Petav. Domnus rex Karolus perrexit in Saxoniam et conquisivit

:

Erisburgo, et pervenit ad locum qui dicitur Ermensul, et succendit

ea loca (Pertz 1, 16). Ann. Lauresh. Fuit rex Carlus hostiliter :

in Saxonia, etdestruxit/anwm eorum quod vocatur Irminsul (Pertz

1, 30). The same in the Chron. Moissiac., except the spelling Hir-
minsul (Pertz 1, 295), and in Ann. Quedlinb., &c. (Pertz 5, 37).
Ann. Juvavenses Karolus idolum Saxonorum combussit, quod
:

dicebant Irminsul (Pertz 1, 88). Einhardi Fuld. annales Karolus :

Saxoniam bello a.ggressus, Eresburgum castrum cepit, et idolum Sax-

onum quod vocabatur Irminsul destruit (Pertz 1, 348). Ann. Ratis-
bon. : Carolus in Saxonia conquesivit Eresburc et Irminsul (Pertz 1,
92). Ann. Lauriss.: Karlus in Saxonia castrum Aeresburg expugnat,

fanum et lucum eorum famosum Irminsul subvertit (Pertz 1, 117).

1
Now
Stadtbergen, conf. the extract from Dietmar but strong reasons ;

incline us to push the pillar (seule) some 15 miles deeper into the Osning
forest Clostermeier Eggesterstein, pp. 26-7 Eresburg, Horohus in pago Hessi
;
:

Saxonico Saracho 735. 350. Conf. Massmann s Eggesterst. p. 34.

 GODS. 1 17

Ann. Lauriss. : Et inde pen-exit partibus Saxoniae prima vice,

Aeresburgum castrum cepit, ad Ermensul usque pervenit, et ipsum

fanum destruxit, et aurum et argentum quod ibi repperit abstulit.

Et fuit siccitas
magna, ut aqua deficeret in supradicto loco ubi
ita

Ermensid stabat, &c. (Pertz 1, 150). Einhardi Ann. Ferro et igni :

cuncta depopulatus, Aeresburgum castrum cepit, idolum quod Irmin-

sul a Saxonibus vocabatur evertit (Pertz 1, 151) repeated in Ann. ;

1
Tilian., and Chron. Eegin.,with spelling Ormensul (Pertz 1, 220, 557).
And Dietmar of Merseburg (Pertz 5, 744) further tells us, in connex
ion with later events: Sed exercitus capta urbe (Eresburch) ingressus,

juvenem praefatum usque in ecclesiam S. Petri, ubi prius ab antiquis

Irminsul colebatur, bello defatigatum depulit. Taking all these
passages together, Irminsul passes through the very same grada
tions of meaning we unfolded in ch. IV, and signifies now fanum,
now lucus, now idolum itself. It can scarcely be doubted, that vast
woodlands extended over that region what if Osning ? the name of:

the mountain-forest in which the pillar stood, betokened a holy-

wood ? The gold and silver hoard, which Charles was supposed to
have seized well be legendary embellishment. 3 Kuodolf
there, may
ofFuld goes more into detail about the Irminsul after his general ;

statement on the heathen Saxons, that frondosis arboribus fonti-

busque venerationem exhibebant (p. 101), he goes on: Truncum
quoque non parvae magnitudinis in altum erectum sub divo
ligni
colebant, patria eum lingua Irminsid appellantes, quod Latine
dicitur universalis columna, quasi sustinens omnia (Pertz 2,
676),

1
Poeta Saxo 1, 65 (Bouquet 5, 137) :

Gens eadem coluit simulacrum quod vocitabant

Irminstil, cujus factura simulque columna
Non operis parvi fuerat, pariterque decoris.
2 6s is the Sax. form for ans (p. 25), which denoted a god, and also a moun
tain ; in High G. the name would be Ansninc, Ensninc. But, beside this
mons Osnengi near Theotmelli, i.e. Detmold (Pertz 2, 447), there stood also a
silva Osning not far from Osnabriick (Moser urk. no
2), and a third in Ripuaria
on the Lower Rhine (Lacomblet no 310. 343. 354), which seems to have ex
tended towards the Ardennes as far as Aachen (Aix la Chap.), mentioned in
Vilkinasaga cap. 40 and according to Barsch on Schannat s Eiflia, illustr. 1,
;

110, and HattemerS, 602% the Ardennes itself was called Ominka, Oseninch.
By the Osnabriick charter above, the forest there appears even to have been
modelled on the Osning of Aachen (ad similitudinem foresti Aquisgranum per-
tinentis). That Osning is met with in several places, speaks for a more general
meaning [than that of a mere proper name] like as, ans, and fairguni, it is
;

the sacred mountain and forest. Ledebur takes the Teutoburgiensis saltus to
be Osning. Os?iabrtick,
3
^ Asnebruggi (bridge of the ases) seems nearly related.
Is this
Ermen-pillar hoard an allusion to the legend of Ermenrich s hoard?
(Saxo Gram. 156. Reinh. fuchs CLII.)
 118 GODS.

(see Suppl.). Here was a great wooden pillar erected, and wor
shipped under the open sky, its name signifies universal all-sustain
ing pillar. This interpretation appears faultless, when we take
with it other words in which the meaning is intensified by
composition with irmin. In the Hildebrands lied, irmingot is the
supreme god, the god of all, not a peculiar one, agreeing in sense
with thiodgod, the (whole) people s god, formed by another
streng
thening prefix, Hel. 33, 18. 52, 12. 99,
6. irminman, an elevated
expression for man, Hel. 38, 24. 107, 13. 152, 11. irminthiod,
the human race, Hel. 87, 13 and in Hildebr. 1 In the same way I
explain proper names compounded with irman, irmin (Gramm. 2,
448). And irmansul, irminsdl is the great, high, divinely honoured
statue that it was dedicated to any one god, is not to be found in
;

the term In like manner the AS. has eormencyn (genus

itself.

humanum), Beow. 309. Cod. Exon. 333, 3. eormengrund (terra),

Beow. 1711. (and singularly in an adj. form: ofer ealne yrmenne
grund, Cod. Exon. 243, 13). eormenstrfind (progenies). ON.
iormungrund (terra), iormungandr (anguis maximus), iormunreJcr
(taurus maximus). Erom all this may be gathered the high mythic
antiquity of these appellations, and their diffusion among all

branches of the Teutonic race Goths can they

;
for neither to the
have been strange, as their famous king s name Ermanaricus
(Airmanareiks, ON. Ib rmunrekr) shows and beyond a doubt the ;

Hvrmunduri are properly Ermunduri (Gramm. 2, 175), the H being

often prefixed to all such forms.
Now whatever be the probable meaning of the word irman,
may
iormun, eormen, to which I shall return in due time, one thing is
evident, that the Irman-pillar had some connexion, which continued
to be felt down Mercury or Hermes, to
to a late period (p.H6),with
whom Greek antiquity raised similar posts and pillars, which were
themselves called Hermae, a name which suggests our Teutonic one.
The Saxons may have known more about this the Eranks, in ;

Upper Germany, from the 8th to the 13th century, connected with
irmanstil, irminsul the general notion of a heathen image up on set

a pillar. Probably Euodolf associated with his truncus ligni the

1
TheSlav, ramo, Bohem. ramenso, is with transposition the Lat. armus,
OHG. aram, and means both arm and shoulder in the Sloven, compound
;

ramen-velik, valde magnus, it intensifies exactly like irman does this point to ;

an affinity between irman and arm ? Arminius too is worth considering conf. ;

Schailarik 1, 427.
 IMAGES. 119

thought of a choice and hallowed tree-stem (with, or without, a

god s image ?), rather than of a pillar hewn into shape by the hand
of man this fits in too with the worshipping sub divo, with the
;

word lucus used by some and with the simplicity

of the chroniclers,

of the earliest forest-worship. the As

image melts into the notion
of tree, so does the tree pass into that of image and our West-
;

phalian Irmen-pillar most naturally suggests the idea of that

Thor s-oak in Hesse ;
the evangelists converted both of them into
churches of St. Peter. I suspect an intimate connexion between
the Irman-pillars and the Roland-pillars erected in the later Mid.

Ages, especially in North Germany there were in Sweden Thor s-

;

pillars, and among the Anglo-Saxons ^Ethelstdn-pillars (Lappenberg

1, 376). There yet remains to be given an account of a sacred post
in Neustria, as contained in the Vita Walarici abbatis Leuconensis

(f622), said to have been composed in the 8th century Et juxta :

ripam ipsius fluminis magnus, diversis imaginibus figuratus,

slips erat

atque ibi in terrain magna virtute immissus, qui nimio cultu morem
gentilium a rusticis colebatur. Walaricus causes the log to be
thrown down et his quidem rusticis habitantibus in locis non
:

parvum tarn moerorem quam et stuporem omnibus praebuit. Sed

undique illis certatim concurrentibus cum armis et fustibus, indigne
hoc ferentes invicem, ut injuriam dei sui vindicarent (Acta Bened.
sec. 2, pp. 84-5). The place was called Augusta (bourg d Angst,
near the town of Eu), and a church was built on the spot.

I think I have now shown, that in ancient Germany there were

gods and statues. It will further be needful to consider, how

antiquity went to work in identifying foreign names of gods with
German, and conversely German with foreign.
The Eomans in their descriptions cared a great deal more to
make themselves partially understood by a free translation, than,

by preserving barbarous vocables, to do a service to posterity. At

the same time they did not go arbitrarily to work, but evidently
with care.

s Sol, Luna and Vulcan are perhaps what satisfies us

Caesar
least but Tacitus seems never to use the names of Eoman deities,
;

except advisedly and with reflection. Of the gods, he names only

Mercury and Mars (Germ. 9. Ann. 13, 57. Hist, 4, 64) of deified ;

heroes, Hercules, Castor and Pollux (Germ. 9, 43) of goddesses, ;

 120 GODS.

his (Germ. 9), the terra mater by her German name

(Germ. 40),
and the mater deum (Germ. 45). Incompatible deities, such as
Apollo or Bacchus, are never compared. What strikes us most, is
the absence of Jupiter, and the distinction
given to Mercury, who
was but a deity of the second rank with the Eomans, a mere
god
of merchants, but here stands out the foremost of all: Deorum
maxime Mercurium colunt to him alone do human sacrifices fall,
:

while Mars and Hercules content themselves with beasts. This

prominence of Mercury is probably to be explained by the fact,
that this god was worshipped by the Gauls likewise as their chief
divinity, and was the most frequently portrayed (deum maxime
Mercurium colunt, hujus sunt plurima simulacra, Caes. B. Gall. 6,
x
17) and that the looks of the Eomans, when directed towards
;

Germany, still saw Gaul in the foreground besides, it may have ;

been Gallic informants that set the German them in

divinity before
this light. Observe too the Gaulish juxtaposition of Mars and
Mercurius in statues (p.l 11), precisely as Tacitus names the German
ones together (Ann. 13, 57). The omission of
Jupiter is obviously
accounted for, by his worship yielding the precedence to that of
Mercury in those nations which Tacitus knew best we shall see, as :

we go on, that the northern and remoter branches on the contrary

reserved their highest veneration for the thunder-god. On his and
Hercules I shall express my views further on. we are to Whom
understand by the Dioscuri, is hard to guess ; most
likely two sons
of Woden, and if we the statements of the
go by Edda, the brothers
Baldr and Hermoftr would be the most
fitting.
This adaptation of classical names to German
gods became
universally spread, and is preserved with strict unanimity by the
Latin writers of the succeeding centuries ; once set in
circulation,
itremained current and intelligible for long ages.
The Gothic historian names but one god after the Roman fashion,
and that is Mars Quein Gothi semper asperrima
placavere cultura
:

(Jornandes cap. 5), with which the Scythian Ares, so early as in

Herodotus 4, 62-3, may be compared.
Paulus Diaconus winds up his account of Wodan with the
express announcement (1, 9): Wodan sane, quern adjecta litera
Gwodan dixerunt, ipse est qui apud Eomanos Mercurius dicitur, et
1
Schopflin, Als. ill. 1, 435-60 ; esp. on a fanum of Mercury at Ebermiinster
1 58. Conf. Hummel, bibl. deutsch. alterth.
p. 229. Creuzer, altrom. cultur am.
,

Oberrhein, pp. 48, 98.

 GODS. 121

ab universis Germaniae gentibus ut deus adoratur. Just so his

oldercountryman Jonas of Bobbio, in that account of the sacrificing
Alamanns, declares : Illi aiunt, deo suo Vodano, quern Mercurium
vocant alii, se velle litare ; upon which, a gloss inserted by another
hand says less correctly :
Qui apud eos Yuotant vocatur, Latini
autem Martem ilium appellant ; though otherwise Woden greatly
resembles Mars (v. infra).
Gregory of Tours (supra, p.107) makes Saturn and Jupiter, and
again Mars MercuriusquQ the gods whom the heathen Chlodovich
adored. In 1, 34 he expresses himself in more general terms: Pri-

vatus, Gabalitanae urbis episcopus. . . . daemoniis immolare com-

pellitur a Chroco Alamannorum rege (in the third cent.). Wide-
kind of Corvei names Mars and Hercules as gods of the Saxons (see
p.Ill); and that little addition to the Corvei Annals (see p.lll)
couples together the Greek and Latin denominations Aris and Mars,
Ermis and Mercurius.
The Indiculus paganiarum reckons up, under 8: De sacris
Mercurii vel Jovis1 ;
under 20 De
quae faciunt Jovi vel
: feriis

Mercurio. So that the thunder-god, of whom Tacitus is silent, is

in other quarters unforgotten ; and now we can understand Wili-
bald s narrative of the robur Jovis (see p. 72), and in Bonifac.
epist.25 (A.D. 723) the presbyter Jovi mactans (see Suppl.).
In the Additamenta operum Matthaei Paris, ed. W. Watts,
Paris 1644, pp. 25-6, there is an old account of some books which
are said to have been discovered in laying the foundation of a church
at Verlamacestre (St Albans) in the tenth century, and to have been
burnt. One of them contained invocationes et ritus idololatrarurn
civium Varlamacestrensium, in quibus comperit, quod specialiter
Phoebum deum solis invocarunt et coluerunt, secundario vero Mer
curium, Voden anglice appellatum, deum videlicet mercatorum,
quia cives et compatriotae fere omnes negotiatores
. . .

et institores fuerunt.
Evidently the narrator has added somewhat
out of his own erudition; the invocations and rites themselves
would have given us far more welcome information.
Passages which appear to speak of a German goddess by the
name of Diana, will be given later. Neptune is mentioned a few
times (supra, p. 110).

1
Had these been Roman gods, Jupiter would certainly have been named
first, and Mercury after.
122 GODS.

Saxo Grammaticus, though he writes in Latin, avoids applying

the Eoman names of gods, he uses Othinus or Othin, never
Mercurius instead yet once, instead of his usual Thor (pp. 41,
;

103), he has Jupiter, p. 236, and malleus Jovialis Mars on p. 36 ;

seems to stand for Othin, not for Tyr, who is never alluded to in
Saxo. Ermoldus Nigellus,
citing the idols of the Normanni, says 4, 9
(Pertz 501), that
2, for God (the Father) they worshipped Neptune,
and for Christ Jupiter ; I suppose Neptune must here mean OSin,
and Jupiter Thor the same names recur 4, 69. 100. 453-5.
;

Melis-Stoke, as late as the beginning of the 14th century, still

remembers that the heathen Frisians worshipped Mercury (1, 16.
17) ;
I cannot indicate the Latin authority from which no doubt he
1
drew this.

If the supposition be allowed, and it seems both a justifiable

and almost a necessary one, that, from the first century and during
the six or eight succeeding ones, there went on an uninterrupted
transfer of the above-mentioned and a few similar Latin names of

gods to domestic deities of Gaul and Germany, and was familiar

to all the educated we obtain by this alone the solution of a
;

remarkable phenomenon that has never yet been satisfactorily

explained the early diffusion over half Europe of the heathen
:

nomenclature of the days of the week.

These names are a piece of evidence favourable to German
heathenism, and not to be disregarded.
The matter seems to me to stand thus. 2 From Egypt, through
the Alexandrians, the of seven days (e/SSo/^a?), which in
week
Western Asia was very ancient, came into vogue among the Eomans,
but the planetary nomenclature of the days of the week apparently
not till later. Under Julius Caesar occurs the earliest mention
of dies Saturni in connection with the Jewish sabbath, Tibull. 1,
r

3, 18. Then ^epa in Justin Mart, apolog. 1, 67. Ep/*ov

fjKiov
and A^poSLT?)? rjfjiepa in Clem. Alex, strom. 7, 12. The institution
fully carried out, not long before Dio Cassius 37,. 18, about the close

1
Our MHG. poets impart no such information they only trouble their
;

heads about Saracen gods, among whom it is true Jupiter and Apollo make
their appearance too. In Rol. 97, 7 are named Mars, Jovinus, Saturnus.
2
I can here use only the beginning, not the conclusion, which would be
more useful for my investigation, of a learned paper by Julius Hare on the
names of the days of the week (Philolog. Mus., Nov. 1831). Conf. Idelers
handb. der chronol. 2, 177-180, and Letronne, observations sur les repre senta-
tions zodiacales, p. 99.
 GODS OF THE WEEK. 123

of the 2nd century.

1
The Eomans had previously had a week of
nine days, nundmae=novendinae. Christianity had adopted from
the Jews the hebdomas, and now it could not easily guard the
church against the idolatrous names of days either (see SuppL).
But these names, together with the institution of the week, had
passed on from Eome to Gaul and Germany, sooner than the
Christian religion did. In all the Eomance countries the planetary
names have lasted to this day (mostly in a very abridged form),

except for the first day and the seventh instead of dies solis they
:

chose dies dominica (Lord s day), It. domenica, Sp. domingo, Fr.
dimanche and for dies Saturni they kept the Jewish sabbatum, It.
;

sabbato, Sp. sabado, Fr. samedi (=sabdedi, sabbati dies). But the
heathen names of even these two days continued in popular use
long afterEcce enim dies solis adest, sic enim barbaries vocitare
:

diem dominicum consueta est, Greg. Tur. 3, 15.

Unhappily a knowledge of the Gothic names of days is denied
us. The sabbatd dags, salbato dags, which alone occurs in Ulphilas,
proves nothing, as we have just seen, against a planetary designation
of the remaining six or five
days. sunnons dags, a meninsA
dags may be guessed the other four, for us the most important, I
;

do not venture to suggest. Their preservation would have been of

the very highest value to our
inquiry.
OLD HIGH GERM. I. sunndn dag, 0. v. 5, 22. Gl. bias. 76 a I

Lacombl. arch. 1, 6. II. mdnin tac for (without

authority,
manitag, manotag in Graff 2,795. 5, 358 have no reference
; manetag

in Notker, ps. 47, 1). III. dies Martis, prob. Ziuwes tac
among
Alamanns; in the llth cent. Cies dac, Gl. bias. 76 a ;2 prob. different
among Bavarians and Lombards. IV. dies Mercurii, perhaps still
Wuotanes tac our abstract term, diu mittawecha
?
already in ps. N".

93, and mittwocha, Gl. bias. 76

b
V. dies Jovis, Donares tac, Toniris
.

tac, N. ps. 80, 1. domestic, Gl. bias. 76

a
Burcard von Worms 195 b
. :

quintam feriam in honorem Jovis honorati. VI. dies Veneris, Fria

dag, 0. v. 4, 6.
Frije tag, T. 211, 1. VII. at last, like the Eomance
and Gothic, avoiding the heathenish dies Saturni, T. 68,
sambaziag,
1. K 91, I.
3
samiztag, K 88, 40. sunntin aland, our sonnabend,

An old hexameter at the end of the editions of Ausonius

1
Ungues
:

Mercurio, barbam Jove, Cypride crines (nails on Wednesday, beard on Thursday

hair on Friday).
2
Cies for Zies, as the same a
glossist 86 writes gicimbere and cinnurn.
3
Sambazolus n. prop, in Karajan.
124 GODS.

already in 0. v. 4, 9, prob. abbreviation of sunnundages aband, feria

ante dominicam, for vespera solis cannot have been meant
[conf.
Engl. Whitsun-eve] and occasionally, corresponding to the Kom-
;

ance dies dominica, frontag, N. ps. 23.

MID. HIGH GERM. Would any one believe, that the names of
the days of the week are not easily to be
picked out of the abun
dant remains of our MHG. literature ? It is
true, sunnen tac
(suntac in Berth. 118) and maniac (Parz. 452, 16. mcentac 498, 22.
Amis 1648) 1 admit of no doubt. Neither do Donrestac
(Donerstag,
Uolrich 73 a Dunrestac, Berth. 128), spelt Duristag in a Semi-
.

Low Germ. urk. of 1300 in Hofer p. 57), and

Dornstag in one of
1495, Useners femgerichten p. 131 nor Fritac (Parz. 448, 7. 470,
;

1. Walth. 36, 31. Berth. 134), Vriegtag, Uolrich 73 a nor

yet ;

samztac (Parz. 439, Berth. 138), sunnen abent

2.
(Trist. 3880).
But uncertainty hangs about the third and fourth The
days.
former, by a remarkable variation, was in Bavaria named Eritac,
Erdac form not quite certain, eritag in
(the true Adelung s vat.
hss. 2, 189. ergetag in Berth. 122 see examples collected from
;

urkunden, Schm. 1, 96-7), in Swabia on the Ziestac, for

contrary
Ziewestac. Both of these forms, which have nothing to do with
each other, live to this day in the speech of the common
people :

Bav. ierte, Austr. iarla, irita, Vicentino-Germ. eortd, ortd, Alem.

ziestag, zinstag, ziestig, zistiff, zienstig, zeinstig, zinstag. The insertion of
the liquid has corrupted the word, and brought in quite irrelevant
notions. In central Germany the form diestag, tiestag seems to
predominate (diestik in the Pthon), whence our dienstag (less cor
rectly dinstag, there is good reason for the ie) ; the spelling ding-
stag, as if from ding, thing, juclicium, is false dinstag occurs in
;

Gaupps magdeb. recht p. 272. The fourth day I have never seen
named after the god, either in MHG. or in our modern
dialects,
unless indeed the gwontig cited in the note can be
justified as
standing for Gwuotenstag, Wuotenstag; everywhere that abstrac
tion midweek has carried all before it, but it has itself become

1
Zuemtig for Monday, Staid. 2, 470 ought perhaps to be zue mentig, ze
b has
mantage ;yet 1, 490 he has guenti, giienti, Tobler 248 gwontig,
b
guentig, and Zellwegers urk. l ,
19 guonti, for which Urk. no. 146
has an gutem tag, which seems to be supported by Haltaus
jahrzeitb. Or is only this particular Monday after Lent called sol In
the Cod. pal. 372, 103 (ann. 1382) we have giiotem tag. The resemblance
of this good day to the Westphalian
Gudensdag (Woden s day) is purely
accidental.
 GODS OF THE WEEK. 125

almost unintelligible by being changed into a masculine mitlwoch,

mittich, Berth. 24, maktig, Staid. 2, 194, conf. the Gothl. majkadag,
a
Almqv. 442 ), an der mitkun* fern., is found in the Cod. zaringobad.
no. 140 (A.D. 1261). So even for the fifth day, the numeric name
a
phinztac (Berth. 128. Ottoc. 144 Gratzer urk. of 1338.
. Schwa-
benspiegel, p. 196. Schm. 1, 322), or phingstag, has made its

way into some districts of Upper Germany through Greco-Slavic

influences, Tre^Trr??, petek, piatek, patek, though by these the Slavs
mean Friday (see Suppl.).
NEW HIGH GERM. I. sonntag. II. montag. III. Dienstag.
IV. mittwoch. V. Donnerstag. VI. Freitag. VII. samstag,
sonnabend.
OLD SAXON. The OS. names
are wanting, but must have
differed in some from the OIIG., as the derived
essential points
dialects prove. We may pretty safely assume Wddanes dag for
the fourth day of the week, for in Westphalia it is still called

Godenstag, Gonstag, Gaunstag, Gunstag, at Aix Gguesdag, in Lower

Rhen. urkunden Gudestag, Giinther, 3, 585. 611 (A.D. 1380-7),
Gudenstag, Kindlinger horigk. p. 577-8 (A.D. 1448). The third day
was probably Tiwesdag, the fifth Thunaresdag, the sixth Friundag.
The most unlike would doubtless be the seventh, was it formed
after dies Saturni, Sdteresdag ? conf. the Westph. Saterstag, Saiter-
staig, Giinter 3, 502 (A.D. 1365). In Sachsensp. 2, 66 one MS. reads
for sunavend Satersdach (see Suppl.).
MID. DUTCH. I. sondach, Maerl. 2, 159. II. manendach, Huyd.
op St. 3, 389. maendadi, Maerl. 2, 139. III. Disendach, Maerl.

2, 140. al. Dicendach, Dissendach, Cannaert strafrecht,

pp. 124, 481
apparently corrupted from Tisdach. IV. Wocnsdach, Maerl. 2, 143.
V. Donresdach, Maerl. 2, 144. VI. Vridach, Maerl. 2, 159. gen.
Vrindagh&t, Maerl. 2, 143. 157. VII. Saterdach, Maerl. 2, 114.
120-3. 157-9. 276. 3, 197. 343. also sonnacht, Maerl. 2, 164. 3, 240.

(see Suppl.).
NEW DUTCH. I. zondag. II. mdndag. III. dingsdag, for

merly dinsdag, Dissendag. IV.

Woensdag, Belg. Goensdag. V.
Donderdag. VI. Vridag. VII. Zaterdag.
OLD FRISIAN. I. sonnadei. II. monadci. III. Tysdei. IV.
Wernsdei. V. Tkunresdei, Tornsdei. VI. Frigendei, Fredei. VII.
Saterdei (references for all these forms in Richthofen).

NEW FRISIAN. I. sneyn, abbrev. from sinnedey, sendei, senned

126 GODS.

(conf.Frud) the final n in sneyn, no doubt, as in OFris. Frigendei,

;

a the old gen. sing, in the weak decl.

relic of II. moandey. III.
Tyesdcy. IV. Wdnsdey. V. Tongersdey. VI. Fred, abbrev. from
Fredey. VII. sniuwn, snioun, abbrev. from sinnejuwn Sun(day)- =
even. Conf. tegenwoordige staat van Friesland 1, 121. Was-
senbergh s bidraghen 2, 56. Halbertsma naoogst p. 281-2 (see
Suppl.).
NORTH FEISIAN. I. sennendei. II. monnendei. III. Tirsdei.
IV. Winsdei. V. Tursdei. VI. Fridei. VII. sennin (in = even).
ANGLO-SAXON. I. sonnan
dseg. II. monan
daeg. III. 2Y?0es

dseg. IV. Wodenes or Forces daeg. V. Thunores dceg. VI.

-Fr^e daag. VII. Scetres or Sceternes daeg.
OLD NORSE. sunnudagr.
1
II mdnadagr. III. Tyrsdagr,
I.

Tysdagr. IV. O&insdagr. V. Thorsdagr. VI. Friadagr, Frey-

judagr. VII. laugardagr.
SWEDISH. I. sondag. II. mandag. III. Tisdag, whence
even Finn, tystai. IV. Onsdag. V. VI.
Tliorsdag. Fredag
VII. lordag.
DANISH. I sondag. II. mandag. III. Tirsdag. IV. Ows-
c%. V. Torsdag. VI. Fredag. VII. loverdag (see Suppl.).

We see, it is only in the seventh day that the Scandinavian

names depart from the Saxon, Frisian and Dutch laugardagr :

means bath-day because people bathed at the end of the week.

Yet even here there may be some connexion a Latin poem of the ;

9th century on the battle of Fontenay

(Bouquet 7, 304) has the
singular verse Sabbatum non illud fuit, sed Saturni dolium ; a
:

devil s bath ? conf. ch. XII, Saturn.

[The Germ, for carnage is
blutbad, blood-bath.]
Even if the Germans from the earliest times
knew the week of
seven days from the four phases of the lunar 2
change, yet the

1
This ON. sunnudagr is noticeable, as in other cases sol is used rather than
sunna sunnudagr seems to have been formed by the Christian teachers in imita
;

tion of the other Teutonic languages. The Swed. and Dan. sondag (instead of
Boldag) must have been taken bodily from a Plattdeutsch form.
2
To the Lat. word vix, gen. vicis (change, turn) corresponds, without the
usual consonant-change, the Gothic vikti, OHG. wecha and wehsal, both refer
able to the verb veika, vaik, OHG. wiclm
(I give way), because change is a
giving way [in German, der wechsel ist ein weichen ]. Ulph. has viko only
once, Lu. 1, 8, where ey 777 ragci TTJS f^^epias is translated in vikon kunjis it
*
;

is
evidently something more than rd^ts here, it expresses at the same time a part
of the gen. e^/ufptay, therefore lit. in vice generis , which the Vulg. renders
 GODS OF THE WEEK. 127

naming of the days and the order in which they stand is manifestly
an importation from abroad. On the contrary supposition, there
would have been variation in details and Saturn, for whom no
;

Teutonic god seems prepared to stand sponsor, would have been left
out in the cold.
But it would be no less absurd to attribute the introduction of
the week and the names of the days to the Christians. As they
came into vogue among the heathen Romans, they could just
as well among heathen Gauls and Germans nay, considering
;

the lively intercourse between the three nations, a rapid

diffusion is altogether natural. 1 Christianity had the Jewish week,
and it tolerated names which were a frequent offence to it, but were
already too deeply rooted, and could only be partially dislodged.
Those words of Gregory reveal the utter aversion of the clergy,
which comes .out still more plainly in the language (publ. in Syn
tagma de baptismo, p. 190) of an Icelandic bishop in 1107, who
actually didaway with them in Iceland, and replaced them by
mere numeric names. How should the Christian teachers ever have
suffered hateful names of idols to be handed over to their recent
converts for daily use, unless they had already been long established

among the people ? And in Germany, how should the Latin gods
have been allowed to get translated into German ones, as if on pur
pose to put them within easy reach of the people, had they not
already been familiar with them for centuries ?
Again, the high antiquity of these translations is fully establish
ed by their exact accordance with the terminology used in the first
centuries, as soon as people came to turn German gods into Roman.
In my opinion, the introduction of the seven days names

by in ordine vicis . Now whether viko expressed to the Goths the alterna
tion of the moon s quarters, we do not know for certain ; I incline to believe
it, as the OHG. weha, woclia, AS. wice, wuce, ON. vika, Swed. vecka, Dan.

uge, are all limited to the one meaning of septimana. The very absence of con
sonant-change points to a high antiquity in the word. It is remarkable that
the Javanese vuku means a section of
time, the year falling into 30 vukus
(Humb. Kawispr. 1, 196). The Finn, wijkko is more likely to have been
borrowed from the Norse than from so far back as the Gothic. I remark
further, that an observance by the Germani of sections of time must be inferred
from the mere fact that certi dies were fixed for the sacrifices to
Mercury, Tac.
Germ. 9.
1
Jos. Fuchs, gesch. yon Mainz 2, 27
seq. (Kupfert 4, no 7) describes a
Roman round altar, prob. of the 3rd or 4th century, on which are carved the
seven gods of the week (1
Saturn, 2 Apollo, 3 Diana, 4 Mars, 5 Mercury, 6
Jupiter, 7 Venus), and in an 8th place a genius.
128 GODS.

amongst us must be placed at latest in the fourth or fifth century ;

it
may not have taken place simultaneously in all parts of Teuton-
dom.
Our forefathers, caught in a natural delusion, began
early to
ascribe the origin of the seven days names to the native
gods of
their fatherland. William of Malmesbury, relating the arrival of
the Saxons in Britain, says of Hengist and Horsa, that
they were
sprung from the noblest ancestry: Erant enim abnepotes illius
antiquissimi Voden, de quo omnium pene barbararum gentium
regium genus lineam trahit, quemque gentes Anglorum deum esse
quartum diem septimanae, et sextum uxori ejus Freae
delirantes, ei
perpetuo ad hoc tempus consecraverunt sacrilegio (Savile 1601. p.
9). More circumstantially, Geoffrey of Monmouth (lib. 6. ed. 1587,
p. 43) makes Hengist say to Yortigern Ingressi sumus maria,
:

regnum tuum duce Mercurio petivimus. Ad nomen itaque Mer-

curii erecto vultu rex inquirit cujusmodi
religionem haberent? cui
Hengistus : deos Saturnum, atque ceteros, qui munclum
patrios
gubernant, colimus, maxime Mer curium (as in Tac. 9.), quern Woden
lingua nostra appellamus. Huic veteres nostri dicaverunt quartam
septimanae feriam, quae usque in hodiernum diem nomen Wodenes-
dai de nomine ipsius sortita est. Post ilium colimus dcam inter
ceteras potentissimam, cui et dicaverunt sextam
feriam, quam de
nomine ejus Fredai vocamus.
As Matthew of Westminster (Flores,
ed. 1601, p. 82) varies in some details, his words
may also be
inserted here Cumque tandem in praesentia regis (Vortigerni)
:

essent constituti, quaesivit ab eis, quam fidem,

quam religionem
patres eorum coluissent ? cui Hengistus dcos patrios, scilicet
:

Saturnum, Jovem atque ceteros, qui mundum gubernant, colimus,

maxime autcm Mercurium, quern lingua nostra Voden appellamus.
Huic patres nostri veteres dedicaverunt quartam feriam septimanae,
quae in hunc hodiernum diem Vodenesday appellatur. Post ilium
colimus deam inter ceteras potentissimam, vocabulo Frcam, cujus
vocabulo Friday appellamus. Frea ut volunt quidam idem est
quod Venus, et dicitur Frea, quasi Froa a frodos [A-frod-ite from =
froth ?] quod est spuma maris, de qua nata est Venus secimdiini

fabulas, unde idem dies appellatur dies Veneris. Anglo-Saxon

legend then, unconcerned at the jumbling of foreign and homespun
fable, has no doubt at all about the high antiquity of the names

among its people.

 GODS. 129

Saxo Grammaticus, more critical, expresses his opinion (p. 103)

of the Norse nomenclature, that it is derived from the native gods,
but that these are not the same as the Latin. This he proves by
Othin and Thor, after whom the fourth and fifth days of the week
are named, as in Latin after Mercury and Jupiter. For Thor,
being Othin s cannot possibly be identified with Jupiter, who
son,
isMercury s father; consequently, neither can the Norse Othin,
Thor s father, with the Eoman Mercury, who is Jupiter s son. The
discrepancy certainly strong, but all that it can prove is, that at
is

the time when Othin and Mercury began to be placed on the same

pedestal, Mercury was thought of as a Celtic divinity, probably

with attributes differing widely from his classical namesake. Saxo
is quite right in what he means, and his remark confirms the
early
heathen origin of these names of days l yet upon occasion, as we
;

saw on p. 122, he lets himself be carried away after all by the over
powering identity of Thor and Jupiter (see SuppL).
The variations too in the names of the seven days among the
various Teutonic races deserve all attention we perceive that they
;

were not adopted altogether cut-and-dry, nor so retained, but that

national ideas still exercised some control over them. The later
heathenism of Friesland and Saxony caused the- old names of
Wednesday and Saturday to live on, while in Upper Germany they
soon sank into oblivion. But what is especially significant to us,
is the deviation of the Alamanns and Bavarians when we come to
the third day how could it have arisen at a later (Christian) time,
;

when the idea of the heathen god that does duty for Mars had
already become indistinct ? how came the Christian clergy, supposing
that from them the naming had proceeded, ever to sanction such a
?
divergence

The nations that

lie behind us, the Slavs, the Lithuanians, do

not know
the planetary names of days, they simply count like the
2
Greeks, not because they were converted later, but because they
became acquainted with Latin culture later. The Finns and Lapps

1
Conf. Pet. Er. Muller om Saxo, p. 79.
2
The Indian nations also name their days of the week after planets ; and
it seems worth remarking here, that Wednesday is in Sanskrit Budhuvaras,
Tamil Budhunkiiramei, because some have identified Buddha with Woden. In
reality Budhas, the ruler of Mercury and son of the moon, is quite distinct from
the prophet Buddhas (Schlegel s ind. bibl. 2. 177).
9
130 GODS.

do not count, while the Esthonians again mostly do (see SuppL).

Even the christianizing influence of Byzantium decided nothing
on
this point; Byzantium had no influence over Lithuanians and Finns,
and had over a part only of the Slavs.
it These in their counting
begin with Monday, as the first day after rest, consequently Tues
1
day is their second, and Thursday their fourth, altogether deviating
from the Latin and Icelandic reckoning, which makes Monday second
and Thursday fifth. Hence the Slavic piatek (fifth) means Friday,
and that Up. Germ, pfinztag (fifth) Thursday. Wednesday they
call middle, sreda, sereda, srida (whence Lith. serrada), which may

have acted upon our High German nomenclature the Finns too ;

have keskivrijcko (half -week, from keski medium). It would be well

worth finding out, when and for what reason the High German and
the Slav first introduced the abstract names mittewoche and sreda

(Boh. stfeda), while the Low German and the Eomance have kept
to Woden and Mercury. Alone Wends in Liineburg
of Slavs, the
show a trace of naming after a god; dies Jovis was with them
Perendan, from Peren, Perun, thunder-god: apparently a mere
imitation of the German, as in all the other days they agree with
the rest of the Slavs. 2
The nett result of these considerations is, that, in Latin records

dealing with Germany and her gods, we are warranted in interpret

ing, with the greatest probability, Mercurius as Wuotan, Jupiter
as

Donar, and Mars as Ziu. The gods of the days of the week
translated into German are an experiment on Tacitus s interpretatio
Komana .

1
E.g. in Russian : 1, voskresenie, resurrection (but O.S1. ne-delia, no
ticing). 2, po-nedel nik, day after-no-work. 3, vtornik, second day. 4,
sereda, middle. 5, chetverg, fourth day. 6, piatnitsa, fifth, day. 7, subbota,
sabbath. TRANS.
2
Bohem. glossaries (Hanka 54. 165) Mercury,
It is striking, that in 0.
Venus and Saturn are quoted in the order of their days of the week and that ;

any Slav deities that have been identified with Latin ones are almost sure to
be of the number of those that preside over the week. And whilst of the Slav
gods, Svatovit answers to Mars (Ziu), Radigast to Mercury (Wuotan), Perun to
b
Jupiter (Donar), Lada (golden dame, zolotababa, in Hanusch 241, 35 ) to Venus
(Fria), and perhaps Sitivrat to Saturn the names of the planets are construed
;

quite otherwise, Mars by Smrto-nos (letifer), Mercury by Dobro-pan (good lord,

or rather bonorum dator), Jupiter by Krale-moc (rex potens), Venus by Ctitel
(cupitor ] venerandus ?), Saturn by Hlado-let (famelicus, or annonae caritatem
afterens). Respecting Sitivrat I give details at the end of ch. XII.
 CHAPTEE VII.

WUOTAN, WODAN (ODINN).

THE highest, the supreme divinity, universally honoured, as we

have a right to assume, among all Teutonic races, would in the
Gothic dialect have been called Vddans he was called in OHG. ;

Wuotan, a word which also appears, though rarely, as the name of a

man Wuotan, Trad. Fuld. 1, 149. 2, 101-5-8. 128. 158. 161. Woatan
:

2, 146, 152. The Longobards spelt it Wddan or Guddan, the Old

Saxons Wuodan, Wodan, but in Westphalia again with the g prefixed,
Guddan, Gudan, the Anglo-Saxons Woden, the Frisians Weda from
the propensity of their dialect to drop a final n, and to modify 6
even when not followed by an i.
1
The Norse form is O&inn, in
Saxo Othinus, in the Faroe Ouvin, gen. Ouvans,
isles Ouvan. ace.

Up in the Grisons country and from this we may infer the extent
to which the name was diffused in Upper Germany the Romance
dialect has caught the term Vut from Alamanns or Burgundians of
a very early time, and retained it to this day in the sense of idol,
2
false god, 1 Cor. 8, 4. (see Suppl.).
It can scarcely be doubted that the word is immediately derived
from the verb OHG. watan wuot, ON", va&a, 6&, signifying meare,
transmeare, cum impetu ferri, but not identical with Lat. vadere, as
the latter has the a long, and is more likely connected with OS.
gavitan, AS. gewitan. From watan comes the subst. wuot (our
wuth, fury), as /ue i/o? and animus properly mean mens, ingenium,
and then also impetuosity, wildness the ON.- 58r has kept to the
;

1
A Frisian god Warns has simply been invented from the gen. in the
compound Warnsclei, Wernsdei (Richth. p. 1142), where Werns plainly
stands for Wedens, Wodens, an r being put for d to avoid collision with
;

the succeeding sd ; it will be hard to find anywhere a nom. Wern. And the
present West Frisians say Wansdey, the North Frisians Winsdei, without
such r.
2
Conradis worterb. 263. CHristmann, pp. 3032.
132 WODAN.

1
one meaning of mens or sensus. According to this, Wuotan,
Offinn would be the all-powerful, all-penetrating being, qui omnia

permeat as Lucan says of Jupiter Est quodcunque vides, quo-

;
:

cunque moveris, the spirit-god

2
;
conf. Virg. Georg. 4, 221 : Deum
ire per omnes terras, and Eel. 3, 60 : Jo vis omnia plena. In the

popular language of Bavaria, wuetdn is to bestir oneself, to swarm,

grow luxuriantly, thrive, Schm. 4, 203 (see Suppl.).
How meaning may have got obscured or
early this original
extinguished, it is impossible to say. Together with the meaning
of wise and mighty god, that of the wild, restless, vehement, must
also have prevailed, even in the heathen time. The Christians were
the better pleased, that they could bring the bad sense into promin
ence out of the name itself. In the oldest glosses, wotan is put for
b
tyrannus, hems malus, Diut. 1, 276 270 so wucterich,
gl. Ker. .
;

wuterich (Gramm. 2, 516) is used later on, and down to the present
as in Mar. 217.
day, conf. ein ungestiiemer wiieterich, Ben. 431 ;

Herod s messengers of murder are wiieteriche, O.i. 19, 18 names the

king himself yotewuoto. The form ivuotunc seems not to differ in

sense ;
an unprinted poem of the 13th century says Wlietunges
her apparently for the wiitende heer, 3 the host led as it were by
Wuotan ;
and Wuotunc is likewise a man s name in OIIG., Wodunc,
Trad, patav. no. 19. The former divinity was degraded into an evil,
as a form of
fiendish, bloodthirsty being, and appears to live yet
of the Low German people,
protestation or cursing in exclamations
as in Westphalia Woudan, Woudan
: Eirmenich 1, 257, 260 !
;

and in Mecklenburg :
Wod, Wod !
(see Suppl.).
Proofs of the general extension of Woden s worship present
themselves, for one thing, in the passages collected in the preceding
chapter on Mercurius, and again in the testimonies of Jonas
of

Bobbio (pp. 56 and 121) and Paulus Diaconus, and in the Abre-
nuntiatio, which deserves to be studied more closely, and lastly in the
concurrence of a number of isolated facts, which I believe have
hitherto been overlooked.
If we are to sum up in brief the attributes of this god, he is the

1
A word
that has never been fully explained, Goth. dulcis, 2 Cor. 2, v6j>is

15, OHG. wuodi, Diut. 2, 304% OS. wuothi, Hel. 36, 3. 140, 7, AS. u-efo, must
either be regarded as wholly unconnected, or its meaning be harmonized.
2
Finn Magnusen comes to the same conclusion, Lex. myth. 621. 636.
3 The
belief, so common in the Mid. Ages, in a furious host or wild
hunt, is described in ch. XXXI. TRANS.
 WODAN. 133

all-pervading creative
and formative power, who bestows shape and
beauty on men and all things, from
proceeds the gift of song whom
and the management of war and victory, on whom at the same
time depends the fertility of the soil, nay wishing, and all highest
gifts and blessings, Seem. 113 a>b

To the heathen fancy Wuotan is not only the world-ruling, wise,

ingenious god, he the arranger of wars and battles. 1

is above all

Adam of Bremen cap. 233, ed. 1595 says of the Norse god Wodan, :

id est fortior, bella gerit, hominique ministrat virtutem contra

inimicos . . . Wodanem sculpunt (Sveones) armatum, sicut nostri
Martem sculpere solent. To the fortior, fortis, would answer his

OK name of Svidr, i.e. the strong, masterful, swift (OS. suith) : but
fortior is, no doubt, a false reading, all the MSS. (conf. Pertz 3, 379)
read Wodan, id est furor, which agrees with the conclusion arrived
at above. To him, says the Edda, belong all the nobles who fall in
b Thor the common but this seems
battle (Ssem. 77 ). and to folk,
added merely to depreciate the latter ;
in another passage (Ssem.
42 a), Freya shares the fallen with OSinn ;
he is named
vcdfa&ir and
herfa&ir (val, choice her, host). Odinn
;
vildi )?iggja mann at hlut-

hanga or herinom, Fornald. sog. 3, 31. Eidem prostratorum

falli at

manes muneris loco dedicaturum se pollicetur (Haraldus), Saxo p.

146. Othinus armipotens, p. 37, auctor aciei corniculatae, ordinandi
agminis disciplinae traditor et repertor, pp. 138-9, 146. When old,
he teaches arraying of battle, p. 17, the hamalt at fylkja, svinfylkja,
Fornald. sog. 1, 380 he teaches how to bring down with pebbles
;

those whom sword will not wound,

ibid. p. 157 (see SuppL).

We need not be surprised then to find him confounded with

Ziu or Tyr, the special god of war, or Mercnrius coupled with Mars
(pp. 107, 111), or a gloss on Jonas of Bobbio, who had rightly
identified him with Mercury (p. 121), correcting him thus Qui :

apud eos (Alamannos) Vuotant (part. wuotan) vocatur, pres. of

Latini autem Martem ilium appellant. Are Adam s words also,
sicut nostri Martem sculpere solent/ to be so taken that nostri

1
Got waldes an der sige Mr ! Wh. 425, 24. sigehafte hende fiiege in got !

Dietr. 84a OSinn, when he sent the people forth to war, laid his hands on their
.

heads and blessed, ace. to Yngl.

cap. 2, gaf ]?eim bianac ; Ir. beannact, bean-
nugad, beandacht, Gael, beannachd, Wei. bianoch (Villemarque, essai LIX) =
benedictio, prob. all from the Lat. word ? conf. Fr. benir, Ir. beannaigim.
134 WODAN.

should mean Saxones ? He, it is true, may have meant those

acquainted with Roman mythology.
Especially does the remarkable legend preserved by Paulus
Diaconus 1, 8 show that it is Wodan who dispenses victory, to whom
therefore, above other gods, that antique name sihora (p. 27)
all

rightfully belongs, as well as in the Eddas the epithets Sigttjr (god

a
of victory), Ssem. 248 , Sn. 94, Sigfoffr (father of victory), Saem. 68 a ;
AS. vigsigor (victor in battle), Beow. 3107, sigmetod (creator of
Beow. 3554 (see Suppl.)
victory), Refert hoc loco antiquitas ridi-
:

culam fabulam, quod accedentes Wandali ad Wodan, mctoriam de

Winilis postulaverint, illeque respondent, se illis mctoriam daturum,

quos primum oriente sole conspexisset. Tune accessisse Gambaram

ad Fream, uxorem Wodan, et Winilis mctoriam postulasse, Fream-
que consilium dedisse, Winilorum mulieres solutos crines erga
faciem ad barbae similitudinem componerent wtmeque primo cum
viris adessent, seseque a Wodan videndas pariter e regione, qua

ille per fenestram orientem versus erat solitus adspicere, colloca-

rent ; atque ita factum fuisse. Quas cum Wodan conspiceret oriente

sole, dixisse qui sunt isti Langobardi

: tune Fream subjunxisse,?

ut quibus nomen tribuerat, mctoriam condonaret, sicque Winilis

Wodan victoriam concessisse. Here deacon Paul, as a good Chris
tian, drops the remark : Haec risu digna sunt, et pro nihilo habenda :

victoria enim non potestati est adtributa hominum, sed e coelo

potius ministratur ; and then adds a more exact interpretation of

the name Longobard Certum tamen est Longobardos ab intactae
:

ferro barbae longitudine, cum primitus Winili dicti fuerint, ita

postmodum appellatos. Nam juxta illorum linguam lang longam,
bart barbam significat. Wodan
sane, quern adjecta litera Givodan
dixerunt, et ab universis Germaniae gentibus ut deus adoratur, qui
non circa haec tempora, sed longe anterius, nee in Germania, sed in
Graecia fuisse perhibetur. 1
The whole fable bears the stamp of high antiquity it has even ;

been related by others before Paul, and with variations, as in the

Hist. Francor. epitomata, which has for its author, though not Fre-

degar, yet some writer of the seventh century. Here Chuni

1
Godfrey of Viterbo (in Pistorius, ed. Struve 2, 305) has the legend out of
Paul Diac. with the names
corrupted,
Godam for Wodan, Feria for Frea.
Godam or Votam sets him thinking of the Germ, word got (deus). The
3 *
unheard-of Toclacus historiographus has evidently sprung out of hoc loco
(

in Paul.
 WODAN. 135

(Huns) are named instead of Vandals Cum a Chunis (Lango- :

bardi) Danubium transeuntes fuissent comperti, eis bellum conati

sunt inferre. Interrogati a Chunis, quare gens eorum terminos
introire praesumeret ? At illi mulieribus suis praecipiunt, comam
capitis ad maxillas et mentum
quo potius virorum habitum ligare,
simulantes plurimam inultitudinem hostium ostenderent, eo quod
erant mulierum comae circa maxillas et mentum ad instar barbae
valde longae fertur desuper utraeque phalangae vox dixisse
: hi :

sunt Langobardi !
quod ab his gentibus fertur eorum deum fuisse
locutum, quern fanatici nominant Wodanum (al. Wisodano, a mere
copyist s or reader s error for Wuodanp). Tune Langobardi cum cla-
massent, qui instituerat nomen, concederet victoriam, in hoc praelio
Chunos superant. (Bouquet 2, 406 according to Pertz, all the MSS. ;

read Wodano.) In this account, Frea and her advice are nowhere ;

the voice of the god, giving the name, is heard up in the air.
It was the custom any one who bestowed a name, to follow
for
itup with a gift.
1
Wodan felt himself bound to confer the victory

on those for whom he had found a new national name. In this

consisted the favour of fortune, for the people, in dressing up their
wives as men, had thought of nothing but swelling the apparent
numbers of their warriors. I need scarcely remind the reader, that
this mythical interpretation of the Lombard name is a false one,
2
for all the credit it found in the Mid. Ages.

There is one more feature in the legend that must not escape
>ur notice. Wodan from his heavenly dwelling looks down on the
irth through a window, which exactly agrees with ON. descrip
tions. Oolnn has a throne named fflidskialf, sitting on which he
can survey the whole world, and hear all that goes on among
men j?ar er einn staSr er HliSscialf heitir, oc J?aer Oolnn settiz
:

]?ar i hasseti, oc ]?a sd hann of alia heima, oc vissi alia luti,

J?a er hann sa (there is a stead that H. hight, and when O.
sat there on high-seat, then saw he over all countries, and
wist, &c.), Sn. 10. oc J?a er Allfb Sr sitr i
J?vi sseti, J?a ser hann of
allan heim, Sn. 21. Uusiar (listens) OSinn HliSscialfo i, Sa3m. 89 b .

1
Lata fylgja nafni, Saem. 142 a 150a Fornm. sog. 3, 182. 203. gefa at
. .

nafnfesti (name-feast), Sn. 151. Fornm. sog. 2, 51. 3, 133. 203. Mend. sog.
2, 143. 194. Vocabuli largitionem muneris additione commendare, Saxo
Gram. 71.
2
Longobardi a longis barbis vocitati, Otto fris. de gest. Frid. 2, 13. But
Oolnn himself was named Ldngbar&r.
136 WODAN.

When Loki wanted to hide, it was from this seat that OSinn
espied
his whereabouts, Sn. 69. Sometimes also Frigg, his consort, is
imagined sitting by his side, and then she enjoys the same prospect :

Oolnn ok Frigg sdto i HliSscialfo, ok sd urn heima alia, Seem. 39.

The proem to the Grimnismal bears a strong resemblance to the

legend in Paul for, just as Frea pulls her favourites the Winili
;

through, in opposition to Wodan s own resolve, so Frigg brings to

grief GeirroSr,whom Oolnn favoured. Sensuous paganism, how
ever,makes the god-like attribute of overseeing all things depend
on the position or structure of a particular chair, and as the
gift forsakes the god when he does not occupy the seat, others can
enjoy the privilege by taking his place. This was the case when
Freyr spied the beautiful GerSr away down in lotunheim Freyr ;

hafdi setsc i HliSskialf, oc sd urn, heima alia, Ssem. 81. Sn. 39. The
word hliffscialf seems to mean literallydoor-bench, from liliS
(ostium, conf. Engl. lid), and skialf (scamnum), AS. scylfe, Csedm.
79, 4. Engl. shelf (see Suppl). Mark the language in which the
OS. poet describes the Ascension of Christ sohta imo thena helagon :

stdl, sitit imo thar an thea suidron (right) half Godes, endi tlianan

all gisihit (seeth) waldandeo Crist, so huat so (whatso) thius werold

behabet, Hel. 176, 47,
conf. C;edm. 265, 16.
This idea of a seat in the sky, from which God looks on the
earth, is notyet extinct among our people. The sitting on the
right hand is in the Bible, but not the looking down. The
formulas qui haut siet et de loing mire, qui haut siet et
loins voit (supra, p. 23) are not cases in point, for men
everywhere have thought of the Deity as throned on high and
seeing far around. Zeus also sits on Ida, and looks on at mortal
men he ;
rules from Ida s top, "ISrjOev ytteSeW, even as Helios, the
eye of the sun, surveysand discerns all things, II. 3, 277. But a
widely-circulated marchen tells us of a mortal man, whom St. Peter

admitted into heaven, and who, led on by curiosity, ended by

climbing into the chair of the Lord, from which one can look down
and see nil that is done on the whole earth. He sees a washerwoman
stealtwo lady s veils, and in his anger seizes the footstool of the
Lord, which stands before the chair (al. a chairs leg), and hurls it
down at the thief. 1 To such lengths has the ancient fable travelled.
1
Kindcrmarchen no. 35. First in Bebel, ed. 1, Tub. 1506, p. 6. Frey s
gartengesellschaft cap. 109, ed. 1556 p. 106, ed. 1590 p. 85. Rollwagenbuchlein
1590, pp. 98-9 (here a golden settle). Mosew vermischte schriften 1, 332. 2,
 WODAN. 137

Can it be alluded to in the MHG.

poem, Amgb. 3
a
?

Der nu den himel hat erkorn,

der geiselt uns bi imser habe ;

ich viirhte sere, tint wirt im zorn,

den slegel wirft er uns her abe. 1
Tn a Servian song (Vuk 4, 9) the angels descend to earth out of
God s window (od Bozhieg prozora pro-zor ; (out-look, hence window)
reminds one of zora (dawn), prozorie (morning twilight), and of
Wodan at early morn looking toward the sunrise. The dawn is, so
to speak, the opening in heaven, through which God looks into the
world.
Also, what Paulus Diac.
1, 20 tells of the anger of the Lord

(supra, 18), whereby the

p..
Herulian warriors were smitten before
their enemies, I am inclined to trace up to Wuotan Tanta super eos :

coelitus ira respexit ; and again.: Vae tibi, misera Herulia, quae

coelestis Domini flecteris ira! Conf. Egilssaga p. 365 rei&r se :

rogn ok Oolnn ! wrathful see the gods and 0. and Fornald. sog. 1,
;

501 :
gramr er ySr OSinn, angry is 0. with you.

Victory was in the eyes of our forefathers the first and highest
of gifts,but they regarded Wuotan not merely as dispenser of
victory I have to show next, that in the widest sense he repre
;

sented to them the god to whose bounty man has to look for every
other distinction, who has the giving of allsuperior blessings ; and
in this sense also Hermes (Mercury) was to the Greeks pre
eminently Swrcop edcov, giver of good things, and I have ventured
to guess that the name Gibika, Kipicho originally signified the

same to us 2 .

235. ed. 1842, 4, 5, 39. H. Sachs (1563) v. 381. According to Greek and O.
Norse notions, the gods have a throne or chair tha gengengo regin oil a rokstola
:

b
ginheilog got), Syem. l Compare in the Bible heaven is God s throne, the
. :

earth his footstool, Matt. 5, 34-5 and Hel. 45, 11. 12 (see Suppl.).
;

1
Also MS. 2, 254b ze hus wirf ich den slegel dir..
: MS. 2, 6 b mit :

einem slegel er zuo dem kinde warf. This cudgel-throwing resembles,

what meant so much to our ancestors, the hammer s throw, and the
OHG. slaga is malleus, sZec?(/e-hammer (Graff 6, 773). The cudgel thrown
from heaven can hardly be other than a thunderbolt and the obscure ;

proverb, swer irre rite daz der den slegel fiinde, whoso astray should ride, that
*

he the s. might find, Parz. 180, 10, may refer to a thunder-stone (see ch. VIII,
Donar) which points to hidden treasure and brings deliverance, and which only
those can light upon, who have accidentally lost their way in a wood for ;

which reason Wolfram calls trunks of trees, from under which peeps out the
stone of luck, slegels urkiinde und zil, slegel s document and mark (aim).
Haupts zeitschr. 1, 573. Lasicz. 47 names a Datanus donator bonoruin.
<J
138 WODAN.

The sum total of well-being and blessedness, the fulness of all

graces, seems in our ancient language to have been expressed by a

single word, whose meaning has since been narrowed down it was ;

named wunsck (wish). This word

probably derived from wunja,
is

wunnja, our wonne, bliss wunisc, wunsc, perfection in whatever

;

kind, what we should call the Ideal. Thus, Er. 1699 der wunsch
was an ir garwe, wish was in her complete Iw. 3991 daz mir des ;

wunsches niht gebrast, nought of wish was wanting; Iw. 6468

der rat, des der wunsch an wibe gert/ such store as wish can
crave in wife Gerh. 1754 an der got wunsches niht vergaz/ in
;

whom God nought of wish forgot (left out) Parz. 742, 15 der ;

wunsch wirt in beiden Trist. 3710

;
dir ist der wunsch gegeben ;

Frauend. 87 der wunsch von edlem obze, the pick of noble fruit ;

Parz. 250, 25 erden wunsches riche, rich in all gifts of the earth ;

235, 24, erden wunsches iiberwal Trist. 4696. 4746

;
der wunsch
von worten, von bluomen ;
Trist. 1374 in dem wunsche sweben,
i.e.,in perfect satisfaction. And the magic wand, by whose impact
treasures are acquired, was a wunschiligerta, wishing-rod conf. ;

Parz. 235, 22 wurzel unde ris des wunsches/ root and spray of
wish. The (secondary) meaning of desiring and longing for
these perfections would seem to have but accidentally attached
itself to the wunsc, OK osk (see Suppl.).
b
Among other Eddie names of OSinn, appears Osci, Ssem. 46 .

Sn. 3, 24, i.e. he who makes men partakers of wunsch, of the

highestgift. Osk, gen. Oskar, a woman s name, Fornm. sog. 1, 246.

Eyrbyggja saga cap. 7. Laxd. p. 12.
Another thing seems to me to be connected with this, and there
heathen religion the fact that our poets of
fore to be a relic of the :

the 13th century personify wunsch, and represent it as a mighty

creative being. Instances in proof of this are found chiefly in
Hartmann, Rudolf and Conrad :

Got erloubte dem Wunsche iiber About him, God gave to Wish
in, full leave,

daz er lib unde sin that he body and mind

meistert nach sim werde. fashioned according to his worth,
swa von ouch uf der erde Of whatsoever upon earth,
deheinem man ze loben geschiht, to any man, praiseworthy falls,
desn gebrast im niht ;
thereof lacked him nought ;

der Wunsch liet in gemeistert so Wish had him fashioned so,

 WODAN. 139

daz er sin was ze kinde vrd, that he was glad of him for child,

wande er nihts an im vergaz : forhe nought in him forgot :

er hetn yeschaffet, kunder, baz.

he had him shapen, if he could,
Greg. 1091-1100. better.

man sagt daz nie kint gewan They say that never a child won
ein lip so gar dem W
unsche glich. a body so wholly equal to Wish
Ex. 330. (or, exactly like Wish).

also was ez (daz phert) gestalt, So was it wrought (the horse),

und ob er (der werltwise man) that if he (the wright) had had

danne den gewalt
vondem Wunsche hcete, the command from Wish,
daz ez belibe staete that (his work) should be left

unaltered,
swes er darzuo gedaehte, whatever he attempted thereon,
und swenne erz volbrsehte, and when he had completed it,
daz erz fur sich stalte that he should set it before Him,
und er wn sinem gwalte and He at his discretion
dar abe nseme therefrom should take away
swaz daran im missezaeme, whatever therein inisliked him,
also was ez volkomen so perfect was it
daz er dar abe niht hete geno- that he therefrom nought would
men have taken
alse groz als umb ein har. so great as a hair.
Er. 7375-87.

als ez der Wunsch gebdt (bade). Er. 8213.

was ein wunschkint (was a child of wish). Ex. 8277,
Enite was des Wunsches kint,
der an ir nihtes vergaz. Er. 8934.
da was ir har und ir lich (lyke, lych, body)
so gar dem Wunsche gelich (like). Iw. 1333.
diz was an ir (zuht, schcene, jugent) und gar der rat (all the
store)
des der Wunsch (or wunsch ?) an wibe gert (desires.) Iw. 6468.
wande sie nie gesahen (for they never had seen)
zwene riter gestalt (two knights fashioned)
so gar in Wunsches gewalt
an dem llbeund an den siten (manners). Iw. 6913.
der Wunsch vluochet (curses) im so. Iw. 7066.
140 WODAN.

mir hat der Wunsch gevluochet. Hartm. biichl. 2, 113.

er was schoene und wol gevar (for gefarwet, coloured),

rehte, als in der Wunsch erkos (chose). Gerh. 771.

min herze in (ihnen, to them) des begunde jehen (acknowledge),
in wsere des Wunsches fliz (zeal, care) bereit. Gerh. 1599.
an der der Wunsch mit kiusche bar
sine sileze lebende fruht. Gerh. 1660.
daz ich ir schcene kroene
ob alien frouwen schone
mit des Wunsches krone. Gerh. 1668.
ein regen uz dem wolken vloz
der uf des Wunsches ouwe goz
so heizen regen (?). Gerh. 2307.
an lobe (praise) des Wunsches krone. Gerh. 2526.
swes ich begunde daz geschach (was accomplished),
der Wunsch ie minen werken jach (ever to my works said yea)
des wunsches als ich wolte
und als ich wiinschen solte. Gerh. 2945.
nach des Wunsches lere. (lore). Gerh. 4500.
der Wunsch mit siner hende
vor wandel (change, fault) hete si getwagen (cleansed). Troj. 1212.
der Wunsch hat ane lougen (without lying, undeniably)
erzeiget an ir sine kraft,
und siner kunste rneisterschaft
mit vlize an ir bewert (carefully evinced in her). Troj. 7569.
der Wunsch hat in gemachet wandels vri (free of fault). Troj. 3154.
der Wunsch der hete an si geleit (gelegt, laid out, spent)
me flizes denne uf elliu wip (more pains than on any woman).
Troj. 19620.
so daz er niemer wibes leben
fur sie gescJiepfen wolde baz (better) ;

do sin gewalt ir bilde maz (measured),

do leit (legte) er an sie manec model. Troj. 19627
und hsete sin der Wunsch gesworn,
er wolde bilden ein schcener wip,
und schepfcn also klaren lip
als Helena min frouwe treit (tragt, bears)
er miieste brechen sinen eit (eid, oath)
wan er kunde niemer (for he could never),
 WODAN. 141

und iemer (were he to shape for ever),

solte lilden

gcschepfen wunneclicher fruht. Troj. 19526-32.

ez hat ze sinem teile der Wunsch vergezzen niender. Engelh. 579.
daz haete an der Wunsch geleit.
si Engelh. 4703.
der Wunsch der hete niht gespart
an ir die sine meisterschaft,
er hete sine beste kraft
mit ganzem fliz an sie geleit. Der werlde Ion. 84.

Other poets personify too (not, however, Wolfram nor Gotfried):

der zweier kurtesie
sich ze dem Wunscke het geweten,
siware niender uz getreten. Wigal. 9246.
an ir schcene was wol schin,
daz ir der Wunsch gedahte. Wigal. 9281.
der Wunsch het sich geneiget in ir gewalt. ibid. 904.

in was der Wunsch bereit. ib. 10592.

des Wunsches amie. ib. 7906. 8735.

wen mohte da erlangen,
da der Wunsch inne was. ib. 10612.
der Wunsch het si gemachet so,
und ist ir ze kinde mo. Amur 1338. (Pf. 1343).
des Wunsches ougenweide (food for the eye)
sit ir und miner saelden spil (are ye, and the play of my delight).

Wigal. 8760. Amur 1068. (Pf. 1072).

si schepfet uz des Wunsches heilawdge (holy water). Martina, 259.
(diu hant) ist im groz, lane unde wiz,
zuo der het sich der Wunsch gesellet. Turl. Wh. 38 a .

hie stuont (here stood) der Wunsch. 137 b ib. .

dar an lit (therein lieth) wol des Wunsches vliz. Tyrol E, 3.

si ist des Wunsches hostez zil (highest mark or aim). Ms. 1, 84 a .

sie ist der Wunsch uf erde. Ms. 2, 100 b .

sie ist des Wunsches ingesinde (one of W. s household). Ms. 1, 6a .

von ir scheitel uf ir zehen (from her crown to her toes)

so ist niht an minneclichen widen wan (save, but) des Wunsches
a
We. MsH. 3, 493 .

b
des Wunsches Uuete sint entsprungen in mine herzen. Eragm. 45 .

si
trage des Wunsches Hide. Ms. 1, 191 a .

des Wunsches krone tragen. Docen misc. 2, 186.

142 WODAN.

b
sie hat des Wunsches pewalt. Amgb. 31
er was so gar des Wunsches kint,
daz alle man gein (against, before) siner schoene waren blint,
und doch menlich gestalt bi clarem velle (complexion) ;

der Wunsch im niht gebrechen liez (let nought be lacking)

da von man s Wunsches hint den stolzen hiez (should call the

stately one). Lohengr. ed. Eiickert str. 625.

The following is outside the bounds of MHG. :

an yr yst Wensches vlyt geleit. Haupts zeitschr. 3, 221.

Mid. Dutch poems have no personification Wensch nor is there a ;

Wunsch in the Nibelungen or Gudrun but in Wolfdietrich 970 ; :

des Wunsches ein amie There must be many more instances

!
;

but the earliest one I know of is found in the Entekrist from the
12th century (Hoffm. fundgr. 2, 107) :

mit Wunschis gewalta With Wish s might

segniti sie der alte. The old man blessed her.

We see Wish provided with hands, power, looks, diligence, art,

blossom, fruit ;
he creates, shapes, produces master-pieces, thinks,
bows, swears, curses, is glad and angry, adopts as child, handmaid,
friend all such pretty- well stock phrases would scarcely have
:

sprung up and lived in a poetry, in a language, if they did not

unconsciously relate to a higher being, of whom earlier times had a
livelier image; on such a basis indeed nearly all the personifications
made use of by MHG.
poets seem to me to rest. In the majority
of our examples we might fairly put the name of God in the place
of Wish, or that of Wish in the phrases quoted on pp. 17-8, which
describe the joyous or the angry God : freudenvoll hat sie Got
b
gegozzen, MS. 1, 226 der Wunsch maz ;
ir bilde, as mezzen is said
of God, p. 23; and gebieten, to command, is just as technically
applied to the one as to the other, p. 24. The gramr er y5r OSinn/
p. 137, might be rendered in MHG. der Wunsch ziirnet iu, fluochet

iu/ meaning, the world is sick of you. At times the poet seems to
be in doubt, whether to say God or Wish: in the first passage from
Gregor, Wish is subordinated, as a being of the second rank, so to
speak, as a servant or messenger, to the superior god; the latter has
to give him leave to assume his creative function, which in other
cases he does of his own might. Again, when body, figure, hair are
said to be like Wish/ it exactly reminds us of Homer s
 WODAN. 143

Xapireara-Lv opolai,, II. 17, 51; and Xdpires, tlie Gratiae, creatresses
of grace and beauty, play precisely the part of our Wish, even
down to the circumstance, that in addition to the personal meaning,
there an abstract %apt?, gratia, as there is a wish. 1 Piiterich of
is

Eeicherzhausen (Haupts zeitschr. 6, 48) speaks of die wuntsches

the older phrase would have been ir fiieze
*
fiiesse of a princess ;

waren dem Wunsche gelich\ It is a genuine bit of German

heathenism to make this creative faculty reside in a god, and not,
after the Greek fashion, in a female personage. And there are other
features too, that point back to our native heathen eld. Wish s
(me and heilwac can be matched by Phol s ouwa and brunno, or the
meads and holywells of other gods Wish s crown by that worn by ;

gods and kings. And, most remarkable of all, Wish rejoices in his
creature as in a child here Woden s self comes upon the scene as
;

patriarch or paterfamilias, before whom created men make their

appearance like children, friends, domestics and wunschkint is ;

2
also used in the sense of an adopted, i.e. wished for, child. Her-
bort 13330 makes Hecuba exclaim ich han einen sun verlorn, er
:

gezsenie gote ze kinde (would suit God as a child) which does not ;

mean in a Christian sense, God has doubtless been pleased to take

him to Himself, but in a heathen sense, he was so lovely, he
might be called Wish s child For the Norse Oolnn too has these
.

marvellous children and wish-maidens in his train (see Suppl.) 3

To the ON, Oski ought by rights to correspond an OHG. Wunsco,
Wunscjo, (weak decl), which I am not able to produce even as a
man s name (see Suppl.).
4
A MHG, Wunsche cannot be proved
1 In places it is doubtful, whether the poet meant wish
many or Wish. In
Wolfram and Gotfried, who abstain from distinct personification, I always
prefer the abstract interpretation, while Hartmann admits of both by turns.
When we read in Parz. 102, 30 si was gar ob dem wunsches zil (over wish s
:

goal, beyond all that one could wish), the phrase borders close upon
the above-
quoted, si ist des Wunsches hostez zil (the highest that Wish ever created) ;

and it is but a step from * mines wunsches paradis, MS. 2, 126% to * des
Wunsches paradis or ouwe So, da ist wunsch, und niender breste (here is
.

one s wish, and nothing wanting), MS. 1, 88 a =

der Wunsch liez im nilit
gebrechen, W. left him nothing lacking (see Suppl.).
2
The Germ, an-wiinschen verbally translates the Lat. ad-opto. TRANS.
3
That Wish was personified, and very boldly, by the Christian poets, is
abundantly proved. That he was ever believed in as a person, even in heathen
times, is, to my thinking, far from clear. I believe some German scholars
regard the notion as little better than a mare s nest. TRANS.
4
The name does occur later Johannes dictus de ( = der) Wunsch, Ch.
:

ann. 1324 (Neue mitth. des thiir. vereins I. 4,65), In the Oberhess. wochen-
blatt, Marburg 1830, p. 420, I read of a Joh. Wunsch who is probably alive at
this moment.
144 WODAN.

from Troj. 3154. 7569. 19620. 19726 (Straszb. MS.), both the metre
and the strong gen. in -es forbidding. But the whole idea may in
the earliest times have taken far stronger root in South Germany
than in Scandinavia, since the Edda tells next to nothing of Oski,
while our poetry as late as the 1 5th century has so much to say of
Wunsch. That it was not foreign to the North either, is plainly
proved by the Oskmeyjar = Wunschdfrauen, wish-women; by the
Oskasteinn, a philosopher s stone connected with our WunscJielrute,
wishing-rod, and Mercury s staff; by Oskabyrr, MHG. Wunschwint,
fair wind ; by Oskabiom, wish-bear, a sea-monster ;
all of which
will be discussed more fully by and by. A fern, proper name Osk
occurs in a few places ;
what if the unaccountable Oskopnir, Sa3m.
188 a were really to be explained as Osk-opnir ? Opnir, Ofnir, we
,

know, are epithets of OSinn. Both word and meaning seem to grow
in relevancy to our mythology it is a stumbling-block indeed, that
,

the AS. remains furnish no contribution, even the simple wu.sc

(optio, votum) seemingbe rare, and only wyscan (optare) in
to
common use
yet among;
the mythic heroes of Deira we meet with
a Wfocfred, lord of Wish as it were and to the Anglo-Saxons too ;

this being may have merely become extinct, though previously well
known (see Suppl.).
But make up for it, their oldest poetry is still dimly conscious
to
of another name of Wuotan, which again the Edda only mentions
b
cursorily, though in Ssem. 46 it speaks of Oski and Omi in a
breath, and in 91 b
uses Omi once more for 0(5inn. Now this Omi
stands related to omr, sonus, fragor, as the AS. woma to worn,
clamor, sonitus I have quoted instances in Andr. and El. pp. xxx,
;

xxxi, to which may now be added from the Cod. exon. heofonwoma :

52, 18. 62, 10; daegredw&ma 179, 24; hildewoma 250, 32. 282, 15;
wiges woma 277, 5 ;
wintres woma 292, 22 : in this last, the mean
ing of hiemis impetus, fragor, furor, is self-evident, and we see
ourselves led -up to the thought which antiquity connected with
Wuotan himself out of this living god were evolved the abstrac
:

tions wuot (furor), wunsch (ideal), woma (impetus, fragor). The

gracious and grace- bestowing god was at other
times called the
who sends a thrill through nature;
stormful, the terror-striking,
even so the ON. has both an Yggr standing for OSinn, and an yggr
for terror. The AS. woma is no longer found as Woma in OHG. ;

wuomo and Wuomo are alike unknown. Thorpe renders the

 WODAN. 145

heofonwoman above in a local sense by heaven s corners, I doubt

ifcorrectly in both the passages coeli fragores are meant.
;
We
may however imagine Omi, Woma as an air-god, like the Hindu
Indras, whose rush is heard in the sky at break of day, in the din
of battle, and the tramp of the furious host (see Suppl.).
1
Precisely as the souls of slain warriors arrive at Indra s heaven,
the victory-dispensing god of our ancestors takes up the heroes
that fall in fight, into his fellowship, into his army, into his

heavenly dwelling. Probably it has been the belief of all good

men, that after death they would be admitted to a closer com
munion with deity. Dying istherefore, even according to the
Christian view, called going to God, turning home to God in AS. :

metodsceaft seon, Beow. 2360. Csedm. 104,31. Or seeking, visiting

God: OS. god suokian, Hel. 174,26 fadar suokion, Hel. 143, 23; ;

upodashem, lioht odar, sinlif, godes riki suokian, Hel. 85, 21. 17, 17.

63, 14. 137, In a like sense the Thracians, ace. to

16. 176, 5.

Herodotus 4, 94, said Uvai irapa ZaXpofyv (TefteXeltyv) Sai/jiova,

which Zalmoxis or Zamolxes is held by Jornandes to be a deified
king of the Goths (Getae). In the North, faring to Offinn, being
guest ivith Offinn, visiting O&inn, meant simply to die, Fornald.
sog. 1, 118. 422-3. 2, 366. and was synonymous with faring to
Valholl, being guest at Valholl, ib. 1, 106. Among the Christians,
these were turned into curses far :
pd til O&ins ! Offins eigi pik !

may Ooln s have thee (see Suppl.). Here is.shown the inversion
of the kindly being, with whom one fain would dwell, into an
2
evil one,whose abode inspires fear and dread. Further on, we shall
exhibit more in detail the way in which Wuotan was pictured

driving through the air at the head of the furious (wiitende) host
named after him. Valholl (aula optionis) and Valkyrja obviously
express the notion of wish and choice (Germ, wahl, Scotch wale).

Of the peculiarities of figure and outward appearance of this

god, which are brought out in such bold relief in the northern

1
Bopp s Nalas, p. 264.
2
So Wuotan s name of itself degenerates into the sense of fury (wut) and
anger the Edda has instances of it. In revenge he pricked Brynhild with
;

the sleeping-thorn, Seem. Z94a and she says ,

OSinn ]?vi veldr, er ek eigi
:

mattak bregSa blunnstofom. He breeds enmity and strife einn veldr OSinn :

6llu bolvi, pviat meS sifjungom sakrunar b

inimicitias Othinus
bar, Ssem. 165 .
sent, Saxo gram. p. 142, as Christians say of the devil, that he sows the seeds
of discord, a
gremi OSins, Saem. 151 (see Suppl.).
10
146 WODAN.

myths, I have found but few traces left among us in Germany.

The Norse Oolnn is one-eyed, he wears a broad hat and wide mantle .

Grimnir i feldi Udm, blue cloak, Stem. 40. i heklu grcenni ok

Udm Irokum, green cloak and blue breeks, Fornald. sog. 1, 324.
Jieklumaffr, cloaked man, 1, 325. When he desired to drink of
Mind s fountain, he was obliged to leave one of his eyes in pawn,
a
Seem. 4 ,
Sn. 15. 1 In Saxo,p. 12, he appears as grandaevus, altero
vrbus oculo ; p. 37, armipotens, uno semper contentus ocello ; p. 138,
senex orbus ocidis, hispido amictu. So in the Sagas : kom ]?ar maSr
gamall, miok orSspakr, einsynn ok augdapr, ok haf5i hatt siffan ;
there came an old man, very word-wise, one-eyed and sad-eyed,
and had a wide hat, Fornm. sog. 2, 138. hann hafir heJdu flekkotta
var berfcettr ok hafSi knytt linbrokum at beini, hann
yfir ser, sa maftr
var har miok (very high), ok eldiligr ok einsynn, Fornald. sog. 1, 120.
kom bardagann meS si&an hatt ok heklu
2
]?a maftr i bid, hann hafol
eittauga, ok geir (spear) i hendi, ib. 1, 145. ]?etta mun Od inn
gamli verit hafa, ok at visu var maSrinn einsQnn, ib. 1, 95. sa
hann mann mikinn me5 siffun hetti, ib. 5, 250. meS hetti Hangatyss
ganga, cum Odiniana incedere, Vigagl. saga, p. 168.
cidari Othinus,
os pileo, ne cultu proderetur, obnulens, Saxo Gram. 44. An Eddie
him b
song already names QtQkBttr, broad-hatted, Seem. 46 ,
and one
saga merely Hottr, hatted, Fornald. sog. 2, 25-6; conf. Miillers
sagabibl. 3, 142. Were it not for the name given him in the
Grimnismal, I should have supposed it was the intention of the
Christians to degrade the old god by mean clothing, or else that,
wrapt in his mantle, he was trying to conceal himself from
Christians. Have we a right here to
bring in the pileati of
Jornandes ? A saga in
Saxo, p. 12, tells prettily, how the blind old\
god takes up a prote^ in his cloak, and carries him through the air,
but Hading, peeping through a hole in the garment, observes that]
the horse is stepping over the sea-waves. As for that heklumaftr

of the hat with its rim turned up, he is our Hakolberend at thel
head of the wild host, who can at once be turned into a Gothic

1
Conf. Tritas in the fountain, Kuhn in Hofer 1, 290. Ace. to the
popular religion, you must not look into running water, because you look int
God s eye, Tobler s Appenzel p. 3G9 b neither must you point at the stars wit!
;

your fingers, for fear of sticking them

into the angels eyes.
2
There is of Greymantle (grakappan), Molbech 14, wh(
a Swed. marchen
like Mary in German tales, takes one up to heaven and forbids the opening of
lock, Kinderm. 3, 407.
 WODAN. 147

HaJculabairands, now that hakuls for is found in 2 Tim. </>6Xoz/?7?

iv. 13. Swedish folk-tales picture Odin as bald-headed, Iduna 10,

231. In the ancient poetry he is Harbardr, Siffgrani, Sfc&skeggr,
all in allusion to his thick growth of hair and beard. The name
Eedbeard I have elsewhere understood of Thor, but in Fornald.
sog. 2, 239 257 the Grani and Raudgrani are expressly Oolnn (see
Suppl).
The Norse myth arms Oftinn with a wonderful spear (geir),
Gungnir by name, Ssem. 196. Sn. 72 which I put on a par with ;

the lance or sword of Mars, not the staff of Mercury. Sigmund s

sword breaks, when he hacks at Sinn s spear, Vols. saga cap. 11.
He lends this spear to heroes to win victories with, Ssem. 165. A
remarkable passage in the Fornm. sog. 5, 250 says seldi honum :

reyrspiota (gave him the reeden spear) 1 hond, ok baft hann skiota
honum yfir lift
Styrbiarnar, ok J?atskyldi hann msela 05in a yc5r :

alia ! All the enemies over whom the spear he shoots shall fly, are
doomed to death, and the shooter obtains the victory. So too the
Eyrbyggja saga p. 228 :
J?a skaut Stein]?6rr spioti at fornom sift til

heilla ser yfir flock Snorra ; where, it is true, nothing is said of the
a
spear launched over the enemy being the god s. Ssem. 5 , of OSinn
himself fleigbl ok i folk urn skaut (see Suppl.).
:

To the god of victory are attached two wolves and two ravens,

which, as combative courageous animals, follow the fight, and

pounce upon the fallen corpses, Andr. and El. xxvi. xxvii. The
wolves are named Geri and Freki, Sn. 42 ; and so late as in Hans
Sachs (i. 5, 499), we read in a schwank, that the Lord God has chosen
wolves for his hounds, that they are his cattle. The two ravens are
Huginn and Muninn, from hugr (animus, cogitatio) and munr
(mens) they are not only brave, but cunning and wise, they sit on
;

the shoulders of OSinn, and whisper in his ear whatever they see

and hear, Seem. 42 b 88 a Sn. 42. 56. 322. To the Greek Apollo too
.

the wolf and raven were sacred x his messenger the raven informed ;

him when Koronis was unfaithful, and Aristeas accompanied him

as a raven, Herod. 4, 15 ; perched aloft on the mantle of
a raven is

Mithras the sun-god. The Gospels represent the Holy Ghost as a

1
In Marc. Cap. 1, 11, the words: augurales vero alites ante curriim
3elio constiterunt/ are transl. by Notker 37 : to waren garo ze Apollinis reito
;ine
wizegfogela, rabena unde albisze. To Oolnn hawks are sometimes given
nstead of ravens Oftins haukar Sasm. 167 b
: .
148 WODAN.

dove descending upon Christ at his baptism, Lu. 3, 22, and resting
upon him, epewev avrov, mansit super eum, John 1, 32
TT in :

Krist er sih gisidalta/ says O. i. 25, 24 but Hel. 30, 1 of the ;

dove : im uppan uses drohtines ahslu (our Lord s shoulder).

sat Is
this an echo of heathen thoughts ? None of the Fathers have this

circumstance, but in the Mid. Ages there is talk enough about

1
doves resting on shoulders j and the dove, though frequently
contrasted with the raven (which, like the wolf, the Christians

applied to the Evil one), may nevertheless be put in the place of

it. Oswald s raven flies to his shoulder and arm, 749. 942.
Oswald talks to it, 95-6, and kneels before it, 854. Conf. Zingerle,
2
Oswalt p. 67 (see Suppl.).

Now under that figure of the bearded old man, Wuotan is

apparently to be regarded as a water-sprite or water-god, answering

well to the Latin name of Neptunus which some of the earlier
writers put upon him (p. 122). In ON. he is Hnikar, Hniku&r
Nikarr, Nikuz, and the hesitation between the two forms which in
Sn. 3 are expressly made optional Nikarr effa (or) Nikuz may
arise from the diversity of old dialects. Nikarr corresponds to the
AS. Nicor, and Nikuz to OHG. Nichus the initial Hn seems to ,

be ON. alone. On these I shall have more to say, when treating

of water-sprites (see Suppl.) Another epithet of OSinn is equally

Gregor. Nyssen. encom. Ephraemi relates, that when Basil the Great was
1

preaching, Ephraem saw on his right shoulder a white dove, which put words o:
wisdom in his mouth. Of Gregory the Great we read in Paul. Diac., vita p,
14, that when he was expounding the last vision of Ezekiel, a white dove sal
upon his head, and now and then put its beak in his mouth, at which times he,
the writer, got nothing for his stylus to put down conf. the narrative of { ;

poet of the 12th cent., Hoffm. fundgr. 2, 229 also Myst. 1. p. 226-7. Angus
;

tine and Thomas Aquinas are portrayed with a white dove perched on theii
shoulders or hovering over their heads. A
nursery-tale (Kindenn. no. 33) makes
two doves settle on the pope s shoulder, and tell him in his ear all that he has tc
do. A white dove descends singing on the head of St. Devy, and instructs him
Buhez santez Nonn. Paris 1837, p. 117. And on other occasions the dove flies
down to make known the will of heaven. No one will trace the story oi
Wuotan s ravens to these doves, still the coincidence is striking (see Suppl. V
2 There
are said to have been found lately, in Denmark and Sweden,
are well-founded
representations of Odin, which, if some rather strange reports
ought to be made known without delay. A ploughman at Boeslund in Zeulanc
turned up two golden urns filled with ashes ; on the lids is carved Odin
standing up, with two ravens on his shoulders, and the two wolves at his feet
Kunstbl. 1843, no. 19, p. 80 b Gold coins also were discovered near
. th<

village of Gomminga in Oeland, one of which represents Odin with the raven
on his shoulder the reverse has runes ; Kunstbl. 1844, no. 13, p. 52 a
;
.
 WODAN. 149

noticeable for its double form Bifli&i efta Biflindi, Sn. 3 ; Seem.
:

46 b has Biblindi. As
bif (Germ, beben) signifies motus, aer, aqua,
the quaking element, and the AS. liSe is lenis, OHG. lindi, ON.
inr (for linnr) ;
an AS. BifliSe, BeofliSe, OHG-. Pepalindi, might be
suggested by the soft air, a very apt name for the
movement of the

all-penetrating god but these forms, if-

they gave rise to the Norse
;

term, are no longer found in AS. or OHG. Wuotan s dominion

over the air and over the water explains, how it is that he
>oth

walks on the waves, and comes rushing on the gale. It is OSinn

that sends wind to the ships, Fornm. sog. 2, 16, hence a good sail-
b
ng wind is called osJcabijrr, Seem. 165 i.e., Oskabyrr ; byrr is from ,

)yrja, OHG.
purran, to rise, be lifted up. It is in striking accord
with this, that the MHG. poets use wunschwint in the same sense ;
EEartinann says, Greg. 615 :

Do sande in (to them) der slieze Krist

den vil rehten wunschwint (see Suppl.)

But other attributes of Wuotan point more to Hermes and

Apollo. He resembles the latter, in as much as from him proceed
contagious diseases and their cure ; any severe illness is the stroke
of God, and Apollo s arrows scatter pestilence. The Gauls also
imagined that Apollo drove away diseases (Apollinem morbos
depellere, Caes. B. G. 6, 17) and Wodan s magic alone can cure
;

Balder lamed horse. The raven on the god s shoulder exactly fits
s

Apollo, and still more plainly the circumstance that OSinn invented
the poetic art, and Saga is his divine daughter, just as the Greek

Muses, though daughters of Zeus, are under Apollo s protection,

and in his train. On the other hand, writing and the alphabet
were not invented by Apollo, but by Hermes. The Egyptian priests
placed Hermes at the head of all inventions (lamblich. de myst.
Aegypt. 8, 1), and Theutli or ThotJi is said to have first discovered
letters (Plato s Phaedr. 1, 96, Bekker) while, ace. to Hygin. fab. ,

143, Hermes learnt them by watching the flight of cranes. In the

AS. dialogue between Saturn and Solomon, we read (Thorpe s anal,
p. 100) saga me, hwa serost bocstafas sette ?
: ic the secge,

Mercurius se gygand\ Another dialogue, entitled Adrian and

Epictus (MS. Brit. mus. Arund. no. 351. fol. 39) asks :
quis primus
fecit literas ? and answers Seith, which is either a corruption of

Theuth, or the Seth of the Bible. Just so the Eddie Eunatals J^ttr
seems to ascribe the first teaching of runes to Oolnn, if we may so
150 WODAN.

interpret the words : nam

upp runar, Ssem. 28
a
ecJ?oer ofreS, J?ser .

ofreist, J?ser ofhugol Hroptr, i.e., them OSinn read out, cut out,
b
thought out, Seem. 195 Also Snorri, Yngl. cap. 7 allar J?essar
. :

idrottir kendi hann meS rdnum ok lid&um. Hincmar of Eheims

attributes toMercury the invention of dice-playing sicut isti qui :

de denariis quasi jocari dicuntur, quod omnino diabolicum est, et,

sicut legimus, primum diabolus hoc per Mercurium prodidit, unde
et Mercurius inventor Conf. Schol. to Odyss.
illius dicitur, 1, 656.

23, 198, and MS. 2, 124 b

der tiuvel schuof das wiirfelspil.
: Our
folk-tales know something about this, they always make the devil

play at cards, and entice others to play (see Suppl.).

1
When to this
we add, that the wishing-rod, i.e., Wish s staff, recals Mercury s
caducous, and the wish- wives, le.,oskmeyjar, valkyrior, the occupa
tion of the Psychopompos ; we may fairly recognise an echo of the
Gallic 2 or Germanic Mercury in the epithet Trismegistos (Lactantius
i. 6, 3. vi.25, 10. ter maximus Hermes in Ausonius), which later

poets, Romance and German, in the 12th and 13th centuries 3

transferred to a Saracen deity Termagant Tervagan, Tcrvigant,
Terviant. Moreover, when Hermes and Mercury are described as
dator bonorum, and the Slavs again call the same god Dobro-pan

(p. 130, note), as

if mercis dominus ; it is worth noticing, that the

Misnere Amgb. 42 a in enumerating all the planets, singles out

,

Mercury to invoke in the words ISTu hilf mir, daz mir saelde:

wache! schin er mir ze geliicke, noch so kum ich wider uf der

sselden phat (pfad). Just so I find Odin invoked in Swedish popu
lar songs Hielp nu, Oden Asagrim
: Svenska fornsangor 1, 11.!

hielp mig Othin ! 1, 69. To this god first and foremost the people
turned when in distress I suppose he is called Asagrim, because
;

among the Ases he bore the name of Grimnir ?

1
Reusch, sagen des preuss. Samlands, no. 11. 29.
In the Old British mythology there appears a Gwydion ab Don, G. son of
2

Don, whom Davies (Celtic researches pp. 168, 174. Brit. myth. p. 118, 204, 263-4,
353, 429, 504, 541) identifies with Hermes he invented writing, practised
;

magic, and built the rainbow the milky way was named caer Gwydion, G. s
;

castle (Owen, sub v.). The British antiquaries say nothing of Woden, yet
Gwydion seems near of kin to the above Gwodan Wodan. =
So the Irish
name for dies Mercurii, dia Geden, whether modelled on the Engl. Wednesday
or not, leads us to the form Goden, Gwoden (see Suppl.).
3 Even
nursery-tales of the present time speak of a groszmachtige Mercurius,
Kinderm. no. 99. 2, 86.
This Termagan, Termagant occurs especially in 0. Engl. poems, and
4
may
have to do with the Irish torinac augmentum, tormacaim augere.
 WODAN. 151

It is therefore not without significance, that also the wanderings

of the Herald of gods among men, in whose hovels he now and
then takes up his lodging, are parallelled especially by those of
OSinn and Hcenir, or, in Christian guise, of God and St. Peter,
Our olden times tell of Wuotan s wanderings, his waggon, his

way, his retinue (duce Mercuric, p. 128). We know that in the

very earliest ages the seven stars forming the Bear in the northern
sky were thought of as a four-wheeled waggon, its pole being formed
by the three stars that hang. downwards :

"ApKTOV 0\ TfV KCLL afJUa^CLV 67Ti/C\r)(rLV Ka\OV(Tt,V. II. 18, 487.

Od. 5, 273. So in OHG-. glosses : ursa wagen, Jun. 304 ;
in MHG.
1
Jiimelwagen, Walth. 54, 3.Wackern. Ib. 1. 772, 26.
lierwagen
The clearest explanation is given by Notker cap. 64 Selbiu ursa :

1st pi demo norde mannelichemo zeichenhaftiu fone dien siben

glaten sternon, die aller der liut wagen heizet, unde nan einemo
2
gloccun joche gescaffen sint, unde ebenmichel sint, ane (except)
des mittelosten. The Anglo-Saxons called the constellation wcenes
pisl (waggon s thill, pole), or simply fiisl, but carles ween also is

quoted in
Lye, Engl. the wain, Dan. karlsvogn, Swed.
charles

Jearlwagn. Is carl here equivalent to lord, as we have herrenwagen

in the same sense ? or is it a transference to the famous king of
Christian legend ? But, what concerns us here, the constellation
appears to have borne in heathen times the full name of Wuotanes
wagan, after the highest god of heaven. The Dutch language has
evidence of this in a MS. of as late as 1470 : ende de poeten in
heure fablen heetend (the constell.) dat
is te segghene
ourse,

Woenswaghen. And elsewhere : dar dit teekin Arcturus, dat wy

heeten Woonswaglien, up staet ;
het sevenstarre ofde Woenswaghen
conf. Huydec. proeven 1, 24. I have nowhere met with plaustrum
Mercurii, nor with an ON. 05ins vagn only vagn d himnum. ;

It is a question, whether the great open highway in heaven to

which people long attached a peculiar sense of sacredness, and
perhaps allowed this to eclipse the older fancy of, a milky way
(caer Gwydion, p. 150) was not in some districts called Wuotanes
wee or strdza (way or street). Wodenesweg, as the name of a place,
stood its ground in Lower Saxony, in the case of a village near

Magdeburg, Ch. ad ann. 973 in Zeitschr. fur archivk. 2, 349 ;

an

Septentrion, qne nos char el del apelon ; Roman de Ron.

1

2
Crossbeam, such as bells (glocken) are suspended on; conf. ans, as, p. 125.
152 WODAN.

older doc. of 937 is said to have Watanesweg (conf. Wiggert in the

Neu. mitth. des thiir. vereins VI. 2, 22). praedium in Wodeneswege,

Dietm. Merseb. 2, 14 p. 750. Annal. Saxo 272. Johannes de Wden-
swege, Heinricus deWodensweghe (Lenz.) Brandenb. urk. p. 74
(anno 1273), 161 (anno 1301). later, Wutenswege, Godenschwege,
Gutenswegen, conf. Ledebur n. arch. 2, 165, 170. Gero ex familia
Wodenswegiorum, Ann. Magdeb. in chron. Marienthal. Meibom 3,
263. I would mention here the lustration der koninges strate, EA.
69 in the Uplandslag vidherb. balkr 23, 7 the highway is called
;

karlsveg, like the heavenly wain above. But we shall have to raise
a doubt by and by, whether the notion of way, via, is contained at
allin Wodensweg.

Plainer, and more to the purpose, appear the names of certain

mountains, which in heathen times were sacred to the service of
the god. At Sigttys lergi, Sa3m. 248 a Othensberg, now Onsberg,
.

on the Danish I. of Samsoe Odensberg in Schonen. Godesberg

,

near Bonn, in docs, of Mid. Ages Gudeneslerg, Giinther1, 211 (anno

1131), 274 (anno 1143), 2, 345 (anno 1265); and before that,
1,

Wodenesbcrg, Lacomblet 97. 117, annis 947, 974 So early as in

Caesarius heisterb. 8, 46 the two forms are put together: Gudins-
lerg vel, Tit alii dicunt, Wudinsberg. Near the holy oak in Hesse,
which Boniface brought down, there stood a Wuodenesberg, still so
named in a doc. of 1154 (Schminke beschr. von Cassel, p. 30, conf.
Wenk 3, 79), later Vdenesberg, Gudensberg ; this hill is not to be
confounded with Gudensberg by Erkshausen, district Eotenburg
(Niederhess. wochenbl. 1830, p. 1296), nor with a Gudenberg by
Oberelsungen and Zierenberg (ib. p. 1219. Eommel 2, 64. Guden-
lurg by Landau, p. 212); so that three mountains of this name
occur in Lower Hesse alone conf. montem Vodinberg, cum silva
;

eidem monti attinente, doc. of 1265 in Wenk II, no. 174. In a

different neighbourhood, a Henricus comes de
Wodenesberg is named
in a doc. of 1130, Wedekind s notes 1, 367 ;
acurtis Wodenesberg in
a doc. of 973, Falke tradit. corb. 534.
Gotansberg (anno 1275),
Langs reg. 3, 471 : vineas duas gotansbcrge vocatas. Mabillon s
acta Bened. sec. 5, p. 208 contain the following c
in loco ubi mons
:

quern dicunt Wonesberth (1.

Wdneslerch = Wodanesberg) a radicibus
astra petit, said to be situate in pagus Gandavensis, but more cor
rectly Mt. Ardenghen between Boulogne and St. Omer. Comes
Wadanimontis, aft. Yaudemont in Lorraine (Don Calmet, tome 2,
 WODAN. 153

preuves XLVIII. L.), seems to be the same, and to mean Wodani-

mons. 1 A
Wddnes leorg in the Sax. Chron. (Ingram pp. 27. 62),
later Wansborough in Wiltshire ; the corruption
Wodnesborough,
already in Ethelwerd p. 835 facta ruina magna ex utraque parte
:

in loco qui dicitur Wodnesbyrg for Wodnesberg ; but Florence, ed.

1592, p. Wodnesbeorh, id est mons Wodeni
225, has
2
Wddnes- . A
leorg in Lappenberg s map near the Bearucwudu, conf. Wodnesbury,
Wodnesdyke, Wodanesfeld in Lappenb. engl. gesch. 1, 131. 258. 354.
To this we must add, that about the Hessian Gudensberg the story

goes that King Charles lies prisoned in it, that he there won a victory
over the Saxons, and opened a well in the wood for his thirsting
army, but he will yet come forth of the mountain, he and his host,
at the appointed -time. The my thus of a victorious army pining for
water already applied to King Carl by the Prankish annalists
is

(Pertz 1, 150. 348), at the very moment when they bring out the
destruction of the Irminsul ; but beyond a doubt it is older and
heathen Saxo Gram. 42 has it of the victorious Balder. The agree
:

ment with fixed points in the ancient cultus can

of such legends
not but heighten and confirm their significance. A people whose
and there a fragment of
faith is falling to pieces, will save here

it, by fixing on a new and

it
unpersecuted object of veneration.
After such numerous instances of ancient Woden-hills, one need
not be afraid to claim a mons Mercurii when mentioned in Latin
annalists, such as Fredegar.
Other names occur, besides those of mountains. The brevi-
arium Lulli, in Wenk II. no. 12, names a place in Thuringia :

in Wudaneshusun, and again Woteneshusun (conf. Schannat no.

84. 105) ;
in Oldenburg .there is a Wodemlwlt, now Godensholt,
cited in a land-book of 1428, Ehrentraut Fries, arch. 1, 445 : to
Wodensholte Tideke Tammen gut x schillinge Wothenower (W6- ;

denover Brandenburg family, Hofers urk. p. 270, anno

?),
seat of a
1334 not far from Bergen op Zoom and the Scheldt, towards Ant
;

werp, stands to this day a Woensdrecht, as if Wodani trajectum.

Woensel =
Wodenssele, Wodani aula, lies near Eindhoven on the

t
x
We know of Graisivaudan, a valley near Grenoble in Dauphine, for
which the Titurel has Graswaldane ; but there is no ground for connecting it
with the god.
2
Our present -borough, -bury, stands both correctly for burh, byrig, castle,
town (Germ, burg), and incorrectly for the lost beorg, beorh, mountain (Germ,
berg). TRANS.
154 WODAX.

Dommel a remarkable passage on it in Gramaye s

in N. Brabant ;

Taxandria, p. was23,pointed out to me by J. W. Wolf: Imo

amplius supersunt aperte Cymbricorum deorum pagis aliquot, ubi
forte culti erant, indita nomina, nominatim Mercurii in Woensel,
honoris in Eersel, Martis in Roysel. Uti enim Woen Mercurium
eis dictum alias docui, et eer honorem esse omnes sciunt, ita Eoy

Martem a colore sanguineo cognominatum ostendunt illi qui tertiam

hebdomadis feriam Koydach indigitant. In due time I shall
speak of Eersel and Roysel, which lie in the neighbourhood of
Woensel, and all of them in the N.. Brabant district of Oirschot.

This Woensel is like the OSinssalr, Othansale, Onsala named on

p. 158. Wunstorp, Wunsdorf, a convent and small town in Lower
Saxony, stands unmutilated as Wodenstorp in a doc. of 1179, Falke
tradit. corb, 770. Near Windbergen in the Ditmar country, an
open space in a wood bears the name of Wodcnslay, Wonslag. Near
Hadersleben in Schleswig are the- villages of Wonsbeke, Wonslei,
Woyens formerly Wodensyen. An AS. doc. of 862 (Kemble 2, 73)
contains in a boundary-settlement the name Wonstoc Wodenesstoc, =
Wodani stipes, and at the same time betrays the influence of the*
god on ancient delimitation. Wuotan, Hermes, Mercury, all seem
to be divinities of measurement and demarcation ;
conf. Woedens-

spanne, Woenslet, p.160 (see SuppI).

As these names, denoting the waggon and the mountain of the

old god, have survived chiefly in Lower Germany, where heathenism

maintained itself longest ; a remarkable custom of the people in
Lower Saxony at harvest-time points the same way. It is usual, to
leave a clump of standing corn in afield to Woden for his hwse.
0<5inn in the Edda rides the eight-footed steed Skipnir,
the best of
b
(food; is a
a ver&r
all horses, Seem. 46 93 Sn. 18. 45. 65.
.
Sleipnis
poetic for hay, Yngl. saga cap. 21
name other sagas speak of a :

tall white horse, by which the god of victory might be recognised in

battles (see Suppl.). Christianity has not entirely rooted

out the
harmless practice for the Norse any more than for the Saxon
peasant. In Schonen and Blekingen it continued for a long time
to be the custom for reapers to leave on the field a gift for Oden s
1 thus described by Gryse
horses. The usage in Mecklenburg is :

i
Geyers schwecl. gesch. 1, 110. orig. 1, 123. In the Hognimssoclcen,
Oeland, are some large stones named Odins flisor, Odini lamellae, of which the
 WODAN. 155

Ja, im heidendom hebben tor tid der arne (at harvest-tide) de

meiers (mowers) afgade Woden umme god korn angeropen
dem
(invoked for good corn), denn wenn de roggenarne geendet, heft
men up den lesten platz eins idem (each) veldes einen kleinen ord
unde humpel korns unafgemeiet stan laten, datsiilve baven (b oben,
a-b ove) an den aren drevoldigen to samende geschortet, unde
besprenget (ears festooned together three times, and sprinkled).
Alle meiers sin darumme her getreden, ere Jiode (their hats) vam
Jcoppe genamen (v. supra, p. 32), unde ere seisen (scythes) na der
slilven wode [mode ?] unde geschrenke (encircling) dem kornbusche

upgerichet, und hebben den Wodenduvel dremal semplik lud averall

also angeropen unde gebeden :

Wode, hale (fetch) dinem rosse nu voder,

nu distil unde dorn,
torn andern jar beter korn !

welker afgodischer gebruk im Pawestom gebleven. Daher denn ok

noch an dissen orden dar heiden gewanet, bi etliken ackerliiden
(-leuten, men) solker avergelovischer gebruk in anropinge des
Woden tor tid der arne gesporet werd, und ok oft desiilve helsche

jeger (the same hellish hunter), sonderliken im winter, des nachtes

up dem velde mit sinen jagethunden sik horen let. 1
David Franck (Meklenb. 1, 56-7), who has heard the same from
old people, quotes the rhyme thus ;

story is told, that Odin, in turning his horse out to graze, took the bit off him
and laid it on a huge block of stone the weight of the bit split the stone into
;

two pieces, which were set upright as a memorial. Another story is, that Oden
was about to fight an adversary, and knew not where to tie his horse up. In
the hurry he ran to the stone, pierced it with his sword, and tied his horse fast
through the hole. But the horse broke loose, the stone burst in pieces and
rolled away, and from this arose the deep bog named Hogrumstrask people ;

have tied poles together, but never could reach the bottom. Abrah. Ahlquist,
Oelands historia, Calrnar 1822. 1, 37, 2, 212. There is a picture of the stones
in Liliengren och Brunius, no. xviii. In the Hogbysocken of Oeland is also a
smooth block of granite named Odinssten, on which, ace. to the folk-tale, the
warriors of old, when marching to battle, used to whet their swords Ahl ;

quist 2, 79. These legends confirm the special importance of Odin s horse in
his mythus. Verelii notae on the Gautrekssaga p. 40 quote from the Clavis
computi runici Odin beter hesta sina i belg bunden, which I do not quite
:

understand. In the Fornm. sog. 9, 55-6 OSinn has his horse shod at a black
smith s, and rides away by enormous leaps to Sweden, where a war breaks out
(see Suppl.).
T
Spegel des antichristischen pawestdoms (popery), dorch Nicolaum Grysen,
predigern in Rostock, Eost. 1593. 4, sheet E iiii
b With the verses cited by
.

him, conf. the formula in weisthiimer Let it lie fallow one year, and bear
:

thistle and thorn the next.

156 WODAN.

Wode, Wode,
dinen rosse nu voder,
lial

nu distel un dorn,
achter jar beter korn !

He adds, that at the squires mansions, when the rye is all cut,
there is Wodel-beer served out to the mowers no one weeds flax ;

on a Wodenstag, lest Woden s horse should trample the seeds from ;

Christmas to Twelfth-day they will not spin, nor leave any flax on
the distaff, andto the question why ? they answer, Wode is galloping
across. We are expressly told, this wild hunter Wode rides a white
horse.
1
Near Satuna in Vestergotland are some fine meadows
called Onsdngarne (Odens angar, ings), in which the god s horses
are said to have grazed, Afzelius 1, 4. In S. Germany they tell of
the lord of the castle s grazing gray (or white), Mone anz. 3, 259 ;
v.

infra, the wutende heer . I have been in the neigh

told, that
bourhood of Kloppenburg in Oldenburg, the harvesters leave a
bunch of corn-stalks uncut on the and dance round it. There
field,

may be a rhyme sung over it still, no doubt there was formerly.

A custom in Schaumburg I find thus described :
2
the people go
out to mow
in parties of twelve, sixteen or twenty scythes, but it is
so managed, that on the last day of harvest they all finish at the
same time, or some leave a strip standing which they can cut down
at a stroke the last thing, or they merely pass their scythes over
the stubble, pretending there is still some left to mow. At the last
stroke of the scythe they raise their implements aloft, pknt them
upright, and beat the blades three times
with the strop. Each
spills on the field a little of the drink he has, whether beer, brandy,
or milk, then drinks himself, while they wave their hats, beat their

scythes three times, and cry aloud Wold, Wold, Wold!

and the
women knock all the crumbs out of their baskets on the stubble.
They march home shouting and singing. Fifty years ago a song
was in use, which has now died out, but whose first strophe ran
thus :

Wold, Wold, Wold!

havenhune weit wat schiit,
jiimm hei dal van haven slit.
1
Mussaus meklenb. volkssagen no. 5 ;
in Liscli meklenb. jahrb. 2, 133 it
is spelt Waud, and a note is made, that on the Elbe they say fruh Wod, i.e.
froho, lord ; conf. infra, fru Gaue and fm Gauden in the wutende heer ,

2
By Munchhausen in Bragur VI. 1, 2134.
 WODAN. 157

Vulle kruken un sangen hat hei,

upen holte wasst (grows) manigerlei :

hei nig barn un wert nig

is old.

Wold, Wold, Wold!

If the ceremony be omitted, the next year will bring bad crops of

hay and corn.

Probably, beside the libation, there was corn left standing for the
venerated being, as the fourth line gives us to understand full :

crocks and shocks hath he and the second strophe may have
;

brought in his horse. Heaven s giant knows what happens, ever

he down from heaven sees/ accords with the old belief in
Wuotan s chair (p, 135) the sixth line touches off the god that
;

ne er born and ne er grows old

is almost too theosophically.
Wold, though excused by the rhyme, seems a corruption of Wod,

Wode,
1
rather than a contraction from waldand (v. supra, p. 21).

A Schaumburg man pronounced the name to me as Wauden, and

related as follows On the lake of Steinhude, the lads from the
:

village of Steinhude go every autumn after harvest, to a hill named

Heidenhiigel, light a fire on it, and when it blazes high, wave their
hats and cry Wauden, Wauden ! (see Suppl.).
Such customs reveal to us the generosity of the olden time,
Man has no wish to keep all his increase to himself he gratefully ;

leaves a portion to the gods, who will in future also protect his

crops. Avarice increased when sacrificing ceased. Ears of corn

are set apart and offered here to Wuotan, as elsewhere to kind

spirits and elves, e.g., to the brownies of Scotland (see Suppl. to

Elves, pixy-hoarding).
It was not Wuotan exclusively that bestowed fertility on the
fields ; Donar, and his mother the Earth, stood in still closer con
nexion with agriculture. We shall see that goddess put in the place
of Wuotan in exactly similar harvest-ceremonies.
In what countries the worship of the god endured the longest,
may be learnt from the names of places which are compounded
with his name, because the site was sacred to him. It is very
unlikely that they should be due to men bearing the same name as
the god, instead of to the god himself ; Wuotan, Oolnn, as a man s
1
Conf. Dutch oud, goud for old, gold so Woude, which approximates
;

the form Wode. Have we the latter in Theodericus de Wodestede ?

3
Scheldt s
mantissa p. 433, anno 1205.
158 WODAN.

name, does occur, but not often and the meaning of the second
;

half of the compounds, and their reappearance in various regions,

are altogether in favour of their being attributable to the god.
From Lower Germany and Hesse, I have cited (p. 151) Wddenmueg,
Wodenesberg, WodenesJwU, Wddenesh Asun, and on the Jutish border
Wonsild ; from the Netherlands Woensdreclit ; in Upper Germany
such names hardly show themselves at all. In England we find
1
:

Woodnesbortf in Kent, near Sandwich :

Wednesbury and Wednes-
field in Staffordshire Wednesham in Cheshire, called Wodncsfield
;

in Ethelwerd p. 84S. 2 But their number is more considerable in

Scandinavia, where heathenism was preserved longer and if in :

Denmark and the Gothland portion of Sweden they occur more

frequently than in Norway and Sweden proper, I infer from this a
preponderance of Odin-worship in South Scandinavia. The chief
town in the I. of Funen (Fion) was named Odinsve (Fornm. sog. 11,
266. 281) from ve, a sanctuary
sometimes also O&imey (ib. 230.
;

352) from ey t island, meadow

and later again Odense, and in
;

Waldemar s Liber censualis 3 530. 542 Othdnso. In Lower Norway,

close to Frederikstad, a second O&insey (Heimskr. ed. Havn. 4, 348.

398), aft. called Onso. In Jutland, Othdnshylla (-huld, grace,

Wald. lib. cens. 519), aft. Onsild. Othdnslef (Othini reliquiae,
leavings, ib. 526), now Onskv. In Halland, Othdnsdle (-saal, hall,
ib. 533), now Onsala (Tuneld s geogr. 2, 492. 504) as ;
well as in
Old Norway an Odhinssalr (conf. Woensel in Brabant, Woenssele ?).
In Schonen, Othdnshdret (Wald. lib. cens. 528) Othenshdrat (Bring ;

2, 62. 138. 142), 4 now Onsjo (Tuneld 2, 397) ;

Onslunda (-grove,
Tuneld 2, 449) ;
Otliensvara Othenvara 39)
(Bring 2, 46-7, ;

Othenstroo (Bring 2, 48), from vara, foedus, and tro, fides ? In

Smaland, Odensvalahult (Tuneld 2, 146) and Odensjo (2, 109. 147.
Sjoborg lorsok p. 61). In Ostergotland, Odenfors (Tuneld 2, 72).
In Vestergotland, Odenskulla (2, 284) and Odenskdlla (2, 264), a
medicinal spring Odensaker, Onsaker (-acre, field, 2, 204. 253). In
;

1
An Odensberg in the Mark of Bibelnheim (now Biebesheim below Gerns-
heim in Darmstadt) is named in a doc. of 1403. Chmels reg. Ruperti p. 204 ;

the form Wodensberg would look more trustworthy.

2
If numbers be an object, I fancy the English contribution might be
swelled by looking up in a gazetteer the names beginning with Wans-, Wens-,
Wadden-, Weddin-, Wad-, Wed-, Wood-, Warn-, Wem-, Worn-. TRANS.
3
Langebek script, torn. 7.
4
Sven Bring, inonumenta Scanensia, vol 2, Lond. goth. 1748.
 WODAN. 159

1
Westmanland, Odensvi (I, 266. conf. Gran, p. 427), like the
Odinsve of Fiinen and our Lower Saxon Woden eswege may have
;

to do with this ve (not with weg, via), and be explained by the old

wig, will, templum (see p. 67). This becomes the more credible,
as there occurs in the Cod. exon. 341, 28 the remarkable sentence :

Woden worhte weos, wuldor alwealda

rume roderas ;

i.e., Woden construxit, creavit fana (idola), Deus omnipotens amplos

coelos ;
the Christian writer had in his recollection the heathen
sanctuaries assigned to Woden, and contrasts with them the greater
creations of God. The plur. weos is easily justified, as wih is
resolved into weoh, and weohas contracted into weos so that an :

AS. Wodenesweoh would exactly fit the OS. Wodanesweg W6- =

daneswih, and the ON. Oolnsve. Also in Westmanland, an Odensjo
(Grau p. 502). In Upland, Odensala (Tuneld 1, 56); Odensfors
(1, 144) ;
Onsike (1, 144). In Nerike, Odensbaclce (1, 240), (see
SuppL).
It seemed needful here to group the most important of these
names together, and no doubt there are many others which have
escaped me 2
in their very multitude, as well as the similarity or
;

identity of their structure, lies the full proof of their significance.

Few, or isolated, they might have been suspected, and explained
otherwise ;
taken together, they are incontestable evidence of the
wide diffusion of Odin s worship.

Herbs and plants do not seem to have been named after this
god. In Brun s beitr.,p. 54, wodesterne is given as the name of a
plant, but we ought first to see it in a distincter form. The Ice
landers and Danes however
call a small waterfowl (tringa minima,

inquieta, lacustris et natans) Odinskani, OdensJiane, Odens fugl,

which fits in with the belief, brought out on p. 147, in birds conse
crated to him. An OHG. gloss (Haupts altd. bl. 2, 212) supplies
a doubtful-looking vtinswaluwe, fulica (see SuppL).
Even a part of the human body was named after the god the :

1
Olof Grau, beskrifning ofver Wastmanland. Wasteras 1754 conf. Dybeck
runa I. 3, 41.
2
There are some in Finn Magnusen s lex. myth. 648 but I do not agree ;

with him in including the H. Germ, names Odenwald, Odenheim, which lack
the HG. form Wuotan and the -s of the nor the Finn. Odenpa, which
genitive ;

means rather bear s head.

160 WODAN.

space between the thumb and the forefinger when stretched out,
which the Greeks name Xt^a?, was called in the Netherlands
Woedensspanne, Woedenspanne, Woenslet. The thumb was sacred,
and even worshipped as thumbkin and Pollux = pollex Wodan ;

was the god of play, and lucky men were said to have the game
running on their thumb. We must await further disclosures about
the name, its purport, and the superstition lying at the bottom of
it (see Suppl.).

I started with assuming that the worship of this divinity was

common to all the Teutonic races, and foreign to none Just because
we must recognise him as the most universal and the supreme one.
Wuotan so far as we have succeeded in gleaning from the relics
of the old religion an idea of his being Wuotan is the most

god of our antiquity, he shines out above all the other

intellectual

gods and
;
therefore the Latin writers, when they speak of the
German cultus, are always prompted to make mention first of
Mercury.
We know that not only the Norsemen, but the Saxons, Thurin-
Alamanns and Langobards worshipped this deity why should
gians, ;

Franks, Goths, and the rest be excluded from his service ?

At the same time there are plain indications that his worship
was not always and everywhere the dominant one. In the South
Germany, although the personification of Wish maintained
of its

than the North neither

ground, Wuotan became extinct sooner
in ;

names of places, nor that of the fourth day of the week, have pre
served him there. Among the Scandinavians, the Swedes and
less devoted to him than the Got-
have been
Norwegians seem to

landers and Danes. The ON. sagas several times mention images
of Thor, never one of OSinn only Saxo Gram, does so in an
;

altogether mythical way (p. 113) ;

Adam of Bremen, though he

names Wodan among the Upsala gods, assigns but the second place
to him, and the first to Thor. Later still, the worship of Freyr
seems tohave predominated in Sweden.
An St. Olaf saga, though made at a later time,
addition to the
furnishes a striking statement about the heathen gods whom the
introduction of Christianity overthrew. I will quote it here,

return to from time to time: Olafr konungr

intending to it

kristnaol riki allt, oil blot braut hann niSr ok oil goS, sein
J?etta
 WODAN. 161

Thor Engilsmanna ok Odin Saxa go5, ok Skiold Skanunga goS,

gob",

ok Frey Svia goS, ok Goftorm Dana goS i.e. king 0. christened

;

all this kingdom, broke down all sacrifices and all gods, as Thor the

Englishmen s god, 05in the Saxons god, &c., Fornm. sog. 5, 239.
This need not be taken too strictly, but it seems to rne to express
the still abiding recollections of the old national gods as the :

Swedes preferred Freyr, so probably did the Saxons Woden, to all

other deities. Why, I wonder, did the writer, doubtless a Norwe
gian,omit the favourite god of his own countrymen ? To them he
ought to have given Thor, instead of to the English, who, like other
Saxons, were votaries of Woden.
Meanwhile it must not be overlooked, that in the Abrenuntiatio,
an 8th century document, not purely Saxon, yet Low German, 0.
Prankish and perhaps Ripuarian, Thunar is named before Vuodan,
nd Saxnot occupies the third place. From this itfollows at all

jvents, thatthe worship of Thunar also prevailed in those regions;

may we vindicate Wuodan s claims to the highest place by

still

upposing that the three gods are here named in the order in which
heir statues were placed side by side? that Wuodan, as the greatest
f them, stood in the middle ? as, according to Adam of Bremen,
n
hor did at Upsala, with Wodan and Fricco on each side of him.
In the ON. sagas, when two of these gods are named together,
horr usually precedes OSinn. The Laxdselasaga, p. 174, says of
Ciartan :
Jjykist eiga meira traust undir afli sinu ok
At hann
4-pnum (put more trust in his strength and weapons, conf. pp. 6,

)
heldr enn J?ar sem er Thorr ok O&inn. The same passage is
epeated in Fornm. sog. 2, 34. Again, Eyvindr relates how his
)arents made a vow before his birth: At sa maftr skal alt til

dauSadags ]?iona Thor ok Offni (this man shall until death-day

Fornm. sog. 2, 16 1. 1 But it does not follow from this,
serve, &c.),
hat Thorr was thought the greatest, for Eyvindr was actually
dedicated to OSinn. In Fornm. sog. 5, 249, Styrbiorn sacrifices to
Thorr, and Eirekr to Oftinn, but the former is beaten. Thdrr tok

1
So in an AS. homily De temporibus Antichrist!, in Wheloc s Bedap. 495,
ire enumerated Thor and Eoftwen, ]?e hseSene men heriat) 8\viSe and before ;

hat, Erculus se ent (Hercules gigas) and Apollinis (Apollo), }?e hi ma3rne god
eton .The preacher was thinking of the Greek and the Norse deities, not of
.he Saxon, or he would have said Thunor and Woden. And in other cases,
vhere distinctly Norse gods are meant, AS. writers use the Norse form of name.
?.
Magnusens lex. p. 919.
11
1C2 WODAN.

jolaveizlu fra Haraldi, cnn O&inn tok fra Halfdani, Fornm. sog.
10, 178. In the popular assembly at Thrandheim, the first
cup is drunk to Offinn, the second to Thdrr, ibid. 1, 35. In the
famous Bravalla fight, Othin under the name of Bruno acts as
charioteer to the Danish king Harald, and to the latter s destruction;
on the Swedish side there fight descendants of Frcyr, Saxo Gram.
144-7. Yet the Eddie HarbarzlioS seems to place OSinn above Thorr.
A contrast between OSinn and Thorr is brought out strongly in the

Gautrekssaga quoted below, ch. XXVIII. But, since Thorr is repre

sented as 0(5in s son, as a rejuvenescence of him, the two must
often resolve into one another. 1
If the three mightiest gods are named, I find Oolnn foremost :

O&inn, Thdr, Freyr, Sn. edda 131. According to Fornm. sog. 1, 16,
voyagers vow money and three casks of ale to Freyr, if a fairwind
shall carry them to Sweden, but to Thdrr or O&inn, if it bring them
home to Iceland (see Suppl.).
when OSinn in ON. documents is styled
It is a different thing,
2
Thridi, the third in that case he appears not by the side of Thorr
;

and Freyr, but by the side of Hdr and lafnhdr (the high and the
even-high or co-equal, OHG. epan hoh) as the Third High* (see
a
Suppl.), Sn. 7. Yngl. saga 52. Seem. 46 As we might imagine, .

the grade varies at other times he is Tveggi (duplex or secundus).

:

Vili and
Again, in a different relation he appears with his brothers
b
Ve, Sn. 7; with Hcenir and LoSr, Seem. 3 or with Hoenir and Loki ,

as
Ssem. 180. Sn. 135; all this rests upon older myths, which,
peculiar to the North, we leave on one side. Yet, with respect to
the trilogy Offinn, Vili, Ve, we must not omit to mention here,
that the OHG-. willo expresses not only voluntas, but votum,
4 con
impetus and spiritus, and the Gothic viljan, velle, is closely
nected with valjan, eligere; whence it is easy to conceive and

1
When OGinn is Thundr in the songs of the Edda, Ssem. 28 b 47 b
called ,

thismay be derived from a bvnja lost =

AS. Jmnian, tonare, and so be equivalent
to Donar it is true, they as loricatus, from Jnind lorica. But
;
explain }mndr
Wuotan, as Voma, is the noise of the rushing air, and we saw him hurl the
cudgel, as Thorr does the hammer.
2
As Zeus also is rpiror, from which TptroycVeia is more easily explained
than by her birth from his head (see Suppl.).
3
JElfric s glosses 56 a Altanus ,
Woden. Altanus, like Summanus, an
:

of Jove, the Altissimus else Altanus, as the name of a wind, might

;
epithet
also have to do with the storm of the wiitende heer .

4
The Greek p.{ vos would be well adapted to unite the meanings of courage,
fury (mut, wut), wish, will, thought.
 WODAN. 163

how Wuotan, Wish and Will should

believe, touch one another (see
SuppL). With the largitor opum may also be connected the AS.
wela, OS. welo, OHG-. wolo, welo = opes, felicitas [weal, wealth],
and Wela comes up several times almost as a personification (conf.
Gramm. 4, 752), like the Lat. goddess Ops (conf. infra Sselde, note) ;
there is also a Vali among the Norse gods. In the case of Ve, gen.
vea, the sense may waver between wiho, sanctus (Goth. Ahma sa
veiha, Holy Ghost), and wih, idolum. In Ssem. 63, Loki casts in
the teeth of Frigg her intrigues with Ye and Vili ; this refers to
the story in Yngl. saga cap. 3, from which we clearly gather the

identity of the three brothers, so that Frigg could be considered the

wife of any one of them. 1

Lastly, a principal proof of the deeply-rooted worship of this

divinity is furnished by Wodan s being interwoven with the old
Saxon genealogies, which I shall examine minutely in the Appendix. 2
Here we see Wodan invariably in the centre. To him are
traced up all the races of heroes and kings among his sons and ;

his ancestors, several have divine honours paid them. In parti-

1
According to this story, OSinn was abroad a long time, during which his
brothers act for him ;
it is worthy of note, that Saxo also makes Othin travel
to foreign lands, and Mithothin fill his place, p. 13 this Mithothin s position
;

throws light on that of Vili and Ve. But Saxo, p. 45, represents Othin as once
more an exile, and puts Oiler in his place (see SuppL). The distant journeys
of the god are implied in the Norse by-names Gm\gra<5r, Gdngleri, Vegtamr,
and Vi&forull, and in Saxo 45 viator indefessus. It is not to be overlooked,
that even Paulus Diac. 1, 9 knows of Wodan s residence in Greece (qui non
circa haec tempora of the war between Langobards and Vandals sed longe
anterius, nee in Germania, sed in Graecia fuisse perhibetur while Saxo removes
;

him to Byzantium, and Snorri to Tyrkland}. In the passage in Paul. Diac. :

Wodan sane, quern adjecta litera Gwodan dixerunt, ipse.est qui apud Romanos
Mercurius dicitur, et ab universis Germaniae gentibus ut deus adoratur, qui
non circa haec tempora, sed longe anterius, nee in Germania, sed in Graecia
3
fuisse perhibetur it has been proposed to refer the second qui to Mercurius
instead of Wodan(Ad. Schmidt zeitschr. 1, 264), and then the harmony of
this account with Snorri and Saxo would disappear. But Paul is dealing with
the absurdity of the Langobardic legend related in 1, 8, whose unhistoric basis
he lays bare, by pointing out that Wodan at the time of the occurrence between
the Wandali and Winili, had not ruled in Germany, but in Greece which ;

is the main The notion that Mercury should be confined to Greece,

point here.
has wider bearings, and would shock the heathen faith not only of the Germans
but of the Romans. The heathen gods were supposed to be omnipresent, as
may be seen by the mere fact that Woden-hills were admitted to exist in
various spots all over the country so that the community of this god to
;

Germans, Greeks and Romans raised no difficulty.

2
This Appendix forms part of the third volume. In the meanwhile,
readers may be glad to see for themselves the substance of these pedigrees,
which I have extracted from the Appendix, and placed at the end of this
chapter. TRANS.
 WODAN.

cular, thereappear as sons, Balder and that Saxntit who in the 8th
rentmy was not yet rooted out of N.W. Germany and in the line ;

his progenitors, Heremtid and Gedt, the latter expressly pro

<>l

nounced a god, or the son of a god, in these legends, while Wodan

himself is regarded more as the head of all noble races. But we
easily come
from a higher point of view both Geat and
to see, that
"Wodun
merge into one being, as in fact Oftinn is called alda Gautrl
b b
Ssern. 93 95 conf. infra Goz, Koz.
;

In these genealogies, which in more than one direction are

visibly interwoven with the oldest epic poetry of our nation, the
gods, heroes and kings are mixed up together. As heroes become
deified, so can gods also come up again as heroes amid such reap-
;

peanuices, the order of succession of the individual links varies [in

different tables].
Each pedigree ends with real historical kings: but to reckon
back from these, and by the number of human generations to get
;it the date of mythical heroes and gods, is preposterous. The
earliest Anglo-Saxon kings that are historically certain full into the
lil
h, i
count four, eight or twelve genera
sixth or seventh century ;

tions up to Woden, you cannot push him back farther than the
third or fourth century. Such calculations can do nothing to shake
our assumption of his far earlier existence. The adoration of
AVodon must reach up to immemorial times, a long way beyond
the first notices given us by the Komans of Mercury s worship in
Germania.
There is one more reflection to which the high place assigned
by the Germans to their Wuotan may fairly lead us. Monotheism
is a thing so
necessary, so natural, that almost all heathens,
amidst
their motley throng of deities, have consciously or unconsciously
ended by acknowledging a supreme god, who has already in him
th<- attributes of all the rest, so that these are only to be regarded
as emanations from him, renovations, of him.
rejuvenescences
This explains how certain characteristics come, to he assigned, now
to this, now to that particular god, and why one or another of them,

according to the difference of nation, comes to be invested with

supreme, power. Thus our Wuotan resembles Hermes and Mercury,
but he stands higher than these two; contrariwise, the German
Donar (Thunor, Thorr) is a weaker Zeus or Jupiter; what was
added to the one, had to be subtracted from the other as for Ziu ;
 WODAN. 165

(Tiw, Tyr), he hardly does more than administer one of Wuotan s

offices, yet is identical in name with the first and highest god of the
Greeks and Eomans and so all these god-phenomena keep meet
:

ing and crossing one another. The Hellenic Hermes is pictured as

a youth, the Teutonic Wuotan as a patriarch OSinn hinn gamli
:

(the old). Yngl. saga cap. 15, like the old god on p. 21. Ziu and
Froho are mere emanations of Wuotan (see Suppl.).

GENEALOGIES OF ANGLO-SAXON KINGS.

Descending Series.

KENT.
 CHAPTEE VIII.

DONAE, THUNAE, (THOEE).

The god who rules over clouds and rain, who makes himself
known in the lightning s flash and the rolling thunder, whose bolt
cleaves the sky and alights on the earth with deadly aim, was

designated in our ancient speech by the word Donar itself,

OS.
1
Thunar, AS. Thunor, ON. Thorr. The natural phenomenon is
called in ON. >ruma, or duna, both fern, like the Gothic J?eihvo,
which was perhaps adopted from a Finnic language. To the god
the Goths would, I suppose, give the name Thunrs. The Swed.
the
tordon, Dan. torden (tonitru), which in Harpestreng still keeps
form thordyn, thordun, is compounded of the god s name and that
same duna, ON. Thordunaf (see Suppl). In exactly the same
way the Swed. term aska (tonitru, fulmen), in the Westgothl. Laws
or driving, from
asikkia, has arisen out of asaka, the god s waggon
2

as, deus, divus,and aka, vehere, vehi, Swed. aka. In Gothland they
thunder Thorsakan, Thor s driving and the ON. reiff
say for ;

but and reiSarslag, rei(5ar-

signifies not only vehiculum, tonitru,
are thunderclap and lightning. For, a waggon rumbling
J?ruma,
over a vaulted space cpmes as near as possible to the rattling
and
The is so natural, that we find
crashing of thunder. comparison
it spread among many nations 8o/cet OX^/ACL rov Jto? rj fipovrrj
:

elvai, Hesychius sub. v. In Carniola the rolling of

^aci^povra.
[To the Eussian peasant
it is
thunder is to this day gotten fahren.
his corn.]
the prophet Ilia driving his chariot, or else grinding
Thorr in the Eclda, beside his appellation of Asa]?6rr, is more

minutely described by
i.e.
Oku>6rr, (Sn. 25) ; his
Waggon-thorr
is drawn by two he-goats (Sn. 26). Other gods have their
waggon
i
So even in High German dialects, durstag for donrstag, Engl. Thursday,
it is not RR, but
and Bav. doren, daren for donnern (Schm. 1, 390). In TMrr
the first R second being flectional), that is an abbrev. of NH, j i.e.
only (the
minre.
N suffers syncopebefore R, much as in the M. Dut. ere, mire, for enre
a
Conf. Onsike (Odin s drive ?) supra, p. 159.
 THUNAR. 167

waggons OSinn and Freyr (see pp. 107, 151), but Then-
too, especially
is distinctively thought of as the god who drives he never appears ;

riding, like Oftinn, nor is he supposed to own a horse either he :

drives, or he walks on foot. We are expressly told Thorr gengr :

til domsins, ok vec5r ar, walks to

judgment, and wades the rivers
1
(Sn. IS). The people in Sweden still say, when it thunders :

godgulrien aker, the good old (fellow) is taking a drive, Ihre G96.
740. 926. gofar akar, gofar kor, the gaffer, good father, drives (see

SuppL). They no longer liked to utter the god s real name, or they
wished to extol his fatherly goodness (v. supra, p. 21, the old god,
Dan. vor gamle fader). The Norwegian calls the lightning Thors-
varme, -warmth, Faye p. 6.

Thunder, lightning and rain, above all other natural phenomena,

proceed directly from God, are looked upon as his doing, his
business (see SuppL). 2 When
a great noise and racket is kept up,
a common expression is you could not hear the Lord thunder for
:

the uproar in France le bruit est si fort, qu on n entend pas Dieu

;
:

tonner. As early as the Eoman de Eenart 11893 :

Font une noise si grant

quen ni oist pas Dieu tonant.

29143 : Et commen^a un duel si grant,

que len ni oist Dieu tonant.
Ogier 10915 : Lor poins deterdent, lor paumes vont batant,
ni oissiez nis ame Dieu tonant.

Garin 2, 38 : Nes Dieu tonnant ni possiez oir.

And in the Eoman

de Maugis (Lyon 1599, p. 64) De la noyse :

quils faisoyent neust Ion pas ouy Dieu tonner.

But thunder is especially ascribed to an angry and avenging
god ;
and in this attribute of anger and punishment again Donar
resembles Wuotan (pp. 18, 142). In a thunderstorm the people say
to their children the gracious God is angry in Westphalia use
:
;
:

hergot kift (chides, Strodtm. osnabr. 104) in Franconia God is out ;

:

1
Scarcely contradicted by his surname Hldrrifti ; this riSi probably points
to reiS, a waggon ; HlorriSi seems to me
to come by assimilation from hloSriSi,
conf. ch. XIII, the goddess HloSyn.
2
A
peasant, being requested to kneel at a procession of the Host, said I :

don t believe the Lord can be there, twas only yesterday I heard him thunder
up in heaven Weidners apophthegmata, Amst. 1643, p. 277.
;
168 THUNAR.

there scolding ;
in Bavaria : der himmeltatl (-daddy) greint (Schm.
1, 462). In Eckstrom s poem in honour of the county of Honstein
b
1592, cii ,
it is said:

Gott der herr muss warlich from sein (must be really kind),
dass er nicht mit donner schlegt drein. 1
The same sentiment appears among the Letton and Finn nations.
Lettic wezzajs kahjas, wezzajs tehws barrahs (the old father has
:

started to his feet, he chides), Stender lett. gramm. 150. With

dievas (god) and dievaitis (godkin, dear god) the Lithuanians
associate chiefly the idea of the thunderer: dievaitis grauja !

dievaitis ji numusse. Esthonian : wanna issa hiiab, wanna essa

waljan, murrisep (the old father growls), Eosenplanters beitr. 8,
116. The Lord scolds, heaven wages war, Joh. Christ. Petris
Ehstland 2, 108 (see Suppl.).
Now with this Donar of the Germani fits in significantly the
Gallic Taranis handed down to us in Lucan 1, 440
whose name is ;

all the Celtic tongues retain the word taran for thunder, Irish toran,

with which one may directly connect the ON. form Thorr, if one
thinks an assimilation from rn the more likely But an old
Tanarus v.) = Taranis.
inscription gives us also (Forcellini sub
The Irish name for Thursday, dia Tordain (dia ordain, diardaoin)
was perhaps borrowed from a Teutonic one (see Suppl.).
So in the Latin Jupiter (literally, God father, Diespiter) there

predominates the idea of the thunderer in the poets Tonans is ;

equivalent to Jupiter (e.g., Martial vi. 10, 9. 13, 7. Ovid Heroid.

9, 7. Fasti 2, 69. Metam. 1, 170. Claudian s Stilicho 2, 439) ;

and Latin poets of the Mid. Ages are not at all unwilling to apply
the name to the Christian God (e.#.,Dracontius de deo 1, 1. satisfact.

149. Yen. Fortunat. p. 212-9. 258). And expressions in the

lingua vulgaris coincide with this: celui qui fait toner, qui fait
courre la nue (p. 23-4). An inscription, Jovi tonanti, in Gruter 21,
6. The Greek Zeus who sends thunder and lightning (/cepatwo?) is
styled Ktpavveios. Zevs eVri/Tre, II. 8, 75. 170. 17, 595. J*o?
II. 15, 379.
,
2
And because he sends them down from the
1
In a poem made up of the first lines of hymns and songs Acli gott vom :

liimmel sieh darein, und werfe einen donnerstein, es 1st gewislich an der zeit,
dass scliwelgerei und iippigkeit zerschmettert werden mausetodt sonst schrein !

\vir bald aus tiefer noth.

2
One might be tempted to connect the Etruscan Tina Jupiter with =
Tonans and Donar ; it belongs more immediately to Z^i/ (v. infra, Zio).
 THUNAR. 169

height of heaven, he also bears the name a /epto?, and is pictured

dwelling on the mountain-top (atcpt,*:). Zeus is enthroned on
Olympus, on Athos, Lycaeus, Casius, and other mountains of Greece
and Asia Minor.
And here I must lay stress on the fact, that the thundering
god is conceived as emphatically a fatherly one, as Jupiter and
Diespiter, as far and tatl. For it is in close connexion with this,
that the mountains sacred to him also received in many parts such
names as Etzel, Altvater, Grossvater. 1 Thorr himself was likewise
called Atli, i.e. grandfather.
A
high mountain, along which, from the earliest times, the
main road to Italy has lain, in the chain between the Graian and
Pennine Alps, what we now call the St. Bernard, was in the early
Mid. Ages named mons Jovis. This name occurs frequently in the
Frankish annals (Pertz 1, 150. 295. 453. 498. 512. 570. 606. 2, 82),
in Otto fris. de gest. Frid. 2, 24, in Eadevicus 1, 25, who designates
it via Julii Caesaris, modo monsAS. writers munt Jofes
Jovis ; in

(Lye sub. v.), in ^Elfr. Boet. p. 150 muntgiow ; in our Kaiserchro-

nik 88 d monte job. The name and the worship carry us back to
the time of the Eomans ;
the inhabitants of the Alps worshipped
a Peninus deus, or a Penina dea :
Neque montibus his ab transitu
Poenorum ullo Veragri, incolae jugi ejus norunt nomen inditum,
sed ab eo (al. deo) quern in summo sacratum vertice peninum
montani adpellant ; Quamvis legatur a poenina dea
Livy 31, 38.

quae ibi colitur

Alpes ipsas vocari Servius on Virg. Aen. 10, 13.
;

An inscription found on the St Bernard (Jac. Spon miscellanea

antiq. Lugd. 1685, p. 85) says expressly : Lucius Lucilius deo
Penino opt. max. donum dedit from which ; follows, that this god
it

was understood to be no other than Jupiter. Conf. Jupiter apenni-

nus, Micali storia 131-5. Zevs Kapaios occurs in Hesych. [icdpa
means head, and The classic writers
so does the Celtic pen, len\.
never use mons and the tabula Antonini names only the
Jovis,
summus Penninus and the Penni lucus but between the 4th and ;

7th centuries Jovis mons seems to have taken the place of these,

1
des hess. vereins 2, 139-142.
Zeitschr. Altd. blatt. 1, 288. Haupts
zeitschr. 1,26. Finnish: isainen panee (Eenval. 118 a ), the father thunders.
To the Finns uliko signifies proavus, senex, and is a surname of the gods
Wainasnomen and Ilmarinen. But also Ukko of itself denotes the thunder-
god (v. infra). Among the Swedish Lapps aija is both avus and tonitrus (see
Suppl.).
170 THUNAR.

perhaps with reference [not so much to the old Roman, as] to the
Gallic or even German sense which had then come to be attached
to the god s name. Remember that German isarnodori on the Jura
1
mountains not far off (p. 80).

Such names of mountains in Germany itself we may with

perfect safety ascribe to the worship of the native deity. Every
one knows the Donnersberg (mont Tonnerre) in the Rhine palatinate
on the borders of the old county of Falkenstein, between Worms,
Kaiserslautern and Kreuznach ;
it stands as Thoneresberg in a doc.
of 869, Schannat hist, wormat. probat. p. 9. Another Thuneresbery
situate on the Diemel, in Westphalia, not far from Warburg, and
surrounded by the villages of Wormeln, Germete and Welda, is
firstmentioned in a doc. of 1100, Schaten mon. paderb. 1, 649 ;

in the Mid. Ages it was still the seat of a great popular assize,
originally due, no doubt, to the sacredness of the spot comes ad :

ThuneresberJic (anno 1123), Wigands feme 222. comitia de Dunris-

berg (1105), Wigands arch.

I. 1, 56. a judicio nostro Thonresberch

(1239), ib. 58. Precisely in the vicinity of this mountain stands the

holy oak mentioned on p. 72-4, just as the robur Jovis by Geismar

in Hesse near a Wuotansberg, p. 152. To all appearance the two
is

deities could be worshipped close to one another. The Kniillge-

birge in Hesse includes a Donnerkaute. In the Bernerland is a

DonnerluM (doc. of 1303, Joh. Miiller 1, 619), called Tonrbul in

Justingers Berner chron. p. 50. Probably more Donnersbergs are

to be found in other parts of Germany. One in the Regensburg
country is given in a doc. of 882 under the name of Tuniesberg,

Ried, cod. dipl. num. 60. A

Sifridus marschalcus de Donnersperch
is named in a doc. of 1300, MB. 33, pars 1, p. 289 ; an Otto de

Donersperg, MB. 4, 94 (in 1194), but Duonesberc, 4, 528 (in 1153),

and Tunniesberg 11, 432. In the Thuringer wald, -between Stein-

1 This mons Jovis must be

distinguished from mons gaudii, which the "by

Mid. Ages meant a height near Rome Otto frising 1. c. 2, 22 the Kaiserchr.
: ;

88 d translates it verbally mendelberc. In Romance poems of the 12- 13th

centuries, monjoie is the French battle-cry, generally with the addition of St
Denis, e.g. monjoya, monjoya sant Denis Ferabras 365. monjoie enseigne S.
!

Denis Garin 108. Ducange in his llth dissertation on Joinville declares

!

monjoie inadmissible as a mere diminutive of mont, since in other passages

(Roquefort 2, 207) it denotes any place of joy and bliss, a paradise, so that we
can fairly keep to the literal sense and there must have been mountains of
;

this name in more than one region. It is quite possible that monjoie itself
came from an earlier monjove (mons Jovis), that with the god s hill there
associated itself the idea of a mansion of bliss (see Suppl.).
 THUNAR. 171

bach and Oberhof, at the rennsteig is a Donershauk (see Suppl.).

A Donares eih, a robur Jovis, was a tree specially sacred to the
god of lightning, and of these there grew an endless abundance in
the German forests.

Neither does Scandinavia lack mountains and rocks bearing the

name of Thorr Thors Hint in East Gothland (conf. Wildegren s
:

Ostergotland 1, Molbech tidskr. 4, 189.

17); Thorsborg in Gothland,
From Norway, where god was pre-eminently honoured, I have
this
nevertheless heard of none. The peasant in Vermland calls the
south-west corner of the sky, whence the summer tempests mostly
rise, Thorskala (-hole, cave, Geijer s Svearikes hafder 1, 268).
And the Thunder-mountains of the Slavs are not to be over
looked. Near Milleschau in Bohemia stands a Hromolan, from
hrom, thunder, in other dialects grom. One of the steepest moun
tains in the Styrian Alps (see Suppl.) is Grimming, i.e., SI. germnik,
OS1. gr"mnik,
thunder-hill (Sloven, gr mi, it thunders, Serv. grmi,
Russ. grom gremit, quasi /Spo/xo? /fye^et) ;
and not far from it is a

rivulet named Donnerslach. 1 The Slavs then have two different

words to express the phenomenon and the god: the latter -is in OS1.
2
Perdu, Pol. Piorun, Boh. Peraun ; among the Southern Slavs it
seems to have died out at an earlier time, though it is still found in
derivatives and names of places. Dobrowsky (inst. 289) traces the
word to the verb peru, ferio, quatio [general meaning rather pello,
to push], and this tolerably apt signification may have contributed
to twist the of its genuine form. 3
word out I think it has dropt a
k : the Lithuanian, Lettish and OPrussian thundergod is Perkunas,
PehrJcons, Perkunos,and a great many names of places are com
pounded with it. Lith., Perkunas grauja (P. thunders), Perkunas
musza (P. strikes, ferit) Lett., Pehrkons sperr (the lightning ;

strikes, see Suppl.). The Slav, perun is now seldom applied

personally, it is used chiefly of the lightning s flash. Procopius (de
Bello Goth. 3, 14) says of the Sclaveni and Antes : 6eov pev yap
va TOP r^9 da T p mrf] <>

Srjfjiiovpjov cLTrdvrwv icvpiov [lovov ainov

1
abriss von Steiermark pp. 66, 67, 70, 81.
Kindermann,
3
The Slovaks
say Parom, and paromova strela (P. s bolt) for perunova ;

phrases about Parom, from Kollar, in Hanusch 259, 260.

3
Might perun be connected with Kfpawos nepawos 1 Still nearer to =
Perun would seem to be the Sansk. Parjanyas, a name borne by Indra as
Jupiter pluvius, literally, fertilizing rain, thunder-cloud, thunder. hymn to A
this rain-god in Rosen s Vedae specimen Conf. Hitzig Philist. 296, and
p. 23.
Holtzmannl, 112, 118.
172 THUNAR.

elvai, KOI Ouovcnv avrw /8oa? re KOL lepeia airavra,

Again, the oak was consecrated to Perun, and old documents define
boundaries by it (do perunova duba, as far as P. s
oak) ; and the
Romans called the the acorn juglans, i.e.joviglans, Jovis glans, the
fruit of the fatherly god. Lightning is supposed to strike oaks by
preference (see Suppl.).
Now Perkun suggests that thundergod of the Morduins, Porguini
(p. 27), and, what is more worthy of note, a Gothic word also,
which (I grant), as used by Ulphilas, was already stript of all per
sonification. The neut. noun fairguni (Gramm. 2, 175. 453)
means 0/009, mountain. 1 What if it were once especially the
Thunder-mountain, and a lost Fairguns the name of the god (see
Suppl.) \ Or, starting with fairguni with its simple meaning of
mons unaltered, may we not put into that masc. Fafrguns or Fair-
guneis, and consequently into Perkunas, the sense of the above-
mentioned aKpios, he of the mountain top \ a fitting surname for
the thundergod. Fergunna, ending like Patunna, p. 71, signifies
in the Chron. moissiac. anno 805 (Pertz 1, 308) not
any particular
spot, but the metal-mountains (erzgebirge) and Virgunnia ; (Vir-
gundia, Virgunda, conf. Zeuss p. 10) the tract of wooded mountains
between Ansbach and Ellwangen. Wolfram, Wh. 390, 2, says of
his walt-swenden (wood- wasting T) der Swarzwalt und Virgunt
:

miiesen da von cede ligen, Black Forest and V. must lie waste
thereby. In the compounds, without which it would have perished
altogether, the OHG. virgun, AS. firgen may either bear the simple
sense of mountainous, woody, or conceal the name of a god. Be that
asit may, we find fairguni,
virgun, firgen connected with divinely-
honoured beings, as appears plainly from the ON. Fiorgyn, gen.
Fiorgynjar, which in the Edda means Thor s mother, the goddess
Earth : Thorr Jar&ar burr, Ssern. 70 a 68 a Offins son, Ss&m. 73 a 74b
. .

And beside her, a male Fiorgynn, gen. Fiorgyns, Fiorgvins, appears

as the father of OSin wife Frigg, Sn. 10, 118. Seem. 63 a
s In all .

these words we must take fairg, firg, fiorg as the root, and not divide
them as fair-guni, fir-gun, fior-gyn. Now it is true that all the Anzeis,
all the Aesir are enthroned on mountains
(p. 25), and Firgun might
have been used of more than one of them; but that we have a right
to claim it specially for Donar and his molfier, is shewn by Perun,

i
Matt. 8, 1. Mk
5, 5. 11. 9, 2. 11, 1. Lu. 3, 5. 4, 29. 9, 37. 19, 29. 37.
1 Cor. 13, 2. Bairgahei (f) opeii/i?) in Lu. 1, 39, 65 ; never the simple bairgs.
 THUNAR. 173

Perkun, and will be confirmed presently by the meaning of mount and

rock which lies in the word hamar. As Zeus is called eVa/cpto?, so is
his daughter Pallas atcpia, and his mother opearepa Td, /ndrep avrov
AIDS (Sophocl. Philoct. 389) the myth transfers from him to his
;

mother and daughter. Of Donar s mother our very marchen have

things to tell (Pentam. 5, 4) and beyond a doubt, the stories of
;

the devil and his bath and his grandmother are but a vulgarization
of heathen notions about the thundergod. Lasicz 47 tells us Per- :

cuna tete mater est fulminis atque tonitrui quae solem fessum
ac pulverolentum balneo excipit, deinde lotum et nitidum postera
die emittit.It is just matertera, and not mater, that is meant by
teta elsewhere.
Christian mythology among the Slav and certain Asiatic nations
has handed over the thunderer s business to the prophet Elijah.,
who drives to heaven in the tempest, whom a chariot and horses of

fire receive, 2 Kings 2, 11. In the Servian songs 2, 1. 2, 2 he is

expressly called gromovnik Iliya} lightning and thunder (munya and
grom) are given into his hand, and to sinful men he shuts up the
clouds of heaven, so that they let no rain fall on the earth (see

SuppL). This last agrees with the O.T. too, 1 Kings 17, 1. 18, 41-5,
conf. Lu. 4, 25, Jam. 5, 17 ;
and the same view is taken in the
OHG. poem, 0. iii. 12, 13 :

Quedent sum giwaro, Helias sis ther mdro,

ther thiz lant so tharta, then himil so bisparta,
ther iu ni liaz in notin regonon then liutin,
2
thuangta si giwaro harto filu suaro.

But what we have is, that in the story of Anti

to note especially
christ s appearance abefore the end of the world, which was
little

current throughout the Mid. Ages (and whose striking points of

agreement with the ON. mythus of Surtr and Muspellsheim I shall

speak of later),Helias again occupies the place of the northern
thundergod. Thorr overcomes the great serpent, but he has
scarcely moved nine paces from it, when he
touched by its
is

venomous breath, and sinks to the ground dead, Sn. 73. In the

1
Udri gromom, gromovit Iliya ! smite with thunder, thunderer Elias,
1,77.
Greg, tur., pref. to bk 2
2
Meminerit (lector) sub Heliae tempore, qui
:

pluvias cum voluit abstulit, et cum libuit arentibus terris infudit, &c.
174 TIIUNAR.

OHG. poem of Muspilli 48 54, Antichrist and the devil do indeed

fall, but Elias also is grievously wounded in the fight :

Doh wanit des vilu gotmanno 1

daz Elias in demo wige arwartit :

sar so daz Eliascs pluot

in erda kitriufit,
so inpriunant die perga ;

his blood dripping on the earth sets the mountains on fire, and the
Judgment-day is heralded by other signs as well. Without
knowing in their completeness the notions of the devil, Antichrist,
Elias and Enoch, which were current about the 7th or 8th

century, we cannot fully appreciate this analogy between Elias

2

and the Donar of the heathens. There was nothing in Christian

tradition to warrant the supposition of Elias receiving a wound,
and that a deadly one. The comparison becomes still more sug
gestive by the fact that even half-christian races in the Caucasus
worship Elias as a god of thunder. The Ossetes think a man lucky
who is struck ~by lightning, they believe Ilia has taken him to

himself survivors raise a cry of joy, and sing and dance around
;

the body, the people flock together, form a ring for dancing, and

sing Ellai, Ellai, eldaer tchoppei

:
(0 Elias, Elias, lord of the
!

rocky summits). By the cairn over the grave they set up a long pole
supporting the skin of a black he-goat, which is their usual manner
of sacrificing to Elias (see Suppl.). They implore Elias to make
3
their fields fruitful, and keep the hail away from them. Olearius

already had put it upon record, that the Circassians on the Caspian
sacrificed a goat on Elias s day, and stretched the skin on a pole
with prayers. 4 Even the Muhammadans, in praying that a thunder
storm may be averted, name the name of Ilya?
Now, the Servian songs put by the side of Elias the Virgin
Mary ; and it was she especially that in the Mid. Ages was. invoked
for rain. The chroniclers mention a rain-procession in the Liege

1 Conf. supra, pp. 88-9.

Gotman, a divine, a priest ?

The Rabbinical legend likewise assumes that

2 Elias will return and slay
the malignant Sammael Eisenmenger 2, 696. 851.
;

3 s travels in the Caucasus 606. 601.

Klaproth 2,
4
Erman a archiv fur Russland 1841, 429.
5 Ad. Olearius reiseschr. 1647, pp. 522-3.
 THUNAE. 175

1
country about the year 1240 or 1244 three times did priests and j

people march round (nudis pedibus et in laneis), but all in vain,

because in calling upon all the saints they had forgotten the Mother
of God ;
when
the saintly choir laid the petition before God,
so,

Mary opposed. In a new procession a solemn salve regina was

sung Et :cum serenum tempus ante f uisset, tanta inundatio pluviae
facta est, ut fere omnes qui in processione aderant, hac illacque

dispergerentur. With the Lithuanians, the holy goddess (dievaite

sventa) a is
rain-goddess. Heathendom probably addressed the
2
petition for rain to the thundergod, instead of to Elias and Mary.
Yet I cannot call to mind a single passage, even in ON. legend,
where Thorr is said to have bestowed rain when it was asked for ;
we are only told that he sends stormy weather when he is angry,
Olafs Tryggv. saga 1, 302-6 (see SuppL). But we may fairly take
into account his general resemblance to Zeus and Jupiter (who are

expressly veno?, pluvius, II. 12, 25 ve Zevs cruz/e%e?), and the pre :

valence of votis imlrem wcare among all the neighbouring nations

(see SuppL).
A description by Petronius
cap. 44, of a Eoman procession for
rain,agrees closely with that given above from the Mid. Ages :

Antea stolatae ibant nudis pedibus in clivum, passis capillis, menti-

bus puris, et Jovem aquam exoralant ; itaque statim urceatim (in
bucketfuls) pluebat, aut tune aut nunquam, et omnes ridebant, uvidi
tanquam mures. M. Antoninus (eZs eavrov 5, 7) has preserved the
beautifully simple prayer of the Athenians for rain :

AOrjvaiwv, vcrov, vcrov, w <t\e Zev, Kara

TT}? dpovpas r?}?
teal TWV 7re$lo)v (see SuppL). According to Lasicz, the Lithuanian
prayer ran thus : Percune devaite niemuski und mana dirvu (so I
emend dievu), melsu tavi, palti miessu. Cohibe te, Percune, neve
in meum agrum calamitatem immittas (more simply, strike not),
ego vero tibi hanc succidiam dabo. The Old Prussian formula is
said to have been : Dievas Perkunos, absolo mus !
spare us, = Lith.

apsaugok mus ! To all this I will add a more extended petition in

3
Esthonian, as Gutslaff heard an old peasant say it as late as the

1
Aegidius aureae vallis cap. 135 (Chapeauville 2, 267-8). Chron. belg. ,

magn. ad ann. 1244 (Pistorius 3, 263).

2
Other saints also grant rain in answer to prayer, as St Mansuetus in
Pertz 6, 512 b 513 b the body of St Lupus carried about at Sens in 1097,
.
;

Pertz 1, 106-7.Conf. infra, Rain-making.

3
Joh. Gutslaff, kurzer bericht und unterricht von der falsch heilig ge-
176 THUNAR.

17th century Dear Thunder (woda Picker), we offer to thee an

:

ox that hath two horns and four cloven hoofs, we would pray thee
for our ploughing and sowing, that our straw be
copper-red, our
grain be golden -yellow. Push elsewhither all the thick black clouds,
over great fens, high forests, and wildernesses. But unto us
ploughers and sowers give a fruitful season and sweet rain. Holy
Thunder (poha Picken), guard our seedfield, that it bear good straw
below, good ears above, and good grain within/ Picker or Picken
would in modern Esthonian be called Pitkne, which comes near
the Finnic pitkdinen = thunder, perhaps even Thunder Hiipel s ;

Esth. however gives both pikkenne and pikne simply as

Diet,
thunder (impersonal). The Finns usually give their thundergod
the name Ukko only, the Esthonians that of Turris as well,
1
evidently from the Norse Thorr (see Suppl.).
As
the fertility of the land depends on thunderstorms and
rains, Pitkdinen and Zeus appear as the oldest divinity of agri
cultural nations, to whose bounty they look for the thriving of
their cornfields and fruits (see Suppl.) . Adam of Bremen too attri
butes thunder and lightning to Thor expressly in connexion with
dominion over weather and fruits Thor, inquiunt, praesidet in aere,
:

qui tonitrua et fulmina, ventos imbresque, serena et fruges giibcrnat.

Here then the worship of Thor coincides with that of Wuotan, to
whom likewise the reapers paid homage (pp. 154 7), as on the other
hand Thor as well as Oftinn guides the events of war, and receives
his share of the spoils (p. 133). To the Norse mind indeed, Thor s
victories and his battles with the giants have thrown his peaceful
office quite into the shade. Nevertheless to Wuotan s mightiest
son, whose mother is Earth herself, and who isalso named Per-

kunos, we must, ifonly for his lineage sake, allow a direct relation
to Agriculture. 2 He clears up the atmosphere, he sends fertilizing

nandten bache in Liefland Wohhanda. Dorpt. 1644, pp. 362-4. Even in his
time the language of the prayer was hard to understand it is given, corrected,
;

in Peterson s Finn, mythol. p. 17, and Rosenplanter s beitr., heft 5, p. 157.

1
Ukko is, next to Yumala (whom I connect with Wuotan }, the highest
Finnish god. Pitkainen literally means the long, tall, high one.
2
Uhland in his essay on Thorr, has penetrated to the heart of the ON.
myths, and ingeniously worked out the thought, that the very conflict of the
summer-god with the winter-giants, itself signifies the business of bringing land
under cultivation, that the crushing rock-splitting force of the thunderbolt
prepares the hard stony soil. This is most happily expounded of the Hrungnir
and Orvandill sagas in some of the others it seems not to answer so well.
;
 THUNAR. 177

showers, and his sacred tree supplies the nutritious acorn. Thor s
minni was drunk to the prosperity of cornfields.
The German thundergod was no doubt represented, like Zeus
and Jupiter, with a long beard. A Danish rhyme still calls him
1
Thor med sit lange -skidg (F. Magnusen s lex. 957). But the ON.
sagas everywhere define him more narrowly as red-bearded, of
course in allusion to the fiery phenomenon of lightning when the :

god is angry, he blows in his red beard, and thunder peals through

the clouds. In the Fornm. sog. 2, 182 and 10, 329 he is a tall,

handsome, red-bearded youth Mikill vexti (in growth), ok ungligr,

:

friSr synum (fair to see), ok rau&skeggja&r ; in 5, 249 maSr rauft-

skegyja&r. Men in distress invoked his red beard : Landsmenn

toko ]?at ra5 (adopted the plan) at heita )?etta hit rauffa skegg, 2,
183. When in wrath, he shakes his beard EeiSr var J?a, scegg :

nam at hrista, scor nam at dyja (wroth was he then, beard he took
to bristling, hair to More general is the
tossing), Seem. 70 a .

phrase brynnar
: ofan fyrir augun (let sink the brows over
let siga

his eyes), Sn. 50. His divine rage (asmoftr) is often mentioned :

Thorr var5 reiftr, Sn. 52. Especially interesting is the story of

Thor s meeting with King Olaf 1, 303 ;
his power seems half broken
by this time, giving way to the new doctrine ;
when the Christians
approach, a follower of Thorr exhorts him to a brave resistance :

]>eyt J?u i mot J?eim skeggrodd J?ina (raise thou against them thy
beard s voice). ]?a gengu j?eir ut, ok lies Thorr fast i kampana, ok

freyttiskeggraustina (then went they out, and Th. blew hard into
his beard, and raised his beard s voice), kom ]?a J?egar andviSil moti

konungi sva styrkt, at ekki matti vi5 halda (immediately there came
ill- weather
against the king so strong, that he might not hold out,
i.e., at sea). This red beard of the thunderer is still remembered in
curses, and that among the Frisian folk, without any visible connex
ion with Norse ideas: diis ruadhiiret donner regiir! (let red-haired
thunder see to that) is to this day an exclamation of the North Fris
ians.
1
And when the Icelanders call a fox holtafiorr, Thorr of the
2
holt, it is probably in allusion to his red fur (see Suppl.).

The ancient languages distinguish three acts in the natural

1
Der geizhalz auf Silt, Flensbiirg 1809, p. 123 ;
2nd ed. Sonderburg 1833,
p. 113.
2
Nucleus lat. in usum scholae schalholtinae. Hafniae 1738, p. 2088.
12
178 THUNAR.

phenomenon the :
flash, fulgur, aa-rpaTnj, the sound, tonitrus, ftpovrij,
and the stroke, fulmen, /cepawos (see SuppL).
The lightning s flash, which we name Uitz, was expressed in our
older speech both by the simple plih, Graff 3, 244, MHG. blic, Iw.
649. Wigal. 7284, and by plecliazunga (coruscatio), derived from
1
plechazan, a frequentative of plechen (fulgere), Diut. 1, 222-4 ;

they also used plechunga, Diut. 1, 222. Pleccateshem, Pertz 2, 383,

the name of a place, now Blexen the MHG. has Uikze (fulgur) ;
:

die blikzen und die donerslege sint mit gewalte in siner pflege, MS.
2, 166 b .
Again lohazan (micare, coruscare), Goth, lauhatjan, pre
supposes a lohen, Goth, lauhan. From the same root the Goth
forms his Iduhmuni (aarpaTrrj), while the Saxon from blic made a
Uicsmo (fulgur). AS. leoma (jubar, fulgur), ON. liorni, Swed.
ljungeld, Dan. lyn. A Prussian folk-tale has an expressive phrase
for the lightning : He with the Uue whip chases the devil/ i.e. the
giants Hue flame was held specially sacred, and people
;
for a
swear by it, North Fris. donners blosJcen (blue sheen) help in !

Hansens geizhals p 123 and Schartlin s curse was blau feuer !;

(see SuppL).
.Beside donar, the OHG. would have at its command capreh
b
(fragor) from prehhan (frangere), Gl. hrab. 963 ,
for which the
MHG. often has klac, Troj. 12231. 14693, and krach from kracheii,

(crepare) mit krache gap der doner duz, Parz. 104, 5 ; and as
:

krachen is synonymous with rizen (strictly to burst with a crash),

we also find wolkenriz fern, for thunder, Parz. 378, 11. Wh. 389,
18 gegenrfe, Wartb. kr. jen.. 57 rent als der wilde dunrslac von
; ;

himel kam gerizzen, Ecke 105. der chlafondo doner, Cap. 114; N".

der chlafleih heizet toner der doner stet gespannen, Apollon. 879.
;

I connect the Gothic peihvo fern, with the Finnic teuhaan (strepo),
teuhaus (strepitus, tumultus), so that it would mean the noisy,
uproarious. Some L. Germ, dialects call thunder grummet, Strodtm.
Osnabr. 77, agreeing with the Slav, grom, hrom (see SuppL).
For the notion of fulmen we possess only compounds, except

1
I remember pleckan, plahta (patere, nuclari ;
While writing plechazan,
bleak), MHG.
blecken, blacte, Wigal. 4890 which, when used of the sky, ;

means the clouds open, heaven opens, as we still say of forked and sheet
:

lightning conf. Lohengr. p. 125

;
relit alsam des himmels bliz von doner sich
:

erhlccket. If this plechan is akin to plih (fulgur), we must suppose two verbs
plihhan pleih, and plehhan plah, the second derived from the first. Slav, blesk,
blisk, but Boh. bozhi posel, god s messenger, lightning-flash.
Russ. molniya,
Serv. munya, fern, (see
 THUNAR. 179

when the simple donner is used in that sense sluoc alse ein doner, :

Eoth. 1747. hiure hat der scliur (shower, storm) erslagen, MS. 3,
223 a ; commonly donnerschlag, blitzschlay. OHG. blig-scuz (-shot,
fulgurum jactus), N. cap. 13; MHG. blickeschoz, Barl. 2, 26. 253, 27,
and blicschoz, Martina 205 a ;
fiurin donerstrdle, Parz. 104, 1; don-
rcslac, Iw. 651; ter scuz tero fiurentun donerstrdlo (ardentis fulminis),
erscozen mit tien donerstrdlon, N. Bth. 18. 175; MHG. wetterstrahl,
blitzstrahl, donnerstrahl. MHG. wilder donerslac, Geo. 751, as

lightning called wild fire, Eab. 412,

is Schm. 1, 553, and so in ON.
villi-eldr, Sn. 60 (see SuppL).
So then, as the god who lightens has red hair ascribed to him,
and he who thunders a waggon, he who smites has some weapon
that he shoots. But here I judge that the notion of arrows being
shot (wilder pfil der uz dem donre snellet, Troj. 7673. doners pfile,
Turnei von Nantheiz 35. 150) was merely imitated from the icrj\a
to?, tela Jovis the true Teutonic Donar throws wedge-shaped
;

stones from the sky : ez wart nie stein geworfen dar er enkseme von
der schdre, there was never stone thrown there (into the castle

high), unless it came from the storm, Ecke 203. ein vlins (flint)
von donrestralen, Wolfram 9, 32. ein herze daz von vlinse ime donre
gewahsen wsere (a heart made of the flint in thunder), Wh. 12, 16.

scMrestein, Bit. schawerstcin, Suchenw. 33, 83.

10332. so slahe
mich ein donerstein Ms. H. 3, 202 a We now call it donnerM,
! .

Swed. isk-vigg (-wedge) and in popular belief, there darts out of

;

the cloud together with the flash a black wedge, which buries itself
in the earth as deep as the highest church-tower is high. 1 But every
time it thunders again, it begins to rise nearer to the surface, and
after seven years you may find it above ground. Any house in
which it is preserved, proof against damage by lightning when
is ;

2
a thunder-storm is coming on, it begins to sweat. Such stones are
also called donnerdxte (-axes) donnersteine, donnerhammer, albschosse

(elfshots), strahlsteine, teufelsfinger,Engl. thunder-bolts, Swed. Thors

3
vigge, Dan. tordenldle, tordenstraale (v. infra, ch. XXXVII), and stone
hammers and knives found in ancient tombs bear the same name.
Saxo Gram. p. 236 : Inusitati ponderis malleos, quos Joviales voca-

1
This depth is variously expressed in curses, &c. e.g. May the thunder strike,
you into the earth as far as a hare can run in a hundred years !

2
Weddigens westfal. mag. 3, 713. Wigands archiv 2, 320, has nine years
instead of seven.
3
The Grk name for the stone is /3eXe/mY?;y a missile.
180 THUNAR.

prisca virorum religione

cultos . . .
cupiens
bant, . . . ;

enim antiquitas tonitruorum causas usitata rerum similitudine com-

coeli fragores cieri credebat, ingenti aere
prehendere, malleos, quibus
complexa fuerat (see Suppl.). To Jupiter too the silex (flins) was
sacred, and it was held by those taking an oath. From the mention
of elf-shots above, I would infer a connexion of the elf-sprites
with the thundergod, in whose service they seem to be employed.
The Norse mythology provides Thorr with a wonderful hammer
named Miolnir (mauler, tudes, contundens), which he hurls at the
57 b 67 b 68
b
it is also called firu&hamar, strong
giants, Ssem. ;

b and has the

b
hammer, Seem. 67 68 property of returning into the
,

god s hand of itself, after being thrown, Sn. 132. As this hammer
through the air (er harm kemr a lopt, Sn. 16), the giants
know
flies
it, lightning and
thunder precede the throwing of it J?vi nsest sa :

harm (next saw he, giant HrungnirJ eldingar oc heyrol frrumur

storar, sa hann Thor i asmoSi, for hann akaflega, oc reiddi hamarin
J?a
oc kastaffi, Sn. 109. This is obviously the crushing thunderbolt,
which descends after lightning and thunder, which was nevertheless
regarded as the god s permanent weapon hence perhaps that ;

rising of the bolt out

of the earth. Saxo, p. 41, represents it as a
club without a handle, but informs us that Hother in a battle
(clava)
with Thor had knocked off the manubium clavae ;
this agrees with
the Eddie narrative of the manufacture of the hammer, when it
was accounted a fault in it that the handle was too short (at
Sn. 131. It was forged by cunning
forskeptit var heldr skamt),
1
and in of that defect, it was their masterpiece. In
dwarfs, spite
Saxo p.
armed with a torrida chalybs? It is noticeable,
163, Thor is

how Frauenlob MS. b

2, 214 expresses himself
about God the Father:
der smit tiz Oberlande warf sinen hamer in mine schoz. The ham
mer, as a divine tool, was considered sacred, brides and the bodies

of the dead were consecrated with it, Sasm. 74 b . Sn. 49. 66 ;

men
blessed with the sign of the hammer? as Christians did with the sign

of the cross, and a stroke of lightning was long regarded in the

lightning was by the Curetes

1
As Zeus s or Cyclopes.
That in ancient statues of the thundergod the hammer had not been for
2

late evidence, e.g. the statue of a dorper

gotten, seems to be proved by pretty
mentioned in connexion with the giants (ch. XVIII, quotation from^Fergut).
And in the AS. Solomon and Saturn, Thunor wields & fiery axe (ch. XXV, Mus-
pilli).
3
In the Old Germ, law, the throwing of a hammer ratifies the acquisition
of property.
 THUNAK. 181

Mid. Ages as a happy initiatory omen to any undertaking. Thorr

with his hammer hallows dead bones, and makes them alive again,
Sn. 49 (see Suppl.). But most important of all, as vouching for
the wide extension of one and the same heathen appears to
faith,
me that beautiful poem in the Edda, the Hamars heimt (hammer s
1
homing, mallei recuperatio), whose action is motived by Thor s
hammer being stolen by a giant, and buried eight miles underground:
ek hefi HlorriSa hamar umfolginn atta rostom for iorS nedan,
Seem. 71 a This unmistakably hangs together with the popular
.

belief I have quoted, that the thunderbolt dives into the earth and
takes seven or nine years to get up to the surface again, mounting
as it were a mile
every year. At bottom Thrymr, J?ursa drottinn,
lord of the durses or giants, who has only got his own hammer
back again, seems identical with Thorr, being an older nature-god,
in whose keeping the thunder had been before the coming of the

ases; shown by his name, which must be derived from

this is

Jmima, The compound J?rumketill (which Biorn explains

tonitru.
as aes tinniens) is in the same case as the better-known ]?6rketill

(see Suppl.).
Another proof that this myth of the thundergod is a joint pos
session of Scandinavia and the rest of Teutondom, is supplied by
the word hammer itself. Hamar meansin the first place a hard
stone or rock, 2 and secondly the tool fashioned out of it the ON. ;

hamarr still keeps both meanings, rupes and malleus (and saks, seax
again is a stone knife, the Lat. saxum). Such a name is particularly
well-suited for an instrument with which the mountain-god Donar,
our Tairguneis, achieves all his deeds. Now as the god s hammer
strikes dead, and the curses thunder strike you and hammer strike

you meant the same thing, there sprang up in some parts, especially
of Lower Gemany, after the fall of the god Donar, a personification
of the word Hamar in the sense of Death or Devil dat die de :

Hamer ! i vor den Hamer ! de Hamer sla are phrases still !

1 No other
lay of the Edda shows itself so intergrown with the people s
poetry of the North its plot survives in Swedish, Danish and Norwegian songs,
;

which bear the same relation to that in the Edda as our folk-song of Hilde-
brand and Alebrand does to our ancient poesy. Thor no longer appears as a
god, but as Thorkar (Thorkarl) or Thord af Hafsgaard, who is robbed of his
golden hammer, conf. Iduna 8, 122. Nyerups udvalg 2, 188. Arvidsson 1, 3.
Schade s beskrivelse over oen Mors, Aalborg 1811, p. 93. Also the remarkable
legend of Thor me& tungum liamri in Faye s norske sagn. Arendal 1833, p. 0,
where also he loses and seeks his hammer.
2 Slav, kamen gen. kanmia, stone ;
Lith. akmu gen. akmens ;
fcam = Tiam.
 182 THUNAR.

current among the people, in which you can exchange Ilamer for
Diivel, but which, one and all, can only be traced back to the god
that strikes with the hammer. In the same way dat is en :

Hamer, en hamersken kerl, a rascally impudent cheat.

1
de Hamer
kennt se all the devil may
! know them all, Schiitze 2, 96. Hem-
merlein, mcister Hdmmerlcin, signified the evil spirit. Consider also
the curses which couple the two names donner und teufel both ;
!

of which stood for the ancient god. By gammel Thor, old Thor, the
common people in Denmark mean the devil ; in Sweden they long
protested by Thoregud. The Lithuanians worshipped an enormous
b
hammer, Seb. Frankes weltbuch 55 (see Suppl.).
It must have been
at an earlier stage that certain attributes
and the Saviour, and some Judeo-christian legends, were
titles of

transferred to the heathen god, and particularly the myth of Leviathan

to lormungandr. As Christ by his death overmastered the monster

serpent (Bar! 78, 39 to 79, 14), so Thorr overcomes the miSgarSs-

orm (-worm, snake that encircles the world), and similar epithets
are given to both. 2 Taking into account the resemblance between
the sign of the cross and that of the hammer, it need not seem

surprising that the newly converted Germans should under the

name of Christ still have the lord of thunder and the giver of rain

present to their minds and so a connexion with Mary the Mother

;

of God (p. 174) could be the more easily established. The earliest
troubadour (Diez p. 15. Eaynouard 4, 83) actually names Christ
still as the lord of thunder, Jhesus del tro.
A Neapolitan fairy-tale in the Pentamerone 5, 4 personifies
thunder and lightning (truone e lampe} as a beautiful youth, brother
of seven spinning virgins, and son of a wicked old mother who
knows no higher oath than pe truone e lampe . Without assert

ing any external connexion between this tradition and the German
1
Brem. wtb. 2, 575. dat di de hamer sla ! Strodtm. p. 80, conf. Schm. 2, 192.
the hammer, or a great hammer strike you ! Abeles kunstl. unordn. 4, 3. Ge-
richtsh. 1, 673. 2, 79. 299. 382. verhamert diir, kolt, Schiitze 2, 96=verdonnert,
verteufelt, blasted, cursed, &c. How
deeply the worship of the god had taken
root among the people, is proved by these almost ineradicable curses, once
solemn protestations donner ! donnerwetter ! heiliges gewitter (holy thunder
:

storm) And, adding the Christian symbol

! kreuz donnerwetter ! Then, :

euphemistically disguised :bim (by the) dummer, potz dummer duminer !

auch Slutz 1, 123. 2, 161-2.

!
3, 56. bim dummer hammer 3, 51. bim dumstig.
dunnstig! as in Hesse :
donnerstag ! bim hamer ! In Flanders bi Vids morkel :

hamer! Willem s vloeken, p. 12.

2 Finn Magnusen lex. 48 i-5.
 THUNAR. 183

one,
1
we discover in it the same idea of a kind and beneficent, not
a hostile and fiendish god of thunder.

The large beetle, which we call stag-beetle or fire-beetle, lucanus

cervus, taurus (ch. XXI, beetles), is in some districts of South Ger
many named donnergueg, donnerguye, donnerpuppe (gueg, guegi,
beetle),perhaps because he likes to live in oak-trees, the tree sacred
to thunder. For he also bears the name eichochs, Swed. ekoxe (oak-
2
ox) but then again feuerschroter, fiirboter (fire-beeter, i.e. kindler),
;

borner or haus-brenner (-burner), which indicates his relation to

thunder and lightning. It is a saying, that on his horns he carries
redhot coals into a roof, and sets it alight ;
more definite is the

belief mentioned in Aberglaube, p. xcvi, that lightning will strike a

house into which this beetle is carried. In Swed. a beetle is still
named horntroll (see SuppL).

Amongherbs and plants, the following are to be specially noted :

the donnerbart, stonecrop or houseleek, semper vivum tectorum,

3
which, planted on the roof, protects from the lightning s stroke :

barba Jovis vulgari more vocatur (Macer Floridus 741), Fr. Jbubarbe
(conf.Append, p. Iviii) the donnerbesen (-besom), a shaggy tangled
;

nest-like growth on boughs, of which superstition ascribes the gen

eration to lightning otherwise called alpruthe ; the donnerkraut,
;

sedum; the donnerflug, fumaria bulbosa; the donnerdistel, eryng-

ium campestre; the Dan. tordenskreppe, burdock. The South Slavs
call the iris perunik, Perun s flower, while the Lettons call our

1
How
comes the Ital. to have a trono (Neap, truono, Span, trueno) by the
side of tuono ? and the Provencal a irons with the same meaning ? Has the R
sliptin from our donar, or still better from the Goth, drunjus, sonus, Rom. 10,
18 (conf. dronen, cymbal s droning sound of Dryden)? or did the Lat. thronus
pass into the sense of sky and thunder ? iorcnst nicht, wanns tonnert, ein
iron werd vom himmel fallen ? Garg. 181 b The troubadour s Jhesus del tro
.

might then simply mean lord of the firmament.

2 *
I wol don sacrifice, and lyres beete, Chaucer.
}
Hence beetle itself ? AS.
bytel. TRANS.
3 A
Provencal troubadour, quoted by Raynouard sub v. barbajol, says e da- :

quel erba tenon pro li vilan sobra lur maiso. Beside this hauswurz (hauswurzel,
Superst. 60), the hawthorn, albaspina, is a safeguard against lightning (Mem.
del acad. celt. 2, 212), as the laurel was among the ancient Romans, or the
white vine planted round a house; conf. brennessel (Superst. 336) palm branches ;

laid upon coals, lighted candles, a fire made on the hearth, are
good for a
thunderstorm, Braunschw. anz. 1760, p. 1392. The crossbill too is a protector
(Superst. 335) because his beak forms the sign of the cross or hammer ? but
;

the nest-making redbreast or redstart appears to attract lightning (ch. XXI,

redbreast Superst. 629. 704)
; was he, because of his red plumage, sacred to
;

the redbearded god 1 (see

Suppl.).
184 THUNAR.

hederich (ground-ivy? hedge-mustard?) pehrkoncs; Perunika is also,

woman s name. The oak above all trees was dedicated
like Iris, a
to the Thunderer (pp. 67, 72): quercus Jovi
placuit, Phaedr. 3, 17 ;

magna Jovis antique robore quercus, Virg. Georg. 3, 332. At

Dodona stood the Sp{5? v^tKOfjLos Aw, Od. 14, 327. 19, 297, but at
Troy the leech often named in the Iliad: $77709 v^rj\r) Jto? aiyioxpio,
5, 693. 7, 60. A particular kind of oak
is in Servian grm, and

(jrmik quercetum, no doubt in close connexion with grom

is

(tonitrus), grmiti or grmlieti (tonare). The acorn is spoken of

above, p. 177.
Apparently some names of the snipe (scolopax gallinago) have
to do with this subject donncrziege (-goat), donnerstagspferd
:

(Thursday horse), liimmelsziege (capella coelestis) ;

because he seems
to bleat or whinny in the sky ? But he is also the weatherbird,
stormbird, rainbird, and his flight betokens an approaching thunder
storm. Dan. myrehest, Swed. horsgjok, Icel. hrossagaukr, horsegowk
or cuckoo, from his neighing; the first time he is heard in the year,
he prognosticates to men their fate (Biorn sub v.) evidently ;

superstitious fancies cling to the bird. His Lettish name pelirkona

pehrkona ahsis (thunder s she-goat and he-goat) agrees exactly
Jeasa,
with the German. In Lithuanian too, Mielcke 1, 294. 2, 271
gives Perkuno ozhys as heaven s goat, for which another name is
tikkutis. Kannes. pantheum p. 439, thinks the name donners-

tagspferd belongs to the goat itself, not to the bird ;

this would be
welcome, if it can be made good. Some confirmation is found in
the AS. firgenycet (ibex, rupicapra, chamois), and firginbucca (capri-

cornus), to which would correspond an OHG. virgungeiz, virgun-

pocch ;
so that in these the analogy of fairguni to Donar holds

good. The wild creature that leaps over rocks would better become
the god of rocks than the goat. In the Edda, Thorr has
tame
he-goats yoked between
to his thunder-car these, and the weather-
:

fowl described by turns as goat and horse (always a car-drawing

beast), there might exist some half-obscured link of connexion (see

Suppl.). It is significant also, that the devil, the modern repre

sentative of the thunder god, has the credit of having created goats,
both he and she and as Thorr puts away the bones of his goats
;

after they have been picked, that he may bring them to life again
1
(Sn. 49. 50), so the Swiss shepherds believe that the goat has
i The myth of the slaughtered goats brought to life again by hammer-couse-
 THUNAK. 185

something of the devil in her, she was made by him, and her feet
a
especially smack of their origin, and are not eaten, Tobler 214 .

Did the German thundergod in particular have he-goats and she-

goats sacrificed to him (supra, p. 52) ? The Old Roman or Etruscan
tridental (from bidens, lamb) signifies the place where lightning had

struck and killed a man there a lamb had to be sacrificed to

:

Jupiter, and the man s body was not burned, but buried (Plin. 2,
54). If the Ossetes and Circassians in exactly the same way offer
a goat over the body killed by lightning, and elevate the hide on a

pole (supra, p. 174), it becomes the more likely by a great deal that
the goat-offering of the Langobards was intended for no other than
Donar. For hanging up hides was a Langobardish rite, and was
practised on other occasions also, as will presently be shown. In
Carinthia, cattle struck by lightning are considered sacred to God ;

no one, not even the poorest, dares to eat of them (Sartoris reise 2,

158).
Other names of places compounded with that of the thundergod,
besides the numerous Donnersbergs already cited, are forthcoming
in Germany. Near Oldenburg lies a village named Donnerschwee,

cration, and of the boar Ssehrimnir (Sn. 42) being boiled and eaten every day
and coming whole again every evening, seems to re-appear in more than one
shape. In Wolfs Wodana, p. xxviii, the following passage on witches in
Ferrara is quoted from Barthol. de Spina (f 1546), quaestio de strigibus :

Dicunt etiam, quod postquam comederunt aliquem pinguem bovem vel aliquam
vegetem, vino vel arcam sen cophinum panibus evacuarunt et consumpserunt
ea vorantes, domina ilia percutit aurea virga quam maim gestat ea vasa vel loca,
et statim ut prius plena sunt vini vel
panis ac si nihil inde fuisset assumptum.
Similiter congerijubet ossa mortui bovis super cor turn ejus extensum, ipsumque per
quatuor partes super ossa revolvens virgaque percutiens, vivum bovem reddit ut
prius, ac reducendum jubet ad locum suum. The diabolical witches meal
very well matches that of the thundergod. But we are also told in legends,
that the saint, after eating up a cock, reanimated it out of the bones ; and so
early as parson Amis, we find the belief made use of in playing-off a deception
(1. 969 seq.). Folk-tales relate how a magician, after a fish had been eaten, threw
the bones into water, and the fish came alive As with these eatable
a^ain.
creatures, so in other tales there occurs the reanimation of persons who have
been cut to pieces in the marchen vom Machandelbom (juniper-tree) ; in the
:

myth of Zeus and Tantalus, where the shoulder of Pelops being devoured by
Demeter (Ovid 6, 406) reminds us of the he-goat s leg-bone being split for the
marrow, and remaining lame after he came to life again ; in the myth of Osiris
and St Adalbert (Temine p. 33) ; conf. DS. no. 62, and Ezekiel 37. Then in
the eighth Finnish rune, Lemminkaimen s mother gathers all the limbs of his
dismembered body, and makes them live again. The fastening of heads that
have been chopped off to their trunks, in Waltharius 1157 (conf. p. 93) seems
to imply a belief in their
reanimation, and agrees with a circumstance in
ftorske eventyr pp. 199, 201.
186 THUNAR.

1
formerly Donerswe, Donnerswehe, Donnerswede (Kohli handb. von
Oldenb. 2, 55), which reminds us of Oolnsve, Wodeneswege (p. 151),
and leaves us equally in doubt whether to understand wih a
temple, or weg a way. The Norwegian folk-tale tells us of an
actual Thors vej (way, Faye p. 5). A village Donnersreut is to be
found in Franconia towards Bohemia, a Donnersted in Theding-
hauseu bailiwick, Brunswick, a Thunrcsfeld [Thurfield] in AS.
documents, Kemble 2, 115. 195. 272, &c. &c. Many in Scan

dinavia, e.g.,
in Denmark, Torslunde (Thors lundr, grove), Tosingo
2
(Thors engi, ing) ;
several in Sweden, Tors mase (gurges) in a

boundary-deed of Ostergbtland, Broocman 1, 15, Tkorslorgm Goth

land, Gutalag p. 107. 260. Thorsbiorg (mountain) and Thorshofn
(haven) in Norway, Fornm. sb g. 4, 12. 343; Thorsmork (wood, a
3
holy one ? ), Nialss. cap. 149. 150. Thors nes (nose, cape), Saem.
a
155 and Eyrb. saga cap. 4 (see Suppl.). Thors bro (Thors brii,
bridge) in Schonen, like the Norwegian Thor s-way, leads us to
that prevalent belief in devil s bridges and other buildings, which
is the popular way of accounting for peculiarly shaped rocks,
precipices and steep mountain paths :
only God or the devil could
have burst them so.

As a man s name, Donar in its simple form is rarely found ;

one
noble family on the Ehine was named Donner von Lorheim, Sieb-
mach. 5, Its derivatives and compounds are not common in
144.

any High Germ, dialect a Carolingian doc. in the Cod. lauresh.

;

no. 464 has Donarad, which I take to be the ON. Thorffr ; and the
Trad. fuld. 2, 23 Albthonar, which is the ON. Thdrdlfr inverted.
Such name-formations are far more frequent in the North, where
the service of the god prevailed so long : Thorarr (OHG.
Donarari Thorir, Ttidrffr, Thdrhallr, Tkdrdlfr (OS. Thunerulf in
?
),

Calend. merseb. Septemb.), Tlwroddr, and the feminines Thorn,

Thorun, Thorarna (formed like diorna, Gramm. 2, 336), Th6rkatla t

Thdrhildr, Thordis, &c. I cannot see why the editors of the Forn-
manna sogur deprive such proper names as Thorgeirr, Thorliorn,

1
to Donerswe, dar heft de herscup den tegenden (teind, tithe), Land-
register of 1428.
2
Others specified in Suhin, krit. hist. 2, 651.
3
The settlers in Iceland, when they
consecrated a district to Thorr, named
it Thorsmork, Landn. 5, 2. ed. nova p. 343. From Donnersmark (Zschb tor
tokely) in the Hungarian county of Zips, comes the Silesian family of Henkel
von Donnersmark. Walach. manura : die Donnersmurkt.
 THUNAK. 187

Thdrsleinn, Thorketill, TMrvaldr, Thorfinnr, TMrger&r, &c. of their

long vowel it is not the abstract ]?or, audacia, that they are com
;

pounded with, and the Nialssaga, e.g. cap. 65, spells IVtdrgeirr,
TAorkatla. The frequent name Thorketill, abbrev. Thorkell, Dan.
Torkild, AS. Turketulus, Thurkytel (Kemble 2, 286, 349. v. supra,
p. 63), if it signifies a kettle, a vessel, of the thundergod, resembles
Wuotan s sacrificial cauldron (p.
56). The Hymisqvifta sings of
Thorr fetching a huge cauldron for the ases to brew ale with, and
wearing it on his head, Ssem. 57 which is very like the strong ;

man Hans in the nursery-tale clapping the church bell

(ans, as ?
)

on his head for a cap. The coupling of Alp (elf) with Donar in
Albthonar and Thoralfr is worthy of notice, for alpgeschoss (elf-shot)
is a synonym for the thunderbolt, and Alpruthe (elf-rod) for the
donnerkraut [donnerbesen ? see p. 183]. An intimate relation must
subsist between the gods and the elves (p. 180), though on the part
of the latter a subordinate one (see Suppl.). 1

It is observable that in different lays of the Edda Thorr goes

by different names.
In Lokaglepsa and HarbardslioS he is Thorr, 4

Asa}?6rr, but in Hamarsheimt Ving]?6rr, HlorrioY (yet Thorr as well),

in Alvismal always VingJ?6rr, in HymisqviSa Veorr, Hlorriol, not
tomention the periphrases vagna verr (curruum dominus), Sifjar verr,
OSins sonr. Hlorriffi was touched upon in p. 167, note. Vingthdrr
they derive from vsengr, ala as if Wing-thunder, the winged one,
;

aera quatiens ? This appears to be far from certain, as he is else

where called fostri Vingnis, Sn. 101, and in the genealogies this
Vingnir appears by the side of him. Especially important is
Veorr, which outside of Hymisqvifta is only found once, Sa3m. 9
a
,

and never except in the nom. sing. it belongs doubtless to ve, ;

wih, and so betokens a holy consecrated being, distinct from the

Ve, gen.Yea on p. 163 the OHG. form must have been Wihor,
;

Wihar ? (see Suppl.).

As OSinn was represented journeying abroad, to the Eastern land
(p. 163), so is Thorr engaged in eastward travels: Thorr var i
a
austrvegi, Ssem. 59, a austrvega 68 for or austrvegi, 75
;
ec var ;

78 a
austrforom J?inom scaltu aldregi segja seggjom fra, 68
a>b

austr, ; .

In these journeys he fought with and slew the giants var hann :

1
To the Boriat Mongols beyond L. Baikal, fairy-rings in grass are "

where
the sons of the lightning have danced." TRANS.
188 THUNAR.

far inn i austervcg at berja troll, Sn. 46. And this again points to
the ancient and at that time still imforgotten connexion of the
Teutonic nations with Asia this faring east-ways
;
is told of

other heroes too, Sn. 190. 363 e.g., the race of the Skilfingar is
;

expressly placed in that eastern region (su kynsloS er i austrve-

gum), Sn. 193 ;
and lotunheim, the world of the giants, was there
situated.
Thorr was considered, next to OSinn, the mightiest and strongest
of all the gods ;
the Edda makes him OSin s son, therein differing
entirely from the Roman view, which takes Jupiter to be Mercury s
father ; in pedigrees, it is true, Thorr does appear as an ancestor of

Oftinn. Thorr is usually named immediately after Oftiim, some

times before him, possibly he was feared more than Oolnn (see
Suppl.). In Saxo Gramm., Eegner confesses Se, Thor deo excepto, :

nullam monstrigenae virtutis potentiam expavere, cujus (sc. Thor)

virium magnitudini nihil humanarum divinarumque rerum digna
possit aequalitate conferri. He is the true national god of the
Norwegians, landds (patrium numen), Egilss. p. 365-6, and when
dss stands alone, it means especially him, e.g., Seem. V0 a as indeed ,

the very meaning of ans (jugum mentis) agrees with that of Fai r-

guneis. His temples and statues were the most numerous in

Norway and Sweden, and dsmegin, divine strength, is understood
chiefly of him. Hence the heathen religion in general is so

frequently expressed by the simple Thdr biota, Seem. 113 b het ,

(called) d Thor, Landn. 1, 12, trAffi (believed) d Thor, Landn. 2, 12.

He assigns to emigrants their new place of abode Thorr visaffi :

honum (shewed him), Landn. 3, 7 3, 12. From the Landnamabok

we could quote many things about the worship of Thorr J?ar :

stendr enn Thors steinn, ganga 2, 12. Thor, 3, 12.til fretta vi<5

Thorr is
worshipped most, and Freyr next, which agrees with the
names Thorviffr and Freyvidr occurring in one family line 2, 6 ;

vi5r is wood, does it here mean tree, and imply a priestly function?
OSinviSr does not occur, but Tyviftr is the name of a plant, ch.
XXXVII. Thor s hammer that hallows a mark, a marriage,
It is
and the runes, we find plainly stated on the stones. I show in
as

ch. XXXIII how Thorr under various aspects passed into the
devil of the Christians, and it is not surprising if he acquired
some of the clumsy boorish nature of the giant in the process, for
the giants likewise were turned into fiends. The foe and pursuer
 THUNAR. 189

of all giants in the time of the Ases, he himself appeared a lubber

to the Christians ; he throws stones for a wager with giants (conf.
he eats and
ch. XVIII). But even in the Eddie Thrymsqvifta,
drinks immoderately like a giant, and the Norwegian folk-tale
makes him take up cask after cask of ale at the wedding, Faye p. 4;
conf. the proverb mundi enginn Asathor afdrecka (outdrink).
:

is by his very name

Conversely, the good-natured old giant Thrymr
a Donar (conf. ch. XVIII). The delightful story of the hobergs-
gubbe (old man of the mountain, giant) was known far and wide in
the North a poor man invites him to stand godfather to his child,
:

but he refuses to come on hearing that Thor or Tordenveir is also a

bidden guest (conf. ch. XVIII) he sends however a handsome
;

present (conf. Afzelius 2, 158. Molbech s eventyr

no. 62, F. Magn.

p. 935). In spite of all divergences, there appears in the structure

of this fable a certain similarity to that of Gossip Death, ch. XXVII,
for death also a devil, and consequently a giant conf. Miillen-
is ;

hoff, schl. hoist, p. 289. That is why some of the old tales which
stood their ground in the Christian times try to saddle him
still

with all that is odious, and to make him out a diabolic being of a
worse kind than OSinn ;
conf. Gautrekssaga p. 13. Finnr drags
the statue of Thorr King Olafr, splits and burns it up, then
to

mixes the ashes in furmety and gives it to dogs to devour : tis

meet that hounds eat Thorr, who his own sons did eat, Fornm. sog.
2, 163. This is a calumny, the Edda knows of no such thing, it
relates on the contrary that M651 and Magni outlived their father
(see Suppl.). Several revived sagas, like that of the creation of
wolves and goats, transform Wuotan into the good God, and Donar
into the devil.

From the time they became acquainted with the Roman

theogony, the writers identify the German thundergod with

Jupiter. Not only is dies Jovis called in AS. Thunresdseg, but

Latona Jovis mater is Thunres modur ,
and capitolium is trans
lated TVidrshof by the Icelanders. Conversely, Saxo Gram. p. 236
means by his Jupiter the Teutonic Thor, the Jupiter ardens above
(p. 110) ;
did that mean Donar? As for that Thorr devouring his
children, it seems
[a mere importation, aggravated by] a down
right confusion of Jupiter with his father Saturn, just as the Norse
genealogy made Thorr an ancestor of Oolnn. The presbyter Jovi
190 THUNAR.

mactans/ and the sacra and feriae Jovis

(

(in Indicul. pagan.)

have been dealt with above, p. 121.
Letzner (hist. Caroli magni, Hildesh. 1603,
cap. 18 end) relates:
The Saturday after Laetare, year by year, cometh to the little
cathedral-close of Hildesheim a
farmer thereunto specially ap
pointed, and bringeth two logs of a fathom long, and therewith two
lesser logs pointed in the manner of skittles. The two greater he
planteth in the ground one against the other, and a-top of them
the skittles. Soon there come hastily together all manner of lads
and youth meaner sort, and with stones or staves do pelt the
of the
skittles down from the logs other do set the same up again, and
;

the pelting beginneth a-new.. By these skittles are to be under

stood the devilish gods of the heathen, that were thrown down
by
the Saxon-folk when they became Christian.
Here the names of the gods are suppressed, 1 but one of them
must have been Jupiter then, as we find it was afterwards. 2 Among
the farmer s dues at Hildesheim there occurs down to our own
times a Jupitergeld. Under this name the village of Grossen-
Algermissen had to pay 12 g. grosch. 4 pfen. yearly to the sexton
of the cathedral an Algermissen farmer had every year to bring to
,

the cathedral close an eight-cornered log, a foot thick and four

feet long, The schoolboys dressed it in a cloak
hidden in a sack.
and crown, and attacked the Jupiter as they then called it, by
throwing stones first from one side, then from the other, and at
last they burnt it. This popular festivity was often attended with
disorder, and was more than once interdicted, pickets were set to

carry the prohibition into effect; at length the royal treasury

remitted the Jupiter s geld. Possibly the village of Algermissen
had incurred the penalty of the due at the introduction of Christi
anity, by its attachment to the old religion.
3
Was the pelting of

1
In the Corbei chron., Hamb. 1590, cap. 18, Letzner thinks it was the god
of the Irrnensul. He refers to MS. accounts by Con. Fontanus, a Helmers-
haus Benedictine of the 13th century.
2
A Hildesheim register drawn up at the end of the 14th century or
beginn. of the loth cent, says De abyotter (idols), so sunnabends vor laetare
:
*

(Letzn. sonnab. wcich laet. )

von einem hausmann von Algermissen gesetzet,
davor which) ihm eine hofe (hufe, hide) landes gehort zur. sankmeisterie
(for
(chantry ?), und wie seiches von dem hausmann nicht gesetzt worden, gehort
Cantori de hove landes. Hannoversche landesblatter 1833, p. 30.
3
Liintzel on farmers burdens in Hildesheim 1830, p. 205. Hannov. mag.
1833, p. 693. Protocols of 1742-3 in an article On the Stoning of Jupiter,
Hannov. landesbl., ubi supra.
 THUNAR. 191

the logs to express contempt ? In Switzerland the well-known

throwing of stones on the water is called Heiden werfen, heathen-
pelting otherwise
;
den Herrgott losen, vater und mutter losen,
:

releasing, Tobler 174a (see Suppl).

ransoming ?

I do not pretend to think it at all established, that this Jupiter

can be traced back to the Thunar of the Old Saxons. The custom is
only vouched for by protocols of the last century, and clear evidence
it before that time is not
of forthcoming; but even Letzner s account,
differing as it does, suggests a very primitive practice of the people,
which is worth noting, even if Jupiter has nothing to do with it.
The definite date laetare reminds one of the custom universal in
Germany of driving out Death/ of which I shall treat hereafter,
and in which Death is likewise set
up to be pelted. Did the
skittle represent the sacred hammer ?

An unmistakable relic of the

worship paid to the thunder-god
is the special observance of Thursday, which was not extinct

among the people till quite recent times. It is spoken of in quite

early documents of the Mid. Ages nullus diem Jovis in otio

:

observet/ Aberglaube p. xxx. de

feriis quae faciunt Jovi vel
Mercurio, quintam feriam in honorem Jovis honorasti,
p. xxxii.

p. xxxvii. On Thursday evening one must neither spin nor hew ;

Superst., Swed. 55. 110. and Germ. 517. 703. The Esthonians
think Thursday holier than Sunday. 1 What punishment overtook
the transgressor, may be gathered from another superstition, which,
it is true, substituted the hallowed
day of Christ for that of Donar :

He that shall work on Trinity Sunday

(the next after Pentecost),
or shall wear anything sewed or knitted (on that day), shall be
stricken by thunder ; Scheffer s Haltaus, p. 225 (see Suppl.).
If Jupiter had these honours paid him in the 8th century, if
the Capitulare of 743 thought it needful expressly to enjoin an ec
forsacho Thunare and much that related to his service remained
urieradicated a long time after it cannot well be doubted, that at
;

a still earlier time he was held by our forefathers to be a real god,

and one of their greatest.
If we compare him with Wuotan, though the latter is more
intellectual and elevated, Donar has the advantage of a sturdy
material strength, which was the very thing to recommend him to

1
Etwas iiber die Ehsten, pp. 13-4.
192 THUNAIl.

the peculiar veneration of certain races;

prayers, oaths, curses
retained his memory oftener and longer than that of
any other
god. But only a part of the Greek Zeus is included in him.
 CHAPTER IX.

ZIO, (TIW, TYR).

The ON. name for dies Martis, Tysdagr, has the name of the
Eddie god Tyr (gen. Tys, ace. T$) to account for it. The AS.
Tiwesdseg and OHG. Ziestac scarcely have the simple name of the
god left to keep them company, but it may be safely inferred from
them it must have been in AS. Tiw} in OHG. Zio. The runic
:

letter Ti, Ziu, willbe discussed further on. The Gothic name for the
day of the week is nowhere to be found according to all analogy ;

it would be
Tivisdags, and then the god himself can only have been
called Tins. These forms, Tiu-s, Tiw, Ty-r, Zio make a series like
the similar J?iu-s, J^eow (}>iw), ]?y-r, dio = puer, servus.
If the idea ofour thundergod had somewhat narrow limits, that
of Zio lands us in a measureless The non-Teutonic
expanse.
cognate [Aryan] languages confront us with a multitude of terms
belonging to the root div, which, while enabling us to make up
a fuller formula div,tiv, zio, yield the meanings brightness, sky,
day, god . Of Sanskrit words, clyaus (coelum) stands the closest
to the Greek and German gods names Zeu?, Tins.
194 zio.

must assume a nom. Ju, Jus, though it has survived only in the
compound Jupiter Jus pater, Zeu? irarrjp. For, the initial in
Jus, Jovis [pronounce j as y] seems to be a mere softening of the
fuller dj in Djus, Djovis, which has preserved itself in Dijovis, just

as Zevs presupposes an older Aevs which was actually preserved in

the ^Eolic dialect. These Greek and Latin words likewise contain
the idea of the heavenly god, i.e., a personification of the sky.
Dium, divum is the vault of heaven, and Zeus is the son of heaven,

Ovpavov mo?, ovpdvios, Zevs aiOepi vaiwv (see SuppL).

But apart from dyaus, Zeus and Jupiter, the three common nouns
devas (Sansk.), 6eos and deus express the general notion of a

divinity they are related to the first three, yet distinct from them.
;

The Lat. deus might seem to come nearest to our Tius, Zio ; but
its u, likethe o in 0eo?, belongs to the flexion, not to the root, and
therefore answers to the a in devas.
1
Nevertheless deus too must
have sprung from devus, and 0eo? from 0efo?, because the very 6
instead of 8 in the Greek word is accounted for by the reaction of
the digamma on the initial. In the shortness of their e they both
differ from devas, whose e ( ai) grew by guna out of i, so that the
Lith. dievas comes nearer to it. 2 But the adjectives Sto? (not from
Sao?, but rather for & and divus correspond to devas as dives
fo<?)

divitis (p. 20) to devatas (deus). This approximation between divus

and deus serves to confirm the origin of deus out of devus or divus
3
with short i Still more helpful to us is the fact that
(see Suppl.) ,

a a
the a plur. tivar meaning gods or heroes, Stem. 30 41
Edda has ;

a a a
rikir tivar (conf. rich god, p. 20), Stem. 72 93 valtivar, 52 ; ;

sigtivar, 189 a 248 a ;

the sing, is not in use. This tivar, though not

immediately related to Tyr, yet seems related to it as 8409, #609,

0eZo9 are to Zeu? ; its i is established by the fact that the ON.
dialect contracts a short iv into y ;
thus we obtain by the side of

tiv a tiv, by the side of div a dev, and in Latin by the

in Sanskrit
side of deus a divus, these being strengthened or guna forms of the

that Zio can

1
Kuhn, in Zeitschr. f. d. alt. 2, 231, has rightly pointed out,
be immediately related only to dyaus and Zevs-, not to deus and fcos but he ;

related to these last also.

ought to have admitted that mediately it must be
That div was the root of Zeus, had already been shown by O. Miiiler in Gott.
aiiz. 1834, pp. 795-6.
and kiemas Kw^rj haims.
2
Conf. piemu irot^v,
3
If, as hinted on p. 26, dlos deus were conn, with Se co, the notion of bind
ing must have arisen first out of the divine band, which is hardly conceivable.
 zio. 195

root div, tiv (splendere). 1 If the earthborn Tuisco, the ancestral

god of our nation, stands (as Zeuss p. 72 has acutely suggested) for
Tivisco, Tiiisco, it shews on its very face the meaning of a divine

heavenly being, leaving it an open question whether we will choose

tounderstand it of "VVuotan or any other god, barring always Tius
himself, from whom it is derived (see Suppl.).
The light of day is a notion that borders on that of heaven, and
it was likewise honoured with personification as a god Lucetium :

Jovem appellabant, quod eum lucis esse causam credebant Festus ;

sub v. To begin with, dies (conf. interdiu, dio) is itself connected

with deus and divus Jupiter was called Diespiter, ie.,diei pater,
;

or the old gen. was dies. Then the word in the sing, fluctuates
Between the masc. and fern, genders; and as the masc. Ju, Dju with
the suffix n, is shaped into the fern, forms Juno for Jovino, Djovino,
and Diana, just so the Lith. name for day, diena, is fern., while the
Slav, den, dzien, dan, is masc. The Teutonic tongues have no word
:orsky or day taken from this root, but we can point to one in
Greek Cretenses Aia rrfv
:
rjfjuepav vocant (call the day Zeus), ipsi
quoque Romani Diespitrem appellant, ut diei patrem ;
Mac-rob.
Sat. 1, 15. The poetic and Doric forms Zrjva, Zrjvos, Zijvt, and
Zdva, Zavos, Zavi, for Aia, Aios, Ait, correspond to the above
2
filiations and the Etruscans called Jupiter Tina, i.e. Dina 0.
; ;

Miiller 2, 43 (see Suppl.).

A derivative from the same root with another suffix seems to
)resent itself in the OK tivor (deus ?
),
3
Stem. 6 b AS. , tir, gen. tires
tiir, Cod. exon. 331, 18 gloria, splendor), and OS. tir, gen. tiras, tireas;
with which I connect the OHG. ziori, ziari, zieri (splendidus), and
;he Lat. decus, decor, decorus. The AS. poets use the word tir only
to intensify other words: tirmetod (deus gloriae, summus deus),
Caedm. 143, 7 a3sctir wera (hasta gloriosa virorum), 124, 27 a3sca
; ;

tir, 127, 10 tirwine, Boeth. metr. 25, 41

; tirfruma, Cod. exon. 13, ;

21 tirmeahtig (potentissimus), 72, 1

; tireadig (felicissimus), ;

Csedm. 189, 13. 192, 16; tirisest (firmissimus), 64, 2. 189, 19;

a
Sometimes, though rarely, we find another ON. dtar, Saem. 91 Sn. 176.
1 .

Xngl. saga cap. 2 it agrees with 6f6s

; more than with bios.
2
We know to what shifts Socrates is driven in trying to explain the forms
a and Am (Plato s Cratylus p. 29, Bekker) 6c6s he derives from 6elv, ;

mrrere (p. 32).

3
Or must we read it tivor, and connect it with the AS. tifer, tiber, OHG.
1
:epar
196 zio.

much in the same way as the AS. eormen, OHG. irman is prefixed.
Now when a similar prefix t^ meets us in the OK
writings, e.g.
tyhraustr (fortissimus), tyspakr (sapientissimus), Sn. 29, it confirms
the affinity between tir and Ty-r.

These intricate etymologies were not to be avoided they :

entitle us toclaim a sphere for the Teutonic god Zio, Tiw, Tyr,
which places him on a level with the loftiest deities of antiquity.
Represented in the Edda as Coin s son, he may seem inferior to
him in power and moment but the two really fall into one, inas
;

much as both are directors of war and battle, and the fame of
victory proceeds from each of them alike. For the olden time
resolved all glory into military glory, and not content with Wuotan
and Zio, it felt the need of a third war-god Hadu the finer distinc ;

tions in their cultus are hidden from us now. It is not to be over

looked, that OSinn is often named
Sigt^r, Hroptatyr, Gautatyr,
a
hangatyr, farmatyr (Ssem. 30. 47. 248 Sn. 94-6), bodvartyr, quasi
.

pugnae deus, geirtyr (Forum, sog. 9, 515-8) and that even Thorr,
;

to whom Jupiter s lightning has been handed over, appears as

1
Beifrartyr, Eeidityr (Sn. 94), i.e. god of the waggon. In all these

poetical terms, we see that tyr bears that more general sense which
makes suitable for all divinities, especially the higher ones.
it Tyr
has a perfect right to a name identical with Zeus. Add moreover,
that the epithet of father w*as in a special degree accorded, not

only to Jupiter, Diespiter, but to victory s patron Marspiter*

Further, this lofty position is claimed for Zio by the oldest
accounts that have reached us. Mars is singled out as a chief god

1 It occurs frequently,
I do not reckon Angantflr among this set of words.
both in the Hervararsaga and in Sa3in. 114a 119 b 9 a this last passage calls
;

O o inn Friggjar angantjr . The true form is doubtless Anganfiyr, as appears

from the OHG. Angandeo (Trad. fuld. 1, 67), and the AS. Ongenpcoiv, Ongenfrio
(Beow. 4770. 4945-67. 5843-97. 5917-67); -tyr would have been in AS. Tteow, in
OHG. -zio. Graff gives an Agandeo 1, 132. 5, 87, which seems to be a mis
spelling, though the Trad, wizenb. no. 20 have a
woman s name Agathiu (for
Anganthiu), to which add the ace. Agathien, Agacien (Walthar. 029).
The
angan illrar brudhar is said to be
*

meaning of angan, ongen, is doubtful;

delieiae malae mulieris, but Biorn interprets it pedisequa, and OSinn might
iitly be called Friggae pedisequus. That some proper names in the Edda are
to be Ham]?yr, OHG.
corrupt, is plain from Hamdir, which ought everywhere
]Jamadio, Hamideo (Schannat no. 576. Cod. lauresh. 2529), MHG. llamdie
(MsH 3, 213 h ). This much I am sure of, that neither AnganHi nor Ham>J|
can contain a tyr, which is almost always compounded with genitives in a
figurative sense.
2
Gellius 5, 12.
 zio. 1G7

of all the Germanic nations, and mentioned side by side with Mer
cury. The evidence is collected on p. 44. 1 Tacitus, in Hist. 4, 64,
makes the Tencteri say right out Communibus deis, : et prae-
cipuo deorum Marti grates agimus we have no occasion ;
to apply
the passage to Wuotan, to whom the highest place usually belong?,
as particular races may have assigned that to Zio. The still clearer
testimony of Procopius 12, 15 to the worship of Ares among the
dwellers in the North, 2 which says expressly eVel Oeov avrov :

fjLi&va-i, fjieyLo-Tov elvdi, ought to be compared with the statements

of Jornandes on the Gothic Mars ;
in both places human sacrifices
are the subject, and therefore Zeuss, p. 22, is for understanding it
of Wuotan again, because to him Tacitus says that men were
sacrificed ;
but he does not say to him alone, on the contrary,
anent the Hermundurian offering, Ann. 13, 57, where viri were
Mars stands mentioned before Mercury.
also slain, And Jornandes,
who identifies the Gradivus pater Getae in Virg. Aen. 3,of the
35 with the Mars of the Goths, must have been thinking of the
special god of war, not of a higher and more general one, intimately
as they interpenetrate one another in name and nature. All in
favour of this view are the Scythian and Alanic legends of the
war-sword, which will be examined by and by if the Getic, :

Scythian and Gothic traditions meet anywhere, it is on this of

Jl/ars-worship. Neither can we disregard Widukind s representa
tion at a later time (Pertz 5, 423) of the Saxon Mars set up on

high. Donar and Wuotan, with whom he is combined at other times

and Mercury, to retire
in a significant trilogy, appear, like Jupiter
before him. But it is quite conceivable how the glossist quoted on
p. 133 could render Wuotan by Mars, and Widukind glide easily
from Mars to Hermes, i.e., Wodan, particularly if he had in his
mind the analogy of those prefixes irman- (of which he is speaking)
and tir-. The ON. writers, while they recognise Coin s influence
Ion war and victory, speak no less distinctly of Tyr, who is em-

1
A passage in Florus 2, 4 : mox Ariovisto duce vovere de nostrorum mili-
tum praeda Marti suo torquem intercepit Jupiter votum, nam de torquilms
:

jeoruin
aureum tropaeum Jovi Flaminius erexit, speaks of the Insubrian Gauls,
who were beaten in the consulship of Flaminius B.C. 225. But these Galli
are both in other respects very like Germani, and the name of their leader is
that of the Suevic (Swabian) king in Caesar.
2
GovXmu (men of Thule) is their generic name, but he expressly includes
j among them the Tavrot, whom he rightly regards as a different people from the
ToYtfoi, conf. Gott. anz. 1828, p. 553.
198 zio.

Sn. 105, and again

phatically their VigaguS (deus proeliorum),
:

hann er diarfastr ok best hugaftr, ok liann rceffr mioc sigri i orostom,

Sn. 29 (see Suppl.).

No doubt there were mountains hallowed to Zio, as well as to

Wuotan and Donar the only difficulty is, to know which god,
;

Wuotan or Zio, was meant by a particular name. May we place

to his credit the name of the abbey of Siegburg in the Lower

Ehine, which was founded in 1064 on a mountain where the

ancient assize of the people was held? From that time the moun
tain was to have been called Mons sancti Michaelis after the
Christian conqueror, but the heathen Sigcbcrg could not be dislodged,
was only distorted into Siegburg or are we to explain the name
1
it j

by the which flows through the district ? The ON.

river Sieg,
a
Ssein. 348 might belong to Oolnn
Sfgtysberg (OS. Sigu-tiwis-berag?),
or to Tyr. The Weimar map has in section 38 a Tisdorf, and in.
districts on the Elbe.
section 48 a Ziesberg, both in Lower Saxon
A place Zealand,
in about which there are folk-tales, is TyUerg
also in Zealand are Tisvelde (Ti s well), Tysting ;
in
(Thiele 2, 20) ;

Jutland, Tystatlie, Tiislunde. In Sweden: Tistad, Tisby, Tisjo,

Tyved. Zierlerg in Bavaria (Cirberg, Zirberc, MB. 11, 71-3-5-6)
and Zierenberg in Lower Hesse may be derived from the collateral
form (see Suppl.). The mons Mart is at Paris (Montmartre), of
which even Abbo de bell. Par. 2, 196 makes mention, has to do
with the Gallic Mars, whom some take to be Belus, others Hesus.
With far better than the Parisian mons Martis (yet conf. Waitz s
right
Salic law, p. 52), we may
assign to Zio the fanum Martis,
now
Famars in Hainault (p. 84), according to Herm. Miiller the Old
Frankish Disbargum (or Disbargus) in termino Toringorum of
tur. 2, 9, Chlodio s castellum. Dis- would be a Latinized form
Greg.
of Tis = Tives, perhaps recalling Dispiter, Diespiter ;
there is no
thor
looking towards Mars, and the
Gallic word like it district is

close by, where we have Saxnot

oughly Frankish, with Liphtinae
named by the side of Thunar and Wodan. As for Eresberg and
the oldest documents in
Mersberg (3 or 4 pp. on), I have compared
Seibertz: no. 11 (anno 962) gives us Eresburg; no. 25 (1030) already
1, 98 (1043) mons Eresburg
no. 51 (1150) mons Eres
Mersburg ; ;

no. 70 (1176) mons Eresberch no. 85 (1184) Heresburg;

berg ;
;

i
Docum. in Lacomblet, no. 203-4.
 zio. 199

no. 115 (1201) mons Martis; no. 153 (1219 Mersberch; no. 167
(1222) Eresberch no. 179 (1228) mons Martis
;
no. 186 (1229) ;

mons Heresberg no. 189 (1230) mons Martis and Mersberg.

;

Mons Martis was the learned name, Mersberg the popular, and
Eresberg the oldest. As mons and castellum are used by turns,
berg and burg are equally right. Widukind 2, 11 and Dietmar 2, 1
spell Heresbwrg and Eresburch, when they describe the taking of
the place in 938. According to the Ann. Corb. (Pertz 5, 8), they
are sacred to both Ares and Hermes (Mars and Mercury).
The names of plants also confess the god : ON. Tysfiola, I dare
march- violet; Tyrhialm (aconitum),
say after the Lat. viola Martis,
otherwise Thorhialm, Thorhat (helmet, hat), conf. Germ, sturmhut,
eisenhut, Dan. troldhat, a herb endowed with magic power, whose
helmet-like shape might suggest either of those warlike gods Tyr and

Thorr; Tym&r 9 T!y& wood, Dan. Tyved, Tysved (daphne mezereum),

in the Helsing. dial, tis, tisfbast, the mezereon, a beautiful poison-

flower (see Suppl.).

While these names of places and plants sufficiently vouch for
the wide-spread worship of the god, we must lay particular stress
on one thing, that the name for the third day of the week, which
is what we started with, bears living witness to him at this moment,
not only in Scandinavia and England (ON. Tysdagr, Swed. Tisdag,
Dan. Tirsdag, AS. Tiwesdseg), but among the common people in
Swabia and Switzerland (Ziestag, Tiestag, diestik, beside our uni
versal Dienstag); Schm. 4, 214 brings all the forms together. And
there is yet one more testimony to the high antiquity of Zio-worship
in Swabia, which we may gather from an old Wessobrunn gloss
Cyuvari = Suapa, MB. 7, 375 and Diut. 2, 370; which I take to
be not Teutonoari, as Zeuss does, pp. 146-9, but Ziowari Martern
colentes, warian expressing, like Lat. colere, both habitare and

OepcLTrevew, so that the Suevi are OepaTrovTes "Aprjos.

But that is not all further and weighty disclosures on the
:

name and nature of the war-god await us at the hands of the Eunic
alphabet.
It is known that each separate rune has a name to itself, and
these names vary more or less according to the nations that use them,
but they are mostly very ancient words. The OHG. runes having
to bestow the name dorn on D, and tac on T, require for their
aspirate Z which closes the alphabet the name of Zio. In the ON.
200 zio.

and AS. alphabets, dag stood for D, Tfjr and Tiw for T, J?orn for ]>,

being the same three words, only in different places occasionally ;

the Anglo-Saxons wrote Tir or Tis. Whenever a list of runes

keeps thorn for Th, and dag for D, it is sure to have Ti for T (as
the Cod. Tsidori paris. and bruxell.) so it is in the St Gall cod.
;

260 and the Brussels 9565, except that dorn is improperly put for
thorn, and tag for dag, but Ti stands correctly opposite T. The
Paris cod. 5239 has dhron (dhorn), tac, Ziu, that of Salzburg dhorn,

Ti, daeg everywhere the form Ziu shows the High Germ, accepta
:

tion, and the form Ti (once, in Cod. vatic. Christinae 338, spelt Tu,
perh. Tii) the Low Germ., the Saxon. The u in Ziu seems to be
more archaic than the o of Zio, which has kept pace with the
regular progress of the OHG. dialect, and follows the analogy of
dio, servus ; this relation between u and o may perhaps be seen
still more in its true light, as
on. we go
But what is very remark
able, is that in the 140 the name Tyz is given to T in
Vienna cod.
an alphabet which uses the Gothic letters, for Tyz comes very near
to our conjectural Goth. Tius. As well the retention as the unavoid
able alterations of this divine name in the runes of the various races,

may be taken as proofs of the antiquity and extent of Zio- worship.

How comes it that no rune has taken its name from \Vuotan or
OSinn, the inventor of writing itself ? =
K reiS, rad, i.e., waggon,
may indirectly at least be referred to the god of the Thunder-car ;

and F
according to one interpretation signifies Freyr. Anyhow,
TrzTyr appears to have been a supremely honoured symbol, and
the name of this god to have been specially sacred in scratching :

the runes of victory on the sword, the name of Tyr had to be twice
b
inserted, Seem. 194 The shape of the rune ^ has an obvious
.

resemblance to the old-established symbol of the planet Mars when

set upright -, and an AS. poem on the runes expressly says tir :

bi5 tdcna sumone of the tokens, is a certain sign) where

(tir is ;

again the derivative form tir is employed to explain the the simple

Tiw Occasionally the poets speak of tire tacnian, to mark

or Ti.
with (El. 753. Jud. 137, 18), and tires to tacne, as mark of tir
tir

(Beow. 3306) we may expound it as gloria, decore insignire, in

;

gloriae signum/ and still think of the heathen symbol of the god,
pretty much as we saw it done at the solemn blessing of the ale-
1
cups (see Suppl.).
1
Conf. note to Elene 155-6.
 EOR. 201

Thus we have dealt with the runic name Tfr, Tiw, Zio, and
far
no other. But here the same alphabets come out with a sharp dis
tinction between two names of the selfsame god. First, in the AS.
lists, in addition to ^ Tir, we come upon a similar arrow with two

barbs added ^
and the name Ear attached to it. 1 Then the OHG.
alphabets, after using ^ for tac, find a use for that very symbol ^
to which some of them give the name Zio, others again Eo, EOT,

Aer. And there are AS. alphabets that actually set down by ^
the two names Tir and Ear, though Tir had already been given to ^ .

It is evident then, that Tir and Ear Zio and Eo, EOT were two
names for one god, and both must have been current among the
several races, both Low German and High.
Evidence as regards Low Germany is found both in the rune
Ear occurring in Anglo-Saxon, and in the remarkable name of

mresburg, Aeresburg being given to a notable seat of pagan worship

in a district of Westphalia, in the immediate neighbourhood of the
Irmansul (v. supra, p. 116). That it was
strictly Eres&er^ (as Sieg-

burg was originally Sigberg, p. 198), follows both from the Latin
rendering mons Martis, and from its later name Mersberg* whose
initial M
could be explained by the contraction of the words in
3
dem Eresberge, Aresberge, or it may be an imitation of the Latin
name. There was a downright Marsberg in another district of West
4
phalia. This Eresberc then is a Ziesberc, a Sig-tiwes-berg, and yet
more closely an Areopagus, Mars hill, ApeioTrayos, irerpa Trdyos T*
*Apeios (Aeschyl. Eum. 690).
Still more plainly are High German races, especially the
Bavarian (Marcomannic) pointed to by that singular name for the
third day of the week, Ertag, lertag, Irtag, Eritag, Erclitag, Erichtag,
which answers to the rune Eor, and up to this moment lives to part
off the Bavarians, Austrians and Tyrolese from the Swabians and
Swiss (who, as former Ziowari, stick to Ziestag) along the boundary- ;

line of these races must also have run formerly the frontier between

Eor-worship and Zio-worship. True, the compound Ertac lacks

1
In one poem, Cod. exon. 481, 18, the rune contains simply the vowel
sound ea.
2
This Eresburg or Mersberg stands in the pagus Hessi saxonicus (registr.
Sarachonis p. 42, 735) ;
conf. Wigands archiv I. 1, 36-7. II. 143. 268.
3 So Motgers = in dem Otgers hove [and, the nonce = then once, &c.].
:

4
In the pagus Marstem, Marshem, Marsem (close to the Weser, near
Marklo), reg. Sarachonis 42, 727.
202 zio.

the genitive ending -s which is preserved in Ziestac, and I have not

1
been so fortunate as to hunt up an Erestac in the older records of
the 13-14th centuries ;
nevertheless the coincidence of the double
names for the day and for the rune should be conclusive here, and
we must suppose an OHG. Erestac, to match the Eresberg. One
might be led to imagine that in Ertag the Earth (Erde according
to the forms given at the beginning of ch. XIII) was meant. But
the ancient way of thinking placed the earth in the centre of the
world, not among the planets she cannot therefore have given ;

name to a day of the week, and there is no such day found in any
nation, unless we turn Venus and Ereyja into the earth. To bear
this Ertag company, there is that name of a place Eersel, quoted
p. 154 from Gramaye, in which neither era honor, nor its personifi
cation Era (ch. XVI, XXIX) is to be thought of, but solely a god
of the w eek. It is worth noticing, that Ertac and Erdag occur as
r

men s names also, that the Taxandrian Eersel was but a little way
;

off the Tisberg or Eanmars in Hainault (see Suppl.). Now comes

something far more important. As Zio is identical with Zeus as
director of wars, we see at a glance that Eor, Er, Ear, is one with
"Apr]?
the son of Zeus and as the Germans had given the rank of
;

Zeus to their Wuotan, Tyr and consequently Eor appears as the son
of the highest god. Have we any means now left of getting at the
sense of this obscure root Eor ?

The description of the rune in the AS. poem gives only a slight

hint, it runs thus :

Ear bi(5 egle eorla gehwilcum,

J?onne faBstlice flsesc onginneS
hra?-w colian, hrusan ceosan
blac to gebeddan. blaeda gedreosaS,

wynna gewitaS, wera geswicaS ;

i.e.,
Ear fit importunus hominum cuicumque, quum caro incipit

refrigescere, pallidumque corpus terram eligere conjugem. tune

enim gloriae dilabuntur, gaudia evanescunt, foedera cessant. The
description is of death coming on, and earthly joys dropping off;
but who can that be, that at such a time is burdensome (egle, ail-some)
to men ? The ordinary meaning of ear, spica, arista, can be of no use
here ;
I suppose that approaching dissolution, a personified death

1
In a passage from Keisersberg quoted by Schm. 1, 97, it is spelt Eristag,
apparently to favour the derivation from dies aeris.
 EOR, SAXNOT, CHERU. 203

is to be understood, from which a transition to the destructive god

of battles, the ftpoToXoiyos, fjuaifyovos "ApTjs is easy to conceive. 1

"Aprjs
itself is used abstractly by the Greeks for destruction, murder,

pestilence, just as our Wuotan is for furor and belli impetus, and
2

the Latin Mars for bellum, exitus pugnae, furor bellicus, conf. Mars
=cafeht, gefecht, fight, in Gl. Hrab. 969 a ;
as conversely the OHG.
wig pugna, bellum (Graff 1, 740) seems occasionally to denote the
personal god of war. Wicgcli quoque Mars est says Ermoldus
JSTigellus (Pertz 2, 468), and he is said to farneman, AS. forniman,

carry off, as Hild (Bellona) does elsewhere dat inan wic fornam, :

Hildebr. lied ;
in AS. :
wig ealle fornam, Beow. 2155 ; wig fornom,
Cod. exon. 291, 11. Do we not still say, war or battle snatched
them all away ? A remarkable gloss in the old Cod. sangall. 913,
p. 193, has turbines = ziu (we have no business to write zui), which
may mean the storm of war, the Mars trux, saevus, or possibly the
literal whirlwind, on which mythical names are sometimes bestowed;
so it is either Zio himself, or a synonymous female personification

Ziu, bearing the same relation to Zio as diu (ancilla) to dio

(servus).
Here comes in another string of explanations, overbold as some
of them may seem. As Eresburg is just as often spelt Heresburg
by the Frankish annalists, we may fairly bring in the Goth, hair us,
AS. heor, OS. heru, ON. hiorr, en sis, cardo, although the names of
the rune and the day of the week always appear without the

aspirate. For in Greek we already have the two unaspirated words

"Apris
and aop, sword, weapon, to compare with one another, and
these point to a god of the sword. Then again the famous Abre-
nuntiatio names three heathen gods, Thunar, Woden, Saxndt, of
whom the third can have been but little inferior to the other two
in power and holiness. Salisnot is word for word gladii censors,
ensifer [Germ, genoss, sharer] who else but Zio or EOT and the
;

Greek Ares ? 3 The AS. genealogies preserve the name of Sascnedt

1
Or, without the need of any transition, Ear might at once be Ares war :

isburdensome in old age TRANSL.

.

2
The notions of raving (wiiten) and insanire are suitable to the blustering
ptormful god of war. Homer calls Ares dovpos the wild, and a(ppa)v the
insensate, os ovnva of&e 0e>to-ra, II. 5, 761. But /natVrai is said of other gods
too, particularly Zeus (8, 360) and Dionysos or Bacchus (6, 132).
3
One miglit think of Fro, Freyr (ch. X), but of course glittering swords
were attributed to more than one god thus Poseidon (Neptune) wields a deivbv
;

aop, II. 14, 385, and Apollo is called xpvo-dopoS) 5, 509. lo, 256.
204 zio.

as the son ofWoden, and it is in perfect accordance with it, that

Tyr was the son of Oftinn, and Ares the son of Zeus (see Suppl.).
But further, as the Saxons were so called, either because they
wielded the sword of stone (saxum), or placed this god at the head
of their race, so I think the Cheruscans of Tacitus, a
people
synonymous, nay identical with them, were named after CJieru,
Heru Eor, from whom their name can be derived.
1
After this
weighty consonance of facts, which opens to us the meaning of the
old national name, and at the same time teaches that heru was
first of all pronounced cheru, and last of all eru, er, I think we
may also bring in the Gallic war-god Hesus or Esus (Lucan 1, 440),
and state, that the metal iron indicated by the planetary sign of
is

Mars, the AS. tires tacen, and consequently that the rune of Zio
and Eor may be the picture of a sword with its handle, or of a
2
spear. The Scythian and Alanic legends dwell still more emphati
cally on the god s sword, and their agreement with Teutonic ways
of thinking may safely be assumed, as Mars was equally prominent
in the faith of the Scythians and that of the Goths.
The impressive personification of the sword matches well with
that of the hammer, and to my thinking each confirms the other.
Both idea and name of two of the greatest gods pass over into the
instrument by which they display their might.
Herodotus 4, 62 informs us, that the Scythians worshipped
Ares under the semblance or symbol of an ancient iron sword
(d/civaKT)^), which was elevated on an enormous stack of brushwood
[
three furlongs in length and breadth, but less in height ] : eVl
rovrov Crj rov oy/cov a K t, v a K rj 9 <r
iBtf peos Spimu ap^cuo^
t

eKaaTOKTi /cal TOUT ecm rov"Aprjos ro ayaXfia. Amrnianus

Marcellinus 31, 2 says of the Alani Nee templum apud eos visitur
:

aut delubrum, ne tugurium quidein culmo tectum cerni nsquam

potest, sed gladius barbarico ritu humi figitur nudus, eumque
ut

Alartem, regionum quas circumcircant praesulem, verecundius

colunt. And he had previously asserted of the Quadi also, a
decidedly German people, 17, 12 (A.D. 358): Eductis mucronibus, qiios

pro numinibus colunt, juravere se permansuros in fide. Perhaps all

1
The suffix -sk would hardly fit with the material sense of heru, far better
with a personal Heru.
2
Does the author overlook, or deliberately reject, the ON. or, gen. orrar,
AS. arwe, arrow ? Among the forms for Tuesday occur Erigt&g, Erget&g erge ;

is to arwe, as sorge to sorwe, morgen to morwen, &c. TRANS.

 zio. 205

the Teutonic nations swore by their weapons, with a touching of

the weapon, 1 just as the Scythians and Eomans did per Martis
frameam, Juvenal 13, 79. So Arnobius 6, 11 Eidetis temporibus :

priscis acinacem
coluisse Scythiae nationes, . pro Marte . .

Eomanos hastam, ut Varronis indicant Musae this framea and ;

2
hasta of the Eomans is altogether like the Scythian sword.
Jornandes, following Priscus 201, 17, tells of the Scythian sword,
how it came into the hands of Attila, cap. 35 Qui (Attila), :

quamvis hujus esset naturae ut semper conficleret, addebat ei tamen

confidential!! gladius Martis inventus, apud Scytharum reges semper
habitus. Quem Priscus historicus tali refert occasione detectum,

quum pastor, inquiens, quidam gregis unam buculam conspiceret

claudicantem (noticed one heifer walking lame), nee causam tanti
vulneris inveniret, sollicitus vestigia cruoris insequitur, tandemque
venit ad gladium, quem depascens herbas bucula incaute calcaverat,

effossumque protinus ad Attilam defert. Quo ille munere gratu-

latus,ut erat magnanimus, arbitratur se totius mundi principem
constitutum, et per Martis gladium potestatem sibi concessam esse
bellorum. But the sword degenerated into an unlucky one, like
some far-famed northern swords. Lambert relates, that a queen,
Solomon of Hungary s mother, made a present of it to Otto, duke
of Bavaria, that from this Otto s hands it came by way of loan to
the younger Dedi, margrave Dedi s son, then to Henry IV., and lastly
to Lupold of Mersburg, who, being thrown by his horse, and
by
the same sword transpierced, was buried at Mertenefeld. It is a

question whether these local names Mersburg and Mertenefeld can

have any reference to the sword of Mars. A great while after, the
duke of Alba is said to have dug it out of the earth again after the
battle of Miihlberg (Deutsche heldensage p. 311). We see through
what lengthened periods popular tradition could go on nourishing
itself on this world-old worship (see Suppl.).
With the wordthe Lat. Mars appears to have nothing to
"Aprjs

do, being a contraction of Mavors, and the indispensable initial

being even reduplicated in Mamers ; so the fancied connexion
between Eresburg and Marsberg will not hold.
In the Old Eoman worship of Mars a prominent is
place given

1
Conf. RA. 896 ; and so late as dinem knopfe ich
Wigal. 6517 Swert, uf
:

des swer, Sword, on

2
thy pommel I swear it.
Juro per Dianam et Martem, Plaut. Mil.
glor. 5, 21.
206 zio.

to the legend of Picus, a son of Saturn, a

wood-spirit who helped
to nurse the babes Eemus and Romulus certain features in our ;

antiquities seem to recall him, as shown later. Romulus

will be
consecrated the third month of the year to Mars, his progenitor ;

our ancestors also named it after a deity who may perhaps be

identified with Mars. That is to say, the Anglo-Saxons called
March Hredemdnad which Beda without , hesitation traces to a

goddess Hreffe; possibly other races might explain it by a god

Jfreda ? These names would come from hr65 gloria, fama, OX.
hroc5r, OHG. hruod, OFrank. chrod, which helped to form many
ancient words, e.g. OHG.
Hruodgang, Hruodhilt, OFrank. Chrodo-
gang, Chrodhild did Hruodo, Chrodo express to certain races the
;

shining god of fame ?

x
The Edda knows of no such epithet for Tyr
as Hr65r or Hroeol (see Suppl.).

To thesediscoveries or conjectures we have been guided simply

by the several surviving names of one of the greatest gods of our

olden time, to whose attributes and surroundings we have scarcely
any other clue left. But now we may fairly apply to him in the
main, what the poetry of other nations supplies. Zio is sure to
have been valiant and fond of war, like Ares, lavish of glory, but
stern and bloodthirsty (al /^aros aaai "Apya, II. 5, 289. 20, 78. 22,

267) he raves and rages like Zeus and Wuotan, he is that old
;

blood-shedder Servian song, he gladdens the hearts of

of the
ravens and wolves, who
follow him to fields of battle, although
these creatures again must be assigned more to Wuotan (p. 147) the ;

Greek phrase makes them olwvoi and /cvves (birds and dogs), and

1
In this connexion one might try to rescue the suspicious and discredited
legend of a Saxon divinity Krodo ; there is authority for it in the loth century,
none whatever in the earlier Mid. Ages. Bothe s Sassenchronik (Leibn. 3, 286)
relates under the year 780, that
King Charles, during his conquest of the East
Saxons, overthrew on the Hartesburg an idol similar to Saturn, which the
people called Krodo. If such an event had really happened, it would most
likely have been mentioned by the annalists, like the overthrow of the
Irmansul. For all that, the tradition need not be groundless, if other things
would
would~ only correspond. Unfortunately the form Crodo for Chrodo, Hrodo,
Rodo [like Catti, aiterw. Chatti, Hatti, Hessen] is rather too ancient, and I can
find no support for it in the Saxon speech. A doc. of 1284 (Langs reg. 4, 247)
nOQ a
has n Waltherus
li tivno /liofno
"YVo 1 1 &* r\rJ ^ oi-/l
dictus Krode, and a song
/* or\t-tf~f
r\ f 1^ vf *a TVToTT *i
in Nithart
1 1- Ol^Qb
s MsII. 3, 2()8
"\Ti b a
r\a Jf.vnir\lf
Krotolf,
which however has no business to remind us of Hruodolf, Ruodolf, being not
a proper name, but a nickname, and so to be derived from krote, a toad, to
which must be referred many names of places, Krotenpful, &c., which have
been mistakenly jiscribed to the idol. The true form for Upper Germany
would not tolerate a Kr, but only Hr or II (see Suppl.).
 zio. 207

the fields of the slain, where the hounds hold revel, are called KVVWV

fj,e\in}0pa, II. 13, 233. 17, 255. 18, 179. Battle-songs were also
sure to be tuned to the praises of Zio, and perhaps war-dances
executed (pekTrevOai from which I derive the
*Apr)l, II. 7, 241),
persistent and widely prevalent custom of the solemn sword-dance,
exactly the thing for the god of the sword. The Edda nowhere
lays particular stress on the sword of war, it knows nothing of
Sahsnot, indeed its sverSas is another god, IleirnSallr x but it sets ;

Tyr before us as one-handed, because the wolf, within whose jaws

he laid his right hand as a pledge, bit it off at the joint, whence
the wrist was called ulfliSr, wolf-lith, Seem. 65 a Sn. 35-6. This .

incident must have been well-known and characteristic of him, for

the OK exposition of runes likewise says, under letter T Tyr er :

einhendr Asa conf. Sn. 105,;

The rest of Teutonic legend has no
2
trace of it, unless we are to look for it in Walther s onehandedness,
and find in his name the mighty wielder of hosts . I prefer to
3
adopt the happy explanation, that the reason
why Tyr appears
one-handed because he can only give victory to one part of the
is,

combatants, as Hadu, another god who dispenses the fortune of

war, and Plutos and Fortuna among the Greeks and Eomans, are
painted blind, because they deal out their gifts at random (see
Suppl.). Now, as victory was esteemed the highest of all fortune,
the god of victory shares to the full the prominent characteristics
of luck in general, partiality arid fickleness. And a remoter period
of our nation may have used names which bore upon this. 4

Amongst the train of Ares and Mars there appear certain

mythic beings who personify the notions of fear and horror. Aelnos
and $o/3o5 (11. 4, 440. 11, 317. 15, 119) answer to the Latin Pallor
1
Conf. Apollo xpvo-dopos above, p. 203, note.
2Cod. pal. 361, 65 a tells of Julian, that he was forced to put his hand
into the mouth of Mercury s statue Die hant stiez er im in den munt
:

dar, darinne uobte sich der valant (devil), er clemmete im die hant, mid
gehabete sie im so vaste, daz er sich niht irlosen mohte (could not get loose).
Besides, the wolfs limb has a likeness to the Wuotan s limb, Woens-let, p. 160.
3
Wackernagel s, in the Schweiz. mus. 1, 107.
4 The
Greek epos expresses the changefulness of victory (VLKTJ eVepaXK^y, II.
eVa/Liei/Serai ai/Spay, 6, 339) by an epithet
8, 171. 16, 362 VIK.J] ;
of Ares,
AAXoTrpoo-aXXoy 5, 831. 889. A
certain many-shaped and all- transforming,
being, with a name almost exactly the same, Vilanders (Ls. 1, 369-92),
Bald-
anderst, Baldander (H. Sachs 1, 537. Simpliciss. bk 6, c. 9), has indeed no visible
connexion with the god of war, but it may have been the name of a god. The
similaritv of this Vilanders to the name of a place in the Tyrol, Villanders
near Brixen (Velunutris is, Vulunuturusa, ace. to Steub. p.
79. 178) is merely
accidental.
208 zio.

and Pavor ;
it is the two former that harness the steeds of Ares,
$6/3os is and in Aeschylus he is provided
called his son (13, 299),
with a dwelling (pekaOpov tectum), out of which he suddenly leaps.
So in the old Bohemian songs, Tras (tremor) and Strdkh (terror)
burst out of forest shades on the enemy s bands, chase them, press
on their necks and squeeze outof their throats a loud cry
(Koniginh.
hs. 84. they are ghostly and spectral. This borders upon
104) ;

Voma, Omi and Yggr (pp. 119, 120), terms which designate the
god himself, not his companions, sons or servants, yet they again
bear witness to the community there was between Wuotan and
Zio. Thorr was called 6tti iotna, terror gigantum. When in our
modern phraseology fear surprises, seizes, shakes, deprives of sense,
is not far off; in the Iliad also 17, 67
personification j(Kwpov Seo?
(neut.) alpei, pale fear seizes but masculine
; embodiments like

Bel/mo?, pallor, pavor,

(/>o/3o9, bring it more vividly before
tras, strakh,

us, and pavor was weakened by passing into the fern, paura, peur
of the Eomance. AS. J?a hine se broga ongeat (terror eum invasit),
Beow. 2583. OHG. forhta chain mih ana, N. ps. 54, 5 forhta ,

anafiel ubar inan, T. 2, 4 ;

conf. MHG. diu sorge im was so verre
entriten, sie mohte erreichen niht ein sper, fear was fled so far from
him, a spear could not reach it, Wh. 280, 10 (see SuppL). But
further on, we shall get acquainted with a female Hilta, comparable
to the Lat. Bellona and the Gr. Enyo and Eris, who is
really one
with war and the war-god.
Tyr is described in Sn. 105 as a son of Oolnn, but in the
HymisqviSa as a kinsman of the giants. His mother, whose name
is not found, but whose beauty is indicated
by the epithet all-gullin,
53 a must have been a giant s daughter, who bore
all-golden, Ssern. ,

to Oolim this immortal son (see SuppL).

 CHAPTER X.

FRO, (FREYR).
The god that stands next in power and
glory, is in the Norse
mythology Freyr (Landn. 4, 7) with the Swedes he seems even to
;

have occupied the third place. His name of itself

proclaims how
widely his worship prevailed among the other Teutonic races, a
name sacred enough to be given to the
Supreme Being even in christ-
ian times. There must have been a broad pregnant sense
underlying
the word, which made it equally fit for the
individuality of one
god, and for the comprehensive notion of dominion, whether sacred
or secular : to some nations it signified the particular god, to others
the soverain much as we found, connected
deity in general, pretty
with the proper names Zio, Zeus, the more general term deus, 0e6?.
While the names of other heathen
gods became an abomination to
the Christians, and a Gothic Vodans or Thunrs would have
grated
harshly on the ear; this one expression, like the
primitive guj? itself,
I

could remain yet a

long time without offence, and signify by turns
the heavenly lord and an
earthly one.
It is true, the
names do not correspond quite exactly. The ON.
Freyr gen. Freys, which Saxo gives quite correctly in its Danish
form as Fro gen. Fros
(whence Froso, Fro s the Swed. like-
island),
Fro, ought to be in Gothic Fraus or Fravis,1 instead of which,
jwise
|3very page of Ulphilas shows frduja gen. fraujins,
translating tcvpw,
pn the other hand, the ON. dialect lacks both the weak form
(Freyi,
Freyja), and the meaning of lord. The all
remaining languages
Wd with the Gothic. In OHG.
the full form frouwo was
already
Lost, the writers
preferring truhtin; it is only in the form of address
UW min! (0. i. 5, 35. ii. 14, 27. v. 7, 35. Ludw. lied) that the

l
Frey = Fravi, as hey = havi (hay), mey = mavi (maid), ey = avi
|k (isle),

14
1210 FRO.

word for a divine or earthly lord was preserved, just as that antique
sihora and sire (p. 27) lasted longest in addresses. In the Heliand
too, when the word is used in addressing, it is always in the short
ened form fro min !
fro min the godo 131, 6.
123, 13. 140, 23. !

134, 15. 138, 1. 7. waldand fro min 153, 8.

! drohtin fro min !

15, 3 ;
but in other cases we do find the complete froJio gen. frohon
3, 24 ; frdho 119, 14, gen. frahon 122, 9, fraon 3, 24. 5, 23 froio ;

93, 1. 107, 21. Still the OS. poet uses the word seldorner than the

synonyms drohtin and herro, and he always puts a possessive with

never an adjective (like mari drohtin, riki drohtin, craftag drohtin,
it,

liob herro), still less does he make compounds with it (like sigi-

drohtin) : all symptoms that the word was freezing up. The AS.
fred gen. frean (for freaan, freawan) has a wider sweep, it not only
admits adjectives (frea relmihtig, Csedm. 1, 9. 10, 1), but also forms
compounds: agendfrea, Caedm. 135, 4. aldorfrea 218, 29. folcfrea
111, 7 and even combines with dryhten
:
freadryhten, Crcdm. 54, :

29, gen. freahdrihtnes, Beow. 1585, dat. freodryhtne 5150. But

now by the side of our OHG. fro there is found a rigid (indecl.)

frono, which, placed before or after substantives, imparts the notion

of lordly, high and holy out of this was gradually developed a
;

more flexible adj. of like meaning fron, and again an adj. fronisc

(pulcher, mundus, inclytus, arcanus), OS. fronisk, frdnisk. In

MHG. and even modern German we have a good many compounds
with vron, as also the adj. in the above sense, while frohnen,frdlmen is
to do service to one s lord, to dedicate. The Frisian dialect contri
butes &frdn, dominions, and/ran^, minister publicus. The added
-n in all these derivatives can be explained by the Gothic frdujinon

dominari, though there was probably no Gothic fraujinisks, as

froniscseems not to have been formed till after the contraction fro
and frono had set in.
But even the Gothic frduja does not present to us the simple j

stem, I look for it in a lost adj. fravis (like navis veKpos, Eom. 7, 2),i
the same as the OHG. fro gen. frouwes, OS. fra gen. frahes, MHG. j

vrd, and our froJi [frohlich, frolic, &c.], and signifying mitis, laetus,
blandus whence the same dialects derive frouwi, gaudium, frouwan,
;

laetum reddere, frouwida, laetitia, &c. (see Suppl.).

I do not mean to assert that a god Frauja, Frouwo, Fraho was

as distinctly worshipped by the Goths, Alamanns, Franks and

Saxons in the first centuries of our era, as Freyr was long after in
 FRO. 211

Scandinavia; it is even possible that the form frauja already

harboured a generalization of the more vividly concrete Fravis =
Freyr, and therefore seemed less offensive to the Christians. But
in both words, the reference to a higher being is unmistakable, and
in the Mid. ages there still seems to hang about the compounds
with vrdn something weird, unearthly, a sense of old sacredness; this
may account for the rare occurrence and the early disappearance
of the OHG. fro,and even for the grammatical immobility of
frono ;
it is as though an echo of heathenism could be still detected
in them.
A worship of Fro may be inferred even from the use of certain
proper names and poetic epithets, especially by the Anglo-Saxons,
The Goths even of later times use Frduja as a man s name, to which
j

i
we can hardly attribute the sense of lord simply an envoy from :

j king Hadafus to Charles the Great is called Froia (Pertz 1, 184.

2, 223), perhaps Froila (Fraujila) ;

an OHG. Frewilo occurs in a
document in Neugart no. 162. The AS. genealogies contain
Wtiscfred ;
i name
often found elsewhere (Beda 138, 19. 153,
the is

5),
and seems suitable to Woden the god or lord of wishing (p. 144).
.Equally to the point is the poetic fredwine (freawine folca) in

JBeow. 4871, 4708. 4853. where it is a mere epithet of divine or god-

loved heroes and kings. But the Wessex pedigree can produce its
Fredwine, whom Saxo Gram, calls Frowinus (better Frowinus) ;

3HG. documents proper name Frowin (Trad,

likewise have the

722), and in several

iuvav. p. 302, Cod. lauresh. 712, but Friowini
:ioble families, e.g., the
distinguished one of the Yon Huttens, it has

JDeen
kept up till modern times. What is remarkable, the Edda
uses of a hero Freys b mnr
(Seem. 219 ), like the AS. freawine, only
is Frey s friend and protege, or perhaps
jmcompounded: Sigiiror
liis
votary and servant, in the way shown on p. 93. Here again frea,
;
ro, freyr, cannot have merely the general meaning of lord, any lord,

rhe Swedish heroes in the Bravalla

fight, who boast their descent
rorn Fro, are in Saxo, Fro dei which
j p. 144, called necessarii, is

exactly our Freys vinar. In the same way the AS. and ON. poetries,
.nd
consequently the myths, have in common the expression
red Ingwina (gen. pi.), Beow. 2638,
Ingvinar (gen. sing.) freyr,
b
Lngunnar/reyr, Seem. 65 Ingi/m/r (Thorlac. obs. bor. spec. 6, p. 43),
,

i>y
which is to be understood a hero or
god, not junior dominus,
.s
Thorlacius, p. 68, supposes. Yngvi/m/r is called Coin s son, Sn.
212 FRO.

211 a . come back to this mysterious combination of two

I shall

mythical names, when I come to speak of the hero Ingo. The ON.
skalds append this freyr to other names and to common nouns, e.g.,
in Kormakssaga, pp. 104 122, fiornis freyr, myMfreyr mean no
more than hero or man in the heightened general sense which we
noticed in the words irmin, In the same way the fern.
tir and t^r.

freyja means frau, woman, lady, Kormakss. p. 317.

All that I have made out thus far on the name and idea of the
god, will receive new light and confirmation
when we come to ex
amine his divine sister Freyja. The brother and sister are made
alike in all their attributes, and each can stand for the other.

Fro does not appear in the series of gods of the week, because
there was no room for him there if we must translate him by a ;

Koman name, it can scarcely be any other than that of Liber, whose
association with Libera is extremely like that of Fro with Frowa

(Freyr with Freyja). As Liber and Libera are devoted to the

service of Ceres or Demeter, Fro and Frowa stand in close union
with Nerthus. godhead seems to hold a middle place between
Fro s

the notion of the supreme lord and that of a being who brings about
love and fruitf ulness. He has Wuotan s creative quality, but
sword he gives away, when
performs no deeds of war horse and ;

consumed with longing for the fair GerSr, as is sung in one of the
most glorious lays of the Edda. Snorri says, rain and sunshine are
in the gift of Freyr (as elsewhere of Wuotan and Donar, pp. 157.

175) he is invoked for fertility of the soil and for peace (til
drs oc
;

fri&ar, Sn. 28 conf. Yngl. saga cap. 12).

;
The Swedes revered
him as one of their chief gods, and Adam of Bremen says that at
Upsal his statue stood by those of Thor and Wodan (see Suppl.).
b
Also in Saem. 85 he is named next to OSinn and Thorr (asabragr)
as the third god. Adam calls
him Fricco, 1 which is precisely parallel
to the confusion of the two goddesses Freyja and Frigg,
frequent
which I shall deal with at a future time. But he paints him as a

god of peace and love : Tertius est Fricco, pacem voluptatemque

laro-iens mortalibus, cujus etiam simulachrum finguut inycnti

1
Which occurs elsewhere as a man s iiame, e.g.,
Friccheo in Scliannat, Trad,
fuld. 386.
 FRO. 213

l
priapo ; si nuptiae celebrandae sunt, (sacrificia offerunt) Fricconi.
Then there isthe story, harmonizing with this, though related from
the Christian point of view and to the heathen god s detriment, of

Prey s statue being carried round the country in a waggon, and of

his beautiful young priestess, Fornm. sog. 2, 73-8. This progress
takes place, }?a er hann skal gera monnum drbot when he shall
make for men year s boot ;
the people flock to meet the car, and
bring their offerings, then the weather clears up and men look
for a fruitful year. The offerings are those which Saxo, p. 15, names
Frobldt; live animals were presented, particularly oxen
(Vigagl.
saga, p. 56. Islend. sog. 2, 348), which seems to
explain why
Freyr is reckoned among the poetic names for an ox, Sn. 221 a in
;

like manner, horses were consecrated to him, such a one was

called Frcyfaxi and accounted and human
holy, Vatnsd. p. 140 ;

victims fell to him in Sweden, Saxo Grain. 42.

Freyr possessed
a boar named Gullinbursti, whose
golden bristles lighted up
the night like day, who ran with the
speed of a horse and drew the
deity s car, Sn 66. 132. It is therefore in
Frey s worship that the
atonement-boar is sacrificed (p. 51) ;
2
in Sweden cakes in the shape
of a boar are baked on Yule-eve. And herewe come upon a good
many relics of the service once done to the
god, even outside of
I Scandinavia. We hear of the clean gold-hog (-ferch, whence dimin.
farrow) in the popular customs of the Wetterau .and
Thuringia
(p. 51). In the Mid. Dutch poem of Lantslot ende
Sandrii),\
374, a knight says to his maiden ic heb u liever dan en
<

:
everswin,
al waert van
finen goude gkewrackt, I hold you dearer than a boar-
swine, all were it of fine gold were still in the
y-wrought ; they
habit of making gold jewels in the shape of boars ? at least the
remembrance of such a thing was not yet lost. Fro and his boar
may also have had a hand in a superstition of Gelderland, which
however puts a famous hero in the Derk met den
I
place of the god :

1
With priapus rptWos I would identify the ON. friof semen friofr
foecundus ;
conf Goth, fraiv, seed.
The statement of Adainus Bremensis looks
better, since Wolf in his Wodana xxi. xxii. xxiii
brought to light the festivals
and images of Priapus or Ters at a late
period in the Netherlands. This ters
Us the AS. feora, OHG.
zers, and Herbert 4054 is shy of uttering the name
Aerses
Phallus-worship, so widely spread among the nations of antiquity
must have arisen out of an innocent veneration of the
|
generative principle
which a later age, conscious of its
sins, prudishly avoided. After all is said
there is an
inkling of the same in Phol too and the avoidance of his name
thou 8 h * do not venture
2 XT exactly to identify him with 0aXXo r.
Not only Demeter, but Zeus received
boar-offerings, II. 19, 197. 251.
 214 FRO.

leer (Theoderic, Derrick with the boar) goes his round on Christmas-
eve night, and people are careful to get all implements of husbandry
within doors, else the boar will trample them about, and make
them unfit for use. 1 In the same Christmas season, dame Holda or
Berhta sallied out, and looked after the ploughs and spindles,
motherly goddesses instead of the god, Frouwa instead of Fr6.
With this again are connected the formae aprorum worn as charms
by the remote Aestyans, who yet have the ritus habitusque
Suevorum Tacitus Germ. 45 says, these figures represent the
.

worship mater deum/ of a female Fro, i.e., of Freyja and,

of the ;

what conclusive on this point, the Edda (Ssem. 114 a ) assigns the
is

Gulliribursti to Freyja, though elsewhere he belongs to Freyr (see

Suppl.). Anglo-Saxon poetry, above all, makes mention of these

loar-badges, these gold swine. When
Constantine sees a vision in
his sleep, he is said to be eoforcumble be]?eaht (apri signo tectus
El. 76 ; it must have been fastened as an auspicious omen over th
head of the bed. Afterwards again, in the description of Elene
stately progress to the east J?eer waes on eorle eSgesyne grimheli
:

manig, cenlic eoforcumlul (tune in duce apparuit horrida cassis, ex

cellens apri forma), El. 260. The poet
is describing a decoration o

the old heathen time, cumbul is the helmet s crest, and the king*
helmet appears to be adorned with the image of a boar. Severa
passages in Beowulf place the matter beyond a doubt coforlfa :

scionon ofer hleor beran gehroden golde, fan and f^rheard ferhwearde
heold (apri formam videbantur supra genas gerere auro comptam
quae varia igneque durata vitam tuebatur), 605 het Jm inberaD ;

eofor hedfodsegn, heaSosteapne helm (jussit afferri aprum, capitis

signum, galeam in pugna prominentem), 4300 sivin ofer helm(
;

(sus supra galea), 2574 swin ealgylden, eofor irenheard (sus aureus
;

aper instar ferri dums), 2216, i.e., a helmet placed on the funera
pile as a costly jewel helm befongen Fredwrdsnum
; (
OHG. Fro-

reisanum), swa hine fyrndagum worhte waepna smi5, besette swin-

licum, j?eet hine siSJmn no brond ne beadoinecas bitan ne meahtan
(galea ornata Frohonis signis, sicut earn olim fabricaverat armorum
faber, circumdederat earn apri formis, ne gladius ensesve laedere
earn possent), 2905 ;
as a sacred divine symbol, it was to protect in

1
Staring, in the journal Mnemosyne, Leyden 1829. 1, 323 quoted thence ;

in Westendorp s Noordsche mythologie, Dordrecht 1830. p. 495.

 FRO. 215

battle and affright the foe.

1
The OHG. proper name Epurhelm,
Eparhelm (eber, eofor, aper), placed by the side of Frohelm (both
occur in the Trad, patav. no. 20; MB. 28 b , 18) acquires thus a special
and appropriate meaning. Such boar-crests might still serve as
ornaments even to Christian heroes, after the memory of Fro was
obliterated, and long continue to be wrought simply as jewels (see

Suppl.). Some other traces of boar consecration have lasted still

later, especially in England. The custom of the boar-vow I have
explained in EA. 900-1. As even at the present day on festive
occasions a wild boar s head is seen among the other dishes as a
show-dish, they used in the Mid. Ages to serve it up at banquets,

garnished with laurel and rosemary, to carry it about and play all
manner of pranks with it Where stood a boars head garnished
:
*

With bayes and rosemary e, says one ballad about Arthur s Table ;

when three strokes have been given with a rod over it, it is only
the knife of a virtuous man that can carve the first slice. At other
times, even a live boar makes its appearance in the hall, and a bold
hero chops its head off. At Oxford they exhibit a boar s head on
Christmas day, carry it solemnly round, singing: Caput apri defero,
Reddens laudes Domino (see Suppl.). Those Aestyans may prove
a link of fellowship between the Germanic nations and the Finnish
and Asiatic it is well worth noticing, that the Tcherkass (Circas
;

sians) worship a god of woods and hunting, Mesitch by name, who

rides a wild boar vrith golden bristles? To most of the other gods
tame animals are sacred, to Fro the daring dauntless boar, as well
befits a god of the chase. Perhaps also a huge boar with white
3
tusks, who in Slavic legend rises foaming out of a lake, is that of
a kindred deity.

The Edda attributes to Freyr a sword of surpassing virtue, which

could put itself into motion against the brood of giants, Seem. 82.
His giving it away when in straits, proved his ruin afterwards ;
it

was held to be the cause of his death, when at the Eagnarokr he

had to stand single combat with Surtr (swart), and missed his

1 On this
point again, the statement of Tacitus about the Aestyans agrees
so exactly, that it seems worth quoting in full Aestyorum gentes. : . . .

quibus ritus habitusque Suevorum. . Matrem deum venerantur

. -, :

insigne superstitionis, formas aprorum gestant id pro armis omniumque tutela

;

securum deae cultorem etiam inter hostes praestat. TRANS.

2
Erman s archiv fur wissenschaftl, kunde Russlands 1842, heft 1, p. 118.
3 AevKov oSo m, Od. 19. 465.
oSoj/ra, II. 11, 416. aCs* XevKai
216 FRO.

trusty blade. Sn. 73. There appear to have been other traditions
also afloat about this sword 1 and it would not seem far-fetched, if
j

on the strength of it we placed the well-known

trilogy of Thunar,
Wodan, Saxnot beside Adam of Bremen s Wodan, Thor and
Fricco or the Eddie OSinn, Asabragr, Freyr, 2 that is to
say, if we
took Freyr, Fricco =
Fro to be the same as Sahsndt the sword-
possessor. Add Edda never mentions the sword of
to this, that the

Tyr. Nevertheless there are stronger reasons in favour of Sahsnoz

being Zio this for one, that he was a son of Wuotan, whereas
:

Freyr comes of NiorSr, though some genealogies to be presently

mentioned bring him into connexion with Woden.
For the brilliant Freyr, the beneficent son of NiorSr, the
dwarfs had constructed a wonderful ship SkiSblaSnir, which could
fold up like a cloth, Ssem. 45 b Sn. 48.
Yngl. saga cap. 7 (see
,

3
Suppl.).
Besides the Swedes, the Thrsendir in Norway were devoted to
Freyr above all other gods, Fornm. sog. 10, 312.
Occasionally
priests of his are named, as ThorSr Freys go&i (of the 10th century),
Landn. 4, 10 and Nialss. cap. 96 ;
Flosi appears to have succeeded
his father in the office ;
other Freysgy&lingar are cited in Landn.
4, 13. The Vigaglumssaga
cap. 19 mentions Freys kof at Upsala,
and cap. 26 his statue at Thvera in Iceland, though only in a night-
vision he is pictured sitting on a chair, giving short and surly
:

(stutt ok reiSuliga) answers to his supplicants, so that Glumr, who

in cap. 9 had sacrificed an old ox to him, now on awaking from his
dream neglected his service. In the Landn. 3, 2 and Vatnsd. pp.
44. 50 we are told of a Freyr giorr of silfri (made of silver), which
was used in drawing lots conf. Verlauff s note, p. 362.
;
In the
Landn. preserved the usual formula for an oath Hialpi mer
4, 7 is :

sva Freyr ok Nior&r ok hinn almdttki as (so help me F. and N. and

that almighty ds) by which last is to be understood Thorr rather
!

1
In old French poetry I find a famous sword wrought by Galant himself
(Wielant, Wayland), and named Froberge or Floberge (Garin ], 263. 2, 30-8) ;

the latter reading has no discoverable sense, though our later Flamberge seems
to have sprung from it. Froberge might very well be either a mere fro-bergende
(lord-protecting) weapon, or a reminiscence of the god Fro s sword conf. the
;

word-formations quoted in my Gramm. 2, 486. There are townships called in

OHG. Helidberga, Marahaberga (horse-stable). The ON. has no Freybiorg
that I know of, though it has Thorbiorg fern., and Thorbergr masc.
2 Also in Sn. 131, OSinn, Th6rr, Freyr are speakers of doom.
3
Pliny N. H. 5, 9 mentions Ethiopian naves plicatiles humeris translatas.
 NIKDU. 217

than 05inn, for in the Egilssaga p. 365, Freyr, Nidrffr and the
landds (Thorr) are likewise mentioned together. In the same
Egilss. p. 672, Freyr ok Nidr&r are again placed side by side. The
story of the Brisinga-men (-monile append, to Sn. 354) says, Oftinn
;

had appointed both Freyr and Niorffr to be sacrificial gods. Hall-

freSr sang (Fornm. sog. 2, 53, conf. 12, 49) :

Mer skyli Freyr oc Freyja, narft laet ek ae)ul Niarftar,

liknist groin vi5 Grimni gramr ok Thorr enn rammi !

That Freyr in these passages should be brought forward with

Freyja and Nior Sr, is easy to understand (see SuppL).

Of Niorffr our German mythology would have nothing to tell,
any more than Saxo Gram, ever mentions him by that name, had
not Tacitus put in for us that happy touch of a goddess Nertlius,
whose identity with the god is as obvious as that of Fro with
Frouwa. The Gothic form Natrjnis would do for either or
even for both sexes possibly Frauja was considered the son
;

of the goddess Nairjms, as Freyr is of the god NiorSr, and in

the circuit which the goddess makes in her car, publishing peace
and fertility to mortals, we can recognise that of Freyr or of his
father NiorSr. According to Yngl. saga cap. 11, these very bless
ings were believed to proceed from NiorSr also auftigr sem :

NiorSr (rich as N.) was a proverbial saying for a wealthy man,

Vatnsd. p. 202. Snorri, in Formali 10, identifies him with Saturn,
for he instructed mankind in vine-dressing and husbandry it ;

would be nearer the mark to think of him and Freyr in connexion

with Dionysus or Liber, or even with Noah, if any stress is to be
laid on NiorS s abode being in Noatun, As freyr was affixed
to other names of heroes (p. 211-2), I find geirnidrffr used for a hero
in general, Stem. 266 b ; conf. geirmimir, geirniflungr, &c. The
name itself is hard to explain ; is it akin to north, AS. norS, OK
norSr, Goth. naur]?s ? In Seem. 109 b there is niarSlas for sera
firma, or pensilis have met with no Nirdu, Nerd, Nird among
? I
OHG. proper names, nor with a NeorS in the AS. writings.
Irminon s polyptych 22 2 a has Narthildis (see SuppL).
Niordr appears to have been greatly honoured hofum oc :

hb rgum hann rseSr hundmorgum, Ssem. 36 a especially, no doubt,;

among people that lived on the sea coast. The Edda makes him
rule over wind, sea and fire, he loves waters and lakes, as Nerthus
in Tacitus bathes in the lake from the mountains of the
(Sn. 27) ;
218 FRO.

midland he longs to be away where the swans sing on the cool

shore; a water-plant, the spongia marina, bears the name of Niarcfar
vottr, Niorft s glove, which elsewhere was very likely passed on to
his daughter Freyja, and so to Mary, for some kinds of orchis

too, from their hand-shaped root, are called Mary hand,s lady-hand,
god hand (Dan. gudshaand).
s

As Dionysus stands outside the ring of the twelve Olympian

gods, so NiorSr, Freyr and Freyja seem by rights not to have been
reckoned among the Ases, though they are marshalled among
them in Sn. 27-8. They were Vanir, and therefore, according to
the view of the elder Edda, different from Ases as these dwelt in ;

Asgar5, so did the Vanir in Vanaheim, the Alfar in Alfheim, the

b
lotnar in Ib tunheim. Vaningi, Seem. 86
Freyr is The
called .

a
Vanir were regarded as intelligent and wise, Seem. 36 and they ;

entered into intimate fellowship with the Asen, while the

Alfs and lotuns always remained opposed to them. Some have
fancied that the Alfs and lotuns stand for Celtic races, and the
Vanir for Slav; and building chiefly on an attempt in the Yngl.

saga cap. 1 to find the name of the Tanais in Tanaqvisl (or Vana-
qvisl !), they have drawn by inference an actual boundary-line
between Aesir and Vanir =
German! and Slavi in the regions
formerly occupied by them (see Suppl.). And sure enough a
Eussian is to this day called in Finnish Wenaila inen, in Esth.
Wennelane ;
even the name of the Wends might be dragged in,

though the Vandili of Tacitus point the other way. Granting that
there may be some foundation for these views, still to my mind
the conceptions of Aesir, Vanir, Alfar in the Edda are sketched on
a ground altogether too mythical for any historical meaning to be
got out of them as regards the contrast between Ases and Vanir,
;

I am no essential difference in the cultus of the several

aware of

gods and, whatever

;
stress it may be right to lay on the fact that

Frouwa, Freyja answers to a Slavic goddess Priye, it does not at

all follow that Fro, Frouwa and Nerthus were in a less degree
Germanic deities than the rest. Tacitus is silent on the German
Liber, as he is on our Jupiter, yet we are entitled to assume a
universal veneration of Donar, even though the Gothic fairguni is
better represented in Perkunas or Peruri so also, to judge by what ;

clues we have, Frauja, Fro, Freyr appears so firmly established,

that, considering the scanty information we have about our

 FRO. 219

antiquities, no German race can be denied a share in him, though

some nations may have worshipped him more than others; and
even that not easy to ascertain, except in Scandinavia. 1
is

It is worthy of notice, that the AS. and ON. genealogies bring

Fred into kinship with Woden, making Finn the father of a Frealaf
(Frioleifr), and him again of Woden some of them
;
insert two more
links, FriSuwulf and FriSuwald, so that the complete pedigree
stands thus Finn, Friftuwulf, Fredldf, FricTuwald, Woden (or, in
:

the place our old acquaintance Fred wine).

of Frealaf, Here
evidently FriSuwulf, Frealaf, FriSuwald are all the same thing, a
mere expansion of the simple Fred. This follows even from a quite
different ON. genealogy, Fornald. sog. 2, 12, which makes Burr
(= Finn; conf. Eask, afh. 1, 107-8) the immediate progenitor of
OSinn, and him of Freyr, Nib rftr and a second Freyr. The double
Freyr corresponds to the AS. FriSuwulf and FriSuwald, as the
words here expressing glad, free and fair are near of kin to one
another. Lastly, when the same AS. genealogies by turns call
Finn s father Godwidf and Folcwald, this last name is supported by
the Fin Folcwalding (-ing =
son) of Cod. exon. 320, 10 and of
Beow. 2172, where again the reference must be to Fred and his
a a
race, for the Edda (Siem. 87 conf. 10 ) designates Freyr folcvaldi
,

(al. folcvaldr) gooY. Now this folkvaldi means no other than

dominator, princeps, i.e. the same as fred, fr8, and seems, like it, to

pass into a proper name. On the linking of Freyr and NiorSr with
05inn, there will be more to say in ch. XV (see Suppl.). If
Snorri s comparison of Niorftr with Kronos (Saturn) have any

justification, evidently Poseidon (Neptune) the son of Kronos would

come nearer to our Teutonic sea-god and UocretScwy might be
;

referred to Troops (lord, Lith. pats, Sansk. patis, Goth. fa]?s), which
means the same as Fro. Only then both Fro and Nirdu would
again belong to the eldest race of gods.

1
Wh. Miiller, Nibelungensage pp. 136 148, wishes to extend the Vanir
gods only to the Sueves and Goths, not to the western Germans, and to draw a
distinction between the worship of Freyr and that of "Wuotan, which to me
looks very doubtful. As little can I give up the point, that NiorSr and Nerthus
were brother and sister, and joint parents of Freyr and Freyja ; this is grounded
not only on a later representation of Snorri in the Yngl. saga cap. 4, where yet
the female NiorS is nowhere named, as Tacitus conversely knows only a female
Nerthus and no god of that name but also on JSaem. 65 a
;
vi(5 systor thinni
:

gaztu slikan mog, with thy sister begattest thou such brood, though here again
the sister is left unnamed.
 CHAPTER XL

r ALTAR (BALDER).

The myth of Balder, one of the most ingenious and beautiful in

the Edda, has happily for us been also handed down in a later
form with variations and there is no better example of fluctuations
:

in a god-myth. sets forth, how the pure blameless deity

The Edda
isstruck with Mistiltein by the blind Ho5r, and must go down to
the nether world, bewailed by all nothing can fetch him back, and
;

Nanna the true w ife

T
follows him in death. In Saxo, all is pitched
in a lower key Balder and Hother are rival suitors, both wooing
:

Nanna, and Hother the favoured one manages to procure a magic

sword, by which alone his enemy is vulnerable when the fortune ;

of war has wavered long between them, Hother is at last victorious

and slays the demigod, to whom Hel, glad at the near prospect of
possessing him, shews herself beforehand. But here the grand
funeral pile is prepared for Gelder, a companion of Balder, of whom
the account in the Edda knows nothing whatever. The worship of
the god is attested chiefly by the Fri(5]?iofssaga, v. Fornald. sb g. 2,
63 seq. (see Suppl.).
Baldr, gen. Baldrs, reappears in the OHG. proper name altar P
1
(in Meichelbeck no. 450. 460. 611) and in the AS. bealdor, baldor,
5

signifying a lord, prince, king, and seemingly used only with a gen.
pi. before it
gumena baldor, CsBdm. 163, 4. wigena baldor, Jud.
:

132, 47. sinca bealdor, Beow. 4852. winia bealdor 5130. It is

remarkable that in the Cod. exon. 276,18 nuegSa bealdor (virginum
princeps) is said even of a maiden. I know of only a few examples
in the OX. : baldur
brynju, Seem. 272
b
and herbaldr 218 b are
i ,

used for a hero in general atgeirs baldr (lanceae vir), Fornm. sog.
;

5, 307. This conversion from a proper name to a noun appellative

1
Graff 1, 432 thinks this name stands for Paltaro, and is a compound of
aro (aar, aquila), but this is unsupported by analogy in the ninth and tenth ;

centuries, weak forms are not yet curtailed, and we always find Epuraro
(eberaar, boar-eagle), never Epurar.
 PALTAR. 221

exactly reminds us of frduja, fro, frea, and the ON. t$r. As bealdor
is already extinct in AS. prose, our proper name Paltar seems
likewise to have died out early heathen songs in OHG. may have
;

known a paltar princeps. = Such Gothic forms as Baldrs, gen.

1
Baldris, and baldrs (princeps), may fairly be assumed.
This Baldrs would in strictness appear to have no connexion
with the Goth, batys (bold, audax), nor Paltar with the OHG. paid,
nor Baldr with the ON. ballr. As a rule^ the Gothic Id is represented
by OK Id and OHG. It the Gothic :
by 1>
OK
11 and OHG. Id.
2

But the OS. and AS. have Id in both cases, and even in Gothic, OK. and
OHG. a root will sometimes appear in both forms in the same lan
3 4
guage; so that a close connexion between balj?s and Baldrs, paid and
Paltar, is possible after all. On mythological grounds it is even
probable Balder s wife Nanna is also the bold one, from nenna to
:

dare in Gothic she would have been Nanjjo from nanjyan, in

;

OHG. Nandd from gi-nendan. The Baldr of the Edda may not
distinguish himself by bold deeds, but in Saxo he fights most
valiantly ;
and neither of these narratives pretends to give a
complete account of his life. Perhaps the Gothic Balthae (Jor-
nandes 5, 29) traced their origin to a divine Batys or Baldrs (see
Suppl.).
Yet even this meaning of the bold god or hero might be a
later the Lith. laltas and Lett, baits signify the white, the
one :

good; and by the doctrine of consonant-change, baltas exactly

answers to the Goth. bal}?s and OHG. paid. Add to this, that the
AS. genealogies call Woden s son not Bealdor, Baldor, but Bceldceg,
Beldcg, which would lead us to expect an OHG. Paltac, a form that
I confess I have nowhere read.But both dialects have plenty of
other proper names compounded with dseg and tac OHG. Adaltac, :

Baldrs, Paltar, must be kept distinct from the compound Baldheri

1

(Schannat no. 420. 448), Paldheri (Trad, patav. no. 35), AS. JBaldhere. This
Paldheri is the same as Paldackar (Trad, patav. no. 18).
2
Goth. kalds ) C vil>eis hutys gtilk
ON. kaldr V- but 1 villr hollr gull.
OHG. chaltj (wildi hold kold.
atyan and al]?s aldis, also aldrs ; Goth, fatyan and OHG.
3 Conf. Gothic

faldan, afterwards faltan. As ]? degenerates into d, and d into t, any d put for
]?,
or t for d, marks a later form the Goth, fadr stands for fa]?r, as we see by
:

pater [the AS. feeder, modor, after a usurpation of 1000 years, must have
given place to the truer father, mother again]. In the ON. valda pret. olli,
we must regard the 11 as older than the Id, in spite of the Goth, valdan and
OHG. waltan [some would prefer to call valda an archaism].
4
Baldr may be related to bal}?, as tir to ty, and zior to zio.
222 PALTAR.

Alptac, Ingatac, Kertac,Helmtac, Hruodtac, Regintac, Sigitac ;

OS. Alacdag, Alfdag (Albdag, Pertz 1, 286), Hildidag, Liuddag,

Osdag, Wulfdag AS. Wegdaeg, Swefdseg even the ON. has the
; ;

name Now, either Baeldseg simply stands for Bealdor,

Svipdagr.
and is synonymous with it (as e.g., Eegintac with Reginari, Sigitac
with Sigar, Sigheri) 1 or else we must recognise in the word docg,
;

dag, tac itself a personification, such as we found another root

undergoing (p. 1 94-5) in the words div, divan, dina, dies and both ;

alike would express a shining one, a white one, a god. Prefixing to

this the Slavic biel, bel, we have no need
to take Bteldseg as standing
for Bealdor or Bod-dasg itself is white-god, light-god,
anything else,
he that shines as sky and light and day, the kindly Bielbogli, Bel-
Wgh of the Slav system (see Suppl.). It is in perfect accord with
this explanation of Bael-dseg, that the AS. tale of ancestry assigns
to him a son Brand, of whom the Edda
brond, brand, ON. is silent,

brandr, signifying jubar, fax, titio. Baelda3g therefore, as regards

his name, would agree with Berhta, the bright goddess.
Wehave to consider a few more circumstances bearing on this
point. Baldr s beauty is thus described in Sn. 26: Hann eisv&fagr
alitum ok liartr svd at lysir af honum, oc eitt gras er sva hvitt, at
iafnat er til Baldrs brdr, ]?at er allra grasa hvitast oc ]mr eptir mattu
marka hans fegurS bseol a hfiri ok liki he is so fair of countenance
;

and bright that he shines of himself, there is a grass so white that it

is evened with Baldr s brows, it is of all grasses whitest, and thereby

mayest thou mark his fairness both in hair and body. This
plant, named Baldrsbrd 2
god s white eyebrow, is either the
after the
anthemis cotula, still called Barbro in Sweden, Balsensbro, Ballensbm
in Schonen, and Barbrogr&s in Denmark, or the matricaria maritima

inodora, whHi retains the original name in Iceland (see Suppl.). 3

In Skane there is a Baldursberg, in the Ottingen country a
Baldern, and in the Vorarlberg, east of Bregenz, ^Balderscliwang ;
such names of places demand caution, as they may be taken from
men, Baldar or Baldheri, I therefore withhold the mention of
several more. But the heavenly abode of the god was called
b
Breiffablik, nom. pi. (Ssem. 41 Sn. 21-7), i.e. broad splendors,
,

1 The cases are hardly analogous :

Bceld-osj and Regin-fac. TRANS.
2
Homer emphasizes the dark brows ot Zeus and Hera, 6<j>pvs
Kvavta.
Conf. \cvic6(f)pvs and Artemis Xev/co^pvj/r/, white-browed Diana.
3
Germ, names of the camomile kuhauge, rindsauge, ochsenauge (ox-eye).
:

Dalecarl. hvitet-o.ia (white eye), in Bahuslan hvita-piga (white girl).

 HADU. 223

which may have reference to the streaks of the milky way a place ;

near Lethra, not far from Eoeskild, is said to have borne the name
1
of Bredeblick. This very expression re-appears in a poem of the
twelfth century, though not in reference to a dwelling-place, but to
a host of snow-white steeds and heroes advancing over the battle
field : Do brahte Dietheriches vane zvencik clusint lossam in
foeither llickin uber lant, Both. 2635. In Wh. 381, 16 : daz
bluot uber die Uicke floz, si wurdn
almeistic rotgevar, did the
blood flow over the paths of the field, or over the shining silks ?
If Bceldcey and Brond reveal to us that the worship of Balder
had a definite form of its own even outside of Scandinavia, we

may conclude from the general diffusion of all the most essential
proper names entering into the main plot of the myth there, that
this myth as a whole was known The goddess Hel,to all Teutons.
as will XIII, answers to the Gothic im
be more fully shown in ch.

personal noun halja, OHG. hella. Hoffr (ace. Ho5, gen. HaSar, dat.
HeSi), pictured as a blind god of tremendous strength (Sn. 31),
who without malice discharges the fatal arrow at Baldr, is called
Hotherus in Saxo, and implies a Goth. Hapus, AS. Hea&o, OHG.
Hadu, Frank. Chado, of which we have still undoubted traces in
proper names and poetic compounds. OHG. Hadupraht, Hadufuns,
Hadupald, Hadufrid, Hadumar, Hadupurc, Hadulint, Haduwic
(Hedwig), &c., forms which abut close on the Catumerus in Tacitus
(Hadumar, Hadamar). In AS. poetry are still found the terms
heaSorinc (vir egregius, nobilis), Csedm. 193, 4. Beow. "737. 4927 ;

heaSowelm (belli impetus, fervor), Coedm. 21, 14. 147, 8. Beow. 164.
5633; heaSoswat (sudor bellicus), Beow. 2919. 3211. 3334; heaftowsed
(vestis bellica), Beow. 78 heaSubyrne (lorica bellica), Cod. exon.
;

297, 7 ; heatJosigel and heaSogleam (egregium jubar), Cod. exon.

486, 17 and 438, 6; heatfolac (pugnae Beow. 1862.
ludus),
3943 ; heaSogrim (atrocissimus), Beow. 1090. 5378 heaftosioc
;

(pugna vulneratus), Beow. 5504 ; heaSosteap (celsus), Beow. 2490.

4301. In these words, except where the meaning is merely intensi
fied,the prevailing idea is plainly that of battle and strife, and the

god or hero must have been thought of and honoured as a warrior.

Therefore Hafius, Ho&r, as well as Wuotan and Zio, expressed
phenomena of war and he was imagined; blind, because he dealt
out at random good hap and ill (p. 207). Then, beside Hoftr, we
8
Suhm. crit. hist. 2, 63.
 224 PALTAR.

have Hcrmo&r interweaving himself in the thread of Haider s

history he is dispatched to Hel, to demand his beloved brother
;

back from the underworld. In Saxo he is already

forgotten the ;

AS. genealogy places its HeremoS among Woden s ancestors, and

names as his son either Sceldwa or the Sceaf renowned in story,
whereas in the North he and Balder alike are the offspring of OSinn ;

in the same way we saw (p. 219) Freyr taken for the father as well
as the son of NiorSr. A later Heremod appears in Beow. 1795.
3417, but still in kinship with the old races he is perhaps that ;

hero, named by
the side of Sigmundr in Saem. 113 a to whom OSinn ,

lends helm and hauberk. AS. title-deeds also contain the name;
Kemb. 1, and in OHG. Herimuot, Herimaot, occurs very
232. 141 ;

often (Graff 2, 699 anno 782, from MB. 7, 373. Neugart no.
170. 214. 244. 260. annis 8U9-22-30-34. Eied. no. 21 anno
821), but neither song nor story has a tale to tell of him (see
Suppl.).

So much the more valuable are the revelations of the Merseburg

discovery not only are we fully assured now of a divine Balder in
;

Germany, but there emerges again a long-forgotten mytlius, and

with it a new name unknown even to the North.

When, says the lay, Phol (Balder) and Wodan were one day
riding in the forest, one foot of Balder s foal, demo Balderes volon,
was wrenched out of joint, whereupon the heavenly habitants
bestowed their best pains on setting it right again, but neither
Sinngund and Sunna, nor yet Frua and Folia could do any good,
only Wodan the wizard himself could conjure and heal the limb
(see Suppl.).
The whole incident is as little known to the Edda as to other
Norse legends. Yet what was told in a heathen spell in Thuringia
before the tenth century is still in its substance found lurking
in conjuring formulas known to the country folk of Scotland
and Denmark (conf. ch. XXXIII, Dislocation),
except that they
apply to Jesus what the heathen believed of Balder and Wodan.
It is somewhat odd, that Cato (Dere rust. 160) should give, likewise
for a dislocated limb, an Old Roman or perhaps Sabine form of

spell, which is unintelligible to us, but in which a god is evidently

invoked: Luxum si quod est, hac cantione sanum fiet. Harundinem
prende tibi viridena
pedes aut V longam, mediam diffinde, et
IV
duo homines teneant ad coxendices. Incipe cantare in alio S.F.
 HERIMUOT. PHOL. 225

motas vaeta daries dardaries astataries Dissunapiter ! usque durn

coeant. What follows is nothing to our purpose.
The horse of Balder, lamed and checked on his journey, acquires
a full meaning the moment we think of him as the god of light or
day, whose stoppage and detention must give rise to serious mis
chief on the earth. Probably the story in its context could have
informed us of this it was foreign to the purpose of the conjuring-
;

spell.
The names of the four goddesses will be discussed in their
proper place what concerns us here is, that Balder is called by a
;

second and hitherto unheard-of name, Phol. The

eye for our
antiquities often merely wants opening: a noticing of the unnoticed
has resulted in clear footprints of such a god
being brought to oar
hand, in several names of places.
In Bavaria there was a Pholesauwa, Pholesouwa, ten or twelve
miles from Passau, which the Traditiones
patavienses first mention
in a document drawn up between 774 and 788
(MB. vol. 28, pars
2, p. 21, no. 23), and afterwards many later ones of the same district:
it is the
present village of Pfalsau. Its composition with aue
quite
fits in with the an
supposition of old heathen worship. The gods were
worshipped not only on mountains, but on eas inclosed by brooks
and rivers, where fertile meadows yielded pasture, and forests shade.
Such was the castum nemus of Nerthus in an insula Oceani, such
Fosetesland withwillows and well-springs, of which more
its

presently. Baldrshagi (Balderi pascuum), mentioned in the Fri5-

fofssaga, was an enclosed sanctuary (griSastaoY), which none
might
damage. I find also that convents, for
which time-hallowed vener
able sites were preferred, were often situated in eas and of one ;

nunnery the very word is used in der megde ouwe, in the maids
:

ea (Diut. 1, 357). 1 The ON. mythology supplies us with several eas

named after the loftiest gods :
OSins<??/ (Odensee) in Fiinen, another
Oolnsey (Onsoe) in Norway, Fornm. sog. 12, 33, and Thorsey, 7, 234.
9, 17 Hlesscy (Lassoe) in the Kattegat, &c., &c.
; do not know We
any OHG. Wuotanesouwa, Donaresouwa, but Pholesouwa is equally
to the point.

Very similar must have been Pholespiunt (MB. 9, 404 circ. 1138.
1
So the Old Bavarian convent of Chiemsee was called ouwa (MB. 2S a 103 ,
and afterwards the monastery there der herren iverd, and the nunnery
an. 890),
der nunnen werd Stat zo gottes ouwe in Lisch, mekl. jb. 7, 227, from a
.

fragment belonging to Bertholds Crane. Demantin 242.

15
226 PALTAR.

Pfalspiunt, 399 anno 1290), now Pfalzpoint on the Altmiihl,

5,

between Eichstadt and Kipfenberg, in a considerable forest. Piunt

means an enclosed field or garden ;* and if an ea could be conse
crated to a god, so could a field. Graff 3, 342 has a place called
Yiswunpiunt, judge by the circumstances,
which, to may with like
reason be assigned to the goddess Frouwa; no doubt it also belongs

to Bavaria (see SuppL).

In the Fulda Traditions (Schannat p. 291, no. 85) occurs this
remarkable passage: Widerolt comes tradidit sancto Bonifacio
habuit in Pholesbrunnen in provincia Thur-
quicquid proprietatis
ingiae. To this Pholesbrunno, the village of Phulsborn has the first
claim, lying not far from the Saale, equidistant from the
towns
Mid. Age documents
Apolda, Dornburg and Suiza, and spelt in
Phulsborn and Pfolczborn there is however another village, Fals-
;

brunn or Falsbronn, on the Eauhe Eberach in the Franconian

Steigerwald. Now
Pfolesbrunno all the more plainly suggests a
divinity (and that, Balder), as there are also
Baldersbrunnen : a
Baldebrunno has been produced from the Eifel mts, and from the
Rhine Palatinate, 2 and has been shown that the form ought to be
it

corrected into Baldersbrunno as well as the modern Baldenhain to

Baldershain (Zeitschr. f. d. alt. 2, 256) and Bellstadt in the Klingen
;

district ofSchwarzburg-Sondershausen was formerly Baldersteti,

Schannat dioec. Fuld. p. 244, anno 977 (see SuppL). From the
Norse mythus by Saxo, we learn that Balder in
of Balder, as given

the heat of battle opened a fountain for his languishing army:

Victor Balderus, ut afflictum siti militem opportuni liquoris beneficio
recrearet, novos humi latices terram altius rimatus aperuit, quorum

erumpentes scatebras sitibundum agmen hianti passim ore captabat.

Eorundem vestigia sempiterna firmata vocabulo, quamquam pristina
admodum scaturigo desierit, nondum prorsus exolevisse creduntur.
This spot the present Baldersbrond near Roeskild (note to Miiller s
is

Saxo, p. 120). But the legend may be the same as old German
s account (p.
legends, which at a later time placed to king Charles
117, and infra, Furious host) that which heathendom had told of

1
A Salzburg doc. of the tenth cent., in Kleinmayrn p. 196 : Curtilem
locum cum duobus pratis, quod piunti dicimus.
2
Conf. Schopflin s Alsat. dipl. no. 748, anno 1285 in villa Baldeburne.
:

A Westphal. doc. of 1203 (Falke trad. corb. p. 5G6)

names a place Balderbroc,
which might mean palus, campus Balderi.
 PHOL. 227

Balder ;
in that case the still surviving name has itself proved a
fountain, whence the myth of Balder emerges anew. 1
But the name of Phol is established more firmly still. A
Heinricus de Pholing frequently appears in the Altach records of
the 13th century, MB. part 11, a Eapoto de Pkolingen, Phaling, in
MB. 12, 56. 60 ;
this place is on the left bank of the Danube below
Straubingen, between the two convents of Altach. I doubt if the

Polling in other records (and there are several Pollings in the

Aminer country) can be the same word, as the aspirate is wanting
and the liquid doubled. Pfullendorf or Follendorf near Gotha is
in docs, of the 14th century Phulsclorf. A Pholenlieim in Schannat,
Vinci, lit. coll. 1, 48. 53. Not far from Scharzfeld, between the
Harz mts and Thuringia, is an old village named Polde, called in
early records and writings Polidi, Palidi. Palithi, Pkolidi (Gramm.
2, 248), the seat of a well-known convent, which again may have
been founded on the site of a heathen sanctuary. If a connexion
with the god can be established in this case, we at the same time
gather from it the true value of the varying consonant in his name.
Of Phol so many interpretations crowd upon us, that we should
be puzzled if they could all be made good. The Chaldaic lei or lal
seems to have been a mere title pertaining to several gods bel= :

Uranus, bel= Jupiter, bel=Mars. The Finnish palo means fire, the
OK Ictt, AS. lael rogus, and the Slav, pdliti to burn, with which

connect Lat. Pales and the Palilia. Of phallm we have already

spoken. We must first make sure of the sounds in our native
names for a divinity of whom as yet we know nothing but the
bare name (see Suppl.). On the question as to the sense of the word
itself, I set aside the notion one might stumble on, that it is
merely
a fondling form of Paltar, Balder, for such forms invariably preserve
the initial of the complete name we should expect Palzo, Balzo, ;

but not Phol. 2 Nor does the OHG. Ph seem here to be equivalent

1 Greek tradition tells of Herakles and Zeus: TOV HpaxAe a 8 <pa<ri

^evra zv^aardai TO Atl rrarpi eViSei^at fJUKpav At/3a5a. 6 8e ai>r&>

CLVTOV Kararpu^eo-^at,
pfyas Kepavvbv dvedooKe piKpav Ai/3u8a, f)v 6ea(rdp.fvos 6
Hpa.K\f)s KOI ovon/my els TO eVoajcre (pe p eo al (Scholia in II. 20, 74).
7rAov<na>repoi>
"$

This spring was Scamander, and the \ij3ds HpaK\f}os may be set by the side of
Pfolesbrunno as well as Pfolesouwa, Xifido iov being both mead and ea and ;

does not the Grecian demigod s pyre kindled on Oeta suggest that of Balder ?
2
So I explain the proper name Foh from Folbreht, Folrat, Folmar, and
the like ; it therefore stands apart from Phol. [The Suppl. qualifies the
sweep
ing assertion in the text it also takes notice of several other
;
solutions, as
Apollo, Pollux, foal, &c.]
228 PALTAR.

to the ordinary F which corresponds to the Saxon F, but rather to .

be an aspirate which, answering to the Saxon tenuis P, represents

an Old-Aryan media B. But we know that a Saxon initial P=OHG.
Ph is found almost exclusively in foreign words 1 (porta, phorta ;

putti,phuzi ; peda, pheit) it follows that for Phol, in case the Sax.
;

form Pol is really made out, we must either look for such a foreign
P, or as a rare exception, in which the law of consonant-change
does assert itself, an Old- Aryan B. I incline to this last hypothesis,
and connect Phol and Pol (whose o may very well have sprung
from a) with the Celtic Bcal, Beul,
Bel, Bdcmis, a divinity of light
or the Slav. Bielboyh, Belloyh (white-god), the adj. biel, bel
fire,

(albus), Lith. baltas, which last with its extension T makes it pro
bable that Basldaeg and Baldr are of the same root, but have not

undergone consonant-change. Phol and Paltar therefore are in their

beginning one, but reveal to us two divergent historical develop
ments of the same word, arid a not unimportant difference in the
mythology of the several Teutonic races. 2
So far as we can see, the god was worshipped under the name
of Phol chieflyby the Thuringians and Bavarians, i.e. according to
ancient nomenclature the Hermunduri and Marcomanni, yet they
seem to have also known his other name Paltar or Balder, while

1
That is, really borrowed words, as port, paternal, palace, in which the Low
Germ, makes no change (like that in filth, father), and therefore the High
Germ, stands only one stage instead of two in advance of Latin Pforte, Pi ul/,
:

Such words stand outside the rule of consonant-change. TRANS.

<&c.

2
I have thus far gone on the assumption that Phol and Balder in the

Merseberg spell designate one and the same divine being, which is strongly
supported by the analogy I have pointed out between Pholesouwa and Baldrshagl,
Pholesbrunno and Baldrsbrunnr and his cultus must have been very familiar
;

to the people, for the poem to be able to name him by different names in suc
cession, without fear of being misunderstood. Else one might suppose by the
names, that Phol and Balder were two different gods, and there would be
plenty of room left for the question, who can possibly be meant by
Phol If ?

PH could here represent V = W, which is contrary -to all analogy, and is almost
put out of court by the persistent PH, PF in all those names of places
then ;

we might try the ON. Ullr, Ollerus in Saxo, p. 45, which (like nil, OHG. wolla,
wool) would be in OHG. Wol, so that Wol endi \\6dan (Ullr ok OSinn)]
made a perfect alliteration. And Ullr was connected with Baldr, who in Stem.
93 a is called Ullar sen, sib to U., Ulli cognatus (see Suppl.). But the gen.
would have to be Wolles, and that is contradicted by the invariably single L
in Pholes. The same reason is conclusive against Wackernagel s proposal to
take Fol for the god of fulness and plenty, by the side of the goddess Folia I ;

think the weak form Folio would be demanded for it by an OHG. Pilnitis v. ;

Haupts zeitschr. 2, 190. Still more does the internal consistency of the song
itself require the identity of Phol and Balder it would be odd for Phol to be
;

named at the beginning, and no further notice to be taken of him.

 FOSITE. 229

Baldag, Bceldccg prevailed among the Saxons and Westphalians,

and the AS. bealdor had passed into a common noun. Now as the
Bavarian Eor stood opposed to the Alamannic Zio, we ought to find
out whether Phol was in like manner unknown to the Alamanns
and the races most akin to them. 1

Lastly, from eastern Germany we are transported to the north

west by a name appertaining closely to the Balder cultus, and again
linking itself with the Edda. The Edda cites among the Ases a
son of Baldr and Nanna, Forseti, who like his father dwelt in a

shining hall Glitnir (glit, nitor, splendor, OHG. kliz) built of gold
and silver, and who (as Baldr himself had been called the wisest,
most eloquent and mildest god, whose verdicts are final, Sn. 27)
passed among gods and men for the wisest of judges; he settled all
a
disputed matters (Srem. 42 Sn. 31. 103), and we are told no more
.

about him (see SuppL).

This Forseti is well entitled to be compared with the Frisian

god Fositc, concerning whom some biographies composed in the

ninth century gives us valuable information. The vita sancti
Wilibrordi (( 739), written by the famous Alcuin ([ 804), relates
as follows, cap. 10 : Cum ergo pius verbi Dei praedicator iter agebat,

pervenit in confmio Fresonum et Danorum ad quamdam insulam,

quae a quodam dco Fosite ab accolis terrae Fositesland appella-
SILO

tur, quia in ea ejusdem dei fana fuere constructs qui locus a

paganis in tanta veneratione habebatur, ut nil in ea, vel animalium
ibi pascentium, vel aliarum quarumlibet rerum, gentilium quisquam

tangere audebat, nee etiani a fonte qui ibi ebulliebat aquam haurire
nisi tacens praesuinebat. Quo cum vir Dei tempestate jactatus est,
mansit ibidem aliquot dies, quousque sepositis tempestatibus
opportunum navigandi tempus adveniret. sed parvipendens stultam
1
The inquiry, how far these names reach back into antiquity, is far from
exhausted yet. 1have called attention to the P/oZgraben (-ditch), the Pfalhecke
(-hedge, -fence), for which devil s dyke is elsewhere used then the raising of
;

the whirlwind is ascribed in some parts to the devil, in others to Herodias

[meaning H. s daughter the dancer], in others again to Pfol. Eastern Hesse
on the Werra has a very queer name for the whirlwind, beginning with Bull-
or Boil- ;
and in the neighbouring Eichsfeld Pulloineke is pronounced with
shyness and reluctance (Miinchner gel. anz. 1842, p. 762). A Niddawitz
ordinance of the same district (3, 327) contains the family name UoT/foperg
(Polesberc ]), Pfoylsperg. The spelling Bull, Boil, would agree with the con
jecture hazarded above, but I do not connect with this the idol Biel in the
Harz, for Bielstein leads back to bilstein, i.e. beilstein. Schmid s westerw. id.
145 has pollecker, bollecker for spectre, bugbear (see Suppl.).
230 P ALTAR.

loci illius religionem, vel ferocissimurn regis animum, qui violatores

sacrorum illius atrocissima morte damnare solebat ;
tres homines
in eo fonte cum invocatione sanctae Trinitatis baptizavit. sed et
animalia in ea terra pascentia in cibaria suis mactare praecepit.
Quod pagani intuentes, arbitrabantur eos vel in furorem verti, vel
etiam veloci morte perire ; quos cum nil mali cernebant pati,

stupore perterriti, regi tamen Radbodo quod viderant factum

retulerunt. Qui nimio furore succensus in sacerdotem Dei vivi
suorum injurias deorum ulcisci cogitabat, et per tres dies semper
tribus vicibus sortes suo more mittebat, et nunquam damnatorum

sors, Deo vero defendente suos, super servum Dei aut aliquem ex
suis cadere potuit nee nisi unus tantum ex sociis sorte monstratus
;

martyrio coronatus est. Eadbod feared king Pippin the Frank,

and let the evangelist go unhurt. 1 What Wilibrord had left
unfinished, was accomplished some time .after by another priest,
as the vita sancti Liudgeri,composed by Altfrid (f 849), tells of
the year 785 Ipse vero (Liudgerus) .... studuit fana destruere,
:

et omnes erroris pristini abluere sordes. curavit quoque ulterius

doctrinae derivare flumina, et consilio ab imperatore accepto, trans-
fretavit in confinio Fresonum atque Danorum ad quandarn insulam,

quae a nomine del sui falsi Fosete Foseteslant est appellata ....
Pervenientes autem ad eandem insulam, destruxerunt omnia ejus-
dem Fosetis fana, quae fuere constructa, et pro eis Christi
illic

fabricaverunt ecclesias, cumque habitatores terrae illius fide Christi

imbueret, baptizavit eos cum invocatione sanctae Trinitatis in fonte,

qui quo sanctus Willibrordus prius homines tres

ibi ebulliebat, in

baptizaverat, a quo etiam fonte nemo prius haurire aquam nisi

tacens praesumebat (Pertz 2, 410). Altfrid evidently had the work
of Alcuin by him. From that time the island took the name of

helegland, Helgoland, which it bears to this day ; here also the

evangelists were careful to conserve, in the interest of Christianity,
the sense of sacredness already attaching to the site. Adam oi

Bremen, in his treatise De situ Daniae (Pertz 9, 369), describe;

the island thus Ordinavit (archiepiscopus episcopum) in Finm
:

(Fiihnen) Eilbertum, quern tradunt conversum (1. captum) a piratis

Farriam insulam, quae in ostio fluminis Albiae longo secessu latet
in oceano, primum reperisse constructoque monasterio in ea fecisse
habitabilem. haec insula contra Hadeloam sita est. cujus longi-
1
Acta sanctor. Bcned., sec. 3. pars 1, p. GOO.
 FOSITE. 231

tudo vix VIII milliaria panditur, latitude quatuor; homines stramine

fragmentisque navium pro igne utuntur. Sermo est piratas, si
quando praedam inde vel minimam tulerint, aut mox perisse nau-
fragio, aut occisos ab aliquo, nullum redisse indempnem quapropter
solent heremitis Hi viventibus decimas praedarum offerre cum magna
devotione. est enim feracissima frugum, ditissima volucrum et

pecudum nutrix, collem habet unicum, arborem nullam, scopulis

includitur asperrimis, nullo aditu nisi uno, ubi et aqua dulcis (the

spring whence they drew water in silence), locus venerdbilis omnibus

nautis, praecipue vero piratis, unde nomen accepit ut Heiligeland
dicatur. hanc in vita sancti Willebrordi Fosetisland appellari
dicimus, quae sita est in confinio Danorum et Fresonum. sunt et
aliae insulae contra Fresiam et Daniam, sed nulla earum tarn memo-
rabilis. The name Farria, appearing here for the first time, either
arose from confounding the isle of Fohr with Helgoland, or we must
emend the passage, and read a piratis Farrianis. By the customs
of these mariners and vikings even of Christian times, we may
assure ourselves how holy the place was accounted in the heathen
time (see SuppL).
In an island lying between Denmark, Friesland and Saxony, we
might expect to find a heathen god who was common to all three.
It would be strange if the Frisian Fosite were unknown to the
Norsemen and stranger still if the Eddie Forseti were a
; totally
different god. It is true, one would have expected a mention of this

deity in particular from Saxo Gram., who is quite silent about it ;

but then he omits many others, and in his day Fosite s name may
have died out amongst the Frisians.
There is some discrepancy between the two names, as was
natural in the case of two nations ON. Forseti gen. Forseta, Fris.
:

Fosite gen. Fosites. The simplest supposition is, that from Forsite
arose by assimilation Fossite, Fosite, or that the E, dropt out, as in
OHG. mosar for morsar, Low Germ, mosar; so in the Frisian
Angeln, according to Hagerup p. 20, fost, foste == forste, primus.

Besides, there is hardly any other -way of explaining Fosite. In

ON. forseti is praeses, princeps, apparently translatable into OHG.
name for the god who presides over judgment, and
forasizo, a fitting
arranges all disputes. The Gothic fatiragaggja bears almost the
same sense, which I also find, even in much later writings, attached
to our word vorganger (now = predecessor). More complete AS.
232 PALTAR.

genealogies would perhaps name a Forseta or Forsete as Bseldseg s

son. 1

Forseti, Fosite are a proof of the extent of Balder s worship. If

we may from Pholesouwa and Baldrshagi that the god loved
infer
isles and eas, Helgoland is a case in point, where the flocks of his
son grazed and so is perhaps the worship of the Hercules-pillars,
;

which, following Tacitus, we might fix on some other island near it.
2

1
Later writers have turned Fosete into a goddess Foseta, Phoseta, Fosta, to
approximate her to the Roman Vesta maps of Helgoland, in which are found
;

marked a templum Fostae vel Phosetae of the year 768, and a tempi um
Vestae of 692, were made up in Major s Cimbrien (Plon, 1692), conf. WiebeFs
programm iiber Helgoland, Hamb. 1842. The god Foste and Fosteland could
easily find their way into the spurious Vita Suiberti cap. 7.
2
Another thought has struck my mind about Fosete. In the appendix to
the Heldenbuch, Ecke, Vasat, Abentrot are styled brothers. The form Fasat
instead of the usual Fasolt need not be a mistake ;
there are several QHG.
men s names in -at, and OS. in -ad, -id, so that Fasat and Fasolt can hold their
ground side by side. Now Fasolt (conf. ch. XX. Storm) and Ecke were known
as god-giants of wind and water, Abentrot as a daemon of As Ecke-Oegir
light.
was worshipped on the Eider and in Lassoe, so might Fosite be in Helgoland.
The connexion with Forseti must not be let go, but its meaning as For-seti,
Fora-sizo becomes dubious, and I feel inclined to explain it as For?-eti from
fors [a whirling stream, force in Cumbld], Dan. fos, and to assume a daemon of
the whirlpool, a Fossegrimm (conf. ch. XVII. Nichus), with which Fositfs
sacred spring would tally. Again, the Heldenbuch gives those three brothers
a father Nentiger (for so we must read for Mentiger) = OHG. Nandcjer and
does not he suggest Forseti s mother Nanna =Nandd ?
 CHAPTER XII.

OTHER GODS.
In addition to the gods treated of thus far, who could with
perfect distinctness be pointed out in all or most of the Teutonic
races, the Norse mythology enumerates a series of others, whose
track will be harder to pursue, if it does not die out altogether. To
a great extent they are those of whom the North itself has little or

nothing to tell in later times.

1.
(HEIMDALL.)
Heimffallr, or in the later spelling Heimdallr, though no longer
mentioned in Saxo, is, like Baldr, a bright and gracious god :

hvitastr asa (whitest of ases, Saam. 72 a), 1 sverSas hvita, Ssem. 90 a ,

hviti as, Sn. 104

he guards the heavenly bridge (the rainbow), and
;

dwells in Himinbiorg (the heavenly hills). The heim in the first

part of his name agrees in sound with himinn ]?allr seems akin to
;

J?611, gen. J?allar (pinus), Swed. Swiss dale, Engl. deal (Staid. 1,
tall,

259, conf. Schm. 2, 603-4 on mantala), but J?611 also means a river,
Sn. 43, and Freyja bears the by-name of Mardoll, gen. Mardallar,
Sn. 37. 154. All this remains dark to us. No proper name in the
other Teutonic tongues answers to HeimSallr; but with Himin-
b b
liorg (Sasm. 41 92 ) or the common noun himinfioll (Saem. 148
a

Yngl. saga cap. 39), we can connect the names of other hills : a
Himilinbcrg (mons coelius) haunted by spirits, in the vita S. Galli,
Pertz 2, 10 Himelberc in Lichtenstein s frauend. 199, 10 a Himi-
; ;

lesberg in the Fulda country, Schannat Buchon. vet. 336 several in ;

1 Whenthis passage says further, vissi hann vel fram, sem Vanir a&rir,
*

liter. he foreknew well, like other Vanir, his wisdom is merely likened to
that of the Vanir (Gramm. 4, 456 on ander], it is not meant that he was one of
them, a thing never asserted anywhere [so in Homer, Greeks and other Trojans
means and Trojans as weW]. The Fornald. sog. 1, 373 calls him, I know not
why, heimskastr allra asa, heimskr usually signifying ignorant, a greenhorn,
what the MH.G. poets mean by tump.
234 OTHER GODS.

Hesse (Kuchenb. anal. 11, 137) near Iba and Waldkappel (Niederh.
wochenbl. 1834 pp. 106, 2183); a Himmelsberg in Vestgotland, and
one, alleged to be Heimdall s, in Halland. At the same time,
Himinvdngar, Srem. 150 a ,
the OS. hebanwang, hebeneswang, a
paradise (v. ch. XXV), the AS. Heofenfeld coelestis campus, Beda

p. 158, and the like names, some individual, some general, deserve
to be studied, but yield as yet no safe conclusion about the god.
Other points about him savour almost of the fairy-tale he is :

made out to be the son of nine mothers, giantesses, Saam. 118 a b .

Sn. 106. Laxd. p. 392 sleep than a bird, sees a

;
he wants less
hundred miles off by night or day, and hears the grass grow on the
1
ground and the wool on the sheep s back (Sn. 30). His horse is
Gulltoppr, gold-tuft, and he himself has golden teeth, 2 hence the
by-names Gullintanni and HallinsM&i, tennur HallinskiSa/
Fornm. sog. 1, 52. It is worthy of remark, that Hallinskiol and
Heimdali are quoted among the names for the ram, Sn. 221.
As watchman and warder of the gods (vorftr go5a, Ssem. 41),
Heimdali winds a powerful horn, Giallarhorn, which is kept under
a sacred tree, Sxm. 5 b 8 a Sn. 72-3. What the Voluspa imparts,
.

must be of a high antiquity (see Suppl.).

Now at the very outset of that poem, all created beings great
and small are called megir Hcimdallar, sons or children of the god ;

he appears therefore to have had a hand in the creation of the

world, and of men, and to have played a more exalted part than is
assigned to him afterwards. As, in addition to Wuotan, Zio pre
sided over war, and Fro over fruitfulness, so the creative faculty
seems to have been divided between OSinn and Heimftallr.
A song of suggestive design in the Edda makes the first

arrangement of mankind in classes proceed from the same Heim-

ffallr, who traverses the world under the name of Rigr (see Suppl.).

There is a much later German tradition, very prevalent in the last

few centuries, which I have ventured to trace to this heathen one,
its origin being difficult to explain otherwise.
3
As for the name Mgr,
it seems to me
have sprung, like dis from idis, by aphaBresis
to
from an older form, which I cannot precisely determine, but would
connect with the MHG. Irinc, as in ON. an n before g or k often
Conf. KM. 3, 125.
1

2
Li diente d oro, Pentam. 3, 1. Of a certain Haraldr : tennr voru miklor
ok gulls litr d, Fornald. sog. 1, 366.
3
Zeitschrift f. d. alt. 2, 257267. Conf. ch. XIX.
 HEIMDAIL. BRAGI. 235

as will be shown
drops out (conf. stinga stack, ]?acka Jmnki), and,
1
later, Iringes straza, Iringes wee answers to a Swedish Eriksgata.
The shining galaxy would suit extremely well the god who descends
from heaven to earth, and whose habitation borders on Bifrost.
Norwegian names of places bear witness to his cultus Heim- :

dallarvattn, a lake in Guldbrandsdalen (GuSbrandsdalr), and

Heimdallshoug, a hill in Nummedalen (Naumudalr) ;
neither is

mentioned in the ON. sagas.

2. (BRAGI, BREGO.)
Above any other god, one would like to see a more general
veneration of the ON. Bragi revived, in whom was vested the gift
of poetry and eloquence. He is called the best of all skalds, Saem.
46 a Sn. 45, frumsmiSr bragar (auctor poeseos), and poetry itself is
.

2
bragr. In honour of him the Bragai\\\\. or bragarfall was given
(p. 60) the form appears to waver between bragi gen. braga, and
;

bragr gen. bragar, at all events the latter stands in the phrase
*
bragr karla =
vir facundus, praestans, in asa bragr deorum

princeps Thorr =
(Sasm. 85 b
Sn. 21 l a
but .
b
Bragi 211 ), and even
,

a 3
bragr qvenna femina praestantissima (Seem. 218 ).
Then a poet and king of old renown, distinct from the god,
himself bore the name of Bragi limn gamli, and his descendants
were styled Bragningar. A minstrel was pictured to the mind as
old and long-bearded, si5skeggi and skeggbragi, Sn. 105, which
recalls Oolnn with his long beard, the inventor of poetry (p.

146) and Bragi is even said to be Oftin s son, Sn. 105 (see Suppl.).
j

In the AS. poems there occurs, always in the nom. sing., the
term brcgo or breogo, in the sense of rex or princeps bregostol in :

Beow. 4387 and Andr. 209 is thronus regius; bregoweard in Csedm.

4
140, 26. 166, 13 is princeps. Now, as gen. plurals are attached to
1 Der gammel Erik, gaminel Erke now come to mean old Nick
(old E.), has
in Swedish ; conf. supra p. 124, on Erchtag.
2
Ssem. 113 b , of OSinn gefr hann brag skaldom (dat carmen poetis).
:

3
Does not the Engl. brag, Germ, prahlen (gloriari) explain everything ?
Showy high-flown speech would apply equally to boasting and to poetry.
Then, for the other meaning, the boast, glory, master-piece (of men, gods,
women, angels, bears), we can either go back to the more primitive sense
(gloria) in prangen, prunk, pracht, bright, or still keep to brag. Beauty is
nature s brag, and must be shewn/ says Conius. TRANS.
4 In
Beda 4, 23 (Stevens, p. 304) a woman s name Bregosuid, BregoswiO ;

in Kemble 5, 48 (anno 749) Bregeswi&estdn, and 1, 133-4 (anno 762), 5, 46 (anno

747), 5, 59 (anno 798) a man s name Bregowine. In Beow. 3847 bregorof is
clarissimus.
236 OTHER GODS,

it :
brcgo engla, Caxlm. 12, 7. 60, 4. 62, 3 ; brego Dena, Beow.
8i8 ;
hseleSa brego, Beow. 3905 ; gumena brego, Andr. 61 beorna ;

brego, Andr. 305

brego moncynnes,
(conf. Cod. exon. 457, 3) there ;

grows up an instructive analogy to the above-mentioned bragr

karla, and to the genitives similarly connected with the divine
names Tyr, Fred and Bealdor (pp. 196, 211, 220). The AS. brego
equally seems to point to a veiled divinity, though the forms and
vowel-relations do not exactly harmonize. 1
Their disagreement rather provokes one to hunt up the root
under which they could be reconciled a verb briga brag would :

suit the purpose. The Saxon and Frisian languages, but not the
Scandinavian or High German, possess an unexplained term for
cerebrum AS. briigen (like regen pluvia, therefore better written
:

so than braegen), Engl. brain, Fris. brein, Low Sax. bregen I think ;

it answers to the notions understanding, cleverness, eloquence,

imitation, and is connected with (frprjv, $pevos, -cfrpcov, -$>povo<$.
Now
the ON. bragr, beside poesis, means also mos, gestus, and braga
eftir einum referre aliquem gestu, imitari. OHG. has nothing like
it, nor any such proper name as Prako, Brago, Brego.
But, as we detected among the Saxons a faint trace of the god
or god s son, we may lay some stress on the fact that in an OS.
document of 1006 Burnacker occurs as the name of a place, v.
Llinzel s Hildesheim, p. 124, conf. pref. v. (see Suppl.). Now Bragi
and his wife I5unn dwelt in Brunnakr, Sn. 121 a and she is called ,

Brunnakrs beckjar ger5r, Brunnakerinae sedis ornatrix, as Sk.

Thorlacius interprets it (Spec. 6, pp. 65-6). A well or spring,
for more than one reason, suits a god of poetry ;
at the same time a
name like Springfield is so natural that it might arise without any
reference to gods.

Bragi appears to have stood in some pretty close relation to

Oegir, and if an analogy between them could be established, which
however is unsupported hitherto on other grounds, then by the
side of briga brag the root braga brog would present itself, and
the AS. broga (terror), OHG.
pruoko, bruogo, be akin to it. The
connexion of Bragi with Oegir may be seen by Bragi appearing
prominently in the poem Oegisdrecka, and by his sitting next to
Oegir in Sn. 80, so that in intimate converse with him he brings
out stories of the gods, which are thence called Bmgarocdur,
1
The Irish breitheam, brethemb (judcx) is said to be pronounced almost
as brehon, Trans, of Irish acad. 14, 167.
 AKI, UOKI, OEGIR. 237

speeches of Bragi. It is with great propriety, no doubt, that these

narratives, during which Oegir often interrupts him with questions

(Sn. 93), as Gangleri does Har when holding forth in the first part
of the Edda, were put in the mouth of the patron of poetry.

3. AKI, UOKI (OEGIR, HLER). FIFEL, GEOFON.

This Oegir, an older god of the giant kind, not ranked among
the Ases, but holding peaceable intercourse with them, bears the
name of the terrible, the awful. The root aga 6g had given birth
to plenty of derivatives in our ancient speech: Goth, agis 6g
<o/3o?,

^o/Beo/juaL, OHG. akiso, egiso, AS. egesa horror, OHG. aki, eki, AS.
ege (ege awe) terror, ON. cegja terrori esse, which can only be
1

spelt with not 3d. To the proper name Oegir would correspond
ce,

a Goth. Ogeis, AS. fige, OHG. Uogi, instead of which I can only
lay my hand on the weak form Uogo, Oago. But cegir also signifies
the sea itself sol gengr i ceginn, the sun goes into the sea, sets ;
:

cegi-sior pelagus is like the Goth, mari-saivs ; the AS, eagor and
egor (mare) is related to ege, as sigor to sige. I attach weight to
the agreement of the Greek coiceavds, fliceavos and fiyijv, whence
the Lat. oceanus, Oceanus was borrowed, but aequor (rnare placi-
dum) seems not cognate, being related to aequus, not to aqua and
Goth, ahva (see Suppl.). 1
The boisterous element awakened awe, and the sense of a god s
immediate presence. As Woden was also called Woina (p. 144),
and OSinn Omi and Yggr, so the AS. poets use the terms woma,
sweg, broga and egesa almost synonymously for ghostly and divine
phenomena (Andr. and El. pp. xxx xxxii). Oegir was therefore a
highly appropriate name, and is in keeping with the notions of fear
and horror developed on p. 207-8.
This interpretation is strikingly confirmed by other mythical
conceptions. The Edda tells us of a fear-inspiring helmet, whose
name is Oegishialmr : er oil
qvikvendi brceSast at sia, Sn. 137 ;

such a one did Hreitmiar wear, and then Fafnir when he lay on the
gold and seemed the more terrible to all that looked upon him,
Ssem. 188 a ;
vera (to be) undir Oegiskialmi, bera Oegishialm yfir

1
Oegir is also called Gymir, Saem. 59. Gdmir, Sn. 125. 183 possibly
? but I know no other
epulator meaning of the ON. gaumr than cura, attentio,
though the OHG. gomna, OS. goma means both cura and epulae, the AS.
gyming both cura and nuptiae.
238 OTHER GODS.

einum, means to inspire with fear or reverence, Laxd. saga, p. 130.

Islend. sog. 2, 155 ek bar Oegishialm yfir alia folki, Fornald. sog.
;

1, hafa Oegishialm t augum, ibid. 1, 406, denotes that terrible

162 ;

piercing look of the eyes, which others cannot stand,

and the
famous basilisk-glance, ormr i auga, was something similar. 1 Now
I find a clear trace of this Norse helmet in the OHG. man s name

Egihelm (Trad. fuld. 1, 97 in Schannat no. 126, p. 286 Eggihelm),

;

i.e.Agihelm, identical with the strengthened- vowel form Uogihelm,

which I am unable to produce. But in the Eckenlied itself Ecke s
costly magic helmet, and elsewhere even Ortnit s and Dietrich s,
are called Hildegrim, Hildegrin ; and the ON. grima mask or
helmet (in Ssem. 51 a a name for night) has now turned up in a
Eulda gloss, Dronke p. 15 : scenici = crimfan presupposes a sing.
krimd larva, persona, galea ;
so we can now understand Krimliilt

(Gramm. 1, 188) the name of a Walkurie armed with the helmet of

terror, and also why daemon in another gloss is rendered by
egisgrimolt. The AS. egesgrime is equally a mask, and in El. 260
the helmet that frightens by its figure of a boar is called a grim-
helm. 1 venture to guess, that the wolf in our ancient apologue
was imagined wearing such a helmet of dread, and hence his name
of Isangrim, iron-mask, Eeinh. ccxlii (see Suppl.). NOT have we
yet come to the end of fancies variously playing into one another :
as the god s or hero s helmet awakened terror, so must his shield
and sword and it looks significant, that a terrific sword fashioned
;

by dwarfs should likewise be named in the two forms, viz. in the

Vilkinasaga Eckisax, in Veldek s Eneit Uokesahs (not a letter may
we alter), in the Eckenlied Ecken sahs, as Hildegrin was Ecken
helm, Eckes helm. In the Greek alyk I do not look for any verbal
affinity, but this shield of Zew aiyioxo* (H. 15,
310. 17, 593),
wielded at times by Athena (2, 447. 5, 738) and Apollo (15, 229.
318. 361. 24, 20), spreads dismay around, like Oegishialmr,
Hildegrim and Eckisahs Pluto s helmet too, which rendered
;

invisible, may be called to mind. That ancient god of sea, Oceanus

2
and Oegir (see Suppl.), whose hall glittered with gold, Saem. 59,

1
Fornm. sog. 9, 513 gekk alvaldr und tfgishialmi. The spelling with f
:

not
goes to confirm our 02, and refute se, as an y can only stand for the former,
for the latter conf. mor and the deriv. inyri
;
=
mceri, Gramm. 1, 473.
2
In the great feast which he gave to the gods, the ale came up of itself (sialft
barsc ]?ar ol, Su>m. 59), as Hephsestus s tripods ran avTopdrot in and out of the
Qdov aywi/a, II. 18, 376. Even so Freyr had a sword er sialft vegiz (that swings
everytime it is thrown.
a and Thor s Miolnir comes back of itself
itself), Seem. 82 ,
 AKI, UOKI, OEGIR, FIFEL, GEOFON, HLER. 239

would of all others wear the glittering helmet which takes its

name from him. From all we can find, his name in OHG. must
have been Aki or Uoki ; and it requires no great boldness to
suppose that in the Ecke of our heroic legend, a giant all over, we
see a precipitate of the heathen god. Ecke s mythical nature is
confirmed by that of his brothers Fasolt and Abentrot, of whom
more hereafter. As the Greek Okeanos has rivers given him for
sons and daughters, the Norse Oegir has by Ban nine daughters,
whose names the Edda applies to waters and waves. We might
expect to that similar relations to the seagod were of old
find
ascribed to our own rivers also, most of which were conceived of as
female [and still bear feminine names].
And there is one such local name in which he may be clearly
recognised. The Eider, a which divides the Saxons from the
river

Northmen, is called by the Frankish annalists in the eighth and

ninth centuries Egidora, Agadora, Aegidora (Pertz 1. 355-70-86.
2, 620-31) Helmold 1, 12. 50 spells Egdora. The ON. writers
;

more plainly write Oegisdyr (Fornm. sog. 11, 28. 31, conf. Geogr. of
a Northman, ed. by Werlauff p. 15), i.e., ocean s door, sea-outlet,
ostium, perhaps even here with a collateral sense of the awful.
Again, a place called Oegisdyr is mentioned in Iceland, Landn. 5,
2, where we also find 3, 1 an Oegissifta, latus oceani. Further, it
comes out that by the AS. name Fifeldor in Cod. exon. 321, 8 and
by the Wieglesdor in Dietmar of Merseb. ad ann. 975, p. 760 is
meant the Eider again, still the aforesaid Oegisdyr while a various
;

reading in Dietmar agrees with the annalist Saxo ad ann. 975 in

giving Heggedor =
Eggedor, Egidor. Now, seeing that elsewhere
the AS. poems use Fifelstream, Fifelwseg (Boeth. 26, 51. El. 237)
for the ocean, and Fifelcynnes eard (Beow. 208) for the land of the

ocean-sprites, we may suppose Fifel and its corruption Wiegel to be

another and an obsolete name of Oegir.
The same may hold good of the AS. Geofon, OS. Geban, a being
whose godhead is sufficiently manifest from the ON. Gefjun, who is
reckoned among the Asynior, though she bore sons to a giant.
The Saxon Geban however was a god the Heliand shows only the
;

compound Gebenesstrom 90, 7. 131, 22, but the AS. poets, in

addition to Geofenes begang, Beow. 721, Geofenes staft, Caedm. 215,
8, and the less personal geofonhus (navis), Csedm. 79, 34, geofonflod,

Cod. exon. 193, 21, have also a Geofon standing independently in

240 OTHER GODS.

the nom., Cacdm. 206, 6, and gifen geotende, Beow. 3378. An

OIIG. Kepan is nowhere found, even in proper names, though
Stahlin 1, 598 gives a Gebeneswtlare. I know not whether to take
for the root the verb giban to in which case G-ibika (p. 137)
give,
and Wuotan s relation to Neptune (pp. 122, would come in 148)
here ;
or to look
away to the Greek fern. \X L V hib-ernus
yi<*v
?]
^ >

and the notion of snow and ice giants.

And the North itself furnishes some names which are synony
mous with Oegir. In the Fundinn Noregr (Sn. 369. Fornald. sog.
2, 17) we read Forniotr atti 3 syni, hett einn Hler, er vcr kollum
:

Ocgi (one hight Hler, whom we

annarr Logi, Jmdji Kari
call Oegir),

(Rask, afh. 1, Kari).95

Hler, gen. Hies, appears from this to have
:

been the older name, in use among the giants, by which Oegir is
spoken of in Sn. 79, and after which his dwelling-place was named
b b b
Hles-cy (Stum. 78 159 243 ), now Lassoe in the Cattegat.

4. (FORNIOTR).
Of this HUr I have nothing more to tell (see SuppL), but his
father Forniotr has left a notable trace of himself behind ; he

belongs even less than Oegir to the circle of Ases, being one of the
older demonic giants, and proving that even these demigods or

personified powers of nature must also have borne sway among the
Teutonic races outside of Scandinavia. Forniotr is to be explained,
not as for-niotr primus occupans, but rather as forn-iotr, the ancient
lotr (Rask, afhand. .1, 78), a particularly apt expression for those
and closely connected with iotunn itself, AS. eoton, as will
giants,
be shown further on. Now in the AS. Liber medicinalis, from
which Wanley, pp. 176 80 gives insufficient extracts, there is
according to Lye dictionary a plant of healing virtue spoken of
s

(twice apparently, from the various spelling) by the name of

Fomcotes folme, Fornetcs folme (i.e. Forneoti manus). As none of
the ON",
writings allude to this herb, its name must be a remnant
of the Saxon people s own mythology. In OHG. the giant may
have been called Firnez, and the plant Firnezes folma. We
remember how, in Beow. 1662, Grendel has torn off the hand of a

water-sprite, and presents it as tacen of his victory, just as Tristan

chops off the giant Urgan s hand, and takes it with him to certify

the deed, 16055-65-85. The amputation of the huge giant-hand

seems therefore part of an ancient myth, and to have been iitly
 LOKI, GRENDEL, SATURN. 241

retained in the name of a broad-leaved vegetable ; there is also a

j
plant called devil s-hand, and in more than one legend the Evil one {

leaves the print of his hand on rocks and walls.

If these last allusions have led us away from the beneficent
deities rather to hurtful demons and malignant spirits, we have here
an easy transit to the only god whom the teaching of the Edda repre
sents as wicked and malevolent, though it still reckons him among
the Ases.

5. (LOKI, GRENDEL), SATURN.

Logi, as we haveseen, was a second son of Forniotr, and the

three brothers Hler, Logi, Kari on the whole seem to represent

water, fire and air as elements. Now a striking narrative (Sn. 54.
60) places Logi by the side of Loki, a being from the giant province
beside a kinsman and companion of the gods. This is no mere play
upon words, the two really signify the same thing from different
points of view Logi the natural force of fire, and Loki, with a
,

shifting of the sound, a shifting of the sense : of the burly giant

has been made a sly seducing villain. The two may be compared
to the Prometheus and the Hephaestus (Vulcan) of the Greeks ;

Okeanos was a friend and kinsman of the former. But the two get
mixed up. In Loki, sa er flestu illu raetfr (Sn. 46), who devises the
most of ill, we see also the giant demon who, like Hephaestus, sets
the gods a-laughing ;
his limping reminds us of Hephaestus and the
lame (N. Cap. 76), his chaining of Prometheus s, for Loki is put
fire

in chains like his son Fenrir. As Hephsestus forges the net for
Ares and Aphrodite, Loki too prepares a net (Sn. 69), in which he
is caught himself. Most salient of all is the analogy between
Hephaestus being hurled down from Olympus by Zeus (II. 1, 591-3)
and the devil being cast out of heaven into hell by God (ch. XXXIII,
Devil), though the Edda neither relates such a fall of Loki, nor sets
him forth as a cunning smith and master of dwarfs probably the ,

stories of Loki and Logi were much fuller once. Loki s former
b
fellowship with OSinn is clearly seen, both from Ssem. 61 and ,

from the juxtaposition of three creative deities on their travels,

a
Offinn, Hcenir, Lo&r, Saem. 3 instead of which we have also O&inn,
,

Hcenir, Loki, Saem. 180, or in a different order O&inn, Loki, Hcenir,

Sn. 80. 135 (conf. supra, p. 162). This trilogy I do not venture to
identify with that of Hler, Logi, Kari above, strikingly as OSinn
corresponds to the t? CLVC/JLOIO ; and though from the creating OSinn
16
242 OTHER GODS.

proceed breath and spirit (ond), as from Lo&r (blaze, glow) come
blood and colour (la ok litr), the connexion of Hcenir, who imparts
sense (65), with water is not so clear : this Hcenir is one of the
most unmanageable phenomena of the Norse mythology, and with
us in Germany he has vanished without leaving a trace. But the
fire-god too, who according to
that gradation of sounds ought
either to be in Goth. Laiiha and OHG. Loho, or in Goth. Luka and
OHG. Locho, seems with the loss of his name to have come up
again purely in the character of the later devil. He lasted longer
in Scandinavia, and myths everywhere show how nearly Loki the
as approaches Logi the giant. Thorlacius (spec. 7, 43) has proved
that in the phrase Loki fer yfir akra (passes over the fields), and
in the Danish Locke dricker vand (drinks water), fire and the
burning sun are meant, just as we say the sun is drawing water,
when he shines through in bright streaks between two clouds.
Loka daun (Lokii odor) is Icelandic for the ignis fatuus exhaling
brimstone (ibid. 44) ;
Lokabrenna (Lokii incendium) for Sirius ;

Loka sposnir are chips for firing. In the north of Jutland, a weed
very noxious to cattle (polytrichum comm.) is called Lokkens havre,
and there is a proverb Nu saaer Lokken sin havre, now Locke
sows his oats, i.e., the devil his tares the Danish lexicon translates
;

Lokeshavre avena fatua, others make it the rhinanthus crista galli.

When the fire crackles, they say Lokje smacks his children/ Faye
p. 6. Molbech s Dial. lex. p. 330 says, the Jutland phrase Lokke
saaer havre idag (to-day), or what is equivalent Lokke driver idag
med sine geder (drives out his goats), is spoken of vapours that
hang about the ground in the heat of the sun. When birds drop
their feathers in moulting time, people say they gaae i Lokkis arri

(pass under L. s harrow ?) ; at hore paa Lockens eventyr

(adventures) means to listen to lies or idle tales (P. Syv s gamle
danske ordsprog 2, 72), According to Sjoborg s Nomenklatur, there
is in Vestergotland a giant s grave named Lokehall. All of them

conceptions well deserving notice, which linger to this day among

the common people, and in which Loki is by turns taken for a bene
ficent and for a hurtful being, for sun, fire, giant or devil. Exactly
the same sort of harm is in Germany ascribed to the devil, and the

kindly god of light is thought of as a devastating flame (see Suppl.).

On this identity between Logi and Loki rests another vestige

 LOKI, GKENDEL, SATUEN. 243

of the Norse daemon, which is found among the other Teutonic

races. If Logi comes from liuhan (lucere), Lold will apparently
fall to the root lukan (claudere, conf. claudus lame) the ON. lok ;

means finis, consummatio, and loka repagulum, because a bolt or

bar closes. In Beowulf we come upon an odious devilish spirit, a
thyrs (Beow. 846) named Grendel and his mother, Grendeles modor
t

(4232-74), a veritable devil s mother arid giant s mother. An AS.

document of 931 in Kemble 2, 172 mentions a place called
Grendles mere (Grendeli palus). Now the AS. grindel, OHG.
krintil, MHG. grintcl is
precisely repagulum, pessulus name ;
so the
Grendel seems related to grindel (obex) in the same way as Loki to
loka the ON. grind is a grating, which shuts one in like bolt and
;

bar. Gervase of Tilbury (in Leibn. 1, 980) tells of an English fire-

demon named very remarkable, that we Germans have

Grant. It is

still in use a third synonymous expression for a diabolic being, its

meaning heightened no doubt by composition with hell ; hollriegel

vectis infernalis, hell-bar, a hell-brand, devil or the devil s own ;
a
shrewish old hag is styled hollriegel or the devil s grandmother ;

and Hugo von Langenstein (Martina 4 b ) already used this Jiellerigcl

as a term of abuse. Now hell was imagined as being tightly bolted
and barred when Christ, says Fundgr. 1, 178, went down to Hades
;

in the strength of a lion, he made die grintel brechen Lastly, .

we may even connect the OHG. dremil (pessulus, Graff 5, 531) with
the ON. trami or tremill, which mean both cacodaernon and also, it

seems, clathri, cancelli : tramar gneypa J?ik skulo ! Stem. 85 a ;

and in the Swedish song of Torkar, trolltram an epithet of the is

devil who stole the hammer. As this is the Thrymr of the Edda,
one might guess that trami stands for J?rami, with which our dremil
would more exactly accord. Thus from several sides we see the
mythical notions that prevailed on this subject joining hands, and
the merging of Logi into Loki must be of high antiquity. Foersom
(on Jutl. superstit. p. 32) alleges, that the devil is conceived of in
the form of a lassetra, i.e., the pole with which a load is tied down.
Beside Loki the as, Snorri sets another before us in the Edda,
Utyar&aloki, as a king whose arts and power deceive even godlike
Thorr ;
it was one of his household that outdid the other
Loki himself, Sn. 54 seq. 1 Saxo, who in the whole of his work
1
Thorlacius s theory, of an older nature- worship supplanted by the Ases,
restsmainly on the antithesis of an Oku]?6rr to Asaf>6rr, of Logi to Loki, and
probably of Hler to Oegir, each pair respectively standing for thunder, fire,
244 OTHER GODS.

never once names the Eddie Loki, tells wonderful things of this
Ugarthilocus, pp. 163-6 he paints
him as a gigantic semi-divine
:

who dwells in a distant land, is invoked in a storm like

monster,
other gods, and grants his aid. A
valiant hero, named Thorkill,
brooks the adventurous journey to Ugarthilocus all this is but :

variation of the visit which, in Snorri, Thorr pays to

legendary
UtgarSaloki. Still it is worth noticing, that Thorkill plucks out one

of Ugarthilocus s huge spear-like hairs, and takes it home with him

(Saxo 165-6). The utgar&ar were the uttermost borders of the

habitable world, where antiquity fixed the abode of giants and
monsters, i.e., hell; and here also may have been present that

notion of the up as it were the entrance to that

bar, closing
inaccessible region of ghosts and demons.
Whether in very early times there was also a Saxon LoJco and
an Alamannic Lcihlw, or only a Grendil and Krentil ; what is of
in the myths themselves. To
capital importance is the agreement
what was cited above, I will here add something more. Our
nursery -tales have made us familiar with the incident of the hah
off the devil as he lay asleep in his grandmother s lap
plucked
tale makes three
(Kinderm. 29). The corresponding Norwegian
feathers be pulled out of the dragon s tail, not while he sleeps, but
after he is dead.
like
Loki, in punishment of his misdeeds, is put in chains,
Prometheus who brought fire to men; but he is to be released
again at the end of the world. One of his children, Fenrir,1 i.e.,
himself in a second birth, pursues the moon in the shape of a wolf,
and threatens to swallow her. According to Sn. 12. 13, an old
in wolfskin girdles,
giantess in the forest gave birth to these giants
the mightiest of them being Mdnagarmr (lunae canis) who is to
devour the moon but in another place, while Skoll chases the sun,
;

a
Hati, Hroffvitnis sonr (Soem. 45 ) dogs the moon. Probably there
were fuller legends about them all, which were never written
down an old Scotch story is still remembered about the tayl of
;

water. To the must be added Sif= earth, and the miSgarSsormr

elder series
(world-snake). But what nature-god can OSinn have taken the place of?
None ? And was his being not one of the primeval ones 1 &c. [Quoted from
SuppL, vol. iii.]
Goth. Fanareis ? OHG. Fanari, Feniri ? can it be our fahnentrager,
1

pannifer 1 But the early Norse does not seem to have the
word answering to
the Goth, fana, OHG. fano (flag). [Has the fox holding up his tail as a
standard, in the unrighteous war of beasts against birds, anything to
do with
this ?]
 LOKI, GRENDEL, SATURN. 245

tlie wolfe and the warldis end (see Stippl.). But the popular
belief seems to have extended generally, and that from the earliest
times, all over Germany, and beyond it. We still say, when
baneful and perilous disturbances arise, the devil is broke loose/ as
in the North they used to say Lola er or bondum (ch. XXIII). In
the Life of Goz von Berlichingen, p. 201 the devil was every :

where at large ;
in Detmar s chronik 1, 298 : do was de duvel los

geworden/ disorder and violence prevailed.

i.e., Of any one who
threatened from a safe distance, the folk in Burgundy used the
?1
ironical phrase : Dieu garde la lune des loups ! meaning, such
threats would not be fulfilled till the end of the world in the same
;

way the French popular song on Henry IV. expresses the far end
of the future as the time when the wolf s teeth shall get at the
moon :
jusqu a ce que Ton prenne la lune avec Us dents? Fischart
in several places speaks of this wolf des mons? and most fully in
his Aller practik grossmutter : derhalben dorft ihr nicht mehr fur
ihn betten, dass ihn Gott vor den ivolfen wolle leliuten, denn sie
werden ihn diss jahr nicht erhaschen (need not pray for the moon,
3
they won t
get her this year). In several places there circulate
among the people rhymes about the twelve hours, the last two
being thus distinguished um elfe kommen die wolfe, um zwolfe
:

bricht das gewolbej at 11 come the wolves, at 12 bursts the vault,

i.e., death out of the vault. Can there be an echo in this of the old
belief in the appearing of the wolf or wolves at the destruction of
the world and the bursting of heaven s vault ? In a lighted candle,
if a piece of the wick gets half detached and makes it burn away
too fast, they say a wolf (as well as thief) is in the candle ;
this
the wolf devouring the sun or moon. Eclipses of sun or
:oo is like

noon have been a terror to many heathen nations the incipient ;

md increasing obscuration of the luminous orb marks for them the

inoment when the gaping jaws of the wolf threaten to devour it,
md they think by loud cries to bring it succour (ch. XXII, Eclipses).
The breaking loose of the wolf and the ultimate enlargement o(
Loki from his chains, who at the time of the Eagnarokr will war
tgainst and overcome the gods, is in striking accord with the release
)f the chained Prometheus, by whom Zeus is then to be overthrown.

1
Lamonnaye, glossaire to the noei bourguignon, Dijon 1776, p. 242.
2 Conf. Ps. 72, 7 donee auferetur luna.
:

3
May we in this connexion think of the fable of the wolf who goes down
lie well to eat up the moon, which he takes for a cheese ?
246 OTHER GODS.

The formula, unz Loki verSr lauss (=unz riufaz regin, till the gods
be destroyed), answers exactly to the Greek Trplv av etc Secr/iwi/
Xa\da0r) npowdevs (Aesch. Prom. 176. 770. 991) the writhings of ;

the fettered Loki makethe earth to quake (Ssem. 69. Sn. 70), just
as %0a)v <reo-d\evTcu in the case of Prometheus (Aesch. 1081).

Only the Greek Titan excites our noblest sympathy, while the
Edda presents Loki as a hateful monster.
Loki was fair in form, evil in disposition ;
his father, a giant,
was named Farbauti (boatman ?), his mother Laufey (leaf-ea) and
Ndl (needle thin and insinuating, mio ok auttyreiflig, 355), all of
;

them words easy to translate into OHG. as Farpozo (remex),

Loupouwa, Nadala, though such names are nowhere found. He is
never called Farbauta sonr, but always after his mother, Loki
a b
Laufeyjar sonr (Seem. 67 72 73 a), which had its origin in
but held its ground even in prose (Sn. 64) and in the
alliteration,
Locke Loje, Loke Lovmand, Loke Lejemand of the later folk-songs.
This Laufey (Swed. Lofo) is first of all the name of a place, which
was personified, and here again there is doubtless reference to an
element. By his wife Sigyn Loki had a son Nari or Narvi, and by
a giantess Angrlofta three children, the aforesaid Fenrir, the serpent
Idrmungandr and a daughter Hel. It is worthy of notice, that he
himself is also called Loptr (aerius), and one of his brothers Hel-

Uindi, which is likewise a name of OSinn. I just throw out these

names, mostly foreign to our German mythology, in the hope of
enlisting for them future inquiry.

Once again we must turn our attention to a name already

brought forward among the gods of the week (pp. 125-6), for which
a rare concurrence of isolated facts seems almost to secure a place
in our native antiquities. The High German week leaves two days, ,

one in the middle and one at the end, not named after gods. But
sambaztag for Saturday, as well as mittwoch for Wuotanstag, was a
sheer innovation, which the church had achieved or gladly accepted
for those two days at all events. The first six days were called after!

the sun, the moon, Zio, Wuotan, Donar and Fria ;

what god was I

entitled to have the naming of the seventh day ? Four German

j

deities were available Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, but how|

for

was Saturn to be put into German ? The Mid. Ages went on

explaining the seventh day by the Roman god our KaiserchronikJ :
 LOKI, GRENDEL, SATURN. 247

which even for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth days names no
German gods, but only Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, expresses
itself thus clumsily :

An dem sameztage sa Then on the Saturday

einez heizet rotunda", Is a thingnamed rotunda
daz was ein herez betehus, That was a lofty temple,
der got hiez Saturnds, The god was named Saturnus,
darnach was iz aller tiuvel 6re. Thereafter was it to all devils
honour.

Here the worship of Saturn is connected with the pantheon built

in honour of all the gods or devils, which Boniface converted into
a church of
St. Mary. The Anglo-Saxons, English, Frisians, Dutch
and Low Saxons have left to the dies Saturni the god s very
name :
Sceteresd&y or Sceternesdzeg, Saturd&y, SaterdQi, Saterd&ch,

Satersdag, and even the Irish have adopted dia Satuirn or Satarn ;

whereas the French samedi, Span, sabado, Ital. sabato, agrees with
our High Germ, samstag. Here is identity, not only of idea, as in
the case of the other gods, but of name, and the absence of conson

ant-change seems to betray downright borrowing or may the :

resemblance have been accidental, and a genuine German name

have been modified in imitation of the foreign one ? In OHG
neither a Satarnes- nor a Sazarnestac can be found but in AS. ;

scetere means insidiator (OHG. sazari, conf. saza, MHG. saze insidiae,
a sitting in wait, as laga, lage is lying in wait) ;
and what is still

more remarkable, a document of Edward the Confessor (chart,

antiq. rot. M. no. 1. Kemble 4, 157) supplies us with the name of
a place Setteresbyrig, quite on a par with Wodnesbyrig further, the ;

plant gallicrus, our hahnenfuss, Engl. crowfoot, was in AS. sdtorld&e

Saturni taedium as it were (-loathing, ON. leiol, OHG. leidi).
1
I
mind, that even the ancient Franks spoke of Saturnus (p. 88)
call to

as a heathen god, and of Saturni dolium, though that

may have
referred to the mere planetary god (see SuppL).
The last name for the sabbath brings us to the OK laugar-
1 In the
AS. are preserved various dialogues between Saturn and Solomon,
similar to those between Solomon and Marculf in continental Germany, but
more antique and, apart from their Christian setting or dressing up, not unlike
the questions and discourses carried on in the Edda between OSinn and VatyruS-
nir, between Ving]?6rr and Alviss, between Har and Gangleri. Here also the
name Saturn seems to make for my point, and to designate a god of Teutonic
paganism.
248 OTHER GODS.

dagr, Swed. logerdag, Dan. loverdag, by which in later times no

doubt washing or bathing day was meant, as the equivalent
)?vottdagr shows but originally Zo^adagr, Zo^adagr may have
;

been in use, 1 and Logi, Loki might answer to the Latin Saturnus, 2 as
the idea of devil which lay in Loki was popularly transferred to the
Jewish Satan and [what seemed to be the same thing] the heathen
Saturn, and Locki in ON. is likewise seducer, tempter, trapper.
We might even take into consideration a by-name of OSinn in
Saem. 46 a Saftr or perhaps Sa5r, though I prefer to take the
, first

form as equivalent to Sannr (true) and Sanngetall.

But that AS. Sceteresbyrig from the middle of the llth century
irresistibly recalls the burg on the Harz mts, built (according to
our hitherto despised accounts of the 15th century in Bothe s

Sachsenchroriik) to the idol Saturn, which Saturn, added, the

it is

common people called Krodo ; to this we may add the name

touched upon in p. 206 (HreSe, for which an
HreSemonaS),
older Hruodo, Chrodo was conjectured. 3 We are told of an image
of this Saturn or Krodo, which represented the idol as a man

standing on a great fish, holding a pot of flowers in his right hand,

and a wheel erect in his left the Roman Saturn was furnished
;

with the not a wheel (see Suppl.). 4

sickle,
Here some Slav conceptions appear to overlap. Widukind
(Pertz 5, 463) mentions a brazen simulacrum Batumi among the
Slavs of the tenth century, without at all describing it ;
but Old
Bohemian glosses in Hanka 14a and 17 a carry us farther. In the
first, Mercurius is called Radihost vnuk Kirtov (Radigast grand
son of Kirt), in the second, Picus Saturni films is glossed ztracec

1
Conf. Finn Magnusen, lex. pp. 1041-2, dagens tider p. 7.
2I suppose the author had in his mind Homer s constant epithet, Kpovos

dyKv\op.r)TT)s wily, crooked-counselled Kronos. TRANS.

3
To Hrodo might now be referred those names Roysel (later spelling
Reusel) and Roydach in Gramaye, who understands them of Mars ancient ;

documents must first place it beyond doubt, which day of the week is meant.
There is an actual Hruodtac, a man s name in OHG. (Graff 5, 362), and an OS.
HrGddag is found in Trad. corb. 424, ed. Wigand these may be related to
;

Hruodo, Hrodo as Baldag to Balder, and the contraction Roydag, Rodag would
be like Roswith for Hrodsuith. If Roydag should turn out to be the seventh
day of the week, it would be a strong testimony to the worship of Chrodo if ;

it remain the third, we have to add, that the third month also was sacred to

Mars, and was called ffrefremonaS by the Anglo-Saxons.

4
The Kaiserchr. 3750 says, to Saturn we offer quicksilver whereas now ;

Saturn s symbol signifies lead. In Megenber;;, Saturn is called Satjdr. The

Saxon Saturn is supported by Hengest s reference to that god (Extracted .

from Suppl., vol. iii.)

 LOKI, GRENDEL, SATURN. 249

Sitivratov zin (woodpecker, Sitivrat s son); and in a third 20 a Saturn ,

is again called Sitivrat. Who

does not see that Sitivrat is the
Slavic name for Saturn, which leads us at the first glance to sit =
satur ? Eadigast= Mercury (p. 13 On.) is the son of Stracec= Picus ;

and in Greek myths treat Picus (ZTt/to?) as Zeus, making him

fact

give up the kingdom to his son Hermes. Picus is Jupiter, son of

Saturn ;
we have learnt another name for
but beside Sitivrat
Saturn,namely which certainly seems to be our Krodo and
Kirt,
Hruodo. Sitivrat and Kirt confirm Saturn and Krodo ; I do not
know whether the Slavic word is to be connected with the Boh.
krt, Pol. kret, Euss. krot, i.e., the mole. 1 I should prefer to put
into the other name Sitivrat the subordinate meaning of sito-vrat,
sieve-turner, so that it would be almost the same as kolo-vrat,
wheel-turner, and afford a solution of that wheel in Krodo s hand ;

both wheel (kolo) and sieve (sito) move round, and an ancient spell
rested on sieve-turning. Slav mythologists have identified Sitivrat
with the Hindu Satydvrata, who in a great deluge is saved by
Vishnu in the form of a fish. Krodo stands on a fish and Vishnu
;

isrepresented wearing wreaths of flowers about his neck, and hold

2
ing a wheel (chakra) in his fourth hand. All these coincidences
are still meagre and insecure; but they suffice to establish the

high antiquity of a Slavo-Teutonic myth, which starts up thus

from more than one quarter.

1
Hardly with Crete, where Kronos ruled and Zeus was born.
2 Edw. Moore s Hindu Pantheon, Lond. 1810, tab. 13 and 23. Sitivrat,
who corresponds to Saturn, is the Indian Satyavrata, i.e., according to Kuhn,
he that hath veracious (fulfilled) vows; so Dhritavrata, he that hath kept-vows
= Varunas, Ouranos. (Quoted from Suppl., vol. iii.)
 CHAPTEE XIII.

GODDESSES.

In treating of gods, the course of our inquiry could aim at

l
separating the several personalities ;
the goddesses it seems
advisable to take by themselves and all at one view, because there
is a common idea underlying them, which will come out more

clearly by that method. They are thought of chiefly as divine

mothers who travel round and visit houses, from whom the human
race learns the occupations and arts of housekeeping and husbandry:

spinning, weaving, tending the hearth, solving and reaping. These

labours bring with them peace and quiet in the land, and the .

memory of them abides in charming traditions even more lastingly

than that of wars and battles, from which most goddesses as well
as women hold themselves aloof.

But as some goddesses also take kindly to war, so do gods on the

other hand favour peace and agriculture ; and there arises an inter

change of names or offices between the sexes.

1. ERDA, NIRDU, GATJE, FIRGUNIA, HLUODANA.

In almost all languages the Earth is regarded as female, and

(in contrast to the father sky encirling her) as the breeding, teem

ing fruit-bearing mother: Goth, airpa, OHG. erada, erda, AS. eorffe,

ON. iorff, Gr. epa (inferred from epa^e) ;

Lat. terra, tellus, humus
= Slav, zeme , Lith. zieme, Gr. xa
ziemia, zemlia, (? M whence
%a/iafe), ala, yala, yfj mother subjoined in A^^rrjp, Zema
: the
mate, indicates the goddess. The form air)?a, erda (also herda) is
itself a derivative ;
the simpler OHG. ero (in the Wessobr. prayer :

ero noh ufhimil, earth nor heaven) and hero (in a gloss, for solurn,
1
OHG. in Notker has only the strong form gutin gen. gutinno, MHG.
gotinne, Trist. 4807. 15812. Barl. 246-7. seldomer gutinne, MS. 2, 65 b ; AS.
gyden pi. gydena, but also weak gydene pi. gydenan, Mones gl. 4185 Proserpi-
iiam =
to giclenan (1. togydenan, additional goddess) ; ON. gytya (which might
be dea or sacerdos fern.), better dsynja (see Suppl.).
 EEDA, NIRDU, GAUE, FIRGUNIA, HLUODANA. 251

Graff 4, 999) might be masc. (like herd

=
solum, Graff 4, 1026) or
fern, still.
1
The Goth, mulda, OHG. molta, AS. molde, ON. mold,
contain only the material sense of soil, dust ; equally impersonal is
the OS. folda, AS. folde, ON",
fold, conf. feld, field, Finn, peldo

(campus), Hung, fold (terra).

But the ON. lord appears in the
flesh, at once wife and daughter of Oftinn, and mother of Thorr
(Sn. 11. 39. who is often called larSar burr. Distinct from
123),
her was Rindr, another wife of OSinn, and mother of Vali (Saem.
91 a 95 a 97 b ), called Einda in Saxo, and more coarsely painted her ;

name is the OHG. rinta, AS. rind = cortex, hence crusta soli vel

terrae, and to crusta the AS. hruse (terra) is closely related. As

this literal sense is not found in the North, neither is the mythical
meaning in Germany (see Suppl.).
But neither in Ior5 nor in Eindr has the Edda brought out in
clear relief her specially maternal character nowhere is this more ;

account we
purely and simply expressed than in the very oldest
possess of the goddess. It is not to all the Germani that Tacitus

imputes the worship of Nerthus, only to the Langobardi (?), Eeudigni,

Aviones, Angli, Varini, Eudoses, Suardones and Vuithones (Germ.
40): Nee quicquam notabile in singulis, nisi quod in commune
Nerthum* id est Terram matrem colunt, eamque intervenire rebus

hominum, invehi populis, arbitrantur. Est in insula oceani castum

nemus, dicatumque in eo vehiculum, veste contectum, attingere uni
sacerdoti concessum. Is adesse penetrali deam intelligit, vectamque
lubus feminis multa cum veneratione prosequitur. Laeti tune dies,
festa loca,quaecunque adventu hospitioque dignatur. Non bella
ineunt, non arma sumunt clausum omne ferrum pax et quies
;
:

tune tantum nota, tune tantum amata donee idem sacerdos satia- :

tam conversatione mortalium deam templo reddat. Mox vehiculum

et vestes, et, si credere velis, numen ipsum secreto lacu alluitur.
Servi ministrant, quos statim idem lacus haurit. 3 Arcanus hinc

1 The two forms ero and hero remind one of the name
Eor, Cheru, attri
buted to Mars (supra, pp. 203-4).
2
The MSS. collated have this reading, one has nehertum (Massmann in
Aufsess and Mones anzeiger, 1834, p. 216); I should prefer Nertus to Nerthus,
because no other German words in Tacitus have TH, except Gothini and
Vuithones. As for the conjectural Herthus, though the aspirate ^in herda
might seem to plead for it, the termination -us is against it, the aGothic having
not airbus. Besides, Aventin already (Frankf. 1580, p. 19 ) spells Nerth.
air>a,
3
The lake swallows the slaves who had assisted at the secret bathing.
More than once this incident turns up, of putting to death the servants em
ployed in any secret work as those who dug the river out of its bed for
;
252 GODDESSES.

terror sanctaque ignorantia, quid sit illud, quod tantum perituri

vident (see Suppl.). 1
This beautiful description agrees with what we find in other
notices of the worship of a godhead to whom peace and fruitfulness
were attributed. In Sweden it was Freyr, son of Niordr, whose
curtained car went round the country in spring, with the people
all praying and holding feasts (p. 213); but Freyr is altogether
like his father, and he again like his namesake the goddess Nerthus.
The spring- truces, harvest-truces, plough-truces, fixed for certain
seasons and implements of husbandry, have struck deep roots in
our German law and land-usages. Wuotan and Doiiar also make
their appearance in their wains, and are invoked for increase to the
crops and kindly rain on p. 107, anent the car of a Gothic god
;

whose name Sozomen withholds, I have hinted at Nerthus.

The interchange of male and female deities is, luckily for us
here, set in a clear light, by the prayers and rhymes to Wuotan as god
of harvest, which we have quoted above (p. 155 seq.), being in other
Low German districts handed over straight to a goddess. When
the cottagers, we are told, are mowing rye, they let some of the
stalks stand, tie flowers among them, and when they have finished

work, assemble round the clump left standing, take hold of the ears
of rye, and shout three times over :

Fru Gaue, haltet ju fauer, Lady Gaue, keep you some fodder,
diit jar up den wagen, This year on the waggon,
2
dat ander jar up der kare ! Next year on the wheelbarrow.
Whereas Wode had better fodder promised him for the next year,
Dame Gaue seems to receive notice of a falling off in the quantity
of the gift presented. In both cases I see the shyness of the
Christians at retaining a heathen sacrifice as far as words go, the
:

old gods are to think no great things of themselves in future.

In the district about Hameln, it was the custom, when a reaper
in binding sheaves passed one over, or left anything standing in the

Alaric s funeral (Jornand. cap. 29), or those who have hidden a treasure, Landn.
5, 12 (see Suppl.).

Speaking of Nerthus, we ought to notice Ptolemy s Nertereans, though he

1

places them in a very different locality from that occupied by the races who
revere Nerthus in Tacitus.
2
Braunschw. anz. 1751, p. 900. Hannov. gel. anz. 1751, p. 662 [is not
haltet a mistake for hal and something else ?] In the Altenburg country
they call this harvest-custom building a barn. Arch, des henneb. vereins 2, 91.
 ERDA, NIRDU, GAUE, FIRGUNIA, HLUODANA. 253

field, to him by calling out

jeer at scholl diit dei gaue frue (or,
:

defru Gauen] hebben (is that for dame G.) ?

l

In the Prignitz they say fru Gode, and call the bunch of ears
left standing in each field vergodendeelsstrtiss, i.e., dame G ode s
portion bunch.
2
Ver a common
contraction for frau [as in
is

jungfer] but;
a dialect which says fauer instead of foer, foder, will

equally have Gaue for Gode, Guode. This Guode can be no other
than Gwode, Wode ; by the older fro, fro Woden
and, explaining fru
or fro Gaue
(conf. Gaunsdag Wonsdag, p. 125) will denote a lord
for

and god, not a goddess, so that the form of prayer completely

coincides with those addressed to Wuotan, and the fruh Wod sub

joined in the note on p. 156 (see SuppL). If one prefer the notion
of a female divinity, which, later at all events, was
undoubtedly
attached to the term fru, we might perhaps bring in the Goi ON".

(Sn. 358. Fornald. sog. 2, 17), a mythic maiden, after whom

February was named. The Greek Tala or Fi) is, I consider, out of
the question here.
In an AS. formulary for restoring fertility to fields that have
been bewitched, there occur two remarkable addresses ; the first is
crce, erce, erce, eorfian modor I by which not the earth herself, but
her mother seems to be meant; however, the expression is still

enigmatical. Can there lie disguised in erce a proper name Erce gen,
Ercan, connected with the OHG. adj. erchan, simplex, genuinus,
germanus ? it would surely be more correct to write Eorce 1
ought
it to suggest the lady Erche, Hcrkja, Herche, Helclie renowned in
our heroic legend ? The distinct traces in Low Saxon districts of a
divine dame, Herke or Harke by name, are significant. In Jessen,
a little town on the Elster, not far from Wittenberg,
they relate of
frau Herke what in other places, as will be shown, holds good of
Freke, Berhta and Holda. In the Mark she is called frau Harke,
and is said to fly through the country between Christmas and
Twelfth-day, dispensing earthly goods in abundance by Epiphany ;

the maids have to finish spinning their flax, else

frau Harke gives

Hannov. gel. anz. 1751, p. 726. More pleasing to the ear is the short
1

prayer of the heathen Lithuanians, to their earth-goddess, when in drinking

they spilt some of the ale on the ground Zemenyle ziedekle, pakylek musii
:

ranku darbus blooming Earth, bless the work of our hands.

!

2
Adalb. Kuhns markische sagen, pp. 337. 372, pref. p. vii. Conf. in ch.
II the cry of the dwarfs : de gaue fru is im dot (dead) .
254 GODDESSES.

them a good scratching or soils their distaff (see Suppl.).

1
In
earlier times a simpler form of the name was current ; we find in
Gobelinus Persona (Meibom 1, 235) the following account, which

therefore reaches back beyond 1418 Quodautem Hera colebatur a

:

Saxonibus, videtur ex eo quod quidam vulgares recitant se audivisse

ab antiquis, prout et ego audivi, quod inter festum nativitatis Christ!
ad festum epiphaniae Domini domina Hera volat per aera, quoniam
apud gentiles Junoni aer deputabatur. Et quod Juno quandoque
Hera appellabatur et depingebatur cum tintinnabulis et alis,
dicebant vulgares praedicto tempore vrovje Hera sen corrupto
:

nomine vro Here de vlughet, et credebant illam sibi conferre rerum

temporalium abundantiam. Have we here still extant the old Ero,

"Epa,
Hero meaning earth ? and does "Hpa belong to it ? If the
AS. Erce also contains the same, then even the diminutive form
Herke must be of high antiquity.
The second address in the same AS. ritual is a call to the earth :

Ml wes thu folde, fira modor ! hale (whole) be thou earth, mother
of men which
; agrees with the expression terra mater in Tacitus.
The widely extended worship of the teeming nourishing earth
would no doubt give rise to a variety of names among our fore
fathers, just as the service of Gaia and her daughter Rhea mixed
itself up with that of Ops mater, Ceres and Cybele.
2
To me the
resemblance between the cultus of ISTerthus and that of the Phrygian
mother of gods appears well worthy of notice. Lucretius 2, 597
641 describes the peregrination of the magna deum mater in her
lion-drawn car through the lands of the earth :

Quo mine magnas praedita terras

insigni per
horrifice fertur divinae matris
imago . . .

Ergo quom primum magnas invecta per urbeis

munificat tacita mortaleis inuta salute,
aere atque argento sternunt iter omne viarum,

largifica stipe ditantes, ninguntque rosarum

floribus, umbrantes matrem comitumque cater vam.
The Romans called the VI. kal. Apr. lavatio matris detim, and kept
it as a feast, Ovid. fast. 4, 337 :

1
Adalb. Kuhn in the Markische forschungen 1, 123-4, and Mark, sagen
pp. 371-2 conf. Singularia magdeburg. 1740. 12, 768.
;
~
Ops mater =
terra mater ; Ceres =
Geres, quod gerit fmges, antiquis
enim
G
C quod mine ; Varro de ling, lat, ed. 0. Mtiller p. 25. Her Greek appella
tion Ar]ij.t]TT)p seems also to lead to
yrj ^rr]p (see Suppl.).
 EK.DA, N1RDU, GAUE, FIRGUNIA, HLUODANA. 255

Est locus, in Tiberin qua lubricus influit Almo,

et nomen magno perdit ab amne minor ;

illic purpurea canus cum veste sacerdos

Almonis dominam sacraque lavit aquis.

Ammian. Marcell. 23, 3 (Paris 1681, p. 355) : Ad Callinicum, ubi

ante diem sextum kal. quo Eomae matri deorum pompae celebrantur
annales, et carpentum quo vehitur simulacrum Almonis undis ablui
perhibetur. Conf. Prudentius, hymn. 10, 154 :

Nudare plantas ante carpentum scio

proceres togatos matris Idaeae sacris.

Lapis nigellus evehendus essedo
muliebris oris clausus argento sedet,
quern dum
ad lavacrum praeeundo ducitis
pedes remotis atterentes calceis
Almonis usque pervenitis rivulum.
Exactly in the same way Nerthus, after she has travelled round the
country, is bathed in the sacred lake in her waggon and I find it ;

noted, that the Indian JBhavani, wife of Shiva, is likewise driven

round on her feast-day, and bathed in a secret lake by the Brahmans
1
(see Suppl.).
Nerthus s island in the ocean has been supposed to mean
Eiigen, in the middle of which there is actually a lake, called the
Schwarze see, or Burgsee. What is told as a legend, that there in
ancient times the devil was adored, that a maiden was maintained
in his service, and that when he was weary of her, she was drowned
1
Gregor. Turon. de glor. conf. cap. 77 compares or confounds with the
Phrygian Cybele some Gallic goddess, whose worship he describes as follows :

Ferunt etiam in hac urbe (Augustoduno) simulachrum fuisse Berecynthiae, sicut

sancti martyris Symphoriani passionis declarat historia. Hanc cum in
carpento, pro salvatione agrorum et vinearum suarum, misero gentilitatis more
deferrent, adfuit supradictus Simplicius episcopus, hand procul adspiciens
cantantes atque psallentes ante hoc simulachrum, gemitumque pro stnltitia plebis
ad Deum emittens ait illuinina quaeso, Domine, oculos hujus populi, ut
:

cognoscat, quia simnlachrum Berecynthiae nihil est et facto signo crncis contra
!

protinus simulachrum in terram ruit. Ac defixa solo animalia, quae plaustrum

hoc quo vehebatur trahebant, moveri non poterant. Stupet vulgus innumerum,
et deam laesam omnis caterva conclainat ; immolantur victimae, animalia
verberantur, sed moveri non possunt. Tune quadringenti de ilia stulta
multitudine viri conjuncti simul ajunt ad invicem si virtus est ulla deitatis,
:

erigatur sponte, jubeatque boves, qui telluri sunt stabiliti, procedere certe si ;

moveri nequit, nihil est deitatis in ea. Tune accedentes, et immolantes unum
de pecoribus, cum viderent deam suam nullatenus posse moveri, relicto
gentilitatis errore, inquisitoque antistite loci, conversi ad unitatem ecclesiae,
cognoscentes veri Dei magnitudinem. sancto sunt baptismate consecrati.
Compare the Legenda aurea cap. 117, where a festum Veneris is mentioned.
256 GODDESSES.

in the black lake, 1must have arisen, gross as the perversion may
be, out of the account in Tacitus, who makes the goddess, when
satiated with the converse of men, disappear in the lake with her
attendants. But there are no other local features to turn the scale
in its and the Danish islands in the Baltic have
favour ;
2 at least

as good a claim to have been erewhile the sacred seat of the

goddess.
We have yet more names for the earth-goddess, that demand
investigation partly Old Norse, partly to be gathered from the
:

Romans. In the Skaldskaparmal, p. 178, she is named both

Fidrgyn and Hloftyn.
Of Fidrgyn I have treated already, by the side p. 172 ;
if

of this goddess there could stand a god Fiorgynn and a neuter

common noun fairguni, if the idea of Thor s mother at the same
time passes into that of the thundergod, it exactly parallels and
confirms a female Nertlms (Goth. Nafrjms, gen. Nair]?aus) by the
side of the masculine Nior&r (Nerthus), just as Freyja goes with

Freyr. If it was not wrong to infer from Perkunas a mountain-

god Fairguneis, Lithuanian mythology has equally a goddess

Perkunatele.

Hloftyn is derived in the same way as Fiorgyn, so that we may

safely infer a Goth. Hlofrunja and OHG. Hluodunia.
In Yoluspa
56 Thorr is called mogr HldSynjarj which is son of earth again ;
and Fornald. sog. 1, 469 says i Hlddynjar skaut.
: In the OK
language hldff is a hearth,
3
the goddess s name therefore means

protectress of the fireplace; and

our OHG. herd (p. 251), beside solum
or terra, also denotes precisely focus, arula, fornacula, the hearth
being to us the very basis of a human habitation, a paternal Lar, so
to speak, corresponding to the mother earth. The Eomans also
worshipped a goddess of earth and of fire under the common name
of Fornax, dea fornacalis* But what is still more important to us,
there was discovered on Low Rhenish ground a stone, first kept at
Cleve and afterwards at Xanten, with the remarkable inscription :

1
Deutsclie sagen, num. 132.
2
Of Hertha a proverb is said to be current in Pomerania cle Hertha gift
:

grns, und fiillt schiin und fass (barn

and vessel), Hall. allg. lit. z. 1823, p. 375).
But the un-Saxon rhyme of gras with fass (for fat) sufficiently betrays the
workmanship. It is clumsily made up after the well-known rule of the farmer :
Mai kiihl und nass fiillt scheunen und fass (see Suppl.).
s Liter, strues, n.ra, from hlaSan lilOS, struere, Gramm. 2, 10, num. 83.
* Ovid. fast. 2, 513.
 isis. 257

DEAE HLUDANAE SACEVM C. TIBERIVS VERVS. Hludana

is neither a Roman
nor a Celtic goddess, but her name answers
perfectly to that of the Norse divinity, and Sk. Thorlacius has the
merit of having recognised and learnedly proved the identity of the
two. 1 In this inscription I see striking evidence of the oneness of
Norse and German mythology. Thorlacius, not without reason,
compares the name with ATJTCI) and Latona. Might not Hldrriffi,
an epithet of Thorr the son of Hloftyn, be explained as Hloftridi ?

2. TANFANA. NEHALENNIA.
Another goddess stands wrapt in thicker darkness, whom
Tacitus calls Tanfana, and a stone inscription Tamfana (TAM-
FANAE SACRUM, p. 80). We
are sure of her name, and the
termination -ana isHludana and other fern, proper
the same as in
names, Bertana, Rapana, Madana. The sense of the word, and
with it any sure insight into the significance of her being, are
locked up from us,
We must
also allude briefly to the Belgian or Frisian dea

NeJialennia, about whose name several inscriptions of like import 2

remove all doubt but the word has also given rise to forced and
;

unsatisfying interpretations. In other inscriptions found on the

lower part of the Rhine there .occur compounds, whose termination
(-nekis, -nehabus, dat. plurals fern.) seems to contain the same word
that forms the first half of Nehalennia ;
their plural number
appears to indicate nymphs rather than a goddess, yet there also
hangs about them the notion of a mother (^see ch. XVI, the
Walachuriun).

3. (Isis).

The account in Tacitus of the goddess Isis carries us much

farther, becausecan be linked with living traditions of a cultus
it

that still lingered in the Mid. Ages. Immediately after mentioning

the worship of Mercurius, Hercules, and Mars, he adds (cap. 9) :

Pars Suevorum et Isidi sacrificat Unde causa et origo peregrine

1
Antiq. bor. spec. 3, Hafn. 1782. Conf. Fiedler, gesch. tindalt. cles imtern
Germaniens, 1, *22(i. Steiner s cod. inscr. Rheni no. 632. Gotfr. b chiitze, in his
essay De dea Hludana, Lips. 1748, perceived the value of the stone, but could
not discern the bearings of the matter.
2
Montfaucon ant. expl. 2, 443. Vredii hist. Flandr. 1, xliv. Mem. de
1 acad. celt. 1, 199245. Mone, heidenth. 2, 346.
17
258 GODDESSES.

sacro, parum comperi, nisi quod signum ipsum, in modum liburnae

figuratum, docet advectam religionem. The importation from

abroad can hardly consist in the name Isis, seeing that Mercury,
Mars, Hercules, names that must have sounded equally un-
German, raised no difficulty ;
what looked foreign was the symbol,
the figure of a ship, reminding the writer of the Eoman navigium
Isidis.

When spring had set in, and the sea, untraversed during winter,
was once more navigable, the Greeks and Eomans used to hold a
solemn procession, and present a ship to Isis. This was done on
the fifth of March (III non. Mart.), and the day is marked in the j

1
kalendarium rusticum as Isidis navigium. The principal evidence {

is found in Apuleius and Lactantius, two writers who are later

2

than Tacitus, but the custom must have reached back to a much
older date. On Alexandrian coins Isis appears walking by the side

of Pharus, unfurling a sail.

Say that from Egypt the worship of Isis had penetrated to

Greece, to Rome, how are we

to imagine, that in the first century, or

before, it had got itself conveyed to one particular race inhabiting

the heart of Germany ? It must have been a similar cultus, not
the and established other Germans as
amongst
same, perhaps long
well.
I will here draw attention to a strange custom of a much later

time, which appears to me to be connected with

this. About the
in a forest near Inda (in Eipuaria),
a ship was built, set
year 1133,
upon wheels, and drawn about the country by
men who were yoked
to it, first to Aachen (Aix), then to Maestricht, where mast and sail
were added, and up the river to Tongres, Looz and so on, every
where with crowds of people assembling and escorting it. Where-
ever it halted, there were joyful shouts, songs of triumph and dancing
1
Gesner, script, rei rust., ed. Lips. 1773. 1,
886 so also in the Calend.
;

vallense, and in the Cal. lambec. (Graevii thes. 8, 98).

2 dies ex ista nocte
Apuleii met. lib. 11 (Ruhnken p. 764-5) Diem, qui
:

aeterna mini quo sedatis hibernis tempestatibus

nascetur, nuncupavit religio ;
,

et lenitis maris procellosis nuctibus, navigabili jam pelago rudem

dedicantesl

carinam primitias commeatus libant mei sacerdotes. Id sacrum sollicita nee |

profana mente debebis operiri nam ;

meo monitu sacerdos in ipso procmctu
cohaerentem gestabit
pompae roseam manu dextra sistro (Egyptian timbrel) in earn,
coronam. Incontanter ergo dimotis turbulis alacer continuare pompam
i

volentia fretus ;
et de proximo dementer velut manum sacerdotis deosculabun-
te
dus rosis decerptis, pessimae mihique detestabilis diulum belluae istius corio
Lactantius, instit. 1, 27 Certus dies habetur in fastis, quo
protinus exue.
:

Isid-is navifjium celebratur, quae res docet illain non tranasse,

sed navigasse.
 isis. 259

round the ship kept up till far into the night. The approach of the
ship was notified to the towns, which opened their gates and went
out to meet it.
We have a detailed, yet not complete, report of it in Rodulfi
chronicon abbatiae S. Trudonis, lib. xi., which on account of its
importance I will here insert, from Pertz 12, 309 seq.:
Est genus mercenariorum, quorum officium est ex lino et lana
texere telas, hoc procax et
superbum super alios mercenaries vulgo
reputatur, adquorum procacitatem et superbiam humiliandam et
propriam injuriam de eis ulciscendam pauper quidam rusticus ex
villa nomine Inda 1 hanc diabolicam excogitavit technam. Accepta
a judicibus fiducia et a levibus hominibus auxilio, qui gaudent jocis
et novitatibus, in proximo, silva navem composuit, et earn rotis

suppositis affigcns vehibilem super terram efecit, obtinuit quoque a

potestatibus, ut injectis funibus textorum humeris ex Inda Aquis-
Aquis suscepta cum utriusque sexus grandi
2
granum traheretur.
hominum processione : nihilominus a textoribus Trajectum [Maes-
tricht] est provecta, ibi emendata, malo veloque insignita Tungris
[Tongres] est inducts, de Tungris Los [Looz]. Audiens abbas
3
(sancti Trudonis) Eodulfus navim illam infausto omine compactam
malaque solutam alite cum hujusmodi gentilitatis studio nostro

oppido adventare, praesago spiritu hominibus praedicabat, ut ejus

susceptione abstinerent, quia maligni spiritus sub hac ludificatione
in ea traherentur, in proximoque seditio per earn moveretur, undo
caedes, incendia rapinaeque fierent, et humanus sanguis multus
funderetur. Quern ista declamantem omnibus diebus, quibus
malignorum spirituum illud simulacrum loci morabatur, oppidani
nostri audire noluerunt, sed eo studio et gaudio excipientes, quo
perituri Trojani fatalem equum in medio fori sui dedicaverunt,

statimque proscriptionis sententiam accipiunt villae textores, qui ad

profanas hujiis simulacri excubias venirent tardiores. Pape Quia !

vidit unquam tantam (ut ita liceat latinisare) in rationalibus

animalibus brutitatem ?
quis tantam in renatis in Christo gentili-

1
Inden in the Jiilich country, afterwards Corneliniiinster, not far from
Aix ; conf. Pertz 1, 394. 488. 514. 592. 2, 299. 489.
2
This of ships being built in a wood and carried on men s shoidders reminds
one of
Saxp Gram.
p. 93, and of the Argo humeris travecta Alpes (Pliny N.H.
18their being set on wheels, of Nestor s
3, ;
story about Oleg conf. the ship
;

ofFro above. [An inadvertence on the author s part the ship is not carried/
:

but drawn by ropes thrown over the weavers shoulders

.]
3
St. Tron between Liege and Louvain.
260 GODDESSES.

tatem ? Cogebant sententia proscriptionis textores, nocte et die

navim stipareomni armaturae genere, solicitasque ei excubias nocte
et die continuare. Mimmque fuit, quod non cogebant eos ante
navim Ncptuno hostias immolare, de cujus naves esse solent regione,
sed Neptunus eas Marti reservabat, quod postea multipliciter fac-
tum est.

Textores interim occulto sed praecordiali gemitu Denm justum

jndicem super eos vindicem invocabant, qui ad hanc ignominiam
eos detrudebant, cum juxta rectam vitam antiquorum Christianorum
et apostolicorum virorum manuum suarum laboribus viverent, nocte
et die operantes, unde alerentur et vestirentur, liberisque suis

idipsum providerent. Quaerebant conquerebantur ad invicem

et

lacrymabiliter, unde illis magis quam aliis mercenariis haec

ignominia et vis contumeliosa, cum inter Christianos alia plura
essent officia suo multum aspernabiliora, cum tamen nullum
dicerent aspernabile, de quo Christianus posset se sine peccato
conducere, illudque solum esset vitabile et ignobile quod immun-
ditiam peccati coritraheret animae, meliorque sit rusticus textor et
pauper, quam exactor orphanorum et spoliator viduarum urbanus
et nobilis judex. Cumque haec et eorum similia secum, ut dixi,

lacrymabiliter conquererentur, concrepabant ante illud, nescio cujus

potius dicam, Bacclii an Veneris, Neptuni sive Martis, sed ut verius
dicam ante omnium malignorum spirituum execrabile domicilium
genera diversorum musicorum, turpia cantica et religioni Christianae
a
indigna condnentium. Sancitum quoque erat judicibus,
ut praeter

textores, quicumque ad tactum navi appropinquarent, pignus de collo

eorum ercptum iextoribus relinquerent, nisi se ad libitum redimerent.
Sed quid faciam ? loquarne an sileam ? utinam spiritus mendacii
stillaret de labiis meis sub fugitiva adhuc luce diei imminente
:

luna matronarum catervae abjecto femineo pudore audientes strepi-

tum capillis de stratis
suis exiliebant, aliae
livjus vanitatis, passis
du-
seminudae, aliae simplice tcntum clamide circumdatae, chorosque
centibus circa navim impudenter irrumpendo se admiscebant. Videres
ibi aliquando mille hominum animas sexus utriusque prodigiosum

et infaustum cekusma usque ad noctis

medium celebrare. Quando
vero execrabilis ilia chorea rumpebatur, emisso ingenti clamore vo-
cum inconditarum sexus uterque hac illacque bacchando ferebatur ;

quae tune videres agere, nostrum est tacere

et deflere, quibus modo
contingit graviter luere. Istis tarn nefandis factis plus quam duo-
 isis. 261

dedm diebus supradicto ritu celebratis, conferebant simul oppidani

quid agerent amodo de deducenda a se navi.

Qui sanioris erant consilii, et qui earn susceptam fuisse do-
lebant, timentes Deum pro his quae facta viderant et audierant,
et sibi
pro his futura conjiciebant, hortabantur ut comburatur
(combureretur) aut isto vel illo modo de medio tolleretur ;
sed
stulta quorundam coecitas huic salubri consilio contumeliose re-
nitebatur. Nam maligni spiritus, qui in ilia ferebantur, disse-
minaverant in populo, quod locus ille et inhabitantes prdbroso
nomine amplius notarentur, apud quos remansisse inveniretur. Dedu-
cendam igitur earn ad villam, quae juxta nos est, Leugues decre-
verunt. Interea Lovaniensis dominus audiens de daemonioso navis
illius ridiculo,instruetusque a religiosis viris terrae suae de illo
vitando et terrae suae arcendo monstro, gratiam suam et amicitiam
mandat oppidanis nostris, commonefaciens eos humiliter, ut pacem
illam quae inter illos et se erat reformata et sacramentis confir-
mata non infringerent, et inde praecipue illud diaboli ludibrium
viciniae suae inferrent ; quod si ludum esse dicerent, quaererent
alium cum quo inde luderent. Quod si ultra hoc mandatum
committerent, pacem praedictam in eum
infringerent et ipse vin-
dictam in eos ferro et igne exsequeretur. Id ipsum mandaverat
Durachiensibus dominis, qui et homines ejus fuerant manuatim, et
interpositis sacramentis et obsidibus datis sibi confoederati. Hoc
cum jam tertio fecisset, spretus est tarn ab oppidanis nostris quam
Durachiensibus dominis. Xam propter peccata inhabitantium vo-
lebat Dominus mittere super locum nostrum ignem et arma Lo-
vaniensium. Ad hanc igituTplebeiamfatuitatem adjunxit se dominus
Gislebertus (advocatus abbatiae S. Tmdonis) contra generis sui
nobilitatem, trahendamque decrevit navem illam terream usque
Leugues ultra Durachiensem villam, quod et fecit malo nostro
omine cum omni oppidanorum nostrorum multitudine et ingenti
mebaechantium vociferations. Leuguenses, oppidanis nostris pru-
dentiores et Lovaniensis domini mandatis obsequentes, portas
suas clauserunt et infausti ominis monstrnm intrare non per-
miserunt.
Lovaniensis autem dominus precum suarum et mandatorum
contemptum nolens esse inultum, diem constituit comitibus tanquam
suis hominibus, qui neque ad primum, neque ad secundum, sed
nee ad tertium venire voluerunt Eduxit ergo contra eos et contra
262 GODDESSES.

nos multorum multitudinis exercitum armatorum tarn peditum

quam militum. Nostro igitur oppido seposito, tanquam firmius
munito et bellicosorum hominum pleno, primum impetum in Dura-
cliienses fecit, quibus viriliter resistentibus castellum, nescio quare,

cum posset obsedit, sed inter Leugues et Durachium pernocta-

non
vit. Cumque sequenti die exercitum applicare disponeret et ex
quatuor partibus assultum faceret, habebat enim ingentem multi-
tudinem, supervenit Adelbero Metensium primicerius filiorum Lo-
vaniensis domini avunculus, cujus interventu, quia comitissa Dura-
chiensis erat soror ejus, et Durachiense erat castellum sancti
Lamberti, Lovaniensis dominus ab impugnatione cessavit et ab
obsidione se amovit, promisso ei quod Durachienses paulo post ei
ad justitiam suam educerentur. Et cum ista et alia de dominis
et inter dominos tractarentur, pedites et milites per omnia nostra
circumjacentia se nostras, ecclesias, molendina
diffuderunt, villas
et quaecumque occurrebant combustioni et perditioni tradentes,

recedentes vero quae longe a nobis fuerant prout cuique adjacebant

inter se diviserunt.

Obviously, throughout the narrative everything is put in an

odious light but the proceeding derives its full significance from
;

this very fact, that it was so utterly repugnant to the clergy, and
that they tried in every way to suppress it as a sinful and
heathenish piece of work. On the other hand, the secular power
had authorized the procession, and was protecting it it rested with ;

the several townships, whether to grant admission to the approach

ing ship, and the popular feeling seems to have ruled that it would
be shabby not to forward it on its way.
Mere dancing and singing, common as they must have been on
all sorts of occasions with the people of that time, could not have
so exasperated the clergy. They call the ship malignorum
spirituum simulacrum and diaboli ludibrium, take for granted it
f
Avas knocked together infausto omine and gentilitatis studio,
that maligni spiritus travel inside it, nay, that it may well be
called a ship of Neptune or Mars, of Bacchus or Venus ; they must
burn or
it, make away with it somehow.
Probably among the common people of that region there still

survived some an ancient heathen worship, which,

recollections of

though checked and circumscribed for centuries, had never yet been
entirely uprooted. I consider this ship, travelling about the
 isis. 263

country, welcomed by streaming multitudes, and honoured with

festive song and dance, to be the car of the god, or rather of that

goddess whom Tacitus identifies with Isis, and who (like Nerthus)
brought peace and fertility to mortals. As the car was covered up,
so entrance to the interior of the ship seems to have been denied
to men ;
there need not have been an image of the divinity inside.
Her name the people had long ago forgotten, it was only the
learned monks that still fancied something about Neptune or Mars,
Bacchus or Venus but to the externals of the old festivity the
:

people appetite kept returning from time to time.

s How should
that pauper rusticus in the wood at Inden have lighted on the
thought of building a ship, had there not been floating in his mind
recollections of former processions, perhaps of some in neighbour
ing districts ?

It is worthy of note, that the weavers, a numerous and arrogant

craft in the Netherlands, but hateful to the common herd, were
compelled to draw the ship by ropes tied to their shoulders, and to

guard it in return, they could keep the rest of the people from
;

coming too near it, and fine or take pledges from those who did so.
1

Eodulf does not say what became at last of the terrea navis,
after ithad made that circuit it is enough for him to relate, how,
;

on a reception being demanded for it and refused, heats and quarrels

arose, which could only be cooled in open war. This proves the
warm interest taken by contemporaries, fanned as it was to a flame
for or against the festival by the secular and the clerical party.
There are traces to be found of similar ship -processions at the
beginning of spring in other parts of Germany, especially in Swabia,
which had then become the seat of those very Suevi of Tacitus (see

Suppl.). A minute of the town-council of Ulrn, dated St. Nicholas

eve, 1530, contains this prohibition: Item, there shall none, by day
nor night, trick or disguise him, nor put on any carnival raiment,
moreover shall keep him from the going about of the plough and
with ships on pain of 1 gulden 2 The custom of drawing the.

plough about seems to have been the more widely spread, having

Doe3 the author imply that the favour of the peasantry, as opposed to
1

artizans, makes it likely that this was a relic of the worship of Earth ?
Supposing even that the procession was that of the German Isis Tacitus ;

nowhere tells us what the functions of this Isis were, or that she brought
peace and fertility TRANS..

2 Carl
Ja ger, Schwab, stadtewesen des MA. (Mid. Ages), 1, 525.
264 GODDESSES.

originallyno doubt been performed in honour of the divinity from

whom a fruitful year and the thriving of crops was looked for.
Like the ship-procession, it was accompanied by dances and bon
fires. Sebast. Frank, p. ol a of his Weltbuch On the Rhine, :

Franconia and divers other places, the young men do gather all the I

dance-maidens and put them in a plough, and draw their piper, who
sitteth on the plough piping, into the water in other parts they
;

draw a /m/ plough kindled with a fire very artificial made thereon,
until it fall to wrack. Enoch Wiedemanri s chronik von Hof tells

how On
Shrove-Tuesday evil-minded lads drove a plough about,
it such damsels as did not
yoking to pay ransom others went ;

behind them sprinkling chopped straw and sawdust. (Sa chs.

provinz. bl. 8, 347.) Pfeiffer, chron. lips. lib. 2, 53 : Mos erat

antiquitus Lipsiae, ut liberalibus (feast of Liber or Bacchus, i.e.,

carnival) personati juvenes per vicos ^ppidi aratrum circum
duccrent, puellas obvias per lasciviam ad illius juguni accedere

etiam repugnantes cogerent, hoc veluti ludicro poenam expetentes

ab iis quae innuptae ad eum usque diem mansissent \ l On these
and similar processions, more details will be given hereafter; I only
wish at present to shew that the driving of the plough and that of
the ship over the country seem both to rest on the same old-
heathen idea, which after the dislodgement of the gods by Chris

tianity could only maintain itself in unintelligible customs of the

people, and so by degrees evaporate namely, on the visible mani
:

festation of a beneficent benign divinity among men, who every

where approached it with demonstrations of joy, when in springtime
the soil was loose again and the rivers released from ice, so that
2
agriculture and navigation could begin anew. In this way the
1
Scheffer s Haltaus, 202. Hans Sachs also relates I. 5, 508 a how the ,

maids who had not taken men, were forced into the plough (see Suppl.).
2
To some villages of Holstein, largely inha
this day, in the churches of
bited by seamen, there hang little ships, which in springtime, when navigation
re-operis, are decorated with ribbons and flowers quite the Roman custom in
:

the case of Isis (p. 258). We also find at times silver sliips hung up in churches,
which voyagers in stress of weather have vowed in case of a safe arrival home ;

an old instance of this I will borrow from the Vita Godehardi Hildesiensis :

Fuit tune temporis in Trajectensi episcopatu vir quidam arti mercatoriae dedi-
tus, qui frequenter mare transiret hie quodam tern pore maxima tempestate in
;

medio mari deprehenditur, ab omnibus conclamatur, et nil nisi ultimus vitae

terminus timetur. Tandem finite aliquanto tempore auxilium beati Godehardi
implorabant, et argenteam navim delaturos, si evaderent, devoverunt. Hos in
ecclesia nostra navim argenteam deferentes postea vidimus (in King Lothair s
time). In a storm at sea, sailors take vows E chi dice, una nave vo far fare, e
:

poi portarla in Vienna al gran barone Buovo d Antona 5, 32. The Lapps at
;
 HOLD A, HOLLE. 265

Sueves of Tacitus s time must have done honour to their goddess

by carrying her ship about. The forcing of unmarried young

women to take part in the festival is like the constraint put upon
the weavers in Kipuaria, and seems to indicate that the divine
mother in her progress at once looked kindly on the bond of love
and wedlock, and punished the backward in this sense she might ;

fairly stand for Dame Venus,

Hold a and Frecke.
The Greeks dedicated a ship not only to Isis, but to Athene.
At the Panathensea her sacred peplos was conveyed by ship to the

Acropolis the ship, to whose mast it

:
was suspended as a sail, was
built on the Kerameikos, and moved on dry land by an under
first to the temple of Demeter and all round
ground mechanism, it,

past the Pelasgian to the Pythian,

and lastly to the citadel. The
1
people followed in solemnly ordered procession.
We must not omit to mention, that Aventin, after transforming

the Tacitean a frau Eisen, and making iron (eisen) take

Isis into

its name from her, expands the account of her worship, and in

addition to the little ship, states further, that on the death of her
father (Hercules) she travelled through all countries, came to the
German Schwab, and staid for a time with him that she
king ;

taught him the forging sowing of seed, reaping, grinding,

of iron, the

kneading and baking, the cultivation of flax and hemp, spinning,

weaving and needle work, and that the people esteemed her a holy
woman. 2 We shall in due time investigate a goddess Zisa, and her
claims to a connexion with Isis.

HOLDA, HOLLE. 4.

Can the name under which the Suevi worshipped that goddess
yule-tide offer to their jauloherra small ships smeared with reindeer s Itlood, and
hang them on trees Hogstrom, efterretninger om Lapland, p. 511. These
;

votive gifts to saints fill the place of older ones of the heathen time to gods,
as the voyagers to Helgoland continued long to respect Fosete s sanctuary
(p. 231). Now, as silver ploughs too were placed in churches, and later in the
Mid. Ages were even demanded as dues, these ships and ploughs together lend
a welcome support to the ancient worship of a maternal deity (see SuppL).
1
Philostr. de vitis sophist, lib. 2 cap. 1, ed. Paris. 1608, p. 549.
2
So Jean le Maire de Beiges in his Illustrations de Gaulle, Paris, 1548, bk.
3 p. xxviii :Au temps duquel (Hercules Allemannus) la deesse Isis, royne
d Egypte, veint en Allemaigne et montra au rude peuple 1 usaige de mouldre la
farine et faire du pain. J. le Maire finished his work in 1512, Aventin not
3

till 1522 ;
did they both borrow from the spurious Berosus that came out in
the 15th century ? Hunibald makes a queen Cambra, who may be compared
with the Langobardic Gambara, introduce the arts of building, sowing and
weaving (see Suppl.).
266 GODDESSES.

whom the Romans identified with Isis may not at least one of her
secondary names have been Holda ? The name has a purely
Teutonic meaning, and is firmly grounded in the living traditions
of our people to this day.

Holdd is the kind, benignant, merciful goddess or lady, from

hold (propitius), Goth. hul)?s (Luke 18, 13 ; root, hityan halj?
liutyun, to bend, bow), ON. hollr ; the Gothic form of it would be
Hulpo. For the opposite notion of a malignant diabolic being,
Ulphilas employs both the fern, unhulpd and the masc. unhulfra,
from which I infer a liulfra by the side of hulpo : one more confir
mation of the double sex running through the idea of these
divinities. It is true, such a by-name could be shared by several

gods orspirits. Notker in the Capella 81 renders verus genius by

min ware Tioldo And in MHG. parlance, holde (fern, and masc.)
.

must have been known and commonly used for ghostly beings.
Albrecht of Halberstadt, in translating Ovid s Metamorphoses,
uses wazzerholde (gen. -en) for nymph rhyme has protected the
;

exact words from corruption in Wikram s poetic paraphrase. 1 In

the largely expanded Low German version of the Ship of Fools
(Narragonia, Rostock 1519 ;
96 a) we find the following passage
which wanting in
is the HG. text Mannich narre lovet (be-
:

lieveth) an vogelgeschrei, und der guden hollen (bonorum geniorum)

gunst . Of more frequent occurrence is the MHG. unholde (fern.),
our modern unkold (masc.), in the sense of a dark, malign, yet
mighty being.
The earliest example of the more restricted use of the name
Holda is furnished by Burchard, bp. of Worms, p. 194 a 2 Credidisti :

1
Frankf. 1631 ; 4, 171 a von einer wazzerh olden, rh. solden ; 176 a wazzer
holde, rh. solde.
2
If, in the inscription
*
deae Hludanae quoted p. 257, we might by a
slight transposition substitute Huldanae, this would be even more welcome
than the analogy to ON. Hloftyn, it would be the most ancient evidence for
Hulda, supported as she already is by the Goth, unhulpd and the OHG. female
name Holda, a rare one, yet forthcoming in Schannat, trad. fuld. no. 445 also ;

Holdasind in Graff 4, 915. Schiitze s treatise De dea Hludana first appeared

Lips. 1741 and when Wolf (in Wodana, p. 50) mentions a Dutch one De dea
;

Huldea, Trajecti 1746, if that be really the title, this can be no other than a very
tempting conjecture by Cannegieter founded on our Hulda which occurs in
*

Eccard. A Latin dative Huldanae would mean our weak form, OHG. Holdun,
AS. Holdan, just as Berta, Hildegarda are in Latin docs, inflected Bertanae,
Hildegardanae though there may also have sprung up a nom. Bertana,
;

Huldana. So the dat. Tanfanae too would lead us to at all events a German
nom. Tanfa, and cut short all the attempts to make out of -fana a Celtic word
or the Latin fanum. Tanfa suggests an ON. man s name Danpr, or the OHG.
 HOLD A, HOLLE. 207

ut aliqua femina sit, quae hoc facere possit, quod qnaedam a diabolo
deceptae se affirmant necessario et ex praecepto facere debere, id
est cum daemonum turba in similitudinem mulierum transformata,

quam vulgaris stultitia Holdam (al. unholdam) vocat, certis

noctibus equitare debere super quasdam bestias, et in eorum se
consortio annumeratam esse. The remarkable varia lectio
unJwlda is taken from the Cod. vindob. univ. 633. Burchard has
German word in the place of the more usual Diana
here put the

paganorum dea, who in other passages is named in a like sense and

in the same connexion. [A still earlier notice of Holda is found
in Walafrid Strabo, see Suppl.]
In popular legends and nursery-tales, frau Holda (Hulda,
1
Holle, Hulle, frau Holl) appears as a superior being, who manifests a
kind and helpful disposition towards men, and is never cross
except when she notices disorder in household affairs. None of
the German races appear to have cherished these oral traditions so

extensively as the Hessians and Thuringians (that Worms bishop

was a native of Hesse). At the same time, dame Holle is found as
far as the Voigtland, 2 past the Ehon mts in northern Franconia, 3 in
4
the Wetterau up to the Westerwald, and from Thuringia she
crosses the frontier of Lower Saxony. Swabia, Switzerland,
Bavaria, Austria, North Saxony and Friesland do not know her by
that name.
From what tradition has still preserved for us, 5 we gather the
following characteristics. Frau Holle is represented as a being of
the sky, begirdling the earth : when it snows, she is making her

root damph ; granted a change of F into or CH TH

[/ has become ch in sachte,
nichte, achter, ruchtbar or ruchbar, &c.], there would arise yet further possi
bilities, e.g. a female name Tancha (grata) would correspond to the OHG. masc.
Dancho conf. Dankrat
(gratus) Graff 5, 169 ;
=
Gibicho, Haupt s zeitschr. 1,
573. I am Huldana, and confess that Hludana may also
not convinced of
maintain itself, and be explained as Hluda (clara, praeclara) the weight of ;

other arguments must turn the scale. Among these however, the use of gute
holden and hollar vaettir (Ssem. 240 b ) for spirits, and of holl regin (Sa3m. 60*)
for gods, is especially worthy of notice. In ON. the adj. hollr had undergone
assimilation (Goth. hul]?s, OHG. hold), while the proper name Huldr retained
the old form for to me the explanation huldr
;
=
occultus, celatus, looks very
dubious.
1
Holle from Hulda, as Folle from Fulda.
2
Jul. Schmidt s Eeichenfels p. 152.
3
Reinwald, Henneb. id. 1, 68. 2, 62. Schmeller 2, 174.
4
Schmidt s Westerwald. idiot. 73. 341.
5
Kinderm. no. 24. Deutsche sagen, nos. 4 8. Falkenstein s Thur.
chronica 1, 165-6 (see Suppl.).
268 GODDESSES.

bed,and the feathers of it fly. 1 She stirs up snow, as Donar does

rain the Greeks ascribed the production of snow and rain to their
:

Zeus Jto? : II. 5, 91. 11, 493 as well as vnpaSes Ai6s, II. 19,
o/x/3/>o?,

357 so that Holda conies before us as a goddess of no mean rank. 2

;

The comparison of snowflakes to feathers is very old the Scythians ;

pronounced the regions north of them inaccessible, because they

were filled with feathers (Herod. 4, 7. conf. 31). Holda then must
be able to move through the air, like dame Herke.
She loves to haunt the lake and fountain ; at the hour of noon
she be seen, a fair white lady, bathing in the flood and
may
disappearing; a trait in which she resembles Kerthus. Mortals,
to reach her dwelling, pass through the well ;
conf. the name
wazzerlwlde?
Another point of resemblance is, that she drives about in a
waggon. She had a linchpin put in it by a peasant whom she
met when he picked up the chips, they were gold. 4 Her annual
;

progress, which, like those of Herke and Berhta, is made to fall

between Christmas and Twelfth-day, when the supernatural has
5
sway, and wild beasts like the wolf are not mentioned by their
names, brings fertility to the land. Not otherwise does Derk with
the boar, that Freyrof the Netherlands (p. 214), appear to go his
rounds and look after the ploughs. At the same time Holda, like
Wuotan, can also ride on the winds, clothed in terror, and she, like
the god, belongs to the wiitende heer From this arose the .

fancy, that witches ride in Holla s company (ch. XXXIV, snow-

1 Dame Holle shakes her bed, Modejourn. 1816, p. 283. They say in
Scotland, when the first flakes fall The men o the East are pyking their
:

geese, and sending their feathers here awa there awa In Prussian Samland,
.

when snows The angels shake their little bed the flakes are the down-
it :
;

feathers, but many drop past, and get down to our earth.
2
As other attributes of Holda have passed to Mary, we may here also
bring into comparison the Maria ad nives, notre dame aux neiges, whose feast was
held on Aug. 5 on that day the lace-makers of Brussels pray to her, that their
;

work may keep as white as snow. In a folk-song of Bretagne Notre dame :

Marie, sur votre trone de neige ! (Barzas breiz 1, 27). May not the otherwise
unintelligible Hildesheim legend of Hillesnee (DS. no. 456) have arisen out of
a Holde sue ?
3
If the name brunnenhold in the Marchenbuch of Alb. Ludw. Grimm 1,
221 is a genuine piece of tradition, it signifies a fountain-sprite. [Newborn
babes are fetched by the nurse out of dame Hollas pond ; Suppl.]
4 A
similar legend in Jul. Schmidt s Reichenfels p. 152.
5 This must be a
purely heathen view. I suppose the Christian sentiment
was that expressed by Marcel! us in Hamlet i. 1 no spirit dares stir abroad,
:

the nights are wholesome, &c. TRANS. .

 HOLD A, HOLLE. 269

wives) ;
it was already known to Burchard, and now in Upper
Hesse and the Westerwald, Holle-riding, to ride with Holle, is
1
equivalent to a witches ride. Into the same furious host,

according to a wide-spread popular belief, were adopted the souls

of infants dying uribaptized ; not having been christian d, they

remained heathen, and fell to heathen gods, to "VVuotan or to

Hulda.
The next step is, that Hulda, instead of her divine shape,
assumes the appearance of an ugly old woman, long-nosed, big-
toothed, with bristling and thick-matted hair. He s had a jaunt
with Holle/ they say of a man whose hair sticks up in tangled

disorder ;
so children are frightened with her or her equally hideous
2
train :
hush, there s Hulle-letz
(-bruin), Hulle-popel (-bogie)

coming/ well as Hersche, Harsche, Hescheklas,

Holle-peter, as
Euprecht, Eupper (ch. XVII, house-sprites^, is among the names
given to the muffled servitor who goes about in Holle s train at the
time of the winter solstice. In a nursery-tale (Marchen no. 24)
she is depicted as an old witch with long teeth ; according to the
difference of story, her kind and gracious aspect is exchanged for a

dark and dreadful one.

Again, Holla before us as a spinning-wife the cultivation
is set ;

of flax is assigned to her. Industrious maids she presents with

spindles, and spins their reels full for them over night a slothful ;

3
spinner s distaff she sets on fire, or soils it. The girl whose spindle
dropt into her fountain, she rewarded bountifully. When she

idiot., sub v.
Ester s oberh.
1

2
Erasm. Alberus, fable 16 : Es kamen auch zu
cliesem heer Viel weiber
die sich forchten sehr (were sore afraid), trugen sicheln in der hand, Fraw
Und
Hulda hat sie ausgesandt. Luther s Expos, of the Epistles, Basel 1522 fol.
69 a: Here cometh up dame Hulde with the snout (potznase, botch-nose), to
wit, nature, and goeth about to gainsay her God and give him the lie, hangetli
her old ragfair about her, the straw-harness (stroharnss) then falls to work, ;

and scrapes it featly on her fiddle. He compares nature rebelling against God
to the heathenish Hulda with the frightful nose (Oberlin, sub v. potzmann-
chen), as she enters, muffled up in straw and frippery, to the fiddle s playing.
3
Bruckner, Contrib. to the Henneberg idioticon, p. 9, mentions a popular
belief in that part of Franconia On the high day comes the Hollefrau
:

(Hollefra, Hullefra), and throws in reels ; whoever does not spin them full, she
breaks their necks, (conf. infra Berhta and Berhtolt and the Devil). On the
high day she is burnt, which reminds one of Carrying Death out in
Teutonic and Slav countries, and Sawing the old woman in Italy and
Spain. By the addition of -frau after the name (conf. gaue fru, p. 253)
we perceive its originally adjective character. Cod. pal. 355 b ich wen, :

kain sckusel in kaim rocken wart nie als hesslich als du bist, I ween no scare
crow on a distaff was ever as ugly as thou.
270 GODDESSES.

enters the land at Christmas, all the distaffs are well stocked, and
leftstanding for her by Carnival, when she turns homeward, all
;

spinning must be finished off, and the staffs are now kept out of
her sight (Superst. 683) if she finds everything as it should be,
;

she pronounces her blessing, and contrariwise her curse the ;

formulas so many hairs, so many good years and so many !

hairs, so many bad years have an oldworld sound. Apparently

!

two things have been run into one, when we are also told, that
during the twelve-nights no flax must be left
in the diesse, or

dame Holla will come. 1

The concealment of the implements
shows same time the sacredness of her holiday, which ought
at the
to be a time of rest.
2
In the Ehon mts, they do no farm- work on
Hulla s Saturday, neither hoe, nor manure, nor drive the team a-
field In the North too, from Yule-day to New-year s day, neither
.

wheel nor windlass must go round (see Superst., Danish, 134; SuppL).
This superintendence of agriculture and of strict order in the
household marks exactly the office of a motherly deity, such as we
got acquainted with in Nerthus and Isis.
Then her special care of
flax and spinning (the main business of German housewives, who
are named after spindle and distaff,
3
as men are after sword and

spear), leads us directly to the ON. Frigg,

Coin s wife, whose being
melts into the notion of an earth-goddess, and after a whom
constellation in the sky, Orion s
Friggjar rockr, belt, is called

Friggae coins. Though Icelandic writings do not contain this

name, it has remained in use among the Swedish country-folk

(Hire, sub v. Friggerock). The constellation is however called

Maridrock, Dan. Marirock (Magnusen, gloss. 361. 376), the

Christianshaving passed the same old idea on to Mary the
heavenly mother. The Greeks put spindle arid distaff in the hands
of several goddesses, especially Artemis (xpva-rjXd/caTos, II. 20, 70)
and her mother Leto, but also Athene, Amphitrite and the Nereids.
All this fits in with Holda, who is a goddess of the chase (the wild

host), and of water-springs.

1
Braunschw. anz. 1760, no. 86 ;
the diesse is the bundle of flax on the
dis-staff.
2
This makes one think of Gertrude. The peasants almanacks in
Carniola represent that saint by two little mice nibbling at the thread on a
spindle (vreteno), as a sign that there ou^ht to be no spinning
on her day. The
same holds good of the Russian piatnitsa, Friday (Kopitars rec. von Strahls
gel. Russlam 1).
3
RA. 163-8. 470. Women are called in AS. Mc5owebban, peace- weavers.
 HOLDA, HOLLE. 271

One might be tempted to derive dame Holda from a character

in the Old Testament. In 2 Kings 22, 14 and 2 Chron. 34, 22 we
read of a prophetess ?TT7il Huleddah, Huldah, for which Luther

puts Hulda ; the Septuagint

has O\8a, the Vulgate Olda, but the
Lat. Bible Viteb. 1529 (and probably others since) Hulda,
following Luther, who, with the German Holda in his mind, thus
domesticated the Jewish prophetess among his countrymen.
Several times in his writings he brings up the old heathen life we
had an instance a page or two back. 1 I do not know if any one
beforehim had put the two names together; but certainly the
whole conception of a dame Holda was not first drawn from the
Olda of the Vulgate, which stands there without any special
significance; this is proved by the deep-rootedness of the name
in our language, by its general application [as adj. and com.

noun] to several kinds of spirits, and by the very ancient negative

unholda.
Were it onlyfor the kinship of the Norse traditions with our

own, we should bid adieu to such a notion as that. True, the

Eddie mythology has not a Holla answering to our Holda but ;

Snorri (Yngl. saga c. 17) speaks of a wise woman (volva,

16.

seiSkona) named Suldr, and a later Icelandic saga composed in

the 14th century gives a circumstantial account of the enchantress

Hulda, beloved of OSinu, and mother of the well-known halt-

goddesses ThorgerSr and Irpa. 2 Of still more weight perhaps
are some Norwegian and Danish folk-tales about a wood or
mountain wife Sulla, Huldra, Huldre, whom they set forth, now
as young and lovely, then again as old and gloomy. In a blue garment
and white veil she visits the pasture-grounds of herdsmen, and
mingles in the dances of men but her shape is disfigured by a tail,
;

which she takes great pains to conceal. Some accounts make her
beautiful in front and ugly behind. She loves music and song, her
lay has a doleful melody and is called huldreslaat. In the forests
you see Huldra as an old woman clothed in gray, marching at the
head of her flock, milkpail in hand. She is said to carry off
people s unchristened infants from them. Often she appears, not
alone, but as mistress or queen of the mountain-sprites, who are

1
I believe Luther followed the Hebrew, h
merely dropping the final t
as
he does in Jehova, Juda, &c. TRANS.
2
Muller s sagabibl. 1, 3636.
272 GODDESSES.

called huldrefolk. 1In Iceland too they know of this Huldufolk, of

the Haldumenn and here we find another point of agreement
;

with the popular faith of Germany, namely, that by the side of our
dame Holde there are also holdcn, i.e., friendly spirits, a silent
subterranean people, of whom dame Holde, so to speak, is the
princess (see Suppl.). For this reason, if no other, it must be more
correct to explain the Norse name Hulla, Huldra from the ON.
hollr (fidus, fidelis, propitlus) which is huld in Dan. and Swed., and
not from the ON. hulda (obscuritas) as referring to the subterranean
abode of the mountain-sprites. In Swedish folk-songs I find
huldmoder, hulda rnoder said of one s real mother in the same
sense as kiira (dear) moder (Sv. vis. 1, 2, 9) so that huld must
;

have quite the meaning of our German word. It is likely that the
term huldufolk was imported into the Icelandic tongue from the
Danish or Norwegian. It is harder to explain the K inserted in
the forms Huldra, Huldre ; did it
spring out of the plural form
hulder (boni genii, hollar vaettir) ? or result from composition ?
The German Holda presides over spinning and agriculture, the
Norse Hulle over cattle-grazing and milking.

5. PERAHTA, BERCHTK
A being similar to Holda, or the same under another name,
makes her appearance precisely in those Upper German regions
where Holda leaves off, in Swabia, in Alsace, in Switzerland, in
Bavaria and Austria. 2 She is called frau Berchte, i.e., in OHG.
3
Perahta, the bright, luminous, glorious (as Holda produces the
glittering snow) by the very meaning of the word a benign and
:

gladdening influence, yet she is now rarely represented as such ;

as
a rule, the awe-inspiring side is brought into prominence, and she

1 Details to be found in Miiller s

sagab. 1 , 367-8. Hallager p. 48. Faye
pp. 39-43 and 10. 15. 25. 20. 36. Frigge, nytaarsgave for 1813, p. 85. Strom s
Sondmor 1, 538-59. Vilses Spydeberg 2, 419. Villes Sillejord. p. 230.
Asbiornsen, passim.
2
A portion of Franconia and Thuringia knows both Berchta and Holda,
there at all events is the boundary between the two. Matthesiits, in his
Exposition of the gospels for feastdays, p. 22, names dame Hulda and old
Uerchte side by side.
3
Among "the celebrated maidens of MengloS is a Biort (Ssem. lll a ),
b
MengloG herself is called su in solbiarta (lll ), and the father of her
betrothed Svipdagr Solbiartr (sun-bright, 112 a ). A
Menglot) in a later story
appears to some one in a dream (Fornin. sog. 3, 222-3), and leaves him a
marvellous pair of gloves.
 PERAHTA, BERCHTE. 273

appears as a grim bugbear to frighten children with. In the

stories of dame Berchta the bad meaning predominates, as the good
one does in those of dame Holda; that is to say, the popular
Christian view had degraded Berchta lower than Holda. But she
too is evidently one with Herke, Freke and some others (see
SuppL).
Where their identity comes out most plainly is in the fact that

they all go their rounds at the same time, in the so-called twelfths
between Christmas and New-year. Berchta however has a

particular day assigned her at the end of

that period, which I never
find named after Holda. And no less similar are their functions.
Berchta, like Holda, has the oversight of spinners; whatever
spinning she finds unfinished the last day of the year, she spoils
(Superst. 512). Her festival has to be kept with a certain tradi
tional food, gruel and fish. Thorr says he has had sildr ok hafra
a
(herrings and oats) for supper, Sgem. 75 our white lady has pre
;

scribed the country folk a dish of fish and oat-grits for evermore,
and is angry whenever it is omitted (Deutsche sagen, no. 267).
The Thuringians in the Saalfeld country wind up the last day of
the year with dumplings and herrings. Fish and farinaceous food
were considered by Christians the proper thing for a fast. 1
The revenge taken by the wrathful Berchta, when she misses the
fishand dumplings, has a quaint and primitive sound whoever has :

partaken of other food on her day, she cuts his belly open, fills it
with chopped straw, and sews up the gash with a ploughshare for
2
a needle and an iron chain by way- of thread (Superst. 525).

1
The Braunschw. anz. 1760, p. 1392, says no leguminous plants are to be
i
eaten when dame Holla is going round in the twelve-nights Either a
.

mistake, or to be understood of particular kinds of pulse.

j

2
Almost the same is told in the Voigtland of the Werre or dame Holle.
The Werre, on the holy eve of the high New-year, holds a strict inquiry
I whether all the distaffs are spun off ; if they are not, she defiles the flax. And
on that evening you must eat poise, a thick pap of flour and water prepared in
a peculiar way if any one omits it, she rips his body open, Jul. Schmidt,
;

Reichenfels, p. 152. The name Werra (from her gewirrt, tangled shaggy
hair?) is found in Thorn. Reinesius, Lect. var., Altenbg 1640, p. 579 (in the
(critical
notes on Rhyakinus s, i.e. Andr. Rivinus or Bachmann s Liber Kirani-
ium Kirani, Lips. 1638) Nostrates hodieque petulantioribus et refractariis
:

manducum aliquem cum ore hiante frendentem dentibus, aut furibundam

silvesceute coma, facie lurida, et cetero habitu terribilem cum cornitatu maena-
Werram interminantur. Reinesius (1587-1667) came from Gotha, but
jdum
(lived
at Hof in the Voigtland. A werre is also a noisome chirping insect of
le cricket kind (Popowitsch 620). In MHG. ssejet diu Werre, (Discordia)
:

b
samen dar, BOWS her seed, Ms. 2, 25 l , conf. Troj. 385 (see Suppl.) ; and in
18
274 GODDESSES.

And the same threat is held out in other districts also (see

Suppl.)-
Borner Folk-tales of the Orlagau (between the Saale and the
s

Orle) furnish abundant details. At p. 153: The night before

the spinning-rooms of the
Twelfthday, PercUha always examines
whole neighbourhood, she brings the spinners empty reels,
with

directions to them full within a very brief time, and if all she
spin
demands cannot be them by tangling and
delivered, she punishes
On the same occasion she cuts open any one s
befouling the flax.
zemmcde l
that takes out any other
body, that has not eaten day,
food he has had, and fills the empty space with hay or straw wisps

and and at last sews his body up again, using a ploughshare

bricks,
for a needle, and for thread a rohm chain. P. 159 At Oppurg, the :

same night of the year, PercUha found the spinning-room full of

she handed in through the
merrymaking guests, and in a towering rage
window tivelve empty reels, which were to be spun full to the rim within
an hour, when she would come back one quarter of an hour had
;

in fearful expectation, when a saucy ran

passed after another
girl
roll of tow, and wrapped round
up to the garret, reached down a
it

the empty then they spun two or three thicknesses of thread

reels,

over the tow, so that the reels looked full. Perchtha came, they
off with it,
handed over to her their finished work, and she walked
of the white manikin in
shaking her head. (Conf. the similar story
P. 167: At Langendembach lived an
old spinning-
Bader, p. 369).
wife who swiftly wound the winter through, and did
the thread all

off on Twelfth day-eve, though son

and
not so much as leave
If Perchtha comes, it will go hard
daughter-in-law
warned her :

with you Heyday

.
was her answer, Perchtha brings me no
!

I must spin them myself/ After a while the window is

Shirts,
Perchtha looks into the room, and throws
some empty
pushed open,
there is exhibited together with
Selphirtes reel (Wackernagel s Ib. 903),
bruoder Werra dor sin herze mi t wett-
brSr Zornli and hruoder Ergerli, a
with worldly things),
lichen din^en also beworren hat (has so entangled his heart
And that notion tangled thrcud
dazda n?htme in mag .

about Bertha and Holda, may after al be

^
akin to this ^dhcar,^ucl
Zuncfc
prevails
She is called de Chlunqere, because she puts chlungel (knots lumps)
in tne n^
Deutsclie colomen in
n s ed yarn of slothful n.aidens, Alb. Schott, P^nt,
In Bavaria and German Bohemia, Berhta is often represented by S
282
Wk
p
thou-h her day comes on Dec. 13. Fran Lutz cuts the belly open,
Schmeller 2, 532. JosT Rank, Bohmerwald, P
137. . Conf. the Lusse in Sweden,

Wiesejlgren. 386^ ^ ^ ^ ^^ ^ ^^ .

n & ^ .

fasting fore>

evidently.
 PERAHTA, BERCHTE. 275

spools to her, which she must have back, spun full, in an hour s
time. The spinner took heart of grace, spun a few rounds on each
spool for dear life, and threw them, one and all, into the brook that
ran past the house (and by that, Perchtha seems to have been
appeased). P. 173 : As
was returning from Bucha to
a miner
Konitz on Perchthas night, she came up to him at the cross-roads,

and demanded with threats, that he should put a wedge in her

waggon. He took his knife, cut the wedge as well as he could, and
fitted it into s waggon, who made him a present of the
Perchtha
fallen chips. He
picked them up, and at home he drew gold out of
every pocket in which he had put Perchtha s gifts. P. 182 Two :

peasants of Jiidewein, after stopping at the alehouse in Kostriz till

late on Perchtha s eve, had gone but a little way, when Perchtha
came driving in a waggon, and called to them to put a peg in the
pole of her waggon. One of the men had a knife, and Perchtha
supplied him with wood, the peg was let in, and the handy man
carried home several pieces of money in his shoe as a reward.
P. 113 Between Bucha and Wilhelmsdorf in the fruitful vale of
:

the Saale, Perchtha queen of the heimchen had her dwelling of old ;

at her command the heimchen had to water the fields of men,

while she worked underground with her plough. At last the
people fell out with her, and she determined to quit the country ;

on Perchtha s eve the ferryman at Altar village received notice to

be ready late in the night, and when he came to the Saale bank,
his eyes beheld a tall statelydame surrounded by weeping children,
and demanding to be ferried over. She stept into the craft, the
little ones dragged a plough and a number of other tools in,
loudly
lamenting that they had to leave that lovely region. Arrived at
the other side, Perchtha bade the boatman cross once more and
fetch the heimchen that had been left behind, which under compul
sion he She in the meantime had been mending the plough,
did.

she pointed to the chips, and said to the ferryman, There, take
that to reward thy trouble Grumbling,. he pocketed three of the

chips, and at home flung them on the window-shelf, and himself,

ill at ease, into bed. In the morning, three gold -pieces lay where
he had thrown the chips. The memory of Perchtha s passage is also
preserved at Kaulsdorf on the Saale, and at Kostriz on the Elster,
not far from Gera. P. 126 Late one night, the master wheel
:

wright at Colba was coming home from Oppurg, where he had

276 GODDESSES.

been to work was the eve of the Three-kings (Twelfthday), and

;
it

on the bank of the rivulet Orla he came upon Perchtha, her broken
plough surrounded by weeping heimchen. Hast thou a hatchet
(

with thee, so help me mend ! she cried to the terrified traveller.

He gave what help he could, but the fallen chips offered him for
I have plenty of them at home, says he.
wages he would not touch :

When he got home, he told what had happened to him, and while
his people shook their heads incredulously, he pulled off one of his
shoes, which something had got into, that hurt his foot, and out
rolled a bright new gold-piece. A twelvemonth passed, and one of
his men, who had heard him tell the tale, set out on Perchtha s

night,and waited by the Orla, just where his master had met
Perchtha; in a little while, on she came with her infant train:
What seekest thou here at this hour ? she cried in anger, and
when he stammered out an answer, she continued I am better :

provided with tools this time, so take thou thy

due and with !

those words she dug her hatchet into the fellow s shoulder. The
same story is repeated near Kaulsdorf at a part of the brook which
is called the water over the way, at Presswitz near the Saal-house,
and on the sandhill between Possneck and the forester s lodge of
Reichenbach. Below the Gleitsch, a curiously shaped rock near
Tischdorf, the story varies in so far, that there Perchtha along with
theheimchen was driving a waggon, and had just broken the axle,
when she fell in with a countryman, who helped her out with a
makeshift axle, and was paid in chips, which however he disdained,
and only carried a piece home in his shoe. P. 133 spinning- : A
girl walked over from
the JSTeidenberg during that night, she had
done every bit of her spinning, and was in high spirits, when
Perchtha came marching up the hill towards her, with a great troop
of the heimchen-folk, all children of one sort and size, one set of
them toiling to push a heavy plough, another party loaded with
that they had no longer a
farming-tools they loudly complained
;

home. At this singular procession the spinner began to laugh out

loud, Perchtha enraged stept up to the giddy thing, Uew upon her,
and struck her blind on the spot. The poor girl had a trouble to

find her into the village, she led a wretched life, could no
way
longer work, but sat mournful by the wayside begging.
When the
Altar again, the blind one, not
year was past and Perchtha visited
knowing one from another, asked an alms of the high dame as she
 PERAHTA, BERCHTE. 2/7

swept by ;
Here last year I blew a
Perchtha spoke graciously :

pair of lights out, this year

blow them in again
I will With these .

words she blew into the maid s eyes, which immediately began to
see again. The same legend is found in the so-called Sorge, near
Neustadt on the Oiia. Touching stories of the weeping children,
who tramp along in Perchtha s great troop, will be given when we
come to treat minutely of the wlitende heer (See Suppl.). .

To these significant traditions of Thuringia, others can be added

from Bavaria and Austria. In the mountain district about Trauen-
stein (Up. Bavaria, opposite Salzburg) they tell the children on the
eve of Epiphany, that if they are naughty, Berclie will come and cut
their bellies open. Greasy cakes are baked that day, and the
workmen say you must grease your stomach well with them, so
that dame Berclie s knife may glance off (Schm. 1, 194). Is that the
reason why she is called wild Bertha, iron Bertha ? Crusius, Ann.
Suev. p. 2, lib. 8, cap. 7, p. 266, relates, as his explanation of the
origin of the name, that Henry IV. bestowed privileges on the city
of Padua Inde, in signa libertatis, armato carrocio uti coeperunt in
:

bello, Bertha nominato. Hinc dictum ortum puto, quo terreritur

Schweig, oder die eiserne Bertha kommt
*
inquieti pueri, In !

other places, Franconian and Swabian, she is named Hilddberta

(apparently a combination of the two names Holda and Berta), and

Bildaberta ; with hair all shaggy she walks round the houses at
night, and tears the to pieces (see Suppl.). 2
bad boys
Dame Precht with the long nose is what Vintler calls her : and
even a MUG. poem, which in one MS. is entitled daz rnaere von
der Stempen, has in another the
heading von Berchten mit der
j

langen nas (Haupt s Altd. bl. 1, 105). It is only from the former
(with corrected spelling) that I am able to extract what has a
bearing on our subject :

nu merket rehfe-waz (ich) iu sage : Now mark aright what I you tell :

nachwihennaht amzwelften tage, after Christmas the twelfth day,

nach dem heilgen ebenwihe 3 after theholy New-year s day
(gotgeb, daz er uns gedihe), (God grant we prosper in it),
do man ezzen solt ze nahte, when they should eat supper

a
Conf. Crusius p. 1, lib.
12, cap. 6, p. 329, where Bertha the mother of
Charles is meant. The Lombards called a carrocium Berta arid Berteciola
(Duciinge sub v.), perhaps the carriage of the travelling goddess or queen ?
2
Joach. Camerarius, chronol.
Nicephori, p. 129.
Even-holy, equally-holy day, Schefler s Haltaus, p. 68.
278 GODDESSES.

und man ze tische brahte and had to table brought

allez daz man ezzen solde, allthat they should eat,
swaz der wirt geben wolde whatso the master would give,
do sprach er zem gesinde then spake he to his men
und zuo sin selbes kinde : and to his own child :

ezzet Mnte fast durch min bete, eat fast (hard) to night, I pray,
daz inch die Stempe niht entrete. that the Stenipe tread you not.
daz kintlin do von forhten az, The child then ate from fear,
er sprach: veterlin, waz ist daz, he said :
father, what is this
daz du die Stempen nennest ? that thou the Stempe callest ?

sag mir, ob dus erkennest. tell me, if thou it knowest/

der vater sprach daz sag ich
:
dir, The father said : this tell I thee,
du solt ez wol gelouben mir, thou mayest well believe me,
ez ist so griuwelich getan, there is a thing so gruesome done,
daz ich dirz niht gesagen kan : that I cannot tell it thee :

wan swer des vergizzet, for whoso forgets this,

daz er nicht fast izzet, so that he eats not fast,

df den Jcumt ez und trit in? on him it comes, and treads him.
Here and servants are warned by the master of the
also children
house to eat up clean all that is brought on the table, and are !

threatened with a trampling from Stempe. This cognomen of

Berchte must have come from stamping (step, tap, thump, &c.), and
perhaps it ought to be spelt Stempfe (German stampfen, to stamp) ;

but in Bavaria there is a proper name Stempo (MB. 2, 280, anno

11.30), not Stempho, and both stampen
and stampfen seem to be
correct for trampling and squeezing, Ital. stampare : she is the

night hag, similar to alp and schrat [old scratch ?]. Add to this,

that in the Nordgau of Franconia, dame Holda is called the Trempe

(Doderlein, Antiq. nordg. 41), i.e., the trampling racketing one;
Stalder defines trampeln as walking with short, measured steps

(tripping),and the Drut (night-goblin) approaches with soft foot

fall ;
same time, trampel, trampelthier, is a heavy clumsy
at the
woman. Now, as S is occasionally added before an initial T, it is
surely not going too far, to connect Stempe with the more ancient
Tamfana, Tanfana, p. 257 (see SuppL).
Martin of Amberg l calls her Percht mit der eisnen nascn (with

1
His Gewissensspiegel (mid. of 14th cent.) is in two MSS. at Vienna
(HofiFm. pp. 335-6) ; conf. Schm. 4, 188. 216, and the Jalirb. der Berliner
gesellsch. iur deutscne spr. 2, 63
65.
 PERAHTA, BERCHTE. 279

iron nose),and says that people leave meat and drink standing for
her; which means a downright sacrifice.
In the mountains of Salzburg there is kept up to this day, in
honour of the terrible Perchtel, a so called Perchta-running, Perclita-
x
leaping at the time of the rauchnachte [incense -nights ?] In the
Pinzgau, from 100 to 300 young fellows (styled the Berchten) will
roam about in broad daylight in the oddest disguises, carrying cows
and cracking whips. 2
bells, In the Gastein valley the procession,
headed by from 50 or 100 to 300 stout fellows, goes hopping and
skipping from village to village, from house to house, all through
the valley (Muchar, Gastein pp. 145-7). In the north of Switzer
land, where in addition to Berchtli the softened form Bechtli or
day is the 2nd (or, if New-year s day
Bechteli is in use, Bechteli s
fallson a Saturday, the 3rd) of January, and is honoured by the
young people in general with social merrymakings they call the ;

practice berchleln, bechteln. In the 16th century it was still the

custom at Zurich, for men to intercept and press one another to
take wine this was called conducting to Berchtold (Staid. 1, 150-
;

6). There was thus a masculine Bercht or BerclMt, related to

Wuotan, as Berhta was to Freke and from this again there arose
;

in Swabia a new feminine, Breclitolterin, Prechtolterin (Schmid,

Schwab, wtb. 93). In Alsace the beckten was performed by pren
tices and journeymen running from one house or room to another,
and keeping up a racket (see passages in Oberlin, sub. v. Bechten).
Cunrat of Dankrozheim says in his Namenbuch, composed 1435 3 :

darnauch so komet die milde Behte,

dienoch hat ein gar gross geslehte (great kindred).
He describes her as the mild, gracious to men, not as the terrible.
Berchtolt however is in Swabian legend the white mannikin, who
brings spools to be filled with spinning (Hone s anz. 8, 179),
exactly like Berchta, p. 274 (see Suppl).
And as a kind benevolent being she appears in many other
descriptions, which undoubtedly reach far back into the Mid. Ages.
The white lady, by her very name, has altogether the same meaning,

is like the hexentusch in the Bb hmerwald, which,

1
This Perchtenspringen
Jos. Rank performed at Whitsuntide, when young men and
p. 76-7 says, is
boys provide themselves with loud cracking whips, and chase all the witches
out of houses, stables and barns.
2
Journey through Upper Germany, p. 243. Schm. 1, 195.
3
Ad. Walt. Strobel s beitr., Strasb. 1827, p. 123.
280 GODDESSES.

for peraht, berht or brecht, signifies bright, light, white. This

white lady usually attaches herself to particular families, but even
then she keeps the name of Bert a, e.g., Berta of Rosenberg. In
snow-white garments she shows herself by night in princely houses,
she rocks or dandles the babies, while their nurses sleep she acts :

the old grandmother or ancestress of the family (see Suppl.).

There is a good deal in the fact, that several women of that
name, who are famed in our national traditions, stand connected
with the ghostly Berhta ; they have been adopted out of the divine
legend into the heroic legend. In Italy and France, a far distant
past is expressed by the phrase nel tempo ove Berta filava? when
:

B. span (Pentamerone. Liebrecht 2, 259), au terns que la reine

Berthe fila.it : the same idea still, of the spinning matron. 1 Berta,
the daughter of king Flower and of Whiteflower, afterwards the
wife of king Pippin and mother of the great hero Charles,
she who the MLG. poem of Flos is called both Vredcling and
in
Brehte (1555. 7825), does not belie her mythic 2
She is
origin.
called Berhte mit demfuoze (foot), Flore 309; in French, Berthe au

grand pied; and ace. to the Eeali di Franza 6,1: Berta del gran
pie, perche aveva
ella un pie un poco maggior dell altro, e quello
era il pie destro, had the right foot larger. The French
poet Adenez
tries apparently to extenuate the
deformity by making both her
feet large, he calls her Berte as grans
pies (Paris ed. LI I. 78. 104);
so the Mid. Dutch, Baerte met ten breden voeten, Floris 3966.
But the one big foot is more genuine, as may be seen by the far

*
I can produce another spinning Bertha. The Vita S. Berthae Avenna-
censis in dicccesi Remensi (conf. Flodoardus
4, 47) says (Acta Sanctor., Maii p.
114 b ) Quae dum lustraret situs loci illius, pervenit ad
:
quendam hortum, in
quo erat fons inirae pulcritudinis. Quern ut vidit Deo devota femina, minime
concupivit, sed possessoribus ipsius praedii sic locula est fratres, hunc
:

fontem praedii vestri vendite mihi, et accepta digna

pecunia cedite usibus
nostris. Cui sic aiunt En praesto sumus, si tamen detur
:
pretium a nobis
taxatum. Sancta autem, videntibus qui aderant, libram unam denariorum
posuit super lapidem qui erat super os ejusdem fontis, domini vero ac vendi-
tores receperunt aes. Tune sancta mater, Deo plena, colo quain manu tenebat
coepit terram fodere, et in modum sulci rigam facere, orans ac dicens Ostende :

nobis, Domine, misericord iam tuam, et salutare tuum da nobis Revertens

!

namque monasterium, colum eadem post se trahebat, tantaque abundantia

aquae earn sequebatur, ut ad usus omnes hominibus pertinentes sufficeret, sicut
usque hodie apparet. Nomen quoque sancta mater iluviolo ipsi composuit,
dicens Libra vocaberis, quia una libra pro emptione tua data est.
:

2
How firmly she is rooted, may be seen by her being the link that joins
the Carolingian legend to the Langobardic she is mother of Carl, wife of
:

Pippin the son of Rother (4789), and daughter of Flore and Blancheilor, whose
name again contains the notion of whiteness.
 PERAHTA, BEKCHTE. 281

more ancient tradition of a reine Pedauque, regina pede aucae

whose figure stands carved in stone on old churches. 1 It is appar
ently a swan-maiden s foot, which as a mark of her higher nature
she cannot lay aside (any more than Huldra her tail, or the devil
his horse hoof) and at the same time the spinning- woman s splay
;

foot that worked the treadle, and that of the trampling dame

Stempe or Trempe. If we had older and minuter descriptions of

frau Berhta in Germany, perhaps this foot would also be
mentioned in them (see SuppL).

remains for us to explain her precise connexion with a

It still

particular day of the year. It is either on Dec. 25 (dies natalis), or

twelve days after Christmas, on Jan. 6, when the star appeared to

the Three Kings (magi), that the Christian church celebrates the
feast of the manifestation of Christ under the name of epipkania

(v. Ducange, sub v.), lethphania or theophania (0. Fr. tiephaine,

tiphagne). In an OHG. gloss (Emm. 39-4), theophania is rendered
giperahta naht, the bright night of the heavenly vision that
2
appeared to the shepherds in the field. Documents of the Mid.
Ages give dates in the dative case: perchtentag, perhtennaht
(for OHG. zi demo perahtin taga, zi deru Perahtun naht) again, ;

berechtnaht, M. Beham (Mone, anz. 4, 451)

*
an der ze perh- ;

nahten, MB. 8, 540 (an. 1302); imze an den ahtodin tac nah der
Perhtage, till the eighth day after the Perht
s (fern.) day, Fundgr.

110, 22 von dem nehsten Berhtag, MB. 9, 138 (an. 1317)

;
an ;

dem Prehentag, MB. 7, 256 (an. 1349); these and other contracted
forms are cited with references in Scheffer s Ilaltaus p. 75, and
Schm. 1, Now from this there might very easily grow up a
194. 3

personification, Perchtentzc, Perchtennaht, the bright day becoming

Bright s, i.e,, dame Bright s, day. (Conrad of Dankrotsheim, p. 123,
puts his milde Belite down a week earlier, on Dec. 30.) 4
Two hypotheses present themselves. Either the entire fabulous
existence of a Perhta first arose accidentally and by misunderstand

ing, out of such personification or the analogy of the bright day

;

was tacked on to a previously existing Perhta. Now it is true we

1 AM. w. 3, 47-8 ; Paris too connects this Pedauque with Berte, iii. iv.
198 ;
reine Pedauque, Michelet hist, de France 1,496-8. 2, 152.
a
Luke 2, 0. 0. Hel. 12, 8.
i.
12, 3. 4. Maria 182.
3 The OHG. (Graff 5, 360) is Good Friday, and
jfcrmtaepaza8cev6
distinct from Prehentag, Perchtentag.
4 Dec. 28 is Innocents
,
29 St. Thomas s, 31 St. Silvester s.
 282 GODDESSES.

cannot point out a dame Perhta before the 15th or 14th

century,
or at earliest the 13th but the first supposition need not break
;

down, even we
did manage to hunt up her personal name in
if

older authorities even in the 9th century the expression perahtun

:

naht might have developed into Perahtun naht Still the char .

acteristics we have specified of a mythical Berta, and above

all, her

identity with Holda, seem to me to decide the matter the other

way. If, independently of the Christian calendar, there was a
Holda, then neither can Perahta be purely a product of it on the ;

contrary, both of these adjective names lead up to a heathen deity,

who made her peregrination at that very season of yule, and whom
therefore the Christians readily connected with the sacredness of
Christmas and New-year.
I will here group together the features which
unmistakably
make Holda and Bertha appear in this light. They drive about in
waggons, like mother Earth, and promote agriculture and navigation
among men a plough, from which there fall chips of gold, is their
;

sacred implement. This too is like the gods, that they appear
suddenly, and Berhta especially hands her gifts in at the window.
Both have spinning and weaving at heart, they insist on diligence
and the keeping of festivals holy, on the transgressor grim penalties
are executed. The souls of infant children are found in their host,
as they likewise rule over elves and dwarfs, but night-hags and
enchantresses also follow in their train : all this savours of
heathenism.
It is very remarkable, that the Italians too have a mis-shapen
fairy Befana, a terror to children, who has sprung out of epiphania

(befania) on that day the women and children set a doll made of
:

old rags in the window ;

she is black and ugly, and brings presents.
Some say, she is Herod s daughter ; Eanke s hist, zeitschr. 1, 717.
1
La Befania (Pulci s Morg. 5, 42). Berni says : il di di Befania

vo porla per Befana alia fenestra, perche qualcun le dia d una

ballestra .
l
would be astonishing, if twice over, in two different
It

nations, a name in the calendar had caused the invention of a

supernatural being; it is more likely that, both in Italy, and among
us, older traditions of the people have sought to blend themselves
with the Christian name of the day.

1
Franc. Berni, rime 105. Crusca sub v. befana.
 HERODIAS, DIANA, ABUNDIA. 283

6. (HERODIAS. DIANA. ABUNDIA).

Herodias, of whom wehave just been reminded by Befana, will

illustrate this even better. The story of Herod s daughter, whose
dancing brought about the beheading of John the Baptist, must
have produced a peculiarly deep impression in the early part of the
Mid. Ages, and in more than one way got mixed up with fables.
Keligious poets treat the subject in full, and with relish (Hel. 83-5) ;

Otfried seems to leave it out designedly. It was imagined, that on

account of her thoughtless rather than malicious act (for the
proposal came from her revengeful mother), Herodias (the daughter)
was condemned to roam about in company with evil and devilish
spirits. She is placed at the head of the furious host or of
witches nightly expeditions, together with Diana, with Holda and
Perahta, or in their stead. In Burcard of Worms 10, 1 we read :

Illud etiam non omittendum, quod quaedam sceleratae mulieres

retro post Satanam conversae, daemonum illusionibus et phantas-
matibus seductae, credunt se et profitentur nocturnis horis cum
Diana paganorum dea vel cum Herodiade et innumera multitudine
mulierum equitare super quasdam bestias, et multa terrarum spatia
intempestae noctis silentio pertransire, ej usque jussionibus velut
dominae obedire, et certis noctibus ad ejus servitium evocari.
Joh. Salisberiensis (f 1182) in Polycr. 2, 17 Quale est, quod noc- :

tilucam quandam, vel Herodiadem vel praesidem noctis dominam,

concilia et conventus de nocte asserunt convocare, varia celebrari

convivia, &c. Angerius, episcopus Conseranus (an. 1280) Nulla :

mulier de nocturnis equitare cum Diana dea paganorum vel cum

Herodiade seu Bensozia l et innumera mulierum multitudine pro-
fiteatur. Similar statements have passed into later writings, such
as those of Martin von Amberg, and Vintler. It is worth noticing,
that to the worship of this Herodias, one third of the whole world is
ceded, and so a most respectable diffusion allowed. Eatherius
(bishop of Verona, but a Frank, b. at Lobi near Cambray, d. 974) in
his Praeloquia (Martene and Durand 9, 798.
opp. edit. Ballerini
pp. 20. 21) Quis enim eorum, qui hodie in talibus usque ad per-
:

ditionem animae in tantum decipiuntur, ut etiam eis, quas (Ball.

1
Ducange sub v. Diana spells Benzoria, but has the true meaning under
Bensozia itself it seems to mean bona Bona
;
socia, friendly propitious being.
dea, Dio Cass. 37, 35. 45. Conf. ch. XXVIII, dobra sretia, bona Fortuna j
ch.
XVI, good wife, under Wood-women.
284 GODDESSES.

de quibus) ait Gen. 1 Ilerocliam illam baptistae Christ! interfectri-

,

cem, quasi reginam imo deam proponant asserentes, tertiam totim ;

mundi partem illi traditam quasi haec merces fuerit prophetae

:

occisi, cum potius sint daemones, talibus praestigiis infelices mulier-

culas, hisque multum vituperabiliores viros, quia perditissimos,
decipientes. A and remarkable account of the medieval
full

tradition, that was tacked on to Herodias, is contained in the Eei-

nardus 1, 1139 11G4 :

Praecipue sidus celebrant, ope cujus, ubi omnes

defuerant testes, est data Eoma Petro,

traditaque injusto Pharaildis virgo labori ;

sed sanctifaciunt qualiacunque volunt.

Hac famosus erat felixque fuisset Herodes

prole, sed infelix hanc quoque laesit amor i

haec virgo, thalamos Baptistae solius ardens,
voverat hoc demto nullius esse viri.
Offensus genitor, comperto prolis amore,
insoritern sanctum decapitavit atrox.
Postulat afferri virgo sibi tristis, et affert

regius in disco tempora trunca cliens.

Mollibus allatum stringens caput ilia lacertis
perfundit lacrimis, osculaque addere avet ;

oscula captantem caput aufugit

atque resufflat,
ilia per impluvium turbine flantis abit.

Ex illo nimium memor ira Johannis eandem

per vacuum coeli flabilis urget iter :

mortuus infestat miseram, nee vivus amarat,

non tamen hanc penitus fata perisse sinunt.
Lenit honor luctum, minuit reverentia
poenam,
pars hominum moestae tertia servit herae.
Querculms et corylis a noctis parte secunda
usque nigri ad galli carmina prima sedet.
Nunc ea nomen habet Pharaildis, Herodias ante
saltria, nee subiens nee subeunda pari.
Conf. Aelfrici homiliae 1, 486. Here we have Herodias described
as inoesta her a
cui pars tertia hominum servit, the reverential

homage she receives assuages her bitter lot from ; only midnight
1
Ballerini cannot understand this Gen. Gennadius
;
is it (Massiliensis), a
writer at the end of the fifth
century ?
 HERODIAS, DIANA, ABUNDIA, 285

till first cockcrow she sits on oaks and hazel-trees, the rest of her
time she floats through the empty air. She was inflamed by love
for John, which he did not return ;
when his head is brought in on
a charger, she would fain have covered it with tears and kisses, but
it draws back, and begins to blow hard at her the hapless maid is ;

whirled into empty space, and there she hangs for ever. 1 Why she
was afterwards (in the twelfth century) called Pharaildis, is not
explained by the life of a saint of that name in Flanders (Acta
sanct. 4 Jan.) ;
nor does anything that the church tells of John the
Baptist and Herodias (Acta sanct. 24 Jun.) at all resemble the
contents of the above story Herodias is Herod s wife, and the
:

daughter is named Salome. Pharaildis on the contrary, M. Dutch

Verelde,
2
leads us to ver Elde =
frau Hilde or frau Hulde, as in a
doc. 1213 (Bodmanns Bheing. alterth. p. 94) there occurs a
of
miles dictus Verhildebwrgj and in a Frisian doc, of the 14th

century a Ferliildema, evidently referring to the mythic Hildburg.

Still more remarkable seems a M. Dutch name for the milky way,

Vroneldenstraet = frauen Hilde or Hulde strasse (street, highway),

So that the poet of the Eeinardus is entirely in the right, when
Herodias sets him thinking of Pharaildis, and she again of the
milky way, the sidus in his first line.
There is no doubt whatever, that quite early in the Mid. Ages
the Christian mythus of Herodias got mixed up with our native
heathen fables those notions about dame Holda and the furious
:

host and the nightly jaunts of sorceresses were grafted on it, the
Jewish king s daughter had the part of a heathen goddess assigned
her (Ratherius says expressly imo dea), and her worship found
:

numerous adherents. In the same circle moves Diana, the lunar

deity of night, the wild huntress ; Diana, Herodias and Holda

1
This reference to the turbo (the whirlwind of his blast), looks mythical
and of high antiquity. Not only did Ziu or Zio, once a deity, become with the
Christians a name for the whirlwind, p. 203 (and Pulloineken too may have to
do with Pkol, p. 229) but to this day such a wind is accounted for in Lower
;

Saxony (about Celle) by the dancing Herodias whirling about in the air. Else
where the raising of it is ascribed to the devil, and offensive epithets are
hurled at him, as in the Saalfeld country Schweinezahl fahret, there goes
:

swine-tail (Praetorius, Riibezahl 3, 120), and on the Rhon ints.

*
Sauzagel, :

sow- tail (Schm. 4, 110), to shew contempt for the demon, and abate his fury
(see Suppl.). I shall bring in some other stories, when treating of the wind-
sprites.
2
Canneart, strafrecht 153-5. Balg. mus. 6, 319. Conf. Vergode for frau
Gaude.
286 GODDESSES.

stand for one another, or side by side. Diana is denounced by

Eligius (Superst. A) the passage in the decrees of councils
;

(Superst. C) has found its way into many later writings (Superst.

D, G) like Herodias, she appears as

: domina and hem. The life of

St. Caesarius Arelatensis mentions a daemonium, quod rustic!

Dianam vocant, so that the name was familiar to the common

people ;
that statue of Diana in Greg. Tur. 8, 15 I have spoken of
on p. 110. But the strongest testimony to the wide diffusion of
Diana s cultus seems to be a passage in the life of St. Kilian, the
apostle of the East Franks (*f- 689) Gozbertusdux Franciae : . . .

volens crebra apud se tractare inquisitione, utrum Ejus quern

(Kilianus) praedicabat, vel Dianae potius cultus praeferendus esset.

Diana namque apud ilium in summa veneratione habebatur
(Surius 4, 133 Acta sanct. Bolland. 8 Jul. (p. 616). As it is
;

principally in Thuringia, Franconia and Hesse that frau Holda

survives, not incredible that by Diana in the neighbourhood
it is

of Wiirzburg, so far back as the 7th century, was meant no other

than she.
Lastly, the retrospective connexion of this Herodias or Diana
with personages in the native paganism, whether of Celtic or
Teutonic nations, receives a welcome confirmation from the legend
of a domina Abundia or dame Habonde, supplied by French
authorities of the Mid. Ages. A bishop of Paris, Guilielmus
Alvernus (Guillaume d Auvergne), who died 1248, speaks thus of
nymphs and lamiae (opera, Par. 1 674, fol. 1. 1036) Sic et daemon, :

qui praetextu mulieris, cum aliis de nocte domos et cellaria dicitur

frequentare, et vocant earn Satiam a satietate, et dominam

1
Abundiam pro abundantia, quam earn praestare dicunt domibus,

quas frequentaverit htijusmodi etiam daemones, quas dominas

:

vocant vetulae, penes quas error iste remansit, et a quibus solis

creditur et somniatur. Dicunt has dominas edere et bibere de escis
et potibus, quos in domibus inveniunt, nee tamen consumptionem
aut imminutionem eas facere escarum et potuum, maxime si vasa
escarum sint discooperta et vasa poculorum non obstructa
eis innocte relinquantur. Si vero operta vel clausa inveniunt
seu obstructa, inde nee comedunt nee bibunt, propter quod
infaustas et infortunatas relinquunt, nee satietatem nee almn-

1
The Romans also personified Abundantia as a superior being, but she
only appears on coins, she had neither temples nor altars.
 HERODIAS, DIANA, ABUNDlA. 287

dantiam eis praestantes. The like is repeated on p. 1068, but

on p. 1066 we read Sunt et aliae ludificationes malignorum
:

spirituum, quas faciunt interdum in nemoribus et locis amoenis

et frondosis arboribus, ubi apparent in similitudine pudlarum aut
matronarum ornatu muliebri et candido, interdum etiam in stabulis,
cum luminaribus cereis, ex quibus apparent distillationes in comis
et collis equorum, et comae ipsorum diligenter tricatae, et audies
eos, qui talia se vidisse fatentur, dicentes veram ceram esse, quae
de luminaribus hujusmodi stillaverat. 1 De illis vero substantiis,
quae apparent in domibus, quas dominas nocturnas, et principem
earum vocant dominam Abundiam, pro eo quod domibus, quas
frequentant, abundantiam bonorum temporalium praestare putan-
tur, non aliter tibi sentiendum est, neque aliter quam quemadmo-
dum de illis audivisti. Quapropter eo usque invaluit stultitia ho-
minum et insania vetularum, ut vasa vini et receptacula ciborum
omnino nee obstruant neque claudant eis
discocperta relinquant, et
noctibus, quibus ad domos suas eas credunt adventuras, ea de
causa videlicet, ut cibos et potus quasi paratos inveniant et eos
absque difficultate apparitionis pro beneplacito sumant.
The Koman de la rose (Meon 18622 seq.) informs us :

qui les cine sens ainsinc deceit

par les fantosmes, quil rec^oit,
dont maintes gens par lor folie
cuident estre par nuit estries
errans auecques dame Halondc,
et dient, que par tout le monde
li tiers enfant de nacion
sunt de ceste condition.

qu il vont trois fois en la semaine,

si cum destinee les maine,
et par tous ces ostex se boutent,
ne cles ne barres ne redoutent,
ains sen entrent par les fendaces,

par chatieres et par crevaces,

et se partent des cors les ames
et vont avec les bonnes dames
par leus forains et par maisons,
et le pruevent par tiex raisons :

1
Conf. Deutsche sagen, no. 122.
288 GODDESSES.

que les diversitds veues

ne sunt pas en lor liz venues,
ains sunt lor ames qui laborent
et par le monde ainsinc sen
corent, &c.
18686. Dautre part, que li tiers du monde
aille ainsinc avec dame Habonde,
si cumvoles vielles le pruevent

par les visions que truevent,

dont convient il sans nule faille
que trestous li mondes i aille.

As Ratheriua and the Eeinardus represent a third

part of the world
as given up to the service of Herodias, the same statement is here
applied to dame Habonde Herodias and Abundia are therefore
;

one. A connexion between Abundia and our native

Folia, Fulla
(fulness) will presently be made apparent. The term enfans may
refer either to the unchristened lobes
above, or to the great
multitude of heathen, who remained shut out of the Christian
community. It had long been the custom to divide the known
world into three parts. 1 The domina clothed in white reminds one
of Perahta the
bright, the bona domina or bona soda of Holda the
2

gracious, and Herodias haunting the oaks by night of the Old

German tree-worship. They are originally
benignant beings all,
whose presence brings prosperity and
plenty to mankind hence to ;

them, as to friendly spirits or gods, meat and drink are set for a
sacrifice in the night season.
Holda, Berhta and Werra seem to
love a particular kind of food, and look for it on their
feast-day.

7. HRUODA (HREDE). OSTARA (EASTEE).

Thus far we have got acquainted with the names and worship
of several goddesses, who were honoured under different names by
particular tribes ofTeutondom (Nerdu, Hludana, Tanfana, Holda,
Berhta), and others resembling them have only become known to
us under foreign appellations (I sis, Diana, Herodias,
Abundia) of :

all these (so long as I consider still doubtful the connexion of

tertia mimcli. Ovid. met. 5, 372 ; tertia

Agitnr pars pars muntli fumans
perit Africa ilammis, Coripp. 1, 47 tertia pars orLis Europa vocutur, Wal-
:

thar. 1.
2
Is the name soda connected with the Satia in Guilieliuus Alvernus ?
 HKUODA, OSTARA. 289

Erce with our Herke) not one is to be found among the Anglo-
Saxons,
On the other hand, the Anglo-Saxon historian tells us the
names two beings, whom he expressly calls ancient goddesses of
of
his people, but of whose existence not a trace is left amongst other
Germans. A clear proof, that here as well as there, heathenism
was crowded with divinities of various shape and varying name,
but who in their characteristics and cultus corresponded to one
another. Why
this multiplicity of form should prevail more in the
case of the female deities than of the male, can be fairly explained,
I think, by the greater respect paid to the chief masculine
divinities: they were too famous and too highly thought of, for
their principal names not to have penetrated all branches of the
nation.
The two goddesses, whom Beda (De temporum ratione cap. 1 3)
citesvery briefly, without any description, merely to explain the
months named after them, are ffrede and Edstre, March taking its
Saxon name from the first, and April from the second Rhedmo- :

nath a dea illorum Rheda, cui in illo sacrificabant, nominatur.

Antiqui Anglorum populi, gens mea apud eos Aprilis
. . .

Esturmonaih, qui mine paschalis mensis interpretatur, quondam a

dm illorum, quae Eostra vocabatur et cui in illo festa celebrantur
(?), nomen habuit ;
a cujus nomine nunc paschale tempus cogno-
minant, consueto antiquae observations vocabulo gaudia novae
x
solennitatis vocantes.
It would be uncritical to saddle this father of the church, who
everywhere keeps heathenism at a distance, and tells us less of it
than he knows, with the invention of these goddesses. There is
nothing improbable in them, nay the first of them is justified by
clear traces in the vocabularies of other German tribes. March is
in OHG. lenzinmanot, named after the
lenzo, lengizo season
2
[lengthening of days] but it may have borne other names as well.
;

Oberlin quotes, from Chorion s Ehrenkranz der teutschen

sprach,
Strassb. 1644, p. 91, Eetmonat for March; and a doc. of 1404

1
One MS. (Kolmesen
opusc. p. 287 this ref. given in Rathlef s Hoya and
;

Diepholz reads
3, 16) Yeteres Anglican! populi vocant Estormonath paschalem
:

mensem, idque a dea quadam cui Teutonici populi in paganismo sacrificia

fecerunt tempore mensis
Aprilis, quae Eostra est appellata.
2
Gramin. 2, 510. Langez. Dint. 3, 88.
19
290 GODDESSES.

(Weisth. 1, 175) has Redtmonet, it is not clear for what month.

When we find in the Appenzeller reimchronik p. 174 :

In dem Redimonet
die puren kamen donet,
do der merzenrnonat gieng herzu
an ainem morgen fru
do zundentz Eorschach an ;

here Redimonet seems, by the displacement so common in the

names of months, to he the month before March, as Chorion uses
his Retmonat for explains the word
February as well. Von Arx
quite differently, and I think untenably, by a mountain. Apart
from the Swiss term altogether, I believe the AS. name was
really ffreff or Hreffe OHG. Hruod or Hruodd, and derived,
as I said on p. 206, from hruod gloria, fama so that we get the ;

meaning of a shining and renownful goddess. The Trad. fuld. 2,

196, furnish a female name Hruada, gen. Hruadun, and in 1, 42. 2,
26, another nom. Hruadun, this last apparently formed like ON.

Fiorgyn and Hlodyn. The AS. adj. hreS or hreSe means crudelis
(Caedm. 136, 21. 198, 2), perhaps victoriosus ? I am in doubt
about hret), sigehreS, gufthreft, Beow. 5146. 974. 1631 they waver ;

between an adj. and a subst. sense, and in the last passage,

Beowulfe wearS guc5hre<5 gifefte/ victoria is evidently meant.
When the AS. Menologue, line 70, translates Martius by reSe, this
may stand for hreSe.

We Germans to this day call April ostermonat, and dstarmdnoth

is found as early as Eginhart (temp. Car. Mag.). The great
Christian festival, which usually falls in April or the end of March,
bears in the oldest of OHG. remains the name ostard gen. -un 1 it j

is mostly found in the plural, because two days (ostartaga,

a
aostortaga, Diut. 1, 266 ) were kept at Easter. This Ostard, like
the AS. Edstre, must in the heathen religion have denoted a higher
being, whose worship was so firmly rooted, that the Christian
teachers tolerated the name, and applied it to one of their own
2
grandest anniversaries. All the nations bordering on us have
retained the Biblical pascha even Ulphilas writes paska, nofc
;

1
T. 157, 1. 3. 5. 0. i. 22, 8. iii. 6, 16. iv. 9, 8. Hymn. 21, 4. Fragm.
tlieol. xiv. 17.
2
Couf. Meier s chronologic 1, 516.
 ZISA. 291

though he must have known the word

x
austro, the Norse tongue ;

also has imported its paskir, Swed. pask, Dan. paaske. The OHG.
adv. dstar expresses movement toward the rising sun (Gramm. 3,

205), likewise the austr, and probably an AS. eastor and Goth,
ON",

austr. In Latin the identical auster has been pushed round to the
noonday quarter, the South. In the Edda a male being, a spirit of
light, bears the name one might have been
of Austri, so a female
called Austra ; the High German and Saxon tribes seem on the

contrary to have formed only an Ostara, Edstre (fern.), not Ostaro,

Eastra (masc). 2 And that may be the reason why the Norsemen
said paskir and not austrur they had never worshipped a goddess
:

Austra, or her cultus was already extinct.

Ostara, Edstre seems therefore to have been the divinity of the
radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and
3
blessing, whose meaning could be easily adapted to the resurrec
tion-day of the Christian s God. Bonfires were lighted at Easter,
and according to a popular belief of long standing, the moment the
sun rises on Easter Sunday morning, he gives three joyful leaps, he
dances for joy (Superst. 813). Water drawn on the Easter
morning is, like that at Christmas, holy and healing (Superst. 775.

804) here also heathen notions seems to have grafted themselves

;

on great Christian festivals. Maidens clothed in white, who at

Easter, at the season of returning spring, show themselves in clefts
of the rock and on mountains, are suggestive of the ancient goddess

(see SuppL).

8. ZISA.

Hrede and Eastre 4 shall be followed now by

Beda s account of
a statement reaching back to the llth century, and deserving
attention if only for its great age, concerning a goddess Zisa,

worshipped at Augsburg in the heathen time.

1
For oriens he chooses urruns, for occidens sagqs, i.e., rising and sinking of
the sun, not that he did not know vistr (versus occidentem), root vis (repose,
stillness, evening).
2
Composite proper names Ostroberht, Austroberta, Austregisil, Ostro-
:

gotha (like Visigotha, Vistrimund, Westeralap, Sundarolt, Nordberaht, &c. &c.)

3
In the Basque language ostara means May. the budding leafing time,
from ostoa, leaf, foliage a mere accidental resa nblance.
:

4
I might introduce into the text an AS. JB cew-, if I knew
any more about
her than what Lye s glossary quotes from Cod. Cot. 65, 87 Iticenne Diana. It :

is formed like
]?inen (ancilla), wylpen (bellona), &c.
292 GODDESSES.

The. Cod. Monach. Lat. 2 (of 1135), and the Cod. Emmeran. F.
a
IX. fol. 4
(of 12-13th cent.) contain identic Excerpta ex Gallica
*
liistoria

Bum liec circa renum geruntur, in noricorum (interlined

bawariorum, Cod. Vind. GIL pauwariorum) finibus grave vulnus
romanus populus accepit. quippe germanorum gentes (interlined
suevi), que retias occupaverant, non longe ab alpibus tractu pari

patentibus campis, ubi duo rapidissimi amnes [interlined licus et

werthaJia (CII vuerdaha)] inter se confluunt, in ipsis noricis finibus

(interlined terminis bawariorum et suevorum) civitatem non quidem

inuro sed vallo fossaque cinxerant, appellabant zizarim (CII.
quam
cizarim) ex nomine dee cize? quam
religiosissime colebant. cujus
templuin quoque ex lignis barbarico ritu constrictum, postquam eo 3
colonia romana deducta est, inviolatum permansit, ac vetustate
4
collapsum no men colli servavit. hanc urbem tiiw annius pretor
ad arcendas barbarorum excursiones kal. sextilibus (interlined
exacta jam estate) exercitu circumvenit. ad meridianam oppidi
partem, que sola a continent! (interlined littoribus) erat, pretor ipse
cum lef/ione martia castra operosissime cornmunivit. ad occiden-
te m vero, qua barbarorum adventus erat, dvar, bdgudis rcgis films,
cum equitatu omni et auxiliaribus mactdonum copiis inter flumen ct
vallum loco castris parum amplo infelici temeritate extra Hum en
(interlined werthalia) consedit. pulchra indoles, non minus romanis
quam greds disciplinis instructa. igitur quinquagesimo nono die,
qua eo ventum est, cum apud barbaros
is dies dee cize (CII. dee^ ciz^)

celeberrimus, ludum quam formidinem

et lasciviam magis
ostentaret,
immanis barbarorum (interlined suevomm, CII. svivorum) multitudo,
ex proximis silvis repente erumpens ex improviso castra. irrupifc,
equitatum omnem, et quod miserius erat, auxilia sociorum delevit.
avar, cum in hostium potestatem regio habitu vivus venisset, [sed
5

1
owe
their cominrmicatien- to Schmeller s kindness.
I The same piece is
found at in two forms*: in the Cod. Lat. CII (olim hist. prof. Go2) see.
Vienna
xi. ineuntis fol. 79. 80 ; and in the Cod. CCXXVI
(olim univ. 237) sec. xii.
In both stands between Jorn. De reb. get. and De regn. suce.
it CII lias
interlinear glosses and marginal notes (exactly like the Munich MSS.) by a
scarcely later hand, which also writes the heading Excerptum ox (Jallira
historia CCXXVI adopts the interlinears into the text, but otherwise agrees.
.

2
On margin: Quern male polluerat cultura nei aria dud 11111
gallus monticulum hunc tibi ciza tulit .

3
On margin :
post conditam urbem auyustam a rotnanis .

4
Marg. note : ut usque hodie ab incolis cizunberc nominetur .

5
Marg. note: ex cujus vocalmlo, quia ibi mactatus et tumulatus est
ckrikc saver on (CII chrek{usa\
r

er) iioinen accepit. (jrecus enim erat .

 ZISA. 293

que apud ~barl>aros reverentia ?] more pecudis ibidem mactatur. 1

oppidani vero lion minori fortuna sed maiori virtu te pretorem in
auxilium sociis properantem adoriuntur. romani baud segniter
resistant, duo principes oppidanorum habino 21
et caccus 5 in primis

pugnantes cadunt. et inclinata jam res oppidanorum esset, ni

maturassent auxilium ferre socii in altera ripa jam victoria potiti.
denique coadunatis viribus castra irrumpunt, pretorem, qui paulo
altiorem tumulum (interlined perleih) frustra ceperat, romana vi
4
resistentem obtruncant. legionern divinam (interlined martiam),
ut ne nuncius cladis superesset, funditus delent. Verres solus
tribunus militum amne transmisso in proximis paludibus se
occultans 5 honestam mortem subterfugit. nee multo post sicilie
proconsul immani avaricia turpem mortem promeruit. nam cum se

rnagistratu abdicaret, judicio civium damnatus est.

The same fragment, only without the interlined words and

without marginal additions, stands in Goldast s Eerum suev. script,
aliquot veteres, Ulm 1727 ibl. p. 3 under the rubric Velleii Gall I :

fragmeritum de victoria Suevorum contra Eomanos (conf. Haupts

zeitschr. 10,291). It has the readings dea Cisa suid Cisam
and for Caccus Cacus, but agrees in the other names. Further,
for loco parum amplo, I find the better reading apto. The paren
thesis sed reverentia is wanting, so is the concluding sentence
*
nam damnatus est I should believe that Goldast had borrowed
.

it all from Wolfg. Lazius s Eeip. Eom. libri xii. Francof. 1591 p.
52, if this copy had not some variations too the heading runs ;
:

Velleii excerpta ex Gallica historia has Cisara, but Ciz$, also ;

it

Habbino, Caccus, amplo/ and concludes with promeruit. Lazius

1
On margin :

Hoc nomenterris bogudis dat regia proles

grecavar (CII grecus auar), pecudis de suevis more litatus.
2 On margin :

Prefectus habeno se victum hicque sepultum

perpetuo montis nomine notificat.
qui juxta montem occisus et sepultus nomen monti habenonberch dedit, quern
rustici havenenbercli (CII havenonperch) dicunt.
3
CII a cujus nomine putamus iekingen nominari.
:

4
On margin de hac ibi perdita legione adhuc perleich nominatur.
:

.Then in smaller but contemporaneous writing :

*
Iridicat hie collis romanam nomine cladem
martia quo legio tota simul periit.
subdidit hunc rome prepes victoria petro,
hoc sibimet templum qui modo constituit.
3

5
On margin *
hie quia in paludibus adjacentibus latuit, lacui uerisse
: hue
usque nomen dedit .
294 GODDESSES.

says : historiam in pervetusto codice membran. literis

quam nos
antiquissimis script-am reperimus that would be the sixth MS.
;

known hitherto, and copies must have been pretty numerous in the
11-1 2th centuries. The one that Goldast had before him may
probably have been the oldest.
Either one or the other of them, both Otto von Freisingen and
the author (or continuator) of the Auersberg chronicle seem to have
had before them. The former tries to connect the story with
Quintilius Varus (instead of Verres), and after relating his over
throw, adds (chron. 3, 4) Tradunt Augustenses hanc caedem ibi
:

factam, ostenduntque in argumentum collem ex ossibus mortuorum

compactum, quern in vulgari pcrleicli (Mone, anz. 1, 256), eo quod
legio ibi perierit, usque hodie vocant, vicumque
ex nomine Vari ap-

pellatum monstrant The Auersberg

. chronicler s account, though

he almost verbally adopts the older fragment, I hold it needful to

insert here, because the marginal glosses are curiously interwoven
with the and referred to discovered inscriptions on stone \ l
text,
De Augusta Vindelicorum vel Ehetiae. sicut ex scriptis veterum
colligitur haec civitas tria nomina accepit. German orum quippe
gentes primum considentes in partibus Ehetiae, quae nunc est pars
tamen munito propter
Sueviae, noil longe ab alpibus in planitie, loco
concursum duorum rapidorum fluminum, hanc urbern construxerunt,
et non muris sed fossatis earn firmaverunt, et ex nomine deae Zizae,

quam colebant, Zizerim earn nominabant.

religiosissime hujus
quoque deae templum ex lignis barbarico ritu constructum, etiam
postquam Eomani earn incolere coeperunt, inviolatum permansit.
at vetustate collapsum nomen colli servavit, in quo postmodum in
lapide exsculpti hi versus sunt reperti :

quern male polluerat cultura nefaria dudum

gallus monticulum hunc tibi Ziza tulit.

unde usque in praesens ab incolis idem monticulus Zizcriberg no-

minatur. apud hanc urbem Eomani deleti sunt magna caede.
nam Titus Annius praetor ad arcendas barbarorum excursiones
cum exercitu in kal. Augusti earn circundedit, ipseque ad meri-
dianam oppidi partem, quae sola patebat, castra sua cum legione
Martia operosissime communivit. ad occidentem vero ultra
fluvium, ubi Suevis aut barbaris aditus patebat, Avar Eogudis regis

i
Chron. Conradi ursperg. Argent. 1532, p. 308. eel. 1609, p. 225.
 ZISA. 295

filius cum omni equitatu et auxilio macedonico consedit. igitur

quinquagesimo nono die, quam eo ventum est, cum is dies deae Ziz^
apud barbaros celeberrimus esset, ludum et lasciviam magis quam
formidinem cives osteutarunt. tune etiam immanis barbarorum
multitudo, quae de partibus Sueviae illuc convenerat, de proximis
silvisrepente erumpens ex improviso castra irrupit et Avaris
exercitum delevit. ipsum quoque Avar regio habitu indutum
vivum comprehendentes crudeliter in modum pecoris mactaverunt.
a quo in loco, ubi mactatus est, vicus usque hodie appellatus est
Criechesaveron, in quo hi versus reperti sunt :

his nomen Bogudis dat regia proles

terris

Graecus Avar, pecudis de Suevis more litatus.

oppidani vero non minor! fortuna sed majori virtute praetorem
in auxilium sociis properantem invadunt, quibus Komani haud

segniter resistunt. in quo conflictu duo principes oppidanorum

Habino et Caccus in primis pugnantes cadunt, et inclinata jam res
esset oppidanorum, ni maturassent auxilium ferre Smvi in altera

ripa victoria jam potiti. de nominibus autem illorum principum

interfectorum exstant adhuc loca denominata, nam rustic! de Ha-
binone vocant monticulum Habinoberg, in quo hi versus reperti
sunt:
praefectus Habino
se victum atque sepultum

perpetuo montis nomine notificat.

a Cacco vero dicunt Gegginen denominari. denique coadunatis
Suevis et oppidanis castra irrumpunt, et praetorem, qui paulo al-
tiorem tumulum frustra ceperat, romana vi resis ten tern obtruncant,
legionemque divinam, ut nee nuncius cladis superesset, funditiis
delent. de hac perdita legione adhuc perlaich, quasi perdita legio,
nominatur, ubi postmodum hi versus sunt reperti :

indicat hie collis romanam nomine cladem,

martia quo legio tota simul periit.

solus Verrcs tribunus militum amne transmisso in proximis palu-

dibus se occultans honestam mortem subterfugit, lacui Vernse
hucusque nomen dedit. versus :

das nomen lacui Verres quo tu latuisti.

hie tamen non multo post turpem mor

Siciliae proconsul effectus
tem promeruit. nam cum se magistrate abdicaret judicio civiuni
damnatus est. propter hunc Ve-rrem tradunt Augustenses hanc
caedem fuisse eandem, quam sub Augusto factam quidani descri-
296 GODDESSES.

bunt, sed Varum ilium nominant his verbis : ea tempestate Varus,

romano more, superbe et avare erga subditos se gerens a Germanis
deletus est.
Some later writers also mention the tradition. About 1373
91, an ecclesiastic, Klichlin, composed in rhyme a history of
l
Augsburg for the burgomaster Peter Egen the Young, who wished
to have his house painted with illustrations from it. 2, fol.
Cap.
99 says of the Swabians :

Sie bawten einen tempel gross darein

zu eren (in honour of) Zise der abgottin,
die sienach heidnischen sitten (after heathen
ways)
anbetten zu denselben zeiten (adored in those
days).
Die stat ward genennt (city got named) auch Zisaris
nach der abgottin (after the goddess), das was der
pris.
Der tempel als lang stund unversert (stood uninjured),
bis im von alter was der val beschert
(its fall decreed),
und da er von alter abgieng (as from age it passed
away),
der berg namen von im
empfieng (the hill took name),
daruf gestanden was (whereon had
stood) das werck,
und haist noch hut (hight still to-day) der Ziscriberck.
Oonf. Keller Fastn.
1361.
s
Sigism. Meisterlin, in his Augs
sp., p.
2
burg chronicle in print from the 8th
(which chap, of bk 1),
is

treats of this Cisa in chaps. 5-6 of bk 2. In the imprinted chap. 4

of bk 1, he unmistakably refers to Klichlin, and
again at the end of
chap. 7 das er auch melt (tells) von der
gottin Cisa, die auch
:

genent wird Cizais, das sy geert habend (they honoured her) die
doch aus Asia warend dawider seind die andern, die von Cysa
;

schreibent, die
das sy die Vindelici habend nach
sprechent,
schwebischen sitten angebettet. von der gottin wirst du hernach
mer haben, ob got wil (buch 3. cap. 5. 6). (See Suppl.)
Hopeless contradictions lie on the face of that fragment.
Bogud, a Punic ship s-captain, who lived in the year 494 of Eome,
or 260 B.C., 3 here turned into a Macedonian king and his son
is
;

Avar is made contemporary with the Ciceronian Verres of 200

years after, or even of the still later Varus. Yet Bogudes and
Varus do occur as contemporaries of Pompey in Dio Cassius 41, 42.

1
Cod. Monach. Lat. 61 likewise sent me by Sehmeller.
;
"

Augsb. 1522 fol. Meisterlin wrote it in 1456. and died about 1484.
3
Niebuhr s Rom. Hist. 3, 677.
 ZISA. 297

What Titus Annius was meant by the praetor, I cannot guess ;

there is a consul of that name A.U.C. 601 and 626, or B.C. 153, 128.
Velleius Paterculus can never have written this sort of thing. 1
But all the rubbish it contains does not destroy the value of
the remarkable story to us. The comparatively pure Latinity is
enough to show that it was not composed so late as the twelfth
Lazius and Velser 2 are inclined to
century ; place it in the Caro-
lingian period, and it looks like the work of a foreigner, to whom
the Germans are heathens and barbarians. The glosses confirm the
local connexion of the whole tradition with Augsburg and its

neighbourhood ,and not .only the Latin verses, but the German
;

forms werthaha (R. Wertach), cizunberc, habino, habinonberc, look

too old for the 12th century. Habino (Hepino), Habinolf, is an
authentic OHG. man s name: Cacus is unknown to me, Cacan,
Cagan would seem more vernacular, and the derived local name
Geginen leads up to it. Some of the names quoted are preserved
to this day: the eminence in the middle of the city, next the senate-

house, is still called Perlach, on which the monastery and churcli

of St. Peter were founded in 1064 so the verse subdidit hunc
;

(collem) Eomae praepes victoria Petro was composed after that ?

The name perleih, which the legend derives from periens or perdita
legio, suggests the OHG. eikileihi, aigilaihi (phalanx), Gl. ker. 124.
Diut. 1, and in other compounds we find leih in a variety of
223 ;

3
senses. Zisenberg and Havenenberg are names no longer heard,
while Pfersen (Veris-se) MB. 33 b 108 an. 1343, and Kriegshaber
,

are well known villages. Whatever may be the explanation of the

olderand correcter form Criechesaveron, it is very plain that the
name of die place Criahhes (graeci) avard (imago, -conf. pp. 86, 95,
yet also avaro proles) first suggested Graecus Avar, as well as
HaUnonlerc the hero Habino The Auersberg chronicler s state
-<

ment, that the Latin verses were found carved in all those places,
must be rejected.
We find then, that tradition, true to her wont, has mixed up

1 CL 3&. Vossius, De%ist. Lat. 1, 24.

2 Marct yelseri rer. Augustanar. libri 8. 1594 fol. p. 45.
3 Henisch
p. 293 explains berlach at Augsburg ab ursis in publica
cavea ibi altia, a tiring which was done in other towns, e.g. Bern. On the
Perlach tower there was fixed a figure of St. Michael, which came into view
every time the clock struck on Michaelmas-day in earlier times a wooden;

temple of Isis (p. 294, ex lignis) is said to have stood on the spot Fischart s ;
b
geschichtkl. 30 der amazonischen Augspurger japetisch fraw Eysen
:
.
293 GODDESSES.

fact and fiction ;

the great point is, that she brings us tidings of a
Sue vie goddess. Cisa seems the older and better spelling, and Ciza
would be harder to explain. Now from this name of the goddess
we can hardly derive that of the town Cisara, supposing it to be a
purely German derivative names of places are never formed with
;

such a termination from male or female proper names. It seems

more likely that Cisara Cisae ara, from the altar and temple of
the goddess and later writers might corrupt Cisaram into Zizarim,
:

Zizerim. We
read that she was most devoutly
(religiosissime)
honoured by the Suevi, her anniversary is a grand festival devoted
to games and merrymaking, the day is
precisely defined as the
fifty-ninth after Aug. 1, it fell therefore on Sept. 28. At such a
season might be held a feast of the divinity who had prospered the
harvest just gathered in. On Sept. 29 the Christians kept one of
their grandest days, that of St. Michael, who often had to
replace a
heathen god of war and victory. It seems worthy of notice, that
the Saxons had their great feast of victory about the same time,
viz., the beginning of October Widukind pp. 423-4. With the
;

first Sunday after Michaelmas the holy common-week was considered

in the Mid. Ages to begin;, Scheffer s Haltaus, pp. 141-2. na der

hillifjen meinweken, Weisth. % 240. In the handing down of a
precise and doubtless genuine date, I feel the credibility of the story
confirmed.
Now who is Cisa ? One naturally thinks first of that Sftevic
Isis (p. 257) in Tacitus, whose name even is not unlike Cisa, Zisa,
if we make allowance for the mere dropping of the initial, an

omission which the Eornan might be prompted to make by the

similarity of the Isis that he knew.. But even if Zisa be totally
different from Isis, she can with all the better right be placed by
the side of our Zio, in whom also was displayed a thoroughly
Swabian deity (p. 199) nay, together with our supposed feminine
;

Ziu (p. 203) there may have been a collateral form Zisd, so that her
Zisuiiberg would exactly correspond to the god s Ziewesberg, Zisberg
(see Suppl.). Shall I bring forward a reason for this guess, which
shall be anything but far-fetched ? The Mid. Dutch name for the
third day of the week had the curious form Disendach (p. 125), which

being of course a corruption of Tisendach brings us at once to Tise

= Zisa. It is a matter for further researches to demonstrate, 1 but
1
Down in the Kiese between the rivers Lech and Wertach, in the midst of
Sueves, at a time supposed to be before even the Romans settled in. the region^
 FKIKKA. FROTJWA. 299

that tliree divinities, Zio, Zisa and Isis, are assigned to the Suevi, is

already abundantly clear.

8. FPJKKA (FRIGG). FHOUWA (FREYJA).

Our inquiry turns
at length to the goddesses of the Norse

religious system, of whom unequivocal traces are forthcoming in

the rest of Teutondom.
Foremost of these are Frigg the wife of OSinn, and Freyja the
sister of Freyr, a pair easy to confound and often confounded
because of their similar names. I mean to try if a stricter etymo
logy can part them and keep them asunder.
The name of Freyja seems the easier : it is motived no doubt
by the masculine Freyr (Gramm. 3, 335). Now as we recognised
Freyr in the Gothic frauja (p. 209), Freyja leads us to expect a
Gothic fraujo, gen. fraujons, both in the general sense of clomina
mistress, and in the special one of a proper name Fraujo. The
notion of mistress, lady, never occurs in Ulphilas. To make up
for it, our OHG. remains express it very frequently, by fruwd,

frdivd; the MUGr. frouwe, frou and our modern frau have preserved
themselves purely as common
nouns, while the masc. fro has
vanished altogether. In meaning, frouwe and frau correspond
exactly to herre, herr, and are used like it both in addressing and
otherwise. 1 Our minnesangers are divided as to the respective

superiority of frouwe (domina) and wip (femina), 2 wip expressing

more the sex, .and frouwe the dignity to this day we feel frau to
;

be nobler than weib, though the French femme includes a good deal
of what is in our frau. It seems worthy of notice, that the poets

no Slav gods need be looked for neither does the Slav mythology know any
;

thing at about a Ziza, alleged to be Ceres mamiuosa (Boh. cic, cec,

all certain
Pol. eye, Russ. titi, mamma), in support of whom forsooth our Cisa must be
wronged see Hanusch 278. It were better to think of the MHG.
;
name for
the zeisig (zeis-chen, siskin) din ztse, ein kleiniti zise, Ms. 1, 191 b "Wh.
275,.

30 which can scarcely have arisen from cicindela (glow-worm, Graff 5, 711)
; ;

however, no connexion has come to light between the goddess and the form of
a bird, though some little birds, the woodpecker, the titmouse, were held
sacred.
1 Like our
fr6, the Fr. dame (dominus) is now lost dame (domina)
;

remains, like our frau. The Span, keeps both don and dona, the Ital. only
donna. The Romance tongues express the masc. notion by two other words,
sire, sieur (p. 27) and seigneur, signore, seiior, i.e., senior, out of
which an Ital.
signora, a bpan. senora have sprouted, but no Fr. feminine.
2
Walth. 48-9. 57. Amgb. 45 b 4fi a Ms. 2, 182 b 21G a
. . Docen misc. 2,
278-9. frouwe uiide wip, Parz. 302, 7 (see Suppl.).
 300 GODDESSES.

harp on the connexion of fmu with froli glad (fro-lic) and freude
joy conf. Fridank 106, 58.
; Tit. 15, 35.
The AS. and OS. languages have done the
very reverse: while
their masc. frea, fraho is used far more
freely than the OHG.
frouwo, they have developed no fern, by its side. The M. Dutch
dialect has vramoe, vrouwe in
addressing and as title (Huyd. op St.
1, 52. 356. Rein. 297. 731. 803. 1365. 1655. 2129. 2288. 2510-
32-57-64, &c.), seldomer in other positions, Eein. 2291 ;
the modern
vrouw has extended its
meaning even beyond the limits of our
frau.
All the above languages appear to lack the fern,
proper name,
in contrast to the OX. which
possesses Freyja almost solely as the
goddess s name, and no freyja =
hera. Yet we find husfreyja house
b
wife, Stem. 212 and Snorri is still able to say that freyja is a
,

tignarnafn (name of honour) derived from the goddess, 1 that grand

ladies, rikiskonur, are freyjur,
Sn. 29. Yngl. saga c. 13. The
readings frur, fruvor here are corrupt, for the Icel. form frd has
evidently slipped in from the Dan. frue, Swed. fru, and these from
Germany. The goddess should be in Swed. Froa, Dan. Froe, which
I have never met with; the Swed. folk-song of Thor s hammer
calls Freyja Froijenlorg (the Dan. Fridlefsborg), a Danish one has
already the foreign Fru. Saxo is silent about this goddess and
her father altogether; he would no doubt have named her Froa.
Our Merseburg poem has now at last presented us with Frud =
Frowa, as the proper name of the goddess. 2
Frigg gen. Friggjar, daughter of Fiorgynn and wife of OSinn, is
kept strictly apart from Freyja, gen. Freyju in the Vafyrudnismal :

and the beginning of the Grimnismal, Offinn and Frigg are

plainly
presented as husband and wife and as Hroptr and Svafnir are
;

also names of OSinn,

Hroptr ok Frigg, Svafnir ok Frigg in Saem.
1
As
fraivjo from Fraujo, and freyja from Freyja, a song of Frauenlob s,
Ettm. 112 makes wip come from a Prankish king IVippeo. Is this an echo
p.
of a mythical Wippo, Wibba (geneal. of Mercia, end of ch.
VII) ? The expla
nation is as false as when the Edda derives vif from vela, for all a woman s
being practically a weaver and a peace-weaver we should have to assume two
;

roots, viban and veiban, side by side. The ON. proper name Vefreyja is also
worthy of note, Fornald. sog. 2, 459. 3, 250. 594.
2
The reasons why we may not take /rdd here for a mere title (and so a
noun com.) are set forth in the Zeitschr. f. d. a. 2, 189. As for the u in the
MS., it looks to mequite plain, else Wackernagel s proposal to read Friia =
Frija % Friga, Fria, would be acceptable (friiu does occur in T. 93, 3). Frua
aiid Fria are alike welcome and suitable for my explanation.
 FRIKKA. FROUWA. 301

b
93 a express the same relation. Saxo Gram., p. 13, has correctly
91-

Frigga Othini conjux In prayers the two goddesses even stand

.

side by side sva hialpi ther hollar vsettir, Frigg ok Freyja, ok

:

fleiri go$ (more gods), sem jm feldir mer far af hondom Ssem. !

240 b . So they do at the burning of Baldr s body, Sn. 66, conf. 37.
And that Danish folk-song has likewise Frigge, Fru
og Thor .

The ON. usually has gg where the AS. has eg and OHG. cc or
kk, namely, where a suffix i had stood after g or k: thus, ON.

egg (acies), AS. ecg, OHG. ekki ON. bryggja (ponsj, AS. brycge, ;

OHG. prukka; ON. hryggr (dorsum), AS. hrycg, OHG. hrukki.

In the same way we get an AS. Fricg, OHG. Frikka,
Frikkia, even
away from Frouwd than Frigg from Freyja.
farther

confounding of these two beings that will explain how

It is the
Adam of Bremen came to put Fricco instead of Fro for Freyr (supra,
p. 212) ; he would equally have said Fricca for Freyja. Fricco,
Friccho, Friccolf were in use as proper names in OHG.
And now it seems possible to explain, what is otherwise
unaccountable, why the sixth day of the week, dies Veneris, should
be called in ON. both Freyju&a,gr and also
Friadagr, in OHG,
never Frouwuntac, but Friatac, Frigefac, now
Freitag, in AS.
(for Fricgedseg ?), v. supra, pp. 123-6, and in Faroese
(Lyngbye 532).
Among these forms the AS. presents no in the OHG.
difficulty :

and ON. names we are puzzled by the absence of the guttural I

believe a solution
by that most important passage in
is offered
Paulus Diac.1, Wodan s consort is named Frea, which can
8 where
only mean Frigg, not Freyja, as Saxo Gram, too, while expressly
grounding on Paulus, makes use of the form Frig Paulo teste :

auctore Frig dea l .

This Langob. Frea accords with the OHG.

Frfa, I take it to be
not only identical with
Frigg, but the original form of the name ;

it has less to do with

Freyja and the AS. masc. frea. As an ON.
bru (pons) stands related to The
bryggia, so will fri to frigg.
Langob. Frea is =
Frea, Fria, Frija, Frea. Its root is suggested by

The AS chroniclers (p. 128) borrow Frea from Paulus. With Frea we
1

must above all connect the frea of the Laws of

tins means
Liutprand 6, 40 and 67 and
uxor, clomma, not libera, ingenua. Paulus therefore, in assmnim
TPH TC\ WnrlOTl OCt l-nn
r< 1 t-wrl P,-. ,
^
J. 1 j 1 T / . 1 -*. -*- -r-. .
*-

f\\ i
^ /* OO ^ AAt*^ ^J

Jonin, as is done in the Grimnismal (see Suppl.).

302 GODDESSES.

such words as : Goth, freis, frijis (liber), OHG. fri ;

Goth, frijon

(amare), OHG. frion

especially ; may we take into account the OS.
neut. M
(mulier), Hel. 9, 21. 13, 16. 171, 21. 172, 1, the AS.
freo (mulier), Cicdm. 29, 28. freolic cwen (pulcra femina), Beow.
1275. meowle, Cod. exon. 479, 2. freolic wif, Beow. 1222.
freolicu
1
freolic foemne, Coedm. 12, 12. 54, 28. Now, as fri (liber) and our
frech, ON. frekr (protervus, impudens), fri (mulier formosa) and
ON". frier (forinosus), fritJr (pax) seem to be all related, even the
2
adjectival forms betray the shifting sense of the substantival.
We
gather from all this, that the forms and even the meanings
of the Freyja means the
two names border closely on one another.
gladsome, gladdening, sweet, gracious goddess, Frigg the free,
beautiful, loveable to the former attaches the general notion of
;

frau (mistress), to the latter that of fri (woman). Holda, from hold
(sweet, kind), and Berhta from berht (bright, beautiful) resemble
them both. The Swedish folk-song, in naming Froijenborg, calls
her den viina solen, the beautiful sun.
Hence the mingling of their myths becomes the more con
ceivable. Saxo, p. 13, relates how Friyga, to obtain gold for her
ornaments, violated conjugal fidelity; more minutely told, and
differing much in the details, the tale
about Freyja in Sn. 356

appears to be the same adventure. On quite another ground

however the like offence is imputed to Frigg too (S^em. 63. Yngl.

saga cap. 3). In Sn. 81 the valshamr of Freyja is spoken of, but in
113-9 that of Frigg ; the former is supported by Severn. 70.
Hence the variations in the name for the day of the week. The
OHG. Friatac clearly to be Friggjardagr in ON.,
ought and the
ON. Freyjuda.gr should be Frouwuntac in OHG. Hence too the
uncertainty in the naming of a constellation and of several plants.
Orion s belt, elsewhere named Jacob s staff and also spindle (coins

r]\afcdrrj), is called by the Swedish people Friggerock (colus Friggae,

Magnusen 361 ), as we noticed
a
Hire, p. 663) or Frejcrock (Finn
before, or Frojas rock (Wieselgren. 383). The orchis odoratissima,
satyrium albidum, a plant from which love-potions are brewed, Icel.
the later
Friggjargras, otherwise hionagras (herba conjugalis) ;

1 MHG. wiplich wip, Parz. 10, 17. MS. 1, 50* 202*. 2, 42 b

Conf. the
182 b 258 a wibin wip, MsH. 1, 359 b
. similarly 6rj\vrfpai yvvalnes,
;
Od. 11,
386. 434. 15, 422. Hesiod scut. 4.
2 We as venire with
might connect Venus with the Goth, qino, qens,
the Wei. gwen would answer to Gvenus for Venus the Ir. dia
qjman ;
;

beine, Friday, from bean, len (lady) Venus AS. cwen. = =

 FPJKKA. FKOUWA. 303

Christian way of thinking has substituted Mary for the heathen

goddess. And the labouring man in Zealand speaks of the above
constellation also by the name of Maridrok, Marirok. Several
kinds of fern, adiantum, polypodium, asplenium, are named lady s
hair, maidenhair, Mariengras, capillus Vcneris, Icel. Freyjuhdr, Dan.
Fruehaar, Venusstraa, Venusgrds, Norweg. Marigras, &c. Even if
the Norse names here have sprung out of Latin ones,
they show
how Venus was translated both by Frigg and Freyja and Mary.
As for Mary, not only was the highest conception of
beauty carried
over to her, (frto sconiosta, idiso sconiost, Hel. 61, 13. 62, 1), but
she was pre-eminently our lady, fmu, domina, donna. Conf. infra
frauachiiQli, ladycow, Marienkalblein. In the nursery-tales she sets
the girls sewing and spinning like Holda and Berhta, and Holda s
snow appears to mean the same as Mary s snow (p. 268).
Before so close a contact of the two names I pause, doubting with
which of them to connect the strong and incontestable similarity of
certain divine names in the non-Teutonic
[Aryan] languages.
First of all, an OBoh. gloss gives Priye for Aphrodite
taking into ;

account the Goth, frijon, the OHG. friudil (lover), MHG. vriedel,
and the Slav, priyatel (friend), Boh. prjtel, Pol. przyiaciel, it must
have meant either Freyja the goddess of love and fruitfulness, or
Frigg the divine mother and patroness of marriage. In Sanskrit
Ramapriya dear-to-Lakshmi =
also pri is to love, priyas a friend,

lotus, Yamapriya pleasing-to-Yama = ficus indica, priya in names

of gods = husband or wife, Pott s forsch. 2, 424-7. Then prithivi
is the earth, and matd Prithvi Terra mater, from whom comes fruit

and increase (conf. Wei. pridd terra, Bopp s gloss. 223 b ) and the ;

word, though next of kin to prithus (TrXaru? latus), the earth being
named the broad and wide, seems nevertheless connected with
Fria, Frigg and fridu.

Frigg the daughter of Fiorgynn (p. 172), as consort of the highest

1
god, takes rank above all other goddesses she knows the fates of
:

men (Stem. 63 b Sn. 23. 64), is consulted by OSinn (Stem. 31 a),

.

administers oaths, handmaids fulfil her host, she presides over

1 Some
of the AS. genealogies have Woden et Frealaf ejus uxor, so that
Frigg =
Frealaf (OHG. Froleip 1) which fits iu with that Fridlefsborg in the
Danish song, p. 300 others make Frealaf Woden s father. But in lieu of hint
;

we have also ffriftulkt and Fri&uwiilf, a fresh confirmation of the connexion

between fri5 and the goddess s name.
30 i GODDESSES.

marriages, and her aid is implored by the childless

(Fornald. suj. 1,
117); hence hionagras is also Fricjgjargras. We may remember
those maidens yet unmarried (p. 264) being yoked to the plough of
the goddess whose commands they had too long defied. In some
parts of northern England, in Yorkshire, especially Hallamshire,
popular customs show remnants of the worship of Fricg. In the
neighbourhood of Dent, at certain seasons of the year, especially
autumn, the country folk hold a procession and perform old dances,
one called the giant s dance the leading giant they name Woden,
:

and his wife Frigga, the principal action of the play consisting in
two swords being swung and clashed together about the neck of a
1
boy without hurting him. Still more remarkable is the clear

vestige of the goddess in Lower Saxony, where to the common

people she fru Frekc?
is and plays the very parts which we saw
assigned tofrau Nolle (pp. 267-8): a strong argument, by the way, for
the divine nature of this latter. Then in Westphalia, legend may
derive the name of the old convent Freckcnhorst, Frickenhorst, from
a shepherd Frickio, to whom a light appeared in the night (like the
fall of snow by night at Hildesheim, p. 268) on the spot where the
church was to be built name
really points to a sacred hurst or
;
the

grove of Freckafern., or of Friclco masc., whose site Christianity was

perhaps eager to appropriate conf. Frcecinghyrst, Kemble 1, 248.
;

2, 265. There is a VrcMeve, Frickslcbcn, not far from Magdeburg

(see SuppL).
Freyathe goddess most honoured after or along with Frigg
is ;

her worship seems to have been even the more prevalent and
important of the two, she is styled agoetuz af Asynjum, Sn. 28,
and blotgyoja, Yngl. saga cap. 4, to whom frequent sacrifices were
offered. HeiSrekr sacrificed a boar to her, as elsewhere to Freyr,
and honoured her above all other gods. 3 She was wedded to a

J. M. Kemble, from the mouth of an old Yorksliire-

1
Communicated by
inan account for the sword by the ancient use of that weapon at weddings
. I ;

coiif. EA. 426-7. 431

esp. the old Frisian custom pp. 167-8,
;
conf. Heimreich s
Nordfries. chron. 1, 53-4. In Swabia, as late as the 18th century, the brides
men carried large swords with fluttering ribbons before the bride ; and there
is a striking similarity in the Esthonian custom (Superst. M. 13).
*Eccard de orig. Germ, p. 398: Celebratur in plebe Saxon ica fru Frelce,
cui eadem munia tribuuntur, quae superiores Saxones Holdae suae adscribunt.
Fru Frcke has just been unearthed again by Ad. Kuhn, namely in the Uker-
mark, where she is called Fruike, and answers to fru Harke in the Mittclmark
and fru Gode in the Prignitz.
3
Hervavarsapi, ed. Vend. p. 138, ed. 1785 p. 124. By the editors of the
Fornald. sog. 1, 463 the passage is banished into the notes as an unsupported
reading.
 FltfKKA. FROUWA. 305

man (not a god, at least not an As), named Offr, but he forsook her,
and she sought him all over the world, among strange peoples,
shedding tears. Her name Syr (Sn. 37) would perhaps be Saurs in
Gothic Wilh. Miiller has detected the very same in the Syritha of
:

Saxo Gram. p. 125, who likewise goes in search of Othar. Freyja s

tears were golden, gold is named after them, and she herself is

gratfagr, (weeping), Sn. 37. 119. 133; in our

fair in greeting

nursery-tales pearls and flowers are wept or laughed out, and dame
Holla bestows the gift of weeping such tears. But the oldest
authorities make her warlike
also in a waggon drawn by two cats
;

(as Tliorr drives two goats) 1 she rides to the battlefield, riSr til
vtgs, and goes shares with 05inn in the slain (supra p. 133, conf.
Ssem. 42 a Sn. 28. 57).
. She is. called eigandi valfalls (quae
sortitur caesos in pugna), Sn. 119 valfreyja, mistress of the chosen,
;

Nialss. p. 118, and of the valkyrs in general; this seems to be

in striking accord with Holda or Berhta (as well as Wuotan)
adopting the lobes that die uncJiristened into their host, heathen
goddesses the heathen souls. Freyja s dwelling is named Folk-
vdngr or Folkvdngar, the plains on which the (dead ?) folk troop
together this imparts new credibility to the connexion of St.
;

Gertrude, whose minne is drunk, with Frowa, for the souls of the
departed were supposed to lodge with Gertrude the first night (p. 61).

Freyja s hall is Sessrymnir, the seat-roomy, capacious of much/o/A:;

dying women expect to find themselves in her company after death.
Thorgerftr in the Egilss., p. 103, refuses earthly nourishment, she
thinks to feast with Freyja soon ok engan (nattverS) mun ek
:

fyrr enn at Freyju Yet love-songs please her too, and lovers do
.

well to call upon her : henni likaSi vel mansongr, a hana er gott
at heita til asta, Sn. 29. That the cat was sacred to her, as the
wolf to Wuotan, will perhaps explain why this creature is given to

night-hags and witches, and is called donneraas, wetter aas (-carrion).

When a bride goes to the wedding in fine weather, they say she
has fed the cat well, not offended the favourite of the love-goddess.
The meaning of a phrase in Walther 82, 17 is dark to me: weder
ritest gerner eine guldin katze, aid einen wunderlichen Gerhart
Atzen ? In Westphalia, however, the weasel was named froie,

1
Freyja has a waggon like Nertlms (mother of Freyr?}, like Holda and
e
. Freyr himself, Wuotan and Donar (pp. 105-7, 251-2-4, 275) ; the kingly waggon
. is
proper only to great exalted deities.
20
30G GODDESSES.

Reinh. clxxii, which I suppose means frau, fraulein (froiken), as

that -ghostly creature was elsewhere called muhmlein (aunty),

fraulein, donna, donnola, titles sure to be connected with myths,

and these would doubtless point in the first place to our goddess
and her worship. The Greeks said Galinthias was turned into a
weasel or cat (ya\eif), Ovid, metam. 9, 306 (see Suppl.).
In so such comparisons are allowable, Frigg would stand
far as

on a line with Here or Juno, especially the pronuba, Jupiter s

spouse and Freyja with Venus,1 but also with Isis who seeks
;

Osiris. Freyr and his sister Freyja are suggestive of Liber and
Libera (Dionysus and Proserpina, or even her mother Demeter of ;

sun and moon). Mary could replace the divine mother and the
goddess of beauty ; verbally Frigg agrees better with Libera, and
Adam of Bremen s Fricco, if he was god of love, answers in name to
Liber, in character to Freyr.

The passage quoted from Paul Diac. is one of the clearest and
most convincing testimonies to the harmony between the German
and Norse mythologies. An author of Charles the Great s time
tells us that the Langobards named Wodan s wife Frea, and she is

called Frigg in the Edda. He cannot have drawn this from Norse
tradition, much less can his narrative through Saxo s intermediacy
have become the source of the northern faith.
But in favour of Freyja too we possess a weighty piece of
external evidence. The Edda makes her the owner of a costly
necklace named Brisinga men (Brisingorum monile) she is ;
called

eigandi Brisingamens, Sn. 37. 119. How she acquired this

jewel from the dwarfs, how it was cunningly stolen from her by
Loki, is fully narrated in a tale by itself, Sn. 354357. In the

poets therefore Loki is Brisings J?iofr (Thorl. obs. 6, 41. 63) a lost ;

lay of the Edda related how Heimdallr fought with Loki for this

ornament, Sn. 105. When Freyja pants with rage, the necklace
b
starts from her breast (stauk J?at it micla men Brisinga), S?em. 71 .

When Thorr, to get his hammer up back, dresses in Freyja s gar

ments, he does not forget to put her famous necklace on : hafi

In the Tanhauser, as sung in Switzerland (Aufsess. anz. 1832, 240-2

1 ;

Uhland s volksl. p. 771), instead of the usual dame* Venus we find precisely
collateral form olfrei free.
frau Frene, and ace. to Staid. 1, 395 frein is there a
A woman s name Vreneli is known from Hebel. Vrene may be Verena the
martyr, or Veronica, v. Vreiie, Ben. 328.
 FRIKKA. FKOUWA. 307

hann (have mikla men Brisinga ! Ssem. 72. Now this very
lie) it
trinket is evidently known to the AS. poet of Beowulf 2399, he
names it Brosinga mene, without any allusion to the goddess I ;

would read Brisinga mene, and derive the word in general from a
verb which is in MHG-. brisen, breis (nodare, nodis constringere,
Gr. icevrelv to pierce), namely, it was a chain strung together of
bored links. Yet conf. ch. XX, Irising St. John s fire perhaps :

the dwarfs that forged it were called Brisingar ? The jewel is so

closely interwoven with the myth of Freyja, that from its mention
in AS. poetry we may safely infer the familiarity of the Saxon race
with the story itself and if the Goths worshipped a goddess
;

Fraujo, they too would doubtless know of a Breisigge mani. 1

Conf. ch. XX, larffar men, Earth s necklace, i.e., turf in the ON.

legal language.
We cannot but feel it significant, that where the gospel simply

speaks of TO ayiov sacrum (Matt. 7, 6), the OS. poet makes it a

helag halsmeni (holy necklace), Hel. 52, 7 an old heathen remin ;

iscence came over him, as once before about doves perching on

shoulders (p. 148). At the same time, as he names only the swine,
not the dogs, it is possible that he meant halsmeni to be a mere
amplification of merigrioton, pearls.
But this legend of the goddess s necklace gains yet more in im
portance, when we place it by the side of Greek myths. Brisinga
men is no other than Aphrodite s o/oyoto? (Hymn to Venus 88), and
the chain is her girdle, the /ceo-ro? //xa? Tnu/aXo? which she wears
on her bosom, and whose witchery subdues all gods and mortals.
How she loosens it off her neck (OLTTO o-TrjOeacfuv) and lends it to
Here to charm her Zeus with, is told in a lay that teems with
world-old myths, II. 14, 214-8. As the ifids is worn in turn by
Here and by Aphrodite, the Norse fable gives the jewel now to
Frigg and now to Freyja, for that gold of Frigg in Saxo is the
same as Brisinga men. Then there is another similarity the same :

narrative makes Freyja possess a beautiful chamber,

so strong that,
when the door is locked, no one can enter against her will hun :

1 Just as from Freyja proceeded the general notion of a freyja frouwa, so

necklace-wearing serves to describe a beautiful wife or maiden. In Seem. 97
:i

mengloft (monili laeta, rejoicing in a necklace) means simply femina, but in

108 a lll a Mengloft is a proper name a
(see p. 272 note); in 222 menskogul is
used of Brynhildr. Women are
commonly named from their ornaments of
gold or precious stones, Sn. 128 (see Suppl.).
308 GODDESSES.

atti ser eina skemmu, er var baefti fogr ok sterk, sva at j?at segja
menu, ef huroln var laest, at eingi matti komast i skemmuna an
(without) vilja Freyju, Sn. 354. We are told the trick by which
Loki after all got in, and robbed her of the necklace 1 Homer says ;

nothing about that, but (II. 14, 165-8) he knows of Here s 0aA.a/io?,
TOV ol <j)l\os
mo? ervj;ev
rvKwas Se dvpas crraO^olcnv jri]p<T6

KpvTrrf), TTJV S ov #6o? a\\o? avcpyev.

What can be more exactly in accordance with that inaccessible
apartment of Freyja, especially as the Ipds is spoken of directly
after? Hephaistos (Vulcan), who built his mother the curiously
contrived bedchamber, answers to the dwarfs who forged the neck
lace for Freyja. The identity of Frigg and Freyja with Here and
Aphrodite must after this mythus be as plain as day.

10. FOLLA. SlNDGUND.

Another thing that betrays the confusion of Frigg with Freyja
is, that the goddess Folld, now proved by the Merseburg poem to

belong to our German mythology, is according to it a sister of Frua,

while the OX. Falla again is handmaid to Frigg, though she takes
rank and order among the Asynjor themselves (Sn. 36-7). 2 Her
office and duties are sufficiently expressed in her name she justi;

fies our reception of the above-mentioned Abundia or dame Habonde

into German mythology, and corresponds to the masculine god of
plenty P-ilnitis, Pilnitus, whom the Lettons and Prussians adored.
Like dame Herke on p. 253, she bestowed prosperity and abundance
on mortals, to her keeping was intrusted the divine mother s chest
(eski),out of which gifts were showered upon them.

may be, that Fulla or Folia was at the same time thought
It
of as the full-moon (Goth. fullij?s, Lith. Pilnatis, masc.), as another

heavenly body, Orion, was referred to Frigg or Freyja : in the Mer

seburg MS. she immediately followed by Sunnd with a sister
is

Sindpund, whose name again suggests the path of a constellation.

The Eddie S61 ranks with the Asynjor, but Sindgund (OK Sinn-

1 He bored a hole and

crept through as a fly, then as a flea he stung the
sleeping goddess till she shook off the ornament an incident still retained
: in
nursery-tales. Conf. the stinging fly at the forging, Sn. 131.
2
If we read Fria for Frua, then Folia would stand nearer to her as in the
Norse, whether as attendant goddess or as sister. Yet, considering the insta
bility of those goddesses names, she may keep her place by
Frouwa too.
 GAKT. SIPPIA. SUNIA. WAR A. SAGA. NAN DA. 309

gunnr ?)
is unknown to the Edda. In ch. XXII. on the constella
tions I shall come back to these divinities (see Suppl.).

11. GART. SIPPIA. SUNIA. WARA. SAGA. NANDA.

Fromsurviving proper names or even impersonal terms, more
rarely from extant myths, we may gather that several more
goddesses of the North were in earlier times common to the rest of
Teutondom.
Frey s beloved, afterwards his wife, was named Gerffr, she
came of the giant breed, yet in Sn. 79 she is reckoned
among the
Asynjor. The Edda paints her beauty by a charming trait when :

Freyr looked from heaven, he saw her go into a house and close the
door, and then air and water shone with the brightness of her arms
(Saem. 81. Sn. 39). His wooing was much thwarted, and was
only brought to a happy issue by the dexterity of his faithful
servant Skirnir. The form of her name Ger&r,
gen. GerSar, ace.
GerSi (Saem. 117 b ), points to a Goth. Gardi or
Gardja, gen. Gardjos,
ace. Gardja, and an OHG. Gart
which often occurs in the
or Garta,
compounds Hildigart, Irmingart, Liutkart, &c., but no longer alone.
The Latin forms Hildegardis, Liudgardis have better preserved the
terminal i, which must have worked the
vowel-change in GerSr,
ThorgerSr, ValgerSr, HrimgerSr. The meaning seems to be cingens,
inuniens [Gurth ?], Lat. Cinxia as a name of Juno
(see Suppl.).

The Goth, sibfa, OHG. sippia, sippa, AS. sib gen. sibbe, denote

peace, friendship, kindred; from these I infer a divinity Sibfa, Sippia,

Sib, corresponding to the OK
Sif gen. Sifjar, the wife of Thorr, for
the ON, too has a pi. sifjar
meaning cognatio, sifi amicus (OHG.
sippio, sippo), sift genus, cognatio. By this sense of the word, Sif
would appear to be, like Frigg and Freyja, a
goddess of loveliness
and love as attributes of 05inn and Thor
;
agree, their wives Frigg
and Sif have also a common signification. Sif in the Edda is called
the fair-haired, it
harfagra gooY and gold is Sifjar haddr (Sifae
peplum), because, when Loki cut off her hair, a new and finer crop
was afterwards forged of gold (Sn. 119. Also a herb, poly-
130).
trichum aureum, bears the name haddr
Sifjar. Expositors see in
this the golden fruits of the Earth burnt
up by fire and growing up
again, they liken Sif to Ceres, the ^avOrj A^rfrnp (II. 5, 500) ; and
with it agrees the fact that the Slav. Siva is a on Ceres dea gloss
310 GODDESSES.

a a b
frumen ti (Hanka s glosses 5 6 ,
) ; only the S in the word seems
to be the Slav, zhivete = Zh, and V does not answer to the Teut.
F, B, P. The earth was Thor s mother, not his wife, yet in Sn.
220 we do find the simple Sif standing for earth. To decide, we
ought to have fuller details about Sif, and these are wholly want
ing in our mythology. Nowhere amongst us is the mystic relation
of seed-corn to Demeter, whose poignant grief for her daughter
threatens to bring famine on mankind (Hymn to Cer. 305 315), nor
anything like it, recorded.

The Gothic language draws a subtle distinction between sunja

(veritas) and sunjd (defensio, probatio veritatis) in OHG. law, ;

sunna, sunnis means excusatio and impedimentum. The ON. law

likewise has this syn gen. synjar, for excusatio, defensio, negatio,

impedimentum, but the Edda at the same time exhibits a personi

fied Syn who was to the heathen a goddess of truth and justice,
t

and protected the accused (Sn. 38). To the same class belongs Tor
gen. Varar, goddess of plighted faith and covenants, a dea foederis
(Sn. 37-8), just as the Romans deified Tutela. The phrase vigja
b
saman Varar hendi, consecrare Tutelae manu (Seem. 74 ), is like
the passages about Wish s hands, p. 140. As in addition to the
abstract wish we saw a Wish endowed with life, so by the side of
the OHG. wara foedus there may have been a goddess Wara, and
beside sunia a Sunid (see SuppL),

In the same way or sage (saw, tale) is intensified into a heathen

goddess Saga, daughter of Wuotan ; like Zeus s daughter the Muse,
she instructs mankind in that divine art which Wuotan himself
invented. I have argued in a separate treatise (Kleine schr. 1, 83

112), that the frou Aventiure of the Mid. Ages is a relic of the
same.

Nanna the wife of Baldr would be in Goth. Nanjio, OHG.

Nandd, AS. Ndde, the bold, courageous (p. 221), but, except in ON,
the simple female name is lost ; Procopius 1, 8 has Gothic 0euSe-
vavQa, ON. Thioftnanna (see SuppL).
Inferences like these, from dying words to dead divinities,
could be multiplied ; to attempt them is not unprofitable, for they

sharpen the eye to look in fresh quarters [for confirmation or con-

 KAHANA. HELLIA. 311

futation]. The discovery from legend or elsewhere of a harmony

between myths may raise our guesses into demonstrations. 1

12. EAHANA HELLIA (HEL).

(RAN).

My
survey of the gods closed with Oegir and Loki
and the ;

goddesses akin to these shall be the last mentioned here. -

To correspond to the OK
Gefjon the Old Saxons had, as far as
we know, not a female but a male being, Gelan, Geofon (sea, p. 239).
With four giant oxen, according to Sn. 1, Gefjon ploughs Zealand
out of the Swedish soil, and a lake arises, whose inward bend exactly
fits the projecting coast of Zealand. She is described as a virgin,
and all maidens who die virgins wait upon her, Sn. 36. Her name
is called upon when oaths are taken sver ek viS Gefjon, F. Magn.
:

lex. 386 (see Gefn, a name of Freyja (Sn. 37 and Viga-

SuppL).
glumss. cap. 27) reminds one of Gefjon.
Ran was the wife of the seagod Oegir, they had nine daughters
who are cited by name in the Edda, and called Ednar (or Oegis)
dcetr.
2
Men who are drowned fall to the share of Ran, which of
her divinity fara til Rdnar is to get drowned at sea,
itself attests :

Fornald. sog. 2, 78 and sitja at Rdnar to be drowned, Fornm. sog.

;

6, 376. Those who were drowned she drew to her in a net, and

It seems almost as if the MHG. poets recognised a female personage fr6

1

Fuoge or Gefuoge (fitness), similar in plastic power to the masc. Wish, a per
sonified compages or dp/xoi/ta. Lachmann directs me to instances in point. Er.
7534-40 (conf. Iwein, p. 400) :

So hete des meisters sin So had the master s thought

gepriievet clitz gereite turned out this riding-gear
mit grozer wisheite with great wisdom
; ;

er gap dem helfenbeine he gave the ivory

und da bi dem gesteine and withal the jewelry
sin gevellige stat, each its proper place,
als in diu Gevuoge bat. as him dame Fitness bade.
(Conf. Er. 1246 als in min ware sclmlde bat).
: Parz. 121, 11 :

Wer in den zwein landen wirt, Whoso in the two lands thrives,
Gefuoge ein wunder an im birt ; Fitness a wonder in him bears ;
he is a miraculous birth of Fitness, her child, her darling. Conversely, Wal-
ther 64, 38 :

Fro Unfuoge, ir habt gesiget. Dame Unfitness, thou hast triumphed.

And 65, 25 :

Swer Ungefuoge swigen hieze Whoso bade Indecorum hush,

und abe den biirgen stieze
sie and hurled her from her strongholds.
!

It is true, the prefixes ge-, un-, argue a later and colder allegory. And the
weak fern, form (ace. in -en) would be preferable, OHG. Fuoga, gen. Fuogun,
as in N. cap. 135 hifuogun, sotigenam (see SuppL).
2 Sami. 79b 144 a 153 b 180. Sn. 124-9. 185. Eyrbygg. saga p. 274, and in
dex sub v. Ran. Egilssaga p. 616.
312 GODDESSES.

carried them
off, whence the explanation of her name ran neut. is :

rapina, raena rapere, spoliare (see SuppL).

On the discovery of the rare word rahanen (spoliare) in the
Hildebr. lied 57, I build the supposition that other Teutonic lands
had also a subst.rahan (rapina, spolium) and a goddess Eahana
(conf. Tanfana, Hluodana), as well as an Uogi Oegir.
1 =
As we passed from Oegir (through Forniot and Logi) to Loki,
sowe may from Kan to Hd, who is no other than Loki s daughter,
and like him a dreadful divinity. Kan receives the souls that die
by water, Hel those on land, and Freyja those that fall in battle.
The ON. Hel gen. Heljar shows itself in the other Teutonic
tongues even less doubtfully than Frigg and Freyja or any of the
above-mentioned goddesses Goth. Hcdja gen. Haljos, OHG. Hellia,
:

Hella gen. Hellia, Hella, AS. Hell gen. Helle only, the
personal
;

notion has dropt away, and reduced itself to the local one of
halja,
hellia, hell, the nether world and place of punishment. Originally
Hellia is not death nor any evil being, she neither kills nor
torments she takes the souls of the departed and holds them with
;

inexorable grip. The idea of a place evolved itself, as that of cegir

oceanus out of Oegir, and that of ge ban mare from Ge ban the ;

converted heathen without any ado applied it to the Christian

underworld, the abode of the damned all Teutonic nations have
;

done this, from the firstbaptized Goths down to the Northmen,

because that local notion already existed under heathenism,

perhaps also because the church was not sorry to associate lost
2
spirits with a heathen and fiendish divinity. Thus hellia can be
explained from Hellia even more readily than ostara from Ostara.
In the Edda, Hel is Loki s daughter by a giantess, she is sister
to the wolf Fenrir and to a monstrous snake. She is half Hack and
half of human
colour (bid half, en half me5 horundar lit), Sn. 33,
after the manner of the pied people of the Mid. Ages in other ;

1
The Trad, patav. pp. 60-2 assure us of a man s name Raan, Rhaan
(Rahan ?). An OHG. Rahana rests on a very slender foundation.
2
Hel has no affinity at all with ON. hella petra, hellir antrum, as the
Goth, hallus petra shows (from hillan sonare, because a rock resounds) a :

likelier connexion is that with our hole antrum, OHG. holi, more frequent in
neut. hoi, for which we should expect a Gothic hul, as in fact a fern, hulundi
is caverna, for a cave covers, and so does the nether world (both therefore from
hilan celare). Only, the vowels in hole (= huli) and holle (= halja) do not
agree.
 BAHANA. HELLIA. 313

passages her blackness alone is made a subject of comparison lldr :

sem Hel, Nialss. 117. Fornm. sog. 3, 188 conf. Heljarskinn for ;

complexion of deathly hue, Landnamab. 2, 19. Nialss. cap. 96.

x
2, 59. 60
Fornald. sog. death is black and gloomy. Her dwelling
;

is deep down
in the darkness of the ground, under a root of the
tree Yggdrasill, in Niflheim, the innermost part of which is there
fore called Niflhel, there is her court (rann), there her halls, Ssem.
6b 44a 94a . Sn. 4. Her platter is named liungr, her knife sultr,
synonymous terms to denote her insatiable greed. The dead go
down fara Heljar, strictly those only that have died of
to her, til

sickness or old age, not those fallen in fight, who people Valhalla.
Her personality has pretty well disappeared in such phrases as i
hel sla, drepa, berja i hel, to smite into hell, send to Hades ;
% helju

vera, be in Hades, be dead, Fornald. sog. 1, 233. Out of this has

arisen in the modern dialects an altogether impersonal and distorted

term, Swed. ihjdl, Dan. ihiel, to death. 2 These languages now

express the notion of the nether world only by a compound, Swed.
helvete, Dan. helvede, i.e., the ON. Mviti (supplicium infernale),
OHG. hellawizi, MHG.
One who is drawing his last
hellewize.
breath is said in ON.
heims oc heljar (to lie betwixt
liggja milli
home and hell), to be on his way from this world to the other.
The unpitying nature of the Eddie Hel is expressly emphasized ;

what she once has, she never gives back haldi Hel tyvi er Sn. :
hefir,
68 ; hefir nu Hel, Ssem. 257 a
like the wolf in the apologue (Eein-
,

hart xxxvi), for she is of wolfish nature and extraction to the

;

wolf on the other hand a hellish throat is attributed

(see SuppL).
Two lays in the Edda describe the way to the lower world, the

1
The ancients also painted Demeter, as the wrathful
earth-goddess, black
(Pans. 8, 42. O. Miiller s Eumenides 168, conf. Archfeol. 509 the black p.
Demeter at Phigalia), and sometimes even her
daughter Persephone, the fair
maid doomed to the underworld l

furva Proserpina, Hor. Od. 2, 13 (Censorin.

:

De die nat.
c. 17). Black Aphrodite (Melanis) is spoken of
by Pausanias 2, 2.
8, 6. 27 and by Athenseus bk. 13
9, we know the black Diana of Ephesus,
;

and that in the Mid. Ages black Madonnas were both

painted and carved, the
Holy Virgin appearing then as a sorrowing goddess of earth or night such at ;

Furia dwelling in Tartarus is also represented both as black and as half white
half black.
2
Swed. has more, correctly ihael, i.e., ihal (Fred, af Normandie 1299.
1356. 1400. 1414). In Ostgotalagen p. 8, one reading has already ihieell for
ihsel ; they no longer grasped the meaning of the term.
3 14 GODDESSES.

HelreiS Brynhildar and the VegtamsqviSa in the latter, Gain s ;

ride on Sleipnir for Baldr s sake seems to prefigure that which

HermoSr afterwards undertakes on the same steed in Sn. 65-7.
But the incidents in the poem are more thrilling, and the dialogue
between Vegtamr1 and the vala, who says of herself :

var ek snifin sniofi (by snow), ok slegin regni,

ok drifin doggo (by dew), dauS (dead) var ek
leingi,
is among the sublimest Edda has to shew. This vala
things the
must stand in close relationship to Hel herself.
Saxo Gram. p. 43 very aptly uses for Hel the Latin Proserpina,
he makes her give notice of Balder s death. In the Danish popular
belief Hel is a three-legged horse, that goes round the
country,
a harbinger of plague and pestilence of this I shall treat further
;

on. Griginally it was no other than the steed on which the goddess
posted over land, picking up the dead that were her due there is ;

also a waggon ascribed to her, in which she made her journeys.

A
passage in Beowulf shows h)w the Anglo-Saxons retained
perfectly the old meaning of the word. It says of the
expiring
Grendel 1098 : feorh
filegde, hreftene
(vitam deposuit, sawle
animam gentilem), J?aer hine Hel onfeng, the old-heathen goddess
took possession of him.
In Germany too the Mid. Ages still cherished the conception of
a voracious, hungry, insatiable Hell, an Orcus esuriens, i.e., the man-

devouring ogre diu Helle ferslindet al daz ter lebet, si ne wirdet

:

niomer sat! N. Cap. 72. diu Helle und der arge wan werdent
niemer sat, Welsch. gast. It sounds still more personal, when she
gaping yawning jaws ascribed to her, like the wolf pictures in
lias ;

theMS. of Csedmon represent her simply by a wide open mouth.

Der tobende wuoterich The raging tyrant
der was der Hellen gelich, he was like the Hell
diu daz abgrunde who the chasm (steep descent)
begcnit mit ir munde be-yawneth with her mouth
unde den himel zuo der erden. from heaven down 2 to earth,
unde ir doch niht ne mac werden,And yet to her it cannot hap

1
OSinn
calls himself Vegtamr (way-tame, broken-in to the road, gnams

viae), son of Valtamr (assuetus caedibus), as in other places gangtamr (itineri

b
assuetus) is used of the horse, Sasm. 26o , but OSinn himself is GangraGr or
(langleri. Vegtamr reminds one of the holy priest and minstrel Wechtam in
Hunibald.
2 I
have supposed that unde den is a slip for abe dem
*
TRANS. .
 KAHANA. HELLIA. 315

daz si imer werde vol ;

that she ever become full ;

si ist daz ungesatliche hoi, she the insatiable cavern,

is

daz weder nu noch nie ne sprah : that neither now nor ever said
diz ist des ih niht ne mac. this is what I cannot (manage)/

Lampr. Alex. 6671-80. Old poems have frequent allusions to the

abgrund (chasm, abyss) and the doors of hell helligruoba, hella- :

grunt, helliporta, &c. Grarnm. 2, 458 der abgrunde tune, der tiefen
;

helle tune (the deep hell s dinge, darkness), Mart. 8S b 99 C .

Of course there are Bible texts that would in the first instance

suggest much of this, e.g., about the insatiableness of hell, Prov. 27,
20. 30, 16 Freidank Ixxiv), her being uncovered, Job 26,
(conf.
6, her opening her mouth, Isaiah 5, 14. But we are to bear in
mind, that all these have the masc. aSrjs or infernus, with which
the idea of the Latin Orcus also agrees, and to observe how the
German language, true to its idiosyncrasy, was obliged to make use
of a feminine word. The images of a door, abyss, wide gaping
throat, strength and invincibility (fortis tanquam orcus, Petron.
cap. 62), appear so natural and necessary to the notion of a nether
world, that they will keep recurring in a similar way among
different nations (see Suppl.).
The essential thing is, the image of a greedy, unrestoring, female
1
deity.
But the higher we are allowed to penetrate into our antiquities,
the less hellish and the more godlike may Haifa appear. Of this
we have a particularly strong guarantee in her affinity to the Indian
Bhavani, who travels about and bathes like Nerthus and Holda
(p. 268), but is likewise called Kali or MaliaMU, the great Hack

goddess. In the underworld she is supposed to sit in judgment on

souls. This office, the similar name and the black hue (kala niger,
conf. caligo and Ke\cuv6<i)
make her exceedingly like Halja. And
Halja is one of the oldest and commonest conceptions of our
heathenism.

1
In the south of Holland, where the Meuse falls into the sea, is a place
named Helvoetsluis. I do not know if any forms in old documents confirm the
idea contained in the name, of Hell-foot, foot of Hell. The Romans have
a Helium here Inter Helium ac Flevum, ita appellantur ostia, in quae effusus
:

Rhenus, ab septentrione in lacus, ab occidente in amnem Mosam se spargit,

medio inter haec ore modicum nomine suo custodiens alveum, Plin. 4, 29.
Tac. also says 2, 6 immense ore.
: Conf. supra p. 198 on Oegisdyr (see Suppl.).
 CHAPTER XIV.

CONDITION OF GODS.

Now that we have collected all that could be found concerning

the several divinities of our distant past, I will endeavour to
survey
their nature as a whole in doing which however, we must be
;

allowed to take more frequent notice of foreign and especially

Greek mythology, than we have done in other sections of this
work it is the only way we can find connecting points for many a
:

thread that otherwise hangs loose.

All nations have clothed their gods in human shape, and only
by way of exception in those of animals on this fact are founded
;

both their appearances to men, or incarnation, their twofold sex,

their intermarrying with mankind, and also the deification of
certain men, i.e., their adoption into the circle of the gods. It
follows moreover, that gods are begotten and born, experience pain
and sorrow, are subject to sleep, sickness and even death, that like
men they speak a language, feel passions, transact affairs, are
clothed and armed, possess dwellings and utensils. The only
difference is, that to these attributes and states there is attached a

higher scale than the human, that all the advantages of the gods
are more perfect and abiding, all their ills more slight or transient.
This appears to me a fundamental feature in the faith of the
heathen, that they allowed to their gods not an unlimited and
unconditional duration, but only a term of life far exceeding that
of men. All that is born must also die, and as the omnipotence of
gods checked by a fate standing higher than even they, so their
is

eternal dominion is liable at last to termination. And this reveals

itself not only by single incidents in the lives of
gods, but in the
general notion of a coming and inevitable ruin, which the Edda
expresses quite distinctly, and which the Greek system has
in the background : the day will come when Zeus s rei^n shall end.
 CONDITION OF GODS. 317

But held even by the Stoics, 1 finds utterance

this opinion, firmly

only now and

then, particularly in the story of Prometheus, which
I have compared to the Norse ragnarokr, p. 245-6.
In the common way of thinking, the gods are supposed to be
immortal and eternal. are called Oeol alev eoWe?, II. 1, 290.
They
494, aievyeverai 2, 400, dddvaroi, 2, 814, dOdvaro^ Zevs 14, 434 ;
and therefore pd/capes 1, 339. 599 in contrast to mortal man. They
have a special right to the name immortales, while men
ajA/Sporot,
are pporol mortales ; afipporo? is explained by the Sansk. amrita
immortalis, the negative of mrita mortalis (conf. Pers. merd, homo
mortalis) ; in fact both amrita and apPpocrios, next neighbour to
contain a reference to the food, by partaking of which
foPporos,
the gods keep up their immortality, They taste not the fruits of
the earth, whereby the ffporol live, ot apovprjs Kapirov eSovcriv, II. 6,

142. With
/3poro5 again connected pporo? thick mortal blood,
is

whereas in the veins of the gods flows l^cop (II. 5, 340. 416), a light
thin liquid, in virtue of which they seem to be called affpoToi, =.

d/JL/BpOTOi.
Indian legend gives a full account of the way amrita, the elixir
of immortality, was brewed out of water clear of milk, the juice of
2
herbs, liquid gold and dissolved precious-stones no Greek poem ;

tells us the ingredients of ambrosia, but it was an

d^pocnr) rpofoj
(food), and there was a divine drink besides, ve/crap, II. 1, <y\v/cv

598, of a red colour 19, 38, its name being derived either from vr)

and KTaaOai, or better Where men

from vetc-rap necem
avertens.
take bread and wine, the gods take ambrosia and nectar, Od. 5,
195, and hence comes the

a/jipporov al/jia Oeoio,

iX(*)p, 0*09 7Tp re peet, /jiaKapeo-cn Qzolaiv
ov jdp alrov eSova, ou TTivoixr aWojra olvov
rovveK? dvaifJLovis elcn KOL dQavarot, KaXeovrai.
-II. 5, 339.
Theirs is no thick glutinous al^a (conf. our seim, ON. seimr, slime),
nor according to the Indians do they sweat and this avai^^v ;

(bloodless) agrees with the above explanation of affporos. The

1
Atque omnes pariter deos perdet mors aliqua et chaos. Seneca in Here.
2
Cleopatra had costly pearls melted in her wine, and it is said to be still a
custom with Indian princes conf. Sueton. Calig. 37.
;
318 CONDITION OF GODS.

adjectives a/3poro<?, a^poro?, afjbjBpbcrios, veKrdpeos are passed on

from the food to other divine things 1 (see Suppl.). Plainly then
the gods were not immortal by their nature, they only acquired and
secured this quality by abstaining from the food and drink of men,
and feasting on heavenly fare. And hence the idea of death is not
always nor as a matter of course kept at a distance from them ;

Kronos used to kill his new born children, no doubt before nectar
and ambrosia had been given them, 2 and Zeus alone could be saved
from him by being brought up secretly. Another way in which
the mortality of certain gods is expressed is, that they fall a prey
to Hades, whose meaning borders on that of death, e.g., Perse
phone.
If a belief in the eternity of the gods is the dominant one
among the Greeks, and only scattered hints are introduced of their
final ;
with our ancestors on the contrary, the thought of
overthrow
the gods being immortal seems to retire into the background.
The Edda never calls them eylifir or odauoligir, and their death is
a
spoken of without disguise )?a er regin deyja, Saem. 37 or more
:
,

b a b
frequently regin riu/az (solvuntur), 36 40 108
: One of the .

finest and oldest myths describes the death of Balder, the burning
of his body, and his entrance into the lower world, like that of
a
Proserpine 05in s destined fall is mentioned in the Voluspa 9
; ,

05ms lani (bane), Sn. 73, where also Thorr falls dead on the
ground Hrungnir, a giant, threatens to slay all the gods (drepa
;

guS oil), Sn. 107. same time we can point to clear

Yet at the
traces of that prolongation of lifeby particular kinds of food and
drink. While the einherjar admitted into Valholl feast on the
boiled flesh of a boar, we are nowhere told of the Ases sharing in
such diet (Sa3m. 36. 42. Sn. 42) it is even said expressly, that ;

OSinn needs no food (onga vist ]?arf hann), and only drinks wine
(vin er honum bseol dryckr ok matr, both meat and drink) ;

with the viands set before him he feeds his two wolves Geri and
Freki. VitS vin eitt vapngofugr 05inn 03 lifir (vino solo armipotens
b
semper vivit), Saem. 42 a3 lifir can be rendered
; semper vescitur,
1
Both nectar and ambrosia, like the holy grail of the Mid. Ages, have
miraculous powers poured into the nose of a corpse, they prevent decay, II.
:

19, 38 they ward

;
off hunger, II. 19, 347. 353.
2
As human only Le exposed before milk and honey have
infants may
moistened their lips, conf. KA. pp. 458-9. When Zeus first receives in the
assembly of the gods the son whom Leto bore him, he hands him nectar in a
golden bowl by this act he recognised him for his child.
:
 IMMOETALITY. 319

nutritur, or immortalitatem nanciscitur, and tlien the cause of his

immortality would be found in his partaking of the wine. Evi
dently this wine of the Norse gods is to the beer and ale (olr) of
men, what the nectar of the Greek gods was to the wine of mortals.
Other passages are not so particular about their language 1 in ;

Snem. 59 the gods at Oegir s hall have ale set before them, conf. ol
b
giora, 68 Heimdall gladly drinks the good mead, 41 b verSar
; ;

nema oc sumbl (cibum capere et symposium) 52, leaves the exact

nature of the food undefined, but earthly fare is often ascribed to
the gods in so many words. 2 But may not the costly Odhro&ris
dreckr, compounded of the divine Qvasir s blood and honey, be
3
likened to amrita and ambrosia ? Dwarfs and giants get hold of
it first, as amrita fell into the hands of the giants ;
at last the

gods take possession of both. OShrceris dreckr confers the gift of

poesy, and by that very fact immortality OSinn and Saga, goddess :

of poetic art, have surely drunk it out of golden goblets, gladly and
evermore (um alia daga, Ssem. 41 a ). We must also take into
account the creation of the wise Qvasir (conf. Slav, kvas, convivium,
potus) that at the making of a covenant between the Aesir and
;

Vanir, he was formed out of their spittle (hraki) the refining of ;

his blood into a drink for gods seems a very ancient and far-

reaching myth. But beside this drink, we have also notices of a

special food for gods Iftunn has in her keeping certain apples, by
:

eating of which the aging gods make themselves young again (er
a
gooln skulo abita, J?a er ]?au eldaz, oc verSa j?a allir ungir, Sn. 30 ).
This reminds one of the apples of Paradise and the Hesperides, of the

guarded golden apples in the Kindennarchen no. 57, of the apples

in the stories of Fortunatus and of Merlin, on the eating or biting
of which depend life, death and metamorphosis, as elsewhere on a
draught of holy water. According to the Eddie view, the gods have
a means, it is true, of preserving perpetual freshness and youth,

1
As Homer makes Ganymede ofooxocvcti/, II. 20, 234, and of Hebe it is
too
even eWo^oei 4, 3.
said, vfKrap
2
Zeus goes to banquet (KCITO. dalra) with the Ethiopians, II. 1, 423 orav ;

Trpos baiTa KOI eVt Ooivrjv toxri, Plato s Pheedr. 247, as Thorr does with the Nor
wegians even when disguised as a bride, he does not refuse the giants dishes,
;

Ssem. 73 b and the Ases boiled an ox on their journey, Sn. 80.

;

8 In
Sanskrit, sudha nectar is distinguished from amrita ambrosia. Every
where there is an eagle in the business Garuda is called sudhahara, or amrita-
:

harana, nectar-thief or ambrosia-thief (Pott, forsch. 2,451) ; it is in the shape of

an eagle that O Sinn carries off OShrttrir, and Zeus his cupbearer Ganymede
(see ch. XXXV and XXX, Path-crossing and Poetry).
320 CONDITION OF GODS.

but, for all that, they are regarded as subject to the encroach
ments of age, so that there are always some young and some old
gods in particular, Odinn or Wuotan is pictured everywhere as an
;

old greybeard (conf. the old god, p. 21), Thorr as in the full

strength of manhood, Balder as a blooming youth. The gods grow

hdrir ok gamlir (hoar and old), Sn. 81. Freyr has at tannfe

(tooth-fee) presented him at his teething, he is therefore imagined

as growing up. In like manner Uranos and Kronos appear as old,
Zeus our Donar) and Poseidon as middle aged, Apollo, Her
(like
mes and Ares as in the bloom of youth. Growth and age, the
increase and decline of a power, exclude the notion of a strictly

immutable, immortal being and mortality, the termination,

eternal, ;

however long delayed, of gods with such attributes, is a necessity

(see Suppl.).

Epithets expressing the power, the omnipotence, of the reigning

gods have been specified, pp. 21-2. A
term peculiar to ON. poetry
is #mregin, Seem. 2S
a
50 a 51 a 52 b #mheilog go la it is of
, ;

the same root as gina, OHG. kinan, hiare, and denotes minima

ampla, late dominantia, conf. AS. ginne grund, Beow. 3101. Jud.
131, 2. ginne rice, Caxlm. 15, 8. ginfaest, firmissimus 176, 29.
ginfresten god, terrae dominus 211, 10. garsecges gin, oceani
amplitude 205, 3.

The Homeric peia (= paSuo*;, Goth. raj?izo) beautifully ex

presses the power of the gods whatever they do or undertake
;

conies easy to them, their life glides along free from toil, while
mortal men labour and are heavy laden : 6eol peia Jeooi/re?, II. 6,

138. Od. 4, 805. 5, 122. When

Aphrodite wishes to remove her
favourite Alexander from the perils of battle, TOV 8 e^pjra^

A<f>poSin) peia pd\\ wo- re eos, II. 3, 381 ;

the same words are
applied to Apollo, when he snatches Hector
away from Achilles 20,
443. The wall so laboriously built by the Greeks he overturns peia
fid\a, as a boy at play would a sand-heap 15, 362. With a mere
breath (irvotfj\ blowing a little (rjica /ua Aa ijrvj-aa-d), Athene turns
away from Achilles the spear that Hector had thrown 20, 440 (see
Suppl.). Berhta also blows (p. 276), and the elves breathe (ch.
XVII), on people.
The sons of men grow up slowly and gradually, gods attain
their full size and strength directly after birth. No sooner had
 STRENGTH. PRECOCITY. SIZE. 321

Themis presented nectar and ambrosia (a{i/3poair)v epareivrjv) to

the newborn Apollo, than he leapt, /care/3p<w? a/jL/3porov, out of his

swathings, sat down among the goddesses, began to speak, and,

unshorn as he was, to roam through the country (Hymn, in Ap.
Del. 123133). Not unlike Vali, whom Eindr bore to Oolrm ;

when only one night unwashen and unkempt, he

old (einnsettr),
b b
sallies forth to avenge Baldr s death on Hoftr, Ssem. 6 95 Here .

the coincidence of cucepa-exo^ with the Edda s ne hofu5 kembr

is not to be disregarded. Hermes, born at early morn, plays the
lute at mid-day, and at eve drives oxen away (Hymn, in Merc. 17
seq_.). And Zeus, who is often exhibited as a child among the
Kuretes, grew up rapidly (fcapTraXlfjLa)? /iez/o? KOI fya&ipa yvla
r)i>t;6To
and in his first years had strength enough to
roto ava/cros ),
enter the lists with Kronos (Hes. theog. 492). The Norse mytho
logy offers another example in Magni, Thor s son by the giantess
larnsaxa : when three nights old ()?rinsettr), he flung the giant
Hrungni s under whose weight Thorr lay on the
enormous foot,

ground, off his father, and said he would have beaten the said giant
dead with his fist, Sn. 110 (see Suppl.).
The shape of the gods is like the human (p. 105), only vaster,
often exceeding even the gigantic. When Ares is felled to the

ground by the stone which Athene flings, his body covers seven
roods of land (eirrd S eVe^e 7re\e0pa Treacbv, II. 21, 407), a size
that with a slight addition the Od. 11, 577 puts upon the titan

Tityos. When Here takes a solemn oath, she grasps the earth
with one hand and the sea with the other (II. 14, 272). cry A
that breaks from Poseidon s breast sounds like that of nine or even
ten thousand warriors in battle (14, 147), and the same is said of
Ares when he roars (5, 859) ; Here contents herself with the voice of
Stentor,which only equals those of fifty men (5, 786). By the side
of thiswe may put some features in the Edda, which have to do
with Thorr especially he devours at a wedding one ox and eight
:

b
salmon, and drinks three casks of mead, Ssem. 73 another time, ;

through a horn, the end of which reaches to the sea, he drinks a

good portion of this, he lifts the snake that encircles the whole
world off one of its feet, and with his hammer he strikes three deep
valleys the rocky mountain, Sn. 59, 60.
in Again, Teutonic
mythology agrees with the Greek in never imputing to its gods the
deformity of many heads, arms or legs ; they are only bestowed
21
322 CONDITION OF GODS.

on a few heroes and animals, as some of the Greek giants are

Kar6y^eipe<;.
Such forms are quite common in the Hindu and
Slav systems Vishnu is represented with four arms, Brahma with
:

four heads, Svantovit the same, while Porevit has five heads and

Kugevit seven faces. Yet Hecate too is said to have been three-
headed, as the Eoman Janus was two-faced, and a Lacedaemonian
1
Apollo four-armed. Khuvera, the Indian god of wealth, is a
hideous figure with three legs and eight teeth. Some of the Norse
gods,on the contrary, have not a superfluity, but a deficiency of
members OSinn is one-eyed,
: Tr
one-handed, HoSr blind, and
Logi or Loki was perhaps portrayed as lame or limping, like
Hephasstus and the devil. Hel alone has a dreadful shape, black
and white the rest of the gods and goddesses, not excepting Loki,
;

are to be imagined as of beautiful and noble figure (see Suppl.).

In the Homeric epos this ideally perfect human shape, to which
Greek art also keeps true, is described in standing epithets for gods
and especially goddesses, with which our ruder poetry has only a
few to set in comparison, and yet the similarity of these is signi
ficant. Some epithets have to serve two or three divinities by
turns, but most are confined to individuals, as characteristic
them. Thus Here or /^OWTT/,? (the former used als
is Xeu/ewXei/o?
2
of Helen, II. 3, 121, the latter of a Nereid 18, 40), Athene ry\av/cc*
Trt? or rivKojjbos (which again does for Here), Thetis apyvpojr
Eos poSoSa/criAo?, Demete
Iris aeXXoTro?, 7roS??Ve//,o?, xpva-oTrrepos,

(Ceres) gavOtf 5, 500, and /caXXtTrXo/ca^o? 14, 326, just as Sif i

harfogr (p. 309), in allusion to the yellow colour of the waving
corn. As the sea rolls its dark waves, Poseidon bears the nam
Kvavoxafrv:, II. 14, 390. 15, 174. 20, 144. Zeus could either be
called the same, or icvavofypvs (a contrast to Baldr brahvitr, brow
white p. 222), because to him belong apfipocricu yai-Tai II. 1, 528, th(
hair and locks of Wish (p. 142), and because with his dark brow
he makes signs. This confirmatory lowering of the brows 01

nodding with the head (vevew, Karave^eiv fcvaverjaiv eV 6(f>puo-t

I]

1, 527. 17, 209) is the regular expression of Zeus s will Ke$ :

KaTavevcrofJiat,, a0avdroi(7L ^ejiarov re/cjjLwp, II. 1, 524. In refusing

he draws the head back Thor s indignant rage is shown
(avavevef).
by sinking the eyebrows over the eyes (siga brynuar ofan fyrir
1 0. Muller s archaeol. p. 515.
2
And Aphrodite throws her Tr^ee XeuKo> round ^Eneas. TRANS.
 SHAPE. ANGER. 323

augun, Sn. 50), displaying gloomy brows and shaking the beard.
Obviously the two gods, Zeus and Donar, have identical gestures
ascribed to them for expressing favour or anger. They are the
glowering deities, who have the avenging thunder at their command;
this was shown of Donar, given the grim
p. 177, and to Zeus is

louring look (Seiva 8 vjroSpa ISav, II. 15, 13), he above all is the
fiey (1, 517. 4, 30), and next to him Poseidon of the
6x6>jo-a<;

dingy locks (8, 208. 15, 184). Zeus again is distinguished by

beaming eyes (rpeirev oacre (fraewco 13, 3. 7. 14, 236. 16, 645),
which belong to none else save his own great-hearted daughter 21,
415 Aphrodite has ofifiara ^ap^aipovra, 3, 397, twinkling,
;

shimmering eyes (see SuppL).

Figures of Greek divinities show a circle of rays and a nimbus
x
round the head on Indo-Grecian coins Mithras has commonly a
;

2
circular nimbus with pointed rays, in other representations the

rays are wanting. Mao (deus Lunus) has a halfmoon behind his
shoulders Aesculapius too had rays about his head. In what century
;

was the halo, the aureole, first put round the heads of Christian
saints ? And we have also to take into account the crowns and
diadems of kings. Ammian. Marc. 16, 12 mentions Chnodomarius,
cujus vertici flammeus torulus aptabatur. N. Cap. 63 translates
the honorati capitis radios of the Sol auratus by houbetsHmo (head-

sheen), and to portray the sun s head surrounded with flames is

extremely natural. In ON. I find the term ro&a for caput radiatum
sancti, which I suppose to be the OHG. ruota rod, since virga also

goes off into the sense of flagellum, radius, ON. geisli. likening A
of the gods to radiant luminaries of heaven would at once suggest

such a nimbus, and blond locks do shine like rays. It is in con-

inexion with the setting sun that Tac. Germ. 45 brings in formas
deorum and radios capitis. Around Thor s head was put, latterly at
allevents, a ring of stars (Stephanii not. ad Saxon. Gram. p. 139).
According to a story told in the Galien restore", a beam came out of
Oharles the Great s mouth and illumined his head. 3 What seems
nore to the purpose, among the Prilwitz figures, certain Slavic
dols, especially Perun, Podaga and Nemis, have rays about their

1
0. Muller s archaeol. p. 481.
2
Getting, anz. 1838, 229.
3
This beam from Charles s mouth is like the one that shines into his
beloved s mouth and lights
up the gold inside (see ch. XVI., Menni).
324 CONDITION OF GODS.

heads ;
and a head in Hagenow, fig. 6, 12 is encircled with rays, so
is even the rune stands for Eadegast. E when
Did rays originally
it

express the highest conception of divine and lustrous beauty ?

There is nothing in the Homeric epos at all pointing that way (see
SuppL).

It is a part of that insouciance and light blood of the gods, that

they are merry, and laugh. Hence they are called blift regin

(p. 26), as we find

*
froh in the sense of gracious applied to gods
1
and kings, and the spark of joy is conveyed from gods to men.

Frauja, lord, isnext of kin to froh glad (p. 210). It is said of the
Ases, teitir varo, Seem. 2 a and of Heimdall, dreckr gla&r hinn g65a
;

b And in svdso guS 33 a contains a similar notion. In

mioS 41 .

this light the passages quoted (pp. 17-8) on the blithe and cheerful
God gather a new importance it is the old heathen notion still
:

lurking in poetry. When

Zeus in divine repose sits on Olympus
and looks down on men, he is nioved to mirth (opowv fypeva rep-vjro-
pai, II. 20, 23), then laughs the blessed heart of him (eyeXacrae Be
ol <f)i\ov r)Top, 21,
389) ;
which is exactly the Eddie hlo honum

hugr i briosti, hloHlorriSa hugr i briosti/ laughed the mind in hi

breast : a fresh confirmation of the essential oneness of Zeus am

Thorr. But it is also said of heroes Atla hugr i briosti : hlo J?a
Ssem. 238 b . hlo J?a Brynhildr af ollum hug/ with all her hear
220 a . OS. hugi ward fromod, Hel. 109, 7. AS. mod ahloh
Andr. 454. Later, in the Eudlieb 2, 174. 203. 3, 17 the king ii

his speech is said subridere ; in the Nibel. 423, 2 ol Brunhild

mit smielinden munde si iiber ahsel sah, looked over her shoulder
Often in the song of the Cid: sonrisose de la boca, and alegre era .

IdvOrj,
@v/j,o<; 23, 600 conf. dvpov laivov, Hymn, in Cer. 435
II. ;

Half in displeasure Here laughs with her lips, not her brows
eyeXacrae xeiXeviv, ov&e fiercoTrov eV Kvaveyaw lavdrj, I. o<j)pv(Ti

15, 102 but Zeus feels

; joy in sending out his lightnings, he i
called repiTLKepavvos 2, 781. 8, 2. 773. 20, 144. So Artemi
(Diana) is
lo%eaipa, rejoicing in arrows, 6, 428. 21, 480. Od. 11
198. At the limping of Hephaestus, the assembly of gods burst
into a<7/3eo-To? 76X0)?, uncontrolled laughter, II. 1, 599 ;
but a gentl
smile (jjiei&av) is peculiar to Zeus, Here and Aphrodite. A
1
Andreas and Elene p. xxxvii.
2
Helbl. 7, 518 diu warheit des :
erlachet, truth laughs at that.
 MIRTH. GAIT. PACE. 325

Aphrodite s beauty isexpressed by ^tXo^etS^?, smile-loving (II. 4,

10. 5, 375), so is Freyja s on the contrary by gratfogr/ fair in
weeping (see Suppl.).

We have to consider next the manner in which the gods put

themselves in motion and become visible to the eyes of mortals.
We find they have a gait and step like the human, only far mightier
and swifter. The usual expressions are ftij, {3fj L/juev, @fj Ikvai, II.
1, 44. 2, 14. 14, 188. 24, 347, faffjicei, 1, 221, tfa 14, 224, j3dr7]v
5, 778, Prjrrji 14, 281, iroal 7rpo/3i/3d<? 13, 18, TrpovefifaeTo 2, 48.
14, 292, tcarepjo-eTo 13, 17, aTrepfaero 2, 35; and in the Edda
a a a b a a
gengr, Saam. 9 gek 100 , gengo 70 71 , gengengo l 5 , or else for
,

31 a 31 b 53 a 75 a this fara meaning no more than ire,

,
proficisci, and
OSinn was even called Gangleri, Ssem. 32. Sn. 24, i.e., the walker,
traveller the AS. poets use gewdt (evasit, abiit) or siffdde of God
;

returning to heaven, Andr. 118. 225. 977. El. 94-5. But how
enormously the walk of the gods differs from the common, we see
in the instance of Poseidon, who
goes an immense distance in three
steps, II. 13, 20, or that of the Indian Vishnu, who in three paces
traverses earth, air and sky. From such swiftness there follows
next the sudden appearance and
disappearance of the gods; for
which our older speech seems to have used Goth,
hvairban, OHG.
huerban, AS. hweorfan (verti, ferri, rotari) him to :
hwearf
heofenum halig dryhten says Csedm. 16, 8 and Oomn
; hvarf J?a,
vanished, Saem. 47. Homer
employs, to express the same thing,
either the .verb ataaco
(impetu feror), or the adverbs icapiraXifuos
(as if
dp7ra\^a>9 raptim) and Kparnvw raptim. Thus Athene
or Here comes at%aaa, Od. 1, 102. II. 2, 167.
4, 74. 19, 114.
22, 187 Thetis, the dream, Athene, Here, all
;
appear icafyiraXi^^
11. 1, 359. 2, 17. 168. 5, 868. 19, 115. Od. 2, 406; Poseidon
and Here tcpanrvd, Kpaiirvfa, II. 13, 18. 14. 292 even Zeus, when ;

he from his throne to look on the earth,

rises
o-rfj avat&s 15, 6.
So Holda and Berhta
suddenly stand at the window (p. 274). Much
in the same
way I understand the expression used in Saem. 53 a of
Thorr and Tyr foro
driugom :
tractim, for
(ibant raptim, e\/cr)S6v\
driugr is from driuga, Goth, driugan trahere, whence also Goth.
draiihts, OHG. truht turba, agmen, ON. draugr larva, phantasma,
OHG. gitroc fallacia, because a spectre appears and vanishes
quickly in the air. At the same time it means the rush and din
326 CONDITION OF GODS.

that betoken the god s approach, the worn a and onii above, from
which O Sinn took a name (p. 144-5). The rapid movement of

descending gods is sometimes likened to a shooting star, or the

flight of birds, II. 4, 75. 15, 93. 237 hence they often take even
;

the form of some bird, as Tharapila the Osilian god flew (p. 77).
Athene flies away in the shape of a apirrj (falcon ?), II. 19, 350, an
opvw bird, Od. 1, 320, or a (prjvij osprey, 3, 372 as a swallow she ;

perches (efer avat^aaa) on the house s peXaOpov 22, 239. The

exchange of the human form for that of a bird, when the gods are
departing and no longer need to conceal their wondrous being,
tallies exactly with Gain s
taking his flight as a falcon, after he
had in the shape of Gestr conversed and quarrelled with HeiSreckr:
viSbrast i veils liki, Fornald. sog. 1, 487; but it is also retained in

many stories of the devil, who assumes

at departure the body of a
raven or a fly tanquam corvus, egressus est in muscae
(exit
similitudine). At other times, and this is the prettier touch of the
two, the gods allow the man to whom they have appeared as his
equals, suddenly as they are going, to become aware of their divine
proportions heel, calf, neck or shoulder betrays the god.
: "When

Poseidon leaves the two Ajaxes, one of them says, II. 13, 71 :

i%via <yap fjieTOTTicrde TTO^WV r)$e KVIHJLCKDV

pel air lovros aplyvcoroi Se Oeol

<yvo)v
irep.

So, when Venus leaves Aeneas, Virg. 1, 402 :

Dixit, et avertens rosea cervice refulsit

et vera incessu patuit dea. I lie ubi matrem
agnovit, tali fugientem est voce secutus.

So, II. 3, 396, Alexander recognises the

d # l/juepoevra KOL o/Jifjuara

And in ON.
legend, Hallbiorn on awaking sees the shoulder of a
figure in his dream before it vanishes }?ykist sia a herSar honuin, :

Fornald. sog. 3, 103 as is likewise said in Olaf the saint s saga

;

cap. 199. ed. Holm., while the Fornm. sog. 5, 38 has it : sia svip
mannsins er a brutt gekk ;
conf. os humerosque deo similis, Aen. 1,

589. This also lingers in our devil-stories: at the Evil one s

departure his cloven hoof suddenly becomes visible, the lyyia of

the ancient god.
As the incessus of Venus declared the goddess, the motion (f#/xa)
of Here and Athene is likened to that of timorous doves, II. 5, 778.
 FLIGHT. VEHICLES. HORSES. 327

But the gliding of the gods over such immense distances must have
seemed from first to last like flying, especially as their departure
was expressly prepared for by the assumption of a bird s form. It
is therefore easy to comprehend why two several deities, Hermes

and Athene, are provided with peculiar sandals (TreSiXa), whose

motive power conveys them over sea and land with the speed of
wind, II. 24, 341. Od. 1, 97. 5, 45 we are expressly told that
;

Hermes flew with them (Trereto, II. 24, 345. Od. 5, 49);
plastic art represents them as winged shoes, and at a later time adds
a pair of wings to the head of Hermes. 1 These winged sandals
then have a perfect right to be placed side by side with the feather-
shift (fiaSrhamr) which Freyja possessed, and which at Thor s
request she lent to Loki for his flight to lotunheim, Saem. 70
a>b

but as Freyja more than once confounded with Frigg (p. 302),
is

other legends tell us that Loki flew off in the valsham Friggjar,
Sn. 113. I shall come back to these falcon or swan coats in
another connexion, but their resemblance to the Greek pedlla
is unmistakable; as Loki is here sent as a
messenger from the
gods to the giants, he is so far one with Hermes, and Freyja s
feather-shift suggests the sandals of Athene. Sn. 132-7: Loki
atti skda, er hann rann d lopt ok log! had shoes in which he ran

through air and It was an easy matter, in a myth, for the

fire.

investiture with winged hamr or sandals to glide insensibly into

an actual assumption of a bird s form GeirroSr catches the flying
:

Loki as a veritable bird, Sn. 113, and when Athene starts to fly,
she is a swallow (see Suppl.).

The mighty gods would doubtless have moved whithersoever it

pleased them, without wings or sandals, but simple antiquity was
not content with even these the human race used carriages and
:

horses, and the gods cannot do without them either. On this point
a sensible difference is to be found between the Greek and German

mythologies.
All the higher divinities of the Greeks have a chariot and pair
ascribed to them, as their kings and heroes in battle also fight in
chariots. An o^rjfia for the god of thunder would at once be
suggested by the natural phenomenon itself and the conception of
;

the sun-chariot driven by Helios must also be very ancient. The

1
0. Miiller s archseol. 559.
328 CONDITION OF GODS.

car of Here, and how she harnesses her steeds to it, mounts it in

company with Athene, and guides it, is gorgeously depicted in II.

5, 720-76 so likewise Demeter and Kora appear seated in a
;

carriage. Hermes is drawn by rams, 1 as the Norse Thorr [by he-

goats]. The Okeanides too have their vehicle, Aesch. Prom. 135.
But never are Zeus, Apollo, Hermes or any of the most ancient
gods imagined riding on horseback ; it is Dionysos, belonging to a
different order of deities, that first rides a panther, as Silenus does
the ass, and godlike heroes such as Perseus, Theseus, and above all,
the Dioscuri are mounted on horses. Okeanos bestrides a winged
steed, Prom. 395. seems worth remarking, that modern Greek
It

legend represents even Charon as mounted.

In Teutonic mythology the riding of gods is a far commoner
thing. In the Merseburg poem both Wuotan and Phol ride in the
forest, which is not at all inconsistent with the word used, faran ;

for it is neither conceivable that Wuotan drove while Balder rode,

nor that Balder drove a one-horse carriage. Even Hartmann von
Aue still imagines God riding a horse, and contented with Enit for
his groom (p. 18). Among those that ride in the Edda are Oftinn
a
(who saddles his Sleipnir for himself, Ssem. 93 ), Baldr and
HermoSr in Sse-m. 44a and Sn. 18 are given the names of ten other
;

horses as well, on which the Ases daily ride to council, one of them

being HeimdalTs Gulltoppr, Sn. 30. 66 the owners of the rest are
;

not specified, but, as there were twelve Ases and only eleven horses
are named, it follows that each of those gods had his mount, except

Thorr,who is invariably introduced either driving or walking (p.

167),and when he gets Gullfaxi as spoil from Hrungnir, gives him
away to his son Magni, Sn. 110. OSin s horse leaps a hedge seven
ells high, Fornni. sog. 10, 56. 175. Even the women of the gods
are mounted the valkyrs, like OSinn, ride through air and water,
:

Sn. 107, Ereyja and Hyndla on a boar and a wolf, as enchantresses

and witches are imagined riding a wolf, a he-goat or a cat. Night
(fern.) had a steed Hrimfaxi, rimy-mane, as Day (masc.) had
Skinfaxi, shiny-mane.
At the same time carriages are mentioned too, especially for
goddesses (p. 107). The sacred car of Nerthus was drawn by cows,
that of Freyja by cats, Holda and Berhta are commonly found
driving waggons which they get mended, the fairies in our nursery
-

1
0. Muller s archccol. 5G3.
 VEHICLES. HOUSES. 329

tales travel through the and Brynhildr drives in her

air in coaches,

waggon The image of a Gothic

to the nether world, Ssem. 227.

deity in a waggon was alluded to on p. 107 among the gods, ;

Freyr is expressly described as mounted on his car, while Thorr

has a waggon drawn by he-goats on Woden s waggon, conf. p.
:

151 (see SuppL).

When we waggons were proper to the oldest
consider, that
kings also, especially the Frankish kings, and that their riding on
horseback is nowhere mentioned it seems probable that originally
;

a similar equipage was alone deemed suitable to the gods, and their

riding crept in only gradually in the coarser representations of later

times. From heroes it was transferred to gods, though this must
have been done pretty early too, as we may venture to allow a
considerable antiquity to the story of Sleipnir and that of Balder s
horse or foal. The Slavs also generally furnished their god
Svantovit with a horse to ride on.
Some few divinities made use of a ship, as may be seen by the
stories of ship and that of
Athene s Isis, and Frey s Ski5bla5nir,
the best of all ships, Ssem. 45 b .

But whichever way the gods might move, on earth, through air
or in water, their walk and and driving is
tread, their riding
represented as so vehement, that it produces a loud noise, and the
din of the elements is explained by it. The driving of Zeus or
Thorr awakens thunder in the clouds mountains and forests ;

tremble beneath Poseidon s tread, II. 13, 18 ;

when Apollo lets
himself down from
the heights of Olympus, arrows and bow clatter

(efc\ay%av) on his shoulder 1, 44, Sewi) Se /c\a<yyrj lyeyer apyvpeoio

f$iolo, dreadful was the twang of his silver bow 1, 49. In the lays
of the Edda this stirring up of nature is described in exactly the
same way, while the AS. and OHG. writings, owing to the earlier
extinction of heathen notions, have preserved no traces of it :

framm reiS
OSinn, foldvegr dundi/ forth
way rode 0., earth s
a
thundered, Seem. 94 biorg brotnoSo, brann iorft loga, 6k Oblns
;

sonr i lotunheima, mountains crumbled, earth blazed, when rode,

&c. 73 a no Loki, fiaSrhamr dundi, the wing-coat whirred, 70 a
;

71 a ;
enn allir for scialfa garSar Gymis when
ior5 bifaz (quaked),
Skirnir came riding 83 a The rage and writhing of gods who were
.

bound produced equally tremendous effects (p. 246).

330 CONDITION OF GODS.

On the other hand, delightful and salutary products of nature

are also traced to the immediate influence of the gods. Flowers
spring up where their feet have strayed ; on the spot where Zeus
clasped Here in his arms, shot up a thick growth of sweet herbs
and flowers, and glittering dewdrops trickled down, II. 14, 346 51.

So, when the valkyrs rode through the air, their horses manes
shook fruitful dew on the deep vales below, Saem. 145 b or it falls ;

b
nightly from the bit of Hrimfaxi s bridle 32 (see Suppl.).

Of one thing there scarcely a trace in our mythology, though

is

it occurs so often in the Greek that the gods, to screen themselves

:

from sight, shed a mist round themselves or their favourites who

are to be withdrawn from the enemy s eye, II. 3, 381. 5, 776. 18,
205. 21, 549. 597. It is called rjepi KaXvirreiv, yepa ^elv, afavv or

vefos a-Tefaiv, and the contrary d^Kvv ovce8aetz>

to scatter, chase

away, the mist. We might indeed take this into account, that the

same valkyrs who, like the Servian vily, favour and shield their
beloved heroes in battle, were able to produce clouds and hail in
the air or throw into the reckoning our tarnkappes and helidhelms,
;

whose effect was the same as that of the mist. And the Norse
as much as the
gods do take part with or against certain heroes,
Greek gods before Ilion. In the battle of Bravik, OSinn mingled
with the combatants, and assumed the figure of a charioteer Bruni ;

Saxo Gram., p. 146. Fornald. sog. 1, 380. The Grimnismal makes

Geirroftr the of OSinn, Agnarr that of Frigg, and
protege (fostri)
the two deities take counsel together concerning them, Ssem. 39 ; in
the Vols. saga cap. 42, OSinn suggests the plan for slaying the sons
of lonakr. when they drew nigh to counsel
The Greek gods also,
or defend, appeared in the form of a human warrior, a herald, an
old man, or they made themselves known to their hero himself,
but not to others. In such a case they stand before, beside or
behind him (irapd, II. 2, 279. tyyvOi, Od. 1, 120. o^oO, II. 2, 172.
3, 129. 4, 92. 5, 123. Trp6v6ev 4, 129. fai6ev 1, 197)
Athene leads ;

off 4, 52
by the hand through the battle, and wards the arrows ;

she throws the dreadful aegis round Achilles 18, 204; Aphrodite
shields Aeneas by holding her veil before him 5, 315; and other
heroes are removed from the midst of the fray by protecting
deities (p. 320). Venus makes herself visible to Hippomenes alone,
Ovid Met. 10,650. Now in friendly guise, Od. 7, 201
they appear
 SLEEP. SICKNESS. LAUGHTER. 331

seq. ;
now clothed in terror :
%a\e7rol Be Oeol <f>atveaOcu evapyels,
II. 20, 131 (see Suppl.).

The Iliad, 14, 286 seq., relates how"T7n/o<? (sleep), sitting in the

shape of a song-bird on the boughs of a fir-tree on Mt. Ida, over

powers the highest of all the gods other passages show that the ;

gods went to their beds every night, and partook like men of the
benefit of sleep, II. 1, 609. 2, 2. 24, 677. Still less can it be

doubted of the Norse gods, that they too slept at night Thorr on :

his journeys looks out for night-lodging, Sn. 50 ; of Heimdall alone

is it said, that he needs less sleep than a bird, Sn. 30. And from
this sway of sleep over the gods follows again, what was maintained
above, that of death : Death is the brother of Sleep. Besides, the
gods fell Freyr was sick with love, and his
a prey to diseases.

great hugsott (mind-sickness) awakened the pity of all the gods.

Oolnn, Niorcr and Freyr, according to the Yngl. saga 10. 11. 12, all
sink under sicknesses (sottdauolr). Aphrodite and Ares receive
wounds, II. 5, 330. 858 ;
these are quickly healed [yet not without
medical aid]. A curious story tells how the Lord God, having
fallen sick, descends from heaven to earth to get cured, and comes
to Arras ;
there minstrels and merryandrews receive commands to
amuse him, and one manages so cleverly, that the Lord bursts out
1
laughing and finds himself rid of his distemper. This may be very
ancient for in the same way, sick daughters of kings in nursery-
;

tales are made to laugh by beggars and fiddlers, and so is the

goddess Skaol in the Edda by Loki s juggling tricks, when mourning

the death of her father, Sn. 82. lambe cheered the sorrowing
Demeter, and caused her, TTO\\CL Trapao-KcoTrrovcra, yLtet8r}crat ye\dcrat,
f

re, Kal i\aov a-^elv Ovpov, Hymn, in Cer. 203 (see Suppl.).

Important above all are the similar accounts, given by Greek

antiquity and by our own, of the language of the gods. Thus,
passages in the Iliad and the Odyssey distinguish between the
divine and human names for the same object :

ov Bpidpeajv KoXiovari Oeol, avbpes Be re Trdvres

Afyauov. II. 1, 403.

rrjv r}Toi avbpes Barieiav
1
De la venue de Dieu a Arras, in Jubinal s Nouveau recueil de contes 2,
377-8.
332 CONDITION OF GODS.

uOdvaroi Se re crf;//,a irokvaKapOfJioio Mvphnfi. 2, 813.

%a\KiBa KiK\.rj(TKOvo i, Oeoi, av&pes 8e K.UJJLIV&IV. 14, 291.

bv ttdvOov Ka\eovcTi 6eoi, civSpes Se 2 fcdfjiavSpov. 20, 74.
1

/jiw\v e /LUV Kokeovcri 6eoL Od. 10, 305.

A whole song in the Edda is taken up with comparing the languages,
not only of gods and men, but of Vanir, elves, dwarfs, giants and
subterraneans, and that not in a few proper names and rare words,
but in a whole string of names for the commonest objects. At the
very outset it surprises us, that while goS and sesir are treated as

synonymous, a distinction is drawn between goS and ginregin. In

13 strophes are given 78 terms in all: on examining these, it soon

appears that the variety of names (six) for each thing simply comes
of the richness of the Teutonic tongue, and cannot possibly be
ascribed to old remnants or later borrowings from any Finnic,
Celtic or Slavic languages. They are synonyms or poetic names,
which are distributed among six or eight orders of beings endowed
with speech, according to the exigencies of alliteration, not from
their belonging to the same class, such as poetical or prose. I will
illustrate this by quoting the strophe on the names for a cloud :

sc$ heitir meS mb nnom, en scdrvdn meS goSom,

kalla vindflot Vanir,
drvdn iotnar, alfar veffrmegin,
kalla i
heljo liidlm huliz.

Everything here is Teutonic, and still the resources of our language

are not exhausted by a long way, to say nothing of what it may
have borrowed from others. The only simple word is sky, still
used in the Scandinavian dialects, and connected with skuggi umbra,
AS. scuwa, scua, OHG. scuwo. The rest are all appropriate and
intelligible periphrases. Scurvan [shower-weening] pluviae expec-
tatio, from skur imber, Germ, schauer urvan just the same, from
;

ur pluvia, with which compare the literal meaning of Sanskr.

abhra nubes, viz. aquam gerens. 2 Vindflot is apparently navigium
venti, because the winds sail through the air on clouds. Veftrmegin
transposed is exactly the OHG. maganwetar turbo and hialmr ;

Perhaps we ought also to reckon aierdy and Trepwos 24, 316, which is no
1

mere eVkAijo-is as in 7, 138. 18, 487 (Od. 5, 273). 22,

29. 506, though A0ru6<0{
to it, as
in this last passage happens to have 2/ca/iai/dptos (6, 402) answering
Sdvdos has 2/ca/iai/8pO.
8 & a
Bopp, gloss, saiiskr. 16 209 .
 LANGUAGE. 333

huliz appears elsewhere as hulizhialmr, OS. lielith-helm, a tarn-

helmet, grima, mask, which wraps one in like a mist or cloud. Of
course the Teutonic tongue could offer several other words to stand
for cloud, beside those six ; e.g., nifl, OHG. nebal, Lat. nebula, Gr.
ve^eX-rj ; Goth, milhma, Swed. moln, Dan. mulm ;
Sansk. megha,
Gr. o/u^X?7, o/AixXij, Slav, megla OHG. wolchan, ; AS. wolcen, which
is to Slav, oblako as miluk, milk, to Slav, mleko ; ON. J?oka nebula,
Dan. taage M.Dut. swerk nubes, OS.
; gisuerc, caligo, nimbus
AS. ;

hoSma nubes, Beow. 4911. And so it is with the other twelve

objects whose names are discussed in the Alvismal. Where simple
words, like sol and sunna, mani and skin, or iord and fold, are
named together, one might attempt to refer them to different
dialects the periphrases in themselves show no reason
:
(unless
mythology found one they should be assigned in
for them), why
particular to gods or men, giants or dwarfs. The whole poem
brings before us an acceptable list of pretty synonyms, but throws
no light on the primitive affinities of our language.
Plato in the Cratylus tries hard to understand that division of
Greek words into divine and human. A
duality of proper names,
like Briareos and Aigaion, reminds us of the double forms Hler and

Oegir (p. 240), Ymir and Oergelmir, which last Sn. 6 attributes to the

Hrimjwrses ISunn would seem by Saem. 89 to be an Elvish

ar
;

word, but we do not hear of any other name for the goddess. In
the same way Xanthus and Skamander, Batieia and Myrina might
be the different names of a thing in different dialects. More
interesting are the double names for two birds, the %a\/a9 or
and the atero? and Trepicvos.
Kv/uLivSw (corif. Plin. 10, 10), Xa\/ci<;

is some bird of prey, a hawk or owl, which does

supposed to signify
not answer to the description opins (piping), and the myth
\<,<yvpd

requires a bird that in sweet and silvery tones sings one to sleep,
like the nightingale. Ilepicvos means dark-coloured, which suits
the eagle to imagine it the bird of the thundergod Perkun, would
;

be too daring. Poetic periphrases there are none among these

Greek words.
The principal point seems to be, that the popular beliefs of
Greeks and Teutons agree in tracing obscure words and those
departing from common usage to a distinction between divine and
human speech. The Greek scholiasts suppose that the poet,

holding converse with the Muses, is initiated into the language of

 334 CONDITION OF GODS.

1
gods, and where he finds a twofold nomenclature, he ascribes the
older, nobler, more euphonious (TO Kpel-rrov, evfywvov, Trpoyevecr-

repov ovofjio) to the gods, the later and meaner (TO e\arrov, f^era-
yevea-Tepov) to men. But the four or five instances in Homer are
even less instructive than the more numerous ones of the Norse
lay. Evidently the opinion was firmly held, that the gods, though
of one and the same race with mortals, so far surpassed living men
in age and dignity, that they still made use of words which had

latterly died out or suffered change. As the line of a king s

ancestors was traced up to a divine stock, so the language of gods

was held to be of the same kind as that of men, but right feeling
would assign to the former such words as had gradually disappeared
among men. The Alvismal, as we have seen, goes farther, and
reserves particular words for yet other beings beside the gods ;

what I maintained on p. 218 about the impossibility of denying the

Vanir a Teutonic origin, is confirmed by our present inquiry. That
any other nation, beside Greeks and Teutons, believed in a separate
language of gods, is unknown to me, and the agreement of these
two the more significant. When Ovid in Met. 11, 640 says
is :

Hunc Icelon superi, mortale Phobetora vulgus nominat, this is

imitated from the Greeks, as the very names show (see Suppl.).
The Indians trace nothing but their alphabet (devanagari, deva-
writing), as our forefathers did the mystery of runes (p. 149), to a
divine origin, and the use of the symbol may be connected with
that of the sound itself ;
with the earliest signs, why should not
the purest and oldest expressions too be attributed to gods ?
Homer s eirea Trrepoevra (winged words) belong to heroes and other
men as well as to gods, else we might interpret them strictly of the
ease and nimbleness with which the gods wield the gift of speech.

Beside language, the gods have customs in common with men.

They love song and play, take delight in hunting, war and banquets,
and the goddesses in ploughing, weaving, spinning both of them ;

keep servants and messengers. Zeus causes all the other gods to be
summoned to the assembly (dyop;, II. 8, 2. 20, 4), just as the Ases

1
iy p.ov(TOTpa(pr)s ray Trapa deols tViorarat Ae eiy, oiSe TTJV TWV 6e)v
<al

8id\KTOv, olSe TO. 6ewv (ov6p,aTa), as VTTO p.ovcrwv Karanvfap-fvos. 6i\cov 6

TU>V

irotrjTrjs 6eZat on fJiovaoXrjTrTOS eVrtv,

ov p.6vov TO, dvdpwTT&v ovo^ara liray-
TU>V

ye XXerai etSeVat, dXX* Sxnrfp KOI ol 6eoi Xtyovtrt,

 GKADES. OFFICES. 335

a
attend at the }?ing (Soem. 93 ), on the rokstola, and by the Yggdra-
b a a
sill (Stem. l 2 44 ), to counsel and to judge. Hebe, youth, is
cupbearer of the gods and handmaid to Here (II. 5, 722), as Fulla
is to Frigg (Sn. 36) the youth Ganymede is cupbearer too, and so
;

a
is Beyla at the feast of the Ases (Ssem. 67 ); Skirnir is Frey s
shoemaker (81) and messenger, Beyggvir and Beyla are also called
his servants (59). These services do no detriment to their own
divine nature. Beside Hermes, the goddess Iris goes, on errands
for the Greek gods (see Suppl).

Amongthe gods themselves there is a difference of rank. Three

sons of Kronos have the world divided among them, the sky is

allotted to Zeus, the sea to Poseidon, hell to Hades, and the earth

they are supposed to share between them (II. 15, 193). These
three tower above all the rest, like Har, lafnhar and Thrift! in the
Norse spoken of on p. 162. This is not the same
religion, the triad

thing as Wuotan, Donar, Ziu/ if only because the last two are not
brothers but sons of Wuotan, although these pass for the three

mightiest gods. Then, together with this triad, we become aware

of a circle of twelve (p. 26), a close circle from which some of the

gods are excluded. Another division, that into old and new gods,
does not by any means coincide with this not only OSinn and his
:

1
Ases, but also Zeus and his colleagues, appear as upstarts to have
supplanted older gods of nature (see Suppl.).
All the divinities, Greek and Norse, have offices and functions

assigned them, which define their dominion, and have had a marked
influence on their pictorial representation. In Sn. 27 29 these
offices are specified, each with the words hann rseftr fyrir (he
:

looks after)/ or a hann skal heita til, er gott at heita til (to him
you shall pray for, it is good to pray for) Now, as any remnants
.

of Greek or Teutonic paganism in the Mid. Ages were sure to

connect themselves with some Christian saints, to whom the
protection of certain classes or the healing of certain diseases was
carried over, it is evident that a careful classification of these

guardian saints according to the offices assigned them, on the

2
strength of which they are good to pray to, would be of advan
tage to our antiquities. And the animals dedicated to each

1
Aesch. Prom. 439 deolai rols veois, 955 veov veoi Kparetre, 960 TOVS veovs
6eovs. Eumen. 156. 748. 799 ol i/ewrepot deoi. Conf. Otfr. Miiller, p. 181.
2
Conf. Haupt s zeitschr. fur d. alt. 1, 143-4.
336 CONDITION OF GODS.

deified saint (as once they were to gods) would have to be specified
too.

The favourite residence of each god is

particularly pointed out
in the Grimnismal mountains especially were consecrated to the
;

Teutonic, as to the Greek deities: Sigt^sberg, Himinbib rg, &c.

Olympus was peculiarly the house of Zeus (Jto? to which SCO/JLO),
the other gods assembled on the highest peak of the
(II. 1, 494) ;

range he would sit apart (arep a\\wv 1, 498. 5, 753), loving to take
counsel alone (d-TrdvevOe Oe&v 8, 10). He had another seat on Ida
whence he looked down to survey the
(11, 183. 336), doings of men,
as 05inn did from HliSscialf. Poseidon sat on a
height in the
wooded range of Samos (13, 12). Valholl and Bilskirnir, the
dwellings of OSinn and Thorr, are renowned for their enormous
size the one is said to have 540 doors,
;
through any one of which
800 einheriar can go out at once, and Bilskirnir has likewise 540
golfe [OK golfr, floor] (see SuppL).

If now we take in one view the relations of

gods and men, we
find they meet and touch at all points. As the created being is
filled with a childlike sense of its dependence on the creator, and
prayers and offerings implore his favour, so deity too delights in its
creations, and takes in them a fatherly interest. Man s longing
goes forth towards heaven the gods fix their gaze on the earth, to
;

watch and direct the doings of mortals. The blessed

gods do
commune with each other in their heavenly abodes, where feasts
and revels go on as in earthly fashion ; but
they are more drawn to
men, whose destinies enlist their liveliest sympathy. It is not true,
what Mart. Cap. says 2, 9 :
ipsi dicuntur dii, et caelites alias

perhibentur . . . nee admodum eos mortalium curarum vota

sollicitant, a7ra0eZ?que perhibentur. Not content with making
their will known by
and messengers, they resolve
signs tocome
down themselves and appear to men. Such appearance is in the
Hindu mythology marked by a special name: avatura, i.e., de-
scensus. 1
Under this head come first the solemn car-processions of deities
heralding peace and fruitfulness or war and mischief, which for the
most part recur at stated seasons, and are associated with popular
festivals ;
on the fall of heathenism, only motherly wise-women

1 a
Bopp s gloss, sansk. 21 .
 DWELLINGS. INCARNATION. 337

stillgo their rounds, and heroes ride through field or air. More
rarely, and not at regular intervals,
there take place journeys of

gods through the world, singly or in twos or threes, to inspect the

race of man, and punish the crimes they have noticed. Thus
Mercury and OSinn appeared on earth, or Heimdall to found the
three orders, and Thorr visited at weddings Oolnn, Hoenir and ;

Loki travelled in company; medieval legend makes God the

Father seek a lodging, or the Saviour and St. Peter, or merely
three angels (as the Servian song does, Vuk 4, no. 3). Most
frequent however are the solitary appearances of gods, who, invoked
or uninvoked, suddenly bring succour to their favoured ones in
every time of need the Greek epos is quite full of this. Athene,
;

Poseidon, Ares, Aphrodite mingle with the warriors, warning,

advising, covering ;
and just as often do Mary and saints from
heaven appear in Christian legends. The Lithuanian Perkunos also
walks on earth (see SuppL).
But when they descend, they are not always visible ; you may
hear the car of the god rush by, and not get sight of him bodily ;

like ghosts the blessed gods flit past the human eye unnoticed, till
the obstructive mist be removed from it. Athene seizes Achilles

by the hair, only by him and no other is she seen, II. 1, 197 to;

make the succouring deities visible to Diomed, she has taken the
mist from his eyes, that was on them before 5, 127 :

8 av TOI air o(#aX//,coz/ e\ov, r) irplv eirrjev,

6V too-Kys r)fj,ev Oeov ?)8e KOI avSpa.

Just so Biarco, in Saxo Gram., p. 37, is unable to spy Othin riding

a white steed and aiding the Swedes, till he
peeps through the ring
formed by the arm of a spirit-seeing woman: a medium that
elsewhere makes the elfin race visible to the bleared eyes of man.
In another way the gods, even when they showed themselves
bodily, concealed their divine nature, by assuming the form of a
human acquaintance, or of an animal. Poseidon "stept
into the
host, disguised as Kalchas, II. 13, 45, Hermes escorted Priam as a
Myrmidon warrior and Athene the young Telemachus as
24, 397,
Mentor. In the same way Othin appeared as the chariot-driver
Bruno (p. 330), or as a one-eyed old man.
Metamorphoses of gods
into animals in Teutonic
mythology take place only for a definite
momentary purpose, to which the character of the animal supplies
the key e.g., Oftinn takes the
;
shape of a snake, to slip through a
22
338 CONDITION OF GODS.

hole lie lias bored (Sn. 86), and of an eagle, to fly away in haste

(86), Loki that of

a fly, in order to sting (131), or to creep through
a keyhole (356) no larger designs are ever compassed by such
;

means. So, when Athene flies away as a bird, it expresses the

divinity of her nature and the
suddenness of her departure. But
the swan or bull, into which Zeus transformed himself, can only be

explained on the supposition that

Leda too, and lo and Europa,
whom he was wooing, were thought of as swan-maidens or kine.
The form of animal would then be determined by the mythus, and
the egg-birth of the Dioscuri can be best understood in this way
(see SuppL).
In the Asiatic legends, it seems to me, the manifestations of

deity are conceived deeply

and purely in comparison, and nowhere
more profoundly than in those of India. The god comes down and
abides in the flesh for a season, for the salvation of mankind.
Wherever the doctrine metempsychosis prevailed, the bodies of
of

animals even were eligible for the avatara; and of Vishnu s ten
successive incarnations, the earlier ones are animal, it was in the
later ones that he truly became man (see SuppL). The Greek
and Teutonic mythologies steer clear of all such notions ;
in both

of them the story of the gods was too sensuously conceived to have
invested their transformations with the seriousness and duration of
an avatara, although a belief in such incarnation is in itself so
descended from the
nearly akin to that of the heroes being bodily
gods.

I think that on all these lines of research, which could be

extended to many other points as well, I have brought forward a
series of undeniable resemblances between the Teutonic mythology
and the Greek. Here, as in the relation between the Greek and
Teutonic languages, there is no question of borrowing or choice,
nothing but unconscious affinity, allowing room (and
that inevit

ably) for considerable divergences. But who can fail to recognise,

or who surprising similarity of opinions

invalidate, the on the!

immortality of gods, their divine food, their growing up overnight,

their journey ings and transformations, their epithets, their anger
and their mirth, their suddenness in appearing and recognition ati

parting, their use of carriages

and horses, their performance of
allj
natural functions, their illnesses, their language, their servants and)
 CONDITION OF GODS, 339

messengers, offices and dwellings ? To conclude, I think I see a

further analogy in the circumstance, that out of the names of livino-

gods, as Tyr, Freyr, Baldr, Bragi, Zeus, grew up the common nouns
tyr, frauja, baldor, bragi, deus, or they bordered close upon
them (see SuppL).
 CHAPTER XV.

HEROES.

Between God and man there is a step on which the one leads
into the other, where we see the Divine Being brought nearer to
things of earth, and human strength glorified. The older the epos,
the more doesit require gods visible in the flesh even the younger ;

cannot do without heroes, in whom a divine spark still burns, or

who come to be partakers of it.
Heroism must not be made to consist in anything but battle
and victory a hero is a man that in fighting against evil achieves
:

immortal deeds, and attains divine honours. As in the gradation

of ranks the noble stands between the king and the freeman, so
does the hero between God and man. From nobles come forth
TI KOL Beov
kings, from heroes gods. rjpa)? eo-rlv ef avOpMirov

c-vvBerov, o fJLTJrt- avOpwTTQS earl, fjLrjre 6ebs, KCLI o-vva/uL^orepop ecrrl

(Lucian in Dial, mortuor. 3), yet so that the human predominates

:

ita tamen ut plus ab homine habeat, says Servius on Aen. 1, 200.

The hero succumbs to pains, wounds, death, from which even the
of antiquity, were not exempt (p. 318).
gods, according to the view
In the hero, man attains the half of deity, becomes a demigod,
semideus :
rj /z 1 eco v yepos avbpwv, II. 12, 23 ; apftpwp rjpwwv Oelov
7^09, 01 Ka\eop7cu rj /A i 6 o i, Hes. epy. 159. Jornandes applies
semidei to the (supra p. 25), as Saxo Gram, pronounces
anses
Balder a semidcum, arcano superum semine procreatum. Otherwise
in ON. writings we meet with neither halfgoft nor halfas ? but N.

Cap. 141 renders hemithei heroesque by halbkota unde crdkota

(earthgods) .

Heroes are distinct from daemonic beings, such as angels, elves,

giants, who fill indeed the gap
between God and man, but have not
a human origin. Under paganism, messengers of the gods were

Halftroll, halfrisi are similar, and

the OHG. halpdurinc, halpwalahy
to altdurinc, altwalah.
halpteni (ON. lialfdan) as opposed
 HEROES. 341

1
gods themselves the Judeo-christian angel is a daemon.
j
Eather
may the hero be compared to the Christian saint, who through
spiritual strife and sorrow earns a place
in heaven (see SuppL).
This human nature of heroes is implied in nearly all the titles

given to them. For the definite notion of a divine glorified hero,

the Latin language has borrowed heros from the Greek, though its
own vir (=Goth. vair ON. ver, 2 AS. OHG. wer, Lett, wihrs, Lith.
wyras) in the sense of vir fortis (Tac. Germ. 3) so nearly comes up
to the Sanskr. vim heros. Heros, which originally means a r/pa>?,

mere fighter, has been identified with rather too many things: hems,
(

Hpij, HpaK\r)s, even "ApTjs

and aperr) = virtus, so that the Goth,
aims, ON. ar, a~ri=nuntius, minister, might come in too, or the
supposed digamma make a connexion with the aforesaid vira look
plausible. More undeniably, our held is a prolongation3 of the
simple ON. hair, AS. hsele vir the name Halidegastes (like :

Leudogastes) is found so early as in Vopiscus and a Goth, halips, ;

OHG. halid, helid may be safely inferred from the proper names
4
Helidperaht, Helidcrim, Helidgund, Helidniu, Helidberga, though
it is
only from the 12th century that our memorials furnish an
actual Jielit
pi. helide ;
the MHG. helet, helt, pi. helde, occurs often
enough. Of the AS. heeled I remark that it makes its pi. both
hseleSas and hseleS (e.g., Beow. 103), the latter archaic like the
Goth. meno]?s, whence we may infer that the Gothic also had a pi.

hali]?s, and OHG. a pi. helid as well as helida, and this is confirmed

by a MHG. pi. held, Wh. 44, 20. In OS. I find only the pi.
helidos, helithos ;
in the Heliand, helithcunni, helithocunni mean

simply genus humanum. M.Dut. has helet pi. helde. The ON.
b
holdr pi. holdar (Ssem. 114 115 a Sn. 171) implies an older .

holuftr (like manuSr =

Goth. meno]?s) it appears to mean nothing ;

but miles, vir, and holdborit (hold-born) in the

first passage to be

something lower than hersborit, the holdar being free peasants,

buendr. The Dan. helt, Swed. hjelte (OSwed. halad) show an
anomalous t instead of d, and are perhaps to be traced to the

1
At most, we might feel some doubt about Skirnir Frey s messenger and t

servant but he seems more a bright angel than a hero.

;

2
With this we should have to identify even the veorr used of Thorr (p.
187) in so far as it stood for viorr.
3
Fortbildung thus staff, stack, stall, stem, stare, &c. may be called
:

prolongations of the root sta. TRANS.

4
In early docs, the town of Heldburg in Thuringia is already called
Selidiberga, MB. 28 a 33.
342 HEROES.

German rather than the ON. form. If we prefer to see both in

hair and in halij^s the verb haljan occulere, defendere, tueri, the
transition from tutor to vir and miles is easily made even the ;

Lat. celer is not far from celo to conceal.

Beside this principal term, the defining of which was not to be

avoided here, there are several others to be considered. Notker,
who singularly avoids heleda, supplies us in Cap. 141 with :
heroes,
taz chit, Jiertinga aide chueniga This lurtinga suggests the AS.
.

whether it be a particular line, or heroes

heardingas, Elene 25. 130,
in general that are meant by it and we might put up with the
;

derivation from herti, heard (hard), viri duri, fortes, exercitati, as

hartunga in N. ps. 9, 1 means exercitatio.

But as we actually find
a Gothic line of heroes Azdingi, Astingi, and also an ON. of
Haddingjar, and as the Goth, zd, ON. dd,
AS. rd OHG. rt corres t

to be said for the Gothic word

pond to one another, there is more
of transmission, and the forms
having dropt an h in the course
1
hazdiggs, haddingr, hearding, hartinc being all one word. Now, if
the ON. haddr means a lock of hair (conf. p. 309), we may find in
suitable enough for a freeman
haddingr, hazdiggs, &c. a meaning
and hero, that of crinitus, capillatus, cincinnatus
and it would be ;

remarkable that the meaning heros should be still surviving in the

tenth century. No less valuable to us is the other term chucnig,
which can hardly be connected with chuning rex, as N. always

spells it ;
it seems rather to be = chuonig, derived either from

chuoni audax, fortis (as fizusig from fizus callidus), or from its still

unexplained root.
2
Other terms with a meaning immediately
bordering on that of
hero are: OHG.
degan (miles, minister);
chamfio,
AS. cempa, ON. kappi
chempho (pugil), ;
wigant (pugil) ;

the ON. hetja (bellator), perhaps conn, with hatr odium,

bellum ;
and skati, better skaffi, AS. sceaSa, scaSa, properly nocivus, then
latro, and passing from this meaning,
honourable in
predator,
ancient times, into that of heros even in the Mid. Ages, Landscado,
;

That
scather of the land, was a name borne by noble families.
heri (exercitus), Goth, liarjis, also meant miles, is shown by OHG.

for
1
The polypt. Irminon I70b has a proper name Ardingus standing
under the all-
Graff*4 447 places chuoni, as well as chuninc and chunni,
2

but AS. comes from kruoan,

devouring root chan ; as kruoni, grene viridis,
cowan pol
AS. growan, so may chuoni, AS. cene, from a lost chuoan, AS.
vigere
 HEROES. 343

glosses, Graff 4, 983,

and by names of individual men compounded
with lieri ; conf. ch. XXV, einheri. The OHG. u-recchio, hrecchio,
reecho, had also in a peculiar out of the sense of exsul,
way grown
profugus, advena, which predominates in the AS. wrecca, OS.
wrekio, into that of a hero fighting far from home, and the MHG.
1
recke, ON. simply a hero in general.
reckr is Similar develop
ments of meaning can doubtless be shown in many other words ;

what we have to keep a firm hold of is, that the very simplest
words for man (vir) and even for man (homo) adapted themselves
to the notion of hero ;
as our mann does now, so the ON. hair, the
OHG. gomo (homo), ON. gumi served to express the idea of heros.
In Diut. 314b heros is glossed by gomo, and gumnar in the Edda
2, ,

has the same force as skatnar (see Suppl.).

Now, what is the reason of this exaltation of human nature ?
Always in the first instance, as far as I can see, a relation of bodily

kinship between a god and the race of man. The heroes are
epigoni of the gods, their line is descended from the gods : settir

guma er fra go<5om komo, Seem. 114 a .

Greek mythology affords an abundance of proofs it is by ;

virtue of all heroes being directly or indirectly produced by gods

and goddesses in conjunction with man, that the oldest kingly
families connect themselves with heaven. But evidently most of
these mixed births proceed from Zeus, who places himself at the
head of gods and men, and to whom all the glories of ancestors are
traced. Thus, by Leda he had Castor and Pollux, who were called
after him Dios-curi, Hercules by Alcmena, Perseus by Danae,

Epaplms by lo, Pelasgus by Niobe, Minos and Sarpedon by Europa;

other heroes touch him only through their forefathers :
Agamemnon
was the son of Atreus, he of Pelops, he of Tantalus, and he of Zeus;
Ajax was sprung from Telamon, he from Aeacus, he from Zeus and
Aegina. Next to Zeus, the most heroes seem to proceed from Ares,
Hermes and Poseidon Meleager, Diomedes and Cycnus were sons
:

of Ares, Autolycus and

Cephalus of Hermes, while Theseus was a
son of Aegeus, and Nestor of Neleus, but both
Aegeus and Neleus

1
Some Slavic expressions for hero are worthy of notice Etiss. vttiaz, :

Serv. vitez; Russ. boghatyr, Pol. bohater, Boh.

bohatyr, not conn, either with
bogh deus, or boghat dives, but the same as the Pers. behddir, Turk, bahadyr,
Mongol, baghdtor, Hung, bdtor, Manju bdtura, and derivable from Vadm lively,
merry Schott in Erman s zeitschr. 4, 531
; is and
[Mongol, baghd force, ia,
-tor, -tur an adj. suffix].
344 HEROES.

were Poseidon s children by Aethra and Tyro. Achilles was the

son of Peleus and Thetis, Aeneas of Anchises and Venus. 1 These
examples serve as a standard for the conditions of our own heroic
legend (see Suppl.).

Tacitus, following ancient lays, places at the head of our race as

its prime progenitor Tuisco, who is not a hero, but himself a god, as
the author expressly names him deum terra eclitum .
Now, as
Gaia of herself gave birth to Uranos and Pontos, that is to
say, sky
and sea sprang from the lap of earth, so Tuisco seems derivable
from the word tiv, in which we found
(pp. 193-4) the primary
meaning to be sky; and Tuisco, i.e., Tvisco, could easily spring
out of the fuller form Tivisco [as
Tuesday from Tiwesdseg]. Tvisco
may either mean coelestis, or the actual offspring of another divine
being Tiv, whom we afterwards find appearing
among the gods :

Tiv and Tivisco to a certain degree are and

signify one thing.
Tvisco then is in sense and station Uranos, but in name
Zeus,
whom the Greek myth makes proceed from Uranos not
directly,
but through Kronos, pretty much as our Tiv or Zio is made a son
of Wuotan, while another son Donar takes upon him the best part
of the office that the Greeks assigned to Zeus. Donar too was son
of Earth as well as of Wuotan, even as Gaia
brought forth the great
mountain-ranges (ovpea pa/cpa, Hes. theog. 129 = Goth, fairgunja
mikila), and Donar himself was called mountain and fairguneis (pp.
169. 172), so that ovpavo?
sky stands connected with ovpos 0/305
mountain, the idea of deus with that of ans (pp. 25. 188). Gaia,
Tellus, Terra come round again in our goddesses Fiorgyn, lorS and
Eindr (p. 251) so the names of gods and here cross one
;
goddesses
another, but in a similar direction.
This earth-born Tvisco s son was Mannus, and no name could
sound more Teutonic, though Norse
mythology has as little to say
of him as of Tvisco
(ON. Tyski ?). No doubt a deeper meaning
once resided in the word by the addition of the suffix -isk, as in
;

Tiv Tivisco, there arose out of maim a mannisko

homo, the =
In the Koman legend, Romulus and Remus were connected
] through
Silvia with Mars, and
through Amulius with Venus ; and Romulus was taken
up to heaven. The later apotheosis of the emperors differs from the genuine
heroic, almost as canonization does from primitive sainthood ; yet even
Augustus, being deified, passed in legend for a son of Apollo, whom the god in
the shape of a dragon had
by Atia ; Sueton. Octav. 94.
 INGUIO. 345

thinking self-conscious being (see p. 59) both forms, the simple ;

and the derived, have .(like tiv and tivisko) the same import, and
may be set by the side of the Sanskr. Manus and manushya.
Mannus however is the first hero, son of the god, and father of all
men. Traditions of this forefather of the whole Teutonic race
seem to have filtered down even to the latter end of the Mid. Ages :

in a poem of meister Frauenlob (Ettm. p. 112), the same in which

the mythical king Wippo is spoken of (see p. 300), we read :

Mennor der erste was genant, Mennor the first man was named
dem diutische rede got tet to whom Dutch language God
bekant made known.
This not taken from Tacitus direct, as the proper name, though
is

similar, is not the same (see Suppl.).

As
all Teutons come of Tvisco and Mannus, so from the three

(or by some accounts five) sons of Mannus are descended the three,
five or seven main branches of the race. From the names of
nations furnished by the Eomaris may be inferred those of their

patriarchal progenitors.

1. INGUIO. Iscio. IRMINO.

The threefold division of allthe German! into Ingaevones,

Iscaevones and Herminones 1 is based on the names of three heroes,
Ingo, Isco, Hermino, each of whom admits of being fixed on yet
surer authority.

Ing, or Ingo, Inguio has k:ept his place longest in the memory
of the Saxon Eunic alphabets in OHG.
.and Scandinavian tribes.

spell Inc, in AS. Ing, and an echo of his legend seems still to ring
in the Lay of Runes :

Ing wses serest mid Eastdenum

gesewen secgum, o5 he siS5an east
ofer wseg gewat. wsen aefter ran.

Heardingas Jpone hasle nemdon.

]>us

Ing first dwelt with the East Danes (conf. Beow. 779. 1225. 1650),
then he went eastward over the sea, 2 his wain ran after. The wain

1
Proximi oceano Ingaevones, medii Berminones, ceteri Istaevones vocan-
tur, Tac. Germ. 2.
2
Csedm. 88, 8 says of the raven let out of Noah s ark gewat ofer wonne :

wseg sigan.
340 HEROES.

is a distinctive mark of ancient gods, but also of heroes and kings ;

its being specially put forward here in connexion with a sea-

voyage, appears to indicate some feature of the legend that is
unknown to us (see Suppl,). Ing s residence in the east is
harmony with a pedigree of the Ynglings given in the
strikingly in
Islendingabok (Isl. sog. 1, 19). Here at the head of all stands
Yngvi Tyrkja konungr/ immediately succeeded by divine beings,
NiorSr, Freyr, Fiolnir (a byname of OSinn), Svegdir, &c. In the
same way OSinn was called Tyrkja konungr (Sn. 068) from his
1
residing at Byzantium (p. 163 note). The Ynglinga saga on the
other hand begins the line with NiorSr, after whom come Freyr,
Fiolnir and the rest but of Freyr, whom the wain would have
;

suited exactly, it is stated that he had another name Yngvi or

Yngvifreyr (p. 211-2), and the whole race of Ynglingar were named

Ingingar or Ingvingar would be more exact, as is

2
after him.
shown by the OHG. and AS. spelling, and confirmed by a host of
very ancient names compounded with Ing or Ingo Inguiomerus :

(Ingimarus, Ingumar, or with asp. Hincmarus), Inguram, Ingimund,.

Ingiburc, Inginolt, &c. Even Saxo Gram, writes Ingo, Ingimarus.
As for Ynglingar, standing for Inglingar, it may be- formed from
the prolongation Ingil in Ingelwin, Ingelram, Ingelberga and the
Norse Ingellus, unless it is a mere confusion of the word with
ynglingr juvenis, OHG. jungilinc, AS. geongling, from the root
ung, June, geong, which has no business here at all The main (?).<

point is, that the first genealogy puts Ingvi before Nior<5r, so that
he would be Frey s grandfather, while the other version
makes him
be born again as it were in Freyr, and even fuses his name with
Frey s, of which there lurks a trace likewise in the AS. frea

This Ingwina appears to be the gen. of

Ingwina (p. 211). pi.

Ingwine, OHG.
Inguwini, and dominus Ingwiriorum need not
necessarily refer to the god, any hero might be so called. But with
perfect right may an Ingvi, Inguio be the patriarch of a race that

Snorri sends him to Turkland, Saxo only as far as Byzantium. TRANS.

1

As the ON. genealogies have Yngvi, NiorSr, Freyr, the Old Swedish
2

tables in Geijer (hafder 118. 121. 475) give Inge, Neorch, Fro-, some have
Neoroch for Neorch, both being corruptions of Neorth. Now, was it by
running Ingvi and Freyr into one, that the combination Ingvifreyr (transposed
into AS. frea Ingwina) arose, or was he cut in two to make an additional
link 1 The Skaldskaparmal in Sn. 211 a calls Yngvifreyr OSin s son, and from
the enumeration of the twelve or thirteen Ases in Sn. 21 l b it cannot be doubted
that Yngvifreyr was regarded as equivalent to the simple Freyr.
 INGUIO. HARTUNG. 347

bears the name of Ingvingar Ynglingar. And then, what the

Norse genealogy isunable to carry farther up than to Ingvi, Tacitus
kindly completes for us, by informing us that Inguio is the son of
Mannus, and he of Tvisco; and his Ingaevones are one of two
things, either the OHG. pi. Inguion (from sing. Inguio), or Ingwini
after the AS. Ingwine.-
Thus pieced out, the line of gods and heroes would run:
Tvisco, Mannus, Ingvia, Nerthus, Fravio (or whatever shape the
Gothic Frauja would have taken in the mouth of a Eoman). The
earth-born Tvisco s mother repeats herself after three intermediate
links in Nerthus the god or hero, as a Norse Ingui stands now
before NiorSr, now after; and those Vanir, who have been moved

away to the east, and to whom Nib rftr and his son Freyr were held
mainly to belong (pp. 218-9), would have a claim to count as one
and the same race with the Ingaevones, although this associa
tion with Mannus and Tvisco appears to vindicate their Teutonic
character.
But these bonds draw themselves yet tighter. The AS. lay
informed us, that Ing bore that name among the Heardings, had
received it from them. This Heardingas must either mean heroes
and men generally, as we saw on p. 342, or a particular people.
Hartung is still remembered in our Heldenbuch as king of the
Eeussen (Eus, Russians), the same probably as Hartnit or
Hertnit von Eeussen in the Alphart he is one of the Wolfing
;

heroes. 1 Hartunc and his father Immune (Eudlieb 17, 8) remain

dark to us. The Heardingas appear to be a nation situated east of
the Danes and Swedes, among whom Ing is said to have lived for
a time and this his sojourn is helped out both by the Turkish
;

king Yngui and the Eussian Hartung. It has been shown that to
Hartunc, Hearding, would correspond the ON. form Haddingr.
Now, whereas the Danish line of heroes beginning with OSinn
arrives at Fr65i inno more than three generations, OSinn being
followed by Skioldr, Frioleifr, FroSi the series given in Saxo
;

Gram, stands thus Humbl, Dan, Lother, Skiold, Gram, Hading,

:

Frotho. But Hading stands for E

adding, as is clear from the
spelling of duo Haddingi in Saxo p. 93, who are the Haddingjar
often mentioned in the Edda it is said of him, p. 12
; orientalium :

1
Hernit = Harding in the Swedish tale of Dietrich (Iduna 10, 253-4.
284).
348 HEROES,

robore debellato, Suetiam reversus, which orientals again are

Rutheni ;
but what is most remarkable is, that Saxo p. 17-8 puts
in the mouth of this Danish king and his wife Regnilda a song
which in the Edda sung by Niorffr and Ska&i (Sn. 27-8).
is 1
We
may accordingly take Hadding to be identical with Nib rSr, i.e., a
second birth of that god, which is further confirmed by Frioleifr
( Frealfif, whom we have already identified with the simple Fred,

p.219) appearing in the same line, exactly as Freyr is a son of

Nib rftr, and Saxo says expressly, p. 16, that Hadding offered a
Froblot, a sacrifice in honour of Freyr. Whether in Frdffi (OHG.
Fruoto, MHG. Fruote), the hero of the Danish story, who makes
himself into three, and whose rule is praised as peaceful and bliss
ful, we are to look for Freyr over again, is another question.
In the god-hero of Tacitus then there lingers, still recognisable,
a Norse god and the links I have produced must,
; if I mistake
not, set the final seal on the reading Nerthus If . we will not
admit the goddess into the ranks of a race which already has a
Terra mater standing at its very head, it is at all events no
great
stretch to suppose that certain nations transferred her name to the

god or hero who formed one of the succeeding links in the race.
There are more of these Norse myths which probably have to
do with this subject, lights that skim the deep darkness of our
olden time, but cannot light it up, and often die away in a dubious
flicker. The Formali of the Edda, p. 15, calls OSinn father of
Yngvi, and puts him at the head of the Ynglingar once again we :

see ourselves entitled to identify Oolnn with Mannus or Tvisco.

Nay, with all this interlacing and interchange of members, we

could almost bear to see made
the same as Nib rftr, which is
0<5inn

clone in one manuscript. But the narrative fra Fornioti ok hans

ffittmb nnum in Fornald. sog. 2, 12 carries us farther: at the top
stands Bum, like the king of Tyrkland, followed by Burr, Offinn,
Freyr, Nidrftr, Freyr, Fiolnir; here then a double Freyr, the
is

first one the Yngvifreyr we had before

taking Yngvi s place, i.e., ;

but also a manifold O&inn, Fiolnir being one of his names (Saem.
10 a 46 b 184 a Sn. 3). Burri and Burr, names closely related to
.

1
So Wh. Miiller (Haupt s zeitschr. 3, 48-9) has justly pointed out, that
SkaoTs
Si s choice of the muffled bridegroom, whose feet alone were visible (Sn.
82), agrees with Saxo s eligendi mariti libertas curiosiore corporum attrecta-
tione, but here to find a ring that the flesh has healed over. SkaSi and
Eagnhild necessarily fall into one.
 INGUIO. PORO. ISCIO. 349

each other like Folkvaldi and Folkvaldr, and given in another list
as Burri and Bors, seem clearly to be the Buri and Borr cited by
Sn. 7. 8 as forefathers of the three brothers Oolnn, Yili, Ye (see p.

162). Now, Buri is that first man or human being, who was
licked out of the rocks by the cow, hence the eristporo (erst-born),
an OHG. Poro, Goth. Batira ; Borr might be OHG. Pant, Goth.
Barus or whatever form we choose to adopt, anyhow it comes from
bairan, a root evidently well chosen in a genealogical tale, to denote
the first-born, first-created men. Yet 1
we may think of Byr too,
the wish- wind (see Oskabyrr, p. 144). Must not Buri, Borr, Odinn
be parallel, though under other names, to Tvisco, Mannus, Inguio 1
Inguio has two brothers at his side, Iscio and Hermino, as OSinn
has Yili and Ye we should then see the reason why the names
;

2
T^ski and Maftr are absent from the Edda, because Buri and Bon-
are their substitutes ;
and several other things would become
intelligible. Tvisco is terra editus, and Buri is produced out of
stone ;
when we see OSinn heading the Ynglingar as well as
Inguio the Ingaevones, we may find in that a confirmation of the

hypothesis that Saxons and Cheruscans, preeminently worshippers

of Wodan, formed the flower of the Ingaevones. These gods and
demigods may appear to be all running into one another, but always
there emerges from among them the real supreme divinity,
"Wuotan.

I go on expounding Tacitus. Everything confirms me in the

conjecture that Inguio s or Ingo s brother must have been named

Iscio, Isco, and not There is not so much weight to be

Istio, Isto.
laid on the sundry MSS. even of Tacitus actually read
fact that
Iscaevones we ought to examine more narrowly, whether the st
:

in Pliny s Istaevones be everywhere a matter of certainty and ;

even that -need not compel us to give up our sc ; Iscaevo was

perhaps liable to be corrupted by the Komans themselves into Istaevo,
as Yistula crept in by the side of the truer Yiscula (Weichsel). But
3
what seem irrefragable proofs are the Escio and Hisicion of

So in the Pagsmal 105% Burr is called the first, Barn the second, and JocT
1

AS. eaden) the third child of FaSir and MoSir.

(conf.
ON. for man sing. maSr, mannis, manni, mann pi. menn, manna,
2
:
;

monnum, menn.
3 In Nennius
17, Stevenson and Sanmarte (pp. 39. 40) have adopted the
very worst reading Hisitio.
350 HEROES.

Nennius, in a tradition of the Mid. Ages not adopted from Tacitus,

and the Isiocon 1 in a Gaelic poem of the llth century (see Suppl.).
If this will not serve, let internal evidence speak and : in Tuisco
Mannisco we have been giving the suffix -isc its due, and Tuisto, a
spelling which likewise occurs, is proof against all attempt at
explanation. Now Isco, as the third name in the same genealogy,
would agree with these two. For Tvisco and Mannus the Norse
legend substitutes two other names, but Inguio it has preserved in
Ingvi ; ought not his brother Iscio to be discoverable too ? I fancy
I am on his track in the Eddie Askr, a name that is
given to the
first-createdman again (Sa3m. 3. Sn. 10), and means an ash- tree.
It seems strange enough, that we also come across this ask (let
interpretation understand it of the tree or not) among the Eunic
names, side by side with inc, ziu, er, all heroes and gods and ;

among the OK names for the earth is Eskja, Sn. 220 b And even .

the vowel-change in the two forms of name, Iscio and Askr, holds
equally good of the suffix -isk, -ask.
Here let me give vent to a daring fancy. In our language the
relation of lineal descent is mainly expressed by two suffixes,
ING and ISK. Manning means a son the offspring of man, and
mannisko almost the same. I do not say that the two divine
ancestors were borrowed from the grammatical form, still less that
the grammatical form originated in the heroes names. I leave the
vital connexion of the two things unexplained, I
simply indicate it.
But if the Ingaevones living proximi oceano were Saxon races,
which to this day are addicted to deriving with -ing, it may be
remarked that Asciburg, a sacred seat of the Iscaevones who dwelt
2
proximi Eheno, stood on the Ehine. Of Askr, and the relation
of the name to the tree, I shall treat in ch. XIX ;
of the Iscae
vones it remains to be added, that the Anglo-Saxons also knew a
hero Oesc, and consequently Oescingas.
Zeuss, p. 73, gives the preference to the reading Istaevones,
connecting them with the Astingi, Azdingi, whom I (p. 342) took for
Hazdingi, and identified with the OK
Haddingjar, AS. Heardingas,
OHG. Hertinga. The hypothesis of Istaevones Izdaevones would =
require that the Goth, zd = AS. rd, OHG. rt, should in the time of
1
Pointed out by Leo in the zeitschr. f. d. alt. 2, 534.
2
Conf. Askitun (Ascha near Amberg), Askiprunno (Eschborn near Frank
fort), Askipah (Eschbach, Eschenbach) in various parts Ascarih, a man s
;

name (see feuppl.).

 ISCIO. IRMINO. 351

Tacitus have prevailed even among the Ehine Germans I have never ;

yet heard of an OHG. Artinga, Ertinga, nor of an ON. Addingar,

Eddingar. According to this conjecture, ingenious anyhow and
worth examining further, the ancestral hero would be called Istio
Izdio, Izdvio, OHGL Erto, ON. Eddi, with which the celebrated
term edda proavia would agree, its Gothic form being izdd, OHG.
ertil Izdo, Izdio proavus would seem in itself an apt name for the
founder of a race. The fluctuation between i and a would be common
to both interpretations, Iscaevones = Askinga .and Istaevones=
Artinga .

The third son of Mannus will occupy us even longer than his
brothers. Ermino s posterity completes the cycle of the three main
races of Germany :
Ingaevones, Iscaevones, Herminones. The order
in which they stand seems immaterial, in Tacitus it merely follows
their geographical position the initial vowel common to them
;

leads us to suppose an alliterative juxtaposition of the ancestral

heroes in German songs. The aspirate given by the Eomans to
Herminones, as to Hermunduri, is strictly no part of the German
word, but is also very commonly retained by Latin writers of the
Mid. Ages in proper names compounded with Irmin. In the name
of the historical Arminius Tacitus leaves it out.
As with Inguio and Iscio, we must assign to the hero s name
the otherwise demonstrable weak form Irmino} Ermino, Goth.
Airmana : it is
supported by the derivative Herminones, and even
by the corruptions Hisicion, Armenon, Negno in Nennius (see
Suppl.). Possibly the strong-formed Irman, Irmin, Armin may
even be a separate root. But what occurs far more frequently than
the simple word, is a host of compounds with irman-, irmin-, not
only proper names, but other expressions concrete and abstract :

Goth. Ermanaricus (Airmanareiks), OHG. Irmanrih, AS. Eormenric,

ON. lormunrekr, where the u agrees with that in the national
name Hermundurus ;
OHG. Irmandegan, Irmandeo, Irmanperaht,
Irmanfrit, Irminolt, Irmandrut, Irmaiigart, Irmansuint, &c. Atten
tion is claimed by the names of certain animals and plants the :

ON. lormungandr is a snake, and lormunrekr a bull, the AS.

Eormenwyrt and Eormenleaf is said to be a mallow, which I also
1
Pertz 1, 200. 300. 2, 290. 463. 481 ; the abbas Irmino of Claries the
Great s time is known well enough now ; and a female name larmin is met
with in deeds.
352 HEROES.

find written geormenwyrt, geormenleaf. Authorities for irmangot,

irmandiot, OS. irminthiod, irminman, irmansul, &c., &c., have been
given above, p. 118. A
villa Irmenld, i.e., a wood
(in ilia silva
scaras sexaginta) is named in a deed of 855, Bondam s
charterbook,
p. 32. silva Irminlo, Lacombl. 1, 31.
In these compounds, especially those last named, irman seems
to have but a general intensifying power, without distinct any
reference to a god or hero (conf. Woeste, mittheiL
p. 44) ; it is
like some other words, especially got and diot,
regin and megin,
which we find used in exactly the same way. If it did contain
such reference, Eormenleaf would be Eormenes leaf, like Forneotes
folme, Wuotanes wee. Irman deo then is much the same as
Gotadeo, Irmanrih as Diotrih and as irmangot means the great
;

god, irmandiot the great people, iormungrund the great wide earth,
so irmansul cannot mean more than the great pillar, the very sense
caught by Rudolf in his translation universalis columna
(p. 117),
This is all very true, but there is nothing to prevent Irmino or
Irmin having had a personal reference in previous centuries have :

we not seen, side by side with Zeus and Tyr, the common noun
deus and the prefix ty-, tir- (p. 195-6) ? conf. p. 339. If
Sseteresda3g
has got rubbed down to Saturday, Saterdach (p.
125), so may Eritac
point to a former Erestac (p. 202), Eormenleaf to Eormenes leaf,
Irmansul to Irmanessftl ;
we also met with Donnerbiihel for
Donnersbiihel (p. 170), Woenlet for Woenslet, and we
say
Frankfurt for Frankenfurt [Oxford for Oxenaford, &c.]. The more
the sense of the name faded out, the more
readily did the genitive
form drop away the OHG. godes lifts is more literal, the Goth.
;

gu]?lifts more abstract, yet both are used, as the OS. regano giscapu
and regangiscapu, metodo giscapu and metodgiscapu held their
ground simultaneously. As for geormen =: eormen, it suggests
Germanus (Gramm. 1, 11).
It is true, Tacitus
keeps the Hermino that lies latent in his
Herminones apart from Arminius with whom the Romans waged
war yet his famous canitur adhuc barbaras apud
;
gentes/ applied
to the destroyer ofVarus, might easily arise through simply
misinterpreting such accounts as reached the Roman ear of
German songs about the mythical hero. Granted that irmansul
expressed word for word no more than huge pillar/ yet to the people
that worshipped it it must have been a divine
image, standing for
 IRMINO, IRMIN. 353

a particular god. To discover who this was, we can only choose

one of two ways he was one of the three great divinities,
: either

Wodan, Thonar, Tin, or some being distinct from them.

But here we must, above all things, ponder the passage partly

quoted on p. Ill from Widukind, himself a Saxon; it says, a

heathen god was worshipped, whose name suggested Mars, his
pillar-statue Hercules, and the place where he was set up the sun
or Apollo. After that, he continues : Ex hoc apparet, aestima-
tionem illorum utcumque probabilem, qui Saxones originem duxisse
putant de Graecis, quia Hirmin vel Hermes graece Mars dicitur,
quo vocabulo ad laudem vel ad vituperationem usque hodie etiam
ignorantes utimur From this it follows, that the god to whom
.

the Saxons sacrificed after their victory over the Thuringians was
called Hirmin, Irmin, and in the 10th century the name was still
affixed in praise or blame to very eminent or very desperate
characters. 1 Apollo is brought- in by the monk, because the altar
was built ad orientalem portam, and Hercules, because his pillar
called up that of the native god; no other idol can have been
meant, than precisely the irmin&til (pp. 115 118), and the true form
of this name must have been Irmines, Irmanes or Hirmines sul.
The Saxons had set up a pillar to their Irmin on the banks of the
Unstrut, as they did in their own home.
The way Hirmin, Hermes and Mars are put together seems a
perfect muddle, though Widukind sees in it a confirmation of the
story about the Saxons being sprung from Alexander s army
(Widuk. 1, 2.Sachsensp. 3, 45). We ought to remember, first,
that Wodan was occasionally translated Mars instead of Mercurius
(pp. 121. 133), and had all the appearance of the Eoman Mars
given 133); then further, how easily Irmin or Hirmin in
him (p.
this case would lead to Hermes, and Ares to Mars, for the Irminsul

itself is connected with Eres-burg (p. 11G). What the Corvei

annalist kept distinct (p. Ill), the two images of Ares and of
Hermes, are confounded by Widukind. But now, which has the
better claim to be Irmin, Mars or Mercury } On p. 197 I have 1

pronounced rather in favour of Mars, as Miillenhoff too (Haupt 7,

384) identifies Irmin with Ziu one might even be inclined to see
;

1
Much sayas we now
a regular devil, or in Lower Saxony hamer
: he is

(p. 182). The prefix irmin- likewise intensifies in a good or bad sense ; like
irmingod, irminthiod, there may have been an irminthiob = meginthiob,
*

reginthiob .

23
354 HEROES.

in it the name
war-god brought out on p. 202, Eru, Hern/
of the

and to dissect Irman, Erman

into Ir-man, Er-man, though, to judge

by the forms Irmin, Eormen, Ermun, lormun, this is far from

probable, the word being derivative indeed, yet simple, not com
pound ;
we never find, in place of Ertag, dies Martis, any such
form as Ermintac, Irminestac. On behalf of Mercury there would
1
speak the accidental, yet striking similarity of the name Irmansul
or Hirmensul to Epprjs and ep^a = prop, stake, pole, pillar (p.
118), and that it was precisely Hermes s image or head that used

to be set up on such ep/juara, and further, that the Mid. Ages

referred the irmen-pillars to Mercury (p. 116). In Hirmin the
Saxons appear to have worshipped a Wodan imaged as a warrior.
If this view be well grounded, we have Wodan wedging himself
into the ancient line of heroesbut the question is, whether Irmin
;

is not to be regarded as a second birth or son of the god, whethejj

even an ancestral hero Irmino is not to be distinguished from this
god Irmin, as Hermino in Tacitus is from Arminius ? So from thiod,
regin, were formed the names Thiodo, Ilegino. It would be harder
to show any such relation between Ing and Ingo, Isc and Isco; but I

think I can suggest another principle which will decide this point :

when races name themselves after a famous ancestor, this may be a

deified man, a demigod, but never a purely divine being. There are
Ingaevones, Iscaevones, Herminones, Oescingas, Scilfingas, Ynglin-
gar (for Ingingar), Vb lsungar, Skioldungar, Mfitmgar, as there were
2

Heracleidae and Pelopidae, but no Wodeningas or Thunoringas,

though a Wodening and a Kronides. The Anglo-Saxons, with
Woden always appearing at their head, would surely have borne
the name of Wodeningas, had it been customary to take name
from the god himself. Nations do descend from the god, but
through the medium of a demigod, and after him they name tli em-
selves. A national name taken from the highest god would have
human feeling.
been impious arrogance, and alien to
As Lower Saxony, especially Westphalia, was a chief seat of
the Irmin-worship, we may put by the side of Widukind s account
of Hirmin a few other traces of his name, which is not even yet

1
To the Greek aspirate corresponds a Teutonic S, not H :
6, 17 sa, so ;

sibun SXs salt. [There are exceptions 6, 17, ot he, her, hig
;
: ;
oXoy whole,
hela ;
cXoi haul, holen].
2
A patronymic suffix is not necessary the Gautos, Gevissi, Suapa take
:

name from Gauts, Gevis, Suap, divine heroes.

 IEMIN. 355

entirely extinct in that part of Germany. Strodtmann has noted

down the following phrases in Osnabriick : he ment, use herre
gott heet Herm (he thinks our Lord is called H., i.e. is never angry) ;

use herre gott heet nicli Herm, he heet leve herre, un weet wal to-
te-gripen (knows how to fall on) . Here there seems unconcealed
a slight longing for the mild rule of the old heathen god, in
contrast to the strictly judging and punishing Christian God. In
Saxon Hesse (on the Diemel), in the districts of Paderborn, Ravens-
berg and Minister, in the bishopric of Minden and the duchy of
1
Westphalia, the people have kept alive the rhyme :

Hermen, sla dermen,

sla pipen, sla trummen,
de kaiser wil kummen
met hamer un stangen, 2
wil Hermen uphangen.

Hermen is challenged, as it were, to strike up his war-music, to

sound the catgut, pipe and drum but the foe draws nigh with
;

maces and staves, and will hang up Hermen (see Suppl). It is not
impossible that in these rude words, which have travelled down the
long tradition of centuries, are preserved the fragments of a lay
that was first heard when Charles destroyed the Irmensul. They
cannot so well be interpreted of the elder Arminius and the Romans. 3
The striking and the staves suggest the ceremony of carrying out
the Summer.
In a part of Hesse that lies on the Werra, is a village named
Ermschwerd, which in early documents is called Ermeswerder,
4
Armeswerd, Ermeneswerde (Dronke s trad. fuld. p. 123), JErmenes-
werethe (Vita Meinwerci an. 1022. Leibn. 1, 551), Irmineswerid, =
insula Irmini, as other gods have their isles or eas. This interpre
tation seems placed beyond a doubt by other such names of places.
Leibn. scr. 1, 9 and Eccard, Er. or. 1, 883, De orig. Germ. 397

1
Rommel s Hessen 1.
p. 66 note. Westphalia (Minden 1830) i. 4, 52.
The time is given in Schumann s Musical, zeitung for 1836.
2
Variants :mit stangen und prangen (which also means staves) ; mit
hamer un tangen (tongs).
3
This explanation has of course been tried some have put Hermann for
:

Hermen, others add a narrative verse, which I do not suppose is found in the
people s mouth mi Hermen slang dermen, slaug pipen, slaug trummen, de
:

fiirsten sind kummen met all eren mannen, hebt Varus

4
uphangen .

The same vowel-change is seen in Ermensulen (deed of 1298 in Baring s

Clavis dipl. p. 493 no. 15), a Westphalian village, now called Armenscul.
356 HEROES.

give Irmineswagen for the constellation arctus, plaustrum coeleste,

I do not know on what authority : this wain would stand beside
Wuotanswagen, Donnerswagen, and even Ingswagen.
Some of the later AS. and several 0. Engl. authorities, in
four that
specifying great highways traverse England, name
amongst them Ermingestrcte, running from south to north of the
island. 2But we may safely assume the pure AS. form to have
been Eormenstrcet or Eormenes-straet, as another of the four
ways,
Wcetlingastrcet, occurs in the Saxon Chron. (Ingr. 190. Thorpe s
anal. p. 38), and in the Treaty
Alfred and Guthrun (Thorpe, p.
of

66), and
andlang in Kemble 2, 250 (an.
Wactlinga straet 944).
Lye has Irmingstrcet together with Irmingsul, both without refer
ences. The conjectural Eormenstrset would lead to an OHG.
Irmanstraza, and Eormenesstrset to Irmanesstraza, with the mean
ings via publica and via Irmani.
Now it is not unimportant to the course of our inquiry, that
one of the four highways, Wsetlingastrset, is at the same time
translated to the sky, and gets to look quite mythical. A plain
enough road, extending from Dover to Cardigan, is the milky way
in the heavens, i.e., it is travelled by the car of some heathen god.
Chaucer (House of Fame 2, 427), describing that part of the
sky, says :

Lo there, quod he, cast up thine eye,

se yondir, lo, the galaxie,
the whiche men clepe the milky way
for it is white, and some parfay
ycallin it han W
ailing estrete,
that onis was brente with the hete,
whan that the sunnis sonne the rede,
which hite Phaeton, wolde lede
algate his fathirs carte and gie.
In the Complaint of Scotland, (

p. JO, it is said of the comet : it

aperis oft in the quhyt circle callit circulus lacteus, the

quhilk the
marynalis callis Vatlanstreit . In Douglas s Virgil, p. 85:

2 IIII
cheminii Watlingestrete, Fosse, Hickenildestrete,
Ermingcstrete
(Thorpe s Anc. laws, p. 192) conf. Henry of Hunt. (Erningestreet), Hob. of
;

Glouc., Oxf. 1742, p. 299 (also Erning.* after the preceding). Ranulph
Highden s Polychr., ed. Oxon. p. 196. Leland s Itinerary, Oxf. 1744. 6, 108
140. Gibson in App. chron. Fax. p. 47. Camden s Britannia, ed. Gibson,
map to Lappenberg s Hist, of Engl., the direction
of the four roads is indicated.
 IRMIN. 357

Of every sterne the twynkling notis he

that in the still hevin move cours we se,

Arthurys house, and Hyades betaikning rane,

Watlingestrete, the Home and the Charlewane,
the feirs Orion with his goldin glave.

Wsetlinga is plainly a gen. pi. ;

who the Wsetlings were, and how
they came to give their name to an earthly and a heavenly street,
we do not know. Chaucer perhaps could still have told us, but he
prefers to harp at the Greek mythus. Phaethon, also the son of a
god, when he presumed to guide his father s sun-chariot, burnt a
broad streak in the sky, and that is the track we call the milky

way. The more common view was, that Here, indignant at the
bantling Hermes or Herakles being put to her breast, spilt her
milk along the sky, and hence the bright phenomenon. No doubt,
among other nations also, fancy and fable have let the names of
1
earthly and heavenly roads run into one another.
A remarkable instance of this is found in one of our national
traditions and that will bring us round to Irmin again, whom we
;

almost seem to have lost sight of.

1
I limit myself to briefly quoting some other names for the milky way.
In Arabic it is tarik al thibn (via straminis) ; Syriac schevil tevno (via paleae) ;
Mod. Hebrew netibat theben (semita paleae) ; Pers. rah kah keslian (via stramen
trahentis) ; Copt, pimoit ende pitoh (via straminis) Ethiop. hasare zamanegade
;

(stipula viae) ; Arab, again derb ettubenin (path of the chopped-straw carriers) ;
Turk, saman ughrisi (paleam rapiens, paleae fur) ; Armen. hartacol or hartacogh
(paleae fur) all these names run upon scattered chaff, which a thief dropt in
;

his flight. More simple is the Arabic majerra (tractus), nahr al majcrra
(flumen tractus), and the Koman conception of path of the gods .or to the gods ;
also Iroq. path of souls, Turk, hadjiler juli (pilgrims path), hadji is a pilgrim to
Mecca and Medina. Very similar is the Christian term used in the Mid. Ages,
*
galaxias via sancti Jacobi already in John of Genoa s Catholicon (13th cent.) ;
camino di Santiago, chemin de saint Jaques, Jacobsstrasse, Slov. zesta v Rim
(road to Rome), from the pilgrimages to Galicia or Rome, which led to heaven
[was there no thought of Jacob s ladder ?] This James s road too, or pilgrim s
road, was at once on earth and in heaven in Lacomblet, docs. 184 and 185
;

|
(an. 1051) name a Jacobsivech together with the via regia. ON. vetrarbraut
(winterway). Welsh Gwydion (p. 150), and Arianrod (silver street? which
caer
comes near Argentoratum). Finn, linnunrata (birdway), Lith. paukszcsrid
kieles, perhaps because souls and spirits flit in the shape of birds Hung. Hada-
;

kuttya (via belli), because the Hungarians in migrating from Asia followed
this constellation (see
SuppL). Vroneldenstraet (p. 285) and Pharaildis fit
intelligibly enough with frau Holda and Herodias, whose airy voyages easily
account for their giving a name to the milky way, the more so, as Wuotaii,
who joins Holda in the nightly hunt, shows himself here also in the Welsh
appellation caer Gwydion. Even the fact of Diana being mixed up with that
j chase, and Juno with the milky way, is in keeping and gods or spirits sweep
;

I along the heavenly road as well as in the heavenly hunt.

358 HEROES.

Widukind of Corvci is the first who gives us out of old songs

the beautiful and truly epic story of the Saxons victory over the
1
Thuringians, which Kuodolf before
him (Pertz 2, 674) had barely
touched. Irmenfried, king of the Thuringians, being oppressed by
Dieterich, kingof the Franks, called the Saxons to his aid they :

But he began to waver in his

appeared, and fought valiantly.
mind, he secretly negotiated treaty with the Franks,
a and the two
nations were about to unite against the formidable Saxon host.
But the Saxons, becoming aware of the treachery, were beforehand ;

led by the aged Hathugat, they burst into the castle of the Thurin

gians, and slew

them all the Franks stood still, and applauded the;
;

warlike renown of the Saxons. Irmenfried fled, but, enticed by a

In this camp was
stratagem, returned to Dieterich
s camp.
staying Irmenfried s counsellor Iring, whose prudent plans had

previously rendered him great

services. When Irmenfried knelt
before Dieterich, Iring stood by, and having been won by Dieterich,
slew his own lord. After this deed of horror, the Frankish king
banished him from his sight, but Iring said, Before I go, I will
laid his
avenge mymaster, drew his sword, stabbed Dieterich dead,
lord s over that of the Frank, so that the vanquished in life
body
a way for himself with the
might be the victor in death, opened
sword ferro and escaped. Mirari tamen non
(viam faciens),
adds Widukind, in tantum famam praevaluisse, ut
possumus
ita vocitant, lacteus coeli circulus usque in
Iringi nomine, quern
Or, with the Auersberg chronicler
*
famam
praesens sit notatus.
:

nomine
in tantum praevaluisse, ut lacteus coeli circulus Iringis
vocatus notatus in Pertz
fringesstrdza usque in praesens sit (sit

8, 178).
In confirmation, AS. glosses collected by Junius (Symb. 372)
give via secta fringes mice, from which
: Somner and Lye borrow
their fringes weg, via secta . Conf. via sexta iringesuucc, Haupts
Erfurt
zeitschr. 5, 195. Unpubl. glosses of the Amplonian libr. at
14 a ) have via secta: luuaringes uucy which
(10-1 1th cent. bl. ;

In waring agrees very remarkably with the later form Euring in

b a
Euringsstrass, Aventin 102 103 .

1
Conf. the differing but likewise old version, from a H. German district,
in Goldast s Script, rer. Suev. pp. where Swabians take the place ot the
13,
Saxons. The Auersberg chron. (ed. Argent. 1609, pp. 146-8) copies Widu
kind. Eckehard, in Pertz 8, 176-8.
 IRMIN. IRING. 259

In the Nibelungenlied 1285. 19652009, these heroes appeal-

again, they are the same, but differently conceived, and more akin
to the H. German version in Goldast l Irnvrit of Duringen and :

Irinc of Tenemarke, one a landgraf, the other a markgraf, both

vassals of Etzel (Attila). The Lied von der klage (threnody) adds,
that they had fallen under the ban of the empire, and fled to
Hunland ;
here we see a trace of the banishment that Dieterich
pronounced on Iring. In the poems of the 13th century, however,
Iring is not a counsellor, still less a traitor and a murderer of
Irmenfried : the two are sworn friends, and both fall before the
irresistible Hagene and Volker.
Add though silent on
to all this, that the Vilk. saga cap. 360,

Irnfried, tells of combat with Hogni, and makes him

Irung s last
sink against a stone wall, which is still called Irungs veygr in

memory of the hero. The Norse redactor confounded vegr (via)

with veggr (murus) ;
his German source must have had Iringes vec,
* ;
in allusion to the cutting his way in Widukind.
So now the road is paved to the conclusions we desire to draw :

German legend knew of an Iringes wee on earth and in heaven, so

did AS. legend of a double Wsetlinga-strset, and so was the road
to Rome and St. James set in the firmament as well. These
fancies about ways and wains, we know, are pagan, and indicate
god-myths. The Thuringian Irnvrit, originally Irmanfrit, it is
reasonable to suppose, is the same as Irman, Irmin (conf. Sigfrit,

Sigmunt, Sigi), and the Hermunduri = Irman-duri are plainly con

nected with the During s (Thuringians) so that Irman assumes a :

peculiar significance in Thuringian tradition. If this would but

tell us of an Irmines wee, all would come
right.
It does tell, however, in three or four places, of an Iringes wee.
The names Irinc and Irmin, apart from the alliteration which
doubtless operated in the ancient lay, have nothing in common; the
2
first has a long i, and of themselves
they cannot have represented

1
As already quoted, Deutsch. heldens. p. 117.
2
Or IM, as some roots shift from the fourth to the fifth vowel-series (like
htrat hiurat, now both heirat and heurat ; or tir and tyr, p. 196), so lurinc
and
(expanded into luwarinc, as the OHG. poss. pron. iur into iuwar) ; so in the
16- 17th cent. Eiring alternates with
Euring. A
few MSS. read Hiring for
Iring, like Hirmin for Irmin, but I have never seen a Heuring for or Euring,
it
might have suggested a Saxon hevenring, as the rainbow is called the ring of
heaven. An old AS. name for Orion, Ebur&rung, Ebir&ring, seems somehow
connected, especially with the luwaring above.
360 HEROES.

one another. Now, either the legend has made the two friends
change places, and transferred Irmin s way to Iring, or Iring (not
uncommon as a man s name too, <r#.,Trad. Euld. 1, 79) is of him
self ademigod grown dim, who had a way and wain of his own, as
well as Irmin. Only, Irmin s worship seems to have had the
deeper foundations, as the image of the Irman&Al sufficiently
shows. As the name
of a place I find
fringes pure (burg), MB. 7,
47. 157. 138. 231. Iringisperc (berg) 29, 58.
Up to this point I have refrained from
mentioning some Norse
traditions, which have a manifest reference to the
earthly hero-
It had been the custom from of old, for a new
path. king, on as
suming the government, to travel the great
highway across the
country, confirming the people in their privileges (EA. 237-8).
This is called in the 0. Swed. laws
Eriksgatu ridha/ riding Eric s
road. 1 Sweden numbers a host of kings named Erik (ON. Eirikr),
but they are
all quite historical, and to none of them can be traced

thiscustom of the Eriksgata. With the royal name of Erik the

Swedes must from very early times have associated the idea of a
god or deified king the vita Anskarii written by his pupil Eim-
;

bert, has a remarkable passage on it (Pertz 2, 711). When the

adoption of Christianity was proposed to king Olef about 860, a
man of heathen sentiments alleged, Se in conventu deorum, qui
ipsam terram possidere credebantur, et ab eis missum, ut haec regi
et populis nunciaret 2
:
Vos, inquam, nos vobis propitios diu habuis-
tis, et terram incolatus vestri cum multa abundantia nostro
adjutorio in pace et prosperitate longo tempore tenuistis, vos quo-
que nobis sacrificia et vota debita persolvistis, grataque nobis vestra
fuerunt obsequia. At mine et sacrificia solita subtrahitis, et vota
3
spontanea segnius offertis, et, quod magis nobis displicet, alienum
deum super nos intro ducitis. Si itaque nos vobis propitios habere
vultis, sacrificia omissa augete et vota majora persolvite, alterius

quoque dei culturam, qui contraria nobis docet, ne apud vos reci-

piatis et ejus servitio ne intendatis. Porro, si etiam plures deos

The venerable custom still prevailed in the 15-16th cent.

1
statute pro- :

vincialium generose confirmavit et sigillavit in equitatu

qui dicitur Eriksgata,
Diarium Vazstenense ad an. 1441 (ed. Benzel, Ups. 1721) p. 86. Rex
Christoferus Sueciae et Daciae equitatum fecit qui dicitur
Eriksgata secundum
leges pcitriae, ibid, ad an. 1442. Even Gustavus Vasa rode his Eriksgata.
2
For inquimus, as elsewhere inquit for inquiunt.
3
Votuin, what ah individual oilers, as opposed to the sacrificium presented
publicly and jointly ; coiif. supra, p. 57.
 IKMIN. IKING. 361

habere desideratis, et nos vobis non sufficimus, Ericum, quondam

1
regem vestrum, nos unanirnes in collegium nostrum asciscimus, ut
sit units de numero deorum. have transcribed the whole passage,
I

because it aptly expresses the attitude of the pagan party, and the
lukewarmness already prevailing towards their religion the :

heathen priests thought of adding a fresh hero to their throng of

2
gods. This seems to exclude all later Erics from any claim to the
Eriksgata probably there were mixed up even then, at least in
;

Kimbert mind, traditions of a divine Erik.

s

It can no longer remain doubtful now, what god or divine hero

lies hidden in this Erik. I had at one time thought of Er (Mars),
because the form Erctag is met with a few times for Ertag (p. 124),
but the short vowel in Er, and the long one in Irinc, Eirikr, are
enough to warn us off Instead of Eriksgata we also meet with
.

Riksgata, and this points decidedly to Rigr, the earthly name of

the god Heimdallr, who in the Edda walks the
green roads (groenar
brautir) of earth, to beget the three races of men. In the green
3
earthly roads are mirrored the white and shining paths of heaven.
Then the problem ON. form Rigr
started on p. 234, whether the
arose out of Iringr by aphaeresis and syncope, now finds a solution

approaching to certainty. Heimdallr dwells in Himinbiorg on the

quaking roost (Bifrost), the rainbow, which is the bridge or path by
which the gods descend from heaven to earth. The rainbow is the
celestial ring, as the galaxy is the celestial road, and Heimdallr
keeper of that road, Heimdallr is Elgr =
Iring, walking the earth
and translated to the skies ;
now we comprehend, why there lived
among the nations many a various tale of Eriksgata,
Iringesivec,
Iring esstrdza, and was shifted now to one and now to the other
celestialphenomenon. Iring, through luwaring, borders on Ebur-
drung the old name of Orion (see SuppL). And if our heroic
legend associates Irmenfrit, i.e., Irmin with Iring, and Irinin-street
alternates with Iring-street, then in the
god-myth also, there must
have existed points of contact between Irmin OSinn and = Iring =
Heimdallr: well, Heimdallr was a son of Oolnn, and the Welsh
milky
way was actually named after Gwydion, i.e., Woden. From the
Irminsul four roads branched out across the
country, Eriksgata
1
So king Hakon is admitted into the society of
gods, HermotSr and Bragi
go to meet him siti Hakon meS heio in
:
goS (Hakoiiarmal).
a
Dahlmann guesses it may be the Upsal Erik (d. 804).
3
Altd. blatter 1, 372-3.
3G2 HEROES.

extended in four directions, four such highways are likewise known

to English tradition, though it gives the name of Ermingestret to
only one, and bestows other mythic titles on the rest. Of Irmin
and of Iring, both the divine personality and the lapse into hero-
nature seem to be made out.

2. MA ESQ. GAMBARO. SUAPO.

Now that I have expounded the primeval triad of Germanic
races, I have to offer some conjectures on the sevenfold division.

Pliny s quintuple arrangement seems not so true to fact, his Vindili

are Tacitus s Vandilii, his Peucini not referable to
any founder of a
race. But Tacitus to his first three adds four other leading races,
the Marsi, Gambrivii, Suevi and Vandilii, in whose names there
exists neither alliteration nor the weak form as a mark of deriva
tion.

The Marsi between Rhine and Weser, an early race which soon
disappears, in whose country the Tanfana sanctuary stood, lead up
to a hero Marso, whom we must not mix
up with the Pioman Mars
gen. Martis, nor with Marsus the son of Circe (who in like manner
gives name to an Italian people, Gellius 16, 11. Pliny 7, 2.

Augustine in The Marsigni

Ps. 57). =
Marsingi, a Suevic people,
acknowledged the same name and origin. The proper name Marso
occurs in Mabillon no. 18, in a deed of 692, also in the
polypt.
Irminonis p. 158 a 163 b but seldom elsewhere.
, Jl/em burg and
Marseburg, Pertz 8, 537. 540, seem to belong here, while some
other names given above, p. 201, are open to doubt; I do not
know if a MHG. phrase, obscure in itself, is at all relevant zuo :

alien marsen varn, MS. 1, 25 a which

, may signify, to go to all the
devils,expose oneself to every danger conf. einen marsen man/
;

Crane 2865. The Gothic marzjan (irnpedire, offendere) might seem

allied to the root, but that would have been merrian, merran
in OHG.
The name of the Gambrivii I assign to the root gambar,
kambar strenuus, from which also is derived the name of Gambara,
ancestress of the Langobards. There may have been likewise a
hero Gambaro. And the forest of Gambreta (instead of Gabreta).
isworth considering. Gambara s two sons are called Ibor OHG. =
Epur, AS. Eofor, ON. lofur, i.e. aper, boar, and Ajo : all the three
names appear to be corrupt in Saxo Gram.
 MARSO. SUAPO. 363

Ought we to assume for the Suevi, OHG. Suapa, an eponymous

hero Suevo, Suapo, and perhaps connect with him an old legend of
a mountain ? Pliny 4, 13 places in the land of the gens Ingae-
vonum, quae est prima Germaniae, a certain Sevo mons immensus
reaching to the Sinus Codanus and Solinus, following him, says
;

22, 1 :
f
Mons
Sevo ipse ingens initium Germaniae facit, . . .

Imnc Inguaeones tenent ; but Isidor (Orig. 10, 2) makes out of it :

dicti autem Suevi putantur a monte Suevo, qui ab ortu initium

Germaniae facit . From this evidently is taken the account of the

immigrating Swaben in the Lay of Anno 284 sluogen iri
: si

gecelte (pitched their tents) ane dem berge Sucbo (so several read
for Suedo), dannin wurdin si geheizin Suabo
l
In the Low
.

German psalms 17 mons coagulatus is rendered berg sueuot

57,
which is perhaps to be explained by the legend of the lebirmer
[liver-sea, Tacitus s mare pigrum ? Germ. 45. Agr. 10]. It seems
more to the point, that in Saem. 164-8 the Sefa fioll (fells, moun
tains, of the Sevs) arementioned in those very Helga-songs, one of
which sings of Svafaland, king Svafnir and the valkyr Svava. A
v after s is frequently dropped, and the readings Sevo, Suevo can
thus be reconciled. Suapo then would be a counterpart to Etzel
and Fairguns (pp. 169, 172) ? The AS. Sweppa, or rather Swsef-
daeg, can hardly be brought in here.
s Vindili stand in the same relation
Tacitus s Vandilii and Pliny
to each other asArminius and Irmin, Angrivarii and Inguiones ;

both forms come from winding and wending, out of which so many
mythic meanings flow. Wuotan is described under several names
as the wender, wanderer [Germ, wandeln ambulare, mutare].
On the slight foundation of these national names, Marsi,
Gambrivii, Suevi and Vandilii, it is unsafe as yet to build. Tacitus
connects these with Mannus, but the heroes themselves he does not
even name, let alone giving any particulars of them.

3. (HERCULES). (ULYSSES). ALOIS.

Clear and definite on the other hand are the historian s notices
of another famous hero Fuisse apud eos et Herculem memorant,
:

primumque omnium virorum fortium ituri in proelia canunt, Germ.

1
Kaiserchr. 285 : sin gecelt hiez er slahen do uf einin here
der heizit
Swero, von dem berge Swero sint sie alle gelieizen Swabo. For Swero read
Swevo (see Suppl.).
364 HEROES.

3.
Speaking of sacrifices in cap. 9, after mentioning Mercurius
first, he immediately adds Herculem ac Martern concessis animali-
:

bus placant, the demigod being purposely put before even Mars.
Chapter 34 tells us of the ocean on the coast of the Frisians, then
says Et superesse adhuc Herculis columnas fama
vulgavit, sive
:

adiit Hercules, sen quidquid ubique magnificuin est, in claritatem

ejus referre consensimus. Nee defuit audentia Druso Germanico,
sed obstitit oceanus in se simul atque in Herculem inquiri. Mox
nemo tentavit, sanctiusque ac reverentius visum de actis deorum
credere quam scire.The Annals 2, 12 name a silva Herculi
sacra/ between the Weser and Elbe in the land of the Chernscans ;

while the Peutinger Table puts a castra Herculis

*
near Novio-
magus (Nimwegen). All this means something, it all points to
some demigod who is identified, not unadvisedly, with that of the
Romans. Hercules, whose deeds were accomplished in countries
widely remote, is thought to have visited Germany also, and the
Gaditanian pillars at one end of Europe have a counterpart in the
Frisian ocean on another side of it. In the German battle-song
the praise of Hercules is sounded first, victims are slain to him as
to the highest gods, to him a wood is consecrated. Of pillars,
even Widukind still knows something,
by his speaking of Hirmin s
effigies columnarum (pi.), not columuae. Was the plural irman-
siili (p. 115) more exact than irmansul, and had the
image several
pillars ? Did the Eoman in his Hermin and Herminones think of
Herakles and Hercules, whose name bore plainly on its face the
r/
root Hpa, Hera ? was that why he retained the aspirate in Her-
minones and Hermunduri, and not in Arminius ? An approxima
tion of sound in the names of the two heroes, Roman and German,

may surely be presupposed. The position of Herculis silva and

columnae does not indeed agree with that of the Herminones, but
the worship of such a hero was sure to spread far and not to be
confined to the particular race to which he gave his name. In
the German Irman, Irmin, it seems correct for the aspirate to
be wanting, as in Arminius in Cherusci it is indispensable, and
;

therefore the Romans never wrote Herusci.

If in thisHercules we wish to see one of the great gods
themselves,we must apparently exclude Mercury and Mars, from
whom he is distinguished in cap. 9, i.e., Wuotan and Zio. And for
supposing him to mean Donar, i.e., Jupiter (as Zeuss does, p. 25), I
 HERCULES. ULYSSES. 365

see no other ground than that the Norse Thorr, like Hercules,
performs innumerable heroic deeds, but these may equally be
placed to the credit of Irmin, and Innin and the thundergod have
nothing else in common. Yet, in favour of Hercules being Donar,
we ought perhaps weigh the AS. sentences quoted on p. 161,
to
note ;
was a son of Zeus, and a foe to giants.
also, that Herakles
I had thought at one time that Hercules
might stand for
Sahsnot, Seaxneat, whom the formula of renunciation exalts by the
side of Thunar and Wodan I thought so on the strength of
;

Hercules Saxanus, whese surname might be explained by saxum

= sahs. But the inscriptions in which we meet with this
Hercules Saxanus extend beyond the bounds of Germany, and
belong rather to the Roman religion. Our Sahsndt has with more
justice been assigned to Zio (p. 203), with whom Hercules cannot
be connected. I now think the claims of Irmin are better founded:
as Hercules was Jupiter s son, Irmin seems to have been Wodan s ;
and he must have been the subject of the battle-songs (ituri in
proelia canunt), even of those which Tacitus understood of Ar-
minius (canitur adhuc) ; though they would have suited Mars too,
p. 207 (see Suppl.).

It is a harder matter to form an opinion about the Ulysses :

Ceterum et Ulixem quidam opinantur longo illo et fabuloso errore

in hunc oceanum delatum adisse Germaniae terras, Asciburgium-

que, quod in ripa Rheni situm hodieque incolitur, ab illo consti-

tutum nominatumque aram quin etiam Ulixi consecratam, adjecto
;

Laertae patris nomine, eodem loco olim repertam Tac. Germ. 3. ;

In Odysseus people have seen OSinn, in Asciburg Asburg but if ;

Woden stood for the god Mercury, it cannot here mean the hero,
can Askiburg be traced to the ases, a purely Norse form,
still less

which in these regions would have been anses. When Tacitus

makes Ulixes the founder of Asciburg, nothing is simpler than to
suppose him to have been Isco, Escio, Asko (p. 350) and if it was ;

Isco that set the Romans thinking of Ul-ixes, how it helps to esta
blish the sc in Iscaevones Mannus the father of Isco may have
!

suggested Laertes, inasmuch as Xao? people, and Xao? stone, are

mixed up in the creation of the first man (the origo geutis) out of
stone or rock (see ch. XIX) ;
in the same way Asco grew up out of
the tree (ash), and fy?D? and Trerpij stand together in the mythus,
366 HEROES.

not without meaning. As liut from liotan, Xao? seems to come

from the same root as Xao?,

The interpretatio Eomana went more upon analogies of sense

than of sound so, in dealing with Castor and Pollux, I will not
;

take them for the brothers Hadu and Phol Baldr (see Suppl.). =
These Gemini, however, are the very hardest to interpret the ;

passage about them was given on p. 6G, and an attempt was made
to show that alx referred to the place where the godlike twins were

worshipped I confess it does not satisfy .me. Our antiquity has

:

plenty of hero brothers to show, but no twins with a name like

Alci, if this plural of Alcus is the true form. It occurs to me, that
one of OSin s names is Idlkr (Ssem. 46 b 47 b ), and jolk in the
Vermland dialect means a boy. 2 This comes more home to us than
the Samogitic Algir (angelus est summorum deorum, Lasicz, p. 47),
towards which the dictionaries offer nothing but alga, reward.
Utterly untrustworthy is any comparison with the Slav deities
Lei and Polel, themselves as yet unsupported by authority (see
3
Suppl.).

4. BEOWULF, SIGFRIT, AMALO, ERMENPJCII, DIETERICH, &c.

From the above specimens in Tacitus we may conclude that all
the Teutonic races had a pretty fully developed Heroology and if ;

our ancient stores of native literature had been still accessible to us,
we might have gained a much closer insight into its nature and its
connexion as a whole. As it is, we are thrown upon dry genealogies,
dating from centuries after, and touching only certain races,
many
namely the Goths, Langobards, Burgundians, but above all, the
Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. may learn from them the We
connexion of the later kings with the ancient gods and heroes, but
not the living details of their myths. Yet we could be content, if
even such pedigrees had also been preserved of the Franks and
other nations of continental Germany.
The Anglo-Saxon genealogies seem the most important, and the

1 "

Ulixes = Loki, Sn. 78. For Laertes, whose name Pott 1, 222 explains
as protector of the people, conf. Ptolemy s Aa/a/3ov/ryioi/." Extr. from Suppl.,
vol. iii.
2
Almqvist, Svensk sprSklara, Stockh. 1810, p. 385\
8 In Lith. lele is pupa, nkies lele pupilla, leilas butterfly.
 GOZ. FKOGER. 367

Appendix gives them in full [but see above, p.

165]. All the
families branch out from Woden, as most of the Greek do from
Zeus it
;
was a proud feeling to have one s root in the highest of
all gods. Prominent among his sons are Saxnedt and Bceldceg, who
were themselves accounted divine; but several other names can
claim a place among the earliest heroes, e.g., Sigegedt and Wodcl-
1
gedt (both akin to the Gothic Gduts), Fredivine, Wuscfred, Sccfugd,
Westcrfalcna and many are fallen dim to us.
; Cdsere, which in
other AS. writings is used for cyning, 2 seems to be a mere

appellative, and to have acquired the character of a proper name

after the analogy of the Eoman caesar (?). All these genealogies
give us barely the names of the god s sons and grandsons, never
those of their mothers or grandmothers; and the legend, which

ought like the Greek ones to give life to the relationship, is the

very thing we miss.

Some of the Norse traditions gain in value, by being taken with
the genealogies. The Volsungasaga sets out with OSin s being the
father of Sigi, but all particulars of the
relationship are withheld ;
Eerir the son of Sigi is in the immediate
keeping of the highest
gods, and so Another time, on the contrary, we are informed,
on.
Sn. 8486, how OSinn under the name of Bolverkr
(OHG. Palo-
wurcho ?) became servant to the giant Baugi, in order to get at the
divine drink, which the giant s brother Suttungr kept,
guarded by
his daughter Gunnloff; between her and the god took place sundry
passages of love, dimly hinted at by Ssemund also 12 b 23 a b 24a,
but we are nowhere told what heroes were
begotten in the three
nights that 05inn passed with the giant s daughter. Gunnloff
belongs to the race of giants, not of men, which is also the case
with Gerdr whomFreyr wooed, and perhaps with others, who are
not reckoned the asynjor. The Greeks also held that from
among
the union of gods with titans
daughters might spring a hero, or
even a god (like Tyr, p. 208). Only Saxo,
p. 66, and no other
authority, tells us of a Norwegian king and hero Frogerus, ut
quiclam ferunt, Othino patre natus/ to whom the gods gave to be
invincible in fight, unless his
adversary could grasp the dust from
1
OHG. Wuotilgoz (Zeitschr. f. d. alt. 1, 577), conf. wueteln above, p. 132,
and Wodel-beer, p. 156 (see Suppl.).
2
In Boeth. 38, 1 Agamemnon is styled casere, and Ulysses cyning [in the
Pref., Ecedgot, Ealleiic, Theodric are cyningas, the emperor always casere] in ;
a doc. in Kemble 2, 304 Eadred is cvning and casere .
3G8 HEROES.

1
under his feet, which the Danish king Frotho by fraud contrived to
do. Can this Froyer be the AS. FreoSegar, FreSegar in the Wessex
genealogy, who had Brond for for grandfather,
father, Bseldaeg
Woden for great-grandfather ? The ON.
table of lineage seems to
mix up FrioGegar with FroSi, his adversary. 2 According to the
Formal! of the Edda, p. 1 5, and the Yngl. saga c. 9, Norway traced
her eldest line of kings to Sccmingr, the son of OSinn by SkaSi,
previously the wife of NiorSr some write Semingr, which means
;

and would lead to FriSgeir again. SkaSi was daughter

pacificator,
to the iotunn Thiassi, and the SigurSardrapa (-killing) calls

SigurSr LaSaiarl afspringr Thiassa, (Th. progenies). The Her-

rauSssaga cap. 1 makes Hringr spring from Gauti, and him from
O(5inn this Gautr or Gauti (conf. Ing and Ingo, Irmin and Irmino),.
:

Goth. Gauts, OHG. Koz, AS. Geat, whether surname, son or

ancestor of OSinn, cannot belie his divinity (conf. p. 367) and his ;

son Godwulf confounded by some with Folcwalda (p. 165, last

too,

table), looks mythical. It is from Gduts that the Gautos (Koza, Tav-
TOI) professed to be descended, these being other
than the Cubans
(Tac. Gothones, Fordoi), but related to them nevertheless, for the
Gothic genealogy starts with the same Gauts at the head of it.
Again, Sigrlami is called OSin s son, Fornald. sog. 1, 413. But who
can Bous (gen. Boi), Othini ex Einda films be in Saxo Gram. 46 ?

Possibly Biar, Biaf, Beav = Beowulf, to whom we are coming (see

3
Suppl.) .

Another OSinsson, Skioldr, is the famed ancestral hero of the

Danes, from whom are derived all the Skioldungar (Sn. 146) he ;

may have been most nearly related to the people of Schonen, as in

the Fornm. sog.5, 239 he is expressly called Skanunga goS (see p.

161), and was probably worshipped as a god. In Saxo Gram, he

does not take the lead, but follows after Humblus, Dan4 and
Lother Skiold himself has a son Gram, 5 from whom come Hadding
;

1
A token of victory 1 as the vanquished had to present such dust (RA.
111-2).
The AS. name Frodheri stands yet farther away (Beda 2, 9 113).
2

Saxo 122 mentions one hero begotten by Thorr Halda/nut Biarggrammut

3 :

a pud Sueones magni Thor jilius existimatur. And I know of no other but this
one.
4
Dan, in Saxo s view the true ancestor of the Danes, is called in the
b
Rigsmal tianr, and placed together with Danpr, Srem. 106 .

8
Elsewhere Gramr is the proper name of a particular sword, while the
appellative gramr denotes kii .g.
 GEAT. JSCILD. BEOWULF. 369

and then Frotho but the AS. genealogy places its Scild after
;

Scedf,and singularly makes them both ancestors of OSinn. From

Scedf descends Sceldwa, from him consecutively Beaw, Tcetiva, Gedt,
and after several more generations comes Woden last. The ON.
version of the lineage is in harmony with this ;
and even in the
Gothic pedigree, which only begins with Gduts, we may suppose a
Skaufs, Skildva, Taitva to have preceded, to whom the OHG. names
Scoup, Scilto, Zeizo would correspond. None however is so
Sceldwa s son, the Anglo-Saxon Beaw, called by the
interesting as
Scandinavians Biar, Biaf, but in the living AS. epos Beewulf. It
is true, the remarkable poem of that name is about a second and
younger Beowulf, in whom his forefather s name repeats itself but ;

fortunately the opening lines allude to the elder Beowulf, and call
his father Scild (Goth. Skildus, agreeing with Skioldr) a Scefing, i.e.,

son of Scedf. Beaw is a corruption of Beow, and Beow an

abbrevia-^
tion of Beowulf-, it is the complete name that first opens to us a
wider horizon. Beowulf signifies bee-wolf Piawolf?), and
(OHG. i

that is a name for the woodpecker, a bird of gay plumage that hunts
after bees, of whom antiquity has many a tale to tell. 1 Strange to
say, the classical mythus (above, pp. 206, 249) makes this Picus a
son of Saturn, inasmuch as it either identifies him with Zeus who
is succeeded by a Hermes, or makes him nourisher of Mars s sons

and father of Faunus. We see Picus (Picumnus) interwoven into

the race of Kronos, Zeus, Hermes and Ares, the old Bohemian
Stracec = picus into that of Sitivrat, Kirt and Eadigost, as Beowulf
is and Woden. If the groups differ in the details
into that of Gedt
of combination, their agreement as wholes is the more
their

trustworthy and less open to suspicion. And just as the footprints

of Saturn were traceable from the Slavs to the Saxons and to
England, but were less known
Northmen, so those of the
to the
divine bird in Stracec and Beowulfseem to take the same course,
and never properly to reach Scandinavia. The central Germans
stood nearer to Eoman legend, although no actual borrowing need
have taken place.
What a deep hold this group of heroes had taken, is evidenced
by another legend. Scedf (i.e., manipulus frumenti) takes his name,
1
Can the namein Upper Germany for the turdus or oriolus galbula,
Birolf, Pirolf,brother Pirolf (Frisch 1, 161), possibly stand for Biewolf (or
Biterolf) ? The Serbs call it Urosh, and curiously this again is a hero s name.
Conf. the Finn, uros [with heros ? ], p. 341.
24
370 HEROES.

from the circumstance, that when a boy he was conveyed to the

1
country he was destined to succour, while asleep on a sheaf of corn
in the boat. The poetry of the Lower Ehine and Netherlands in
the Mid. Ages is full of a similar story of the sleeping youth whom
a swan conducts in his ship to the afflicted land and this swan- ;

knight is pictured approaching out of paradise, from the grave, as

Helms, whose divine origin is beyond question. Helias, Gerhart or
Loherangrin of the thirteenth century is identical then with a Scdf
or Scoup of the seventh and eighth, different as the surroundings

may have been, for the song of Beowulf appears to have transferred
to Scild what belonged of right to his father Scedf. The beautiful
story of the swan is founded on the miraculous origin of the swan-
brothers, which I connect with that of the Welfs both however ;

seem to be antique lineage-legends of the Franks and Swabians, to

which the proper names are mostly wanting. Had they been
preserved, many another tie between the heroes and the gods would
come to light. 2 Further, to Sceldwa or Skioldr belongs obviously
the name Schiltunc in the Tirol and Parzival, 3 as the name Schil-
lunc, Mb. 88, 3, points to a race of Sciljmngd, corresponding to the
AS. Scilfingas, OK
Scilfingar, of whom Skelfir, Scilfe, Scilpi is to
be regarded as the ancestor. This Skelfir the Fornald. sog. 2, 9
makes the father of Skioldr, so that the Skilfinga and Skioldinga
sett fall into one. Either ifcelLis^JiexfL-gQnfounded with Scef. or
Scef must be altered to ScelLJbnL the frequent occurrence_of_the
Jofm~Scear7and its
interpretation (from sheaf), seem alike to forbid
jbhis (see Suppl.).

As the Skioldungar descend from Skioldr, so do the Giukungar

from Giuki = Gibika, Kipicho, with whom the Burgundian line
begins not a god himself (p. 137), he is a divine hero that carries
: if

us back very near to Wuotan. The Gibichensteine (-stones) more

over bear witness to him, and it is to the two most eminent women
of this race that Grimhildensteine, Brunhildensteine are allotted. 4

1 Umborwesende ? Beow. 92.

2
The ship that brought Sceaf and the swan-knight carries them away
again at last, but the reason is disclosed only in later legend it was forbidden
:

to inquire into their origin, Parz. 825, 19. Conr., Schwanritter 1144-73.
3
Zeitschr. fur deut. alterth. 1 7. ,

4
Brunehildesteiii, lectulus Brunihilde, Kriemhiltenstein, Oiemildespili
(Heldensage p. 155) Krimhilte graben (Weisth. 1, 48) in loco Grimhiltaperg
; ;

nominate (Juvavia p. 137) ; de Crimhilteperc, MB. 7. 498.

 SCEAF. GIBIKA. WELIS. SIGOFRID. 371

1
Frau Ubte however appears as ancestress of the stock. It has not

been so much noticed as it ought, that in the Lex Burg. Gislahari

precedes Gundahari by a whole generation, whilst our epic
makes Giselhere Gunthere s younger brother, and the
(Nibelungen)
Edda never names him at all. The Law makes no mention of any
brothers, and Giselher the young has merely the name of his elder
kinsman. Gernot (from ger =
gais) and Giselher seem to be
identical (conf. Gramm. 2, 46). But the Norse Guttormr can
hardly be a distortion of Godomar, for we meet with him outside of
the legend, e.g., in Landn. 1, 18. 20, where the spelling Guftormr

(Guntwurm) would lead us to identify him with Gunthere, and in

Saxo Gram, are found several Guthormi (see Suppl.). Then Hagano
the one-eyed, named from hagan (spinosus, Waltharius 1421), is
more than heroic 2 .

Even deeper reaching roots must be allowed to the Welisungs ;

their name brings us to a divine Valis who has disappeared (conf.

the ON. Vali, p. 163), but the mere continuance of an OHG.
Welisunc is a proof of the immemorial diffusion of the Volsunga-

saga itself (see Suppl.). How, beginning with Wuotan, it goes on

to Sigi, Sigimunt, Sigifrit, Sintarfizilo, has been alluded to on p.

367, and has already been treated of elsewhere. 3 With Sigfrit

stands connected Helfrich, Chilpericus, ON. Hialprekr. It is

worthy of note, that the AS. Beowulf calls Sigfrit Sigemund, and
4
Sigmundr is a surname of OSinn besides. Such a flood of
splendour on Siegfried in the poems, that we need not stick at
falls

trifles ;
whole nature has evident traces of the superhuman
his :

brought up by an elf Eegino, beloved by a valkyr Brunhild,

instructed in his destiny by the wise man Gripir, he wears the
helmet of invisibility, is vulnerable only on one spot in his body,
as Achilles was in the and he achieves the rich hoard of the
heel,

Mbelungs. His slaying of the dragon Fafnir reminds us of IlvOcav 6

1
Haupts zeitschr. 1, 21.
2
Lachmann s examination of the whole Nibelung legend, p. 22.
3
Haupts zeitschr. 1, 2 6.
4 In Edda, Saem. 2, 889 Sigemon, and in Finn
the Copenh. ed. of the
Magn. 643 Segemon, is said to have been a name of the Celtic Mars
lex. ;

I suppose on the
ground of the inscriptt. in Gruter Iviii. 5 Marti Segomoni :

sacrum ...in civitate Sequanorum and ii. 2 Diis deabus omnibus

;
:

Veturius L.L. Securius (al. Segomanics) pro se quisque (see Suppl.).

5
Almost the same, granting a change of th into /(as in tirjp, <pr)p) ;
of our
a standing for Greek J there are more
examples fnasu, blasu = :
7n/evo>, 0Xvca.
372 HEROES.

whom Apollo overcame, and as Python guarded the Delphic oracle,

the dying Faf nir prophesies. 1 We
must take into account Lofffdfnir
Seem. 24, 30. Sinfiotli, who, when a boy, kneads snakes into the
dough, comparable to the infant Hercules tested by serpents.
is

Through Siegfried the Frankish Welisungs get linked to the

Burgundian Gibichungs, and then both are called Nibelungs.
Among Gothic heroes we are attracted by the Ovida and
Cnivida in Jornandes cap. 22, perhaps the same as Offa and
Cnebba in the Mercian line. But of far more consequence is the
great Gothic family of Amals or Amalungs, many of whose names
in the Jornandean genealogy seem corrupt. The head of them all
was Gapt, which I emend to Gaut (Gauts), and so obtain an allusion
to the divine office of casting [giessen, and meting
ein-guss, in-got]
(pp. 22. 142) ; he was a god, or son of a god (p. 164), and is even
imported into the Saxon lines as Gedt, Wodelgeat, Sigegeat (p. 367).
In this Gothic genealogy the weak forms Amala, Isarna, Ostro-
gotha, Ansila, confirm what we have observed in Tuisco, Inguio,
Iscio, Irmino but those best worth noting are Amala, after
;

whom the most powerful branch of the nation is named, Ermana-

ricusand Thcodericus. Ermanaricus must be linked with Irmino
and the Herminones, as there is altogether a closer tie between
Goths and Saxons (Iiigaevones and Herminones) as opposed to the
Franks (Iscaevones), and this shows itself even in the later epics.
Amongst the Amalungs occur many names compounded with
vidf, which reminds us of their side-branch, the Wulfings if it be ;

not too bold, I would even connect Isarna (Goth. Eisarna) with
Isangrim. To me the four sons of Achiulf seem worthy of
particular notice : and Hermenrich. Of
Ansila, Ediulf, Vuldulf,
the last we have
just spoken, and Ansila means the divine our ;

present concern is with Ediulf and Vuldulf. I find that Jornandes,

cap. 54, ascribes to the Scyrians also two heroes Edica and Vulf;
the Eugian Odoacer has a father Eiicho and a brother Aonulf; and

1
The epithet sveinn (Sw. sven, Dan. svend) given to the Norse Sigurfrr
appears already in Fafnir s address sveinn ok sveinn / and in the headings to
ch. 142-4 of the Vilk. saga. The same hero then is meant by the tiiiard
snaresvtnd (fortis puer) of the Danish folk-song, who, liding on (Irani,
accompanies to Askereia (see ch. XXXI), and by Svend Felding or Falling of
the Danish folk-tale (Thiele 2, 64-7. Muller s sagabibl. 2, 417-9). He drank
out of a horn handed to him by elvish beings, and thereby acquired the strength
of twelve men. Swedish songs call him Sven Furling or Foiling ; Arvulsson
 IRMANRIH. ETICHO. DIETRICH. 373

the legend on the origin of the Welfs has the proper names
j
Isenlart, Irmentrud, Wdf and Etico constantly recurring. Now,
welf catulus (huelf, whelp,
is strictly OK
hvelpr), and distinct from
wolf natural history tells us of several strong courageous animals
;

that are brought into the world blind the Langobardic and ;

Swabian genealogies play upon dogs and wolves being exposed and ;

as Odoacer, Otaclier (a thing that has never till now been accounted

for) is
in some versions called Sipicho, ON". Bicki, and this means
dog (bitch), I suspect a similar meaning in Edica, Eticho, Ediulf,
Odacar, which probably affords a solution of the fable about the
blind Schwaben and Hessen : their lineage goes back to the blind
Welfs. In the genealogy Ediulf is described as brother to Ermen-

rich, in later sagas Bicki is counsellor to lormunrekr ;

the Hilde-
brandslied has but too little to say of Otacher. Then Vuldulf also

(perhaps Vuldr-ulf) signify a glorious beaming wolf (see

will

Suppl.). As Siegfried eclipsed all other Welisungs, so did Dieterich

all the Amalungs and where the epos sets them one against the
;

other, each stands in his might, unconquered, unapproachable.

Dieterich s divine herohood comes out in more than one feature, e.g.,
his fiery breath, and his taking the place of Wuotan or Ero (p.
213-4) at the head of the wild host, as Dietrichbern or Bemhard.
The fiery breath brings him nearer to Donar, with whom he can be
compared in another point also Dieterich is wounded in the
:

forehead by an arrow, and a piece of it is left inside him, for which

reason he is called the deathless j1 not otherwise did the half of
Hrungnir s hein (stone wedge) remain in Thor s head, and as
Groa s magic could not loosen it, it sticks there still, and none shall
aim with the like stones, for it makes the piece in the god s forehead
stir (Sn.109 111). 2 This horn-like stone was very likely shown
in images, and enhanced their
godlike appearance.
The renowned race of the Billings or Billungs, whose mythic
rootsand relations are no longer discoverable, was still flourishing
in North Germany in the 10-1 1th centuries. The first historically
certain Billing died in 967, and another, above a hundred years
older, is mentioned.3 The Cod. Exon. 320, 7 says Billing weold :

1
Simon Keza, chron.
Hungaror. 1, von Miiglein (in
11. 12. Heinr.
Kovachich p. 8) ; Deutsche heldensage p. 164.
conf.
2
Hence the proverb seint losnar hein i hofSi Thors.
:

3
Wedekind s Hermann duke of Saxony, Liineb. 1817, p. 60. Conf. the
miles Billinc, comes
Billingus in docs, of 961-8 in Hofers zeitschr. 2, 239. 344,
and the OHG. form Billungus in Zeuss, Trad, wizenb.
pp. 274. 287. 305.
374: HEROES.

Wernum/ he belongs therefore to the stock of Werina, who were

near of kin to the Angles. There was a Billinga haeft (heath) near
Whalley, and London has to this day a Billingsgate. In OHG. we
find a man s name Billunc (Eied nos. 14. 21-3, A.D. 808. 821-2). If
we take into account, that a dwarf Billingr occurs in the Edda, Saem.
2 a 23 a a hero Pillunc in Eol. 175, 1, and Billunc and Nidunc coupled
,

together in the Kenner 14126-647, the name acquires a respectable

degree of importance (see Suppl.). The derivative Billinc implies
a simple bil or bili (lenitas, placiditas), from which directly [and
not from our adj. billig, fair] are formed the OHG. names Pilidrut,
Pilihilt, Pilikart, Pilihelm to which add the almost personified
;

Billich (equity) in Trist, 9374. 10062. 17887. 18027, and the ON.

goddess Bil, Sn. 39 the II in Billung could be explained through

;

Biliung. Just as Oolnn in Ssem. 46 b is called both Bileygr (mild-

eyed) and Baleygr (of baleful eye), so in Saxo Gram. 130 a Bilvisus
(aequus) stands opposed to Bolvisus (iniquus).

5. OEENTIL. WIELANT. MIMI. TELL, &c.

In addition to the heroes ascertained thus far, who form part of
the main pedigree of whole nations, and thence derive weight and

durability, there is another class of more isolated heroes

I can only ;

put forward a few of them here.

We have still remaining a somewhat rude poem, certainly
founded on very ancient epic material, about a king Orendel or
Erentel, whom the appendix to the Heldenbuch pronounces the
first of all heroes that were ever born. He suffers shipwreck on a
1
voyage, takes shelter with a master fisherman Eisen, earns the
seamless coat of his master, and afterwards wins frau Hreide, the
fairest of women :
king Eigel of Trier was his father s name. The
whole tissue of the fable puts one in mind
Odyssey the ship of the :

wrecked man clings to the plank, digs himself a hole, holds a bough
before him even the seamless coat may be compared to Ino s veil,
;

and the fisher to the swineherd, dame Breide s templars would be

Penelope s suitors, and angels are sent often, like Zeus s messengers.
Yet many things take a different turn, more in German fashion,
and incidents are added, such as the laying of a naked sword
between the newly married couple, which the Greek story knows
nothing of. The hero s name is found even in OHG. documents :

1 Who is also found apparently in a version of the Lay of king Oswald.

 BILLUNG. ORENTIL. 375

Orendil, Meiclielb. 61; Orenttt, Trad, fuld. 2, 24 2, 109 (Schannat

308) Orendil a Bavarian count (an. 843 in Eccard s Fr. or. 2,
;
367);
a village Orendelsal, now
Orendensall, in Hohenlohe, v. Haupts
zeitschr. 7, 558. But the Edda has another myth, which was
alluded to in speaking of the stone in Thor s head. Groa is busy
conning her magic spell, when Thorr, to requite her for the
approaching cure, imparts the welcome news, that in coming from
lotunheim in the North he has carried her husband the bold
Orvandill in a basket on his back, and he is sure to be home soon ;

he adds by way of token, that as OrvandiTs toe had stuck out of the
basket and got frozen, he broke it off and flung it at the sky, and
made a star of it, which is called Orvandils-td. But Groa in her
joy at the tidings forgot her spell, so the stone in the god s head
never got loose, Sn. 110-1. Groa, the growing, the grass-green, is
equivalent to Breide, i.e., Berhta (p. 272) the bright, it is only
another part of his history that is related here Orvandill must :

have set out on his travels again, and on this second adventure
forfeited the toe which Thorr set in the sky, though what he had
to do with the god we are not clearly told. Beyond a doubt, the
name of the glittering star-group is referred to, when AS. glosses
render jubar by earendel, and a hymn to the virgin Mary in Cod.
Exon. 7, 20 presents the following passage :

Eala Earendel, engla beorhtast,

ofer middangeard monnum sended,
and sunnan leoma
soSfsesta
torht ofer tunglas, J?u tida gehwane
of sylfurn Ipe symle inlihtes !

i.e., jubar, angelorum splendidissime, super orbem terrarum

hominibus misse, radie vere solis, supra stellas lucide, qui omni
tempore ex te ipso luces Mary or Christ is here addressed under
!

the heathen name of the constellation; I am only in doubt as to

the right spelling and interpretation of the word an OHG. drentil ;

implies AS. earendel, and the two would demand ON. aurvendill,
eyrvendill ;
but if we start with ON,, orvendill, then AS. earendel,
OHG. erentil would seem preferable; The latter part of the
1
compound certainly contains entil- =- wentil. The first part should
1
Whence did Matthesius (in Frisch 2, 439 a) get his Pan is the heathens "

Wendel and head bagpiper 1 Can the word refer to the metamorphoses of the
"

flute-playing demigod 1 In trials of witches, "Wendel is a name for the devil,

Mones anz. 8, 124.
376 HEROES.

be either ora, earo (auris), or else ON", or, gen. b rvar (sagitta).
Now, Saxo Gram., p. 48, a Horvendilus
as there occurs in a tale in
films Gervendili, and in OHG. a name Kerwentil (Schm. 2, 334)
and Gerentil (Trad. fuld. 2, 106), and as geir (hasta) agrees better
with or than with eyra (auris), the second interpretation may com
mand our assent j
1
a sight of the complete legend would explain the
reason of the name. I think Orentil s father deserves attention
too Eigil is another old and obscure name, borne for instance by
:

an abbot of Fulda who died in 822 (Pertz 1, 95. 356. 2, 366.

Trad. fuld. 1, 77-8. 122). In the Ehine-Moselle country are the
2
singular Eigelsteine, Weisth. 2, 744 (see Suppl.). In AS. we find
the names Aegles burg (Aylesbury), Acgles ford (Aylesford), Aegles

J)orp but I shall come back to Eigil presently.

; Possibly Orentil
was the thundergod s companion in expeditions against giants.
Can the story of Orentil s wanderings possibly be so old amongst
us, that in Orentil and Eigil of Trier we are to look for that Ulysses
and Laertes whom Tacitus places on our PJiine (p. 365) ? The
names shew nothing in common. 3
Far-famed heroes were Wieland and Witticli* whose rich
legend is second to none in age or celebrity. Vidigoia (Vidugauja)
of whom the Goths already sang, OHG. Witugouwo as well as

Witicko, MHG. Witcgouwe and Witege, AS. Wudga, in either form

silvicola, from the Goth, vidus, OHG. witu, AS. wudu (lignum,
silva), leads us to suppose a being passing the bounds of human
nature, a forest-god. Frau Wachilt, a mermaid, is his ancestress,
with whom he takes refuge in her lake.
the head of the whole At
race is
placed king Vilkinus, Vulcanus named
as the Latin
after
termination shews, a god or demigod, who must have had another
and German name, and who begets with the merwoman a gigantic
son Vadi, AS. Wada (Cod. Exon. 323, 1), OHG. Wato, so named I
suppose because, like another Christopher, he ivaded with his child
on his shoulder through the Grcenasund where it is nine yards

1
And so Uhland (On Thor, p. 47
seq.) expounds it in Groa Tie sees the
:

of the crop, in Orvandill the

growth sprouting of the blade. Even the tale in
Saxo he brings in.
The false
2
spelling Eichelstein (acorn-stone) has given rise to spurious
legends, Mones anz. 7, 368.
3 I have hardly the face to mention, that some make the right shifty Ulysses
father to Pan, our Wendel above.
4
The unprinted M.Dutch poem,
still De kinderen van Limburg, likewise
mentions Wilant, Wedcge and Mimminc,
 EIGIL. WITICHO. WATE. WIELANT. 377

deep (between Zealand, Falster and Moen) ;

the Danish hero Wate
in Gudrun is identical with him the AS. is placed toward
;
Wada
Helsingen. Old English poetry had much to tell of him, that is
now lost Chaucer names Wades boot Guingelot, and a place in
:
*

Northumberland is called Wade s gap Wsetlingestret could only ;

be brought into connexion with him, if such a spelling as

Wsedling could be made good. Now, that son, whom Vadi carried
through the sea to apprentice him to those cunning smiths the
dwarfs, was Wielant, AS. Weland, Welond, ON. Volundr, but in
the Vilk. saga Velint, master of all smiths, and wedded to a swan-
maiden Hervor -alvitr. The rightful owner of the boat, which
English tradition ascribes to Wada, seems to have been Wieland ;
the Vilk. saga tells how he timbered a boat out of the trunk of a
tree, and sailed over seas. Lamed in the sinews of his foot, he

forged for himself a winged garment, and took his flight through
the air. His on all occasions, and his name coupled
skill is praised
with every costly jewel, Vilk. saga cap. 24. Witeche, the son he
had by Baduhilt, bore a hammer and tongs in his scutcheon in
honour of his father during the Mid. Ages his memory lasted
;

among whose workshops were styled Wieland s houses, 1 and

smiths,
perhaps his likeness was set up or painted outside them; the
ON. Volundar hus translates the Latin labyrinth; a host of
similar associations must in olden times have been generally

diffused, as we learn from the names of places Welantes gruoba :

(pit), MB. 13, 59 Widantes heim, MB. 28 a 93 (an. 889)

; Wielan- , ;

tis dorf, MB. 29, 54 Widantes tanna MB. 28 b

(an. 1246) (firs), ; ,

188. 471 (an. 1280) Wielandes brunne, MB. 31, 41 (an. 817).
;

The multiplication of such names during long centuries does not

admit of their being derived from human inhabitants. The Dan.
Velandsuit (-wort), Icel. the valerian, and according to
Velantsurt, is

Staid. 2, 450 Wielandbeett the daphne cneorum. Tradition would

doubtless extend Wieland s dexterity to Wittich and to Wate, who
also gets the credit of the boat, and in the Gudrun-lay of the
healing art. In Sasm. 270 a ,
bcekur ofnar volundom are stragula
artificiose contexta, and any
might be called a volundr or
artist
wielant. A gorgeous coat of mail (hrsegel, OHG. hregil) is in Beow.
904 Welandes geweorc. JElfred in Boe th. 2, ;7 translates fidelis

1 Juxta donrnm Welandi fabri, Ch. ad arm. 1262 in Lang s reg. 3, 181 :

conf. Haupts zeitschr. 2, 248. I find also Witigo faber, MB. 7, 122.
378 HEROES.

f
ossa Fabricii ]?aes wisan goldsmiSes ban
Welondes* (metrically:
Wdandes bm) evidently
;
the idea of faber which lay in Fabricius
brought to his mind the similar meaning of the Teutonic name,
Weland being a cunning smith in general. For the name itself
appears to contain the vel OK =
viel (ars, re^i/i/, OHG. list),
Gramm. 1, 462, and smiSvelar meant artes fabriles the AS. form ;

is wll, or better wil, Engl. wile, Fr. guile; the OHG. wiol, wiel (with
broken vowel) no longer to be found. But further, we must pre
is

suppose a verb wielan, AS. welan (fabrefacere), whose pres. part, wie-
lant, weland, exactly forms our proper name, on a par with wigant,
werdant, druoant, &c. Graff 2, 234 commits the error of citing
;

Wielant under the root lant, with which it has no more to do than
heilant (healer, saviour). The OFr. Galans (Heldens. 42) seems
to favour the ON", form Volundr [root val] since Veland would
rather have led to a Fr. Guilans possibly even the ON. vala
;

(nympha) is a kindred word ? An OHG. name Wieldrud seems

the very thing for a wise-woman. This development of an intrinsic
significance in the hero s name finds an unexpected confirmation
in the striking similarity of the Greek fables of Hephaestus,
Erichthonius and Daedalus. As Weland offers violence to
Beadohild (Volundr to BooVildr), so Hephaestus lays a snare -for
Athene, when she comes to order weapons of him both Hephaestus ;

and Volundr are punished with lameness, Erichthonius too is lame,

and therefore invents the four-horse chariot, as Volundr does the
boat and wings. One with Erichthonius are the later Erechtheus
and his descendant Daedalus, who invented various arts, a ring-
dance, building, &c., and on whose wings his son Icarus was soaring
when he fell from the clouds. But Aa&dkos l is SalSaXos, ScttSaX-
eo9, cunningly wrought, Sat SaX/ia (like dydX/jio) a work of art, and
Sai&aXXew the same as our lost wielan. As our list [like the Engl.
cunning and craft] has degenerated from its original sense of scientia
to that of calliditas and fraus, and vel has both meanings, it is not

surprising that from the skill-endowed god and hero has proceeded
a deformed deceitful devil (p. 241). The whole group of Wate,
Wielant, Wittich are heroes, but also ghostly beings and demigods
(see SuppL).
The Vilkinasaga brings before us yet another smith, Mimir, by

1 A reduplication like TratVaXof, TrauraXods tortus, arduus, irainaXXeiv tor-

quere ;
conf. XcuXa^-, //.al/za, &c.
 WELAND. MIMI. 379

whom not only is Velint instructed in his art, but Sigfrit is brought
up another smith s-apprentice. He is occasionally mentioned in
poem of Biterolf, as Mime the old (Heldensage, pp. 146-8)
the later ;

an OHG. Mimi must have grown even more deeply into our
language as well as legend : it has formed a diminutive Mimilo
(MB. 28, 87-9, annis 983-5), and Mimd^Mimidrtit, Mimihilt are
women s names (Trad. fuld. 489. Cod. lauresh. 211) the old name ;

of Mlinster in Westphalia was J/^migardiford, J/^migerneford

(Indices to Pertz 1. 2), conf. Jf?7ugerdeford in Kichthofen 335 the ;

Westphalian Minden was originally Mimidxrn. (Pertz 1, 368), and

Memleben on the Unstrut Mimilobat The great number of these
proper names indicates a mythic being, to which Memerolt (Morolt
111) may also be related! The elder Norse tradition names him
just as often, and in several different connexions. In one place,
1
Saxo, interweaves a Mimingus, a silvarum satyrus and
p. 40,

possessor of a sword and jewels, into the myth of Balder and

Hother, and this, to my thinking, throws fresh light an the
vidugauja (wood-god) above. The Edda however gives a higher
position to its Mimir: he has a fountain, in which wisdom and
understanding lie hidden ; drinking of it every morning, he is the
wisest, most intelligent of men, and this again reminds us of
Wielandes brunne . To Mimisbimmr came Oolnn and desired a
drink, but did not receive it till he had
given one of his eyes in
pledge, and hidden it in the fountain (Ssem. 4 a Sn, 17) this
.
;

accounts for Oolnn being one-eyed (p. 146). In the Yngl. saga
cap. 4, the Ases send Mimir, their wisest man, to the Vanir, who
cut his head off and send it back to the Ases. But OSinn spake
his spells over the head, that it decayed not, nor ceased to utter

speech ;
and Oolnn- holds conversation with it, whenever he needs
advice, conf. Yngl. saga cap. 7, and Srem. 8 a 195 b I do not exactly .

know whom the Voluspa means by Mimis syni-r (sons), Ssem. 8 a ;

Mmameidr 109 a implies a nom. Mimi gen. Mima, and may be

distinctfrom Mimir (conf. Bragr and Bragi, p. 235). Mimir is no
As, but an exalted being with whom the Ases hold converse, of
whom they make use, the sum-total of wisdom, possibly an older
nature-god ;
later fables degraded him into a wood-sprite or clever
smith. His oneness with heroes tends to throw a divine splendour
1 P. E.
Mullet s ed., p. 114, following which I have set aside the
reading
Mimringus, in spite of the Danish song of Mimering tand.
380 HEHOES.

on them. Swedish folk-song has not yet forgotten Mimes a

(Arvidsson 2,316-7), and in Konga harad and Tingas socken in
Smaland there lies a Mimes sjo, inhabited according to the legend
by neckar (nixies), ibid. p. 319. Perhaps some of the forms quoted
have by rights a short i, as have indisputably the AS. mimor,
meomor, gemimor (memoriter notus), mimerian (memoria tenere),
our Low German mimeren (day-dreaming), Brem. wtb. 3, 161, and
the Memerolt, Memleben above so that we might assume a verb
;

meima, maim, minium. Then the analogy of the Latin memor and
Or. fjbifjieofjLai allows us to bring in the giant and centaur Mi^as,

i.e., the wood-sprite again (see Suppl.).

According to the Edda (Sxm. 133), Volundr had two brothers

SlagfiSr and
Egill, all three synir Finnakonungs/ sons of a Finnish

king, whereas the saga transplanted to the North from Germany

makes its Vilkinus a king of Vilkinaland. Or can Finna be taken
as the gen. of Finni, and identified with that Finn Folcwaldansunu
on p. 219 ?
SlagfiSr might seem = Slagfinnr, but is better

explained as Slagfio Sr (flap- wing, see ch.

XVI, Walachuriun). All
three brothers married valkyrs, and Egill, the one that chiefly
concerns us here, took Olrun (Alioruna). The Vilk. saga, cap. 27,
likewise calls Velint s younger brother Eigill ok ]?enna kalla
:

menn OlrAnar Eigil,

1
but the bride is not otherwise alluded to ;

this form Eigill agrees with the OHG, Eigil on p. 376, not with the
ON". would have been Eigli.
Egill, dat. Agli, for the dat. of Eigill
Well, this Eigill was a famous archer at Nidung a command he ;

shot an apple off the head of his own little son, and when the king
asked him what the other two arrows were for, replied that they
were intended for him, in case the first had hit the child. The tale
of this daring shot must have been extremely rife in our remotest

antiquity, it turns up in so many places, and always with features

of its own. As the Vilkinasaga was imported into Scandinavia in
the 13th century, the story of Eigill was certainly diffused in
Lower Germany before that date. But Saxo Grammaticus in
Denmark knew it in the 12th
century, as told of Toko and king
llarald Gorrnsson, with the addition,
wanting in Eigill, that Toko

1 *
Peringskiold translates Egillus Sagittarius, and Eafn Egil den traf-
fende, but this was merely guessed from the incidents of .the story. Arrow is
not 61, but or ; Orentil on the contrary, Eigil s son, does seem to have been
named from the arrow.
 EIGIL, TOKI. HEMING. TELL. 381

after the sliot behaved like a hero in the sea-storm. The Icelanders
too, particularlythe lomsvikinga saga, relate the deeds of this
Pdlnatold, but not the shot from the bow, though they agree with
Saxo in making Harald fall at last by Tola s shaft. The king s
death by the marksman s hand is historical (A.D. 992), the shot at
the apple mythical, having gathered round the narrative out of an
older tradition, which we must presume to have been in existence
in the 10-llth centuries. To the Norwegian saga of Olaf the
Saint (-|-1030), it has attached itself another way Olaf wishing to
:

convert a heathen man, EindriSi, essayed his skill against him in

swimming, then shooting ; after a few successful
athletic arts, first

shots, the king required that EindrioYs boy should be placed at the
butts, and a writing-tablet be shot off his head without hurting the
child. EindriSi declared himself willing, but also ready to avenge

any injury. Olaf sped the first shaft, and narrowly missed the
tablet, when Eindrifti, at his mother s and sister s prayer, declined
the shot (Fornm. sog. 2,Just so king Haraldr SigurSarson
272).
(HarSraSa, -f 1066) measured himself against an archer Hemingr,
and bade him shoot a hazelnut off his Biorn s head, and Hemingr
accomplished the feat (Mliller s sagabibl. 3, 359, Thattr af

Hemingi cap. 6, ed. Eeykjavik p. 55), Long afterwards, the legend

was transferred to a Hemming Wolf, or von Wulfen, of Wewelsflet
in the Wilstermarsch of Holstein, where the Elbe
empties itself
into the sea, Hemming Wolf had sided with count Gerhard in
1472, and was banished by king Christian. The folk-tale makes-
the king do the same as Harald, and Hemming as Toko an old ;

painting of Wewelsflet church represents the archer on a meadow

with bow unbent, in the distance a boy with the apple on his head,
the arrow passes through the middle of the apple, but the archer
has a second between his teeth, and betwixt him and the boy
stands a wolf, perhaps to express that Hemming after his bold
answer was declared a wolf s head. 1 Most appropriately did the
mythus rear its head on the emancipated soil of Switzerland : In
1307, it is said, Wilhelm compelled by Gessler, achieved the
Tell,
same old master- shot, and made the courageous speech but the ;

evidence of chroniclers does not begin till toward the 16th century, 2

1
Schleswigholst. prov. berichte 1798, vol. 2, p. 39 scq. Milllenhof,
Schleswigholst. sagen no. 66.
2
I suspect the genuineness of the verses, alleged to be
by Heinrich von
382 HEROES.

shortly before the first printed edition of Saxo, 1514. Of the

unhistorical character of the event there cannot be the slightest
doubt. The mythic substratum of the Tell fable shews itself in an
Upper Ehine legend of the 15th century (in Malleus malef. pars 2

cap. 16, de sagittariis maleficis) which immediately preceded the

first written record of that of Tell Fertur de ipso (PuncheroJ, quod
:

quidam de optimatibus, cum artis sue experientiam capere voluis-

set, eidem proprium filium parvulum ad metam posuit, et pro signo

super birretum pueri denarium, sibique mandavit, ut denarium sine

birreto per sagittam amoveret. Cum autem maleficus id se facturum
sed cum difficultate assereret, libentius abstinere, ne per diabolum
seduceretur in sui interitum; verbis tamen principis inductus,

sagittam unam collari suo circa collum immisit, et alteram balistae

supponens denarium a birreto pueri sine omni nocumento excussit.
Quo viso, dum ille maleficum interrogasset, cur sagittam collari
imposuisset ? respondit, si deceptus per diabolum pueruin
occidissem, cum me mori necesse fuisset, subito cum sagitta altera
ws transfixissem, ut vel sic mortem meam vindicassem This shot .

must have taken place somewhere about 1420, and the story have
got about in the middle part of the 15th century. Beside the
above-mentioned narratives, Norse and German, we have also an
Old English one to shew in the Northumbrian ballad of the three
merry men, Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of
Cloudesle ;
this last, whose Christian name, like the surname of the
first, reminds one of presence to set an
Tell, offers in the king s

apple on the head of his son, seven years old, and shoot it off at
120 paces*- The arrow sped from the bow, and cleft the apple.
I suppose that Aegel s skill in archery would be known to the

Anglo-Saxons ;
and if we may push Wada, Weland and Wudga far
up into our heathen time, Aegel seems to have an equal claim.
The whole myth shows signs of having deep and widely extended

Hiinenbergof 1315, which Carl Zay has made known

in his book on Goldau,
Zurich 18(77, p. 41 :

Dum pater in puerum telum crudele coruscat

Tellius ex jussu, saeve tyranne, tuo,
poinum, non natum, figit fatalis arundo :

altera mox ultrix

periture, petet.
te,
H. von Hiinenberg is the same who, before the battle of Morgarten, shot a
warning billet over to the Swiss on his arrow (Joh. Miiller 2, 37), he was
therefore a bowman himself. Justinger and Johann von Winterthur are silent
about Tell Melchior Russ (t 1499) and Petermann Etterlin (completed 1507)
;

were the first who committed the story to writing.

 TELL. EIGIL. 383

roots. It partly agrees even with what Eustathius on II. 12, 292
tells us,that Sarpedon, a hero of the blood of Zeus, was made
when a child to stand up and have a ring shot off his breast
without injury to him, an action which entailed the acquisition of
the Lycian kingdom (see Suppl.). 1
With these specimens of particular heroes crumbs from the
richly furnished table of our antiquities I will content myself, as
there are still some reflections of a more general kind to be made.

I started with saying, that in the heroic is contained an exalting

and refining of human nature into divine, originally however
founded on the affinity of some god with the human race. Now
as procreation is a repetition,and the son is a copy of the father
(for which reason our language with a profound meaning has avara
for image and avaro for child) so in every hero we may assume
;

to a certain extent an incarnation of the god, and a revival of at

least some of the qualities that distinguish the god. In this sense
the hero appears as a sublimate of man in general, who, created
after the image of God, cannot but be like him. But since the
gods, even amongst one another, reproduce themselves, i.e., their

plurality has radiated out of the primary force of a single

One (p. 164), it follows, that the origin of heroes must be very
similar to that of polytheism altogether, and it must be a difficult
matter in any particular case to distinguish between the full-bred
divinity and the half-blood. If heroes, viewed on one side, are
deified men, they may on the other hand be also regarded as
humanized gods and it comes to the same thing, whether we say
;

that the son or grandson begotten by the god has attained a semi-
divine nature, or that the god born again in him retains but a part
of his pristine power. We
are entitled to see in individual heroes
a precipitate of former gods, and a mere continued extension, in a
wider circle, of the same divine essence which had already branched
out into anumber of gods (see Suppl.).
This proposition can the more readily be demonstrated from the
popular faiths of Greece and Germany, which commit themselves
to no systematic doctrine of emanation and avatara, as in these

1 Similar
legends seem to live in the East. In a MS. of the Cassel library
containing a journey in Turkey, I saw the representation of an archer taking
aim at a child with an apple on its head.
384 HEROES.

religions the full-blooded animalism of heroliood developed itself

the more richly for that very reason. While the Indian heroes are
in the end reabsorbed into the god, e.g., Krishna becomes Vishnu,
there remains in Greek and German heroes an irreducible dross of
humanism, which brings them more into harmony with the
historical ingredients of their story. Our hero-legend has this long
while had no consciousness remaining of such a thing as incarna
tion, but has very largely that of an apotheosis of human though

god-descended virtue.
Herakles can never become one with Zeus, yet his deeds remind
us of those of his divine sire. Some traits in Theseus allow of his
being compared to Herakles, others to Apollo. Hermes was the
son of Zeus by Maia, Amphion by Antiope, and the two brothers,,
the full and the half-bred, have something in common.
In Teutonic hero-legend, I think, echoes of the divine nature
can be distinguished still more frequently
the Greek gods stood
;

unshaken to the last, and heroes could be developed by the side of

them. But when once the Teutonic deities encountered Christianity,
there remained only one of two ways open to the fading figures
of the heathen faith, either to pass into evil diabolic beings, or
dwindle into good ones conceived as human. The Greek heroes
all belong to the flowering time of paganism; of the Teutonic a
part at least might well seem a poverty-stricken attenuation and
fainter reproduction of the former gods, such as could still dare to
shew its face after the downfall of the heathen system. Christian
opinion in the Mid. Ages guided matters into this channel unable ;

to credit the gods any longer with godhood, where it did not
transform them into devils, it did into demigods. In the Edda the
aesir are still veritable gods Jornandes too, when he says, cap. 6
;
:

mortuum (Taunasem regem) Gothi inter numina populi sui

coluerunt be this Taunasis Gothic or Getic assumes that there

were Gothic gods, but the anses he regards as only victorious
heroes exalted into demigods and in Saxo, following the same line
;

of thought, we find that Balder (who exhibits some Heraklean

features, v. supra p. 22G-7), and Hother, and Othin himself,

have
sunk into mere heroes. 1 This capitis deminutio of the gods brought

p. 833 we read Hengest et Horsa, hi nepotes

1 In the AS. Ethel wcrd :

fuere Woddan regis barbarorum, quern post infanda dignitate ut deum honorantes,
sacrificium obtulerunt pagani victoriae causa sive virtutis, ut humanitas sarpc
credit hoc quod videt . Win. of Malmesbury s similar words were quoted
 HEROES. 385

them nearer to heroes, while the heroes were cut off from absolute
deification ;
how much the two must have got mixed up in the
mist of legend ! Yet in every case where bodily descent from the
gods isalleged of a hero, his herohood is the more ancient, and
really of heathen origin.
Among the heroes themselves there occur second births, of
which a fuller account will be given further on, and which shew a
certain resemblance to the incarnations of gods. As a god renews
himself in a hero, so does an elder hero in a younger.
Beings of the giant brood, uniting themselves now to gods and
now to heroes, bring about various approximations between these
two.
We have seen how in the genealogy of Inguio, first OSinn, then
NiorSr and Freyr interweave themselves NiorSr and Hadding :

seem identical, as do Heimdall and Eigr, but in NiorSr and Heim-

dall thegod is made prominent, in Hadding and Eigr the hero.
Irmin appears connected with Wuotan and Zio, just as Ares and
Herakles approach each other, and Odysseus resembles Hermes.
Baldr is conceived of as divine, Basldseg as heroic. In Siegfried is

above, p. 128 ;
he denm esse delirantes\ Albericus tr. font. 1, 23
also says
(after A.D. 274) expresses himself thus :In hac generatione decima ab incar-
nutione Domini regnasse invenitur quidam Mercurius in Gottlandia insula, quae
est inter Daciam et Russiam extra Romanum imperium, a quo Mercuric,
qui
Woden dictus est, descendit genealogia Anglorum et rnultoruin aliorum Much .

in the same way Snorri in the Yngl. saga and Form. 13. 14 represents 0<5inn
as a liofftinc/i and herma&r come from Asia, who by policy secured the
worship of the nations and Saxo p. 12 professes a like opinion
; ea tempes- :

tate cum Othinus quidam, Europa tota, falso divinitatis titulo censeretur, &c.
conf. what he says p. 45. What other idea could orthodox Christians at that
time form of the false god of their forefathers ? To idolatry they could not but
impute wilful deceit or presumption, being unable to comprehend that some
thing very different from falsified history lies at the bottom of heathenism.
As little did there ever exist a real man and king OSinii (let alone two or
three), as a real Jupiter or Mercury. But the affinity of the hero nature
with the divine is clearly distinct from a deification arising out of human
pride and deceit. Those heathen, who trusted mainly their inner strength (p.
6), like the Homeric heroes TrenoidoTes (II. 12, 256), were yet far from
&ij)<l>i

setting themselves up for gods. Similar to the stories of Nebucadnezar (er wolte
selbe sin ein got, would himself be god, Parz. 102, 7. Barl. 60, 35), of Kosroes
(Massmann on Eracl. p. 502), of the Greek Salmoneu-s (conf. N. Cap. 146), and
the Byzantine Eraclius, was our Mid. Age story of Imelot aus wiiester Babilonie,
cler wolde selve wesen
got (Bother 2568) = Nibelot ze Barise der machet
*

himele guldin, selber wolt ergot sin (Bit. 299), just as Salmoneus imitated
the lightning and thunder of Zeus. Imelot and Nibelot here seem to mean
the same thing, as do elsewhere
Imelunge and Nibelunge (Heldens. 162) I ;

do not know what allusion there

might be in it to a Nibelunc or Amelunc (see
Suppl.).
25
386 HEROES.

an echo of Baldr and Freyr, perhaps of OSinn, in Dietrich of Thorr

and Freyr. Ecke oscillates between the giant and the hero.
Even Charles and Eoland are in some of their features to be
or of Siegfried and
regarded as new-births of Wuotan and Donar,
Dietrich. As for Geat, Sceaf, Sceldwa, for lack of their legends, it

is difficult to separate their divine nature from their heroic.

One badge of distinction I find in this, that the

names of gods
are in themselves descriptive, indicating from the first their
i.e.,

inmost nature ;
l and heroes this signi
to the names of half-gods

ficance will often be wanting, even when the human original has
carried his name over with him. Then, as a rule, the names of
or visibly derived.
gods are simple, those of heroes often compound
Donar therefore is a god from the first, not a deified man his :

also his character. The same reason is

appellation expresses
decisive against that notion of Wuotan having made his way out of

the ranks of men into those of the gods.

of a certain familiarness to the
Demigods have the advantage
people : bred in the midst of us, admitted to our fellowship, it is

they to whom and oaths prefer to address them

reverence, prayers
selves they procure
: and facilitate intercourse with the higher-
As it came natural to a Koman to swear mehercle I
standing god.
mecastor ecastor edepol
! the Christians even in the Mid. Ages
! !

swore more habitually by particular saints than by God himself.

We are badly off for information as to the points in which the
Hero-worship of our forefathers shaped itself differently from divine
worship proper even the Norse authorities have nothing on the
;

subject. The Grecian sacrifices to heroes differed from those

offered to gods a god had only the viscera and fat of the beast
:

presented to him, and was content with the mounting odour; a

deified hero must have the very flesh and blood to consume.
Thus the einherjar admitted into Valholl feast on the boiled flesh
of the boar Ssehrimnir, and drink with the Ases it is never said ;

that the Ases shared in the food, Srcm. 36. 42. Sn. 42 conf. ;

supra, p. 317. Are we to infer from this a difference in the sacri

fices offered to gods and to demigods ?

Else, in the other conditions of their existence,

we can perceive

many resemblances to that of the gods.

Thus, their stature is enormous. As Ares covered seven roods,
1
Something like the names of the characters in the Beast-apologue.
 FIGURE. 387

Herakles has also a body of gigantic mould. When the godlike

SigurSr strode through the full-grown field of corn, the dew-shoe l
of his seven-span sword was even with the upright ears (Veils, saga

cap. 22. Vilk. saga cap. 166) a hair out of his horse s tail was
;

seven yards long (ISTornag. saga cap. 8). One thing hardly to ba
found in Teutonic gods, many-handedness, does occur in an ancient
hero. Wudga and Kama, Witege and Heime, are always named

together. Heimo is said to have been by rights called Studas,

This
like his father (whom some traditions however name Adelger,

Madelger) ;
not till he had slain the worm Heima, 2 did he adopt its

name (Vilk. saga cap. 17). To him are expressly attributed three
hands and four elbows, or else two hands with three elbows (Heldens.
257. Eoseng. p. xx, conf. Ixxiv) ;
the extra limbs are no exaggera
tion (Heldens. 391), rather their omission is a toning down, of the

original story. And Asprian comes out with four hands (Eoseng.
p. xii). StarkaSr, a famous godlike hero of the North, has three
pairs of arms, and Thor cuts four of his hands off (Saxo Gram., p.
103) the Hervararsaga (Eafn p. 412, 513) bestows eight hands on
;

him, and the ability to fight with four swords at once dtta handa, :

Fornald. sog. 1, In the Swedish folk-song of Alf, ori

412. 3, 37.

ginally heathen, there is a hero Torgnejer (roaring like thunder ?),

*
han hade otta hander (Arvidss. 1, 12). 3 Such cumulation of limbs
is also a mark of the
giant race, and some of the heroes mentioned
do overlap these in the Servian songs I find a three headed hero
;

Balatchko (Vuk 2, no. 6, line 608) Pegam too in the Carniolan

;

lay has three heads (tri glave). Deficiency of members is to be

found in heroes as well as gods Oftinn is one-eyed, T^r one-
:

handed, Loki (=Heph?estus?) lame, HotSr blind, and Vi5ar dumb- 4

1
Doggskor, Sw. doppsko, the heel of the sword s sheath, which usually
brushes the dew so the Alamanns called a lame foot, that dragged through
:

the dewy grass, toudregil. This ride through the corn has something in "it

highly mythic and suggestive of a god.

2
Heimo appears to mean worm originally, though used elsewhere of the
cricket or cicada (Reinh. cxxv), for which our
present heimchen (little worm)
is better suited. A
renowned Kaiiing hero was also named Heimo (Reinh.
cciv). We find again, that Madelger is in Morolt 3921 a dwarf, son of a mer
maid, and in Rol. 58, 17 a smith.
3 In
the prophecies of the North Frisian Hertje (A.D. 1400) the tradition of
such monstrosities is applied to the future: Wehe den minschen, de den
leven, wen de liide 4 arme kriegen und 2 par scho over de vote dragen und 2
hode up den kop hebben Heimreichs chron., Tondern 1819
!
; 2, 341. It
may 4however refer merely to costume.
Goth, haihs, hanfs, halts, blinds, dumbs.
388 HEROES.

so is Hagano one-eyed, Walthari one-handed, Gunthari and Wie-

lant lame, of blind and dumb heroes there are plenty.
One thing seems peculiar to heroes, that their early years
should be clouded by some defect, and that out of this darkness
the bright revelation, the reserved force as it were, should suddenly
break forth. Under this head we may even place the blind birth
of the Welfs, and the vulgar belief about Hessians and Swabians
(p. 373). In Saxo Gram., p. 63, Ujffb is dumb, and his father
Vermund blind ;
to him corresponds the double Offa in the line of
Mercia, and both of these Offas are lame and dumb and blind.
According to the vita Offae prirni, Varmundi filii, he was of hand
some figure, but continued blind till his seventh year, and dumb
till his thirtieth ;
the aged Varmund was threatened with
when
war, all at once in the assembly Offa began to speak. The vita
Offae secundi says,
1
the hero was at first called Vinered (so we must
emend Pineredus), and was blind, lame and deaf, but when he
came into possession of all his senses, he was named Offa secundus.
a
Exactly so, in Soem. 14.2 HiorvarSr and Sigurlinn have a tall hand
.

some son, but hann var jjogull, ecki nafn festiz vi5 liann Only .

after a valkyrja has greeted him by the name of Helgi, does he

begin to speak, and is content to answer to that name.

StarkaSr
too was ];ogull in his youth and Halfdan was
(Fornald. sb g. 3, 3G),
reckoned stupid (Saxo, p. 134) just as slow was the heroism of
;

Dietleib in unfolding itself (Vilk. saga cap. 91), and that of Iliya in
the Kussian tales. Our nursery-tales take up the character as
dscherling, aschenbrodcl, askcfis (cinderel) : the hero-youth lives
inactiveand despised by the kitchen-hearth or in the cattle-stall,
out of whose squalor he emerges when the right time comes. I
do not recollect any instance in Greek mythology of this exceed
ingly favourite feature of our folk-lore.
Unborn children, namely those that have been cut out of the
womb, usually grow up heroes. Such was the famous Persian
Ptustem in Ferdusi, as well as Tristan according to the old story in
Eilhart, or the Russian hero Dobruna Nikititch, and the Scotch
Macduff. But Volsungr concerns us more, who spoke and made
vows while yet unborn, who, after being cut out, had time to kiss
his mother before she died (Volsungas. cap. 2. 5). An obscure
1
These remarkable vitae Offae prirni ct sccuncli are printed after Watts s
Matth. Paris, pp. 8, 9.
 AFFLICTED. UNBORN. 389

a
passage in Fafnismal (Saem. 187 ) seems to designate SigurSr also
an 6borinn; and in one as difficult (Beow. 92), may not the umbor-
wesende which I took in a different sense on p. 370, stand for
unbor-wesQude, to intimate that Sceaf passed for an unborn ? The
Landnamabok 4, 4 has an Uni hinn oborni (m.), and 1, 10 an
Ulfrun in oborna (f.) ;
for wise-women, prophetesses, also come into
the world the same way. 1 Our Mid. Ages tell of an unborn hero
Hoyer (Benecke s Wigalois, p. 452) in Hesse, Reinhart of Dalwig
;

was known as the unborn, being, after the caesarian operation,

2
brought to maturity in the stomachs of newly slaughtered swine.
As early as the tenth century, Eckhart of St. Gall informs us :

Infans excisus et arvinae porci recens erutae, ubi incutesceret,

involutus, bonae indoiis cum in brevi apparuisset, baptizatur et
Purchardus nominatur (Pertz 2, 120) ;
this is the Burchardus
ingenitus, afterwards abbot of St Gall. One Gebehardus, ex de-
functae matris Dietpurgae utero excisus, is mentioned in the Chron.
Petershus. p. 302, with the remark De talibus excisis literae :

testantur quod, si vita comes fuerit, felices in mundo habeantur.

To such the common standard cannot be applied, their extra
ordinary manner of coming into the world gives presage of a higher
and mysterious destiny. Not unlike is the Greek myth of Metis
and Tritogeneia the virgin goddess springs out of the forehead of
:

Zeus. The phrase about

HloSr being born with helmet, sword and
horse (above, explained by the Hervararsaga, p. 490, to
p. 76), is

mean, that the arms and animals which accompany the hero were
forged and born at the time of his birth. Schroter s Finnish Eunes
speak of a child that was born armed: this reminds us of the
superstition about lucky children being born with hood and helmet
(see ch. XXVIII).
It was noticed about the gods (p. 321), that Balder s brother,
when scarcely born, when but one night old, rushed to vengeance,
unwashed and uncombed. This is like the children born of liten
Kerstin after long gestation the newborn son gets up directly and
:

combs his hair, the new born daughter knows at once how to sew
silk. Another version makes her give birth to two sons, one of
whom combs his yellow locks, the other draws his sword, both

equipped for swift revenge (Svenska fornsanger 2, 254-6). Here

1
Heimreich s Nordfries. chr. 2, 341.
2
Zeitschrift t iir Hess, gesch. 1, 97.
390 HEROES.

combing and not combing seem to be the same characteristic. A

new born child speaks Norske eventyr 1, 139. ;

As the birth of beloved kings is announced to their people by

joyful phenomena, and their death by terrible, the same holds good
of heroes. Their generosity founds peace and prosperity in the
land. Froffis reign in Denmark was a period of bliss in the year ;

of Hakon s election the birds bred twice, and trees bore twice,
about which beautiful songs be gleaned out of his saga, cap. 24.
may
On the night that Helgi was born, eagles cried, and holy waters
a
streamed from the mountains, Sa3m. 149 .

Sigurd s walk and manner of appearing was impetuous,

like

that of a god when he first approached

;
the burg of Brynhildr,
b
iorft diisaol ok opphimin, earth shook and heaven, Sffim. 241 ;

and of Brynhild s laughing, as of that of the gods (p. 324), we are

told hlo, beer allr dundi, she laughed and all the castle dinned,
:

Ssem. 208*. A divine strength reveals itself in many deeds and

movements of heroes. Dietrich s fiery breath may be suggestive of

Donar, or perhaps only of a dragon : ob sin atem goebe fiur als

eines wilden trachen, (Parz. 137, 18).

A widely prevalent mark of the hero race is their being suckled

"by fed ly birds.

leasts, or A
hind offers her milk to SigurSr when
suck to the infant
exposed, Vilk. saga 142 ; a she-wolf gives
Dieterich (like Romulus and Remus) together with her four blind
whelps, hence his name of Wolfdieterich. The same fellowship
with whelps seems imputed to the beginnings of the Goths and
Swabians, as to those of the Romans (p. 373) but the woodpecker ;

also, that Bee-wolf, brought food to the sons

of Mars, and we have

come to know the Swabians as special devotees of Zio (p. 199).

The Servian hero Milosh Kobilitch was suckled by a mare (kobila),
Vuk 2, 101 ;
does that throw light on the OHG. term of abuse
merihunsun, zfigiinsun (RA. 643) ? A like offensive meaning
lurked in the Latin lupa.
1
But it not only to sucklings that is

the god-sent animals appear ; in distress and danger also, swans,

to render
ravens, wolves, stags, bears, lions will join the heroes,
them assistance and that is how animal figures in the scutcheons
;

and helmet-insignia of heroes are in many cases to be accounted for,

arise from other causes too, the ability of

though they may e.g.,

certain heroes to transform themselves at will into wolf or swan.

1
Fils de truie ;
Garin 2, 229.
 NURSED BY ANIMALS. 391

The swan s coat, betokens another supernatural

sivan s wing, the

quality which heroes share with the gods (p. 326), the power of
flying. As Wieland ties on his swan-wings, the Greek Perseus has
winged shoes, talaria, Ov. met. 4, 667. 729, and the Servian Eelia is
called kriliit (winged), being in possession of krilo and okrilie

(wing and wing-cover), Vuk 2, 88. 90. 100. A piece of the wing
remaining, or in women a swan s foot, will at times betray the

higher nature.
The superhuman quality of heroes shines out of their eyes

(luminum vibratus, oculorum micatus, Saxo Gram. 23) : ormr i

auga. The golden teeth of gods and heroes have been spoken of, p.

234. In the marchen sons are born with a star on the forehead,
Kinderm. Straparola 4, 3 ; or a golden star falls on the fore
96.

head, Pentam. 3, 10. The Dioscuri had a star or flame shining on

their heads and helmets this may have reference to the rays
:

encircling the head (p. 323), or to constellations being set in the

sky. In some cases the heroic form is disfigured by animal
peculiarities, as Siegfried s by his horny skin, and others by a
scaly ; the marchen have heroes with hedgehog spikes. The legend
of the Merovings, imperfectly handed down to us, must be founded
on something of the kind. When Clodio the son of Faramund
with his queen went down to the shore, to cool themselves from
the sultry summer heat, there came up a monster (sea-hog ?) out of
the waves, which seized and overpowered the bathing queen. She
then bore a son of singular appearance, who was therefore named
Merovig, and his descendants, who inherited the peculiarity,
1
Merovings. Theophanes expressly declares, that the Merovings
were called KpicrrdraL and rpf^opa^draL, because all the kings of
that house had bristles down the backbone (pd^s), like swine.
We still find in Eol. 273, 29, where it is true they are enumerated

among heathens,
di helde von Meres ;

vil gewis sit ir des,

daz niht kuoners mac sin :

an dem rucke tragent si borsten sam swin.

The derivation of the name is altogether unknown. Can it possibly
have some connexion with the boar-worship of Fro, which may
1
Fredegar s epitome (Bouquet 2, 396), and Conradus Ursperg., Arg. 1609,
.p. 92. Per contra, Mullenhoff in Haupt s zeitschr. 6, 432.
392 HEROES.

have been especially prevalent among the Franks ?

Lampr. Alex.
5368 also has sin hut was ime bevangen al mit swtnes bursten
:
(see
Suppl.).
One principal mark to know heroes by, is their possessing
and conversing with them. A succeeding chapter
intelligent horses,
will shew more fully, how heathendom saw
something sacred and
divine in horses, and often endowed them with consciousness and

sympathy with the destiny of men. But to heroes they were indis
pensable for riding or driving, and a necessary intimacy sprang up
between the two, as appears by the mere fact of the horses
having
proper names given them. The touching conversation of Achilles
with his Xanthos and Balios (II. 19,
400421) finds a complete
parallel in the beautiful Karling legend of Bayard ; comparealso
Wilhelm s dialogue with Puzzdt the French(58, 2159, 8), in
original with Baucent (Garin 2, 230-1), and Begon s with the same
Baucent (p. 230). In the Edda we have Skirnir talking with his
b
horse (Sasm. ) and GoSrun, after SigurS s murder, with Grani
>82
;

b
(231 ) :

hnipnaCi Grani )m, drap i

gras hofcSi.

Well might Grani mourn, for the hero had bestridden him ever
since he led him out of Hialprek s stable
(180), had ridden him
a
through the flames (202 ), and carried off the great treasure.
Swedish and Danish folk-songs bring in a sagacious steed Black,
with whom conversation is carried on (Sv. vis. 2, 194. Sv, forns.
2, 257. Danske vis. 1, 323). In the poems on Artus the horses
are less attractively painted ;
but how naively in the Servian,
when Mila shoes the steed (Vuk 1, 5), or Marko before his death
talks with his faithful Sharats (2, 243 Danitza 1, In
seq. 109).
Mod. Greek songs there is a dialogue of Liakos with his horse
(Fauriel 1, 138), and similar ones in the Lithuanian dainos (Khesa
p. 224). The Persian Eastern s fairy steed is well-known
(see
1
Suppl.).
If many heroes are carried off in the
bloom of life, like Achilles
or Siegfried, others attain a
great age, beyond the limit of the
human. Our native legend allows Hildebrand the years of Nestor

L
Mongolian warriors dying song has :

My poor cream-coloured trotter, you will get home alive.

Then tell my mother, pray full rii teen wounds had he
: .

And tell my father, pray shot through the back was he, &c.
:
 HOUSES. AGE. 393.

with undiminished strength, and to the Scandinavian StarkaSr is

measured out a life that runs through several generations the ;

divinely honoured Goftmundr is said to have numbered near five

hundred years, Fornald. sog. 1, 411. 442. In the genealogies that
have come down to us, great length of life is given to the first
ancestors, as it is in the Bible also. Snacrr hinn gamli, sprung
from Kari and Jokull, is said to have attained 300 years, and
Hdlfdan gamli as many, Fornald. sog. 2, 8. The MHG. poem of
Dietrich s ancestors (1869 2506) gives Dietwart and Sigeher 400
years of life each, Wolfdieterich 503, Hugdieterich 450, and Dietmar
340 ; Dietrich of Bern is the first that reaches only the ordinary
limit, Otnit the son of Sigeher was killed when young.
1
The
Servian Marko was three hundred years old, almost like the giants
of old. On the other hand, the life of heroes is enfeebled by union

with goddesses and superhuman females. Examples will be given,

when the valkyrs are discussed ;
the belief of the Greeks is

expressed in remarkable passage of the Hymn to Venus 190,

,a

where Anchises, after he has embraced Aphrodite, fears that he

shall lead a stricken life (a^e^o?) among men :

eVel ov /3to#aX/uo5 a

ryfyverai, ocrre Oeals evvd^erai d

The goddess does not conceal, that age willcome on him apace, and
that Zeus s thunderbolt will maim him if he boast of her favours.
The story of Staufenberger and the sea-fairy is founded on similar
notions.
Another thing in which the condition of heroes resembles that
of godsis, that particular local haunts and dwellings are assigned

them. Such abodes seem by preference to bear the name of stone,

as Gibichenstein, Brunhildenstein, Kriemhildenstein, Eigclstein,
Waskenstein ;
which points to sacred rocks uninhabited by men,

1
These are undoubtedly genuine myths, that lose themselves in the
deeps of time, however distorted and misplaced they may be. Sigeher (OHG.
Siguhari) is plainly the ON. Sigarr, from whom the Siglingar or Siklingar
take their najne Sigeher s daughter is called Siyelint, Sigar s daughter Signy,
;

but the two are identical. Hugdieterich, who in woman s

clothing woos Hilde-
burg, is one with HagbarSr (Sw. Habor, Dan. Hafbur), who likewise succeeds
in his suit for Signy (.Sw. Signil, Dan.
Signild), though here the story has a
tragic end, and the names disagree but hug and hag, both from one root,
;

support each other. Sigeminne too, the wife of Wolfdieterich, who in the Hel-
denbuch is the son of Hugdieterich, comes near to Signy. The part about
Hugdieterich in the Heldenbuch is sweet, and cer
throughout uncommonly
tainly very ancient.
394 HEROES.

and a primeval, firmly rooted worship. More rarely we find castle

or hall connected with a hero (Iringes burc, Orendelsal), a few times
ea and burn, oftener way or street ; now, as the notion of a highway
lies close to that of a conspicuous column to which the roads led up,
we may well connect the Herculis columnae/ the Irmansuli, with
the Roland-pillars, which we come upon just in those northern
parts of Germany where heathenism prevailed latest. As king
Charles occupies Wuotan s place in certain legends, especially that
of the furious host, Eoland, the noblest hero of his court, who is
to him almost exactly what Donar is to Wuotan, seems to replace
the divine vanquisher of giants. JEthelstdn-pillars have been
mentioned, p. 119.worthy of note, that, while Scandinavia
It is
offers nothing else that can be likened to the Irmen-pillars, yet at

Skeningen, a town of Ostergotland, there stood erected in the

marketplace, just where Roland-pillars do stand, the figure of a
giant or hero, which the people called Thore lang (Thuro longus),
and at which idolatry was practised in former times. 1 This figure
appears far more likely to belong to the heathen god than to any
hero or king; and probably the column in the market place of
Bavais in Hainault, from which seven roads branched off, and
which is said to have been reared in honour of a king Bavo, had a
similar meaning (see Suppl.).
According to a widely accepted popular belief, examined more
minutely in ch. XXXII on Spiriting away, certain heroes have
sunk from the rocks and fortresses they once inhabited, into clefts
and caverns of the mountains, or into subterranean springs, and are

there held wrapt in a seldom interrupted slumber, from which they

issue in times of need, and bring deliverance to the land. That
here not only Wuotan, Arminius, Dieterich and Siegfried,
again,
but such modern heroes as Charles, Frederick Barbarossa and even
Tell are named, may assure us of the mystic light of myth which
has settled on them. It was a Norse custom, for aged heroes, dead
to the world and dissatisfied with the new order of things, to shut
themselves in a hill: thus Herlaugr with twelve others goes
up
into the haugr (Egilss. p.and in like manner Eticho the Welf,
7),
a mountain in the
accompanied by twelve nobles, retires into
Scherenzerwald, where no one could find him again (Deutsche

i Olaus Magnus J4, 15. De jure Sveon. vet., p. 326. Brooc-

Stjernhook,
190.
mans beskrifn. 6 fver Ostergotland, Norrkoping 1760. 1,
 ABODES. 395

sagen, no. 518). Siegfried, Charles and Frederick, like King

Arthur of the Britons, abide in mountains with their host.
Be it be remarked lastly, that the heroic legend, like the divine,
is fond of running into triads. Hence, as OSin, Vili, Ve, or Har,
lafnhar and Thriol stand together, there appear times without
number three heroic brothers together, and then also it commonly
happens, that to the third one is ascribed the greatest faculty of
success. So in the Scythian story of the three brothers Leipoxais,
Arpoxais and Kolaxais (Herod. 4, 5) a golden plough, yoke and
:

sword having fallen from heaven, when the eldest son and the
second tried to seize them, the gold burned, but the third carried
them off. The same thing occurs in many inarchen.
 CIIAFTEB XVI.

WISE WOMEN.
The relation of women to the gods is very different from that of

men, because men alone can found famous houses, while a woman s
family dies with her. The tale of ancestry contains the names of
heroes only king s daughters are either not named in it at all, or
;

disappear again as soon as they have been introduced as brides.

For the same reason we hear of deified sons, but not of deified
daughters nay, the marriage of mortals with immortals issues
;

almost always in the birth of sons. There are therefore no women

to be placed by the side of the heroes, whom in the preceding

chapter we have regarded as a mixture of the heavenly and earthly

natures : the distaff establishes no claim to immortality, like the
sword. To the woman and the bondman, idle in battle, busy in the
house, the Anglo-Saxons very expressively assigned the occupation
of weaving peace heroic labours suited men.
:

But that which women forfeit here, is amply made up to them

in another sphere. In lieu of that distinct individuality of parts
given to heroes, which often falls without effect in the story ,_thfiy
have general duties assigned them of momentous and lasting influ
ence. A long range of charming or awful half-goddesses mediates
between men and deity their authority is manifestly greater, their
:

worship more impressive, than any reverence paid to heroes. There

are not, strictly speaking, any heroines, but whatever among women
answers to heroes appears more elevated and spiritual. Brunhild
towers above Siegfried, and the swan-maid above the hero to whom
she unites herself (see Suppl.).
In other mythologies also it is observable, that in the second
rank ofdeities female beings predominate, while the first is reserved
almost exclusively for the male, but the divine heroes we have
spoken of come only in the third rank. I have on p. 250 partly
accounted for the longer duration of the tradition of several goddesses
 WISE WOMEN, ^97

by its having left more abiding, because more endearing, impressions

on the mind of the people.
There is no harder problem in these investigations, than to, dis
tinguish between goddesses and half-goddesses. Every god s wife
must ipso facto pass for a real goddess but then there are unmarried
;

goddesses ; e.g.,
Hel. One who cannot be shown to be either wife
or daughter of a god, and who stands in a dependent relation to
higher divinities, is a half-goddess. Yet such a test will not
always serve, where a mythology has been imperfectly preserved ;

for the very reason that half-goddesses stand than half-gods,

higher
the boundary-line between them and the class of great gods is
harder to hit. The line may be disturbed, by particular races
promoting divine beings of lower rank, whose worship got the
upper hand among them, to a higher; it is true the same thing
seems to occur in hero-worship, but not so often.
The mission and functions of half-goddesses then may be
roughly denned thus: to the upper gods they are handmaids, to
men revealers.
a significant feature in our heathenism, that women, not
It is

men, are selected for this office. Here the Jewish and Christian
view presents a contrast prophets foretell,
angels or saints from
:

heaven announce and execute the commands of God but Greek ;

and Teutonic gods employ both male and female To messengers.

the German way of thinking, the decrees of
destiny assume a
sacredness in the mouth of woman,
greater soothsaying and sorcery
in a good as well as bad sense is
peculiarly a women s gift, and it
may even be a part of the same thing, that our language personifies
virtues and vices as females. If human nature in general shews a
tendency to pay a higher respect and deference to the female sex,
this has always been
specially characteristic of Teutonic nations.
Men earn deification by their deeds, women their wisdom by :

Fatidicae, augescente superstitione deae, p. 95 (see

Suppl.).
This Germanic reverence for woman,
already emphasized by
is
Tacitus, markedly expressed in our old systems of law, especially
the Alamannian and
Bavarian, by doubling the for
composition
injury
-
EA. 404)
the defenceless one
thereby receives protection
:
V

and consecration, nay, she is to forfeit the

privilege the moment
she takes up man s And not does a
weapons. of only worship
woman shew itself in the
minne-songs of our Mid. Ages, but in a
393 WISE WOMEN.

remarkable formula of chivalry occurring both in folk-songs and in

court-poems durch alter frouwen ere! by all women s honour,
:

Wotfdiet. 104. Morolt 855. 888. 2834. Morolf 1542. Ecke 105.
117. 174. Eoseng. 2037. MsH. 3, 200 a ;
durch reiner (pure)
frouwen ere/ Ecke 112 durch ivillen (for the sake) aller frouwen
; -,

thus one hero cries to another nu beite (stay), durch willen oiler
meide ! Eab. 922-4 durch willen schcener wibe, Ecke 61
;
durch ;

ander maget (other maids )

ere Gudr. 4863 durch elliu wip! in
;

the name women, Parz.

of all 13, 16; ere an mir elliu wip! respect
in me all women, Erec 957 ;
eret an mir elliu wip ! says a woman
in Parz. 88, 27, to ensure attention to her prayer ;
alien meiden
tuot ez ze ercn (do it in honour of), Gudr. 1214, 3; ere und minne
elliu wip the injunction on giving a sword, Trist. 5032
! is tuon ;

allez daz frouwen iville si, do all that may be woman s will, Bit.

7132 ;
als liep iu alle frouwen sin, as all women are dear to you,
Laurin 984. Their worship was placed on a par with that of
1

God : eret Got und diu wip, Iw. 6054 durch Got und durch der ;

wibe Ion (guerdon) Wh. 381, 21 wart so mit riterschaft getan, des
;

Got sol danken und diu wip! niav God and the ladies requite it,
b
Wh. 370, 5; dienen Got und frouwen eren! Ms. 2,99
alle of ;

Parzival it is even said : er getruwete wilen baz (better) dan Gote,

Parz. 370, 18. These modes of speech, can be traced up
this faith,

to a much earlier age, as in 0. i. 5, 13 : do sprah er erlicho ubaral,

so man zi frowiin skal and v. 8, 58: ni sit irbolgaii wile ye
;

shall not bully a woman, Etzels hofhalt. 92-3 sprich, wiben libel ;

mit nihte says the po.iin of the Stete ampten 286. The very word
frau is the name of a goddess, conf. p. 299 on the meanings of

frau and weib (see Suppl.).

But more than that, when the hero in stress of battle looked upon
his love (OHG. trutin.trutinna, MHG. triutinne), thought 0/her, named
her name, he increased thereby his strength, and was sure of the
victory. We
might even bring under this head the declaration of
Tacitus : memoriae proditur, quasdam acies inclinatas jam et labantes
a feminis restitutas constantia precum et objectu pectorum. From the

poems of the 13th century I will quote the principal passages only :

und als er dar zuo an sach (on-saw, looked at)

die schcenen frowen Eniten,
daz half (holp) im vaste striten (fight hard). Er. 933.
swenne rnich der muot iwer ermant (the thought of you mans),
 WISE WOMEN. 399

so 1st sigesaelic (victorious) min hant :

wand iwer guote minne

(for)
die sterkent mine sinne (nerve my senses),
daz mir den vil langen tac (all the long day)
niht wider gewesen mac (nought can vex). Er. 88G7.
diu da gegenwurtic saz (who there present sat),
diu gehalf ir manne baz (she holp her man better).
ob im dehein zwivel (if ever a doubt) geschach,
swenn (whenever) er si danne wider (again) an sack,
ir schoene gap im niwe kraft
(strength),
so daz er unzagehaft (undismayed)
sine sterke wider gewan (his strength
regained)
und vaht (fought) als ein geruowet (rested) man. Er. 9171.
der gedanc (thinking) an sin schcene wip
der kreftigete im den lip (life, body). Er. 9229.
swenne im diu muoze (opportunity) geschach
daz er die maget (maid) reht ersach,
daz gap ir gesellen (to her fellow, lover)
Gawane manlich ellen (elan). Parz. 409, 13. 410, 5.

nu sack er daz si urnb in was in sorgen (in fear for him),

niuwe kraft enpfant (felt). Lohengr. p. 54-5.
alrest er
den Heiden minne nie verdroz (never wearied),
des (therefore) was sin herze in strite groz. Parz. 740, 7.
ern welle (if he do not) an minne denleen,
sone mag er niht entwenken (cannot escape). Parz. 740, 15.
wes sumest (wherefore delayest) du dich, Parzival,
daz du an die kiuschen liehtgemal (pure-one so bright)
niht denlcest, ich mem din wip,
wiltu behalten (save) hie den lip ? Parz. 742, 27.
der getoufte nam (the Christian gained) an kreften zuo,
er ddht (thought), des was ini niht ze fruo (none too soon),
an sin wip die kiiniginne
unt an ir werden (worthy) minne. Parz. 743, 23.
swa ich sider (after) kom in not (difficulty),
ze hant so ich (the moment I) an si ddhte,
ir minne helfe brahte. Parz. 768, 27.
miiede was ir beder lip (weary were both their bodies),
niuwan daz sie (had they not) ddhten an diu wip
sie waeren bedesamt gelegen (both together fallen). Alt. bl. 1,340.
400 V/ISE WOMEN.

In the Carmen de Fliyllide et Flora it is said 31, 4 Ille me com- :

memorat inter ipsas caedes/ my beloved in the battle breathes my

1
name, to issue therefrom victorious. This sounds altogether
heathen, for the gods too were at your side the moment you uttered
their names. Snorri, in Yngl. saga cap. 2, says of OSinn sva var :

oc um hans menn, hvar sem J?eir urftu i nauSum staddir, a sia efta

);a Jcolludu ];eir d nafn hans,

& landi, oc J?6ttiz iafnan fa af J?vi fro/
so was it also with his men, wherever they were in trouble, on sea
or on land, then called they on his name, and immediately were

gladdened by it. When Hrungnir became intolerable to the Ases,

nefna J?eir Tlior, J?vi nasst kom Thorr i hollina, Sn. 108. Kraka,
J>a

a semi-divine being, admonished Erich: si suprema necessitatis

violentia postularet, nominis sui nuncupations remedium celerius
esse quaerendum, affirmans se divina partim virtute subnixam et

quasi consortem coelitus insitam numinis gestare potentiam, Saxo

Gram., p. 72. So the valkyrja comes to the rescue of her chosen
hero, when he calls out her name ;
she is become his guardian, as if
sent by the gods to bring (see him aid Suppl.).
The mission of such women then is to announce and prepare
good or ill, victory or death to mortal men and we have seen that ;

the popular faith retained longest its connexion with fighting and

victory. Their own

being itself, like that of the heroes, rests on
human nature, they seem for the most part to have sprung from

kingly and heroic families, and probably an admixture of divine

ancestors is to be presumed in their case too. But to perform their
office, they must have wisdom and supernatural powers at their
command their wisdom spies out, nay, guides and arranges com
:

plications in our destiny, warns of danger, advises in difficulty. At

the birth of man they shew themselves predicting arid endowing,
in perils of war giving help and granting victory. Therefore they
are called wise ivomen, ON. spdkonor (conf. spakr, OHG. spahi,

prudens), Scot, spae wife, MHG. wisiu ivip, Nib. 1473. 3. 1483, 4
(see Suppl.).

1. ITIS, IDES (Dis).

But I will first take an older word, which appears to me to yield

1
Philander of Sittewalcl 2,727, Soldatenl. p. 241, still mentions the practice
in time of danger of commending oneself to the loved one s grace and
favour .
 ITIS. 401

exactly the meaning we have just unravelled, and in its generalness

to comprehend all the particular beings to be studied more minutely
by and by. The OHG. itis pi. itisi, OS. ides, pi. idisi, AS. ides, pi.
idesa, denotes femina in general, and can be used of maids or matrons,
1
rich or poor. Yet, like the Greek vvfufrrj, it seems even in the
earliest times to have been specially applied to superhuman beings,
who, being considered lower than goddesses and higher than earthly
women, occupy precisely that middle rank which is here in
question. Tacitus informs us, that a famous battle-field on the
Weser was called by the Cheruscans Idisiaviso (so I emend Idis-

taviso),i.e., nympharum pratum, women s meadow it matters not

;

whether the spot bore that name before the fight with the Eomans,
or only acquired it afterwards (v. Haupt s zeitschr. 9, 248). There
at one time or another a victory was won under the lead of these
exalted dames. The Merseburg poem sets the idisi before us in

fall action :

suma hapt heptidun, suma heri lezidun,

suma clubodun umbi cuniowidi ;

Some put a check (on the fighting), as we read in Eenner 20132 :

dez muoz (therefore must) ich he/ten einen haft

an dirre materie an minen danc (against my will),
wan ich fiirhte (for I fear) sie werde ze lane.
Others letted the host (hinder, make late, Goth, hari latidedun) ;

others again grasped (clawed) at chains or wreaths, i.e., withs and

twigs with which to twist shackles, or to twine garlands for the

victor. Here then their business was to bind and check, which is
also demanded by the very object of the conjuring-spell in striking
;

harmony with this are the names of two Norse valkyrs, mentioned
a
together in Soem. 45 Hlock
,
OHG. Hlancha, i.e., catena, and
merftotr =
OHG. Herifezzara, exercitum vinciens. But it must
have been as much in their power to set free and help on, as to"

shackle and hamper. Compounded with itis we have the female

names Itispuruc (Meichelb. no. 162), Itisburg (Trad. fuld. Schannat
181), Idisburg (Lacombl. no. 87), and Itislant (Graff 1, 159); which,
like Hiltipurc, Sigipurc, Sigilant (MB. 14, 362), are proper to such
women of our olden time (see Suppl.). 2

1
Freolicu meowle = ides, Cod. exon. 479,2. Weras and idesa, or eorlas
and idesa are contrasted, ibid. 176, 5. 432, 2.
2
Here the local meaning coincides with the personal we may therefore
;

26
402 WISE WOMEN.

But we obtain much fuller information as to their nature from

the Norse authorities. It has been overlooked hitherto, that the
OHG. itis, AS. ides, is the same as the ON. dis pi. disir ; similar
instances of aphteresis are the Pdgr for Iring on p. 234, and Sangrim,

Singrim for Isangrim, Isingrim (Keinh. ccviii). Any remaining

doubt disappears on comparing the Eddie dis Skioldunga, Sam.
169 a 209 a with the AS. ides Scildinga, Beow. 2337. The Norse
disir likewise sometimes kind protecting beings, sometimes
are
a a b
hostile and hindering, Saem. 185 195 254 273
a
An instance of .

the latter sort is found in the story of ThiSrandi, whom disir

destroyed, thann er sagt at disir vaegi, quern deas interfecisse
dicunt (Nialss. cap. 97), though the full narrative. (Fornm. sog. 2,
195) them simply konur, women; so Spddisir, nymphae
calls

vaticinantes, Vols. saga cap. 19, means just the same as spdkonur ;
and the phrase ecki eru allar disir dauSar enn in Alfs saga cap.

15, means in the most general sense, all good spirits are not dead
yet ;y5r munu clauSar disir allar, to you all spirits are dead,
Fornald. sog. 2, 47. But the Norse people worshipped them, and
offered them sacrifice : the mention of disciblot is very frequent,
Egilss. cap. 44 p. 205 ; Vigagl. saga cap. 6 p. 30 ;
biota kumla
disir deabus tumulatis sacrificare, Egilss. p. 207. This passage

implies a connexion between disir and ghosts, departed spirits,

whose reappearance portends something honor hugftak dau&ar
:

koma i nott, dead women, i.e., disir, come at night, Soem. 254*.
b
Herjans dis (Saem. 213 ) is nympha Odini, a maiden dwelling at
a a
Valholl in the service of Oomn; dis Skioldunga (Saem. 169 209 ),
divine maid sprung from the Skioldung stock, is an epithet both of;

Sigriin and AS. ides Scyldinga, ides Helminga,

of Brynhild, conf.
Beow. 1234. But Freyja herself is called Vanadis, nympha
Yanorum, Sn. 37; and another goddess, SkaSi ondurdis (walking
in wooden shoes), Sn. 28, which is equivalent to onduigwcf. Several j

proper names of women are compounded with dis: Thord

Hiordis, Asdis, Vigdis, Halldis, Freydis (to which might have
corresponded an OHG. Donaritis, &c.) they prove the pretty high
:

antiquity of the monosyllabic form dis, which even in the

Edda
invariably alliterates with D. With the orginal form id is the

compare Magadaburg with Idisaburg, Idisoburg, and Islant with Itislunt,

Itisolant. The Prankish Dispargum on the contrary seems not to be Idisberg, ;

but Tiesberg, fanum Martis (Herm. Miiller, Salic law, p. 33-4).

 ITIS. VELEDA. GANNA. 403

name of the goddess Idunn may possibly be connected (see

SuppL).

2. VELEDA. GANNA. ALARUN.

If, as I suppose, the generic term idis was already current in

the time of Tacitus, he gives us other more specific appellations as

mere proper names, though still a certain general meaning seems
to belong to them too. His statements about Veleda, Ganna, and
Aurinia I have already quoted in ch. V, where the connexion
between prophetesses and the priestly office was pointed out.
Veleda appears to be almost an appellative, and akin to the Norse
Vala, Volva (p. 97-8), or even to the masc. Volundr (p. 378), per
1
haps also to the name valkyrja. She lives on a tower, like Jetha

(p. 96) and Brynhildr (Vb ls. saga cap. 24). Treaties were ratified in
her presence she not only prophesied, but had to settle disputes
;

b a
among the people, and carry out plans. In Ssem. 4 5 the Vala,
after whom the famous lay Yoluspa is named, is also called Heiftr
and Gullveig ; and as our female names Adalheid, Alpheid, &c., are
formed with -held, Finn Magnusen p. 41 6 b would derive Veleda
from a supposed Valaheid, which however is nowhere found (see
SuppL). The description given of her is an attractive one : where-
ever in the land this vala velspa (fatidica) came, she worked
witchery, she was believed to travel about aud make visitations to
houses. This til husa koma reminds us of the drepa d vett sem
volur, pulsare aedes sicut fatidicae, Ssem. 63 a as in other cases also
,

prophesying, inspiring and boon-bestowing women were always

supposed to pass through the country, knocking at the houses of
those whom they would bless.

Ganna (p. 95-6) could be explained with more certainty, if the

I real meaning of its root ginnan were disclosed to us a MHG. :

Iginnen is secare, the ON. ginna allicere, seducere; and in Ssem. 21

a

|
we are warned not to trust the wheedling words of valas, volo

jvilmaali
trui engi maSr ;
we shall see presently, how the AS. poets
use similar expressions about Wyrd.
When Drusus had crossed the Weser and was nearing the Elbe,

1 I
find Waladericiis in Trad. corb. p. 364, 213 a wild woman is called ;

Wolfdieterich 514 die wilde waldin, and. 735 diu libel ivalledein ; but this
Jin
seems a corruption of valandinne, she-devil.
404 WISE WOMEN.

there met him in the land of the Cheruscans a superhuman female,

ryvvrj T<?
/jLet&v 7j
Kara avdpwTrov (frvcriv,
who forbade his farther
advance, and foretold his approaching end (Dio Cass. 55, 1). Species
larlarae mulieris, humana amplior, victorem tendere ultra, sermone
1
Latino, prohibuit (Sueton. in Claudio There may have been I).
German folk-tales about this, which became known to the Eomans.
Wise-women of the fatherland, as well as heroes, rose up in their
country s need, and by their appearance terrified the foe.

Aurinia is have been famous in Germany before

said (p. 95) to
Yeleda copyists may easily
;
have corrupted all into au, and runa
into rinia we should then have Aliruna, though it would be
:

still more handy if Tacitus had written A lioruna. But anyhow we

cannot recognise the agreement (which many have noted)
fail to

with Jornandes cap. 24, who, in accounting for the origin of the
4
Huns, relates of the Gothic king Filimer :
Kepperit in populo suo
quasdam magas midieres, quas patrio sermone aliorumnas (al.
alyrumnas, aliorunas, aliuruncas) is ipse cognomiiiat, easque habens
suspectas de medio sui proturbat, longeque ab exercitu suo fugatas
in solitudine coegit errare. Quas silvestres homines, quos faunos
ficarios vocant, per eremum vagantes dum vidissent, et earum se

cornplexibus in coitu miscuissent, genus hoc ferocissimum ediderel

Many names of women are formed with -run, -runa (Gramm. 2,
517), OHG. documents even offer, though sparingly, Alarun
and
Aleruna, MB. 3,416 (an. 1140); Gosprecht der Alraunyn sun/
MB. 27, 80 (an. 1309). I have never seen Elirun, the form we
should expect from ali-.
2
But it is significant, that the OK name
OlrAn, Ssem. 133-4, belongs precisely to a wise-woman ;
and alruna
(Graff 2, 523), now alraun, from its old sense of a prophetic and
diabolic spirit, has at length passed into that of the root (mandragora,

1
A
similar tale about Alexander Severus Mulier Druias eunti exclamavit
:

Gallico sermone, vadas, nee victoriam speres, nee te militi tuo credas
*
Ael. !

Lampridius in Alex. Sev. cap. 60. And Attila at the passage of the Lech is
said to have "been scared away by a rune-maiden calling out three times back,
Attila ! Paul of Stetten s Erl. aus der gesch. Augsburgs, p. 25. Of still more
weight is the agreement of an ON. tradition in Saxo Gram. p. 15 Hadingum :

(our mythic Harding, Hartung) obvia femina h ac voce compellat :

Seu pede rura teras, sen ponto carbasa tendas,
infestos patiere deos, totumque per orbem
propositis inimica tuis elementa videbis.
2 It
throws some light on the meaning of -run, that in AS. also lurgrilna,
or burgr&nan stands for parcae and furiae (Lye sub v., and Gl. epinal. 617).
 ALARUN. NORNI. 405

mandrake) out of which he is cut. We now turn to some other

names, about which the fountain of tradition flows more freely (see
SuppL).

3. NORNI (FATAE).
The three Fates are the subject of an independent and profound

myth in the Edda. Collectively they are called the nornir, and
singly, Urffr, Verffandi, Skidd, Ssem. 4a . Sn. 18. The term norn
1
(parca) has not been discovered hitherto in any other dialect,
though undoubtedly it belongs to a genuine Teutonic root, and is
formed like thorn, corn, horn, &c., and would have been in OHG.
norn, pi. norni but even Swedish and Danish know it no longer
;

(see SuppL). In the three proper names it is impossible to mistake

the forms of verbal nouns or adjectives : Urffr is taken from the
pret. pi. of verSa (varS, urSum), to become, Ver&andi is the pres.
part, of thesame word, and Skidd the past part, of skula, shall, the
auxiliary by which the future tense is formed. Hence we have
what was, what is, and what shall be, or the past, present and
2
future, very aptly designated, and a Fate presiding over each. At
the same time the very names prove that the doctrine of norns was

originally not foreign to any of the Teutonic nations. A Gothic

Vaur]?s, VairSandei, Skulds, an OHG. Wurt, Werdandi, Scult, and
so on, must have been known once as personal beings in the OS.
;

1
Nlirnberg (mons Noricus) has nothing to do with it, it is no very old
town either (in Bohmers regest. first in 1050, no. 1607 conf. MB. 29, 102).
;

In the fields at Dauernheim near Nidda is a well called Nornborn, Nornborn,

and its spring is said to flow only when there is war. But I should like to see
the name authenticated by an old document. The AS. gen. pi. neorxena, which
only occurs, in neorxena wong =
paradisus, has been proposed, but the ab
breviation would be something unheard of, and even the nom. sing, neorxe or
neorxu at variance with norn besides, the Parcae are nowhere found connected
;

with paradise. May we trace norn to niosan (sternutare), whose past part, is in
OHG. noran, MHG. norn, because of the prophetic virtue there is in sneezing
(ch. XXXV) ? But the special meaning in this verb [conn, with nose] seems
older than any such general meaning, and its ON. form hniosa stands opposed.
2
Fatum dicunt esse quicquid dii effantur. Fatum igitur dictum a fando,
*

i.e., loquendo. Tria autem fata finguntur in colo, in fuso, digitisque fila ex
lana torquentibus, propter trina tempora praeteritum, quod in fuso jam
:

netum atque involutum est, praesens, quod inter digitos nentis trahitur, futur-
um in lana quae colo implicata est, et quod adhuc per digitos nentis ad fusum
tanquam praesens ad praeteritum trajiciendum est/ Isidori etym. 8, 11 92, a
passage pretty extensively circulated in the Mid. Ages (v. Gl. Jun. 398), yet
no proof of the Teutonic notion being borrowed from the classical. In 93
Isidore adds quas (parcas) tres esse voluerunt, imam quae vitam hominis
:

ordiatur, alteram quae contexat, tertiam quae rumpat .

406 WISE WOMEN.

and AS. poetry we are able to lay our finger on the personality of j

the first norn thiu Wurdh is at handun says the Heliand 146,
:
!

2, just as dod is at hendi, 92, 2 the Fate, or death, stands so

:
i

near, that she can grasp with her hand 1

the man who is fallen due i

we should at hand, is at the

to her ; say just as concretely is I

door Again
. : thiu thuo, drew nigh then, HeL
Wurth nahida
103, 16. Wurtli ina benam, the death -goddess took him away
66, 18. Ill, 4 Not so living is the term as used in the Hildebr. j

lied 48, wewurt skihit, wurt skihit/

or perhaps separately we !

because geschehen to happen is used more of abstract inanimate

things. An OHG. gloss also has wurt for fatum (Graff 1, 992).
Far more vivid are the AS. phrases : me J??ct Wyrd 2 gewfif, i

parca hoc mihi texuit, Cod. exon.

355 ; Wyrd oft nereS unfegne
eorl, ]?onne his ellen deah/ parca saepe servat virum, donee virtus
ejus viget (ellan taoc, Hildeb.),
Beow. 1139 him waes Wyrd un-l ;

secean sawlehord,
gemete neah, se ]?one gomelan gretan sceolde,
lif wiS lice, 4836 (so,
sundur gedselan deaS ungemete neah 5453) ;

swa him Wyrd ne gescraf/ ita ei fatum non ordinavit, decrevit,

Beow. 5145. EL 1047. conf. Boeth. ed. Bawl. p. 151; ealle
Wyrd forsweop, swept all away, Beow. 5624; hie seo Wyrd\
3

beswac, forleolc and forlserde, eos parca decepit, allexit, seduxit,

Andr. 613; us seo Wyrd sce8e(5, nos fatum laedit, Andr. 1561.
The instances in Casdmon are less concrete, yet in 61, 12 the Wyrd\
is called Of the Wyrd then are predicated:
walgrim, bloodthirsty.
gretan (excitare, OHG. cruczan), scrifan (ordinare, OHG. scripan)*
wefan (texere, OHG. wepan), beswican (decipere, OHG. pisuichan),!
forlsecan (fallere, OHG. farleichan), forlseran (seducere, male

informare), sceSan (nocere). She is painted powerful, but often

cruel and warlike (see Suppl.). We cannot in the same .way point
out a personal application of the other two names, though the

1 MHG. an der hant, Reinh. 1480. 1806. Nib. 1480, 4.

er hat den tot
Morolt. 29 b . Chuonrat 3860. Karl 52 a
Dietr. 29 a Pf.
.
.

D, not Th, because the pret. of weorSan is wearS, pi. wurdon,

2 With

which supports the derivation I proposed ; so the OHG. Wurt, because werd*
has pret. pi. wurtum.
3
So I read for the forsweof of the editions, conf. forswapen, Caedm. 25, 9.
4 Conf. note to Elene
p. 161, on a similar
use of the MHG. schrtben, and;
Klausen in Zeitschr. fur alterth. 1840 p. 226 on the Roman notion of the
Parcae keeping a written record. N. Cap. 50. 55 renders parca by brievara, the)
recorder. Tertullian, De aiiima cap. 39, informs us that
on the last day of the!
first week of a child s life they used to pray to the fata Scribunda.
FlemiM
479 calls the three Fates des verhangnis schreiberinnen .
 NORNI. WYRD. 407

third, Skidd, OHG. Scult, AS. Scyld, continued in constant use as

an abstract fern, skuld, scult, scyld, in the sense of debitum, delic-
tum. 1 When had banished the heathen notions, one
Christianity
name alone was found sufficient, and soon even that died out,
giving place to new fangled terms such as schicksal, verhangnis
(destiny) and the like, far more cumbrous and unwieldy than the
old simple words. The English and especially the Scotch dialect
seems to have harboured the old word longest we all know the :

weird-sisters in Macbeth, which Shakspeare took from Hollinshed ;

they are also in Douglas s Virgil 80, 48, and the Complaynt of
Scotland (written 1548) mentions, among other fabulous stories,
that of the thre wewdsystirs, (Leyden s ed. Edinb. 1801, p. 99) ;

in Warner s Albions England (first printed 1616) we have the

weirdelves probably meaning the Parcae of the ancients. More
native apparently is the weird lady of the woods! who, when
asked for advice, prophesies out of her cave, Percy s Keliques 3,
220-2. 2
Even Urdr must have been of more consequence
in the North,
than the other two, for the fountain by the sacred ash is named
after her, Ur&arbrunnr? and beside it stands the hall from which
the three norns issue it is also;
Urftar orS, word (Seem. 112 a )
that is chiefly spoken of, and once grimmar urdir dira fata, is
used impersonally, Saem. 216 b These three virgins allot to every
.

man his term of life, skapa monnum aldr skdp i ardaga (year- ;

days), Sn. 18. Ssem. 181 a I have elsewhere (EA, 750) shown
.

the technical pertinence of the term skapa to the judicial office of

the norns, 4 to whom for the same reason are ascribed domr and

1
Fornald. sog. 1, 32 Skuld, daughter of an alfkona ;
also in Saxo Gram. p.
31, Sculda, n. prop.
2
Conf. Jamieson sub v. weird (weerd, weard). Chaucer already substitutes
fatal sustrin for weirdsysters (Troil. 3, 733. Leg. of gd worn. 2619). In Engl,
dictionaries we find wayward sisters explained by parcae and furiae wardsisters ;

would create no difficulty, but wayward means capricious, and was once way-
warden^ in which the warden suggests the Dan. vorren, vorn (Gramm. 2, 675).
What AS. form can there be at the bottom of it? [wa =
woe is the usual etym.]
3
This brunnr deserves attention, for the wayfaring wives and fays of the
Mid. Ages also appear habitually at fountains, as the muses and goddesses
of song haunted the same, and particular goddesses, esp. Holda, loved wells and
springs (p. 268). Altogether it is hard often to tell which dame Holda
resembles more, an ancient goddess or a wise- woman.
4 Conf.
AS. wyrda gesceaft, Casdm. 224, 6. wyrda gesceapu, Cod. exon. 420,
25. Hel. 113, 7 and the OHG. term scep-
^OS. wurdhgiscapu (decreta bfati), ;

hentd, MHG. schepfe (Ottoc. 119 ) and schepfer ; the poet, also a vates, was in
408 WISE WOMEN.

qvi&r, Saem. 273 b ;

liotar nornir skopo oss langa }?ra, dirae parcae
creaverunt nobis longum moerorem 217 a nornir heita )?o3r er
;

nauS skapa, Skaldskaparmal p. 212. a In the same sense nornir

visa, Ssem. 88 b they give us to wit judgment, and are wise. Hence to
,

them, as to judges, a seat is given a norna stoli sat ek niu daga :

127 a They approach every

. new born child, and utter his doom ;

at Helgi s birth, it is said in Saem. 149 :

nott var i boe, nornir qvamo,

)?cer er 6 olingi aldr um skopo :

}?ann baSo fylki froegstan verSa,

BuSlunga beztan ]?yckja.
>ok

snero J?cer af afli drlogpdtto,

7

J>a
er borgir braut i Bralundi :

J?cer um greiddo gidlinsimo,

ok und manasal miojan/esfo.
]?oer austr ok vestr enda falo,

J?ar atti loffiungr land a milli :

bra nipt Nera a norftrvega

eiumfesti. ey ba5 hon halda.

This important passage tells us, that norns entering the castle at
night spun for the hero the threads of his fate, and stretched the
golden cord (fidttr daht, docht, =
simi) in the midst of heaven = ;

one norn hid an end of the thread eastward, another westward, a

third fastened it northward; this third one is called sister of Neri 1 .

Their number, though not expressly stated, is to T)e gathered from

the threefold action. All the region between the eastern and
western ends of the line was to fall to the young hero s lot did ;

the third norn diminish this gift, when she flung a band northward,
and bade it hold for aye ? (see Suppl.).
It seems the regular thing in tales of norns and fays, for the

advantages promised in preceding benefactions to be partly neutral

ized by a succeeding one.
The Nornagestssaga cap. 11 says : There travelled about in the

OHG. scuof, OS. from the same root. The AS. word metten I connect
sctip,
with metod In Boeth. p. 101 (Rawlinson) a varia lectio
(creator, see p. 22).
the metodo giscapu in Hel. 66,
3 *
lias )?a gramaii mettena, the unkind fates ;

19. 67, 11 answer to those wyrda gesceapu, and the gen. plurals metodo,
wyrda imply that not one creator, but several are spoken of. Vintler calls
them diernen, die dem menschen erteilen, maids that dole out to man.
1
Conf. nipt Nara, Egilssaga p. 440.
 KORNI. 409

land volvur* who are called spdkonur who foretold to men their
fate, spaSu monnum aldr or orlog .
People invited them to
their houses, gave them good cheer and gifts. One day they came
toNornagest s father, the babe lay in the cradle, and two tapers were
burning over him. When the first two women had gifted him, and
assured him of happiness beyond all others of his race, the third
or youngest norn, hin yngsta nornin who in the crowd had been
pushed off her seat and fallen to the ground, rose up in anger, and
cried I cause that the child shall only live till the lighted taper beside
him has burnt out The
eldest volva quickly seized the taper, put
.

it out, and gave mother with the warning not to kindle it

it to the

again till the last day of her son s life, who received from this the
name of Norns-guest. Here volva, spdkona and norn are perfectly
synonymous as we saw before (p. 403) that the vohir passed
;

through the land and knocked at the houses?- the nornir do the very
same. A kind disposition is attributed to the first two norns, an
evil one to the third. This third, consequently jflculd, is called
the youngest, they were of different ages therefore, Urffr
being con
sidered the oldest. Such tales of travelling gifting sorceresses
were much in vogue all through the Mid. Ages (see Suppl.). 2
1
have -elsewhere shown in detail, that the
I
journeying house-visiting Muse
dame Aventiure is an
inspiring and prophetic norn, and agrees to a feature
with the ancient conception see my Kleine schriften
2
;
1, 102.
Nigellus Wirekere, in his Speculum stultorum (comp. about 1200), relates
a fable (exemplum) :

.Ibant tres hominum curas relevare sorores,

quas nos fatales dicimus esse deas.
They travel through the land, to remedy the oversights of nature. Two of the
sisters, soft-hearted and impulsive, want to rush in and
help at the first ap
pearance of distress, but are restrained by the third and more intelligent one.
whom they address as domina, and revere as a higher power. First
they fall
in .with a beautiful noble
maiden, who has all good things at her command, and
she is not helped, for she can
yet complains ;
help herself. Then they find in
the forest a modest maid laid
up in bed, because sore feet and hips hinder her
from walking she too obtains no help from the
;
goddesses excellently ;
endowed in mind and body, she must ,bear .her misfortune At last
patiently.
in the neighbourhood of a town the sisters come
upon a poor rough peasant
,

Exiit in bivium ventrem

purgare puella
rustica, nil reverens inverecunda deaf-,
vestibus elatis retro
nimiumque rejectis,
poplite dejiexo ci;ure resedit humi,
una manus foenum, panis
tenet altera frustum ;
this one, at the
suggestion of the third sister, when the first two have turned
away, is
heaped with the gifts .of fortune by the goddesses :

Haec mea multotiens genitrix narrare solebat,

cujus.me certe non meminisse pudet.
410 WISE WOMEN.

The Edda expressly teaches that there are good and lad norns
(goftar ok illar, grimmar, liotar), and though it names only three,
that there are more of them some are descended from
gods, others
:

from elves, others from dwarfs, Sn. 18. 19. Seem. 187-8. Why
should the norns be furnished with dogs ? grey norna, Seem. 273 a .

We throughout this Eddie description, things and persons

see,
are kept clearly apart. Destiny itself is called orlog, or else nau&r
(necessitas), aldr (aevum) the norns have to manage it,
;
espy it,
decree it, pronounce it (see
Suppl.). And the other dialects too had
possessed the same term : OHG. urlac, AS. orlceg, MHG. urlouc
(Gramm. 2, 7. 87. 789. 790), OS. orlag, orlcgi, aldarlagu (Hel. 103,
1
8. 113, 11. 125, 15) it was
only when the heathen goddesses
j

had been cast off, that the meanings of the words came to be con
founded, and the old flesh-and-blood wurt, ivurff, wyrd to pale into
a mere impersonal urlac.
In the same relation as norn to orlog, stands parca to
fatum
(from fari, like^qviftr from qveSa qvaft, quoth), and also alaa, fjiolpa
to avdyfCTj (nauSr) or etfiapfievrj. But when once the parcae had
vanished from the people s imagination, the Eomance language (by
a process the reverse of that just noticed amongst
us) formed out
of the abstractnoun a new and personal one, out si fatum an Ital.
2
fata, Span, hada, Prov. fada (Eayn. sub v.), Fr. fee. I do not know
if this was
prompted by a faint remembrance of some female beings
in the Celtic faith, or the influence of the Germanic norns. But
these fays, so called at first from their
announcing destiny, soon
came to be ghostly wives in general, altogether the same as our
idisi and How very early the name was current in Italy,
volur. 3
isproved by Ausonius, who in his Gryphus ternarii numeri brings
forward the tres Charites, trio- Fata, and by Procopius, who
1
From legan (to lay down, constituere), like the AS. lage, ON. log (lex) ;
therefore urlac, fundamental law. The forms urlouc, urliuge have significantly
been twisted round to the root liugan, louc (celare).
2
Conf. nata, nee ; amata, aimee ; lata, lee. Some MHG. poets say few
(Hartm. Woli r.), smefeie, Haupt s zeitschr. 2, 182-3, others /ane (Gotfr. Conr.).
3
OFr. poems call them, in addition to fees, divesses (Marie de Fr. 2, 385),
duesses (Meon 4, 158. 165), duesse and fee (Wolf, lais 51) ; puceles bien curves
(Meon 3, 418), /ranches puceles senees (3, 419) ; sapaudes (wise-women, from
sapere ?), Marie de Fr. 2, 385. Enchanting beauty is ascribed to them all :

plus bela que fada, Ferabras 2767 cont 16434.

;
. A
book of H. Schreiber
(Die leen in Europa, Freib. 1842) throws much light on the antiquities of fay-
worship. Houses, castles and hills of the fays remind us of the wise-women s
towers, of the Venus-hill and Holla-hill, and of giant s houses. In Irish,
siubrog, siyhbrog, is first a fays house, then the fay community.
 NOKNI. FATAE. 411

mentions (De bello Goth. 1, 25, ed. Bonn. 2, 122) a building in the
Roman Forum called ra rpia fyara (supra p. 405, note) with the
remark : ovrco yap Pco/xaioi, r9polpas vevojjbiKacn /caXet^.
1
At
that time therefore still neuter; but everywhere the number three,
2
in norns, moirai, parcae and fays (see Suppl.).
About the Eomance fays there is a multitude of stories, and
they coincide with the popular beliefs of Germany. Folquet de
Romans sings :

Aissim fadero tres serors

en aquella ora qu ieu sui natz,

que totz temps fos enamoratz.
Guilhdei. Poitou:
Assi fuy de nueitz fadatz sobr nn puegau.
(so was I gifted by night on a mount).
Marcabrus :

Gentil fada
vos adastret, quan fas nada
d una beutat esmerada.

Trefate go past, laughing, and give good gifts, Pentam. 1, 10. 4, 4;

the first fate bestow blessings, the last one curses 2, 8 Pervonto ;

builds a bower for three sleeping fate, and is then gifted 1, 3 ;

tre

fate live down in a rocky hollow, and dower the children who
descend 2, 3. 3, 10 ; fate appear at the birth of children, and lay
them on their breast 5, 5 ;
Cervantes names los siete castillos de
fadas! Don Quix. 4, 50
las siete siete fadas mefadaron en brazos
;

de una ama mia/ Rom. de la infantina ; there are seven fays in the
land, they are asked to stand godmothers, and seats of honour are
prepared at the table six take their places, but the seventh was
:

forgotten, she now appears, and while the others endow with good
things, she murmurs her malison (La belle au bois dormant) ;
in
the German kindermarchen (Dornroschen) it is twelve wise women,
the thirteenth had been overlooked. So in the famed forest of

Accordingly I do not derive fata from (frans (speech), or faros spoken,

1

though the Latin verb is of course the same word as Conf. Ducange sub
<pr)pi.

v. Fadus, and Lobeck s Aglaoph. 816. Fatuus and fatua are also connected.
2
Lersch in the Bonner jb. 1843. 2,129 131 separates the three parcae
from the three fata, because in sculptures they have different adjuncts the :

Roman parcae are represented writing (p. 406), the Grecian moirai weaving, the
simply as women with horns of plenty. But almost everything in the
tria fata
doctrine of fays points to a common nature with our idises and norns, and
works of art fall into the background before the fulness of literature.
412 WISE WOMEN.

Brezeliande, by the fontaine de Barendon, dames fae es in white

apparel shew themselves, and begift a child, but one is spiteful
and bestows calamity (San Marte, Leg. of Arthur p. 157-8. 160).
At Olger s birth six wise women appear, and endow the last is ;

named Morgue. In the Children of Limburg (Mones anzeiger

1835, 169), when Ectrites falls asleep in a meadow beside a fountain
and a lime-tree, three wayfaring wives approach, and foretell the
future. The OFr. romance of Guillaume au court nez describes
how Eenoart falls asleep in a boat, and three fays come and carry
him off. In Burchard of Worms they are still spoken of as three
sisters orparcae, for whom the people of the house spread the
table with three plates and three knives conf the ;
.
praeparare
mensas cum lapidibus vel epulis in domo In the watches of
.

the night the fatuae come to children, wash them and

lay them
down by the fire (see SuppL). In most of the tales there appear
three fays, as well as three norns and three
parcae; occasionally
seven and thirteen ; but they also come
singly, like that weirdlady
of the wood/ and with
proper names of their own.
1
French

1
La p. m. 223. 2348
fata in Guerino meschino Morganda fatata,fata
;

Morgana, Morghe (Nouv. Eenart 4810);

la fee frouwe de la rosche Mse
<diu

(black rock), die gesach nieman, er schiede dan vro, riche unde wise, whom
none saw but he went away glad, rich and wise, Ben. 144. MsH. a
1, 118 .

Monnier s Culte des esprits dans la Sequanie tells of a fee Arie in Franche-
comte, who appears at country (esp. harvest) feasts, and rewards diligent
she makes the fruit fall off the trees for
spinners ;
good children, and
distributes nuts and cakes to them at
Christmas, just like Holda and Berhta.
I believe her to be identical with the Welsh
Arianrod, daughter of Don and
sister of Gwydion her name contains arian
(Woden), in Croker 3, 195 ;

(argentum), so that she is a shining one, and it is also used of the milky way.
A jeu composed in the latter half of the 13th century by Adam de la Halle of
Arras (publ. in Theatre franc, au
moyen age, Paris 1839, p. 55 seq.) gives a
pretty full account of dame Morgue et sa compaignie. They are beautiful
women (beles dames parees), who at a fixed time of the year seek a night s
lodging at a house, where dishes are set on the table for them men that look ;

on must not speak a word. Beside Morgue la

sage there appear (p. 76-7) two
other fays, Arsile and Maglore., and the (
last, on sitting down, notices that no
knife has been laid for her, while the others praise the beauty of theirs.
Suije li pire ? peu me prisa qui estavli, ni avisa
*
Maglore cries out in anger :

que toute seule a coutel faille Arsile tries to pacify her, and says, it is fitting
.

that we give a present to those who have

arranged this place so prettily.
Morgue endows one with riches, Arsile with the poetic art, but Maglore says :
De mi certes naront il nient :

bien doivent falir a don bel,

puisque jai fall a coutel
honni soit qui riens leur donra !

Morgue however insisting on a gift, Maglore bestows on one fellow a bald

head, and on the other a calamitous journey :
 NORNI. FATAE. 413

tradition brings to light a close connexion between fays and our

giant-maidens the fays carry enormous blocks of stone on their
:

heads or in their aprons, while the free hand plies the spindle ;

when the fay who was doing the building part had finished her
any more, and these,
task, she called out to her sisters not to bring

though two miles heard the cry and dropped their stones, which
off,

buried themselves deep in the ground when the fays were not;

spinning, they carried four stones at once. They were good-

natured, and took special care of the children whose fates they
foretold. They went in and out of the neighbours houses by the
chimney, so that one day the most careless one among them burnt
herself, and uttered a loud wail, at which all the fays of the

neighbourhood came running up. You never could deceive them :

once, when a man put his wife s clothes on and nursed the baby,
the fay walked in and said directly : non, tti n es point la belle
d hier au soir, tu ne files, ni ne vogues, ni ton fuseau n enveloppes ,
To punish him, she contented herself with making the apples that
were baking on the hearth shrink into peas.
Of such stories there are plenty but nowhere in Eomance or
;

German folk-tales do we meet, as far as I know, with the Norse

conception of twining and fastening the cord, or the Greek one of
spinning and cutting the thread of life. Only one poet of the Mid.
Ages, Marner, has it 2, 173 b :

zwd schepfer fldliten mir ein seil,

da bi diu dritte saz (the third sat by) ;

diu zerbrachz (broke it) : daz was min unheil.

But this seems borrowed from the Roman view of breaking off the
thread (rumpat, p. 406, note), Ottokar makes the schepfen

ains comperront drier le coutel

qu il ouvlierent clii a metre.
Then before daybreak the fays depart to a meadow, their place of meeting, for
they shun to meet the eyes of men by day. Here we see plainly enough the
close resemblance of these three fays to the three norns. The French editor
wrongly understands coutel of a cloth spread for the fay the passage in ;

Burchard of Worms removes all doubt. If Maglore be a corruption of

Mandaglore, Mandagloire, as the mandragora is elsewhere called, a close
connexion may be established with Alrune, Olrun. Morgue is shortened from
Morgan, which is the Breton for merwoman
(from mor, the sea, and gwen,
splendens femina). One might be tempted to connect Morgan with that
inexplicable norn, as the ON. morni stands for morgrii ; but the norn has
nothing to do with the morning or the sea (see Suppl.).
i H.
Schreiber, Feen in Europa pp. 11. 12. 16. 17. Michelet 2, 17.
414 WISE WOMEN.

(creating) impart all success in good or evil. The banun festan

in Hild. lied is
hardly to be explained by the fastening of a thread
of death.
If we compare the Norse my thus with the Greek, each has
taken shape in its own independent way. In Homer it is the
personified Alaa1 that spins the thread for the newborn :

dcro-a ol Ala a
yetvofievep eirewja-e \lvw, ore piv rerce fi^rrjp. II. 20, 127 ;

what things Aisa span for him at birth with her thread . But in
Od. 7, 197 other spinners
(two) are associated with her :

da-era ol Alaa KaraK\&6es re

ryeivofjievto vrjcravro XtW, ore uiv reice
what Aisa and the Kataklothes unkind Hesiod (am. 258)
span .

makes three goddesses stand beside the combatants,

KXwtfw,
Ad^ea-is, "ArpoTros, the last small of stature, but eldest and most
exalted of all. But in Theog. 218 he names them as
K\w6o) re Ad%ecriv re KOI "Arporrov, atre ftporolcriv
<yeivo[jLvoicn &I&OIKTIV e^etv dyaOov re KCLKOV re
who give to mortals at birth to have both good and ill and in ;

almost the same words at 905. The most detailed description is

given by Plato (De republ. 617 Steph. 508 Bekk.) The three :

polpai are daughters of AvdjKrj (necessity), on whose knees the

spindle (drpa/cros) turns they sit clothed in white and garlanded,
;

singing the destiny, Lachesis rd yeyovora, Klotho rd ovra, Atropos

rd i*,e\\ovra just the same relation to past, present and future as
:

the norns have, though the Greek

proper names do not themselves
express it. K\w0co (formed like Av%a) Oa\\co, Arjrw, Mop/ia, }

spins (from /cXw&o spin, twine), Lachesis allots (from

, the unturnable, cuts the thread. It must not be
"ArpoTros,

overlooked, that Hesiod sets up the last, Atropos, as the mightiest,

while with us Wurt the eldest produces the most powerful impres
sion. Latin writers distribute the offices of the parcae somewhat
differently, as Apuleius (De mundo p. 280) Clotho praesentis :

temporis habet curam, quia quod torquetur in digitis, moment!

1
^I
think aio-a is the OHG. era, our elire, for which we should expect a
Gothic a"iza,
aisa (as aistan is aestimare) : era = honor, decus, dignitas, what
is fair and fitting, what is any one s due ;
nar alo-av, ex dignitate, to each his
meed. If this
etymology holds, we understand why frau Ere was personified
(see Suppl.).
 NORNI. 415

praesentis indicat spatia Atropos praeteriti fatum est, quia quod

;

in fuso perfectum est, praeteriti temporis habet speciem ; Lacliesis

futuri, quod etiam illis quae futura sunt finem suum deus dederit
(see SuppL). Isidore s opinion was quoted on p. 405. 1 The Nor-
nagestssaga bears a striking resemblance to that of Meleager, at
whose birth three moirai tell his fortune Atropos destines him to :

live only the billet then burning on the hearth be burnt out
till
;

his mother Althaea plucks it out of the fire. 2 Our modern tales
here exchange the norns or fates for death, Kinderm. no. 44.
Another tale, that of the three spinners (no. 14), depicts them as
ugly old women, who come to help, but no longer to predict they ;

desire to be bidden to the marriage and to be called cousins.

Elsewhere three old women but do not spin. 3 A folk-tale
foretell,

(Deutsche sagen no. 9) introduces two maidens spinning in a cave

of the mountain, and under their table is the Evil one (I suppose
the third norn) chained up again we are told of the roof-beam on
;

which a spinning wife sits at midnight. 4 We must not forget the

AS. term which describes a norn as weaving, Wyrd geivdf
(p. 406) and when it is said in Beow. 1386
;
ac him Dryhten :

forgeaf wigspeda gewiofu (ei Dominus largitus est successuum

bellicorum texturas), this is quite heathen phraseology, only
putting God
in the place of Wyrd. Gottfried (Trist. 4698), in

describing Blicker of Steinach s purity of mind, expresses himself

thus :
ich wsene, daz infeinen
ze wunder haben gespunnen
und haben in in ir brunnen
geliutert und gereinet ;

I ween that fays spun him as a wonder, and cleansed him in their
fountain .

Saxo Gram. p. 102 uses the Latin words parca, nympha, but
unmistakably he is describing norns : Mos erat antiquis, super

1
The Hymn to Mercury 550-561 names individually some other /zolpat,
still three in number, winged maidens
dwelling on Parnassus, their heads
besprinkled with white meal, who prophesy when they have eaten fresh divine
food (f)8dav c8a>8rjv) of honey. Otherwise they are called Opiai
2
Apollodorus i. 8, 2.
3
Altd. wb. 1, 107-8-9-10. Norske eventyr no. 13. Eob. Chambers p.
54-5. MiillenhofFs Schleswigh. s. p. 410. Pentamer. 4, 4.
4
Jul. Schmidt, Reichenfels p. 140.
416 WISE WOMEN.

futuris liberorum eventibus parcarum oracula consultare. Quo

ritu Olavi filii fortunam exploraturus,
Fridlevus
nuncupatis
solenniter votis, deorum aedes precabundus accedit, ubi
introspecto
sacello 1 ternas sedes totidem
nymphis occupari cognoscit. Quarum
prima indulgentioris animi liberalem puero formam, uberemque
human! favoris copiam erogabat. Eidem secunda beneficii loco
liberalitatis excellentiam condonavit. Tertia vero, protervioris
ingenii invidentiorisque studii
femina, sororum indulgentiorem
aspernata consensum, ideoque eamm
donis officere cupiens, futuris
pueri moribus parsimoniae crimen affixit. Here they are called
sisters, which I have found nowhere else in ON. authorities ;
and
the third nymph is again the illnatured one, who lessens the boons
of the first two. The only difference is, that the norns do not
come to the infant, but the father seeks out their dwelling, their
2
temple (see Suppl.).
The weaving of the norns and the spindle of the fays give us
to recognise domestic motherly divinities ; and we have already
remarked, that their appearing suddenly, their haunting of wells
w
and springs accord ith the notions of antiquity about frau Holda,
Berhta and the like goddesses, who devote themselves to spinning,
and bestow boons on babes and children. 3 Among Celts especially,

1
They had a temple then, in which their oracle was consulted.
2
The Lettish Laima, at the birth of a child, lays the sheet under it, and
determines its fortune. And on other occasions in life they say, taip Laima
leme, so Fate ordained it ; no doubt Laima is
closely connected with lemti
(ordiiiare, disponere). She runs barefooted over the hills (see ch. XVII,
Watersprites). There is also mentioned a Delilda (nursing-mother, from debt
to suckle). A
trinity of parcae, and their spinning a thread, are unknown to
the Lettons conf. Stender s Gramm. p. 264.
; Rhesas dainos pp. 272. 309.
310. The Lithuanians do know a Werpeya (spinner). The Ausland for 1839,
no. 278 has a pretty Lithuanian legend The dieves valditoyes were seven
:

goddesses, the first one spun the lives of men out of a distaff givenher the
by
highest god, the second set up the warp, the third wove in the woof, the fourth
told tales to tempt the workers to leave off, for a cessation of labour
spoilt the
web, the fifth exhorted them to industry, and added length to the life, the sixth
cut the threads, the seventh washed the garment and
gave it to the most high
god, and it became the man s winding-sheet. Of the seven, only three spin or
weave.
3
Not a few times have Holda and Berhta passed into Mary and in the ;

three Marys of a Swiss

nursery-rhyme I think I can recognise the heathen norna
or idisl :

rite, rite rosli, ride, ride a-cock horse,

ze Bade stot e schlossli, at Baden stands a little castle,
ze Bade stot e guldi hus, at Baden stands a golden house,
es liieged drei Mareie drus. there look three Marys out of it :

die eint spinnt side, the one spins silk,

 NORNI. WALACHURIUN. 417

the fatae seem apt to run into that sense of matres and matronae, 1
which among Teutons we find attaching more to divine than to
semi-divine beings. In this respect the fays have something
higher in them than our idises and norns, who in lieu of it stand

out more warlike.

4. WALACHUEIUN (VALKYRJOR).
Yet, as the fatae are closely bound up with fatum the pro
nouncing of destiny, vaticination the kinship of the fays to the
norns asserts itself all the same. Now there was no sort of destiny
that stirred the spirit of antiquitymore strongly than the issue of
battles and wars: it is significant, that the same urlac, urlouc
expresses both fatum and bellum also (Graff 2, 96. Gramm. 2, 790),
and the idisi forward or hinder the fight. This their office we have
to look into more narrowly.
From Caesar (De B. Gall. 1, 50) we already learn the practice
of the Germani, ut matresfamilias eorum soriibus et vaticinationibus

declararent, utruin proelium committi ex usu esset, necne . Mis

tresses of families practised augury, perhaps women selected for the

purpose, of superior and godlike repute like Veleda.

Let us bear in mind, which gods chiefly concerned themselves
with the event of a battle : O&inn and Freyja draw to themselves
all those who fall in fight, and Oolnn admits them to his heavenly
abode (pp. 133, 305). This hope, of becoming after death members
of the divine community, pervades the religion of the heathen.
Now the ON. valr, AS. wcel, OHG. wal denotes the carnage of the
t

battle-field, the sum of the slain : to take possession of this val,

to gather it in, was denominated kiosa, kiesen, to choose ; this verb
seems a general technical term for the acceptance of any sacrifice
made to a higher being. 2 But OSinn, who has the siges kilr (choosing

die ander schnatzelt chride, the other cards .. . ? .

die drit schnit haberstrau. the third cuts oaten straw.

bhiiet mer Gott mis chindli an ! God keep my childie too !

Schnatzeln is, I suppose, to

[snast wind ? =
wick ? snood ? In the marchen
of the Goosemaid, schnatzen is
apparently to comb]. The seventh line sometimes
runs di dritte schneidt den fade* (cuts the thread).
: Conf. Vonbun p. 66.
b
jFirmenich 2, 665 Mannhardt pp. 388. 392. The nursery-song in the
.

Wunderhorn p. 70-1 has three spinning tocken, i.e. nymphs, fays.

1
Lersch in the Bonn Annual 1843, pp. 124 7.
2
Chief passage, Ssem. 141 a Conf. Gramm. 4, 608, and AS. wig cwrot?,
.

Caedm. 193, 9; MHG. sige kiesen, Iw. 7069, sig erkiesen, Wh. 355, 15. So,
|den tot kiesen.
27
418 WISE WOMEN.

of victory, p. 133, note), is served in Valholl by maidens, and them

*
he sends out into every battle, to choose the slain, Sn. 39; kiosa er
KSnir ero/ Stem. 164 b vildi )?ik kiosa, Seem. 254 a
;
.

Hence such a maiden, half divine, is called valkyrja and ;

it is another most welcome coincidence, that the AS.

language
has retained the very same term wcelcyrie (waelcyrge, wselcyrre) to
English such Latin words as bellona, erinnys, Alecto, Tisiphone.
and employs it even for parca and venefica. The Cott. MS. Vitell.
A. 15 has a gloss wselcyrigean eagan, gorgoneus this is translating :

the Greek idea into an AS. one did the eyes of the waelcyrigean ;

instil horror like the Gorgons heads? I am quite safe in assuming

an OHG. walachurid (walachurra) valakusjd would be the Gothic
;

form. At the end of the Langobardian genealogy we find a man s

name Wo.lcausus)-
Another name of the valkyrjur is ON. valmeyjar (battle-maids),
b
perhaps also the present valdoger, which Hallager 140 says
N"orw.

is guardian-spirit. Again, they are called skialdmeyjar, hialmmeyjar,

because they go forth armed, under shield and helmet (vera und
a b
hialmi, Saem. 15 l 192 ) ;
nonnor Herjans, nuns of Oftinn 4b . The
Edda bestows on the valkyrja the epithets: livit 168 b ,7m und hial
mi (alba sub galea) 145 b Uort 174b sdlbiort, sunbright 167 b Hart-
, , ,

a b a
lituff 142% hialmmtr 157 gullvariff 167 margullin maer 145
, , ,

a
alvitr 164 all descriptive of beauty or helmet-ornaments.
,
Helm
and shield distinguish these helm and shield women as much as
b
heroes, they ride on shield-service, under shield-roof, Seem. 250
and are called skialdmeyjar aldrstamar, or young shield-maidens o
Atli s court. The legend of the Amazons (Herod. 4, 110 117
Jorn. cap. 6.7.8. Paul. Diac. 1, 15) seems to rest on similar ye
different notions. A valkyr in Ssem. 167 b is named su&rcen (australis]
apparently in the sense of biort, solbiort ?
Again at 151 b, disi
suSroenar (see Suppl.). 2

1
Of valr, wal itself we might seek the root in velja, valjan (eligere), so
that it should from the first have contained the notion of choosing, but beinj
applied to strages, and its sense getting blurred, it had to be helped out by a
second verb of the same meaning. Our Tit. 105, 4 has a striking juxtaposition
Sigun diu sigehaft uf dem wal, da man welt magede kiusche und ir siieze I .

is only in Dietr. 91 b and Rab. 536. 635. 811. 850. 923 that welrecke occurs can ;

it have any relationship to walkiire ?

2
OSinn has Frigg, the valkyr-jur and the ravens in the waggon with him
Sn. 66. For valkyrja I also find the name skorAngr, derivable either from skai
stiperbia, or skari agmen. Brynhildr is called in Vols. saga cap. 24 mest
akor&ngr (see Suppl. j.
 VALKYRJA, W.ELCYRIE. 419

One name is dskmeyjar, wish-maidens

particularly attractive :

212. Vols. saga cap. 2), given them, I think, because they are
.

in OSin s service, and OSinn is called Oski, Wunsc. But there is

something more : I find a confirmation of my opinion that Wuotan
bore the name of Wunsc in his identity with Mercury, for Mercury
carries the magic wand (caduceus), which is like our wishing-rod,
OHG-. wunsciligerta (-yerde, yard). The likeness will come out
more distinctly from a closer inspection of the two rods, which is yet
to come but if Wuotan and Wunsc, OSinu and Oski are one, we
;

may suppose that the thorn, the sleeping-thorn, which Oolnn put
a
into the dress of the valkyrja Brynhildr (Seem. 192 ), was likewise
a wishing-thorn. It throws light on the nature of Brunhild and

Chrimhild, that rocks are named after them, one called spilstein,
Chriemhildesp7 (p. 370), which does not find a meaning so well
from spil (ludus) as from spille (spindle, fusus). For other stones
have the name kunkel (distaff), and in French fairy-tales quenouille
x
a la bonne dame ;
Dornroschen (thorn-rosekin) pricked her finger
with the spindle and fell into a dead sleep, as Brunhild did with

the wishing-thorn. Spindles are an essential characteristic of all the

2
wise-women of antiquity among Teutons, Celts and Greeks. The
walklire a wtmsch-kint, Wunsches kint, pp. 139, 142 (see Suppl.).
is

The name wunschelweib, which lasted down to a late time, shall

be produced hereafter; here I call up from the poem of the
Staufenberger a being by whom the connexion of valkyrs with fays
isplaced beyond doubt. To the knight there shews herself a maiden
in white apparel (the hvit and biort above), sitting on a stone (line

224) ;
him in danger and war from his youth
she has watched over
up, she was about him unseen (332 364); now she becomes his
love, and is with him whenever he wishes for her (swenne du einest
wiinschest nach mir, so bin ich endelichen bi dir 474). By super
human power she moves swiftly whither she lists (war ich wil, da
bin ich, den wunsch hat mir Got gegeben 497). Staufenberger, after
being united to her in love, may do anything except take a wedded
wife, else he will die in three days.
er wunschte nach der frouwen sin,
bi im so war diu schcene fin.

i H. Schreiber pp. 20. 21.

2
Schreiber s derivation, pp. 65 67, of
1 like also the name Nehaecij
Nehalennia (supra p. 257) from the root nere, neza to spin.
420 WISE WOMEN.

When he notwithstanding resolves on another marriage, she drives

her foot through the floor, and he has to die (1016. 1066). Accord

ing to this remarkable story, wunschweib or wunschelweib is one

whose presence her lover can procure, by wishing it, whenever he
longs for her, names her name as it were (p. 398) this is, though :

not a false, yet a later meaning substituted for the original one,
which had reference to the god of wishing, the divine Wish. Old
Norse legend will unfold to us more precisely the nature of these
women.
In Valholl the occupation of the oskmeyjar or valkyrjur was to
hand the drinking-horn to the gods and einherjar, and to furnish
the table. their peculiar relation to Freyja, who
Here comes out
chooses val like them, is called Valfreyja (p. 305), 1 and pours out
at the banquet of the Ases (at gildi Asa), Sn. 108. Exactly in the
same way did Gondul, sitting on a stol i rioSrinu (in the niuriute,

clearing), offer the comers drink out of a horn (Fornald. sog. 1, 398.

400); and with this agree the deep draughts of the modern folk-tale :

a beautifully dressed and garlanded maiden from the Osenberg offers

the count of Oldenburg a draught in a silver horn, while uttering pre
dictions (Deutsche sagen, no. 541). Svend Falling drank out of the
horn handed him by elf-women, and in doing so, spilt some on his

horse, as in the preceding story (Thiele 2, 67) ; I have touched

(p. 372) on the identity

of Svend Falling with Siegfried, whose
relation to the valkyr Brunhild comes out clearly in the Danish

story. In a Swedish folk-song in Arvidsson 2, 301, three mountain-

maids hold out silver tankards in their white hands. Quite in
harmony are some Norwegian traditions in Faye p. 26-8-9. 30;
and additional Danish ones in Thiele 1, 49.55. 3,44 (see Suppl.).
Still more to the purpose is the office of the valkyrs in war.

Not only kiosa val, kiosa feigS/ 2 but ratJa vigum or sigri/
therefore the deciding of battle and victory, is placed in their hands,
Sn. 39. They are said to be gorvar (alert) at ri5a grand/ gorvar

So, in a Faroese song, Valvfrygv (Finn Magn. lex. p. 805).

1

2The taking possession of souls at the moment of death by OSinn and

to me so deep-rooted a
Freyja, or by their messengers the valkyrs, appears
feature of our heathenism, that we may well find it lingering even in Christian
traditions. Of this sort is the scramble of angels and devils for the soul, des
cribed in the poem Muspilli, which Schmeller has hunted up, Georg 1 235-44.
608286, and Meon 1, 239. 4, 114-5 ; and a striking passage in the Morolt I
shall in ch. XVII. Will any one think of tracing this idea to the Epistle
quote
of Jude 9, or the apocryphal Book of Enoch ?
 WALACHURIUN, SKULD. 421

b
at ricSa go5J?io5ar/ Ssem. 4
til Eooted in their being is an irresis
.

tible longing for this warlike occupation ; hence the Edda expresses
their most characteristic passion by the verb j?ra (desiderant),
Ssem. 88 b , J?raoV (desiderabant) or fystoz (cupiebant), 134 it
a
:

is their own longing, striving and wishing that has swung itself

round into that wishing for them. Usually nine valkyrjur ride out
together, Saem. 142, 162; their lances, helmets and shields glitter
151 a This nineness is also found in the story of ThiSrandi (see
.

p. 402), to whom nine disir appear first in white raiment, then nine
others in black. Ssem. 44-5, and after him Sn. 39, enumerate
thirteen of them :
Hildr, Thrll&r,
Hrist, Mist, Skeggold, Skogul,
Hlock, Herfwtr, Goll, GeirahoS (aL Geirolul), RandgmS, RddgriS,
b
Reginleif ; but Saem. 4 only six: Skidd, Skogul, Gunnr, Hildr ,

1
Gondul, GeirsJcoguL The prose of Sn. 39 distinguishes three as
strictly val-choosers and mistresses of victory: Gu&r, Rota and
f
Skuld norn en yngzta The celebrated battle-weaving song of
.

the Nialssaga names the following Hildr, Hiorprimul, Sangri&r (1. :

RangriSr), Svipul, Gunnr, Gondul] the Hakonarmal: Gondol, Skogol,

Geirskogol; the Krakumal (ed. Eafn, p. 121) only Hlock and Hildr.
Several of these names are of extraordinary and immediate value
to our investigation, and not one of the remainder ought to be left
out of sight in future study (see Suppl.).
Skuld, for instance we gather from it the affinity of norns and
:

valkyrs, and at the same time the distinction between them. A

discan be both norn and valkyr, but the functions are separate,
and usually the persons. The norns have to pronounce the fatum,
they sit on their chairs, or they roam through the country among
mortals, fastening their threads. Nowhere is it said that they ride.
The valkyrs ride to war, decide the issue of the fighting, and
conduct the fallen to heaven ;
their riding is like that of heroes
and gods mention is made of their horses skalf
(pp, 327. 392), :

Mistar marr (tremuit Mistae equus), Sa3m. 156* m<z?*gullin maer ;

a
(aureo equo vecta virgo), 145 when the steeds of the valkyrs
;

shake themselves, dew drips from their manes into the valleys, and
a b
fertilizing hail falls on trees 14o with which compare the l des-
>

tillationes in comis equorum of the wise-women (p. 287)

et collis ;

the name Mist, which elsewhere means mist, may have indicated
1
Unpublished passages in the skalds supply 29 or 30 names (Finn Magn.
lex. p. 803).
422 WISE WOMEN.

a like phenomenon. Of the norns, none but Skuld the youngest

(p. 405) can be a valkyrja too were UrSr and VerSandi imagined
:

as too aged or too dignified for the work of war ? did the cutting,

breaking, of the thread (if such an idea can be detected in the

North) better become the maiden practised in arms ?
Two other valkyrs, Rlock and Herfiotr, have been claimed
above (p. 401) as idisl, and interpreted as restrainers of the fight.
In the Kormakssaga there also occurs Hlokk gen. Hlakkar, for

bellona.

Hildr, Gunnr, Thruffr deserve to be studied the more closely,

because their personality turns up in other Teutonic tongues as
well,and the presence there of some walachuriun argues that of
the whole sisterhood. Even in ONorse, Hildr and Gunnr (mGuSr)
got generalized into hildr and gunnr (pugna, proelium) ; of bellona
was made bellum hildr hefir ]m oss verit, bellona nobis fuisti,
:

b we
Seem. 164 .
Conversely, beside the AS. hild and guff still

find a personal Hild and Guff: gif mec Hild nime (if
H. take me),
Beow. 899. 2962 j Guff nimeB 5069 Guff fornam (carried off) ;

2240 as elsewhere we have gif mec dea$ nimeoY Beow. 889, wig
;

ealle fornam 2154, guSdeaS fornam 4494, Wyrd fornam 2411 (conf.
OS. Wurd farnimid, Hel, 111, 11), swylt fornam 2872, Wyrd for-

sweop (supra p, 406) ; conf. Hilde grap 5009. And as other

beings that do us good or harm are by turns aroused and quieted,
it is said picturesquely: Hildi vekja (bellonam excitare), Ssem. 160*
246 a ;
elsewhere merely vig vekja (bellum excitare) 105 a
The .

valkyrs, likeOSinn (p. 147), are accompanied by eagles and ravens,

who alight on the battlefield, 1 and the waging of war is poetically
expressed as ala gogl yunna systra (aves alere sororum belli), Ssem.
160 a The forms in OHG. were Hiltia and Gundia (Gudea), both
.

found in the Hild. lied 6, 60, though already as mere common

nouns composite proper names have -hilt, -gunt. 2 The legend of
;

Hildr, who goes to the val at night, and by her magic wakes the
fallen warriors into life again, is preserved both in the Edda (Sin.

164-5) and also in the OHG. poem of Gudrun, where she is called
Hilde? Lastly, Thruffr, which likewise sinks into a mere appella-
1
Anclr. and El. p. xxvi. xxvii. Conf. Luke 17, 37 : onov TO o-co/^a,

(Twa\6r](TOVTai KCU ol aeroi.

The Trad, fuld., in Schannat no. 443, have preserved the name, well
2

suited to a valkyr, of Themarhilt (from de mar, crepusculum).

3
Deutsche "heldensage p. 327 seq. Conf. supra p. 285, on Hilde and Hild-.
burg.
 HILD. GUND. DRUD. 423

tive firtiffr virgo, and in OHG. occurs in a great many female

names (e.g. Wolchandrud, Himildrud,
Alpdrud [^ElfyryS, Elfrida],
Pliddrut, Plihdrut == Plectrud, Kerdrud = Gertrude, Mimidrud,
Sigidrud, which naturally suggest ghostly beings), has assumed
the general meaning of witch, sorceress, hobgoblin. 1 Hans Sachs
several times uses alte trute for old witch, and noisy children are
2
quieted with the words hush, the drut will come
: so that here !

she exactly fills the place of frau Holla or Berhta, and can
the more appropriately be the ancient valkyr. An AS. wood-
maiden, named Dhryft, comes up in the Vita Offae secundi (supra,
p. 388) she is from France, where she had been sentenced to
:

death for her crimes, exposed in a ship, and cast on the shore of
Mercia. Here Offa saw the maiden passing fair, and married her,
but she soon committed new transgressions. She is called 9 a Drida,
b b
9 Qvendrida (!e.,cwen ThryS conf. Kemble s pre
Petronilla, 15 ;

Beow. pp. xxxv. xxxvi, and Backstrb m 1, 220 (see SuppL).

face to
Beside the valkyrs named, there must have been many others,
and the second section of the Ssemundaredda names several as
lovers or wives of heroes. Such are Svava, Sigrlinn, Kara, jSigrtin,
Sigrdrifa, who are expressly called valkyrjur, Ssem. 142 b 145 b 157,
169. 194. It also comes out, that they were of human origin,

being daughters of kings, Svava of Eylimi, Sigrlinn of Svafnir,

Sigrun of Hogni, Kara of Halfdan, Sigrdrifa of Buoli Svava was ;

the lover of Helgi HiorvarSsson, Sigrlinn of HiorvarSr, Sigrun of

Helgi Hundingsbani, Kara of Helgi HaddingskaSi, and Sigrdrifa,

who is no other than Brynhildr, of Sigurftr. Grimhildr (helmet-
maiden, p. 238), and above all Brynhildr, Prunhilt, whose very
name betokens the mail-clad Hildr, is superhuman: her inaccessible
hall stands on a mountain, like those of Yeleda and Jetha (pp. 95-

6) ;
it was a schildburg (skialdborg), where she herself, bound by
the spell, slept under her shield, till SigurSr released her. Then
she prophesied to him, Ssem. 194 b and before her death she ,

b Her hall was encircled vritib. flickering

prophesies again, 224. 226 .

flame, oc var um sal hennar vafrlogi, Sn. 139 (see SuppL),

as was

also that of Mengloft (OHG. Maniklata, i.e., monili laetabunda),

a
another valkyr: salr er slunginn er visom vafiioga (Ssem. 110 conf. ,

1
Some people think Gerdrut, Gerdraut, an unchristian name.
Fran Trude
(Kinderm. 43).
2
Flogel, gesch. des groteskekom. p. 23.
424 WISE WOMEN.

107 a b
). Before this MengloS, nine virgins kneel, sit, and sing;
a
sacrifice is offered to them
(lll ) conf. ch. XXXVI. Then
all ;

Vebiorg skialdmcer appears in Fornald. sog. 1, 384. And vrd

Babehilt, whom Dietrich finds at a fountain, asleep (as Sigurd found

Brynhild), and who gives him healing salves, and foretells his fate

(Ecke 151 160), must also be reckoned among norns or valkyrs.

The valkyrs bestowed on their favourites, as Staufenberger s lover
did on him (p. 419), victory and protection in battle (Sigrun hlifSi
honom opt siSan i
b
orrostom, Ssem. 142 )
this relation is technically
;

a
expressed by verja (tueri 134 ); they hide their heroes ships (Svava
145 a b Sigrun 153 b). The above-mentioned Hildr too, the daughter
,

of king Hogni (Hagene), was Heoln s betrothed. The memory of

these shield-maidens has filtered down even modern folk
into

songs : in Arvidsson 1, 189, Kerstin skoldmo with her 8000 maids

redeems her betrothed from captivity at other times it is a sister
;

that rescues her brother, by which is not meant a sister by birth,

but a valkyr again, for these higher beings are everywhere called
sisters, and with their proteges (Arvidsson 2, 120-1-2.
fraternize

Nyerup 4, 38-9). Now

those women in our medieval poetry, the
sight of whom nerves to victory, whose name need only be uttered
to bring them to one s side as quickly as a wish can be formed and
accomplished, are evidently shield-women of this kind (see Suppl.).
OSinn then admitted into his band of valkyrs mortal maidens
of kingly race, deified women standing by the side of the deified
heroes.; yet I do not suppose that all valkyrs were of such lineage,
but that the oldest and most famous were, like the norns, descended
from gods or elves. It is also worth noting, that Kara and her
Helgi were looked upon as a second birth of Svava and the elder
b
Helgi, Ssem. 148 169. In the VolundarqviSa three other valkyrs
make their appearance together: ffladguffr svanhvit, Hervor alvitr,
and Olrun, the first two being daughters of king LoSver, the third
of Kiar.; they unite themselves to Slagfiftr, Volundr and Egill, live
with them seven years, ,and then escape, at vitja viga/ to pursue
their old trade of war again. On the whole, it seems the union of
these half-goddesses with heroes turned out detrimentally to both

parties the heroes came to an early death or other harm, as

:

c
Staufenberger s example teaches ; and Sigrun varS skammlif, she
grew scant of life, Ssem. 169 a
Perhaps we should be right iu
.

assuming that promotion to the valkyr s office took place under an

 WALACHURIUN. 425

1
obligation of virginity, which again reminds one of the Amazons.
At all events, when OSinn was angry with Sigrdrifa for letting his
favourite fall in battle, 2 he decreed that now she should be given in
a
marriage, qva5 hana giptaz scyldo/ Seem. 194 Hla5gu5r, Hervor .

and Olrun had been carried off by the men forcibly and against
their will (see Suppl.). 3 All these female names are descriptive.
Qlr&n was discussed on p. 404. Hladguftr is literally bellona

stragis ; Hervor, like the kindred Gunnvor, alludes to hosts and

battles, the adj. alvitr to the gift of prophecy, and svanlivit to the

swan-shape. Saxo Gram. 22-3 names another Svanhvita, who has

likewise much of the valkyr, is a seer of spirits, and presents a
sword to Regner to seal their covenant. As for Slagfi&r (see p. 380),
I prefer to explain it not as Slagfinnr, though he is called a son of
the Finnakonungr, but as Slagfio&r = alatus, pennatus, which goes
better with Svanhvit his lover, and is supported by the OHG.
word slagifedara, penna.
How
little we are entitled to separate the norns and valkyrs

totally from one another, is taught by the tale of these three

maidens also. Not to mention the prevalence among valkyrs as
number three and sisterly companionship, nor
well as norns of the
Hervor s having the epithet alvitr (omniscia), which better fits a
norn than a valkyr it is said of all three, that they sat on the
;

sea-beach spinning costly flax, nay, of the same all- witting one
(who is repeatedly called dnga, as Skuld is in other places), that
she was about to orlog drygja, to dree a weird, Saem. 133 a 134 a .

Pompon. Mela 3, 8
1 Oraculi numinis Gallic! antistites, perpetua
:

virginitate sanctae, numero novem esse traduntur. Gallicenas vocant, putantque

ingeniis singularibus praeditas maria ac ventos concitare, seque in quae velint
animalia vertere, sanare quae apud alios insanabilia sunt, scire ventura et
praedicare, sed non nisi deditas navigantibus, et in id tantum ut se consulerent
profectas [1. profectis ?] The similarity of these nine sooth-telling gallicenae
.

is unmistakable. Some read Galli Cenas, others Barrigenas, conf. Tzsehucke,

Not. crit. pp. 159163.
2
N.B. against OSin s will, who could therefore be outwitted destiny stood :

above the god.

3
On p. 406 we saw wise-women represented as acquainted with writing,
and as actually writing it will be for similar reasons that valkyrs embroider
;

and paint. The Vols. saga cap. 24 says of Brynhild him sat i einni skemmu :
*

meyjar sinar, hun kunni rneira hagleik enn aSrar konur, hun lagSi sinn
vi<5

borSa meS gulli, ok saumaSi a ]?au stormerki, er SigiirSr hafSi giort And in .

this chamber SigurS .comes tojier. I place beside this the opening lines of a
Swedish song :

Sven Farling han rider till jungfruns gard,

som stickade pa silket det hvita.
And this hero is identical with Sigurd".
42 G WISE WOMEN.

The award of battle is one part of destiny ;

not only norns, but
valkyrs also were imagined spinning and weaving. This is placed
by the fearfully exciting poem in cap. 158 of
in the clearest light-
the Nialssaga. Through a crevice in the rock DorruSr sees women
sit singing over a web, at which human heads serve them for

weights, entrails for warp and weft, swords for spools, and arrows
for a comb in their weird song they describe themselves as
:

valkyrjur, and their web as intended for the spectator DorruSr.

1

At length they tear up their work, mount their steeds, and six of
them ride to the south, six to the north. Compare with this the
weaving Wyrd of the AS. poet (p. 415). The parting of the
maidens into two bands that ride in opposite directions, is like
those nine in white and nine in black, who came riding up in suc
cession (p. 421).
I have norns and fiolpai side by side with equal aptness a
set ;

comparison can be drawn between valkyrs and /crjpes (without any

verbal affinity, for no doubt the likeness is only an apparent one) :

the KTJP too might be seen on the battlefield in bloody garments,

tending the wounded, dragging away the dead. tcijp

is allotted A
to the child as soon as it is born Achilles had two /cfjpes between
;

whom he might choose, and Zeus put two in the balance, to decide
the death of Hector or Achilles. 2 Hesiod (scut. 249254) makes
the dingy white-toothed icfjpes contend over the fallen warriors,
each throws her talons round the wounded man, eager to drink his
blood, just as he ascribes talons and a thirst for blood to the moirai
(p. 414) a fresh confirmation of the identity of norns and valkyrs.
:

The claws of the moirai and keres, the wings of the thriai, point to
their possession of a bird s shape. The later view [Hesiod s] brings
into prominence the sinister side of the keres.

5. SWAN-MAIDENS.
But we have now to make out a new aspect of the valkyrs.
We are told that they travel through air and water, ri5a lopt ok
b b
is the power to fly and to swim, in
log/ Saem. 142 15 9 theirs ;

other words, they can assume the body of a swan, they love to
3
1
So we may understand ( vindum, vindum vef Dammar, even if
at least
the whole story first arose out of a vef darraSar, web of the
*
the name and
dart, conf. AS. deoreS (jaculum). We know that the Sturlungasaga contains a
very similar narrative.
2
II. 8, 70. 9, 411. 18, 535540. 22, 210. 23, 79. 24, 82.
 SWAN-MAIDENS. 427

linger on the sea-shore; and the swan was considered a bird of

augury}- The VolundarqviSa relates: Three women sat on the
shore, spinning flax, and had their dlptarliamir (swan-shifts) by
them, so that any moment they could fly away again as swans :

meyjar flugo! and settuz at hvilaz a ssevarstrond one of them ;

has even the surname of svanhvit (swan white), and wears swan s
feathers (svanfiaSrar dro). In the Hromundarsaga (Fornald. sog.
2, same Kara, who the Edda says was a second birth
375-6), the
of Svava, appears as an enchantress in swan-shift, (fiolkyngiskona
2
i alftarham), and hovers above the hero, singing. By her assist
ance Helgi had always conquered, but it happened in one fight,
that he swung his sword too high in the air, and hewed off his
lover s foot, she fell to the ground, aud his luck was spent. In
Saxo Gram., p. 100, Fridlevus hears up in the air at night sonum
trium olorum superne clangentium, who prophesy to him, and drop
a girdle with runes on it. Brynhildr is like the swan on the
wave (Fornald. sog. 1, 186) the simile betrays at the same time,
:

that she had really the power of changing into the bird. Many
tales of swan-wives still live among the Norse people. young A
man saw three swans alight on the shore, lay their white bird-shifts
in the grass, turn into beautiful maidens, and bathe in the water,
then take their shifts again, and fly away in the shape of swans.
He lay in wait for them another time, and abstracted the garment
of the youngest ;
she fell on her knees before him, and begged for
it, but he took her home with him, and married her. When seven
years were gone by, he shewed her the shift he had kept concealed ;

she no sooner had it in her hand, than she flew out as a swan

through the open window, and the sorrowing husband died soon
after. Afzelius 2, 143-5. On the other hand, the swan-hero
forsakes his wife the moment she asks the forbidden question. A
peasant had a field, in which whatever he set was trampled down
every year on St. John s night. Two years in succession he set his
two eldest sons to watch in the field ; at midnight they heard a
hurtling in the air, which sent them into a deep sleep. The next
year the third son watched, and he saw three maidens come flying,

1 Es
schwant mir, it swans me =
I have a boding. The reference to the
bird seems undeniable, for we also say In the same sense es wachsen (there
:

grow) mir schwansfedern (so already in Zesen s Simson). Conf. the Eddie
svanfiaSrar dro (wore) .

2
Kafn has chosen the reading Lara.
428 WISE WOMEN.

who laid their wings aside, and then danced up and down the
field. He jumped up,
fetched the wings away, and laid them under
the stone on which he sat. When the maidens had danced till
they were tired, they came to him, and asked for their wings he ;

declared, if one of them would stay and be his wife, the other two
should have their wings back. From this
point the story takes a
turn,which is less within the province of the swan-wife myth but ;

it isworth noting, that one of the maidens offers her lover a drink
of water out of a golden pitcher,
exactly as elfins and wish-wives do
elsewhere (pp. 420, 326). Molbech no. 49.
These lovely swan-maidens must have been long known to
German tradition. When they bathe in the cooling flood, they lay
down on the bank the swan-ring, the swan-shift ; who takes it from
them, has them in his power. 1 Though we are not expressly told
so, yet the three prophetic merwomen whose garments Hagene took
away, are precisely such ;
it is said (Nib. 1476, 1) by way of simile

again :

sie swebten sam die vogele uf der fluot.

It is our epic names only two of them (the Danish story only
true,

one), the wisiu wip, Hadburc and Sigelint? but one of them begins
to prophesy, and their garments are described as wunderlich,
1478, The myth of Volundr we meet with again in an OHG.
3.

poem, which puts doves in the place of swans three doves fly to a :

fountain, but when they touch

the ground they turn into maidens,
Wielant removes their clothes, and will not give them up till one
of them consents to take him for her husband. In other tales as
widely diffused, young men throw the shift, ring or chain over
them, which turns them into swans? When the resumption of
human shape cannot be effected completely, the hero retains a
swan-wing ; evidence of the high antiquity of this detail lies in its
connexion with the heroic legend of Scoup or Sceaf (p. 370) and ;

4
it has found its
way into modern pedigrees. Especially impor-
Musaeus, Volksmarchen vol. 3 The stolen veil.
1
:

2
There
is a
plant named, I suppose, from this Sigelint Sumerl. 22, 28 ;

(conf. 23, 19) has cigelinta fel draconis, and 53, 48 cigelinde; Graff 6, 145 has
sigeline ; see Sigel/Siglander in Schm. 3, 214.
3
Kinderm. no. 49. Deutsche sagen 2, 292-5. Adalb. Kuhn p. 164, the
swan-chain.
4
Conf. Deutsche sagen no. 540 the Schicanrings of Plesse/ who carry a
:

swarfs wing and ring on their scutcheon. A doc. of 1441 (Wolfs Norten no.
48) names a Johannes Swanefliigel, decretorum doctor, decanus ecclesiae
majoris Hildesemensis. In a pamphlet of 1617 occurs the phrase to tear :
*

the ring and mask off this pseudonym .

 SWAN-MAIDENS. 429

tant, as placing in a clear light the exact relation of these swan-

wives to the walkuren, is a statement about them in Altd. bl. 1
128 : A nobleman
hunting in a wild forest saw a maiden bathing
in the river, he crept up and took away the gold chain on her
hand, then she could not escape. There was peculiar virtue in this
chain dor iimme (on account of it) werden siilche frowen
:

wunschelwylere genant He married her, and she had seven

.

children at a birth, they all had gold rings about their necks, i.e.,
like their mother, the power of assuming a swan-shape. Swan-
children then are wish-children. In Gudrun, the prophetic angel
comes over the sea-wave in the shape of a wild bird singing, i.e., of
a swan, and in Lohengrin a talking swan escorts the hero in his

ship; in AS. poetry swanrdd (-road) passed current for the sea
itself, and alpiz, selfet, alpt (cygnus) is akin to the name of the

ghostly alp, self (see SuppL).

We hear tell of a swan that swims on the lake in a hollow

mountain, holding a ring in his bill if he : lets it fall, the earth

comes to an end. 1 On the UrSarbrunnr itself two swans are

maintained (Sn. 20) ;
another story of a soothsaying swan is-
communicated by Kuhn, p. 67, from the Mittelmark. A young
man metamorphosed into a swan is implied in the familiar West-
phalian nursery -rhyme :

swane, swane, pek up de nesen,

wannehr bistu krieger wesen (wast a warrior) ?

Another, of Achen, says :

krune krane, wisse schwane,

we wel met noh Engeland fahre ?

And the name Ssefugel in the AS. genealogies seems to indicate a

swan -hero.
The spinner Berhta, the goose-footed* queen, may fairly suggest
3
swan-maidens (p. 280). If those prophetic gallicenae were able
1
Gottschalk s Sagen, Halle 1814, p. 227.
2
The pentagram was a Pythagorean symbol, but also a Druidic as it goes ;

by the name of elf s foot, elf s cross, goblin-foot, and resembles a pair of goose-
feet or swan-feet, semi -divine and elvish beings are again brought together in
this emblem ; the valkyr ThruS is next door to a swan-maiden, and Staufen-
berger s lover likewise had such a foot.
3
The beautiful story of the Good Woman, publ. in Haupt s zeitschr. 2,
350, very acceptable as shewing yet another way in which this fairy being
is

got linked with the hero-legend of the Karlings. The two children born on
one day at paske flourie, and brought up in mutual love (77 87), are clearly
identical with Flore and Blanche/bur, for these also are not real names, but
430 WISE WOMEN.

to assume what animal shapes they pleased, why, then the Celts
too seem to have known about swan-metamorphosis in very early
times, so that in French fay-legends we may supply the omissions ;

e.g.,
in Meon 3, 412 :

en la fontaine se baignoient
trois puceles
preuz et senees,
qui de biaute sembloient fees :
lor robes a tout lor chemises
orent desoz une arbre mises
du bout de la fontaine en haut.
puceles senees 3, 419. bien eure"es 418. la plus mestre 413-5.
The shifts were stolen, and the maidens detained.
In the Lai du
Desire the knight espies in the forest a swan-maiden without her
wimple (sans guimple). The wimple of the white-robed fay
answers to the swan-shift.

6. WOOD-WIVES.
We have seen that the wish-wives appear on
pools and lakes
in the depth of the forest : it is because
they are likewise wood-wives,
and under this character they suggest further reflections. The old
sacred forest seems their favourite abode as the
gods sat throned :

in the groves, on the trees, the wise-women of their train and

escortwould seek the same haunts. Did not the Gothic aliorunas
dwell in the woodland among
wood-sprites ? Was not Veleda s
tower placed on a rock, that is, in the woods ? The Volundarqvifta
opens with the. words :

meyjar flugo sunnan Myrkvift igognom,

invented in fairy-tale fashion, to suit the name of their

daughter Berhta, the
bright, white. Berhta marries Pepin, and gives birth to
Charlemagne ; in the
Garin le Loherain, Pepiri s wife is said to be
Blanchefieur of Moriane, but in the
story now in question she is the unnamed daughter of count Ruprecht of
Barria (Robert of Berry), spoken of
simply as diu gmtefrouwe (162. 1130), diu
guote (1575), la bone dame (3022), conf. bonadea, bonasocia, p. 283 her ;

husband, who steps into the place of the childless last king (Merovingian), is
Karelman (3020), and the only name that can suit herself is
Berte, already
contained in that of her father Euodbert. The children of this
pair are
Pippin der kleine (little) and Karle der merre (greater) The events in the
<

middle part of the story are quite other

(more fully unfolded, if not more
pleasing) than those told of Flore and Blanchefleur but we plainly perceive ;
how on the new Karling race in the freshness of its bloom were
grafted older
heathen myths of the swan-wife, of the
good wife (p. 253), of the mild woman
(p. 280), of the bona socia (p. 283), and of the bonne dame Conf.
(p. 287) ;
Sommer s pref. to Flore xxvi. xxvii. xxxii.
 WOOD-WIVES. 431

maids flew from south through murky wood to the seashore, there
they tarried seven years, till they grew homesick :

meyjar fystoz a myrkvan wcT,

they could resist no longer, and returned to the sombre wood.
Almost all swan-maidens are met with in the forest. The seven
years agree with those of the Swedish story on p. 42 7.
1

As Sigrun, Sigrdrifa, Sigrlinn are names of valkyrs, and our

epic still calls one of the wise-women Sigelint, I believe that the
OHG. siguwip, AS. sigewif, ON. sigrvif, was a general designation
of allwise-women, for which I can produce an AS. spell com
municated to me by Kemble :

sitte ge sigewif, sigac5 to eorSan !

nsefre ge wilde (1. wille) td icuda fleogan !

beo ge swa gemyndige mines godes,

swa bi5 manna-gehwylc metes and eSeles. 2
Like norns, they are invited to the house with promise of gifts.
On we
will consider a passage in Saxo, where he is
this point

unmistakably speaking of valkyrs, though, as his manner is, he

avoids the vernacular term. In his account of Hother and Balder,
which altogether differs so much from that of the Edda, he says,
p. 39 Hotherus inter venandum errore nebulae perductus in
:

quoddam silvestrium virginum conclave incidit, a quibus proprio

nomine salutatus,quaenam essent perquirit. Illae suis ductibus
auspiciisque maxime bellorum fortunam gubernari testantur saepe :

enim se nemini conspicuas proeliis interesse, clandestinisque subsidiis

optatos amicis praebere successus: quippe conciliare prospera, adversa

memorabant. After bestowing their advice
infligere posse pro libitu
on him, the maidens with their house (aedes, conclave) vanish
before Mother s eyes (see SuppL). Further on, p. 42 At Hotherus :

extrema locorum devia pervagatus, insuetumque mortalibus nemus

emensus, ignotis forte mrginibus habitat-urn reperit specum : easdem
esse constabat, quae eum insecabili veste quondam donaverant.
They now give him more counsel, and are called nymphae?

1 In the
Wallachian marchen 201, three wood-wives bathing have their
crowns taken from them.
2
Sedete bellonae, descendite ad terrain, nolite in silvam volare Tarn !

meniores estote fortimae meae, quam est hominnm quilibet cibi atque patriae.
3
Three other nymphs appear directly after, and prepare enchanted food for
Balder with the spittle of snakes, p. 43. A femina silvestris et imniaiiis is
i

also mentioned by Saxo p. 125.

 432 WISE WOMEN.

This seems no modern distorted view, to

imagine the maids of
war, that dwelt in Oftin s
heavenly company, that traversed air and
flood, as likewise haunting the woodland cave ; therefore feaxo was

right to call them silvestres, and to place their chamber, their

cave,
in the forest.
The older stages of our language supply some similar
expressions,
in which I recognise the idea of wise wood-wives, not of mere elvish
wood-sprites. They are called wildiu wip, and the Trad, fuld.,
p. 544, speak of a place ad domum wildero wibo Burcard of .

d
Worms, p. 198 mentions,
agrestes feminas quas silvaticas vocant, et
quando voluerint ostendunt se suis amatoribus, et cum eis dicunt
se oblectasse, et item
quando voluerint abscondunt se et evanescunt .

This quando voluerint seems to express the notion of wish-life.

Meister Alexander, a poet of the 13th
century, sings (str. 139,
143 b ) nu gent si viir in (go they before
him) uber gras in
:
p.
wilder wibe wsete (weeds) So von einem wilden wile ist Wate
. :

(i.e. has learnt to be) physician, Gudr. 2117;

arzet, is das wilde
frouwelin; Ecke 189. In the Gl. monst. 335, wildaz wip stands
for lamia, and 333 wildiu
wip for ululae, funereal birds, death-
boding wives, still called in later times klagefrauen, and
klagemutter,
resembling the prophetic Berhta In groves, on trees, there
(p. 280).
appeared dominae, matronae, puellae clothed in white (pp. 287-8),
distinguishable from the more elvish tree-wife or dryad, whose life
is bound up with that of the tree. The Vicentina Germans worship
a chiefly between Christmas and Twelfthday
wood-wife, the :

women spin flax from the distaff, and throw it in the fire to pro
*
pitiate her she is every bit like Holda and Berhta.
: As three
bunches of corn are left standing at harvest-time for Wuotan and
frau Gaue, so to this day in the Frankenwald they leave three

handfuls of flax lying on the field for the holzweibel (wood-wives,

Jul. Schmidt s Eeichenfels, p. 147), a remnant of older higher wor
ship. Between Leidhecken and Dauernheim in the Wetterau stands
the high mountain, and on it a stone, der welle fra gestoil (the wild
woman s chairs) ;
there is an impression on the rock, as of the
limbs of human sitters. The people say the wild folk lived there
wei di schtan noch mell warn, while the stones were still soft ;

afterwards, being persecuted, the man ran away, the wife and child
remained in custody at Dauernheim until they died. Folk-songs
1
Deutsche sagen no 150.
 WOOD- WIVES. MENNI. 433

make the huntsman in the wood start a dark-brown rnaid, and hail
her: whither away, wild beast? (Wunderhorn 2, 154), but his
mother did not take to the bride, just as in the tale of the swan-
children. We find a more pleasing description in the Spanish
ballad De la infantina (Silva p. 259) a huntsman stands under a
:

lofty oak :

En una rama mas alta viera estar una infantina,

cabellos de su cabeza todo aquel roble cobrian :

siete facias (7 fays) me fadaron en brazos de una ama

1

mia,
que andasse los siete anos sola en esta montina .

But the knight wants mother s opinion, and she

first to take his
refuses her consent. When Wolfdieterich
sits by a fire in the

forest at night, rauhe Els comes up, the shaggy woman, and carries
off the hero to her own country, 1 where she is a queen and lives on

a high rock at length, bathing in the jungbrunnen, she lays aside

:

her hairy covering, and is named Sigeminne, the fairest above all
lands 2 Synonymous with wildaz wip the glosses have liolzmuoja
.

(lamia and ulula), she who wails or moos in the wood holzfrowe ;

(lamia) Altd. bl. 2, 195; holzruna (Gl. mons. 335. Doc. 219 b )
meaning the same, but suggestive of that Gothic aliorumna, AS.
3
burgrune, and the ON. Sigrun (see Suppl.).

7. MENNI, MERIMANNI.
One general name for such beings must from very early times
have been menni, minni it is connected with man (homo), and
;

with the ON. man (virgo), but it occurs only in compounds meri- :

manni (neut.), pi. merimanniu, translates sirena or scylla (Eeda umbe

diu tier, in Hoffm. fundgr. 19, 18), meriminni, Gl. Doc. 22 5 a mons.
333. In the 13th century poets, merminne is equivalent to

merwip, merfrouwe, yet also to wildez wip : diu wise merminne

*
Diut. 1, 38. gottinne oder merminne, die sterben niht enmohten
(could not die), Eneit. 8860. In the Wigamur 112. 200. 227 seq.,

1
Called Troje, conf. Ecke 81 ; and Elsentroje, Deutsche heldensage 198.
211 (see Suppl.).
2
In the Wolfdietr. (Dresd. MS. 2907), twelve goddesses
go to a mountain,
fetch the hero to them, and tend him the loveliest wants him for a husband.
;

These beings are more wise-women than elfins.

3
As the XdpiTfs (Graces) and fays spin and weave, so do the wild women
also : mit wilder wibe henden geworht, Ulr. Lanz. 4826 nf TT\OS b ;

Kapov aural, II. 5, 338 (see Suppl.).

28
434 WISE WOMEN.

there appears a wildez wip, who dwells in a hollow rock of the sea,
and is indifferently termed merwip 168. 338, merfrouwe 134, and |

merminne 350. AS. merewif, Beow. 3037. M. Dutch maerminne. I

Those three wisiu wip of the Nibelungen are also called merwip I

1475, 1. 1470, 1 they foretell and forewarn their having indi-

; ; j

vidual names would of itself put them on a par with the Norse !

valkyrs: Hadburc, Sigelint. The third, whose name the poem omits !

(p. 428), is addressed by Hagne as aller wiseste wip! 1483, 4.1

Wittich s ancestress (p. 376) is named frouwe Wdchilt, as if Wave-

Hilde, she a merminne, and says sooth to the hero, Rab. 964
is 974.
Morolt also has an aunt a merminne who lives in mount Elsabe and
rules over dwarfs ;
her name is not given, but that of her son is
b
Madelger, and she likewise gives wise advice to Morolt; Mor. 40 41*.
The merminne in Ulrich s Lanzelet (lines 196 seq.) is said to be wis\

(5751. 6182), she has under her 10,000 unmarried women (dern
keiniu bekande man noch mannes gezoc), they dwell on a mountain

by the sea, in an ever-blooming land. In the Apollonius, a bene

volent merminne is queen of the sea (lines 5160.
5294) here the ;

poet had in his mind a siren in the classical sense, but the Germans
must have had a merminne before they ever heard of sirens. The
Danish name is maremind (Danske viser 1, 118. 125). Norse legend
has preserved for us a precisely corresponding male being, the taciturn
prophetic marmennill (al. marmendill, marbendill), who is fished
up out of the sea, and requires to be let go into it again Halfssaga ;

c.7 (Fornald. sog. 2, 3133), and Isl. sog. 1, 03 (Landn. 2, 5). 1

Prom him coral is named marmennils smifti, he cunningly wrought
it in the sea. At a later time the word merfei was used in Germany:
that lover of Staufenberger, whom he found in the forest, and the!
Fair Melusina (possibly even a tradition of ancient Gaul), are
precisely the fairy being that had previously been called merimennm
But, similar to the merminne, there was also a waltminne, which!
word equally stands for lamia in old glosses (Diut. 3, 276).
Sigeminne, whether the baptized Kauch-els, Wolfdieterich s lover!
3
(p. 433), or the wife of Hugdieterich, may with perfect right be|
1 is extremely like the Greek Proteus, who is also reluctant at
Marmennill
firstto prophesy, Od. 4, 385 seq. There may have been Proteus-like stories
current of our Buldander and Vilander, p. 172 (see Suppl.).
2
Yet merfeine occurs already in l)iut. 1, 38; wazzerfeine (Oberl. sub v.),
and even merfein, MS. 2, 63 a .

3
Deutsche heldensage pp. 185. 200-1.
 MENNI. MERIMANNI. 435

1
regarded as a waltminne or merminne. In the Vilk. saga cap. 17
I find scekona used of the woman whom Vilkinus found in the wood,

and who bore him Vadi. Saxo Gram., p. 15, speaks of a tugurium
silvestris immanisque feminae (see SuppL).
By this array of authorities it is proved to satisfaction, that the
wildaz wip or menni, minni was thought of as a higher, superhuman
being, such as can be placed at the side of the Scandinavian norn
and valkyr. But in the scanty remains of our tradition the names
stand wofully bare, finer distinctions are inevitably lost, and in
more than one place the boundary-lines between gods, demigods,
elves and giants cross one another.
Equally with norns and valkyrs
(pp. 413-9. 425), we have spinning and weaving, as
goddesses
Holda, Berhta, Freyja, and even giantesses, as we shall see by and
by-

Among the figures in the Greek and Teutonic mythologies, we

have placed side by side the vv^ai and idisi, the fiolpat, and nornir,
the /cfjpes and valkyrior. But several isolated names might be
compared in the same way, as for instance, Niter) or Victoria with
some Sigrun or Sigrdrifa, pw and Evva) or Bellona with a Hildr
"Et

and Gunnr. Eris, like Iris, is sent forth on an errand by Zeus

(II. 11, 3), as Skogul or Gondul by Oomn. I often find these
Grecian figures in attendance on individual gods in II. 5, 333
:

7rTo\i7rop0o$ Evva> goes with Athene in 5, 592 TTOTVI Evvco with

;

1
A
Leyden parchm. MS. of the 13th century contains the following legend
of Charles the Great Aquisgrani dicitur Ays (Aix), et dicitur eo quod Karolus
:

tenebat ibi quandam mulierem fatatam, sive quandam fatam, que alio nomine
nimpha vel dea vel adriades (1. dryas) appellatur, et ad hanc consuetudinem
habebat et earn cognoscebat, et ita erat, quod ipso accedente ad earn vivebat
ipsa, ipso Karolo recedente moriebatur. Contigit, dum
quadam vice ad ipsara
accessisset et cum ea delectaretur, radius soils intravit os
ejus, et tune Karolus
vidit granum auri linguae ejus affixum, quod fecit abscindi, et contingenti (1. in
continent!) mortua est, nee postea revixit. The grain of gold, on which the spell
hung, is evidently to explain the name of the city later tradition (Petrarcha
:

epist. fam. 1, 3. Aretin s legend of Charlem. p. 89) has instead of it a ring,

which archbishop Turpin removes from the mouth of the corpse, and throws
into a lake near Aachen this lake then attracts the king, and that is why he
;

made the town his favourite residence. There is no further mention of the.
maiden s fairy existence. It was a popular belief (applied to the Frankish
king and gradually distorted) about the union of a wild-woman or mermaid
with a Christian hero. Not very differently was Charles s ancestress Berhta, as
we saw above (p. 430), made into a good woman, i.e. a fay. [The similarity
of names in the heroic line
Pepin of Herstal, Charles Martel, Pepin the Little,
:

Charles the Great, seems to have made it doubtful whether Berhta was Charle
magne s mother or his great-grandmother.]
436 WISE WOMEN.

Ares in 4, 440 and 5, 518 "Ept? apo-rov iiepavla with Ares,

who is
;

also followed by Aelfios and $o/3o? (p. 207-8).

And lastly, the
Charites are nearly allied and there was supposed to be a special
;

Charis of victory. Still nearer to our wood-wives stand particular

classes of nymphs, especially those whom Theocritus 5, 17 names

ra9 \ifjLvd5a? vv^ai CLKOL^TOL, Sew/at deal

vvp<l>a<;,
or those called

fypoubran 13, 44.

The graceful myth of swan-wives appears
indeed to be unknown to the Greeks and Komans, while we Teutons
in the
have it in common withyet a trace of it remains the Celts ;

story of Zeus and

Leda (p. 338), and in the swan prophetic song,
s

as in the Indian Nalus too the gold-bedizened

swan (hansa anser, =
goose) finds
human speech (Bopp s ed. pp. 6. 7).

1
The Slavs have not developed any idea of goddesses of fate. .

The beautiful fiction of the vila is peculiar to Servian mythology :

she is a being half fay, half elf, whose name even resembles
that

of the vala. The relation of valkyrs to Christian heroes is suggested

by the fraternal bond between the vila and Marko (Vuk 2, 98. 232.
Danitza for 1826, also by the vilas appearing singly,
p. 108),
as
come
having proper names, and prophesying. In some things they
nearer the German elfins of our next chapter :
they live on hills,

love the song and the round dance (Ir. elfenm. Ixxxii), they mount
arrows at men ustrielila ga vila,
up in the air and discharge fatal
:

the vila has shot him with her shaft. Their cry in the wood is

like the sound of the woodpecker hacking, and is expressed by the

word kliktati . The vila has a right to the child whom his mother
to the devii
in heedless language (diavo ye odniyo !) has consigned
no. as in similar cases the wolf or bear fetches him away.
(Vuk 394),
Vile te odnele! (vilae te auferant) is a curse (Vuks sprichw. p. 36);
dot u vile k otchiin (quando vilae ante oculos veniunt) signifies
<kad

the moment of extreme distress and danger (ibid. 117).

The vila

rides a seven-year old stag, and bridles him with snakes, like the
2
Norse enchantresses (see Suppl.).

sudice translates parca, but simply means judge

:
1 The Bohem. it (fern.)

the Russians even adopt the word parka. We must at least notice the
Hanka s Glosses 21 a, who are said to be three, like
the sirens an<

lichoplezi in
mermaids. . .,

The Bulgarian samodlva or samorila corresponds to the Servian

2 vila.

When the wounded Pomak cries to his sister samodiva, she conies and
cures him. The samodivy carry off children and mischief wrought by ;
 WISE WOMEN. 437

elements, by storms, &c., is ascribed to them. Like the Fates, they begift the
newborn three samodivy visit the infant Jesus, one sews him a shirt, another
:

knits him a band, and the third trims a cap for him. Some stories about
them closely resemble those of the swan-maids. Stoyan finds three samodivy
bathing, removes their clothes, restores those of the two eldest, but takes the
youngest (Mariyka) home, and marries her. St. John christens her first
child, and asks her to dance as do the samodivy. But she cannot without her
samodivski drekhi, Stoyan produces them, she flies away, bathes in the
mominski fountain, and recovers her mominstvo (virginity). TRASS.

END OF VOL. 1.

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Le Tartuffe. L Ecole des Maris.
Le Malade Imaginaire. Le Mdecin Malgre Lui.
Les Femmes Savantes.
RACINE.
La Thebaide, ou Les Freres ,
Britannicus.
Ennemis. Phedre.
Andromaque. Esther.
Les Plaideurs. Athalie.
Iphigenie.
CORNEILLE.
Le Cid. Cinna.
Horace. Polyeucte.
VOLTAIRE.
Zaire.
GREVILLE. Le Moulin
Frappier. By HENRY GREVILLE. Edited,
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HUGO. Bug Jargal. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by JAMES

BOIELLE, B.-eS-L. 3-T.
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BUCHHEIM (DR. C. A.). German Prose Composition. Consist
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PH.D.,
Professor of the German Language and Literature in
King s College, and
32 George Bell & Sons
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4th parts. 4^. net.

BUCHHEIM (DR. C. A.). First Book of German Prose. Being
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LANGE (F.). A Complete German Course for Use in Public Schools.
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KLUGE S Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.

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 Educational Catalogue. 33

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 Educational Catalogue. 35

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 Educational Catalogue. 37

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48 George Bell & Sons Educational Catalogue.

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