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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. 



KF /^'f9M 




TO 



Professor MAX MÜLLER, M.A., &c., &c., 



'gC^U i0ora 



IS 



RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 



BY PERMISSION. 



/t. )<INO AND Po., j^F^NTBf^, y^BBI^SBN. 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



" I THINK Scandinavian Paganism, to us here, is more interesting 
than any other. It is, for one thing, the latest ; it continued in 
these regions of Europe till the eleventh century ; 800 years ago 
the Korwegians 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 
mjrthologies, that they have been preserved so well" — Carlylb's 
" Hero- Worship ". 

What Mr. Carlyle says of the Scandinavian will of course apply 
to aU 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 
sources, High-Dutch and Low-Dutch, and build it up into a whole. 
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 
prove it 

Jacob Grimm was perhaps the first man who commanded a wide 
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 Pre/ace. 

in the various versions of a myth, it has never been superseded 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 to mention the loving care with which he hunted up 
his Kinder und Havs-mdrchen from all over Germany, he delighte 
to detect in many a nursery-tale and popular custom of to-day the 
beliefis 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 bom and bred : '' Ye have taken 
away my gods, and what have I more ? " 

The present translation of the Deutsche Mythologie 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. 
K Grimm had lived to finish his great Dictionary, which engrossed 
the latter years of his lif e,^ he would, no doubt, have incorporated 

1 He used to say, he had a book ready to ran out of each of his ten fingers, 
but he was no longer free. 



Trandatar^s Prefaee. vii 

the pith of these later jottings in the text of his book, rejecting 
mach 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 
iDustrates. This is the Supplement so frequently referred to in 
the book, under the form (" see SuppL"). I have already introduced 
a few extracts from it in the Foot-notes, especially where it appeared 
fco 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 of 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- 
sum^ 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's acquaintance with every part of the book, that I have 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 the Old 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 Trandato^z Preface. 

where the interest, and even the aigument, of the paragraph de- 
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 " Tkans.". 

2. For the sake of clearness, I have divided some of the chapters 
(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 ce, which he is accustomed to see in Anglo- 
Saxon words, for Grimm's v and d, as ' wseg ' instead of ' väg '. 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 " DetUscJie 
Mythologie " to be translated Oerman, rather than TetUanie Myth- 
ology ? I am bound to admit that the author aimed at building 
up a DetUsch 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 it forms quite a substantive portion of his 
book, though not exhaustive as regards the Norse system itself. 
But what does Grimm mean by DetUsch f To translate it by 
Oerman would be at least as misleading in the other direction. It 
would not amongst us be generally understood to include — ^what he 
expressly intends it to include — ^the Netherlands and England ; for 
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. 



CONTENTS 



-♦•- 



VOL. I. 



CHAPTEB 

I. Introduction .... 








PAoaa 
1—12 


n. God 








13—28 


III. Worship ... 








29—65 


IV. Temples .... 








6&-S7 


V. Priests .... 








88—98 


VI. Gods 








99—130 


VII. Wnotan, Wödan (0«inn) . 








131—165 


Vlll. Donar, Thunar (Thdrr) 








166—192 


1 X. Zio, Tiw (Tyr) . 








193—208 


X. Fro (Preyr)— (NiorSr) 


■ 






209—219 


XI. Balder, Phol— Hadu— Heremöd— Fosite 


220—232 


Xn. Other gods: Heimdall — Brego — Uogi — For- 
neote — (Loki) — Saetere 


23.3—249 


XIII. Goddesses : Erda— Isis— Holda, Berhta — Hrede— 
E^wtre—Zisa—Fricka—Frua— Folia . 


250—315 


XlV. Condition of gods 


316—3.39 


2LV. Heroes 


340—395 


XVI. Wise-women .... 








396—437 



e 



CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTION.! 

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; neither did it strike deep root in the north of Africa. 
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. 

^ In a book that deals so much with HeatheniBm, 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 cVcpooofo«, ßapßapoi were not used in that sense) ; 
but with the Jews and Christians of the N.T. are contrasted c^vor, c^vca, 
€$vucoi, Lat genteSy gentiles ; XJlphilas uses the pi. thiudös, and by preference in 
the gen. after a pronoun, thai tniudo, sum&i thiudo (gramm. 4, 441, 457), while 
thiiäiskSs translates (0vikcI>s Gal. 2, 14. As it was mainly the Greek religion 
that stood opposed to the Judaeo-Christian, the word "EXXiyi» also assumed the 
meaning c^iieo;, and we meet with €XX»;wic«ff=€^v«#cwf, which the Goth would 
still have rendered tJiiudiMs, as he does render "EXXiyvcf thiiMs, John 7, 35. 
12, 20. 1 Cor. 1, 24. 12, 13 ; only in 1 Cor. 1, 22 he prefers Krdkos. This 
"EXXijK^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, 
Xotker still uses the pL diete for gentiles (Graflf 5, 128). In the meanwhile 
foguM had expanded its narrow meaning of «w/zi; into the wider one of ager, 
campus, in wnich sense it still lives on in It paese, Fr. pays ; while paaajius 
began to push out gentilisy which was lapsing into the sense of nobilis. All the 
Romance languages have their pagano, payen, &c., nay, it has penetrated into 
Bohem. polian, PoL poganin, Litn. pagonas [but Russ. |)0<7an= unclean]. The 
Gothic hdithi campus early developed an adj. hdithns agrestis, canipestris = 
pQganus (Ulph. in Mark 7, 26 renders tWrjvit by häithnö), the Old H.G. heida 
an adj. heidan, Mid. H.G. and Dutch heide heiden, A.S. ha?ö hretiin, Engl, heath 
heathen. Old Norse heiSi h€x6%nn ; Swed. and Dan. use hedning. The O.H.G 
word retains its ac\j. nature, and forms its gen. pi. heidanero. Our present 
heide, gen. beiden (for beiden, gen. heidens) is erroneous, but current ever since 
Lather. Full confirmation is aflForded by Mid. Lat agrestU = naganus, e.g. in 
the passage quoted in ch. IV from Vita S. Agili ; and the * wilde beiden ' in 
oar Heldenbuch is an evident pleonasm (see Supplement}. 

1 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

The worn out empire of the Eomans 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 thiid centuries. About the year 300, or 
soon after, we find here and there a christian among the Germans 
on the Ehine, especially the Alamanni ; and about the same time 
or a little earlier^ among the Goths. The Goths were the first 
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 Eugii were converted. All these races held 
by the Arian doctrine. The Burgundians in Gaul became Catholic 
at the beginning of the fifth century, then Arian under their 
Visigoth rulers, and Catholic again at the commencement of the 
sixth century. The Suevi in Spain were 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 Waltz's Ulfila, p. 35. 



INTßODÜCTIOX. 3 

tül 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 
Obotritae in the ninth, Bohemians ^ 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. Remoteness 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.^ 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; see Palacky 1, 110. The 
Middle North-slavs — Riaderi, Tolenzi, Kycini, Circipani — still heathen in the 
Ijitter half of the 11th century; see Helmold 1, 21. 23 (an. 1066). The 
Rugians not till 1168 ; Helm. 2, 12. 13. 

' haptizata est Albofledis. . . . Lanthildis chrismata est, Greg. Tur. 2, 
31. So among the (>oths, chrirnnation is administered to Sigibert's wife Brune- 
cbild (4, 27X 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 
lav Goisointha 'at rebaptizaretur *. Kebaptizare katholicoa, Eugippii vita 
-ini, cap. 8. 



4 nfTRODÜCnON. 

had heathen inhabitants on the Loire and Seine, Burgundy in tae 
Vosges, Austrasia in the Ardennes ; and heathens seem still to 
have been living in the present Flanders, especially northwards 
towards Friesland.^ 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.* 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^ ; 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 countiy 
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 li\dng 
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 
Romance 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 

^ Authorities given in Ch. IV.— Conf. lex Frisionum, ed. Gaupp, p. xxiv, 
19, 47. Heathenism lasted the longest between Lauliach and the Weser. 

* Fornmanna sögur 4, 116. 7, 151. 

» Wedekind's notes 2, 275, 276. Rhesa dainos, p. 333. The Lithuanians 
proper convert^ 1387, the Saraogits 1413. 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

slavish subjection to distant Eome, could not fail in many ways to 
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 
gainst 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.^ It was also a wise 
or politic measure to preserve many heathen sites and temples by 
simply turning them, when suitable, into Christian ones, and 
assigning to them anotJier 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 to be put down, but were never- 
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 

* Fommanna sögur 1, 31-35. Laxdaela, p. 170. Kralodworsky rukopis, 

* Greg. Tur. 2, 31. Fornm. sog. 1, 260. 2, 200. 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

lament, though the sentiment which deprived us of them is not lo 
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 Cah^nists 
long after them, thought only of the idolatry that was practised by 
such means (see Suppl.). As those pioneers * pur^Bd their floor ' a 
first time, it is not to be denied that the Eeformation eradicated 
aftergrowths of heathenism, and loosing the burden of the Eomish 
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.). It is remarkable that Old Norse legend occasionally 
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 lio8 17 we read of Vebogi and 
Eädey * ä sik J?au trüöu,' in themselves they trusted ; of king Hakon 
(Fornm. sog. 1, 35) * konüngr gerir sem allir aörir, J?eir sem trüa ä 
matt sinn ok megin,* the king does like all others who trust in their 
own might and main ; of Barör (ibid. 2, 151) * ek trdi ekki ä skurögoö 
eör fiandr, hefi ek J?vi lengi trdat ä matt minn ok megin,* I trust not 
in idols and fiends, I have this long wliile, &c. ; of Hiörleifr * vildi 
aldri biota,' would never sacrifice (Landn. 1, 5.7) ; of Hallr and 
Thorir goBlau^ * vildu eigi biota, ok trüöu ä matt sinn * (Landn. 1, 
11) ; of king Hrolfr (Fornm. sog. 1, 1)8) ' ekki er J?ess getit at Hrolfr 
konüngr ok kappar hans hafi nokkurn tima blotat goo, heldr trüöu 
ä matt sinn ok megin,' it is not thought that king H. and his cham- 
pions have at any time, &c.; of Orv^aroddr (Fornald. sog. 2, 165 ; cf. 
505) ' ekki vandist blotum, J?vi hann trüt5i ä matt sinn ok megin '; 
of Finnbogi (p. 272) * ek trüi ä 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 svärd. 
Og saa min gode best, 
Dernäst troer jeg mine dannesvenne, 
Jeg troer mig seif 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- 
tion, which, even without the intervention of Christian teaching, 
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 

At the time when Christianity began to press forward, many of 
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 lieathen 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 
pass for rough joking, which still leaves the holiest things unshaken (see 
Suppl.). But faitÄ has certainly grown fainter, when a daring poet can com- 
pare Oöinn and Freyja to dogs (Fomm. sog. 2, 207. Islend. sö^. 1, 11. ed. nov. 
372. Nialss. 160) ; when another calls the gods r&ngeygfsqiunt-eyed, unfair) 
and rokindusta (Fomm. sog. 2, 154). When we come to Freyr» I snail quote a 
story manifestly tending to lessen the reverence for him ; but here is a pas- 
«age from Oswald 2913 : *dln got der ist ein junger tor (fool), ich wil glouoen 
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 
Tlun- (but cf. ed. nov., cap. 263) and ParoTiy one being the O.N., the other the 
Slav name in the SlovaK form Parom = Penin ch. VIII. With the Saxon 
herdsmen or hunters TTiunar was doubtless in use for dogs, as perhaps Donner 
u to this day. One sort of dog is called by the Poles Grzmilas (Linde 1, 7^9a. 
2, 798), hj the Bohemians Hrmiles (Jungm. 1, 759) = Thunder, Forest-thunder. 
In Helbling 4, 441 seq. I find a dog H^nsoh (not AVünsch). Similar to this is 
the transference of national names to dogs : the Bohemian Bodrok is a dog's 
name, but signifies an Obotrite (Jungm. 1, 150) ; Samr 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. Landnamabok 3, 12 says of 
Helgi : * hann trüöi ä Krist, en J?6 Mi hann ä Thor til ssefara ok 
haröraeöa ok alls J?ess, er honum J?ötti mestu varöa' ; he believed in 
Christ, and yet he called upon Thor in voyages and diflBculties, 
&c. Hence the poets too transferred heathen epithets to Christ. 
Beda 1, 15 relates of Eedwald, 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 arulain ad victimas daemoniorum* (see Suppl.). This 
helps to explain the relapses into paganism. 

Tlie 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 
Eoman 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 11th century. 
Remains 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 at Fulda, 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 of Saxo Grammaticus, the still extant traditions of his 
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.^ 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 comer of the North, 
whither it had fled as it were for more perfect safety, — namely, in 
Iceland. It is preserved not only in the two Eddas, but in a 
multitude of Sagas of various shape, which, but for that emigration 



poetize 
Genua 



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



10 INTttODüCTION. 

coming to the rescue, would probably have perished in Norway, 
Sweden and Denmark. 

To assail the genuineness of the Norse mjrthology is as much as 
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 modem 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 can 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 antiquity, originality and affinity of the German and Norse 
mythologies rest on the following grounds : 

1. The undisputed and very close aflBnity 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 it had been the characteristic of heathen songs then still 
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. 



I^'TRODÜCTION. 11 

2. The joint possession, by all Teutonic tongues, of many terms 
relating to religious worship. If we are able to produce a word 
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, Prankish 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 natura 

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 
ejaculations, oaths, curses, protestations.^ There is some analogy 
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 Catlio- 
lics, particiilarly 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 
flay 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 



' Cont our * donner ! hammer ! ' the Serv. * lele ! lado ! ^ the Lat * pol ! 
aedepol ! me herole ! me castor ! mediiistidiiis,' &c. 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

the new faith, woiild not part with certain old forms and usages 
(see Suppl.). 

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 justification in the mere contact (so fruitful 
in many ways) of the languages of those nationalities with Teu- 
tonic ones, particularly of the Celtic with Old Prankish, 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.). 



CHAPTEE IL 
GOD. 

In all Teutonic tongues the Supreme Being lias always with 
one consent been called by the general name God. The dialectic 
varieties are : Goth, gvffy A.S., O.S., O. Fris. gody O.H.G. cot, 0. 
Norse goÖ^ ; Swed. Dan. gvd, 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 
O. Norse it lacks the nom. sing, termination (-s, -r) of a masc. noun, 
and the Gothic gen. sing, is formed gv^s without the connecting 
vowel t, agreeing therein with the three irreg. genitives mans, 
fadrs, bröörs. 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- 
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 
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 
arrived at certainty ;* it is not immediately connected with the adj. 

* The drift of these remarkR seems to be this : The word, though used as a 
ma5«c., has a neut. fonn ; is this an archaism, pointing to a time when the 
word was really neuter ; or a mere irregularity due to abtrition, the word 
ha\'ing always been masc. ? — ^Trans. 

' Saxo does not inflect Thor ; Uhland p. 198. 

• The Slav, l^jgh is connected with the Sanskr. bhä^ felicitas, bhakta 
devotu«, and bhaj colere ; perhaps also with the obscure bahts in the Goth, 
andbahts minister, cultor ; conf. p. 20, note on boghat, dives. Of dcof, deus 
we shxdl have to speak in ch. IX. 



14 GOD. 

good, Goth, gods, O.N, göör, 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, which 
does take place in some other cases ; and certainly God is called the 
GooA^ It is stul farther removed from the national name of the 
Goths, who called themselves Gutans (O.H.G. Kuzun, O.N. Gotar), 
and who must be distinguished from CN". Gautar (A. S. Geatas, 
O.H.G. Kozä ; Goth. Gautos ?). 

The word God has long been compared with the Pers. Khodd 
(Bopp, comp, gram., p. 35). If the latter be, as has been supposed, 
a violent contraction of the Zend qvadata (a se datus, increatus, 
Sanskr. svadata, conf. Devadatta Qeoioro^;, Mitradatta 'HXt^Soro?, 
Sridatta), then our Teutonic word must have been originally a com- 
pound, and one with a very apt meaning, as the Servians also 
address God as samozazdani bozhe ! self-created God ; Vuk 741. 

Tlie 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 j 
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- 
ably guöa.^ Likewise in speaking of many gods, which to Christians 
would mean idols, he spells gvda, using it as a neuter, John 10, 
34-5. The A.S. god has a neut. pi. godu, when idols are meant 
(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 pL apcotir ; whether the M.H.G. * der aptgot ' in Geo. 
3254. 3302 can be correct, is questionable ; we have taken to 



1 ovhiis ayaehs tt firi tU 6 6(6s, Mark 10, 18, Luke 18, 19, which in Gothic 
is rendered * ni hvashun Jjiuöeigs alja ains Quo', but in A.S, * nis nan man 
god buton God ana'. Gotl is the giver of all good, and himself the highest 
good, summuin bonum. Thus Plato names him t6 ctyaBdv. 

' In Gothic the rule is to change TH into D before a vowel m inflection, 
as, faSs. fadis, fada, faÖ ; haubio, -dis, -da, -Ö. The peculiarity of ^0 is 
that it retains TH throughout the sing., guö, guös, guöa, gutJ ; though in pi. 
and in derivatives it falls under rule again. — Tbans. 



GOD. 15 

using ahgott as a masc. throughout, yet our pi. goiter itself 
can only be explained as originally neuter, since the true God is 
one, and can have no plural ; and the O.H.6. cotä. M.H.G. gote 
contain so far a contradiction. In Ulph. afguds is only an adj., and 
denotes impius Sk. 44, 22 ; afgudei impietas, Eom. 11, 26 ; effiwXa 
he translates by galiuga (figmenta), 1 Cor. 5, 10. 10, 20. 28, or by 
galivgaguda, 1 Cor. 10, 20 ; and elSooiKelov by galiugS staös, 1 Cor. 
8, 10. Another N.H.G. expression gotze I have discussed, Gramm. 
3, 694 ; Luther has in Deut. 12, 3 ' die gotzen ihrer goiter, making 
götze=idolum. In Er. Alberus fab. 23, the gotz is a demigod ^ (see 
Suppl.). The O.N. language distinguished the neut. goÖ^ idolum 
from the masc. gu^ ii&yxs. Snorri 119 says of Sif * it härfagra goß,' 
the fairhaired god ; I do not know if a heathen would have said it. 

In curses and exclamations, our people, from fear of desecrating 
the name of God, resort to some alteration of it '?poiz wetter! 
potz tausend ! or, kotz tausend ! kotz wunder ! instead of Gottes ; 
but I cannot trace the custom back to our ancient speech. The 
similar change of the Fr. dieu into hieuy bleu, guicu^ seems to be 
older (see SuppL). 

Some remarkable uses of the word God in our older speech and 
that of the common people ^may 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. 

* Writers of the 16-1 7th centuries use Ölgötze for statue (Stieler says, from 
an allegorical representation of the apostles asleep on the Mount of Olives, 
öl = oil). Hans Sachs frequently has * den Ölgötzen traf^en * for doing house 
drudgery, I. 5, 418* 528* III. 3, 24» 49<*. I V. 3, 37»> 99*. The O.H.O. coz, 
simpuTium Kumae (Juvenal 6, 343), which Graff 4, 154 would identify with 
gotze, was a vessel, and belongs to giozan=fundere. 

* Such a fear mav arise from two caases : 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 Donner prefer to say aonnenvetter ^Dan. tonlenveir 
for Thursday), donnerwettstein (wetterstein or wetzstein ?), donnerkeil, donner- 
wische, dummer. In Forum, sog. 10, 283 we have Oddiner for Oöinn ; per- 
haps Wuotansheer (Woden's host) was purposely changed into Mutesheer ; 
whether Phol into F^ant, is worth considering. 

* Sangbieu (sang de Dien), corbieu (corps de D.) vertubleu (vertu de D.), 
morbleu (mort de D.)i parbleu (par D.), vertuguieu, vertugoi (vertu de D.), 
moiBUoi (mort de D.), &c. As earlv as Renart 18177, por la char bieu. So 
the £ngL cock's bones, 'od's bones, od's wounds, 'zounds, &c. Conf. Weber 
m^r. rom. 3, 884. 



16 GOD. 

gote suit ir willekomen sin, iurem lande unde mir (ye shall be 
welcome to God, your country, and me) ; Trist 5186. got alrest, 
dar nach mir, west wiUekomen ; Parz. 305, 27. wis willekomen 
mir und got ; Frauend. 128, 13. sit mir gote wilkomen^ ; Eilh. 
Trist. 248. rehte got wilkomen mir\ Dietr. 5200. Nu sit ouch 
mir got wilkomen ; Dietr. 5803. sit willekomen got und oueh mir ; 
Dietr. 4619. nu wis mir got wilkomen ; Oswalt 208. 406. 1163. 
1268. 1393. 2189. du solt groz willekomen sin dem riehen 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, expladned 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, gottwillkem, 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 liis brother Heinrich has : sid wilicomo b^thiu goda 
ende mi. The Supreme Being is conceived as omnipresent, and is 
expected, as much as the host himself, to take the new-comer under 
liis protection ; so the Slovfeny say to the arriving guest * bögh tfe 
vsprimi, God receive you ! * ^ 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 Hau ! called out to one who arrives or departs (heill ver J)u ! 
Sajm. 67* 86**), with which are also associated the names of helpful 
gods : heill J?u farir, heill J)u dsyniom sSr ! fare thou well, be thou 
well by (the aid of) the Asynior; Seem. 31*. heill scaltu Agnair, 
allz J?ic heilan biSr vera t^r vera ! Soem. 40. 

In the same way the name of the omniscient God emphasizes 
an assurance of knowledge or ignorance : daz weiz got unde ich ; 
Trist. 4151. den schätz weiz nu nieman wan (except) got unde 
min ; Nib. 2303, 3.^ Tliis comfortable combination of / with God 
has for its counterpart the opprobrious one of a tJwu 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 

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

5 Buge waz primi, jipralva Venus! Frauend. 192, 20 ; conf. 177, 14. 

"hie hoert uns anders nieman dan got unde diu waltvogelltn ; Ecke 96. 
niemen bevinde daz wan er und ich und ein kleinez vogellln, das mac wol 
getriuwe sin ; Walth. 40, 15. Birds play the spy on men's privacy. 



GOD. 17 

referring these modes of speech so far back as to the heathen time, 
is shown by a remarkable passage in Fomald. sog. 1, 380 : ek hugSa 
engan kimna nema mik ok Offinn. By secrets which none can 
know save Oöinn and to whomsoever he has whispered them, his 
divinity is at once revealed, Ssem. SS** \ 95^ Fomald. sog. 1, 487. Not 
quite parallel are phrases such as: daz geloube gote unde mir; 
Amis 989. iu imde gote von himile klage ich unser leit; Nib. 
1889, 3. ik klage gode unde iu; Eichtsteig landr. 11. 16. 37. sane 
die messe beide got u. in ; Parz. 378, 25. Wh. 289, 5. neic si iin 
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 hira. 

Poems of the Middle Ages attribute human passions to God ; 
especially is He often 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 silezen zuJit, do'r Parzivälen 
worhte (in amiable trim — form, training — when he made Perci- 
val) ; Parz. 148, 26. got der was vil sen/tes micotes. do er 
geschuof s6 reine ein wip ; MS. 1, 17^ got der was in fröiden, do 
er dich als ebene maz (so evenly meted); MS. 1, 22^ got in grossen 
freuden was, do er dich schuof (i.e., created wine) ; Altd. bL 1, 413. 
got der was in hohem werde, ^ do er geschuof die reinen fruht, wan 
ime was gar wd ze muote ; MS. 1, 24\ got si zer werlde brahte, do 
u freuden stuont sin muot; Wigal. 9282. got der was vil wol 
gemuot, do er schuof so reinem wlbe tugent, wiinne, schoene an libe ; 
MS. 1, 201'. got was gezierde mute, der si beide schuof nach lobe ; 
Troj. 19922. got selb in riehen freuden was, do er ir lip als ebene 
maz ; Misc. 2, 186. ich weiz daz got in fröiden was, do er niht, 
frouwe, an dir vergaz waz man ze lobe sol schouwen. Ls. 1, 35. 
So a troubadour sings : belha domna, de car g entendia Dieus, quan 
formet vostre cors amoros; Rayn. 1, 117.^ It is an equally heathen 

' The Gothic ^vairthi = peace. 

« To the creative God rejoicing in his work, the M.H.G. poets especially 
ittribate diligence and zeal : an den henden lac der gotes fiiz ; Parz. 88, 15. 
jach, er trüe^ dengotes fliz ; Parz. 140, 5. ' got het sinen fiiz gar ze wünsche 
wol an si gekit ; mgal. 4130. ich waen got selbe worhte dich mit siner got- 
licfaer hant ; WigaL 9723. zwkre got der hat geleit sine kunst luid sine kraft, 
linen fllz und sine meisterschaft an disen loblichen lip; Iw. 1685. So in 

2 



18 Goa 

sentiment, that imputes to Ood a propensity to gaze at human 
beauty, or to do whatever men do : got möhte selbe gerne sehen die 
selben juncfrouwen ; Fragm. 22\ gott möht in (him, t.«, the 
musician) gerne hceren in sinen himelkoßren; Trist 7649. den slac 
scdte got selbe haben gesehen (should have seen that stroke) ; BoL 
198, 18. Karl 72 . got selbe möht ez gerne sehen ; Trist 6869. ein 
puneiz (diadem), daz in got selber mShte sehen ; Frauend. 84, 16. 
gestilten dazz d'engel Ttiökten hoeren in den niun kcBren ; Willeh. 
230, 27. si möhte nach betwingen mite (might nigh compel 
withal) eines engeis gedanc, daz er vil lihte einen wane durch ai 
von himele tcete (faü from heaven for her) ; Iw. 6500 (imitated by 
Ottocar 166*). ich weiz daz wol, daz sin got nicht verdrüzze ; MS. 
2, 127*. ir här gellch dem golde, als ez got vrilnschen solde; MS. 2 
62^ sin swert dat geinc (ging, went) an siner hant, dat got selve 
vrdchde mSre (would ask to know), we der ritter wore ? dey engele 
muosten lachen, dat hey is sus kimde machen ; Haupts zeitschr. 3, 
24. This hilarity of the attendant guardian-angels (ch. XXVIII) 
or valkürs must be thought of in connexion vrith the laughing of 
ghosts (ch. XXXI). In Hartmann*s Erec, when Enite's white hands 
groomed (begiengen) a horse, it says 355 : und wsere, daz got hien 
erde rue, ich wsen, in genuocte da mite, ob er solhen marstaller hate. 
This view of a sympathizing, blithe and gracious god, is particularly 
expressed in the subst huldi, 0.N". hglli : OBins hylli ; Seem. 47* 
Ullar hylli ok allra goSa ; Saem. 45^ 

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.* 
The idea recurs several times in the Edda and elsewhere : reiffr er 
J?er Oöinn, reid'r er J^er Asabragr ; Saem. 85^ Oöinn o/reiffr ; Seem. 
228^ reid varS \A Freyja oc fnasaßi ; Seem. 71^ — she was wroth, 

Chrestien: ja la fist Dex de sa main nue, por nature fere muser, tout le mont i 
porroit user, s'ele la voloit contrefere, que ja nen porroit a chief trere ; no Dex, 
s'il sen voloit pener, mi porroit, ce cuit, assener, que ja ime telle feist, por peine 
que il i meist (see Suppl.). 

^ Piacula ira deüm, Liv. 22, 9. deoe ircUos habeam ! dii immortales homin- 
ibus irasci et succensere consueverunt, Cic. pro Rose. 16. And Tacitus on this 
very subject of the Germans : propitiine an ircUi dii, Germ. 5. ira dei. Hist 4, 
26. infensi Batavis dii, Hist. 5, 25. And in the Mid. Ages : tu oditmi Dei 
omniumque sanctorum habeas ! Vita Meinwerci, cap. 13 § 95. crebrescen- 
tibus jam jamque cottidie Dei justo judido in populo oiversis calamitatibus et 
flagellis .... quid esset in quo Deus offensus esset, vel quibus pkcari 
posset operibus ; Pertz 2, 647. 



GOD. 19 

and snorted or panted, as the angry wolf in Eeinh. XLII spirtles out 
his beard. guCin revf ordin ; Fomm. sog. 2, 29. 231. goSa gremi 
(deOTum ira) is announced ; Egilss. 352. at gremia goS (ofifendere 
deos); Fomald. sog. 2, 69. was imo god dbolgan; Hel. 157, 19. 
than wirdid iu waldand gram, mahtig mddag; Hel. 41, 16 (elsewhere : 
din Sselde, or the world, earth, is gram), ein zomec got in daz gebot 
(bade them), daz uns hie suohten mit ir her ; Parz. 43, 28. hie ist 
geschehen gotes räche ; Beinh. 976. got wil verviieren stnen zom ; 
Osw. 717- ich waene daz got rceche da selbe sinen avden (wreak his 
vengeance); Gudr. 845, 4. daz riuwe got! (God rue it); Trist. 
12131. daz ez got immer rit^i^^ .' Trist 11704. The Lex Bajuv. 
6, 2, in forbidding Sunday labour, says : quia talis causa vitanda 
est, quae Deum ad iracuTidiam 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 
hi» fists " ; and again : ** to run upon the spears of an o£fended 
jeakms Crod **} A vricked man was in the Mid. Ages called gote leide, 
loathed by God. One form of imprecation was to consign a man 
to God's hatred : üz in gotes haz ! Trist 5449. üz 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 ; El. 518. iuch hat rehte g(des haz (al. foul weather, 
the devil, &c.) daher gesendet beide ; Iw. 6104. so müeze ich 
haben g(des hoz ; Altd. w. 3, 212. varet hen an godes haz ! Wiggert 
2, 47. nu mueze er gewinnen gotes haz; Roth 611. In like manner 
the MLG. godsat hebbe ! Huyd. op St 2, 350. Reinaert 3196.« 
Bot, 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 Grod the sun, and so heigh- 
tens the heathenish colouring ; ir suit fam der sunnen haz ! Parz. 
247, 26. var der sunnen haz ! Unprinted poems of Eüediger 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 vam ; Frauend. 375, 26. A man 
•0 cursed does not deserve to have the sun shine on him kindly. 

> Haitauum on benedictions, Ntimb. 1680, p. 158, 180. 

' Serious illness or distress is habitually called ' der ffota doc,* 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 Ood is angry with, itp^ oß? 6 0€o<; cS/yyiorat. Procop. de hello 
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 : oinot oi avrol Gpi^ixe^ koX irpo^; ßpovn^v t€ teal 
doTpaTTTiv ro^€iovT€<; av(o irpo^ rov ovpavov, aireiXevai tcS öecS. 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 
Charies threatening the Deity, that if he deny his aid, he will throw 
down his altars, and malce 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.^ The Arcadians would scourge their Pan with squills 
((T/ctXXat?), 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, vitieci^. 

Epithets of God (see SuppL). In our modem speech : der liebe, 
liebste, gnädige^ grosse^ gute, allmächtige. In our older tongue : hSrre 
got der guote ; Eeinh. 1296. Gute frau, 276. hßrro the gfido ; HeL 
78, 3. 90, 6. frö min the gödo ; 143, 7. gnwdeger trehtin; Eeinh. 
1309. — Freq. the rich God: tlüe rikeo Christ; Hei. 1, 2. rtki 
god; Hei. 195,9. rlki drohtin ; Hei. 114,22. der ricAe got von 
himele; Eoth. 4971. got der riche; Nib. 1793, 3. Trist. 2492. 
durch den riehen got von himel , Morolt 3526. der riche got mich 

ie gesach ; V.d. wibe list 114.^ — Cot almahtico, cot heilac; Wesso- 

^ When lightning strikes, our people say : If God can bum, we can build 
again ; Ettners hebamme, p. 16. 

' Where God is, there is grace and peace ; of a solemn spot it is said : 
Here dwells der liebe Gott ! And, to dnve den lieben Gott from a person's 
room (Lessing 1, 243), means, to disturb a solitary in his sanctum. 

' OHG. rthhi dives, potens, also beatus ; and dives is near akin to Divus, 
as Dis, Ditis springs out of divit. From the Slav, högh is derived boghdt (dives), 
Lith. bagotas ; compare ops, in-ops (Russ. u-böghiy), opulentus with Ope, the 
Bona Dea. Conf. üiefenb. celt. 1, 196. 



GOD. 21 

brann. Gebet mahtig drohtin ; Hel. 2, 2. freä cdmihtig ; Caedm. 

I, 9. 10, 1. se cdmiktiga wealdend ; Thorpe's anal. 83. mannö 
miUisto (largiflsimus) ; Wessobr. Geb. vil milter Christ ; Cod. pal. 
350. 56. — The AS. has freq. : See dryhten, seternus ; Caedm. 246, 

II. Beow. 3382. 3555. 4655. Also : vniig god, sapiens ; Beow. 
1364, 2105. Caedm. 182, 24. witig dryhten ; Beow. 3101. 3679. 
Caedm. 179, 8. vniig wuldorcyning ; Caedm. 242, 30. — Waltant got ; 
Hild, wcddindingcr got; Both. 213. 523. 1009. 2332. 4031. 
mUant Krist : OV. 25, 91. Gudr. 2243. (AS.) wealdend ; Cadm. 
9, 25. wuldres wealdend; Beow. 4. heofnes wealdend; Caedm. 
17, 15. }>eoda wealdend, faeder alwealda; Beow. 630. (OS.) 
waldand; Hel. 4, 5. 6, 6. waldand god 3, 17. waldand drohtin 
1, 19. alowaldo 4, 8. 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 gottwaWs ! M. Dut. godwoud^ ! 
Hayd. op St 2, 548. Our ace. in * das wait Gott 1 ' 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 ; Both. 
4401. popuL ' der alte Vater '. In a Servian song (Vuk 2, 244. 
Montenegro 101), bögh is named * start krvnik', the old blood- 
shedder, killer; and in Frauenlob MS. 2, 214** der. ai^e friedel 
(sweetheart). The 13th century poets sometimes use the Lat 
epithet aliisnmus, Wh. 216, 5. 434, 23. Geo. 90, 401 ; with which 
may be compared the MHG. diu hdhsie hant, Parz. 484, 6. 487, 20. 
568, 8. Wh. 134, 7. 150, 14 and the OHG. zi waltanteru henti, 
OV. 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 saw them, and of unfortimate, that God forgot them : 
(OHG.) kesah tih kot! = te felicem ! N. Boeth. 145. (MHG.) 
gemch in got != happy he! Altd. bl. 1, 347. so mir got ergaz ; 
Troj. kr. 14072. so hat got mln vergezzen ; Nib. 2256, 3. wie gar 
iuwer got vergaz (how utterly God forgot you) ; Iw. 6254. got min 
vergaz ; Ecke 209. got haete sin vergezzen ; Trist. 9243. genajde- 
licher trehtln, wie vergaeze du ie min so ? Trist. 12483. For other 
example«, see Gramm. 4, 175. — God, by regarding, guards : daz si 
got iemer schouwe ! Iw. 794. 0. Engl. God you see ! God keep 
Ton in his sight ! 



22 GOD. 

Among substantive epithets are several which God has in com 
mon with earthly nilei-s (see SuppL) : — Gothic frduja OS. frdhx 
fro, AS. fred ; which name I shall treat of more fully by and bj 
— OHG. truhtin, MHG. ireUin, OS. drohtin, AS. drt/hten, ON 
drdttinn. — OHG. Iieriro, MHG. hSrre, which however, when usee 
of God, is never contracted into her, any more than Dominus int< 
the Homance domniis, don. — Conspicuous above all is the nam( 
Father (see SuppL). In the Edda, alföffr. (S«m. 46** 88* 154\ Sn 
3. 11. 17), herfaSir^ herja faSfir, valfa9ir are applied to OSinn a 
the father of all gods, men and created things. Such compound 
are not found in the other dialects, they may have sounded heathen 
ish ; though the AS. could use feeder alwealda, Beow. 630, and tb 
idea of God as Father became more familiar to the christians thai 
to heathens. The OHG. altfatar = grandfather, 0. i. 3, 6. AS 
ealdfffider, Beow. 743. 1883, I have nowhere seen applied to Goc 
As the Greeks coupled together Zeix; Trar^p, esp. in the voc. Ze 
irdrep, and the Romans Jupiter, Diespiter, Dispiter, Mars pater, 
as well as Ar^pLrfrrip, Aafidrrip, Terra mater, so the Lettons besto\ 
on almost every goddess the epithet mahte, malimi7ui=^maiei 
matercula (Büttner 244. Bergmann 142), on which we shall hav 
more to say hereafter. To all appearance, father Goth, fadr i 
connected with faj)s lord, as pater iranjp is with ttota^, ir6<ri^, lit! 
pats. — The AS. meotod, metod, Caedm. 223, 14. eald metod, Beo¥ 
1883. s68 metod, Beow. 3222. OS. metod, HeL 4, 13. 15, 17. 66, IJ 
an expression which likewise appears in the Edda, miotuSr Seen 
226^ 241,^ seems to signify Creator, as verbally it bears the sense c 
mensor, moderator, finitor. The full meaning of metod wiU not b 
disclosed, till we have a more exact knowledge of the relatioi 
between the Goth, mitan (to mete) and mäitan (to cut), the OHG 
mezan and meizan; in the Lat metiri and mStere, besides thei 
being no shifting of consonant (d for t), the quantity is invertec 
The ON", miotuffr appears to be also sector, messor ; in Snorri 10^ 
105, the wolfs head with which Heimdall was killed is call© 
' miötuör HeimSallar,' and the sword is ' mans miötuCr ' ; so i 
Eornald. sog. p. 441, 'manna miötuör' (see Suppl.). In MHC 
too, the poets use mezzan of exquisite symmetry in creating : d 
sin (Wunsches) gewalt ir bilde max; Troj. 19626. got selb i; 

^ Jane pater ! Cato 134 ; but what can Dissunapiter mean in the remarl 
able conjuriiig-spcU, Cato 100 ? 



GOD. 23 

Ttelieu fröoden was, do er ir Itp als ebene maz ; Misc. 2, 186. er sol 
ze rehte lange ^nezztn, der an si so ebcTie maz, daz er an si zer werlte 
nie u£Lch voUem wünsche weder des noch des vergaz ; MS. 1, 154^. 
got der was in fröiden, dö er dich als ebene maz ; MS. 1, 22^ 
wer künde in so gemezzen, Tit 130. 1. anders denne got uns 
maz, dö er ze werke über mich gesaz, Parz. 518, 21. * ein bilde 
mezzeu ' is therefore the same thing as ' ein bilde ' schaffen * 
to create (Troj. 19805), or giezen to cast, mould (Walth. 45, 
25. M& 1, 195^ 2, 226»>) ; and in Suchenwirt 24, 154 it says : 
* got het gegozzen ftf ir vel, ir miindel rot und wlz ir kel * ; which 
throws a significant light on the Gothic tribal name Odtits, A.S. 
Gedi OHG. K6z (see Suppl.). — AS. scippend, creator, OHG. scefo, 
seephiOy MHG. schepfoere^ WL 1, 3. NHG. schopfer. — Some of 
these names can be strung together, or they can be intensified by 
composition : drohtin god, HeL 2. 13. waldand frS mln, Hel. 148, 
14. 153, 8. /red dryhten, Beow. 62. 186. llf-/red, Csedm. 2, 9. 108, 
18. 195, 3. 240, 33. Beow. 4 The earthly cuning with a prefix can 
be used of God : wvldoreyning, king of glory, Caedm. 10, 32. hevan- 
cuning, Hel. 3, 12, 18. 4, 14. 5, 11. and synonymously with these, 
rodara v?eard, Csedm. 11, 2. or the epic amplification, irmin-got 
obana abhevane,mid. got van himele, Nib. 2090,4. 2114, 1. 2132, 1. 
2136, 1. 

Of such qnc formulas (see Suppl), beautiful specimens, all of 
one tenour, can be cited from the poets, especially the Bomance : 
they are mostly borrowefl 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 
maint (abides), Ben. 26018. qui maint el firmament, Berte 
129. 149. der hoho sizet unde nideriu sihet, N. ps. 112, 5. qui 
haut siet et de loing mire, Ben. 11687. qui haut siet et loins 
voit, Berte 44, 181. Guitecl. 2, 139. der über der blauen decke 
sitzt« Melander Jocoseria 1, 439. cot almahtico, du himil inti 
erda gaworahtos (wroughtest heaven and earth), Wessobr. Geb. cel 
aenhor, qui lo mon a cre^t, Ferabr. 775. qui tot le mont forma, 
Berte 143. que fezit nueyt e dia, Ferabr. 3997. per aycel senhor que 
fetz cel e rozada (sky and dew), Ferabr. 2994. 4412. qui fist ciel et 
lousee, Berte 28. 66. 111. 139. 171. 188. Aimon 876. qui feis mer 
salee, Berte 67. qui fist et mer et onde, M^n 3, 460. des haut 
daz mer gesalzen hat, Parz. 514, 15. qui fait courre la nue, Berte 



24 GOD. 

186. 183 (y€(f>e\rjy€pha Zeu^:). par celui qui fait toner, Een. 
1(3058. 17780. par qui li soleus raie, Berte 13. 81. der himel und 
erde gebot und die mergriezen zeit (counts the sea-sands, or pebbles), 
Mar. 18. der der steme zal weiz, Wh. 466, 30. der die steme Mt 
gezalt, Parz. 629, 20. der uns gap des mänen (moon's) schin, Wh. 
476, 1. qui fait croitre et les vins et les blez, Ferabr. 163'. der 
mir ze lebene geriet (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 forwardöt. Hei. 152, 5. qui sor tos homes puet et vaut, 
M^on 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 unde nimt (gives and 
takes), Parz. 7 9. der weinen und lachen geschuof, Wh. 258, 19. 
der beidiu krump unde sieht 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 genäden 
zeran (tear, waste). Er. 2490. qui onques ne menti (nunquam 
mentitus), Berte 82. 96. 120. 146. M^on 3, 8. icü dieu qui ne 
ment, et qui fist tot quanque mer serre, Een. 19338. er mik skop 
ok öUu rseör. Forum, sog. 1, 3. sä er öllu rseSr, ibid. 8, 107. er 
solina heföi skapat, ibid. 1, 242. het ä Jjann sem sölina skapaCi, 
Landn. p. 139. 

If, in some of the preceding names, epithets and phrases descrip- 
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 
to power later, is expressed by the word ds, pi. cesir (see Suppl.). 
Landds (Egilss. pp. 365-6) is patrium numen, and by it Thor, the 
chief god of the North, is designated, though ds and aHvudttki ds is 
given to OSinn (Landn. 4, 7). dsmegin is divine power : tha vex 



GOD. 25 

honum äsmegin halfu, Sn. 26. foeraz 1 äsmegin, Sn. 65. But the 

name must at one time have been universal, extending over Upper 

Germany and Saxony, under such forms as: Goth. OHG. aiiSy pi. 

anseis, endy AS. ds, pL & (conf. our gans, with ON. gas, pi. 

gsess, AS. gos, pL ges ; and hose = hansa). It continued to form 

a part of proper names: Goth. Ansila, OHG. Anso; the OHG. 

Anshelm, Anshilt, Aiispald, Ansnot conespond in sense to Cotahelm, 

Cotahilt, &c. ; AS. Osweald, Oslaf, Osdseg, Osred ; ON. Asbiörn,^ 

Asdis, Asgautr, Aslaug, Asmundr, &c. — Now in Ulphilas Lu. 2, 

41-2, ans denotes a beam, Bok6<:, which is also one meaning of the 

ON. dsy 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 ds is especially used 

of jugum terrae, moimtain-ridge, Dan. bierg-aas (dettiäs = sliding 

beam, portcullis, Landn.* 3, 17). But here we have some other 

striking passages and proofs to weigh. An AS. poem couples 

together ' &a gescot * and * yl/a gescot,' the shots of anses and of 

elves, jaculum divorum et geniorum, just as the Edda does aesir and 

älfar, Saem 8** 71' 82' 83^ Jemandes says, cap. 13 : Tum Gothi, 

magna potiti per loca victoria, jam proceres suos quasi qui fortuna 

vincebant, non puros homines, sed semideos, id est arises (which 

would be anseis) vocavere. What can be plainer ? The Norse aesir 

in like manner merge into the race of heroes, and at much the 

same distance from an elder d}Tiasty of gods whom they have 

dethroned. And here the well-known statement of Suetonius and 

Hesychius,* that the Etruscans called the gods asares 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 rvpjyqvo^, Tvparjv6<: and the ON. 

|?ur8, OHG. durs.* 

The significance of this analogy, however, is heightened, when 

* Urstis divinus, Asbima (ursa divina), for which the Waltharius has the 
hjbrid Ospirn, prop. Aiispim ; conf. Reinh. fuchs p. ccxcv. For Asketill, 
0«cytel, see end of en. III. 

* Suet. Octavian. cap. 97. futiirum(jue, nt inter deos referretur, quod 
ttactr, id est reliqua pars e Caesaris nomine, Etnisca lingua deus vocaretur. 
He«ych. 8.v. alaoL Btoi vn6 tS>v TvpprjvStv. Conf. Lanzi 2, 483-4 ; also Dio 
Cass. 56, 29. 

* Unfortunatebr Jmrs means a giant, and dure a demon, which, if they 
hare anything to do with the rvpoi^yoi, would rather imply that these were a 
hostile and dreaded people.— Tra>^s. 



26 GOD. 

we observe that the Etruscan religion, and perhaps also the Boman 
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 hopt and bond, 
literally meaning vincula, for those high numina (Saem. 24* 89*. 
Sn. 176. 204), and also the sing, hapt and band for an individual god 
(Saem. 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 deiLS 
and Sto9 are referable to Bdcj I bind ; that same ' 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 
8Bsir ; conf. Saem. 3^ : * aesir or Jjvl liöi * of the set, kindred. 

Some other appellations may be added in support. In the 
earliest period of our language, the neut ragin meant consilium. 
Now the plural of this, as used in the Edda, denotes in a special 
manner the plurality of the gods (see SuppL). Begin are the 
powers that consult together, and direct the world ; and the expres- 
sions bliS regin,^ holl regin (kind, merciful gods), uppregin, ginr^n 
(superae potestates) have entirely this technical meaning. Ragna" 
röhr (Goth, ragine riqvis ? dimness, darkness of gods) signifies the 
end of the world, the setting of the divine luminaries. Saem. 
89^ has " rognir ok regin " coupled together, rögnir (cf. 196*) being 
used to distinguish the individual ragineis (raguneis ? ), masc. 
These ON. regin would be Goth, ragina, as the hopt and bond are 
Grothic hafta and banda, all neut. — ^The same heathen conception 
peeps out in the OS. re^angiscapu, re^awögiscapu, HeL 79, 13. 103, 
3, equivalent to fatum, destiny, the decree and counsel of the gods, 
and synonymous with i^n^rrfgiscapu, HeL 103, 7, from vmrd, fatum. 
And again in Tw^/orfogiscapu, HeL 66, 19. 147, 11. We have seen 
that metod likewise is a name for the Supreme Being, which the 
christian poet of the Heliand has ventured to retain from the 

^ The blithe, happy gods ; when people stepped along in stately gorj^ns 
attire, men thought that gods had appeared : menn hog^n at cuir yaeri ]mi 
komnir,' Landn. 3. 10. The Vols, saga c. 26 says of Sif^u^ : *)?at hygg ec at 
her fori einn afgoounum/ I think that here rides one of the gods. So in Parz. 
36, 18 : * aldä wip und man verjach, si ne gesachen nie helt b6 wünnecltch, ir 
goU im soUen sin geltch * (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 so hirlkhen gdi ' (see SuppL). 



GOD. 27 

lieathen 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 
sihora armen, the meaning of which is simply Kvpt€ iKeqaov} Even 
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 annai The inf. armSn, if not a mistake 
for arm^, 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. sign, 
AS. sige victoria, triumphus. Oöinn is styled stgrgo&, sigt^r, 
sig/oÖ'ur ; and the Christian poets transfer to God sigidrofUln, Hel. 
47, 13. 114, 19. 125,6. sigidryhten, Csedm. 33, 21. 48, 20. 
sigmdod, Beow. 3544. vtgsigor, Beow. 3108.* elsewhere sigoradryhien, 
sigorafred, sigorawealdend, sigaragod, sigoracyning. It is even pos- 
sible that from that ancient sihora sprang the title sira, sire still 
current in Teutonic and Romance languages.* 

The gods being represented as superi and uppregin, as dwelling 
on high, in the sky, uphimin, up on the mountain height (äs, ans), 
it was natural that individual gods should have certain particular 
mouTUains and abodes assigned them. 

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



* The Tcheremisses abo pray 'juma sirlaga,' and the Tchuvashes 'tora 
nrla^/ i.e., God have mercy ; 0. J. Müllers saml. russ. gesch. ?, 359. The 
MorauinB say when it thunden ' pashangid Porguini pas,' have mercy, god 
Poiguini ; Cfeoigi description 1, 64. 

* den sig hlit got in siner hant, MS. 2,16*. 

* Gtott. anz. 1833, pp. 471-2. Diez however raises doubts, Roman, gram. 
1, 4L . 



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 Uie 
cultus. 



CHAPTER III. 
WOESHIP. 

The simplest actions by which man expressed his reverence^ 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 irpoaKvvito 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. 1 Cor. 14, 25 ; and once for 
cunrd^ofiai, Mk. 9, 15 (see SuppL). Whether in using this word 
the exact sense of 7rpoaKvvr)ai<; 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, irpoaKvvelv 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), inveitiö guö; a suppliant prostration like irpoa- 
Kvvrjaix; is not at variance with the sense of the word. An OS. 
giwltan, AS. gewltan, 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 
inclinare,* which Biöm quotes under veit, and spells, erroneously, I 

* Verehrung, O.H.G. ha, Goth. prob. äiza. The O.H.G. Mn is not merely 
our ehren, to honour, but also verehren, revereri (as reverentia is adoration, 
cultus) ; A.S. vxar^ian, O.S. g%werih6n. All that comes from the gods or con- 
cerns them is holy, for which the oldest Teutonic word is Goth, veiks, O.H.G. 
trJA ; but only a few of the O.H.G. documents use this word, the rest preferring 
ketlaCy O.S. has only hSlag, A.S. hdligy O.N. heilaar. On the connexion of wih 
with the subdt inh, more hereafter. Fr&n denotes holy in the sense of 
dominicus. 

' Cleasby- Vigfusson gives no meaning like inclinare, either under vtta * to 
fine,' or under vita * to wit.' — Trans. 



30 WOBSHIP. 

think, vita. From it is derived veita (Groth. vditjan ?) ; veita heifir, 
honorem peragere; veita tiBir, sacra peragere; veitsla, epulum, 
Goth, vaitislo ? ^ 

The Goth, bida preces, hidjan precari, rogare, orare, are used 
both in a secular and a spiritual sense. The same with OHG. 
päa and pütan; but from peta is derived a pet&n adorare, construed 
with ace. of the person whom : 0.i. 17, 62. ii. 14, 63. nidar- 
faUan joh mih betdn, 0. ü. 4, 86-9. 97. iii 11, 25. T. 46, 2. 60, 
1. petöta inan, Diut. 1, 513^ But b&dn can also express a spiri- 
tual orare, T. 34, 1, 2, 3. heto-man cultores, 0. IL 14, 68. In 
MHG. I find beten always followed by the prep, an (see SuppL) : 
beten an diu abgot, Bari. 72, 4. an ein bilde beten, ibid. 98, 15. 
sd muoz si iemer m^ nach gote sin min anehet, she must after God 
be my (object of; adoration, Ben. 146. Our hUten ask, heten pray, 
anbeten adore, are distinct from one another, as bitte request is from 
gebet prayer. The OS. b'eddn is not followed by ace, but by prep. 
te : bedön te minun 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, prostemi, which again 
is the only explanation of Goth, badi K\xviZkov a bed, and also of 
the old badu, AS. beado = ccedes, strages.* — ^The AS. Xew Test 
translates adorare by ge-eäff-medan, i,e,, to hiunble oneself. The 
MHG. flehen, when it signifies supplicare, governs the dat. : gote 
flöhen, Aegid. 30. den goten vlShen, Parz. 21, 6. Wh. 126, 30. 
Tiirl. Wh. 71' ; but in the sense of demulcere, solari, the ace., Parz. 
119, 23. 421, 25. Nib. 499, 8 (see Suppl.).» It is the Goth ßldihan, 
fovere, consolari. An OHG. ßehdn vovere I only know from N. 
cap. 8, Bth. 178, and he spells it flihdn: ten (ace. quem) wir fle- 
hoton. We say * zu gott flehen^ but 'gott anflehen*. — The Goth, 
aihtrdn wpoaevjaeaOai, irpoaairelv expresses begging rather than 
asking or praying. The OHG. diccan^ OS., thiggian, is both 
precari and impetrare, while AS. Jncgan, OK, Jnggja, is invariably 



1 Bopp, Comp. gram. p. 128, identifies inveita with the Zend nivaMhaydmi 
invoco. 

' What was the physical meaningof the Slav, moliti rogare, moHtiae orare, 
Boh. modliti se, Pol. modlid si^ 1 The Sloven, moliti still means porrigere, 
conf. Lith. meldziu rogo, inf. mebti, and malda oratio. Pruss. maola, conf. 
Goth, ma^ljan loqui, mapleins loquela, which is next door to oratio. 

' Iw. 3315 Yl4;ete got ; but in the oldest MS. vl^ete gote. 



PRAYER. 31 

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

asking, getting (see SuppL). 

Another expression for prayer is peculiar to the Norse and AS. 

dialects, and foreign to all the rest : OK bdn or bom, Swed. Dan. 

hön, AS. Wn, gen. bSne f., Csedm. 152, 26, in Chaucer bone, Engl. 

boon ; from it, bSna supplex, bSnsian 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, imknown to 

the ON. languc^e. 

On the form and manner of heathen prayer we lack informa- 
tion ; I merely conjecture that it was accompanied by a looking up 
to heaven, bending of the body (of which bidjan gave a hint), /o/rfi?!^ 
of hands, bowing of knees, uncovering of the Jvead. These gestures 
grow out of a crude childlike notion of antiquity, that the human 
tfnppliant presents and submits himself to the mighty god, his 
conqueror, as a defenceless vidim (see SuppL). Precari deos ccelum- 
que suspicere is attested by Tacitus himself. Germ. 10. Genufiec- 
tare is in Gothic knussfan, the supplicare of the Romans 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 hntgan. 176, 8 : te bedu fallan. 
145, 3: gihn^ an kniobedcu In the SdlarlioS is the remarkable 
expression : benni ec laut, to her (the sim) I bowed, Ssem. 126* ; 
from liUa inclinare. falla ä knd ok Iftta, Vilk. saga cap. 6. nu 
strauk kongsdottir sinn legg, ok mselti, ok ^ i lopti9 upp, (stroked 
her 1^, and spoke, and looks up to the sky), Vilk. saga cap. 61. 
So the saga of St Olaf tells how the men bowed before the statue 
of Thor, lutu Jrvl skrimsli, Fomm. sog. 4, 247. fell til iardar fyrir 
likneski (fell to earth before the likeness). Fomm« 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.^ Latin writers of the time, as Lambert, express urgent 
entreaty by pedibus provolvi; the attitude was used not only to 

1 Dem stige ntgen, Iw. 5837. dem we^e nlgen, Pan. 375, 26. dem lande 
ntgen. Trist 11532. ntgen in daz lant, Wigal. 4018. nlgen in elliu lant, Iw. 
7755. in die werlt nlgen, Frauend. 163, 10. den sttgen und wegen eegen 
tüKUiy Iw. 357 (see SuppL). 



32 WOBSHIP. 

God, but to all whom one wished to honour : neig im ftf den fuoz, 
Morolt 41^ hie viel sie üf sinen vuoz, Iw. 8130. ouch nlge ich ir 
unz üf den fuoz, MS. 1, 155*. valle für si (fall before her), und nlge 
<if ir fuoz, MS. 1, 54*. buten sich (bowed) weinende ftf sinen vuoz, 
Greg. 355. neig im nider üf die hant, Dietr. 55^ These passages show 
that people fell before the feet, and at the feet, of him who waa 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 fiiezen 
nieder, Wh. 463, 2} An 0. Boh. song has : * sie klanieti bohu,' to 
bow before God, Königinh. hs. 72 ; but the same has also the un- 
Teutonic * se biti w Mo prede bohy,' to beat one*s brow before God.* 
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, quia opertis capitibus tiaris 
litabant, while the rest of the people stood uncovered. In a 
surv^ival of heathenish harvest-customs we shall find this uncover- 
ing further established, ch. VII. In Nicolai Magni de Göw 
registrum superstitionum (of 1415) it is said : Insuper hodie 
inveniuntur homines, qui cum novilunium primo viderint flexis 
gcniJms adorant vel deposito capviio vel j?>i/('o, inclinato capite 
honorant alloquendo et suscipiendo.* An AS. legend of CuSberht 
relates how that saint was wont to go down to the sea at 

1 Fial in sine fiiazi, 0. III. 10, 27. an sine füeze, Karl 14^ The Chris- 
tians in the Mid. Ages called it venie fallen, Parz. 460, 10. Karl 104*. BeiÜL 
173. Ksrchr. 2958. 3055. Kneeling and kissing the ground, to obtain abso- 
lution : da er üf siner venie lac (lay), Bari. 366, 21. den anger maz mit der langen 
venie, Frib. Trist. 2095. venien suochen, MS. 1, 23^. Morolt. 28». Tioj. 
9300. terrae osculationibus, quas venias appellant, Pez. bibL ascet. 8, 440. gie 
ze kirchen und banekte (prostrated 1) ze gote siniu glider mit venien und gebet, 
Cod. kolocz. 180. 

' The tchelo-bitnaya, beating of the forehead in presenting a petition, was 
prohibited in Russia by Catherine II. Cont*. pronis vultibus adorare, Helmold 
1,38. 

' What else I have collected about this practice, may Ije inserted here : 
elevato a capite pileo alloquitur seniorem, Dietm. Merseb. p. 824 (an. 1012). 
mhlata cydare siu^ens inclinat honeste, Ruodlieb 2, 93. Odofredus in I. 
secundo loco digest, de postulando : Or signori, hie colliginaus aimmientom, 
quod aliquis quando veniet coram magistratu debet ei revereri, quod est contra 
Ferrarienses, qui, si essent coram Deo, non extraherent sibi capellum vel hirretum 
de capite J nee nexis genibus postularent. Pilleus in capite est, Isengrimus 1139. 
osier la chape (in saluting), Meon 4. 261. gelüpfet den huot, Ms H. 3, 330. 
sinen huot er abenam, hiemit ^ret er in also, Wigal. 1436. er zdch diurch sin 
hübscheit den huot gezogenllchen abe, Troj. 1775. do stuont er Af geswinde 



PBAYER. 33 

night, and standing up to his neck in the briny breakers, to sing his 
prayers, and afterwards to kned dovm on the shingles, with palms 
äräched out to the firmament.^ Lifling vp and folding of the 
hands (see SuppL) was also practised to a master, particularly to a 
feudal lord. In Ls. 3, 78 we have ' bat mit zertänen armen,' prayed 
with outspread arms. The Old Bavarian stapfsakSn (denial of 
indebtedness) was accompanied by elevation of the hands, RA. 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 din herza in modum 
cnicis, undo von dem brustleffile zuo demo nobile, imde miz denne von 
time rippe urn an daz andire, unde sprich alsus. Again : so miz 
denne die reJUun hant von deme lengistin vingire unz an daz resti 
(wrist), unde miz denne von deme dümin zuo deme minnisten vin- 
gira 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 
*iaz ir lib niet more die erde, wan die ellebogin unde diu 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 
avüiudön evxapurreip; it is formed from avUiud x^P^?> which 
resembles an 0. Sax. alat, dot gratiae ; does it contain liuS cantus, 
and was there moreover something heathenish about it? (See 
SnppL). The old forms of prayer deserve more careful collecting; 
the Norse, which invoke the help of the gods, mostly contain the 



SQOc, ein ichapel daz er üf truoc von gimmen und von golde (!n, daz nam er ab 
» himpU sin, Troj. 18635. er zucket im sin kemnilt, Ls. 3, 35. er was gereit, 
du er von dem houbt den huot liez vliegen una sprach, Kolocz. 101. P'estus 
ea^plains : lucem facere dicuntur Satumo sacriiicantes, id est capita deUgere; 
tain : Satumo fit sacrificiiun capiU aperto; conf. Macrob. Sat. 1, 8. Serv. in 
Viig. 3, 407. 

* Waes gewnnod \fBdt he wolde gin on niht to sae, and standan on J>am 
aetltnm brimme, ot5 his swuran, singende his gebedu, and siSSan his cneowu 
on )«m ceofile gebygde, ftstrehtmn handbredum to heofenlicum rodere; Thorpe's 
analecta, pp. 76-7. nomil. 2. 138. [I have thought it but fair to rescue the 
taint from a perilous position in which the German had inadvertently placed 
him b^ making him "wade into the sea up to his neck, and kneel down to 
mog his prayers ". — TBAN8.]^In the O.Fr. jeu de saint Nicolas, Tervagant 
has to be approached on bare elbows and knees; Legrand fabl. 1, 343. 

3 



34 WORSHIP. 

verb dttga with the sense propitium esse: biS ec Ottari oil go8 dug 
(I Ot pray all, &c.), Saam. 120\ biSja \>k disir duga, Ssem. 195 
Duga means to help, conf. Gramm. 4, 687. There is beauty in th 
ON. prayer: biBjom herjaföör i hugom sitja (rogemus deum i 
animis sedere nostris), Ssem, 113% just as Christians pray the Hoi 
Ghost to descend : in herzen unsSn sdzi, 0. iv. 5, 30 (see Suppl.). 

Christians at prayer or confession looked toward the East, an 
lifted up their arms (Bingham lib. xi. cap. 7, ed. haL 3, 273) ; an 
so we read in the Bjistinbalkr of the old Gulathing law: ' ver skului 
liUa avstr, oc biSja til ens helga Krists ars ok friSar,' we must boi 
east, and pray the holy Christ for plenty and peace (conf. Syntagm 
do baptismo p. 65); in the Waltharius 1159: contra Orientalen 
prostratus corpore partem precatur; in AS. formulas: edstwear 
ic Stande ; and in Troj. 9298. 9642 : köret iuoh gin orient. Th 
heathens, on the contrary, in praying and sacrificing, looked NoriJi 
wards : horfa (turn) i TwrSr, Fomm. sog. 11, 134. leit (looked) 
iwrSr, Seem. 94*. beten gegen mütemacht, Keisersperg omeiss 49 
And the North was looked upon by the christians as the unblesse 
heathen quarter, on which I have given details in RA 808 ; it wa 
unlucky to make a throw toward the north, EA. 57 ; in the Lombar 
boundary-treaties the northern tract is styled ' nulla ora,' RA. 54^ 
These opposite views must serve to explain a passage in the Koma 
de Eenart, where the fox prays christianig, and the wolf Aeo^Aen/i 
Beinh. fuchs p. xli.^ 

As the expressions for asking and for obtaining, pp. 30, 31, ai 
identical, a prayer was thought to be the more effectual, the moi 
people it was uttered by : 

got enwolde so manegem munde 
sin genäde niht versagen. Wigal. 4458. 

die juncvrouwen bäten alle got, 
nu ist er so gnsedec unt so guot 
imt so reine gemuot, 
daz er niemer kunde 
s6 manegem süezen munde 
betelichiu dine versagen. Iw. 5351. 

^ At the abrenuntiatio one had to face the sunset, with wriiikled brow (froni 
caperata), expressing anger and hatred ; but at the confession of faith, to £m 
the sunrise, with eyes and hands raised to heaven ; Binghmn lib. xL cap. 7. 
13.14. Conf. Joh. Olavii synt de baptismo, pp. 64-5. 



aAcsmoE. 35 

in (to the nuns) wären de mdnde so royt, 
so wes si god baden, 
of syt mit vlize däden, 
he id in nommer ink&nde 
dem rdsenrdten mftnde 
bedelicher dinge versagen. 

Ged von der vrouwen sperwere, Cod. berol 184, 54*. Hence: 
W/en singen, MS. 1, 57*. 2, 42^ Conf. cento novelle 61.^ 



1 



Sacrifice. — ^The word (ypfer^ a sacrifice, was introduced into 
Gennan by Christianity, being derived from the Lat. offero, offe/rre} 
The AS. very properiy has only the verb offrian and its derivative 
(^ng (oblatio). In OHG., from opfardn^ opfordn there proceeded 
ako a subet. opfar, MHG. ophem and opher;^ and from Germany 
fte expression seems to have spread to neighbouring nations, ON. 
offr, Swed Dan. offer, Lith. appiera, Lett, uppuris, Esth. ohwer, Fin. 
«Ari, Boh. ofira, Pol. oßara. Sloven, of er. Everywhere the original 
heathen terms disappeared (see SuppL). 

The oldest term, and one universally spread, for the notion ' to 
wowhip (God) by sacrifice,' was Uötan (we do not know if the 
Goth, pret was baiblot or blotaida) ; I incline to attach to it the 
foil sense of the Gk. Oveii^ (see Suppl.). Ulphüas saw as yet no 
objection to translating by it a^ßeaOcu and Xarpeveiv, Mk. 7, 7. 

^ Mock-piety, h jpocrisy, was branded in the Mid. Ages likewise, by strong 
piuieeology : er wil gate dte fiUsse aJbeam (eat the feet oflT), Ls. 3, 421. Fragm. 
28». Hones anz. 3, 22. unserm Herrgott die fuess abbeissen woUen (bite oflT), 
Schmeller 2, 231. den heuigen die fiiss abbeten wollen (pray the saints' feet off 
them), Simplic. 1. 4, 17. hengottbeisser, Höfer 2, 48. heiroottfisler (fuszler), 
Schmid 1, 93. heiligenfresserin, 10 ehen, p. 62. So the Itso. mangiaparadiso, 
Fr. mangeur de crucefijc, Boh. Pol. liciobrazek (licker of saints). A sham 
nint is indifferently termed kapelträe, iempeUreU^ iempelrin'M^ Mcnes schauäp. 
p. 123. 137 (see SuppL). 

' Not from operari, which in that sense was unknown to the church, the 
fiomance languages likewise using It. offerire^ Sp. ofrecefj Fr. offrir, never 
operare, obrar, ouvrer ; the same technical sense adheres to offertay ofrenda, 
yl^nde. From oblata come the Sp. obUa, Fr. oubHdy and perhaps the MHG. 
Meiy unless it is from eulogia, oblagia. fVom offre and offerta are formed the 
WeL offryd, Ir. oifrion^ aifrion, offiraU, LasÜy, the derivation from ferre, 
oflierre, is confirmed by the German phrase ' ein opfer bringen^ darbringen,* 

• Ophar. opfer could hardly be the Qoth, iibr d&pov. in which neither the 
vowd nor tne consonant agrees. The WeL abert, (jtaei. iobairt, Ir. iodbairtt 
(ttaifidum) Drobably belong also to offerta. 

* When Sozomen hist. eccl. 6, 37 in a narrative of Athanaric uses irpotricvvtuf 
•tt duti9, the Gothic would be inveitanjak Mian. 



36 WORSHIP. 

Lu. 2, 37; he oonstrues it with an ace. of the person: bl6tan 
fraujan is to him simply Deum colere, with apparently no thou^t 
of a bloody sacrifice. For Xarpeia Eom. 12, 1, he puts Udtinassm, 
and for Oeoaeßi]^ John 9, 31 gatSUdstreis, The latter presupposes a 
subst. hldstr (cultus, oblatio), of which the S is explained in 
Gramm. 2, 208. Usblöteins (irapcucXfjais:) 2 Cor. 8, 4 implies a verb 
usUdtjan to implore. Caedmon uses the AS. U6tan pret. blSot, 
onUdtan pret. onblSot, of the Jewish sacrifice, and follows them up 
with ace. of thing and dat. of person : bl8tan sunu (filium sacri- 
ficare) 173, 5. onblgot J^aet lac Gode (obtulit hostiam Deo) 177, 21. 
In -^Elfred's Orosius we have the same bldtan pret. blotte, I derive 
from it Uüsian, later blessian, to bless. The OHG. pluozan, pret. 
pliez and pluozta, appears only in glosses, and renders libare, litare, 
victimare, immolare. Gl. Hrab. 959* 960' 966^ 968^ Diut 1, 245, 
258*. No case-construction is found, but an ace. of the thing may 
be inferred from partic. kaplozaniu immolata. A subst pluostar 
sacrificium, Uuostar, Is. 382. Gl. emm. 411. Gl. jun. 209. T. 56, 4. 
95, 102^; pluostarh'As idolium, GL emm. 402. ploazh/As 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 words 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 Udta, pret bißt and 
blotaöi, takes, like the Gothic, an ace. of the object worshipped ; 
thus, Grdgas 2, 170, in the formula of the trygdamal: svä viCa sem 
(as widely as) kristnir menu kirkior soekia, heiönir menu hof Udta 
(fana colunt); and in the Edda: Thor blöta, mik blöta, UdtaÖ'i Oöin. 
Ssem. 111*, 113^ 141', 165*-; always the meaning is sacrificio vene- 
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.Daii. version of the OT. uses Uothe immolare, Uodhmsudih 

^ The Gl. Hrab. 954^ : bacha, pUstar^ is incomplete ; in 01. Ker. 45. IMut. 
1, 166'^ it stands : bacha sacriiicat, ploastar ploazit, or zeparpl6zü; so that it is 
meant to translate only the Lat verb, not the subst. bacha (ßaKxjj)' Or per- 
haps a better reading is ^bachat' for bacchator, and the meamng is 'non 
sacrificat '. 

* Landn. 1,2: blotatJi hrafna )?ria, worshipped three ravens, who were 
going to show him the road ; so, in SsenL 141% a bird demands that cows be 
sacriticed to him ; the victim itself is ON. blot, and we are told occasionally : 
feck at bloti, ak blOti miklu, offered a sacrifice, a great sacrifice, T<andn. 2, 28. 



SACRIFICE. 37 

Ubamina, blotdsa holocaustum, Molbech's ed. pp. 171. 182. 215. 249. 
Also the O.Swed. Uplandslag, at the very beginning of the church- 
balb has : sngin skal affguCum Uotce, with dat. of person, implying 
an ace. of the thing. — ^The true derivation of the word I do not know.^ 
At all events it is not to be looked for in bloS sanguis, as the dis- 
agreeing consonants of the two Gothic words pletinly 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 teUs of 
the Sameits (Schamaits, Samogits) : 

ir UtLotekirl der warf zuo haut 
sin Idz nach ir alden site, 
zuo haut er Uxwtäe 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- 
<mt understanding it himself ; for bluotkirl is merely the O.Swed. 
blotkarl, heathen priest; the term is foreign to the Lithuanian 
language.^ 

A few more of these general terms for sacrifice must be added 
(see SuppL).— OHG. arUhdz (hostia, victima), Diut. 1, 240*. 246, 
258. 278** ; and as verbs, both antheizdn and inheizan (immolare), 
Diut 1, 246. 258.— OHG. insaken (litare), Gl. Hrab. 968^ insakä pim 
(delibor), ibid 959* 960', to which add the Bavarian stapfsakSn, 
fiA. 927 ; just so the AS. cmsecgan, Cod. exon. 171, 32. 257, 23. 
ouecgan to tibre (devote as sacrifice), Csedm. 172, 30. tiber 
(ffwggcU, 90, 29. 108, 17. tifer onsecge, Ps. 65» 12. lac onsecge 
Cod. exon. 254, 19. 257, 29 ; lac onscegde, Caedm. 107, 21. 113, 
15. Cod. exon. 168, 28. gild onscegde, Csedm. 172, 11. and 
cnscegdnes (oblatio). — As inheizan and onsecgan are formed 
with the prefix and-, so is apparently the OHG. ineihan pim 
(delibor), Hrab. 960*, which would yield a Goth, anddikan ; it is 

^ Letter for letter it agrees with <f>\otd6o I light up, bum, which is also ex- 
pressed in Bva and the Lat. suffio ; but, if the idea of burnt-offering was 
originally contained in blotan, it must have cot obscured very early. 

* Even in MHO. the word seems to nave already become extinct ; it 
may survive still in terms referring to place, as hlotzgnhen, fcfof^garten in 
Heoen, conf. the phrase * blotzen müssen,' to have to fork out (sacrifice) money. 
An old knife or sword also is called blotz (see SuppL). 



38 WOKSHIP. 

from this OHG. ineihhan, which I think Graff 1, 128 has misread 
ireihan, that a later ntUihan immolare, libare Graff (2, 1015) seems 
to have risen by aphseresis (Gramm. 2, 810), as neben from ineben ; 
con£ eichon (dicare, vindicare), Graff 1, 127. To this place also 
belongs the OHG. pifdahan (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.^ 
Thus arUheiz 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, Csedm. 173, 9. ON. bodn (oblatio). 
From this biudan I derive biuda (mensa), ON", biodr (discus), AS. 
heod (mensa, lanx), OHG. piot, from its having originally signified 
the holy table of offerings, the altar. 

The Goth, fvllafahjan (with dat of pers.) prop, to please, give 
satisfaction, is used for Xarpevetp, Lu. 4, 8 (see Suppl.). — In Mk. 1, 
44. Lu. 5, 14 cUbairan adferre, irpoa^peiv, is used of sacrifice ; and 
in AS. the subst. bring by itself means oblatio ; so Wolfram iu 
Parz. 45, 1 says : si broMen opfer vil ir goten, and Fundgr. IL 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] js in Lu. 1, 9. Ilk. 14, 12. 1 Cor. 10, 
20. 28 used transitively for dvßiiäv and Oöeiv, and hunsla scUjan, 
John 16, 2 stands for Xarpelav irpoa^ipeiv, 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 : jdganc (ritus), Diut. 1, 272*. afgoda begangan, Lacomblet 
1, 11. — Oildan, keltan, among it» 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 l^stian, HeL 16, 5. AS. bryne^d, holo- 
caustum, Csedm. 175, 6, 177, 18. gild onsecgan, 172, 11. Abel's 
offering is a gidd, 60, 5. deofolgield, idololatria, Beda 3, 30. Cod. 



1 So the O.Boh. obiecati obiet (Königinh. hs. 72) is strictly opfer verheiuen^ 
to promise or devote an offering. 



SACBIFICE. 39 

exoa 245, 29. 251, 24. hdeßengidd, Cod. exon. 243, 23. OHG. 
heiäiiJceU sacrilegium : gote ir gelt bringent, Warn. 2906. offer- 
nncghästar, sacrificium, Is. 395. dhiu bldstar iro gJielstro, Is. 382. 
— Pectüiar to the AS. dialect is the general term Idc, neut, often 
rendered more definite by verbs containing the notion of sacrifice : 
onblfot jTflBt Idc gode, Caedm. 177, 26. dryhtne Idc brohton, 60, 2. 
Ide bebeodan, 173, 9. Idc onsaegde, 107, 21, 113, 15. ongan Idc, 
90, 19 (see Suppl.). The word seems to be of the same root as the 
GotL masc. laiks (saltatio), OHG. leih (Indus, modus), ON. leikr, 
and to have signified at first the dance and play that accompanied a 
sacrifice, then gradually the gift itself.^ That there was playing 
and dinging 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 airafyxri, the offering of firstfruits at 
a sacrifice, delibatio, by ufarskafis, which I derive not from skapan, 
but from skaban (shave) rädere, since airaftyai were the first 
clippings of hair off the victim's forehead, Odyss, 14, 422. 3, 446. 
If we explain it from skapan, this word must have passed from its 
meaning of creare into that of facere, immolare. — The Goth. vü6d 
is lex, the OHG. wiz6i (Graff 1, 1112. Fundgr. 1, 398*) both lex 
and eucharistia, the Fris. vüaJt invariably the latter alone ; just as 
2ak6n in Serv. has both meanings [but in Buss, only that of lex]. 
—Ulph. translates OwjLol by Goth, hwad. Matt. 9, 13. Mk. 9, 49. 
Ln. 2, 24 ; then again XarpeCav irpo<r<f>€peiv in John 16, 2 by hunsla 
saljan, where the reference is expressly to killing. And Bvauurrrjpmv 
is called At^rw&tstaös, Matt. 5, 23-4 Lu. 1, 11. But the corre- 
sponding AS. hAsd, EngL housd, allows of being applied to a 
Christian sacrament, and denotes the eucharist, Ailse/gong the 
partaking of it, h'Aselid^t the sacred vessel of sacrifice ; conf. Caedm. 
260, 5 Ail^fatu halegu for the sacred vessels of JerusaleuL like- 
wise the ON. AtW in the Norw. and Swed. laws is used in a 
christian, never in a heathen sense. No hunsal is found in OHG. ; 
neither can I guess the root of the word, — Twice, however, Ulph. 

* Serv. fTÜÖg offering, what is laid before, prUoahiti to offer ; Sloven, dor, 
dannA, daritva = d&pov, [Euss. darü sviatiiye = do»pa Upa means ^ the 
eacbanst] The Sloven aldav, bloodless offering, seems not to be Slavic, it 
raembles Hnng. aldozat. Ovaia is rendered in 0. Slav, by xhrtva (Kopitar's 
OlagoL 72«), in Rnss. by zhertva [fr. zh&riti to roast, bum ? or zhriiti devour, 
button P]. 



40 WORSHIP. 

renders Bvala by sduffs, pL 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 ON. has 
savj&r a ram, probably because its flesh is boiled.^ In Eph. 5, 2 we 
have ' hurtd jah sduS * side by side, for irpoa<f>opäv koI OvaCav, and 
in Skeir. 37, 8 gasaljands sik hunsl jah sau8. — The OHG. zepar is 
also a sacrifice in the sense of hostia, victima. Hymn. 10, 2. 12, 2. 21, 
5. Gl. Hrab. 965^ Diut. 240* 272* (see Suppl.). We could match 
it with a Goth, tihr, if we might venture on such an emendation of 
the unique dihr Bwpov, Matt. 5, 23 (conf. Gramm. 1, 63). My con- 
jecture that our Gwman Ungeziefer (vermin), formerly xmgeziber,^ 
and the O.Fr. atoivre also belong to this root, has good reasons in 
its favour. To this day in Franconia and Thuringia, ziefer, geziefer 
(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. titer 
cannot even be restricted to animals at all, Csedm. 90, 29. 108, 5. 
172, 31. 175, 3. 204, 6. 301, 1. Qigetiber, 203, 12. sigOTtifer, Cod. 
exon. 257, 30 ; on the contrary, in 60, 9 it is Cain's oflTering of 
grain that is called tiber, in distinction from Abel's gield ; and in 
-^Ifr. gl. 62*" we find wln^i/fer, libatio. But this might be a later 
confusion ; or our Ungeziefer may have extended to weeds, and con- 
sequently zepar itself would include anything fit for sacrifice in 
plants and trees.* Meanwhile there is also to be considered the 
OK tafn, victima and esca ferarum. — Lastly, I will mention a 
term peculiar to the ON", language, and certainly heathen : f&m, 
fem. victima, hostia, fdma, immolare, or instead of it fSmfosra, 
conf. Fomm. sog. 1, 97 2, 76. this f6ma at the same time, according 
to Biöm, meaning elevare, tollere. AS. f&m porous, porcaster (?). 

1 Bom. 12, 1. 'present your bodies a living s&uö' was scarcely a happy 
combination, if säutSs conveyed the notion of something boiled ! Can nothmg 
be made of »6t5jan satiarc soothe (Milton's * the soothest shepherd ' = sweetest, 
Goth, sütista) P Qrimm's law of change in mutes has many exceptions : pater 
father feeder vater (4 stages instead of 3, so mater) ; sessel a settle, and sattel 
a saddle, both from sit sat ; treu true, but trinken dtink, &c. — Trans. 

' Titur. 5198, ungezibere stands for monster ; but what can ungezibele mean 
in Lanz. 5028 vor grözem ungezibele 1 nibele 1 

' Caßdm. 9, 2 : ]>& seo tid gewät ofer tiber sceacan middangeardes. ThiB 
passage, whose meaning Thorpe himself did not rightly seize, I imderstand 
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 fle&m sceacan, began 
to flee ; and still more frec[. gewiton gangan. 



SACRIFICE. 41 

If the 6 did not hinder, we could identify it with the adj. f(ym 
vetus, fom sorcerer, fornashui sorcery, and the OHG. fumic 
antiquus, prisons, canus (Graflf 3, 628) ; and in particular, use the 
same glosses for the illustration of baccha pluostar. Fom would 
then be the term applied by the christians to heathen sacrifices of 
i\i^ former olden time, and that would easily glide into sorcery, nay, 
there would be an actual kinship conceivable between zepar and 
zmpar (zauber, magic), and so an additional link between the 
notions of sacrifice and sorcery, knowing as we do that the verbs 
garawan, wVian and perhaps zauwan [AS. gearwian to prepare, 
Goth, veihan to consecrate, and taujan to bring about] are appli- 
cable to both, though our OHG. karo^ haravn victima, Grafif 4, 241 
(Germ, gar, AS. gearw, yare) expresses no more than what is made 
ready, made holy, consecrated^ 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 difierent 
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 it. Not till later is 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 : 
tAan/;-offerings and «in-offeiings.^ When a meal was eaten, a head of 



* The Skr. kraht sacrifice, or accord, to Benfey 2, 307 process, comes from 
kri facere , and in Latin, fo/cere (agnis, vitula, Virg. eel. 3, 77) and operari were 
used of the sacred act of sacrifice ; so in Grk, p4Cfip = tp^av, Boeot pf ddciv of 
offering the hecatomb, and cpdci^ is c/>y«iv, our vnrlcerij work , tirippiCav Od. 17, 
211. $v€i¥t p4Ctt9t dp9v, Athenseas 5, 403, as dp^p for Bvttv, so dpaais =» Bvaia, 
The Catholic priest also uses conficere, perficere for consecrarc (Caesar, heisterbac. 
9, 27) ; compare the * aliquid plus novi facere ' in Burcard of Worms 10, 16 
and p. 193^. The Lat. agere si^^nified the slaughtering of the victim. 

' SitAn-opfer, strictly, conciliatory offerings ; but as these were generally 
identical wim Sünci-opfer, sin-offerings, 1 have used the latter expression, as 
short and familiar. — Trans. 



42 woRSfflP. 

game killed, the enemy conquered (see Suppl.), a firstling of the cattle 
born, or grain harvested, the gift-bestowing god had a first right 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 failuore of crops, a 
pestilence had set in 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 specie^ of sacrifice,^ by which one seeks U> 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 thanr anger, an€ 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 alsaless imposhag 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- 
pular assemblies and assizes.^ In the Yngllnga saga cap. 8 they 
are specified thus : }?ä skyldi biota 1 moti vetri (towards winter) tU 
ärs, enn at miöjum vetri biota til groBrar, it }?ri8ja at sumri, J?at 
var sigrblot (for victory)* In the Olafs helga saga cap. 104 (Fomm. 
sog. 4, 237) i en fat er si8r }?eirra (it is their custom) at hafa bißt 
ä haustum (autumn) ok fagna ]>ül vetri, annat blot hafa J^eir at 
mitSjum vetri, en hit J?riSja at sumri, J?a fagna J?eir sizmari ; conf. ed. 
holm. cap. 115 (see SuppL). The Autumn sacrifice was offered to 
welcome the winter, and til ärs (pra annonae ubertate) ; the Mid- 
winter sacrifice til groörar (pro feracitate) ; the Summer one to 
welcome the summer, and til sigrs (pro victoria). Halfdan the Old 

1 RA. 246. 746. 821-5. 



8ACBIFICE. 43 

leid a great midwinter sacrifice for the long duration of his life and 

kingdom, Sn. 190. But the great general blot held at Upsal every 

winter included sacrifices ' til ärs ok friSar ok sigrs/ Fomm. sog. 4, 

154 The formula sometimes runs- * til ärbötar ' (year's increase), 

or * til MSar ok vetrarfars goSs (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 : 

'fin )>ann tima oc lengi eptir sij^an tro]?u menn ä hult oc & 

Lauga, vi ok staf-garj^a, oc ä hai]?in gu]? blotaj^u J^air synum oc 

dydrum sinum, oc fiUJn xm\> mati oc mundgati, ^at gierj^u ]?air 

eptir vantro sinni. Land alt hafj^i sir hoydu Udtan mi]? ftdki, 

ellar haf]7i huer J^riJ^iupgr sir. £n sm6ri ]>ing haf]7u mindri 

Udtan med, fiUJn mati oc mungati, sum haita sujmautar: ]?i et 

psdi sußu allir saman/ 

Easter-fires, Mayday-fires, Midsvmmn-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 
loaves or cakes, and the circular dance. Dances passed into plays 
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 cL 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 aa 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 aa the 
devil's offering is with rue, rosemary and orange (ch. XXXIII). — 
The great sacrificial feast of the ancient Saxons was on Oct. 1, and 
is traced to a victory gained over the Thuringians in 534 (see ch. 
VI) ; in documents of the Mid. Ages this high festival stills bears 
the name of the gemeinwoche or common week (see ch. XIII, Zisa), 
Würdtwein dipl. magunt. 1 praef. III-V. Scheffers Haltaus p. 142. 
cont Höfers östr. wb. 1, 306. Another chronicle places it on Sept. 
25 (Ecc. fr. or. 1, 59) ; Zisa's day was celebrated on Sept. 29, St. 
Michael's on the 28th; so that the holding of a harvesi-offeinng must 
be intended all through. — In addition to the great festivals, they 
also sacrificed on special occasions, particularly when famine or 



44 WORSHIP. 

disease was rife ; sometimes for long life : 'biota til länglifi/ Landn. 
3, 4 ; or for favour (thockasaeld) with the people : * Grlmr, er 
blotinn var dauör (sacrificed when dead) für thokkasaeld, ok kallaCr 
kamban ', Landn. 1, 14. 3, 16. This epithet kamhan must refer to 
the sacrifice of the dead man's body ; I connect it with the OHG. 
pichimpida funus. Mid. Dut. kiniban 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 ^ ; 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 : stato tempore in silvam coeunt, 
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 primorum ordinum centuriones 
mactaverant, Tac. Ann. 13, 57: sed bellum Hermunduris pros- 
perum, Cattis exitiosius fuit, quia victores diversam aciem Marti ac 
Mercurio sacravere, quo voto equi, viri, cuncta victa ocddioni 
daivtur, Isidori chron. Goth., aera 446 : quorum (regum Gothi- 
corum) unus Eadagaisus . . . Italiam belli feritate aggreditur, 
promittens sanguiinem Christianorum diis suis litare, si vinceret. 
Jemandes cap. 5: quem Hartem Gothi semper asperrima placavere 
cultura, nam victimae ejus mortes fuere captorum, opinantea bellor- 
um praesulem aptius humani sanguinis effusione placandum.* 
Orosius 7, 37 of Eadagaisus, whom he calls a Scythian, but 
makes him lead Goths to Italy: qui (ut mos est barbaris 
hujusmodi generis) sang^dnem diis suis propinare devoverat} 

> Lasaulx die stilinopfer der Griechen u- Römer, Würzbuig 1841. pp. 
8—13. 

' Conf. Cses. 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 : ö^hvjUv yap €va r6v 
r^r darpan^s Bi]fitovpy6v Andirrav Kvpiov fiovov avrbv vofii^ovaiv ciycu, km Bvovatw 
avT^ ßoas T( KoX icpeuz Siravra. . . . aXX' cVctd^y avrois cV troaiv 4^17 6 
ßdvaTos (trj, ^ ydao) äkovat ^ €s nSXffiov KaBiarafiipotSj cVoyyAXovrai fitv, ^y 
Sia<l)vya><rij Bvaiau r^ öt^ dvri r^r V^X^^ avriKa Troi^cciy, 6ia<f>vy6rr€s oc 
Ovovaiv ontp xmitrxovro^ ical oXovrai tj)v atarrjpiap ravrtjs Ä^ r^s Bvatat avroir 
€(ovrja'Oai. 

^ Of him Augustine sap, in sermo 105, cap. 10 : Rhadagaysns rex Goth- 
oruni . . . Komae • . . Jovi sacrificabat quotidie, nuntiabatoique 
ubique, quod a sacrificiis non desisteret. 



SACÄincE. 45 

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

OvowTi Bi ivSeXexioTara Upeia irdvra koX iporyL^ovai. t&p Se 

upeuap a^iai to koXXujtov avOpoDiro^ iariv, imrep äv Sopid- 

XtfToi/ iroiijaaivro irp&rov. tovtov yäp r^ ^Ap€i Ovovcip, 

ml 0€op axnop poßii^ovai fUyt<rrop ehai. Ihid. 2, 14, of the 

Hemli : troXip Tipa po/ii^opre^ OeSyp ofiiXop, ot^ St} koI 

avdpmirtüv Ovaiai^ i\daK€<r0cu oaiop avroi^ iBoKci elpai. Ihid. 

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

iniKaßofiepoi Sk Ttj^ y€<f>vpa^ oi ^pdffyoi, Trat 8a 9 re Kol yvpat- 

ica^ r&p TorOtoPp oikvep ipravda eipop iip€v6p T€ /cal avrüp 

rä a-dfiara ^ top rrorafjkbp aKpoO Ipia rov iroXi/MOV ippiv- 

roup, ol ßdpßapoi yap ovroi, Xpumapol yeyopore:, rä TroXKä t$9 

vdXjcua^ So^9 (f>v\daa'ova'i, Ovaiai^ re 'ypoap.epoi, apOpdmoDP 

col aXKa ovx i<rui Upevopre^, raurrf re rct^ p^prelxv; iroiovfiepoi. 

Sidonins Apollinaris 8, 6 of the Saxons: mos est remeaturis 

decimom 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, daemonibtts obtvierit. Lex Frisionum, additio sap. tit. 

42 : qui fanum effregerit . . . immolatur diis, quorum templa 

violavit ; the law afifected only the Frisians ' trans Laubachi,' who 

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

Dietmar of the Northmen, wiU be cited later. Epist. Bonif. 25 (ed. 

Würdtw.) : hoc quoque inter alia crimina agi in partibus illis 

dixisti, quod quidam ex fidelibus ad immolandum paganis sua 

venunderU manapia; masters were allowed to sell slaves, and 

christians sold them to heathens for sacrifice. The captive prince 

Graecus Avar de (a) Suevis pecvdis more litatus (ch. XIII, the 

goddess Zisa).^ For evidences of human sacrifice among the Norse, 

see Müller'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 

of the Greek BiaßaTi]pui ; * the first fruits of war, the first prisoner 

1 Adam of Bremen de »tu Daniae cap. 24, of the Lithuanians : draconca 
adorant cum Tolucribus, quibus etiam vivos litant Jwmines, quos a mercatoribus 
emnnt, diligenter omnino probatos, ne maculam in corpore nabeant. 

' Hence in our own lolk-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 
»icrifice. Jomandes cap. 25, of the Huns : ad Scythiam properant, et ^[uantos- 
cunque priui in ingrutu Scytharum habuere, litavere Victoriae. 



46 WOBSHIP. 

taken, wad supposed to bring luck. In folk-tales W6 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 nte is, 
that toys and victuals are handed in to the child, while the roofing-in 
is completed. Among the Greeks and Bomans likewise the victims 
fell amid noise and flute-playing, that their cries might be drowned, 
and the tears of children are stifled with caresses, * ne flebilis hostia 
immoletur'. Extraordinary «vents might demand the. death of 
kings' sons and daughters, nay, of kings themselves. Thoro offers 
up hia son to the gods ; Worm mon. dan. 285. Eling Oen the Old 
sacrificed nine sons one after the other to OSin for his long life ; 
YngL saga cap. 2Q. And the Swedes in a grievous famine, when 
othar great sacrifices proved imavailing, offered up their 4nffn king 
Domaldi ; ibid, cap. 18. 

Animal sacrifices were mainly thank-offeiings, 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 Martern concessis animalibus 
placant, Tac. Germ. 9 ; i.e., with animals suitable for the purpose 
(Hist 5, 4), 'concessum' meaning sacrum as against profanum; 
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- 
fices the kings were expected to taste each kind of food, and down 
to late times the house-spirits and dwarfis had tiieir portion set 
aside for them by the superstitious people. — Quadraginta rustici a 
Langobardis capti carries 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.^ These 'immolatitiae cames' and 'hostiae im- 

* I do not know how compelUre oan be soft^ed down to ^permitting or 
expecting \ — Trans, 



SACKIFICK 47 

molatitiae, quas stulti homines jaxta ecclesias ritu pagano faciunt ' 
are also mentioned in Bonifacii epist. 25 and 55, ed. Würdtw. 

In the earliest period, the Horse seems to have been the 

favourite animal for sacrifice; there is no doubt that before the 

mtroduction 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 (hrossasldtrj 

and the eating of horseflesh ; conf. Nialss. cap. 106. The Christian 

Northmen reviled the Swedes as hross-cetumar ; Fomm. sog. 2, 

309. Fagrsk. p. 63. King Häkon, whom his subjects suspected of 

Christianity, was called upon ' at hann skyldi eta hrossasldtr ;' Saga 

H4t g68a cap. 18. From Tac. ann. 13, 57 we learn that the Her- 

nnmduri sacrificed the horses of the defeated CattL As late as the 

time of Boniface (Epist ed. Würdtw. 25. 87 Serr. 121. 142),^ 

the Thuringians are strictly enjoined to abstain from horseflesh. 

Agathias bears witness to the practice of the Alamanni : vmrov^ 

T€ tau ßoiKf Mcu aXXa arra fivpia Kaparo/jLovvre^ (beheading), 

emOeuiiova'i, ed. bonn. 28, 5. — Here we must not overlook the 

cHtting off of the head, which was not consumed with the rest, but 

consecrated by way of eminence to the god. When Caecina, on 

approaching the scene of Varus's overthrow, saw horses* heads 

ÜBstened to the stems of trees (equorum artus, simul trunds arbonim 

emlefaxi ora, Tac. ann. 1, 61), these were no other than the Eoman 

horses, which the Germans had seized in the battle and ofiered up 

to their gods' (see SuppL). A similar ' immolati diis equi abscissum 

ec^put ' meets us in Saxo gram. p. 75 ; in the North they fixed it on 

the neidstange (nlöstöng, stake of envy) which gave the power to 

bewitch an enemy, Egilss. p. 389. In a Hessian kindermärchen 

(na 89) we have surviving, but no longer understood, a reminiscence 

^ Inter cetera agrestem eaballum aliquantos comedere adjimzisti, plerofl^iie 
et dometticum, hoc nequaquam fieri deinceps sinas. And . inprimis de volatili- 
boBy id est gracnliB et comiculis atque ciconilB, quae omnino cavendae sunt ab 
era christianomiiL etiam et fibri et lepores et equi silvcUid multo amplios 
TitandL Again, Hieronymns adv. Jov. Üb. 2 (ed. basil. 1553. 2, 75) • Sar- 
matae, Quam^Vandali et innumerabilee aliae gentes equorum et vulpiumcamibus 
delectantur. Otto frising. 6. 10 . audiat, quod Pecenati (the wild Peschenajre, 
Nib. 1280, 2) et hi qui Falones vocantur (the Valwen, Nib. 1279, 2. Tit. 
4007)» cnidiB et immundis camibus, utpote equinis et catinis iisque hodie 
Tescontur. RoL 98, 20 of the heathen : sie ezzent diu ros. Witches also are 
chaiged with eating horseflesh (see Suppl.). 

* Also in tiiat passage of Joi-nandes about Mars : huic truncii suspende- 
bantUT exutfiae. 



48 WORSHIP. 

of the mysterious meaning of a suspended hon^$ head} — ^Bnt on 
horse-sacrifices among the heathen Norse we haTe fuither informa- 
tion of peculiar value. The St Olafs saga, cap. 113 (ed. hdm. 2, 
181), says : J^at fylg5i ok )>eirri sogn, at J^ar Tseii drepit nami ok 
hrass til ärbotar (followed the saying that there were slain neat and 
horse for harvest-boot). A tail-piece at the very end of the 
Her\'ararsaga mentions a similar sacrifice ofiTered by the apostate 
Swedes at the election of king Svein (second half of 11th century): 
var \>Sl framleidt hross eitt ä Jmigit, ok hoggvit i sundr, ok sbipi tä 
dts, en rio]7uSu bloSinu blöttrS; köstuSu ]>k allir Svlar 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. Fomald. 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) 
niira audivi, haec indiscussa praeterire nolo, est unus in his 
partibus locus, caput istius regni, Lederun nomine, in pago qui 
Selon ^ dicitur, ubi post novem 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 bos eisdem erga inferos servituros, et comnüssa 
crimina apud eosdem placaturos. quam bene rex noster (HeinricJi L 
an. 931) fecit, qui eos a tarn execrando ritu prohibuit ! — ^A grand 
festive sacrifice, coming once in nine years, and costing a consider- 
able number of animals — in this there is nothing incredible. Just 
as the name 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 f^epLst. 7, 5) admonishes Bninicliild to take pic- 
cautions with her Franks, ' ut de ahimalinm capitibus sacrificia sacrilega non 
exhibeant.' 

* SÄlon for S61ond, ON. Saelundr, afterwards Sioland, Seeland, i.«., Zea- 
land. LMerün, tlie Sax. dat. of L^era, ON. Hleit5ra, afterwards L^thra, 
Leire ; conf. Goth. hlei}>ra tabemacuhim. 



SACRIFICE. 49 

at funerals^ with what was done for expiation. It was only 
the bodies of nobles and rich men that were followed in death 
bj 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 Üiose 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 * IIow 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 Jurrse 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^ 

Sacrifice of Oxen (see SuppL). The passage from Agathias 
{hnrou^ re koX ß6a<i) proves the Alamannic custom, and that from 
the Olafssaga {Tiaut ok hross) the Norse. A letter to Saint Boniface 
(Epist. 82, Würdtw.) speaks of ungodly priests ' qui tauros et hircos 
diis paganorum immolabant.' And one from Gregory the Great 
ad MeUitum (Epist 10, 76 and in Beda's hist eccL 1, 30) aflBrms 
of the Angles : hoves solent in sacrificio daemonum multos occidere. 

' With Sigmar mrvcmti and hawks are burnt, Ssem. 225^ ; elsewhere Korus 
and dogs as well, conf. RA. 344. Asvitus, morbo consiunptus, 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 
pier. But the ' pro ' is unmistakable. 

' ' Conf. Bopps 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 ; Böckh corp. inscr. I, 807. 809. 
In a Mod. Qreek poem Faddpov, Xv«eov «cat oKcvnovs Sirjyrjais w. 429-434, a 
similar offering seems to be spoken of ; and HageVs böhm. chron. p. 62 gives 
an inatance amon^ the Slavs. That, I suppose, is why the Siiesians are 
called ass-eaUrs (Zeitvertreiber 1668, p. 163) ; and if the Göttingers receive the 
same nickname, these popular jokes must be very old in Germany itself (see 
SuppL). 

4 



50 WORSHIP. 

The Uack ox and Hack cow, which are not to be killed for the house- 
hold (Superst. 887), — ^were they sacred sacrificial beasts? VaL 
Suplit, a free peasant on the Samland coast (Samogitia or Semi- 
galia), sacrificed a Uack hull with strange ceremonies.^ I will add 
a few examples from the Norse. During a famine in Sweden under 
king Domaldi : ]?ä eflöo (instituted) Sviar blot stör at Uppsölum, it 
fyrsta haust (autumn) blotuCu J^eir yxnum ; and the oxen proving 
insufl&cient, they gradually went up to higher and higher kinds ; 
YngL saga, c. 18. ]?ä gekk hann til hofs (temple) Freyss, ok 
leiddi J^agat uxan gairdan (an old ox), ok maelti svä : ' Freyr, nü 
gef ek J>er uxa J^enna ' ; en uxanum bra sv& vi8, at hann qvaB viB, 
ok foil ni8r dauCr (dealt the ox such a blow, that he gave a groan 
and fell down dead) ; Islend. sog. 2, 348. conf. Vigaglumssaga, cap. 
9. At a formal duel the victor slew a hull with the same weapons 
that had vanquished his foe: ]?& var leiddr fram grdS^üngr mUeiU ok 
gamcUl, var J^at kallat UStnatU, ]?at skyldi sä höggva er sigr hefSi 
(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. Fomm. sog. 2, 138. 
— The Greek eKarofißr) (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.^ 

Boars, Pigs (see SuppL). In the Salic Law, tit 2, a higher 
composition is set on the maJcUis sacrivtbs or votivus than on any 
other. This seems a relic of the ancient sacrifices of the heathen 
Franks ; else why the term sao'ivm ? True, there is no vast difier- 
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 

1 Berlin, monateclir. 1802. 8, 225. conf. Lucas David 1, 118-122. 

* In many districts of Genuany and France, the butchers at a set time of 
the year lead through the streets ek fatted ox decked with flowers and ribbons, 
accompanied by drum and fife, and collect drink-money. In Holland they call 
the ox beider, and han^ gilded apples on his horns, while a butcher walks in 
front with the axe (bed). All tms seems a relic of some old sacrificial rite. 



SACRIFtCE. :51 

its origin express recens natus, new-born,^ but it now lives only in 
the sense of porcellus (frischling). How are we to explain then, 
that this OB.G. frisdng in several writers translates precisely tlie 
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 
fiiscing the idea of porcellus was predominant. — In the North, the 
expiatory boar, sdnargoUr, offered to Freyr, was a periodical sacri- 
fice; and Sweden has continued down to modem times the practice 
of baking loaves and cakes on Yule-eve in the shape of a boar. 
This ffolden-bristUd boar has left his track in inland Germany too. 
According to popular belief in Thuringia,* whoever on Christmas 
eve abstains from all food till suppertime, will get sight of a young 
golden pig, %.e. in olden times it was brought up last at the even- 
ing banquet A Lauterbach 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 (hübner) 
should furnish a clean goldferch (gold-hog) gelded while yet under 
mük ; . it was led round the benches, and no doubt slaughtered 
afterwards.' So among the Welsh, the swine offered to the gods 



1 Dueange sub v. Eccaid Fr. or. 2, 677. Dorows denkm. I. 2, 55. Lacom- 
Uet 1, 327. Qt9& 3, 833. Schmeller wtb. 1, 619. 

' Ckttgeselb beitr. zur gesch. des deutschen alterthums, Meiningen 1834, 
p. 188. 

* Thi» passage from the Lauterb. ordin. I can now match by another from 
those of Ymkbuch in the Alamann conntry. It says 1, 436 : the provost shall 
pick out in the convent a twifu worth 7 schilling pfennig^ and as soon as harvest 
begms, let it into the convent crewyard, where it must be allowed generous 
fue and free access to the com ; there it is left till the Thursday after St. Adolfs 
day, when it is slaughtered and divided, half to the farm-bailiff, half to the 
puith ; on the same day there is also a distribution of bread and cheese to 
the rarish. — The price of seven shillings tallies with the seven and a half 
fixed by the Lauterb. ordin., and is a nigh one, far exceeding the ordinary 
fihie (oonf. Qott. anz. 1827, pp. 336-7) ; it waa an arrangement long continued 
md often emploved in these ordinances, and one well suited to a beast selected 
for Mcrifice. The Lauterbach aoldferch, like that of Vinkbuch, is doled out 
and oonsumed at a festive meal ; the assize itself is named after it (3, 370) ; 
at Vinkbnch the heathenish name only has been forgotten or suppressed. 
Aanredly such assize-feasts were held in other parts of Qermany too. St 
Adolf was a biahop of Straszburg, his day falls on August 29 or 30 (Conr. v. 
Dmkz. namenb. p. 117). and the assize therefore in the beginning of September. 
Swine are alanghtered tor the household when winter sets in, in Nov. or Dec ; 
and as both of these by tonis are called tcJUodUmonat, there might linger in 



52 WOBSHIP. 

became one destined for the King's table. It is the 'swtn ecdgylden^ 
eof(yr 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 D^mStSr (Ceres), who as 
Nerthus stands very near to Niörör, Freyr and Freyja. 

Bams, Goats (see SuppL). — As friscing came to mean victima, so 
conversely a name for animal sacrifice, Goth. sauSs, seems to have 
given rise to the OK name for the animal itself, satt3r=wether. 
This species of sacrifice was therefore not rare, though it is seldom 
expressly mentioned, probably as being of small valua Only the 
saga Hakonar goSa cap. 16 informs us : ]7ar var oc drepinn (killed) 
allskonar small, ok svä hross. Small (/x^Xa) 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 hUick lamb ; Svenska folkv. 2, 
128. Gregory the Great speaks once of she-goats being sacrificed; 
he says the Langobards ofifer to the devil, ie.,to one of their gods, 
caprd caprae, hoc ei, per circuitum currentes, carmine nefando 
dedicantes ; Dial. 3, 28. This head of a she-goat (or he-goat ?) was 
reared aloft, and tlie people bowed before it The hallowing of a 
lie-goat among the ancient Prussians is well known (Lua 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 expressiv 
hl6tm(mQ'6. The common man at his yearly slaughtering gets up a feast, and 
sends meat and sausa^ to his neighbours (conf. mUvSui^ Staider 2, 525), 
which may be a survival of the common sacrifice and distribution of flesh. 
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 \okole iwine is roasted, and 
often a sucking pig along with it ; Vuk's Montenegro, pp. 103-4. 



SACRIFICE. 53 

sacrifice, the Greeks ofifered cocks to Asklepios, 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 
those fit 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 
annoe communis omnium Sveoniae provinciarum solennitas 
celebrari, ad quam nuUi praestatur immunitas ; reges et populi, 
omnes et singuli sua dona ad Ubsolam transmittunt, et, quod omni 
poena crudelius est, ill! qui jam induerunt christianitatem ab illis 
ceremoniis se redimunt. Sacrificium itaque tale est: ex omni 
animarUe quod mascTilinum est, novem capita offeruntur ; quorum 
sai^uine deos tales placari mos est Corpora autem suspenduntur 
in lucom qui proximus est templo. Is enim lucus tam sacer est 
gentilibus, ut singulae arbores ejus ex morte vel tabo immolatorum 
divinae credantur. Ibi etiam canes, qui pendent cum hominibus, 
quorum corpora mixtim suspensa narravit mihi quidam christian- 
onun se septuaginta dtu) 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 
is conceived in the spirit of legend. First, the heads of victims 
seem the essential thing again, as among the Franks and Langobards; 
tiien the dogs come in support of those Hlethra ' hounds and hawks/ 
bat at the same time remind us of the old judicial custom of hanging 
up wolves or dogs by the side of criminals (RA. 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 Reinardus, 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 jnales of all quadrupeds and birds were to have been slaughtered, 
bat the cock and gander had made their escape. It looks to me 
like a l^end of the olden time, which still circulated in the ll-12th 
centuries, and which even a nursery-tale (No. 27, the Town- 



54 wroBSHiP. 

musicians) knows something of.^ Anyhow, in heathen times m(ü$ 
animds seem to be in special demand for sacrifica« As for killing 
one of every species (and even Agathias's icaX oKKa arra fivpla does 
not come up to that), it would be such a stupendous affair, Üiat 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 property) f 
or like the Edda relating how oaths were exacted of all animals 
and plants, and aU beings were required to weep. Th^ 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-white pigs are pronounced inviolable.* 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 tithes, this might have some connexion with 
sacrifices^ ; for witchcraft also, animals of a particular hue were 
requisite. The water-sprite demanded a Uack lamb, and the huldres 
have a black lamb and black cat offered up to them (Asb. 1. 169). 
Saxo Gram. p. 16 says; rem divinam facere furvis hostiis; does 
that mean black beasts? — ^We may suppose that cattle were 



^ Or will any one trace this incident in the Reynaiti to the words of the 
Vulgate in Matt. 22, 4 : tauri mei et altilia occisa sunt, venite ad nuptias ; 
which merely describe the preparations for the wedding-feast? Any hint 
about males is just what the passage lacks. 

2 The Greeks offered male animals to sods, female to goddesses, II. 3, 103 : 
a white male lamb to Helios (sun), a black ewe lamb to G^ (earth). The 
Lithuanians sacrificed to their earthgod Zemiennik utriusqw sexus domestica 
animalia ; Haupt's zeitschr. 1, 141. 

' Reyscher and Wilda zeitschr. fur deutsches recht 5, 17, 18. 

* RA. 261. 594. Weisth. 3, 41. 46. 69. conf. Virg. Aen. 8, 82 : Candida 
cum foetu concolor alho sus ; and the Umbrian : trif apruf rufru ute peiu (ties 
apros rubres aut piceos), Aufrecht und Kirchh. umbr. spracha. 2, 278-9. 

» RA. 587. 667. Weisth. 1. 498. 3, 430. White animals hateful to the 
gods ; Tettau and Temme preuss. sag. 42. 



8ACRIFICK 55 

^rlanded and adorned for sacrifice. A passage in thq Edda 
requires ffM-hcmed cows, Ssem. 141* ; and in the village of Fienstädt 
in Mansfeld a coal-black ox with a white star and white feet, and 
a he-goat with guded 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 
leading round the benches, and per circuitwm currere, pp. 61, 52 — 
perhaps, as among the Greeks and Bomans, to give them the 
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 
(ON. hlatä) was caught either in a hollow dug for the purpose, or 
in vessels. With this gore they smeared the sacred vessels and 
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 (blojiibollar, hlotMlar) 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 Hot- 
hoUa sina,' Fomm. sog. 2, 309. A cauldron of the Cimbri is noticed 
in Strabo 7, 2 : eOo^ Si n r&v Klfißponv Siriyoihrrai toiovtov, Sti 
ToZ^ ywcu^lv a\nS)V avoTpaTevovo'ai^ irapriKo'kovOow TTpo/uunei^ 
Uptiai 'tro\i6Tpi)(€^, Xevx^liiovei, KapTra^iva^ iifMirrlSa^ hnireirop- 

^ Neue mitth. des thür. älchs. vereinB Y. 2, 131, conl II. 10, 292. Od. 
3.382; 

crol d' ai iyib p4(t» ßovv j^viy, €vpvfi4TmiroVf 
aififinjPt ^p otirtd \mh (yyhv ffyaytv ayfip • 
rrfv rot iyit p4(»^ xpv<r6v Kipturiv ircpt;((var. 
' Oc eingn sl^ldi tortyna hvarki fd ne mönnum, nema siälft gengi t hurt. 
Crrb. Baga, p. 10. And none should they kill (tortima?) neither beast nor 
man, unless of itself it ran a-tilt. 

' Saga Häkonar go&a, cap. 16. Eyrb. saga p. 10. rau9 hoigin, reddened 
the (stone) altar, Fomald. sog. 1, 413. stalla Uta riot5a bl68i, 1, 454. 527. 

" m ~ " " 



u 114^ rio^M^u blötSinu UdUri, Fomald. sog. 1, 512. the Qrk aliui rf 
3»^ y irc/Mxccur. conf. Exod. 24, 8. 



56 WOÄSHIP. 

VTjfieifcu, ^üa-fia j(a\tcovv expvaai, yvfivSiroSe^ ' to*9 oiv al^/JUiXo^ 
T0t9 SiÄ Tov OTpaToiriBov awrjvrtav f*^i;p€*9' ^aTOore^roo-iu S' 
ainoif^ fj^ov hrX Kparijpa 'XJ^Xkow, ocrov äfi<f>opi(ov elKOfri, * etxpv 
hk dvaßddpap, fjp dvaßäaa (17 pApTis:) inrepwenf^ toO Xißtfro^ 
ikaifioTOfiei exaoTOv fierecopKrOepra' eK Sk tov irpaxeofUvov aifiaro^ 
ek TOV KpaTTJpa, fjLavreiav Tivh hroiovino} Another cauldron of 
the Suevi, in the Life of St. Columban : Sunt etenim inibi vicin» 
nationes.Suevorum ; quo cum moraretur, et inter habitatores illius 
loci progrederetur, reperit eos sacrificium profanum lüare 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 iUo 
fieri vellent? Uli aiunt: deo suo Wodano, quern Mercurium 
vocant alii, se velle litare, Jonas Bobbiensis, vita Columb. (from 
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-oflfering. 

Usually the cauldron served to cook, i,e. boil, the victim's flesh ; 
it never was roasted. Thus Herodotus 4, 61 describes a boiling 
(ßy^eiv) of the sacrifice in the great cauldron of the Scythians. 
From tlus seähing, according to my conjecture, the ram was called 
saußSy and those who took part in the sacrifice suffnautar (partakers 
of the sodden), Gutalag p. 108 ; the boilings, the cauldrons and pots 
of witches in later times may be connected with this.* The distri- 
bution of the pieces among the people was probably undertaken by 
a priest ; on great holidays the feast* was held there and then in 
the assembly, on other occasions each person might doubtless take 



^ * They say the Oimbri had this custom, that their women marching with 
them were accompanied by priestess-prophetesses, gray-haired, white-robedL 
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 brajss bcuin as large as 30 amphorae (ISO 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.' 

* The trolds too, a kind of elves, have a copper kettle in the Norw. saga, 
Faye 11 ; the christians lon^ believed in a Saiumi dolium, and in a large 
cauldron in hell (chaudi^re, M^on 3, 284-5). 

' They also ate the strong broth and the fat swimming at the top. The 
heathen offer their king Hikon, on his refusing the flesh, drecka ntfit and eta 
flotit ; Saga Hikonar ^a cap. 18. conf. Fornm. sog. 10, 381. 



8A.CHIFICE. 57 

his share home with him. That priests and people really ate the 
food, appears fix)m 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 
cames vescens/ only altering it to ' diis mactanti, et immolatitiis 
camibus 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 called ' more gentilium 
offerre, et ad honorem daemonum comedere/ CapiL 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 humtqfferings, where the animal was converted into 
ashes on the pile of wood, do not seem to have been in use. The 
GrotlL allbrunsts Mk 12, 33 is made merely to translate the 6k. 
oXo/cauTtofia, so the OHG. albrandopher, N. ps. 64, 2 ; and the AS. 
brynegield onhred^ rommes bl68e, Csedm. 175, 6. 177, 18 is meant 
to express purely a bumtoffering in the Jewish sense.* 

Neither were incense-offerings used ; the sweet incense of the 
christians was a new thing to the heathen. Ulphilas retains the 
Gk. thymiama Lu. 1, 10. 11; and our weih-rauch (holy-reek), O. 
Sax. wirdc HeL 3, 22, and the OK reykelsi, Dan. rögelse are 
formed according to christian notions (see SuppL). 

While the sacrifice of a slain animal is more sociable, more 
universal, and is usually offered by the collective nation or 
community ; fruit or flowers, milk or honey is what any household, 
or even an individual may giva These Fruit-offerrngs are therefore 
more solitary and paltry ; history scarcely mentions them, but they 
have lingered the longer and more steadfastly in popular customs 
(see SuppL). 

When the husbandman cuts his com, he leaves a clump of ears 
standing for the god who blessed the harvest, and he adorns it with 

' yXmaxra ml KoCkla (tongue and entrails) Uptlov dunr€wpayfUvov, Plutarch, 
Plioc. 1. ykwraas rdfiutiv and cV irvpi /ääXXcty, Od. 3, 332. 341. conf. De 
linguae usu in sacrificiis, 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, 
^paientlj as being eminent portions. 

* ShLY.pälüi obidt, to kindle an offering, Koniginh. hs. 96. 



58 WORSHIP. 

ribbons. To this day, at a fruit-gathering in Holstein, five ot 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 a» tame and eatable animals 
were especially available for sacrifice, so are frudt-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 
sacrifice in the words : * eine garb er nam, er wolte sie oppheren mit 
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 thinga 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 
stable, where they remain till replaced by fresh ones the next year.^ 
At the village of Questenberg in the Harz, on the third day in 
Whitsuntide, the lads carry an oak up the casüe-hill which 
overlooks the whole district, and, when they have »et it upright^ 
fasten to it a large garland of branches of trees plaited together, 
and as big as a cartwheel. They all shout * the qrieste (i.e. garland) 
hangs,' and then they dance roimd the tree on the hill top ; both 
tree and garland are renewed every year.* Kot 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.' The lands in some Hessian townships have to pay a 
buneh of mayßowers (lilies of the valley) every year for rent.* In 
all these examples, which can easily be multiplied, a heathen 

^ Bragur VI. 1, 126. 

» Otmare volkssagen, pp. 128-9. What is told of the origin of the custom 
seems to be fiction. 

* Wigands archiv 6, 317. 

* Wigands archiv 6, 318. Casselsches wochenbl. 1816, p. 928^' 



MINNE-DRINKING. 69 

jHuctice Sterns to have been transferred to christian festivals and 
offerings.^ 

As it was a primitive and widespread custom at a banquet to 
set aside a part of the food for the household gods, and particularly 
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 4rank beer, spilt some of it 
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 
torn once more to that account ot the Suevic dU-tub (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 



The Gk)thic man (pi. munum, pret munda) signified I think ; 
ganvan (pL gamunum, pret. gamunda) I bethink me, I remember. 
From the same verb is derived the OHG. minrui = minia amor, 
mtmujn = 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 dryckja, or again minni (erfi = funeral feast). 

At grand sacrifices and banquets the god or the gods were 
remembeted, and their minni drunk: minnis-öl (ale), Ssem. 119* 
(opposed to ominnis öl), mt7mts-hom, mtnnts-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 gänga at 
minncm öUum, Egilss. 206. 253. minniol signM äsom, Olafs helga. 

' 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.y would vow 
a tilver mtp to their church as a votive gift ; in Swedish folk-songs, offra en 
gryta af mahn (vessel of metal), Arvidss. 2, 116 ; en gryta af hhnüuuA^ malm (of 
silver) Ahlqvists Oland II. 1, 214 ; also articles of clothing, eg. red shoes, 

* In the Teut. languages I know of no technical term like the Gk. airtvh», 
Xtißm, Lat. libo, for dnnk-oITerings (see Suppl.). 



60 WORSHIP. 

saga (ed. holm.) 113. signa is the German segnen to bless, conse- 
crata signa full OSni, Th8r. Oöins full, NiarSar ftUl, Freys full 
drecka, Saga Hakonar goSa cap. 16.18. In the Herrau8s-saga cap. 
11, Th6r*s, OÖin'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 hragarfuü, 
Ssem. 146*. Fornald. sog. 1, 345. 417. 515. The goblet was also 
called minnisveig (swig, draught), Ssem. 193^ After conversion 
they did not give up the custom, but drank the minne of Christ, 
Mary, and the saints : Krists minni, Michaels minni, Fomm. sog. 

1, 162. 7, 148. In the Fomm. sog. 10, 1781, St Martin demands of 
Olaf that his minni be proposed instead of those of Thor, 08in, and 
the other äses. 

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 ;* notably as early as in 
Liutprand, hist. 6, 7 (Muratori II. 1, 473), and liutpr. hist. Ott 12: 
diaboli in amorem vinum bibere. Liutpr. antapod. 2, 70 : amaris 
salutisgue mei causa bibito. Liutpr. leg. 65 : potas in amove heati 
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: amoreqne, ut 
moris est, osculato et epoto, laetabundi discedunt In the Budlieb 

2, 162 : 

post poscit vinum Oerdrudis 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 München 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 Oertrudis am>ore, 
ut possent omni prosperitate fruL 

1 The 12th cent, poem Von dem gelouben 1001 says of the institution of 
the Lord's Supper, whose <Jup is also a drink of remembrance to Christians : 
den cof nam er mit dem wine, unde segente darinne ein vil guote minne, Conf. 
loving cup. Thorn's Auecd. 82. 



MINNE-DBINKING. 61 

At Erek's departure : der wirt neig im an den fuoz, ze hand truog 
er im do ze heiles gewinne sunt OSrtrüde minne, Er. 4015. The 
armed champion 'tranc sant Johannes segen. Er. 8651. Hagene, 
while killing Etzel's child, says, Nib. 1897, 3 : 

nu trinken wir die minne unde gelten sküneges win, 

iz mac anders niht gestn 

wan trinkt und geltet Ezeln win; Helbl. 6, 160. 14. 86. 

Here the very word gelten recalls the meaning it had acquired in 
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 HoflFm. fundgr. 1, 230, 35. minne schenken, 
Berthold 276-7. sant Johannis 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, Sre 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 Oertrvde, 
John is said to have drunk poisoned wine without hurt, hence 
a drink consecrated to him prevented all danger of poisoning. 
(Jertrude 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 Oerdrvdis, quae pacis commoda cudis 
bellaque concludis, nos caeli mergito ludis ! 

A clerk prayed her daily, ' dass sie ihm schueflTe herberg guot,' to 
find him lodging good; and in a MS. of the 15th cent, we are 
informed : aliqui dicimt, quod quando anima egressa est, tunc prima 
nocte pemoctabit cum beata Gerdrude, secunda nocte cum arch- 
angelis, sed tertia nocte vadit sicut diflBnitum 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 Eudlieb; in later centuries we find 



62 WOBSHIF. 

plenty of them: der brähte.mir sant Johans segen, Lb. 3, 336. 
sant Johans segen trinken, Ls. 2, 262. ich däht an sant Johans 
minne, Ls. 2, 264 vam (to fare) mit sant CHrtrAde mifme, 
Amgb. 33^. setz sant Johans ze bürgen mir, daz du körnest 
gesunt herwider schier, HätzL 191\ sant Johannes namen 
trinken, Altd. bl. 413. sant GSrtrilde minne, Cod. kolocz. 72. 
triuken sant Johannes segen und scheiden von dem lande, Morolt. 
3103. diz ist sancte Johans minney Cod. paL 364, 158. S. Johans 
segen trinken, Anshelm 3, 416. Johans segen, Fischart gesch. kL 
99^ SimpUciss. 2, 262.i 

Those Suevi then, whom Columban was approaching, were pro- 
bably drinking Wtu)tan's minne ; Jonas relates how the saint blew 
the whole vessel to pieces and spoilt their pleasure : manifesto 
datur intelligi, diabolum in eo vase fuisse occultatum, qui per pro- 
fanum 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 öl 08ni (give three tuns of 
ale to Oöinn), Fomm. sog. 2, 16. gefa Thor ok OBni öl, ok signa 
full äsum, ibid. 1, 280. drecka minni Thors ok OBins, 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 Johannis segen (blessing) ; it is not done in any of the neigh- 
bouring places. In Sweden and Norway we find at Candlemas a 
dricka eldborgs skal, drinking a toast (see Superst. i, Swed. 122). 

^ Thomasius de poculo S. Johannis vulgo JohanniBtnmk, Lips. 1675. 
Scheffers Haltans p. 165. Oberlin s. yb. Johannis minn und trunk. Schmeller 
2, 593. Hannoy. mag. 1830, 171-6. Ledeburs archly 2, 189. On Qertrude 
espec., Huyd. op St. 2, 343-5. Clignett's bidr. 392-411. Hoffm. horae belg. 
2, 41-8. Antiqvanske annaler 1, 313. Hanka's Bohem. glosses 79^ 132* 
render Johannis amor by moaid mina (holy m.). And in that Sloyenic docu- 
ment, the Freysinger MS. ^Kopitar's Glagolita zxxyii, conf. xliii) is the 
combination : da klanyamse, i modlimse, im i tchesti ich piyem, i obieti nashe 
im nesem (ut genuflectamus et precemur eis et honores eorum bibamus et obU- 

fationes nostras illis feramus); tchest id honor, rifiT], cultus, our old £ra ; but 
also find slava (fame, glory) used in the sense of minne, and in a Servian 
songTVuk, 1 no. 94) wine is drunk * za slaye bozhye ' to the glory of God. In 
the rmnish mythology is mentioned an Uhkon malja, bowl of iJkko ; malja a 
Swed. sk&l, strictly scutella, potatio in memoriam yel sanitatem. 



BONNE-DRINKINa. 63 

Now that Suevic cvpa filled with beer (p. 75) was a hallowed 
stierißeial cauldron, like that which the Cimbri sent to the emperor 
Augustus.^ Of the Scythian cauldron we have already spoken, 
p. 75 ; and we know what part the cauldron plays in the H^mis- 
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 Askäül, Th&rkäül (abbrev. Thorkel) AS. Oscytd 
(Kemble 2, 302} ; they point to kettles consecrated to the äs 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 halced 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 
attnbutes of a god.^ From a striking passage in the Fridthiofssaga 
(fomald. sog. 2, 86) it appears that the heathen at a disa blot baked 
images of gods and smeared them with oil : * sätu konur viS eldinn 
ok bökuSu go8in, en sumar smurCu ok ]>evt5vi meS dükum,' women 
sat by the fire and baked the gods, while some anointed them with 
cloths. By Fri8>iof s fault a baked Baldr falls into the fire, the fat 
blazes up, and the house is burnt down. According to Voetiiis de 
superstit 3, 122 on the day of Paul's conversion they placed a 
figure of straw before the hearth on which they were baking, and 
if it brought a fine bright day, they anointed it with butter ; other- 
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). 

1 Unii^aw TU Htßaar^ limpov rhv Uptnurov imp' avrois Xißtira^ the most 
nered cauldron uiey had, Stiabo VII. 2. 

• Baking in the shape of a boar must have been much more widely spread 
than in the North alone, see below, Fro's boar ; even in France they baked 
c o d Witm for New Tear's day, Mem. de l'ac celt 4, 429. 



64 woRSfflP. 

Beside prayers and sacrifices, one essential feature of the 
heathen cnltus remains to be brought out: the solemn carrying 
alxmt 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 Berecynthia (ch. XIII), so Fr6 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 sonargöltr (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 simvlacro 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 
ambüu circumfcrentes et domos vestras lustrantes, et pro gentilüio 
ambarvali 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 
praedicto mane determinatum a vobis ambitum pia lustratione com- 
plentes ad monasterium cum honore debito reportetis. Confido 
autem de patroni hujus misericordia, quod sic ai ea gyrade terrae 
semina uberius proveniantf et variae aeris inclementiae cessent. The 
Eoman ambarvalia were purifications of fields, and sacrifices were 



PROCESsioNa 65 

offered at the tenninus publicus ; the May procession and the riding 
of hounds 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 com with loud cries ; Giesebrecht 1, 87 



CHAPTEK 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 alhs fem. translates the Jewish-Christian notions of 
valy; (Matt 27, 5. ol. Mk. 14, 58. 15, 29. Lu. 1. 9. 21. 2 Cor. 6, 
16) and iepov (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-haUowed word, for it shares the anomaly of 
several such nouns, forming its gen. alhs, dat alh, instead of alhais, 
alhai Once only, John 18, 20, gvdhus stands for iep6v ; 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 1/009 were found 
quite inoflfensive for christian use ? 

Possibly the same word appears even earlier ; namely in Tacitus, 
Germ. 43 : apud Naharvalos antiquae religionis lucus ostenditur ; 
praesidet sacerdos muliebri omatu, sed deos interpretatione romana 
Castorem Pollucemque memorant. Ea vis numini, nomen Aids; 
nulla simulacra, nullum peregrinae superstitionis vestigiuuL 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 cdhs, A pair of heroic brothers was worshipped, 
without any statues, in a sacred grove ; the name can hardly be 
ascribed to them^ it is the abode of the divinity that is called cdx, 
Numen is here the sacred wood, or even some notable tree in it* 

1 Unless it were dat. pi. of alcus [or alca aXic^l. A Wendicholz, Bohem. 
holec, which has been adduced, is not to the point, for it means stricthr a bud 
naked wretch, a beggar boy, Pol. golec, Riiss. gholiak. Besides, the Naharvali 
and the other Lygian nations can scarcely have been Slavs. 

' I 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 aKKjj strength, safeguard, and the dat. oKkI pointing to a nom. aX( ; * iXxm 
I defend ; or even Caes^s alces and Pausanias's &\km elks ? — ^Tbans. 



TEMPLES. 67 

Four or five centuries after XJlphilas, to the tribes of Upper 
Gennany their word alah must have had an old-fashioned heathen- 
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, Alahtrftt ; Alahstat in pago Hassorum 
(a.D. 834), Schannat trad. fuld. no. 404. Alahdorp in Mulahgowe 
(a.D. 856), ibid. no. 476. The names Alahstat, Aldhdorf may have 
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 fr&no (set apart to the 
fro, lord). Alstidi, a king's pfalz (palatium) in Thuringia often 
mentioned in Dietmar of Merseburg, was in 0116. 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 XJlphilas does alhs (3, 20. 22. 6,2. 14,9. 32,14. 115,9. 
15. 129, 22. 130, 19. 157, 16), seldomer godes hiU 155, 8. 130, 
18, or, that hSlaga h'As 3, 19. Caedm. 202, 22 alhn (1. alh häligne 
=holy temple) ; 258, 11 ealhstede (palatium, aedes regia). In 
Andr. 1642 1 would read ' ealde ealhstedas ' (delubra) for ' eolhstedas*, 
conC the proper names EalJistdn in Eemble 1, 288. 296 and Ealh- 
heard 1, 292 qua^ stone-hard, rock-hard, which possibly leads us to 
the primary meaning of the word.^ The word is wanting in ON. 
docaments, else it must have had the form air, gen. als. 

Of another primitive word the Gothic fragments furnish no 
example, the OH 6. ttnh (nemus), Diut. 1, 492' ; 0. Sax. mh masc. 
(tcmplum), HeL 3, 15. 17. 19. 14, 8. 115, 4. 119, 17. 127, 10. 
129, 23. 130, 17. 154, 22. 169, 1 ; friduvnh, HeL 15, 19 ; AS. 
wih wiges, or weoh weos, also masc. : wiges (idoli), Csedm. 228, 12. 
)risne wig wurCigean (hoc idolum colere), Caedm. 228, 24. conf. 
wigweorBing (cultus idolorum), Beow. 350. weohweorBing Cod. 
exon. 253, 14. wihgild (cultus idol.), Csedm. 227, 5. weobedd (ara), 
for weohbedd, wihbedd, Caedm. 127, 8. weos (idola), for vveohas, 
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 G ramm. 1 , 
462, the same seems to be true of the ON. w, which in the sing., as 

1 There is however a noun Hard, the name of many landing-places in the 
■oath of England, as Cracknor Hard, &c.— T&ans. 



68 TEMPLES. 

Ve, denotes one particular god ; but has a double pL, namely, a masc. 
vear dii, idola, and a neut. ve loca sacra. Gutalag 6, 108. Ill : 
haita ä liult e}?a hauga, ä vi e}?a stafgar}?a (invocare lucos aut tumuloa, 
idola aut loca palis circumsepta) ; trüa ä hult, ä liauga, vi oc staf- 
garj^a ; ban standr i vi (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 veiha (I hallow), 
vaih, vaihum, OHG. wihu, weih, wihum, from which also comes 
the adj. veihs sacer, OHG. wih ; and we saw on p. 41 that wihan 
was applied to sacrifices and worship. In Lappish, vi is said to 
mejin silva. 

Still more decisive is a third heathen word, which becomes 
specially important to our course of inquiry. The OHG. Jiarue 
masc, pi. harugä, stands in the glosses both for fanum, Hrab. 963^ 
for dehibrum, Hrab. 959*. for lucus, Hrab. 969% Jun. 212. 
Diut. 1, 495% and for nemus, Diut. 1, 492*. The last gloss, 
in full, inins thus : ' nemus plantavit=/br5^ flanzota, edo (or) 
haruc, edo rvih,' So that haruc, like wDi, includes on the one 
hand the notion of templum, fanum, and on the other that of wood, 
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 (RA. 794. 903). AS. hearg 
masc, pi. heargas (fanum), Beda 2, 13. 3, 30. Orosius 3, 9, p. 109. 
hearf/tvsdf (fani tabulatum), Beow. 349. set hearge, Kemble, 1, 282. 
ON. liorgr masc, pi. liörgar (delubrum, at times idolum, simulacrum)^ 
Saim. 36* 42* 91* 114^ 141* ; especially worth notice is Sa^m. 114^ : 
horgr hlaöinn steinom, griot at gleri orSit, ro8it 1 nyio nauta bloCi 
(h.paven with stones, grit made smooth, reddened anew with neat's 
blood). Sometimes horgr is coupled with hof (fanum, tectum), 36* 
141*, in which case the former is the holy place amidst woods and 
rocks, the built temple, aula ; conf. ' hamarr ok horgr I Fomm. sog. 
5, 239. To both expressions belongs the notion of the place as well 



^ And in one place haragä = arae. Elsewhere the heathen term for altar, 
Gk /3ö)/i6f , was Goth, hiuds, OHG. jtiot, AS. heod, strictly a table (p. 38) ; 
likewise the Goth, hadi, OHG. pdti, AS. hed^ bedd (lectus, p. 30) gets to mean 
ara, areola, fanum, conf. AS. wihbedy weohbedt weohed^ afterwards distorted into 
weofed (ara, altare), OHG. kotapetti (gods'-bed, lectus, pulvinar tempU), Graff 
3, 51 ; Mrith which compare Brunhild's bed and the like, also the Lat. lectister- 
nium. * Ad altare S. Kiliani, quod vulgo lectus dicitur,' Lang reg. 1, 239. 206 
(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 rifievo^ however also means the sacred 
grove, H 8, 48. 23, 148. rifuvo^ rdfiov, II. 20, 184. 

Lastly, synonymous with haruc is the OHG. paro, gen. parawes, 
AS. hearo, gen. bearwes, which betoken lucus^ and arbor, a sacred 
grove or a tree ; set bearwe, Kemble. 1, 255. ON. barr (arbor), 
Ssem. 109*; barri (nemus) 86^ 87*. qui ad aras 8acrificat=de za 
demo parawe (al. za themo we) ploazit, Diut. 1, 150 ; ara, or rather 
the pL 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 ciiltus of the 
Celts, will hold good of the Teutonic and all the kindred nations : 
KcXroi aeßovai /lev ^ia, ayaX/ia Se ^t09 kcXtckov inlrrjXrj Spu9, 
Maximus Tyrius (diss. 8, ed. Reiske 1, 142). Compare Lasicz. 46 : 
decs nerrurra incolere persuasum habent (Samogitae). Habitarunt 
di quoque sylviis (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 
long afterwards the architecture peculiar to the Teutons reached ite 

» To the Lat lücu» would correspond a Goth, läuhs, and this is confirmed 
br the OHG. 16K, AS. Uöh. The Engl, lea, ley hos acquired the meaning 
of meadow, field ; also the Slav, lug, Boh. lutz, w at once grove, glade, and 
meadow. Not only the wood, but wooded meadows were sacred to gods (see 
SappL)b 



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^ 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 humani oris speciem adsimulare ex magni* 
tudine coelestium arbitrantur. Liccos ac nenwra consecrarU, deorum- 
que nominibus adpellant secretum illud quod sola reverentia vident* 
Germ. 39, of the Semnones; State tempore in silvam auguriis* 
patrum et prisca formidxTie sacram^ omnes ejusdem^ sanguinis 
populi legationibus coeunt. est et alia liico reverentia. nemo nisi 
vinculo ligatus ingreditur, ut minor et potestatem numinis prae se 
ferens. si forte prolapsus est, attolli et insurgere baud licitum: 
per humum evolvimtur.* cap. 40 : est in insula oceani castvm 

1 Waldes hleo, hlea (umbra, tunbraculnm}, Hel. 33, 22. 73, 2a AS. hUo, 
ON. Wie, OHG. livxi, Graflf 2, 296, MHG. lie, lüwe. 

* Ruodolf of Fuld (t 863) has incorporated the whole passage, with a few 
alterations, in his treatise De translatione Alexandri (Pertz 2, 675), perhape 
from some intermediate source. Tacitus's words must be taken as they stand. 
In his day Germany possessed no masters who could build temples or cMsel 
statuei) ; so the grove was the dwelling of the gods, and a sacred symbol did 
instead of a statue. Moser § 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. Tnis view is too political, and also ill-suited to the Isolatioii 
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 Maaonna : 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 Cannelus, 
ita vocant montem deumque, nee simulacrum deo aut templum, sic tradidere 
majores, ara tantum et reverentia ; and in Dial, de Grat. 12 : nemora vero et 
luci et secretum ipsum. In Tacitus secretum = secessus, seclusion, not aicanom. 

* This hexameter is not a quotation, it is the author's own. 

* Whoever is engaged in a noly officer and stands in the presence and pre- 
cincts of the god, must not stumble, ana if he falls to the ground, he forfeits 
his privilege. So he who in holy combat sinks to the earth, may not set 



GBOY» 71 

nmtu, dicatumque in eo vehicalum veste contectmn. cap. 43: 
apud Naharvalos antiqtuu rdigionis lucus ostenditur . , . 
namini nomen Aids, niilla simulacra, cap 7 : effigies et signa {i,e, 
effigiata signa) quaedam detractae Iv/yis in proelium fenint ; with 
which connect a passage in Hist. 4, 22: inde deprompt» süvis 
/«a«que ferarum 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 Bomanorum apud lucum^ 
quern Baduhennae vocant, pugna in posterum extracta con- 
fectos; though it does not appear that this grove was a con- 
secrated one.^ Ann. 1, 61 : Iv^ds propinquis barbarae arae, apud 
quaa tribunes mactaverant ; conf. 2, 25 : propinquo luco defossam 
Varianae l^onis aquilam modico praesidio servari. Hist 4, 14 : 
Civilis primores gentis . . . sacrum in nemtis 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, Iticasqiie vetusta 
religione truces, et robora numinis instar 
barbarid nostrae feriant impune bipennes. 
De bello Get 545 : 

HortarUes his adde deos. Non somnia nobis, 
nee volucres, sed clara palam vox edüa Itico 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.^ But sacred vessels and altars 

himself on hiB legs, but must finish the fight on his knees, Danske viser 1, 115 ; 
so in certain places a stranger's carriage, ii overturned, must not be set upright 
again, RA. 554 What is fabled of an idol called Sompar at Görlitz (neue 
lutfitz. monatsschr. 1805, p. 1-18) has evidently been spun out of this passage 
in Tac ; the Senmones are placed in the Lausitz country, as they had been 
prerioualy by Aventin (Frankf. 1580, p. 27**), who only puts a king Schwab in 
the place of Sompar. 

^ Baduhenna, peihaps the name of a place, like Arduenna. MüUenhoff 
adds Badvinna, Patunna (Haupts zeitschr. 9, 241]. 

* Brissonitts de regno Pers. 2, 28 ; ' Persae diis suis nulla templa vel altaria 
conatituunt, nulla simulacra ' ; after Herodot 1, 131. 



72 TEMPLES. 

stand in the forest, heads of animals (ferarum imagines) bang on 
the boughs of trees. There divine worship is performed and 
sacrifice offered, there is the folk-mote and the assize, ever3rwbere a 
sacred awe and reminiscence of antiquity. Have not we here 
o/oÄ, vnh, paw, 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 Bonifacü (Canisius II. 1, 242. Pertz 2, 343) of 
the holy oak of Geismar (on the Edder, near Fritzlar in Hesse).^ 
The event falls between the years 725 and 731. Is autem (Boni- 
facius) ... ad obsessas ante ea Hessorum metas cum consensu 
Carli duels {i.e. of Charles Martel) rediit. tum vero Hessorum jam 
multi catholica fide subditi ac septiformis spiritus gratia confirmati 
manus impositionem acceperunt, et alii quidem, nondum animo 
confortati, intemeratae fidei documenta integre percipere renuerunt, 
alii etiam Unguis et faucibus clanculo, alii vero aperte sacrificabant, 
alii vero auspicia et divinationes, praestigia atque incantationes 
occulte, alii quidem manifeste exercebant, alii quippe auspicia et 
auguria intendebant, diversosque sacHficandi ritus incoluerunt, alii 
etiam, quibus mens sanier inerat, omni abjecta gentilitatis pro- 
phanatione nihil horum commiserunt. quorum consultu atque 
consilio arborem quandam mirae maz/nuvdinis, quae jprisco Pagan- 
orum vocahdo 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 diligcn- 
tissime devotabant, sed ad modicum quidem arbore praecisa 
confestim immensa rohoris moles, divino desuper flatu exagitata, 
palmitum confracto culmine, corruit, et quasi superi 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 maledictione, credentes 

^ A shorter account of the same in the annalist Saxo, p. 133. 



GROVES. 73 

leddiderant Tunc autem summae sanctitatis antistes consilio inito 
cum fratribus ex supradictae arboris materia ^) oratorium construxit, 
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 is well wooded (see SuppL). 

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 «o circumquaque laqueis vehementer irretivit, ut 
incolae terrae illius, relicto deo, arbores et ligna pro deo colerent, 
atque fana vel idola adorarent. — Ubi fana destruebantur, statim 
monasteria aut ecclesias construebat. — Amandus in pago belvacense 
verbum domini dum praedicaret, pervenit ad quendam locum, cui 
vocabulum est Eossonto juxta Aronnam fluvium . . . respondit 
ilia, quod non ob aliam causam ei ipsa coecitas evenisset, nisi quod 
amguria vel idola semper coluerat. insuper ostendit ei locum, in 
quo praedictum idolum adorare consueverat, scilicet arhorem, quae 
erat daemoni dedicata ... * nunc igitur accipe securim et hanc 
ne/andam arborem quantocius succidere festina'. 

Among the Saxons and Frisians the veneration of groves lasted 
much longer. At the beginning of the 11th century, bishop Unwan 
of Bremen (conf. Adam. Brem. 2, 33) had aU such woods cut down 
among the remoter inhabitants of his diocese : lucos in episcopatu 
sue, in quibus paludicolae regionis illius eirore väeri cum profes- 
sione falsa christianitatis immolaharU, succidit; Vita Meinwerci, 
cap. 22. Of the holy tree in the Old Saxon ImiinsM 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. Tlius, 
in the principality of Minden, on Easter Sunday, tlie young people 
of both sexes used with loud cries of joy to dance a reigen (rig, 

^ 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} In a thicket near the village of 
Wormeln, Paderborn, stands a holy oak, to which the inhabitant9 
of Wormeln and Calenberg still make a solemn procession every 
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. Still less can the name be explained by 
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 conmion 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 &om his castle into a 
holy wood : Hie vero (Luibertus) magno cum merore se in castrum 
recepit. Ex quo post aliquot dies mulier egrotum humeris clam in 
sylvarm Sytheri, quae fuit thegathon sacra, nocte portavit. Vulnera 
ibidem lavans, exterrita clamore efiugit. Ubi multa lamentatione 
animam expiravit. The strange expression thegathon is explained 
by t' ar^aßov (the good), a name for the highest divinity (summus 
et princeps omnium deoiTim), 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 Sundemhart 
in Franconia (Höfera 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 Münst. beitr. 3, 638. In the county of Hoya there 
stood a HeUigen-loh (Pertz 2, 362). A long list of Alsatian 
documants in Schöpflin allude to the holy forest near Hagenau ; no. 
218 (a.D. 1065) : cum foresto heiligenforst nominate in comitatu 
Gerhardi comitis in page Nortcowe. no. 238 (1106): in sylva 

1 Weddigen's westphal. mag. 3, 712. 

2 Spilckers beitrage 2, 121. 



GBovEa 75 

heilifff/orsL no. 273 (1143) : praedium Loubach in sacro nemore 
sitom. no. 297 (1158) : utantur pascuis in sacra silva, no. 317 
(1 175) : in silva sacra, no. 402 (1215) : in sacra silva. no. 800 (1292) 
conventum in königesbriicken in heüigenforst. no. 829 (1304) 
nemos nostrum et imperii dictum heüigvor&t. no. 851 (1310) 
pecora in foresta nostra, quae dicitur der heilige farst, pascere et 
teuere, 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 sihe ein obez hangen, I see a fniit hanging, 

ez habe här ode borst ; That it has hair or bristles ; 

in einem heiligen vorste In any holy forest 

ze Düringen noch ze Sachsen Of Thuringia nor of Saxony 

enkunde niht gewahsen There could not grow 

bezzer obez üf rise. Better fruit on bougL 

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 fr&ne ' ; and we have inklings now and again, 
if not 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 fiollow tree: 

da sint heiligen inne. There are saints in there, 

die hcerent aller liute bet.^ That hear aU people's prayers 

(see SuppL). 

1 Fxom the notion of a forest temple the transition is eas^ to paying divine 
bonoun to a single tree. Festns has : delvhrum fustis dehbratus (staff with 



76 TEMPLES. 

Still more unmistakably does this forest cultus prevail in thi 
North, protected by the longer duration of heathenism. The great 
sacrifice at Lcdera described by Dietmar (see p. 48) was perfonned 
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 
Hlöör Heiöreksson we are told in the Hervararsaga cap. 16 
(fomald. sog. 1, 491), that he was born with arms and horse in the 
holy wood (ä mörk hinni helgu). In the grove Glasidundr a bird 
sits on the boughs and demands sacrifices, a temple and gold-homed 
cows, Ssem. 140-1. The sacred trees of the Edda, Yggdrasil and 
MlmameWr, Söem. 109*, hardly need reminding ofl 

Lastly, tlie 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) aflBrms of the heathen temple 
at Kiedegost : quam undique sylva ab incolis intacta et venerabüis 
circumdat mag rue; (ibid. 816) he relates how his ancestor Wibert 
about the year 1008 rooted up a grove of the Slavs : locum Zuti- 
bure dictum, ab accolis lU deum in onmibus fionoratum, et ab aevo 
antique nunqiiam violaium, 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 
Udtlundr (sacrificial grove) at Straela, called Böku, Helmold 1, 1 
says of the Slavs: usque hodie profecto inter illos, cum cetera 

bark peeled off) qnem venerabantur pro dco. Names given to particular trees 
are at the same time names of goddesses, e.g. ON. Hl!n, GnL 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 
(Deutjjchc sagen, no. 348). In Carinthia you find Madonna figures fixed on the 
trees in gloomy groves (Sartoria reise 2, 165). Of like import seem to be the 
descriptions of wonderful maidens sitting inside hollow trees, or perched on the 
bougns (Marienkind, hausmärchen no. 3. Romance de la infantina, see ch. 
XVI.). Madonna in the wooil. Mar. legend. 177. Many oaks with Madonnas 
in Normandy, Bosquet 196-7. 



GROVES. 77 

omnia communia sint cum nostris, solus prohibetur accessus lucorum 
ac fontium, quos autumant pollui christianorum accessu. A song 
in the Königinhof MS. p. 72 speaks of the grove {hain, Boh. hai, 
hag, PoL gay. Sloven, gaj ; conf. gains, gahajus, Lex Eoth. 324, 
kaheius. Lex Bajuv. 21, 6) from which the christians scared away 
the holy sparrow.^ 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 confinio 
Wironiae erat rrums et süva pvlch^rrima, in quo dicebant indigenae 
magnum deum Osiliensium natum qui Tharapila^ 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.' 

The Vita S. Germani Autisiodorensis (b. 378, 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 
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.* Eo 
tempore (before 400) territorium Autisiodorensis urbis visitatione 
propria gubemabat Germanus. Cui mos erat tirunculorum potius 
industriis indulgere, quam christianae rcligioni operam dare, is 
ergo assidue venatui invigilans ferarum copiam insidiis atque artis 
strenuitate frequentissime capiebat. Erat autem arbor pints in 



> Brzetislay 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. 
Rosa, röshtcha, grove [root rek rok = fan, fatum ; roshtcha is from rosti, rasti 
= grow]. On threat of hostile invasion, they cut rods f wicie) from the grove, 
ana sent them round to summon their neighbours. Mickiewicz 1, 56. 

* Conf. Turupid in Fornm. sog. 11, 385; but on Slav nations conf. Schief- 
ner on Gastrin 329. 

• Joh. Voigts gesch. Preussens 1, 595 — 597. 

^ Acta sanctor. Bolland. July 31, p. 202 ; conf. Legenda aurea, cap. 102. 
' Uuic (Marti) praedae primordia vovebantur, huic truncis susptiidebantur 
exuvitUy Jomandes cap. 5. 



78 TEMPLES. 

urbe media, amoenitate gratissima : ad cujus ramusculos ferarum ab 
eo deprehensarum capita pro admiratione yenationis nimiae depen- 
debant. Quern Celebris ejusdem civitatis Amator episcopus his 
frequens compellebat eloquiis: 'desine, quaeso, vir honoratorom 
splendidissime, haec jocularia, quae Christianis offensa, Paganis vero 
imitanda sunt, exercere. hoc opus idololatriae cultura est, non chris- 
tianse elegantissimae disciplinae/ £t licet hoc indesinenter vir deo 
dignus perageret, ille tarnen nullo modo admonenti se adquiescere 
voluit aut obedire. vir autem domini iterum atque iterum eum horta- 
batur, ut non solum a consuetudine male arrepta discederet, verum 
etiam et ipsam arhorem, ne Christianis oJBfendiculum esset, radici- 
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. tunc beatus Amator 
opportunitatem opperiens sacrilegam arhorem cum caudicibus ab- 
scidit, et ne .aliqua ejus incredulis esset memoria igni concreman- 
dam illico deputavit. oscilla^) vero, quae tanquam trophaea cujus- 
dam certaminis umbram dependentia ostentabant, longius a civitatis 
terminis projici praecipit Protinus vero fama gressus suos ad 
aures Germani retorquens, dictis animum incendit, atque iram suis 
suasionibus exaggerans ferocem effecit, ita ut oblitus sanctae 
religioms, 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 : 

1 Virg. Georg. 2, 388 : tibique (Bacche^ osdUa ex alta suspenduut mollia 
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 I 
Does oscilla mean capita oscillantia 1 It appears that when they hung up the 
heads, they propped open the mouth with a stick, conf. Isengr. 645. Reinardus 
3, 293 (see Suppl). Nailing birds of prey to the gate of a burg or ham is^ well 
known, and is practised to this day. Hanging up horses' heads was mentioned 
on p. 47. The Grimnismal 10 tells us, in Ooin^s mansion there hung a wo^ 
outside the door, and over that an eagle ; were these mere simulacra and insignia t 
Witechind says, the Saxons, when sacrificing, set up an eagle over the gate : Ad 
orientalem portani ponunt aquilam, aramque Victoriae construentes ; this eacle 
seems to have been her emblem. A dog hung up over the threshold is also 
mentioned. Lex. Alam. 102. 



BÜILDINÖS. 79 

8ed deprensarum passim capita elteL/erarum 
arboris obseoenae paiviis luierentia ramü 
praebebant vano plausum spectacula vtilgo. 
horrebant illic trepidi ramalia cervi 
^ dirum frendentis apri, fera spicula, denies, 
acribus exitium meditantes forte molossis. 
tone quoque sio variis arbos induta tropaeis 
fondebat 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.^ 

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 buiU for single deities, and perhaps rude 
images set up inside them. In the lapse of centuries the old forest 
worship may have declined and been superseded by the structure 
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.) : 

Taa Germ. 40 describes the sacred grove and the worship of 
Mother Earth ; when the priest in festival time has canied the 
goddess round among the people, he restores her to her sanctuary : 
satiatam conversatione mortalium deam templo reddit. 

Tac. ann. 1, 51 : Csesar avidas legiones, quo latior populatio 
foret, quatuor in cuneos dispertit, quinquaginta millium spatium 
ferro flammisque pervastat; non sexus, non aetas miserationem 



^ St. Benedict fonnd at Montecassino vetustissimum fannm, in quo ex 
lotiquo mote gentilium a stulto rusticano popiilo Apollo colebatur, circwmquaque 
enim in coltom daemonionun luci tuecreverarUy in quibus adhnc ^>dem tempore 
infidelinm insana multitudo sacrificiis sacrilegiB insndabat Greg. Mag. didogi 
2, a. These were not Qetman heathens, but it proves the custom to have been 
the more oniversaL 



50 TEMPLES. 

attulit: profana eimul et sacra^ et celeberrimum illk gentibus 
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 Eomani et 
Lupicini in religione discipulus, ita etiam natalibus ac provincia 
extitit indigena atque concivis. ortus nempe est hand longe a vico 
cui vdicsta paganitas ob celebritatem clausuramque fortissimam 
superstiiiosissimi templi Gallica lingua Isamodori, id est, ferrei ostii 
indidit nomen : quo nunc quoque in loco, delubris ex parte jam 
dirutis, sacratissime micant coelestis regni culmina dicata Christi- 
colis; atque inibi pater sanctissimae prolis judicio pontificali 
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 
latest have 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, eisamadaiiri, still more exactly it 
might be Burgundian, Isamodori.^ 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? 
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 agio suo, 
ubicumque fuerint simulacra constnida vel idola dctemoni dedicata 

1 An inscription fonnd in Neapolitan territory, but supposed by Orelli 
2053 to have been made by Ligorius, has * Tamfanae sacrum ^ (Gudii inscript 
anti(i. p. Iv. 11, de Wal p. 188) ; the word is certainly German, and formed like 
Hludana, Sigana (Sequana), Liutana (Lugdunum), Käbana (Ravenna), &c. 

* Yet the Celtic forms also are not far removed, Ir. iaian, Wet haiarn. 
Armor, uam (ferrum) ; Ir. doras, Wei. dor (porta) : haeamdor = iron gate, 
quoted in Davies's Brit. Mythol. pp. 120, 560. 

' Frontier mountains held sacred and made places of sacrifice by aome 
nations ; Ritters 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 S. Badegundis (f 587) the wife of Clotaire, composed by a 
contemporary nun Baudonivia (acta Bened. sec. 1, p. 327): Dum 
iter ageret (Radegundis) seculari pompa se comitante, interjecta 
longinquitate terrae ac spatio, fanum quod a Fraricis colehatur in 
itinere beatae reginae quantum miliario uno proximum erat, hoc 
üla audiens jussit famulis fanum igne comburi, iniquum judicans 
Deum coeli contemni et diabolica machinamenta venerari Hoc 
andientes Franci universa multitude cum gladiis et fustibus vel 
omni fremitu conabantur defendere. sancta vero regina immobilia 
peiseverans et Christum in pectore gestans, equum quem 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. 

Gr^. Tur. vitae patrum 6 : Eunte rege (Theoderico) in Agrip- 
pinam urbem, et ipse (S. Gallus) simul abiit. erat autem ibi fanum 
quoddam diversis omamentis refertum, in quo barbaris (1. Barbarus) 
opima libamina exhibens usque ad vomitum cibo potuque repleba- 
tor. ibi et simulacra ut deum adorans, membra, secundum quod 
onumquemque dolor attigisset, sculpebat in ligno. quod ubi S. 
Gallus audivit, statim illuc cum uno tantum clerico properat, ac- 
oensoque igne, cum nullus ex stultis Paganis adesset, ad fanum 
applicat et succendit at iUi 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 postquam 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 
Xeustriae nuncupante Vinemaco (le Vimeu), traditum duci pagano 
{ie. duci terrae), nomine Bosoni Landegisilo (no doubt a Frank) 
quern ille direxit in villa quae dicitur Andesagina super fluvium 



82 • TEMPLES. 

Auciam, ubi erant templa fancUica a decurumibus etdta, (ajd, 
614.) Andesagina is Ansenne, Aucia was afterwards called la 
Bresle, Briselle. 

Beda, hist. eccl. 2, 13, relates how tlie 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 Coifi (Coefi) his chief heathen 
priest himself: Cumque a praefato pontifice sacrorum suoruni 
quaereret, quis aras et fana idolorum cum septis quibvs erarU 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 manu et ascendens 
emissarium regis (all three unlawful and improper things for & 
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 h&m, ubi 
pontifex ipse, inspirante Deo vero, polluit ac destruxit eas, quas 
ipse sacraverat, aras.^ 

Vita S. BertuflS Bobbiensis (+ 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 actia Bened. sea 2 
p. 219, 220 : • Venerunt (S. Columbanus et Gallus) infra partes 
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 



* The A.S. translation renders arae by wighed (see p. 67), fana by hearffos^ 
idola by deofolaild, septa once by hegas (hedges), and the other time by getjfväfnk 
The spear hurled at the hearg gave the signal lor its demolition. 



BUILDINGS. 83 

ibidem commanentes crudeles erant et impii, simidacra colentes, 
idola sacrißciü venerantes, observantes auguria et divinationes et 
multa quae contraria sunt cultui divino superstitiosa sectantes. 
Sancti igitur homines cum coepissent inter illos habitare, docebanl 
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 sacrißcabant, igni sue- 
cendit et quaecumque invenit oblata demersit in lacum. — Here 
follows an important passage which will be quoted further on ; it 
«ays expressly : cumque ejusdem templi solemnitas ageretur. 

Jonae Bobbiensis vita S. Columbani (f 615) cap. 17. in act. 
Bened. 2, 12. 13 : Cumque jam multorum monachorum societate 
densaretur, coepit cogitare, ut potiorem locum in eadem eremo 
(jit, Vosago saltu) quaereret, quo monasterium construeret. in- 
venitque castrum firmissimo munimine olim fuisse cultum, a supra 
dicto loco distans plus minus octo millibus, quem prisca tempora 
Luxovium nuncupabant, ibique aquae calidae cultu eximio constru- 
ctae habebantur. ibi imaginum lapidearum densitas \icina saltus 
densabat/ quas culfu miserabili rituque profano vetusta Paganorum 
tempora honorabant. — This Burgundian place then (Luxeuil in 
Franche Comt^, 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 namque intra vasta eremi septa, quae Vosagus dicitur, 
fnemt fanaticorum cultui olim dedicatum, sed tunc ad solum usque 
dimtum, quod hujus saltus incolae, quamquam ignoto praesagio, 
Loxovium [qu. lux ovium ?] nominavere. A church is then built 
on the heathen site : ut, ubi olim prophano ritu veteres coluemnt 
/ana, ibi Christi figerentur arae et erigerentur vexilla, habitaculum 
Deo militantium, quo adversus aerias potestates dimicarent supemi 
Regis tirones. p. 319: Ingressique (Agilus cum Eustasio) hujus 
itineris viam, juvante Christo, Warascos praedicatori accelerant, 
qui agrestium fanis decepti, quos vulgi faunos vocant, gentilium 

* The mnltitude of statues mcde the adjoining wood thicker ? Must we not 
fopply an ace copiam or speciem after imag. lapid. ? Fvicina saltus densabat 
emenily means ^crowded the a^oining part of the wood\ So in Ovid: deusae 
iolÜB buxi. — Traks.] 



.84 TEMPLES, 

quoque errore seducti, in perfidiam devenerant, Fotim seu Bonosi 
virus infecti, quos, errore depulso, matri ecclesiae reconciliatos veros 
Christi fecere servos. 

Vita S. WiUibrordi (f 789), in Acta Bened. sec. 3, p. 609 : 
Pervenit in confinio Fresonum et Danomm ad quandam insulam, 
quae a quodam deo suo Fosite ab accolis terrae Fositesland appd- 
latur, quia in ea ejusdem dei fana fuere constructa. Qui locus a 
paganis tanta veneratione habebatur, ut nil in eo vel animalium 
ibi pascentium vel aliarum quarumlibet rerum gentilium quisquam 
tangere audebat, nee etiam a fonte qui ibi ebulliebat aquam haunre 
nisi tacens praesumebat. 

Vita S. Willehadi (f 793), in Pertz 2, 381 : Unde contigit, ut 
quidam discipulorum ejus, divino compuncti ardore, /ana in morem 
gentilium circumquaque erecta coepissent evertere et ad nihilum, 
prout poterant, redigere ; quo facto barbari, qui adhuc forte 
perstiterant, furore nimio succensi, irruerunt super eos repente cum 
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 
asperrimos . . . mitigavit, ut sua ilium delubra destruere coram 
oculis paterentur. Inventum infants 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, quem veteres, a loco ubi swperstUiosa 
gentilitas fanum Marti sacraverat, Fanum Martinse dixeruut — ^This 
is Famars in Hainault, not far from Valenciennes. 

In all probability the sanctuary of Tanfana which Germanicus 
demolished in A.D. 14 was not a mere grove, but a real building, 
otherwise Tacitus would hardly have called the destruction of it a 
' levelling to the ground '. During the next three or four centuries 
we are without any notices of heathen temples in Germany. In 
the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries, as I have shown, we come 
upon castra, templa, fana among Burgundians, Franks, Lombards, 
Alamanns, Anglo-Saxons, and Frisians. By /aMWwi (whence fana- 
ticus) seems often to have been understood a building of smaller 



BUILDINGS. 85 

extent, and by iemplum one of larger ; the Indiculus superatit. xxxi. 
4 has : ' de casulis (huts), i,e. funis ' (see SuppL). I admit that 
same 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 Gennan 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 
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 
hypothesis, cases of both kinds may have co-existed. So much for 
the 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 
temples; and what was done in the first century, is still more likely 
to have been done in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. 

Bum Temples must in early times have been named in a variety 
of ways (see Suppl.) : OHG. AS. OS. ON. Jwf, aula, atrium f — 
OHG. halla, templum (Hymn. 24, 8), AS. heal, ON. holl (conf hallr, 
lapis, GotL hallus) ; — OHG. sal, ON. salr, AS. sele, OS. seli, aula ; — 
AS. reced., domus, basiUca (Csedm. 145, 11. 150, 16. 219, 23), OS. 
rakud (HeL 114, 17. 130, 20. 144, 4 155, 20), an obscure word not 
found in the other dialects ; — OHG. petapür, delubrum (Diut. 1, 



* As the vulgar took Roman fortifications for devil's dikes, it was natural 

to associate with Roman castella the notion of idolatry. Rupertus Tuitiensis 

Ct 1135) in his account of the fire of 1128 that levelled such a castelliim at 

Deur, which had been adapted to christian worship, informs us that some 

thought it was built by Julius Caesar, others by Constantius and Constantine. 

hi the emperor Otto's time, St. Mary appears by night to archbishop Heribert: 

* surge, et Tuitiense castrum petens, locum in eodem mimdari praecipe, ibique 

monasterium Deo mihique et omnibus Sanctis constitue, ut, ubi quondam 

habitavit neccatum et cuUus daemonum^ ibi iustitia regnet et memoria 

«anctorum, with more of the like, in the Vita Heriberti cap. 15. Conf. the 

fanum at Cologne above, p. 81. 

' The asylum that atrium and temple offeretl within their precincts is in 
ON. gri^agta&r, OHG. frtdhof, OS. vrithob, Hel. 151, 2, 9. MHO. vi^ne 
^Uhof^ Nib. 1795, 2 ; not at all our friedhof [but conn, with frei, free], conf. 
Goth, freidjan, OS. frldön (parcere). That the constitution of the Old 
G«nnan sanctuaries was still lor the most part heathenish, is discussed in RA. 
886-92. 



86 TEMPLES. 

195*)^; — to which were afterwards Bidäed petaJiils, minores ecclesiae 
(Gl. sletst. 21, 32) and chirihM, AS. cyrice. The MHG. poets like 
to use hetehiXa of a heathen temple as opposed to a christian church 
(En. 2695. Bari. 339, 11.28. 342,6. Athis D 93. Herb. 952. Wigal. 
8308. Pass. 356, 73. Tit. 3329), so in M. NethL bedehds (Maerl. 
1, 326. 3, 125), much as the Catholics in their own countries do not 
allow to Protestants a church, but only a bethaus, pra3'ing-house 
(see SuppL). 0. iv. 33, 33 has the periphrase gotes hits, and ii 4, 
52 druhilnes hUs, Notker cap. 17 makes no scruple of translating 
the Lat. fanis by chilechon, just as bishop does duty for heathen 
priest as well. In the earliest times temple was retained, la. 382. 
895. T. 15,4. 193,2. 209,1. Diut. 1, 195.» 

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, and fire 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 Frankish temple, had not 
her escort been numerous enough to make head against the heathen. 
That these did make an armed resistance, appears from Badegund'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.* In this way the 

• 

^ Actum in illo betapüre (the church at falda) publice. Trad. Fuld. ed. 
Schannat no. 193. in hedehur, LacombL no. 412 (a.D. 1162). in hedebwre^ Erhard 
p. 148 (a.D. 1121). hetbwr, Meyer Zürch. ortsn. 917. 

* Sulp. Severus (ed. Amst. 1665), p. 458 : Nam ubi fana destruxerat 
(MartinuB), staiim ihi aut ecclenas aut monasteria constriiebcU. Dietmar of Meneb. 
7, 52, p. 859 (speaking of Bishop Reinbem on Slav, territory, A.D, 1016) : 



TEMPLES. 87 

people's habits of thinking were consulted, and they conld 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 Sigtön, baer 1 Baldrshaga, and the Nomas' temple. 
Either these were levelled with the ground to make room for a 
christian church, or their walls and haUs 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 have evidence of this in the grave-mounds and places 
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 results are these : the earliest seat of heathen worship was 
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 idolonun destraeiiB incendit, et mare daemonibiiB cnltnm, immissis qnatuor 
lapidibos sacro chrifimate perunctis, et aqua purgans benedicta, novam Domino 
. . . plantationem eduxit — On the conveision of the Pantheon into a 
cbnich, see Massmann's Eradius 476. 



CHAPTEE V. 
PEIESTS. 

The most general term for one who is called to the immediate 
service of deity (minister deorum, Tac. Germ. 10) is one derived 
from the name of deity itself. From the Goth. guS (deus) is formed 
the adj. gaguds (godly, pius, eio-e/Si;?), then gagudei (pietas, eifcißeia). 
In OHG. and MH6., I find pius translated Srhaft, 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, gvdja (eepev?, 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 (apxt^p^vsi) Mk 10, 33. gvdßndn {Upar€V€iv), 
Lu. 1, 8. gudjinassus {lepareia) Lu. 1, 9. (see Suppl.). 

That these were heathen expressions follows from the accordance 
of the OK goSi (pontifex), hofs godi (fani antistes), Egilss. 754. 
Freys go&i, Nialss. cap. 96. 117. Fomm. sog. 2, 206. goSord 
(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. coHtic by which tribunus is 
glossed, Diut. 1, 187 (Goth, gudiggs ?). — Now as Ulphilas^ associates 
gudja and sinista {irpeaßvrepo^, 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 saeerdas 
omnium maximus apud Burgundios vocatur sinistuSt et est perpetu- 
us,* obnoxius discriminibus nuUis 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 
Jianigari, Diut. 1, 514V emd parawari, Diut. 1, 150*, (being derived 
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 attaching to sin- in compoeition, see Gramin. 
2, 554-5. 

* If haruc meant wood or rock, and harugari priest, they are very like the 
Ir. and Gael, cam, caim^ and caimeac priest. O'Bnen 77*. 



PRIESTS. 89 

confinning 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 
dose connexion between the offices of priest and judge, which 
comes out still more clearly in a term peculiar to the High Germ, 
dialect : iwa, ia signified not only the secular, but the divine law, 
these being closely connected in the olden times, and equally 
sacred ; hence iowart. Swart law- ward, administrator of law, vo/iifc6^, 
AS. «e-gleaw, ffe-lareow, Goth, vitödafasteis, one learned in the law, 
K. 55* 56%»». Gl. Hrab. 974». N. ps. 50, 9. Avarto of the weak decl. 
in O.I. 4, 2. 18. 72. gotes Swarto I. 4, 23. and as late as the 12th 
century Sicarte, Mar. 21. and, without the least reference to the 
Jewish office, but quite synonymous with priest : der heilige 
Swarte, Eeinh. 1705. der bäruc und die iwarten sin, Parz. 13, 25. 
Wh. 217, 23 of Saracen priests (see Suppl.). The very similar 
iosago, Sscugo stood for judex, legislator, EA. 781. 

The poet of the Heliand uses the expression vnhzs ward (templi 
custos) 150, 24-; to avoid the heathen as well as a foreign term, he 
adopts periphrases: the gier6do man (geehrte, honoured), 3, 19. 
the frddo man (frot, fruot, prudens) 3, 21. 7, 7. frddgumo (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'} In the Eomance expressions prvdens homo, bonus 
homo (prudhomme, bonhomme) there lurks a reference to the 
ancient jurisprudence. — Once Ulphilas renders afy)(i€p€v^ by aiihu- 
mists veiha, John 18, 13, but never iepev^ by veiha. 

With Christianity there came in foreign words (see Suppl). 
The Anglo-Saxons adopted the Lat. sacerdos in abbreviated form : 
ioctrd, pi. sacerdas; and -<Elfred translates Beda's pontifex and 
summus pontificum (both of them heathen), 2, 13 by hiscop and 
(Morhiscop. T. and 0. use in the same sense hisgqf, hiscof (from 



» Parz. 457, 2. 458, 25. 460, 19. 476, 23. 487. 23. The g6do gumo. Hel. 4, 16 
is said of John ; ther guato man, 0. ii. 12, 21 . 49 of Nicodemus ; in Ulrich's Lan- 
»lot, an abbot is styled der guote man, 4613. 4639. conf. 3857, 4620^warte, 4626 
Prieater. But with this is connected diu guote frouxce (v. infra), i.e. originally 
^Qa socia, bo that in the good msm also there peeps out something heathenisli, 
lieretical. In the great Apologue, the cricket is a clergyman, and-is called 
(Ren. 8125) preudoma and Irobert = Fruotbcrt (see Suppl.). 



90 PRIESTS. 

episcopus), 0. 1. 4, 4 27. 47 ; and the HeL 150, 24 biseop. Later 
on, 'priester (from presbyter, following the idea of elder and superior), 
and pfaffe (papa) came to be the names most generally used ; AS. 
preost, Engl, priest, Fr. predre, prötre ; in Veldek, prfester rhymes 
with master, 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 conti-a- 
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 
sacrifices ; and 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 titles, were employed in the worship of the gods 
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 quidem nisi saeerdotibus per- 
missum, non quasi in poenam, nee ducis jussu, sed velut deo 
imperante, quem adesse bellantibus credunt. Germ. 7 (see SuppL). 
The succeeding words must also refer to the priests, it is they that 
take the ' eflBgies 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 (RA 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. The ptiest 
alone may touch the car of Nerthus, by him her approaching 
presence is perceived, he attends her full of reverence, and leads 



PBEESTS. 91 

her back at last to her sanctuary, cap. 40. Segimund, the son of 
ßggestes, whom Taa Ann. 1, 57 calls sacerdos, had been not a 
German but a Eoman 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 their attire, their insignia and gradations, we hear nothing at 
all ; once Tacitus cap. 43 speaks of a sacerdos mvliebri omatu, 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 lower ones. Only one is cited by name, the Cattian, i.e. 
Hessian, Libes in Strabo (Aißrj^ riov Xdrrwv Upev^\ who with 
other German prisoners was dragged to Eome in the pompa of 
Germanicus. Of him Tacitus (so far as we still have him) is 
silent.* Jomandes's statement is worthy of notice, that the Gothic 
priests were 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. SA. 271 (see SuppL). OSinn is called SiShöttr, 
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 fact of some importance has been 
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 praderquam 
in equoL equitare. Can this have any connexion with the r^ulation 
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 (EA. 86-88) ? Festus also 
remarks : JSqiLO vehi flamini diali non licebat, ne, si longius digre- 
deretur, sacra n^legerentur (see SuppL). The transmission of 
such customs, which have impressed themselves on the habits of 

1 Libes might be Leip, Ub, O.N. Leifr, Gott. L&ibs ? A var. lect has Alßvs. 



92 PRIESTS. 

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 people to 
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. From the ranks of the heathen priesthood 
would therefore proceed both the bitterest foes and the warmest 
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 f all.^ 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 räöa 
fyrir blotum ok dömum manna 1 milli (they had to advise about 
sacrifices and dooms) ; and it adds, that they had been named diar 
(divi) and drdttnar (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 dröttnar with real human priests. 

^ Just as the Catholic clergy furnished os well the props as the opixments of 
the Reformation. The notable example of a heathen priest abjuring ms ancient 
faith, and even putting forth his hand to destroy the temple ne had once held 
sacred, has been quoted from Beda on p. 82. This priest was an £nglish, not 
a British one, though Beda, evidently for the mere purpose of more exactly 
marking his station, designates him by a Gaefic word Coifi (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. 

' Ed. Würdtw. 82. Serr. 140 : Pro sacrilegis itaque presbyteris, ut scripsisti, 
qui tauros et hircos diis paganorum immolabant, manducantes sacrificia mor- 
tuorum. . . . modo vero incognitum esse, utrum baptizantes trinitatem 
dixissent an non, &c. — Connect wim this the presbyter Jovi mactans, £p. 25. 



FBIEST& 93 

I most draw attention to the fact, that certain men who stood 
nearer to the gods by services and veneration, and priests first of 
all, are entitled /ricn& of the gods^ (see SuppL). Hence such names 
as Freysvinr, AS. Fredvnne, Bregonnne for heroes and kings (see ch. 
X, Frowin). According to Eyrbygg. pp. 6, 8, 16, 26, Eolfr was a 
Thdrs vinr ; he had a hof of that god on a meadow, and was there- 
fore named Th6rr61fr, he dedicated to him his son Steinn and named 
him Thörsteinn, who again dedicated his son Giimr to the god and 
named him Thdigrimr ; by this dedicating (gefa), was meant the 
appointing to the office of goSi or priest. And (according to Landn. 
2, 23) Hallstein gave his son as goSi to Thorr. Here we see the 
priestly office running on through several generations (see SuppL). 
However, Odysseus is also called AA ^tXov, IL 10, 527. Also 
AXoKoi; <f>i\o^ äOcufdrouri 0€oiai, Od. 10, 2 ; but then in Od. 10, 21 
he is rafiifj^ avi^uov, 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 Nialssaga. In Iceland, even under Christianity, the judges 
retained the name and several of the functions of heathen godar, 
Grägäs 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 coimty cavldroUy or weights and measures, and above 
all, the brood^nimals, to which great favour is shown everywhere 
(see SuppL). 

The goCi is also called a bldtmaffr (sacrificulus), bliotr (Egilssaga 
p. 209), but all blötmenn 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 

^ The MHQ. poets still bestow on hermits and monks the epithets gotes 
friuntj goU$ degen Q'egn, warrior). In the Renner 24587, St Joet is called 
beiliger got€$ kfuht (cniht, servant). [See however * servus dei, famulus del ' 
pttbsim in the lives of saint«]. 



94 PRIESTS. 

relates of Harald after his baptism : Delubra diruit, victimarios 
proscripsit, flaminium abrogavit. By victimarii he must mean 
bl6tmemi, 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 hofgoffar are styled lioffasmidir (song- 
smiths), Yngl. saga cap. 6. Can skdld (poeta, but neut.) be the 
same as the rare OHG. sgalto (sacer) ? Diut. 1, 183. 61. 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 Boman vates is 
alike songster and soothsayer, and soothsaying was certainly a 
priestly function. Amm. MarcelL 14, 9 mentions Alamannian 
allspices, and Agathias 2, 6 /idmei^ or 'Xprja-fioXiyöi ^ ÄkaiLawucoL 

Ulphilas avoids using a Gothic word for the frequently occur- 
ring 7r/3o</)ifn79, he invariably puts praiifetus, and for tlie fem. 
irpoj>rYn^ praiifSteis, Lu. 2, 36 ; why not veitaga and veitagd ? The 
OHG. and AS. versions are bolder for once, and give wizago, MoUega} 
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 Mimir 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, M^on 4, 145. ce dient li 
devin, Ben. 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 

^ The ! is become ei in our weissager, MHG. visaage for ^^**^ ; equalW 
erroneous is our verb weissagen, MHG. wlsaagen, Iw. 3097 (OHG. wizag6n» AS. 
witegian). 



96 PRIESTS. 

cited by Dio Cassius, 67, 5 ;^ and in the year 577 Gunthcramnus 
consulted a woman ' habentem spiritum phitonis, ut ei quae erant 
eventura narraret/ Greg. Tur. 5, 14 (in Almoin 3, 22 she is mulier 
phytonissa, i.e. irvOtavtaad), One much later still, Thiata, who had 
come to Mentz out of Alamannia, is noticed in the Annals of Fulda, 
anno 847 (Pertz 1, 365).2 As Cassandra foretold the flail of Troy, 
our prophetesses predict the end of the world (v. infra) ; and 
Tacitus Ann. 14, 32 speaks of British druidesses in these words : 
Feminae in furore turbatae adesse exitium canebant ; cont 14, 30. 
But we have the sublimest example before us in the Völuspä (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 

^ Tavva (aL TavvcL) irap3(vof fitrh r^v BcX^day tv rj KfXrucj 0ftd(ovaum 
conf. the masc. name UannusciLs in Ann. 11, 18. 19 ; the fern. GannOy dat Oan- 
nane, in a Lothr. urk., as late as 709, Don Calmet, ed. 1728, torn. 1. preuves p. 
265. 

' Traditions, which Hubertus Thomas of Lüttich, private secretary to the 
Elector Palatine, according to his book De Tungris et Eburonibus 1541, pro- 
fesses to liave received from an antiquary Joan. Berger out of an old book 
(libello vetustissimis characteribus descripto), and which he gives in his treatise 
De Heidelbei^gae antiquitatibus, relate as follows : Quo tempore Velleda virgo 
in Bruchteris imperitabat, vetula quaedam, cui nomen Jettha, eiun coUem, 
ubi nunc est arx Heidelbergensis et Jetthae coUis etiam none nomen 
habet, inhabitabat, vetustissimumque jp^num incolebat, cujus fragmenta adhoc 
nuper vidimus, dum comes palatinus Fridericus factus elector e^rc^am domum 
construxit, quam novam aulam appellant. Haec mulier ixUicinits inclyta, et 
quo venerabilior foret, raro in conspectum hominum prodiens, yolentibus eon- 
siliy/m ab ea petere, de fenestra, rum prodeunie vuUu, respondebat. Et inter cetera 
praedixit, ut inconditis versibus cauebat, suo colli a fatis esse datum, ut futuris 
temporibus regiis viris, quos nominatim recensebat, inhabitaretur et templis 
celeberrimis omaretur. Bed ut tandem fabulosae antiquitati valedicamus, lubet 
adscribere quae is liber de infelici morte ipsius JetUuu continebat. Egieasa 
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, ouibus vehementer 
ilia coepit delectari, et assidens ex illis bibebat, cum ecce lupa liunelica cum 
catulis e silva prorupit, quae conspectam mulierem nequicquam divos invocan- 
tem dilaniat et irustatim discerpsit, quae casu suo fonti nomen dedit, yocatoique 

?uippe in hodiemum diem fons luporum ob amoenitatem loci omnibus notus. 
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 ( = Heidberc) ; 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. MenglöÜy OHG. Maniklata ]) on the rock, with nine virgins at 
her knees (Saem. 110. HI). If the enchantress's name were Heida instead of 
Jettha, it would suit the locality better, and perhaps be an echo of the ON. 
Hei&r, 



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 
in the Olaf Tryggv. saga (Fomm. sog. 2, 73 seq.), which the 
christian composer evidently presents in an odious light» we at all 
events gather that in Sweden a virg^in attended the car of Freyr on 
its travels among the people: Frey var fengin til J^ionosto hma 
ung ok frttJ (into Frey's service was taken a woman young and 
fair), and she is called hma Freys. Otherwise a priestess is 
called gy^ja, hofgyffja, corresponding to goBi, hofgo8i ; ^ see Turiör 
hofgyöja, Islend. sog. 1, 205. J^orlaug gyöja, Landn. 1, 21. 
»ein vor and Fridgerör, 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 
konftngr ätti möt5ur miök gamla ok örvasa, svä at hun lä t rekkju, 
en Jk) var hun frams^n af Fitons anda^ sem margir heiSnir menu 
(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), Fomm. 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 dU (nympha, numen). It may be not 
accidental, that the späkona in several instances bears the proper 
name Th&rdis (Vatnsd. p. 186 seq. Fomm. sog. 1, 255. Islend. sog. 
1, 140. Eormakkss. 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. üis, OS. idis, AS. 
ides (femina, njrmpha). — As famous and as widely spread was the 
term volva^ which first denotes any magic- wielding soothsayeress 
(Vatnsd. p. 44. Fomm. sog. 3, 214. Fomald. sog. 2, 165-6. 506), 
and is afterwards attached to a particular mythic Volva, of whom 
one of the oldest Eddie songs, the Volvspd, treats. Either völu 

1 Gbn oar gffUe, gothe, goth for godmother (taufpathin, susceptrix e sacro 
fbnte) be the survival of an old heathen term 1 Morolt 3184 hae gode of the 
bapCued TiigiiL 

* The SUvk voUchv magna.— Trans. 

7 



98 PRIESTS. 

stands here for völvu^ or the claim of the older form Vala may be 
asserted ; to each of them would correspond an OHG. Walawa or 
Wala, which suggests the Walada above, being only derived in a 
different way. In the saga Eirlks rauSa we come upon Thorbiorg, 
the little Vala (Edda Ssem. Hafn. 3, 4). — Hei9r is the name not 
only of the völva in the Edda (Saem. 4^ conf. 118^) but also of the 
one in the Orvarodssaga (conf. SagabibL 3, 155). — Hyndla (canicula) 
is a {)rophetess that rides on wolves, and dwells in a cave. — I guess 
also that the virgins Thorgerdr and I'rpa (Fomm. sog. 2, 108. 3, 100. 
11, 134-7. 142. 172), to whom all but divine honours were paid, 
and the title of hörgabrüSr (nympha lucorum) and even the name 
of guts (numen) was accorded, Nialss. cap. 89, are not to be excluded 
from this circle. So in the vcUkyrs, beside their godhood, there 
resides somewhat of the priestly, e,g. their virginity (see ch. XVI 
and SuppL). 

We shall return to these ' gleg * and ' wise ' women (and they 
have other names besides), who, in accordance with a deeply 
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 gods can be claimed for Germany in the oldest time. All the 
bfanches 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, hörgr, 
goSi were known long before, and with the same meanings, to the 
Goths, Alamanns, Franks and Saxons. And this identity or 
aimilari^ 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 bom alive and 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 GODa 

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 (f before 582), himself a newly converted Greek, who 
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 : BivSpa re yap riva ikdaKoPTtu 
Kal pelOpa irorafiiov koI XS^ov^ teal (fxipayya^t ical tovtoi<; Aawep 
oa-ia Bpcjvre^ 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 obsequium praebuisse, nee prorsus agnovere Deum, 
sibique silvarum atque aquarum, avium bestiarumque et aliorum 



GODS. 101 

qnoque elementorum finxere formas, ipsasque ut deum colere eisque 
sacrificia delibare consuetL Greg. Tnr. 2, 10. — Similarly, Einhard 
(iSginhard) in Vita üaroli cap. 7, about the Saxons : Sicut omnes 
fere Germaniam incolentes nationes et natura feroces et cultui 
daemonum dediti, nostraeque religion! contrariL — Euodolf of Fuld, 
after quoting Tacitus and Einhard, adds (Pertz 2, 676) : Nam et 
frondosis arboribus fontibusque venerationem exhibebant ;^ and then 
mentions the Irminsdl, 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 et fontium ceterarumque superstitionum multiplex error 
apud eos habetur . . . Yicelinus . . . lucos et omnes 
ritus sacril^os 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. Turon. 
IL 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 obtiderit 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 sacrilegos 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 it timidly in usages kept up by stealth ; at the 
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 

^ Adam of Bremen again copies Ruodolf, Pertz 9, 286. 



102 GODS. 

common people, but withdrawn from all regulating guidance hj 
heathen priests, could not fail soon to become vulgarized, and to 
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. A sentence 
in Cnut's AS. laws (Schmid 1, 50) shows, that fountain and tree 
worship does not exclude adoration of the gods themselves : 
Hseöenscipe biö, J^a^t man deofolgild weoröige, J^ait is, ]>sst man 
weorSige hseöene godas, and sunnan oSöe mönan, fyre oööe floöwse- 
ter, wyllas oöSe stänas oS?5e seniges cynnes wudutreowa; conf. 
Homil. 1, 366. Just so it is said of Olaf the Saint, Fomm sog. 5, 
239, that he abolished the heathen sacrifices and gods : Ok mörg 
önnur (many other) blotskapar skrimsl, bseSi hamra ok hörga, 
skSga, vötn ok trS ok oil önnur blot, bfleSi meiri ok minni. 

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. It was thought advisable to include them 
all under the general title of demons or devils, and utterly uproot 
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 
right to be placed on a level with the report of it given by Tacitus 
from five to eight centuries before, when it was 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 
defective sketches by a Eoman stranger ? When he expressly 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 



G0D8. 103 

without invoking the gods (precatus deos) and who regards himself 
as a servant of the gods (ministros deorum), of a regruUor omnium 
dens, of the gods of Germany (Germaniae deos in aspectu, Hist 5, 
17), of the diis patriis to whom the captured signa Eomana were 
hnng np (Ann. 1, 59) ; when he distinguishes between pendrales 
Germaniae deos or dii penates (Ann. 2, 10. 11, 16), communes dii 
(Hist. 4, 64), and canjugales dii (Germ. 18) ; when he even distin- 
gui.shes individual gods, and tries to suit them with Roman names, 
and actually names (interpretatione Romana) a Mars, Mercurius, 
Hercules, Castor and Pollux, Isis, nay, has preserved the German 
appellations of the deus terra editus and of his son, and of a goddess, 
the terra mater ; how is it possible to deny that at that time the 
Germans worshipped veritable gods ? How is it possible, when we 
take into account all the rest that we know of the language, the 
liberty, the manners, and virtues of the Germani, to maintain 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 Caesar,^ 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 Romana'. 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, wliich conceives of the 
sun as a female, and of the moon as a male being, which could not 
have escaped the observation of the Roman, 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 

* Deorum numero eos soloa ducnnt, qnoa cemunt, et quomm opibus aperte 
iovRiitiir, SoUm et Vulcanum et Lunam ; reliquos ne fama qiiidem acceperant 
B.O. 6, 21. Compare with this B.G. 4, 7 where the Usipetes and Tenchtheri 
■ay to Oesar : Sese unia Suevis concedere, quibus ne aii quidem immortaUt 
pares ease poasint. 



104 GODS. 

doubt on other gods, much less to prove a bare worship of elements 
among the Germani. 

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 iroXis Oe&p 
ofiiXo^ to the Heruli, this 'great host' must also be good for the 
Goths, just those of whom we know the fewest particulars, and for 
aU the Germans together. Jomandes would have us believe that 
Diceneus was the first to make the Goths acquainted with gods, 
cap. 11 : Elegit ex eis tunc nobilissimos prudentiores viros, quos 
theologiam instruens numina qxiaedam et sacella venerari suasit ; 
here evidently we see the ruler who promoted the service of 
particular gods. But that Jomandes 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 patemis 
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 Jomandes. 
And if we also want evidence about a race lying quite at the 
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 Ls the penalty on temple-breakers : 
Immolatur diis quomm 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 ^ moulded in human shape ; what he had 

^ Qrk. ayoKiMy signum, statue ; Goth. manMka, OHG. manallhho, OK. 
Itknenki (see Suppl.) ; can the Sloven, malik, idol, have sprung from manleikaP 



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 Komans. He knows of nothing but si^na 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, Signum in modum liburnae fignratum (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 it by no means 
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 waa 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, less accessible to the Romans, concealed here 
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, Tom Thumb? which may 
have to do with idoL [In the Slavic languages, mal = little, s-malll. Other 
OHG. tenns are avard; piladiy pUidi (bild) effigies or imago in general ; in the 
Mid. Ages they said, for making or forming (p. 23), ein bilde giezeriy eine 
ftchcene juncfrouwen ergiezen^ Cod. Vindob. 428, num. 211, without any refer- 
ence to metal-casting ; ein bUde mezzen, Troj. 19626, mezzeny Misc. 2, 186. On 
the Lith. balvxnuu, idolum, statua, conf. Pott de ling. Litth. 2, 51, Russ. 
Udvdn^ Hung. bcUvany ; Rubs, kumiff idol, both lit and tig. (object of affe:tion). 



106 GODS. 

terms whose meaning varies, passing from that of temple to that of 
image, just as we saw the meaning of grove mixed up with that of 
numen. If, as is possible, that word alah originally meant rock or 
stone (p. 67), it might easily, like haruc and wil(, melt into the 
sense of altar and statue, of ara, fanum, idolum. In this way the 
OHG. ahcut, ahcuti (Abgott, false god) does signify both fana and 
idola or statuae, Diut. 1, 497^ 513* 615* 533^ just as our gotze is at 
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 
templum. In general phrases such as idola colere, idola adorare, 
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. 
glosses : ahmiti wihero stetio, fana excelsorum, Diut 1, 515*. ahcut 
in heilagem stetim, fana in excelsis, Diut. ], 213*. steininu zeOian 
inti ahcuti, titulos et statuas, Diut. 1, 497^ altara inti manalihun 
inti haruga, aras et statuas et lucos, Diut. 1, 513^ afgoda b^an- 
gana, LacombL arch. 1, 11. — Saxo Gram, often uses simuldcra for 
idols, pp. 249, 320-1-O-7. The statement in Aribonis vita S. 
Emmerammi (Acta sanct. Sept. 6, 483) : * tradidero te genti 
Saxonum, quae tot idolorum culior existW is undeniable evidence 
that the heathen Saxons in the 8th century served many fake gods 
(Aribo, bishop of Freisingen in the years 764-783). The vita 
Lebuini, written by Hucbald between 918-976, says of the ancient 
Saxons (Pertz 2, 361-2): Inservire idolorum cultibus . . . 
numinihus suis vota solvens ac sacrificia . . . simulacra quae 
decs 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 liints 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 

(er* r&p ßapßdpmf eXKfjviKÜ^ 0pf)(tie€v6vT»p) — iXKtfvlK&q here 
means in heathen fashion, and Ofyrfo-Keveip (to worship) is presently 
described more minutely, when the persecution of the Christians 
by Athanaric is related — Athanaric, having set the statiie (evidently 
of the Gothic deity) on a waggon {^oavov i<pi' apfjuafm^^ iaray;), 
ordered it to be carried round to the dwellings of those suspected 
of Christianity ; if they refused to fall down and sacrifice {irpofrKv- 
velv fcal 0v€ip), their houses were to be fired over their heads. By 
apßidfia^ is understood a covered carriage ; is not this exactly the 
vehiculum vede contectum, in which the goddess, herself unseen, was 
carried about (Tac. Germ. 40) ? Is it not the vagn in wliich Frejrr 
and his priestess sat, when in holy days he journeyed round among 
the Swedish people (Fomm. sog. 2, 74-5)? The people used to 
carry about covered images of gods over the fields, by which fertility 
was bestowed upon them.^ Even the karrdschen 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. 
Chrothüd (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 potcrunt subvenire ; sunt enim aut ex 
lapide aut ex ligno aut ex metallo aliquo scnlpti, nomina vero, quae 
eis indidistis, homines fuere, non dii. Here she brings up Satumus 
and Jupiter, with arguments drawn from classical mythology; 
and then : Quid Mars Mercuriusqne potuere ? qui potius sunt 
magicis artibus praediti quam divini numinis potentiam habuere. 
Sed ille magis coli debet qui coelum et terram, 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 nosirorum jussione cuncta creantur ac pro- 

* Dc gimuUicro quod per campos portant (Indie, snperetit cap. 28) ; one vita 
S. Martini cap. 9 (Surius 6, 252) : l^uia essct haec Gallorum rusticis consue- 
tndo, timulacra daemonum, candido Ucta velamine, niisera per agros suos cir- 
cttDiferre dementia. 



108 GODS. 

deunt ; deus vero vester nihil posse manifestatur,et quod magis est, 
nee de deorum genere esseprobatur (that sounds German enough!). 
When their little boy dies soon after receiving christian baptism, 
Chlodovich remarks : Si in nomine deorum meorum puer fuisset 
dicatus, vixisset utique; nunc autem, quia in nomine del vestri 
baptizatus est, vivere omnino non potuit — So detailed a report of 
Chlodovich's heathenism, scarcely a hundred years after the events 
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 deaurataa superstitiosa gerUiliku 
ibi colebat, 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) : 
Esressi de navicula oratorium in honore S. Aureliae constructum 
adierunt. . . . Post orationem, cum per gymm oculis cuncta 
lustrassent, placuit illis qualitas et situs locorum, deinde oratione 
praemissa circa oratorium mansiunculas sibi fecerunt Repererunt 
autem in templo ires iimagines aereas deauratas paiHeti affixas} quas 
populus, dimisso altaris sacri cultu, adorabat, et oblatis sacrificiis 
dicere consuevit : isti sunt dii veteres et antiqui kujus 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 peregrines, quos cognoverant 

1 So then, in a church really christian, these old heathen gM imaget had 
l)een let into the icall, probably to conciliate the people, who were stiU attached 
to them ? There are several later instances of this practice, conf. Ledebor's 
archiv. 14, 363. 378. Thlir. mitth. VI. 2, 13 (see SuppL). 



IMAGES. 109 

advenisse. . . . Jussn venerandi abbatis (Columbani) Gallus 
coepit viam veritatis ostendere populo. . . . et in conspectu 
omnium arripiens simulacra, et lapidibus in frusta comminuens pro- 
jeeü in Uicum, 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 ßoman gods ? Eoman 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^ (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 celiac (chapels). — Ratpert (Casus S. Galli, Pertz 2, 61) 
seems to have confounded the two events, that on L. Zurich, and 
the subsequent oue 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 immolahant). 
Gallo idola vana can/ringcnte d in lacum vicinum demergenie, populus 
in iram conversus. . . . sanctos exinde pepulerunt. Inde iter 
agentes pervenerunt ad castrum quod Arbona nuncupatur, juxta 

* Curiously, Monc (Oesch. de8 held. 1, 171-5) tries to put this Woden- 
wonhip at Tuggen upon the Heruli, who had never been heard of there, instead 
of the Alamanns, because Jonas savs : Sunt inibi vieinae nationes Suevorum. 
But this means simply those settleci thereabouts ; there was no occasion to speak 
of 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 Ues 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 Sanctis interrogatus, 
si sciret locum in solitudine illorum proposito congnium, ostendit 
eis locum jocundissimum ad inhabitandum nomine Brigantium. 
Ibique reperientes templum olim christianae religioni dedicatum, 
nunc autem demonum imaginHms poUutum, mundando et conse- 
crando in pristinum restituerunt statum, atque pro statuis quas 
ejecerunt, sanctae Aureliae reliquias ibidem coUocaverunt. — By this 
account also the temple is first of all christian, and afterwards 
occupied by the heathen (Alamanns), therefore not an old Boman 
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. Batpert*s cantilena S. Galli has 
only the vague words : 

Castra de Turegum adnavigant Tucconium, 
Decent fidem gentem, Jovem linquunt arderUeTiL 
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 *'Javis 
et Neptuni idola,' but I cannot find the passage ; conf. p. 122 
Ennoldus 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 Üiink 
we may conclude from all this, that our ires imagines have a better 
claim to a German origin, than those irnagines lapideae of the 
Luxovian forest, cited on p. 83^. 

1 Two narratives by Gregory of Tours on statnes of Diana in the Treves 
country, and of Mercury and Mare in the south of Gaul, though they exclude 
all thought of German deities, yet offer striking comparisons. Hist 8, 15 : 
Deinde tenitorium Trevericae urbis expetii, et in quo nunc estis monU 
habitaculum, quod cemitis, proprio labore construxi ; reperi tamen hie Dianas 
simulacrum, quod populus hic incredulus quasi deum adorabat, columnam etiam 
statui, in qua cum grandi cruciatu sine ullo pedum stabam te^puine. . . . 
Verum ubi ad me multitudo vicinarum civitatum confluere coepit praedicabam 
jugiter, nihil esse Dxanam, nihil simulacra, nihilque quae eis videbatur exerceri 
cuTtura : indigna etiam esse ipsa, quae inter pocula luxuriasque profluas cantica 
proferebant, sed potius deo omnipotenti, qui coelum fecit ac terram, dignum 
sit sacrificium laudis impendBre. orabam etiam saepius, ut simulacro dominus 
diruto dignaretur populum ab hoc errore discutere. Flexit domini miseri- 
oordia mentem rusticam, ut inclinaret aurem suam in verba oris mei, ut scilicet 
relictis idolis dominum sequeretur, (et) tunc convocatis quibusdam ex eis 
simulacrum hoc imm^nsuTn, 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 R Unstrut (circ. 530), 
' ut majorum memoria prodit ' : Mane autem facto, ad orientalem 
portam (of castle Schidungen) ponunt aquilam, ararnqne victoriae 
construentes, secundum errorem patemum, sacra sua propria vener- 
atione venerati simt, nomine Martern, eßgie columnarum imitantes 
HereuUm, loco Solem quem 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 Cesar Bomano imperio subegit, quando et Arispolis 
nomen habuit ab eo qui Aris Greca designatione ac Mara ipse 
dictos est Latino famine. Duolus siquidem idolis hec dedita fuit, 
id est AriSy qui urhU mcniis insertus, quasi doroinator 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. 

eomm adjutorio possem eraere ; jam enim reliqua tigillorum (the smaller 
fiffures) quae faciliora erant, ipse confregeram. Gonvenientibus autem multis 
ad banc Dianae stattMm, missis funibus tiuhere coeperunt, sed nibil labor eorum 
proficere poterat Then came prayers ; egressusque post orationem ad operarios 
veui, adprehensumque funem ut primo ictu trahere coepimus, protinus simula' 
erum ruü in terram, confractumque cum malleis ferreis in pulverem redegi. So 
images went to the ground, whose contemplation we should think ve^ 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 baud procul a cellula, 
<^uam sepulchrum, martyris (Juliani Arvemensis) haec matrona construxerat 
(m vice Brivatensi), grande delubrumy ubi in columna altisnTna simulachrum 
Martis Mercuriique colebatur, Cumque delubri illius festa a gentilibus agerentur 
sc mortui mortuis thura deferrent, medio e vulgo commoventur pueri duo in 
scandalum, nudatoque imus gladio alterum appetit trucidanduni. The. boy 
runs to the saint's cell, and is saved. Quarta autem die, cum gentiliüu) vellet 
iterum diis exhibere libamina, the christian priests offer a fervent prayer to the 
martyr, a violent thunderstorm arises, the neathens are terrified : feecedente 
autem tempestate, gentiles baptizati, statuaa quas coluerant confriiujenieSy in 
locum vico amnique proximum prqjecerunt. — Soon after this, the Burgundians 
^ttleil 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 RSdbod (circ. 716), uses this 
language: Jam pars ecclesiarum Christi, quae Francorum prius 
subjecta erat imperio, vastata erat ac destructa, idolonvm, 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 vanum a lapidihus auxilium petere et a simulacria mutia et surdis 
subsidii sperare solatium. Quo audito, gens fera et idololatriis 
nimium dedita stridebant dentibus in eum, dicentes, non debere 
profanum longius vivere, imo reum esse mortis, qui tarn sacrilegia 
contra Jeos silos invictissimos proferre praesumsisset eloquia. — ^The 
event belongs to the middle of the 8th century, and the narrator 
Anskar (f 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 (f 049), which was not written tiU 839 : 
Coepit gentilibus per circuitum {i.e. in Bipuaria), simtdacrorum 
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 is no more than we should have expected bom those 
signa and efiigies 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; 
all the Lethrian, all the Upsalian idols are clean gone. The technical 
term in the Norse was skurdgo9 (Fomm. sog. 2, 73-6), from skera 



IMAGEa 113 

(ecnlpere), skurd (sculptura) ; in the two passages referred to, it is 
likneski af Freyr. Biöm gives skdrgo9, idolum, sculptile, from 
skür, subgrundium (penthouse), because it had to be placed under 
cover, in sheds as it were ; with which the OHG. skürguta (Graff 
6, 536) seems to agree. But there is no distinct proof of an ON. 
skftigoS. 

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 statties are specified, as they 
were in that temple of the Alamanns : Nunc de superstitione 
Sveonum pauca dicemus. Nobilissimum ilia gens templum habet, 
quod Ubsola dicitur, non longe positum a Sictona civitate (Sigt(in) 
vel Birka. In hoc templo, quod totum ex auro paratum est, statuas 
trium deorum 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, ie., decorated with gold, he 
might doubtless have described the figures of the gods above all as 
gilded, just as those in Alamannia were aereae et deauraiae. — Saxo 
p. 13 tells of a golden statue of Othin ; Cujus numen Septentrionis 
r^es propensiore cultu prosequi cupientes, effigiem ipsius aureo 
complexi simiUacro, statnam 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's (Harald's) interview with King Charles, 
mentions 4, 444 seq. (Pertz 2, 609-10) the gods* images (sculpta) of 
the heathen, and that he was said to have had ploughsliares, 
kettles and water-buckets forged of that metal. According to the 
Nialssaga cap. 89, in a Norwegian temple (goöahüs) tliere were to 
be seen three figures again, those of Thor and the two half -goddesses 
ThoigerCr and Irpa, of human size, and adorned with armlets ; 

* 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 to have been those most in vogue, at least 
in Norway.^ One temple in which many sknrdgoC were wor- 
shipped, but Thor most of all, is described in Fomm. sog. 2, 153 and 
159, and his statue 1, 295. 302-6; in 2, 44 we read: Thorr sat i 
miÖju ok var most tignaör, hann var Tnilcill ok allr gtdli bdinn ok 
sil/ri (ex auro et argento confectus) ; conf. Olafs helga saga, ed. 
Holm. cap. 118-9, where a large standing figure of Thor is described ; 
and Fomm. sog. 4, 245, ed. Christ p. 26. Freyr giörr of sil/ri, 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 liim secretly, when living among christians, Fomm. 
sog. 2, 57. Thors ßgure was carved on the öndvegis-pillars, 
Eyrbygg. p. 8. Landnamab. 2, 12 ; and on the prows of ships, 
Fomm. sog. 2, 324. A figure of ThorgerBr hölgabröör, with rings 
of gold round the arm, to which people kneel, Fomm. sog. 2, 108.* 

* Finn Magnusen, bidrag til nordisk archaeologie, pp. 113-159. 

' There is another thing to notice in this passage. The figure of Thoreeiör 
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, t^en 
rose up and once more grasped at the ring, which now the ßgure let go. The 
same is told in the Foereyinga.saga, cap. 23, p. 103. I regiuxl it as a genuine 
trait of heathen antic^uity, like others which afterwards passed into chiistiAn 
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 peregrinatio, ed. Werlauff p. 20), and a saint's image its gold slippers 
(Mones anz. 7, 584. Archiv, des Henneb. Vereins, pp. 7o, 71). A figure of 
Mary accepts a ring that is presented to it, and bends her finger as a wgn that 
she will keep it (Mcon nouv. recueü 2, 296-7. MaerL 2, 214). 'räe two 
Virgin-stories in Mdon and Maerlant, though one at bottom, have very dUfer^ 
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 
vouth is boxing in the Colosseum at Rome, and puts hia ring on the finger of a 
lie^then statue, which bends the finger. Both figures now hold the man to his 
»iigageinent. But the O. French poem makes the afflicted youth bring an 
image of Mary to bear on the heatnen one, the Mary takes the ring off the 
other figure, and restores it to the youth. Conf. Kaiserchr. 13142. 1326t>. 
13323. Forduni Scoti chionicon 1, 407 (W. Scott's minstr. 2, 136^ relates 
this fable as an event of the 1 1th century : a nobleman playing at ball slips his- 
ling on the finger of a broken statue of Venus, and only «jets it back witn the 
lH?lp of a priest Paluuibus who understands magic. We see the story had 
spread at au early time, but it is old Teutonic in its origin [* undeutsch,' evid. a 
slip for lirdeutsch]. 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 tlie arm to protect, they speak, laugh, weep, eat and vxük ; 
thus a figure of Christ turns itself away (Ls. 3, 78. 262), another begins to eat 
and grow bigger (Kindemi. legenden no. 9), to weep, to beckon, to run away 



IMAGES. 113 

Frey*8 stattLC of suver, (Freyr markaSr af silfri), Vatnsd. p. 44. 50 • 
carried about in a waggon in Sweden, Fomni. sog. 2, 73-7. The 
Jomsvikingasaga tells of a temple on Gaiitland (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 Wicotan and Donar or of Mars and 
Mercurius, 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.^ 

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. glosses have the word irmansMi, pyramides, Mons. 360. 
avarUn, irmansAli, p3rramides. Doc. 203^ irmansföl, colossus, 
alüssima columna, Florent. 987*, Bias. 86. colossus est irminsM, 
GL SchletsL 18, 1. 28, 1. The literal meaning seems to be statue, 
to judge by the synonym avard, which in Gl. Jun. 226 is used for 

rDeutscbe sagen, no. 347. Tettaus, preuss. sagen, pp. 211-5-8). In Reinbot's 
Georg the idol Apollo is flogged with rods by a child, and forced to walk away 
(3258-69), wbibh reminds one of the god rerun, whom, according to monk 
Nefi5tor, Vladimir the Apostolic caused to be scourged witb rods. In an Indian 
itory I find a statue that eats tbe food set before it, Polier 2, 302-3. Antiquity 
then did not regard these images altogether as lumps of dead matter, but as 
penetrated bv the life of the divinity. The Greeks too have stories of statues 
that move, shake the lance, fall on their kness, close their eyes (/cara/xvo-fir), 
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 linger, I 
have nowhere read, significant as the position of the arms in images of gods 
was held to be. That the gods themselves vcTpa vntpixova-uf over those whom 
they wish to protect, occurs as early as in Homer. 
^ 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 b^inning 
of the poem, and very likely there are more of them ; it is said of 
Mercury (Massmann 129) : — 

{if einir yrmensüle Upon an yrmensül 

stuont ein abgot imgehiure. Stood an idol huge, 
den hiezen sie ir koufman. Him they called their 

merchant. 
Again of Julius Caesar (Massm. 624) : — 

Eomere in ungetrüweliche Eomans him untruly slew, 

sluogen, On an yrm. they buried him. 

üf einir yrmefisiU sie in begruoben. 
And of Simon Magus 24° (Massm. 4432) : — 

üf eine yrmensM er steic, On an yrmensul he climbed, 

daz lantvolc im allesamt neic. The land-folk to him all bowed. 
That is, worshipped him as a god. Nay, in Wolfram's Titurel, last 
chapter, where the great pillars of the (christian) temple of the 
Grail are described, instead of 'inneren seul' of the printed 
text (Hahn 6151), the Hanover MS. more correctly reads irmensfAJL 
Further, in the Frankish annals ad ann. 772 it is repeatedly 
stated, that Charles the Great in his conquest of the Saxons 
destroyed a chief seat of their heathen superstition, not far from 
Heresburg ^ in Westphalia, and that it was called IrminsM, Ann. 
Petav. : Domnus rex Karolus perrexit in Saxoniam et conquisivit 
Erisburgo, et pervenit ad locum qui dicitur Urmensul, et succendit 
ea loca (Pertz 1, 16). Ann. Lauresh. : Fuit rex Carlus hostiliter 
in Saxonia, et destruxit/ant^m eorum quod vocatur Irminstd (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 aggressus, Eresburgum castrum cepit, et idolum Sax- 
onum quod vocal)atur 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). 

^ 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 Heasi 
Saxonico Saracho 735. 350. Conf. Massmann's Eggesterst p. 34. 



GODS. 1 17 

AniL Lauiiss. : Et inde perrexit partibus Saxoniae prima vice, 
Aeresbuigum castrum cepit, ad Ermenstd usque pervenit, et ipsum 
fanum destruxit, et aurum et argentum quod ibi repperit abstulit. 
Et fuit siccitas magna, ita ut aqua deficeret in supradicto loco ubi 
Ermensul stabat, &c. (Pertz 1, 150). Einhardi Ann. : Ferro et igni 
cuncta depopulatus, Aeresburgum castrum cepit, idolum quod Irmin- 
iul a Saxonibus vocabatur evertit (Pertz 1, 151) ; repeated in Ann. 
Tilian., and Chron. Eegin.,with spelling OrmensiU (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 ah antiquis 
Irminsul colehaiur, bello defatigatum depulit. — Taking all these 
passages together, Irminsftl passes through the very same grada- 
tions of meaning we unfolded in ch. IV, and signifies now fanum, 
now lucus, now idolum itselt 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 t The gold and silver hoaixl, which Charles was supposed to 
have seized there, may well be legendary embellishment.* Ruodolf 
of Fuld goes more into detail about the Irminsftl ; after his general 
statement on the heathen Saxons, that ' frondosis arboribus fonti- 
busque venerationem exhibebant' (p. 101), he goes on: Truncum 
quoque ligni non parvae magnitudinis in altum erectum sub divo 
oolebant, patna eum lingua Irminsul appellantes, quod Latine 
dicitur universalis columna, quasi sustinens omnia (Pertz 2, 676), 

* Poeta Saxo 1, 65 (Bouquet 5, 137) : 

Gens eadem coluit simulacrum quod vocitabant 
Irminsüly cujus factura simulque columna 
Non operis panri fuerat, pariterque decoris. 

* d^ 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 Omengt near Theotmelli, ie, Detmold (Pertz 2, 447), there stood also a 
gilva Osning not far from Osnabiijck (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 Osninka, Oteninch. 
By the Osnabrück 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 Fthau that of a mere proper name] ; like ^, ans, and fairguni, it is 
Ihe sacrea mountain and forest. Ledebur takes the Teutoburgiensis saltus to 
'be Osning. OtnabrÜck. ^^n^bruggi (bridge of the äses) seems nearly related. 

> Is tnis Emien-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, irmvngot 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.^ In the same way I 
explain proper names compounded with irman, irmin (Gramm. 2, 
448). And irmansül, irminsHil is the great, high, divinely honoured 
statue ; that it was dedicated to any one god, is not to be found in 
the term itself. — In like manner the AS. has eormencyn (genus 
humanum), Beow. 309. Cod. Exon. 333, 3. earmengrvnd (terra), 
Beow. 1711. (and singularly in an adj. form: ofer ealne yrmenne 
grund, Cod. Exon. 243, 13). eormenstr^nd (progenies). — ON. 
iormungrund (terra), iormungandr (anguis maximus), iormunrekr 
(taurus maximus). From all this may be gathered the high mythic 
antiquity of these appellations, and their diffusion among all 
branches of the Teutonic race ; for neither to the Goths can they 
have been strange, as their famous king's name ErmaTiaricuB 
(Alrmanareiks, ON. Iormunrekr) shows ; and beyond a doubt the 
ffermunduri are properly Ermunduri (Gramm. 2, 175), the H being 
often prefixed to all such forms. 

Now whatever may be the probable meaning of the word imum^ 
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 to a late period (p.ll6),with Mercury or Hermes, to 
whom Greek antiquity raised similar posts and pillars, which were 
themselves called Hermae, a name which suggests our Teutonic ona 

The Saxons may have known more about this ; the Franks, in 
Upper Germany, from the 8th to the 13th century, connected with 
irmansill, irminsül the general notion of a heathen image set up on 
a pillar. Probably Euodolf associated with his truncus ligni the 

^ The Slav, ramo, Bohem. ramenso, is with transposition the Lat armiUL 
OHG. aram, and means both arm and shoulder ; in the Sloven, compound 
ramen-velik, valde magnus, it intensifies exactly like irman ; doös this point to 
an affinity between irman and arm ] Arminius too is worth considering ; conf. 
Schaffarik 1, 427. 



IMAGES. 119 

ihonght 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 of the chroniclers, and with the simplicity 
of the earliest forest- worship. As the 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 Eoland-pillars erected in the later Mid. 
Ages, especially in North Germany ; there were in Sweden Thar's- 
pillars, and among the Anglo-Saxons JEiheUtdn-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 
(+622), said to have been composed in the 8th century : Et juxta 
ripam ipsius fluminis dips erat magnus, diversis imaginihus figuratus, 
atque ibi in terram magna virtute immissus, qui nimio cultu morevt 
gentUium a rusticis colebatur. Walaricus causes the log to be 
thrown down : et his quidem rusticis habitantibus in locis non 
parvum tam moerorem quam et stuporem omnibus praebuit. Sed 
undique illis certatim concurrentibus cum armis et fustibus, indigne 
hoc fercntes invicem, ut injuriam dd sui vindicarent (Acta Bened. 
sea 2, pp. 84-5). The place was called Augusta (bourg d' Augst, 
near the town of £u), 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. 

Caesar's Sol, Luna and Vulcan are perhaps what satisfies us 
least ; but Tacitus seems never to use the names of Roman 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. 

Isis (Germ. 9), the terra mcUer by her German name (Genn. 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 Bomans, a mere god 
of merchants, but here stands out the foremost of all: Deorum 
inaxime 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, 
17) ;^ and that the looks of the Bomans, when directed towards 
Germany, still saw Gaul in the foreground ; besides, it may have 
been Gallic informants that set the German divinity before them in 
this light. Observe too the Gaulish juxtaposition of Mars and 
Mercurius in statues (p.lll),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 Isis and 
Hercules I shall express my views further on. Whom we are to 
understand by the Dioscuri, is hard to guess ; mast likely two sons 
of Woden, and if we go by the statements of the Edda, the brothers 
Baldr and HermoSr would be the most fitting. 

This adaptation of classical names to German gods became 
univeraally spread, and is preserved with strict unanimity by the 
Latin writers of the succeeding centuries ; once set in circulation, 
it remained current and intelligible for long ages. 

The Gothic historian names but one god after the Boman fashion, 
and that is Mars : Quem Gothi semper asperrima placavere cultura 
(Jemandes 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, quem adjecta litera 
Gwodan dixerunt, ipse est qui apud Bomanos Mercurius dicitur, et 

* Schöpflin, Als. ill. 1, 435-60 ; esp. on a fanum of Mercury at Ebeimünster 
1, 58. Conf. Hummel, bibL deutsch, alterth. p. 229. Creuzer, altiöm. culturaiu 
Oberrhein, pp. 48, 98. 



GODS. 121 

ab universis Gennaniae gentibus ut deus adoratur. Just so his 
older countryman Jonas of Bobbio, in that account of the sacrificing 
Alamanns, declares : Illi aiunt, deo suo Vodano, quern Mercurium 
Yocant alii, se velle litare ; upon which, a gloss inserted by another 
hand says less correctly : Qui apud eos Vuotant vocatur, Latini 
autem Martern ilium appellant ; though otherwise Woden greatly 
resembles Mars (v. infra). 

Gregory of Tours (supra, p.l07) makes Saturn and Jupiter, and 
again Mars Mercurittsqxie 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 Ans and Mars, 
Ermis and Mercurius. 

The Indiculus paganiarum reckons up, under 8: De sacris 
Mercurii vel Jovis^ ; imder 20 : De feriis quae faciunt Jovi vel 
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 idololatrarum 
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 wotild certainly have been named 
first, and Merciuy 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. Ennoldus Nigellus, citing the idols of the Normanni, says 4, 9 
(Pertz 2, 501), that for God (the Father) they worshipped Neptutie, 
and for Christ Jwpiter ; 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 
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.* — From Egypt, through 
the Alexandrians, the week of seven days (ißBo/ids:), which in 
Western Asia was very ancient, came into vogue among the Bomans, 
but tlie planetary nomenclature of the days of the week apparently 
not till later. Under Julius Caesar occurs the earliest mention 
of 'dies SaturnV in connection with the Jewish sabbath, TibulL 1, 
3, 18. Then rjKiov fjfiipa in Justin Mart, apolog. 1, 67. 'Epfiov 
and A(f)poBLTrj<; rjfiepa in Clem. Alex, strom. 7, 12. The institution 
fully carried out, not long before Dio Cassius 37, 18, about the close 

1 Oiir MHG. poets impart no such infonnation ; they only trouble their 
heads about Saracen gods, among wliom it is true Jupiter and Apollo make 
their appearance too. In Rol. 97, 7 are named Mars, Jovinus, ScUumui. 

* lean 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 lea representa- 
tions zodiacales, p. 99. 



GODS OF THE WEEK, 123 

of the 2nd century.^ The Eomans had previously liad a week of 
nine days, nundinae=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 Satumi they kept the Jewish sabbatuniy It. 
sabbato, Sp. sabado, Fr. samedi (=sabdedi, sabbati dies). But the 
heathen names of even these two days continued in popular use 
long after : Ecce 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 sabbatS dags, sabbatd dags, which alone occurs in Ulphilas, 
proves nothing, as we have just seen, against a planetary designation 
of the remaining six or five days. A sunnons dags, a menins 
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. sunnün dag, 0. v. 5, 22. GL blas. 76*. 
LacombL arch. 1, 6. — II. mdnin tac (without authority, for 
manitag, manotag in Graff 2,795. 5, 358 have no reference ; mänetag 
in Notker, ps. 47, 1). — III. dies Martis, prob. Ziuwes tac among 
Alamanns ; in the 11th cent. Cies dac, Gl. blas. 76* -? prob, different 
among Bavarians and Lombards. — IV. dies Mercurii, perhaps still 
Wuotanes tac ? our abstract term, diu miitawecha already in N. ps. 
93, and mittwocha, GL blas. 76^ — V. dies Jovis, Donares tac, Toniris 
tac, N. ps. 80, 1. rfonrestac, GL blas. 76*. Burcard von Worms 195^: 
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 Gotliic, avoiding the heathenish dies Satumi, sambaziag, T. 68, 
1. N. 91, 1.* samiztag, N. 88, 40. sunniln dband, our Sonnabend, 

1 An old hexameter at the end of the editions of Ausonius : Ungaes 
Mercuric, barbam Jove, Cypride crines (nails on Wednesday, beard on Thursday, 
hair on Friday). 

' Cies for Zies, as the same glossist 86* writes gicimbere and cinnnm, 

• Sambazolus n. prop, in Karajan. 



124 GODS. 

already in 0. v. 4, 9, prob, abbreviation of sunnündages äband, feria 
ante dominicam, for vespera solis cannot have been meant [conf. 
Engl. Whitsun-eve] ; and occasionally, corresponding to the Kom- 
ance dies dominica,/r(57itag, 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 mdntac (Parz. 452, 16. moentac 498, 22. 
Amis 1648)^ admit of no doubt Neither do Donrestac (Donerstag, 
Uolrich 73*. Dunrestac, Berth. 128), spelt Duristag in a Semi- 
Low Germ. urk. of 1300 in Höfer p. 57), and Domstag in one of 
1495, Useners feragerichten p. 131 ; nor Fritdc (Parz. 448, 7. 470, 
1. Walth. 36, 31. Berth. 134), Vriegtag, Uolrich 73*; nor yet 
samztac (Parz. 439, 2. Berth. 138), sunnen dbent (Trist. 3880).— 
But uncertainty hangs about the third and fourth days. The 
former, by a remarkable variation, was in Bavaria named Eritac, 
Erdac (the true form not quite certain, eritag in Adelung's vat 
hss. 2, 189. ergetag in Berth. 122 ; see examples collected from 
Urkunden, Schm. 1, 96-7), iri Swabia on the contrary Ziestac, for 
Ziewestac. Both of these forms, which have nothing to do vrith 
each other, live to this day in the speech of the common people : 
Bav. ierte, Austr. iäria, irita, Vicentino-Germ. eörtäy oriä, Alem. 
ziestag, zinstag, ziestig, zistig^ 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 Ehön), whence our dienstag (less cor- 
rectly dinstag, there is good reason for the ie) ; the spelling ding- 
stag, as if from ding, thing, judicium, 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 modem dialects, 
unless indeed the gwontig cited in the note can be justified as 
standing for G wuotenstag, Wuotenstag ; everywhere that abstrac- 
tion ' midweek ' has carried all before it, but it has itself become 

1 Zufmtig for Monday, Staid. 2, 470 ought perhaps to be zue mentig, ze 
mintage ; yet 1, 490 he has giienti, güenti, Tobler 248*» has gwontig, 

guentig, and Zellwegers urk. l\ 19 giionti, for which Urk. no. 146 
as *an gutem tag,* which seems to be supported by Haltaus 
jahrzeitb. Or is only this particular Monday after Lent called so? In 
the Cod. pal. 372, 103 (ann. 1382) wc have *guotem 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 mittwoch, 
mittich, Berth. 24, maktig, StalA 2, 194, conf. the GothL mäjkädag, 
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 
phinztac (Berth. 128. Ottoc. 144». Grätzer urk. of 1338. Schwa- 
benspi^el, p. 196. Schm. 1, 322), or phingstag, has made its 
way into some districts of Upper Germany through Graeco-Slavic 
influences, irifiirn), petek, piatek, patek, though by these the Slavs 
mean Friday (see SuppL). 

New High Germ. — I. sonntag, II. montag. III. Dienstag. 

IV. müticocJu V. Donnerstag. VI. Freitag. VII. samstag, 
Sonnabend. 

Old Saxon. — The OS. names are wanting, but must have 
differed in some essential points from the OHG., as the derived 
dialects prove. We may pretty safely assume Wddanes dag for 
the fourth day of the week, for in Westphalia it is still called 
Godenstag, Oanstag, Gaunstag, Ounstag, at Aix Qouesdag, in Lower 
Ehen- Urkunden Oudestag, Günther, 3, 585. 611 (a.D. 1380-7), 
GudtTistag, Kindlinger hörigk. p. 577-8 (a.D. 1448). — The third day 
was probably IHwesdag, the fifth Thunaresdag, the sixth Frlundag. 
The most unlike would doubtless be the seventh, was it formed 
after dies Satumi, Sdteresdag t conf. the Westph. Satersiag, Saiier- 
slaig, Günter 3, 502 (a.D. 1365). In Sachsensp. 2, 66 one MS. reads 
for sunavend Saiersdach (see SuppL). 

Mid. Dutch. — I. sondach, Maerl. 2, 159. II. manendach, Huyd. 
op St 3, 389. maendachy MaerL 2, 139. III. Disendach, MaerL 
2, 140. al. Dicendachy Dissendach, Cannaert strafrecht, pp. 124, 481 
apparently corrupted from Tisdach. IV. Woensdach, Maerl. 2, 143. 

V. Donresdach, Maerl. 2, 144. VI. Vrldach, MaerL 2, 159. gen. 
Vrindaghes, MaerL 2, 143. 157. VII. Saterdachy 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. rndndag. III. dingsdag^ for- 
merly dinsdag, Dissendag. IV. TVoensdag, Belg. Goensdag. V. 
Doiiderdag. VI. Vrldag. VII. Zaterdag. 

Old Frisian. — I. sonnadei. II, mwiadei. III. Tysdet. IV. 
Wemsdei. V. Tlmnresdei, Tomsdei. VI. Frigendei, FredeL VII. 
Saterdei (references for all these forms in Eichthofen). 

New Frisian. — I. sneyn^ abbrev. from sinnedey, sendei, senned 



126 GODS. 

(conf. Fred) ; the final n in sneyn, no doubt, as in OFris. Frigendei, 
a relic of the old gen. sing, in the weak decL II. moandey. III. 
Tyesdaj. IV, Wdnsdey, V. Tongersdey. VI. Fr6d, abbrev. from 
Fredey. VII. miuum, snioun, abbrev. from 8innejuwn=Sun(day)- 
even. Conf. tegenwoordige staat van Friesland 1, 121. Was- 
senbeigh's bidraghen 2, 56. Halbertsma naoogst p. 281-2 (see 
Suppl.). 

North Frisian. — ^I. sennendeL II. monnendei III. Tirsdei. 
IV. Winsdei. V. Türsdei. VI. FrideL VII. unnin (i?i=even). 

Anglo-Saxon.— I. sonnan daeg. IL vuman daeg. III. Tiwes 
daeg. IV. Wddencs or Wddnes dieg. V. Thunores daeg. VI. 
Frige daeg. VII. Scctres or Saternes daeg. 

Old Norse. — I. sunnudagr} IL mdnadagr. IIL Tyrsdagr, 
Tysdagr. IV. O^insdagr. V. Th&rsdagr. VL Friadagr, Frey- 
jvdagr, VII. laugardagr. 

Swedish. — I. sondag. IL mandag. III. Tisdag, whence 
even Finn, tystai IV. Onsdag. V. Thorsdag. VL Fredag 
VIL lordag, 

Danish. — I. sondag. IL mandag. IIL Tirsdag. IV. 0?w- 
rfa^. 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 Satumi 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 limar change,^ yet the 

^ This ON. Bunnudagr is noticeable, as in other cases 861 is used rather than 
snnna ; 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 
soldiig) must liave been tiiken nodily from a Plattdeutsch form. 

^ To the Lat. wonl vix, gen. vicis (change, turn) corresponds, without the 
usual consonant-change, tlie Gothic vikij, OHG. wecha and wehsal, both refer- 
able to the verb veika, väik, OHG. wicliu (I give way), because change is a 
givin" way [in German, * der Wechsel ist ein weichen']. Ulph. has viko only 
once, Lu. 1, 8, where ivrri Td$€i Trjs iiprjutpias is translated * in vüc^i kunjis ' ; it 
is evidently something more than rdf if iiere, it expresses at the same time a part 
of the gen. c (^ly/icpcay, 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.^ Christianity had the Jewish week, 
and it tolerated names which were a frequent offence to it, but were 
already top 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 did away with them in Iceland, and replaced them by 
mere numeric names. How should the christian teachers ever have 
suflTered 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 

bjr * in ordine vicis '. Now whether viko expressed to the Goths the alterna- 
tion of the moon's quartere, we do not know for certain ; I incline to believe 
it, as the OHG. wena, wochä, A8. wice, wuce, ON. vika, Swed. vecka, Dan. 
nge, 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 
l^orrowed from the Norse than from so far back as the Gothic. I remark 
further, that an observance by the German! of sections of time must be inferred 
from the mere fact that certi dies were fixed for the sacrifices to Merciuy, Tac. 
Oenn. 9. 

* Joe. Fuchs, gesch. von Mainz 2, 27 seq. (Kupfert 4, no 7) describes a 
Koman round altar, prob, of the 3rd or 4th century, on which are carved the 
Foven gods of the week (1 Saturn, 2 Apollo, 3 Diana, 4 Mars, 6 Merciuy, 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 
delirantes, ei quartum diem septimanae, et sextum uxori ejus Freae 
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 Vortigern: Ingressi sumus maria, 
regnum tuum duce Mercurio petivimus. Ad nomen itaque Mer- 
curii erecto vultu rex inquirit cujusmodi religionem haberent? cui 
Hengistus : deos patrios Satumum, atque ceteros, qui mundum 
gubernant, colimus, maxime Mercurium (as in Tac. 9.), quem Woden 
lingua nostra appellamus. Huic veteres nostri dicaverunt guartam 
septimanae feriam, quae usque in hodiemum diem nomen Wodenes- 
dai de nomine ipsius sortita est. Post ilium colimus deam inter 
ceteras potentissimam, cui et dicaverunt sextam feriam, quam de 
nomine ejus -Fre^^t 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 (Vortigemi) 
essent constituti, quaesivit ab eis, quam fidem, quam religionem 
patres eorum coluissent ? cui Hengistus : deos patrios, scilicet 
Satumum, Jovem atque ceteros, qui mundum gubernant, colimus, 
Tnaxime autem Mercurium, quem lingua nostra Voden appellamus. 
Huic patres nostri veteres dedicaverunt quartam feriam septimanae, 
quae in hunc hodiemum diem Vodenesday appellatur. Post ilium 
colimus deam inter ceteras potentissimam, vocabulo Fream, 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 secundum 
fabulas, unde idem dies appellatur dies Veneris, — Anglo-Saxon, 
legend then, unconcerned at the jumbling of foreign and homespim 
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, 
bat 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 son, cannot possibly be identified with Jupiter, who 
is Mercury's father; consequently, neither can the Norse Othin, 
Thor's father, with the Roman Mercury, who is Jupiter's son. The 
discrepancy is certainly strong, but all that it can prove is, that at 
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 ; ^ 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 
Greeks,* not because they were converted later, but because they 
became acquainted with Latin culture later. The Finns and Lapps 



1 Conf. Pet £r. Möller om Saxo, p. 79. 

* The Indian nations also name tneir days of the week after planets ; and 
it seems worth remarking here, that Wednesday is in Sanskrit Budhuvaras^ 
Tamil Budhunkurameiy because some have identified Buddha with Woden. In 
reality Budhcu^ 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 it over a part only of the Slavs. These in their counting 
begin with Monday, as the first day after rest, consequently Tues- 
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 
caU middle, sreda, sereda, srida (whence Lith. serrada), which may 
have acted upon our High German nomenclature ; the Finns too 
have keskivjijcko (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 Bomance have kept 
to Woden and Mercury. Alone of Slavs, the Wends in Lüneburg 
show a trace of naming after a god; dies Jovis was with them 
Ferendan, 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.* 

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, Jupuer as 
Donar, and Mars as Ziu. The gods of the days of the week 
translated into German are an experiment on Tacitus's ' interpretatio 
Eomana'. 



^ E.g. in Eussian : 1, Yoskres^nie, resurrection (but O.Sl. ne-d^lia, no- 
doing). 2, po-nedernik, dav after-no-work. 3, vt^mik, second day. 4, 
sereda, middle. 5, chetv^rg, fourth day. 6, piätnitsa, fifth day. 7, subböta, 
sabbath. — Trans. 

' It is striking, that in 0. Bohem. glossaries (Hanka 54. 165) Mercury, 
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), Radiaast to Mercury (Wuotan). Perun to 
Jupiter (Donar), Lada (golden dame, zolota baba, in Hanusch 241, 35*») to Venus 
(Fria), and perhaps Sitxvrat to Satum ; 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 CtUd 
(cupitor ? venerandus 1), Saturn by Hlado-let (famelicus, or annonae caiitatem 
afferens). 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 VSdans ; he was called in 0H6. 
Wuaian, a word which also appears, though rarely, as the name of a 
man : Wtu>ian, Trad. Fuld. 1, 149. 2, 101-5-8. 128. 158. 161. WocUan 
2, 146, 152. The Longobards spelt it Wödan or QvMan, the Old 
Saxons Wuodan, Wödan, but in Westphalia again with the g prefixed, 
GvMan, Oudan, the Anglo-Saxons Wdden, the Frisians W£da from 
the propensity of their dialect to drop a final n, and to modify 6 
even when not followed by an %} The Norse form is Odtnn, in 
Saxo Othinvs, in the Faroe isles Ouvin, gen. Ouvans, ace. Ouvan. 
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, 
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. vada, 69, 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. 
gavltan, AS. gewltan. From watan comes the subst umot (our 
wutb, fury), as ^vo^ and animus properly mean mens, ingenium, 
and then also impetuosity, wildness ; the ON. öör has kept to the 



* A Frisian god Warns has eimply been invented from the gen. in the 
compound Warnsdei, Wemsdei (Richth. p. 1142X where Weras plainly 
stands for Wedens, Wodens, an r being put for d to avoid collision with 
the succeeding td ; it will be hard to find anywhere a nom. Wem. And the 
present West Friaians say Wansdey, the North Frisians Winsdei, without 
such r. 

* ConradiB wörterb. 263. Christmann, pp. 30—32. 



132 WODAN. 

one meaning of mens or sensus.^ According to this, WtLotan, 
Offinn would be the all-powerful, all-penetrating being, qui onmia 
permeat ; as Lucan says of Jupiter : Est quodcunque vides, quo- 
cunque moveris, the spirit-god^ ; conf. Virg. Georg. 4, 221 : Deum 
ire per omnes terras, and EcL 3, 60 : Jovis omnia plena. In the 
popular language of Bavaria, vmetdn is to bestir oneself, to swarm, 
grow luxuriantly, thrive, Schm. 4, 203 (see Suppl.). 

How early this original meaning may have got obscured or 
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, wdtan is put for 
tyrannus, hems malus, Diut. 1, 276^ gl. Ker. 270 ; so wUeterich, 
Wüterich (Gramm. 2, 516) is used later on, and down to the present 
day, conf. ein ungestüemer wüeterich, Ben. 431 ; as in Mar. 217. 
Herod's messengers of murder are wüetertche, 0.l 19, 18 names the 
king himself goteiouoto. The form wuotunc seems not to differ in 
sense ; an unprinted poem of the 13th century says ' Wüetunges 
her ' apparently for the ' wütende heer,'* the host led as it were by 
Wuotan ; and Wuotunc is likewise a man's name in OHG., W6dunc, 
Trad, patav. no. 19. The former divinity was degraded into an evil, 
fiendish, bloodthirsty being, and appears to live yet as a form of 
protestation or cursing in exclamations of the Low German people, 
as in Westphalia : Woudan, Woudan ! Firmenich 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 

^ A word that has never been fully explained, Goth. vSjna dulcifl, 2 Cor. 2, 
15, OHG. miodi, Diut. 2, 304% OS. vmothiy Hel. 36, 3. 140, 7, AS. wS^e, muiBt 
either be regarded as wholly unconnected, or its meaning be narmonized. 

' Finn Magnusen comes to the same conclusion, Lex. myth. 621. 636. 

8 The belief, so common in the Mid. Ages, in a * furious host * or * wild 
hunt,' is described in ch. XXXI. — ^Trans. 



WODAN. 133 

all'pervdding creative and formative power, who bestows shape and 
beauty on men and all things, from whom proceeds the gift of song 
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, Saem. 113*•^ 

To the heathen fancy Wuotan is not only the world-ruling, wise, 
ingenious god, he is above all the arranger of wars and battles.^ 
Adam of Bremen cap. 233, ed. 1595 says of the Norse god : Wodan, 
id est fortior, bella gerit, hominique ministrat virtutem contra 
inimicos . . . Wödanem sculpunt (Sveones) armatum, sicut nostri 
Martem sculpere solent To the fortior, fortis, would answer his 
ON. 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 I which agrees with the conclusion arrived 
at above. To him, says the Edda, belong all the nobles who fall in 
battle (Saem. 77^). and to Th8r the common folk, but this seems 
added merely to depreciate the latter ; in another passage (Saem. 
42*), Freya shares the fallen with Oöinn ; he is named valfaSir and 
herfaSir (val, choice ; her, host). 09inn vildi }?iggja mann at hlut- 
falli at hänga or herinom, Fornald. sog. 3, 31. Eidem prostratorum 
manes muneris loco dedicaturum se pollicetur (Haraldus), Saxo p. 
146. Othinus annipotens, p. 37, auctor aciei comiculatae, ordinandi 
agminis disciplinae traditor et repertor, pp. 138-9, 146. When old, 
he teaches arraying of battle, p. 17, the hamalt at fylkja, svlnfylkja, 
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 T^r, 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) VuotarU (part. pres. of wuotan) vocatur, 
Latini autem Martem ilium appellant. Are Adam's words also, 
' sicut nostri Martem sculpere solent,' to be so taken that nostri 



» Got waldes an der tige hUr ! Wh. 425. 24. ngehafU hende fliege in got ! 
Dietr. 84». OtJinn, when he sent the people lorth to war, laid his hands on their 
head* and blessed, ace to YngL cap. 2, gaf J?eim hianac ; Jr. beannact, bean- 
nugad, beandacht, Gael beannachd, WeL bianoch (Villemarou§, essai LIX) = 
benedictio, prob, all from the Lat. word ? con£ Fr. b^nir, Ir. beannaigioL 



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 all other gods, that antique name sihora (p. 27) 
rightfully belongs, as well as in the Eddas the epithets Sigtpr (god 
of victory), Saem. 248% Sn. 94, SigfoSTr (father of victory), Ssem. 68» ; 
AS. vigsigoT (victor in battle), Beow. 3107, siffmetod (creator of 
victory), Beow. 3554 (see Suppl.) : — Eefert hoc loco antiquitas ridi- 
culam fabulam, quod accedentes Wandali ad Wodan, victoriam de 
Winilis podvlaverint, illeque responderit, se illis victoriam daiurum^ 
quos primum oriente sole conspexisset Tunc accessisse Gambaram 
ad Fream, uxorem Wodan, et Winilis vidoinam postidasse, Fream- 
que consilium dedisse, Winilorum mulieres solutos crines eiga 
faciem ad barbae similitudinem componerent mancque primo cum 
\'iris 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 ? tunc Fream subjunxisse, 
ut quibus nomen tribuerat, victoriam 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 : Gertum tamen est Longobardos ab intactae 
ferro barbae longitudine, cum primitus WiniU dicti fuerint, ita 
postmodum appellatos. Nam juxta illorum linguam lang longam, 
bart barbam significat. Wodan sane, quem adjecta litera Owodan 
dixerunt, et ah universis Oermaniae gerUHms ut deus adoratur, qui 
non circa haec tempora, sed longe anterius, nee in Germania, aed in 
Graecia fuisse perhibetur.^ 

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 Fie- 
degar, yet some writer of the seventh century. Here Chuni 

^ God&ey of Yiterbo (in Pistoiiiis, ed. Strave 2, 305) has the legend out of 
Paul Diac with the names cormpted, Godam for Wodan, Feria for Frea. 
Godam or Votam sets him thinking of the Qerm. word got (dens). The 
unheard-of ' Toclacta historiographus ' has evidently sprung oat of ' hoc looo ' 
in Paul. 



WODAN. 135 

(Huns) are named instead of Vandals : — Cum a Chunis (Lango- 
bardi) Danubium transeuntes fuissent comperti, eis bellum conati 
stmt inferre. Interrogati a Chunis, quare gens eorum terminos 
introire praesumeret ? At illi mulieribus suis praecipiunt, comani 
capitis ad maxillas et mentum ligare, quo potius virorum habitum 
simulantes plurimam multitudinem 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 dmm f uisse 
locutum, quem fanatici nominant Wodanum (al. Wisodano, a mere 
copyist's or reader's error for Wuodano). Tunc Langobardi cum cla- 
massent, qui instituerat nomen, concederet victariam, in hoc praelio 
Chunos superant. (Bouquet 2, 406 ; according to Pertz, all the MSS. 
read Wadano,) 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 for any one who bestowed a name, to follow 
it up with a gift.^ Wodan felt himself bound to confer the victory 
on those for whom he had foimd 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, 
for all the credit it found in the Mid. Ages.* 

There is one more feature in the legend that must not escape 
our notice. Wodan from his heavenly dwelling looks down on the 
earth through a unndow, which exactly agrees with ON. descrip- 
tions. OSinn has a throne named Hlidskialf, sitting on which he 
can survey the whole world, and hear all that goes on among 
men : \>aT er einn staSr er HliSscialf heitir, oc }7aer OSinn settiz 
]>Bi i häs^ti, oc ]>k sd hann of alia heima, oc vissi alia luti, 
)>& er hann sä (there is a stead that H. hight, and when 0. 
sat there on high-seat, then saw he over all countries, and 
wist, &c.), Sn. 10. oc J?ä er AllföCr sitr 1 J?vi saeti, J)ä ser hann oj 
aUan heim, Sn. 21. hlustar (listens) OSinn HliSscidfo 1, Ssem. 89^ 



1 L4ta fylgja nafni, Ssem. 142«. 150». Fomm. sog. 3, 182. 203. gefa at 
na^esti (name-feastV, Sn. 151. Fomm. sog. 2, 51. 3, 133. 203. Islend. sog. 
2, 143. 194. Vocaouli largitionem muneris additione commendare, Saxo 
Oram. 71. 

' Longobardi a longis barbis vodtati, Otto tiia. de gest Frid. 2, 13. But 
OSinn himself was named Ldngbartfr. 



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 : 
Oöinn ok Frigg sato 1 Hliöscialfo, ok sA um hdma alia, Saem. 39. 
The proem to the Grimnismäl 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 Geirröör, whom Oöinn 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 Gerör away down in lötunheim ; Freyr 
liafSi setsc i HliSskialf, oc sd urn fieima alia, Ssem. 81. Sn. 39. The 
word JUidsdalf seems to mean literally door-bench, from hliB 
(ostium, conf. Engl, lid), and skialf (scamnum), AS. scylfe, Caedm. 
79, 4. EngL shelf (see SuppL). Mark the language in which the 
OS. poet describes the Ascension of Christ : sohta imo tJiena hSlagon 
stdly sitit imo thar an thea sutdron (right) half Godes, endi thanan 
all gisihü (seeth) waldandeo Crist, s6 huat s8 (whatso) thius werold 
behabet, HeL 176, 4—7, conf. Caedm. 265, 16. 

This idea of a seat in the sky, from which God looks on the 
earth, is not yet extinct among our peopla 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, "'ISrjOep fieBioDv, even as Helios, the 
eye of the sun, surveys and discerns all things, H. 3, 277. But a 
widely-circulated märchen 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 all that is done on the whole earth. He sees a \irasherwoman 
steal two lady's veils, and in his anger seizes the footstool of the 
Lord, which stands before the chair (al. a chair's leg), and hurls it 
down at the thief.^ To such lengths has the ancient fable travelled. 

' Kindermärchen no. 36. First in Bebel, ed. 1, Tub. 1506, p. 6. Prey's 
Rartengesellflchaft cap. 109, ed. 1556 p. 106, ed. 1690 p. 86. Rollwagenbüchlein 
1590, pp. 98-9 (here a golden settle). Mostird vermischte schnften 1, 332. 2, 



WODAN. 137 

Can it be alluded to in the MHG. poem, Amgb. 3^ ? 

Der nü den himel hat erkorn, 

der geiselt uns bl unser habe ; 

ich vürhte söre, unt wirt im zorn, 

den sieget wirft er uns her abe.^ 
In a Servian song (Vuk 4, 9) the angels descend to earth otU of 
CrodHs vnndow (od Bozhieg prozöra ; pro-zor (out-look, hence window) 
reminds one of zora (dawn), prozorie (morning twilight), and of 
Wodan at early mom looking toward the sunrise. The daum 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 Lm^d 
(supra, p. 18), whereby the Herulian warriors were smitten before 
their enemies, I am inclined to trace up to Wuotan : Tanta super eos 
eodiiua ira respexit ; and again : Vae tibi, misera Herulia, quae 
eoeUstis Domini flecteris iru ! Conf. Egilssaga p. 365 : reiUfr s6 
rögn ok Oöinn I wrathful see the gods and 0. ; and Fornald. sog. 1, 
501 : gramr er yör Oöinn, 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 all superior blessings ; and 
in this sense also Hermes (Mercury) was to the Greeks pre- 
eminently SwTtop iaxovy giver of good things, and I have ventured 
to guess that the name Gibika, Kipicho originally signified the 
same to us^ 

235. ed. 1842, 4, 5, 39. H. Sachs (1563) v. 381. According to Greek and 0. 
Norse notions, the gods have a throne or äiair : thä gengen^ regin oil k rökstola 
ginheilög go9, Sa:m. 1*^. Compare in the Bible : heaven is Gkxi's throne, the 
earth liis footstool, Matt 5, 34-5 ; and HeL 45, 11. 12 (see Suppl.). 

* Also MS. % 254^ : ze hüs wirf ich den sUgd dir. MS. 2, 6^ : mit 
einem degd er zno dem kinde warf. This cndgel-throxcing resembles, 
what meant so much to our ancestors, the hammer's throw, and the 
OUG. ilaga is malleus, sUdge-hsunmer (Graff 6, 773). The cudgel thrown 
from heaven can hardly be other than a thunderoolt ; and the obscure 
proverb, ' swer irre rite daz der den slegel fiinde,' whoeo astray should ride, that 
ne 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 accidentaUv lost their way in a wood ; for 
which reason Wolfram calls trunks of trees, from under which peepe out the 
itone of luck, * slegels Urkunde und zil,' slegel's document and mark (aim). 

' Haupts zeitschr. 1, 573. Lasicz. 47 names a Dataniu donator bonorum. 



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 vmnsch (wish). This word is probably derived from wunja, 
wunnja, our wonne, bliss ; wunisc, wunsc, perfection in whatever 
kind, what we should call the Ideal. Thus, Er. 1699 * der wünsch 
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 rät, des der wünsch an wibe gert,' such store as wish can 
crave in wife ; Gerh. 1754} ' an der got Wunsches aiht vergaz/ in 
whom God nought of wish forgot (left out) ; Parz» 742, 15 ' der 
wünsch wirt in beiden ' ; Trist. 3710 * dir ist der wimscb gegeben'; 
Frauend. 87 * der wünsch von edlem obze,' the pick of noble fruit ; 
Parz. 250, 25 ' erden Wunsches riebe,' rieh in all gifts of the earth ; 
235, 24, * erden wimsches überwal '; Trist. 4696. 4746 * der wünsch 
von Worten, von bluomen ' ; Trist. 1374 * in dem wünsche sweben,' 
i.6., in perfect satisfaction. And the magic wand, by whose impact 
treasures are acquired, was a vmnschiligerta, 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, ON. 8sk (see SuppL). 

Among other Eddie names of OSinn, appears Osd, Ssem. 46^ 
Sn. 3, 24, i,e. he who makes men partakers of wünsch, of the 
highest gift. Osk, gen. Oskar, a woman's name, Fomm. sog. 1, 246. 
Eyrbyggja saga cap. 7. Laxd. p. 12. 

Another thing seems to me to be connected with this, and there- 
fore to be a relic of the heathen religion : the fact that our poets of 
the 13th century personify wünsch, and represent it as a mighty 
creative being. Instances in proof of this are found chiefly in 
Hartmann, Eudolf and Conrad : 

Got erloubte dem Wunsche über 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, 

swä von ouch <if 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 het in gemeistert so Wish had him fashioned so, 



WODAN. 



139 



daz er stn xocls ze Jcinde vrd, 
wände er nihts an im vergaz : 
er hetn geschaffet, kunder, baz. 

Greg. 1091-1100. 

man sagt daz nie kint gewan 
ein lip sd gar dem Wunsche glich. 

Ex. 330. 

alsd was ez (daz phert) gestalte 
und ob er (der werltwise man) 

danne den gewalt 
van dem Wunsche hoete, 
daz ez belibe stsete 

swes er darzuo gedaehte, 

und swenne erz volbrsehte, 

daz erz für sich stalte 

und er von stnem gwalte 

dar abe nseme 

swaz daran im missezseme, 

also was ez volkomen 

daz er dar abe niht hete gencv 

men 
alse grdz als umb ein här. 

Er. 7375-87. 



that he was glad of him for child, 
for he nought in him forgot : 
he had him shapen, if he could, 
better. 

They say that never a child won 
a body so wholly equal to Wish 
(or, exactly like Wish). 

So was it wrought (the horse), 
that if he (the wright) had had 

the command from Wish, 

that (his work) should be left 

unaltered, 
whatever he attempted thereon, 
cuid when he had completed it, 
that he should set it before Him, 
and He at his discretion 
therefrom should take away 
whatever therein misliked him, — 
so perfect was it 
that he therefrom nought would 

have taken 
so great as a hair. 



als ez der WwMch gebdt (bade). Er. 8213. 

was ein vmnschJcint (was a child of wish). Ex. 8277. 

Enite was des Wunsches kint, 

der an ir nihtes vergaz. Er. 8934. 

da was ir här und ir lieh (lyke, lych, body) 

80 gar dem Wunsche gelich (like). Iw. 1333. 

diz was an ir (zuht, schcene, jugent) und gar der rät (all the store) 

des der TTwrwcÄ (or wünsch ?) an wibe gert (desires.) Iw. 6468. 

wände sie nie gesähen (for they never had seen) 

zwene riter gestalt (two knights fashioned) 

so gar in Wunsches gewalt 

an dem libe und an den siten (manners). Iw. 6913. 

der Wunsch vluochä (curses) im sd. Iw. 7066. 



140 WODAN. 

mir hat der Wunsch gevluochet. Hartm. büchL 2, 113. 

er was schcene und wol gevar (for gefarwet, coloured), 

rehte, als in der Wunsch erkds (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 süeze lebende /ruht. Gerh. 1660. 

daz ich ir schcene krcene 

ob allen frouwen schone 

mit des Wunsches kröne. Gerh. 1668. 

ein regen üz dem wölken vloz 

der üf des Wunsches ouwe g8z 

so heizen regen (?). Gerh. 2307. 

an lobe (praise) des Wunsches kröne. GerL 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 wünschen solte. Gerh. 2945. 

nach des Wunsches l£re (lore). Gerh. 4500. 

der Wunsch mit siner hende 

vor Wandel (change, fault) hete si getwagen (cleansed). Troj. 1212. 

der Wunsch hat äne lougen (without lying, undeniably) 

erzeiget an ir sine kraft, 

und slner künste meisterschaft 

mit vltze an ir bewert (carefully evinced in her). Troj. 7569. 

der Wunsch hat in gemachet wandeis vrl (free of fault). Troj. 3154 

der Wunsch der hete an si geleit (gelegt, laid out, spent) 

mS flizes denne üf elliu wip (more pains than on any woman). 

Troj. 19620. 
s8 daz er niemer wlbes leben 
für sie geschepfen wolde baz (better) ; 
do sin gewcUt ir bilde maz (measured), 
do leit (legte) er an sie manec model. Troj. 19627 
und hsete sin der Wiinsch geswom, 
er wolde bilden ein schoener wlp, 
und schöpfen also klären Up 
als Helena min frouwe treit (trägt, bears) 
er müeste brechen slnen eit (eid, oath) 
wan er kunde niemer (for he could never). 



WODAN. 141 

und solte bilden iemer (were he to shape for ever), 

gcschtpfen wünnecUcher fruht Troj. 19526-32. 

ez hat ze sinem teile der Wutmk veigezzen niender. Engelh. 579. 

daz haete an si der Wutrnk geleit. Engelh. 4703. 

der Wunsch der hete niht gespart 

an ir die stne meisterschaft, 

er hete sine beste kraft 

mit ganzem yZis; an sie geleit. Der werlde Idn. 84. 

Other poets personify too (not, however. Wolfram nor (Jotfried): 

der zweier kurtßsle 

sich ze dem Wunsche het geweten, 

si wäre niender {Iz getreten. Wigal. 9246. 

an ir schoene was wol schin, 

daz ir der Wunsch gedähte. WigaL 9281. 

der Wunsch het sich geneigä in ir gewalt. ibid. 904. 

in was der Wunsch bereit, ib. 10592. 

des Wunsches amte. ib. 7906. 8735. 

wen mohte da erlangen, 

da der Wunsch inne was. ib. 10612. 

der Wunsch het si gemachet so, 

und ist ir 25ß kinde vrd, Amur 1338. (Pf. 1343). 

des Wunsches ougenweide (food for the eye) 

sit ir und miner sselden spil (are ye, and the play of my delight). 

WigaL 8760. Amur 1068. (Pf. 1072). 
si schepfet üz des Wunsches heüawäge (holy water). Martina, 259. 
(diu haut) ist im groz, lanc unde wiz, 
zuo der het sich der Wunsch gesdlä. TurL Wh. 38*. 
hie stu&nt (here stood) der Wunsch, ib. 137^ 
dar an lit (therein lieth) wol des Wunsches vliz. Tyrol E, 3. 
si ist des Wunsches hostez zu (highest mark or aim). Ms. 1, 84*. 
sie ist der Wunsch üf erde. Ms. 2, 100^ 

sie ist des Wunsches ingesinde (one of W.*s household). Ms. 1, 6*. 
von ir Scheitel üf ir zehen (from her crown to her toes) 
so ist niht an minnecHchen widen wan (save, but) des Wunsches 

hlic. MsH. 3, 493*. 
des Wunsches blüete sint entsprungen in mine herzen. Fragm. 45^. 
si trage des Wunsches bilde. Ms. 1, 191*. 
des Wunsches kröne tragen. Docen misc. 2, 186. 



142 WODAN. 

sie Mt des WunscJies gewalt Amgb. 31^ 
er was so gar des Wunsches kint, 

daz alle man gein (against, before) siner schcene wären blint, 
und doch menlich gestalt bl clärem velle (complexion) ; 
der Wunsch im niht gebrechen Uez (let nought be lacking) 
da von man 's Wtinsches kint den stolzen hiez (should call the 
stately one). Lohengr. ed. Eückert str. 625. 

The following is outside the boimds 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 amte! There must be many more instances; 
but the earliest one I know of is found in the Enteknst from the 
12th century (Hofifm. fundgr. 2, 107) : 

mit Wunschis gewalte 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 ih 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 hit sie Oot 
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 ytSr OBinn,' 
p. 137, might be rendered in MHG. 'der Wunsch zürnet 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 koimu 



WODAN. 143 

Xaplr€<r<nv ofiolai, H. 17, 51; and Xdpire;, the 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 is an abstract x"P*'^> gratia, as there is a wisL^ Püterich of 

Reicherzhausen (Haupts zeitschr. 6, 48) speaks of ' die vmrUsches 

fuesse ' of a princess ; the older phrase would have been • ir fiieze 

wären dem Wunsche gellch\ 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 

aw€ and heilwac can be matched by Phol's ouwa and brunno, or the 

meads and holywells of other gods ; Wish's croum 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 

also used in the sense of an adopted, i.e. wished for, child.* Her- 

bort 13330 makes Hecuba exclaim : ich hän einen sun verlorn, er 

gezseme 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 OSinn too has these 

marvellous children and wish-maidens in his train (see Suppl.)* 

To the ON. Oski ought by rights to correspond an OHG. Wunsco, 

Wunscfo, (weak decl.), which I am not able to produce even as a 

man's name (see Suppl.).* A MHG. Wunsche cannot be proved 

* In many places it is doubtful, whether the poet meant tinsh or With. In 
Wolfram ana Gotftied, who abstain from distinct personification, I always 
prefer the abstract interpretation, while Hartmann admits of both by tiims. 
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, ' fii ist dee Wunsches höstez zu (the highest that Wish ever created) ' ; 




gebrechen, W. left himliothing lacking (see Suppl.). 

* The Germ, an-wiinschen verbally translates the Lat. ad-opto. — Traks. 

' That Wish was personified, and very boldly, by the christian poets, is 
abundantly proved. That he was ever l>ebeved in as a person, even in neathen 
times, is, to my thinking, far from clear. I believe some Gennan scholars 
r^ard the notion as little better than a mare's nest — Trans. 

* The name does occur later : Johannes dictus de ( = der) Wunsch^ Ch. 
ann. 1324 (Neue mitth. des thür. vereine I. 4,65). In the Oberhess, wochen- 
l)latt, Marburg 1830, p. 420, I read of a Joh. Wumch 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 = Wünschelfrauen, wish- women; by the 
Oskasteinn, a philosopher's stone connected with our Wünscfulnäe, 
wishing-rod, and Mercury's staflf; by Oskabyrr, MHG. Wuiischwint^ 
fair wind ; by OskaMom, wish-bear, a sea-monster ; all of which 
will be discussed more fully by and by. A fem. proper name Osk 
occurs in a few places ; what if the unaccountable Oskopnir, Ssem. 
188*, were really to be explained as Osk-opnir ? Opnir, Cfnir, we 
know, are epithets of Oöinn. 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 wüsc 
(optio, votum) seeming to be rare, and only wyscan (optare) in 
common use ; yet among the mythic heroes of Deira we meet with 
a Wilscfredj 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 to make up for it, their oldest poetry is still dimly conscious 
of another name of Wuotan, which again the Edda only mentions 
cursorily, though in Ssem. 46** it speaks of Oski and Omi in a 
breath, and in 91^ uses Omi once more for Oöinn. Now this Omi 
stands related to omr, sonus, fragor, as the AS. w6ma to wom, 
clamor, sonitus ; I have quoted instances in Andr. and EL pp. xxx, 
xxxi, to which may now be added from the Cod. exon.: heofonwdma 
52, 18. 62, 10; dc^gredwoma 179, 24; hildewöma 250, 32. 282, 15; 
wiges woma 277, 5 ; wintres woma 292, 22 : in this last, the mean- 
ing of hiemis impetus, fi-agor, 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), wünsch (ideal), woma (impetus, fragor). The 
gracious and grace-bestowing god was at other times called the 
stormful, the terror-striking, who sends a thrill through nature; 
even so the ON. has both an Yggr standing for OSinn, and an yggr 
for terror. The AS. w6ma is no longer found as Woma ; in OHG. 
wuomo and Wuomo are alike unknown. Thorpe renders the 



WODAN. 145 

' heofonwöman ' above in a local sense by 'heaven's comers/ 1 doubt 
if correctly ; in both the passages coeli fragores are meant We 
may however imagine Omi, Wdma 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.). 

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 is therefore, even according to the 
christian view, called going to Qod, turning home to God : in AS. 
metodsceaft seon, Beow. 2360. Caedm. 104,31. Or seeking, visiting 
God : OS. god snokian, HeL 174,26 ; /adar suokion, HeL 143, 23 ; 
npödashem, licht ddar, sinllf, godes riki suokian, HeL 85, 21. 17, 17. 
63, 14 137, 16. 176, 5. In a like sense the Thracians, ace. to 
Herodotus 4, 94, said Uvcu iraph Zd\/io^tv (FeßeTiAi^Lv) Ba{fjLova, 
which Zalmoxis or Zamolxes is held by Jemandes to be a deified 
king of the Goths (Getae). In the 'North, faring to OSinn, being 
guest vnth Oötnn, visiting OSinn, meant simply to die, Fomald. 
sog. 1, 118. 422-3. 2, 366. and was synonymous with faring to 
Valhöll, being guest at Valhöll, ib. 1, 106. Among the christians, 
these were turned into curses : far fyA, til Oöins ! OSins eigi Jnk ! 
may OSin's have thee (see SuppL). Here is shown the inversion 
of the kindly being, with whom one fain would dwell, into an 
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 (wütende) host * 
named after hiuL Valhöll (aula optionis) and Valkyrja obviously 
express the notion of wish and choice (Germ, wähl, 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. 

' So Wuotan*8 name of itself degenerates into the sense of fury (wnt) and 
anger ; the Edda has instances of it In revenge he pricked Brj'nhild with 
the sleeping-thom, Saem. 194% and she says : OÖinn jnri veldr, er ek eigi 
mattak bre^öa blunnstöfom. He breeds enmity and strife : einn veldr Ot5inn 
öllu bölvi, pvlat meS sifjungom sakrünar bar, Seem. 165^. inimicitias Othinus 
«erit, Saxo gram. p. 142, as christians say of the devil, that he sows the seeds 
of discord. grem% 09ins, Saem. 151» (see SuppL). 

10 



146 WODAN. 

myths, I have found but few traces left among us in Germany. 
The Norse OSinn is one-eyed, he wears a broad hout and wide mantle: 
Grimnir 1 feldi Udm, blue cloak, Seem, 40. ! Iieklu groenni ok 
bldm hrShim, green cloak and blue breeks, Fomald. sog. 1, 324. 
heklumaör, cloaked man, 1, 325. When he desired to drink of 
Mlmi's foimtain, he was obliged to leave one of his eyes in pawn, 
Ssem. 4* Sn. 15.^ In Saxo, p. 12, he appears as grandaevus, altero 
orbits octdo ; p. 37, armipotens, uno semper contentus ocello ; p. 138, 
senex orbus octdis, hispido amictu. So in the Sagas : kom }7ar maSr 
gamall, miök orSspakr, einsynn ok aicgdapr, ok hafSi fiatt sidan ; 
there came an old man, very word- wise, one-eyed and sad-eyed, 
and had a wide hat, Fornm. sog. 2, 138. hann hafir heklu flekkdtta 
yfir ser, sä maSr var berfoettr ok hafSi knj^tt linbr6kum at beini, hann 
var här miök (very high), ok eldiligr ok einspnn, Fornald. sog. 1, 120. 
}7a kom maSr i bardagann meS stfan hatt ok luklu bld,^ hann hafSi 
eü6 auga, ok geir (spear) 1 hendi, ib. 1, 145. J?etta mun O&inn 
gamli verit hafa, ok at vlsu var maSrinn ein&jnn, ib. 1, 95. sä 
hann mann mikinn meS ddun Jietti, ib. 5, 250. me8 helti Hängatj^ss 
gänga, cum cidari Odiniana incedere, VigagL ss^a, p. 168. Othinus, 
08 pUeo, ne cultu proderetur, obnvibens, Saxo Gram. 44. An Eddie 
song already names him Stdhottr, broad-hatted, Saem. 46^ and one 
saga merely Hottr, hatted, Fomald. sog. 2, 25-6; conf. Müllers 
sagabibL 3, 142. Were it not for the name given him in the 
Grtmnismal, 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 pUeati of 
Jemandes ? A saga in Saxo, p. 12, tells prettily, how the blind old 
god takes up a prot^g^ in his cloaJk, 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 JieJdumaÖr 
of the hat with its rim turned up, he is our Hakolberend at the 
head of the wild host, who can at once be turned into a Grothic 



^ Conf. Tritas in the fountain, Kuhn in Höfer 1, 290. Ace to the 
popular religion, you must not look into running water, because you look into 
txod^a eye, TooWs Appenzel p. 369^ ; neither must you point at tne stars with 
your fingers, for fear of sticking them into the angels* eyes. 

* There is a Swed. marchen of Greyrnantle (grakappan)^ Molbech 14, who, 
like Mary in German tales, takes one up to heaven and forbids the opening of a 
lock, Elinderm. 3, 407. 



WODAN. 147 

Hahdabairands, now that hakuls for ^cXoi/iy^ is found in 2 Tim. 
iv. 13. — Swedish folk-tales picture Odin as bald-headed, Iduna 10, 
231. In the ancient poetry he is Harbarfr, Stfgrani, StÖskeggr, 
all in allusion to his thick growth of hair and beard. The name 
Bedbeard I have elsewhere understood of Thor, but in Fornald. 
8c%. 2, 239 — 257 the Grani and Raudgrani are expressly OSinn (see 
SuppL). 

The Norse myth arms OSinn with a wonderful spear (geir), 
(Mngnir 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 OSinn's spear, Vols, saga cap. 11. 
He lends this spear to heroes to win victories with, Saem. 165. A 
remarkable passage in the Fornm. sog. 5, 250 says : seldi honum 
reyrspiAta (gave him the reeden spear) 1 bond, ok ba8 hann skiöta 
honum yfir liö Styrbiamar, ok J?at skyldi hann maela : Oßin ä yBr 
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?ä skaut SteinJ^örr spiöti at fomom siiT til 
heilla ser yfir flock Snorra ; where, it is true, nothing is said of the 
spear laimched over the enemy being the god's. Stem. 5% of OSinn 
himself : fleigöi ok 1 folk um skaut (see Suppl.). 

To the god of victory are attached two wolves 6uid ttoo 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 hoimds, 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 sfumlders of Oöinn, and whisper in his ear whatever they see 
and hear, Saem. 42»> 88». Sn. 42. 56. 322. To the Greek Apollo too 
the wolf and raven were sacred ;^ his messenger the raven informed 
him when Eoronis was unfaithful, and Aristeas accompanied him 
as a raven, Herod. 4, 15 ; a raven is perched aloft on the mantle of 
Mithras the sim-god. The Gospels represent the Holy Ghost as a 



> In Marc. Cap. 1, 11, the words: 'anguiales vero ah tea ante cnmim 
Delio constiteront, are transl. by Notker 37 : t6 w&ren gaio ze Apollinis reito 
sine wiz^ogela, rabena unde albi«se. To 09inn hawks are sometimea given 
instead of ravena : OCina haukar Sadm. 167^ 



148 WODAN. 

dove descending upon Christ at his baptism, Lu. 3, 22, and resting 
upon him, cfieivev hr axn6v, mansit super eum, John 1, 32 : 'in 
Krist er sih gisidalta,' says 0. i. 25, 24; but Hel. 30, 1 of the 
dove : sat im uppan uses drohtines dhdu (our Lord's shoulder). Is 
this an echo of heathen thoughts ? None of the Fathers have this 
circumstance, but in the Mid. Ages there is talk enough about 
doves resting on shoulders ;^ 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. Cont Zingerle, 
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, HnikuÖr, 
Nikarr, NiJcuz, and the hesitation between the two forms which in 
Sn. 3 are expressly made optional — * Nikarr e^a (or) Nikuz ' — ^may 
arise from the diversity of old dialects. Nikarr corresponds to the 
AS. Nicer, 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 Oöinn is equally 



^ Gregor. Nyssen. encom. Ephraemi relates, that when Basil the Great was 
preaching, Ephraem saw on his right shoulder a white dove, which put words of 
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 sat 
1^7071 his hecidy 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 a 
poet of the 12th cent., Hoflfm. fundgr. 2, 229 ; also Myst. 1. p. 226-7. Augus- 
tine and Thomas Aquinas are portrayed with a white dove perched on Uieir 
shoulders or hovering over their heads, A nursery-tale (Kinderm. no. 33) makes 
two doves settle on the pope's shoulder, and tell him in nis ear all that he has to 
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 of 
Wuotan's ravens to these doves, still the coincidence is striking (see Suppl.V 

* There are said to have been found lately, in Denmark and Sweden, 
representations of Odin, which, if some rather strange reports are well-founded^ 
ought to be made known without delay. A ploughman at Boeslund in ZeaJana 
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^ Gold coins also were discovered near the 
village of Gömminga in Oeland, one of which represents Odin with the fUMiit 
on his shoulder ; the reverse has runes -, KunstbL 1844^ no. 13, p. 52^ 



WODAK. 149 

noticeable for its double form : BifliSi eUa Biflindi, Sn. 3 ; Ssem. 
46^ has Biblindi. As bif (Genn. beben) signifies motus, aer. aqua, 
the quaking element, and the AS. liöe is lenis, OHG. lindi, ON", 
linr (for linnr) ; an AS. BifliSe, BeoflitJe, OHG. Pepalindi, might be 
suggested by the soft movement of the air, a very apt name for 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 
both over the air and over the water explains, how it is that he 
walks on the waves, and comes rushing on the gale. — It is OSinn 
that sends wind to the ships, Fomm. sog. 2, 16, hence a good sail- 
ing wind is called dskdbi/rr, Ssem. 165^ i.e.,08kabyrr ; byrr is from 
byrja, OHG. purran, to rise, be lifted up. It is in striking accord 
with this, that the MHG. poets use vmnschtvint in the same sense ; 
Hartmann says, Greg. 615 : 

Do sande in (to them) der süeze 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 Wödan's magic alone can cure 
Balder's lamed horsa The raven on the god's shoulder exactly fits 
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 2Jeus, 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 Theuth or Thoth 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, hwä serost bocstafas sette ? ' ' ic the secge, 
Mercurius se gygand\ Another dialogue, entitled Adrian and 
Epictus (MS. Brit. mus. Arund. no. 351. fol. 39) asks : * quia primus 
fecit literas ? ' and answers * Seith,* which is either a corruption of 
Theuth, or the Seth of the Bible. Just so the Eddie Rünatals J?&ttr 
seems to ascribe the first teaching of runes to OSinn, if we may so 



150 WODAN. 

interpret the words : nam ec upp rdnar, Ssem. 28*. J^aer ofrfiB, J^aer 
Dfreist, J?aer ofhugSi Hroptr, t.e., them OSinn read out, cut out, 
thought out, S»m. 195^ Also Snorri, YngL cap. 7 : allar J^essar 
Sdrottir kendi hann me8 rdnum ok liSffum. Hincmar of Bheims 
attributes to Mercury the invention of dice-playing : sicut isti qui 
de denariis quasi jocari dicuntur, quod omnino diabolicum est, et, 
sicut leghnus, primum diaboltcs hoc per Mercurium prodidit, unde 
et Mercurius inventor illius dicitur, 1, 656. Conf. SchoL to Odyss. 
23, 198, and MS. 2, 124^ : der tiuvd 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.).^ When to this 
we add, that the wishing-rod, ie., Wish's staff, recals Mercury's 
caduceus, and the wish- wives, ie.,oskmeyjar, valkyrior, the occupa- 
tion of the Psychopompos ; we may fairly recognise an echo of the 
Gallic* or Germanic Mercury in the epithet Trismegistos (Lactantius 
i. 6, 3. vi 25, 10. ter Toaximus Hermes in Ausonius), which later 
poets, Eomance and German, in the 12th and 13th centuries' 
transferred to a Saracen deity Termagant Tervagan, TertngarU, 
Terviant. Moreover, when Hermes and Mercury are described as 
dator bononim, and the Slavs again call the same god Dobro-paa 
(p. 130, note), as if mercis dominus ; it is worth noticing, that the 
Misnere Amgb. 42* in enumerating all the planets, singles out 
Mercury to invoke in the words : Nu hilf mir, daz mir oselde 
wache! schin er mir ze gelücke, noch so kum ich wider üf der 
saelden phat (pfad). Just so I find Odin invoked in Swedish popu- 
lar songs : Hielp nu, Oden Asagrim ! Svenska fomsängor 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 Grlmnir ? 



^ Reu8ch, sagen des prenss. Samlands, no. 11. 29. 

' In the Old British mythology there appears a Gxcydion ah Bon^ Q. son of 
Don, whom Davies (Celtic researches pp. 168, 174. Brit myth. p. 118, 204^ 263-^ 
353, 429, 504, 541) identifies with Hermes ; he invented writing, practisea 
magic, and built the rainbow ; the milky way was named caer Qwycuon, Q.'s 
castle (Owen, sub v.). The British antiquaries say nothing of W6den, yet 
Gwydion seems near of kin to the above Gwodan = Wodan. So the lush 
name for dies Mercurii, dia Geden, whether modelled on the EngL Wednesday 
or not, leads us to the form Goden, Gwoden (see Suppl.). 

> Even nursery-tales of the present time speak of a groszmädUige Mercunu», 
Einderm. no. 99. 2, 86. 

* This Termaaanj Termagant occurs eppecially in 0. Engl, poems, and may 
have to do with the Irish tormac 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 
Odtnn and Hcenir, or, in christian guise, of Ood 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 6\ fjv Kal afia^av hrlKKtiav KaXiovaiv. II. 18, 487. 
Od. 5, 273. So in OHG. glosses : ursa wagen, Jun. 304 ; in MHG. 
himelwagen, Walth. 54, 3.^ herwagen Wackem. lb. 1. 772, 26. 
The clearest explanation is given by Notker cap. 64 : Selbiu ursa 
ist pi demo norde mannelichemo zeichenhaftiu fone dien siben 
glaten stemon, die aller der liut wagen heizet, unde näh einemo 
gloccun joche* gescafifen sint, unde ebenmichel sint, &ne (except) 
des mittelösten. The Anglo-Saxons called the constellation woenes 
JAd (waggon's thill, pole), or simply JAd, but carles ween also is 
quoted in Lye, the Engl, charles wain, Dan. karlsvogn, Swed. 
karlwagn. 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 Wvx^nes 
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.) ourse, dat is te segghene 
Woenstvaghtn, And elsewhere: dar dit teekin Arcturus, dat wy 
heeten Woonswaghen, up staet ; het sevenstarre ofde Woenswaghen ; 
conf, Huydec proeven 1, 24. I have nowhere met with plaustrum 
Mercurii, nor with an ON. OSins 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 
w^ or strdza (way or street). Wddenesweg, as the name of a place, 
stood its ground in Lower Saxony, in the case of a \'illage near 
Magdeburg, Ch. ad ann. 973 in Zeitschr. für archivk. 2, 349 ; an 

1 Septentrion, que nos char el ciel apelon ; Roman de Roo. 

* Cioasbeam, such as bells (glocken) are suspended on ; conf. ans, &s, p. 125. 



152 WODAN. 

older doc. of 937 is said to have Watanesweg (cjonf. Wiggert in the 
Neu. mitth. des thür. Vereins VI. 2, 22). praediuni in Wödeneswege, 
Dietm. Merseb. 2, 14 p. 750. Annal. Saxo 272. Johannes de Wden- 
swege, Heinricus de Wödensweghe (Lenz.) Brandenb. urk. p. 74 
(anno 1273), 161 (anno 1301). later, Wutenswege, Grodenschwege, 
Gvienswegen, conf. Ledebur n. arch. 2, 165, 170. Gero ex familia 
Wodensivegiorum, Ann, Magdeb. in chron. MarienthaL Meibom 3, 
263. I would mention here the lustration der koninges strate, RA- 
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 
all in 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 Sigt^s bergi, Ssem. 248*. Othensberg, now Onsberg, 
on the Danish I, of Samsöe j Odensberg in Schonen. Godesbeig 
near Bonn, in docs, of Mid. Ages Grvdenesberg, Günther 1, 211 (anno 
1131), 1, 274 (anno 1143), 2, 345 (anno 1265) ; and before that, 
Wddenesberg, Lacomblet 97. 117, annia 947, 974 So early as in 
Caesarius heisterb. 8, 46 the two fonns are put together : GtuHns- 
berg vel, ut alü 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 8, "79), later Vdenesberg, Gudensberg ; this hill is not to be 
confounded with Oudensberg by Erkshausen, district Rotenburg 
(Niederhess. wochenbL 1830, p. 1296), nor with a Guderiberg by 
Oberelsxmgen and Zierenberg (ib. p. 1219. Rommel 2, 64 Gvden- 
twr^ 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 Wddenesberg is named 
in a doc. of 1130, Wedekind's notes 1, 367 ; acurtis Wddenesberg in 
a doc. of 973, Falke tradit. corb. 534. Gotansberg (anno 1275), 
Langs reg. 3, 471 : vineas duas gotansberge vocatas. Mabillon's 
acta Bened. sec. 5, p. 208 contain the following : * in loco ubi mons 
quem dicunt Wonesberth (1. Wdnesberch = Wodanesberg) a radicibus 
astra petit,' said to be situate in pagus Gandavensis, but more cor- 
rectly Mt. Ardenghen between Boulogne and St. Omer. Comes 
Wadanivwntis, aft. Vaudemont in Lorraine (Don Calmet, tome 2, 



WODAN. 153 

preuves XLVIII. L.), seems to be the same, and to mean JFodani- 
mons} A Wddnes heorg in the Sax. Chron, (Ingram pp. 27. 62), 
later Wodnesborcmgh, Wansboroiigh in Wiltshire; the corruption 
already in Ethelwerd p. 835 : ' facta ruina magna ex utraque parte 
in loco qui dicitur Wodnesbyrg * for Wodnesberg ; but Florence, ed. 
1592, p. 225, has * Wodnesbeorh, id est mons Wodeni '.^ A Wddnes- 
beorg in Lappenberg's map near the Eearucwudu, conf. Wodncsbury, 
Wodiusdyke, Wddanesfeld 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 mythus of a victorious army pining for 
water is already applied to King Carl by the Frankish annalists 
(Pertz 1, 150. 348), at the very moment when they bring out the 
destruction of the Irminsül ; but beyond a doubt it is older and 
heathen : Saxo Gram. 42 has it of the victorious Balder. The agree- 
ment of «uch legends with fixed points in the ancient cultus can- 
not but heighten and eonfirm their significance. A people whose 
faith is falling to pieces, will save here and there a fragment of 
it, by fixing it on a new and unpersecuted object of veneration. 
After such numerous instances of ancient Woden-hills, one need 
not be afraid to claim a vions 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 Wvdaneshusun* and again Woteneshiimn (conf. Schannat no. 
84. 105) ; in Oldenburg there is a Wodensholt, now Godensholt, 
cited in a land-book of 1428, Ehrentraut Fries, arch. 1, 445 : * to 
Wodensholte Tideke Tammen gut x Schillinge ' ; Wothenower (W6- 
denover ?), seat of a Brandenburg family. Höfers urk. p. 270, anno 
1334 ; not far from Bergen op Zoom and the Scheldt, towetrds Ant- 
werp, stands to this day a WoensdreclU, as if Wodani trajectum. 
Woensd = Wodenssele, Wodani aula, lies near Eindhoven on the 



* We know of Graisivaudan, a valley near Grenoble in DauphinI, for 
which the Titurel has Graawaldane^ but there is no ground for connecting it 
with the god. 

* Our present -borough, -bury, stands both correctly for hurh^ byrig, castle, 
town (Germ, burg), and incorrectly for the lost beorg, beorh, mountain (Genu, 
berg). — Trans. 



154 WODAN. 

Dommel in N. Brabaut ; a remarkable passage on it in Gramaje's 
Taxandria, p. 23, was 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 JEersel, Martis in Boysel. Uti enim Woen Mercurium 
eis dictum alias docui, et eer honorem esse omnes sciunt, ita Eoy 
Martern a colore sanguineo cognominatimi ostendunt illi qui tertiam 
hebdomadis feriam Roydach indigitantr In due time I shall 
speak of Eersel and Eoysel, which lie in the neighbourhood of 
Woensel, and all of them in the N. Brabant district of Oirschot. 
This Woensel is like the Oöinssalr, Othänsäle, Onsala named on 
p. 158. Wunstoirp, Wunsdorf, a convent and small town in Lower 
Saxony, stands immutilated as Wodcnstarp 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 Wodensla^, Wcmdag. Near 
Hadersleben in Schleswig are the villages of W(mä>ehe, WondH, 
WoyeTis formerly Wodensyen, An AS. doc. of 862 (Kemble 2,. 73) 
contains in a boundary-settlement the name W&nsfoc = Wddenesstoc, 
Wodani stipes, and at the same time betrays the influence of tBe 
god on ancient delimitation. Wuotan, Hermes, Mercury, all seem 
to be divinities of measurement and demarcation ; conf. Woeden^- 
spanne, Woendet, p. 160 (see Suppl.). 

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 com in a field to Woden for his horse. 
Oöinn in the Edda rides the eight-footed steed Sleipnir, the best of 
all horses, Ssem. 46* 93^ Sn, 18. 45. 65. Sleipnis verSr (food) is a 
poetic name for hay, YngL saga cap. 21 : 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 
Iwrses} The usage in Mecklenburg is thus described by Giyse : 

1 Geyers schwed. gesch. 1, 110. orig. 1, 123. In the Hogrumasocken, 
Oeland, are some large stones named Odim flisor, Odini lamellae, of which tiio 



WODAN. 155 

Ja, im heidendom hebben tor tid der ame (at harvest-tide) de 
meiers (mowers) dem afgade Waden umme god kom angeropen 
(invoked for good com), denn wenn de roggename geendet, heft 
men up den lösten platz eins idem (each) veldes einen kleinen ord 
unde humpel koms imafgemeiet stan laten, datsülve baven (b' oben, 
a-b'ove) an den aren drevoldigen to samende geschörtet, unde 
besprenget (ears festooned together three times, and sprinkled). 
Alle meiers sin darumme her getreden, ere hode (their hats) vam 
koppe genamen (v. supra, p. 32), unde ere seisen (scythes) na der 
sülven wode [mode ?] unde gesclirenke (encircling) dem kombusche 
upgerichet, und hebben den Wodendüvel dremal semplik lud averall 
also angeropen unde gebeden : 

Wode, hale (fetch) dinem rosse nu voder, 

nu distil unde dom, 

tom andem jar beter kom I 

welker afgödischer gebruk im Pawestom gebleven. Daher denn ok 
noch an dissen orden dar beiden gewanet, bi etliken ackerlüden 
(-leuten, men) solker avergelövischer gebmk in anropinge des 
Woden tor tid der ame gespöret werd, und ok oft desiilve fleische 
jeger (the same hellish hunter), sonderliken im winter, des nachtes 
up dem velde mit sinen jagethunden sik hören let.^ 

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 \m 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 Högrumsträsk ; people 
have tied poles together, but never could reach the bottom. Abrah. Ahlquist, 
Oelands historia, Calmar 1822. 1, 37. 2, 212. There is a picture of the stones 
in Liliengren och Brunius, no. xviii. In the Högbysocken of Oeland is also a 
smooth block of gi-anite 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 OdirCs horse in 
nis mythus. Verelii notae on the Gautrekssaga p. 40 quote from the Clavis 
computi runici : * Odin heter 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- 
t>mith's, and rides away by enormous leaps to Sweden, where a war breaks out 
(see Suppl.). 

* Spegel des antichristischen pawestdoms (popery V dorch Nicolaum Grysen, 
predigem in Rostock, Rost. 1693. 4, sheet E liii^ With the verses cited by 
liim, conf. the formula in weisthiimer : Let it He fallow one year, and bear 
UiistU and thorn the next 



156 WODAN. 

Wode, Wode, 

hal dinen rosse nu voder, 
nu distel un dorn, 
ächter jar beter kom ! 

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 distafif, and to the question why ? they answer. Wode is galloping 
across. We are expressly told, this wild hunter Wodendea a white 
horse} Near Satuna in Vestergötland are some fine meadows 
called Onsanjame (Odens ängar, 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. 8, 259 ; v. 
infra, the * wütende heer*. I have been told, that in the neigh- 
bourhood of Kloppenburg in Oldenburg, the harvesters leave a 
bunch of corn-stalks uncut on the field, and dance round it. There 
may be a rhyme sung over it still, no doubt there was formerly. 

A custom in Schaumburg I find thus described :* 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, plant 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, Wdld, Wdld! 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: 

Wdld, Wold, Wdld! 

hävenhüne weit wat schüt, 

jümm hei dal van häven süt. 

1 Mussäus meklenb. volkssagen no. 5 ; in Lisch meklenb. jahrb. 2, 133 it 
is spelt Wand, and a note is made, that on the Elbe they say^nt^ fvod^ i,e. 
fröhü, lord ; conf. infra, fru Gaue and fru Gauden in the * wütende heer\ 

* By Münchhausen in Bragur VI. 1, 21—34. 



WODAN. 157 

Vulle kruken un sangen hat hei, 
upen holte wässt (grows) manigerlei : 
hei is nig bam un wert nig old. 
Wöld, Wöld, W6ld! 

If the ceremony be omitted, the next year will bring bad crops of 
hay and com. 

Probably, beside the libation, there was com 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 is bom and ne'er grows old' almost too theosophically. 
Wdld, though excused by the rhyme, seems a corruption of W6d, 
W6de} rather than a contraction from waldand (v. supra, p. 21). 
A Schaumburg man pronounced the name to me as Wanden, 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 
Heidenhügel, light a fire on it, and when it blazes high, wave their 
hats and cry Wavden, Wanden ! (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 hifl 
crops. Avarice increased when sacrificing ceased. Ears of com 
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 leamt from the names of places which are compoimded 
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, OSinn, as a man's 

* Conf. Dutch oud, goud for old, pold ; so Woude, which approximates 
the form Wode. Have we the latter iu * Theodericus de fVodutede t Scheldt's 
mantifisa 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) Wödenesweg, 
Wödenesberffj Wödenesholt, Wödeneshiisunf and- on the Jutish border 
Wonsild ; from the Netherlaiids Waensdrecht ; in. Upper Germany 
such names hardly show themselves at all.^ In England we find : 
Woodneshoro* in Kent, near Sandwich : Wedneshiry and Wednes- 
fidd in Staffordshire ; Wednesham in Cheshire, called Wodnksßdd 
in Ethelwerd p. 848.* 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, 1 infer from this a 
preponderance of Odin- worship in South Scandinavia. The chief 
town in the I. of Funen (Fion) was named Odinsve (Fomm. sog. 11, 
266. 281) from ve, a sanctuary ; sometimes also OStnsey (ib. 230. 
352) from ey, island, meadow; and later again Odense, and in 
Waldemar's Liber censualis^ 530. 542 Othänsö. In Lower Norway, 
close to Frederikstad, a second OSinsey (Heimskr. ed. Havn. 4, 348. 
398), aft. called Onso. In Jutland, Otkänshyllä (-huld, grace, 
Wald. lib. cens. 519), aft. Onsild, Othavslef (Othini reliquiae, 
leavings, ib. 526), now Onslev, In Halland, OthanscUe (-saal, hall, 
ib. 533), now Onsala (Tuneld's geogr. 2, 492. 504) ; as well as in 
Old Norway an Odhinssalr (conf. Woensel in Brabant, Woenssde ?). 
In Schonen, Othänshäret (Wald. lib. cens. 528) ; OthenaMrat (Bring 
2, 62. 138. 142),* now Onyo (Tuneld 2, 397) ; Ondunda (-grove, 
Tuneld 2, 449) ; ahensvara (Bring 2, 46-7, Othenvara 39) ; 
Othendröö (Bring 2, 48), from vara, foedus, and tro, fides ? In 
Smaland, Odensvalahvit (Tuneld 2, 146) and Odensjo (2, 109. 147. 
Sjöbörg tbrsök p. 61). In Ostergötland, Odenfars (Tuneld 2, 72). 
In Vestergötland, Odmskidla (2, 284) and OdmskaUa (2, 264), a 
medicinal spring ; Odensaker, Onsaker (-acre, field, 2, 204 253). In 

* An Odensherg in the Mark of Bibelnheim (now Biebeaheim below Qerns- 
heim in Darmstadt) is named in a doc. of 1403. Chmels leg. Ruperti p. 204 ; 
the form Wodensberg would look more trustworthy. 

* If numbers be an object, I fancy the English contribution midbt be 
swelled by looking up in a gazetteer the names b^inningwith Wans-, Wens-, 
Wadden-, Weddin-, Wad-, Wed-, Wood-, Warn-, Wem-, Worn-.— Tranb. 

* Langebek script, tom. 7. 

* Sven Bring, monumenta Scanensia, toI 2, Lond. goth. 1748. 



WODAN. 159 

Westmanland, Odensvi (1, 266. conf. Grau, p. 427)/ like the 
Odinsve of Fünen ; and our Lower Saxon Wodeneswege may have 
to do with this ve (not with weg, via), and be explained by the old 
wig, wih, templum (see p. 67). This becomes the more credible, 
as there occurs in the Cod. exon. 341, 28 the remarkable sentence : 

Wdden worhte weos, wuldor alwealda 
rdme roderas ; 

i.«., 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. Wödenesweoh would exactly fit the OS. Wodanesweg = W6- 
daneswih, and the ON. OSinsve. Also in Westmanland, an Odensjo 
(Grau p. 502). In Upland, Odensala (Tuneld 1, 56); Odensfoi's 
(1, 144) ; Onsike (1, 144). In Nerike, Odensbacke (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 ;* 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 difiusion of Odin's worship. 

Herbs and plants do not seem to have been named after this 
god. In Brun's beitr.,p. 54, wodesteme 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) OÖinshani, OdenshaTie, 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 

* Olof Grau, beskrifhing öfver Wästmanland. "Wäster&s 1754. conf. Dybeck 
nma I. 3, 41. 

' There are some in Finn Magnnsen's lex. myth. 648 ; but I do not a^ee 
with him in including the H. Germ, names Odenwald. Odenheim, which uck 
the HG. form Wuotan and the -$ of the genitive ; nor the Finn. Odenpä, which 
means rather bear's head. 



160 WODAN. 

space between the thumb and the forefinger when stretched ont^ 
which the Greeks name X*xa9, was called in the Netherlands 
Woedensspanne, Woedensparme, Woendet, The thumb was sacred» 
and even worshipped as thumbkin and Pollux = poUex ; 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 
conmion to all the Teutonic races, and foreign to none, just because 
we must recognise him as the most universal and the supreme ona 
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 
intellectual god of our antiquity, lie shines out above all the other 
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- 
gians, Alamanns and Langobards worshipped this deity ; why should 
Franks, Gotlis, 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 
of Germany, although the personification of Wish maintained its 
ground, Wuotan became extinct sooner than in the North ; neither 
names of places, nor that of the fourth day of the week, have pre- 
served him there. Among the Scandinavians, the Swedes and 
Norwegians seem to have been less devoted to him than the Got- 
landers and Danes. The ON. sagas several times mention images 
of Tlior, 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 to have predominated in Sweden. 

An addition to the St. Olaf saga, though made at a later time, 
furnishes a striking statement about the heathen gods whom the 
introduction of Christianity overthrew. I will quote it here, 
intending to return to it from time to time: *01afr konüngr 
kristnaöi >etta riki allt, oil blot braut hann niBr ok oil go8, sein 



WODAN. 161 

Thdr Engilsmanna go8, ok 03tn Saxa go8, ok Skiöld Skänfinga go5, 
ok Frey Svla goß, ok GotJorm Dana goS ' ; i.e. king 0. christened 
all this kingdom, broke down all sacrifices and all gods, as Thor the 
Englishmen's god, OSin the Saxons' god, &c., Fomm. sog. 5, 239. — 
This need not be taken too strictly, but it seems to me 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. 
Frankish and perhaps Ripuarian, Thunar is named before Vuodan, 
and Saxndt occupies the third place. From this it follows at all 
events, that the worship of Thunar also prevailed in those regions; 
may we still vindicate Wuodan's claims to the highest place by 
supposing that the three gods are here named in the order in which 
their statues were placed side by side? that Wuodan, as the greatest 
of them, stood in tht middle ? as, according to Adam of Bremen, 
Tlior did at Upsala, with Wodan and Fricco on each side of him. 

In the ON. sagas, when two of these gods are named together, 
Thorr usually precedes OSinn, The Laxdaelasaga, p. 174, says of 
Kiartan: At hann }7ykist eiga meira traust undir aiii sinu ok 
väpnum (put more trust in his strength and weapons, conf. pp. 6, 
7) heldr enn Jjar sem er Thörr ok OÖinn. The same passage is 
repeated in Fomm. sog. 2, 34 Again, Eyvindr relates how his 
parents made a vow before his birth: At sä maSr skal alt til 
dauSadags J>iona Thdr ok Offni (this man shall until death-day 
serve, &c.), Fomm. sog. 2, 161.^ But it does not follow from this, 
that Thorr was thought the greatest, for Eyvindr was actually 
dedicated to Oßinn. In Fomm. sog. 5, 249, StyrbiÖm sacrifices to 
Thorr, and Eirekr to OÖinn, but the former is beaten. Thorr t6k 



' So in an AS. homily De temporibus Antichristi, in Wheloc's Beda p. 49Ö, 
are enumerated * Thor and Eo&wen, ]>e hseSene men heriaÖ bw)Se ' ; and before 
that, * Ereulus se ent (Hercules gigas) and AjooUinis (ApoUoi ]>e hi maeme god 
Uton '. The preacher was thinking of the Greek and the ISoTse deities, not of 
the Saxon, or he would have said Thunor and Woden. And in other cases, 
where distinctly Norse gods are meant, AS. writers use the Norse form of name. 
F. Magnusens lex. p. 919. 

11 



162 WODAK. 

jolaveizlu M Haraldi, enn Odinn tok frä Hdlfdäni, Fomm. sog: 
10, 178. In the popular assembly at Thrändheim, the first 
cup is drunk to OSinn, the second to Th&rr, ibid. 1, 85. 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 Freyr, Saxo Gram. 
144-7. Yet the Eddie HarbarzlioC seems to place Oöinn above Thörr. 
A contrast between OSinn and Thörr is brought out strongly in the 
Gautrekssaga quoted below, ch. XXVIII. But, since Thörr is repre- 
sented as 05in's son, as a rejuvenescence of him, the two must 
often resolve into one another.^ 

If the three mightiest gods are named, I find OSinn foremost : 
Odinn, Thor, Freyr, Sn. edda 131. According to Fomm. sog. 1, 16, 
voyagers vow money and three casks of ale to Freyr, if a fair wind 
shall carry them to Sweden, but to Tkdrr or OSinn, if it bring them 
home to Iceland (see Suppl.). 

It is a different thing, when OSinn in ON. documents is styled 
Thridi, the third f in that case he appears not by the side of Thörr 
and Freyr, but by the side of Hdr and lafnhdr (the high and the 
even-high or co-equal, OHG. epan höh) as the Third High? (see 
Suppl.), Sn. 7. YngL saga 52. Seem. 46*. As we might imagine, 
the grade varies : at other times he is Tveggi (duplex or secondus). 
Again, in a different relation he appears with his brothers VUi and 
Ve, Sn. 7; with Hcenir and Zodr, Ssbul 3^ or with Hoenir and Loki 
Ssem. 180. Sn. 135 ; all this rests upon older myths, which, as 
peculiar to the North, we leave on one side. Yet, with respect to 
the trilogy OSinn, Vili, Ve, we must not omit to mention here, 
that the OHG. vnllo expresses not only voluntas, but votum, 
impetus and spiritus,* and the Gothic viljan, velle, is closely con- 
nected with valjan, eligere; whence it is easy to conceive and 

1 When OtJinn ia called Thundr in the eongs of the Edda, Saem. 28^ 47*», 
this may be derived from a lost I'^pja = AS. ]7unian, tonare, and so be e^niTaleni 
to Donar ; it is true, they explain }>undr as loricatus, from )mnd lonca. But 
Wuotan, as Voma, is the noise of the rushing air, and we saw him hurl the 
cudgel, as Thorr does the hammer. 

* As Zeus also is rpiros, from which Tpirayiytia is more easily explained 
than by her birth from his head (see SuppL). 

' jBlfric's glosses 56*, AUanus : fröden. Altanos, like Snmmaniu, an 
epithet of Jove, the Altissimus ; else Altanus, as the name of a wind, might 
also have to do with the storm of tiie ' wütende heer '. 

* The Greek fjJvos wouLd be well adapted to unite the meanings of oouage^ 
fury (muty wut), wish, will, thought 



WODAN. 163 

believe, how Wuotan, Wish and Will should 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 Saelde, 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 Saem. 63, Loki casts in 
the teeth of Frigg her intrigues with Ve 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.^ 

Lastly, a principal proof of the deeply-rooted worship of this 
divinity is furnished by Wodan's being interwoven with the eld 
Saxon genealogies, which I shall examine minutely in the Appendix.' 

Here we see Wödan invariably in the centre. To him are 
traced up aU 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 dbroad a long time, during which his 
brothers act for him ; it is worthy of note, that Saxo also makes Othin travel 
to foieicn 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 joumeys 
of the sod are implied in the Norse by-names Odngrdt^r^ Gdnaleri, Vegtamr, 
and Vwförullj ana in Saxo 45 viator indefessus. It is not to De overlooked, 
that eyen Paulus Diac 1, 9 knows of Wodan's residence in Greece (qui non 
circa haec tempora— of the war between Laiigobards 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, quem adjecta litera Qwodan 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 
foisse perhibetur ' — it has been proposed to lefer the second * qui ' to Mercurius 
insteaa 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 L^end related in 1, 8, whose unhistoric basis 
he l^ haie, by pointing out that Wodan at the time of the occurrence between 
the Wandali ana Winili, had not ruled in Germany, but in Greece ; which 
is the main point here. The notion that Mercury should be confined to Greece, 
has wider bearings, and would shock the heathen faith not only of the Grermans 
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. 

* This Appendix forms part of the third volume. In the meanwhile, 
readers may De glad to see tor themselves the substance of these pedigrees, 
which I have extracted from the Appendix, and placed at the end of this 
chapter. — ^Trabb. 



164 WODAN. 

cular, there appear as sons, Balder and that SaamSt who in the 8th 
century was not yet rooted out of N.W. Germany ; and in the line 
of his progenitors, Heremdd and Gedt, the latter expressly pro- 
nounced a god, or the son of a god, in these legends, while W6dan 
himself is regarded more as the head of all noble races. But we 
easily come to see, that from a higher point of view both G^t and 
Wodan merge into one being, as in fact OSinn is called 'alda GaiUr,' 
Saem. 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- 
pearances, the order of succession of the individual Uiiks varies [in 
different tables]. 

Each pedigree ends with real historical kings : but to leckoD 
back from these, and by the number of human generations to get 
at the date of mythical heroes and gods, is preposterous. The 
earliest Anglo-Saxon kings that are historically certain fall into the 
fifth, sixth or seventh century ; count four, eight or twelve genera- 
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 
Woden must reach up to immemorial times, a long way beyond 
the first notices given us by the Eomans 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 
the attributes of all the rest, so that these are only to be regarded 
as emanations from him, renovations, rejuvenescences of him. 
This explains how certain characteristics come to be 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 



WODAK. 



165 



(Tiw, Tyr), he hardly does more than administer one of Wuotan's 
offic4, yet is identical in name with the first and highest god of the 
Greeks and Romans : and so all these god-phenomena keep meet- 
ing and crossing one another. The Hellenic Hennes is pictured as 
a youth, the Teutonic Wuotan as a patriarch : OSinn hinn ffamli 
(the old). Yngl. saga cap. 15, like ' the old god' on p. 21. Ziu and 
Froho are mere emanations of Wuotan (see Suppl.). 



Geksaxooies of Anqlo-Sazon Kinos. 



Eeht. 

Woden 

Wecta 

Witta 

Wihtgils 

Hengest (d. 489) 

Eoric (Oesc) 

Octa 

Eonnenrtc 

iEthelbeorht (567) 



Descending Series, 
Eastanolia. Essex. 



Deiba. 

Woden 

Waegdaeg 

Sig^&r 

Swaefda^ 

Sigege&t 

Ssebäd 

Saefugel 

Westerfalcna 

Wil^ 

Vsdr^ 

Yffe 

^Ue (d. 588) 



Woden 

Cäsere 

Titmon 

Tiigel 

Hrothmund 

Hrippa 

Quicnelm 

Uffa 

Tidel 

Radwald (d. 617) 

Eoipwald (632) 



Bernicia. 

Wdden 

Bseldseg 

Brand 

Beonoc 

Aloe 

Angenwit 

Ingwi 

Esa 

Eoppa 

Ida (d. 560) 



Wdden 

Saxne&t 

Geseog 

Andsecg 

Sweppa 

Sigefugel 

Bedeca 

Offa 

JSscwine (527) 

Sledda 

Sffibeorht (604) 



Wessbx. 

Woden 

Bffildseg 

Brand 

Fridhog&r 

Fre&wine 

Wig 

Gewiii 

Esla 

Elesa 

Cerdic (d. 534) 



Mercia. 

Woden 

Wihtlaeg 

Waermund 

Offa 

Angeltheow 

Eomser 

Icel 

Cnebba 

Cynewald 

Creoda 

Wibba 

Penda (d. 656) 

LiNDESFARAN. 

Wdden 

Winta 

Cretta 

Queldgils 

Ceadt^ 

Bubba 

Bedeca 

Biscop 

Eanferth 

Eatta 

EaldMth 



Cynrtc 
Ceawlin 

According to this, W6den bad seven sons (Bselds^ being common to two 
royal lines) ; elsewhere he has only three, e.g. Wil. Malm. p. 17 : tres filii, 
Weld^uSy Withlegius et Beldegius, from whom the Kentish kinss, the 
Mercian kings, and the West Saxon and Northumbrian kings respectively wero 
descended. 

Ascending Series» 

W6den Finn Beaw 

Fridhuwald Godwulf(Folcwald)Sceldwa 

Fre&wine (Fre&14f) Ge&t Heremöd (Sce&f) 

Fridhuwulf Tsetwa Itermon (Herem6d)Sce&f (Hedwig) 

Some accounts contain only four links, others eight, others sixteen, stopping 
either at Fridhuwulf, at Ge&t, or at Sce&f. Sce&f is the oldest heathen name ; 
but after the conversion the line was connected with Noah, and so with Adam ! 



Hathra (Itermdd) 
Hwala (Hathra) 
Bedwie (Hwala) 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DONAR, THUNAR, (THORR). 

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. 
Thunar^ AS. Thunor, ON. ThArr} The natural phenomenon is 
called in ON. J?ruma, or duna, both fern, like the Gothic J>eihvd, 
which was perhaps adopted from a Finnic language. To Üie god 
the Goths would, I suppose, give the name Thunrs. The SweA 
tordön, Dan. torden (tonitru), which in Harpestreng still keeps the 
form thordyn, thordun, is compounded of the god's name and that 
same duna, ON. Th&rduna t (see SuppL). In exactly the same 
way the Swed. term isfei (tonitru, fulmen), in the WestgothL Laws 
äsikkia,^ has arisen out of äsaka, the god's waggon or driving, from 
äs, deus, divus, and aka, vehere, vehi, Swed. äka. In Gothland they 
say for thunder Thorsakan, Thorns driving ; and the ON. TeUf 
signifies not only vehiculum, but tonitru, and reiSarslag, reiSar- 
J?ruma, are thunderclap and lightning. For, a waggon rumbling 
over a vaulted space comes as near as possible to the rattling and 
crashing of thunder. The comparison is so natural, that we find 
it spread among many nations : ZoKel i^rifia rov Aio^ 1} ßpoprif 
clvaif Hesychius sub. v. iXaalßpovra, In Camiola the rolling of 
thunder is to this day gottes fahreiu [To the Russian peasant it is 
the prophet Ilia driving his chariot, or else grinding his com.] 
Thorr in the Edda, beside his appellation of Asa}?6rr, is more 
minutely described by ökuj?6rr, i.e. Waggon-thorr (Sn. 25) ; his 
waggon is drawn by two he-goats (Sn. 26). Other gods have their 

^ So even in High Qerman dialects, durstag for donrstag, Engl. Thnraday, 
and Bav. doren, daren for donnem (Schm. 1, 390). In Th^ it is not RR, but 
only the first R (the second being fiectional), that is an abbrev. of NR. ; i.e. 
K Buffers syncope before R, much as in the M. Dut ere, mire, for dnre mtue. 

» Cont*. Onsike (Odin's drive ?) supra, p. 159. 



tHüNAB. 167 

waggons too, especially OSinn and Freyr (see pp. 107, 151), but Thörr 
is distinctively thought of as the god who drives ; he never appears 
riding, like Oöinn, nor is he supposed to own a horse : either he 
drives, or he walks on foot We are expressly told c ' Thörr gengr 
til domsins, ok veSr är,' walks to judgment, and wades the rivers 
(Sn. IS)} The people in Sweden still say, when it thunders: 
godgubben äker, the good old (fellow) is taking a drive, Ihre 096. 
740. 926. go/ar akar, goffar kör, the gaflfer, 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 fdder). The Norwegian calls the lightning Thoi's- 
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.).* 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 
tanner. As eaily as the Boman de ßenart 11898 : 

Font une noise ei 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 Roman de Maugis (Lyon 1599, p. 64) : De la noyse 
quils faisoyent neust Ion pas ouy Dieu tanner. 

But thunder is especially ascribed to an angiy 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 Ood is angry ; in Westphalia : use 
hergot kift (chides, Strodtm. osnabr. 104) ; in Franconia : God is out 

» Scarcely contradicted by his surname HlSrri^i ; this ritJi probably points 
to reiS, a wi^Kon ; H16rrit$i seems to me to come by assimilation from nldCriCi, 
oonf. ch. XIII, the goddess H165yn. 

* A peasant, bemc 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 THÜNAIL 

there scolding ; in Bavaria : der himmeltatl (-daddy) greint (ScIub. 
1, 462). In Eckstrom's poem in honour of the county of Honstein 
1592, cii^ it is said: 

Oott der herr muss warlich from sein (must be really kind)» 
dass er nicht mit donner schlegt drein.^ 

The same sentiment appears among the Letten and Finn nations. 
Lettic : wezzajs kahjäs, 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 essä 
wäljan, mürrisep (the old father growls), Eosenplänters 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 whose name is handed down to us in Lucan 1, 440 ; 
all the Celtic tongues retain the word taran for thunder, Irish toran, 
with which one may directly connect the ON. form Thörr; if one 
thinks an assimilation from m the more likely But an old 
inscription gives us also Tanarus (Forcellini sub v.) = Taranis. 
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 Tonana 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. Ven. 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 (üce/Tovi^) is 
styled Kepavv€to<;. Zev^ etcrvTre, H. 8, 75. 170. 17, 595. /lio^ 
KT&iro^ II. 15, 379.* And because he sends them down from the 

^ In a poem made up of the first lines of hymns and son^ : Ach gott vom 
himmel sien darein, und werfe einen donnerstein, es ist gewislich an der zeit, 
dass schwelgerei und Üppigkeit zerschmettert weiden mausetodt 1 sonst schrein 
wir bald aus tiefer notn. 

* One might be tempted to connect the Etruscan Tina = Jupiter with 
Tonans and Donar ; it bebngs more immediately to Zf^v (v. infra, Zio). 



THÜNAR. 169 

height of heaven, he also bears the name axpto^, and is pictured 
dwelling on the mountain-top (a/cpt?). 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} 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 mcms Jovis, This name occurs frequently in the 
Frankish annals (Pertz 1, 150. 295. 453. 498. 512. 570. 606. 2, 82), 
in Otto fris. de geat Frid. 2, 24, in Eadevicus 1, 25, who designates 
it via Julii Caesaris, modo mons Jovis ; in AS. writers murU Jofes 
(Lye sub. v.), in -Slfr. Boet. p. 150 muntgiow; in our Kaiserchro- 
nik 88** monte job. — The name and the worship carry us back to 
the time of the Eomans ; the inhabitants of the Alps worshipped 
a Feninus deus, or a Fenina dea : Neque montibus his ab transitu 
Pocnorum ullo Veragri, incolae jugi ejus norunt nomen inditum, 
sed ab eo (al. deo) quem in summo sacratum vertice peninum 
montani adpellant ; Livy 31, 38. Quamvis legatur a poenina dea 
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 
Fenino opt. max. donum dedit ; from which it follows, that this god 
was understood to be no other than Jupiter. Conf. Jupiter apenni- 
nus, Micali storia 131-5. Zei^ xapoM^ occurs in Hesych. [icdpa 
means head, and so does the Celtic pen, hen]. The classic writers 
never use Trums Jovis, and the tabula Antonini names only the 
summus Penninus and the Penni lucus ; but between the 4th and 
7th centuries Jovis mons seems to have taken the place of these, 

^ Zeitschr. des liese. vereina 2, 139-142. Altd. blatt. 1, 28a Haupts 
leitschr. 1, 26. FinniBh : xsäinen panee (EenvaL 118»), the father thunders. 
To the Finns ukko signifies proavus, senex, and is a surname of the gods 
WäinäBnöinen and llmahnen. But also Ukko of itself denotes the thunder- 
sod (v. infra). Among the Swedish Lapps aija is both avus and tonitrus (see 
SuppL). 



170 TÄUNAB. 

perhaps with reference [not bo much to the old Soman, as] to the 
Gallic or even German sense which had then come to be attached 
to the god's name. Remember that German isamodoii on the Jura 
mountains not far ofif (p. 80y 

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 Tonneire) in the Bhine palatinate 
on the borders of the old county of Falkenstein, between Wonns, 
Kaiserslautern and Kreuznach ; it stands as ThtmtreAerg in a doc 
of 869, Schannat hist, wormat. probat, p. 9. Another HiwureAerg 
situate on the Diemel, in Westphalia, not far from Warburg, and 
surrounded by the villages of Wormeln, Germete and Welda» is 
first mentioned in a doc. of 1100, Schaten mon. paderb. 1, 649 ; 
in the Mid. Ages it was still the seat of a great popular assiae^ 
originally due, no doubt, to the sacredness of the spot : ' comes ad 
Thuneresherhc ' (anno 1123), Wigands feme 222. comitia deDtinm» 
htrg (1105), Wigands arch. I. 1, 56. a judicio nostro ThonreAenh 
(1239), ib. 58. Precisely in the vicinity of this mountain stands the 
Iwly oak mentioned on p. 72-4, just as the rohur Jovis by Geismar 
in Hesse is near a Wuotansberff, p. 152. To all appearance the two 
deities could be worshipped close to one another. The Knüllge- 
birge in Hesse includes a Donnerkavie. In the Bemerland is a 
Dannerbühd (doc. of 1303, Joh. Müller 1, 619), called TonrOU in 
Justingers Bemer chron. p. 50. Probably more Donnersbergs are 
to be found in other parts of Germany. One in the B^ensbuig 
country is given in a doc. of 882 under the name of Tuniesberg, 
Ried, cod. dipl. num. 60. A Sifridus marschalcus de Donnersperck 
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 Timniesberg 11, 432. In the Thüringer wald, between Stein- 

^ This mons Jovis must be distinguished from mons gaudii, by which the 
Mid. Ages meant a height near Rome : Otto frising 1. c 2, 22 ; the Kadserchr. 
88^ translates it verbally mendelberc. In Romance poems of the ISt-lSth 
centuries, manjoie is the French battle-cry, genersdly with the addition of St 
Denis, e.g, nionjoya, monjoya sant Denis ! Ferabras 365. monjoie enseigne S. 
Denis I Garin 108. Ducange in his 11th dissertation on JoinviUe 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 lairly 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). 



THUNAB. 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 Thörr : Thors klint in East Gothland (conf. Wildegren's 
östergötland 1, 17); Thorsborg in Gothland, Molbech tidskr. 4, 189. 
From Norway, where this god was pre-eminently honoured, I have 
nevertheless heard of none. The peasant in Yermland calls the 
south-west comer of the sky, whence the summer tempests mostly 
rise, Thxynkala (-hole, cave, Geijer^s Svearikes häfder 1, 268). 

And the Thunder-mountains of the Slavs are not to be over- 
looked, Near Milleschau in Bohemia stands a ffromolan, from 
hrom, thunder, in other dialects grom. One of the steepest moun- 
tains in the Styrian Alps (see Suppl.) is Grimming, i.e., SL germnik, 
OSL gr^mnik, thtmder-hill (Sloven. gr*mi, it thunders, Serv. grmi. 
Buss, grom gremit, quasi ßpofio^ ßp^/iei) ; and not far from it is a 
rivulet named Donnersbach} The Slavs then have two diflferent 
words to express the phenomenon and the god: the latter is in OSl. 
Perdn, 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 word out of its genuine form.* I think it has dropt a 
k : the Lithuanian, Lettish and OPrussian thundergod is Perkunas, 
Pehrhms, 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 : Ocov flip yap 
iva TOP TTJ^ aar pairrj^ Sfj/iiovpyop airäpTtiap Kvptop fi6pop avrop 

^ Kindennann, abriss von Steiermark pp. 66, 67, 70, 81. 

' The Slovaks say Parom^ and paromova strela (P.'s bolt) for penmova ; 
pliraaes about Parom, from Kollar, in Hanusch 259, 260. 

* Might perun be connected with K€pavp6t = w^pavw6t 1 Still nearer to 
Penm woola seem to be the Sansk. Parjanyas, a name borne by India as 
Jnpiter pluvius, literally, fertilizing rain, thunder>clond, thunder. A h^'mn to 
this lain-god in Bosen's Vedae specunen p. 23. Conf. Hitzig Philist 296, and 
Holtzmannl, 112, 118. 



172 THÜNAR. 

pofjLL^ov(TLV etvai, Kai Ovovaiv axntp ß6a<; re xai Upeia äirdvrä. 
Again, the oak was consecrated to Perun, and old documents define 
boundaries by it (do perunova dvia, as far as P.'s oak) ; and the 
Romans called the the acorn juglans, z.e.,joviglans, Jovü 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. no\m fairguni (Gramm. 2, 175. 453) 
means opo^;^ mountain.^ What if it were once especially the 
Thunder-mountain, and a lost Fairguns the name of the god (see 
SuppL) ? Or, starting with fafrguni with its simple meaning of 
mons unaltered, may we not put into that masc. Faii^ns or Fair- 
guneis, and consequently into Perkunas, the sense of the above- 
mentioned aKpio^y 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 VirgunwUi (Vir- 
gundia, Yirgunda, conf. Zeuss p. 10) the tract of wooded mountains 
between Ansbach and Ellwangen. Wolfram, WL 390, 2, says of 
his walt-swenden (wood-wasting ?) : der Swarzwalt und VirgurU 
miiesen da von cede ligen. Black Forest and Y. 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 
as it may, we find falrguni, virgun, firgen connected with divinely- 
honoured beings, as appears plainly from the ON. Fiorgyn^ gen. 
Fiörgynjar, which in the Edda means Thör's mother, the goddess 
Earth : Thorr JarSar hv/rr, Saem. 70* 68*. Odins son, Ssem. 73* 74^ 
And beside her, a male Fiorgynn, gen. Fiörgyns, Fiörgvins, appears 
as the father of Oöin's wife Frigg, Sn. 10, 118. S»m. 63*. In all 
these words we must take falrg, firg, fiörg as the root, and not divide 
them as f ai r-guni, fir-gun, fiör-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 moilier, is shewn by Perun, 

1 Matt 8, 1. Mk 5, 5. 11. 9, 2. 11, 1. Ln. 3, 5. 4, 29. 9, 37. 19, 29. 37. 
1 Cor. 13, 2. Bairgahei (^ optivrj) in Lu. 1, 39, 65 ; never the simple baiiga. 



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 ivuKpio^, so is 
his daughter Pallas axpia, and his mother opearipa Fa, /larep avrov 
Aw (SophocL Philoct. 389) ; the myth transfers from him to his 
mother and daughter. Of Donar's mother our very märchen 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 mjrthology among the Slav and certain Asiatic nations 
has handed over the thunderer's business to the prophet Elijah, 
who drives to heaven in the tevipest, whom a chariot and horses of 
fire receive, 2 Kings 2, 11. In the Servian songs 2, 1. 2, 2 he is 
expressly called ^romornii 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 giwäro, Helias sis ther mdro, 
ther thiz lant so tharta, then himil so hisparta, 
ther iu ni liaz in nötin regonon then liutin, 
thuangta si giwäro harto filu suäro.^ 

But what we have to note especially is, that in the story of Anti- 
christ's appearance a little before the end of the world, which was 
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. Th&rr overcomes the great serpent, but he has 
scarcely moved nine paces from it, when he is touched by its 
venomous breath, and sinks to the ground dead, Sn. 73. In the 

^ Udri gromom, gromovit Iliya ! smite with thunder, thunderer £lia0, 
1,77. 

« Greg, tur., pref. to bk 2 : Meminerit (lector) sub Heliae tempore, qui 
pluvia» cum voluit ahtiulity et cum Hbuit arentibus tenis infudü^ &c. 



174 THÜNAB. 

OHG. poem of Muspilli 48 — 54, Antichrist and the devil do indeed 
fall, but Ellas also is grievously wounded in the fight : 

Doh wanit des vilu gotmanno^ 

daz Elias in demo wlge arwartit : 

sär so daz Miases pluot 

in erda kitriuiit, 

so inprinnant 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 ,2 we cannot fully appreciate this analogy between Elias 
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 Mias as a god of thunder. The Ossetes think a man lucky 
who is strtLck 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 : JEllai, 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 
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^a day, and stretched the skin on a pole 
with prayers.^ Even the Muhanmiadans, 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 liiige 



1 Gotmarif a divine, a priest ? Conf. supra, pp. 88-9. 

' The Babbinical legend likewise assumes that Elioi will retain and alaj 
the malignant Sammael ; Eisenmenger 2, 696. 851. 

* Klaproth's travels in the Caucasus 2, 606. 601. 

* Ennan's archiv für Russland 1841, 429. 

* Ad. Olearius reiseschr. 1647, pp. 522-3. 



THÜNAR. 175 

country about the year 1240 or 1244 ;^ three times did priests and 
people march rotmd (nudis pedibus et in laneis), but all in vain, 
because in calling upon all the saints they had forgotten the Mother 
of God ; so, when the saintly choir laid the petition before God, 
Mary opposed. In a new procession a solemn ' salve regina ' was 
sung : £t cum serenum tempus ante fuisset, tanta inundatio pluviae 
facta est, ut fere omnes qui in processione aderant, hac illacque 
dispergerentur. With the Lithuanians, the holy goddess (dievaite 
sventa) is a rain-goddess. Heathendom probably addressed the 
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 Thörr is said to have bestowed rain when it was a^td for ; 
we are only told that he sends stormy weaiher when he is angry, 
Olafs Tryggv. saga 1, 302-6 (see SnppL). But we may fairly take 
into account his general resemblance to Zeus and Jupiter (who are 
expressly veno^, pluvitts, II. 12, 25 : ve Zcv^ «rwc^e?), and the pre- 
valence of voiis inibrem vocare among all the neighbouring nations 
(see SuppL). 

A description by Petronius cap. 44, of a Boman 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 aguam exorabant ; itaque statim urceatim (in 
bucketfuk) pluebat, aut tunc aut nunquam, et omnes ridebant,uvidi 
tanquam mures. M. Antoninus (et9 iavrov 5, 7) has preserved the 
beautifully simple prayer of the Athenians for rain : eirxif 
^AOfjyatav, icov, iaop, & <^i\€ Zev, Kara rrj^ apovpa^ t% A0rfvai(DP 
teal rStp ireSmp (see Suppl.). According to Lasicz, the Lithuanian 
prayer ran thus : Percune devaiie 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 banc succidiam dabo. The Old Prussian formula is 
said to have been : Dievas Perkunos, absolo mus ! spare us, = lith. 
apeaugok mus ! To all this I will add a more extended petition in 
Esthonian, as GutslafiP heard an old j>easant say it as late as the 

1 A^diuB aoreae vallis cap. 135 (ChapeauviUe 2, 267-8). Chion. belg. 
magn. ad ann. 1244 (Pistoriua 3, 263). 

* Other saints also grant rain in answer to prayer, as Pt Mansuetus in 
Pertz 6, 612»». 613»» ; the body of St Lupus carried about at Sens in 1097, 
Pertz 1, 106-7. Conf. infra, Kain-making. 

* Joh. Qutslaffy kurzer bexicht and untenicht von der üalsch heilig ge- 



176 THÜNAR. 

17th century : ' Dear TJtumler (woda Picker), we oflfer 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 
gi-ain be golden-yellow. Ptcsh elsewhither all the (hick black douds, 
over great fens, high forests, and wildernessea But unto us 
ploughers and sowers give a fruitful season and stveet rain. Holy 
Thunder (pöha Picken), guard our seedfield, that it bear good straw 
below, good ears above, and good grain within.' Picker or Picken 
would in modem Esthonian be called Pitkne, which comes near 
the Finnic pitkahien = thunder, perhaps even Thunder ; Hüpel'a 
Esth. Diet, however gives both pikkenne and pikne simply as 
thunder (impersonal). The Finns usually give their thundei'god 
the name Ukko only, the Esthonians that of Turris as well, 
evidently from the Norse Thorr (see SuppL).^ 

As the fertility of the land depends on thunderstorms and 
rains, Pitkdinen and Zciis 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 ffiibemat. 
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 Oöinn guides the events of war, and receives 
his share of the spoils (p. 133). To the Norse mind indeed, Thoi^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 is also named Per- 
kunos, we must, if only for his lineage sake, allow a direct relation 
to Agriculture.^ He clears up the atmosphere, he sends fertilizing 



nandten bache in Liefland Wöhhanda. 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 Rosenplänter*8 beitr., heft 6, p. 157. 

^ Ukko is, next to Yunuda (whom I connect with Wuotan), the highest 
Finnish god. Pitkäinen literally means the long, tall, high one. 

8 Uhhmd in his essiiy on Thorr, has penetrated to the heart of the ON. 
myths, and ingeniously worked out the thought, that the very conflict of the 
Bummer-go<l with the winter-giants, itself signifies the business of bringing land 
under cultivation, that the crushing rook-splitting force of the thun&rbolt 
prepares the hard stony soil. This is most happily expounded of the Hribignir 
and Örvandill sagas ; in some of the others it seems not to answer so welL 



TKÜNAB. 177 

showers, and his sacred tree supplies the nntritioos acorn. Thdr's 
minni was drunk to the prosperity of cornfields. 

The German thundergod was no doubt represented, like Zeus 
and Jupiter, with a Icmg heard, A Danish rhyme still calls him 
' Thor med sit lange skiäg * (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 Fomm. sog. 2, 182 and 10, 329 he is a tall, 
handsome, red-bearded youth : Mikill vexti (in growth), ok üngligr, 
friör Synum (fair to see), ok raudskeggfaffr ; in 5, 249 maSr rau9- 
dceggjadr. Men in distress invoked his red beard: Landsmenn 
tdko ]7at räS (adopted the plan) at heita J^etta hit raufa dcegg, 2, 
183. When in wrath, he shakes his beard : BeiSr var J^ä, scegg 
nam at hrista, scor nam at dyja (wroth was he then, beard he took 
to bristling, hair to tossing), Ssem. 70^. More general is the 
phrase : let siga brynnar ofan fyrir augun (let sink the brows over 
his eyes), Sn. 50. His divine rage (äsmöSr) is often mentioned : 
Thörr varß reiör, 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 Th6rr exhorts him to a brave resistance : 
peyt )?& i mot }7eim skeggrodd J^ina (raise thou against them thy 
beard's voice). ]>k gengu ]7eir üt, ok bl& Thorr fast { kampana, ok 
ßeyiti skeggraudina (then went they out, and Th. blew hard into 
his beard, and raised his beard's voice), kom ]>Sl \>egsLr andviSri m6ti 
kondngi svä styrkt, at ekki mätti vi5 halda (immediately there came 
ill- weather against the king so strong, that he might not hold out» 
t.^.,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.^ And when the Icelanders call a fox hoUaßörr, Thörr of the 
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, Flensburg 1809, p. 123 ; 2iid ed. Sonderbuig 1833, 
p. 113. 

* Nucleus lat. in usiun scholae schalholtinae. Hafniae 1738, p. 2088. 

12 



178 THUNAB. 

• 

phenomenon: the flash, /i(/^r, currpairri, the soUnd, Umürus, ßpovr^, 
and the stvoke, fulmen, xepawo^ (see Suppl.). 

The lightning's flash, which we name Uitz, was expressed in our 
older speech both by the simple plih, Graff 3, 244^ MHQ. bite, Iw. 
649. WigaL 7284, and by plechazwnga (coruscatio), derived from 
plechazan,^ a frequentative of plechin (folgere), Diut 1, 222-4; 
they also used plechunga, Diut. 1, 222. PleccaieshSm, Pertz 2, 383, 
the name of a place, now Blexen ; the MH6. has Uikse (fulgur) : 
die blikzen und die donerslege sint mit gewalte in siner pfl^, MS. 
2, 166^ — ^Again Idhazan (micare, coruscare), Goth, lauhatjan, pre- 
supposes a IdhSn, Goth, lauhan. From the same root the Goth 
forms his Idvhmuni {aarpairrj), while the Saxon from blic made a 
blicsmo (fulgur). AS. leoma (jubar, fulgur), ON. liomi, Swed. 
Ijungdd, Dan. lyn, — A Prussian folk-tale has an expressive phrase 
for tlie lightning : ' He with the bltie whip chases the devil,' ix. the 
giants; for a blue flame was held specially sacred, and people 
swear by it, North Fris. * donners blosken (blue sheen) help ! ' in 
Hansens geizhals p 123 ; and Schartlin's curse was blau /euer I 
(see SuppL). 

Beside donar, the OHG. would have at its command eapreh 
(fragor) from prehhan (frangere). Gl. hrab. 963^ for which the 
MH6. often has Mac, Troj. 12231. 14693, and hrach from krachen, 
(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 wolkenrfe fern, for thunder, Parz. 378, 11. WL 389, 
18 ; gegenrfo, Wartb. kr. jen.. 57 ; reht als der wilde dunrslac von 
himel kam gerizzen, Ecke 105. der cÄ/o/bndo doner, N. Cap. 114; 
der chlaßeih heizet toner ; der doner stet gespannen, Apollon. 879. 
I connect the Gothic ßeihvö fem. 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 

^ While writinc plechazan, I remember pleckan, plahta (patere, nudari ; 
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 
Ik'htning ; conf. Lohengr. p. 125 : reht alsam des himmels bliz von doner sich 
erhUcket, If this plechan is akin to plih (fulgur), we must suppose two verbs 

Elihhan pleih, and plehhan pkh, the second derived from the fiiist Slav. bUtk, 
lisk, but Bob. bozhi posel, ^od's messenger, ligbtning-flash. Russ. mohwjfa^ 
Serv. munya, fem. (see Suppl.). 



THÜNAB. 179 

when the simple donner is used in that sense : sluoc alse ein d(mer, 
RotL 1747. hiure hat der sch'Ar (shower, storm) erslagen, MS. 3, 
223*; commonly donnerschiag, blitzschlag. 0H6. Uig-scuz (-shot, 
fulgurum jactus), N. cap. 13; MHG. Uickeschoz, Bari. 2, 26. 253, 27, 
and blicschoz, Martina 205* ; fiurin donerstrdle, Parz. 104, 1 ; don- 
redac, Iw. 651 ; ter scuz tero fiurentün donerstrdlo (ardentis fulminis), 
erscozen mit tien donerstrdldn, K Bth. 18. 175; MHG. wetterstrahl, 
blüzstrcLhl, donnerstrahl. MHG. wilder donerslac, Geo. 751, as 
lightning is called wild fire, Rab. 412, SclmL 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 shoota But here I judge that the notion of arrows being 
shot {vnlder pßl der üz dem donre snellet, Troj. 7673. doners pfile, 
Tumei von Nantheiz 35. 150) was merely imitated from the «ri^Xa 
J*o9, tela Jovis ; the true Teutonic Donar throws wedge-shaped 
stones from the sky : ' ez wart nie stein geworfen dar er enkseme von 
der schüre* there was never stone thrown there (into the castle 
high), unless it came from the storm. Ecke 203. ein vlins (flint) 
von donresträlen. Wolfram 9, 32. ein herze daz von vlinse ime donre 
gewahsen waere (a heart made of the flint in thunder), Wh. 12, 16. 
schHrestein, Bit. 10332. schawerstein, Suchenw. 33, 83. so slahe 
mich ein donerstein ! Ms. H. 3, 202*. We now call it donnerÄrei/, 
Swed. iLsk'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.^ 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, is proof against damage by lightning ; when 
a thunder-storm is coming on, it begins to sweat* Such stones are 
also called donnerdxte (-axes) donnersteine, donnerhammer, cUbschosse 
(elfshots), strahlsteine, teufelsfinger, EngL thunder-bolts, Swed. Thors 
vigge, Dan. tordenkile, 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 Jornales voca- 

^ This depth is variously expressed in curses, &c $.g. May the thunder strike 
you into the earth as far as a hare can run in a hundred years ! 

* Weddigens westfal. mag. 3, 713. Wigands archiv 2, 320, has nine yean 
instfaid of seven. 

' The Grk name for the stone is /ScXcfurin;; a missile. 



180 THUNAB. 

bant, • • • prisca virorum religione cultos; • . . cupiens 
enim antiquitas tonitruomm causas usitata rerum similitudlne com- 
prehendere, malleos, quibus coeli firagores cieri credebat, ingenü aere 
complexa fiierat (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 df-sprites 
with the thundergod, in whose service they seem to be employed. 

The Norse mjrthology provides Thörr with a wonderful Jutmmer 
named Miolnir (mauler, tudes, contundens), which he hurls at the 
giants, Ssem. 57^ 67^ 68^; it is also called /»ruShamar, strong 
hammer, Ssem. 67^ 68^ and has the property of returning into the 
god's hand of itself, after being thrown, Sn. 132. As this hammer 
flies tJirottgh the air (er hann kemr ä lopt, Sn. 16), the giants know 
it, lightning and thunder precede the throwing of it : )7vl n^est sä 
hann (next saw he, giant Hrdngnir; eldingar oc heyrCi prwnur 
8t6rar, sä hann ]>k Thor t äsmöSi, for hann äkaflega, oc reiddi hamarin 
oc kastadi, 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 (clava) without a handle, but informs us that Bother in a battle 
with Thor had knmked 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 
forskeptit var heldr skamt), Sn. 131. It was foiged by cunning 
dwarfs,^ and in spite of that defect, it was their masterpiece. In 
Saxo p. 163, Thor is armed with a torrida chalybs? It is noticeable, 
how Frauenlob MS. 2, 214^ expresses himself about God the Father: 
der smit uz Oberlande warf shien humer in mine schoz. The ham- 
mer, as a divine tool, was considered sacred, brides and the bodies 
of the dead were consecrated with it, Ssem. 74^ 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 

^ As Zeufl's lightning was by the Curctes or Qyclopes. 

' That in ancient statues of the thundeigod the Kammer had not been for- 
gotten, seems to be proved by pretty late evidence, e.g. the statue of a dorper 
mentioned in connexion with the giants (ch. XVIII, quotation from Feigut). 
And in the AS. Solomon and Saturn, Thunor wields a /äry axe (ch. XXV» Mm- 
piUi). 

' In the Old Germ, law, the throwing of a hammer ratifies the aoquiatioin 
of property. 



THÜNAR. 181 

MiA Ages as a happy initiatory omen to any undertaking. Th6rr 
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 faith, appears to 
me tiiat beautiful poem in the Edda, the Hamars heimt (hammer's 
homing, mallei recuperatio),^ whose action is motived by Thör's 
hammer being stolen by a giant, and buried eigJU miles tmdergraund: 
'ek hefi Hlörri5a hamar umfolginn ätta röstom for iörC nedan,' 
Ssem« 71*. 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 drSttinn, 
lord of the durses or giants, who has only got his own hammer 
back again, seems identical with Thdrr, being an older nature-god, 
in whose keeping the thunder had been before the coming of the 
iLses\ this is shown by his name, which must be derived from 
)mima, tonitru. The compound J?rumketill (which Biöm explains 
as aes tinniens) is in the same case as the better-known J^örketill 
(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 means in the first place a hard 
stone or rock,* and secondly the tool fashioned out of it ; the ON. 
hamarr still keeps both meanings, rupes and malleus (and sdks, 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 'Fairguneis,' 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 
Ham^r ! i vor den Hamer ! de Ham^ sla ! ' are phrases still 

» No other lay of the Edda shows itself so inteigrown with the people's 
poetry of the North ; its plot survives in Swedish, Danish and Norwegian soi^ 
which bear the same relation to that in the Edda as our folk-song of Hiloe- 
brand and Alebrand does to our ancient poesy. Thor no longer appears as a 
god. but as Tharkar (Thorkarl) or Thord af Haftgaard^ who is robbed of his 
golden hanimer, conf. Iduna 8, 122. Nyerups udvalg 2, 188. Arvidsson 1, 3. 
Schadens beskrivelse over oen More, Aalborg 1811, p. 93. Also the remarkable 
l^end of Thor met^ tungvm hamri in Faye's noreke sagn. Arendal 1833, p. tt, 
where also he loses and seeks his hammer. 

* Slav, kamen gen. kamnia, stone ; Lith. oibnd gen. akmena ; &am ^ Aam. 



182 THUNAB. 

current among the people, in which you can exchange Hamer for 
Düvel, 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.^ de Hamer 
kennt se all ! the devil may know them all, Schütze 2, 96. jBTem- 
merlein, meist &r Hämmerlein, 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 Thore gvd. The Lithuanians worshipped an enormous 
hammer, Seb. Frankes weltbuch 55^ (see Suppl.). 

It must have been at an earlier stage that certain attributes 
and titles of the Saviour, and some Judeo-christian legends, were 
transferred to the heathen god, and particularly the myth of Leviathan 
to lörmungandr. As Christ by his death overmastered the monster 
serpent (BarL 78, 39 to 79, 14), so Th6rr overcomes the mit^aiOs- 
orm (-worm, snake that encircles the world), and similar epithets 
are given to botL^ 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. Raynouard 4, 83) actually names Christ 
still as the lord of thunder, Jhesus del tro. 

A Neapolitan fairy-tale in the Fentamerone 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 Tunrur sla ! Strodtm. p. 80, conf. Schm. 2, 192. 
the hammer, or a great hammer strike you ! Abeles künstl. unordn. 4^ 3. Ge- 
richtsh. 1, 673. 2, 79. 299. 382. verhamert diir, kolt, Schütze 2, 96 =Terdonneit^ 
verteufelt, blasted, cursed, &c. How deeply the worship of Uie god had ta^en 
root among the people, is proved by these almost ineradicable curses, once 
solemn protestations : donner ! donnerwetter ! heiliges gevntter (holy thunder- 
storm) ! And, adding the christian symbol : kreu» donnerweUer I Then^ 
euphemistically disguised : bim (by the^ dummer, potz dummer I dummer 
auch ! Slutz 1, 123. 2, 161-2. 3, 56. bim dummer hammer 3, 51. bim dumttig^ 
dunnstig / as in Hesse : donnerstag ! bim hamer I In Flanders : bi Vids morkel 
liamer! Willem*s vloeken, p. 12. 

s Finn Magnusen lex. 484-5. 



THUNAB. 183 

one,^ we discover in it the same idea of a kind and beneficent, not 
a hostile and fiendish god of thunder. 

The lai^e beetle, which we call stag-beetle or fire-beetle, lucanus 
cervus, taurus (ch. XXI, beetles), is in some districts of South Ger- 
many named dannergueg, dannerguge, 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- 
ox); but then again feuerschröter, fürböter (fire-beeter, i.e. kindler),* 
homer 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 homtroU (see SuppL). 

Among herbs and plants, the following are to be specially noted : 
the dannerbart, stonecrop or houseleek, sempervivum tectorum, 
which, planted on the roof, protects from the lightning's stroke* : 
barba Jovis vulgari more vocatur (Macer Floridus 741), Fr. Jovharhe 
(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 cUpnUhe ; — the donnerkratU, 
sedum; — the dannerflug, fumaria bulbosa; — the donnerdistel, er3mg- 
ium campestre; — the Dan. tardenskreppe, burdock. — The South Slavs 
call the iris perunik, Perun's flower, while the Lettons call our 

' How comes the Ital. to have a trono (Neap. tnumOf Span, trueno) by the 
side of tuono ? and the Provencal a Irons with the same meaning ? Has the R 
slipt in from our douar, or still better from the Goth, drunjus, sonus, Rom. 10, 
18 (conf. drönen, 'cymbaFs droning sound' of Dryden)? or did the Lat thranus 
pass into the sense of sky and thunder ? ' förchst nicht, wanns tonnert, ein 
iron werd vom himmel fallen ? ' Gkirg. 181*». The troubadour's * Jhesua del tro ' 
might then simply mean lord of the firmament 

' ' I wol don sacrifice, and fyres beeUy* Chaucer. Hence beetle itself ? AS. 
by teL— Trans. 

• A Proven9al troubadour, quoted by Raynouard sub v. barbajol, says : e da- 
quel crba tenon pro li vilan sobra lur maiso. Beside this hauswurz (hauswune], 
SuDerst 60), the hawthorn^ albaspina, is a safeguard against lichtning (M^m. 
de r acad. celt 2, 212), as the laurel was among the ancient Romans, or the 
whiie vine planted round a house; conf. brennessel (Superst. 336) ; ^palrn branchss 
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 ? (see Suppl.). 



184 THÜNAB. 

hederich (ground-ivy? hedge-mustard?) pehrhones) Pemnika is also, 
like Iris, a woman's name. The oak above all trees was dedicated 
to the Thunderer (pp. 67, 72) : quercus Jovi placuit, Phaedr. 3, 17 ; 
magna Jovis antiquo robore quercus, Virg. Geoig. 3, 332. At 
Dodona stood the Spik inlrücofjux: Alo^, Od. 14, 327. 19, 297, butjat 
Troy the heech often named in the Iliad: ^17709 vy^Xij Aw avytaxoio, 
5, 693. 7, 60. A particular kind of oak is in Servian grm, and 
grmik is quercetum, no doubt in close connexion with grom 
(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 : donnerzüge (-goat), donnerstagspferd 
(Thursday horse), himmdsziege (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, hors^owk 
or cuckoo, from his neighing; the first time he is heard in the year, 
he prognosticates to men their fate (Biörn sub v.); evidently 
superstitious fancies cling to the bird. His Lettish name pehrhona 
kasa, pehrkona ahsis (thunder's she-goat and he-goat) agrees exactly 
with the German. In Lithuanian too, Mielcke 1, 294. 2, 271 
gives Perkuno ozhys as heaven's goat, for which another name is 
tikkutis. — Eannes, pantheum p. 439, thinks the name donner»- 
tagsjßferd 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. firgengmt (ibex, rupicapra, chamois), and firgivJbucea (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 tame goat. In the Edda, Thörr has 
Jie-gocUs yoked to his thunder-car : between 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 modem 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 
(Sn. 49. 50),^ so the Swiss shepherds believe that the goat has 

1 The myth of the sktughtered goats brought to life again by hammer-oons*- 



THÜNAR. 185 

something of the devil in her, she was made by him, and her feet 
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 
bidental (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). K 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 vp 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 Grermany. Near Oldenburg lies a village named Donnerschwee, 



cration, and of the boar Saehrimnir (Sn. 42) being boiled and eaten every day 
and coming iohole again every evenin^^ seems to re-appear in more than one 
shape« In Wolfs Wodana, p. xxviu, the following passage on witches in 
Ferrara is quoted from Barthol. de Spina (f 1546), quaestio de stri^bus : 
Dicunt etiam, quod postqnam comederunt aliquem pinguem bovem vel ahquam 
vegetem, vino vel arcam sen cophinum panibus evacuarunt et consiunpscrunt 
ea vorantes, domina ilia percutxt aurea vtrga quam manu cestat ea vasa vel loca, 
et statim ut pnns plena sunt vini vel panis ac si nihil inae fuisset assumptum. 
Similiter eongerijubet osta mortui bovis super corium ejus extensum, ipsumque per 
qnatnor partes super ossa revolvens virgaque percviiens, vivum bovem reddit ut 
prins, ac reducenaum 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 beUef made use of in playing-oflf a deception 
(L 969 set}.). Folk-tales relate how a magician, after a fish had been eaten^ tnrew 
the bones mto water, and the fish came alive again. As with these eatable 
creatures, so in other tales there occurs the reanimation of persons who have 
been cut to pieces : in the märchen vom Machandelbom (juniper-tree) ; in the 
myth of Zeus and Tantahis, where the shoulder of Pelops being devolved 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 6t Adalbert (Temine p. 33) ; conf. DS. no. 62, and Ezekiel 37. Then in 
the eighth Finnish rune, Lemminkäimen'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 
Morske eventyr pp. 199, 201. 



186 THUNAB. 

formerly Donerswe,^ Donnerswehe, Donnerswede (Eohlihandb. von 
Oldenb. 2, 55), which reminds us of OBinsve, 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- 
hausen bailiwick, Brunswick, a Thunresfdd [Thurfield] in A«S. 
documents, Kemble 2, 115. 195. 272, &c. &c — ^Many in Scan- 
dinavia, e,g,, in Denmark, Torslunde (Thors lundr^ grove), Tosingo 
(Thors engi, ing) ;* several in Sweden, Tors mase (guiges) in a 
boundary-deed of Östergötland, Broocman 1, 15, ThorAorgia Goth» 
land, Gutalag p. 107. 260. Thdrsbiorg (mountain) and ThArshofn 
(haven) in Norway, Fomm. sog. 4, 12. 343 ; Th&rsmörk (wood^ a 
holy one ? ), Nialss. cap. 149. 150.* Th&rs nes (nose, cape), Ssem. 
155* and Eyrb. saga cap. 4 (see Suppl.). Th4nr8 bro (Thdrs brü, 
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 famUy on the Ehine was named Donner von Lorheim, Sieb- 
mach. 5, 144. Its derivatives and compounds are not common in 
any High Germ, dialect ; a Carolingian doc. in the Cod. lauieah. 
no. 464 has Donarad, which I take to be the ON. ThArSr; 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 (OHQ. 
Donarari ? ), ThöHr, Tk6r&r, ThdrJudlr, Thöräfr (OS. Thunerulf in 
Calend. merseb. Septemb.), Th&roddr, and the feminines Thdra, 
TMrun, Thörama (formed like dioma, Gramm. 2, 336), ThdrkaÜa^ 
Th&rhüdr, Thördü, &c. I cannot see why the editors of the Fom- 
manna sögur deprive such proper names as TJi&rgeirr, ThMnom, 

^ ' to Donertwe, dar heft de herscup den tegenden (teind, tithe),' Land- 
register of 1428. 

' Others specified in Suhm, krit. hist 2, 651. 

' The settlers in Iceland, when they consecrated a district to Th^^^ named 
it Thöramärk, Landn. 5, 2. ed. nova p. 343. From Donnenmark ^ZechStör 
tökely) in the Hungarian county of Zips, comes the Sileeian ÜEunily oi Henk^ 
von Donnersmark. Walach. manura : die Donnersmarkt. 



THÜNAB, .^ 187 

TkdrsUinn, ThdrkätU, Thdrvaldr, Thdrfinnr, Thdrgerdr, &c. of their 
long vowel ; it is not the abstract ]7or, audacia, that they are com- 
pounded with, and the Nialssaga, e.g, cap. 65, spells 7%<$rgeirr, 
Th6rk^^:^SL — The frequent name Thörkäül, 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 HymisqviBa sings of 
Thörr fetching a huge cauldron for the ftses to brew ale with, and 
wearing it on his head, Ssem. 57 ; which is very like the strong 
man Hans (ans, äs ?) in the nursery-tale dapping the church bell 
on his head for a cap. — The coupling of Alp (elf) with Donar in 
Albthonar and Thordlfr is worthy of notice, for cdpgeschoss (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.).^ 

It is observable that in different lays of the Edda Thdrr goes 
by different names. In Lokaglepsa and HarbardslioS he is * Thörr, 
AsaJ>6rr,'but in Hamarsheimt * VingJ?örr, HlorriSi* (yet Thorr as well), 
in Alvismäl always ' VingJ^örr,' in HymisqviSa ' Veorr, HlorriBi,' not 
to mention the periphrases vagna verr (curruum dominus), Sifjar verr, 
OSins sonr. Hldrri&i was touched upon in p. 167, note, Vingth&rr 
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 Hymisqviöa is only found once, Ssem. 9*, 
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. Vea on p. 163 ; the OHG. form must have been Wihor, 
Wihar ? (see Suppl.). 

As 05inn was represented journeying abroad, to the Eastern land 
(p. 163), so is Thorr engaged in eastward travels : Thorr var 1 
augtrvegi, Saem. 59, ä austrvega 68* ; for or avstrvegi, 75 ; ec var 
austr, 78*'^; austrförora J^lnom scaltu aldregi segja seggjom frä, 68*. 
In these journeys he fought with and slew the giants: var hann 

1 To the Bori&t Mongols beyond L. Baikal, fairy-rings in grass are ^ where 
the foiu of ike lightning have dcuiced." — Trans. 



188 THUNAK. 

farinn i aiistenrg at berja troll, Sn. 46. And this again points to 
the ancient and at that time still unforgotten connexion of the 
Teutonic nations with Asia ; this ' faring east- ways ' is told of 
other heroes too, Sn. 190. 363 ; e.g»y the race of the Skilflngar is 
expressly placed in that eastern region (sü kynslöB er 1 austrve- 
giim), Sn. 193 ; and lötunheim, the world of the giants, was there 
situated. 

ThSir was considered, next to OSinn, the mightiest and strongest 
of all the gods ; the Edda makes him OCin's son, therein differing 
entirely from the Roman view, which takes Jupiter to be Mercury's 
father ; in pedigrees, it is true, Thörr does appear as an ancestor of 
OSinn. Thorr is usually named immediately after OSinn, some- 
times before him, possibly he was feared more than OSinn (see 
Suppl.). In Saxo Gramm., Regner confesses : Se, Thar deo excqf^, 
nuUam 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.^., Saem. 70*, as indeed 
the very meaning of ans (jugum mentis) agrees with that of Fafr- 
guneis. His temples and statues were the most numerous in 
Norway and Sweden, and dsmcffin, divine strength, is understood 
chiefly of him. Hence the heathen religion in general is so 
frequently expressed by the simple Thdr hldta, SaenL 113^ ÄÄ 
(called) d Th6r, Landn. 1, 12, trA&i (beUeved) d Th&r, Landn. 2, 12. 
He assigns to emigrants their new place of abode : ThSrr visaSi 
honum (shewed him), Landn. 3, 7 3, 12. From the Landn&mab6k 
we could quote many things about the worship of Thörr: J»r 
stendr enn ThSrs steinn, 2, 12. gänga til fretta vi8 Thdr, 3, 12. 
Thorr is worshipped most, and Freyr next, which agrees with the 
names TJiSrvidr and Frei/viÖr occurring in one family line 2, 6 ; 
viSr is wood, does it here mean tree, and imply a priestly function? 
Oöinviör does not occur, but TyviSr is the name of a plants eh. 
XXXVII. It is Thör*s hammer that hallows a mark, a mainage, 
and the runes, as we find plainly stated on the stones. I show in 
ch. XXXIII how Thörr 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 



THÜNAR, 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. 
ch. XVIII). But even in the Eddie ThrymsqviSa, he eats and 
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 Asath6r afdrecka (outdrink). 
Conversely, the good-natured old giant Thrymr is by his very name 
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 Tardenveir 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, cL XXVII, 
for death also is a devil, and consequently a giant ; conf Miillen- 
hoff, schL hoist, p. 289. That is why some of the old tales which 
still stood their groimd in the christian times try to saddle him 
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 to King Olafr, splits and bums it up, then 
mixes the ashes in furmety and gives it to dogs to devour ; ' 'tis 
meet that hounds eat Thorr, who his own sons did eat,' Fomm. sog. 
2, 163. This is a calumny, the Edda knows of no such thing, it 
relates on the contrary that MoSi and Magni outlived their father 
(see SuppL). Several revived sagas, like that of the creation of 
wolves and goats, ti-ansform Wuotan into the good God, and Donar 
into the deviL 

From the time they became acquainted with the Boman 
theogony, the writers identify the German thundergod with 
Jupiter. Not only is dies Jovis called in AS. Thunresdsdgt but 
Latona Jovis mater is Thunres mödur , and capitolium is trans- 
lated Thdrshot by the Icelanders. Conversely, Saxo Gram. p. 230 
means by his * Jupiter ' the Teutonic Thor, the Jupiter ardens above 
(p. 110) ; did that mean Donar t 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 OCinn. The * presbyter Jovi 



190 THUNAB. 

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 fanner 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 of the meaner sort, and with stones or staves do pelt 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,^ but one of Öiem 
must have been Jupiter then, as we find it was afterwards.' 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. yeaiiy 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, hidden in a sack. The schoolboys dressed it in a doak 
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 treasoiy 
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.« Was the pelting of 

1 In the Corbel chron., Hamb. 1590, cap. 18, Letzner thinks it was the god 
of the Irmensül. He refers to MS. accounts by Con. Fontanus, a Hehnm- 
haus Benedictine of the 13th century. 

» A Hildesheim register drawn up at the end of the 14th century oc 
beginn, of the 15th cent, says : * De abgotter (idols), so sunnabends vor laetam 
(Letzn. * sonnab. nach laet.') von einem hausmann von Algermissen gesetiet, 
davor (for which) ihm eine hofe (hufe, hide) landes gehört zur sankmeisterie 
(chantry 1), imd wie solches von dem hausmann nicht gesetzt worden, gehört 
Cantori de hove landes.' Hannoversche landesblätter 1833, p. 30. 

» Lüntzel 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. 



THÜNAB. 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 lösen, vater und mutter lösen/ 
releasing, ransoming ? Tobler 174* (see Suppl.). 

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 
of it before that time is not 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 Javis in otio 
observet,' Aberglaube p. xxx. *de feriis quae faciunt Jovi vel 
Mercuric,' p. xxxiL qiiintam feriam in honorem Jovis honorasti, 
p. xxxviL On Thursday evening one must neither spin nor hew ; 
Superst, Swed. 55. 110. and Germ. 517. 703. The Esthonians 
think Thursday holier than Sunday.^ 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 
uneradicated 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 

^ Etwas über 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, TYE). 

The ON. name for dies Martis, T^sdagr, has the name of the 
Eddie god T^r (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. Tiio^ in OHG. Zio. The runic 
letter Ti, Ziu, will be discussed further on. The Gothic name for the 
day of the week is nowhere to be found ; according to all analogy 
it would be Tivisdc^, and then the god himself can only have been 
called Tins, These forms, Tiiu-s, Tiw, Ty-r, Zio make a series like 
the similar J?iu-s, J?eow (}?iw), J?y-r, dio = puer, servus. 

If the idea of our thundergod had somewhat narrow limits, that 
of Zio lands us in a measureless expanse. The non-Teutonic 
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, dyaus (coelum) stands the closest 
to the Greek and German gods' names Zeu9, Tins. 





Sanskrit. 


Greek. 


GoTHia 


Nom. 


dyaus 


Z6U9 


Tins 


Voc. 


dyaus 


ZeS 


Tiu 


Ace. 


divam 


Aifa, Aia 


Tiu 


Gen. 


divas 


Alfo^, ^t09 


Tivis 


Dat 


divfi 


Jtf/, Alt 


Tiva 



To the digammated and older form of the Greek oblique case» 
there corresponds also the Latin Jovem, Jovis, Jovi, for which we 

> It might have been Teow, from the analogy of )?eow to ]>$t. Lye ouotea. 
without references : Tiig, Mars, Tiiges- vel Tiis-äaeg, dies Martis. Tne Epinal 
glosses broucht to light bv Mone actually fimiish, no. 520 (Anzeiger 1838, p. 
145), Tiigy Mars ; also Oehler p. 351 . The change of letters is like that of briig, 
jusculum, for brtw ; and we may at least infer &om it, that the vowel is long, 
Tig. 

13 



194 zio. 

must assume a nom. Ju, Jus, though it has survived only in the 
compound Jupiter = Jus pater, Zev^ iraTqp. 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 Zev<i presupposes an older JeiJ? which was actually preserved in 
the iEolic dialect. These Greek and Latin words likewise contain 
the idea of the heavenly god, i^., a personification of the sky. 
Dium, divum is the vault of heaven, and Zeus is the son of heaven, 
Ovpavov vio^, ovpavio<!, Zev^ aiOepi va(a)v (see Suppl.). 

But apart from *dyaus, Zeus and Jupiter,* the three common nouns 
devas (Sansk.), öeo? and dens 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 Tins, Zio ; but 
its u, like the o in deo9, belongs to the flexion, not to the root, and 
therefore answers to the a in dSvas.^ Nevertheless döus too must 
have sprung from devus, and öeo? from öefo?, because the very 
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 
dififer from devas, whose ^ (=ai) grew by guna out of i, so that the 
Lith. dievas comes nearer to it.* But the adjectives Sw (not from 
Sao9, but rather for hifos:) and divus correspond to dfivas as dives 
divitis (p. 20) to devatas (deus). This approximation between divus 
and deus serves to confirm the origin of deus out of devus or divus 
with short i (see Suppl.)^, Still more helpful to us is the fact that 
the Edda has a plur. tivar meaning gods or heroes, Ssem. 30* 41* ; 
rikir tivar (conf. rich god, p. 20), Ssem. 72» 93» ; valtivar, 52* ; 
sigtivar, 189* 248» ; the sing, is not in use. This tivar, though not 
immediately related to Tj^r, yet seems related to it as 8*09, Ö€09, 
öeax? are to Zeu? ; its 1 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, in Sanskrit by the side of div a d6v, and in Latin by the 
side of deus a divus, these being strengthened or guna forms of the 



1 Kuhn, m Zeitschr. f. d. alt. 2, 231, has rightly pointed out, that Zio can 
be immediately related only to dyans and Zcvs, not to deue and 6t6£ ; but he 
ouf^ht to have admitted that mediately it must be related to these last also. 
That div was the root of Zeus, had already been shown by 0. Müller in QötL 
anz. 1834, pp. 795-6. 

3 Conf. piemu Troifirjv, and kiemas ica>/xi7 häiras. 

• If, aa hinted on p. 26, dlos deus were conn, with dc«, the notion of bind- 
ing must have arisen lirst out of the divine band, which is hardly conceivaUe. 



zio. 195 

root div, tiv (splendere).^ If the earthbom Tuisco, the ancestral 
god of our nation, stands (as Zeuss p. 72 has acutely suggested) for 
Tivisco, Tiusco, it shews on its very face the meaning of a divine 
heavenly being, leaving it an open question whether we will choose 
to understand it of Wuotan or any other god, banking always Tins 
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, 
for the old gen. was dies. Then the word in the sing, fluctuates 
between the masc. and fem. genders; and as the masc. Ju, Dju with 
the suffix n, is shaped into the fem. forms Juno for Jovino, Djovino, 
and Diana, just so the Lith. name for day, rfiena, is fern., while the 
Slav, den, dzien, dan, is masc. The Teutonic tongues have no word 
for sky or day taken fi-om this root, but we can point to one in 
Greek : Cretenses Ala ttjv fffiipav vocant (call the day Zeus), ipsi 
quoque Romani Diespitrem appellant, ut diei patrem ; Macrob. 
h^at. 1, 15. The poetic and Doric forms Zrjva, Ztjvo^, ZtjpI, and 
Zapa, Zav6<;, Zavl, for Aia, Aio^i, Ait, correspond to the above 
formations ;* and the Etruscans called Jupiter Tina, i.e, Dina ; 0. 
Müller 2, 43 (see Suppl.). 

A derivative from the same root with another suffix seems to 
present itself in the ON. tivor (deus ? ),' Saem. 6^, AS. tlr, gen. tires 
(tiir. Cod. exon. 331, 1 8 gloria, splendor), and OS. tir, gen. tiras, tireas; 
with which I connect the OHG. ziori, ziari, zieri (splendidus), and 
the Lat. decus, decor, decorus. The AS. poets use the word tir only 
to intensify other words : tirmetod (deus gloriae, summus deus), 
Caedm. 143, 7 ; aesctlr wera (hasta gloriosa virorum), 124, 27 ; ffisca 
tir, 127, 10 ; tirwine. Booth, metr. 25, 41 ; tirfruma. Cod. exon. 13, 
21 ; tirmeahtig (potentissimus), 72, 1 ; tlreadig (felicissimus), 
Ctedm. 189, 13. 192, 16; tirfoest (firmissimus), 64, 2. 189, 19; 



1 Sometimes, though rarely, we find another ON. diar, Saem. 91*. Sn. 176. 
Yngl. »aga cap. 2 ; it agrees with Btos more than with dios. 

' We know to what shifts Socrates is driven in trying to explain the forms 
Zijva and Am (Pkto's Cratylus p. 29, Bekker) ; 3€6s he derives from Buv, 
cnrrere (p. 32). 

* Or must we read it tivor, and connect it with the AS. tifer, tiber, OHG. 
zepar? 



196 zio. 

much in the same way as the AS. eormen, OHG. irman is piefixed. 
Now when a similar prefix t'^ meets us in the ON. writings, «^. 
t^hraustr (fortissimus), t^späkr (sapientissimus), Sn. 29, it confirms 
the aflBnity between tlr and Ty-r, 

These intricate etymologies were not to be avoided : they 
entitle us to claim a sphere for the Teutonic god Zio, Tiw, T^r, 
which places him on a level with the loftiest deities of antiquity. 
Eepresented in the Edda as OSin'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 Oöinn is often named Sigt^r, Hr6ptat5^r, Gautatjfr, 
hängatyr, farmatyr (Soem. 30. 47. 248*. Sn. 94-6), bödvart^r, quasi 
pugnae deus, geirtyr (Fornm. sog. 9, 515-8) ; and that even Thöir, 
to whom Jupiter's lightning has been handed over, appears as 
EeiSartyr, Eeidit)^r (Sn. 94), i,e. god of the waggon.* In all these 
poetical terms, wc sec that t'^r bears that more general sense which 
makes it suitable for all divinities, especially the higher ones. T^ 
has a perfect right to a name identical with Zeus. Add moreover, 
that the epithet of father was in a special degree accorded, not 
only to Jupiter, Diespiter, but to victory's patron MarspUer} 

Further, this lofty position is claimed for Zio by the oldest 
accoimts that have reached us. Mars is singled out as a chief god 

* I do not reckon Angant^ among this set of words. It occurs fieqnentlT, 
both in the Hervararsnpi and in Sa^m. 114* 119^ 9*; this last passage calu 
Oöinn * Frigyar angantjr '. The true fonn is doubtless Änganßyr, as appean 
from the OHG. Angaixdeo (Trad. fuld. 1, 67), and the AS. Ongenßeow^ Ongenjno 
(Beow. 4770. 4945-67. 5843-97. 5917-67) ; -t^r would have been m AS. -teow, in 
OHG. -zio. Graff gives an Agandeo 1, 132. 5, 87, which seems to be a mia- 
»lielling, though the Trad, wizenb. no. 20 have a woman*s name Agathiu (for 
Augtinthiu), to which add the ace. Agathien, Agacien (Walthar. 629). The 
meaning of angan, on^'en, is doubtful ; * ängan Olrar brüdhar * is said to be 
' deliciae malae mulieiiK/ but Biöm interprets it pedisequa, and OSinn might 
fitly be called Friggae pedisequus. Tliat some proper names in the Edda «re 
corrupt, is plain from Hamdir, which ought everywhere to be HaInb^]^ OHQ. 
llumudio, Hamideo (Schannnt no. o7(). Cod. lauresh. 2529), MHG. Hamdie 
(MsH 3, 213^). This much I am sure of, that neither AnganHr nor Ham]>5r 
can contain a t5^r, which is almost always compounded witn genitives in a 
figurative sense. 

2 GeUius 5, 12. 



zio. 107 

of all the Germanic nations, and mentioned side by side with Mer- 
cury. The evidence is collected on p. 44.^ Tacitus, in Hist. 4, 64, 
makes the Tencteii 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,* which says expressly: ^Trel Oebv ainov 
voßii^ovai fieyKTToi/ ehaiy ought to be compared with the statements 
of Jomandes 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 
also slain, Mars stands mentioned before Mercury. And Jemandes, 
who identifies the ' Gradivus pater ' of the Getae in Virg. Aen. 3, 
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 
A/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 at other times he is combined 
in a significant trilogy, appear, like Jupiter and Mercury, to retire 
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, t.e., Wodan, particularly if he had in his 
mind the analogy of those prefixes irman- (of which he is speaking) 
and tlr-. The ON. writers, while they recognise OSin's influence 
on war and victory, speak no less distinctly of Tpr, who is em- 



* A poBsaee in Flonis 2, 4 : *mox Ariovisto duce vovere de noetroruni mili- 
tmn praeda Marti suo torquem : intercepit Jupiter votum, nam de torquibiis 
eomm aureum tiopaeum Jovi Flaminius erexit, speaks of the Insubrian Qaula, 
who were beaten in the consulHhip 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. 

* OovXtroi (men of Thule) is their ceneric name, but he expressly includes 
among them the Tavrot, whom he righuy regards as a different people from the 
r6r$oi, conL Gott anz. 1828, p. 553. 



198 zio. 

phatically their VigaguS (deus proeliomm), Sn. 105, and again: 
hann er diarfastr ok best hugaSr, ok hanu rceffr miöc sigri i arodom, 
Sn. 29 (see Suppl.). 

No doubt there were mountains hallowed to Zio, as well as to 
Wuotan and Donar; the only diflBculty 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 moimtain 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 Ä^cJ^r^ could not be dislodged, 
it was only distorted into Siegburg ;^ or are we to explain the name 
by tlie river Sieg, which flows through the district ? The ON. 
Siytysbcrg (OS. Sigu-tiwis-berag?), Saem. 348* might belong to OSinn 
or to Tyr. The Weimar map has in section 38 a Tisdorf, and in 
section 48 a Zie-sbcrg, both in Lower Saxon districts on the Elbe. 
A place in Zealand, about which tliere are folk-tales, is Tybierg 
(Thiele 2, 20) ; also in Zealand are Tisvelde (Ti*s well), Tysting ; in 
Jutland, TystaÜie, Tiidunde, In Sweden: Tistad, Tisbg, Tisfo, 
Tgved. Zierberg 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 vions Martis 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 right than the Parisian mons Martis (yet conf. Waitz's 
Salic law, p. 52), we may assign to Zio the fanum Martis, now 
Famars in Hainault (p. 84), according to Herm. Müller the Old 
Prankish ' Dishargum (or Disbargus) in termino Toringorum *" of 
Greg. tur. 2, 9, Chlodio's castellum. Dis- would be a Latinized form 
of Tis = Tives, perhaps recalling Dispiter, Diespiter ; there is no 
Gallic word like it looking towards Mars, and the district is thor- 
oughly Prankish, with Liplitinae close by, where we have Saxnot 
named by the side of Thunar and Wodan. As for Eresberg and 
Mersherg (3 or 4 pp. on), I have compared the oldest documents in 
Seibertz: no. 11 (anno 962) gives us Eresbui'g; no. 25 (1030) already 
Mersburg ; 1, 98 (1043) mons Eresburg; no. 51 (1150) mons Eres- 
berg; no. 70 (1176) mons Eresberch ; no. 85 (1184) Heresbuig; 

1 Docura. 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 caetellum are used by turns, 
berg and burg are equally right. Widukind 2, 11 and Dietmar 2, 1 
spell Heresburg 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 Ai-es and Hermes (Mars and Mercury). 

The names of plants also confess the god : ON. Tysfiola, I dare- 
say after the Lat. viola Martis, march-violet; Tyrhialm (aconitum), 
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 wariike gods Tyr and 
Thorr ; Tyvi&r, Ty's wood, Dan. Tyvtd, Tysved (daphne mezereum), 
in the Helsing. diaL tiSy tistbcist, the mezereon, a beautiful poison- 
flower (see Suppl.). 

While these names of places and plants suflBciently 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. Tiwesdaeg), 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 = Snapa,* MB. 7, 375 and Diut. 2, 370 ; which I take to 
be not Teutonoari, as Zeuss does, pp. 146-9, but Ziawari Martern 
colentes, warian expressing, like Lat, colere, both habitare and 
OepairevcLP, so that the Suevi are Oepdirovre^ "Aprjo^, 

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 Runic 
alphabet. 

It is known that each separate rune has a name to itself, and 
tliese names vary more or less acconling 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, T^r and Tiw for T, Jwm for )>, 
being the same three words, only in difierent places ; occasionally 
the Anglo-Saxons wrote Tir or Tis. Whenever a list of ranes 
keeps thorn for Th, and dag for D, it is sure to have Ti for T (as 
the Cod. Isidori paris. and bmxell.) ; 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 (dhom), tac, Ziu, that of Salzburg dhom, 
Ti, daeg : everjrsvhere 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 we go on. But what is very remark- 
able, is that in the Vienna cod. 140 the name Tyz is given to T in 
an alphabet which uses the Gothic letters, for Tyz comes very near 
to our conjectural Goth. Tins. 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 Wuotan or 
OSinn. the inventor of writing itself ? * R = reiS, r&d,' tX waggon, 
may indirectly at least be referred to the god of the Thunder-car ; 
and F according to one interpretation signifies Freyr. Anyhow, 
'T=Tyr' 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 T^r had to be twice 
inserted, Saem. 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 : Hr 
biS idcna sum (tir is one of the tokens, is a certain sign) ; where 
again the derivative form ttr is employed to explain the the simple 
Tiw or Ti. Occasionally the poets speak of * t!re täcnian,' to mark 
with tir (El. 753. Jud. 137, 18), and'tires to täcne,' as mark of 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- 
cups (see Suppl.).^ 

^ Conf. note to Elene 155-6. 



£0R. 201 

Thus far we have dealt with the runic name T^, Tiw, Zio, and 
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.^ 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 JEo, JEor, 
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 JEar — Zio and Eo, Eor — 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 
Eresburg, Aeresburg being given to a notable seat of pagan worship 
in a district of Westphalia, in the immediate neighbourhood of the 
Irmansül (v. supra, p. 116). That it was strictly 'Eresberg (as Si^- 
burg was originally Sigberg, p. 198), follows both from the Latin 
rendering mons Martü, and from its later name Mersherg? whose 
initial M could be explained by the contraction of the words ' in 
dem Eresberge, Aresberge,** or it may be an imitation of the Latin 
name. There was a downright Marsherg in another district of West- 
phalia.^ This Eresbere then is a Ziesbere, a Sig-tiwes-berg, and yet 
more closely an Areopagus, Mars* hill, Apeiiirayo^, irerpa irdyo^ t' 
^Apeux; (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, ErcfUag, Erichtag, 
which answers to the rune Ear, 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 
£or-worship and Zio-worship. True, the compound Ertac lacks 



» In one poem, Cod. exon. 481, 18, the rune contains simply the vowel 
sound ea, 

* This Eresburg or Mersbei^ stands in the pagus Hessi saxonicus (registr. 
Sarachonis p. 42, 735) ; conf. Wigands archiv I. 1, 36-7. II. 143. 268. 

* So : Motgers = in dem Otg& hove [and, the nonce ■■ then once, &c.]. 

« In the jpagus Marstem, Marshem, Maraem (dose to the Weter, near 
Marklo), reg. banichonis 42, 727. 



202 zio. 

the genitive ending -s which is preserved in Ziestac, and I have not 
heen 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 JEriag 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 Freyja into the earth. — ^To bear 
this Ertag company, there is that name of a place Eersd, quoted 
p. 154 from Gramaye, in which neither 6ra honor, nor its personifi- 
cation Era (ch. XVI, XXIX) is to be thought of, but solely a god 
of the week. It is worth noticing, that Ertac and Erdag occur as 
men's names; also, that the Taxandrian Eersel was but a little way 
off the Tisberg or Fanmars in Hainault (see SuppL). — ^Now cornea 
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 
"Afyq^: 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 f 

The description of the rune in the AS. poem gives only a slight 
hint, it runs thus : 

Ear biS egle eorla gehwilcum, 

J?onne fsestlice flaesc onginnetJ 

hraew cölian, hrusan ceosan 

blac to gebeddan. blseda gedreosaö, 

wynna gewitaö, wera geswlcaC ; 
t.e., Ear fit importunus hominum cuicumque, quum caro incipit 
refrigescere, pallidumque corpus terram eligere conjugem. tunc 
enim gloriae dilabuntur, gaiidia 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 

* In a passage from Keisersberg quoted by Schm. 1, 97, it is spelt Ensta^ 

apparently to favour the derivation from * dies aens.' 



EOR, SAXNOT, CHERU. 203 

is to be understood, from which a transition to the destructive god 
of battles, the ßporoXüuyo*:, ßiuLKJyovo^ *'Ap7j(; is easy to conceive.^ 
''Afyrf<; itself is used abstractly by the Greeks for destruction, murder, 
pestilence, just as our Wuotan is for furor and belli impetus,^ and 
the Latin Mars for bellum, exitus pugnae, furor bellicus, conf. 'Mars 
=cafeht,' gefecht, fight, in GL Hrab. 969* ; as conversely the OHG- 
wig pugna, bellum (Graff 1, 740) seems occasionally to denote the 
personal god of war. * Wicgch quoque Mars est ' says Ermoldus 
Nigellus (Pertz 2, 468), and he is said to fameman, AS. fomiman, 
carry off, as Hild (Bellona) does elsewhere : dat inan w!c fomam, 
Hildebr. lied ; in AS. : vdf; ealle fomam, 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 Prankish annalists, we may fairly bring in the Goth. Jiairus, 
AS. hear, OS. heru, ON. hiorr, eusis, cardo, although the names of 
the rune and the day of the week always appear without the 
aspirate. Por in Greek we already have the two unaspirated words 
Mpjy? and oop, 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 f ower and holiness. Salisndt is word for word gladii consors, 
ensifer [Germ, genoss, sharer] ; who else but Zio or Eor and the 
Greek Arts P The AS. genealogies preserve the name of Saxnedt 

^ Or, without the need of any transition, Ear might at once be Ares : * war 
is burdensome in old age '. — Transl. 

' The notions of raving (wüten) and insanire are suitable to the blustering 
«tomiful god of war. Homer calls Ares Bovpos the wild, and acbtxav the 
insensate, ts ovriva o?df ö/fiiora, II. 5, 761. But /xaiVcrai is said of other gods 
loo, particularly Zeus (8, 3(50) and Dionysos or Bacchus (6, 11^2). 

* One migfit think of Fro, Freyr (ch. X\ but of courae glittering swords 
were attributed to more than one god ; thus Poseidon (Neptune) wieid^sa dtuf^v 
aop, IL 14, 385, and Apollo is called xpv<rdoposf 5, 509. lö, 256. 



204 no. 

as the son of Woden, and it is in perfect accordance with it, that 
Tyr was the son of Oöinn, 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 Cheru, 
fferu = For, from whom their name can be derived.* After this 
weighty consonance of facts, which opens to us the meaning of the 
old national name, and at the same time teaches that ' hero ' was 
first of all pronounced * cheru,' and last of all * eru, er,' I think we 
may also bring in the Gallic war-god Ilesus or Ems (Lucan 1, 440), 
and state, that the metal iron is indicated by the planetary sign of 
Mars, the AS. * tires täcen,' and consequently that the rune of Zio 
and Eor may be the picture of a sword with its handle, or of a 
spear.* The Scythian and Alanic legends dwell still more emphati* 
ciiUy 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 swoid 
(aKivdicrjf:), which was elevated on an enormous stack of brushwood 
[* three furlongs in length and breadth, but less in height *] : Arl 
TovTOv Bfj Tov SyKov aKivaKT)^ aiBi^peo^ iBpuTcu äpjfam 
kKooTOKTi ' Kol T o t' cöTt TOV "ApTjos TO orfaX/jM. Ammlanus 
Marcellinus 31, 2 says of the Alani : Nee templum apud eos visitor 
aut delubrum, ne tugurium quidem culmo tectum cerni nsquam 
potest, sed gladiiLS barbarico ritu humi figitur nttdus, eumqiu tU 
Martern, 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 mucranOms^qw» 
pro numinibus cdunt, juravere se permansuros in fide. Perhaps all 

* The suffix -sk would hardly fit with the material sense of hern, &r better 
with a personal Hem. 

' Does the author overlook^ or deliberately reject, the ON. or, pfcn. ihrmr^ 
AS. arwe, arrow ? Among the forms for Tuesday occur Erigtagy Ergetag ; eige 
is to arwe, as sorge to sorwe, morjj^en to morwen, &c. — ^Tbans. 



no. 205 

the Teutonic nations swore by their weapons, with a touching of 
the weapon,^ just as the Scythians and Romans did per Martü 
frameam, Juvenal 13, 79. So Amobius 6, 11 : Ridetis temporibus 
priscis coluisse acinacem Scythiae nationes, . . . pro Marte 
Romanos hastam, ut Varronis indicant Musae; this framea and 
hasta of the Romans is altogether like the Scythian sword.* 
Jemandes, 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 confideret, addebat ei tamen 
confidentiam gladiiis Martia 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 Lupoid 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 Mühlberg (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 word "Afyq^ the Lat. Mars appears to have nothing to 
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 Roman worship of Mars a prominent place is given 

> Conf. RA. 896 ; and 80 late as WigaL 6517 : « Swert, üf dinem knöpfe ich 
des swer,' Sword, on thy pommel I swear it. 

* J uro per Dianam et Marten^ Plaut. MiL glor. Ö, 21. 



206 zio. 

to the legend of Picus, a son of Saturn, a wood-spirit who helped 
to nurse the babes Remus and Romulus ; certain features in our 
antiquities seem to recall him, as will be shown later. Romulus 
consecmted 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 Hre&em6naS^, which Beda without hesitation traces to a 
goddess Hrede; possibly other races might explain it by a god 
HreSa% These names would come from hroS gloria, fama, OX. 
hroSr, OHG. hruod, OFrank. chrod, which helped to form many 
ancient words, e.g. OHG. Hniodgang, Hruodhilt, OFrank. Chrddo- 
gang, Chrodhild ; did Hruodo, Chrddo express to certain races the 
shining god of fame ?^ Tlie Edda knows of no such epithet for Tyr 
as Hr65r or Hroeöi (see SuppL). 

To these discoveries 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 otlier nations supplies. Zio is sure to 
have been valiant and fond of war, like Ares, lavish of glory, but 
stem and bloodthirsty (aTfiaros aaai ''Aprja, IL 5, 289. 20, 78. 22, 
2G7) ; he raves and rages like Zeus and Wuotan, he is that * old 
blood-shedder ' of the Servian song, he gladdens the hearts of 
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 oltovoi and kvv€» (birds and dogs), and 

^ In this connexion one mij:rht try to rescue the PUspiciouB and discredited 
legend of a JSaxon divinity Krodo ; there is authority for it in the 15th centoiy, 
none whatever in the earlier Mid. Ages. Bothers 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 
liktdy have been mentioned by the annalists, like tne overthrow of the 
Innansul. For all that, the tradition need not be groundless, if other things 
would only correspond. Unfortunately the form Crudo for Chrodo, Hiudo, 
Koflo [like Catti, alterw. Chatti, Hatti, Hessen] is rather too ancient, and I can 
lind no support for it in the Saxon speech. A doc. of 15284 (Langs reg. 4, 247) 
hii8 a WaUherus <lictus Krodcy and a song in Nithart's MsH. 3, 208^ a Krotol/^ 
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 niu^t be referred many names of places, Krotenpful, &c, which have 
be»*n mistakenly jiscribed to the idol. The true fonu for Upper Germany 
would not tolerate a Kr, but only Hr or R (see Suppl.). 



zio. 207 

the fields of the slain, where the hounds hold revel, are called kw&v 
fii\wf}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 (jjUXireaOat "Afyrjl, IL 7. 241), from which I derive the 
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 sveröäs is another god, HeimBallr ;^ but it sets 
T^ 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 ülfliSr, wolf-lith, Saem. 65» Sn. 35-6. This 
incident must have been well-known and characteristic of him, for 
the ON. exposition of runes likewise says, under letter T : T^v er 
einhendr Asa ; conf. Sn. 105. The rest of Teutonic legend has no 
trace of it,* unless we are to look for it in Walther's oneharidedness, 
and find in his name the mighty ' wielder of hosts *. I prefer to 
adopt the happy explanation,* that the reason why Tyr appears 
one-handed is, because he can only give victory to one part of the 
combatants, as Hadu, another god who dispenses the fortune of 
war, and Plutos and Fortuna among the Greeks and Bomans, 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 and fickleness. And a remoter period 
of our nation may have used names which bore upon this.* 

Amongst the train of Ares and Mars there appear certain 
mythic beings who personify the notions of fear and horror. Aeitio^ 
and toßo^ (11. 4, 440. 11, 317. 15, 119) answer to the Latin Pallor 

^ Conf. Apollo xpvo'^opos alx)ve, p. 203, note. 

2 Cod. pal 361, 65» 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, dariune uobte sich der välant (devil), er clemmete im die hant, und 
i^habete sie im so vaste, daz er sich niht irlösen mohte (could not get loose). 
Besides, the wolfs limb has a likeness to the Wuotan's limb, Woens-let, p. 160. 

• Wackemagel's, in the Schweiz, mus. 1, 107. 

* The Greek epos expresses the changefulness of victory {viinj crcpoXic^f, II. 
8, 171. 16, 362 ; vUrj fVa/ictßrrai MfHis, 6, 339) by an epithet of Ares, 
*AX\orrp6(raXkos 5, 831. 889. A certain many-shaped and all- transforming 
being, with a name almost exactly the same, Vilanders (Ls. 1, 369-92), Bald- 
änderst, 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 
I'imilarity of this Vüanders to the name of a place in the Tyrol, Villandere 
near liri'xen (Velunutria, Vulunuturiusa, 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 called his son (13, 299), and in Aeschylus he is provided 
with a dwelling (jiekadpov tectum), out of which he suddenly leaps. 
So in the old Bohemian songs, Tfas (tremor) and Strakh (tenor) 
burst out of forest shades on the enemy's bands, chase them, press 
on their necks and squeeze out of their throats a loud cry (Eöniginh. 
hs. 84 104) ; they are ghostly and spectral TUs borders upon 
Vdma, 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 ötti iötna, terror gigantum. When in our 
modem phraseology fear 'surprises, seizes, shakes, deprives of sense,' 
personification is not far off; in the Iliad also 17, 67 xXMpov Sio^ 
(neut) atpei, pale fear seizes ; but masculine embodiments like 
Sei/xo<;, 4^6ßo^, pallor, pavor, tras, strakh, bring it more vividly before 
us, and pavor was weakened by passing into the fem. paura, peur 
of the Bomance. AS. ]>& hine se bröga ongeat (terror eum invasit), 
Beow. 2583. OHG. forhta cham mih ana, N. ps. 54, 5 ; forhta 
anafiel ubar inan, T. 2, 4 ; conf. MHG. diu sorge im was sd vene 
entriten, sie möhte 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. 

T)^r is described in Sn. 105 as a son of OSinn, but in the 
Hymisqvi^a as a kinsman of the giants. His mother, whose name 
is not found, but whose beauty is indicated by the epithet all-gullin, 
all-golden, Saem. 53*, must have been a giant's daughter, who bore 
to OSinn 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 underljdng 
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 deity in general, pretty much as we found, connected 
with the proper names Zio, Zeus, the more general term deus, ^€09. 
While the names of other heathen gods became an abomination to 
the christians, and a Gothic Vödans or Thunrs would have grated 
harshly on the ear; this one expression, like the primitive gu)? itself, 
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. 
Frtyr gen. Freys, which Saxo gives quite correctly in its Danish 
form as Fro gen. Frös (whence Frösö, Fro's island), the Swed. like- 
wise Fro, ought to be in Grothic Fraus or Fravis,^ instead of which, 
every page of Ulphilas shows/rdiya gen. fraujins, translating Kvpio<:; 
on the other hand, the ON. dialect lacks both the weak form (Freyi, 
Freyja), and the meaning of lord. The remaining languages all 
hold with the Gotliic. In OHG. the full form frouwo was already 
lost, the writers preferring truhttn; it is only in the form of address 
'/rd min ! ' (0. i 5, 35. ü. 14, 27. v. 7, 35. Ludw. lied) that the 

* Frey = Fravi, as hey = ha vi (hayX mey = mavi (maid), ey = avi (ide), 

14 



210 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 fr6 min ! 123, 13. 140, 23. fr6 mln the godo ! 131, 6. 
1 34, 15. 138, 1. 7. waldand fr6 min ! 153, 8. drohtln fro mln ! 
15, 3 ; but in other cases we do find the complete /r<JAo gen. frohon 
3, 24 ; fr&ho 119, 14, gen. frahon 122, 9, Mon 3, 24. 5, 23 ; fr6w 
93, 1. 107, 21. Still the OS. poet uses the word seldomer than the 
synonyms drohtin and hSrro, and he always puts a possessive with 
it, never an adjective (like märi drohttn, riki drohttn, craftag drohtin, 
liob herro), still less does he make compounds with it (like sigi- 
drohtln) : all symptoms that the word was freezing up. The AS. 
fred gen. frean (for freäan, freäwan) has a wider sweep, it not only 
admits adjectives (frea selmihtig, Csedm. 1, 9. 10, 1), but also forms 
compounds: ägendfrea, Ceedm. 135, 4 aldorfrea 218, 29. folcfrei 
111, 7 ; and even combines with dryhten : freadryhten, Co^dm. 54, 
29, gen. freahdrihtnes, Beow. 1585, dat. freodryhtne 5150. — But 
now by the side of our OHG. fro there is found a rigid (indecL) 
/reW, 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 /r<^, and again an adj. frdnUc 
(pulcher, mimdus, inclytus, arcanus), OS. frdnisk, frdnisk. In 
MHG. and even modem German we have a good many compounds 
with vr6n, as also the adj. in the above sense, while/roA?i€n,yWAne» is 
to do service to one's lord, to dedicate. The Frisian dialect contri- 
butes a^dn, dominions, and/rdria, minister publicus. The added 
-n in all these derivatives can be explained by the Gothic j^(li(;7noii 
dominari, though there was probably no Gothic frdujinisks, as 
fronisc seems not to have been formed till after the contraction frd 
and frSno had set in. 

But even the Gothic frduja does not present to us the simple 
stem, I look for it in a lost adj. fravis (like navis vexpif;, Rom. 7, 2), 
the same as the OKG. frd gen, frouwes, OS,fra gen. frahes, MHG. 
vrö, and our froh [fröhlich, frolic, &c], and signifying mitis, laetus, 
blandus ; whence the same dialects derive frouwl, gaudium, &ouwan, 
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 frduja 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 immistakable, 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 iCarly 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 tliem. 

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 £is aman's name, to which 
we can hardly attribute the sense of lord simply : an envoy from 
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 
Wüscfred; the name is often found elsewhere (Beda 138, 19. 153, 
5), and seems suitable to Woden the god or lord of wishing (p. 144). 
Equally to the point is the poetic fredtoine (freawine folca) in 
Beow. 4708. 4853. 4871, where it is a mere epithet of divine or god- 
loved heroes and kings. But the Wessex pedigree can produce its 
Freawine, whom Saxo Gram, calls Frowinus (better Fröwinus) ; 
OHG. documents likewise have the proper name Fr&win (Trad, 
juvav. p. 302, Cod. lauresh. 712, but Friowini 722), and in several 
noble families, e.g., the distinguished one of the Von Huttens, it has 
been kept up till modern times. What is remarkable, the Edda 
uses of a hero Freys vinr (Saem. 219^), like the AS. freawine, only 
uncompounded : Sigurör is Frey's friend and prot^gö, or perhaps 
his votary and servant, in the way shown on p. 93. Here again frea, 
f r6, freyr, cannot have merely the general meaning of lord, any lord. 
The Swedish heroes in the Bravalla fight, who boast their descent 
from Fro, are in Saxo, p. 144, called -PVo dei necessarii, which is 
exactly out Freys vinar. In the same way the AS. and ON. poetries, 
and consequently the myths, have in common the expression 
/red Ingwina (gen. pL), Beow. 2638, Ingvinar (gen. sing.) freyr, 
IngannsLT freyr, Saem. 65^ Ingi/reyr (Thorlac. obs. bor. spec. 6, p. 43), 
by which is to be understood a hero or god, not 'junior dominus,' 
as Thorlacius, p. 68, supposes. Yngvifreyr is called Oöin's son, Sn, 



212 FRO. 

211*. I shall come back to this mysterious combination of two 
mythical names, when I come to speak of the hero Ingo. The ON. 
skalds append this frejrr to other names and to common nouns, e.g,, 
in Kormakssaga, pp. 104 122, 'fiörnis freyr, myrtSifreyr' mean no 
more than hero or man in the heightened general sense which we 
noticed in the words irmin, tir and tfr. In the same way the fern. 
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 Liher^ whose 
association with Libera is extremely like that of Fro with Frftwa 
(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. Fro's godhead seems to hold a middle place between 
the notion of the supreme lord and that of a being who brings about 
love and fruitfulness. He has Wuotan's creative quality, but 
performs no deeds of war ; horse and sword he gives away, when 
consumed with longing for the fair Gerör, 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 Iot peiice (tU drs oc 
fri&ary 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 Wödan (see SuppL). 
Also in Saem. 85^ he is named next to OSinn and Thorr (äsabragr) 
as the third god. Adam calls him Fricco} which is precisely parallel 
to the frequent confusion of the two goddesses Freyja and Frigg, 
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 
largiens mortalibus, cujus etiam simulachrum finguut imjenti 



' Which occurs elsewhere as a man's uaine, t.g,^ Friccheo in Schannat, Tnd. 
fold. 386, 



FRO. 213 

priapo ;^ si nuptiae celebrandae sunt, (sacrificia oflferunt) Friccani, 
Then there is the story, hannonizing with this, though related from 
the christian point of view and to the heathen god's detriment, of 
Frey'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, ' J?ä er hann skal gera mönnum drbdt* 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 
FroblSt; 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*; in 
like manner, horses were consecrated to him, such a one was 
called Freyfaxi and accounted holy, Vatnsd. p. 140 ; and human 
victims fell to him in Sweden, Saxo Gram. 42. Freyr possessed 
a boar named Oulliiibursti, 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) ;* in Sweden cakes in the shape 
of a boar are baked on Yule-eve. — And here we come upon a good 
many relics of the service once done to the god, even outside of 
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 Sandrin, v. 
374, a knight says to his maiden : ' ic heb u liever dan Sn everswtii, 
al waert van ßnen go\uie ghewrachtl I hold you dearer than a boar- 
swine, all were it of fine gold y- wrought ; were they still in the 
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 place of the god : Derk met den 

* With priapus irpiatros I would identify the ON. friof semen, friofr 
foecundus; conf. Goth. £räiv, seed. The statement of Adamus Bremensis looks 
better, since Wolf in his Wodana xxL xxii. xxiii brought to light the festivals 
and images of Priapus or Ters at a late period in the Netherlands. This tars 
is the AS. Uors, OliG. zer$, and Herbort 4054 is shy of uttering the name 
Xerses. Phallus-worship, so widely spread among the nations of antiquity, 
must have arisen out of an innocent veneration of the generative principle, 
which a lat^r a^e, conscious of its sins, prudishly avoidea. After all is said, 
there is an inkling of the same in Phol too and the avoidance of his name 
(ch. XI), though I do not venture exactly to identify him with ^ciXX<^. 

' Not only Demeter, but Zeus received bottr^jfcringt, IL 19, 197. 251. 



214 FBO. 

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.^ In the same Christmas season, dame Holda or 
Berhta sallied out, and looked after the plcmghs and spindles^ 
motherly goddesses instead of the god, Frouwa instead of Frd. 
With this again are connected the fonrmae aprorum worn as charms 
by the remote Aestyans, who yet have the 'ritus habitusque 
Suevorum*. Tacitus Germ. 45 says, these figures represent the 
worship of the * mater deüm,* of a female Fro, if., of Freyja; and, 
what is conclusive on this point, the Edda (Saem. 114*) assigns the 
Chdlinhursti to Freyja, though elsewhere he belongs to Freyr (see 
Suppl.). — Anglo-Saxon poetry, above all, makes mention of these 
hoar-badges, these gold swine. When Constantino sees a vision in 
his sleep, he is said to be eo/orcumile he\>eaht (apri signo tectus), 
El. 76 ; it must have been fastened as an auspicious omen over the 
head of the bed. Afterwards again, in the description of Elenc's 
stately progress to the east : ]?8er wses on eorle ßöges^ne grimhelm 
manig, osnlic eoforcumbvl (tunc in duce apparuit horrida cassis, ex- 
cellens apri forma). El. 260. The poet is describing a decoration of 
the old heathen time, cumbul is the helmet's crest, and the king's 
helmet appears to be adorned with the image of a boar. Several 
passages in Beowulf place the matter beyond a doubt: eoforltc 
scionon ofer hleor beran gehroden golde, fäh and f^rheard ferhwearde 
heold (apri formam videbantur supra genas gerere auro comptam, 
quae varia igneque durata vitam tuebatur), 605 ; h§t J?a inberan 
eofor hedfodsegn, heaöosteäpne helm (jussit afierri aprum, capitis 
Signum, galeam in pugna prominentem), 4300 ; swin ofer helme 
(sus supra galea), 2574 ; swin ealgylden, eofor irenheard (sus aureus, 
aper instar ferri durus), 2216, ie., a helmet placed on the funeral 
pile as a costly jewel ; helm befongen Fredvyrdsnum (= OHG. FrG- 
reisanum), swS, hine fymdagum worhte wsepna smiS, besettesu^n- 
licum, ]78et hine siSJ^an no brond ne beadom^cas bitan ne meahtan 
(galea omata Frohonis signis, sicut eam olim fabricaverat armorum 
faber, circumdederat eam apri formis, ne gladius ensesve laedere 
eam 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.^ The OHG. proper name EpurJulm, 
Eparhelm (eber, eofor, aper), placed by the side of Frdhdm (both 
occur in the Trad, patav. no. 20; MB. 28^ 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 boards head garnished 
With bayes and rosemarye,' 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 boards 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 
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, Saem. 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 Ragnarökr 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. . . . 
quibua ritus habitusque Suevorum. . > . Matrem deüm venerantor: 
ini^igne superstitionis, formas apronun gestant ; id pro armis omniumque tutela 
secunim deae cultorem etiam inter hostes praestat — Trans. 

* Erman's archiv fur wissenschaftL kunde Russlands 1842, heft 1, p. 118. 

' AiVK^p od6pT€i, II. 11, 416. avs Xrvic^ ^ddvri, Od. 19. 465. 



216 FRO. 

trusty blade. So. 73. There appear to have been other traditioiia 
also afloat about this sword ;^ and it would not seem far-fetched, if 
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 * Oöinn, Asabragr, Frejrr,** that is to say, if we 
took Frtyr, Fricco = Frd to be the same as Sahsnöt the sword- 
possessor. Add to this, that the Edda never mentions the sword of 
Tyr. Nevertheless there are stronger reasons in favour of Sahsndz 
being Zio : this for one, that he was a son of Wuotan, whereas 
Freyr comes of NiörSr, though some genealogies to be presently 
mentioned bring him into connexion with Woden. 

For the brilliant Frejrr, the beneficent son of NiörCr, the 
dwarfs had constructed a wonderful ship SkiCblaSnir, which could 
fold up like a cloth, Ssem. 45^ Sn. 48. YngL saga cap. 7 (see 
SuppL).» 

Besides the Swedes, the Thrsendir in Norway were devoted to 
Frejrr above all other gods, Fomm. sog. 10, 312. Occasionally 
priests of his are named, as ThorSr Freys goSi (of the lOih centniy), 
Landn. 4, 10 and Nialss. cap. 96 ; Flosi appears to have succeeded 
his father in the office ; other Freysgy&tiTigar are cited in Landn. 
4, 13. The Vigaglumssaga cap 19 mentions Freys hof 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 rei5uliga) answers to his supplicants, so that Glümr, who 
iu cap. 9 had sacrificed an old ox to him, now on awaking from his 
dream n^lected his service. In the Landn. 3, 2 and Yalaisd. pp. 
44 50 we are told of a Freyr giörr afsilfri (made of silver), which 
was used in drawing lots ; conf. YerlaufiTs note, p. 362. In the 
Landn. 4, 7 is preser\'ed the usual formula for an oath : Hiälpi mer 
sva Freyr ok Xiörd'r ok hinn cdmäiiki ds (so help me F. and N . and 
that almighty ds) ! by which last is to be understood Th6rr rather 



^ In old FrpDch poetnr I find a famous sword wrought by Galant himaalf 
(Wielant, WaTland\ and 'named Frobfrge or Flobeige (Garin I, 263. 2, 90^) ; 
the latter reading has no discoverable sense, though our later Flambeige seems 
to have sprung from it. Frobnye might yerr well be either a mere fr6-beiBende 
(lord-protecting) weapon, or a reminiscence of the god Pro's sword ; eou. the 
woi^-lormations quoted in mv Gramm. 2, 486. There are townships caDed in 
OHG. Helidberga, Maiahaberca (horse-stabK). The ON. has no '"' — ^«-5=— 
that I know of, though it has Thörbiörg fem., and Thorbeigr masc 

3 Also in Sn. 131, O^yinity ThSrr, Frtyr are speakers of doom. 

* Pliny N. H. 5, 9 mentions Ethiopian ' naves plicatües homerit 



NIKDÜ. 217 

than Oöinn, for in the Egilssaga p. 365, Freyr, NiorSr and the 
landds (Thorr) are likewise mentioned together. In the same 
Egilss. p. 672, Freyr ok NiorÖr are again placed side by side. The 
story of the Brisinga-men (-monile ; append, to Sn. 354) says, 08inn 
had appointed both Freyr and Niorffr to be sacrificial gods. Hall- 
fre8r sang (Fornm. sog. 2, 53, conf. 12, 49) : 

Mer skyli Freyr oc Freyja, fiarS Iset ek aöul NiarSar, 
llknist gröm viS Grimni gramr ok Thdrr enn rammi ! 

That Freyr in these passages should be brought forward with 
Freyja and NiorSr, is easy to understand (see Suppl.). 

Of Nior&r 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 Nerthiis, 
whose identity with the god is as obvious as that of Fro with 
Frouwa. The Gothic form NairJ^us would do for either or 
even for both sexes ; possibly Frauja was considered the son 
of the goddess Na{rJ?us, as Freyr is of the god Niörßr, 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 Niörör. According to Yngl. saga cap. 11, these very bless- 
ings were believed to proceed from NiorSr also : * auSigr sem 
Niört5r ' (rich as N.) was a proverbial saying for a wealthy man, 
Vatnsd. p. 202. Snorri, in Formäli 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 Niörö's abode being in Nöatün, As ' freyr ' was affixed 
to other names of heroes (p. 211-2), I find geirniörö^r used for a hero 
in general. Seem. 266^ ; conf. geirmimir, geirniflftngr, &c. The 
name itself is hard to explain ; is it akin to north, AS. norö, ON. 
norör, Goth. naüvj)s? In Ssem. 109^ there is niarClas for sera 
firma, or pensilis ? I have met with no Nirdu, Nerd, Nird among 
OHG. proper names, nor with a Ncorö in the AS. writings. 
Irminon's polyptych 222* has Narthildis (see Suppl.). 

NiorSr appears to have been greatly honoured : hofum oc 
hörgum hann KEÖr hundmörgum, Ssem. 36* ; 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 (Sn. 27) ; from the mountains of the 



218 FEO. 

midland he longs to be away where the swans sing on the ood 
shore; a water-plant, the spongia marina, bears the name of NiarSar 
vottr, NiörtTs glove, wliich 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's hand, lady-hand, 
god's hand (Dan. giidsliaand). 

As Dionysus stands outside the ring of the twelve Olympian 
gods, so Niörör, 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 
Asgarö, so did the Vanir in Vanaheim, the Alfar in Alfheim, the 
lotnar in lötimheim. Freyr is called Vaningi, Sa^m. 86^ The 
Vanir were regarded as intelligent and wise, Sajm. 36* ; and they 
entered into intimate fellowship with the Asen, while the 
Alfs and lötuns always remained opposed to them. Some have 
fancied that the Alfs and lötuns stand for Celtic races, and the 
Vanir for Slav; and building chiefly on an atteinpt in the Yngl. 
saga cap. 1 to find the name of the Tanais in Tanaqvlsl (or Vana- 
qvlsU), they have drawn by inference an actual bonndaiy-line 
between Aesir and Vanir = Germani and Slavi in the regions 
formerly occupied by them (see Suppl.). And sure enough a 
Eussian is to this day called in Finnish Wenäiläinen, in EstL 
Wennelane ; even the name of the Wends might be dragged in, 
thougli 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 aware of no essential difference in the cultns of the several 
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 fadguni is 
better represented in Perkunas or Perün ; so also, to judge by what 
clues we have, Frauja, Fro, Freyr appears so firmly established, 
that, consideiing the scanty information we have about our 



Fßo. 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 is not easy to ascertain, except in Scandinavia,^ 

It is worthy of notice, that the AS. and ON. genealogies bring 
Fred into kinship with Wdden, making Finn the father of a Frealaf 
(Friöleifr), and him again of Woden ; some of them insert two more 
links, Friöuwulf and FriSuwald, so that the complete pedigree 
stands thus : Finrty FriSuivulf^ Fredldf, Fri^uivald, Wdden (or, in 
the place of Frealaf, our old acquaintance Freawine). Here 
evidently Friöuwulf, Frealaf, Friöuwald are all the same thing, a 
mere expansion of the simple Frea. This follows even from a quite 
different ON. genealogy, Fomald. sog, 2, 12, which makes Burr 
(= Finn; conf. Eask, afh. 1, 107-8) the immediate progenitor of 
Oöinn, and him of Freyr, NiörBr and a second Freyr. The double 
Freyr corresponds to the AS, Frit5uwulf and FriBuwald, 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 Godwulf and Folcicald, 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 
race, for the Edda (Saim. 87% conf. 10*) designates Freyr '/olcvaldi 
(aL folcvaldr) goSa*. Now this folkvaldi means no other than 
dominator, princeps, i.e. the same as frea, fr8, and seems, like it, to 
pass into a proper name On the linking of Freyr and NiörSr with 
Oöinn, there will be more to say in ch. XV (see SuppL). If 
Snorri*s comparison of Niörör with Kronos (Saturn) have any 
justification, evidently Poseidon (Neptune) the son of Kronos would 
come nearer to our Teutonic sea-god ; and Iloae^v might be 
referred to Troais (lord, Lith. pats, Sansk. patis, Goth. faj?s), which 
means the same as Frd. Only then both Fr6 and Nirdu would 
again belong to the eldest race of gods. 

* Wh. Müller, Nibelungensage pp. 136—148, wislies 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 Niörör and Nerthus 
were brother and sitter^ and joint parents ol Freyr and Freyja ; this is grounded 
not only on a later representation of Snorri in the Yngl. saga cap. 4» where yet 
the female NiÖrt5 is nowhere named, as Tacitus conversely knows only a female 
Nerthus and no god of that name ; but also on iSsem. 66* : ' viS svstor thinni 
gaztu sltkan mög/ with thy sister begattest thou such brood, though here again 
the sister is left unnamed. 



CHAPTER XI. 

TALTAR (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 
fonn with variations : and there is no better example of fluctuations 
in a god-mytL The Edda sets forth, how the pure blameless deity 
is struck with Mistiltein by the blind HöSr, and must go down to 
the nether world, bewailed by all ; nothing can fetch him back, and 
Nanna the true wife 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 Fri6J?iofssaga, v. Fomald. sog. 2, 
63 seq. (see Suppl.). 

Baldr, gen. Baldrs, reappears in the OHG. proper name Paltar 
(in Meichelbeck no. 450. 460. 611) ;^ and in the AS. bealdar, balder, 
signifying a loi-d, prince, king, and seemingly used only with a gen. 
pi. before it : gumena baldor, Caidm. 163, 4 wlgena baldor, Jud. 
132, 47. sinca bealdor, Beow. 4852. winia bealdor 5130. It is 
remarkable that in the Cod. exon. 276, 18 maegöa bealdor (virginum 
princeps) is said even of a maiden. I know of only a few examples 
in the ON. : baldur 1 brynju, Soem. 272^ and herbaldr 218^ are 
used for a hero in general ; atgeirs baldr (lanceae vir), Fomm. 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 (oar, aquila), but this is unsupported b^ analogy ; in the ninth and tenth 
centuries, weak forms are not yet curtailed) and we always find Eporaro 
(eberaar, boar-eagle), never Epurar. 



PALTAR. 221 

exactly reminds us of frauja, fr6, 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. 
ßaldris, and baldrs (princeps), may fairly be assumed.^ 

This Baldrs would in strictness appear to have no connexion 
with the Goth. bal)7S (bold, audax), nor Paltar with the OHG. paid, 
nor Baldr with the ON. ballr. As a rule, the Gothic Id is represented 
by ON. Id and OHG. It: the Gotliic \\> by ON. 11 and OHG. Id.« 
But the OS. and AS. have Id in both cases,and even in Gothic, ON.and 
OHG. a root will sometimes appear in both forms in the same lan- 
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 uenua to 
dare ; in Gothic she would have been Nan})6 from nan)7Jan, iu 
OHG. Nancld 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 Baltkae (Jor- 
nandes 5, 29) traced their origin to a divine BalJ?s or Baldrs (see 
Suppl.). 

Yet even this meaning of the ' bold ' god or hero might be a 
later one : the Lith. baltas and Lett, bolts signify the white, the 
good; and by the doctrine of consonant-change, baltas exactly 
answers to the Goth. bal)7s and OHG. paid. Add to this, that the 
AS. genealogies call Woden's son not Bealdor, Baldor, but Boeldoeg, 
Bddeg, 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 dag and tac : OHG. Adaltac, 

1 Baldrs, Paltar, must be kept distinct from the compound Baldheri 
(Schanuat no. 420. 448), Paldheri (Trad, patav. no. 35), AS. Baldhere, Thia 
Paldheh is the same as Paldachar (Trad, patav. no. 18). 

• Qoth, kalds ) ( vilbeia hulbs f^^^' 

ON, kaldr y but -i villr hollr cull. 

OHG, chaltj (wildi hold fold. 

' Conf. Gothic al)>an and albs aldis, also aldra ; Goth, falj^an and OHG. 
faldan, afterwards faltan. As ]> aegenerates into d, and d into t^ any d put for 
J>. or t for d, marks a later fonn : the Goth, fadr stands for fa{>r, as wc sec by 
pater [the AS. * feeder, modor/ after a usurpation of 1000 yean, must havo 
pven place to the truer * father, mother ' again]. In the 01s. valda pret olli^ 
we must regard the 11 as older than the la, in spite of the Goth, valdan and 
OUG. waltan [some would prefer to call valda an archaism]. 
* B^ddr may be related to bal)', as tir to t^, and zior to zio. 



222 PALTAR. 

Alptac, Ingatac, Kfirtac, Helmtac, Hniodtac, Begintac, Sigitac; 
OS. Alacdag, Alfdag (Albdag, Pertz 1, 286), Hildidag, liuddag» 
Osdag, Wulfdag ; AS. Wegdteg, Swefdieg ; even the ON. has the 
name Svipdagr. Now, either Bseldseg simply stands for Bealdor, 
and is synonymous with it (as e.^.,Begintac with Beginari, Sigitac 
with Sigar, Sigheri)^ ; or else we must recognise in the word day, 
dag, tac itself a personification, such as we found another root 
undergoing (p. 1 94-o) 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 biil, bkl, we have no need to take Baddseg as standing 
for Bealdor or anything else, Bcel-dceg itself is white-god, light-god, 
he that shines as sky and light and day^ the kindly BiMhdgh^ BU- 
h6gh of the Slav system (see SuppL). It is in perfect accord with 
this explanation of Bael-da^g, that the AS. tale of ancestiy assigns 
to him a son Brond, of whom the Edda is silent, brond, brand, ON. 
brandr, signifying jubar, fax, titio. Baeldeeg therefore, as r^;ard8 
his name, would agree \vith Berhta, the bright goddess. 

We have to consider a few more circumstances bearing on this 
point. Baldr's beauty is thus described in Sn. 26: ' Hann er svft/o^ 
älitum ok biartr svd at lysir af honum, oc eittgras er svä hvitt, at 
iafnat er til Baldrs brdr, J?at er aUra grasa hvitast oc }?ar eptir matta 
marka bans fegurS bseCi ä häri 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 after the god's white eyebrow,* is either the 
anthemis cotula, still called Barbro in Sweden, Balsensbro, Ballensbra 
in Schonen, and Barbrogras in Denmark, or the matricaria maritima 
inodora, whi^h retains the original name in Iceland (see SuppL).* 
In Skäne there is a Baldursberg, in the öttingen country a 
Baldem, and in the Vorarlberg, east of Bregenz, Balderschwang ; 
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 
Breiäablilc, nom. pi. (Seem. 41^ Sn. 21-7), i.e. broad splendors, 

1 The cases are hardly analogous : Boald-ceg and Regin-toc. — Trans. 

' Homer emphasizes the dark brows ot Zeus and Hera, ^pifs Kvapia. 
Conf. Xrvfco^pvr and Artemis Xrvico^pvyi;, white-hrowed Diana. 

* Germ, names of the camomile : kuhauge, rindsauge, Ochsenauge (ox-eye). 
Dalecarl. hvitet-oja (white eye), in Bähuslän hvita-piga (white girl). 



IIADU. 223 

which may have reference to the streaks of the milky way ; a place 
near Lethra, not far from Roeskild, is said to have borne the name 
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 brähte Dietheriches vane zvencik düsint lossam in 
hreither blickin über lant, Eoth. 2635. In Wh. 381, 16 : * daz 
bluot liber die blicke floz, si wurdn almeistic r6tgevar,' did the 
blood flow over the paths of the field, or over the shining silks ? 

If Bceldceg 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 to all Teutons. The goddess Hd, 
as wül be more fully shown in ch. XIII, answers to the Gothic im- 
personal noun halja, OHG. hella. Hodr (ace. Höö, gen. HaCar, dat. 
Heöi), 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. Hajms, AS. Heaffo, OHG. 
Hadu, OFrank. Chado, of which we have still undoubted traces in 
proper names and poetic compounds. OHG. Hadupraht, Hadufuns, 
Hadupald, Hadufrid, Hadumar, Hadupurc, Hadulint, Haduwlc 
(Hedwig), &c., forms which abut close on the CatumSrus in Tacitus 
(Hadumdr, Hadamär). In AS. poetry are still foimd the terms 
heaöorinc (vir egregius, nobilis), Csedm. 193, 4 Beow. 737. 4927 ; 
heaöowelm (belli impetus, fervor), Csedm. 21, 14. 147, 8. Beow. 164. 
5633; heaöoswat (sudor bellicus), Beow. 2919. 3211. 3334; heaöowsed 
(vestis bellica), Beow. 78 ; heaöubyme (lorica bellica). Cod. exon. 
297, 7 ; heaöosigel and heaöogleam (egregium jubar), Cod. exon. 
486, 17 and 438, 6; heaSolac (pugnae Indus), Beow. 1862. 
3943 ; heaöogrim (atrocissimus), Beow. 1090. 5378 ; heaSosioo 
(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 Hapus, Hoffr, 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 HöBr, we 

* Suhm. crit hist 2, 63. 



224 PALTAR. 

have HermöÖr interweaving himself in the thread of Balder'a 
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 Herem63^ among Woden's ancestors, and 
names as his son either Sceldwa or the Sceaf reno\nied in story, 
whereas in the North he and Balder edike are the offspring of OSinn ; 
in the same way we saw (p. 219) Freyr taken for the father as well 
as the son of Niörör. A later HeremSd 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*, to whom OSinn 
lends helm and hauberk. AS. title-deeds also contain the name; 
Kemb. 1, 232. 141 ; and in OHG. Herimuot, HeHiruwt^ occurs very 
often (Graff 2, 699 anno 782, from MB. 7, 373. Neugart no. 
170. 214. 244. 260. annis 809-22-30-34. Ried. 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 Mersebui^g 
discovery ; not only are we fully assured now of a divine Balder in 
Germany, but there emerges again a long-forgotten mythus, and 
with it a new name unknown even to the North. 

When, says the lay, Plwl (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 Früa 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 (De re 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 viridem pedes IV aut V longam, mediam diffinde, et 
duo homines tcueant ad coxendices. Incipe cantare in alio SJ*. 



HERIMÜOT. PHOL. 225 

motas vaeta daries dardaries astataries Dissunapüer! usque dum 
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 thjuk 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 imnoticed 
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, Pholesouvxi, 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 atu quite 
fits in with the supposition of an 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 with its willows and well-springs, of which more 
presently. Baldrshagi (Balderi pascuum), mentioned in the FriS- 
}>iofssaga, was an enclosed sanctuary (griöastaSr), 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 ouwel in the maids' 
ea (Diut 1, 357).^ The ON. mythology supplies us with several eas 
named after the loftiest gods : OSins^y (Odensee) in Ftinen, another 
Oöins^y (Onsöe) in Norway, Fomm. sog. 12, 33, and Thors^, 7, 234. 
9, 17 ; Hl^ss«y (Lässöe) in the Kattegat, &c., &c. We do not know 
any OHG. Wuot€inesouwa, Donaresouwa, but Pholesouwa is equally 
to the point 

Very similar must have been Pholespiunt (MB. 9, 404 circ. 1138. 

» So the Old Bavarian convent of Chiemsee was called outoa TMB. 28», 103 
an. 890), and afterwards the monastery there 'der heiren werd,^ and the nunnery 
* der nunnen v>erd '. Stat * zo gottes ouioe ' in Lisch, mekl. jb. 7, 227, from a 
fragment belonging to Bertholds Crane. Demantin 242. 

15 



226 PALTAR. 

Pfalspiunt, 5, 399 anno 1290), now Pfalzpoint on the Altmiihl, 
between Eichstädt 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 
¥Ta,wanpiunt, which, to judge by the circumstances, 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 
quicquid proprietatis habuit in Pholesbrunrien in provincia Thur- 
ingiae. To this Pholesbrunno, the village of Phvlsbom has the first 
claim, lying not far from the Saale, equidistant from the towns 
Apolda, Dornburg and Suiza, and spelt in Mid. Age documents 
Phulsbom and Pfolczbom ; there is however another village, FaU- 
brunn or Falsbronn, on the Eauhe Eberach in the Franconian 
Steigerwald. Now P/olesbrunno 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 
Ehine Palatinate,^ and it has been shown that the form ought to be 
corrected into Baldei^shrunno as well as the modem Baldenhain to 
Baldershain (Zeitschr. f. d. alt. 2, 256) ; and Bellstadt in the Klingen 
district of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was formerly BaldersUti, 
Schannat dioec. Fuld. p. 244, anno 977 (see SuppL). From the 
Norse mythus of Balder, as given by Saxo, we learn that Balder in 
the heat of battle opened a fountain for his languishing army: 
Victor Balderus, ut afliictum siti militem opportuni liquoris beneficio 
I'ecrearet, 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 is the present Baldersbrond near Hoeskild (note to Mfiller's 
Saxo, p. 120). But the legend may be the same as old German 
legends, which at a later time placed to king Charles's account (p. 
117, and infra. Furious host) that which heathendom had told of 



^ A Salzburg doc. of the tenth cent., in Kleinmaym p. 196 : Cortilem 
locuni cum duobus prntis, quod piwUi dicimus. 

^ Conf. Schöpflin'8 Alnat. dipl. no. 748, anno 1285 : in villa Baldebome. 
A Westphal. doc. of 1203 (Falke trad. corb. p. 566} names a place Balderbroc^ 
which might mean palus, campus Baldcri 



PHOL. 227 

Balder ; in that case the still surviving name has itself proved a 
fountain, whence the myth of Balder emerges anew.^ 

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 Rapoto de Pholingen, 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 
Ammer country) can be the same word, as the aspirate is wanting 
and the liquid doubled. PfuUendorf or Follendorf near Gotha is 
in docs, of the 14th century Phvlsdorf A Pholenheim in Schannat, 
Vind. 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, Palidiy Palithi, Plwlidi (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 hel or hol 
seems to have been a mere title pertaining to several gods : bel= 
Uranus, bel=Jupiter, bel^Mars. The Finnish palo means fire, the 
OX. hcU, AS. hdel rogus, and the Slav, 'pdliti to bum, with which 
connect Lat. Pales and the Palilia, Of phallus 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 tlie complete name ; we should expect Palzo, Balzo, 
but not Phol.^ Nor does the OHG. Ph seem here to be equivalent 

1 Greek tradition tells of Herakles and Zens : tftaal t6v 'HpaicXea di^ci iroW 
Kctrax^vra tv^aaOai to Au narpl cVidfl^at avr^ fkiKpav Xi^dda. 6 dc /i^ 3iXtäP 
avTov KaTaTpvx«rBai^ p^y^ras Ktpavvov dyid<aK€ fiiKpay Xißdda^ ^v 0€aa'dfi€pos 6 
'HpaxXrjs Koi aKayjrai cif to nXovauaTtpov «Votiycrc ^iptfrBai (Scholia in II. 20, 74). 
This sprint^ was Scaniander, and the Xißin 'HpaicX^or may be set by the side of 
Holesbrunno as well as Pfolesouwa, Xißdhiov being both mead and ea ; and 
does nut the Grecian demigod's pyre kindled on Oeta suggest that of Balder? 

' So I explain the pr()|)er name Foh from Folbreht, Folrat, Folmar, and 
the like ; it therefore stands apart from Phol. [The Suppl. qualities the sweep- 
ing assertion in the text ; it also takes notice of several other eolutionj», as 
Apollo, Pollux, foal, &C.J 



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^ (porta, phorta ; 
putti, phuzi ; peda, pheit) ; it follows that for PAo/, 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 hjrpothesis, 
and connect Phol and Pol (whose o may very well have sprung 
from a) with the Celtic Beal, Bexd, Bel, Belenvs, a divinity of light 
or fire, the Slav. BiUhdgh, BUhdgk (white-god), the adj. biil, bfel 
(albus), Lith. baltas, which last with its extension T makes it pro- 
bable that Bseldeeg and Baldr are of the same root, but have not 
undergone consonant-change. PJiol and Paltar therefore are in their 
beginning one, but reveal to us two divergent historical develop- 
ments of the same word, and a not unimportant difierence in the 
mythology of the several Teutonic races.^ 

So far as we can see, the god was worshipped under the name 
of Phol chiefly by 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 tw change (like that in firth, father), and therefore the Hi^h 
Germ, stands only one stage instead of two in advance of Latin : Pforte, P£uZy 
&c. Such wordsstand outside tlie rule of consonant-chance. — Trans. 

^ I havo thus far gone on the assumption that Phol and Balder in the 
^rerseberg spell designate one and the same divine being, which is strongly 
supported by the analogy I have pointed out between Pholesouwa and Baldisha^ 
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. t/ar, OUerus in Saxo, p. 45, which (like nil, OHO. wollo, 
wool) would be in OHG. Wol.so that*Wol endi Wodan (UUr ok OtJinn)^ 
made a perfect alliteration. And UUr was connected with Baldr, who in Sflom. 
93» is allied * Ullar sefi,' sib to U., Ulli cognatus (see Suppl.). But the gen. 
would have to be Wolles, and that is contradicted by the mvariably single L 
in Pholes. The same reason is conclusive against Wackemagel's propoBal to 
take Fol for the god of fulness and plenty, by the side of the ^^ddess Folli ; I 
think the weak form Folio would be demanded for it by an OHG. Pilnitis ; t. 
Haupts zeitschr. 2, 190. Still more does the internal consistency of the song 
itselt requii-e 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. 



FOSITK. 229 

Baldag, Boddceg 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.^ 

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, Forsäi, who like his father dwelt in a 
shining liall Glilnir (glit, nitor, splendor, 0H6. 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 
disputed matters (Saem. 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 FosUe, concerning whom some biographies composed in the 
ninth century gives us valuable information. The vita sancti 
Wilibrordi (f 739), written by the famous Alcuin (f 804), relates 
as follows, cap. 10 : Cum ergo pius verbi Dei praedicator iter agebat, 
pervenit in confinio Fresonum et Danorum ad quamdam insulam, 
quae a quodam deo suo Fosite ab accolis terrae Fositedand appella- 
tur, quia in ea ejtLsdem dei fana fuere constructa. qui locus a 
paganis in tanta veneratione habebatur, ut nil in ea, vel animalium 
ibi pascentium, vel aliarum quarumlibet rerum, gentilium quisquam 
tafigere audebat, nee etiam a fonte qui ibi ebulliebat aquam haurirt 
nisi tacens praesumebat Quo cum vir Dei tempestate jactatus est, 
mansit ibidem aliquot dies, quousque sepositis tempestatibus 
opportunum navigandi tempus adveniret sed parvipendens stultam 

* The inquiry, how far these name» reach back into antiauity, is far from 
exhausted yet 1 have called attention to the P/o/graben Mitch), the P/alheeke 
(-hedge, -fence), for which devil's dyke is elsewhere usea ; then the raising of 
the whirlwind is ascrihed 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 whinwind, beginning with Bull- 
or Boil' ; and in the neighbouring Eichsfeld Pulloineke is pronounced with 
shyness and reluctance (Münchner gel. anz. 1842, p. 762). A Niddawitx 
ordinance of the same district (3, 327) contains the family name BayU^rg 
(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 bllsteiu. i.e. beilstein. Schmid's westerw. id. 
145 has polUcker, boUecker for spectre, bugbear (see SuppL). 



230 PALTAR. 

loci illius religionem, vel ferocissimum regis animiun, qui violatores 
sacrorum illius atrocissima morte damnare solebat; ties 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 cemebant pati, 
stupore perterriti, regi tamen Eadbodo quod viderant factum 
retulerunt. Qui nimio furore succensus in sacerdotem Dei vivi 
morum injurias deorum ulcisci cogitabat, et per tres dies semper 
triius vicibus sortes suo more mittehat, et nunquam damnatorum 
sors, Deo vero defendente suos, super servum Dei aut aliquem ex 
suis cadere potuit ; nee nisi unus tantum ex sociis sortt numstraius 
martyrio coronatus est.— Eadbod feared king Pippin the Frank, 
and let tlie evangelist go unhurt.^ 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 /ana 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 quandam insulam» 
quae a nomine dei sui falsi Fosete Foseteslant est appellata .... 
Pervenientes autem ad eandem insulam, destruxerunt omnia ejus- 
dem Fosetis fana, quae illic fuere constructa, et pro eis Christi 
fabricaverunt ecclesias, cumque habitatores terrae illius fide Christi 
imbueret, baptizavit eos cum invocatione sanctae Trinitatis in fonte, 
qui ibi ebulliebat, in quo sanctus Willibrordus prius homines tres 
baptizaverat, a quo etiam fonte nemo prius haurire aqmim nisi 
taccns 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 of 
Bremen, in his treatise De situ Daniae (Pertz 9, 369), describe; 
the island thus : Ordinavit (archiepiscopus episcopum) in Finne 
(Kühnen) Eilbertum, quem tradunt conversum (1. captum) a piratis 
Farriam insulam, quae in ostio flu minis Albiae longo secessu latet 
in oceano, primum reperisse constructoque monasterio in ea fecisse 
habitabilem. haec insula contra Hadeloam sita est cujus longi- 

^ Acta sanctor. Bened., sec 3. pars 1, p. 609. 



FOSITE. 231 

tudo vix vin milliaria panditur, latitude quatuor; homines stramine 
fragmentisque navium pro igne utuntur. Sermo est piratas, si 
quando praedam inde vel minimam tulerint, ant mox perisse nau- 
froffio, aut ocdsos ah aliqiio, nullum redisse indempnem ; quapropter 
Solent Juremitis ibi viventibus decimas praedarum offerre cum magna 
devotione. est enim feracissima frugum, ditissima volucmm 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 venerahilis omnibus 
nautis, praecipue vero piratis, unde nomen accepit ut Heiligeland 
dicatur. banc in vita sancti Willebrordi Fosäidand appellari 
dicimus, quae sita est in confinio Danorum et FresonunL 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 Föhr 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 accoimted 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 Forsäi 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. Forsäi gea Farseta, Fris. 
Fosite gen. Fosiies. The simplest supposition is, that from Forsite 
arose by assimilation Fossite, Fosite, or that the R dropt out, as in 
OHG. mosar for morsar. Low Germ, mösar; so in the Frisian 
Angeln, according to Hagerup p. 20, fost, föste z= forste, primus. 
Besides, there is hardly any other way of explaining Fosite. In 
ON. forseti is praeses, princeps, apparently translatable into OHG. 
forasizo, a fitting name for the god who presides over judgment, and 
arranges all disputes. The Gothic faüragagqja bears almost the 
same sense, which I also find, even in much later writings, attached 
to our word Vorgänger (now = predecessor). More complete AS. 



232 PALTAR. 

genealogies would perhaps name a Forseta or Forsde as Bsßldseg's 
son.^ 

Forsäiy Fosüe are a proof of the extent of Balder's worship. If 
we may infer from Pholesouwa and Baldrshagi that the god loved 
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* 

^ Later writers have tumed Fosete into a goddess Foseta, Fhoseta, 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 ' templum 
Vestae ' of 692, were made up in Major's Cimbrien (Plön, 1692), conf. Wiebel's 
proCTamm über Helgoland, Mamb. 1842. The god Foste and Fosteland could 
easuy find their way into the spurious Vita Suiberti cap. 7. 

* Another thought has struck my mind about Fosete, In the appendix to 
the Heldenbuch, J^cÄ:«, Vasat, Ahentrot are styled brothers. The form jFVuat 
instead of the usual Fasolt need not be a mistake ; there are several CXHG. 
men's names in -at, and OS. in -ad, -id, so that Fasat and Fasolt can hold their 
ground side by side. Now FasoU (conf. ch. XX. Storm) and Ecke were known 
as god-giants of wind and water, Ahentrot as a daemon of li^ht. As Ecke-Oegir 
was worshipped on the Eider and in Lässöe, so might Fosite be in Heiland. 
The connexion with Forseti must not be let so, but its meaning as J^r-aeti, 
Fora-sizo becomes dubious, and I feel inclined to explain it as Fore-eti from 
fors [a whirling stream, ' force ' in Cumbldl Dan. fos, and to assume a daemon of 
the whirlpool, a Fossegrimm (conf. ch. XVII. Nichus), witii which FosMs 
sacred sprmg would tally. Again, the Heldenbuch gives those three brothers 
a father NentigSr (for so we must read for Mentiger) = OHG. NandgSr; and 
does not he suggest Forseti's mother Nanna »i Namd f 



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.) 

Ueimffallr, or in the later spelling Heimdallr, though no longer 
mentioned in Saxo, is, like Baldr, a bright and gracious god : 
hvUastr äsa (whitest of äses, Saem. 72*),^ sverSäs hvUa, Saem. 90*, 
hvUi äs, Sn. 104 ; he guards the heavenly bridge (the rainbow), and 
dwells in Himinbiörg (the heavenly hills). The heim in the first 
part of his name agrees in sound with himinn ; ]>aMr seems akin to 
Jnill, gen. J?allar (pinus), Swed. tall, Swiss dale, Engl, deal (Staid. 1, 
259, conf. Schm. 2, 603-4 on mantala), but JjoU also means a river, 
Sn. 43, and Freyja bears the by-name of MardöU, 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- 
biörg (Saem. 41^ 92**) or the common noim himinfiöll (Saem. 148* 
Yngl. saga cap. 39), we can connect the names of other hills : a 
Himilinherg (mons coelius) haunted by spirits, in the vita S. Galli, 
Pertz 2, 10 ; Hiindherc in lichtenstein's frauend. 199, 10 ; a ffimi- 
lesberg in the Fulda country, Schannat Buchon. vet. 336 ; several in 

1 When this passage says further, * vissi hann vel fram, «m 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)y 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 welTX The Fomald. sog. 1, 373 calls him, I know not 
why, ' heimskastr allra Ibsa, heimskr usually signifying ignorant, a greenhorn, 
what the MHG. poets mean by tump. 



234 OTHER GODS. 

Hesse (Kuchenb. anal. 11, 137) near Iba and Waldkappel (Niederh. 
wochenbl. 1834 pp. 106, 2183); a Himmdsberg in Vestgötland, and 
one, alleged to be HeimdaH's, in Halland. At the same time, 
Himinvd7igar, Saem. 150% the OS. hebanwang, hebeneswang, a 
paradise (v. ch. XXV), the AS. ffeofenfeld 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, Saem. 118^*. 
Sn. 106. Laxd. p. 392 ; he wants less sleep than a bird, sees a 
hundred miles off by night or day, and hears the grass grow on the 
ground and the wool on the sheep's back (Sn. 30),^ His horse is 
GtUUoppr, gold-tuft, and he himself has golden teeth,* hence the 
by-names Gullintanni and Hcdlinsldffi, * tennur HallinskltSa,' 
Fornm. sog. 1, 52. It is worthy of remark, that HallinskiSi and 
Heimdali are quoted among the names for the ram, Sn. 221. 

As watchman and warder of the gods (vörBr goSa, Saem. 41), 
Heimdall winds a powerful horn, GicUlarhom, which is kept under 
a sacred tree, Saem. 5^ 8*. Sn, 72-3. What the Voluspft imparts, 
must be of a high antiquity (see SuppL). 

Now at the veiy outset of that poem, all created beings great 
and small are called megir ffeimffallar, 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 HeimSallr. 

A son^; of su<2:^estive desi^ in the Edda makes the first 
arrangement of mankind in classes proceed from the same Heim- 
Ö^allr, who traverses the world under the name of Hlgr (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.* As for the name Stffr, 
it seems to me to have sprung, like dis from idis, by aphseresis 
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 

1 Conf. KM. 3, 125. 

> Li diente d' oro, Pentam. 3, 1. Of a certain Haialdr : tennr vqra miklor 



ok gulls litr d. Fornald. sog. 1, 366. 

» Zeitschrift f. d. alt 2, 257—267. Conf. 



ch XIX. 



HEIMDAJ.L. BRAGL 235 

drops out (conf. stinga stack, }?acka J?anki), and, as will be shown 
later, Iringes sträza, 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 Bifröst. 

Norwegian names of places bear witness to his cultus : HeiTn- 
dcdlarvoMn, a lake in Guldbrandsdalen (GuBbrandsdalr), and 
Heimdcdlshoug, 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*. Sn. 45, frumsmiör bragar (auctor poeseos), and poetry itself is 
hragr} In honour of him the Bragahäi or &ra^arfull 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 

* hragr karla ' = vir facundus, praestans, in ' äsa hragr ' deorum 
princeps = Thorr (Ssem. 85^ Sn. 211», but Bragi 211*>), and even 

* hragr qvenna ' femina praestantissima (Saem. 218*).' 

Then a poet and king of old renown, distinct from the god, 
himself bore the name of Bra^ hinn gamli, and his descendants 
were styled Bragningar. A minstrel was pictured to the mind as 
old and long-bearded, siöskeggi and skeggbragi, Sn. 105, which 
recalls OÖinn with his long beard, the inventor of poetry (p. 
146) i and Bragi is even said to be Oöiu*s son, Sn. 105 (see Suppl.). 

In the AS. poems there occurs, always in the nom. sing., tlie 
term brego or hreogo, in the sense of rex or princeps : bregostol in 
Beow. 4387 and Andr. 209 is thronus regius; bregoweard in Csedm. 
140, 26. 166, 13 is princeps.* Now, as gen. plurals are attached to 

1 Der gammel Eriky gammel Erke (old E.), has now come to mean old Nick 
in Swedish ; conf. supra p. 124, on Erchtag. 

' Sipm. 113*», of Ööinn : gefr hann brag skäldora (dat carmen poetis). 

• Does not the Engl, hragy 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 
(gloriii) in prangen^ prunk, pracht, bright, or still keep to brag. * Beauty is 
nature's brag, and must be shewn,' says Comus. — Trans, 

* In Biila 4, 23 (Stevens, p. 304) a woman's name Bregosuid, BregoswiS ; 
in Kemble 5, 48 (anno 749) BregeswiÜestän, and 1, 133-4 (anno 762), 5, 4Ü (anno 
747), 5, 59 (anno 798) a man's name Bregowine. In Beow. 3847 bregorof is 
clarissimus. 



236 OTHER GODS. 

it : brego engla, Cflcdm. 12, 7. 60, 4. 62, 3 ; brego Dena, Beow. 
848 ; haeleöa brego, Beow. 3905 ; gumena brego, Andr. 61 ; beorna 
brego, Andr. 305 (conf. brego moncynnes. Cod. axon. 457, 3) ; there 
grows up an instructive analogy to the above-mentioned 'bragr 
karla,' and to the genitives similarly connected with the divine 
names Tj^r, Frea and Bealdor (pp. 196, 211, 220), The A& hrego 
equally seems to point to a veiled divinity, though the forms and 
vowel-relations do not exactly harmonize.^ 

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. bregen (like regen pluvia, therefore better written 
so than brsegen), Engl, brain, Fris. brein. Low Sax. bregen ; I think 
it answers to the notions ' understanding, cleverness, eloqneiice, 
imitation,* and is connected with ff>priv^ <t>pep6^, '<t>pa>v, -^povo^. Now 
the ON. bragr, beside poesis, means also mos, gestus, and * braga 
ef tir 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 Bumacker occurs as the name of a place, v. 
LünzeVs Hildesheim, p. 124, conf. pref. v. (see Suppl.). Now Bragi 
and his wife ISunn dwelt in Brunnakr, Sn. 121*, and she is caUed 
' Brunnakrs beckjar gerSr,' Brunnakerinae sedis omatrix, 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 itsfelf, and 
the AS. bröga (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 BrtzgariESur, 

* The Irish brcitheam, brethemb (judex) is said to be pronounced «InuMl 
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 GanglSri does Här when holding forth in the first i)art 
of the Edda, were put in the mouth of the patron of poetry. 

3. Aki, Uoki (Oegir, HLfiR). Fifel, Geofgn. 

« 

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 <l>6ßo<:, 6g 
f^ßiofuii, OHG. akiso, egiso, AS. egesa horror, OHG. aki, eki, AS. 
^e (ege ? awe) terror, ON. cegja terrori esse, which can only be 
spelt with oe, not se. To the proper name Oegir would correspond 
a Goth. Ogeis, AS. fege, 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 cu/ceai/o?, 'SlKeav6^ and ^flyi]v, whence 
the Lat oceanus, Oceanus was borrowed, but aequor (mare placi- 
dum) seems not cognate, being related to aequus, not to aqua and 
Goth, aliva (see Suppl.).^ 

The boisterous element awakened awe, and the sense of a god's 
immediate presence. As Woden was also called Woma (p. 144), 
and Oöinn 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 Otgishialmr : er öU qvikvendi broeöast at siä, Sn. 137 ; 
such a one did Hreiömar wear, and then Fafnir when he lay on the 
gold and seemed the more terrible to all that looked upon him, 
Saem. 188* ; vera (to be) undir Oegishialmi, bera Oegishialm yfir 

1 Oe^'ir is also called Gymir, Stem. 69. Gümir, Sn. 125. 1S3 possibly 
epulator i but I know no other meaning of the ON. gaiinir than cnra, attentio, 
though the OHG. goiuna, OS. goma means both cura and epulae, the AS. 
g;^niing both cura and nuptiae. 



238 OTHER GODS. 

einmn, means to inspire with fear or reverence, Laxd. saga, p. 130. 
Islend. sog. 2, 155 ; ek bar Oegishialm yfir alia folki, Fomald. sog. 
1, 162 ; hafa Oegishialm t augum, ibid. 1, 406, denotes that terrible 
piercing look of the eyes, which others cannot stand, and the 
famous basilisk-glance, ormr i auga, was something similar.^ 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 Eggihehn), 
i,e, Agihelm, identical with the strengthened- vowel form Uogihdm^ 
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 Hildegrivi, Hüdegrin ; and the ON. grima mask or 
helmet (in Ssem. 51*^ a name for night) has now turned up in a 
F^ilda gloss, Dronke p. 15 : ' scenici = crim'An * presupposes a sing. 
kHmd larva, persona, galea ; so we can now understand KrtmhiU 
(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. egesgrhne is equally a mask, and in EL 260 
the helmet that frightens by its figure of a boar is called a ffrim- 
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, iton-mask, Beinh. ccxlii (see Suppl.). Nor have we 
yet come to the end of fancies variously playing into one another: 
as the god's or hero's helmet awakened teiTor, 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 Yeldek's Eneit Uokesahs (not a letter may 
we alter), in the Eckcnlied Eckoi sahs, as Hildegrin was Ecken 
helm, Eckes helm. In the Greek aiytV I do not look for any verbal 
affinity, but this shield of Zei^ alyloxo^: (II. 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 
and Oegir (see Suppl.), whose hall glittered with gold, Saem. 59,* 

1 Fomm. sog. 9, 513 : gekk alvaldr und igishialmu The spelling with f 
jjoes to confirm our ce, and refute as, as an y can only stand for the fonner, not 
for the latter ; conf. mor and the deriv. niyri = mceri, Gramm. 1, 473. 

^ In the givat feast which he gave to the gods, the ale came up of iUelf (naltt 
barsc J^ar öl, i^a^ni. 59), as Ilepha^tus's tripocls ran avrofiaroi in and out of the 
Oflov ayüjvoj IL 18, 376. Even so Freyr had a sword er nalft vegiz (that awiii(^ 
itself), Sa;m. 82^, and Thur's Miölnir comes back of itself every time it h throwiL 



AKI, UOKI, OEGIR, fIfEL, GEOFON, HL££. 239 

would of all others wear the glittering helmet which takes its 
name from him. From all we can find, his name in 0H6. 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 iiis 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 Ran nine daughters, 
whose names the Edda applies to waters and waves. We might 
expect to find that similar relations to the seagod were of old 
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 river which divides the Saxons from the 
Northmen, is called by the Frankish annalists in the eighth and 
ninth centuries Eyidora, Agadora, Aegidora (Pertz 1, 355-70-86. 
2, 620-31) ; Helmold 1, 12. 50 spells Egdora. The ON. writers 
more plainly write Ocgiedyr (Fomm. sog. 11, 28. 31, conf. Geogr. of 
a Northman, ed. by Werlaufif 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 Oegisstd'a, 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 Heggedar =z'Eggedov, Egidor. Now, seeing that elsewhere 
the AS. poems use Fifelstream, Fifelwaeg (Boeth. 26, 51. El. 237) 
for the ocean, and Fifelcynnes eard (Beow. 208) for the land of the 
ocean-sprites, we may suppose Fi/el and its corruption Wieget 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. Ge/jun, 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 staö, Caedm. 215, 
8, and the less personal geofonhüs (navis), Csedm. 79, 34,geofonfl6d, 
Cod, exon, 193, 21, have also a Genf on standing independently in 



240 OTHER GODS. 

the nom., Caedm. 206, 6, and gifen geotende, Beow. 3378. An 
0H6. Kepan is nowhere found, even in proper names, though 
Stählin 1, 598 gives a Geheneswilare. I know not whether to take 
for the root the verb giban to give, in which case Gibika (p. 137) 
and Wuotan's relation to Neptune (pp. 122, 148) would come in 
here ; or to look away to the Greek ;^m6i/ fern. [x^Fdp, hib-emu8 1] 
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. Fomald. sog. 
2, 17) we read : Fomiotr ätti 3 syni, hStt einn Hier, er ver höüum 
Oegi (one hight Hier, whom we call Oegir), annarr Logi, J>ridji Karl 
(Rask, afh. 1, 95 : Käri). Hlir, gen. Hies, appPÄrs from this to have 
been the older name, in use among the giants, by which O^ir is 
spoken of in Sn. 79, and after which his dwelling-place was named 
Hles-ey (Sajm. 78»» 159*» 243^), now Lässöe 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 aI^ong the 
Teutonic races outside of Scandinavia. Forniotr is to be explained, 
not as for-niotr primus occupans, but rather as fom-iotr, the ancient 
lotr (Rask, afliand. 1, 78), a particularly apt expression for those 
giants, and closely connected with iötunn itself, AS. eoton, as will 
be shown further on. Now in the AS. Liber medicinaUs, from 
which Wanley, pp. 176 — 80 gives insufficient extracts, there is 
according to Lye's dictionary a plant of healing virtue spoken of 
(twice apparently, from the various spelling) by the name of 
Forneotcs folnie, Forndca 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 Fimezes 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 pai-t of an ancient myth, and to have been fitly 



LOKI, GRENDEL, SATURN. 241 

retained in the name of a broad-leaved vegetable ; there is also a 
plant called dcviVs-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. 

Logiy as we have seen, was a second son of Fomiotr, and the 

three brothers -ff/eV, 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 Lokiy 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 Hephoestus (Vulcan) of the Greeks ; 

Okeanos was a friend and kinsman of the former. But the two get 

mixed up. In Loki, sä er flestu illu raeSr (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 fire (N. Cap. 76), his chaining of Prometheus's, for Loki is put 

in chains like his son Fenrir. As Hephaestus 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 

fellowship with Oöinn is clearly seen, both from Saem. 61^ and 

from the juxtaposition of three creative deities on their travels, 

Offinn, ffcenir, Loffr, Saem. 3*, instead of which we have also O&inn, 

Hceiiir, Loki, S^em. 180, or in a different oi-der OÖinn, Loki, Hcenir, 

Sn. 80. 135 (conf supra, p. 162). This trilogy I do not venture to 

identify with that of Hier, Logi, Kari above, strikingly as OSinn 

corresponds to the U äpifioio ; and though from the creating 05inn 

16 



242 OTHER GODS. 

proceed breath and spirit (önd), as from LoSr (blaze, glow) come 
blood and colour (la ok litr), the connexion of Hoenir, who imparts 
sense (68), with water is not so clear : this Hoenir 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. Laüha 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 
äs approaches Logi tlie 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. 
Lolca daun (Lokii odor) is Icelandic for the ignis fatuus exhaling 
brimstone (ibid. 44); Lokabrenna (Lokii incendium) for Sinus; 
Loka spcdnir 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 Loklcen sin havre,' now Locke 
sows his oats, i,e,,Üie devil his tares ; the Danish lexicon translates 
Lokcshavre 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 iu moulting time, people say they ' gaae i Lokkis arri 
(pass under L.*3 harrow ?) * ; * at höre paa Lockens eventyr 
(adventures) * means to listen to lies or idle tales (P. SyVs ganüe 
danske ordsprog 2, 72), According to Sjöborg*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 de\'il, and the 
kindly god of light is thought of as a devastating flame (see Suppl.). 



restige 



LOKI, GRENDEL, SATURN. 243 

of the Norse daemon, which is found among the other Teutonic 
races. If Legi comes from liuhan (lucere), Loki 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 Grendd, and his mother, Grendeles modor 
(4232-74), a veritable devil's mother and 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. 
kriniil, MHG. griiiid is precisely repagulum, pessulus ; so the name 
Grrendel seems related to giindel (obex) in the same way as Loki to 
loka ; the ON. grind is a grating, which shuts one in like bolt and 
bar. Gei-vase of Tilbury (in Leibn. 1, 980) tells of an English fire- 
demon named Grant It is very remarkable, that we Germans have 
still in use a third synonjonous 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^) already used this htllerigd 
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, Grafif 5, 531) with 
the ON. trami or tremill, which mean both cacodaemon and also, it 
seems, clathri, cancelli : ' tramar gneypa }?ik skulo ! ' Saem. 85* ; 
and in the Swedish song of Torkar, trolltram is an epithet of the 
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. Foersora 
(on Jutl. superstit. p. 32) alleges, that the devil is conceived of in 
the form of a liissetni, i.e., the pole with which a load is tied down. 
Beside Loki the äs, Snorri sets another before us in the Edda, 
Utfjar^aluki, 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.^ Saxo, who in the whole of his work 

> * Thorlacius's theoiy, of an older nature- worship supplanted by the Ases. 
rcstA mainly on the antithesis of an Oku))örr to Asaporr, of Logi to Loki, and 
probably of Uler to Oegir, each pair respectively standiD^ for thunder, fire^ 



244 OTHEB GODS. 

never once names the Eddie Loki, tells wonderful things of this 
' Ugarthilocus/ pp. 163-6 : he paints him as a gigantic semi-divine 
monster, who dwells in a distant land, is invoked in a storm like 
other gods, and grants his aid. A valiant hero, named Thorkill, 
brooks the adventurous journey to Ugarthilocus: all this is but 
legendary variation of the visit which, in Snorri, Thörr pays to 
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 utgarSar 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 bar, closing up as it were the entrance to that 
inaccessible region of ghosts and demons. 

Whether in very early times there was also a Saxon Zoko and 
an Alamannic LohJio, or only a Grendil and Krentü ; what is of 
capital importance is the agreement in the myths themselvea To 
what was cited above, I will here add something more. Our 
nursery -tales have made us familiar with the incident of the hai» 
plucked off the devil as he lay asleep in his grandmother's lap 
(Kinderm. 29). The corresponding Norwegian tale makes three 
feathers be pulled out of the dragon's tail, not while he sleeps» but 
after he is dead. 

Loki, in punishment of his misdeeds, is put in chains, like 
Prometheus who brought fire to men; but he is to be released 
again at the end of the world. One of his children, Fewrir} t.e., 
himself in a second birth, pursues the moon in the shape of a xoolf 
and threatens to swallow her. According to Sn. 12. 13, an old 
giantess in the forest gave birth to these giants in wolfskin girdles, 
tlie miglitiest of them being MaTiagarmr (lunae canis) who is to 
devour the moon ; but in another place, while Skoll chases the sun, 
Hati, Ilrö&mtnis sonr (Saem. 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 elder series must be added Sif «earth, and the mit5gaitSsormr 
(world-snake). But what nature-god can Oöinn have taken the place oft 
None P And was his being not one of the primeval ones ? * &c [Quoted from 
Suppl., vol. iii.] 

^ Goth. Fanareis ? OHG. Fanari, Feniri ? can it be our fahnenti^ger, 
pannifer '] 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 tul as a 
stiindard, in the unrighteous war of beasts against birds, anytlung to do with 
this ?] 



LOKI, GRENDEL, S4TURN. 245 

the wolfe and the warldis end' (see Suppl.). 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 ' LoJd er or böndum ' (cL XXIII). In 
the Life of Göz von Berlichingen, p. 201 : * the devil was every- 
where at large ' ; in Detmar's chronik 1, 298 : ' do was de duvel los 
geworden,' i.e., disorder and violence prevailed. Of any one who 
threatened from a safe distance, the folk in Burgundy used the 
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 wolfs teeth shall get at the 
moon : jusqu' i ce que Ton prenne la lune avec les dervts.^ Fischart 
in several places speaks of this * wolf des mons, and most fully in 
his Aller practik grossmutter : * derhalben dörft ihr nicht mehr fur 
ihn betten, dass ihn Golt vor den vjölfen wolle behütenj denn sie 
werden ihn diss jähr nicht erhaschen ' (need not pray for the moon, 
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 : * urn elfe kommen die wolfe, um zwölfe 
bricht das gewölbe* 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 
too is like the wolf devouring the sun or moon. Eclipses of sun or 
moon have been a terror to many heathen nations ; the incipient 
and increasing obscuration of the luminous orb marks for them the 
moment when the gaping jaws of the wolf threaten to devour it, 
and they think by loud cries to bring it succour (ch. XXII, Eclipses). 
The breaking loose of the wolf and the ultimate enlargement ol 
Loki from his chains, who at the time of the Ragnarökr will war 
against and overcome the gods, is in striking accord with the release 
of the chained Prometheus, by whom Zeus is then to be overthrown. 

* Lanionnaye, glossaire to the noei bourguignon, Dijon 1776, p. 242. 
a Conf. P», 72, 7 : donee auferetur luna. 

* May we in this connexion think of the fable of the troy who goes down 
the well to eat up the moon, which he takes for a cheese i 



246 OTHER GODS. 

The fonnula, ' unz Loki vei'Sr lauss ' (=unz riufaz r^in, till the gods 
be destroyed), answers exactly to the Greek irplp &v he ZmrijA» 
XaXdaOrj npofirjOev^; (Aesch. Prom. 176. 770. 991) ; the writhings of 
the fettered Loki make the earth to quake (Saem. 69. Sn. 70), just 
as x^^^ aea-aXevrai 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 Farhavii (boatman ?), his mother Lavfey (leaf-ea) and 
Ndl (needle ; thin and insinuating, mid ok au6]7reiäig, 355), all of 
them words easy to translate into OHG. as Farpözo (remex), 
Loupouwa, Nädala, though such names are nowhere found. He is 
never called Farbauta sonr, but always after his mother, Loki 
Laufeyjar sonr (Saem. 67* 72^ 73*), which had its origin in 
alliteration, but held its ground even in prose (Sn. 64) and in the 
Locke Löje, Loke Lovmand, Loke Lejemand of the later folk-songs. 
This Laufey (Swed. Löfö) 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 AngrboSa three children, the aforesaid ^enrir, the serpent 
lormungandr and a daughter Hel. It is worthy of notice, that he 
himself is also called Zoptr (aerius), and one of his brothers Hd- 
Hindi, 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. Tlie 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 
entitled to have the naming of the seventh day ? Four German 
deities were available for Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, but how 
was Saturn to be put into German ? The Mid. Ages went on 
explaining the seventh day by the Eoman god : our Kaiserchropik, 



LOKI, GRENDEL, SATÜEN. 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 sä Then on the Saturday 

einez heizet rotunda. Is a thing named rotunda 

daz was ein herez betehüs. That was a lofty temple, 

der got hiez Saturnds, The god was named Satumus, 

darnach was iz aller tiuvel 6ra 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: Sceteresday or Scäemesdseg, SaturdB,y, Saterdei, Saterdach, 
Saiersdag, and even the Irish have adopted dia Satuim 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 Sätames- nor a Säzamestac can be found ; but in AS. 
soäere means insidiator (OHG. säzari, conf. säza, MHG. säze insidiae, 
a sitting in wait, as läga, läge 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 Scctereshjrig, quite on a par with Wodnesbyrig ; further, the 
plant gallicrus, our hahneufuss, EngL crowfoot, was in AS. sdtorldde 
Saturni taedium as it were (-loathing, ON. leiSi, OHG. leidi).^ I 
call to mind, that even the ancient Franks spoke of Satumvs (p. 88) 
as a heathen god, and of Saturni dolium, though that may have 
referred to the mere planetary god (see SnppL). 

The last name for the * sabbath * brings us to the ON. laugar- 

' In the AS. are preserved various dialogues between ScUum and Solomon, 
similar to those between Solomon and Marculf in continental Gkrmany, but 
more antique and, apart from their christian setting or dressing up, not unlike 
the Questions and discourses carried on in the Edda bitween Oöinn and Vaf)>rü5- 
nir, between Ving)?6rr and Alviss, between Här and GänglerL Here (dso the 
name Saturn seems to moke for my point, and to designate a god of Teutonic 
paganism. 



248 OTHER GODS, 

dagr, Swed. lögerdag, Dan. löverdag, by which in later times no 
doubt washing or bathing day was meant, as the equivalent 
}?vottdagr shows ; but originally Logadvigr, Lohais^ may have 
been in use,^ and Logi, Loki might answer to the Latin Satumus«' as 
the idea of devil which lay in Loki was popularly transfened to the 
Jewish Satan and [what seemed to be the same thing] the heathen 
Saturn, and Locki in OK is likewise seducer, tempter, trapper. 
We might even take into consideration a by-name of OSinn in 
Saim. 46*, Sad'r or perhaps Säör, though I prefer to take the first 
form as equivalent to Sannr (true) and SanngetalL 

But that AS. Sa:tcresbyrig from the middle of the 11th century 
irresistibly recalls the * burg ' on the Harz mts, built (according to 
our hitherto despised accounts of the 15th century in Bothe's 
Sachsenchronik) to the idol Saturn, wliich Saturn, it is added, the 
common people called Krodo ; to this we may add the name 
touched upon in p. 206 (Hreöe, HreSemönaö), for which an 
older Hntodo, Chrddo was conjectured.' 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 Boman Saturn was furmshed 
with the sickle, not a wheel (see Suppl.).* 

Here some Slav conceptions appear to overlap. Widukind 
(Pertz 5, 463) mentions a brazen simulacrum Satumi among the 
Slavs of the tenth century, without at all describing it ; but Old 
Bohemian glosses in Hanka 14* and 17* carry us farther. In the 
first, Mercurius is called ' Radihost vnuk Kirtov ' (Radigast grand- 
son of Kirt), in the second, Picus Satumi filius is glossed * ztracec 

1 Conf. Finn Magnusen, lex. pp. 1041-2, dozens tider p. 7. 

* I suppose the author had in his mind Homer's constant epithet, YLpowot 
ayKvXouTirrjs wily, crooked -counselled Kronos. — Trans. 

' To Ur6do mif'ht now be referred those names Boysel (later spelling 
Reusel) and lioydam 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. (Graflf Ö, 362), and an 08. 
Hröddag is found in Trad. corb. § 424, ed. Wigand ; these may be related to 
Hruodo, Hrodo as Balda^; to Balder, and the contraction Roydair, Rodag would 
be like Roswith for Hrodsuith. If Roydag should turn out to be the seyenüi 
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 ifr^OVmonao by the Anglo-Saxons. 

* * Tlie Kaiserchr. 3750 says, to Saturn we offer quicksilver ; whereas now 
Saturn's symbol signifies lead. In Megenbcr;.r, Saturn is called Satidr, The 
Saxon Saturn is suppoited by HengesPs refei-ence to that god'. (Extracted 
from SuppL, vol. iii.) 



LÖKI, GRENDEL, SATURN. 249 

Sitivratov zin* (woodpecker, Sitivrat's son); and in a third 20*, 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 8it = 
satur ? Radigast = Mercury (p. 130n.) is the son of Stra2ec==Picus ; 
and in fact Greek myths treat Picus (JIuco<:) as Zeus, making him 
give up the kingdom to his son Hermes. Picus is Jupiter, son of 
Saturn ; but beside Sitivrat we liave learnt another name for 
Saturn, namely Kirt, which certainly seems to be our Krodo and 
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, Russ. krot, i.e., the mole.^ 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 Satj/dvrata, who in a great deluge is saved by 
Vishnu in the form of a fish. Krodo stands on a fish ; and Vishnu 
is represented wearing wreaths of flowers about his neck, and hold- 
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. 

^ Hanlly with Crete, where Kronos ruled and Zeus was bom. 

« Edw. Moore's Hindu Pantheon, Lond. 1810, tab. 13 and 23.—* Sitivrat, 
who corresponds to Saturn, is the Indian Satyavrata, t.«., accordinj» to Kuhn, 
he that hatn veracious (fulfilled) vows; so Dhritavrata, he that hath kept-yows 
= Yarunas, Ouranos.* (Quoted from Suppl., vol. iii.) 



CHAPTEE Xm. 
GODDESSES. 

In treating of gods, the course of our inquiiy could aim at 
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 roiind and visu houses, from whom the human 
race learns the occupations and arts of housekeeping and husbandry: 
spinning, weaving, tending the hearth, sowing 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, Gaue, Fibgünia, Hluodana. 

In almost all languages the Uarth is regarded as female, and 
(in contrast to the father sky encirling her) as the breeding, teem- 
ing fruit-bearing mother: Goth, airßa, OHG. erada, erda, AS. eorSe, 
ON. iörff, Gr. epa (inferred from ipa^e) ; Lat. terra, tellus, humus 
= Slav. zemS, zieniia, zemha, Lith. zieme, Gr. x'^f^V (^ whence 
^a/iafe), ala, ya2a, yrj : the ' mother ' subjoined in Aiiiirfnip, Zema 
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 üfhimil, earth nor heaven) and hero (in a gloss, for solum, 

1 OHG. in Notker has only the strong form gutin gen. cutinno, MHO. 
gotinne, Trist 4807. 15812. Bari. 246-7. seldomer güUnne, MS. 2, 65*» ; AS. 
gyden pi. gj^dena, but also weak gydene pi. gydenan, Mones gl. 4186 Pro»erpi- 
nam = to gidenan (1. togj'denan, additional goddess) ; ON. gytSja (which might 
be dea or sacenlos fern.), better dsynja (see Suppl.). 



EBDA, NIRDÜ, GAUE, FIKGÜNIA, HLüODANA. 251 

Graflf 4, 999) might be masc. (like herd = solum, Graff 4, 1026) or 
fem. still.^ The Goth, mvlda, OHG. moltay AS. molde, ON. meld, 
contain only the material sense of soil, dust ; equally impersonal is 
the OS. folda, AS. foldCy ON*, fold, conf. feld, field, Finn, peldo 
(campus), Hung, fold (terra). But the ON. Iör& appears in the 
flesh, at once wife and daughter of Oöinn, and mother of Thorr 
(Sn. 11. 39. 123), who is often called larSar burr. Distinct from 
her was Rindr, another wife of Oöinn, and mother of Vali (Ssem. 
91* 95* 97^), caUed Rinda in Saxo, and more coarsely painted ; her 
name is the OHG. rinta, AS. W7id = cortex, hence crusta soli vel 
terrae, and to crusta the AS. JiTitse (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 lörö nor in Rindr has the Edda brought out in 
clear relief her specially maternal character ; nowhere is this more 
purely and simply expressed than in the very oldest account we 
possess of the goddess. It is not to all the Germani that Tacitus 
imputes the worship of Nerthus, only to the Langobardi (?), Reudigni, 
Aviones, Angli, Varini, Eudoses, Suardones and Vuithones (Germ. 
40): Nee quicquam notabile in singulis, nisi quod in commune 
Nerihum} id est Terram incUrem colunt, eamque intervenire rebus 
hominum, invehi populis, arbitrantur. Est in insula oceani castum 
nemus, dicatumque in eo vehiculum, veste contectum, attingere uni 
saccrdoti concessum. Is adesse penetrali deam intelligit, vectamque 
bubusfeminis multa cum veneratione prosequitur. Laeti tunc dies, 
festa loca, quaecunque adventu hospitioque dignatur. Non bella 
ineunt, non arma sumunt ; clausum omne ferrum : pax et quies 
tunc tantum nota, tunc tantum amata : donee idem sacerdos satia- 
tam conversatione mortalium deam templo reddat. Mox vehiculum 
et vestes, et, si credere velis, numen ipsum secreto lacu abluilur. 
ServT ministrant, quos statira idem lacus haurit' Arcanus hinc 

* The two forms ero and hero remind one of the name Eor, Chem, attri- 
bute<l to Mars (supra, pp. 203-4). 

' The MSS. collateil 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 
mischt seem to plead for it, the termination -us is against it, the Gothic having 
airpa, not air)?us. Besides, Aventin already (Frankf. 1580, p. 19*) spells NertK, 

• The lake swallows the slaves who haa assisted at tne 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 peiitnri 
vident (see Suppl.).^ 

This beautiliil description agrees with what we find in other 
notices of the worship of a godhead to whom peace and froitfulness 
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 Nerthu^ 
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 Donar 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 
tlie 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 Gmu, haltet ju fauer. Lady Gaue, keep you some fodder, 

düt jar up den wagen. This year on the waggon, 

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 anjrthing standing in the 

Alaric'a funeral (Jornand. cap. 29], or those who have hidden a treasure, Landn. 
5, 12 (see Suppl.). 

1 Speaking of Nerthus, we ought to notice Ptolemy's NertereanSy though he 
places them in a very different locality from that occupied by the races who 
revere Nerthus in Tacitus. 

« Braunschw. anz. 1751, p. 900. Hannov. gel. anz. 1751, p. 662 [is not 
* haltet ' a mistake for * hal ' and something else I] In the Altenbuig country 
they call this harvest-custom building a bam. Arch, des henneb. yereins 2, 91. 



ERDA, NIRDU, GAUE, FIRGÜNIA, HLUODANA. 253 

field, to jeer at him by calling out: 'scholl düt dei gauefrue (or, 
de/ru Gauen) hebben (is that for dame G.) ? '^ 

In the Prignitz they say fru Gode, and call the bunch of ears 
left standing in each field vergodendeelsst-nJisSy i.e., dame Code's 
portion bunch.^ Ver is a common contraction for frau [as in 
Jungfer] ; but a dialect which says fauer instead of foer, foder, will 
equally have Gaue for Godey Guode. This Guode can be no other 
than Gwode, Wode ; and, explaining fru by the older fro,/ro Woden 
or fro Gaiie (conf. Gaunsdag for Wonsd^^, p. 125) will denote a lord 
and god, not a goddess, so that the form of prayer completely 
coincides with those addressed to Wuotan, and the früh 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 ON. Goi 
(Sn. 358. Fornald. sog. 2, 17), a mythic maiden, after whom 
Febmary was named. The Greek Tola or Tri 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, crce, ercc, eorpan mödor ! * 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 Eree gen. 
Ercan, connected with the OHG. adj. erclian, simplex, genuinus, 
germanus ? it would surely be more correct to write Eorce ? ought 
it to suggest the lady ErchCy Hcrkja, Herche, Helche 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 Herkc 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 throxujh 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. ;jel. nnz. 1751, p. 726. More plensing to the ear is the short 
jmiver of the he;ithen Lithuanians, to their earth-gocldess, when in drinking 
they spilt 8ome of the ale on the ground : ZemenyU ziedekle, pakylek musu 
ninku darbuii ! blooming Earth, bless the work of our bands. 

« Adalb. Kuhns märkische sagen, pp. 337. 372, pref. p. viL Conf. in ch. 
XXII the cry of the dwarfs : * de gam fru is nu dot (dead) . 



254 GODDESSES. 

them a good scratxjhing or soils their distaflf (see SuppL).* 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 : Quod autem Hera colebatur a 
Saxonibus, videtur ex eo quod quidam vulgares recitant se audivisse 
ab antiquis, prout et ego audivi, quod inter festum nativitatis Christi 
ad festum epiphaniae Domini domina Hera volat per aJera^ quoniam 
apud gentiles Junoni aer deputabatur. Et quod Juno quandoque 
Hera appellabatur et depingebatur cum tintinnabulis et alis, 
dicebant vulgai^es praedicto tempore : mofwt Hera sen oorrupto 
nomine vro Here de vlughet, et credebant iUam sibi conferre lerum 
temporalium abundantiam. Have we here still extant the old Ero, 
"Epa, Hero meaning earth ? and does "Hpa belong to it ? If the 
AS. JErce 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 : 
* häl wes ihn folde, ßra mödor ! ' 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 Shea mixed 
itself up with that of Ops mater, Ceres and Cybele.* To me the 
resemblance between the cultus of Nerthus and that of the Phrygian 
mother of gods appears well worthy of notice. Lucretius 2, 597 — 
641 describes the peregrination of tlie magna deüm mater in her 
lion-drawn car through the lands of the earth : 

Quo nunc insigni per magnas praedita terras 
horrifice fertur divanae matris imago . . . 
Ergo quom primum magnas invecta per urbeis 
munificat tacita mortaleis muta salute, 
acre atque argento stemunt iter omne viarum, 
largifica stipe ditantes, ninguntque rosarum 
floribus, imibrantes matrem comitumque catervam. 

The Eomans called the VI. kal, Apr. lavatio inatris deüm, and kept 
it as a feast, Ovid. fast. 4, 337 : 

1 Adalb. Kuhn in the Märkische forschungen 1, 123-4, and M&rk. sagen 
pp. 371-2 ; conf. Singularia magdeburg. 1740. 12, 768. 

^ Ops mater = terra mater ; Ceres = Geres, quod gerit fniges, antiquis enim 
C quod nunc G ; Varro de ling, lat., ed. 0. Müller p. 2Ö. Her Greek appella- 
tion ^rjfifjTfjp seems also to lead to ytj firjrrip (see Suppl.). 



ERDA, NIRDÜ, GAUE, FIKGÜNU, HLÜODANA. 255 

Est locus, in Tiberin qua lubricus influit Almo, 

et nomen magno perdit ab amne minor ; 
iUic purpurea canus cum veste sacerdos 

Almonis dominam sacraque lavit aquis. 

Ammian. MarceU. 23, 3 (Paris 1681, p. 355) : Ad Callinicum,— ubi 
ante diem sextmn kaL quo Romae matri deorum pompae celebrantur 
annales, et carpentum quo vehitur simulacrum Almonis imdis ablui 
perhibetur. Conf. Prudentius, hymn. 10, 154: 

Nudare plantas ante carpeTüum scio 
proceres togatos mairis Idaeae sacris. 
Lapis nigellus evehendus essedo 
muliebris oris clausus argento sedet, 
quem 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 Bliavani, wife of Shiva, is likewise driven 
round on her feast-day, and bathed in a secret lake by the Brahmans 
fsee Suppl.).^ 

Nerthus's * island in the ocean * has been supposed to mean 
Rügen, in the middle of which there is actually a lake, called the 
Schwai-ze 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 

* Gregor. Turon. de glor. conf. cap. 77 compares or confounds with the 
Phn'gian CyheU some Gallic goddess, wnose worship he describes as follows : — 
* Ferunt etiam in hac iirbe (Augustoduno) simulachrum fuisse BerfOfnthiae^ sicnt 
sancti martyris Symphoriani passionis declarat historia. Hanc com in 
carpentOj pro salvatiane agrorum et vinearum suarum, misero gentilitatis more 
de/erreiit, adfuit supradictus Simplicius episcopus, hand procul adspiciens 
cantantes atque psallentes ante hoc simulachrum, gemitumque pro stultitia plebis 
ad Deum emittens ait : illumina qnaeso, Doniine, oculos hujus popiui, ut 
cognoscat, (juia simulachnun Berecynthiae nihil est ! et facto signo crucis contra 
protinus simulachrum in terram ruit. Ac defixa solo animalia. quae plaustrum 
noc (JUG vehebatur trahebant, moveri non poterant Stupet vtilgus innumerum, 
et deam laesam omni» caterv'a conclamat ; immolantur victimae, animalia 
verlxfrantur, sed moveri non posaunt. Tunc quadringenti de ilia stulta 
raultitudine viri conjuncti simui ajimt ad invicem : si virtus est ulla deitatis, 
erigatur sponte, jubeatque boves, qui telluri sunt stabiliti, procedere ; certe si 
moveri ne(iuit, nihil est deitatis in ea. Tunc accedentes, et immolante$ unum 
de pecoribus, cum viderent deam suam nuUatenus 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 featurn Veneris ia mentioned. 



256 GODDESSES. 

in the black lake,^ must 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 favour f and the Danish islands in the Baltic have at least 
as gooil 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 
Komans. In the Skäldskapamiäl, p. 178, she is named both 
Fiorgyn and HloiTyn, 

Of Fiörgtjii I have treated already, p. 172 ; if by the side 
of this goddess there could stand a god Fiorgynn and a neuter 
common noun fairgxuii, if the idea of Thor's mother at the same 
time passes into that of the thundergod, it exactly parallels and 
confirms a female Xcrthus (Goth. NalrJ?us, gen, NairJ?aus) by the 
side of the masculine NiörÖ'r (Nerthus), just as Freyja goes with 
Frevr. If it was not wron«» to infer from Perkunas a mountain* 
gxl Fairguncis, Lithuanian mythology lias equally a goddess 
Ferkioiateie. 

Hlo^yn is derived in the same way as riürg)'n, so that we may 
safely infer a Goth. Hiößiutja and OHG. Hluodunia. In Völuspd 
56 Thorr is called * mügr HlöÖynjarl wliich is son of earth again ; 
and Fornald. sog. 1, 469 says : i Hlocfynjar skaut. In the OX. 
language hiod' is a hearth,^ 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, fomacula, the hearth 
being to us the very basis of a human habitation, a paternal Lar, so 
to speak, corresponding to the mother earth. The Bomaus also 
worshipped a goddess of earth and of fire under the common name 
of Foma,i\ deafoniacaiis} But what is still more important to us, 
there was discovered on Low Bhenish ground a stone, first kept at 
Cleve and af tenvanls at Xanten, with the remarkable inscription : 

* DeiitiJche sagen, num. 132. 

- Of Hi-rtha a proverb is said to be current in Pomerania : * de Hertha giift 
pra-i. und füllt soliün imd fa^s (him and vessel)/ Hall, allji. lit. z. 1823, p. 375). 
lUit the un-Saxon rhyme of jn^as \i'ith fass (for fat) sutRciently betrays the 
workmanship. It is clumsily made up after the well-known rule of the farmer : 
* Mai ktthl und na>s füllt soheumn uuil ftuis ' (see SuppL). 

s T.itiT. -itruts, jin\, frcm hLiÖaii hlöÖ, st mere, Gramm. 2, 10, num. 83, 

* Ovid. fa-t. i, 013. 



ISIS. 257 

DEAE HLUDANAE SACRVM C. TIBEBIVS VERVS. Hludana 
is neither a Koman 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.^ In this inscription I see striking evidence of the oneness of 
Norse and German mythology. Thorlacius, not without reason, 
compares the name with Afjrw and Latona. Might not Hl6rr%9i, 
an epithet of Thörr the son of HlöSyn, be explained as Hld9ri9i t 

2. Tanfana. Nehaleknia. 

Another goddess stands wrapt in thicker darkness, whom 
Tacitus calls Tan/ana, and a stone inscription Tamfafui (TAM- 
PAN AE SACRUM, p. 80). We are sure of her name, and the 
termination -ana is the same as in Hludana and other fern, proper 
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 
Nehalennia, about whose name several inscriptions of like import^ 
remove all doubt ; but the word has also given rise to forced and 
unsatisfying interpretations. In other inscriptions foimd on the 
lower part of the Rhine there occur compounds, whose termination 
(-nehis, -nehabus, dat plurals fem.) 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 alao 
hangs nl)out them the notion of a mother (see ch. XVI, the 
Walachuriun). 

3. (Isis). 

The account in Tacitus of the goddess Iris carries ns much 
farther, because it can be linked with living traditions of a cultus 
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 'peregpno 

> Antiq. 1)or. spec 3, Hafn. 1782. Conf. Fiedler, geMh. undalldetuntem 
GcrmanitTiH, 1, *22f>. Steiner's cod. inscr. Rheni na ttä. Gotfr. HchatM, in his 
essay De dea Hludana, Lipe. 1748, perceived the value of 'the stone, but eoold 
not discern the bearings of the matter. 

> Muntfaucon ant expl. 2, 443. Vredii hirt. Fkndr. 1, zliv« Ifta. do 
I'acad. celt 1, 199—246. Mone, heidenth. 2, 340. 

17 



258 GODDESSES. 

sacro, parum comperi, nisi quod signum ipsum, in modum libumM 
ß{/uratum, docet adveciam religionem. The importatioii from 
abroad can hardly consist in the name Ifiis, 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 Soman navigium 
Isidis. 

When spring had set in, and the sea, untraversed during winter, 
was once more navigable, the Greeks and Bomans 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 
kalendarium rusticum as Is^ldis navigium} The principal evidence 
is found in Apuleius and Lactantius,^ two writers who are later 
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 Eome, 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 same, and perhaps long established amongst other Germans as 
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 
year 1133, in a forest near Inda (in Eipuaria), a sJiip was built, set 
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 \f ere joyful shouts, songs of tHumph and dancing 

^ Gesner, script, rei rust, ed. Lips. 1773. 1, 8S6 ; so also in the Calend. 
vallense, and in the Cal. lambec. (Graevii thes. 8, 98). 

> Apuleii met. lib. 11 (Ruhnken p. 764-5) : Diem, qui dies ex ista nocte 
nascetur, aeterna mihi nuncupavit religio ; quo sedatis hibemis tempestatibus 
ct lenitis maris procellosis nuctibus, navigabili jam pelago nuiem dedicanUi 
carinam primitias commeatus libant mei sacerdotes. Id sacnun sollicita nee 
profana mentc debebis operiri ; nam meo mouitu sacerdos in ipso procinctu 
ix>mpae roseam manu dcxtra sistro (Ej^yptian timbrel) cohaerentem gestabit 
coronam. lucontaiiter ergo dimotis turl>uli.s alacer continuare pompam meam, 
volentia fretas ; et de proximo dementer velut manum sacenlotis deosculalmn- 
diis rosis decei-ptis, pessimae mihitiue detestabilis dudum belluac istiuB corio te 
protiiius exvie. I^actantius, instit. 1, 27 : Certus dies habetur in fastis, quo 
Uidis naviyium celebratur, quae res docet illam non tranosse, sed navigosse. 



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 Eodulfi 
chronieon 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 mercenarios vulgo 
reputatur, ad quorum procacitatem et superbiam humiliandam et 
propriam injuriam de eis ulciscendam pauper quidam rusticus ex 
villa nomine Inda^ hanc diabolicam excogitavit technam. Accepta 
a judicibus fiducia et a levibus hominibus auxilio, qui gaudent jocis 
et novitatibus, in proxima silva navem composuity et earn rotis 
stippositis offigens vehibilem super terram effecit, obtinuit quoque a 
potestatibus, ut injectis funibtcs textorum humeris ex Inda Aquis- 
granum traheretur.^ Aquis suscepta cum utrinsque sexus grandi 
hoTninum processione: nihilominus a textoribus Trajectum [Maes- 
t rieht] est provecta, ibi emendata, malo veloque insignita Tungris 
[Tongres] est inducta, de Tungris Los [Looz]. Audiens abbas 
(sancti Trudonis)^ Rodulfus navim illam infausto amine compactam 
malaque solutam alite cum hvjusmodi gtntilüaiis studio nostro 
oppido adventare, praesago spiritu hominibus praedicabat, ut ejus 
susceptioiie abstinerent, quia maligni Spiritus sub hac ludificatione 
in ea traherentur, in proximoque seditio per earn moveretur, undo 
caedes, incendia rapinaeque tierent, et humanus sanguis multus 
funderetur. Quem ista declamantem omnibus diebus, quibus 
inaligiwrum spiriiuum illud simulacrum loci morabatur, oppidani 
nostri aiulire 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 
prof anas hnjiis simulacri excuhias venirent tardiores. Pape ! Quia 
vidit unquam tantam (ut ita liceat latinisare) in rationalibus 
animalibus brutitatem ? quis tantam in renatis in Christo gentüi- 

* Indin in the Jülich country, afterwards Comelimünster, not far from 
Aix ; conf. Pertz 1, 394. 488. 514. 592. 2, 299. 489. 

^ Thi.s of 8hip3 Ix'inj^ built in a wood and carried on men^s shoiddtrs reminds 
one of Saxo CJnini. p. 93, and of the * Argo humeris travecta Alpes ' (Puny N.H. 
3, 18 ; their bein;^' set on wheels, of Nestor's story about Oleg ; conf. the ship 
of Fro above. [An inadvertence on the author's part : the ship is not * carried,' 
but * dniwn by ropes thrown over the weavers' shoulders '.] 

* St. Tron between Liege and Louvoin. 



260 GODDESSES. 

tateni? Cogebant sententia proscriptionis textores, nocte et die 
navim stipare omni armaturae ffenere, solicitasque ei excabias nocte 
et die contiuuare. Minimque fuit, quod non cogebant eoe ante 
navim Neptuno hostias immolare, de cujus naves esse solent legione, 
8ed Neptumis eas Marti reservabat, quod postea multipliciter Cbc- 
turn est. 

Textores interim occulto sed praecordiali gemituDeum jnstuin 
judicem super eos vindicem invocabant, qui ad banc ignominiam 
cos detrudebant, cum juxta rectam vitam antiquonim Christianoram 
et apostolicorum virorum manuum suarum laboribus viverent, nocte 
et die operantes, unde alerentur et vestirentur, liberisque suis 
idipsum providerent. Quaerebant et conquerebantur ad invicem 
lacrymabiliter, uuJe illis magis quam aliis mercenariis haee 
ignominia et vis contumeliosa, cum inter Christianos alia plura 
essent officia suo multum aspernabiliora, cum tamen nullum 
dicerent aspernabilo, de quo Christianus posset se sine peccato 
conducere, illudc^ue solum esset vitabile et ignobile quod immun- 
diliam peccati contmherct animae, meliorque sit rusticus textor et 
I)auper, quam exactor orphanorum et spoliator Wduarum urbanns 
et nobilis judex. Cumque liaec et eorum similia secuni, ut dixi, 
lacrymabiliter conquererentur, concropabant ante illud, nescio cujus 
potius dicam, Bacchi an Veneris, Ncptuni sive Martis, sed ut verius 
dicam ante omnium Ttuilirjnorum spirituum execrabile domicilium 
genera divcrsorum musicoi^m, turpia cantica et religioni Christianae 
indigna concineiitlmn, Sancitiim qiwque erat ajudicibus, ut praeter 
textores, quieumque ad taetum iiavi appropinquarent, pignus de cMo 
eorum ereptuvi textorlhus reliuquerent, nisi se ad libitum redimerent 
Sed quid faciam ? loquarne an sileam ? utinam spiritus mendacii 
stillaret de labiis meis : sub fugitiva adlmc luce diei imminente 
luna maironamm catervae abjecto femineo pudore aicdientes strepi- 
tum Juijus vanitatis, passis capillis de stratis suis exiliebant, aliae 
seminudae, aliae simplice ir^Uum clamide eircumdatae, chorosque du- 
eentihus circa navim impudenter ii^rumpcndo se admiscehant, Videres 
ibi aliquando mille hominum animas sexus utriusque prodigiosum 
et infavstiim cekvsma usque ad noctis medium celebrare. Quando 
vero execrabilis ilia chorea rumpebatur, emisso ingenti dainore vo- 
cum inconditarum sexus uterque hac illacque bacchando ferebatur; 
quae tunc videres agere, nostrum est tacere et deflere, quibus modo 
contingit graviter lucre. Istis tam nefandis factis plus quam duo- 



isia 261 

decim diehus supradicto ritu celebratis, conferebont simol oppidani 
quid agerent amodo de deducenda a se navi. 

Qui sanioris erant consilii, et qui earn suseqftam fuisse do- 
lebant, timentes Deum pro his quae facta viderant et audierant, 
et sibi pro his futura conjiciebant, horialaniur ui eofnburatur 
(combureretur) aut isto vel illo modo de medio tolleretur; sed 
stulta quorundam coecitas huic salubri consilio contumeliose re- 
nitebatur. Nam mcdigni epirüu8, qui in ilia ferAaniur, disse- 
minaverant in populo, quod locus ille et inhabitantes probrato 
nomine amplitis n^otarentur, apud quas remansisse invenirdur. Dedu- 
cendam igitur earn ad villam, quae juxta uoe est^ Leugues decre- 
verunt luterea Lovaniensis dominus audiens de daemondaao navi$ 
illius ridiculo, instructusque a religiosis viris terrae suae de iUo 
vitando et terrae suae arcendo mvnslro, gratiam suam et ftnrtiftitfftm 
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 cos ferro et igne exsequeretur. Id ipsum mandaverat 
Durachiensibus dominis, qui et homines ejus fuerant manuatim» et 
interpositis sacramentis et obsidibus datis sibi confoederatL Hoc 
cum jam tertio fecisset, spretus est tarn ab oppidanis nostiis quam 
Durachiensibus dominis. Nam propter peccata inhabitantium to- 
lebat Dominus mittere super locum nostrum ignem et anna Lo- 
vaniensiimi. Ad banc igitur pUbeiamfoUuilcUem adjunzit se dominus 
Gislebertus. (advocatus abbatiae S. Trudonis) contra generis sui 
nobilitatem, trahendamque decrevit navtm illam terream usque 
Leugues ultra Durachiensem villam, quod et fedt malo nostio 
omine cum omni oppidanorum nostrorum multitudine et ingenti 
dehacchantium vaciferatiane. Leuguenses, oppidanis nostris pm- 
dentiores et Lovaniensis domini mandatis obsequentes, portas 
suas clausenmt et infauäi atninii mondmm intrare nan per^ 
miserunt. 

Lovaniensis autem dominus precum suarum et mandatonun 
contemptum nolens esse inultum, diem constituit comitibus tanquam 
suis hominibus, qui neque ad primum, neque ad secundum» sed 
nee ad tertiimi venire voluenmt Eduxit eigo oontia eot efe oonfcra 



262 GODDESSES. 

nos multomm multitudinis exercitum armatorum tarn peditam 
quam militum. Xostro igitur oppido seposito, tanquam firmius 
munito et bellicosorum hominum pleno, primum impetum in Daia- 
cbienses fecit, qiiibus viriliter resistentibus castellum, nescio qnaie, 
cum posset non obsedit, sed inter Leugues et Duracbium penioctfr- 
vit. Cumque sequenti die exercitum applicare disponeret et ex 
quatuor partibus assultum faceret, habebat enim ingentem multi* 
tudinem, superv^enit Adelbero Metensium primicerius filiomm Lo- 
vaniensis domini avunculus, cujus interventu, quia comitissa Dnia- 
chiensis erat soror ejus, ct Durachiense erat castellum sancti 
Lamberti, Lovaniensis dominus ab impugnatione cessavit et ab 
obsidione se amovit, promisso ei quod Durachienses paulo poet ei 
ad justitiam suam educerentur. £t cum ista et alia de dominis 
et inter dominos tractarentur, pedites et milites per omnia nostra 
circumjaccntia se difludcrunt, villas nostras, ecclesias, molendina 
et quaecumque occurrebant combustioni et perditioni tradentes, 
recedentes vero quae longe a nobis fuerant prout cuique a^jacebant 
inter se diviserunt. 

Ob\'iously, 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 sliip, 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 witli the people of that time, could not have 
80 exasperated the clergy. They call the sliip 'malignorum 
spirituum simulacrum ' and ' diaboli ludibrium,' take for granted it 
was knocked together ' infausto omine ' and ' gentilitatis studio/ 
that * maligni spiritus ' tmvel inside it, nay, that it may well be 
called a ship of Xeptune or Mars, of Bacchus or Venus ; they must 
bum it, or make away with it someliow. 

Probably among the common people of that region there still 
sur\aved some recollections of an ancient heathen worship, wliich, 
though checked and circumscribed for centuries, had never yet been 
entirely uprooted. I copsider this ship, travelling about thes 



ISIS. 2G3 

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's appetite kept returning from time to time. 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 hatefnl 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.^ 

Rodulf does not say what became at last of the ' terrea navis,* 
after it had 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 Ulm, 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 
vUh ships on pain of 1 gulden'.* The custom of dravnng the 
plough about seems to have been the more widely spread, having 

^ Doc.1 the author imply that the favour of the peasantry, as opposed to 
artizans, makes it likely that this was a relic of the worship oi Earth 7 
Supposing' even that the procession was that of the German Isis ; Tacitus 
nowhere tells u» what the functions of this Isis were, or that she ' brought 
peace and fertility'. — Trans. 

2 Carl Jäger, Schwab, stadtewesen des MA. (Mid. Ages), I, 525. 



264 GODDESSES. 

originally no 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. 51» of his Weltbuch: 'On the Shine, 
Franconia and divers other places, the young men do gather all the 
dance-maidens and jnit them in a 'plough, and draw their piper, who 
sitteth on the plough piping, into the water ; in other parts they 
draw B. fiery plough kindled with a fire very artificial made thereon, 
until it fall to wrack/ Enoch Wiedemann's chronik von Hof teUs 
how ' On Shrove-Tuesday evil-minded lads drove a plough about, 
yoking to it such damsels as did not pay ransom; others went 
behind them sprinkling chopped straw and sawdust.' (Sachs, 
provinz. bl. 8, 347.) Pfeiffer, chron. lips. lib. 2, § 53 : ' Mos erat 
antiquitus Lipsiae, ut liberalibus (feast of Liber or Bacchus, i«., 
carnival) personati juvenes per vicos oppidi arairitm circum 
ducerent, puellas obvias per lasciviam ad illius jugum accedere 
etiam repugnantes cogerent, hoc veluti ludicro poenam expetentes 
ab iis quae innuptae ad cum usque diem mansissent *} 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 : neunely, 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 
agriculture and navigation could begin anew.* In this way the 

1 Scheffer's Haltaus, 202. Hans Sachs also relates I. ö, 508*, how the 
maids who had not taken meriy were forced into tJie plough (see Supnl.). 

' To this day, in the churches of some villages of Holstein, lai^ly inha- 
bited by seamen, there hang little ships, which in springtime, when navigation 
re-opens, are decorated w^ith 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 vowe<l in case of a safe arrival home ; 
an old instance of this I will borrow from the Vita Godehardi Hildesiensis : 
Fuit tunc temporis in Trajectensi episcopatu vir quidam arti mercatoriac dedi- 
tus, qui frequenter mare transirct ; nie ([uodam tempore maxima tempestate in 
medio mari deprehenditur, al> omnibus conclamatur, et nil nisi ultimus vitoe 
terminus timetur. Tandem finito aliquanto tempore auxilium beati Godehardi 
implorabant, et argenteam n<ivim delaturos, si ovaderent, devoverunt. Hos in 
eccle^ia nostra navim argenteam deferentes postea vidimus (in King Lothair's 
time). In a storm at seji, sailors take vows : E chi dice, una nave vo far fan, e 
poi portarla in Vienna al gran barone ; Buovo d'Antona 5, 32. The Lapps at 



HOLDA, 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 Ripuaria, 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, Holda and Frecke. 

The Greeks dedicated a ship not only to Isis, but to Athevt. 
At the Panathenaea 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- 
ground mechanism, first to the temple of Demeter and all round it, 
past the Pelasgian to the Pythian, and lastly to the citadel. The 
people followed in solemnly ordered procession.^ 

We must not omit to mention, that Aventin, after transforming 
the Tacitean Isis into a frau Eisen, and making iron (eisen) take 
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 king Schwab, and staid for a time with him ; that she 
taught him the forging of iron, the sowing of seed, reaping, grinding, 
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. 

4. HoLDA, HOLLE. 

Can the name under which the Suevi worshipped that goddess 

viile-tide offer to their jnuloherra small 8kip$ smeared with reindeer's blood, and 
hnncr them on tree« ; Höptröm, efterretninger om Lapland, p. 611. These 
votive gifts to saints fill the place of older ones of the heathen time to gods, 
as the vovagers to Helgoland continued long to respect Fosete's sanctuary 
(p. 231). Now, as silvfr 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.). 

* Philostr. do vitis sophist lib. 2 cap. 1, ed. Paria. 1608, p. 549. 

' So Jean le Maire de Beiges in his Illustrations de Gaulle, Paris, 1548, bk. 




pail J 

till 1522 ; did they both borrow from the spurious Berosus that came out in 
tlie 15th t»ntury ? Hunibald makes a queen Cambniy who may be compareti 
with the Langolmrtlic Gambara, introduce the arts of building, sowing and 

weaving (see SuppL). 



2G6 GODDESSES. 

wliom the ßomans identified with Isis — ^may not at least one of her 
secondary names — have been Holdat The name has a pniely 
Teutonic meaning, and is firmly grounded in the living taraditions 
of our people to this day. 

Holdd is the kind, benignant, merciful goddess or lady, from 
hold (propitius), Goth. hulj?s (Luke 18, 13; root, hil)iaii hal^ 
huljjun, to bend, bow), OX. holhr ; the Gothic form of it would be 
Hulix), For the opposite notion of a malignant diabolic being, 
Ulphilas employs both the fem« unhul]}d and the masc unhulßa, 
from which I infer a hulßa by the side of hulj}d : one more confii^ 
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 or spirits. Notker in the Capella 81 renders verus genius by 
' min wäre holdo '. And in MHG. parlance, holde (fem. and masa) 
must have been known and commonly used for ghosUy beings. 
Albrecht of Halberstadt, in translating Ovid's Metamorphoses, 
uses wazzerholde (gen. -en) for njrmph ; rhyme has protected the 
exact words from corruption in Wikram's poetic paraphrase.^ In 
the largely expanded Low German version of the Ship of Fools 
(Xarragonia, Rostock 1519 ; 96*) we find the following passage 
which is wanting in the HG. text: 'Mannich narre lövet (be- 
lieveth) an vogelgeschrei, und der gvden hollen (bonorum geniorum) 
gunst '. Of more frequent occurrence is the MHG. unholde (fenL), 
our modem unhold (masc.), in the sense of a dark, malign, yet 
mighty being. 

The earliest example of the more restricted use of the name 
Hoi da is furnished by Burchard, bp. of Worms, p. 194* :* Credidisti 

1 Frankf. 1631 ; 4, 171* von einer wazzerholden, rb. solden ; 176* wazzer- 
holde, rb. solde. 

' If, in the inscription Meae Eludanae* quoted p. 257, we might by a 
slip^bt transposition substitute Huldanae, tbis would be even more welcome 
tbun the analop^y to ON. HloCyn, it would be the most ancient evidence for 
HuldUf supported as sbe already is by tbe Gotb. unhulpd and the OHQ. female 
name Holda^ a rare one, yet forthcoming in Scbannat, tmd. fuld. no. 445 ; also 
Holdxmnd in Graff 4, 915. Scbütze's treatise De dca Hludana first appeared 
Lips. 1741 ; and wben Wolf (in Wodana, p. 50) mentions a Dutch one De dea 
Huldm, Trajecti 1746, if that be reaUy tbe title, tbis can be no otber than a veiy 
tempting conjecture by Cannegieter founded on our * Hulda ' which occurs ia 
Eccard. A Latin dative Huldanae would mean our weak form, OHG. Holdün, 
AS. Holdan, just as Berta, Hildegarda are in Latin docs, inflected Bertanae, 
Hildegardanae ; tbougb tbere may also bave sprung up a nom. Bertana, 
Huldana. Bo tbe dat. Tanfanae too would lead us to at all events a Gennan 
nom. Tanfa, and cut sbort all tbe attempts to make out of -fana a Celtic word 
or the Latin fanum. Tavfa su^r^ests an ON. man's name Danpry or the OHQ. 



HOLDA, HOLLE. 267 

xxt aliqna femina sit, quae hoc facere possit, qxtod quaedam a diabolo 
deceptae se affirmant neceasario et ex praecepto fiacere debete, id 
est cum daemonum tarba in similitudinem mulieram tranaformata» 
quam vulgaris stultitia Soldam (aL unkoldam) vocat, certis 
noctibus equitare debere super quasdam bestias, et in eorum se 
consortio annumeratam esse. The remarkable varia lectio 
' unhclda ' is taken from the Cod vindob. uniy. 633. Burchard has 
here put the German word in the place of the more nsual ' Diana 
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 Wolafrid Strabo, see SuppL] 

In popular legends and nurseiy-tales^ frau Solda (Hnlda^ 
Holle,^ Hulle, f rau 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 foond as 
far as the Voigtland,' past the Bhön mts in northern Franconia,* in 
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 hy 
that name. 

From what tradition has still preserved for us,'^ we gather the 
following characteristics. Frau Holle is represented as a being qf 
the sky, begirdling the earth : when it snows, she is making her 

root damph ; granted a change of F into OH or TH [fhm beooms €k in mciite^ 
nichte, achter, rachtbar or mchbar, &cl thero woud arise yet further poni- 
bilities, e.g. a female name TancKa (gratafwonld c on e spond to the OHG. msto» 
Dancho (gratus) Graff 5, 109 ; cant Dankiit ■> Oibieho, Hrapt^ nitaehr. 1» 
673 — I am not convinced of Holdana, and oonfen miX Hl udtma may ako 
maintain itself, and be explained aa HHda (dan, pnedaia) ; the wewht of 
other arguments must turn the scale. Amonff these noweTWy the use of guts 
holden and hollar ▼ettir (Ssem. 240^) fmr spints, and of koU nam (Sui* 00^) 
for gods, is especially worUiy of notice. In ON. tiie a^j» hoUr bad ondemiie 
assimilation (Goth. bul]w, OHO. holdX while the proper name HMr retttOMd 
the old furm ; for to me the ezplimation hnldr ^ occoltiu^ eelatiia» looks Teij 
dubious. 

^ Holle from Hulda^ as Folle from FnldSi 

' Jul. Schmidt's Reiclienfels p. ISi. 

' Reinwald, Henneb. id. 1, ea a, es. SehmellerS» 174. 

« Schmidt's Westerwild. idiot 73. 341. 

* Kinderm. no. 24. Deutsche sagen, noa 4—3. Falkenstsiill Tku. 
chronica 1, 16d-6 (see SuppL). 



263 GODDESSES. 

bed, and the feathers of it fly.^ She stirs up snow, as Donar does 
rain : the Greeks aspribed the production of snow and rain to their 
Zeus : Jto9 o/i/9po9, II. 5, 91. 11, 493 as well as w^aSe? Jwfe, IL 19. 
357 ; so that Holda comes before us as a goddess of no mean rank.* 
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 may be seen, a fair white lady, bathing in the flood and 
disappeanng ; a trait in which she resembles Nerthus. Mortals, 
to reach her dwelling, pass through the well; conf. the name 
wazzerholde? 

Another point of resemblance is, that she drives about in a 
vmjgon. She had a linchpin put in it by a peasant whom she 
met ; when he picked up the chips, they were gold.* Her annual 
progress, which, like those of Herke and Berhta, is made to fall 
between Christmas and Twelfth-day, when the supernatural has 
sway,^ and wild beasts like the wolf are not mentioned by their 
names, hnngß fertility to the land. Not otherwise does ' Derk with 
the boar,' that Freyr of 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 'wütende heer\ From this arose the 
fancy, that wUclus ride in Holla's company (ch. XXXIV, snow- 

1 Dame Holle shakes her bed, Modejourn. 1816, p. 283. Thejr say in 
Scotland, when the first flakes fall : The men o* the East are pykmg their , 
geese, and sending their feathers here awa' there awa'. In Prussiau Samland, 
when it snows : The angels shake their little bed ; the flakes are the down- 
feathers, but many drop past, and get down to our earth. 

' As other attributes of Holda have passed to Mary, we may here also 
bring into comparison the Maria ad nives, notre dame aux Mtges, whose feast was 
held on Aug. d ; 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 tieige ! (Barzas breiz 1, 27). May not the otherwise 
unintelligible Hildesheim legend of Hillesnee (DS. no. 456] have arisen out of 
a Hold€ sni ? 

'If the name hrunnenhold in the Märchenbuch of Alb. Ludw. Grimm 1, 
221 \a a genuine piece of tradition, it signifies a fountain-sprite. [Newbom 
babes are fetched oy the nurse out of dame HolWs pond ; SuppL] 

* A similar legend in Jul. Schmidt's Reichenfels p. 152. 

' This must be a purely heathen view. I suppose the christian sentiment 
was that expressed by Marcellus in Hamlet Li: 'no spirit dares stir abroad« 
the nights are wholesome, &c '. — Trans. 



HOLDA, EOLUL 269 

wives) ; it was already known to Bnrchard, and now in Upper 
Hesse and the Westerwald, HoUe-riding, to ride wüh Holte, is 
equivalent to a witches' ride.^ Into the same 'furious host^' 
according to a wide-spread popular belief, were adopted the souls 
of infants dying unbaptized; not having been christian'd, they 
remained heathen, and fell to heathen gods, to Wuotan or to 
Hulda. 

The next step is, that Hulda, instead of her divine shape, 
a&sumes 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 
train :^ 'hush, there's Hulle-hdz (-bruin), HvUe-pöpd (-bogie) 
coming.' ffotle-peter, as well as Hersche, Harsche, Hescheklaa^ 
Buprecht, Bupper (ch. XYII, house-sprites\ is among the names 
given to the muffled servitor who goes about in Hollo's train at the 
time of the winter solstice. In a nursary-tale (Märchen na 24) 
she is depicted as an oU vnich with Umg teäh ; according to the 
difference of story, her kind and gracious aspect is exchanged for a 
dark and dreadful one. 

Again, HMa is set before us as a iptYintn^wife ; the coltivatioii 
of flax is assigned to her. Industrious maids she presents with 
spindles, and spins their reels full for them over night ; a alothfol 
spinner's distaff she sets on fire, or soils it' The girl whose spindle 
dropt into her fountain, she rewarded bountifully. When she 

1 EbIof's oberh. idiot, bub v. 

' Erasm. Alberus, fable 16 : ' Eb kamen ancli sa dimm Imst Tiel mSkm 
die sich forchten sehr (were sore afnid), Ui^ trugen sitMit^ in der band, From 
Hulda hat sie aussesandt' LuUier's Expos, of the I^istlea, Basel 1582 üoL 
6d* : ' Here comeUi up dtame Hulde with the rnunU (potmase, botch-nose), to 
wit, nature, and goeth about to gainsay her Qod OAd give him the lie, hangeth 
her old ragfair about her, the ttraw-ham/ßu (strohamss); then falls to woilr. 
and scrapes it featly on h%T fiddle,* He compares nature rebelling against Qod 
to the heathenish Hulda with the frightful nose (Oberlin, sub v, potuninn- 
chen), as she enters, mu£9ed up in straw and frippery, to the fiddle's playing 

> Brückner, Contrib. to the Hennebeig idiotioon, pi 9, mentions a popiuar 
K'lief in that part of Franconia : * On the hi^ day comes the HeUefnm 
(Hollefra, Hullefra), and throw» in reeU; whoever does not sjnn them full, she 
lireaks their necks,' (conf. infra Berkta and BerKtolt and the Devil), ' On the 
hi<,'h day she is burnt,' which reminds one of 'Ganying Death oat' in 
Teutonic* and Slav countries, and 'Sawing the old woman' in Italy and 
Spain. By the addition «of -frau after the name (cont gaue fro, p. Sfi3) 
we perceive its ori<^nally adjective character. Cod. paL 3d5^: *icn wc% 
kuin scJiusfl in kaiin rodxn wart nie ab hesrtlich als da bist,' I ween no scars» 
cruw on a diätatT wot» ever as ugly as thou. 



270 GODDESSES. 

enters the land at Christmas, all the distaffs are well stocked, and 
left standing 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 1 ' have an oldworld sound. Apparently 
two things have been run into one, when we are ako told, that 
during the ' twelve-nights ' no flax must be left in the diesse^ or 
dame Holla will come.^ The concealment of the implements 
shows at the same time the sacredness of her holiday, which ought 
to be a time of rest.* In the Ehön mts, they do no farm-wor^: on 
HulkCs 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,* as men are after sword and 
spear), leads us directly to the ON. Frigg, OSin's wife, whose being 
melts into the notion of an earth-goddess, and after whom a 
constellation in the sky, Orion's belt, is called Friggjar rockr^ 
Friggae colus. Though Icelandic writings do not contain this 
name, it has remained in use among the Swedish country-folk 
(Ihre, sub v. Friggcrock), The constellation is however called 
Mariärock, Dan. Marirock (Magnusen, gloss. 361. 376), the 
christians having passed the same old idea on to Mary the 
heavenly mother. The Greeks put spindle and distaff in the hands 
of several goddesses, especially Artemis (;^voT;Xa/caT09, IL 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. 

^ Braunscliw. anz. 17G0, no. 86 ; the dUue is the bundle of flax on the 
dU-staff, 

^ This makes one think of Gertrude. The peasants' almanacks in 
Camiohi represent that sai7i^ 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 «^ood of the Russian piiitnitsa, Friday (Kopitars rec. von Strahls 
gel. Eussland). 

* KA. 163-8. 470. Women are called in AS. fritSowebban, peace-weaven. 



UOLDA, HOLLE. 27t 

One might be tempted to derive dame Holda from a diaracter 
in the Old Testament In 2 Kings 22, 14 and 2 Chron. 34, 22 we 
read of a prophetess rrfyn Huleddah, Holdah, for which Luther 
puts Hulda ; the Septuagint has *OX&i, the Vulgate (Ma, but the 
Lat. Bible Yiteb. 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.^ I do not know if any one 
before him 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 a^j. and com. 
noun] to several kinds of spirits, and by the very ancient negative 
unholda. 

Were it only for 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 16. 17) speaks of a wise woman (völva^ 
seiSkona) named Hiddr, and a later Icelandic saga composed in 
the 14th century gives a circumstantial account of the enchantress 
Hulda, beloved of OSinn, and mother of the well-known half- 
goddesses ThorgerCr and Irpa.* Of still more weight perhaps 
are some Norwegian and Danish folk-tales about a wood or 
mountain wife Hulla, 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 soi^ her 
lay has a doleful melody and is called huldredaat. In the forests 
you see Hiddra 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-writes^ who are 

^ I believe Luther followed the Hebrew, merely dropping the final h^ as 

he does in Jehova, Juda, &c. — ^TaANS. 
' Mailer's sagabibL 1, 363—6. 



272 GODDESSES. 

called huldrefolk} In Iceland too they know of this ffuldu/dlk, of 
the HiMunuaii ; 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 holden, 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, Hxddra from the ON. 
hoUr (fidus, fidelis, propitius) 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 moder' 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 huldulolk was imported into the Icelandic tongue from the 
Danish or Norwegian. It is harder to explain the K inserted in 
the forms Hiddra, Huddre ; did it spring out of the plural form 
hulder (boni genii, hollar vajttir) ? or result from composition ? 

The German Holda presides over spinning and agriculture, the 
Norse HuUc over cattle-grazing and milking. 

5. Perahta, Berciite. 

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.^ She is called frau Berdde, i.e., in OHG. 
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 nde, the awe-inspiring side is brought into prominence, and she 

1 Details to be found in Müller» sagab. 1, 367-S. Hallager p. 4a Faye 
pp. 39-43 and 10. 15. 25. 26. 36. Fri.;ge, ny taarsgave for 1813, p. 85. Strom's 
Sondniör 1, 538-59. Vilses Spydcbtrg 2, 419. Villes Sillejord. p. 230. 
Asbiornsen, passim. 

* A portion of Franconia and Thuringia knows both Berchia and Holda^ 
there at all events is tlie boundary between the two. Matthesius, in his 
Exposition of the gos|)elä for feastdays, p. 22, names dame Hulda and old 
JJerchte side bv side. 



Meni 



' Among the celebrated maidens of Menglöö is a Biört (Ssem. Ill*), 
glöö herself is called *sü in sulbiarta' (111**), and the father of her 
betrothed Svipthigr Sölbiarlr (sun-bright, 112*). A Menjjlöö in a later story 
a])i)ear.s to some one in a dream (Fornm. sog. 3, 222-3), aiid leaves him a 
marvellous pair of gl(»vos. 



PERAHTA, BEBCHTE. 273 

appears as a grim bugbear tx) frighten children with. In the 
stories of darm Berchia 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 sUdr ok hafra 
(herrings and oats) for supper, Seem. 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^ 

The revenge taken by the wrathful Berchta, when she misses the 
fish and 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 
a needle and an iron chain by way of thread (Superst. 525).* 

* The Braunschw. anz. 1760, p. 1392, says no leguminoui plants are to be 
eaten when dame Holla is going round in the * twelve-nigut« *. Either a 
mistake, or to be understood of particular kinds of pulse. 

'' Ahnoat the same is told in the Voigtland of the Werre or dame HolU, 
The U'erre^ on tlie holy eve of the high New-year, holds a strict inquiry 
whether all the distaffs are spun off; if they are not, she defiles the flax. And 
on that evening you nmst eat polsf, a thick pap of flour and water prepared in 
a peculiar way ; if any one omits it, she rips his body open, Jul. Sclimidt, 
Reichenteli«, p. 152. The name IVerra (from her 'gewirrt,' tangled shngsy 
hair \) U found in Thom. Reinesius, Lect. var., Altenl^ 1640, p. 67^ (in the 
critic«il notes on Rhyakinus's, i.e. Andr. Rivinus or Bachmann's Liber Kirani- 
dum Kirani, Lips. 1638) : Nostrates hodieque petulantioribus et refractariis 
manduc-uru alitpiem cum ore hiante frendentem dentibus, aot furibundam 
silvesci'iite coma, facie lurida, et cetero habitu terribilem cum comitatu maena- 
dum Werram interminantur. Reinesius (1587-1667) came from Qotha, but 
lived at Hof in the Voigtland. A xoerre is also a noisome chirping insect of 
the cricket kind (Popowitscth 620). In MHO. : 'siejetdiu Werte (Discordia) 
ir samen dar/ sows her seed, Ms. 2, 251**, conf. Troj. '6%b (see SuppL) ; and in 

18 



274 GODDEsass. 

And the same threat is held out in other ^iafa-ig^ a1 ^ (t 

SuppL). 

Börner's Folk-tales of the Orlagaa (between the Saale and the 
Orle) furnish abundant details. At p. 153 : The night before 
Twelfthday, Perchtha always examines the Bpinning-iooms of the 
whole neighbourhood, she brings the spinners empty reels, with 
directions to spin them full within a very brief time, and if all she 
demands cannot be delivered, she punishes them by tangling and 
befouling the flax. On the same occasion she cuts open any one's 
Ijody, that has not eaten zemmede ^ that day, takes oat any other 
food he has had, and fills the empty space with hay or straw wisps 
and bricks, and at last sews his body up again, using a plonghAan 
for a needle, and for thread a rohm chain. — P. 159 : At Oppuig, the 
same night of the year, Perchtha found the spinning-room fÜl of 
merrymaking guests, and in a towering rage site handed in thrauffk th6 
window twelve empty reds, which were to be spun full to the rim within 
an hour, when she would come back ; one quarter of an Lour had 
passed after another in fearful expectation, when a saucy girl ran 
up to the garret, reached down a roll of tow, and wrapped it round 
the empty reels, then they spun two or three thicknesses of thread 
over the tow, so that the reels looked full. Perchtha came, they 
handed over to her their finished work, and she walked off with it, 
shaking her head. (Conf. the similar story of the white manikin in 
Bader, p. 309). — P. 167 : At Langendembach lived an old spinning- 
wife, who swiftly wound the thread all the winter through, and did 
not so much as leave off on Twelfthday-eve, though son and 
daughter-in-law warned her : ' If Perchtha comes, it will go hard 
with you '. * Heyday ! * was her answer, ' Perchtha brings me no 
shirts, I must spin them myself.' After a while the unndow is 
pushed open, Perchtlia looks into the room, and throws some empty 

Selphfirte« repel (Wackernnpfers lb. 903), there is exhibited, together with 
bnuxler Zonili and bruoder Ergerli, a bruorler Werra^ * der sin herze mit welt- 
lichen dinj:jen also beworren hat (has so entangled hia heart with worldly thinfv»), 
daz da nilit m£ in nia<; '. And that notion of tanqkd thread and hair^ which 
prevails about Bertha and Holda, may after all be akin to this. On L. Zurich 
she is called de Chlungere, because she puts chlungel ^knots, lumps) in the un- 
finished yarn of slothful nmidens, Alb. Schott, Deutscne colonien in Piedmont, 
5>. 282. In Bavaria and German Bohemia, Berhta is often represented by St 
[,Mcia, though lier day comes on Dec. 13. Frau Lutz cuts the belly open, 
Schmeller 2, 532. Jos. Rank, Böhmer\v'ald, p. 137. Conf. the Luue in Sweden, 
Wieselgren. 386-7. 

^ Made of flour and milk or water, and baked in a pan : fasting fare, 
evidently. 



PERAHTA, BEBCHTE. 275 

spools to her, wliich she most have back, spun full, in an hour'a 
time. The spinner took heart of grace, spun a few rounds on each 
spool for dear life, and threw them, one and all, iiito the brook that 
ran past the house (and by that, Perchtha seems to have been 
appeased). — P. 173 : As a miner was returning from Bucha to 
Konitz on Perchtha's night, she came up to him at the cross-roads, 
and demanded with threats, that he should pvi a wedge in her 
waggon. He took his knife, cut the wedge as well as he could, and 
fitted it into Perchtha's waggon, who made him a present of the 
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 sho 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 stately dame 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 did. She in the meantime had been mending the plovgh, 
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 Oppuig, where he had 



276 GODDESSES. 

been to work ; it was the eve of the Three-kings (Twelfthday), and 
on the bank of the rivolet Orla he came upon Pcrehiha, her brvket^ 
plough surrounded by weeping heimeken, '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 
wages he would not touch: ' I have plenty of them at home/ says he. 
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 Eaulsdorf 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 Pössneck and the forester's lodge of 
Reiclieubach. Below the Gleitsch, a curiously shaped rock near 
Tischdorf, the story varies in so far, that there Perchtha along with 
the heimchen was driving a waggon, and had just broken the axl^, 
when slie 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 : A spinning- 
girl walked over from the Neidenberg 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 heinichen-follc, all children of one sort and size, one set of 
theni toiling to push a heavy plmigh, another party loaded with 
farming-tools ; they loudly complained that they had no longer a 
home. At this singular procession the spinner began to laugh out 
loud, PercJUlia enraged stept up to the giddy tiling, blew upon Jier, 
and struck her blind on the spot. The poor girl had a trouble to 
find lier way into the village, she led a wretched life, could no 
longer work, but sat mournful by the wayside begging. When the 
year was luwt and Perchtha visited Altar again, the blind one, not 
knowing one from another, asked an alms of the high dame as she 



PERAHTA, BERCHTE. 277 

swept by ; Perclitha spoke graciously : ' Here last year I blew a 
pair of lights out, tliis year 1 will blow them in again*. 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 Orla. 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 ' wütende 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, tliat if they are naughty, Berche 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 Bereites knife may glance off (Schm. 1, 194). Is that the 
reason why slie is called wüd Bertha, iron Bertha t 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, BcrtJia nominato. Hinc dictum ortum puto, quo terrentur 
inquieti pueri, * Schweig, oder die eiserne Bertha kommt I ' ^ In 
other places, Franconian and Swabian, she is named HUdaberta 
(apparently a combination of the two names Holda and Berta), and 
Bililaherta ; with hair all shaggy she walks round the houses at 
night, and tears the bad boys to pieces (see SuppL).* 

Dame PreclU with the long nose is what Vintler calls her : and 
even a MIIG. poem, which in one MS. is entitled ' daz maere von 
der Stempen,' has in another the heading ' von Berchten mit der 
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 rehfewaz (ich) iu sage : Now mark aright what I you tell: 

nach wihennaht am zwelften tage, after Christmas the twelfth day, 

nach dem heiigen ebenwihe * after the holy 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 

^ Conf. Crusiiis p. 1, lib. 12, cap. 6, p. 329, where Bertha the mother of 
Cliaile-s is meant The Lombarda called a carrocium Beria and Berteciola 
(Duc^m^'e sub v.), perhaps the carriage of the travelling goddess or queen I 

' Joiich. Camerarius, chronol. Nicephori, p. 129. 

* Eveu-holy, equally-holy day, Scheffiu't Haltaus, p. 68. 



^\*f^ U4Si jisixi ^sssesx «itfut uL lue iu«^ 
r.v^€sc IMS' v^Ä len^a 'riuLft 

trut jsuv «n «ilv>ft iiiiii«t AOiL 'Si n^ rwx riiinf 
^Ä^" t':'M>. fug: iiiirji aim w?i* «c ine 'iiinf n -n'rnc J 

'Im'^^ u\ i'jt .9>9ri'4^. lA^aiii^fs: ' iiac linn. iä£ Tcamiit slIiss f 



-»«. t»<flf ->si i*r^sz2iöL i:c Trills: iirraa •' " 



t^/vw; Vy HC, \'j Cw^;:: iZ iLä:: is ir^i^ cc ibt ^äcLe. «od axe 
l^./*Äi>sr>^ »..•uTi *► t:4n;:!lij fn^i. .v-iiTOf. T^ii» c c gDooacn of 
f>r^',;/>; ;r; V.1Ä ;jiir^ 'y^iie fr.ri «c&^Lpicg '^c?, ^s in'Enp, 4e.>, and 
pflr';»A;A /. <iWi/;.t V/ '>: »T^-rl* SUmp/i «G-crrUkS sCÄZspieo, lo staunp) ; 
\rd\ ,u i'A.'r^rjk iitfiSH Vi a proper n^me St4:mpc MR l^, 3S0, anno 
11 /';0^, tt^A hV;fr>pho, Arid Ix^th ^.ampen and stampfen seem to be 
i'/tn^jX U/r U^7/«plirj^ aod hf^si^^tzna^ luL stamp^re: sbe is the 
rii;/ht }i;i(r^ muihtr Uß alp aii<l scbrat [old senach ?]. Add to this, 
iiisil in th/; Sffr*i'//in of Franconia, dame Holds is called the Iranpr 
(h*/fU-tWiu, Autif{. noTfl'^ 41), i/t., the trampling racketing erne; 
\^M\fU*r tMiucA ifütfiißhlu a» walking with short, measured steps 
(U't\t\nu'/j, and lUa i>rut (uight-goblin) approaches with soft foot- 
fall ; at tho üanu; time, trampel, trampelthier, is a heavy clumsy 
woutsiu. Sow, aM »S w ocr;asionally added before an initial T, it is 
tMtnly not p^oin^ i^io far, U) connect Stempe with the more ancient 
Tumfana, Tanftirui, p. 257 (sec SuppL). 

Miirlifi of Ainbfirg * calls her Perckt mit der eisnen nasen (with 

I If in OowiftfMrniMpie^cl (mid. of 14th cent) is in two MSS. at Vienna 
(Unifm. pii. iy^nH) ; cjmf, Kclim. 4, 188. 21G, and the Jahrb. der Berliner 
|/i'ji<11m'.Ii. rur dt'UUchu Njir. 2, 03 — 85, 



PERAHTA, BBRCHTE. 279 

iron nose), and sajs 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-tunning, PercJUa- 
leaping at the time of the rauchnächte [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' 
bells, and cracking whips.* 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, Grastein pp. 145-7). In the north of Switzer- 
land, where in addition to Berchtli the softened form Becktli or 
Beclüeli is in use, Bechtelis day is the 2nd (or, if New-year's day 
falls on a Saturday, the 3rd) of January, and is honoured by the 
young people in general with social merrymakings ; they call the 
practice herchlcln, hechteln. In the 16th century it was still the 
custom at Zürich, for men to intercept and press one another to 
tike wine ; this was called ' conducting to Berchtold * (Staid. 1, 150- 
G). There was thus a masculine Berchi or Berchtolt, related to 
Wuotan, as Berhta was to Freke ; and from this again there arose 
in Swabia a new feminine, Brechtolterin, Prechtolterin (Schmid, 
Schwab, wtb. 93). In Alsace the hechten 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 : • 

darnauch so komet die milde BehU^ 

die noch hat ein gar gross geslehte (great kindred). 

He describes her as the mild, gracious to men, not as the terrible. 
BerditoU however is in Swabian legend the white mannikin, who 
brings spools to be filled with spinning (Mone'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, 

* This Pfrchtenttpringen is like the heoDentuMh in the Bohmerwald, which. 
Jos. llank p. 76-7 eays, is performed at Whitsuntide, when young men ana 
)>oy8 provide themselves with loud cracking whips, and chase all the witches 
out of houses, stibles and bams. 

• Journey through Upper Germany, p. 243. Schm. 1, 195. 
» Ad. Walt Strobel'ö 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 Berta, e.g,, Berta of Eosenbeig. 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 Berhia ; 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 ßlava' when 
B. span (Pentamerone. Liebrecht 2, 259). ' au tems que la reine 
Berthe filait : * the same idea still, of the spinning matron.^ Berta^ 
the daughter of king Flower and of Whiteflower, afterwards the 
wife of king Pippin and mother of the great hero Charles, 
she who in the MLG. poem of Flos is called both Vredeling and 
Brehte (1555. 7825), does not belie her mythic origin.* She is 
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 ella aveva un pie un poco maggior dell altro, e quelle 
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. LII. 78. 104); 
so the Mid. Dutch, 'Baerte met ten hreden voäen* Florls 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 ATenna- 
censis in dkecesi Remensi (conf. Flodoardus 4, 47) says (Acta Sanctor., Mail p. 
114^) : Quae dum lustraret situs loci illius, pervenit ad quendam hortum, m 
quo erat fons mirae pulcritudinis. Quern ut vidit Deo devota femina, minime 
concupivit, sed possessoribus ipsius praedii sic locuta est : fratres, hunc 
fontem praedii vestri vendite mihi, et accepta digna pecunia cedite usibua 
nostris, Cui sic aiunt : En praesto Bumus, si tamen detur pretium a nobis 
taxatum. Sancta autem, viuentibus qui aderant, libram unam denariorum 
posuit super lapidem qui erat super os ejusdem fontis, domini vero ac vendi- 
tores receperunt aes. Tunc sancta mater, Deo plena, colo quam manu tenebat 
coepit terram fodere, et in modum sulci rigamfacere^ orans ac dicens ; Ostende 
nobis, Domine, misericord inm tuam, et salutare tuum da nobis ! Revertens 
namque monasterium, colum eadem post se trahebat, tantaque abundantia 
aquae eam sequebatur, ut ad usus omnes hominibus pertinentes suificeret, sicut 
usque hodie apparet. Nomen quoque sancta mater fluviolo ipsi compoeait| 
dicens : Libra vocaberis, quia una libra pro emptione tua data est. 

' How firmly she is rooted, may be seen by her being the link that joim 
the Carolingian legend to the Langobardic : she is mother of Carl, wife of 
Pippin the son of Bother (4789), and daughter of Flore and Blanchelior, whose 
name again contains the notion of whiteness. 



PERAHTA, BEKCHTE. 281 

more ancient tradition of a 'reine FMauque, regina pede auau^ 
whose figure stands carved in stone on old churches.^ It is appar- 
ently a swan-maid€7i8 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 ti-eadle, and that of the t>ampling 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.). 

It still remains for us to explain her precise connexion with a 
particular day of the year. It is either on Dec. 25 (dies natalis), or 
twelve days after Christmas, on Jan. G, 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 epiphania 
(v. Ducange, sub v.), hethphania or theophania (0. Fr. tiephaine, 
tiphagne). In an OHG. gloss (Emm. 394), theophania is rendered 
giperahta naht, the bright night of the heavenly vision that 
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 dem Perahtün naht) ; again, 
* an der berechtnaht,* M. Beliam (Mone, anz. 4, 451) ; * ze perh- 
nahten,' MB. 8, 540 (an. 1302); *unze an den ahtodin tac näh der 
Perhtage,' till the eighth day after the Perht's (fem.) 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, 194.^ Now from this there might very easily grow up a 
personification, PercA/entac, PercÄ/cnnaht, the bright day becoming 
Bright's, i.e., dame Bright's, day. (Conrad of Dankrotsheim, p. 123, 
puts his milde BeJUe down a week earlier, on Dec. 30.) * 

Two hypotheses present themselves. Either the entire fabulous 
existence of a V^vhio. 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 A ltd. w. 3, 47-8 ; Paris too connects this PMauque with Berte, iii, iv. 
198 ; rcine I'e^hiuque, Miehelet hist, de France 1, 496-8. 2, 152. 

' Luke 2, 0. O. i. 12, 3. 4. Hel. 12, 8. Maria 182. 

3 The OHG. * ;)/imn<ac = parasceve (Graflf 6, 360) is Good Friday, and 
distinct from Prehentap, Perchtentag. 

* Dec. 28 is Innocents', 29 St. Thomas's, 31 St Silvester's. 



282 GODDESSES. 

cannot point out a dame Perhta before the 15tli or 14Üi contoiy» 
or at earliest the 13th; but the first supposition need notbreiüs 
down, even if we did manage ta hunt up her personal name in 
older authorities : even in the 9th century the expression * perahtün 
naht ' might have developed into ' Perahtün 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 yide, 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- 
* La Befania ' (Pulci's Morg. 5, 42). Bemi says : ' il di di Befania 
vo porla per Befand alia fenestra, perche qualcim le dia d' una 
ballestra '} It would be astonishing, if twice over, in two different 
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. 

* Franc. Bemi, rime 105. Crusca sub v. befana. 



heb0dia8, diana, abundia. 283 

6. (Herodias. Diana. Abündia). 

Herodias, of whom we have 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. 
Religious 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 noctumis horis cum 
Diana paganorum dea vel cimi Herodiade et innumera multitudine 
mulierum equitare super quasdam bestias, et multa terrarum spatia 
intempestae noctis silentio pertransire, ejusque jussionibus velut 
dominae obedire, et certis noctibus ad ejus servitium evocari. — 
Job. 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 
con vi via, &c. — Angerius, episcopus Conseranus (an. 1280) : Nulla 
mulier de noctumis equitare cum Diana dea paganorum vel cum 
Herodiade seu Bensozia ^ 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, 
tliat to tlie worship of this Herodias, one third of the whole world is 
ceded, and so a most respectable diffusion allowed. Ratherius 
(bishop of Verona, but a Frank, b. at Lobi near Cambray, d. 974) in 
liis 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. 

^ Ducan^ eiib v. Diana spells Benzoria, but has the trae meaning under 
Bensozia itself ; it seems tx) mean bona socia, friendly propidous being. Bona 
«Itti, Die Cass. 37, 35. 45. Conf. ch. XXVIII, dobra tretia, bona Fortuna ; ch. 
XVI, good wife, under Wood- women. 



284 GODDESSES. 

de quibus) ait Gen.^, Herodiam illam baptistae Christi interfectri- 
cem, quasi reginam imo deam proponant ; asserentes, tertiam totitis 
mundi partem illi traditam : quasi haec merces fuerit propbetae 
occisi, cum potius sint daemones, talibus praestigiis infelices mulier- 
culas, bisque multum vituperabiliores viros, quia perditissimos, 
decipientes. — A full and remarkable account of the medieval 
tradition, that was tacked on to Herodias, is contained in the Sei- 
nardus 1, 1139—1164 : 

Praecipue sidus celebrant, ope cujus, ubi omnes 

defuerant testes, est data Roma Petro, 
traditaque injusto PharaUdis virgo labori ; 

sed sanctifaciunt qualiacunque volunt. 
Hac famosus erat felixque fuisset Herodes 

prole, sed infelix banc quoque laesit amori 
haec virgo, thalamos Baptistae solius ardens, 

voverat hoc demto nullius esse virL 
OflTensus genitor, comperto prolis amore, 

insontem sanctum decapitavit atrox. 
Postulat aflferri 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 resufflai, 

ilia per impluvium turbine fiantis 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 Jwnor luctum, minuit reverentia poenam, 

pars hominum moestae tertia servit herae. 
Quercubus et corylis a noctis parte secunda 

usgue nigri ad galli carmina prima sedet. 
Nunc ea nomen habet Pliaraüdis, Herodiam ante 

saltria, nee subiens nee subeunda pari. 

Conf. Aelfrici homiliae 1, 486. Here we have Herodias described 
as moesta liera cui pars tertia hominum servit, the reverential 
homage she receives assuages her bitter lot ; only from midnight 

^ Ballerini cannot understand this Qen. ; is it Qennadius (MassiliensisX * 
writer at the end of the fifth century 7 



HERODIAS, DIANA, ABÜNDIA, 285 

tili 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.^ 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 
daugliter is named Salome. Pharaildis on the contrary, M, Dutch 
Vereide^ leads us to ver Eide =^frau Hilde or /raw Hulde, as in a 
doc. of 1213 (Bodmanns Eheing. alterth. p. 94) there occurs a 
' miles dictus Verhildeburg* and in a Frisian doc. of the 14th 
century a Ferhildema, evidently referring to the mythic Hildburg. 
Still more remarkable seems a M. Dutch name for the milky way, 
Vronddcndract = frauen Hilde or Hulde Strasse (street, highway). 
So that the poet of the Reinardus is entirely in the right, when 
Herodias sets him thinking of Fharaildis, 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 <£ea), and her worship found 
numerous adherents. In the same circle moves Dian/i, the lunar 
deity of night, the wild huntress; Diana, Herodias and Holda 

* This reference to the turbo (the whirlwind of his blast), looks mythical 
an<l of hif^h anticjuity. 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 Phol, p. 229) ; but to this day such a wind is accounted for in Lower 
Siixony (about Celle) by the dancing tierodias whirling about in the air. Else- 
where the raising of it is a«5cribed to the devil, and offensive epithets are 
hurled at him, as in the Saalfeld country : * Schweinezahl fähret,' there goes 
swine-tail (Praetorius, Rübezahl 3, 120), and on the Rhön mts. : ^Sauzagel,' 
sow- tail (Schm. 4, 110), to shew contempt for the demon, and abate his forv 
(sec Suppl.). I shall bring in some other stories, when treating of the wind- 
sprites. 

' Canneart, strafrecht 153-5. B^lg. mos. 6, 319. Conl Vergode for fraa 

Gaude. 



286 GODDESSES. 

stand for one another, or side hj 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 hera. The life of 
St. Caesarius Arelatensis mentions a 'daemonium, quod rustici 
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 . . . 
yolens crebra apud se tractare inquisitione, utrum Ejus quem 
(Eilianus) praedicabat, vel Dianae potius cultus praeferendus esset. 
Diana namque apud ilium in summa veneratione habebatur 
(Surius 4, 133 ; Acta sanct. BoUand. 8 Jul. (p. 616), As it is 
principally in Thuringia, Franconia and Hesse that frau Holda 
survives, it is not incredible that by Diana in the neighbourhood 
of Würzburg, 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 ffabonde, supplied by French 
authorities of the Mid. Ages. A bishop of Paris, Guilielmus 
Alvemus (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 cam Satiam a satietate, et dominam 
Abundiam pro abundantia,^ quam cam praestare dicunt domibus, 
quas f requentaverit : hujusmodi 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 in nocte relinquantur. Si vero operta vel clausa inveniunt 
seu obstructa, inde nee corned unt nee bibunt, propter quod 
infaustas et infortunatas relinquunt, nee satietatem nee abun* 

1 The Homans also personified Ahundaniia as a superior being, but she 
only appears on coins, she had neither temples nor altars. 



HKRODIAS, DIANA, ABUNDIA, 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 
iTuUronaruvi ornatu muliebri et Candida, interdum etiam in stabulis, 
cum luminaribus cereis, ex quibus apparent distillationes in comis 
et coUis equorum, et comae ipsonim diligenter tricatae, et audies 
eos, qui talia se vidisse fatentur, dicentes veram ceram esse, quae 
de luminaribus hujusmodi stillaverat.^ De illis vero substantiis, 
quae apparent in domibus, quas dominas noctumas, et principevi 
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 audivistL Quapropter eo usque invaluit stultitia ho- 
minum et insania vetularum, ut vasa vini et receptacula ciborum 
discof perta relinquant, et omnino nee obstruant neque claudant eis 
noctibus, quibus ad domos suas eas credunt adventuras, ea de 
causa videlicet, ut cibos et potus quasi paratos inveniant et eoa 
absque difficultate apparitionis pro beneplacito sumant. 
The Eoman de la rose (M^on 18622 seq.) informs us: 

qui les cine sens ainsinc deqoit 
par les fantosmes, quil recjoit, 
dont maintes gens par lor folie 
cuident estre par nuit estries 
errans auecques dame Habonde, 
et dient, que par tout le monde 
li tiers en/ant de nacion 
sunt de cede condicion, 
qu'il vont trois fois en la semaine, 
si cum destinee les maine, 
et par tons 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 ndsons : 

^ Conf. Deutsche sagen, no. 122. 



288 GODDESSJ-& 

que lels diversity veues 
ne sunt pas en lor liz venues, 
ains sunt lor ames qui laborent 
et par le monde ainsinc sen corent, &a 
18686. Dautre part, que li tiers du monde 
aille ainsinc avec dame HaJxmde, 
si cum voles vielles le pruevent 
par les visions que truevent, 
dont convient il sans nule faille 
que trestous li mondes i aille. 

As Eatherius and the Reinardus represent a third part of the world 
as given up to the service of Herodias, the same statement is here 
applied to dame Habende ; Herodias and Abundia are therefore 
one. A connexion between Abundia and our native Folia, FuUa 
(fulness) will presently be made apparent. The term enfaiis maj 
refer either to the unchristencd babes 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.^ The domina clothed in white reminds one 
of Perahta the bright, the bona domina or bona socia^ of Holda the 
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 ai*e 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 (Huede). Ostara (Eastre). 

Thus far we have got acquainted with the names and worship 
of several goddesses, who were honoured under different names by 
particular tribes of Teutondom (Nerdu, Hludana, Tanfana, Holda» 
Berhta), and others resembling them have only become known to 
us under foreign appellations (Isis, Diana, Herodias, Abundia) : of 
all these (so long as I consider still doubtful the connexion of 

i Agitur pare tertia nuindi. Ovid. met. 6, 372 ; tertia pars mundi fumana 
petit Alrica liaminis, Coripp. 1, 47 : tertia pars orbis Europa vocatur, Wal- 
thar. 1. 

* Is the name socia connected with the Sa(ta in Guilichuus Alvemus t 



HRUODA, OSTARA. 289 

' Erce ' with oxir Herke) not ons is to be found among the Anglo- 
Saxons. 

On the other hand, the Anglo-Saxon historian tells us tlie 
names of two beings, whom he expressly calls ancient goddesses of 
liis people, but of whose existence not a trace is left amongst other 
Gcnnans. A clear proof, that here as well as there, heathenism 
was crowded with divinities of various shape and varying name, 
but who in tlieir 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 ill ink, 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) 
cites very briefly, without any description, merely to explain the 
montlis named after them, are Hrede and Edstre, March taking its 
Saxon name from the first, and April from the second : * Rhedmo- 
imtk a dca illorum Rheda, cui in illo sacrificabant, nominatur/ — 
* Antiqui Anglorum populi, gens mea . . . apud eos Aprilis 
Estitrmonathy qui nunc pasclialis mensis interpretatur, quondam a 
dca illorum, quae Eostra vocabatur et cui in illo festa celebrantur 
(?), nomen habuit ; a cujus nomine nunc paschale tempus cogno- 
niinant, consueto antiquae observatianis vocabulo gaudia novae 
solennitatis vocantes.' ^ 

It would be uncritical to saddle this father of the church, who 
eveiT wliere keeps heatlienism at a distance, and tells us less of it 
tlian 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. Icnzinmanot, named aft^r the season lenzo, lengizo 
[longtliening of days] ;^ but it may have borne other names as well. 
Oberlin quotes, from Chorion*s Ehrenkranz der teutschen sprach, 
Strassb. 1644, p. 91, Rdmonat for March; and a doc. of 1404 



^ One MS. (Koliiiescn opusc. p. 287 ; this ref. given in Rathlefs Hoya ami 
Dicjtliolz 3. 16) H'ads : Ve teres An j^licani populi vocant Elstormonath paschalem 
iiuiiseni, idque a dea quadam cui Teutantci populi in paganismo sacrificia 
iVccnint tempore niensis Aprilis, quae Eostra est appellata. 

" Gr.iniin. 2, 510. Langez. Diut, 3, 88, 

19 



290 GODDESSES. 

(WeistL 1, 175) has Bedtmond, it is not clear for wbat month. 
When we find in the Appenzeller reimchronik p. 174 : 

In dem Bedinumet 

die puren kamen donet, 

do der merzenmonat gieng herzu 

an ainem moigen fru 

do zundentz Eoischach an ; 

here Redinumä seems, by the displacement so common in the 
names of months, to be the month before March, as Chorion uses 
his BetnumcU for February as welL Yon Arx explains the word 
quite differently, and I think untenably, by a mountain. Apart 
from the Swiss term altogether, I believe the AS. name was 
really Hr^Ö" or ffr^ffe = OHG. ffruod 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 Hruadä, gen. Hruadftn, and in 1, 42. 2, 
26, another nom. Hruadun, this last apparently formed like ON. 
Fiörgjm and Hlodyn. The AS. adj. hr68 or hr68e means crudelis 
(Caedm. 136, 21. 198, 2), perhaps victoriosus ? I am in doubt 
about hrS8, sigehrfiö, guöhreö, Beow. 5146. 974. 1631 ; they waver 
between an adj. and a subst sense, and in the last passage, 
* Beowulfe wear5 guChrSC gifeCe,' victoria is evidently meant. 
When the AS. Menologue, line 70, translates Martins by reSe, this 
may stand for hreCe. 

We Germans to this day call April ostermoncU, and dstarmdnath 
is foimd 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 östard gen. -ün ;^ it 
is mostly found in the plural, because two days (ostartagä, 
aostortagä, Diut. 1, 266*) were kept at Easter. This Odard, 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 
grandest anniversaries.' AU the nations bordering on us have 
retained the Biblical 'pascha'; even Ulphilas writes paska, not 

1 T. 167, 1. 3. Ö. 0. i. 22, 8. iii. 6, 16. iv. 0, 8. Hymn. 21, 4. Fragm. 
tlicol. xiv. 17. 

* Conf. Ideler^s Chronologie 1, 616. 



ziSA« 291 

auströ, though he must have known the word ; ^ 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 ON. aristr, and probably an AS. eastor and Goth, 
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 of Austri, so a female one might have been 
called Austra ; the High German and Saxon tribes seem on the 
contrary to have formed only an Ostard, Eddre (fem^), not Ostaro, 
Eiistra (masc).^ 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 
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. 

Beda's account of Hrede and Eastre* shall be followed now by 
a statement reaching back to the 11th century, and deserving 
attention if only for its great age, concerning a goddess Zisa 
worshipped at Augsburg in the heathen time. 

' For oriens he chooses urruns. for occidens 8agq& i.e., rising and sinking of 
the sun, not that he did not knuw vistr (verBUS occidentem), root vis (repose, 
8tillnej<s, evening). 

' C<imposite proper names : Ostroberht, Austroberta. Anstregisil, Ostro- 
gothsi (like Visigotha, Vistrimund, Westeralap, Simdarolt, Nordberant, Ac. &c.) 

' In tlie Bius()ue language oatara means May. the budding leafing time, 
from ost(xi, leaf, foliage : a mere accidental resemblance. 

* I might introduce into the text an AS. R'cen^ if I knew any more about 
her than what Lye's glossary quotes from Cod. Cot 6d, 87 : Rieenne Diana. It 
\ä formed like ]nnen (ancilla), wylpeu (bellona), dc 



293 GODDESSES. 

The CocL Monach. Lat 2 (of 1135), and the Cod. Emmeran. F. 
IX. fol. 4» (of 12-13th cent) contain identic ' Excerpta ex Gallica 
liistoria *} 

* Dum hec circa renum gerantur, in norieorum (interlined 
"bawariorum, Cod. Vind. CII. pauwariomm) finibus grave vulnus 
romanus populus accepit. quippe germanorum gentes (interlined 
suevi), que retias occupaverant, non longe ab alpibus tractu pari 
])atentibus campis, ubi duo rapidissimi amnes [interlined licus et 
werthalva (CII vuerdaha)] inter se confluunt, in ipsis norids finibus 
(interlined terminis havxiriorum et suevorum) civitatem non quidem 
uiuro sed vallo fossaque cinxerant, quam appellabant zizarim (CIL 
cizarim) ex nomine dee cize,^ quam religiosissime colebant. cujus 
templum quoque ex lignis harbarico ritu constrictum, postquam eo* 
colonia romana dcducta est, inviolatum permansit, ac vetustate 
coUapsum nomen* colli servavit. hanc urbem titus annius pretor 
ad arcendas barbarorum excursiones kal. sextilibus (interlined 
exacta jam estate) exercitu circumvenit. ad meridianam oppidi 
partem, que sola a continenti (interlined littoribus) erat, pretor ipse 
cum legione martia castra operosissime communivit. ad occiden- 
tem vero, qua barbarorum adventus erat, ävar, högvdis regis filius, 
cum equitatu omni et auxiliaribus macedonum copiis inter flumen ct 
vallum loco castris parum amplo infelici temeritate extra flumen 
(interlined werÜmJia) consedit. pulchra indoles, non minus romanis 
quam grecis disciplinis instructa. igitur qninquagesimo nono die, 
qua eo ventum est, cum is dies dee cizc (CII. de^ ciz^) apud barbaros 
celeberrimus, ludum et lasciviam magis quam formidinem ostentarct, 
imraanis barbarorum (interlined SM^rt'on^m, CII. svivorum) multitudo, 
ex pvoximis silvis repente emmpens ex improviso castra irrupit, 
equitatum omnem, et quod miserius erat, auxilia sociorum delevit 
avar,^ cum in hostium potestatem regio habitu vivus venisset, [sed 

1 I owe their cominnnicaptiQn to Schnieller's kindness. The same piece is 
found at Vienna in two I'onn«*: in the Cod. Lat. CII (olim hist prof. 652) sec 
xi. ineuntis fol. 79. 80 ; and in the Co<l. CCXXVI (olim univ. 237) sec. xii. 
In both it stands between Jom. De reb. get. and De regn. succ CII has 
interlinear glosses and marginal notes (exactly like the Munich MSS.) by a 
8C4ircely later hand, which also writes the heading *Excerptum ex GaIHch 
historia *. CCXXVI adopts the interlinears into the text, but otherwise agrees. 

* On margin: * Quern male polluerat cultura nefaria dudum 

gallxis monticidum hunc tibi ciza tulit'. 

* On margin : * i)ost conditam urbem avgustam a romanis \ 

* Marg. note : *ut usque hodie ab incolis cizvubtrc nominetur*. 

" Marg. note: 'ex cujus vocabulo, quia ibi mactatus et tumulatos est 
chrikesaviran (CII chrekasaverj uomen uccopit. greens enim erat '. 



ziSA. 293 

que apud larharos reverentia ?J more pecudis ibidem mactatur.* 
oppidaiii vero non minori fortuna sed maiori virtute pretorem in 
auxilium sociis properantem adoriuntur. romani baud segniter 
resistant, duo principes oppidanorum hdbino^ et coccus? in primis 
pugnantes cadunt. et inclinata jam res oppidanorum esset, ni 
maturasseiit auxilium ferre socii in altera ripa jam victoria potitL 
denique coadunatis viribus castra imimpunt, pretorem, qui paulo 
altiorem tumulura (interlined perleih) frustra ceperat, romana vi 
resistentem obtruncaut. legionem* divinam (interlined inartiam), 
ut ne nun eins cladis superesset, funditus delent Verres solus 
tribunus militum amne transmisso in proximis paludibus se 
occultans* bonestam mortem subterfugit. nee multo post sicilie 
proconsul immani avaricia turpem mortem promeruit. nam cum se 
magistratu abdicaret, judicio civium damnatus est' 

Tlie same fragment, only without the interlined words and 
without marginal additions, stands in Goldast's Rerum suev. script, 
aliquot veteres, Ulm 1727 fol. p. 3 under the rubric : ' Vdleii Galli 
fragmentum de victoria Suevorum contra Romanos * (conf. Haupts 
zeitschr. 10,291). It has the readings 'dea Cisa* B,nd'Gisara' 
and for Caccus ' Caciis* but agrees in the other names. Further, 
for loco parura 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. I-azius's Reip. Rom. libri xil Franco!. 1591 p. 
52, if this copy had not some variations too ; the heading runs : 

* Velleii excerpta ex Gallica historia ' ; it has Cisara, but Ciz^, also 

* Habbino, Caccus, amplo,' and concludes with promeruit Lazius 

* On margin : 

* Hoc nomen terris bogiulis dat re^ proles 
greravar (CI I grecus auar), pecudis de suevis more litatrj,* 
' On margin : 

* Prefectus habeno se victum hicque sepultum 
perpetuo mentis nomine notificat. 
qui juxta mi^ntem occisiis et sepultus nomen monti habenonberch dedit, quem 
rustici havenenberch (CIl havenonperch) dicunt.' 

' CII : * a cujus nomine putamus iekingen nominari.' 

* On margin : * de hac ibi perdita legione adhuc perUick nominatnr.' 
Then in smaller but contemporaneous writing : 

' Indicat hie coUis romanam nomine cladem 

martia quo legio tota simul periit. 
sulnlidit hunc rome prepes victoria petrOf 
hoc sibimet templum qui modo constituit.' 
' On margin : ^ hie quia in paludibus adjacentibua latuit, lacui neriiM hno 
usque nomen dedit '. 



204 GQDDES8K& 

KLjB : ' quam iios historiain in pervetosto oodioe nwnihniL litem 
a&tiqaittimis scriptam reperimiu ' ; that would be the siztli MSL 
knoim hitherto, and copies must have been pretty numeroiis in the 
ll'12th centnriesu The one that Goldast had before him majr 
probablj have been the oldest 

Either one or the other of them, both Otto von Freisingen and 
the author (or continuator) of the Anersberg chronicle seem to have 
liad before thenL The former tries to connect the story with 
Qnintilius Yams (instead of Yerres), and after relating his over- 
throw, adds (chron. 3, 4) : ' Tradunt Augnstenses banc caedem ifai 
factam, ostendontque in aigumentom coUem ex ossibns m orl uonim 
compactum, quem in vulgari perleieh (Mone, anz. 1, 256), eo qnod 
legio ibi perierit, usque hodie vocant, vicumque ex nomine Yari ^- 
pellatum monstrant '. The Auersberg chronicler's account, thougih 
he almost verbally adopts the older fragment, I hold it needful to 
insert here, because the marginal glosses are curiously interwoven 
with the text, and referred to ' discovered inscriptions on stone *} 

Ue Augusta Yindelicorum vel Shetiae. sicut ex scriptis vetenun 
colligitur haec ciWtas tria nomina accepit. Germanorum quippe 
gentes primum considentes in partibus Khetiae, quae nunc est pars 
8ueviae, non longe ab alpibus in planitie, loco tamen munito propter 
concursum duorum rapidorum fluminum, banc urbem construxerunt^ 
et non muris sed fossatis eam firmaverunt, et ex nomine deat Zizae, 
quam religiosissime colebant, Zizerim eam nominabant hujiis 
quoque deae templum ex lignis barbarico ritu constructum, etiam 
postquam Bomani eam incolere coeperunt, inviolatum permansit 
at vetustate collapsum nomen colli servavit, in quo postmodum in 
lapide ex^culpti hi versus sunt reperti : 

quem male poUuerat cultura nefaria dudum 
gallus monticulum hunc tibi Ziza tulit 

uiide usque in praesens ab incolis idem monticulus Zizenberg no- 
minatur. apud banc urbem Eomani deleti sunt magna caede. 
nam Titus Annius praetor ad arcendas barbarorum excursiones 
cum exercitu in kaL Augusti eam circundedit, ipseque ad meri- 
dianam oppidi partem, quae sola patebat, castra sua cum l^one 
Martia operosissime communivit. ad occidentem vero ultra 
lluvium, ubi Suevis aut barbaris aditus patebat, Avar Bogvdxs regis 

» Cliron. Conradi urspei^g. Argent. 1532, p. 308. ed. 1609, p. 225. 



ziSA. 295 

filius cum omni eqnitatu et auxilio macedonico consedit. igitur 

quinquagesimo noiio die, quam eo ventum est, cam is dies deae Ziz^ 

apud barbaros celeberrimus esset, ludum et lasciviam magis quam 

formidinem cives ostentarunt. tunc etiam immanis barbarorum 

multitude, quae de partibus Sueviae illuc eonvenerat, de proximis 

silvis repente erumpens ex improviso castra imipit et Avaria 

exercitum delevit. ipsum quoque Avar regio babitu indutum 

vivum comprehendentes crudeliter in modum pecoris mactaverunt. 

a quo in loco, ubi mactatus est, vicus usque hodie appellatus est 

Cricchesaveron, in quo hi versus reperti sunt : 

his nomen terris Bogudis dat regia proles 

Qraecus Avar, pecudis de Suevü more litatus. 

oppidaui vero non minori fortuna sed majori virtute praetorem 

ill auxilium sociis properantem invadunt, quibus Bomani baud 

segniter resistunt in quo conflictu duo principes oppidanorum 

Habino et Cacais in primis pugnantes cadunt, et inclinata jam res 

esset oppidanorum, ni maturassent auxilium ferre Suevi in altera 

ripa victoria jam potitL de nominibus autem illorum principum 

interfectorum exstant adhuc loca denominata, nam rustici de Ha- 

hinone vocant monticulum Haiinoberg, in quo hi versus reperti 

sunt: 

praefectus Habino se victum atque sepultum 

perpetuo montis nomine notificat 

a Cacco vero dicunt Oeggintn denominarL denique coadunatis 

Sucvis et oppidanis castra irrumpimt, et praetorem, qui paulo al- 

tiorem tumulum frustra ceperat, romana vi resistentem obtruncant, 

legionemque divinam, ut nee nuncius cladis superesset, funditus 

delent de hac perdita legione adhuc perlaieh, quasi perdita legio, 

nominatur, ubi postmodum hi versus sunt reperti : 

indicat hie collis romanam nomine cladem, 
martia quo legio tota simul periit 

solus Vcrres tribuuus militum amne transmisso in proximis palu- 
(libus se occultans honestam mortem subterfugit, lacui Vemse 
hucusque nomen dedit versus : 

das nomen lacui Verres quo tu latuistL 
hie tainen non multo post Siciliae proconsul effectus turpem mor- 
tem promeruit nam cum se magistratu abdicaret judicio civium 
damnatus est. propter bunc Verrem tradunt Augiistenses hanc 
caedem fuisse eandem, quam sub Augusto factam quidam descri- 



296 GODDESSES. 

bunt, sed Varum ilium nominant his verbis : ea tempestate Varus, 
romano more, superbe et avare eiga subditos äc gerens a Grermanis 
deletus est. 

Some later writers also mention the tradition. About 1373 — 
91, an ecclesiastic, Kiichlin, composed in rhyme a history of 
Augsburg ^ for the burgomaster Peter Egen the Young, who wished 
to have his house painted with illustrations from it. Cap. 2, toh 
99 says of the Swabians : 

Sie bawten einen tempel gross darein 
zu eren (in honour of) Zise der abgöttin, 
die sie nach heidnischen sitten (after heathen ways) 
anbetten zu denselben zeiten (adored in those days). 
Die stat ward genennt (city got named) auch Zisaris 
nach der abgöttin (after the goddess), das was der pris. 
Der tempel als lang stand 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 hilt (hight still to-day) der Zisenlerck, 

Conf. Kellers Fastn. sp., p. 1361. Sigism, Meisterlin, in his Augs- 
burg chronicle * (which is in print from the 8th chap, of bk 1), 
treats of this Cisa in chaps. 5-6 of bk 2. In the unprinted chap. 4 
of bk 1, he unmistakably refers to Kiichlin, and again at the end of 
chap. 7 : ' das er auch melt (tells) von der göttin Cisa, die auch 
genent wird Cizais, das sj geert habend (they honoured her) die 
doch aus Asia warend ; dawider seind die anderi^, die von Cysa 
schreibent, die sprechent, das sy die Vindelici habend nach 
schwebischen sitten angebettet, von der göttin wirst du hernach 
mer haben, ob got wil (buch 3. cap. 5. 6)1' (See SuppL) 

Hopeless contradictions lie on the face of that fragment. 
Bogud, a Punic ship's-captain, who lived in the year 494 of Home, 
or 260 B.C.,* is here turned into a Macedonian king ; and his son 
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 Schmeller. 

* Augsb. 1522 fol. Meisterlin wrote it in 14d6, and died about 1484. 

» Niebuhr's Rom. Hist 3, 677. 



ziSA. 297 

What Titus Annixis was meant by the * praetor/ I cannot guess ; 
there is a consul of that neune A.U.C. 601 and 626, or B.C. 153, 128. 
Velleius Paterculus can never have written this sort of thing.^ 

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 
century ; Lazius and Velser ^ are inclined to 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), cizünberc, 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 P&rlach, on which the monastery and church 
of St. Peter were fou^nded in 1064 ; so the verse ' subdidit hunc 
(collem) Romae praepes victoria Petro * was composed after that ? 
The name perleih, which the legend derives from periens or perdita 
legio, suggasts the OHG. eikileihi, aigilaihi (phalanx), GL ker. 124. 
Diut. 1, 223 ; and in other compounds we find leih in a variety of 
senses.^ Zisenberg and Havenenberg are names no longer heard, 
while Pfersen (Veris-s6) MR 33^ 108 an. 1343, and Kriegshaber 
are well known villages. Whatever may be the explanation of the 
older and correcter form Criechesaveron, it is very plain that the 
name of the place Criahhes (graeci) avard (imago, cont pp. 86, 95, 
yet also avaro proles) first suggested ' Graecus Avar,' as well as 
llahiiwnherc 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 G. Jo. Vossius, De hist Lat 1, 24. 

' Marci Velseri rer. Augustanar. libri 8. 1594 foL p. 45. 

' Henisch p. 293 explains * berlach ' at Augsburg * ab ursis in publica 
cavea ihi altis, a thing w)iich was done in other towns, e.a. Bern. On the 
Ferlach 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 
gesciiichtkl. 30^ : ' der amazonischen Augspui^r japetisch fraw Eyttn \ 



293 GODDESSES. 

fact and fiction ; the great point is, that she brings its tidings of a 
Suevic goddess. Cisa seems the older and better speUiBg, 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 ä 
season might be held a feast of the divinity who had prospered the 
liarvest 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 ?ioly common-week was considered 
in the Mid. Ages to begin ; Scheffer's Haltaus, pp. 141-2. na dtr 
hilUgen m^inweken, Wisisth. 3, 240. In the handing down of a 
precise and doubtless genuine date, I feel the eredibility of the stoiy 
confirmed. 

Now who is Oi^a ff One naturally thinks first of thati Suevic 
Isis (p. 257) in Tacitus,, whose name even is not unlike Cis% Zisa» 
if we make allowance^ for the mere dropping of the initial, an 
omission which the Boman 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 plaeed by 
the side of our Zio, in. whom also was displayed a thoronghly 
Swabian deity (p. 199) r nay, together with our supposed feminine 
Ziu (p. 203) there may have been a collateral form Zisd, so that her 
ZisfAnberg would exactly eorrespond 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,* but 

1 Down in the Riess between the rivers Lech and Wertach, in the midst of 
Sueves, at a time &u])po3ed to be before even the Romans settled in the r^oii|^ 



FRIKKA. FROUWA. 29d 

that three divinities, Zio, Zisa and Isis, are assigned to the Suevi, is 
already abundantly clear. 

8. Frikka (Fuigg). Frouwa (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 at we recognised 
Freyr in the Gothic frauja (p. 209), Freyja leads us to expect a 
Gothic fraujo, gen. fniujons, both in the general sense of domina 
mistress, and in the special one of a proper name Frdvjd. The 
notion of mistress, lady, never occurs in Ulphilaa To make up 
for it, our OHG. remains express it very frequently, by fruiod, 
fröwd; the MHG./rouu;e,/r(mand our modem /raw have preserved 
themselves purely as common nouns, while the masc. fr6 has 
vanished altogether. In meaning, frouwe and fraa correspond 
exactly to herre, herr, and are used like it both in addressing and 
otherwise.^ Our minnesangers are divided as to« the respective 
superiority of frouwe (domina) and wip (femina),* wlp 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 mytholoRT know any- 
tliing at all certain about a Ziza, alleged to 1>e Ceres mammosa (Boh. cic, cec, 
Pol. eye, Rubs, tili, mamma), in support of whom forsooth our Cisa must be 
wron^^ed ; see Hanusch 278. It were better to think of the MHG. name for 
the zeisirr (zeis-ehen, siskin) diu 2/«. ein kleiniu zUe, Ms. 1, 191^ Wh. 27Ö, 
30 ; which can scarcely have arisen from cicindela (glow-worm, Graff 5. 711) ; 
however, no connexion has come to light hetween the goddess and the form of 
a bird, though some little birds, the woodpecker, the titmouse, were held 
sacred. 

» Like our /r<J, the Fr. dame (dominus) is now lost ; dame (domina) 
remains, like our fraiL Tlie Span, keeps both don and doHa^ the Ital. only 
donna. The Romance tongues express the masc. notion by two other word», 
firf^ nnir (p. 27) and seigneur ^ »ignore, ffüor, t.«., senior, out of which an Ital. 
Bignora^ a hpan. tehora have sprouted, but no Fr. feminine. 

* Walth. 489. 57. Amgb. 45»» 46^. Ms. 2, 182«» 210». Docen misc 2, 
278-9. frouwe undc wlp, Parz. 302, 7 (see SuppL). 



300 OODDESSEB. 

Imrp on the connexion of frau with froh glad (fro-lic) and freudB 
joy ; conf. Fridank 106, 5—8. Tit. 15, 35. 

The AS. and OS. languages have done the very reverse : while 
their masc. fred, fmho is used far more freely than the OHG. 
frouwo, they have developed no fem. by its side. The M. Dutch 
dialect has vrauwe, vrcniwe in addressing and as title (Huyd. op St. 
1, 52. 356. Eem. 297. 731. 803. 1365. 1655. 2129. 2288. 2510- 
32-57-64, &c.), seldomer in other positions, Kein. 2291 ; the modem 
vrou7o has extended its meaning even beyond the limits of our 
frau. 

All the above languages appear to lack the fem. proper name, 
in contrast to the ON. wliich possesses Frcyja almost solely as the 
goddess's name, and no freyja = hera. Yet we find h'Asfreyja house- 
wife, Siem. 212^ and Snorri is still able to say that freyja is a 
tignamafn (name of honour) derived from the goddess,^ that grand 
ladies, rikiskonur, are freyjur^ Sn. 29. Yngl. saga c. 13. The 
readings finir, fruvor here are corrupt, for the IceL form frA has 
evidently slipped in from the Dan. frucy Swed. fru, and these from 
Germany. The goddess should be in Swed. Froa, Dan. -Fro«, 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 altoi^ether ; he would no doubt liave named her Frda. 
Our Merseburg poem has now at last presented us with FräA = 
Fröwä, as the proper name of the goddess.* 

Frigg gen. Friggjar, daughter of Fiörgynn and wife of OBinn, is 
kept strictly apart from Freyja^ gen. Freyju : in the Vafj7rudni8mÄl 
and the beginning of the Grlmnismdl, Oälnn and F^ngg are plainly 
presented as husband and wife ; and as Uroptr and Sväfnir are 
also names of Oöinn, * Hroptr ok Frigg, Sväfnir ok Frigg ' in Saem. 

^ As fraujo from Fränjö, and freyja from Freyja, a song of FrauenloVa» 
Ettm. p. 112 makes wtp come from a Frankish king IFimteo. Is this an echo 
of a mythical Wippo, Wibba (geneal. of Mercia, end of eh. VII) ? The expla- 
nation is as false as wlien the Edda derives vif from vefa, 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 ia also 
worthy of note, Fomald. sog. 2, 459. 3, 250. 594. 

' The reasons why we may not take fr&a 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 me quite plain, else Wackernagel's proposal to read Friia — 
Frija, Friga, Fria, would be acceptable (friiu does occur in T. 93, 3). FrCka 
and Fria are alike welcome and suitable for my explanation. 



FRIKKA. FROUWA. iSOl 

91-** 03* express the same relatioa Saxo Gram., p. 13, has correctly 
* ^''^{fö^ Otliini conjux *. In prayers the two goddesses even stand 
side by side : * svd hialpi ther hollar vaettir, Frigg ok Freyja, ok 
fleiri goo (more gods), sem )?ii feldir mer far af höndom!' Saem. 
210^ So they do at the burning of Baldr's body, Sn. 66, conf. 37. 
And that Danish folk-song has likewise * Frigge, Fni og Thor '. 

The ON. usually has gg where the AS. has eg and OHG. cc or 
kk, namely, wehere a suffix i had stood after g or k : thus, ON. 
ei^ (acies), AS. ecg, OHG. ekki ; ON. bryggja (pons;, AS. brycge, 
OHG. pnikka ; ON. hryggr (dorsum), AS. hrycg, OHG. hrukki. 
In the same way we get an AS. Fricg, OHG. Frikka, Frikkia, even 
farther away from Froicwd than Frigg from Freyja. 

It is the confounding of these two beings that will explain how 
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, shouM 
be called in ON. both Freyjudagr and also Friadagr, in OHG. 
never Frouwftntac, but FriateiC, Frlgetac, now Freitag, in AS. 
Frigcdvo<; (for Fricgedieg ?), v. supra, pp. 123-6, and in Faröese 
FrujggjadQk (Lyngbye 532). 

Among these forms the AS. presents no difficulty : in the OHG. 
and ON. names we are puzzled by the absence of the gutturaL I 
believe a solution is offered by that most important passage in 
Paulus Diac. 1, 8 where Wodan's consort is named ^r^a, which can 
only mean Frigg, not Freyja, as Saxo Gram, too, while expressly 
grounding on Taulus, makes use of the form Frig : * Paulo teste 
auctore Fng dea '} 

This Langob. Frea accords with the OHG. Frla, I take it to be 
not only identical with Frigg, but the original form of the name ; 
it lias less to do with Freyja and the AS. masc. frea. As an ON. 
brii (pons) stands related to bryggia, so will fri to frigg. The 
Langob. Frea is = Frea, Fria, Frija, Frea. Its root is suggested by 

^ The AS. chroniclers (p 128) borrow Frea from Paula«». With Frea wc 
must above all connect the frea of the Laws of Liutprand 6, 40 and 67, and 
this means uxor, domina, not libera, ingeniia. Paulus therefore, in assigning 
Fna to Wo<lan as his wife, has put her in the place of the Noi-se Frigg. The 
sul)>titutiun is often made: thus, when Fornald. »og. 2, 25-6 has ' heita a 
Fviiija ok ä Ilott (Or^inn),* it is Frigg that should have been associated with 
Oi'Smn, as is di»ne in the Grimnisuial (see SuppL). 



302 GODDESSES. 

such words as: Goth, freis, frij is (liber), OHG. frt; Groth. frijdn 
(amare), OHG. Mon ; especially may we take into account the OS. 
neut. M (mulier), Hel. 9, 21. 13, 16. 171, 21. 172, 1, the AS. 
freo (mulier), Caedm. 29, 28. freolic cw6n (pulcra femina), Beow. 
1275. freolicu meowle. Cod. exon. 479, 2. freolic wlf, Beow. 1221 
freolic fsemne, Cjedm. 12, 12. 54, 28.^ Now, as frt (liber) and our 
frech, OX. frekr (protervus, impudens), frt (mulier fonnosa) and 
ON. fnSr (formosus), friör (pax) seem to be all related, even the 
adjectival forms betray the shifting sense of the substantivaL* 

We gather from all this, that the forms and even the meanings 
of the two names border closely on one another. Freyja means the 
gladsome, gladdening, sweet, gracious goddess, Ftigg 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 väna solen,* the beautiful sun. 

Hence the mingling of their myths becomes the more con* 
ceivable. Saxo, p. 13, relates how Frir/ga, to obtain gold for her 
ornaments, violated conjugal fidelity p 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»m. 63. Yngl. 
saga cap. 3). In Sn. 81 the valshamr of Frtyja is spoken of, but in 
113-9 that of Figg ; the former is supported by Sfem. 70, 

Hence the variations in the name for the day of the week. The 
OHG. -?Watac ought clearly to be Friggjardagr in ON, and the 
ON. Freyjudagr should be Frouwdntac 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 (colas 
TJXaKaTTj), is called by the Swedish people Friggerock (colus Friggae, 
Ihre, p. 663) or Frejerock (Finn Magnusen 361*), as we noticed 
before, or Frojas rock (Wieselgren. 383). The orchis odoratissima, 
satyrium albidum, a plant from which love-potions are brewed, IceL 
Friggjargras, otherwise hionagras (herba conjugalis); the later 

1 Conf. the MHG. wiplich wfp, Parz. 10, 17. MS. 1, 50* 202». 2, 42«» 
182»» 258». wibin wip, MsH. 1, 359*» ; similarly ^Xvrcpai yvyoiiccf, Od. 11, 
386. 434. 15, 422. Hesiod scut. 4. 

•We might connect Venus with the Goth. qin6, q^ns, as reDirewith 
qinian ; the VVcl. gwen would answer to Gvenus for Venus ; the Ir. dia 
beine, Friday, from bean, hen (lady) = Venus = AS. ewin. 



FRIIvKA. FBOÜWA. 303 

christian way of thinking has substituted Mary for the heathen 
goddess. And the labouring man in Zealand speaks of the above 
constelkition also by the name of Maridrok, Mariroh Several 
kinds of fern, adiantum, polypodium, asplenium, are named lady s 
hair, maidenhair, Mariengrns, capillus Veneris, Icel. Frei/jiüidr, Dan. 
Fruehaar, Venusstraa, Veniisffräs, 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, (frio sconiosta, idiso sconiost, HeL 61, 13. 62, 1), but 
she was pre-eminently our lady, frau, domina, donna, Conf. infra 
fraiuichueliy ladycow, Marienkalblein. In the nursery-tales she sets 
the girls seiving and spinning like Holda and Berhta, and Holda's 
snow appears to mean the same as Maiy's snow (p. 268). 

Before so close a contact of tlie 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 Pnye for Aphrodite ; taking into 
account the Goth, frijon, the OHG. friudil (lover), MHG. vriedel, 
and the Slav, priyatel (friend). Boh. pfjtel, PoL przyiaciel, it must 
liave meant either Freyja the goddess of love and fruitfulness, or 
Frigg the divine mother and patroness of marriage. In Sanskrit 
also pri is to love, priyas a friend, Ramäpriya dear-to-Lakshmi = 
lotus, Yamapriya pleasing-to-Yama = ficus indica, priya in names 
of go(ls = husband or wife, Pott's forsch. 2, 424-7. Then prUhivi 
is the earth, and maid Prithvi Terra mater, from whom comes fruit 
and increase (conf. Wei. pridd terra, Bopp*s gloss. 223^) ; and the 
word, thougli next of kin to prithus {irXarv^ 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 
god,^ takes rank above all other goddesses : she knows the fates of 
men (Sa?m. 6:^^ Sn. 23. 64), is consulted by OSinn (Saem. 31*), 
administers oaths, handmaids fulfil her best, she presides over 

1 Some of the AS. genealo'ries have * WuJen et Frtdldf tjxu uxor* so that 
FriK'^^ = Frt'äläf (OHG. Fröleip ?) which fit* in with that FridUfAarg in the 
Danisli son^% p. 3(H) ; others nuike Frealaf W6den*8 father. But in lieu of him 
we liave also /-'rt^uläf aiul / ri<5"u wulf, a fresh confirmation of the connexion 
bctwccu frid and the goildess'a name. 



30 i GODDESSES. 

marriafjes, and her aid is implored by the cliildless (Fomald. soj. 1, 
117) ; hence hionagras is also Frifjffjargras. 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 Hallamshiie, 
popular customs show remnanta 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 
boy without hurting him.^ Still more remarkable is the clear 
vestige of the goddess in Lower Saxony, wliere to the common 
people she is fru Frelcc? and plays the very parts which we saw 
assigned to f ran Ifolle (pp. 267-8): a strong argument, by the way, fop 
the divine nature of this latter. Then in Westphalia, legend may 
derive the name of the old convent Freckerüiorst, Frickenhorst, from 
a shepherd Frickio, to whom a light appeared in the night (like the 
fall of snow by night at Hildesheira, p. 268) on the spot where the 
church was to be built ; the name really points to a sacred hurst or 
grove of Frechi fem., or of Fricko masc, whose site Christianity was 
perhaps eager to appropriate ; conf. Frcocinghyrst, Kemble 1, 248. 
2, 265. There is a VreJccleve, Frickdcbcn, not far from Magdeburg 
(see Suppl.). 

Freya is the goddess most lionoured after or along with Frigg ; 
lier worship seems to have been even the more prevalent and 
important of the two, she is styled * agaetuz af Asynjum,' Sn. 28, 
and ' blotgyöja,* Yngl. saga cap. 4, to whom frequent sacrifices were 
offered, HeitJrekr sacrificed a boar to her, as elsewhere to Freyr, 
and honoured her above all other gods.* She was wedded to a 

* Conmiiinicated l)v J. M. Kemble, from the month of an * old Yorkshire- 
man '. I account for die sword by tlie ancient use of that weapon at weddings ; 
conf. RA. 426-7. 431 ; esp. the old Frisian custom pp. 167-8, conf. Heimreica's 
Nordfrifts. cliron. 1, 53-4. In Swubia, as late as the 18th century, the brides- 
men carried larj^e swords with flutteriiig ribbons before the britte ; and there 
is a striking similarity in the Esthonian custom (Superst. ÄL 13). 

'-^Eccard de orij;. Germ. p. 398: Celebratur in plel)e Saxonica yht Freke^ 
cui eadem munia tribuuntnr, (inue sujxjriorcs Saxones Holdae suae odscribunt. 
Fru Frcke has just been unearthed again by Ad. Kuhn, namely in the Uker- 
mark, where she is called Fruike, and answers to fru Uarke in the Mittelmark 
and fru Gode in the Prignitz. 

' Ilervararsa^a, cd. Vcrel. p. 1Q8, ed. 1785 p. 124. By the editors of the 
Fomald. sug. 1, -I'S.i the passage is banished into the notes as.uu unsuppotted 



reading. 



FBIKKA. FROUWA. 305 

man (not a god, at least not an As), named OSr, 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 Saiirs in 
Gothic : Wilh. Müller 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 
'gnxtfagr,' fair in greeting (weeping), Sn. 37. 119. 133; in our 
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)^ she rides to the battlefield, ' riör til 
vii^s/ and goes shares with OSinn in the slain (supra p. 133, conf. 
Sfcra. 42^ Sn. 28. 57). She is called 'eigandi valfalls' (quae 
sortiinr caesos in pugna), Sn. 119 ; i-aZ/r^a, mistress of the chosen, 
Xialss. 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 babes that die uncliristerud into their host, heathen 
goddesses the heathen souls. Freyja's dwelling is named Folk- 
vdngr or Folkvdfigar, the plains on which the (dead ?) folk troop 
togctlier ; tliis imparts new credibility to the connexion of St: 
Gertrude, wliose rainne is dnink, with Frowa, for the souls of the 
departed were supposed to lodge vrith Gertrvde the first night (p. 61). 
Freyja's hall is Sessrymnir, the seat-roomy, capacious of m\xc\i folk; 
dying women expect to find themselves in her company after death. 
Thorgerör in the Egilss., p. 103, refuses earthly nourishment, she 
thinks to feast with Freyja soon: 'ok engan (nättverö) mun ek 
fyrr enn at Freyju \ Yet love-songs please her too, and lovers do 
well to call upon her : ' henni likaöi vel mansöngr, ä hana er gott 
at heita til asta,' Sn. 29. That the eat 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, wdteraas (-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. 
Tlie meaning of a phrase in Walther 82, 17 is dark to me: ' weder 
ritest gerner cine giddin katze, aid einen wunderlichen Gerhart 
Atzen ? ' In Westphalia, however, the uxascl was named froie, 

^ Freyja has a tcaggon like Nerthus (mother of Freyrl), like Holda and 
Freyr hiiiistlf, Wuotan aiid Donar (pp. 105-7, 261-2-4,276) ; the kingly waggon 
i« i)rüper only to great exalted deilieo. 

20 



306 GODDKSSfiS. 

Eeinh. clxxii, wliicli I suppose means frau, fräulein (froiken), as 
that ghostly creature was elsewhere called mühmlein (aunty), 
fraidein, donna, donnda, 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 (yoKerf), Ovid, metam. 9, 306 (see SuppL). 

In so far as such comparisons are allowable, Frigg would stand 
on a line with Here or Juno, especially the pronuba, Jupiter^s 
spouse ; and Freyja with Venus,^ 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 Bristnga nun (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. 354 — 357. 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 
starts from her breast (stauk J?at it micla men Brislnga), Seem. 71^ 
When Thorr, to get his hammer back, dresses up in Freyja's gar- 
ments, he does not forget to put her famous necklace on: 'hafi 

1 III the Tanhäiiser, as sung in Switzerland (Aufsess. anz. 1832, 240-2 ; 

Ubland's volknl. p. 771), inst^d of the usual daine Venm we find preciaely 

/mu FrtM, and ace. to Staid. 1, 395 frein is there a collateral form of/m free. 

A woman's name Vreneli is known from HebeL Vrene may be Yeiena the 

• irtyr, or Veronica, v. Vrene, Een. 3-8. 



FRIKKA. FKOUWA. 307 

hann (have he) it mikla men Briatntja ! * Saein. 72. — ^Now this very 
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 MHß. brisen, breis (nodare, nodis constringere, 
Gr. Kevreiv to pierce), namely, it was a chain strung together of 
bored links. Yet conf. ch. XX, hrising St. John's fire: periiaps 
the dwarfs that forged it were called BAsingar t 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 BreisiggS mani.^ 
Conf. ch. XX, lar&ar 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 a'yiov sacrum (Matt. 7, 6), the OS. poet makes it a 
helag halsnuni (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 Aphi-odite's opfio^ (Hymn to Venus 88), and 
the chain is her girdle, the k€(tto<; ifiä^ TroiKi\o<i which she wears 
on her bosom, and whose witchery subdues all gods and mortals. 
How she loosens it off' her neck (aTro ariidea^iv) and lends it to 
Here to cliarm her Zeus with, is told in a lay that teems with 
world-old myths, II. 14, 214-8. As the ifid^ 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 : * huÄ 

1 Just as from Freyja proceeiled the general notion of a freyja frouwA, »o ^ 

necklace-wetirin^ »er\'cs to describe a beautiful wife or maiden. In Stem. 97* 
trvenglötS (monili laetti, rejoicing in a necklace) meana simply femina, but in 
108» HI» Meiiglö>y is a proper name (see p. 272 note); in 222» menikögul i» 
iL<«(sl of Brynhildr. Women are commonly namied from- their oraameiits of 
guKl or precious stones, Su. 128 (aee Suppl.). 



308 GODDESSES. 

ätti ser eina skemmu, er var bseSi fogr ok sterk, svä at J?at segja 
menn, ef huröin var Isest, at eingi mätti 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 ; ^ Homer says 
nothing about that, but (II. 14, 165-8) he knows of Here's OaXafjux:, 

TOP oi 0/\O9 Vf09 €T€V^€V 

^H<j>aujTO^, TTvtCLvä^: Se dupa^ arad/iola-LP iirrjpae 
kXtjIBl KpuTTT^t t'^v S' ov 060^ oKKo^ av^6V, 
What can be more exactly in accordance with that inaccessible 
apartment of Freyja, especially as the lfid<; 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 FreyjcL The identity of Frigg and Freyja with Here and 
Aphrodite must after this mythus be as plain as day. 

10. Füll A. Sindgund. 

Another thing that betrays the confusion of Frigg with Freyja 
is, that the goddess Folld, now proved by the Mersebui^ poem to 
belong to our German mythology, is according to it a sister of Früä, 
while the OX. Fulla again is handmaid to Frigg, though she takes 
rank and order among the Asynjor themselves (Sn. 36-7).* 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 Pilnitis, Pilnitics, whom the Lettons and Prussians adored. 
Like dame Hcrke 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. 

It may be, that Fulla or Folia was at the same time thought 
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 is immediately followed by Sunnd with a sister 
Sindgund, whose name again suggests the path of a constellation. 
The Eddie SSI ranks with the Asynjor, but Sindgund (ON. Sinn- 

1 He bored a hole and crept through as a fly, then as a flea he stung the 
sleeping goddess till she shook otf the ornament : an incident still retained in 
nursery- tales. Conf. the stinging fly at the forging, Sn. 131. 

* 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 toa 



GART. SIPPIA. SÜNIA. WARA. SAGA. NAN DA. 309 

gunnr ?) is unknown to the Edda. In eh. XXII. on the constella- 
tions I shall come back to these divinities (see Suppl.). 

11. Gart. Sippia. Sum a. Wara. Saga. Nanda, 

From surviving 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 GerSr^ 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 
(Siem. 81. Sn. 39). His wooing was much thwarted, and was 
only brounrht to a happy issue by the dexterity of his faithful 
servant Skirnir. The form of her name Oer&r, gen. GerBar, ace. 
GerÖi (Sivni. 117^), points to a Goth. Gardi or Gardja, gen. Gardjös, 
ace. Gardja, and an OHG. Gart or Garta, which often occurs in the 
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 Gerör, 
Tliorjjerör, Valgerör, Hrimgerör. The meaning seems to be cingens, 
muniens [Gurth ?],Lat. Cinxia as a name of Juno (see SuppL). 

Tlie Goth, sihja, OHG. sippia, sippa, AS. sih gen. sibbe, denote 
peace, friendship, kindred; from these I infer a divinity Sibja, Sippia, 
Sib, corresponding to the OK Sif gen. Sifjar, the wife of Thorr, for 
the OX. too has a pi. siQar 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 Oöinn and Thor agree, their wives Frigg 
and Sif have also a common signification. Sif in the Edda is called 
the fair-haired, * it harfagra goo,* and gold is Sifjar haddr (Sifae 
I)eplum), because, when Loki cut off her hair, a new and finer crop 
was afterwards forged of gold (Sn. 119. 130). Also a herb, poly- 
trichuin aureum, bears the name haddr Sifjar, Expositors see in 
tliis the golden fruits of the Earth burnt up by fire and growing up 
again, they liken Sif to Ceres, the ^avOij ArifjLrfvqp (II. 5, 500) ; and 
with it agrees the fact that the Slav. Siva is a gloss on 'Ceres dea 



810 GODDESSES. 

frumenti * (Hanka's glosses 5* 6%^) ; only the S in the word seems 
to be the Slav, zhiv^te = Zh, and V does not answer to the Teat 
F, B, P. The earth was Thör'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 
anjrthing like it, recorded. 

The Gothic language draws a subtle distinction between sufigiL 
(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, 
and protected the accused (Sn. 38). To the same class belongs Vor 
gen. Varar, goddess of plighted faith and covenants, a dea foederis 
(Sn. 37-8), just as the Eomans deified Tutela. The phrase ' vlgja 
saman Varar hendi,' consecraie Tutelae manu (Saem. 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 Sagd, 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 sehr. 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. Nan}?d, OHG. 
Nanddy AS. N6ffe, the bold, courageous (p. 221), but, except in ON., 
the simple female name is lost ; Procopius 1, 8 has Gothic Oeufie- 
vdpOa, ON. ThioSnanna (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 ecu- 



BAHAMA. HELLIA. 311 

futation]. The discovery from legend or elsewhere of a harmony 
between myths may raise our guesses into demonstrations.^ 

1 2. Eah ANA (Ran). Hellia (Hel). 

My survey of the gods closed with Oegir and Loki ; and the 
goddesses akin to thiese shall be the last mentioned here. 

To correspond to the ON. Oefjon the Old Saxons had, as far as 
we know, not a female but a male being, Oeban, Oeo/on (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 vi5 Oefjon, F. Magn. 
lex. 386 (see Suppl.). Oefn, a name of Freyja (Sn. 37 and Viga- 
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 Rdnar (or Oegis) 
dcvtr} Men who are drowned fall to the share of Rdn, which of 
itself attests her divinity : fara til Rdnar is to get drowned at sea, 
Fornald. sog. 2, 78 ; and sitja at Rdnar to be drowned, Fomm. sog. 
6, 376. Tliose who were drowned she drew to her in a nä, and 

' It seems almost as if the MHO. poets recognised a female personage fro 
Fuoge or Gefuoge (fitness), similar in plastic power to the niasc Wish, a per- 
se >ni tied compa<:;es or äpyLovla. 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 

gepruevet ditz gereite turned out this riding-gear 

mit gfüzer wislieite ; with great wisdom ; 

er gap dem helfenbeine he gave the ivory 

und da l»i dem gesteine and withal the jewelry 

ßin gevellige stat, each its proper place, 

als in diu Gevuoge bat as him dame Fitness bade. 

(Conf. Er. 124G : als in min wäre schulde bat).— Para. 121, 11 : 

Wer in den zwein landen wirt, Whoso in the two landa 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 : 

Fr6 Unfuoge, ir habt gesiget Dame Unfitness, thou hast triiunphed. 

And G5, 25 : 

Swer Unpefvoge swfgen bieze Whoso bade Indecorum hush, 

und sie abe den bürgen etieze ! 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, OUG. Fuo^ gen. Fuogün, 
as in N. cap. 135 hifuogön, sotigenam (see SuppL). 

2 Sa?m. 79»> 144» 153»> 180. Sn. 124-9. 185. Eyrbygg. saga p. 274, and in- 
dex sub V. Ran. Egilssaga p. G16. 



312 GODDESSEa 

carried them off, whence the explanation of her name : rdn neut. is 
rapina, rsena rapere, spoliare (see SuppL). 

On the discovery of the rare word rdhanen (spoliare) in the 
Hildebr. lied 57, 1 build the supposition that other Teutonic lands 
had also a subst. rahan (rapina, spolium) and a goddess Bahana 
(conf. Tanfana, Hluodana), as well as an Uogi ^ Oegir.^ 

As we passed from Oegir (through Forniot and Logi) to Loki, 
so we may from Eän to Hd, who is no other than Loki*s daughter, 
and like him a dreadful divinity. Eän 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. Halja 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 oegir 
oceanus out of Oegir, and that of geban mare from Geban ; 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 first baptized Goths down to the Northmen, 
because that local notion already existed under heathenism, 
perhaps also because the church was not sorry to associate lost 
spirits with a heathen and fiendish divinity.* Thus hellia C€ui be 
explained from Hellia even more readily than östara 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 black and 
half of human colour (bid half, en half meS hörundar lit), Sn. 33, 
after the manner of the pied people of the Mid. Ages ; in other 

^ The Trad, patav. pp. 60-2 assure us of a man's name Raan, Rbaaa 
(Rahan ?). An OHG. Banana rests on a very slender foundation. 

' Hel has no affinity at all with ON. hella petra, hellir antrum, as the 
Goth, hallus i)etra shows (from hillan sonare, because a rock resounds) : a 
likelier connexion is that with our hole antrum, OHG. holt, more freauent in 
neut. hoi, for which we should expect a Gothic hul, as in fact a fem. nulundi 
is cavema. for a cave covers, and so does the nether world (hoth therefore from 
hilan celare). Only, the vowels in hole (= huli) and hölle (= halja) do not 
agree. 



KAHANA. HELLIA. 313 

passages her hlachuss alone is made a subject of comparison : hldr 
sem Hel, Nialss. 117. Fomm. sog. 3, 188; conf. Hdjarskinn for 
complexion of deathly hue, Landnämab. 2, 19. Nialss. cap. 96. 
Fornald. sog. 2, 59. 60 ;^ death is black and gloomy. Her dwelling 
is deep down in the darkness of the ground, imder 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, Saem. 
5b 44a 94a gjj 4 jjgj. platter is named hilngr, her knife sidtr, 

synonymous terms to denote her insatiable greed. The dead go 
down to her, fara til Heljar, strictly those only that have died of 
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 hcl, to smite into hell, send to Hades ; i helju 
vera, be in Hades, be dead, Fornald. sog. 1, 233. Out of this has 
arisen in the modem dialects an altogether impersonal and distorted 
term, Swed. ihjal, Dan. ihid, to death.* These languages now 
express the notion of the nether world only by a compound, Swed. 
helvdc, Dan. lielvede, i.e., the ON. lulvtti (supplicium infernale), 
OHG. hellawiziy MHG. hellewize. One who is drawing his last 
breath is said in ON. liggja milli heims oc heljar (to lie betwixt 
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 J? vi er heßr, Sn. 
68 ; hefir nu Hel, Saem. 257*, like the wolf in the apologue (Rein- 
hart xxxvi), for she is of wolfish nature and extraction ; to the 
wolf on the other hand a hdlisk throat is attributed (see Suppl.). 
Two lays in the Edda describe the way to the lower world, the 

* The ancients also painted Demeter, as the wrathful earth-goddess, black 
(Paus. 8, 42. O. Müller's Eumenides 168, conf. Archoeol. p. 509 the black 
Demeter at Phigalia), and sometimes even her daughter Persephone, the fair 
maid doomed to the underworld : *furva Pixjserpina, Hor. Oki. 2, 13 (Censorin. 
De die nat. c. 17). Black Aphrodite (Melanis) is spoken of by Pausanias 2, 2. 
8, 6. Ü, 27 and by Athenajus bk. 13 ; 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 
Loretto, Naples, Einsiedeln, Würzburg (Altd. W. 2. *i09. 286), at Oettingen 
(Goethe's Corresn. with a child 2, 184), at Puy (Büsching's Nachr. 2, 312-333), 
Marseilles and elsewhere. I think it specially significant, that the Erinnjrs or 
Furia dwelling in Tartarus is also represented both as black and as half v^ite 
half hUick. 

^ O Swed. has more, correctly ihael, *.«., ihäl (Fred, af Nonnandie 1209. 
1356. 1400. 1414). In Ostgötalagen p. 8, one reading has already ihiosll for 
iluel ; they no longer grasped the meaning of the term. 



314 GODDESSES. 

Helreiö Brynhildar and the VegtamsqviBa ; in the latter, OBin'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 Vegtamr^ and the vala, who says of herself: 

var ek snifin sniofi (by snow), ok slegin r^ni, 
ok drifin doggo (by dew), dauB (dead) var ek leingi, 
is among the sublimest things the Edda has to shew. This vala 
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. Originally 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 älegde, h?e8ene säwle (vitam deposuit^ 
animam gentilem), J?öer 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 si daz ter lebet, si ne wirdet 
niomer sat' N. Cap. 72. * diu Helle und der arge wän werdent 
niemer sat* Welsch, gast. It sounds still more personal, when she 
has gaping yaivning jaws ascribed to her, like the wolf ; pictures in 
the MS. of Caedmon 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* to earth. 

unde ir doch niht ne mac werden,And yet to her it cannot hap 

1 0(5inn calls himself Vegtamr (way-tame, broken-in to the road, gnanis 
viae), eon of Valtamr (assuetus caedibus), as in other places ffängtamr (Itineii 
assiietus) is used of the horse, Sajm. 260*» , but OÖinn nimself is GänsriiSr or 
Ganfjlcri. Vegtamr reminds one of the holy priest and minstrel W€aiUtm in 
Hunibald. 

2 I have supposed that * imde den * is a slip for * abe dem *. — ^Tbanb. 



KAHANA. UBLUA. 315 

daz si inier werde vol ; that she ever become full ; 

si ist daz ungesatliche hoi, she is the insatiable cavern, 

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. Gramm. 2, 458 ; der abgrunde tunc, der tiefen 
helle tunc (the deep hell's dinge, darkness), Mart. 88** 99®. 

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 (conf. Freidank Ixxiv), her being uncovered, Job 26, 
6, her opening her mouth, Isaiah 5, 14. But we are to bear in 
mind, that all these have the masc. aS);^ or infemus, 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 
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 Kdll or ilahakdll, the great Uack 
goddess. In the underworld she is supposed to sit in judgment on 
souls. This office, the similar name and the black hue (käla niger, 
conf. cäligo and xeXaivo^;) make her exceedingly like Halja. And 
Halja is one of the oldest and commonest conceptions of our 
heathenism. 

^ In the south of Holland, where the Mease falls into the sea, is a place 
named Helvoetsluis. 1 do not know if any forms in old documents confirm the 
idia contained in the naiue, of Hell-foot, foot of Hell. The Romans have 
a Helium here : Inter Helium ac Flevum, ita appellantur oetia, in quae effusus 
Rhenus, ab septentrione in lacus, ab occidente m amnem Moeam se spargit, 
medio inter haec ore modicum nomine suo custodiens alveum, Plin. 4, 29. 
Tac. also gays 2, G : immcnso ore. Conf. supra p. 198 on Oegisdyr (see SuppL). 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CONDITION OF GODS. 

Now that we have collected all that could be found concemliig 
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 foimded 
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 bom, experience pain 
and sorrow, are subject to sleep, sickness and even death, that like 
men they speak a language, feel passions, transact afiairs, 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 imlimited 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 is checked by a fate standing higher than even they, so their 
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 reign shall end. 



CONDITION OF GODS. 317 

But this opinion, firmly held even by the Stoics,^ finds utterance 
only now and then, particularly in the story of Prometheus, which 
I have compared to the Norse ragnarökr, p. 245-6. 

In the common way of thinking, the gods are supposed to be 
immortal and eternal. They are called deol alkv iovre^, U. 1, 290. 
494, aleuytvdrai 2, 400, addvaroi 2, 814, adavaro^; Zeis 14, 434 ; 
and therefore /Lta/cape9 1, 339. 599 in contrast to mortal man. They 
have a special right to the name äfißporoc immortales, while men 
are ßporoi mortales ; äfjbßpoTo^ is explained by the Sansk. amrita 
iramortalis, the negative of mrita mortalis (conf. Pers. merd, homo 
niortalis) ; in fact both amrita and äfißp6<rio<f, next neighbour to 
äfißpoTo<;, contain a reference to the food, by partaking of which 
the gods keep up their immortality. They taste not the fruits of 
the earth, whereby the ßporol live, oi apovprj<; Kapirov eBoixriv, II. 6, 
142. With /8poT09 again is connected ßporo^; thick mortal blood, 
whereas in the veins of the gods flows lx<^p 0^- ^> 340. 416), a light 
thin liquid, in virtue of which they seem to be called aßporok = 

äflßpOTOl. 

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 
herbs, liquid gold and dissolved precious-stones ;* no Greek poem 
tells us the ingredients of ambrosia, but it was an dfißpoairj rpo^ij 
(food), and there was a divine drink besides, yXvxv vixrap, IL 1, 
598, of a red colour 19, 38, its name being derived either from vrj 
and KTaadaiy or better from veK-rap necem avertens. Where men 
take bread and wine, the gods take ambrosia and nectar. Od. 5, 
195, and hence comes the 

ifißpoTov atfia deolo, 
iX^P* 0^09 Trip T€ piei futKapeaat deolaiv • 
ou yap alrov eBova, ov irlvova cuOoira olvov 
Tovv€K avalfiovi^ elai /cal aßavaroi KaXiomau 

—II. 5, 339. 

Theirs is no thick glutinous alfia (conf. our seim, ON. seimr, slime), 
nor according to the Indians do they sweat; and this ävatfirov 
(bloodless) agrees with the above explanation of aßporo^. The 

^ Atque omnes pariter decs perdet mors aliqua et chaos. Seneca in Here. 
1014. 

• Cleopatra had costly pearls melted in her wine, and it iB »aid to be still a 
(•ii>t(»ni with Indian princes ; conf. Sueton. Calig. 37. 



318 CONDITION or GODS. 

adjectives äßporo^, aßißporo^, äßißp6a'to^, veicrapeo^ are passed on 
from the food to other divine things^ (see SuppL). Plainlj 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 fara 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 bom children, no doubt before nectar 
and ambrosia had been given them,^ 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^ PerBC- 
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 overthrow ; with our ancestors on the contrary, the thought of 
the gods being immortal seems to retire into the background. 
The Edda never calls them eylifir or ddauSligir, and their death is 
spoken of without disguise : J?ä er regin deyja, Sa^m. 37*, or more 
frequently: regin riufaz (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 
Proserpine ; Oöin's destined fall is mentioned in the Völuspft 9*, 
OSins bani (bane), Sn. 73, where also Thorr falls dead on the 
ground ; Hrüngnir, a giant, threatens to slay all the gods (drepa 
gu8 oil), Sn. 107. Yet at the same time we can point to clear 
traces of that prolongation of life by particular kinds of food and 
drink. While the einherjar admitted into YalhöU feast on the 
boiled flesh of a boar, we are nowhere told of the Ases sharing in 
such diet (Stem. 36. 42. Sn. 42) ; it is even said expressly, that 
Oöinn needs no food (önga vist J^arf hann), and only drinks wine 
[v^ln er honum baeöi dryckr ok matr, both meat and drink) ; 
with the viands set before him he feeds his two wolves Geri and 
Freki. ViS vin eitt väpngöfugr OSinn je lifir (vino solo armipotens 
semper vivit), Saem. 42^ ; ae lifir can be rendered * semper vescitor, 

1 Both nectar and ambrosia, like the holy p^il of the Mid. Ases, hare 
miraculous powers : poured into the nose of a corpse, they prevent decay, IL 
19, 38 ; they ward off hunger, II. 19. 347. 353. 

* As human infants may only be exposed before milk and honey have 
moistened their lips, conf. RA. pp. 458-9. When Zeus first receives in tibe 
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. 



IMMOBTAUTY. 319 

nutritur/ or * immortalitatem nanciscitur/ and then 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 (ölr) of 
men, what the nectar of the Greek gods was to the wine of mortals. 
Other passages are not so particular about their language ; ^ in 
Stem. 59 the gods at Oegir s hall have ale set before them, conf. öl 
giöra, 68**; Heimdali gladly drinks the good mead, 41**; verBar 
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.* But may not the costly O^hrceHs 
dreckr, compounded of the divine Qväsir's blood and honey, be 
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, Oöhroeris dreckr confers the gift of 
poesy, and by that very fact immortality : Oöinn and Saga, goddess 
of poetic art, have surely drunk it out of golden goblets, gladly and 
evermore (urn alia daga, Saem. 41*). We must also take into 
account the creation of the wise Qväsir (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 : ISunn has in her keeping certain apples, by 
eating of which the aging gods make themselves young again (er 
goöin skulo äbita, J^ä er )7au eldaz, oc veröa ]?& allir ungir, Sn. 30*). 
This reminds one of the apples of Paradise and the Hesperides, of the 
guarded golden apples in the Kindermärchen 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, 

^ As Homer too makes Ganymede olvoxoritiv, II. 20, 234, and of Hebe it is 
even s^iid, viKxap ttovoxoti 4, 3. 

' Zeiia goes to* banquet {xara daira) with the Ethiopians, II. 1, 423 ; otoj» 
Tpoi öatra »tat «Vi Boivrjv i«<ri, Plato's Phaedr. 247, as Thörr does with the Nor- 
we^'ians ; even wlicn disguised as a bride, he does not refuse the giants' disheSi 
Saem. 73^ ; and the Ases boiled an ox on their journey, Sn. 80. 

> In Sanskrit, siidha nectar is distinguished from amrita ambrosia. Eveiy- 
where there is an eagle in the business : Garuda is called sudh&hara, or amriU- 
harana, nectar-thief or ambrosia-thief (Pott, forsch. 2, 451) ; it is in the shape of 
an ea<de that OSinn carries oil Ot5hrcerir, and Zeus his cupbearer Qanymede 
(see en. XXXV and XXX, Path-crcMBing 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 youiig 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 tannfS ' 
(tooth-fee) presented him at his teething, he is therefore imagined 
as grcnoing up. In like manner Uranos and Kronos appear as old, 
Zeus (like our Donar) and Poseidon as middle aged, Apollo, Her- 
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 
eternal, immutable, immortal being ; and mortality, the termination, 
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 ^tnregin, Saem. 28* 50* 51* 52^ ^mheilög goC 1* ; it is of 
the same root as gina, OHG. kinan, hiare, and denotes numina 
ampla, late dominantia, conf. AS. ginne grund, Beow. 3101. Jud. 
131, 2. ginne rice, Csedm. 15, 8. ginfaest, firmissimus 176, 29. 
ginf(esten god, terrae dominus 211, 10. gärsecges gin, oceani 
amplitudo 205, 3. 

The Homeric pela (= paSictx;, Goth. ra}?iz6) beautifully ex- 
presses the power of the gods ; whatever they do or undertake 
comes easy to them, their life glides along free from toil, while 
mortal men labour and are heavy laden : Oeol pela fcooin-e?, IL 6, 
138. Od. 4, 805. 5, 122. When Aphrodite wishes to remove her 
favoitiite Alexander from the perils of battle, top S' i^pirap 
^A<f)pohlTrj pela pLaK\ wcrre öeo9, H. 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 pela 
fidXa, as a boy at play would a sand-heap 15, 362. With a mere 
breath {irvoif}), blowing a little {^xa fiaXa ylrv^aaa), Athene turns 
away from Achilles the spear that Hector had thrown 20, 440 (see 
SuppL). Berhta also blows (p. 276), and the elves breathe (eh. 
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 (ifißpoairjv ipareivrjv) to 
the newborn Apollo, than he leapt, Kareßfjwf: äfißporop, out of his 
swath ings, sat down among the goddesses, began to speak, and, 
unsliom as he was, to roam through the country (Hymn, in Ap. 
Del. 123—133). Not unlike Vali, whom Rindr bore to OSinn ; 
when only one nifjht old (einnaettr), unwashen and unkempt, he 
sallies forth to avenge Baldr's death on Höör, Ssem. &^ 95^ Here 
the coincidence of uKepaeKOfiri^ with the Edda's ' ne hofuC kembr ' 
is not to be disregarded. Hermes, bom at early mom, plays the 
lute at mid-day, and at eve drives oxen away (Hymn, in Merc. 17 
scM].). And Zeus, who is often exhibited as a child among the 
Kuretes, grew up rapidly (KapTraXifia)^ fiivo^ icaX <f>aiSifjLa yvla 
rjv^cTo Tola avaKTos:), and in liis first years had strength enough to 
enter the lists with Kronos (Hes. theog. 492). The Norse mytho- 
logy offers another example in Magni, Thors son by the giantess 
larnsaxa : when three nights old (J?rinaettr), he flung the giant 
Hriingni's enormous foot, under whose weight Thorr lay on the 
[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 {kind S' hriayje iriXedpa ireadv, 11. 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). A cry 
that breaks from Poseidon's breast sounds like that of nine or even 
ten thousand warrioi-s 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 e([uals those of fifty men (5, 786). By the side 
of this we may put some features in the Edda, which have to do 
with Thoir esi)eeially : he devours at a wedding one ox and eight 
salmon, and drinks three casks of mead, Saem. 73**; another time, 
through a horn, the end of which reaches to the sea, he drinks a 
good i)oition of this, he lifts the snake that encircles the whole 
World oil" one of its feet, and with his hammer he strikes three deep 
valK ys in the rocky mountain, Sn. 59, 60. Again, Teutonic 
mythology agrees with the Greek in never imputing to its gods the 

deformity of inani/ heads, anus or legs; they are only bestowed 

21 



322 CONDITION OF GODS. 

on a few heroes and animals, as some of the Greek giants are 
iKaro^yeipe;. 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 Forevit has five heads and 
Bugevit seven faces. Yet Hecate too is said to have been three- 
headed, as the Boman Janus was two-faced, and a Lacedaemonian 
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: Oöinn is one-eyed, T^ one-handed, Hö5r blind, and 
Logi or Loki was perhaps portrayed as lame or limping, like 
Hephsestus 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 of 
them. Thus Here is XevicaiXjevo^ or ßoami<; (the former used also 
of Helen, II. 3, 121,« the latter of a Nereid 18, 40), Athene y\autc&' 
rrc^ or rivKofiof; (which again does for Here), Thetis äpyvp&jre^ 
Iris aeXKoTTo^, iroSiivefio^, xRvaomrepo^, Eos poSoSoKTvXo^, Demeter 
(Ceres) ^avdij 5, 500, and KaXKiirXoKafio^ 14, 326, just as Sif is 
hftrfögr (p. 309), in allusion to the yellow colour of the waving 
com. As the sea roUs its dark waves, Poseidon bears the name 
Kvavoxairi^, 11. 14, 390. 15, 174. 20, 144. Zeus could either be 
called the same, or Kvav6(f>pv<: (a contrast to Baldr brähvltr, brow- 
white p. 222), because to him belong aiißpSauu xO'^tcu IL 1, 528, the 
hair and locks of Wish (p. 142), and because with his dark brows 
he makes signs. This confirmatory lowering of the brows or 
nodding with the head (veveiv, xaraveiei^p Kvaverjaip in 6if>p6ai TL 
1, 527. 17, 209) is the regular expression of Zeus's will: xe^xi^ 
Karavevaofiaiy adavdroiai fi^itnov reKfuop, IL 1, 524. In refusing, 
he draws the head back (avapeiiec). Thor's indignant rage is shown 
by sinking the eyebrows over the eyes (s!ga br^nnar ofan fyrir 

' 0. Müllor's arcli,Tol. p. 515. 

2 And Aphrodite throws her th^x« Xcvko» round Mnesia, — Tbanb. 



SHAPE. ANGER. 323 

aiigun, 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, p. 177, and to Zeus is given the grim 
louring look {Seivä S' inroSpa iZdav, IL 15, 13), he above all is the 
fier^f 6x0 qaa^ (1, 517. 4, 30), and next to him Poseidon of the 
dingy locks (8, 208.- 15, 184). Zeus again is distinguished by 
beaming eyes (rpiirep oaae <f>a€ivd} 13, 3. 7. 14, 236. 16, 645), 
which belong to none else save his own great-hearted daughter 21, 
415 ; Aphrodite has SfifmTa fiapfmipovra, 3, 397, twinkling, 
shimmering eyes (see Suppl.). 

Figures of Greek divinities show a circle of rays and a nimbus 
round the head ;^ on Indo-Grecian coins Mithras has commonly a 
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 Chnodoraarius, 
cujus vertici flammeus torulus aptabatur. N. Cap. 63 translates 
the honorati capitis radios of the Sol auratus by houhäskimo (head- 
sheen), and to portray the sun*s head surrounded with flames is 
extremely natural. In ON. I find the term rdcTa for caput radiatum 
sancti, which I suppose to be the OHG. ruota rod, since viiga also 
goes off into the sense of flagellum, radius, ON. geisli. A likening 
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- 
nexion with the setting sun that Tac. Germ. 45 brings in formas 
deorum and radios capitis. Around Thorns head was put, latterly at 
all events, 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 
Charles the Great's mouth and illumined his head.' What seems 
more to the purpose, among the Prilwitz figures, certain Slavic 
idols, especially Terun, Podaga and Nemis, have rays about their 



1 O. Müller's archreol. p. 481. 

2 (iottintr. iinz. 1838, 229. 

' This beam from Charles's mouth is like the one that shines into his 
beloved's mouth aud lights up the gold inside (see ch. XVL, Menni). 



324 CONDITION OF GODS. 

heads ; and a head in Hagenow, fig. 6, 12 is encircled with rays, so 
is even the rune E when it stands for Radegast. Did rays originally 
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 lavgh. Hence they are called bliS r^in 
(p. 26), as we find ' froh * in the sense of gracious applied to gods 
and kings/ and the spark of joy is conveyed from gods to men. 
Frauja, lord, is next of kin to froh glad (p. 210). It is said of the 
Ases, teitir varo. Seem. 2* ; and of Heimdall, dreckr glad'r hinn g68a 
miöö 41^. And * in svdso guö ' 33* contains a similar notion. In 
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 moved to mirth {opocov <f>piva T€fy\p^h- 
fiai, II. 20, 23), then laughs the blessed heart of him (67^X00-0-6 S4 
oi <f>i\ov ffTopy 21, 389) ; which is exactly the Eddie * hlö honum 
hugr i briosti, hlo Hlorriöa hugr i briosti,' laughed the mind in his 
breast : a fresh confirmation of the essential oneness of Zeus and 
Thorr. But it is also said of heroes : ' hlo J^ä Atla hugr i briosti/ 
Sflem. 238^ ' hlo J?ä Brynhildr af öUum hug,' with all her heart 
220^ OS. ' hugi ward fromod,' Hel. 109, 7. AS. ' mod ahloh/ 
Andr. 454. Later, in the Eudlieb 2, 174. 203. 3, 17 the king in 
his speech is said suhridere ; in the Nibel. 423, 2 of Brunhild: 
' mit smielinden munde si liber ahsel sah,' looked over her shoulder. 
Often in the song of the Cid: * somnsose de la boca,' and ' alegre era*.* 
6u/jLo^ ldv6r}y II. 23, 600 ; conf. Bvfiov iatvop, Hymn, in Cer. 435. 
Half in displeasure Here laughs with her lips, not her brows: 
iyi\aaa€ x^Ckeatv, ovSe fi^coTTov hr^ 6<f>pv(n, Kvapepaiv IdvOrf, 11. 
15, 102 ; but Zeus feels joy in sending out his lightnings, he is 
called repTTLKepavvo^ 2, 781. 8, 2. 773. 20, 144. So Artemis 
(Diana) is lox^atpa, rejoicing in arrows, 6, 428. 21, 480. Od. 11, 
198. At the limping of Hephaestus, the assembly of gods bursts 
into äaßearof; 76X0)9, uncontrolled laughter, IL 1, 599 ; but a gentle 
smile (jieiBap) is peculiar to Zeus, Here and Aphrodite. As 

^ Andreas and Elene p. xxxvii. 

^ Helbl. 7, 518 : diu wärheit des erlachet, truth laughs at that. 



MIRTH. GAIT. PACE. 325 

Aphrodite's beauty is expressed by if>iXofifi€iSi]^, smile-loving (1\. 4, 
10. 5, 375), so is Freyja's on the contrary by * grätfögr/ 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 ^^, ßrj Ifi€v, ßrj Uvai, XL 
1, 44. 2, 14. 14, 188. 24, 347, /Se/S/y/cei 1, 221, eßr, 14, 224, ßdr^u 
3, 778, ßrjrrji^ 14, 281, iroal irpoßißd^ 13, 18. irpoaeßriaero 2, 48. 
14, 292, KaT€ßn<r€TO 13, 17, äireßiiaero 2, 35; and in the Edda 
(jenr/r, Soera. 9*, gek 100*, gengo 70* 71^, gengengo !• 5*, or eheßr 
31* 31^ 53* 75*, this fara meaning no more than ire, proficisci, and 
Oöinn was even called Gangleri, Stem. 32. Sn. 24, i.e., the walker, 
traveller ; the AS. poets use gewdt (evasit, abut) or strode 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, hvalrban, OHG. 
huerban, AS. hweorfan (verti, ferri, rotari) : * hwearf him to 
heofenum lialig dryhten ' says Credm. 16, 8 ; and * Oöinn hvarf ]>sl' 
vanished, Saim. 47. Homer employs, to express the same thing, 
either the verb ätaaco (impetu feror), or the adverbs KapTrdKifxca^ 
(as if äp7ra\{fjL(o<; raptini) and Kpaiirvw raptim. Thus Athene 
or Here comes di^aaa. Od. 1. 102. 11. 2, 167. 4, 74. 19. 114. 
22, 187 ; Thetis, the dream, Athene, Here, all appear Kafma\ifjL(o<f, 
II. 1, :^59. 2, 17. 168. 5, 868. 19, 115. Od. 2, 406; Poseidon 
and Here Kpai-rrvd, Kpaiirvo}<;, II. 13, 18. 14. 292; even Zeus, when 
he rises from his throne to look on the earth, arf) avat^a<; 15, 6. 
So Holda and Berhta s^iddenly stand at the window (p. 274). Much 
in the same way I understand the expression used in Seem. 53* of 
Thorr and TCr : foro dnugom (ibant tractim, raptim, iXicqhov), for 
(hiiiu^r is from driuga, Goth, driugan trahere, whence also Goth. 
dnn'ihts, OHG. truht turba, agmen, ON. drangr larva, phantasma, 
OHG. gitroc fallacia, because a spectre appears and vanishes 
quickly in the air. At the same time it means tho rush and din 



326 CONDITION OF GODS. 

that betoken the god*s approach, the woma and ömi above, from 
which OSinn 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 
Spvi<; bird, Od. 1, 320, or a (f>i]vrj osprey, 3, 372 ; as a swallow she 
perches (efer' avat^aaa) on the house's fuXadpov 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 Oöin*s taking his flight as a falcon, after be 
had in the shape of Gestr conversed and quarrelled with HeiSreckr: 
vlöbrast i vols 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 (exit tanquam corvus, egressus est in muscae 
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 : 
XyyuL yap fieroTriaOe ttoS&v rjSe KPrjfidcjv 
peV eyvcjv air tovro^* apiyvcjTov Be Oeol irep. 
So, when Venus leaves Aeneas, Virg. 1, 402 : 

Dixit, et avertens rosea cervice refulsit 
et vera incessu patuit dea. Ille ubi matrem 
agnovit, tali fugientem est voce secutus. 
So, IL 3, 396, Alexander recognises the 

Oea^ irepCKoWia Seipi^v, 
a-TTidea 6^ Ifiepoevra Kal SfAfiara fiapfiaipomcu 

And in ON. legend, Hallbiöm on awaking sees the shoulder of a 
figure in his dream before it vanishes : J^ykist siä & herSar honum, 
Fornald. sog. 3, 103 ; as is likewise said in Olaf the saint's saga 
cap. 199. ed. Holm., while the Fomm. sog. 5, 38 has it : siä svij 
mannsins er ä 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 Ixyia of 
the ancient god. 

As the incessus of Venus declared the goddess, the motion (tOfLo) 
of Here and Athene is likened to that of timorous doves, IL 5, 778. 



FUGHT. VEHICLES. HOBSEa 327 

But the gliding of the gods over such immense distancies 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 (iriStXa), whose 
motive power conveys them over sea and land with the speed of 
wind, IL 24, 341. Od. 1, 97. 5, 45 ; we are expressly told that 
Hermes ßew with them (ttctcto, 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.^ These winged sandals 
then have a perfect right to be placed side by side with the feather^ 
shift (fiaörhamr) which Freyja possessed, and which at Thör's 
request she lent to Loki for Ins flight to lötunheim, Ssem. 70^** ; 
but as Freyja is more than once conlounded with Frigg (p. 302), 
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 fat one with Hermes, and Freyja's 
feather-shift suggests the sandals of Athene. Sn." 132-7 : ' Loki 
ätti sJcila, er kann rann d lopt ok log* had shoes in which he ran 
through air and fire. It was an easy matter, in a myth, for the 
investiture with winged hamr or sandals to glide insensibly into 
an actual assumption of a bird's form : Geirröör 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, witliout wings or sandals, but simple antiquity was 
not content with even these : the hiiman race used carriages and 
liorses, and the gods cannot do without them either. On this point 
a sensible dift'erence is to be found between the Greek and German 
mythologies. 

All the liigher divinities of the Greeks have a chariot and pair 
ascribed to them, as their kings and heroes in battle also fight in 
chariots. An oxnf^ ^or 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 

^ 0. Miiller^B archieoL 559. 



328 CONDITION OF GODa 

car of Here, and how she harnesses her steeds to it, mounts it in 
company with Athene, and guides it, is gorgeously depicted in IL 
5, 720-76 ; so likewise Demeter and Kora appear seated in a 
carriage. Hermes is drawn by rams,^ 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 
dififerent 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. It seems worth remarking, that modem Greek 
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 Bedder rode, 
nor that Balder drove a one-horse carriage. Even Hartmann von 
Aue still imagines God riding a horse, and contented with Enit fop 
his groom (p. 18). Among those »that ride in the Edda are OSinn 
(who saddles liis Sleipnir for himself, Saem. 93*), Baldr and 
HermoBr ; in Saem. 44* 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 Heimdall's GuUtoppr, 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 GuUfaxi as spoil from Hrungnir, gives him 
away to his son Magni, Sn. 110. OSin's horse leaps a hedge seven 
ells high, Fornm. sog. 10, 56. 175. Even tlie women of the gods 
are moimted : the valkyrs, like Oöinn, ride through air and water, 
Sn. 107, Freyja and Hyndla on a boar and a wolf, as enchantresses 
and witches are imagined riding a wolf, a he-goat or a cat. Night 
(fem.) had a steed Hrimfaxi, rimy-mane, as Day (masc.) had 
Skinfaxi, shiny-mane. 

At the same time cannages 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 nurseiy- 

* 0. Müller*8 archcDoL 5C3. 



VEHICLES. HORSES. 329 

tales travel through the air in coaches, and Brynhildr drives in her 
waggon to the nether worid, Sa^m. 227. The image of a Gothic 
deity in a waggon was alluded to on p. 107; among the gods, 
Freyr is expressly described as mounted on his car, while ThSrr 
has a waggon drawn by he-goats : on Woden's waggon, conf. p. 
151 (see Suppl.). 

When we consider, that waggons were proper to the oldest 
kings also, especially the Fmnkish kings, and that their riding on 
horseback is nowliere 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 Haider's 
horse or foal. The Slavs also generally fumislied 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 Athene's ship and that of Isis, and Frey's Skiöblaönir, 
the best of all ships, Sa^m. 45^ 

liut whichever way the gods might move, on earth, through air 
or in water, their walk and tread, their riding and driving is 
represented as so velievunt, that it produces a loud noise, and the 
din of thy 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 
(cKXay^av) on his shoulder 1, 44, Beivi) Be KXayyrj yiver^ apyvpioio 
ßiolo, dreadful was the twang of his silver bow 1, 49. In the lays 
of the Edda this stirring np of nature is described in exactly the 
same way, while the AS. and OHG. \\Titings, owing to the earlier 
extinction of heathen notions, have preserved no traces of it : 
' franim reiö OÖinn, foldyegr dundi,' forth rode 0., earth's way 
thundered, Six^m. 94* ; ' biorg brotnoöo, brann iörö loga, ok 05ius 
sonr i lotunheima/ mountains crumbled, earth blazed, when rode, 
&c. 73=* ; ' 116 Loki, fiaSrhamr dundi,* the wing-coat whirred, 70* 
71* ; ' iörö bifaz (quaked), enn allir for scialfa garöar Gymis ' when 
Skiinir came riding 83*. 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 Tiature 
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^ ; or it falls 
nightly from the bit of Hrimfaxi's bridle 32^ (see SuppL). 

Of one thing there is scarcely a trace in our mythology, though 
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, IL 3, 381. 5, 776. 18, 
205. 21, 549. 597. It is called i^epi tcaXvTrreiv, fikpa xeo', a')(\vp or 
vk^o^ 0*760661/, and the contrary a')(Kifv a-KeSd^eiv to scatter, chase 
away, the mist. We might indeed take this into accoimt, that the 
same valkyrs who, like the Servian vlly, favour and shield their 
beloved heroes in battle, were able to produce clouds and hail in 
the air ; or throw into the reckoning our tamkappes and helidhelms, 
whose effect was the same as that of the mist. And the Norse 
gods do take part with or against certain heroes, as much as the 
Greek gods before Ilion. In the battle of Brävik, OBinn mingled 
with the comlmtants, and assumed the figure of a charioteer Brüni ; 
Saxo Gram., p. 146. Fomald. sog. 1, 380. The Grimnismäl makes 
GeirröBr the protdg^ (föstri) of OBinn, Agnarr that of Frigg, and 
the two deities take counsel together concerning them, Saem. 39 ; in 
the Vols, saga cap. 42, 05inn suggests the plan for slaying the sons 
of lonakr. The Greek gods also, when they drew nigh to counsel 
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, IL 2. 279. iyyvOi, Od. 1, 120. ot^ov, IL 2, 172. 
3, 129. 4, 92. 5, 123. irpoadev 4, 129. iiridev 1, 197) ; Athene leads 
by the hand through the battle, and wards the arrows off 4, 52 ; 
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 they appear in friendly guise, Od. 7, 201 



8LEKP. SICKNESS. LAUQHT£R. 331 

seq. ; now clothed in terror : ;^aX€7ro^ Bi 0€ol ^ivea-dtu ivapyeU, 

II. 20, 131 (see SuppL). 

Tlie Iliad, 14, 286 seq., relates IiowTtti/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, IL 1, 609. 2, 2. 24, 677. Still less can it be 
doubted of the Norse gods, that tliey too slept at night : Thorr on 
liis 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 deep over the gods follows again, what was maintained 
above, that of death : Death is the brother of Sleep. Besides, the 
gods fell a prey to diseases, Freyr was sick with love, and his 
great hugsott (mind-sickness) awakened the pity of all the gods. 
Ot$inn, Niörör and Freyr, according to the YngL saga 10. 11. 12, all 
sink under sicknesses (söttdauöir). 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 
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 SkaÖi 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, iroXKi, wapaatcdymovaa, fieiBrjaai ycKdaai 
re, Kai tXooi; axetp Ovfiop, Hjrmn. 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, 
])assages in the Iliad and the Odyssey distinguish between the 
divine and human names for the same object : 

ov Bpidp€(Dv KaXiovai Oeoi, avBpe^ hi re wdvre^ 

Ahyamv, II. 1, 403. 

T^j/ ffToi aphpe^ BaTieuw icixXqaKovaiv, 

^ De la venue de Dieu ii Arras, in Jubinal's Nouveau recueü de contes 2, 

377-8. 



332 CONDITION OF GODS. 

aOavaroL Bi re aPjfjM iroXva/cdpOfioio Mvpivtj^, 2, 813. 
'X^aXKiSa KiK\7]aKovcn deol, avBpe^ Be KUfuv&ip* 14, 291. 
ou UdvOov KoXiovat dcoi, ai/Spe^ Be SKaßiavBpov* 20, 74.^ 
ßjL(j!)\v Be fiiv KoXiovcri OeoL Od. 10, 303. 

A whole song in the Edda is t<aken up with comparing the langiii^es, 
not only of gods and men, but of Vanir, elves, dwarfs, giants and 
subteiTaneans, and that not in a few proper names and rare wotds, 
but in a whole string of names for the commonest objects. At the 
very outset it surprises us, that while goß and aesir are treated as 
synonymous, a distinction is drawn between goS and ginregin. In 
13 stro])hes 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 
aseril)ed 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: 

set) heitir meö mönnom, en scärvdn meS goSom, 

kalla vindflot Vanir, 

'ArvAii iötnar, alfar ved^rmr.gin, 

kalla i heljo hidlm huliz. 

Everything here is Teutonic, and still the resources of our language 
are not exhausted by a long way, to say notldng of what it may 
have borrowed from others. The only simple word is sk^, still 
used in the Scandinavian dialects, and connected with skuggi umbrii 
AS. scuwa, scua, OIIG. scuwo. The rest are all appropriate and 
intelligible periphrases. Scftrvan [shower- weening] pluviae expco- 
tatio, from skur iniber. Germ, schauer ; ürvän just the sazne, from 
ftr pluvia, with which compare the, literal meaning of Sanskr 
abhra nubes, viz. aquam gerens.^ Vindflot is appai'ently navigium 
venti, because the winds sail through the air on clouds. VeSnnegin 
transposed is exactly the OIIG. maganwetar turbo; and hiälxnr 




Sdv6os has ^KUfxavUpos, 

* B«»pp, glo.<s. saii«kr. 16* 209*. 



LANGUAGE. 333 

hiiliz appears elsewhere as hulizhiälmr, OS. helith-helm, a taiii- 
lielmet, 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. 
v€(}>i\7} ; Goth, milhma, Swed. moln, Dan. mulm; Sansk. mögha, 
Gr. ofii'x^^r), 6fjLl)(\rj, Slav, megla ; OHG. wolchan, AS. wolcen, which 
is to Slav, oblako as miluk, milk, to Slav, mleko ; ON. }?oka nebula, 
Dan. tiuige; M.Dut. swerk nubes, OS. gisuerc, caligo, nimbus; AS. 
hoöma 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, mäni and skin, or iörd 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 for them), why they should be assigned in 
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 afiinities of our language. 

riato 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 Hier and 
OoL^dr (p. 240), Yinir and Oergelmir, which last Sn. 6 attributes to the 
Hriin)nii"ses ; löunn would seem by Saim. 89* to be an Elvish 
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 difl'erent names of a thing in different dialects. More 
interesting are the double names for two birds, the ;^aXx/9 or 
KVfiLvhi^ (conf. riin. 10, 10), and the aleT6<i and irepKvo^i. XdXjci^ 
is sui)])0scd to signify some bird of prey, a hawk or owl, which does 
not answer to the description opvi^ Xiyvpd (piping), and the myth 
riMiuires a bird that in sweet and silvery tones sings one to sleep, 
like the nightingale. TlepKvo^ 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. 

Tlie ])rinripal point seems to be, that the popular beliefs of 
Greeks and Teutons ai^i-ee in tracing obscure words and those 
depart inLj from common usage to a distinction between divine and 
human speech. The Greek scholiasts suppose that the poet, 
holding convei^e with the Muses, is initiated into the language of 



334 coyDinos of gods. 

gods,^ and where be finds a twofold nomendatme, he ascribes 
older, nobler, more enphonions (ro mpelmw, cS^Por, wpojewia- 
repop Spofui) to the gods, the hUer and meaner (to SUrrroiP, /icto^ 
yeviarepop) to men. Bat the four or five instances in Homer are 
even less instructive than the more nomerons ones of the Norse 
lay. Evidently the opinion was firmlj held, that the gods, thongh 
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 bad 
latterly died out or suffered changa As the line of a king's 
ancestors was traced up to a diN-ine 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 Ahosmal, 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 is the more significant. When Ovid in Met 11, 640 says: 
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 (dSvanfigari, ddva- 
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 errea irrepoevra (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 viessengers, Zeus causes all the other gods to be 
summoned to the assembly {ayopij, II. 8, 2. 20, 4), just as the Ases 

^ o)r fiov(roTpa(f)ris Koi ras irapa Btois imararM X/^nr, oJ}k r^v r&v &tmp 
duiKtKTOv, oldf ra rcay 6(&v (oyd/xara),- as \m6 fjMvacip KaTanvt6ft€vos. Otkmp 6 
voiriT^s d(i(ai uTi fjLovadXfjirTos iariv, ov fiovov ra rStv avBpǟfnȴ 6p6ptaTa ci 
yiXkiToi tldiya^t akX* Sxnrtp koi qI 6foi Xtyovai, 



GRADES. OFHCES. 335 

attend at the J?lng (Ssem. 93*), on the rökstola, and by the Yggdra- 
sill (Soim. 1** 2* 44*), to counsel and to judge. Hebe, youth, is 
cupbearer of the gods and handmaid to Here (II. 5, 722), as FuUa 
is to Frigg (Sn. 36) ; the youth Ganymede is cupbearer too, and so 
is Beyla at the feast of the Ases (Saem. 67*); Sklrnir 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.). 

Among the gods themselves there is a diflference of ranh 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 Här; lafnhär and ThriSi in the 
Norse religion, the triad spoken of on p. 162. This is not the same 
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 
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 raeSr fyrir (he 
looks after),* or * ä 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 
streni^th of which they are good to pray to,* would be of advan- 
tage to our antiquities. And the animals dedicated to each 

^ Aosch. Prom. 439 deo'ia'i toU vioHy 955 v4ov v4oi jcpoTftTf, 960 rovs viovt 
$€oCi. Euinen. 156. 748. 799 oi vtorrtpoi Btoi Conf. Otn*. Müller, p. 181. 
« Conf. Haupt's zeitschr. für 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 Grimuismal ; mountains especially were consecrated to the 
Teutonic, as to the Greek deities: Sigt^^sberg, Himinbiorg, &c. 
Olympus was peculiarly the house of Zeus (Jao9 SoJ/ia), to which 
the other gods assembled (II. 1, 494) ; on the highest peak of the 
range he would sit apart (arep aXXxov 1, 498. 5, 753), loving to take 
counsel alone {airavevde Oetav 8, 10). He had another seat on Ida 
(11, 183. 336), whence he looked down to survey the doings of men, 
as OSinn did from HliSscialf. Poseidon sat on a height in the 
wooded range of Samos (13, 12). ValhöU and Bilskimir, 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 ' [ON. 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 liis 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 
soUicitant, aTraöet^que perhibentur. Not content with making 
their will known by signs and messengers, they resolve to come 
down themselves and appear to men. Such appearance is in the 
Hindu mythology marked by a special name: avatdra, i,e., de- 
scensus.^ 

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 

^ Bopp's gloss, sansk. 21*. 



DWELLINGS. INCARNATION. 337 

still go 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 
llercury and Oöinn appeared on earth, or Heimdall to found the 
three orders, and Thorr visited at weddings; OSinn, HcBnir 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, 
ToseiJon, 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, IL 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 : 

axKvv Z* av roi air 6<f>6a\ßjL&v eXoi/, tj irplv hrrjcv^ 
o(f>p' €v yiyv(oaKrj<i rjfiei/ deov rjhk Koi avhpa. 

Just so Biarco, in Saxo Gram., p. 37, is unable to spy Othin riding 

a wliite steed and aiding the Swedes, till he peeps through the ring 

formed by tlie arm of a spirit-seeing woman: a medium that 

elsewhere makes the elfin race visible to the bleared eyes of man. 

In anotlier 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 24, 397, and Athene the young Telemachus aa 

Mentor. In the same way Othin appeared as the chariot-driver 

Bruno (p. 330), or as a one-eyed old man. Mäamarphoses 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., OSinn takes the shape of a snake, to slip through a 

22 



338 CONDITION OF GODS. 

hole he has 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 of metempsychosis prevailed, the bodies of 
animals even were eligible for the avatära; 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 
nearly akin to that of the heroes being bodily descended from the 
gods. 

I think that on all these lines of research, which could be 
extended to many other points as weU, 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 invalidate, the surprising similarity of opinions on the 
immortality of gods, their divine food, their growing up oyemi^^t^ 
their joumeyings and transformations, their epithets, their anger 
and their mirth, their suddenness in appearing and recognition at 
parting, their use of carriages and horses, their performance of all 
natural functions, their illnesses, their language, their servaats tad 



J 



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 living 
gods, as T^r, Freyr, Baldr, Bragi, Zeus, grew up the common nouns 
tyr, frauja, baldor, bragi, deus, or they bordered close upon 
them (see SuppL). 



CHAPTEE XV. 



HEEOES. 



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 does it require gods visible in the flesh ; even the younger 
cannot do without heroes, in whom a divine spark still bums, or 
who come to be partakers of it. 

Heroism must not be made to consist in an3rthing 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 
kings, from heroes gods. ^/)ö)9 ccttix/ ef apOpcoirov ri koX Oeov 
(TvvOeroVy 8 firfTH avOptairo^ iarl, firfre 0€o^, Koi Gvvafi(f)6T€p6v iari 
(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 
gods, according to the view of antiquity, were not exempt (p. 318). 
In the hero, man attains the half of deity, becomes a demigod, 
semideus : fj pud itov yevo^ avSpcji/, II. 12, 23 ; avSpSfP fipmop Oetov 
761/09, 01 KoXiovrai ffp^lOeoi, Hes. epy. 159. Jomandes applies 
semidei to the anses (supra p. 25), as Saxo Gram, pronounces 
Balder a semideum, arcano superüm semiue procreatum. Otherwise 
in ON. writings we meet with neither halfgoS nor hälfäs ;* but N. 
Cap. 141 renders hemithei heroesque by ' halbkota unde erdJoota 
(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 

1 Hälftröll, halfrisi are similar, and the OHG. halpduiinc, halpwabh, 
halpteni (ON. halfdan) as opposed to altdurinc, altwalah. 



HEUOES. 341 

gods themselves ;^ the Judeo-christian angel is a daemon. Bather 
may the hero be compared to the christian saint, who through 
spiritual strife and sorrow earns a place in heaven (see SuppL). 

Tliis 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. vafr ON. ver,* AS. OHG. wer, Lett, wihrs, lith. 
wyras) in the sense of vir fortis (Tac. Germ. 3) so nearly comes up 
to tlie Sanskr. vira heros. Heros, ^/jo)?, which originally means a 
mere fighter, has been identified with rather too many things: h§rus, 
"HpT), 'HpaK\r]<;^ even ''Aprj<; and aperi] = virtus, so that the Goth. 
aims, OX. är, äri=nuntius, minister, might come in too, or the 
supposed digamma make a connexion with the aforesaid vlra look 
plausible. More undeniably, our ?idd is a prolongation* of the 
simple ON. hair, AS. haele vir: the name Halidegastes (like 
Leudogastes) is found so early as in Vopiscus ; and a Goth, halißs, 
OHG. halid, helid may be safely inferred from the proper names 
llelidperalit, Helidcrim, Helidgund, Helidniu, Helidberga,* though 
it is only from the 12th century that our memorials furnish an 
actual hclit pi. helide ; the MHG. helet, helt, pi. helde, occurs often 
enough. Of the AS. heeled' I remark that it makes its pi. both 
hiL^eöas and hceleö {e.g., Beow. 103), the latter archaic like the 
Goth. men6)7s, whence we may infer that the Gothic also had a pL 
hali)7s, and OHG. a pi. helid as well as helidä, and this is confirmed 
by a ÄIHG. 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 Iielet pi. helde. The ON. 
holdr pi. höldar (Saem. 114** 115* Sn. 171) implies an older 
höluör (like mänuör = Goth. menoJ?s) ; it appears to mean nothing 
but miles, vir, and höldborit (höld-bom) in the first passage to be 
something lower than hersborit, the höldar being free peasants, 
büendr. The Dan. helt, Swed. hjelte (OSwed. halad) show an 
anomalous t instead of d, and are perhaps to be traced to the 

^ At most, wc might feel some doubt about Sktmir, Frey's messenger and 
servant ; Imt he seems more a bright angel than a hero. 

* With this we should have to identify even the veorr used of Thörr (p. 
187) in so far a.s it stood for viorr. 

> ForthiMung : thus staff, stack, stall, stem, stare, &c may be called 
prolonpitions of the root sta. — Trans. 

* in earlv docs, the town of Heldboi^ ill Thuringia is already called 
Hdidibcrga^ MB. 28» 33. 



342 HEROES. 

German rather than the ON. form. If we prefer to see both in 
hab and in hali}7s 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, hertinga aide chueniga \ This hertinga suggests the AS. 
Juardingas, Elene 25. 130, whether it be a particular line, or heroes 
in general that are meant by it ; and we might put up with the 
derivation from herti, heard (hard), viri duri, fortes, exercitati, as 
hartimga in N. ps. 9, 1 means exercitatio. But as we actually find 
a Gothic line of heroes Azdingi, Astingi, and also an ON. of 
Haddtngjar, and as the Goth, zd, ON. dd, AS. rd, OHG. rt corres- 
pond to one another, there is more to be said for the Gothic word 
having dropt an A in the course of transmission, and the forms 
hazdiggs, haddingr, bearding, hartinc being all one word.^ Now, if 
the ON. haddr means a lock of hair (conf. p. 309), we may find in 
haddingr, hazdiggs, &c. a meaning suitable enough for a freeman 
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 chutnig^ 
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.* Other terms with a meaning immediately 
bordering on that of hero are: OHG. degan (miles, minister); 
wigani (pugil) ; chamfio, chempho (pugil), AS. cempa, ON. kappi ; 
the ON. häja (bellator), perhaps conn, with hatr odium, bellum ; 
and skati, better skad'i, AS. sceaSa, scaSa, properly nocivus, then 
praedator, latro, and passing from this meaning, honourable in 
ancient times, into that of heros ; even in the Mid. Ages, Landscado, 
scather of the land, was a name borne by noble families. That 
Aeri (exercitus), Goth, harj'is, also meant miles, is shown by OHG. 

^ The polypt. Irminon 170^ has a proper name Ardingus standing lor 
Hardingus. 

' Graff 4, 447 places chuoni, as well as chuninc and chunni, under the all* 
devouring root chan ; but as kruoni, AS. grSne viridis, comes from kniotti| 
AS. growan, so may chuoni, AS. cSne, from a lost chuoan, AS. c6wan poUere I 
vigere ? 



HEROES. 343 

glosses, Graff 4, 983, and by names of individual men compounded 
with heri ; conf. ch. XXV, einheri. The OHG. xcrecckio, hrecchio, 
reecho, had also in a peculiar way grown out of the sense of exsul, 
profugus, advena, which predominates in the AS. wrecca, OS. 
wrekio, into that of a hero fighting far from home, and the MHO. 
recke, ON. reckr is simply a hero in general.^ 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. Iialr, the 
OHG. govio (homo), ON. g%imi served to express the idea of heros. 
In Diut. 2, 314**, heros is glossed by gomo, and gumnar in the Edda 
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 frä goöom komo, Saem. 114*. 

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, 
Epaphus 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 

* Some Slavic expressions for hero are worthy of notice : Rubs, vttiaz^ 
Serv. viUz ; Russ. hoghatyr^ Pol. bohater. Boh. bohatyr, not conn, either with 
I »ugh (leus, or boghät dives, but the same as the Pere. behädirj Turk. (oAocfyr, 
Mongol. baahatoTy Hung. bdtoTy Manju bätura, and derivable from Vadra lively. 
merry ; Schott in Erman's zeitschr. 4, 631 [Mongol, baghd is force, ßia, and 
-toTy 'tur an adj. suflix]. 



344 HEROES. 

were Poseidon's children by Aethra and Tyro. Achilles was the 
son of Peleus and Thetis, Aeneas of Anchises and Yenus.^ 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 editum '. Now, as 
Gaia of herself gave birth to Uranos and Pontes, 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 primaiy 
meaning to be sky; and Tuisco, i.e., Tvisco, could easily spring 
out of the fuller form Tivisco [as Tuesday from TiwesdjEg]. 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 /laKpd, Hes. theog. 129 = GotL fafrgunja 
mikila), and Donar himself was called mountain and falrguneis (pp. 
169. 172), so that ovpavo^ sky stands connected with oipo^ 6po^ 
mountain, the idea of deus with that of ans (pp. 25. 188). Gaia, 
Tellus, Terra come round again in our goddesses Fiöigyn, lörtS and 
Eindr (p. 251) ; so the names of gods and goddesses here cross one 
another, but in a similar direction. 

This earth-bom 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. T^^ski ?). 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 mann a maivnisko = homo, the 

^ In the Roman legend. Romulus and RemuB were connected throngh 
Silvia with Mars, and through Aniulius with Venus ; and Romulus was taken 
up to heaven. The later apotheoeis of the emperors differs from the genuine 
heroic, almost as canonization does from primitive sainthood; ret even 
Augustus, being deified, oassed in legend for a son of Apollo, whom the god in 
the shape of a dragon hud by Atia ; Sueton. Octav. 9^1. 



iNGüio. 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, 6on 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. J^OO), 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 is not taken from Tacitus direct, as the proper name, though 
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 Romans may be inferred those of their 
patriarchal progenitors. 

1. Inguio. Iscio. Irmino. 

The threefold division of all the Germani into Incntevones, 
Iscaevones and Heiminones^ is based on the names of three heroes, 
Ingo, Isco, H^rmirw, each of whom admits of being fixed on yet 

surer authority^ 

Inrj, or Tyijo, Inguio has kept his place longest in the memory 
of the Saxon and Scandinavian tribes. Eunic alphabets in OHG. 
spell Inc, in AS. Ing, and an echo of his legend seems stiU to ring 
ill the Lay of Eunes : 

Ing wses serest mid Eastdenum 
gesewen secgum, oö he siööan east 
ofer wceg gewat waen aefter ran. 
J?us Heardingas }?one hsele nemdon. 

Ing first dwelt with the East Danes (conf. Beow. 779. 1225. 1650), 
then he went eastward over the sea,* his wain ran after. The wain 

^ Proximi oceano Ingaevones, medii Herminones, ceteri Istaevones yocan- 
tur, Tac. Germ. 2. 

'^ Cii^diu. 88, 8 says of the raven let out of Noah's ark : gewit ofer wonne 

wa'g sigan. 



346 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.). lug's residence in the east is 
strikingly in harmony with a pedigree of the Tnglings given in the 
Islendingabok (Isl. sog. 1, 19). Here at the head of all stands 
* YTtgvi Tyrkja konungr/ immediately succeeded by divime beings» 
Niörör, Freyr, Fiölnir (a byname of OCinn), Svegdir, &c; In the 
same way OSinn was called Tyrkja konungp (Sn. 368) from his 
residing at Byzantium (p. 163 note).^ The Tnglinga saga on the 
other hand begins the line with Niörör, after whom come Freyr, 
Fiölnir and the rest; but of Freyr, whom the wain would have 
suited exactly, it is stated that he had another name Yti^ or 
Yngvifreyr (p. 211-2), and the whole race of Ynglingar were named 
after him.^ Ingingar or Inffidngar would be more exact, as 16 
shown by the OHG. and AS. spelling, and confirmed by a host of 
very ancient names compounded with Ing or Ingo : InguiomSros 
(Ingimärus, Ingimiär, or with asp. Hincmarus), Inguram, Ingimund, 
Ingiburc, Inginolt, &c. Even Saxo Gram, writes Ingo, IngimanuL 
As for Tngltngar, standing for Ingltngar, 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 
^ngllngr juvenis, OHG. jungilinc, AS. geongling, from the itx)t 
fing, June, geong, which has no business here at all (?). — The main 
point is, that the first genealogy puts Ingvi before Niöiör, so that 
he would be Frey*s grandfather, while the other version makes him 
be bom again as it were in Frejrr, and even fuses his name with 
Frey's, of which there lurks a trace likewise in the AS. *fred 
Ingwina' (p. 211). This Ingwina appears to be the gen. pL of 
Ingwine, OHG. Inguwini, and 'dominus Ingwinorum' 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 

^ Snoni sends him to Tnrkland, Saxo only as far as Byzantinm. — ^TRAim. 

'As the ON. genealogies have Yngvi, Niörör, Freyr, the Old Swediah 
tables in Geijer (häfder 118. 121. 475) give Inge^ Neorch, Fro ; some have 
Neoroch for Neorch, both being corruptions of Neorth. Now, ynm it hy 
running Ingvi and Freyr into one, that the combination Ingvifreyr (transj^oaea 
into AS. fre& Ingwina) arose, or was he cut in two to make an additioiial 
link ? The Skäldskaparmäl in Sn. 211^ calls Yngvifreyr Odin's son, and horn 
the enumeration of the twelve or thirteen Ases in Sn. 21 1^ it cannot be doubted 
that Yngvifreyr was regarded as equivalent to the simple Freyr, 



INGÜIO. HABTÜNG. 347 

bears the name of Ingvlngar = Yngllngar. And then, what the 
Norse genealogy is unable to cany 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 heroe» would run: 
Tvisco^ Mannus, Ingvio, Nerthus, Fravio (or whatever shape the 
Gothic Frauja would have taken in the mouth of a Eoman). The 
earth-bom Tvisco-s mother repeats herself after three intermediate 
links in Nerthus the god or hero, as a Norse Ingui stands now 
before Niörör, now after ; and those Vanir, who have been moved 
away to the east, and to whom Niörör and his son Frejnr 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. 
Härtung is still remembered in our Heldenbuch as king of the 
Eeussen (Rüs, Russians), the same probably as 'Hartnlt' or 
' Hertnit von Eeussen ' ; in the Alphart he is one of the Wolfing 
heroes.^ 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 Härtung. It has been shown that to 
Hartunc, Hearding, would correspond the ON. form Haddingr, 
Now, whereas the Danish line of heroes beginning with OBinn 
arrives at FroSi in no more than three generations, OBinn being 
followed by Skioldr, FriBleifr, FroBi ; the series given in Saxo 
Gram, stands thus : Humbl, Dan, Lother, Skiold, Gram, Hading, 
Frotho. But Hading stands for Hadding, 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 Hemit » HanliDg in the Swedish tale of Dietrich (Iduna 10, 253-4. 

284). 



348 HEROEa 

ro1x>re debellatx), Snetiam reversiis/ which orientals again 
Ituthcni ; bat what is most remarimble is, that Saxo p. 17-8 pats 
ill the mouth of this Danish king and his wife Begnüda a song 
which in the Edda is sung by iVtorJr and SkaX (Sn. 27-8).^ We 
may accordingly take Hadding to be identical with Nioiffr, tLe^ a 
second birth of that god, which is farther confirmed by FriSleifr 
(= FreaLif, whom we have already identified with the simple Fiea, 
p. 219) appearing in the same line, exactly as Freyr is a son of 
Niöri5r, and Saxo says expressly, p. 16, that Hadding offered a 
Froblot, a sacrifice in honoar of Frejrr. Whether in FrdK (OH6. 
Fraoto, MHG. Fruote), the hero of the Danish story, who makes 
himself into three, and whose rule is praised as peacefol 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 oar 
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 Tnglingar : once again we 
see ourselves entitled to identify OBinn with Mannus or Tvisco. 
Nay, with all this interlacing and interchange of members, we 
could almost bear to see OCinn made the same as Niör6r, which is 
done in one manuscript. But the narrative ' frä Fomioti ok hans 
ffittmönnum' in Fomald. sog. 2, 12 carries us farther: at the top 
stands Burri, like the king of Tyrkland, followed by Burr, Odtnn, 
Freyr, Nior&r, Freyr, Fiolnir ; here then is a double Freyr, the 
first one taking Yngvi's place, i.e., the Yngvifreyr we had before ; 
but also a manifold O&inn, Fiolnir being one of his names (Ssem. 
10* 46** 184*. Sn. 3). Burri and Burr, names closely related to 

1 So Wh. Müller (Haiipt's zeitschr. 3, 48-9) has jtistly pointed ont> that 
Skaöi's choice of the ninflie«! bridegroom, whose feet alone were visible (Sn. 
82), agrees witli Saxo's * eligendi mariti libertas curiosiore corporum attrects- 
tione, but here to find u ring that the flesh has healed over. Skaffi and 
Itagnhild necessarily fall into one. 



INGUIO. PORO. ISCIO. 349 

each other ]\ke 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 Oöinn, Vili, Ve (see p. 
162). Kow, Buri is that first man or human being, who was 
licked out of the rocks by the cow, hence the Sristporo (erst-born), 
an OUG. Poro, Goth. Baura ; Borr might be OHG. Pai^, Goth. 
Bams 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 we may think of Byv too, 
the wish- wind (see Oskabyrr, p. 144). Must not BuH, Borr, Oötnn 
be parallel, though under other names, to TviscOy Majinus, Inffuio ? 
Inguio has two brothers at his side, Iscio and Hermino, as Oöinn 
has Vili and Ye ; we should then see the reason why the names 
T5^ski and Maör^ are absent from the Edda, because Buri and Borr 
are their substitutes ; and several other things would become 
intelligible. Tvisco is * terra editus,' and Buri is produced out of 
stone ; when we see Oöinn heading the YngUngar as well as 
Inguio the Ingaevones, we may find in that a confirmation of the 
hypothesis that Saxons and Cheruscans, preeminently worshippers 
of Wudan, formed the flower of the Ingaevones. These gods- and 
demigods may appear to be all running into one another, but alway» 
there emerges from among them tlie 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, I SCO, and not Istio, Isto. There is not so much weight to be 
laid on the fact that sundry MSS. even of Tacitus actually read' 
Lscaevones : we ought to examine more narrowly, whether the st 
in riiny'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 Romans themselves into Istaevo, 
as Vistula crept in by the side of the truer Viscula (Weichsel). But 
what seem irrefragable proofs are the Escio and Hisicion^ of 

* So in the Ilifjsniäl 105*, Burr is called the firet, Bam the second, and /od* 
(conf. AS. eiiilen) the tliird child of FaÖir and Moöir. 

^ ON. for muu : siug. niaSr, maunis, mauni, mann ; pi. menn, manna, 
iiiÖnnuin, nierin. 

> In Nennius § 17« Steyenson and Sanmarte (pp. 39. 40) have adopted the 
very worst reading Hisitio, 



350 HKR0E8. 

Nennius, in a tradition of the Mid. Ages not adopted from Tacitus, 
and the Isiocon^ in a Gaelic poem of the 11th centuiy (see SuppL). 
If this will not serve, let internal evidence speak : in Tuisco and 
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-created man again (Ssem. 3. Sn. 10), and means an ash-tree. 
It seems strange enough, that we also come across this adc (let 
interpretation understand it of the tree or not) among the Runic 
names, side by side with ' inc, ziu, er,' all heroes and gods ; and 
among the ON. names for the earth is Eslga, Sn. 220^ 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 
' proximi Sheno,' stood on the Shine.^ 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 0«sc, and consequently Oesdngas. 

Zeuss, p. 73, gives the preference to the reading Idaewmn^ 
connecting them with the Astingi, Azdingi, whom I (p. 342) took for 
Hazdingi, and identified with the ON. Haddingjar, AS. Heaidingaa» 
OHG. Hertingä. The hypothesis of Istaevones = Izdaevones would 
require that the Goth, zd = AS. rd, OHG. rt, should in the time of 

^ Pointed out by Leo in the zeitschr. f. d. alt. 2, 634. 

' Conf. Askitün (Ascha near Amberg), Aski^ronno (Eschborn near F^ank* 
fort), Askipah (Eschbach, Eschenbach) in varions parts ; Awcarlhi a maa^ 
name (see SuppL). 



ISCIO. IBMINO. 351 

Tacitus have prevailed even among the Rhine Germans ; I have never 
yet heard of an OHG. Artingä, Ertingä, nor of an ON. Addlngar, 
Eddingar. According to this conjecture, ingenious anyhow and 
worth examining further, the ancestral hero would be called Zrfio= 
Izdio, Izdvio, OHG. Erto^ OK Eddi, with which the celebrated 
term edda proavia would agree, its Gothic form being izdd, OHG. 
ertä. 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 =: Askingä ' and ' Igtaevones= 
Artingä '. 

The third son of Mannus will occupy us even longer than his 
brothers. Ermine's posterity completes the cycle of the three main 
races of Germany : Ingaevonts, 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 Somans 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. 
Airniana : it is supported by the derivative Herminones, and even 
by the corruptions ' Hisicion, Annenon, 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 (Afrmanareiks), OHG. Irmanrih, AS. Eormenrlc, 
ON. lormunrekr, where the u agrees with that in the national 
name Hermundurus ; OHG. Irmandegan, Irmandeo, Irmanperaht, 
Irmanfrit, Irminolt, Irmandrüt, Irmangart, Irmansuint, &c. Atten- 
tion is claimed by the names of certain animals and plants : the 
ON. lörmungandr 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 Charlee the 
Great's time is known well enough now ; and a female name larmin is met 
with in deeds. 



352 HEROES. 

find written geonnenwjrt, geormenleaf. Authorities for irmaiigoty 
irmandiot, OS. irminthiod, inninman, irmaus&l, &c., &c., have been 
given above, p. 118. A villa IrmenJd, t.e., a wood (in ilia silva 
Bcaras 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, iiman seems 
to have but a general intensifying power, without any distinct 
rftferciice tr; 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, Flormenleaf would be Eormenes leaf, like Fomeotes 
folmc, Wuotaiies wee. Irmandeo then is much the same as 
(fotadco, Iniianrlh as Diotrih ; and as irmangot means the great 
god, irmaudiot the great people, iörmungrund the great wide earth, 
so imiansdl cannot mean more than the great pillar, the very sense 
caught by liudolf in liis translation univei"salis columna (p. 117).. 

Ulis is all very true, but there is nothing to prevent Irmino or 
Irmin having had a personal reference in previous centuries : have 
wo not seen, side by side with Zeus and T^, the common noun 
dou-s anil the i)refix t^-, tlr- (p. 195-6) ? conf. p. 339. If Sfleteresda^ 
has got rubbi'd down to Saturday, Saterdach (p. 125), so may Eritac 
j)()int to a former Erestac (p. 202), Eormenleaf to Eormenes leaf, 
Inuansftl to Imianessül; we also met with Donnerbühel for 
I )onni»rsbiiliol (p. 170), Woenlet for Woenslet, and we say 
Frankfurt for Fnuikenfurt [Oxfoixi for Oxenaford, &c.]. The more 
the souse of the name faded out, the more readily did the genitive 
form dix>p away ; the OHG. godes hüs is more literal, the Goth. 
guj>lifts more abstmct, yet both are used, as the OS. regano giscapu 
and ivgixngisoapu, mctodo giscapu and metodgiscapu held their 
gnnmd sinmlianoously. As for geormen = eormen, it suggests 
Clonnauus (Gramm. 1, 11). 

It is true, Tacitus keeps the Hcrmino that lies latent in bis 
Horminones afxirt from Arminius with whom the Bomans waged 
war ; yet his famous • canitur adhuc barbaras apud gentes,' applied 
to the destroyer of Varus, might easily arise through simply 
miiiinterpreting such accounts as reached the Boman ear of 
(lonnan sonp? about the mythical hero. Granted that innansfll 
oxpri»ssi\l Wi»rd for word no more than * huge pillar,' yet to the people 
that worshipivd it it must have been a divine image, standing for 



IRMIKO, IBMIN. 353 

a particular god. To discover who this was, we can only choose 
one of two ways : either he was one of the three great divinities, 
Wodan, Thenar, 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 MarSy 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 uteumque probabilem, qui Saxones originem duxisse 
]>utant de Graecis, quia Ilirmin vel Hernies graece Mara dicitur, 
quo vocabulo ad laudem vel ad vituperationem usque hodie etiam 
iguorantes utimur '. From this it follows, that the god to whom 
the Saxons sacrificed after their victory over the Thuringians was 
called Hmiiin, Irminy and in the 10th century the name was still 
altixed in praise or blame to very eminent or very desperate 
characters.^ 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 irminsül (pp. 115 — 118), and the true form 
of this name must have been IrmineSy Irmanes or Hirmines sill. 
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 Hinnin, Hermes and Mars are put together seems a 
perfect nniddle, 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 Boman Mars 
given him (p. 133); then further, how easily Irmin or Hinnin in 
tliis case would lead to Hermes, and Ares to Mars, for the Irminsül 
itself is connected with Eres-burg (p. 116). 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 t On p. 197 I have 
pronounced rather in favour of Mars, as Miillenhoff too (Haupt 7, 
384) identifies Irmin with Ziu; one might even be inclined to see 

* Mucli as we »ay now : he is a re<:^ular devüy or in Lower Saxony hamer 
(p. 182). The pretix irmin- likewise intensifies in a ^ood or bad sense; like 
* iriniii<;(Ml, iniuuthiod,' there may have been an inuinthiob »■ ' meginthiob, 

ivj^iuthiub '. 

23 



354 HKROES. 

in it the name of the war-god brought out on p. 202, * Era, Heru,' 
and to dissect Irman, Erman into Ir-man, Er-man, though, to judge 
by the fonns Irmin, Eormen, Ermun, lörmun, 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 
speak the accidental,^ yet striking similarity of the name Irmansfil 
or Hirmensül to 'Ep/iiy: and Ipfia = prop, stake, pole, pillar (p. 
118), and that it was precisely Hermes's image or head that used 
to be set up on such epfiara, and further, that the Mid. Ages 
referred the irmen-pillars to Mercury (p. 116). In Hirmin the 
Saxons appear to have worshipped a Wödan imaged as a warricr. 

If this view be well grounded, we have Wödan wedging himself 
into the ancient line of heroes ; but the question is, whether Irmin 
is not to be regarded as a second birth or son of the god, whether 
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, Eegino. 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 
Tngaevones, Iscaevones, Herminones, Oescingas, Scilfingas, YngUn- 
gar (for Ingingar), Völsüngar, Skiöldüngar, Niflüngar,* as there were 
Heracleidae and Pelopidae, but no Wödeningas or Thunoringas, 
though a Wödening and a Kronides. The Anglo-Saxons, with 
Woden always appearing at their head, would surely have borne 
the name of Wödeningas, had it been customary to take name 
from the god himself. Nations do descend from the god, bat 
through the medium of a demigod, and after him they name them- 
selves. A national name taken from the highest god would have 
been impious arrogance, and alien to human feeling. 

As Lower Saxony, especially Westphalia, was a chief seat of 
the Irmin-worship, we may put by the side of Widukind's accounl 
of Hirmin a few other traces of his name, which is not even yei 

1 To the Greek aspirate corresponds a Teutonic S, not H: 6.^ ml a6; 
arrd sibun ; Sks salt. (There are exceptions : 6, ^, ol he, her, hig ; ^ot waolib 
hela ; cX« haul, holen]. 

' A patronymic sufüx is not necessary : the GKiutös, QeriBai, Sol^lA tdtt 
name from Qäuts, Gevis, Snap, divine heroes. 



IRBHN. 355 

entirely extinct in that part of Germany. Strodtmann has noted 
down the following phrases in Osnabrück : * he ment, use herre 
gott heet Herrn (he thinks our Lord is called H., i.e, is never angry) ; 
use herre gott heet nich Herrn, 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, Eavens- 
berg and Münster, in the bishopric of Minden and the duchy of 
Westphalia,^ the people have kept alive the rhyme : 

Hermen, sla dermen, 

sla pipen, sla trummen, ' 

de kaiser wil kummen 

met hamer un stangen,* 

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 Irmensül. They 
cannot so well be interpreted of the elder Arminius and the Romans.' 
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, 
Armeswerd,* Ermencswerde (Dronke*s trad. fuld. p. 123), Ermenes- 
wcrethe (Vita Meinwerci an. 1022. Leibn. 1, 551), = Irmineswerid, 
insula Irraini, as otlier 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, Fr. or. 1, 883, De orig. Germ. 397 

1 Ronuuers Hessen 1. p. 66 note. Westphalia (Minden 1830) L 4, 62. 
The tuiK^ is j^iven in Schumann's Musical, zeitun^ for 1836. 

' Variants : mit stangcn und prangen (which also means staves) ; mit 
hamer un tiUii^'en (tongs). 

^ Tliis explanation hiis of course been tried : some have put Hermann for 
Hermen, others acM a narrative verse, which I do not suppose is found in the 
people's mouth : * un Hennen slaug dermen, slaug pipen, slaug trmnmen, de 
fursten i<ind kummen met all eren mannen, hebt Varus uphangen'. 

* The same vowel-change is seen in ErmensuUn (deed of 1298 in Baring*« 
Clavis dipl. p. -iOS no. 15), a Westphalian village, now called ArmenteuL 



or/» 



356 HEROES. 

give Irmineswagen for the constellation arctua, plaustrum coeleste, 
I do not know on what authority : this wain would stand beside 
Wuotanswagen, Uonnerswagen, and even Ingswagen. 

Some of the later AS. and several 0. Engl, authorities, in 
specifying four great highways that traverse England, name 
amongst them Enningestrete, running from south to north of the 
island.^ But we may safely assume the pure AS. form to have 
been Eormenstroet or Eormenes-strajt, as another of the four ways, 
Wocilingastrat, occurs in the Saxon Chron. (Ingr. 190. Thorpe's 
anal. p. 38), and in the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrun (Thorpe, p. 
C6), and * andlang Waetlinga straet ' in Kemble 2, 250 (an. 944). 
Lye has Irviingstrcet together vnth Irmingsül, both without refer- 
ences. The conjectural Eormenstnet would lead to an OHG. 
Irmanstniza, and Eormenesstraet to Irmanesstriza, w^ith the mean- 
ings via publica and via IrmanL 

Now it is not unimportant to the course of our inquiry, that 
one of the four highways, Waetlingastnet, 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 whiclie men clepe the milky way 

for it is white, and some parfay 

ycallin it ban Watlingestrde, 

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 Coniphiint of Scotland, p. i>0, 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 Viigil, p. 85 : 

s IITI clieminii Watlinj^estrete, Fosse, Hickenildcstrete, Ermingeänk 
(Thori)e'8 Anc. lawe, p. 192; ; conf. Henry of Hunt (Emineestreet]^ Kob. of 
ulouc, Oxf. 1742, p. 299 (ako Erning., after the preceding). Ranulpli 
Higliden's Polj'clir., ed. Oxon. p. 196. Leland's Itinerary, Oxf. 1744. ^10B-> 
140. Gibson in App. chron. b'ax. p. 47. Camden's Britannia, ed. Qibeon, 
Lond. 1753, p. Ixxix. In the map to Lappenherg's Hist of EngL, the direetiiMi 
of the four roadä 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. 

Waetlinga is plainly a gen. pi. ; who the Waetlings were, and how 
tliey 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. Phaiithon, also the son of a 
god, wlien 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. Tlie 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 
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. 

* I limit myself to briefly quoting some other Dames for the miJky tmy. 
In Arabic it is tarik al thibn (via straminis) ; Syriac schevil Uvno (via paleae) ; 
M(xl. Hebrew netihat ihehtn (semita paleae) ; Pere. rah kah keshan (via stramen 
trahenti.s) ; Copt pimoit ende pitoh (via straminis^ ; Ethiop. hasare zamanegade 
(stipula viae) ; Arab, agjiin derb eiiubenin (path ol the chopped-straw carriers) ; 
Turk. saiiuuL uyhrisi (paleam rapiens, paleae fur) ; Armen, hartacol or hartacoyh 
([)aleae tur) ; all these names run upon scattered chaff, which a thief dropt in 
his fliglit. More simple is the Arabic majerra (tractus), nahr al majerra 
(fiunien tractus), and the Roman conception of path of the gods or to the gods ; 
also Iruq. path of souls^ Turk, hadjiler juli (pilgrims' path), hadji is a pilgrim to 
Mecca an<l Medina. Very similar is the christian term used in the Mid. Ages, 
* galaxias via sandi Jacohx * already in John of Genoa's Catholicon (13th cent.) ; 
Camino di SantiagOj chtmin de saint J agues, Jacobsstrasse, Slov. zesta v* Bim 
(road to Rome). Irom the pilgrimages to (jalicia or Rome, which led to heaven 
[was there no thought of Jacob's ladder 1] This James's road too, or pilgrim's 
road, was at once on earth and in heaven ; in Lacomblet, docs. 184 and 185 
(an. 10Ö1) name a Jacobmrch together with the via regia. ON. vetrarhiaui 
(winterway). Welsh caer Uwydion (p. 150), and Arianrod (silver street? which 
conies near Argentomtum). Finn, linnunrata (birdway), Lith. paukszcziü 
ki^Usy perliaps because souls and spirits flit in the snape of birds ; Hung. Hada- 
hittya fvia belli), because the Hungarians in migrating from Asia followed 
this constellation (see Suppl.). Vroneldeiistraet (p. 285) and Pharaildis fit 
intellij^ibly enough with Jrau Holda and Herotlias, whose airy voyages easily 
account for tlieir giving a name to the milky way, the more so, as Wuotan, 
who joins Holda in the nightly hunt^ shows nimself here also in the Welsh 
appellation caer Gwydion. Even the fact of Diana being mixed up with that 
chase, and Juno with the milky way, is in keeping ; and gods or spirita Bweep 
along the heavenly road as well as in the heavenly hunt. 



358 HEROES. 

Widukind of Gorvei is the first who gives us out of old songs 
the beautiful and truly epic story of the Saxons* victory over the 
Thuringians/ which Euodolf before him (Pertz 2, 674) had barely 
touched. Irmenfried, king of the Thuringians, being oppressed by 
Dieterich, king of the Franks, called the Saxons to his aid : they 
appeared, and fought valiantly. But he began to waver in his 
mind, he secretly negotiated a treaty with the Franks, and the t¥«) 
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 
stratagem, returned to Dieterich's camp. In this camp was 
staying Irmenfried*s counsellor Iring, whose prudent plans had 
previously rendered him great services. When Irmenfried kndt 
before Dieterich, Iring stood by, and having been won by Dieteiich, 
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 
avenge my master,* drew his sword, stabbed Dieterich dead, laid his 
lord's body over that of the Frank, so that the vanquished in life 
might be the victor in death, opeived a way for himself with the 
sword (viam ferro faciens), and escaped. *Mirari tarnen non 
possumus ' adds Widukind, ' in tantum famam praevaluisse, ut 
Iringi nomine, quem ita vocitant, lacteus coeU circulus usque in 
praesens sit notatus.* Or, with the Auersberg chronicler : * famam 
in tantum praevaluisse, ut lacteus eoeli circulus Iringis nomine 
Iringesstrdza usque in praesens sit vocatus ' (sit notatus in Peril 
8, 178). 

In confirmation, AS. glosses collected by Junius (Symh. 372) 
give ' via secta : Iringes uucc* from which Somner and Lye bonow 
their ' Iringes weg, via secta *. Conf. via sexta iringesunee, Hanpti 
zeitschr. 5, 195. Unpubl. glosses of the Amplonian libr. at Erfait 
(10-llth cent. bl. 14*) have * via secta: luuSuringes uueg* \ whidi 
lu waring agrees very remarkably with the later form Euring in 
Euringsstrass, Aventin 102** 103*. 



1 Conf. the differing but likewise old version, from a H. Geiman dktrieli 
in Goldast's Script rer. Suev. pp. 1 — 3, where Swabians take the place of tti 
Saxons. The Auersberg chron. (ed. Argent 1609, pp. 146-8) oopiot Wut* 

kind. Eckehard, in Pertz 8, 176-8. 



I 



IRMIN. miNG. 359 

In the Nibelungenlied 1285. 1965 — 2009, these heroes appear 
again, they are the same, but differently conceived, and more akin 
to the H. German version in Goldast : ^ Imvrit of Diiringen 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 to all this, that the Vilk. saga cap. 360, though silent on 
Imfried, tells of Iruag's last combat with Hogni, and makes him 
sink against a stone wall, whirfi is still called Irdngs veggr 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 Waitlinga-strset, and so was the road 
to Rome and St. James set in the firmament as well. These 
fancies about waijs and wains, we know, are pagan, and indicate 
god-myths. The Thuringian Imvrit, originally Irmanfrit, it is 
reasonable to suppose, is the same as Irman, Irmin (conf. Sigfrit, 
Signiunt, Sigi), and the Hemiunduri = Irman-duri are plainly con- 
nected with the Durings (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 Irine and Irmin, apart fix)m the alliteration which 
doubtless operated in the ancient lay, have nothing in common; the 
first has a long i^ and of themselves they cannot have represented 

* As already quoted, Deutsch, heldens. p. 117. 

^ Or tM, jw some roota shift from the fourth to the fifth vowel-series (like 
liirit and hiurat, now both heirat and heurat; or tir and t^r, p. 196), so lurinc 
(t'xjxuuled into luwarinc, as the OHQ, poss. pron. iur into iuwar) ; so in the 
16- 17th cent. Eiring alternates with Euring. A few MSS. read Hiring for 
Irinjj^, like H irmin for Irmin, but I have never seen a Heuring for Euring, or 
it nii^'ht have suj^ested a Saxon hevenring, as the rainbow is called the ring of 
heaven. An old AS. name for Orion, Ebur^rung, Ebir(3iring, seems somebow 
connected, eiupecially with the luwaring above. 



300 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, e.^.,Trad. Fuld. 1, 79) is of him- 
self a demigod grown dim, who had a way and wain of his own, as 
well as Irrnin. Only, Irmin*s worship seems to have had the 
deeper foundations, as the image of the Irmansül sufficiently 
shows. As the name of a place I find Iringes pure (bui^), MB. 7, 
47. 157. 138. 231. Imngisperc (berg) 29, 58. 

Up to this point I have refrained from mentioning some Norse 
traditions, which have a manifest reference to the earthly hero- 
path. It had been the custom from of old, for a new king, on as- 
suming the goveniment, to travel the great highway across the 
country, confirming the people in their privileges (RA. 237-8). 
This is called in the 0. Swed. laws ' EHksgaiu ridha,' riding Eric's 
road.^ Sweden numbers a host of kings named EHk (ON. £irikr), 
but they are all quite historical, and to none of them can be traced 
this custom 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 Rim- 
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 converUu deorum, qui 
ipsam terram possidere credebantur, et ab eis missum, ut haec regi 
et populis nunciaret : Vos, inquam,^ nos vobis propitios diu habuis- 
tis, et terram incolatus vestri cum multa abundantia nostio 
adjutorio in pace et prosperitate longo tempore tenuistis, vos quo- 
que nobis sacrificia et vota debita persolvistis, grataque nobis vestra 
fuerunt obsequia. At nunc et sacrificia solita subtrahitis, et vota 
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 

1 The venerable custom still prevailed in the 15-16th cent : 'statuta pro- 
vincialium generöse confirmavit et sigillavit in equitatu qui dicitur Eriktgaia^ 
Diariuin Vazsteuense ad an. 1441 (ed. Benzel, Ups. 1721) p. 86. * R«z 
Christoferus Sueciae et Daciac equitatuin fecit (\m dicitur Erikagata secimdiiiii 
leges patriae,' ibid, ad an. 1442. Even Qustavus Vasa rode his Eriksgata. 

* For inquimua, as elsewhere inquit for inquiunt 

s Votum, what an iudiWdual offers, as opposed to the sacrificium prwented 
publicly and jointly ; conf. supni, p. 57. 



lUMIN. IRING. 361 

halbere dcsideratis, et nos vobis non sufficiinus, Ericum, quondam 
rugeni vestrum, nos unanimes in collegium nostrwn asciscimus} ut 
sit U71US de numero deomm* — I have transcribed the whole passage, 
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 
gods.2 This seems to exclude all later Erics from any claim to the 
Eriksgata ; probably there were mixed up even then, at least in 
liimbert's mind, traditions of a divine Erik. 

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 

enouiirh to warn us ofl'. Instead of Eriksgata we also meet with 

Riksf/ata, and this points decidedly to Bir/r, the earthly name of 

the god Heimdallr, who in the Edda walks the green roads (gi^ccnar 

brautiv) of earth, to beget the three races of men. In the green 

earthly roads are mirrored the white and shining paths of heaven.^ 

Then the problem started on p. 234, whether the ON. form Iligr 

arose out of Iringr by aphjeresis and syncope, now finds a solution 

approaching to certainty. Heimdallr dwells in Himinbiöi'g on the 

quaking roost (Bifröst), the rainbow, which is the bridge or path by 

wiiicli the gods descend from heaven to earth. The rainbow is the 

CL'lestial ring, as the galaxy is the celestial road, and Heimdallr 

keeper of that road, Heimdallr is Rigr = Iring, walking the earth 

and translated to the skies ; now we comprehend, why there lived 

among the nations many a various tale of EHksgata, Iringcsjvec, 

Irinfjesstrdzn, and was shifted now to one and now to the other 

celestial phenomenon. Iring, through luwaring, borders on Ebur- 

(J rung the old name of Orion (see Suppl.). And if our heroic 

legend associates Irmenfrit, i.e.y Irmin with Iring, and Irmin-street 

alternates with Iring-street, then in the god-myth also, there must 

liav(^ existed points of contact between Irmin = OÖinn and Iring = 

llcinidallr: well, Heimdallr was a son of Oöinn, and the Welsh milky 

way was actually named after Gwydion, i.e., Woden. From the 

Irniinsül four roads branched out across the country, Eriksgata 

^ So kinj,' Hakon 18 admitted into the society of gods, HermoSr and ßrugi 
go to meet him : * siti Hakon meö heiÖin goö* (Häkonarmäl). 
'^ Dahlmanu guesses it may be the Upeol Erik (d. 804). 
3 Altd. blatter 1, 372-3. 



362 HEROES. 

extended in four directions, four such highways are likewise known 
to English tradition, though it gives the name of Enningestret 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. Marso. 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 fqunder 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 Soman 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 Ps. 57). The Marsigni = Marsingi, a Suevic people, 
acknowledged the same name and origin. The proper name Mwno 
occurs in Mabillon no. 18, in a deed of 692, also in the polypt 
Irminonis p. 158* 163^, but seldom elsewhere. MersihuTg and 
MarsehMTg, 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*, which may signify, to go to all the 
devils, expose oneself to every danger ; conf. ' einen marsen man/ 
Crane 2865. The Gothic marzjan (impedire, 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). 
is worth considering. Gambara's two sons are called Ihor = OHG. 
Epur, AS. Eofor, ON. löfur, i.e. aper, boar, and Ajo : all the three 
names appear to be coniipt in Saxo Gram, 



MABSO. SUAPO. 363 

Ought we to assume for the Suevi, OHG. Su&pä, an eponymous 
heit) 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' 
i-eaching to the Sinus Codanus ; and Solinus, following him, says 
22, 1 : ' Mons Sevo ipse ingens . . , initium Germaniae facit, 
hunc Inguaeones tenent ; ' but Isidor (Orig. 10, 2) makes out of it : 
* dicti autem Suevi putantur a monte Siievo, qui ab ortu initium 
Germaniae facit *. From this evidently is taken the account of the 
immigrating Swaben in the Lay of Anno 284 : ' si sluogen iri 
gecelte (pitched their tents) ane dem berge Suebo (so several read 
for Suedo), dannin wurdin si geheizin Suabo'.^ In the Low 
German psalms 57, 17 mons coagulatus is rendered * berg sueiwt* 
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 Saim. 164-8 the Se/a fiöll (fells, moun- 
tains, of the Sevs) are mentioned in those very Helga-songs, one of 
which sings of Svafdland, king Svafnir and the valkyr Siava, A 
V after 8 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 Swaef- 
(lacg, can hardly be brought in here. 

Tacitus's Vandilii and Pliny's Vindili stand in the same relation 
to each other as Arminius 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). Alcis. 

Clear and definite on the other hand are the historian's notices 
of another famous hero : Fuisse apud eos et Herctdem memorant, 
priniuraque omnium virorum fortium ituri in proelia canunt. Germ. 

^ Kaiserchr. 285 : sfn gecelt hiez er slahen do Af einin berc der heizit 
Sirrro, von dem l)crge Swtro aint aie alle geheizeu Swabo. For Swero read 
ÜUXVO (eee Suppl.). 



364: HEßOEa 

3. Speaking of sacrifices ih cap. 9, after mentioning Merctmus 
fii^t, 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 ITerculis columnas fama vulgavit, sive 
adiit Hercules, seu quidquid ubique magnificum est, in claritatem 
ejus rcferre consensimus. Nee defuit audentia Druso Germanico, 
sed obstitit oceanus in se simul at que in Hercaltni inquiri. Mox 
nemo tentavit, sanctiusque ac reverentius visimi de actis deomm 
credere quam scire. The Annals 2, 12 name a 'silva Hercvli 
sacra/ between the Weser and Kibe in the land of the Cheniscans ; 
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 
Eomans. Hercules, whose deeds were accomplished in countries 
widely remote, is thought to have visited Germany also, and the 
(Jaditanian 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 pfllars, 
even Widukind still knows something, by his speaking of Hinnin's 
effigies columnarum (pi.), not columnae. Was the plural irman-- 
süli (p. 115) more exact than irmansül, and had the image several 
pillars ? Did the Roman in his Hermin and Herminones think of 
Herakles and Hercules, whose name bore plainly on its face the 
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 nama 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 Henisci. 

If in this ' Hercules ' 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 

fice no other ground than that the Norse Thorr, like Hercules, 
l)eifürms innuuierable heroic deeds, but these may equally be 
placed to the credit of Irmin, and Irmin and the thundcrgod have 
nothing else in common. Yet, in favour of 'Hercules' being Donar, 
we ought perhaps to weigh the AS. sentences quoted on p. 161, 
note ; also, that Herakles was a son of Zeus, and a foe to giants. 

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,* whose 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 Sahsnot 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 
proclia 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 hnnler matter to form an opinion about the ' Ulysses ' : 
Ceterum et Ulixcm 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 nominatunique ; aram quin etiam Ulixi consecratam, adjecto 
Laertae ])atris nomine, eodem loco olim repertam ; Tac. Germ. 3. 
In Odysseus people have seen Oöinn, in Asciburg Asburg ; but if 
Woden stood for the god Mercury, it cannot here mean the hero, 
still less can Askiburg be traced to the Sses, a purely Norse form, 
which in tliese 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 ! Manmis the father of Isco may have 
suggested Lacrtc'i, inasmuch as Xao9 people, and Xao9 stone, are 
mixed up in the creation of the first man (the origo gentis) out of 
done or rock (see ch. XIX) ; in the same way Asco grew up out of 
the tree (ash), and Epu^ and ireTfyq sUmd together in the mythu.«. 



366 HEROES. 

not without meaning. ^, As liut from liotan, \a6^ seems to come 
from the same root as \ao^, Xaa^} 

The interpretatio Romana 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. 66, 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 
Aid, if this plural of Alcus is the true form. It occurs to me, that 
one of Oöin's names is IdUcr (Saetn. 46^ 47**), and jolk in the 
Vermland dialect means a boy.* 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 
Suppl.).« 

4. Beowulf, Sigfrit, Amalo, Ermenrich, Dieterich, Ac. 

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, 
wo might have gained a much closer insight into its nature and its 
connexion as a whole. As it is, we are thrown upon dry genecdogieg, 
dating from many centuries after, and touching only certain races, 
namely the Goths, Langobards, Burgundians, but above all, the 
Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. We may learn from them the 
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 AaKißovpytov." Extr. from ouppL, 
voL iii. 

a Almcjvist, Svensk spriiklära. Stockh. 1840, p. 385*. 

> In Lith. lele is pupa, akies lele pupilla, leilas butterfly. 



GOZ. FROGEB. 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 Wddel- 
gedt^ (both akin to the Gothic GdiUs), Fredvnne, Wusc/red, ScB/ugel, 
Wcstcrfalciia ; and many are fallen dim to us. Cdsere, which in 
other AS. writings is used for cyning,* seems to be a mere 
appellative, and to have acquired the character of a proper name 
after the analogy of the Roman 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 Völsüngasaga sets out with Oöin'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 on. Another time, on the contrary, we are informed, 
Sn. 84 — 86, how Oöinn 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 Suttüngr kept, guarded by 
his daughter Gunnloo; between her and the god took place sundry 
passages of love, dimly hinted at by Ssemund also 12** 23*'** 24*, 
but we are nowhere told what heroes were begotten in the three 
nights that Oöinn passed with the giant's daughter. Gunnlod 
belongs to the race of giants, not of men, which is also the case 
with Gerffr wliom Freyr wooed, and perhaps with others, who are 
not reckoned among the äsynjor. The Greeks also held that from 
the union of gods with titans* daughters might spring a hero, or 
even a god (like T^r, p. 208). — Only Saxo, p. 66, and no other 
authority, tells us of a Norwegian king and hero * Frogerus, ut 
quidani ferunt, Othino patre natus,' to whom the gods gave to be 
invincible in fight, unless his adversary could grasp the dust from 

» OHG. ]VuotU(j6z (ZciUchr. f. d. alt 1, o77X conf. wüeteln above, p. 132, 
and Wodel-beer, p. 156 (see Suppl.). 

' In Booth. :W, 1 Agamemnon is styled casere, and Ulysses cyning [in the 
Pre f., Ricd^^ot, Ealleric, Theodric are cyningas, the emperor always c&sere] ; in 
a doc. in Kenible 2, 304 Eadrcd is * cyning and casere . 



3G8 HEROES. 

under liis feet,* which the Danish king Frotho by fraud contrived to 
do. Can this Froger be the AS. FreoCegar, Freöegär in the Wessex 
genealogy, who had Brond for father, Baeldaeg for grandfaüier, 
Woden for great-grandfather ? The ON. table of lineage seems to 
mix up Frioöegar with Froöi, his adversary.* According to the 
Formali of the Edda, p. 1 5, and the Yngl. saga c. 9, Norway traced 
her eldest line of kings to Samin/jr, the son of OSinn by SkaSi, 
previously the wife of Niörör ; some write Semtngr, which means 
pacificat^)r, and would lead to Friögeir again. SkaSi was daughter 
to the iötunn Thiassi, and the SigurSardrapa (-killing) calls 
Sigui-Sr Laöaiarl ' afspringr Thiassa,' (Th. progenies). — The Her- 
rauössaga cap. 1 makes Hringr spring from Gauti, and him from 
Oöinn : this Gautr or GatUi (conf. Ing and Ingo, Irmin and Irmino), 
Goth. Gauts, OHG, Koz, AS. Ge-at, whether surname, son or 
ancestor of Oöinn, cannot belie his divinity (conf. p. 367) ; and his 
son Godwulf too, confounded by some with Folcwalda (p. 165, last 
table), looks mythical. It is from Gduis that the Gautös (Kuzä, Tca^ 
Toi) professed to be descended, these being other than the Gu}>ans 
(Tac. Gothones, FotOoi), but related to them nevertheless, for the 
Gothic genealogy starts with the same Gauts at the head of it — 
Again, Sigrlami is called Coin's son, Fornald. sog. 1, 413. But who 
can * Boiis (gen. Boi), Othini ex Einda filius ' be in Saxo Gram. 46 ? 
Possibly Biar, Biaf, Beav = Beowulf, to whom we are coming (see 

Suppl.).^ 

Another OSinsson, Shioldr, is the ftimed ancestral hero of the 
Danes, from whom are derived all the Skiöldüngar (Sn. 14G) ; he 
may have been most nearly related to the people of Schonen, as in 
the Foi nm. sog. 5, 239 he is expressly called Skänünga goß (see p. 
161), and was probably worshipped as a god. In Saxo Gram, he 
does not take the lead, but follows after Humblus, Dan* and 
Lotlier ; Skiold himself has a son Gram,^ from whom come Hadding 

' A token of victory ? as the vanquished had to present such dust (RA. 
111-2). 

* 'riie AS. name Frodheri stands yet farther away (Beda 2, 9 $ 113). 

' Sjixo 122 mentions one hero begotten by Thorr : Haldanus Biarggrammmi 
upiid JSucones mayni Thorfdius exiatimatur. And I know of no other but this 
one. 

* Dan, in Snxo's view the true ancestor of the Danes, is called in the 
Rlgsmil Davr, and placed together with Danpr, Stem. 106^ 

* KlsewluTc Gramr ia the jmijKir name of a particular sword^ while the 
appellative yramr denote.«" kiug. 



GEAT. ÖCILD. BEOWULF. 369 

and then Frotho; but the AS. genealogy places its Scild after 
Sct&f, and singularly makes them both ancestors of OCinn. From 
Sccdf descends Scddwa^ from him consecutively Beaw, TaUwa, Oedt, 
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 
interesting as Sceldwa's son, the Anglo-Saxon Beaw^ called by the 
Scandinavians Biar, Biaf, but in the living AS. epos Beowvlf. 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 Skiöldr) a Scefing, i.e., 
son of Sccdf. Beaw is a corruption of Beow, and Beow an abbrevia- 
tion of Beoundf: it is the complete name that first opens to us a 
wider horizon. Beowulf signifies bee-wolf (OHG. Piawdfi), and 
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.^ 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 
Stra&c = picus into that of Sitivrat, Kirt and ßadigost, as Beoxmdf 
is into tliat of Gc&t and Wdden, If the groups diflfer in the details 
of their combination, their agreement as wholes is the more 
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 to the Northmen, so those of the 
divine bird in StraSec and Beowulf seem to take the same course, 
and never properly to reach Scandinavia. The central Germans 
stood nearer to Roman legend, although no actual borrowing need 
have taken place. 

What a deep hold this group of heroes had taken, is evidenced 
by another legend. Seed/ {i.e,, manipulus frumenti) takes his name 

^ Can the name in Upper Germany for the turdua or orioluB galbak, 
Birolf, Pirolf, brother Pirolf (Frisch 1, 161). possibly stand for Biewolf (or 
Biterolf) ? The Serbs call it Urosh, and cunously this again is a hero's name. 
Conf. the Finn, uros [with heros 1], p. 341. 

24 



<» 



70 HEROBS. 



from the circumstance, that when a boy he was conveyed to the 
country he was destined to succour, while cuieep^ on a sheaf of com 
in the boat The poetry of the Lower Bhine and Netherlands in 
the Mid. Ages is full of a similar story of the deeping youth whom 
a swan conducts in his ship to the af&icted land ; and this swan- 
knight is pictured approaching out of paradise, from the grave, as 
Helios, whose divine origin is beyond question. Helias, Gerhart or 
Loherangrin of the thirteenth century is identical then with a SeSf 
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 Seed/. 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* — Further, to Sceldiva or Skioldr belongs obviously 
the name SchiUunc in the Tirol and Parzival,' as the name Schil» 
hunc, Nib. 88, 3, points to a race of ScUpungd, corresponding to the 
AS. ScUfingas, ON. Scüßngar, of whom Skelfir, Scilfe, Scilpi is to 
be regarded as the ancestor. This Skelfir the Fomald. sog. 2, 9 
makes the father of Skioldr, so that the Sküßnga and Skiöldinga 
86tt fall into one. Either Scelf is here confounded with Sc6^ or 
ScSf must be altered to Scelf, but the frequent occurrence of the 
form Sceaf, and its interpretation (from sheaf), seem alike to forbid 
this (see SuppL). 

As the Skiöldüngar descend from Skioldr, so do the Giuküngar 
from Qivki = Gibika, Kipicho, with whom the Burgundian line 
begins : if not a god himself (p. 137), he is a divine hero that cairies 
us back very near to Wuotan. The Oibicheruteine (-stones) more- 
over bear witness to him, and it is to the two most eminent women 
of this race that Grimhildensteine, Brunhildensteine are allotted.^ 



* XJmbcHrwesende ? Beow. 92. 

^The ship that brought Sce&f and the ewan-knight canies them awmj 
again at last, but the reason is disclosed only in later legend : it was forbiddan 
to inquire into their origin, Parz. 825, 19. Conr., Schwanritter 1144-7S. 
' Zeitschr. fiirdeut alterth. 1. 7. 

* Brunehildestein, lectulus Brunihilde, Kriemhiltenstein, Criemildespü 
(Heldensage p. 155) ; Krimhilte graben (Weisth. 1, 48) ; in loco Grimhiltaj 
nomiuato (Juvavia p. 137) ; de Crimhilteperc, MB. 7. 498. 



8C£AF. GIBIKA. WEUS. 8IG0FRID. 371 

Frau Uote however appears as ancestress of the stock.^ It has not 
been so much noticed as it ought, that in the Lex Burg. Oislahari 
precedes Gurtdahari by a whole generation, whilst our epic 
(Nibelungen) makes Glselhere Gunthere's younger brother, and the 
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. Oerndi (from gör = 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 GuCormr 
(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 *} 

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 Vökünga- 
saga itself (see Suppl.). How, beginning with Wuotan, it goes on 
to Sigi, Sigimunt, Sigi/rit, Sintarfizilo, has been alluded to on p. 
367, and has already been treated of ebe where.* With Sigfrit 
stands connected ffelfrich, Chilpericus, ON. Hialprekr. It is 
worthy of note, that the AS. Beowulf calls Sigfrit Sigemund, and 
Sigmundr is a surname of OBinn besides.* Such a flood of 
splendour falls on Siegfried in the poems, that we need not stick at 
trifles ; his whole nature has evident traces of the superhuman : 
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 heel, and he achieves the rich hoard of the 
Nibelungs. His slaying of tlie dragon Fäfnir reminds us of Ilvd^tfi 

1 Haupts zeitschr. 1, 21. 

' Lachniaiin's examination of the whole Kibelung legend, p. 22. 

• Haupts zeitschr. 1, 2 — 6. 

* In the Copenh. ed. of the Edda, Saem. 2, 8S9 Sigemon^ and m Finn 
Magn. lex. 643 Segemon^ is said to have been a name of the Celtic Man ; 
I suppose on the ground of the inscriptt. in Gruter Iviii. Ö : Marti Segomoni 
sacrum ... in civitate Se<[uiinorum ; and ii. 2 : Diis deabus omnibus 
Veturiufi L.L. Securius (al. SegoTnantu) pro se quisque (see SuppL). 

' Ahuost the same, granting a change of th into /(as in ^p, 4>^p) l of our 
k standing for Greek v there are mure examples : fhäsu, blasu "^ KPfim^ ^vü. 



372 HEBOEa 

whom Apollo overcame, and as Python guarded the Delphic oracle, 
the djdng Fäf nir prophesies.^ We must take into account LoSfdfnir 
Sscm. 24, 30. Sinfiötli, who, wlien a boy, kneads snakes into the 
dough, is comparable to the infant Hercules tested by serpents. 

Through Siegfried the Prankish 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 Jemandes cap. 22, perhaps the same as Offa and 
Cnehha 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, w^hich I emend to Oaut (Gauts), and so obtain an allnsion 
to the divine office of casting [giessen, ein-guss, in-got] and meting 
(pp. 22. 142) ; he was a god, or son of a god (p. 164), and is even 
imported into the Saxon lines as Oedt, Wodelgeat, Sigegeat (p. 367). 
In tliis Gothic genealogy the weak forms Amala, Isama, Ostio- 
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, ErmanO' 
ricus and TJicodericus, Ermanaricus must be linked with Irmino 
and the Heiminones, 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 epic& — 
Amongst the Amalungs occur many names compounded with 
vulft which reminds us of their side-branch, the Wülfings ; if it be 
not too bold, I would even connect Isama (Goth. Eisama) with 
Isangrim. To me the four sons of Achiulf seem worthy of 
particular notice: Ansila, Ediulf, Vuldulf, and Hermenrich. Of 
the last we have just spoken, and Ansila means the divine ; our 
present concern is with Ediulf and Vuldulf. I find that Jomandes, 
cap. 54, ascribes to the Scyrians also two heroes Edica and Vulf; 
the liUgian Odoacer has a father Eiicho and a brother Aonvlf; and 




of 

sfiiarcsvind (fortis puer) of the Danish folk-song, who, riding ou Gnui^ 

acconipiinies to Aakereia (see ch. XXXI), and by Svend Felding or Falling of 

the Danish folk-tale (Thiele 2, 64-7. Müller's sagabibL 2, 417-91 He drank 

out of a hoi-n handed to him by elvish beings, and thereby acquired the strength 

of twelve men. Swedish songs call him Sv€n Furling or FoUing ; ArvidHno 

1, 121). 415. 



IRMANRIH. ETICHO. DIETRICH. 373 

the legend on the origin of the Welfs has the proper names 
Isenbart, Imieiitnul, WeJf and Etico constantly recurring. Now, 
welf is strictly catulus (huelf, whelp, ON. 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, Otacher (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 lörmunrekr ; the Hilde- 
brandslied has but too little to say of Otacher. Then Vuldulf also 
(perhaps Vuldr-ulf) will signify a glorious beaming wolf (see 
Suppl.). — As Siegfried eclipsed all other Welisungs, so did Dieterich 
all tlie 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 Fro (p. 
213-4) at the head of the wild host, as DiäricKbem or Bernhard. 
The fiery breath brings him nearer to Donar, with whom he can be 
compared in another point also : Dieterich is wounded in the 
foreliead by an arrow, and a piece of it is left inside him, for which 
reason he is called the deathless ;^ not otherwise did the half of 
Hrüngnir'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 tlie like stones, for it makes the piece in the god's forehead 
stir (Sn. 109 — 111).^ This horn-like stone was very likely shown 
in images, and enhanced their godlike appearance. 

The renowned race of the Billings or BUlungs, whose mythic 
roots and 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.^ The Cod. Exon. 320, 7 says : ' BilliTig weold 

» Simon Keza, chron. Hungaror. 1, 11. 12. Heinr. von Muglein (in 
Kwachich p. 8) ; conf. Deutsche heldensage tjt 164. 

' Hence the proverb : seint losnar hein I nöfSi Thora. 

» Wedekincl's Hennann duke of Saxony, Lüneb. 1817, p. 60. Conf. the 
mile« Billinc, cornea Billingus in docs, of 961-8 in Hofers zeitschr. SS, 239. 344, 
aud the Oflü. form Billungus in Zeus?, Trad, wizenb. pp. 2T4, 287. 305. 



874 HEROES. 

Wemum/ he belongs therefore to the stock of Werina, who were 
near of kin to the Angles. There was a Billinga hseS (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 Bülingr occurs in the Edda» Ssem. 
2^ 23% a hero Pillunc in Eol. 175, 1, and Billunc and Nidunc coapled 
together in the Benner 14126-647, the name acquires a respectable 
degree of importance (see SuppL). The derivative BiUinc implies 
a simple bil or bili (lenitas, placiditas), from which directly [and 
not from our adj. billig, fair] are formed the OHG. names I^drüt, 
Pilihilt, Pilikart, Pilihelm ; to which add the almost personified 
Bülich (equity) in Trist. 9374 10062. 17887. 18027, and the ON. 
goddess Bü, Sn. 39 ; the II in Billung could be explained through 
Biliung. Just as OSinn in Seem. 46^ is called both Bileygr (mQd- 
eyed) and Baleygr (of baleful eye), so in Saxo Gram. 130 a Bilvisos 
(sequus) stands opposed to Bölvisus (iniquus). 

6. Orentil. 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 Orendd or 
Erentel, whom the appendix to the Heldenbuch pronounces the 
first of all heroes that were ever bom. He suffers shipwreck on a 
voyage, takes shelter with a master fisherman Eisend earns the 
seamless coat of his master, and afterwards wins frau Breide, the 
fairest of women : king Eigel of Trier was his father^s name. The 
whole tissue of the fable puts one in mind of the Odyssey : the ship- 
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 bo 
Penelope's suitors, and cmgels are sent often, like Zeus's messengofs. 
Yet many things take a dififerent turn, more in German fashion, 
and incidents are added, such as the laying of a naked swoid 
between the newly married couple, which the Greek stoiy knows 
notliing 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. 



BILLÜNG. OBENTIL. 375 

Orcndil, Meichelb. 61 ; Orentü, Trad. fuld. 2, 24 2, 109 (Schannat 
308) ; Orendil a Bavarian count (an. 843 in Eccard's Fr. or. 2, 367); 
a village Orenddsal, 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 Th6r*s head. Grßa is busy 
conning her magic spell, when Thörr, to requite her for the 
approaching cure, imparts the welcome news, that in coming frfjm 
lötunheim in the North he has carried her husband the bold 
örvandill in a basket on his back, and he is sure to be home soon ; 
he adds by way of token, that as ÖiTandil's 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 Orvandüs-td. But Gröa in her 
joy at the tidings foigot 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.«., Berhta (p, 272) the bright, it is only 
another part of his history that is related here : örvandill must 
have set out on his travels again, and on this second adventure 
i'orfeited 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 earendely and a hymn to the virgin Mary in Cod. 
Exon. 7, 20 presents the following passage : 

£ala Earendel, engla beorhtast, 

ofer middangeard monnum sended« 

and soSfsesta sunnan leoma 

torht ofer timglas, )>u tida gehwane 

of sylfum )?e symle inlihtes !' 
i.e., jubar, angelorum splendidissime,. super orbem terrarum 
hominibus misse, radio vere solis,-, sdipra Stellas lucide, qui omni 
tempore ex te ipso luces ! Mary or Christ is here addressed under 
tlie 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. örvendill, then AS. earendel, 
OHG. erentil would seem preferable. The latter part of the 
compound certainly contains entil = wentil.* The first part should 

» Whence did Matthesiua (m Frisch 2, 439») get hi« « Pan i« the heathens* 
Wendd and head bagpiper " I Can the word refer to the metamorphoeee of the 
flute-playing demig(xi ? In trials of witches, Mendel ia a name for the devil, 

Mone^ anz. 8, 124. 



376 

be euer on, csä 'izzi* , ct else OX. 5r. gsx omr «s^itki^ 
Now, a? iLcT* '>:::'":t? ir. & laLe in. S&ij Gn=u p. 4?. « HäireBfilM 
filiu3 Gtrrtz^iZL azii in OHG. a zia-ie K^nriüifl tSdsBL 2,3») 
and Gerenril Tr*i f::!! 2. 1>: . ani as £rcir 
with or ihaa w::L eTra .'a:irl5 . iLe 5£t>:s-i isT^zT'icsazäui 
mand our a^-en: :- a sljI: of tic Ä=::Ir je legend wccU exphin tte 
reason of iLe name. I tlink Orvrnul'e £ä:her dtserres attfiilMi 
too : £i^ü is anotLer old and c l«*::::« name, tenie for nHtanwt hj 
an abbot of Filla who di^i in S22 Teiu 1, 95. 35i 2. 368. 
Trad. fnld. 1, 77-S. 122^. In the Bhine-Moeelle coontrr are tk 
singular Eigtl^^in^, Weiith. 2, 744 ''see ScppL,* In ASL we find 
the names A^.jU^ burg 'Aylesbury}, A^jfa ford (Aylesfoid), AtgUi 
\>OTp ; but I shall come back to Ei^zil presentlv. Possiblj Oicntil 
was the thundei^i^'od's companion in expeditions against giaiita 
Can the story of Orentil's wandering possibly be so old amoogit 
US, that in Orentil and Eigil of Trier we are to look for that Ulyasei 
and Laertes -whom Tacitus places on our Ehine {p. 365} t Ihe 
names shew nothing in common.' 

Far-famed heroes were WUland and Wittich,* whose rich 
legend is second to none in age or celebrity. Vidigoia (Vidngauja) 
of whom the Goths already sang, OHG. Wiiugouico as well as 
Witicho, MHG. Witcgouure and WiUge, AS. Wudga^ in either foim 
silvicola, from the Goth, ^idus, OHG. witu, AS. wudu (lignam, 
silva), leads us to suppose a being passing the bounds of human 
nature, a forest-god. Fran Wacliilt, a mermaid, is his anoestrasB» 
with whom he takes refuge in her lake. At the head of the whole 
race is placed king Vilkinus, named after Vulcanus as the Latin 
termination shews, a god or demigod, who must have had another 
and German name, and who b^ets with the merwoman a gigantie 
son Vadi, AS. Wada (Cod. Exon. 323, 1), OHG. Wato, so named I 
supj>ose because, like another Christopher, he waded with hia chfld 
on his shoulder through the Groenasund where it is nine yards 

1 And BO Uhland (On Thor, p. 47 seq.) expounds it : in^rda he sees th« 
;,TX)wth of the crop, in Örvandill the sprouting of the bLide. Even the tale in 
Saxo he brings in. 

' The false spelling Eichelstein (acom-stone) has given rise to spnriiyiis 
legend«, Mones anz. 7, 368. 

* I have hardly the face to mention, that some make the right shifty üljBset 
father to Pan, our Wendel above. 

* The still unprintod M.Dutch poem, De kinderen van Limboig^ likein 
mentions IFüant, JVed^ge 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. Wada is placed toward 
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*8 gap ; Wsetlingestret could only 
be brought into connexion with him, if such a spelling as 
Waddling 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 VcUtU, 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 skill is praised on all occasions, and his name coupled 
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 smiths, whose workshops were styled Widand'a houses,^ and 
perhaps his likeness was set up or painted outside them; the 
ON. * Völundar hüs * 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 ; Wiclaiües heim, MB. 28*, 93 (an. 889) ; Wielaii^ 
iü dorf, MB. 29, 54 (an. 1246) ; Wielaixtes tanna (firs), MB. 28^ 
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. 
Vclandswvt (-wort), Icel. Velantsmt, is the valerian, and according to 
Staid. 2, 450 Wielandh^ev^ 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 Seem. 270*, ' boekur ofnar volundom ' are stragula 
artificiose contexta, and any artist might be cdled a völundr or 
wielant. A gorgeous coat of mail (hncgel, OHG. hregil) is in Beow. 
904 Welandcs geweorc. iElfred in Boeth. 2, 7 translates fideh's 

1 Juxta domum Wdandi fabri, Ch. ad ann. 1262 in Lang's reg. 3, 181 : 
conf. Huupts zeiUclir. 2, 248. I und also Witigo jclber, MB. 7» 122. 



378 HSBOBS. 

ossa Fabricii '\>dds wtsan goldsmiSes ban Welondes* (metrically: 
Welandes ban) ; evidently the idea of faber which lay in Fabricios 
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 OK vdl = viel (ars, rkyvfi^ 0H6. list), 
Gramm. 1, 462, and smiSv^lar meant artes iabriles ; the AS. form 
is WÜ, or better wil, Engl wile, Fr. guile;, the OHG. wiol, wiel (with 
broken vowel) is no longer to be found« But further, we must pre- 
suppose a verb wielan, AS. welan (fabrefacere), whose pres. part wi^ 
lant, weland, exactly forms our proper name, on a par with wlgant, 
werdant,, druoant, &c. ; Graff 2, 234 commits the error of eiting 
Wielant under the root lant, with which* it has no more to do than 
heilant (healer,, saviour). The OFr. Oalans (Helden& 42)* seema 
to favour the ON", form Volundr [root val] since Veland would 
rather have led to a Fr. Guilans; possibly even the ON. vala 
(njrmpha) is a kindred word ? An OHG. name Wieldrdd seems 
the very thing for a wise-woman. — ^This development of an intrinsicr 
significance in the hero's name finds an unexpected^ confirmation 
in the striking similarity of the Greek fables of Hepluestn^ 
Erichthonius and Daedalus. As Weland ofiers violence ikt 
Beadohild (Volundr to Bö8vildr),-so Hephaestus layS' ar snaie- 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 doer the 
boat and wings. One with Erichthonius -are the later Erechthei» 
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 AaiSaXo^^ is Sa(SaXo9,-&u&iX- 
609, cunningly wrought, SaiBoKfia (like arfoK^) a work of art^ and 
ScuBaXKeip the same as our lost wiebm. As- our list pike the Eng^ 
cunning and craft] has degenerated from its original 8enset>f scientia 
to that of calliditas and fraus, and vol has both meanings, it is not 
surprising that from the skul-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.). I 

The Vilkinasaga brings before us yet another smith, Aftmir, hf 

1 A reduplication like «ratVaXoff, iraiiraX<$cir tortufl^ arduufl, «vnnfiXXciv tor- 
quere ; conf. XalXa^, fMifia^, &c 



WEULND. Mmi. 379 

whom not only is Velint instructed in his art, but Sigfrit is brought 
up — another smith's-apprentice. He is occasionally mentioned in 
the later poem of Biterolf, as Mime the old (Heldensage, pp. 146-8) ; 
an OHG. Mimi must have grown even more deeply into our 
language as well as legend : it has formed a diminutive MimUo 
(MB. 28, 87-9, annis 983-5), and Mimd, AtimidnU, Mlmihilt are 
women's names (Trad. fuld. 489. Cod. lauresh. 211) ; the old name 
of Münster in Westphalia was Jfimigardiford, Jfimigemeford 
(Indices to Pertz 1. 2), conf. ifimigerdeford in Eichthofen 335 ;. the 
Westphalian Minden was originally Mimtdun (Pertz 1, 368), and 
Memleben on the Unstrut MlmüeheL, The great number (rf 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^ 
Saxo, p. 40,^ interweaves a Minvingus, a 'silvarum satyrus' and 
possessor of a sword and jewels, into the myth of Balder and 
Hother, and this, to my thinking, throws fresh light on 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 ifimwbrunnr came OSinn wid desired a 
drink, but did not receive it till he had given one of his eyes in 
pledge, and hidden it in the fountain (Saenk 4*. Sm 17) ; this 
accounts for Oöinn being one-eyed (p. 146). In the Tngl. 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 OCinn spake 
his spells over the head, that it decayed not, nor ceased to utter 
speech ; and Oöinn holds conversation with it, whenever he needs 
advice, conf. Yngl. saga cap. 7, and Siem. 8* 195^ I do not exactly 
know whom the Völuspä means by Mimis synir (sons), Sa^m. 8* ; 
MimameidT 109* implies a nom. Mimi gen. Mima, and may be 
distinct from Mimir (conf. Bragr and Bragi> p. 235). — Mlmir 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. Muller's ed., p. 114, following which I have set aside the reading 
Mimringiis, in spite of the Danish song of Mimering tand. 



3?0 

on them. STTfr^l^h foIk-s-'-^ng has not yet for;;otten ilimei t 
^ArrifUvjn 2, Zl*>'7^, and in Konga hiirad and Tii^is socken in 
Sn^AIand there lies a Mimis sjd, inhabited according to the legend 
by neckar 'nixie^^, ibid. p. 319. Perhape some of the fonns quoted 
li/ive by n'.'hta a short i, as have indispntablr the A3, mimor, 
ijjcomor, gemimor ^memoriter notos;, mimerian (memoria tenere), 
our I»w German mimeren (day-dreaming), Brem. wtb. 3, 161, and 
the Mernerolt, ^lernleben above ; so that we might ftj^nme a Teib 
ineiina, ralim, rnimum. Then the analogy of the Latin memor and 
(*iT. ßUfiiofuu allows us to bring in the giant and centaur MifUK, 
i/.., the wrxxl-sprite again (see Suppl.). 

According to the Edda (Sxm. 133), Yölundr had two biothera 
SlagfiSr and Egill, all three ' synir Finnakonüngs,' sons of a Iinnish 
king, whereas the saga transplanted to the North from Germany 
iijiikr^s its Vilkinus a king of Vilkinaland. Or can Finna be taken 
as the gen. of Flnni, and identified with that Finn Folcwaldansonu 
on p. 219 ? Slagfi5r might seem = Slagfinnr, but is better 
explained as SlagfiöSr (flap- wing, see ch. XVI, Walachuriun). All 
three brothers married valkyrs, and E^ll, the one that chiefly 
concerns us here, took Ölrün (Aliorüna). The Vilk. saga, capi 27, 
likewise calls Velint's younger brother Eigill: 'ok )?enna kalla 
menn Ölränar Eigil,'^ but the bride is not otherwise alluded to; 
this form Eigill agrees with the OHG. Eigil on p. 376, not with the 
ON. Egill, dat. Agli, for the dat. of Eigill would have been Eigli. 
Well, this Eigill was a famous archer ; at Nidung's pommand he 
shot an apple oiT 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. ThiB tale 
of this daring shot must have been extremely rife in our remotest 
anticjuity, it turns up in so many places, and always with features 
of its own. As the Yilkinasaga was imported into Scandinavia in 
the 13th century, the story of Eigill was certainly diffused in 
Lower Germany before that date. But Saxo Grammaticua in 
Denmark knew it in the 12th century, as told of Toko a^d king 
Hamid üonnsson, with the addition, wanting in Eigill, jkhat Tpko 

> PoringHkiöld traiinlates ■* Egill lis 8a<]fittariu8,' and Jxtdn ' Egil den tr9f- 
fondc,' Ijut tliL} WAS luerely guessed from the incidents of the stoiy. Airmr k 
not öl, but or ; Orentil on the contrary, EigiPs son, doea seend io Jtiave be^ 
iiumed from the arrow. 



EIQIL. TORI. HEMING. TELL. 381 

after the sliot behaved like a hero in the sea-stonn. The Icelanders 
too, particularly the lomsvikinga saga, relate the deeds of this 
rdltuäöki, but not the shot from the bow, though they agree with 
Saxo in making Harald fall at last by Tokios shaft. The king's 
death by the marksman's hand is historical (A.D. 992), the shot at 
the apple mythical, having gatliered 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 (fl030), it has attached itself another way: Olaf wishing to 
convert a heathen man, Eindriöi, essayed his skill against him in 
athletic arts, first swimming, then shooting ; after a few successful 
shots, the king required that EindriSi's boy should be placed at the 
butts, and a writing-tablet be shot off his head without hurting the 
cliild. Eindriöi declared himself willing, but also ready to avenge 
any injury. Olaf sped the first shaft, and naiTowly missed the 
tablet, when Eindriöi, at his mother's and sister's prayer, declined 
the shot (Fornm. sog. 2, 272). Just so king Haraldr SigurSarson 
(Harömöa, f 1066) measured himself against an archer Hemingr, 
and bade him shoot a hazelnut off his Biöm's head, and Hemingr 
accomplished the feat (Miiller's sagabibl. 3, 359. Thättr 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 
lias 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 wolfs head.^ Most appropriately did the 
my thus rear its head on the emancipated soil of Switzerland : In 
1 3U7, it is said, Wilhelm TeU^ compelled by Gessler, achieved the 
same old master-shot, and made the courageous speech ; but the 
evidence of chroniclers does not begin till toward the 16th century,* 

1 Schleswigholst, prov. berichte 1708, vol. 2, p. 39 flcq. Mollenhof, 
Schleswigholst 8a<;en no. 66. 

'^ 1 8usj)ect the geiiuinenees of the verses, alleged to be by Heinricli von 



382 HEROES. 

shortlj 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 TeU fable shews itself in an 
Upper Bhine legend of the 15th century (in Malleus malef. pars 2 
cap. 16, de sagittaiiis 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 ßiium parvulum ad metam pcsuü, et pro signo 
super lirretum pueri detiarium, sibique mandavit, ut denarium rim 
hirräo per sagiUam amaveret. Cum autem maleficus id se factunun 
sed cum difficultate assereret, libentius abstinere, ne per diabolum 
seduceretur in sui interitum; verbis tamen principis inductus, 
sagittam unam collari suo circa coUum immisit, et alteram balistae 
supponens denarium a birreto pueri sine omni nocumento exeussU, 
Quo vise, dum ille maleficum interrogasset, ' cur sagittam collari 
imposuisset ? ' respondit, 'si deceptus per diabolum puenim 
occidissem, cum me mori necesse fuisset, subito cum sagitta altera 
vos trarmfixissem, ut v6l 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 narrativ^, Norse and German, we have also an 
Old English one to shew in the Northumbrian ballad of the three 
merry men, Adam Bdl, Clym of the Clough, and William of 
Cloudesle ; this last, whose christian name, like the surname of the 
first, reminds one of Tell, offers in the king's presence to set an 
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 AegePs 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, Aegd seems to have an equal claim. 
The whole myth shows signs of having deep and widely extended 

Hunenbei^of 1315, which Carl Zaj has made known in his book on Gbldan, 
Zurich 18(r7, p. 41 : 

Dum pater in puerum telum cnidele coruscat 
Tellius ex jussu, saeve tyranne, tuo, 

pomum, non natum, figit fatalis arundo : 
altera mox ultrix te, periture, petet 
H. von Hünenberg is the same who, before the battle of Morgarten, shot a 
warning billet over to the Swiss on his arrow (Joh. Müller 2, 37^ he was 
therefore a bowman himself. Jnstinger and Johann von Winterthur are silent 
about Tell ; Melchior Russ (f 1499) and Petermann Etterlin (completed lö07) 
were the first who committed the story to writing. 



TELL. UOIL. 383 

roots. It partly agrees even with what Eustathius on IL 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.).^ 

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 avarä 
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 bom 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 a number 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 avatära, as in these 

1 Similar lej];en(i9 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 herohood developed itself 
the more richly for that very reason. While the Indian heroes aie 
in the end reabsorbed into the god, e.g., Elrishna becomes YishnQ, 
there remains in Greek and German heroes an irreducible dross of 
humanism, \^lüch brings them more into harmony with the 
historical ingredients of their story. Our hero-l^end 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 lemind 
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 bsotheiSy 
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 wlien once the Teutonic deities encountered Christianity» 
there remained only one of two ways open to the fading figures 
of the heathen faitli, 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 tliem into devils, it did into demigods. In the Edda the 
ajsir are still veritable gods ; Jemandes too, when he says, cap. 6 : 
'mortuum (Taunasem regem) Gothi inter numina poptdi sui 
coluerunt * — be tliis 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. 226-7), and Hother, and Othin himself, have 
sunk into mere heroes.^ This capitis deminutio of the gods brought 

1 In the AS. Ethelwerd p. 833 we read : * Hengest et Horaa, hi nepotei 
fiiere JVoddan rej:^s barbai*orum, quem post infanda dignitate ut deum honoriiUeif 
sacrificium obtulerunt uagaui victoriae causa sive virtutis, ut humonitas aaepe 
credit hoc quod videt . Wra. of Maliuesbury'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 is alleged 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 05inn, then 
Niörör and Freyr interweave themselves : Niörör and Hadding 
seem identical, as do Heimdall and Eigr, but in Niör5r and Heim- 
dall the god 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, Baeldaeg as heroic. In Siegfried is 

above, p. 128 ; he also says * deum esse deliranUt\ Albericus tr. font 1, 23 
(after a.D. 274) expresses himself thus : * In hac generatione decima ab incar- 
natione Uoniini regiia*^se inveiiitur quidam Mtrcurius in Gottlandia insula, quae 
est inter Daciam et Russiam extra Romanum imperium, a quo Merciuio, qui 
Wo<len d ictus est, descendit genciiloj^a Anglorum et multorum alionim \ Much 
in the same way Snoiri in the Yngl. saga and Form. 13. 14 represent« OtJinn 
as a hofCfinffi and hermatSr 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, jaUo 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- 
thinj^' very dift'erent from falsihed history lies at the bottom of heathenism. 
As little (lid there ever exist a real man and king OSinn (let alone two or 
three), as a real Jupiter or Mercury. — But the amnity 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. 
G), like the Homeric heroes irtiroiBörtt ßiji4>i (H. 12, 256), were yet far from 
setting themselves up for gods. Similar to the stories of Kebucadnezar (er wolte 
Kell)e Bin ein got, would himself be god, Parz. 102, 7. Bari. 60, 36), of Kotroe* 
(Miuv^niann on f'racl. p. 502), of the Greek Salmoneus Tconf. N. Cap. 146), and 
the By z;^ II tine Enixliua^ was our Mid. Age story of Imetotnw» wiiester Babilonie, 
* der wolde selve wesen got ' (Rother 2568) ■• Nibelöt ze BaHse * der machet 
hiniele guKlIn, selber w^olt ergot sin ' (Bit 299XJust as Salmoneus imitated 
the li^'htning and thunder of Zeus. Imelot and Nibelöt here seem to mean 
the «ime 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 



?86 HTBOia 

Uli echo of Baldr and Freyr, perhaps of OCinn» in Dietrich of Thdrr 
and Freyr. Ecke oscillates between the giant and the hero. 
Even Charles and Soland are in some of their features to be 
regarded as new-births of Wuotan and Donar, or of Siegfried and 
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, i,e., indicating from the first their 
inmost nature ; ^ to the names of half-gods and heroes this signi- 
ficance will often be wanting, even when the human original has 
carried his name over with him. Then, as a rule, the names of 
gods are simple, those of heroes often compound or visibly derived. 
Donar therefore is a god from the first, not a deified man: his 
appellation expresses also his character. The same reason is 
decisive against that notion of Wuotan having made his way out of 
the ranks of men into those of the gods. 

Demigods have the advantage of a certain familiamess to the 
people : bred in the midst of us, admitted to our fellowship, it is 
they to whom reverence, prayers and oaths prefer to address them- 
selves : they procure and facilitate intercourse with the higher- 
standing god. As it came natural to a Boman to swear ' meherde ! 
mecastor ! ecastor ! edepol ! ' the christians even in the Mid. Ages 
swore more habitually by particular saints than by (Jod himsell 

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 consnma 
Tlius the einherjar admitted into Valhöll feast on the boiled flesh 
of the boar Scchrlmnir, £uid drink with the Ases ; it is never said 
that the Ases shared in the food, SsdUL 36. 42. Sn. 42 ; oonl 
supra, p. 317. Are we to infer from this a difference in the aacri- 
fices offered to gods and to demigods ? 

Else, in the other conditions of their existence, we can peroei^ 
many resemblances to that of the gods. 

Thus, their stature is enormous. As Ares covered seven tood% 

' Something like the names of the characters in the BeMt-apoIogoa 



noüBB. 387 

Herakles has also a body of gigantic mould. When the godlike 
Sigurör strode through the full-grown field of corn, the dew-shoe ^ 
of his seven -span sword was even with the upright ears (Vols, saga 
cap. 22. Vilk. saga cap. 166) ; a hair out of his horse*s tail was 
seven yards long (Noraag. saga cap. 8). — One thing hardly to be 
found in Teutonic gods, many-handedness, does occur in an ancient 
hero. Wudga and Häma, Witege and Heime, are always named 
together. Tliis Heimo is said to have been by rights called Studas, 
like his father (whom some traditions however name Adelgßr, 
Madelger) ; not till he had slain the worm Heima,* did he adopt its 
name (Vilk. saga cap. 17). To him are expressly attributed thru 
hands and four dhows, or else two hands with three elbows (Heldena. 
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 thru 
pairs of arms, and Thor cuts four of his hands off (Saxo Gram., p. 
1Ü3) ; the Hervararsaga (Eafn p. 412, 513) bestows eight hands on 
him, and the ability to fight with four swords at once : dita Jianda, 
Fornald. sog. 1, 412. 3, 37. In the Swedish folk-song of Alf, ori- 
ginally heathen, there is a hero Torgnejer (roaring like thunder ?), 
' han hade otta händer (Arvidss. 1, 12).* 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 thru headed hero 
Balatchko (Vuk 2, no. 6, line 608) ; P^gam too in the Camiolan 
lay has three heads (tri glave). — Deficiency of members is to be 
found in heroes as well as gods : 05inn is one-eyed, T^r one- 
handed, Loki (=:Hephcestus?) lame, HoSr blind, and ViSar dumb;* 

^ Doggskor, Sw. doppsko, the heel of the sword's sheath, which nsuidlT 
brushes the dew : so the Alamanns called a lame foot, that dragged through 
the dewy grass, toudregil. This ride through the com has something in it 
liighly mytliic and suggestive of a god. 

' Heimo appears to mean worm originally, though used elsewhere of the 
cricket or cicadii (Reinh. cxxv), for which our present heimchen (httle worm) 
is bett^^r suited. A renowned Karling 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. 

'In the prophecies of the North Frisian Hertje (a.D. 1400) the tradition of 
such nionstroyitios is applied to the future : * Wehe den minschen, de den 
leven, wt*n de lüde 4 arme kriegen und 2 par schö over de vote dragen und 2 
höde up den kop hebben ! ' Heimreichs chron., Tondem 1819 ; 2, 341. U 
may however refer merely to costume. 

^ Goth, haihs, hanfs, halts, blinds, dumbs. 



383 IIEBOES. 

60 is Hagaiio one-eyed, Walthari one-handed, Gunihari and Wie* 
lant lame, of blind and dumb heroes there are plenty. 

One thing seems peculiar to heroes, that their early yean 
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 Gmm., p. 63, Uffo is dumb, and his father 
Vermuiid blind ; to him corresponds the double Offa in the line of 
Mercia, and both of these OQas are lame and dumb and blind. 
According to the ' vita Offae primi, Varmundi filii,' he was of hand* 
some figure, but continued blind till his seventh year, and dumb 
till his thirtieth ; when the aged Varmund was threatened with 
war, all at once in the assembly Offa began to speak. The * vita 
Offae secimdi' says,^ the hero was at first called Vinered (so we must 
emend Pineredus), and was blind, lame and deaf, but when be 
came into possession of all his senses, he was named Offa seciindiis. 
Exactly so, in Soem. 142% HiörvarSr and Sigurlinn have a tall hand- 
some son, but * hann var J?ögull, ecki nafn festiz vi8 hann '. 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 J?ögull in his youth (Fornald. sog. 3, 36), and Hal/dan was 
reckoned stupid (Saxo, p. 134) ; just as slow was the heroism of 
Didleih in imfolding itself (Vilk. saga cap. 91), and that of Iliya in 
the Bussian tales. Our nursery-tales take up the character as 
dschcrling, aschenbrodel, asJceßs (cinderel) : the hero-youth lives 
inactive and 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. 

Unhorn children, namely those that have been cut out of the 
womb, usually grow up heroes. Such was the famous Persian 
Ilustem in Ferdusi, as well as Tristan according to the old story in 
Eilhart, or the Eussian hero Dobrunä Nikititch, and the Scotch 
Macduff. But Völsftngr 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 (Völsüngas. cap. 2. 5). An obscure 

' These remarkable vitae Offae primi et eecundi are printed after Wstto't 

Matth. Paria, pp. 8, 9. 



AFFLICTED. ÜKBOKN. 389 

passage in Fafnismill (Saem. 187*) seems to designate SigurSr also 
an Shorinn; and in one as difficult (Beow. 92), may not the 'umbor- 
wesende ' which I took in a different sense on p. 370, stand for 
MTi^Jor-wesende, to intimate that Sceaf passed for an unborn ? The 
Landnamabok 4, 4 has an Uni hinn ohomi (m.), and 1, 10 an 
Ulfrün in dhorna (f ) ; for wise- women, prophetesses, also come into 
the world the same way.^ 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, 
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 indolis 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 sucli 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 ' Hlöör being horn unth helmet, sword and 
Iwrse ' (above, p. TO), is explained by the Hervararsaga, p. 490, to 
mean, tliat the arms and animals which accompany the hero were 
forged and born at the time of his birth. Schröter's Finnish Runes 
speak of a child that was born arvicd: this reminds us of the 
superstition about lucky children l)eii)g bom with hood and helmet 
(see ch. XXVI II). 

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 bom of liten 
Kerstin after long gestation : the newborn son gets up directly and 
combs his hair, the new bora 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 
efjuipped for swift revenge (Svenska fomsdnger 2, 254-6). Here 

> Tlcimrpich's Nonlfries. chr. 2, 341. 
• Zeitschrift für Uess. gesch. 1, 97. 



390 HEROES 

combing and not combing seem to be the same characterisücL 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. Frö&i's reign in Denmark was a period of bliss ; in the year 
of HahorCs election the birds bred twice, and trees bore twice, 
about which beautiful songs may be gleaned out of his saga, cap. 24 
On the night that Helgi was bom, eagles cried, and holy waten 
streamed from the mountains, Saem. 149*. 

SiguräTs walk and manner of appearing was impetuous, like 
that of a god ; when he first approached the burg of Biynhildr, 
'iörS dftsaSi ok opphimin,* earth shook and heaven, Ssem. 241*; 
and of Brynhild's laughing, as of that of the gods (p. 324), we are 
told : * hid, boer allr dundi,' she laughed and all the castle dinned, 
Ssem. 208*. A divine strength reveals itself in many deeds and 
movements of heroes. DktincKs fiery breath may be suggestive of 
Donar, or perhaps only of a dragon : ' ob sin ätem gsebe fiur als 
eines wilden trachen,' (Parz. 137, 18). 

A widely prevalent mark of the hero race is their being mekkd 
hy leasts, oifed by birds, A hind ofiers her milk to SigurtJr when 
exposed, Vilk saga 142 ; a she-v)olf gives suck to the infant 
Di.eterich (like Bomulus and Eemus) together with her four blind 
whelps, hence his name of Wolfdieterich. The same feUowship 
with whelps seems imputed to the beginnings of the GoUis and 
Swabians, as to those of the Komans (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 (kobik), 
Vuk 2, 101 ; does that throw light on the OHG. term of abuse 
merihünsun, zägünsun (BA. 643) ? A like offensive meaning 
lurked in the Latin lupa.^ But it is not only to sucklings that 
the god-sent animals appear ^ in distress and danger also, swans, 
ravens, wolves, stags, bears, lions will join the heroes, to render 
them assistance ; and that is how animal figures in the scutcheons 
and helmet-insignia of heroes are in many cases to be accounted for, 
though they may arise from other causes too, «.^., the ability of 
certain heroes to transform themselves at will into wolf or swan. 

1 Fils de truie ; Garin 2, 229. 



NURS£D BT ANIMALS. 391 

The Sloan's mng, the swan's coat, betokens another supernatural 
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 Selia is 
called krildt (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 eyts 
(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 a^^ bom with a siar on the forehead, 
Kinderm. 96. Straparola 4, 3 ; or a golden star falls on the fore- 
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 homy skin, and others by a 
scaly ; the marchen have heroes with hedgehog spikes. The legend 
of the Merovtngs, 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 oveipowered the bathing queen. She 
then bore a son of singular appearance, who was therefore named 
Merovig, and his descendants, who inherited the peculiarity, 
Merovings.^ Theophanes expressly declares, that the Merovings 
were called Kpurrarcu and rpixopa^draif because all the kings of 
that house had bristles down the backbone (pd^i^), like swine. 
We still find in RoL 273, 29, where it is tme they are enumerated 
among heathens, 

di helde von Meres ; 

vil gewis sit ir des, 

daz niht kuoners mac stn : 

an dem rucke tragent si borsten aam twin. 

The derivation of the name is altogether unknown. Can it possibly 
have some connexion with the boar- worship of Fro, which may 

^ Fmlegar^s epitome (Bouquet 2, 396), and Conradus Unpeig., Aig. 1609, 
p. 92. Per contra, Miillenhoff m Haupt's zeitachr. S, 432. 



392 HEBOES. 

have been especially prevalent among the Franks ? Lampr. Alex. 
5368 also has : sin hftt was ime bevangen al mit su^^trus bursUn (see 
SuppL). 

One principal mark to know heroes by, is their possessing 
intdligerU horses, and conversing with them. A succeeding chapter 
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 np 
between the two, as appears by the mere fact of the horses having 
proper names given them. Tlie touching conversation of Achilles 
with his Xantlios and Balios (II. 19, 400 — 421) finds a complete 
parallel in .the beautiful Karling legend of Bayard ; compare also 
Wilhehn's dialogue with Puzzdt (58, 21—59, 8), in the French 
original with Bancent (Garin 2, 230-1), and Begon's with the same 
Baucent (p. 230). In the Edda we have Sklmir talking with his 
horse (Seem. 82^) ; and GoSrftn, after SigurfTs murder, with Grani 
(23P) : 

hnipnatJi Grani ]>h, drap t gras höföi. 
Well might Grani mourn, for the hero had bestridden him ever 
since he led him out of Hialprek's stable (180), had ridden him 
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. foma. 
2, 257. Danske vis. 1, 323). In the poems -on Artus the hoiaes 
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 seq. Danitza 1, 109). In 
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 Bustem's fairy steed is well-known (see 

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 

• 

* A Mongolian warrior's dying song has : 

My poor cream-coloured trotter, you will get home alive. 
Then tell my mother, pray : * full fifteen wounds had he *. 
And tell my father, pray : 'shot through the back was he,' &e. — * 



UOBSES. AG& 393 

with undiminished strength, and to the Scandinavian Starkaör is 
measured out a life that runs through several generations ; the 
divinely honoured GoOmundr 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. Snaerr hinn ganüi, sprung 
from Käri 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 Sigcher 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.^ 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 
w^ith goddesses and superhuman females. Examples will be given, 
when the valkyrs are discussed ; the belief of the Greeks is 
expressed in -a remarkable passage of the Hymn to Venus 190, 
where Anchises, after he has embraced Aphrodite, fears that he 
shall lead a stricken life {äfi€vr)v6<;) among men : 

^lyverai, oare OeaU eifva^erai a6avdTg<n* 

The goddess does not conceal, that age will come 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 gods is, that particular local haunts and dwellings are assigned 
them. Such abodes seem by preference to bear the name of stone, 
as Gibichenstein, Brunhildenstein, Kriemhildenstein, Eigelstein, 
Waskenstein ; which points to sacred rocks uninhabited by men, 

1 These are undoubtedly oeauine mjrths, that lose themselyes in the 
deeps of time, however distorted and misplaced they may be. Sigeher (OHQ. 
Siguhari) is plainly the ON. Sigarr, from whom the Siglingar or Sikltngar 
take their name ; Sigeher's daughter is called Sigelint, Sigar's daughter Si^^f 
but the two are itlentical. Ilugdieterichy who in woman's clothing woos Uüd€- 
hurOy is one ^*ith HaqhartSr (Sw. Habor, Dan. Hafbur), who likewise succeedii 
in his 8uit for Bignj^ (Sw. Signil, Dan. Signild), though here the story has a 
tragic end, and the names disagree ; but hug and hag, both from one root, 
supiwrt each other. Sigeminne too, the wife of Wolfdieterich, who in the Hel- 
denbuch is the son of Hugdieterich, comes near to Sign^. The part about 
Hugdieterich in the Heldenbuch is throughout uncommonly sweet, and cer- 
tainly very ancienU 



394 HEROES. 

and a primeval, firmly rooted worship. More rarely we find cakU 
or hall connected with a hero (Iringes burc, Orendelsal), a few times 
ea and bum, 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 colunmae/ the Irmansuli, wiüi 
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 l^nds, 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. jEthelstdnrpillars have been 
mentioned, p. 119. It is worthy of note, that, while Scandinavia 
offers nothing else that can be likened to the Irmen-pillars, yet at 
Skeningen, a town of Östergötland, there stood erected m the 
marketplace, just where Boland-piUars do stand, the figure of a 
giant or hero, which the people called Thore läng (Thuro longos), 
and at which idolatry was practised in former times.^ Ulis figure 
appears far more likely to belong to the heathen god than to any 
hero or king ; and probably the colunm 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 eUfls 
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, lliat 
here again, not only Wuotan, Arminius, Dieterich and Siegfried, 
but such modem 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 up in a hill : thus Herlaugr with twelve others goes 
into the haugr (Egilss. p. 7), and in like manner Eticho the Welf, 
accompanied by twelve nobles, retires into a mountain in the 
Scherenzerwald, where no one could find him again (Deutsche 

J Olaus Magnus J4, 15. Stjernhöök, De jure Sveon. vet, pt 8M. BMkm* 

mans beskiifh. öfver Östergötland, Norrköping 1760. 1, 19a 



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 Oöin, Vili, Ve, or Här, 
lafnhär and Thriöi stand together, there appear times without 
number three heroic brothers together, and then also it commonly 
happens, tliat 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 oflF. The same thing occurs in many märchen. 



CHAPTER XVL 
WISE WOMEN- 

The relation of women to the gods is very dififerent from that of 
men, because men alone can found famous houses, wliile 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 biideSi 
For the same reason we hear of deified sons, but not of deified 
daughters ; nay, the marriage of mortals with immortals issues 
ahnost 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 
liouse, 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, they 
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 Suj)pl.). 

In other mythologies also it is observable, that in the second 
rank of deities 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 WOMRir« 897 

by its Laving left more abiding, because more endearing, impressions 
on the mind of the peopla 

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. Tet such a test will not. 
always serve, where a mythology has been imperfectly preserved ; 
for the very reason that half-goddesses stand higher than half-gods, 
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 delined thus: to the upper gods they are handmaids^ to 
men revecUers. 

It is a significant feature in our heathenism, that women, not 
men, are selected for this office. Here the Jewish and christiaii 
view presents a contrast : prophets foretell, angels or saints bom 
heaven announce and execute the commands of tied ; but Greek 
and Teutonic gods employ both male and female messengers. To 
the German way of thinking, the decrees of destiny assume a 
greater sacredness in the mouth of woman, soothsaying and aorceiy 
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 by their wisdom: 
' Fatidicae, augescente superstitione diae^ p. 95 (see SuppL). 

This Germanic reverence for woman, already emphasized by 
Tacitus, is markedly expressed in our old systems of law, especially 
tlic Alamanniau and Bavarian, by doubling the composition for 
injury ;IIA. 404) : the defenceless one thereby receives protection 
and consecration, nay, she is to forfeit the privily the moment 
she takes up man's weapona And not only does a worship of 
woman shew itself in the minne-songs of our Hid. Ages» but in a 



398 WISE WOMEN. 

remarkable formula of chivalrj occurring both in folk-songs and in 
court-poems: * durch aller frouvjen irel by all women's honour, 
Wolfdiet. 104. Morolt 855. 888. 2834. Morolf 1542. Ecke 105. 
117. 174. Eoseng. 2037. MsH. 3, 200*; 'durch reiner (pure) 
frouwen §re/ Ecke 112 ; 'durch vnllen (for the sake) aüer frtrnwen-* 
thus one hero cries to another ' nu beite (stay), durch toiUen aller 
vieide !* Rab. 922-4 ; * durch mülen sehcmer wlbe/ Ecke 61 ; * durch 
ander maget (other maids') irel Gudr. 4863 ; ' durch eUiu wip* in 
the name of all women, Parz. 13, 16 ; * 6re an mir eUiu wip' respect 
in me all women, Erec 957 ; ' iret an mir elliu wtp ! ' says a woman 
in Parz. 88, 27, to ensure attention fo her prayer ; ' alien meiden 
tuot ez ze iren (do it in honour of),* Gudr. 1214, 3; 'A"« und minne 
elliu wip ! ' is the injunction on giving a sword, Trist 5032 ; * tuon 
allez daz frouwen wille si,' do all that may be woman's will. Bit 
7132; *als liep iu ^^frouwem, stn,' as all women are dear to you, 
Laurin 984 Their worship was placed on a par with that of 
God : * öret Qot und diu wipl Iw. 6054 ; ' durch Qot und dureh der 
vAhe Ion (guerdon)' Wh. 381, 21 ; ' wart s6 mit riterschaft getan, dk& 
Qot sol danken und diu wipl may God and the ladies requite it, 
Wh. 370, 5 ; ' dienen Got und alle frouwtn irenl Ms. 2,99^ ; of 
Parziväl it is even said : ' er getrüwete wihen haz (better) dan Oote,* 
Parz. 370, 18. These modes of speech, this faith, can be traced up 
to a much earlier age, as in 0. i. 5, 13 : * d8 sprah er Micha ubaral, 
so man zi frowAn skal'; and v. 8, 58: 'ni sit irbolgan wihel ye 
shall not bully a woman, Etzels hofhält. 92-3 ; ' sprich wiben übel 
mit nihte ' says the po.»m 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. trütin, trütinna, MHG. triutinne), tJumghi o/her, named 
her name, he increased thereby his strength, and was sure of the 
victory. We might even bring under this head the dedaration of 
Tacitus : memoriae proditur, quasdam acies inclinatas jam et labantes 
a f eminis 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 sack (on-saw, looked at) 

die schoenen frowen Eniten, 

daz half (holp) im vaste striten (fight hard). Er. 933. 

swenne mich der muot iwer ermant (the thought of you rnans)^ 



WISE woHEir. 699 

80 ist sigesrelic (victorious) mln hant : 

wand (for) iwer guote minne 

die sterkent mine sinne (nerve my senses), 

daz mir den vil langen tac (all the long day) 

nibt wider gewesen mac (nought can vex). Er. 8867. 

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 schoine gap im niwe kraft (strength), 

s6 daz er unzagehaft (undismayed) 

sine Sterke wider gewan (his strength r^ained) 

und vaht (fought) als ein geruowet (rested) man. Er. 9171. 

der gedanc (thinking) an sin scheme vAp 

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 eilen (dlan). Parz. 409, 13. 410, 5. 

nu sack er daz si umb in was in sorgen (in fear for him), 

alrest er niuwe kraft enpfant (felt). Lohengr. p. 54-5. 

den Heiden minne nie verdröz (never wearied), 

des (therefore) was sin herze in strite gröz. Parz. 740, 7. 

em welle (if he do not) an mimie denken, 

sone mag er niht entwenken (cannot escape). Parz. 740, 15. 

wes sümest (wherefore delayest) du dich, Parziväl, 

daz du an die kiuschen liehtgemäl (pure-one so bright) 

niht denkest, ich mein 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 im niht ze fruo (none too soon), 

an sin wip die kliniginne 

unt an ir werden (worthy) minne. Parz. 743, 23. 

swa ich sider (after) kom in not (diflBculty), 

ze hant so ich (the moment I) an si ddhte, 

ir minne helfe bmhte. Parz. 768, 27. 

miiede was ir beder lip (weary were both their bodies), 

niuwan daz sie (liad they not) ddhien an diu wtp 

sie wahren bcdesamt gelegen (both together fallen). Alt bl. 1,340. 



400 WISE WOMEN. 

In the Carmen de Phyllide et Flora it is said 31, 4 : ' Die me com' 
memorat inter ipsas caedcs/ my beloved in the battle breathes my 
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 : 'svft var 
oc um hans menu, hvar sem J^eir urSu i nauSum staddir, & sift e8a 
ä landi, J^a kollu^u J^eir d nafn hans, oc J?6ttiz iafnan Ik af ]7v! fr6,' 
so was it also with his men, wherever they were in trouble, on sea 
or on land, then called they on his name, and inmiediately were 
gladdened by it. When Hrüngnir became intolerable to the Ases, 
' J?ä nefna J^eir Thor, ]>yi nsest kom Thorr 1 höllina,' Sn. 108. Kraka, 
a semi-divine being, admonished Erich: si suprema necessitatis 
violentia postularet, nominis sui nuncupaiione remedium celerius 
esse quaerendum, af&rmans se divina partim ^ortute 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 him aid (see 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 and endowing, 
in perils of war giving help and granting victory. Therefore they 
are called vnse wanien, ON. spdkonor (conf. späkr, OHG. sp&hi, 
prudens), Scot, spae wife, MHG. wtsiu wip, Nib. 1473. 3, 1483, 4 
(see Suppl.). 

I. Itis, Ides (Dls). 
But I will first take an older word, which appears to me to yield 

» Philander of Sittewald 2,727, Soldaten!, p. 241. still mentions the pitekioe 
in time of danger 'of commending oneself to the loved one's gnce 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, pL idisi, AS. ides, pi. 
idesa, denotes femina in general, and can be used of maids or matrons, 
rich or poor.^ Yet, like the Greek vvfi<l>rf, 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 idisl before us in 
fall action : 

suma hapt heptidun, sumä heri lezidun, 
suma clübödun umbi cuniowidi ; 
Some put a check (on the fighting), as we read in Renner 20132 : 
dez muoz (therefore must) ich he/ten einen haß 
an dirre materie an minen danc (against my will), 
wan ich flirhte (for I fear) sie werde ze lane. 
Others letted the host (hinder, make late, Goth, hari latidSdun) ; 
otliers 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 
togetlier in Stem. 45*, Hlöck = OHG. Hlancha, i.e., catena, and 
Herfiötr = OHG. Herifezzara, exercitum vinciens. But it must 
liave been as much in their power to set free and help on, as to 
sliackle and hamper. Compounded with itis we have the female 
names Itispuruc (Meichelb. no. 162), Itisburg (Trad. fuld. Schannat 
181),Idisburg (Lacombl. no. 87), and Itidant (Graff 1, 159); which, 
like Hiltipurc, Sigipurc, Sigilant (MB. 14, 362), are proper to such 
women of our olden time (see Suppl.).* 

^ Freolicu meowle = ides, Cod. exon. 479,2. * Weraa and idesa,' or 'eorlas 
and idesii ' are contnisted, ibid. 176, 5. 432, 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 

0H6. itis, AS. ides, is the same as the ON. dis pL disir ; similar 

instances of aphseresis are the Rigr for Iring on p. 234, and Sangrim, 

Singrim for Isangrim, Isingrim (Eeinh. ccvüi). Any remaining 

doubt disappears on comparing the Eddie ' dis Skiöldünga»' Sssnu 

169* 209* with the AS. ' ides Scildinga,' Beow, 2337. The Norse 

disir likewise are sometimes kind protecting beings, sometimes 

hostile and hindering, Ssem. 185* 195* 254^ 273\ An instance of 

the latter sort is found in the story of ThiSrandi, whom disir 

destroyed, 'thann er sagt at disir va^i,' quem deas interfecisse 

dicunt (Nialss. cap. 97), though the full narrative (Fomm. sog. 2, 

195) caUs them simply konur, women; so Spddisir^ nymphae 

vaticinantes. Vols, saga cap. 19, means just the same as spdhmur; 

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; 'yör munu dauCar 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 disabldt is very frequent» 

Egilss. cap. 44 p. 205; Vigagl. saga cap. 6 p. 30; 'biota komla 

disir* deabus tumulatis sacrificare, Egilss. p. 207. This passage 

implies a connexion between disir and ghosts, departed spirits» 

whose reappearance portends something : ' kanor hugSak dauSar 

koma i nott,' dead women, i.e., disir, come at night, Ssem. 254*. 

Herjans dis (Ssem. 213^) is nympha Odini, a maiden dwelling at 

ValhöU in the service of Oöinn ; dis Skiöldünga (Ssem. 169» 209*), 

divine maid sprung from the Skiöldung stock, is an epithet both of 

Sigrün and of Brynhild, conf. AS. ides Scyldinga, ides Hehninga, 

Beow. 1234. But Freyja herself is called Vanadis^ nympha 

Vanorum, Sn. 37; and another goddess, SkaCi ondwrdis (walking 

in wooden shoes), Sn. 28, which is equivalent to öndurj^cdl Several 

proper names of women are compounded with dis\ Thdrdls» 

Hiördis, Asdis, Vigdts, Halldis, Freydis (to which might have 

corresponded an OHG. Donaritis, &c.) : they prove the pretty h]|^ 

antiquity of the monosyllabic form dis, which even in the Edda 

invariably alliterates with D. With the orginal form idi$ the 

compare Magadaburp; with Idisaburg, Idisoburg, and Islant with Itislantf 
ItiBoIunt. The Frankish Diftpargum on the contrary seems not to be Idiibeqji 
but Tiesberg, funum Martis (Herrn. Miiller, Salic law, p. 33-4). 



ms. YXLEDA. OANKJL 403 

name of the goddess Idunn may poaaiblj be connected (see 
SuppL). 

2. Yeleda. Ganna. Alab&n. 

If, as I suppose, the generic tenn idig was already cnnent 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 Vdeda, Oanna, and 
Aurinia I have already quoted in ch. Y, where the connexion 
between prophetesses and the priesUy office was pointed out 
Vdeda appears to be almost an appellaüve, and akin to the Norse 
Yala, Völva (p. 97-8). or even to the masa Völundr (p, 878), per- 
haps also to the name valkyrja.^ She lives on a tawer^ like Jetha 
(p. 96) and Brynhildr (Yöls. saga cap. 24). Treaties were ratified in 
her presence ; she not only prophesied, but had to settle disputes 
among the people, and carry out plans. In Seem. 4^ 5* the Vala^ 
after whom the famous lay Yöluspä is named, is also called HeiSr 
and Gtdlveig; and as our female names Adelheid, Alpheid, &a, are 
formed with -heid, Finn Magnusen p. 416^ would derive Yeleda 
from a supposed Yalaheid, which however is nowhere found (see 
Suppl.). The description given of her is an attractive one : where* 
ever in the land this vala velspä (fatidica) came, she worked 
witchery, she was believed to travel about and make vitiiationa to 
hcvses. This ' til hüsa koma ' reminds us of the ' drqfa d veä sem 
volur* pulsare aedes sicut fatidicae, Sfism. 63*, 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 
real meaning of its root ginnan were disdoeed to us: a MHO. 
ginnen is secare, the ON. ginna allicere, seduoere; and in S»m. 21* 
we are warned not to trust the wheedling words of valas, 'vftlo 
vilmseli trüi engi maSr ' ; we shall see presently, how the AS. poets 
use similar expressions about Wyrd. 

When Drusus had crossed the Weser and was neaiing the Elbe, 

1 1 find Walad€nc\iB in Trad, cfyrb. p. 364, 1 213 ; a wild wamsn is csllad 
in Wolfdieterich 514 «die wilde waldin,* Uid 735 *dia flbel waikdtm*; bat this 
seemfl a corruption of v&landinne, she-deriL 



404 VISE WOMEN. 

there met him in the land of the Chemscaus a superhuman female^ 
ryvvri Tt9 fiei^cov fj kutcl avOpdynov <l>wrtv, who forbade his fntba 
advance, and foretold his approaching end (Dio Cass. 55, 1). Spedei 
larbarac vmdieris, humana amplior, victorem tendere ultra^ sennon 
Latino, prohibuit (Sueton. in Claudio 1).^ There may have beea 
German folk-talcs about this, which became known to the Bomau. 
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 said (p. 95) to have been famous in Germany before 
Veleda ; copyists may easily have corrupted ali into ' au/ and rww 
into 'rinia' : we should then have Aliruna, though it would be 
still more hand