Chapter 16

ern welle (if he do not) an minne denken,

sone mag er niht entwenken (cannot escape). Parz. 740, 15.

wes sûmest (wherefore delayest) du dich, Parzivâl,

daz du an die kiuschen liehtgemâl (pure one so bright)

niht denkest, ich mein dîn wîp,

wiltu behalten (save) hie den lîp? Parz. 742, 27.

der getoufte nam (the christian gained) an kreften zuo,

er dâht (thought), des was im niht ze fruo (none too soon),

an sîn wîo die küniginne

unt an ir werden (worthy) minne. Parz. 743, 23.

swâ ich sider (after) kom in nôt (difficulty),

ze hant sô ich (the moment I) an si dâhte,

ir minne helfe brâhte. Parz. 768, 27.

müede was ir bêder lîp (weary were both their bodies),

niuwan daz sie (had they not) dâhten an diu wîp

sie wæren bêdesamt gelegen (both together fallen). Alt. bl. 1, 340.

In the Carmen de Phyllide et Flora it is said 31, 4: 'Ille me commemorat inter ipsas caedes,' my beloved in the battle breathes my name, to issue therefrom victorious. (1) 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 Oðinn: 'svâ var oc um hans menn, hvar sem þeir urðu î nauðum staddir, â siâ eða â landi, þâ kölluðu þeir â nafn hans, oc þôttiz iafnan fâ af þvî frô,' so was it also with his men, wherever they were in trouble, on sea or on land, then called they on his name, and immediately were gladdened by it. When Hrûngnir became intolerable to the Ases, 'þâ nefna þeir Thôr þvî næst kom Thôrr î höllina,' Sn. 108. Kraka, a semi-divine being, admonished Erich: si suprema necessitatis violentia postularet, nominis sui nuncupatione remedium celerius esse quaerendum, affirmans se divina partim virtute subnixam et quasi consortem coelitus insitam numinis gestare potentiam, Saxo Gram., p. 72. So the Valkyrja comes to the rescue of her chosen hero, when he calls out her name; she is become his guardian, as if sent by the gods to bring 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 complications in our destiny, warns of danger, advises in difficulty. At the birth of man they show themselves predicting and endowing, in perils of war giving help and granting victory. Therefore they are called wise women, ON. spâkonor [[seeress]] (conf. spâkr, OHG. spâhi, prudens), Scot. spae wife [[seer woman]], MHG. wîsiu wîp, Nib. 1473. 3. 1483, 4 (see Suppl.).

But I will first take an older word, which appears to me to yield 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 pl. itisî, OS. ides, pl. idisî, AS. ides, pl. idesa, denotes femina in general, and can be used of maids or matrons, rich or poor. (2) Yet, like the Greek numfh, 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 Idistaviso), i.e., nympharum pratum, women's meadow; it matters not whether the spot bore that name before the fight with the Romans, 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 idisî before us in full action:

sumâ hapt heptidun, sumâ heri lezidun,

sumâ clûbôdun umbi cuniowidi;

Some put a check (on the fighting), as we read in Renner 20132:

dez muoz (therefore must) ich heften einen haft

an dirre materie ân mînen danc (against my will),

wan ich fürhte (for I fear) sie werde ze lanc.

Others letted the host (hinder, make late, Goth. hari latidêdun); others again grasped (clawed) at chains or wreaths, i.e., withs and twigs with which to twist shackles, or to twine garlands for the victor. Here then their business was to bind and check, which is also demanded by the very object of the conjuring-spell; in striking harmony with this are the names of two Norse Valkyrs, mentioned together in Sæm. 45ª, Hlöck = OHG. Hlancha, i.e., catena, and Herfiötr = OHG. Herifezzara, exercitum vinciens. But it must have been as much in their power to set free and help on, as to shackle and hamper. Compounded with itis we have the female names Itispuruc (Meichelb. no. 87), and Itislant (Graff 1, 159); which, like Hiltipurc, Sigipurc, Sigilant (MB. 14, 362), are proper to such women of our olden time (see Suppl.). (3)

But we obtain much fuller information as to their nature from the Norse authorities. It has been overlooked hitherto, that the OHG. itis, AS. ides, is the same as the ON. dîs pl. dîsir [[female ancestral guardian spirit; sister; maid]]; similar instances of aphæresis are the Rîgr for Iring on p. 234, and Sangrim, Singrim for Isangrim, Isingrim (Reinh. ccviii). Any remaining doubt disappears on comparing the Eddic 'dîs Skiöldûnga,' Sæm. 169ª 209ª with the AS. 'ides Scildinga,' Beow. 2337. The Norse dîsir likewise are sometimes kind protecting beings, sometimes hostile and hindering, Sæm. 185ª 195ª 254b 273ª. An instance of the latter sort is found in the story of Thiðrandi, whom dîsir destroyed, 'thann er sagt at dîsir vaegi,' quem deas interfecisse dicunt (Nialss. cap. 97), though the full narrative (Fornm. sög. 2, 195) calls them simply konur, women; so Spâdîsir, nymphae vaticinantes, Völs. saga cap. 19, means just the same as spâkonur; and the phrase 'ecki eru allar dîsir dauðar enn' in Alfs saga cap. 15, means in the most general sense, all good spirits are not dead, yet; 'yðr munu dauðar dîsir allar,' to you all spirits are dead, Fornald. sög. 2, 47. But the Norse people worshipped them, and offered them sacrifice: the mention of dîsablôt is very frequent, Egilss. cap. 44 p. 205; Vigagl. saga cap. 6 p. 30; 'blôta kumla dîsir,' deabus tumulatis sacrificare, Egilss. p. 207. This passage implies a connextion between dîsir and ghosts, departed spirits, whose reappearance portends something: 'konor hugðak dauðar koma î nôtt,' dead women, i.e., dîsir, come at night, Sæm. 254ª. Herjans dîs (Sæm. 213b) is nympha Odini, a maiden dwelling at Valhöll in the service of Oðinn; dîs Skiöldûnga (Sæm. 169ª 209ª), divine maid sprung from the Skiöldung stock, is an epithet both of Sigrûn and of Brynhild, conf. AS. ides Scyldinga, ides Helminga, Beow. 1234. But Freyja herself is called Vanadîs, nympha Vanorum, Sn. 37; and another goddess, Skaði öndurdîs (walking in wooden shoes), Sn. 28, which is equivalent to öndurguð. Several proper names of women are compounded with dîs: Thôrdîs, Hiördîs, Asdîs, Vigdîs, Halldîs, Freydîs (to which might have corresponded an OHG. Donaritis, &c.): they prove the pretty high antiquity of the monosyllabic form dîs, which even in the Edda invariably alliterates with D. With the original form idis the name of the goddess Idunn may possibly be connected (see Suppl.).  
 



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