Chapter 16

If, as I suppose, the generic term idis was already current in the time of Tacitus, he gives us other more specific appellations as mere proper names, though still a certain general meaning seems to belong to them too. His statements about Veleda, Ganna, and Aurinia I have already quoted in ch. V, where the connexion between prophetesses and the priestly office was pointed out. Veleda appears to be almost an appellative, and akin to the Norse Vala, Völva (p. 97-8), or even to the masc. Völundr (p. 378), perhaps also to the name valkyrja. (4) She lives on a tower, like Jetha (p. 96) and Brynhildr (Völs. 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 Sæm. 4b 5ª the Vala, after whom the famous lay Völuspâ is named, is also called Heiðr and Gullveig; and as our female names Adalheid, Alpheid, &c., are formed with -heid, Finn Magnusen p. 416b would derive Veleda from a supposed Valaheid, which however is nowhere found (see Suppl.). The description given of her is an attractive one: whereever in the land this vala velspâ (fatidica) came, she worked witchery, she was believed to travel about and make visitations to houses. This 'til hûsa koma' reminds us of the 'drepa â vett sem völur,' pulsare aedes sicut fatidicae, Sæm. 63ª, 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 disclosed to us: a MHG. ginnen is secare, the ON. ginna [[to fool]] allicere, seducere; and in Sæm. 21ª we are warned not to trust the wheedling words of valas, 'völo vilmæli trûi engi maðr'; we shall see presently, how the AS. poets use similar expressions about Wyrd.

When Drusus had crossed the Weser and was nearing the Elbe, there met him in the land of the Cheruscans a superhuman female, tij meizwn h kata anqrwpou fusin, who forbade his farther advance, and foretold his approaching end (Dio Cass. 55, 1). Species barbarae mulieris, humana amplior, victorem tendere ultra, sermone Latino, prohibuit (Sueton. in Claudio 1). (5) There may have been German folk-tales about this, which became known to the Romans. 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 runa into 'rinia': we should then have Aliruna, though it would be still more handy if Tacitus had written Alioruna. But anyhow we cannot fail to recognise the agreement (which many have noted) with Jornandes cap. 24, who, in accounting for the origin of the Huns, relates of the Gothic king Filimer: Repperit in populo suo quasdam magas mulieres, quas patrio sermone aliorumnas (al. alyrumnas, aliorunas, aliuruncas) is ipse cognominat, easque habens suspectas de medio sui proturbat, longeque ab exercitu suo fugatas in solitudine coegit errare. Quas silvestres homines, quos faunos ficarios vocant, per eremum vagantes dum vidissent, et earum se complexibus in coitu miscuissent, genus hoc ferocissimum edidere.' Many names of women are formed with -rûn, -rûna (Gramm. 2, 517), and OHG. documents even offer, though sparingly, Alarûn Alerûna, MB. 3, 416 (an. 1140); 'Gosprecht der Alraunyn sun,' MB. 27, 80 (an. 1309). I have never seen Elirûn, the form we should expect from ali-. (6) But it is significant, that the ON. name Ölrûn, Sæm. 133-4, belongs precisely to a wise-woman; and alrûna (Graff 2, 523), now alraun, from its old sense of a prophetic and diabolic spirit, has at length passed into that of the root (mandragora, mandrake) out of which he is cut. We not turn to some other names, about which the fountain of tradition flows more freely (see Suppl.).

The three Fates are the subject of an independent and profound myth in the Edda. Collectively they are called the nornir, and singly, Urðr, Verðandi, Skuld, Sæm. 4ª. Sn. 18. The term norn (parca) has not been discovered hitherto in any other dialect, (7) though undoubtedly it belongs to a genuine Teutonic root, and is formed like thorn, corn, horn, &c., and would have been in OHG. norn, pl. nornî; but even Swedish and Danish know it no longer (see Suppl.). In the three proper names it is impossible to mistake the forms of verbal nouns or adjectives: Urðr is taken from the pret. pl. of verða (varð, urðum), to become, Verðandi is the pres. part. of the same word, and Skuld the past part. of skula, shall, the auxiliary by which the future tense is formed. Hence we have what was, what is, and what shall be, or the past, present and future, very aptly designated, and a Fate presiding over each. (8) At the same time the very names prove that the doctrine of norns was originally not foreign to any of the Teutonic nations. A Gothic Vaúrþs, Vaírðandei, Skulds, an OHG. Wurt, Werdandi, Scult, and so on, must have been known once as personal beings; in the OS. and AS. poetry we are able to lay our finger on the personality of the first norn: 'thiu Wurdh is at handun' says the Heliand 146, 2, just as 'dôd is at hendi,' 92, 2: the Fate, or death, stands so near, that she can grasp with her hand (9) the man who is fallen due to her; we should say just as concretely 'is at hand, is at the door'. Again: 'thiu Wurth nâhida thuo,' drew nigh then, Hel. 163, 16. 'Wurth ina benam,' the death-goddess took him away 66, 18. 111, 4. Not so living is the term as used in the Hildebr. lied 48, 'wêwurt skihit,' or perhaps separately 'wê! wurt skihit,' because 'geschehen' to happen is used more of abstract inanimate things. An OHG. gloss also has wurt for fatum (Graff 1, 992). Far more vivid are the AS. phrases: 'me þæt Wyrd (10) gewâf,' parca hoc mihi texuit, Cod. exon. 355; 'Wyrd oft nereð unfægne eorl, þonne his ellen deáh,' parca saepe servat virum, donec virtus ejus viget (ellan taoc, Hildeb.), Beow. 1139; 'him wæs Wyrd ungemete neah, se þone gomelan grêtan sceolde, sêcean sâwlehord, sundur gedælan lîf wið lîce,' 4836 (so, 'deáð ungemete neah' 5453); 'swâ him Wyrd ne gescrâf,' ita ei fatum non ordinavit, decrevit, Beow. 5145. El. 1047. conf. Boëth. ed. Rawl. p. 151; 'ealle Wyrd forsweop,' (11) swept all away, Beow. 5624; 'hie seo Wyrd beswâc, forlêolc and forlærde,' eos parca decepit, allexit, seduxit, Andr. 613; 'us seo Wyrd sceðeð,' nos fatum laedit, Andr. 1561. The instances in Cædmon are less concrete, yet in 61, 12 the Wyrd is called 'wälgrim,' bloodthirsty.---Of the Wyrd then are predicted: grêtan (excitare, OHG. cruozan), scrîfan (ordinare, OHG. scrîpan), (12) wefan (texere, OHG. wepan), beswîcan (decipere, OHG. pisuîchan), forlæcan (fallere, OHG. farleichan), forlæran (seducere, male informare), sceðan (nocere). She is painted powerful, but often cruel and warlike (see Suppl.). We cannot in the same way point out a personal application of the other two names, though the third, Skuld, OHG. Scult, AS. Scyld, continued in constant use as an abstract fem. skuld, scult, scyld, in the sense of debitum, delictum. (13) When christianity had banished the heathen notions, one name alone was found sufficient, and soon even that died out, giving place to new fangled terms such as schicksal, verhängnis (destiny) and the like, far more cumbrous and unwieldy than the old simple words. The English and especially the Scotch dialect seems to have harboured the old word longest: we all know the weird-sisters in Macbeth, which Shakespeare took from Hollinshed; they are also in Douglas's Virgil 80, 48, and the Complaynt of Scotland (written 1548) mentions, among other fabulous stories, that 'of the thre weïrdsystirs,' (Leyden's ed. Edinb. 1801, p. 99); in Warner's Albions England (first printed 1616) we have 'the weirdelves,' probably meaning the Parcae of the ancients. More native apparently is 'the weïrd lady of the woods,' who, when asked for advice, prophesies out of her cave, Percy's Reliques 3, 220-2. (14)

Even in the North, Urðr must have been of more consequence than the other two, for the fountain by the sacred ash is named after her, Urðarbrunnr, (15) and beside it stands the hall from which the three norns issue; it is also 'Urðar orð,' word (Sæm. 112ª) that is chiefly spoken of, and once 'grimmar urðir' dira fata, is used impersonally, Sæm. 216b.---These three virgins allot to every man his term of life, 'skapa mönnum aldr; skôp î ârdaga (year days),' Sn. 18. Sæm. 181ª. I have elsewhere (RA. 750) shown the technical pertinence of the term skapa to the judicial office of the norns, (16) to whom for the same reason are ascribed dômr and qviðr, Sæm. 273b; 'liotar nornir skôpo oss lânga þrâ,' dirae parcae creaverunt nobis longum moerorem 217ª; 'nornir heita þær er nauð skapa, Skâldskaparmâl p. 212ª. In the same sense 'nornir vîsa,' Sæm. 88b, they give us to wit judgment, and are wise. Hence to them, as to judges, a seat is given: 'â norna stôli sat ek niu daga' 127ª. They approach every new born child, and utter his doom; at Helgi's birth, it is said in Sæm. 149:  
 



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