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Grimm's TM - Chap. 25 Chapter 25
(Page 1) In the last chapter we examined myths having reference to the
alternation of seasons, to phenomena of the year. Our language affords several
instances of transition from the notion of time to that of space. Ulphilas translates cronoj, kairoj,
wra alternately by mêl, hveila, þeihs, yet so that
'mêl' usually stands for cronoj or
kairoj, rarely
for wra and
'hveila' mostly for wra,
seldomer for cronoj and kairoj;
the former expressing rather the longer section of time, and the latter the
shorter. Mêl, OHG. mâl, AS. mœl, ON. mâl, lit. mark or measure, is applied to
measured speech or writing as well as to a portion of time; on the contrary,
hveila, OHG. huîla, MHG. wîle, AS. hwîl (p. 702), denotes rest, and is purely
a notion of time, whereas mêl was transferred from space to time. We come across
þeihs (neut. gen. þeihsis) only twice, viz. Rom. 13, 11: 'vitandans þata þeihs,
þatei mêl ist,' eidotej ton kairon, oti
wra, and 1 Thess. 5, 1: 'bi þô þeihsa jah mêla,'
peri twn cronwn kai twn kairwn.
Each passage contains both þeihs and mêl, but the choice of the former for cronoj
and the latter for kairoj
shows that þeihs is even better adapted than mêl for the larger fuller notion,
and the most complete arrangement would be: þeihs cronoj,
mêl kairoj,
hveila wra
. I derive þeihs from þeihan (crescere, proficere, succedere),
as veihs gen. veihsis (propugnaculum) from veihan (pugnare); so that it expresses
profectus, successus, the forward movement of time, and is near of kin to OHG.
dîhsmo, dêhsmo (profectus), probably also to dîhsila (temo), our deichsel, AS.
þîsl, thill, for which we may assume a Goth. þeihslo, þeihsla, the apparatus by
which the wagon is moved on. Schmeller 4, 294 cleverly connects têmo itself with
tempus: the celestial wagon-thill (p. 724) marks the movement of nocturnal time
(Varro 7, 72-5), and þeihsla becomes a measure like the more general þeihs. Even
if the connexion of the two Latin words be as yet doubtful, that of the two Gothic
ones can hardly be so. But now, as the Goth. þeihs has no representative in the
other Teutonic tongues, and in return the OHG. zît, AS. tîd, ON. tîð seems foreign
to Gothic, it is natural, considering the identity of meaning, to suppose that
the latter form arose from mixing up þeihan (crescere) with teihan (nuntiare),
and therefore that the AS. tîd stands for þîd, and OHG. zît for dît; besides,
the OHG. zît is mostly neut., like þeihs, whereas the fem. zît, tîd would have
demanded a Goth. þeihaþs. Of course a Goth. þeihs ought to have produced an OHG.
dîhs or dîh (as veihs did wîh); but, that derivation here branched in two or three
directions is plain from the ON. tîmi, AS. tîme (tempus, hora), which I refer
to the OHG. dîhsmo (1) above, and a
Goth. þeihsma, with both of which the Lat. tempus (and têmo?) would perfectly
agree (see Suppl.). Like hveila, the OHG. stulla, and stunt,
stunta, AS. ON. stund (moment, hour), contain the notion of rest, and are conn.
with stilli (quietus), standan (stare), while conversely the Lat. momentum (movi-mentum)
is borrowed from motion. (2) We express
the briefest interval of time by augenblick, eye-glance; Ulph. renders Luke
4, 5 en stigmh cronou 'in stika mêlis,'
in a prick of time, in ictu temporis; 1 Cor. 15, 52 en
riph ofqalmou
, 'in brahva áugins,' brahv being glance, flash, micatus,
AS. twincel, and traceable to braíhvan (micare, lucere), OHG. prëhan, MHG. brëhen;
(3) AS. 'on beorhtm-hwîle' from bearhtm ictus oculi, 'on
eágan beorhtm,' Beda 2, 13; ON. 'î augabragði,' conf. Sæm. 11b. 14ª. 19b. OHG.
'in slago dero brâwo,' N. ps. 2, 12, in a movement of the eyelid (conf. slegiprâwa
palpebra, Graff 3, 316); 'antequam supercilium superius inferiori jungi possit,'
Caesar, heisterb. 12, 5. 'minre wîlen (in less time) dan ein oucbrâ zuo der andern
muge geslahen,' Grieshaber p. 274. 'als ein oucbrâ mac ûf und zuo gegên,' can
open and shut, Berth. 239. 'ê ich die hant umbkêrte, oder zuo geslüege die (or
better, diu) brâ,' Er. 5172. 'alsô schier sô (as fast as) ein brâwe den andern
slahen mac,' Fundgr. 1, 199 (see Suppl.). (4) A great length of time is also expressed
by several different words: Goth. áivs (m.), OHG. êwa (f.), Gr. aiwn,
Lat. aevum shading off into the sense of seculum, O. Fr. aé (p. 678); the OS.
eo (m.) means only statutum, lex, as the Goth. mêl was scriptura as well as
tempus. Then Goth. alþs (f.), by turns aiwn
(Eph. 2, 2. 1 Tim. 1, 17. 2 Tim. 4, 10), and bioj
or genea
; ON. öld; OHG. with suffix altar (aevum, aetas), though
the simple word also survives in the compound wëralt (assimil. worolt), MHG. werlt,
our welt, AS. wërold, Engl. world, Fris. wrald, ON. vërald, vëröld, Swed. werld,
Dan. verd: constant use accounts for the numerous distortions of the word.
(5) Its Gothic form, wanting in Ulph., would have been
vaír-alþs or 'vaírê alþs,' virorum (hominum) aetas, aetas (lifetime) passing into
the local sense of mundus (world), just as seculum, seècle, has come to mean mundus,
monde. We saw on p. 575 that Greek mythology supposes four ages of the world,
golden, silver, brazen and iron: a fancy that has travelled far, (6)
and was apparently no stranger in Scandinavia itself. Snorri 15 gives the name
of gull-aldr to the period when the gods had all their utensils made of gold,
which was only cut short by the coming of giantesses out of Iötunheim. Had he
merely borrowed this golden age from the classics, he would have taken the trouble
to discover the other metals too in Norse legend. (7)
But in the Völuspâ (Sæm. 8ª) we see that other ages are spoken of, skegg-öld (see
p. 421), skâlm-öld, vind-öld and varg-öld, which are to precede the destruction
of the world. To translate kosmoj,
Ulph. takes by turns, and often on immediately after the other, the two words
faírhvus and manasêþs; both must have been in common use among the Goths. Manasêþs
(8) and for kosmoj
, thus fully conciding with the above developed sense of
weralt. Faírhvus I take to be near of kin to OHG. fërah, AS. feorh, MHG. vërch,
so that it expressed lifetime again, like aevum; it is also connected with OHG.
firahî (homines), and would mean first 'coetus hominum viventium,' then the space
in which they live. It has nothing to do with faírguni, earth, mountain (see Suppl.). As kosmoj
properly means the ordered, symmetrical (world), mundus the clean, the well-trimmed,
bright, and as the Frisian laws 126, 26 speak of 'thi skêne wrald'; so the Slavic
sviet, svèt, swiat is, first of all, light and brightness, then world, the open,
public, (9) all that the sun illumines,
whatsoever is 'under the sun.' (10)
So the Wallach. lume, the Hung. világ, signify both light and world. The Lith.
swietas, O. Pruss. switai, world, is borrowed from Slavic. Like mundus, the
Slav. sviet passes into the time-sense of seculum, vièk (Dobrowsky's Inst. 149).
The older Slavs called the world mir and ves'mir, Dobr. 24. 149; mir is also
the word for peace, quietness, and seems akin to mira or mèra, measure (order
?). The Finnic for world is maa' ilma, the Esth. ma ilm (from ilma, the expanse
of air, and maa, earth), the Lapp. ilbme. The ON. heimr is mundus, domus, and akin to himiun, himil (p.
698), as mundus also is applied both to world and sky; heimskrîngla, orbis terrarum.
Ulphilas renders oikoumenh,
Luke 2, 1. 4, 5. Rom. 10, 18, by midjungards; to this correspond the AS. middangeard,
Cædm. 9, 3. 177, 29. Beow. 150. 1496; the OHG. mittingart, Is. 340. 385-6. 408.
Fragm. theot. 17, 6. mittigart, Fragm. th. 17, 3. 20, 20. 25, 9. mittiligart,
Gl. Jun. 216. T. 16, 1. mittilgart, T. 155, 1. 178, 2. 179, 1; the OS. middilgard;
the ON. miðgarðr, Sæm. 1b. 45b. 77b. 90ª. 114b. 115b. Sn. 9. 10. 13. 45. 61;
and even a Swed. folksong 1, 140 has retained medjegård. O. Engl. middilerd,
medilearth, like the Gr. mesogaia
. Fischart's Garg. 66ª has mittelkreiss, mid-circle. We saw
(p. 560) that miðgarðr was, to the Norse way of thinking, created out of Ymir's
eyebrows, and appointed to men for their habitation. The whole compound, doubtless
very ancient, is of prime importance, because it is native to our oldest memorials,
and at the same time strictly Eddic. Nor is that all: in similar harmony, the
world is called in ON. Oegisheimr, Sæm. 124b. 125ª, and in MHG. mergarte, Annolied
444. Rol. 106, 14. Kaiserchr. 501. 6633. Karl. 38b; i.e. the sea-girt world, conf.
Goth. marisáivs (ocean), and OHG. merikerti (aetherium), (11)
Diut. 1, 250. Lastly, OHG. woroltring, O. ii. 2, 13. iii. 26, 37. iv. 7, 11. v.
1, 33. 19, 1. erdring, O. i. 11, 47. MHG. erdrinc, Mar. 198-9, orbis terrarum,
Graff 4, 1163. According to the Edda, a huge serpent, the miðgarðs ormr, lies
coiled round the earth's circumference, 'umgiörð allra landa': evidently the
ocean. When Alexander in the legend was carried up in the air by griffins, the
sea appeared to him to twine like a snake round the earth. But that 'world-serpent,'
hateful to all the gods (sû er goð fîa, Sæm. 55ª) was the child of Loki, and
brother to the Fenris-ûlfr and Hel; he was called Iörmungandr (Sn. 32), the
great, the godlike (conf. p. 351), and like Hel he opens wide his jaws, Sn.
63 (see Suppl.). Everything shows that the notions of time, age, world, globe,
earth, light, air and water ran very much into one another; in 'earth-ring,'
ring indicates the globular shape of the earth and its planetary revolution.
Manasêþs, faírhvus, and wëralt point to spaces and periods filled by men. (12) So far as 'world' contains the notion of seculum and life, it
is significantly called, even by the OS. poet, a dream: liudio drôm, Hel. 17,
17. 104, 7. 109, 20. manno drôm 23, 7. 103, 4. AS. gumdreám, Beow. 4933; 'la
vida es sueño.' Its perishableness and painfulness have suggested yet other
designations: 'diz ellende wuoftal (weep-dale),' Tod. gehugde 983, as we say
'this vale of tears, house of sorrow' (see Suppl.). From its enormous superficial extent is borrowed
the phrase 'thius brêde werold,' Hel. 50, 1. 131, 21; MHG. 'diu breite werlt,'
Mar. 161; our weite breite welt. Also: 'thiz lant breitâ,' O. ii. 2, 18. daz
breite gevilde, Mar. 34. Wigal. 2269. diu breite erde, Roth. 4857. Wh. 60, 29.
Geo. 4770, eureia cqwn
. This reminds one of the name of Balder's dwelling spoken
of on p. 222-3, breiða blik, which seems to include the two notions of breadth
and brightness. An expression used by miners is remarkable in this connection:
'blickgold, blicksilber' is said of the clear molten metal gleaming on the fining-hearth,
and 'der breite blick' when there is a plentiful yield of it.
(13) The beautiful bright world is, as it were, a wide
glance. When 'world' or 'heimr' is merely used in the general sense of
dwelling place, we can think of several worlds. The Völuspâ, Sæm. 1ª, supposes
nine worlds and nine firmaments (îviðir), conf. Sæm. 36b. 49ª, just as Sn. 222b
speaks of nine heavens (see Suppl.). (14) Of these worlds, not abodes of the living human race, those that
demand a close investigation are: the Flame-world, the Dead-world, and Paradise;
but all are connected more or less with the upper world, that inhabited by man,
and passages exist from the one to the other. The ON. system supposes a world-tree, askr Yggdrasils, which links
heaven, earth and hell together, of all trees the greatest and holiest. It is
an ash (askr), whose branches shoot through all the world, and reach beyond
heaven. Three roots spread out in three directions, one striking toward the
âses into heaven, another to the hrîmþurses, the third to the under world. From
under each root gushes a miraculous spring, namely, by the heaven root Urðarbrunnr
(p. 407), by the giants' root Mîmisbrunnr, by the hell root Hvergelmir, i.e.
the roaring (or the old) cauldron, olla stridens (p. 563). All these wellsprings
are holy: at the Urðar-well the âses and norns hold their council, the giants'
well is watched by a wise man Mîmir (p. 379), I know not whether a sage old
giant himself or a hero, anyhow a semidivine being, or nearly so. Every day
the norns draw water from their well, to water the boughs of the ash: so holy
is the water, that it imparts to anything that gets into the well the colour
of the white of an egg; from the tree there trickles a bee-nourishing dew, named
hunângsfall (fall of honey). On its boughs, at its roots, animals sit or dart
about: an eagle, a squirrel, four stags, and some snakes; and all have proper
names. Those of the stags are elsewhere names of dwarfs, notably Dâinn and Dvalinn.
The snake Nîðhöggr (male pungens, caedens) lies below, by Hvergelmir, gnawing
at the root. The squirrel Ratatöskr (15)
runs up and down, trying to sow discord between the snake and the eagle who
is perched aloft. The eagle's name is not given, he is a bird of great knowledge
and sagacity; betwixt his eyes sits a hawk Veðrfölnir. (16) The whole conception bears a primitive stamp,
but seems very imperfectly unfolded to us. We get some inkling of a feud between
snake and eagle, which is kept alive by Ratatöskr; not a word as to the purpose
and functions of hawk or stags. Attempts at explaining Yggdrasil I have nothing
to do with; at present, before giving my own opinion, I must point out two coincidences
very unlike each other. This tree of the Edda has suggested to others before
me the tree of the Cross, which in the Mid. Ages gave birth to many speculations
and legends. Well, a song in the 'Wartburg War,' MsH. 3, 181 sets the following
riddle: << Previous Page Next Page >>
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