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Grimm's TM - Chap. 33 Chapter 33
DEVIL The notion of the Devil and of devilish spirits, which has by
degrees acquired so wide a compass and struck such deep root even in the popular
religion, was unknown to our heathenism. It seems a general rule, that a Dualism dividing the Supreme Being
into opposites, where it is not [already] based on the earliest profound thought
of a system, (such as the Zendic), never gets established at a later period
except by abstract philosophizings. To the sensuous mythologies lying in the
great middle it is ill-adapted. An all-pervading idealistic distinction between a good and an
evil spirit, Ormuzd and Ahriman, (1)
is known neither to the Indian and Greek theologies, nor to the Teutonic. Before
the might of the one all-governing God the kakodæmon's power fades away. Then
out of this unity there grow up trilogies (Brahma, Vishnu, Siva; Zeus, Poseidon,
Pluto; Wuotan, Donar, Frô; Hâr, Iafnhâr, Thriði), dodecalogies, and the plenitude
of pantheism. But it is to my mind a fundamental feature of polytheism, that
the good and beneficent principle in the Divine preponderates; only some isolated
deities, subordinate to the whole, incline to the evil or hurtful, like the
Norse Loki, whose nature even then is more on a par with that of Hephæstus (Vulcan)
than of the christian Devil. Goodness predominates even in elvish sprites: to
the nix, the homesprite, nay the giant, it is but partially that cruelty and
malice are attributed. In harmony with this is the mild way in which our antiquity
pictures death and the underworld. But for all that, amid the vast variety of character and colouring
in these mythologyies, the Dualistic antagonism need not altogether be silent:
it does break out in individual features, without greatly affecting the whole.
Under this head come, e.g. the myths of Day and Night, of Elves light and dark
(p. 444), of Summer and Winter. (2) The Jewish monotheism accorded to its Satan only the subordinate
part of a tempter and traducer, as is plainly shewn in the book of Job, and
confirmed by the Greek term diaboloj which
the LXX and New T. use alternately with satan,
satanaj (Arabic shaitan) or daimonion
(usually for Hebr. shéd). After the Captivity the Jews were more familiar with
the idea of Dualism, and in N.T. times their whole demonology had largely expanded;
Beelzebub is spoken of as prince of all evil spirits, whom the O.T. knows merely
as a heathen idol: so that, even as early as that, false gods come to mean demons
or devils. It pertains to the history of Christianity to explain how there
came to be added the notion of Lucifer, (3)
a rebel spirit of light who took up arms against God, and with his adherents
(in Matth. 25,41 the devil has already 'his angels') was banished into darkness.
Luke 10, 18: eqewroun ton satavav wj astraphn ek
tou ouranou pesonta, as the lightning darts into the ground, whereas
a falling star usually affords a pleasing image (p. 722). At the same time,
this revolt of the Devil and his companions must be supposed to have had a higher
antiquity. Thus arose the doctrine of a statanic empire in rivalry with the
celestial, a doctrine that daily met with more acceptance: the evil spirits
may be the weaker side and suffer defeat, but they go about enlisting wicked
men, and seek thereby to replenish their host. Compacts are made with the Devil,
and he aids his confederates even during their earthly life. From another side, the conversion of the Heathen itself contributed
to expand and diversify the prevailing conception of the Devil's agency. It
has been remarked more than once, that the deserted heathen deities were declared
vanquished and shorn of their strength, yet not downright powerless: their once
kindly benignant sway had turned into a fierce fiendish one. Thus what the Christians
believed about the Devil received at the hands of the Heathen a twofold enlargement:
heathen gods and spirits already malign and gloomy in themselves readily dropt
into the christian category of devilish beings; with greater difficulty and
more resistence from public opinion, was effected nevertheless the transmutation
of the good gods of old into spectres and demons. In this process names for
the most part got suppressed or disguised; myths and stories were not so easily
to be abolished. In not a few cases the Devil may be regarded as a parody or aping
of the true God, as the left of wrong-side (taken mildly, the foil p. 515) of
the Divine Being (4): he wants to
have the same power, enjoy the same honour, and mimic God in everything; but
his contrivances miscarry and come to nought. So the idea of a Devil's-mother
might have arisen as counterpart to Mary the mother of God, though she had an
earlier prototype in the giant's-mother (see Suppl.). All these influences so diverse in kind have joined to produce
such popular notions of the Devil's being and character, as have existed from
the N.T. to our own times. The Devil is Jewish, Christian, Heathen, a false
god, an elf, a giant, a spectre, all in one. By the addition of him, Christianity
could not but receive, just as heathen Polytheism was expiring, a visible bent
towards Dualism, which afterwards philosophy tried to resolve into a general
principle of good and another of evil. When we compare the cheerful tone of
Greek myths with the harshness and grimness imparted to the legends of our Mid.
Ages by the intrusion of an all-too positive Devil, we see that the contrast
comes out not so much in the original texture of the popular beliefs, which
is everywhere the same or similar, as in the colour laid upon it; and therefore
our inquiry is entitled to resolve a whole mass of devil-phenomena back into
the milder forms of ancient spirits and gods. Before I attempt to isolate so much of these traditions as is
due to our Teutonic paganism, or at least that of our next neighbours, it is
even more than usually necessary to make sure of the various names employed. The word teufel, devil, is un-Teutonic, being simply diaboloj
retained. (5) Ulphilas, following
the Greek text, distinguishes diabaúlus, satana and unhulþô, translating
daimonion by the last, to which I shall have to
come back. In OHG. satanas is kept unaltered, but the diabolus of the Vulgate
is cut down to tiubil, tieval, or to diuval (T.), diufal (O. ii. 4, 101), neut.
pl. diufilir (iii. 14, 53), which likewise renders the Lat. daemonium (Fragm.
theot. ii. 14). By this extension of meaning and contraction of form, we see
that the word was getting naturalized and gradually driving the others out of
the field: MHG. tievel, tiuvel, tivel, our teufel; AS. deofol, Eng. devil; M.
Nethl. duvel, now duivel; Icel. djöfull, Sw. djefvul, Dan. djävel. It spread
through nearly all Europe: It. diavolo, Sp. diablo, Fr. diable, O. Fr. deable;
Pol. djabel, Boh. d'abel, Russ. diavol, Serv. diavo; the Lettish and Finnish
nations, the last to be converted, have alone forborne the appellation. And,
as in the case of God (p. 15), there occur euphemisms: HG. deichel, deixl, deigel,
deiker, deuker, (6) Swiss dyggeli,
tüggeli (Stald. 1, 325); Nethl. duker; Swed. djäkul, knäkul, knäfvel (Ihre's
Prov. lex 93a), also Westph. knüvel for düvel; Fr. diacre, Pol. djachel, djasek,
djablko and many more. (7) Noticeable is N. ps. 90, 13:
'urtiefel, chuninch anderro tiefelo,'diab. rex daemoniorum. (8)
Satan is used rarely in MHG., very often in modern German; in the Anegenge 218b
and in Stricker I find 'der satanât,' the later MLG. Zeno often repeats satanas.
O. Fr. goufre de satenie, saternie, Ren. 20224, 28429, the last form stretching
out a hand to Saturn (p. 249, and Suppl.). All other names for the Devil can be brought under three points
of view, according as they are drawn from his Character, his Figure, or his
place of Abode. And to these may be added Disguised forms of name. From his intrinsic nature the Devil is called the evil, hostile,
unlovely (unholde), as antithesis to the good gracious God. The thought is often
expressed in roundabout phrases or in adjectives, often enshrined in appropriate
appellatives: 'der nie guot geriet,' who never counselled good, Dietr. 40a;
'der ie tugende stôrte,' ever thwarted virtue, Kolocz. 254; like the Edda's
'sâ er flestu illu ræðr' of Loki, Sn. 46, or the epic periphrase in Reinh. xxxii.
xxxvi to describe the fox and wolf as beasts of devilish nature. 'dich hât niht
guotes ûz gelân,' 'twas nothing good (= the devil) that left us you, Dietr.
8347; as we still say 'I have looked for him like nothing good.' der übele tiuvel,
Iw. 4676. Nib. 215, 4. 426, 4. 1892, 4. Ms. 1, 59b der übel vîent, Gregor 2849.
The evil foe, evil spirit, evil one; der ubile geist, Fundgr. 102, 34. 105,
2. der bôse geist 105, 7. Nethl. de booze vyand. 'The crooked devils' in Kinderm.
1, 422 means the unrighteous, evil ones. A sermon in MHG. has 'der ubile bûman
der tivel,' Griefshaber 277. It is remarkable that in ON. we even come upon
'hinn illi Oðinn,' Fornm. sög. 5, 172. 10, 171. The O. Fr. poets often put maufez,
malfez, maufes (pl. maufé, malfé) for devil; later maufais, maufaiteur, which
leaves no doubt as to the sense of being evildoer, evildoing.
(9) As early as 585 we have adversarius boni operis (Pertz
3, 3), It. aversiera, (10) O. Fr. aversiers, devil. OS
the balowîso, malus, dirus, Hel. 33, 2; conf. ON bölvîs, Sæm. 77b. 93a (bölvîsar
konor 197b are witches); Goth. balvavêsei, i.e. balvaveisei kakia,
1 Cor. 5, 8; but our pilwiz on p. 472 can hardly be connected. Then OS the lêdo,
invisus, dirus, Hel. 33, 9, lêda wihti, maligni spiritus 48, 14; M. Nethl. de
lede duvel (11); OHG. der leidige tiefal, Diut. 3, 59;
AS se lâða. Again, OS the hatola, odiosus, Hel. 110, 9; hetteand herugrim 142,
12, cruel hater and persecutor. AS se hetteand herugrim 142, 12, cruel hater
and persecutor. AS se grimma gœst, M. Nethl. lede gast, Rein. 2841. Of special
importance here are names denoting a hostile being, resisting God and persecuting
men. The Latin Fathers favour the use of the term antiquus hostis (Greg. Magni
opp., ed. Bened. Paris 1705. 1, 1019; his Moral. 31, 50 and Dial. 2, 30. Bonif.
epist. 6, anni 723. Jonas Bobbiens. p. 5; Vita S. Romani 744a. Capitulare in
Georgisch 795, and many later records, e.g. one of 1121 in Kremer's Beitr. 3,
no. 24). And this our OHG authorities imitate: alt-fîant (Muspilli 49); fîant
entrisk (Hymn 24, 9), but here we cannot help thinking of the AS for giant,
ent (p. 524), as giants in general are supposed to be old, stone-old (p. 529).
AS se ealda deofol, se ealda, Cædm. 267, 5. So 'then altan satanâsan wilit er
gifâhan (he wants to catch)', O. i. 5, 52. der satanâs altist, Musp. 25. In
MHG: der alte, Geo. 3376-85; der elteste 3368. In N. Friesland to this day 'de
ual (old) düivel,' Geizh. p. 112; in England 'old Nick, old Davy;' in Denmark
'gammel Erich' (Holberg's Uden hoved og hale, sc. 5), which it would be allowable
to trace back even to the divine Erik of heathen times (p. 361); Norweg. gammel
Sjur (Hallager 102a); ON kölski, both senex and diabolus. In the same way God
called the old (p. 21). Beside 'antiquus hostis' we also find persequutor antiquus,
Vita S. Rom. 743, and callidus hostis, Jon. Bobb. p. 5. hostis generis humani
(fîant mannaskînes chunnes), Hymn 24, 3. A simple hostis I find but rarely used,
and the Goth. fijands is never anything but ecqroj:
in OHG., fîant by itself can be devil; so AS feond (of Grendel), Beow. 202.
1444-89; MHG vîent, En. 2525; M. Nethl. vîant, Huyd. op St. 3, 38; O.Fr. ennemi;
OS craftag fîund, Hel. 142, 12, unhiuri fîund 32, 1. 164, 14; MHG der leidige
vîent, Fundgr. 66, 4. der bœse vîent, Geo. 345, like our böse feind [while Engl.
fiend is nothing but devil]. gêrfîund, Hel. 32, 2 seems to be a strengthened
form (ger = jaculum, hasta). Out of the ON fiandi, taken in the sense of devil,
arose the Dan. fanden, Sw. fanen, fan (12);
but in ON itself andskoti was both hostis and diabolus. A word whose meaning
approaches that of hostis is the OHG scado (homo nocivus, latro), which in earlier
times was also applied in a good sense to heroes (p. 342). AS sceaða, OS skatho,
not standing alone, but in such compounds as AS hellsceaða, Cædm. 56, 24. Thorpe's
Anal. 126, 28, leodsceaða, Cædm. 56, 24, þeodsceaða, Beow. 4550, uhtsceaða 4536,
mânsceaða 1417-68, and OS. mênscado, Hel. 32, 1. 33, 15. 142, 15, wamscado 31,
17. 164, 4, liudscado 32, 14. thiodscado 33,1, it designates the Devil. Now
this hostile, hating, harmfl being the Goths named the 'unhold,' ungracious
one, by which Ulphilas translates, not as a rule diaboloj,
but daimoniou, yet with a vacillation of
gender that claims attention. A masc. unhulþa stands for daimoniou,
daimwn in Luke 4, 35. 8, 29.
9, 42; for satanaj, in Mk. 7, 26ö9. 30.
Lu. 4, 33. 7, 33. John 7, 20. 8, 48-9. 52. 10, 20-1. The plur.
daimonia is only once rendered by masc. unhulþans,
Lu. 8, 33, and everywhere else by fem. unhulþôns, Mat. 7, 22. 9, 34. Mk. 1,
32-4-9. 3, 15. 5, 12, 6, 13. 9, 38. 16, 9. Lu. 4, 41. 8, 27. 30-5-8. 9,1. 49.
The inference is, that the notion of female demons was the favourite one with
the Goths, and very likely with other Germans, for in Hymn. 24, 3 the word for
diabolus is the OHG. fem. unholdâ. (13)
If as heathens they had worshipped a goddess Holdâ, how natural, in contrast
with her mildness, to regard a malignant being as a female unholdâ!¨ Thus Ulphilas's
preference for the term goes far to prove a Gothic worship of Hulþô; and the
translation of Diana by Holdâ and unholdâ (p. 267) is worth nothing.---Again,
the notion of malice and ill-will carries with it that of fierceness and wrath:
so the Devil is in AS. 'se wrâða,' Cædm. 39, 24, in OS. 'the wrêtha,' Hel. 106,
3. 164, 4; AS. 'se rêða' (trux, saevus), Cædm. 271, 12, the OS. would be 'the
ruodho'; AS. 'se grama,' OS. 'the gramo,' Hel. 32, 16; also prob. AS. 'se môdega,'
OS. 'the muodago,' conf. 'muodaga wihti' for evil spirits in Hel. 120, 9; and
all four of these epithets denote the wrathful, furious. (14)
It should not be overlooked, first, that they are found only in Saxon poets,
never in OHG. writers; secondly, that they express, especially in the plural,
more the idea of demonic spirits than of the Devil: gromra (gramra), Cod. Exon.
6 (dira numina) are the Parcae: gromra (gramra), Cod. Exon. 49, 5 = diabolorum;
gramôno hêm (daemonum habitatio) in Hel. 103, 10 stands for hell. Of Judas at
the Last Supper receiving the sop and taking it into his mouth, the Hel. 141,
11 says; 'sô afgaf ina thô thiu Godes craft, gramon in-gewitun an thene lîchamon,
lêda wihti,' so forsook him then the strength of God, demons and devils lodged
themselves in his body; (15) 'gramon habdun thes mannes
hugi undergripan,' demons had got the mastery over his mind 157, 19; 'gramo(no)
barn, fîundo barn' are the devils' household 161, 23. 157, 18; 'gramôno' or
'wrêtharo willio,' devils' will and pleasure 106, 3; 'môdaga wihti' are unholdâ
120, 8, conf. môdage 157, 18. 1. The genuine forms are Ahurômazdâo and
Agrômainyus, but the former is often called Cpentômainyus, agaqoj
daimwn, in contrast to Agrômainyus the kakoj
daimwn. Burnouf's Comm. sur le Yacna pp. 90. 92. Back << Previous Page Next Page >>
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