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Grimm's TM - Supplement Chap. 1 Sup.
p. 6. ) The Romans too had felled sacred trees: 'et robora numinis
instar Barbarici nostrae feriant impune bipennes,' Claudian de laud. Stilich.
1, 230. In the same way the Irminsul is destroyed, and Columban breaks the
god's images and throws them in the lake (p. 116. 109). Charles has the four
captured Saracen idols smashed, and the golden fragments divided among his
heroes, Aspremont 11b. 45b-48b. Idols are broken in Barl. and Georg. It is
remarkable in Beda 2, 13, that the Coifi himself destroys the heathen temple
(p. 92 n.). It was a sign of good feeling at least to build the old images
into the church walls. p. 6. ) Heathens, that knew not the true God's name, are not
always 'wild, doggish, silly,' but sometimes 'die werden heiden,' Titur. 55,
4, die wîsen heiden, Servat. 19. his sylfes (God's) naman, þone yldo bearn
aer ne cûðon, frôd fædera cyn þeáh hie fela wiston, Cædm. 179, 15. p. 7. ) Trust in one's own strength is either opposed to trust
in gods, or combined with it. In the Faereyînga-s. cap. 23, p. 101: 'ek trûi
â mâtt minn ok megin' and also 'ek treystumsk hamîngju (genius) minni ok sigr-saeli,
ok hefir mer þat vel dugat'; conf. 'trûa magni,' Fornald. sög. 1, 438. The
OHG. sô mir ih! (Graff 6, 13) must mean 'so help me I myself.' MHG. has milder
formulas: sam mir Got and mîn selbes lîp!¨ Tristan 215, 2. als in (them) Got
und ir ellen gebôt, Ernst 1711. als im sîn manlîch ellen jach, Parz. 89, 22.
ich gelove God ind mime swerde, Karlmeinet 122, 34. M. Beheim 266, 22 says:
si wolten ûf in (them) selber stân; and Gotthelf's Erzähl. 1, 146 makes a
strong peasant in Switz. worship 'money and strength.' A giant loses his strength
by baptism, Rääf 39. Doubts of God are expressed by Wolfram: ist Got wîse?
....... hât er sîn alt gemüete, Willeh. 66, 18. 20. hât Got getriwe sinne,
Parz. 109, 30. Resisting his will is 'ze himele klimmen und Got enterben,'
En. 3500. ------ On men who pretend to be gods, see p. 385 n. p. 7 n. ) God is threatened and scolded, p. 20. With the mockery
of Jupiter in Plaut. Trin. iv. 2, 100 agrees the changing of his golden garment
for a woollen, and robbing Æsculapius of his golden beard, Cic. de Nat. D.
3, 34. Friðþiofr said: 'enda virði ek meira hylli Ingibiargar enn reiði Baldrs,'
Fornald. sög. 2, 59; and pulled B.'s statue by the ring, so that it fell in
the fire 86. King Hrôlfr already considers Oðin an evil spirit, illr andi,
1, 95. ----- Dogs were named after gods by the Greeks also; Pollux, Onom.
5, 5 cites Korax, Arpuia, Carwn,
Lukittaj. A dog named Locke, Sv. folks. 1, 135. Helbling's Wunsch is
supported by a Wille in Hadamar v. Laber 289 and Altswert 126, 23. Sturm in
Helbl. 4, 459 may have meant Thunder. The lime-bitch is called Heila, Hela,
Döbel 1, 86. Nemnich 720. Alke is Hakelberend's dog, Zeitschr. des Osn. ver.
3, 406. A Ruland about 1420, and Willebreht, Ls. 1, 297-8, are exactly like
men's names. Many names express the qualities and uses of the animal, such
as Wacker, still in use, and leading up to old Norse, Saxon, Skirian and Suevic
names, Grimm's D. Sag. 468; its dimin., Wäckerlein, Weckherlin, Wickerlein,
Fischart's Spiele 246. 491. Is Wasser, the common name of peasants' dogs in
the Mark (Schmidt v. Wern. 253), a corrup. of Wacker? Wackerlos, Vernim, dogs
in Froschmeus. Bbb. 5b, Hüterlin in Keisersb. bilg. 140-4-5. Fondling names
are Harm, Ls. 2, 411. Holle im Crane p. 30, Bärlin, Garg. 258b, Zuckerl. Jucundiss
54. To the Pol. gromi-zwierz, bait-hound, Linde 1, 779a answers our Hetzebolt,
Nic. v. Jeroschin 30, 12. Bello, Greif, Pack-an, Pack-auf (Medic. maulaffe
647), Suoche, Fichard 3, 245, explain themselves; also the Boh. greyhound
Do-let, fly-to; O. Norse Hopp and Hoi, Hrolfkr. saga, Hopf in Eulensp., Estula
(es-tu-la?), Méon 3, 394-5. Ren. 25355. Not so clear is Strom in Fritz Reuter's
Journ. to Belligen 2, 98; is it 'striped'? or conn. with Striun in Helbl.
4, 456 from striunen, to roam? Smutz in Laber 358 must be conn. with schmötzen,
to counterfeit the hare's cry, Schmeller 3, 479. Trogen, Sv. äfvent. 1, 51
is our Fidel, trusty. Gramr, Fornald. sög. 1, 87. Gîfr, Geri, two dogs in
Fiölsvinns-mâl. Snati, Markusson 174a. Guldtand Norske event. 2, 92. Yrsa,
Fornald. sög. 1, 22, Ursa in Saxo. Bettelmann in Bürger 474a and Stallmeister
in Tieck's Zerbino express social rank, conf. Malvoisin, Ren. 1664. It were
too bold to conn. Leppisch in Pauli Sch. u. ernst 77, with Sâmr = Lapp, in
Nialss. 71, or Goth, Goz with the nation so called (Michel's hist. des races
maudites 1, 355. D. Sag. 454); more likely that the Silesian sheepdog's name
Sachs (Weinhold) meant Saxon; conf. Boh. Bodrok, an Obodrite. King Arthur's
dog Cabul, Nenn. 78. Cipriân, dog's name in MsH. 3, 305a. p. 8. ) Christ and the old gods are often worshipped together.
People got baptized and believed in Christ, en hêto â Thôr til allra storræða.
Widukind (Pertz 5, 462) tells, an. 965, of an 'altercatio super cultura deorum
in convivio, Danis affirmantibus Christum quidem esse deum, sed alios ei fore
majores deos, qui potiora mortalibus signa et prodigia per se ostentabant.'
Æthelbert of Kent let heathen idols stand beside christian altars, conf. Lappenb.
Engl. gesch. 1, 140. The converted Slavs clung to their old superstitions.
Dietmar (Pertz 5, 735) says of the sacred lake Glomuzi: 'hunc omnis incola
plus quam ecclesias veneratur et timet;' and at Stettin a heathen priest was
for raising an altar to the god of the christians side by side with the old
gods, to secure the favour of both, Giesebr. Wend. gesch. 2, 301. ----- It
is only playfully, and with no serious intention, that the Minne-song links
the name of God with heathen deities:
Ich hân Got und die minneclîchen Minne (love)
gebeten flêlîche nu vil manic jâr,
daz ich schier nâch unser drîer sinne
vinde ein reine wîp. MS. 1. 184a.
Venus, vil edeliu künegîn,
iuch hât Got, vrowe, her gesant
ze freuden uns in ditze lant. Frauend. 233, 26. p. 11. ) Where there was worship of springs, the Church took
the caput aquæ into her department, Rudorff 15, 226-7. In that spell where
Mary calls to Jesus, 'zeuch ab dein wat (pull off thy coat), und deck es dem
armen man über die sat (over the poor man's crop),' Mone anz. 6, 473, a heathen
god is really invoked to shield the cornfield from hail. Quite heathenish
sounds the nursery rhyme, 'Liebe frau, mach's türl auf (open your door), lass
den regen 'nein, lass 'raus den sonnenschein,' Schmeller 2, 196. Spots in
the field that are not to be cultivated indicate their sacredness in heathen
times, conf. gudeman's croft in Scotland, the Tothills in England, Hone's
Yearb. 873-4. To the disguised exclamations in the note, add w
Damater! and the Armoric tan, fire! Villemarqué's Barzas breiz, 1,
76; conf. Pott 1, lvii. p. 12. ) To these old customs re-acting on the constitution,
to the pelting of idols at Hildesheim and Halberstadt on Lætare-day (p. 190.
783), add this of Paderborn: 'In the cathedral close at P., just where the
idol Jodute is said to have stood, something in the shape of an image was
fixed on a pole every Lætare Sunday down to the 16th
century, and shied at with cudgels by the highest in the land, till it fell
to the ground. The ancient noble family of Stapel had the first throw, which
they reckoned an especial honour and heirloom. When the image was down, children
made game of it, and the nobility held a banquet. When the Stapels died out,
the ancient custom was dropped.' ---- Continu. of M. Klockner's Paderb. chron.
The Stapel family were among the four pillars of the see of Paderborn; the
last Stapel died in 1545, Erh. u. Gehrk. Zeitschr. f. vaterl. gesch. 7, 379.
Compare also the sawing of the old woman (p. 782), the gelding of the devil,
the expulsion of Death (p. 767), the yearly smashing of a wooden image of
the devil, and the 'riding the black lad' in Hone's Yearb. 1108, Dayb. 2,
467. p. 12. ) The Introduction ought to be followed by a general
chapter on the contents and character of our Mythology, including parts of
Chaps. XIV. and XV., especially the explanation of how gods become men, and
men gods. << Previous Page Next Page >>
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