Chapter 20

The notions 'air, wind, weather,' touch one another, and their names often do the same. (96) Like water, like fire, they are all regarded as a being that moves and lives: we saw how the words animus, spiritus, geist (pp. 439. 461) come to be used of genii, and the Slav. dukh is alike breath, breathing, and spirit. Wuotan himself we found to be the all-pervading (p. 133); like Vishnu, he is the fine æther that fills the universe. But lesser spirits belong to this element too: Gustr, Zephyr, Blaser (p. 461), Bläster, Wind-and-weather (p. 548), proper names of dwarfs, elves, giants. In the Lithuanian legend the two giants Wandu (water) and Weyas (wind) act together (p. 579). To the OHG. wetar, OS. wedar, AS. weder (tempestas) corresponds the Slav. veter, vietar (ventus, aër): and to Goth. vinds, OHG. wint, the Lat. ventus. The various names given to wind in the Alvismâl (Sæm. 50ª) are easily explained by its properties of blowing, blustering and so forth: œpir (weeper) ejulans, the wailing, conf. OS. wôp (whoop), OHG. wuof ejulatus; gneggioðr (neigher) strepens, quasi hinniens; dynfari cum sonitu iens.

Thus personification already peeps out in mere appellatives; in the mythic embodiments themselves it is displayed in the most various ways.

Woodcuts and plates (in the Sachsenspiegel) usually represent the winds, half symbolically, as blowing faces, or heads, probably a fancy of very early date, and reminding us of the blowing John's-head that whirls Herodias about in the void expanse of heaven (p. 285). The winds of the four cardinal points are imagined as four dwarfs: 'undir hvert horn (each corner) settu þeir dverg', Sn. 9 (p. 461) (97); but by the Greeks as giants and brethren: Zephyrus, Hesperus, Boreas, Notus (Hes. Theog. 371), and Boreas's son Zetes and Kalaïs are also winged winds (Apollon. Argon. 1, 219). Aeolus (aioloj nimble, changeful, many-hued), at first a hero and king, was promoted to be governor and guider of winds (tamihj anemwn, p. 93). In Russia popular tradition makes the four winds sons of one mother, (98) the O. Russ. lay of Igór addresses the wind as 'lord,' and the winds are called Stribogh's grandsons, (99) his divine nature being indicated by the 'bogh' in his name. So in fairy-tales, and by Eastern poets, the wind is introduced talking and acting: 'the wind, the heavenly child!' (100)

In the ON. genealogy, Forniotr, the divine progenitor of giants (p. 240), is made father of Kâri (stridens) 'who rules over the winds;' Kâri begets Iökul (glacies), and Iökul Snœr (nix), the king whose children are a son Thorri and three daughters Fönn, Drîfa, Miöll, all personified names for particular phenomena of snow and ice (Sn. 358. Fornald. sög. 2, 3. 17). Kâri however is brother to Hlêr (p. 241) and Logi (p. 240), to water and fire, by which is expressed the close affinity between air and the other two elements. The old Scandinavian cry 'blâs kâri!' is echoed in that of the Swedish sailors 'blås kajsa!' a goddess instead of the god (Afzelius 1, 30). Both wind and fire 'blow' and 'emit spray,' nay, fire is called the red wind: 'von ir zweier swerte gie der fiur-rôte wint,' Nib. 2212, 4. In the same line of thought a higher divinity, Niörðr, has the sovereignty given him alike over water, wind and fire (p. 217); and Loptr (aëreus) is another name for Loki (p. 246). A phrase in Cædm. 181, 13 seems worthy of notice: 'lyft-helme beþeaht,' galea aërea tectus (see Suppl.).

When in our language we still call one kind of tempest (OHG. wîwint, Graff 1, 624), the windsbraut (wind's bride), and it was called the same in our older speech, OHG. wintes brût, O. v. 19, 27. windis prût, Gl. Hrab. 975b. Jun. 230. Diut. 2, 182. Gl. florent. 982ª-3b-4b; MHG. windes brût (Gramm. 2, 606), Tit. 3733. swinder (swifter) danne windes brût, Ms. 2, 131ª. lief spilnde als ein w.b. durch daz gras, Fragm. 19ª. alsam in rôre diu w.b., Reinfried 159b. varn mit hurt als ein w. prût, Frauend. 92, 13;---it is only the proper names that seem to be lost. (101) The corrupt forms wintsprout, -praut (Suchenw. 41, 804), windbrauss (in later writers, as Matthesius), windsprauch (Schm. 4, 110), have arisen out of the endeavour to substitute some new meaning for the no longer intelligible mythic notion. They say it is a woman snatching up a napkin from the bleaching ground and falling down with it, Mone's Anz. 8, 278. So in the Netherlands the whirlwind is called barende frauw, Wolf nos. 518-520 (see Suppl.).

This wind's-bride is a whirlwind, at which our mythology brings the highest gods into play. Even Wuotan's 'furious host,' what is it but an explanation of the stormwind howling through the air? The OHG. ziu, turbines, we have traced to Zio, pp. 203. 285; and the storm-cloud was called maganwetar (p. 332 last l.). But the whirlwind appears to be associated with Phol also (pp. 229. 285), and with an opprobrious name for the devil (schweinezagel, säuzagel, sûstert, sow's tail), to whom the raising of the whirl was ascribed (Superst. I, 522) (102) as well as to witches (ibid. 554). It was quite natural therefore to look upon some female personages also as prime movers of the whirlwind, the gyrating dancing Herodias, and frau Hilde, frau Holde (p. 285). In Kilian 693 it is a fahrendes weib; in Celtic legend it is stirred up by fays, and the Irish name for it is sigh gaoite (O'Brien), sighgaoithe (Croker III, xxi); in a whirlwind elvish sprites can steal (Stewart p. 122). It is a popular belief in Sweden, that the skogsrâ (wood-wife) makes her presence known by a violent whirlwind which shakes the trees even to breaking. The Slav. polednice (supra, p. 478n.) is a female daemon, who flies up in the dust of the whirlwind (Jungmann sub v.). According to a legend of the Mark (Kuhn no. 167) the whirlwind was a noble damsel who loved the chase above everything, and made havock of the husbandman's crops, for which she is doomed to ride along with the storm to all eternity; this again reminds us of Diana and the huntress Holda (see Suppl.).

In addition to these widely spread fancies, there is a peculiar one about the origin of wind, which appears to extend through nearly all Europe. According to the Edda, Hrœsvelgr is the name of a giant, who in the shape of an eagle (103) sits at the end of heaven: from his wings cometh all wind upon men, Sæm. 35b. Snorri defines it more minutely: He sits at the north side of heaven, and when he flaps his wings, the winds rise from under them (Sn. 22). And in the formula of the trygdamâl (Grâgâs 2, 170), it is said: 'svâ vîða sem valr flýgr vârlângan dag, oc standi byrr undir bâda vœngi,' far as falcon flies a summerlong day, when stands fair wind under both his wings. Light clouds threatening storm are called in Iceland klô-sîgi (Biörn spells klôsegi), claw-sinking; acc. to Gunnar Pauli, because the eagle causes storm by letting down one of his claws (Finn Magn. p. 452). (104) It is also an Indian belief that tempest comes from Garuda's wings, Somadeva 2, 102: the motion of his flight stirs up the wind.

Then again people in the Shetland isles are said to conjure the storm-wind in the shape of a great eagle. (105) Further we are told that Charles the Great had a brazen eagle fixed on the top of his palace at Achen (Aix), and there was some connexion between it and the wind; Richerus 3, 71 (Pertz 5, 622) relates the inroad of the Welsh (Gauls) in 978: 'Aëneam aquilam, quae in vertice palatii a Karolo magno acsi volans fixa erat, (106) in vulturnum converterunt. Nam Germani eam in favonium (Up. Germ. Föhn) converterant, subtiliter significantes Gallos suo equitatu quandoque posse devinci.' The meaning seems to be, that the French turned the eagle's head to the south-east, the Germans to the west, to signify that like the storm they could make a raid (ride, that is what equitatus comes to) upon the country toward which the bird's head was directed. Dietmar of Merseburg's account 3, 6 (Pertz 5, 761) is as follows: 'Post haec autem imperator ordinavit expeditionem suam adversus Lotharium regem Karelingorum, qui in Aquisgrani palatium et sedem regiam nostrum semper respicientem dominium valido exercitu praesumpsit invadere, sibique versa aquila designare. Haec stat in orientali parte domus, morisque fuit omnium hunc locum possidentium ad sua eam vertere regna.' This statement appears less accurate than that of Richerus, for each would turn the eagle's head not toward his own kingdom, but the foreign or dependent one; conf. Jahrb. d. Rheinlande v. vi. 73. But even in the 12^th cent. the wind's connexion with the eagle was still known in Germany, for Veldek sings, MS. 1, 21ª: 'jârlanc ist reht daz der ar winke dem vil süezen winde,' all this year the eagle must beckon to (i.e. bring) a mild wind. How many fancies familiar to the Mid. Ages must be lost to us now, when of all the poets that mention air and wind and storm no end of times, only one happens to allude to this myth! But not only do aquila and aquilo, (107) vultur and vulturnus point to each other; anemuj (wind) and aetoj (eagle) are likewise from one root aw, ahmi. (108) According to Horapollo 2, 15 a sparrowhawk with outspread wings represents the wind. Eagle, falcon, vulture, sparrowhawk, are here convertible birds of prey. The Indian garuda, king of birds, is at the same time the wind. The O.T. also thinks of the winds as winged creatures, without specifying the bird, 2 Sam. 22, 11: 'rode on the wings of the winds'; Ps. 18, 11. 104, 3: 'volavit super pennas ventorum,' which Notker translates 'überfloug die vettacha dero windo'; and Martina 7c has, in allusion to the biblical phrase, 'der ûf der winde vedern saz.' The expression used by Herbort 17091, 'der wint liez ouch dare gân,' shows that the poet imagined it either flying or riding (see Suppl.).

The Finns call the eagle kokko (kotka); but a poem descriptive of the northstorm begins: 'Came the eagle on from Turja, down from Lappmark sinks a bird,' and ends: 'Neath his wing a hundred men, thousands on his tail's tip, ten in every quill there be.' (109) And in a Mod. Greek folk-song the sparrowhawk (as in Horapollo) calls upon the winds to hush: apo ta trikorfa bouna ieraki esure lalia payete apoye k allhn mian bradia. (110) The winds are under the bird's command, and obey him. In another song the mother sets three to watch her son while he sleeps, in the mountains the sun, in the plain the eagle (aetoj), on the sea the brisk lord Boreas: the sun sets, the eagle goes to sleep, and Boreas goes home to his mother; (111) from the whole context here we must understand by the eagle the sweet soft wind, and by Boreas the cool northwind.



ENDNOTES:

96. Sup. I, 282. Praetorius's Weltbeschr. 1, 429: At Bamberg, when a violent wind was raging, an old woman snatched up her mealsack, and emptied it out of window into the air, with the words: 'Dear wind, don't be so wild; take that home to your child!' She meant to appease the hunger of the wind, as of a greedy lion or fierce wolf. [Back]

97. 'Forniots sefar' = sea and wind, Sæm. 90b. [Back]

98. Okka, or auka, storm; peere forehead. Stender's Gramm. 266. [Back]

99. Conf. p. 333, 463 hulizhialmr. [Back]

100. This globus resembles the Lat. turbo, a top or teetotum used in magic: 'citum retro solve, solve turbinem,' Hor. Epod. 17, 7. [Back]

101. Fornm. sög. 2, 246. Isl. sög. 1, 9. 100. 151. Conf. Torfaeus's Hist. Vinlandiae antiquae, Hafn. 1705. [Back]

102. The Esthonians believed that wind could be generated and altered. In the direction whence you wish it to blow, hang up a snake or set an axe upright, and whistle to make it come. A clergyman happened to see some peasants making a great fuss round three stones, eating, drinking and dancing to the sound of rustic instruments. Questioned as to the object of the feast, they replied that by means of those stones they could produce wet weather or dry; dry, if they set them upright, wet if they laid them along (Ueber die Ehsten, p. 48); supra pp. 593-7. [Back]

103. Bird flies, wings drip. Bird flies, feathers drop. Stender's Gramm. 260. [Back]

104. Irstantent (they rise again) fon themo fûlen legare, ûz fon theru asgu, fon theru falawisqu, fon themo irdisgen herde, O.v. 20, 25-8. [Back]

105. Ancient tombs have been discovered, in which the bodies neither lie nor sit, but crouch with the head, arms and legs pressed together, in receptacles nearly square. M. Fréd. Troyon of French Switz., who has carefully explored and observed many old graves, expressed to me his opinion, that by this singular treatment of dead bodies it was prob. intended to replace man in the same posture that he maintained in the womb before birth. Thus the return into mother earth would be at the same time an intimation of the coming new birth and resurrection of the embryo. [Back]

106. The Servians, by way of protesting, say 'tako mit zemlie!' so (help) me earth. A Gaelic saw (Armstrong sub v. coibhi, priest, supra, p. 92 note) declares: 'ged is fagus clach do 'n lar, is faigse na sin cobhair choibhi,' near as a stone is to the ground, the coibhi's help is nearer still, which seems to imply the earth's prompt assistance as well as the priest's. [Back]

107. Zeitschr. f.d. alterth. 2, 163 seq. Malb. gl. 2, 149. 150. [Back]

108. Brissonius De regno Pers. 3, 66-71. Herod. 4. 127. 5, 18. Curtius iii. 10, 108. Aristotle Rhet. ii. 22, 37. Also Judith 2, 7: etoimazeln ghn kai udwr (Cod. alex. ed. Augusti). [Back]

109. Barthold's Frundsberg p. 58-9. In the Mid. Ages, when a nun was consecrated, her kinsmen, as a sign that she renounced all earthly possessions, threw earth over the maiden's arm; conf. Svenska visor 1, 176:

det voro så många grefvar båld,

som hade deraf stor harm (great sorrow),

der de nu kastade den svarta mull (black mould)

allt öfver skön Valborg's arm. [Back]

110. Pindar's Pyth. 4, 21-44. O. Müller's Orchom. 352, and proleg. 142 seq.; his Dorier 1, 85. 2, 535. [Back]

111. 'Only of soft wood, not hard,' RA. 506. [Back]