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Grimm's TM - Supplement


Chap. 5 Sup.


CHAPTER V.
PRIESTS.



p. 88. ) Religion is in Greek eusebeia and qrhskeia (conf. qrhskeuw , p. 107). kat eusebeian = pie, Lucian 5, 277. Religio = iterata lectio, conf. intelligere, Lobeck's Rhematicon p. 65. It is rendered in OHG. glosses by heit, Hattemer 1, 423; gote-dehti devotio, cote-dehtigi devout, anadaht intentio, attentio, Graff 5, 163. Pietas, peculiarly, by 'heim-minna unde mâg-minna,' Hatt. 1, 423. Crêdischeit, Servat. 762, is sham-piety, conf. p. 35n. 'Dîs fretus' in Plaut. Cas. 2, 5 = Gote forahtac, O. i. 15, 3.

p. 88. ) Gudja, goði, seems to be preserved in the AS. proper name, Goda. Kemble 1, 242. For arciereuj, Ulph. has auhumists gudja, Matt. 27, 62. Mk. 8, 31; but auhumists veiha, Joh. 18, 13. The priest hallows and is hallowed (p. 93), conf. the consecration and baptism of witches. Göndul consecrates: nû vîgi ek þik undir öll þau atkvaeði ok skildaga, sem Oðinn fyrimaelti, Fornald. sög. 1, 402. The words in Lactant. Phoenix, 'antistes nemorum, luci veneranda sacerdos,' are rendered by the AS. poet: bearwes bigenga, wudubearwes weard 207, 27. 208, 7. The priest stands before God, enanti tou qeou, Luke 1, 8: giangi furi Got, O. i. 4, 11. The monks form 'daz Gotes her,' army, Reinh. F. 1023. The Zendic âthrava, priest, Bopp Comp. Gram. 42. Spiegel's Avesta 2, vi. means fire-server, from âtars fire, Dat. âthrê. Pol. xiadz priest, prop. prince or sacrificer, Linde 2, 1164b; conf. Sansk. xi govern, kill, xaja dominans.

p. 89. ) Ewart priest: ein êwart der abgote, Barl. 200, 22. Pass. 329, 56, etc. êwarde, En. 244, 14. prêster und ir êwe mêster 243, 20.

p. 89n. ) Zacharias is a fruod gomo, Hel. 2, 24. Our kluger mann, kluge frau, still signify one acquainted with secret powers of nature; so the Swed. 'de klokar,' Fries udfl. 108. ---- The phrase 'der guote man' denotes espec. a sacred calling: that of a priest, Marienleg. 60, 40, a bishop, Pass. 336, 78, a pilgrim, Uolr. 91. Nuns are guote frowen, Eracl. 735. klôster und guote liute, Nib. 1001, 2, etc. die goede man, the hermit in Lanc. 4153-71. 16911-8, etc. So the Scot. 'gudeman's croft' above; but the name Gutmans-hausen was once Wôtenes-hûsen (Suppl. to 154). Bons-hommes are heretics, the Manichæans condemned at the Council of Cambery 1165; buonuomini, Macchiav. Flor. 1, 97. 158. The shepherds in O. i. 12, 17 are guotê man. Engl. goodman is both householder and our biedermann. Grôa is addressed as gôð kona, Sæm. 97a; in conjuring: Alrûn, du vil guote (p. 1202 n.).

p. 89. ) Christian also, though of Germ. origin, seems the OHG. heit-haft sacerdos, from heit = ordo; hence, in ordinem sacrum receptus. MHG. heithafte liute, sacerdotes, Fundgr. 1, 94; conf. eithafte herren, Ksrchr. 11895. AS. geþungen, reverend, and espec. religiosus, Homil. p. 344.

p. 90.) Agathias 2, 6 expressly attributes to the heathen Alamanns of the 6th cent. diviners (manteij and crhsmologoi) (1), who dissuade from battle; and princes in the Mid. Ages still take clergymen into the field with them as counsellors: abbates pii, scioli bene consiliarii, Rudl. 2, 253. Ordeals are placed under priestly authority, Sæm. 237-8. In the popular assembly the priests enjoin silence and attention: silentium per sacerdotes, quibus tum et coërcendi jus est, imperatur, Germ. 11. In addition to what is coll. in Haupt's Ztschr. 9, 127 on 'lust and unlust,' consider the tacitus precari of the Umbr. spell, and the opening of the Fastnachts-spiele.

p. 91. ) The Goth. þrôþjan, ûsþrôþjan transl. muein initiare, and gumnazein, exercere GDS. 819; may it not refer to some sacred function of heathen priests, and be connected with the Gallic druid (p. 1036 n.), or rather with þrûðr (p. 423)? Was heilac said of priests and priestesses? conf. 'heilac huat,' cydaris, Graff 4, 874; Heilacflât, Cod. Lauresh. 1, 578; Heilacbrunno, p. 587; Heiligbär, p. 667-8. Priests take part in the sacrificial feast, they consecrate the cauldron: sentu at Saxa Sunnmanna gram, hann kann helga hver vellanda, Sæm. 238a; so Peter was head-cook of heaven, Lat. ged. des MA. p. 336. 344. Priests maintain the sacred beasts, horses and boars, Herv.-s. cap. 14; conf. RA. 592. In beating the bounds they seem to have gone before and pointed out the sacred stones, as the churchwardens did afterwards; they rode especially round old churches, in whose vaults an idol was supposed to lie. Priests know the art of quickening the dead, Holtzm. 3, 145. They have also the gifts of healing and divination: iatromantij, Æsch. Suppl. 263.

p. 91. ) In many Aryan nations the priestly garment is white. Graecus augur pallio candido velatus, Umber et Romanus trabea purpurea amictus, Grotef. inscr. Umbr. 6, 13. Roman priests and magistrates have white robes; see the picture of the flamen dialis in Hartung 1, 193. Schwenck 27; amictus veste alba sevir et praetor, Petron. 65. The Cimbrian priestesses in Strabo are leuceimonej (p. 55-6), and the Gothic priests in Jorn. cap. 10 appear in candidis vestibus. The Gallic druids are arrayed in white (p. 1206), the priest of Gerovit in snow-white, Sefridi v. Ottonis p. 128 (Giesebr. Wend. gesch. 1, 90). In the Mid. Ages too white robes belong to holy women, nuns. die goede man met witten clederen, Lanc. 22662-70.

The Gothic pileati (Kl. schr. 3, 227. GDS. 124) remind us of the 'tria genera pileorum, quibus sacerdotes utuntur: apex, tutulus, galerus' in Suetonii fragm. p. m. 335. The picture of a bearded man in Stälin 1, 161-2, is perhaps meant for a priest. The shaven hair of Christian and Buddhist monks and nuns is probably a badge of servitude to God; GDS. 822.

p. 91. ) Snorri goði, like the AS. coifi, rides on a mare, Eyrbygg. s. 34; and the flamen dialis must not mount any kind of horse, Klausen Æn. 1077. Hartung 1, 194. Possibly even the heathen priests were not allowed to eat things with blood, but only herbs. Trevrizent digs up roots, and hangs them on bushes, Parz. 485, 21; in a similar way do Wilhelm the saint and Waltharius eke out thier lives, Lat. ged. d. MA. p. 112.

p. 92. ) Among gestures traceable to priestly rites, I reckon especially this, that in the vindicatio of a beast the man had to lift up his right hand or lay it on, while his left grasped the animal's right ear. The posture at hammer-throwing seems to be another case in point, RA. 65-6. GDS. 124-5. ----- Kemble 1, 278 thinks coifi is the AS. ceofa, diaconus.

p. 93. ) Christian priests also are called 'God's man, child, kneht, scalc, deo, diu, wine, trut,' or 'dear to God,' conf. Mannhardt in Wolf's Ztschr. 3, 143. Gotes man (Suppl. to p. 20-1). Gotes kint = priest, Greg. 1355. Reinh. 714; or = pilgrim, as opp. to welt-kind (worldling), Trist. 2625. der edle Gotes kneht, said of Zacharias and John, Pass. 346, 24. 349, 23. 60; of the pilgrim, Trist. 2638. Gotes rîter, Greg. 1362. ein wârer Gotis scalc, Ksrchr. 6071. OHG. Gota-deo, Gotes-deo, fem. –diu (conf. ceile De, culde, servant of God, Ir. sag. 2, 476). der Gotes trût, Pass. 250, 91. Among the Greek priests were agciqeoi, Lucian dea Syr. 31; conf. the conscii deorum, Tac. Germ. 10. Amphiaraus is beloved of Zeus and Apollo, i.e. he is mantij. On his death Apollo appoints another of the same family, Od. 15, 245. 253.

p. 93. ) If priesthood could be hereditary, the Norse goði must have been free to marry, like the episcopus and diaconus of the early Christians (1 Tim. 3, 2. 12) and the Hindu Brahmin. Not so the Pruss. waidlot or waidler, Nesselm. p. xv. and p. 141. To appoint to the priesthood is in ON. signa goðom, or gefa, though the latter seems not always to imply the priestly office: þeir voro gumnar goðum signaðir, Sæm. 117b. gefinn Oðni, Fornm. sög. 2, 168. enn gaf hann (Brandr) guðunum, ok var hann kallaðr Guð-branar, Fornald. sög. 2, 6; his son is Guðmundr, and his son again Guðbrandr (= OHG. Gota-beraht) 2, 7. Does this account for divination being also hereditary (p. 1107)?

p. 93. ) The god had part of the spoils of war and hunting (p. 42), priest and temple were paid their dues, whence tithes arose: hof-tollr is the toll due to a temple, Fornm. s. 1, 268. On priestly dwellings see GDS. 125.

p. 94. ) German divination seems to have been in request even at Rome: haruspex ex Germania missus (Domitiano), Suet. Domit. 16. Soothsayers, whom the people consulted in particular cases even after the conversion, were a remnant of heathen priests and priestesses. The Lex Visig. vi. 2, 1: 'ariolos, aruspices, vaticinantes consulere,' and 5: 'execrabiles divinorum pronuntiationes intendere, salutis aut aegritudinis responsa poscere.' Liutpr. 6, 30: 'ad ariolos vel ariolas pro responsis accipiendis ambulare,' and 31: 'in loco ubi arioli vel ariolae fuerint.'

The ON. spâ-maðr is called râð-spakr, Sæm. 175a, or fram-vîss like the prophet Grîpir 172a. þû fram um sêr 175a,b. farit er þaz ek forvissac 175a. þû öll um sêr orlög for 176b. Grîpir lýgr eigi 177b. Gevarus rex, divinandi doctissimus, industria praesagiorum excultus, Saxo Gram. p. 115. (conf. p. 1034. 1106). The notion of oraculum (what is asked and obtained of the gods), vaticinium, divinatio, is expr. by ON. frêtt: frêttir sögðu, Sæm. 93a. frêtta beiddi, oracula poposci 94a. geck til frêttar, Yngl. 21 (Grk. crasqai tw qew, inquire of the god). Conf. frêhtan, Suppl. to p. 37; OHG. freht meritum, frehtîc meritus, sacer; AS. fyrht in Leg. Canuti, Thorpe p. 162.

p. 95. ) German women seem to have taken part in sacrifices (p. 56n.); women perform sacrifice before the army of the Thracian Spartacus (B.C. 67), who had Germans under him, Plutarch Crass. c. 11. The Romans excluded women, so do the Cheremisses, p. 1235-6, the Lapps and the Boriâts, Klemm 3, 87. 111-3.

p. 95-6. ) A druias Gallicana vaticinans is mentioned by Vopiscus in Aurel. 44, in Numer. 13-4; by Lampridius in Alex. Sev. 60. Drusus is met by a species barbarae mulieris humana amplior, Suet. Claud. c. 1. Dio Cass. 55, 1. Chatta mulier vaticinans Suet. Vitel. c. 14. Veleda receives gifts: Mumius Lupercus inter dona missus Veledae, Tac. Hist. 4, 61. A modern folktale brings her in as a goddess, Firmenich 1, 334-5. On Albruna conf. Hpt's Ztschr. 9, 240. Of Jettha it is told in the Palatinate, that she sought out and hewed a stone in the wood: whoever sets foot on the fairy stone, becomes a fixture, he cannot get away, Nadler p. 125. 292. Like Pallas, she is a founder of cities. Brynhild, like Veleda, has her hall on a mountain, and sits in her tower, Völs. s. cap. 25. Hother visits prophetesses in the waste wood, and then enlightens the folk in edito montis vertice, Saxo Gram. p. 122. The white lady of princely houses appears on a tower of the castle. The witte Dorte lives in the tower, Mullenh. p. 344. When misfortune threatens the Pedaseans, their priestess gets a long beard, Herod. 1, 175. 8, 104. Women carve and read runes: Kostbera kunni skil rûna, Sæm. 252a, reist rûna 252b. Orný reist rûnar â kefli, Fornm. s. 3, 109. 110 (she was born dumb, p. 388). In the Mid. Ages also women are particularly clever at writing and reading. RA. 583.

p. 98. ) To the Norse prophetesses add Grôa völva, Sn. 110, and Göndul, a valkyr, Fornald. s. 1, 398. 402, named appar. from gandr, p. 1054. 420. Thorgerðr and Irpa are called both hörga-brûðr, temple-maid, and Hölga-brûðr after their father Hölgi, p. 114. 637. A Slav pythonissa carries her sieve in front of the army, p. 1111-2; others in Saxo Gram. 827; conf. O. Pruss. waidlinne, Nesselm. pref. 15.



Notes:


1. The mantij interprets dreams, entrails, flights of birds, but is no speaker of oracles, crhsmologoj, Paus. i. 34, 3. (In Plato's Timæus 72B, mantij (fr. mainomai) is the inspired speaker of oracles. ) Back



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