Chapter 2

Of such epic formulas (see Suppl.), beautiful specimens, all of one tenour, can be cited from the poets, especially the Romance: they are mostly borrowed from God's dwelling-place, his creative power, his omnipotence, omniscience and truth:---Dios aquel, que esta en alto, Cid 800. 2352. 2465. qui la amont el seint cel maint (abides), Ren. 26018. qui maint el firmament, Berte 129. 149. der hôho sizet unde nideriu sihet [[the high one sits and looks below]], N. ps. 112, 5. qui haut siet et de loing mire, Ren. 11687. qui haut siet et loins voit, Berte 44, 181. Guitecl. 2, 139. der über der blauen decke sitzt [[he who sits above the blue covering]], Melander Jocoseria 1, 439. cot almahtico, dû himil inti erda gaworahtôs (wroughtest heaven and earth) [[god almighty, who wrought heaven and hearth]], Wessobr. Geb. cel senhor, qui lo mon a creat, Ferabr. 775. qui tot le mont forma, Berte 143. que fezit mueyt e dia, Ferabr. 3997. per aycel senhor que fetz cel e rozada (sky and dew), Ferabr. 2994. 4412. qui fist ciel et rousee, Berte 28. 66. 111. 139. 171. 188. Aimon 876. qui feis mer salee, Berte 67. qui fist et mer et onde, Méon 3, 460. des hant daz mer gesalzen hât [[the hand that salted me (?)]], Parz. 514, 15. qui fait courre la nue, Berte 136. 183 (nefelhgereta Zeuj). par celui qui fait toner, Ren. 16658. 17780. par qui li soleus raie, Berte 13. 81. der himel und erde gebôt und die mergriezen zelt (counts the sea-sands, or pebbles) [[(he) who bade heaven and earth and tallies the sea-grit]], Mar. 18. det der sterne zal weiz [[that tallied the stars white]], Wh. 466, 30. der die sterne hât gezalt [[he who has tallied the stars]], Parz. 629, 20. der uns gap des mânen (moon's) schîn [[he who gave us the moon's light]], Wh. 476, 1. qui fait croitre et les vins et les blez, Ferabr. 163. der mir ze lebene geriet (planned) [[he who planned my life]], Nib. 2091, 4. Kl. 484. der mir ze lebene gebôt [[he who bade me to life]], Mar. 24. (M. Dut) bi den here die mi ghebôt [[by the lord who bade me]] (Gramm. 4, 134), die mi ghewrochte [[who wrought me]], Elegast 345. 451. 996. qui tot a a baillier (oversee), Berte 35. qui tot a a garder, Berte 7. que totz nos a jutgier, Ferabr. 308. 694 1727. the mancunnies forwardôt [[mankind's beginning]], Hel. 152, 5. qui sor tos homes puet et vaut, Méon 4, 5. dominus qui omnia potest, Docum. of 1264 in Wenk 3, no. 151. wider den nieman vermac [[against whom no-one has power]], A. Heinr. 1355. der aller wunder hât gewalt [[he who ruled all wonders]], Parz. 43, 9. der git unde nimt (gives and takes), Parz. 7 9. der weinen und lachen geschuof [[who shaped weeping and laughter]], Wh. 258, 19. der beidiu krump unde sleht gescuof (both crooked and plain) [[he who shaped both crooked and straight]], Parz. 264, 25. der ane sihet alle getougen (secrets) [[who alone sees all secrets]], Diut. 3, 52. der durch elliu herzen siht [[who  sees through every heart]], Frid. 355. der in diu herze siht [[whosees into the heart]], Wh. 30, 29. der ie daz guote geriet (aye the good devised) [[he who always made the good]], Greg. 2993. their suntilôso man (sinless) [[the sinless man]], O. iii, 21, 4. dem nie voller genâden zeran (tear, waste) [[whom never wasted full peace (?)]] , Er. 2490. qui onques ne menti (nunquam mentitus), Berte 82. 96. 120. 146. Méon 3, 8. icil dieu qui ne ment, et qui fist tot quanque mer serre, Ren. 19338. er mik skôp ok öllu ræðr, Fornm. sög. 1, 3. sâ er öllu ræðr, ibid. 8, 107. sôlina hefði skapat, ibid. 1, 242. hêt â þann sem sôlina skapaði, Landn. p. 139.

If, in some of the preceding names, epithets and phrases descriptive of God, unmistakable traces of Heathenism predominate, while others have barely an inkling of it, the following expressions are still more indisputably connected with the heathen way of thinking.

In the Norse mythology, the notion of a Deus, Divus, if not of the uppermost and eldest, yet of a secondary rank, which succeeded to power later, is expressed by the word âs, pl. æsir (see Suppl.). Landâs )Egilss. pp. 365-6) is patrium numen, and by it Thor, the chief god of the North, is designated, though âs and allmâttki âs is given to Oðinn (Landn. 4, 7). âsmegin is divine power: tha vex honum âsmegin halfu, Sn. 26. færaz î âsmegin, Sn. 65. But the name must at one time have been universal, extending over Upper Germany and Saxony, under such forms as: Goth. OHG. ans, pl. anseis, ensî, AS. ôs, pl. ês (conf. our gans, with ON. gâs [[goose?]], pl. gæss, AS. gôs, pl. gês; and hôse = hansa). It continued to form a part of proper names: Goth. Ansila, OHG. Anso; the OHG. Anshelm, Anshilt, Anspald, Ansnôt correspond in sense to Cotahelm, Catahilt, &c.; AS. Osweald, Oslâf, Osdæg, Osrêd; ON. Asbiörn [[Aesir-bear or god-bear]], (21)Asdîs, Asgautr, Aslaug, Asmundr, &c.---Now in Ulphilas Lu. 2, 41-2, ans denotes a beam, dokoj, which is also one meaning of the ON, âs [[Áss - sg., Æsir - plural - the old gods]], whether because the mighty gods were thought of as joist, rafter and ceiling of the sky, or that the notions of jugum and mountain-ridge were associated with them, for âs is especially used of jugum terræ, mountain-ridge, Dan. bierg-aas [[mountain-ridge]] (dettiâs = sliding beam, portcullis, Landn. 3, 17). But here we have some other together 'êsa gescot' and 'ylfa gescot,' the shots of anses and of elves, jaculum divorum et geniorum, just as the Edda does æsir and âlfar, Sæm. 8. 71. 82, 83. Jornandes says, cap. 13: Tum Gothi, magna potiti per loca victoria, jam proceres suos quasi qui fortuna vincebant, non puros homines, sed semideos, id est anses (which would be anseis) vocavere. What can be plainer? The Norse æsir in like manner merge into the race of heroes, and at much the same distance from an elder dynasty of gods whom they have dethroned. And here the well-known statement of Suetonius and Hesychius, (22) that the Etruscans called the gods æsares or æsi, may fairly be called to mind, without actually maintaining the affinity of the Etruscan or Tyrrhenian race with the ancient German, striking as is the likeness between turrhnoj, turshoj and the ON, þurs [[giant]], OHG, durs. (23)

The significance of this analogy, however, is heightened, when we observe that the Etruscan religion, and perhaps also the Roman and the Greek, supposed a circle of twelve superior beings closely bound together and known by the name of dii consentes or complices (see Suppl.), exactly as the Edda uses the expressions höpt and bönd, literally meaning vincula, for those high numina (Sæm. 24 89. Sn. 176. 204), and also the sing. hapt and band for an individual god (Sæm. 93). Though haptbandun [[haft-bonds]] in the Merseburg poem cannot with certainty be taken to mean the same thing (the compound seems here to denote mere bodily chains), it is possible that deus dioj and dew I bind; that same 'ans' a yoke, is the same thing as the 'brace and band' of all things; neither can we disregard the fact that twelve is likewise the number of the Norse æsir; conf. Sæm. 3: 'æsir or Því liði' of the set, kindred.



ENDNOTES:

22. Suet. Octavian. cap. 97. futurumque, ut inter deos referretur, quod æsar, id est reliqua pars e Cæsaris nomine, Etrusca lingua deus vocaretur. Hesych. s.v. aisoi. qeoi upo twn Turrhnwn. Conf. Lanzi 2, 483-4; also Dio Cass. 56, 29.  (back)

23. Unfortunately þurs means a giant, and durs a demon, which, if they have anything to do with the turshnoi, would rather imply that there were a hostile and dreaded people. TRANS.  (back)