Chapter 7

To the god of victory are attached two wolves and two ravens, which, as combative courageous animals, follow the fight, and pounce upon the fallen corpses, Andr. and El. xxvi. xxvii. The wolves are named Geri and Freki, Sn. 42; and so late as the Hans Sachs (i. 5, 499), we read in a schwank, that the Lord God has chosen wolves for his hounds, that they are his cattle. The two ravens are Huginn and Muninn, from hugr (animus, cogitatio) and munr (mens); they are not only brave, but cunning and wise, they sit on the shoulders of Oðinn, and whisper in his ear whatever they see and hear, Sæm. 42, 88. Sn. 42. 56. 322. To the Greek Apollo too the wolf and raven were sacred; (21) his messenger the raven informed him when Korônis was unfaithful, and Aristeas accompanied him as a raven, Herod. 4, 15; a raven is perched aloft on the mantle of Mithras the sun-god. The Gospels represent the Holy Ghost as a dove descending upon Christ at his baptism, Lu. 3, 22, and resting upon him, emeinen ep auton, mansit, super eum, John 1, 32: 'in Krist er sih gisidalta,' says O. i. 25, 24; but Hel. 30, 1 of the dove: sat im uppan ûses drohtines ahslu (our Lord's shoulder). Is this an echo of heathen thoughts? None of the Fathers have this circumstance, but in the Mid. Ages there is talk enough about doves resting on shoulders; (22) and the dove, though frequently contrasted with the raven (which, like the wolf, the christians applied to the Evil one), may nevertheless be put in the place of it. OSwald's raven flies to his shoulder and arm, 749. 942. Oswald talks to it, 95-6, and kneels before it, 854. Conf. Zingerle, Oswalt p. 67 (see Suppl.). (23)

Now under that figure of the bearded old man, Wuotan is apparently to be regarded as a water-sprite or water-god, answering well to the Latin name of Neptunus which some of the earlier writers put upon him (p. 122). In ON. he is Hnikar, Hnikuðr, Nikarr, Nikuz, and the hesitation between the two forms which in Sn. 3 are expressly made optional--- 'Nikarr eða (or) Nikuz'--may arise from the diversity of old dialects. Nikarr corresponds to the AS. Nicor, and Nikuz to OHG. Nichus, the initial Hn seems to be ON. alone. On these I shall have more to say, when treating of water-sprites (see Suppl.)----Another epithet of Oðinn is equally noticeable for its double form: Bifliði eða Biflindi, Sn. 3; Sæm. 46 has Biblindi. As bif (Germ. beben) signifies motus, aer, aqua, the quaking element, and the AS. lîðe is lenis, OHG. lindi, ON. linr [[gentle, mild]] (for linur); an AS. Bifliðe, Beofliðe, OHG. Pëpalindi, might be suggested by the soft movement of the air, a very apt name for the all- penetrating god; but these forms, if they gave rise to the Norse term, are no longer found in AS. or OHG. Wuotan's dominion both over the air and over the water explains, how it is that he walks on the waves, and comes rushing on the gale.---It is Oðinn that sends wind to the ships, Fornm. sög. 2, 16, hence a good sailing wind is called ôskabyrr, Sæm. 165, i.e., Oskabyrr; byrr is from byrja, OHG. purran, to rise, be lifted up. It is in striking accord with this, that the MHG. poets use wunschwint in the same sense; Hartmann says, Greg. 615:

Dô sande in (to them) der süeze Krist

den vil rehten wunschwint (see Suppl.)

But other attributes of Wuotan point more to Hermes and Apollo. He resembles the latter, in as much as from him proceed contagious diseases and their cure; any severe illness is the stroke of God, and Apollo's arrows scatter pestilence. The Guals also imagined that Apollo drove away diseases (Apollinem morbos depellere, Caes. B. G. 6, 17); and Wôdan's magic alone can cure Balder's lamed horse. The raven on the god's shoulder exactly fits Apollo, and still more plainly the circumstance that Oðinn invented the poetic art, and Saga is his divine daughter, just as the Greek Muses, though daughters of Zeus, are under Apollo's protection, and in his train.----On the other hand, writing and the alphabet were not invented by Apollo, but by Hermes. The Egyptian priests placed Hermes at the head of all inventions (Iamblick. de myst. Aegypt. 8,1), and Theuth or Thoth is said to have first discovered letters (Plato's Phaedr. 1, 96, Bekker), while, acc. to Hygin. fab. 143, Hermes learnt them by watching the flight of cranes. In the AS. dialogue between Saturn and Solomon, we read (Thorpe's anal. p. 100): 'saga me, hwâ ærôst bôcstasfas sette?' 'ic the secge, Mercurius se gygand'. Another dialogue, entitled Adrian and Epictus (MS. Brit. mus. Arund. no. 351. fol. 39) asks: 'quis primus fecit literas?' and answers 'Seith, which is either a corruption of Theuth, or the Seth of the Bible. Just so the Eddic Rûnatals þâttr seems to ascribe the first teaching of runes to Oðinn, if we may so interpret the words: nam ec upp rûnar, Sæm. 28. þær ofrêð, þær freist, þær ofhungði Hroptr, i.e., then Oðinn read out, cut out, thought out, Sæm. 195. Also Snorri, Yngl. cap. 7: allar þessar îdrôttir kendi hann með rûnum ok liôðum. Hincmar of Rheims attributes to Mercury the invention of dice-playing: sicut isti qui de denariis quasi jocari dicuntur, quod omnino diabolicum est, et, sicut legimus, primum diabolus hoc per Mercurium prodidit, unde et Mercurius inventor illius dicitur, 1, 656. Conf. Schol. to Odyss. 23, 198, and MS. 2, 124: der tiuvel schuof das würfelspil. Our folk-tales know something about this, they always make the devil play at cards, and entice others to play (see Suppl.) (24). When to this we add, that the wishing-rod, i.e., Wish's staff, recals Mercury's caduceus, and the wish-wives, i.e., oskmeyjar, valkyrior, the occupation of the Psychopompos; we may fairly recognise an echo of the Gallic (25) or Germanic Mercury in the epithet Trismegistos (Lactantius i. 6, 3. vi. 25, 10. ter maximus Hermes in Ausonius), which later poets, Romance and German, in the 12th and 13th centuries (26) transferred to a Saracen deity Termagan, (27) Tervagan, Tervigant, Terviant. Moreover, when Hermes and Mercury are described as dator bonorum, and the Slavs again call the same god Dobro- pan (p. 130, note), as if mercis dommus; it is worth noticing, that the Misnere Amgb. 42, in enumerating all the planets, singles out Mercury to invoke in the words: Nu hilf mir, daz mir sælde wache! schin er mir ze gelücke, noch sô kum ich wider ûf der sælden phat (pfad). Just so I find Odin invoked in Swedish popular songs: Hielp nu, Oden Asagrim! Svenska fornsägor 1, 11. hielp mig Othin! 1, 69. To this god first and foremost the people turned when in distress; I suppose he is called Asagrim, because among the Ases he bore the name of Grîmnir?  
 



ENDNOTES:

21. In Marc. Cap. 1, 11, the words: 'augurales vero alites ante currum Delio constiterunt,' are transl. by Notker 37: tô wâren garo ze Apollinis reito sîne wîzegfogela, rabena unde albisze. To Oðinn hawks are sometimes given instead of ravens: Oðins haukar Sæm. 167.  (back)

22. Grego. Nyssen. encom. Ephraemi relates, that when Basil the Great was preaching, Ephraem saw on his right shoulder a white dove, which put words of wisdom in his mouth. Of Gregory the Great we read in Paul. Diac., vita p. 14, that when he was expounding the last vision of Ezekiel, a white dove sat upon his head, and now and then put its beak in his mouth, at which times he, the writer, got nothing for his stylus to put down; conf. the narrative of a poet of the 12th cent., Hoffm. fundgr. 2, 229; also Myst. 1. p. 226-7. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas are portrayed with a white dove perched on their shoulders or hovering over their heads. A nursery-tale (Iinderm. no. 33) makes two doves settle on the pope's shoulder, and tell him in his ear all that he has to do. A white dove descends singing on the head of St. Devy, and instructs him, Buhez santez Nonn. Paris 1837, p. 117. And on other occasions the dove flies down to make known the will of heaven. No one will trace the story of Wuotan's ravens to these doves, still the coincidence is striking (see Suppl.).  (back)

23. There are said to have been found lately, in Denmark and Sweden, representations of Odin, which, if some rather strange reports are well-founded, ought to be made known without delay. A ploughman at Boeslund in Zealand turned up two golden urns filled with ashes; on the lids is carved Odin, standing up, with two ravens on his shoulders, and the two wolves at his feet; Kunstbl. 1843, no. 19, p. 80. Gold coins also were discovered near the village of Gömminga in Oeland, one of which represents Odin with the ravens on his shoulder; the reverse has runes; Kunstbl. 1844, no. 13, p. 52.  (back)

24. Reusch, sagen des preuss. Samlands, no. 11. 29.  (back)

25. In the Old British mythology there appears a Gwydion ab Don, G. son of Don, whom Davies (Celtic researchers pp. 168, 174. Brit. myth. p. 118, 204, 263ö4, 353, 429, 504, 541) identifies with Hermes; he invented writing, practised magic, and built the rainbow; the milky way was named caer Gwydion, G.'s castle (Owen, sub v.). The British antiquaries say nothing of Wôden, yet Gwydion seems near of kin to the above Gwodan = Wodan. So the Irish name for dies Mercurii, dia Geden, whether modelled on the Engl. Wednesday or not, leads us to the form Goden, Gwoden (see Suppl.).  (back)

26. Even nursery-tales of the present time speak of a groszmächtige Mercurius, Kinderm. no. 99. 2, 86.  (back)

27. This Termagan, Termagant occurs especially in O. Engl. poems, and may have to do with the Irish tormac augmentum, tormacaim augere.  (back)