Chapter 11

Very similar must have been Pholespiunt (MB. 9, 404 circ. 1138. Pfalspiunt, 5, 399 anno 1290), now Pfalzpoint on the Altmühl, between Eichstädt and Kipfenberg, in a considerable forest. Piunt means an enclosed field or garden; (11) and if an ea could be consecrated to a god, so could a field. Graff 3, 342 has a place called Frawûnpiunt, which, to judge by the circumstances, may with like reason be assigned to the goddess Frouwa; no doubt it also belongs to Bavaria (see Suppl.).

In the Fulda Traditions (Schannat p. 291, no. 85) occurs this remarkable passage: Widerolt comes tradidit sancto Bonifacio quicquid proprietatis habuit in Pholesbrunnen in provincia Thuringiae. To this Pholesbrunno, the village of Phulsborn has the first claim, lying not far from the Saale, equidistant from the towns Apolda, Dornburg and Sulza, and spelt in Mid. Age documents Phulsborn and Pfolczborn; there is however another village, Falsbrunn or Falsbronn, on the Rauhe Eberach in the Franconian Steigerwald. Now Pfolesbrunno all the more plainly suggests a divinity (and that, Balder), as there are also Baldersbrunnen: a Baldebrunno has been produced from the Eifel mts, and from the Rhine Palatinate, (12) and it has been shown that the form ought to be corrected into Baldersbrunno as well as the modern Baldenhain to Baldershain (Zeitschr. f. d. alt. 2, 256); and Bellstadt in the Klingen district of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was formerly Baldersteti, Schannat dioec. Fuld. p. 244, anno 977 (see Suppl.). From the Norse mythus of Balder, as given by Saxo, we learn that Balder in the heat of battle opened a fountain for his languishing army: Victor Balderus, ut afflictum siti militem opportuni liquoris beneficio recrearet, novos humi latices terram altius rimatus aperuit, quorum erumpentes scatebras sitibundum agmen hianti passim ore captabat. Eorundem vestigia sempiterna firmata vocabulo, quamquam pristina admodum scaturigo desierit, nondum prorsus exolevisse creduntur. This spot is the present Baldersbrönd near Roeskild (note to Müller's Saxo, p. 120). But the legend may be the same as old German legends, which at a later time placed to king Charle's account (p. 117, and infra, Furious host) that which heathendom had told of Balder; in that case the still surviving name has itself proved a fountain, whence the myth of Balder emerges anew. (13)

But the name of Phol is established more firmly still. A Heinricus de Pholing frequently appears in the Altach records of the 13th century, MB. part 11, a Rapoto de Pholingen, Phaling, in MB. 12, 56. 60; this place is on the left bank of the Danube below Straubingen, between the two convents of Altach. I doubt if the Polling in other records (and there are several Pollings in the Ammer country) can be the same word, as the aspirate is wanting and the liquid doubled. Pfullendorf or Follendorf near Gotha is in docs. of the 14th century Phulsdorf. A Pholenheim in Schannat, Vind. lit. coll. 1, 48. 53. Not far from Scharzfeld, between the Harz mts and Thuringia, is an old village named Pölde, called in early records and writings Polidi, Palidi, Palithi, Pholidi (Gramm. 2, 248), the seat of a well-known convent, which again may have been founded on the site of a heathen sanctuary. If a connexion with the god can be established in this case, we at the same time gather from it the true value of the varying consonant in his name.

Of Phol so many interpretations crowd upon us, that we should be puzzled if they could all be made good. The Chaldaic bel or bal seems to have been a mere title pertaining to several gods: bel = Uranus, bel = Jupiter, bel = Mars. The Finnish palo means fire, the ON. bâl [[fire, flame, funeral pyre]], AS. bael rogus, and the Slav. páliti to burn, with which connect Lat. Pales and the Palilia. Of phallus we have already spoken. We must first make sure of the sounds in our native names for a divinity of whom as yet we know nothing but the base name (see Suppl.). On the question as to the sense of the word itself, I set aside the notion one might stumble on, that it is merely a fondling form of Paltar, Balder, for such forms invariably preserve the initial of the complete name; we should expect Palzo, Balzo, but not Phol. (14) Nor does the OHG. Ph seem here to be equivalent to the ordinary F which corresponds to the Saxon F, but rather to be an aspirate which, answering to the Saxon tenuis P, represents an Old-Aryan media B. But we know that a Saxon initial P = OHG. Ph is found almost exclusively in foreign words (15) (porta, phorta; putti, phuzi; pêda, pheit); it follows that for Phol, in case the Sax. form Pol is really made out, we must either look for such a foreign P, or as a rare exception, in which the law of consonant-change does assert itself, an Old- Aryan B. I incline to this last hypothesis and connect Phol and Pol (whose o may very well have sprung from a) with the Celtic Beal, Beul, Bel, Belenus, a divinity of light or fire, the Slav. Bièlbôgh, Bèlbôgh (white-god), the adj. bièl, bèl (albus), Lith. baltas, which last with its extension I makes it probable that Bældæg and Baldr are of the same root, but have not undergone consonant-change. Phol and Paltar therefore are in their beginning one, but reveal to us two divergent historical developments of the same word, and a not unimportant difference in the mythology of the several Teutonic races. (16)

So far as we can see, the god was worshipped under the name of Phol chiefly by the Thuringians and Bavarians, i.e. according to ancient nomenclature the Hermunduri and Marcomanni, yet they seem tohave also known his other name Paltar or Balder, while Baldag, Bældæg prevailed among the Saxons and Westphalians, and the AS. bealdor had passed into a common noun. Now as the Bavarian Eor stood opposed to the Alamannic Zio, we ought to find out whether Phol was in like manner unknown to the Alamanns and the races most akin to them. (17)

Lastly, from eastern Germany we are transported to the northwest by a name appertaining closely to the Balder cultus, and again linking itself with the Edda. The Edda cites among the Ases a son of Balder and Nanna, Forseti, who like his father dwelt in a shining hall Glitnir (glit, nitor, splendor, OHG. kliz) built of gold and silver, and who (as Baldr himself had been called the wisest, most eloquent and mildest god, whose verdicts are final, Sn. 27) passed among gods and men for the wisest of judges; he settled all disputed matters (Sæm. 42ª. Sn. 31. 103), and we are told no more about him (see Suppl.).  
 



ENDNOTES:

11. A Salzburg doc. of the tenth cent., in Kleinmayrn p. 196: Curtilem locum cum duobus pratis, quod piunti dicimus.  (back)

12. Conf. Schöpflin's Alsat. dipl. no. 748, anno 1285: in villa Baldeburne. A Westphal. doc. of 1203 (Falke trad. corb. p. 566) names a place Balderbroc, which might mean palus, campus Balderi.  (back)

13. Greek tradition tells of Herakles and Zeus: fasˆ tÕn `Hraklša d…yei pot katacšta eÜxasqai tÕ D ˆ patrˆ ™pide‹xai aÙtù mikran lib£da. Ð d mh qšlwn aÝtÕn katatrÚcesqai, ·…yaj keraunÕn ¢nšdwke mikran lib£da, ¼n qeas£menoj Ð \HraklÁj kaˆ sk£yaj eˆj tÕ plousièteron ™po…hse fšresqai (Scholia in Il. 20, 74). This spring was Scamander, and the libaj 'HraklÁoj may be set by the side of Pfolesbrunno as well as Pfolesouwa, lib£dion being both mead and ea; and does not the Grecian demigod's pyre kindled on Oeta suggest that of Balder?  (back)

14. So I explain the proper name Folz from Folbreht, Folrât, Folmâr, and the like; it therefore stands apart from Phol. [The Suppl. qualifies the sweeping assertion in the text; it also takes notice of several other solutions, as Apollo, Pollox, foal, &c.]  (back)

15. That is, really borrowed words, as port, paternal, palace, in which the Low Germ. makes no change (like that in firth, father), and therefore the High Germ. stands only one stage instead of two in advance of Latin: Pforte, Pfalz, &c. Such words stand outside the rule of consonant-change.-----Trans.  (back)

16. I have thus far gone on the assumption that Phol and Balder in the Merseberg spell designate one and the same divine being, which is strongly supported by the analogy I have pointed out between Pholesouwa and Baldrshagi, Pholesbrunno and Baldrsbrunnr; and his cultus must have been very familiar to the people, for the poem to be able to name him by different names in succession, without fear of being misunderstood. Else one might suppose by the names, that Phol and Balder were two different gods, and there would be plenty of room left for the question, who can possibly be meant by Phol? If PH could here represent V = W, which is contrary to all analogy, and is almost put out of court by the persistent PH, PF in all those names of places; then we might try the ON. Ullr, Ollerus in Saxo, p. 45, which (like ull, OHG. wolla, wool) would be in OHG. Wol, so that 'Wol endi Wôdan (Ullr ok Oðinn)' made a perfect alliteration. And Ullr was connected with Baldr, who in Sæm. 93ª is called 'Ullar sefi,' sib to U., Ulli cognatus (see Suppl.). But the gen. would have to be Wolles, and that is contradicted by the invariably single L in Pholes. The same reason is conclusive against Wackernagel's proposal to take Fol for the god of fulness and plenty, by the side of the goddess Follâ; I think the weak form Follo would be demanded for it by an OHG. Pilnitis; v. Haupts zeitschr. 2, 190. Still more does the internal consistency of the song itself require the identity of Phol and Balder; it would be odd for Phol to be named at the beginning, and no further notice to be taken of him.  (back)

17. The inquiry, how far these names reach back into antiquity, is far from exhausted yet. I have called attention to the Pfolgraben (-ditch), the Pfalhecke (-hedge, -fence), for which devil's dyke is elsewhere used; then the raising of the whirlwind is ascribed in some parts to the devil, in others to Herodias [meaning H.'s daughter the dancer], in others again to Pfol. Eastern Hesse on the Werra has a 'very queer' name for the whirlwind, beginning with Bull- or Boil-; and in the neighbouring Eichsfeld Pulloineke is pronounced with shyness and reluctance (Münchner gel. anz. 1842, p. 762). A Niddawitz ordinance of the same district (3, 327) contains the family name Boylsperg (Polesberc?), Pfoylsperg. The spelling Bull, Boil, would agree with the conjecture hazarded above, but I do not connect with this the idol Biel in the Harz, for Bielstein leads back to bîlstein, i.e. beilstein. Schmid's westerw. id. 145 has pollecker, bollecker for spectre, bugbear (see Suppl.).  (back)