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NYPU  RESEARCH  UaRARIES 

'Mllillr 


3  3433  08181054  5 


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Digitized  by 


Googk 


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HISIOBT 


CHRISTIAN   NAMES. 


BT  TBS  AUTHOm  Of 
«XHB  HXZB  OF  BEDGLim/  *LA]CDMASK8  OF  HZ8T0B7/ 


CCJA  r^  l^C  ^^e     '  'A  \ '/   ^ 


TOLma  n. 


LONDON: 
PABEEB,  SON,  AND  BOUBN,  WEST  STBAND. 

1863.     r 

Digitized  by  CjOOQIC 


■  THE  NEW  YORK 
PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

520321  A 

ASTOR,  LENOX  AND 

TILDEN  FOUNDATIONS 

K  1931  L 


LONDON : 
FBINTID  BT  O.  PHIFP8,  U  k  14,  TOTHHX  8TBEST,   WXSTMIIISTEB. 


it  zed  by  Google 


CONTENTS 


OF 


THE    SECOND    VOLUME. 


PAET  V. 


9AQU 

NaMXS  7B0K  THB  KVUTIO .  I 


CHAPTER  L 

§  I.    The  Keltic  Baoe ib. 

%.    The  Cymry  and  the  Gael      .       •       .       •       •  6 

3.  The  Keltic  Lan^ages  • ii 

4.  Keltic  Religion 13 

5.  Keltic  Nomenclature 17 


I  OHAFTER  n. 

Ahcixiit  Ksltio  Naxbs     .        .  .       .       .        ,  24. 

^  I  I.    WelBh  Myths  of  the  Flood tb. 

^  %.    Lit  and  his  Danghters 33 

3.  Bri 41 

4.  Fear,  Gwr,  Vir 53 

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ly  CONTENTS. 

OHAPTEK  nL 

QjumAXLio  Nambs      ^      .       ^      ^      .       •       •       •  59 

§  I.    Scottish  GolonlBtB ^- 

1.    TheFeen ^4 

3.  Finn ^7 

4.  OHfOnn^Gal 74 

5.  Diarmaid  and  Qraine H 

6.  Connao         •       • 9^ 

7.  Oath .        .  9» 

8.  Fiachra 9^ 

9.  Names  of  Oomplezion 97 

10.  Feidlim,&c '08 

IX.  Names  of  Majesty        .       .       •       .       •       •  xxo 

11.  Devotional  Names xx3 


CHAPTER  IVt 

KAItBB  OF  OtHBIO  BOKAITOB X2.Z 

§  X.  The  Bonnd  Table         .       •       .       ^       .       .  tb. 

%.  Arthur i^S 

3«  Qwenever 130 

4.  Gwalchmai,  Sir  Qawain,  and  Sir  Owen        •       .136 

5.  Geraint  and  Enid         •«..••  141 

6.  Trystan  and  Yseolte X4S 

7.  Hoel  and  Byence '^     I 

8.  Ferdyal        .       .       «       •       •       .    '  •       •  150     1 

9.  Merlin X54 

10.  Llew '5^ 

11.  Cymric  Saints 160 


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OONTBZIT& 


PABT  VL 

turn 

fmnono  Vammb '^^ 


OHAPTSB  L 

Ibb  Tsdtoh  Racb i6* 

{  X.    Groand  oocopied  by  the  Teutons         •       •       •  t&. 

1.    The  Tribes  of  Teutons 1^5 

3.    Tentoaoio  Nomendatore 169 


OHAPTEB  n. 

Naxbs  vbom  Tbutoh  MxTHOLOeT I7» 

§  X.  Guth ^ 

I.  TheAasir ito 

3.  Odin,orOr!mr its 

4.  Ifrtfj 190 

5.  Thor *oi 

6.  Baldor  and  Hodnr toy 

7.  Tyr *i3 

t.  Kiord,&c S15 

9*  Hdmdsll 2x9 

xo.  Will ...%%% 

It.  Hilda S3S 

II.  Ye «3t 

13.  Gerda •       .  ^4^ 

14.  aSgir H« 

15.  Ing— Seaznot  ^ HS 

x6»  Eonnen        ••••.•••  250 

17.  Broe ^54 

it.  Amal    •••••••••  156 

i9«  Forefathers «^ 

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CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEB  m. 

PAQB 

Naxbs  fbok  Objects  coNNsofBD  with  Mttbologt  265 

§  I.    Day %b. 

%.    The  Wolf 267 

3.  Eber,  the  Boar 270 

4.  The  Bear 274 

5.  The  Horse «77 

6.  The  Eagle 280 

7.  The  Baven 285 

8.  The  Swan .287 

9.  The  Serpent 288 

ID.    Kettle •       •  291 

11.  Weapon  Names    .       •       .       .    -    .        •       •  292 

12.  Thought 300 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Hbroio  Nakbs  Of  tbb  Nibbluko 304. 

§  I.  TheNibelung ib. 

2.  Sigurd 306 

3.  Brynhild 311 

4.  Gonther 315 

5.  Hagen 319 

6.  Ghiseler        •       .       •       .       .       •       .       .321 

7.  Ghemot 323 

8.  Folker 319 

9.  Dankwart     .•••••..  331 
ID.  Theodorio 332 

11.  Uta,  Ortwin 339 

12.  Sintram 346 

13.  Elberioh t^. 


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CONTENTS. 


▼u 


OHAFTEB  V. 

FAOB 

Thx  Kablino  Boxakobs -SSI 

§  I.    TheFaladiiiB t& 

1.    CharleB 35^ 

3.  Boland^&o %6o 

4.  Benaad 37^ 

5.  Richard 379 

6.  Astolfo %S% 

7.  Ogier  le  Danois 3^4 

8.  Louis 387 


OHAPTEB  VL 


DB80BIPTIYB  Naxss 

§  I.  Nobility 

%.  Command 

3.  Brightness 

4.  War 

5.  Protection 

6.  Power   • 

7.  Affection 

8.  Appearance 

9.  Locality 
10.  Life 


393 

ib. 

401 

403 
406 

4" 
415 
422 

4*4 
418 

434 


PAET  vn. 


Hamxs  vbox  thb  Slatokio 


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•      4$7 

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Till  mUXTSSSTB. 

OHAPTEB  L 

§  I.  SlaTonio  Races     •••••••  437 

1.  Slavonian  Mytholi^ *  441 

3.  Warlike  Names 447 

4*  Names  of  Might  •       •       •       •       *       k       •  449 

5.  Names  of  Yirtae  ...••••  45s 

6.  Names  of  Affection      •••*.•  453 

7.  Names  from  the  Appearance       .       •       .       .  454 


CONCLUSION. 

MODSBH  NOXBNOULTUBB      •••••••  456 

§  I.    Greece 457 

2.    Russia 45t 

3*    Italy 461 

4    B^^Bxa 467 

5.  France 470 

6.  Great  Britain 477 

7.  Germany      •       •       • 4St 

8*    Scandinavia 494 

9.    ComparatiTe  Nomendatore 495 


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HISTORY  OP  CHRISTIAN  NAMES. 

PAET  V. 

KAMBS    FBOM    THB    KELTIC. 

CHAPTER  L 
Skction  l.—The  Keliic  Mace. 

Wb  now  pass  to  a  class  of  names  whose  associations  belong 
almost  entirely  to  the  modem  world,  yet  whose  history  is  far 
more  obscure  than  that  of  those  on  which  we  have  preyionsly 
dwelt. 

From  the  Hebrew,  the  European  family  hare  derived  their 
religion;  from  the  Greek,  their  ideas;  from  the  Soman, 
their  laws ;  from  the  Teuton,  their  blood  and  their  energy ; 
but  from  the  Kelt  they  have  taken  little  but  their  fanciful 
romance.  In  only  one  country  has  the  Kelt  been  dominant, 
and  then  with  a  Latinized  speech,  and  a  Teutonic  name,  tes- 
tifying to  the  large  modifications  he  must  have  undergone. 

Among  the  rogged  moors  and  cliffs  which  fence  Western 
Europe  from  the  Atlantic  waves,  he  did  indeed  preserve  his 
freedom,  but  without  amalgamation  with  other  nations ;  and 
in  lands  where  he  fell  under  subjection,  he  was  so  lost  among 
the  conquerors  as  to  be  untraceable  in  language  or  feature, 
«Dd  with  the  exception  of  the  Gaul,  has  bequeathed  nothing 
of  his  character  to  the  fused  race  upon  his  soiL 

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2  NAMES  FROM  THE  KELTIC. 

We  trace  the  Hebrew  nation  with  certainty  from  its  ma- 
jestic source ;  the  Grreek  shines  on  us  in  a  dazzling  sunrise  of 
brilliant  myth ;  the  Roman,  in  a  grave,  stem  dawn  of  cha- 
racteristic legend ;  but  of  the  earlier  progress  of  the  wild, 
impulsive  Kelt  we  have  but  the  famtest  indications. 

Much  as  he  loved  his  forefathers,  keen  as  was  his  delight 
in  celebrating  the  glories  of  his  race,  oral  tradition  contented 
him,  and  very  strong  was  the  pressure  firom  the  neighbouring 
nations  before  his  bards  recorded  anything  in  writing,  even 
the  long  genealogies  hitherto  preserved  in  each  man's  accu- 
mulated names.  The  beauty  of  their  legends  did  indeed 
recommend  them  to  the  general  store-house  of  European 
fancy,  but  though  the  spirit  may  be  Keltic,  the  body  through 
which  it  comes  is  almost  always  Teutonic. 

Thus  we  have  chiefly  to  trust  to  the  brief  hints  of  the 
external  history-writing  nations  for  our  knowledge  of  the 
migrations  of  the  Kelts,  collating  these  with  the  circum- 
stantial evidence  of  the  remains  in  tombs,  and  the  etymology 
of  the  names  that  they  have  left  to  mountain  and  river,  lake 
and  headland ;  for  it  was  they  who  above  all  were  the  nomen- 
clators  of  all  the  great  natural  features  of  the  lands  in  their 
course,  and  have  thus  left  way-marks  by  which  to  note  their 
steps. 

The  Appenines,  Pennine  Alps,  bear  the  same  name  as  the 
Cambrian  Pen,  and  Scottish  and  Irish  Ben ;  the  Kama,  or 
projecting  cape,  is  found  on  the  Euxine,  in  Cornwall,  and  in 
Ireland ;  the  Don,  or  brown  colour,  of  the  stream,  named 
rivers*  in  Russia,  Germany,  Scotland,  and  Ireland ;  the  Avon 
is  to  be  traced  everywhere,  in  Hypanis,  in  Rhen-avon,  run- 
ning water;  the  Eridanus,  Redanus,  and  Rodanus  of  the 
Romans;  and  the  Rhine  and  Rhone  of  modem  times;  in 
the  Garv-avon,  or  swift  river,  now  the  Garonne ;  in  the  Sen, 
or  slow  river.  Shannon  in  Ireland,  Seine  in  France:  and 
oouQtless  other  instances  are  brought  by  the  philologist  to 

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THE  KELTIC  BACK  .  3 

prove  that  it  was  the  Kelt  who  first  had  poetry  enough  to  note 
the  characteristic  of  hill  or  water,  and  impress  on  it  the  title 
that  later  tongues  have  mispronounced,  but  not  forgotten. 

It  is  the  general  opinion  that  the  first  European  settleiB 
were  the  stunted  Mongols,  who  have  since  receded  to  the  ex- 
treme North,  leaving  traces  of  themselves  here  and  there  in 
rode  stone  weapons,  and  it  may  be,  in  the  strange  lacustrine 
habitations  recently  brought  to  light  in  Switzerland  and  Ire- 
land. These  inhabitants  were  succeeded  by  a  tall,  though 
loosely  made  people,  of  well-proportioned  skulls,  betokening 
fSumlties  more  acute  than  sedate,  of  sanguine  complexion, 
with  hair  varying  firom  red  to  black,  indomitably  free,  and 
owning  no  institution  but  the  patriarchal,  the  very  Arabs  of 
the  West.  Their  progress,  as  long  as  they  only  drove  before 
them  the  inferior  Mongol,  was  entirely  unmarked,  and  our 
first  notices  of  them  are  only  obtained  through  their  col- 
lisions with  the  more  civilized  nations  of  the  South. 

Gomer,  the  son  of  Japheth,  as  mentioned  in  the  Book  of 
Gen^is,  is  supposed  to  mark  their  origin ;  and  Ezekiel  pro- 
phesies against  an  invasion  of  Gomer,  and  of  the  house  of 
Togarmi^,  in  conjunction  with  Gog,  or  the  Scythian  race. 
Gimiri  occur  in  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  of  Darius  Hys- 
taspes,  but  there  is  no  certainty  of  their  identity,  though  it 
is  highly  probable  that  they  were  the  same  with  the  Kimme- 
reoi  mentioned  by  Homer  as  ^  dwelling  at  the  farthest  limit 
of  the  oceah,  beyond  the  ken  of  the  sun.'  This  grim  region 
is  supposed  to  have  been  the  northern  shore  of  the  Black 
Sea;  for  when  Herodotus  first  gives  the  enquirer  a  com- 
paratively firm  footing,  the  Eimmerians  had  been  recently 
expelled  firom  those  quarters  by  the  Scyths,  and  had  only 
left  their  name  to  the  Eimmerian  Bosphorus,  and  Eimmerian 
Chersonesus,  a  name  which,  with  the  peculiar  tenacity  of 
Keltic  local  nomenclature,  still  adheres  to  the  Orimea,  or 
CSrim  Tartary. 

On  being  driven  out,  they  seem  to  have  made  a  raid  into 

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4  NAMES  FROM  THE  KELTIC. 

Asia  Minor,  wbere  they  tonnented  the  lonians  till  they  were 
finally  turned  out  by  the  father  of  Croesus,  king  of  Lydia. 
Herodotus  likewise  speaks  of  Eeltai,  as  he  calls  them,  living 
in  the  far  West,  near  the  city  Pyrene,  meaning  probably  tiie 
P^nean  mountains,  which  are  thought  to  be  called  from  the 
Keltic  ptfTf  or  fir  tree.  Geographers  referred  to  by  Plutarch 
describe  both  Eeltai  and  Eimmerioi  as  dwelling  in  *  a  woody 
country  in  the  interior  of  Europe,  where  the  sun  is  seldom 
seen,  from  their  many  lofty  and  spreading  trees.'  This  was 
in  all  likelihood  the  Black  Forest,  and  was  the  dark  Cimme- 
rian forest  to  which  Milton  banished  Melancholy. 

Italian  traditions  likewise  place  them  in  the  regions  of  the 
Avemian  Lake,  and  the  languages  of  ancient  Italy  bear  wit- 
ness to  their  influence.  Many  Latin  words  can  only  be 
explained  by  a  reference  to  the  Eeltic,  and  as  usual  they  have 
left  titles  to  natural  objects.  Our  Trent,  from  the  root  Ur, 
river,  is  echoed  from  Otranto,  or  Tarentinus,  as  well  as  frx>m 
the  Tyrolean  city  of  the  pseudo  council 

The  Romans  begin  to  bear  testimony  to  Eeltic  history. 
Apparently  the  pressure  of  the  Teutonic  migrations  was  fdt 
by  the  Eelts  in  central  Eun^  about  400  years  before  our 
era,  for  a  nation,  termed  by  the  Romans,  GaUi,  showed  them- 
selves above  the  Alps,  and  marauding  in  the  plains  below, 
effected  settlements,  subdued  the  tribes  of  northern  Italy,  and 
so  weakened  those  in  the  centre  as  to  render  them  a  ready 
prey  to  growing  Rome.  Alpine  Italy  became  Gallia  Cis- 
alpina  to  the  Romans,  who  at  first  suspected,  and  afterwards 
knew,  Oauls  to  inhabit  the  land  beyond  those  inhospitable 
summits ;  and  of  Gallic  hardihood  and  violence,  Rome  soon 
had  a  proof  in  that  gigantic  foray  around  which  her  most 
brilliant  legends  centre,  and  which  inaugurates  her  authentic 
history. 

The  Eeltai  of  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  and  city  of  P^ne 
had  in  the  meantime  become  mixed  with  the  Iberi,  a  people 
of  uncertain  origm,  bat  who  have  left  t^eir  name  to  the 

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THE  KELTIC  RACE.  5 

Ebro,  and  are  thought  to  survive  in  the  Basques.  The 
blended  nation  of  Celtiberi,  as  the  Romans  termed  them^ 
fell  under  the  influence  of  the  great  Phoenician  colony  at 
Carthage,  as  did  the  Galli  named  Massilia,  under  the  civil- 
izing power  of  the  Greek  city ;  and  it  was  through  friendly 
tribes  that  Hannibal  marched  over  the  mountains  that  gird 
the  great  gulf  that  separates  the  two  peninsulas. 

The  Roman  reduction  of  the  Celtiberians  was  a  sort  of 
episode  in  the  Punic  wars,  though  their  reduction  cost  long 
and  severe  fighting,  and  one  of  the  terrific  sieges  charac- 
teristic of  Spanish  history.  The  country  was  settled  by 
Roman  colonies,  and  the  language  so  thoroughly  Latinized, 
that  the  Keltic  element  is  almost  inappreciable,  and  the 
local  appellations  alone  show  who  were  the  old  inhabitants. 

In  B.C.  279,  the  Gralli,  probably  maddened  by  the  steady 
Teutonic  advance,  made  a  backwaitl  rush,  came  upon  Mace- 
donia, plundered  the  temple  at  Delphi,  and  ravaged  Asia 
Minor,  where  they  finally  established  themselves  round 
Derbe  and  Lystra,  speaking  the  old  tongue,  called  barbarous 
by  the  Greek  St.  Luke,  and  retaining  a  character  which,  as 
sketched  by  St.  Paul  in  his  epistle  to  them,  shows  that  they 
were  Gauls  in  nature  as  well  as  name.  They  are  identified 
by  Josephus  with  the  sons  of  Gomer. 

B.C.  103,  there  came  down  from  Jutland,  then  called  the 
Cimbric  Ohersonesus,  what  sounds  like  an  unnatural  alliance 
of  Cimbri  and  Teutones,  as  if  the  foremost  of  the  Teuton 
and  hindmost  of  the  Keltic  tribes  had  united  to  force  their 
way  southward.  They  made  terrible  ravages  in  civilized 
GaJlia  Transalpina  and  in  Spain,  until  being  totally  defeated 
by  Marius,  the  survivors  of  the  battle  relieved  the  world  of 
themselves,  their  wives,  and  children  by  a  general  self- 
destruction.  Rome  was  slowly  consuming  Gaul,  and  under 
the  eagles  of  Caesar  completed  the  work,  so  far  as  the  South 
and  centre  were  concerned,  but  entirely  failed  in  obtaining 
even  nominal  submission  in  the  hills  and  moors  of  the  North- 
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6  NAMES  FROM  THE  KELTIC. 

West.  The  reduction  of  Gaul  opened  the  way  to  that  of 
Britain.  Caesar  did  no  more  than  come  and  see;  but 
Agricola  conquered  the  accessible  portion  of  the  island,  and 
four  centuries  of  occupation  stamped  the  Roman  seal  on  the 
nation  and  country. 

To  the  North,  however,  lay  the  unconquerable  Caledonian 
Kelts,  and  in  the  Western  Ocean  the  large  deeply  indented 
island  of  Erin,  whither  the  conquerors  of  the  world  had  not 
even  attempted  to  penetrate  before  their  twelve  centuries  of 
dominion  closed,  and  the  Kelts  whom  they  had  tamed  fell 
with  them  before  the  Teutonic  aze.^ 


Section  H. — The  Cymry  and  the  Q-ad. 

We  have  seen  the  external  history  of  the  Kelts ;  it  re- 
mains to  endeavour  to  distinguish  between  the  two  chief 
branches  of  the  race  as  at  present  existing, — the  Cymry  and 
the  (jael.  It  is  not  certain  how  far  these  were  anciently 
veritable  distinctions,  or  whether  we  may  not  be  confounding 
together  names  by  which  the  nation  called  itself,  and  by 
which  its  neighbours  called  it ;  but  these  two  titles  are  need- 
ful to  designate  the  descent  and  character  of  the  modem 
Kelts  and  their  classes  of  language. 

Q-aU  is  a  stranger  in  Gaelic ;  teach  is  a  habitation.  One 
tribe  would  call  another  Gralteach,  strange  habitations,  per- 
haps the  source  of  the  word  Keltai  or  Celti.  Besides  which, 
Qaidhoilj  pronounced  Grael,  is  the  self-given  title  of  the  Gael 
or  Galli.  Or  Celtai  may  be  from  the  Cymryc  Celt,  Oeilt^  a 
covert  or  shelter;  OeUiady  a  dweller  in  woods.  However  this 
may  be,  the  Gael  have  left  their  naine  in  Asia  to  Galatia,  in 
Austria  to  Galizia,  in  Spain  to  Gallicia,  France  has  hardly 
ceased  to  be  called  Gaul ;  Comugalli»)  or  the  Horn  of  Gaul, 

^  Rawlinson,  Herodotiu;  Chalmers,  Caledonia;  YiUemarqu^,  PrefiuM 
to  Lcgoindec*i  Dictionnaire  BreUm-FrangoU  ;  Tamer,  Anglo-Saxont ; 
Diefenbaoh,  CeUica, 


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THE  CYMBY  AND  TBE  GAEL.  7 

IB  Cbrnooailles  on  one  side  of  the  channel  and  Cornwall  on 
the  other ;  onr  neighbours  still  call  our  western  principality 
Galles,  imd  the  extreme  West  of  Scotland  is  Galloway,  as  in 
Ireland  it  is  GUway. 

It  would  seem  as  if  the  Grael  had  been  the  foremost,  the 
wildest,  the  fiercest,  and  the  most  gigantic  of  the  tribes ;  the 
first  to  set  foot  in  each  country  in  succession  in  their  .western 
race.  They  were  probably  the  Keltai  of  the  Pyrene,  and  the 
Qalli  of  soathem  France,  Uiough  there  are  authors  who  dispute 
their  identity  with  the  Kelts,  and  in  order  to  show  that  they 
w»e  considered  as  essentially  different,  appeal  to  Ptolemy 
and  Dion  Cassius,  who  separate  between  Grallia  and  Celtica, 
and  to  Appian,  who  gives  to  Galatea  and  Polyphemus  three 
sons,  Geltus,  lUyrius,  and  Galas !  However,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  the  Gael  dwelt  in  Italy,  southern  France, 
and  Spain,  when  history  first  takes  cognizance  of  them,  and 
the  Irish  tradition  points  in  the  same  direction.  The  isle  of 
Erin  has  been  supposed  to  be  named  from  Eri,  the  West,  but 
of  late  philologists  have  traced  it  to  the  same  root  as  the 
other  names  indicating  a  branch  of  the  Aryan,  or  ploughing 
race.  It  seems,  according  to  its  own  historians,  to  have  been 
peopled  by  various  imigrations  from  the  West,  the  most  im- 
portant of  whom  were  the  Tuath  de  Danan,  whom  they  trace 
from  Soeotia,  and  who  brought  the  stone  of  destiny,  said  to 
have  been  JacoVs  pillow  at  Bethel,  to  which  was  attached 
the  bdief  that  the  sovereignty  of  the  whole  country  would 
devolve  on  the  line  of  chiefs  who  sat  on  it  at  their  coronation. 
After  these  followed  a  tribe  who  by  unvarying  report  are 
said  to  have  come  direct  from  Spain,  and  to  have  been  termed 
Scots.  From  their  leader,  Milidh,  they  are  known  as  Mic 
Milidh  or  Milesians,  and  theirs  is  considered  as  the  noblest 
Uood  in  Ireland.  Whether  the  Scots  were  called  from  Mi- 
lidh's  wife,  Scota !  or  from  his  ancestress,  Scota,  daughter  of 
the  Pharaoh  who  was  drowned  in  the  Red  Sea ! !  or  fix)m 
Bcythia,  or  from  Scuit,  a  fugitive,  or  as  Matthew  of  West- 
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8  NAMES  FROM  THE  KELTIC. 

minster  suggests,  from  things  heaped  together  being  called 
scot  (scot  and  lot?),  we  need  not  discover,  but  the  large  pro- 
portion of  inhabitants  of  Erin  were  Scots  when  first  the 
civilized  world  knew  anything  about  them.  These  Scots 
were  undoubtedly  Grael,'  and  there  is  great  likelihood  that 
they  came  from  Spain,  as  there  has  always  been  a  strong 
resemblance  between  the  Spanish  and  Irish  peasantry ;  and  a 
few  likenesses  to  Phoenician  rites,  render  it  probable  that 
intercourse  was  kept  up  after  the  Celtiberians  were  con- 
nected with  Carthage. 

The  Gael,  Galli,  or  Keltai,  appear  to  have  been  followed  by 
another  division  of  the  race,  namely  that  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  Greeks  called  Kinmierioi,  and  the  Romans  Cimbri, 
names  in  which  we  can  scarcely  fail  to  recognize  the  native 
word  Cymry,  which  Welsh  antiquaries  derive  from  cym,  the 
first. 

Plutarch  and  Festus  indeed  tell  us  that  Cimbri,  in  the 
Gallic  tongue,  meant  robbers;  but  when  the  fierce  Cymry 
were  the  perpetual  torments  of  the  civilized  Grauls  around 
the  Roman  settlements,  it  was  no  wonder  that  a  Cimbrian 
and  a  thief  easily  became  synonymous  terms,  by  somewhat 
the  same  process  as  that  which,  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War, 
created  the  word  marauder,  in  consequence  of  the  depreda- 
tions of  the  lawless  band  of  Count  Merode. 

However  this  may  be,  the  Cymry  appear  to  have  left 
plenty  of  traces  of  their  national  title  athwart  the  map 
of  Europe,  beginning  with  the  Crimea,  then  giving  its  first 
title  to  the  Cimbric  Chersonese,  and  leaving  it  to  Cambrai, 
Coimbra,  Cambrilla,  Quimper,  Cumberland,  and  Cambria. 
All  regarding  them  is  obscure,  and  controversy  about  them  is 
endless ;  but  the  general  opinion  is  that  they  were  in  the  rear 
of  the  Gael,  and  spread  into  lands  which  had  been  left  unoccu- 
pied by  their  predecessors.  Northern  France,  the  shores  of 
the  German  Ocean,  and  the  island  of  Britain,  were  chiefly 
inhabited  by  them   when  the  Romans  took  cognizance  of 

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THE  CYMRY  AND  THE  GAEL.  9 

tfaem ;  the  Pryddain,  or  Pryd's  people,  being  one  of  their 
tribes.  Another  large  division  of  this  people  were  the  Cale- 
doniansy  called  firom  caaiUj  a  wood,  who  occupied  the  entire 
North :  these  were  Cymry ;  but  it  is  thought  that  the  Gael 
wore  .driven  by  them  into  the  far  North,  and  inhabited  the 
highlands  and  islands. 

The  tradition  of  the  whole  people  points  to  a  migration 
from  die  East,  and,  disguised  as  it  is  by  fable,  it  agrees  too 
well  with  history  to  be  entirely  discarded.  There  is  reason 
tp  believe  that  the  invaders  who  sacked  Rome  were  Gael, 
led  on  by  a  chief  of  the  Cymry,  imd  that  a  close  connection 
subsisted  between  the  Cymric  race  on  either  shore  of  the 
Channel. 

The  Cymry  were  brought  much  nearer  to  the  Teutons  than 
were  their  Gallic  brethren,  and  one  of  their  tribes,  that  in 
the  rear,  underwent  a  slight  Teutonic  admixture.  This  tribe 
was  called  by  the  Teutons  by  a  word  probably  taken  from 
(Hie  which  in  Sanscrit  is  mlechla,  meaning  a  person  who  talks 
indistinctly,  therefore  a  foreigner.  In  old  high  German 
it  was  wcUhj  in  Anglo-Saxon,  vealh;  the  Romans  made 
it  Belgse,  and  we  now  call  it  Welsh.  To  the  present  day 
we  call  our  foreign  nuts,  tra/-nuts ;  the  German  term  for 
torkies  is  weUchhahnm^  and  for  Grallia  Cisalpina,  Wdsch  land. 
Others,  however,  derive  the  w:ord  from  the  Cymric  Belgiadj 
a  ravager,  Bdgtoys^  the  foragers,, and  connect  them  with  the 
Fir-Bolg,  one  of  the  races  who  peopled  Erin.  At  any  rate 
these  ^  Welsh '  have  left  their  mark  in  like  manner  in  Wal- 
lachia,  Wallenstadt,  Wallenstein,  Walcheren  Island,  the  Wal- 
lo(«s  or  Belgians,  Wallingford,  Welshpool,  Wales.  It  must 
be  confessed  that  W  and  G  are  so  convertible  that  all  these 
bear  a  suspicious  resemblance  to  the  names  attributed  to  the 
Gael,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  these  words  may  after  all 
be  mispronounced  Gauls ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  certain 
that  there  were  such  broad  distinctions  between  the  two 
faranches  of  the  Keltic  root,  that  it  is  hardly  likely  that  the 

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lO  NAMES  FROM  THE  KELTIC. 

most  easterly  Cymric  tribe  would  be  confounded  with  the 
western  Gael. 

Csesar,  in  alliance  with  the  Oauls,  already  civilized,  made 
war  on  the  yet  unsubdued  Kymry,  and  brought  them  to  a 
nominal  submission.  Thence  he  passed  to  the  British  tribes, 
and  met  with  less  success ;  but  in  the  reign  of  Claudius  the 
southern  part  of  the  island  was  reduced. 

The  Caledonians,  however,  remained  unsubdued,  and  turned 
back  the  Romans  from  the  Grampians,  nor  did  the  eagles 
ever  show  themselves  beyond  the  firths  of  Forth  and  Clyde. 
A  province  was  indeed  formed  by  the  Romans  in  the  Lo- 
thians,  and  called  Valentia,  but  its  tenure  was  very  insecure, 
and  when  the  wall  was  built  along  the  Border  it  was  virtually 
abandoned.  The  Caledonians,  however,  cease  to  be  mentioned, 
or  are  generally  called  Kcti,  a  word  explained  as  Peithwyr, 
men  living  an  exposed  life,  from  Peithw,  open  country: 
Chalmers  says  that  the  West  or  wooded  country  was  C»- 
lyddon,  the  East  or  open  country,  Peithw.  Whether  theae 
Picts  were  really  Cymry  has  been  the  subject  of  hot  dispute ; 
the  celebrated  single  word,  PenvaU^  and  a  list  of  their  kings' 
names  being  all  there  is  to  work  upon,  but  the  concurrence 
of  opinion  is  in  favour  of  their  Cymric  blood  and  language. 

The  Gael,  of  whom  the  Scots  were  the  chief  tribe,  still 
remained  free  in  Ireland,  and  somewhere  about  the  third 
century  they  began  to  migrate  to  Caledonia,  large  divisions 
passing  from  time  to  time,  fighting  desperately  with  the  Picts, 
and  annoying  the  Romanized  inhabitants  south  of  the  walL 
These  migrations  continued,  and  the  wars  consequent  on  them 
lasted  for  several  centuries,  until  in  843  a  marriage  took 
place  between  the  king  of  the  Picts  and  the  daughter  of  the 
king  of  the  Scots,  and  the  nations  were  melted  together. 
The  stone  of  dominion  had  been  brought  from  Ireland  by 
the  Scots,  and  appears  to  have  secured  to  them  the  predomi^ 
nance ;  and  when  Edward  L  carried  it  ofi"  to  Westminster,  it 
did  not  fail  to  fulfil  its  mission,  and  bring  dominion  I 

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THE  KELTIC  LANGUAGES.  1 1 

The  Gael  filled  the  Highlands,  and  efi'aoed  all  Cymric  traoes, 
except  in  the  r^on  of  Strathclyde;  but  in  the  meantime 
the  Roman  power  had  melted  away  firom  Gaul  and  Britain, 
aid  the  Teutonic  invasions  had  gradually  brought  in  a  new 
noe,  between  whom  and  the  Kelt  reigned  the  bitterest 
emitj.  Finally,  the  Eymry  in  Bretagne,  Cornwall,  and 
Wales,  the  Gael  in  Ireland,  the  Highlands,  and  the  Isle  of 
Man,  were  alone  left  above  the  Teutcmic  flood,  their  inde- 
pendesice  only  to  be  taken  from  th^n  by  slow  degrees,  and 
thrir  hostility  to  their  neighbours  slowly  extinguished  by 
peace  instead  of  war.* 


Section  m. — The  Keltic  Languages. 

The  Keltic  nations  used  languages  which  showed  that 
they  came  firom  the  Indo-European  root,  and  which  are  still 
Bfoken  in  the  provinces  where  they  remain.  They  have  no 
leally  ancient  literature,  and  were  left  at  the  mercy  of  wild 
tODgoes,  so  that  their  losses  have  been  very  great,  and  the 
divergence  of  dialects  considerable. 

The  great  and  distinguishing  feature  of  the  entire  class  is 
their  peculiar  inflections,  which,  among  other  puzzling  fea- 
toies,  insert  an  aspirate  after  the  primary  consonant,  so  as 
entirely  to  change  its  sound,  as  for  instance  in  an  oblique 
case,  moTy  great,  would  become  mhofy  and  be  pronounced  var^ 
to  the  eternal  confusion  of  people  of  other  nations,  who, 
however  the  vowel  or  the  end  of  a  word  might  alter,  always 
trusted  to  know  it  by  the  mam  syllable.  A  large  number  of 
guttural  sounds  distinguished  these  languages,  and  some  of 

*  Max  MoUar ;  Bawlinson,  Herodotus ;  Chalmers,  Caledonia ;  Conrson, 
Pa^fef  BreUme  ;  J.  W.  Kennedy,  On  Ancient  Languages  of  France  and 
SpMn;  Prichard,  CelHc  Nations;  Ossianic  Society;  Hamner,  Chronicle: 
History  of  Ireland,  En.  BriU ,-  Jones,  Welsh  Sketches;  Davies,  RiUs  of 
OnDnids. 


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12  NAMES  FROM  THE  KELTIC. 

these  were  annihilated  by  the  ensuing  aspiration ;  but  when 
spelling  began,  the  corpses  of  the  two  internecine  letters 
were  still  left  in  the  middle  of  the  word,  to  cumber  the 
writer  and  puzzle  the  reader,  so  that  the  very  enunciation  of 
a  written  sentence  requires  a  knowledge  of  grammar. 

The  vowels  likewise  sometimes  change  in  the  body  of  the 
word  when  it  becomes  plural,  and  the  identification  of  plurals 
and  of  cases  with  their  parent  word  is  so  diflScult  that  few 
persons  ever  succeed  in  the  study  of  Keltic,  except  those 
who  have  learnt  it  from  their  mothers  or  nurses,  and  even 
they  are  not  always  agreed  how  to  write  it  grammatically. 

The  Keltic  splits  into  two  chief  branches,  so  difierent  that 
Csesar  himself  remarked  that  the  Grauls  and  Cimbrians  did 
not  use  the  same  language.  For  the  sake  of  convenience 
these  two  branches  are  called  by  philologists  the  Gadhaelic 
and  the  Cymric.  The  first  is  the  stock  which  has  since  di- 
vided into  the  Gaelic  of  the  Highlands,  the  Erse  of  Ireland, 
and  the  Manx  of  the  little  intermediate  isle.  In  fact  they 
are  nearly  one ;  old  Graelic  and  old  Erse  are  extremely  alike 
when  they  can  be  found  written,  and  though  they  have  since 
diverged,  the  general  rules  continue  to  be  the  same ;  and  some 
of  the  chief  differences  may  be  owing  to  the  fact,  that  while 
the  Highlanders  have  adopted  the  Roman  alphabet,  the  native 
Lrish  still  adhere  to  the  Anglo-Saxon. 

The  Cymric  is  still  spoken  in  Wales  and  Brittany,  and 
only  died  out  a  century  ago  in  Cornwall.  Welsh  and  Breton 
agree  in  so  many  points  that  the  natives  of  either  country 
are  said  to  be  able  to  understand  one  another,  though  they 
would  be  entirely  unintelligible  to  an  Irishman  or  Highlander. 
Indeed  it  may  be  doubted  whether  Greek  and  Latin  are  not 
more  nearly  akin  than  the  two  shoots  of  the  Keltic  tree. 
One  great  difference  is  that  the  p  of  the  Kymric  always  be- 
comes k  or  c  hard  in  the  Gradhaelic :  iims  plant  or  children  in 
Wales,  are  the  well  known  Gaelic  clan;  Paisg,  Easter,  is 
Caisg  ;  pen^  a  head,  is  cean  ;  and  the  Cornish  word  Pentyry 

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KELTIC  RELIGION.  1 3 

the  head  of  the  land,  or  promontory,  is  the  same  as  the 
Scottish  Oantyre^.f 


Section  IV. — Keltic  Religion. 

Of  Keltic  mythology  we  may  be  said  to  know  almost  no- 
thing. Neither  portion  of  the  race  began  to  write  till  Chris- 
tianity had  long  been  adopted,  and  though  some  of  their 
heroic  poems  and  tales  have  been  snpposed  to  be  ancient 
traditionary  myths,  this  is  mere  conjecture ;  and  every  one 
who  has  been  concerned  in  the  matter  has  become  more  or 
less  frantic  and  untrustworthy,  and  has  further  been  so 
violent  in  contradicting  his  predecessors,  that  very  little  is 
left  us  to  believe. 

There  does  not  seem  to  have  been  a  pantheon  such  as  those 
of  most  other  nations ;  idols  do  not  appear  to  have  been  in 
use, — at  least  not  by  the  greater  number ;  and  though  a  few 
names  of  deities  have  come  down  to  us  through  the  Latin 
writers,  they  are  confused  by  the  inconvenient  fashion  of 
identifying  the  gods  of  all  nations,  and  Tacitus  has  mixed  up 
German,  Keltic,  and  Latin  gods  in  the  utmost  obscurity. 

Through  the  Belgde  the  Romans  heard  of  a  god  called 
Hesus.  It  may  have  been  a  mistake  for  the  Teutonic  Aesir  ; 
bat  it  is  remarkable  that  the  Erse  uses  the  word  Mb»x  for 
god;  and  on  a  stone  found  in  the  foundations  of  Notre  Dame 
at  Paris,  was  a  bas-relief  engraven  with  this  name.  It  was 
of  Roman  workmanship,  and  thus  proved  that  the  Grauls 
under  their  power  had  carried  on  the  worship  of  their  native 
deity. 

•  De  Meyer  divides  the  Kymry  into  three  chief  hranches.  The  first  is 
the  Alwani,  named  from  Alw,  whence  Alw-ion  or  Alhion,  the  Isle  of  AIw. 

The  second  were  the  ^dini,  from  Aedd,  of  whom  more  anon. 

Third,  the  Britons,  from  Biyt  or  Pryd. 

t  Max  Mnller;  Encyclopedia  Britarmica;  YiUemarqn^,  Legoindec*t 
Dictionary;  Hanmer,  Chronicle  ;  Clark,  Student'i  Handbook  of  Comip, 
Qrammar  ;  Prichard,  CeUic  NoHons. 

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14  NAMES  FEOM  THE  KELTIC. 

Another  name  stands  out,  in  the  reports  of  Keltic  worship 
and  in  the  traditional  rites  still  observed  by  the  peasantry 
wherever  they  inherit  Keltic  blood.  It  is  that  of  Bel,  Beli, 
or  Belinus,  the  snn  god,  in  whose  honour  the  Beltan  fire 
smoked  on  Midsummer  eve,  the  period  of  the  height  of  his 
course,  from  the  Alps  to  Connaught,  long  after  the  Teutons 
had  trodden  down  the  Kelts,  and  Christianity  had  effaced 
almost  every  other  remnant  of  their  religion*  Was  he  the 
same  with  the  Chaldean  Bel,  the  owner  of  the  nine-storied 
temple  of  Belus,  and  does  he  assist  to  mark  that  the  Kelts 
and  Chaldeans  had  once  parted,  far  away  in  the  East  ?  This 
is  a  more  probable  supposition  than  that  which  connects  him 
with  the  Phoenician  Baal,  and  would  bring  him  to  the  coast 
of  Cornwall  with  the  tin  traders.  Beli  is  the  father  of  (me 
of  the  Pictish  kings  who  reigned  in  674.  Bel  is  however 
also  war  or  the  war  god,  and  is  used  on  British  Broman  altars 
as  an  equivalent  for  Mars. 

Livy  tells  us  that  Teutates  was  the  Celtiberian  Mercury; 
and  if,  on  the  one  hand,  this  may  be  likened  to  the  Phoenician 
Taut,  yet  on  the  other  hand,  Tuath  is  a  lord  in  Irish,  and  it 
may  be  that  these  are  all  of  one  origin. 

Old  Erse  poems  speak  of  a  supreme  god  called  Crom,  or 
Crom  Eacha,  the  fire  god — the  sun,  as  author  of  light  and 
heat ;  also  called  Crom  Cruith,  God  the  creator,  from  crt*- 
Uiaichy  to  create.  Ana  was  their  mother  of  the  gods.  Does 
she  answer  to  Anna,  who  was  a  sort  of  goddess  of  the  Car- 
thaginians ?  They  also  had  M^-4-n^,  the  god  of  waters ; 
also  called  Mac  Lir,  or  son  of  the  sea ;  and  another  deity  of 
the  winds;  also  Bridh,  the  goddess  of  wisdom,  strength, 
and  song,  the  daughter  of  the  fire  god,  and  a  great  favourite 
with  the  Irish.  But  the  relics  of  their  mythology  are  ex- 
ceedingly hard  to  trace. 

It  is  certain  however  that  the  Druidical  system  extended 
to  them,  and  that  some  part  at  least  of  what  we  know  of  the 
Cymric  worship  in  Oaul  and  Britain  must  have  been  likewise 
true  of  Ireland,  though  probably  the  ceremonies  were  far  less 

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KELTIC  RELIGION.  1 5 

formal  than  those  of  Britam,  the  great  centre  of  Cymric 
Drnidisnu 

It  is  known  that  Mona,  now  Anglesea,  was  regarded  as 
sacred  by  all  the  Gymry,  and  that  pupils  came  across  the 
Ghaimel  to  the  British  Druids.  The  remains  of  the  great 
op^-air  temples  of  their  worship  are  to  be  fomid  as  mighty 
GircleB  of  huge  unhewn  stone,  &om  the  standing  stones  of 
Stennis,  in  the  Orkneys,  to  the  moor  of  Kamak  in  Brittany. 
The  menhir,  or  tall  solitary  stone ;  the  cromlech,  or  raised 
tomb,  and  even  many  a  rocking  stone  and  innocent  boulder, 
have  become  associated  in  our  minds  with  dark  rites  of  super- 
stition and  human  sacrifice ;  but  our  knowledge  is  exceed- 
ingly slight,  and  the  very  precision  and  fulness  of  some  of 
the  explanations  offered  make  us  doubtful  how  much  rests 
on  solid  ground. 

The  name,  probably  firom  dru^  an  oak,  though  others  make 
it  derwyZy  haying  knowledge,  is  tolerably  clear ;  and  likewise 
that  their  observances  were  highly  mystical,  in  honour  of  a 
supreme  and  unseen  deity,  adored  without  the  intervention  of 
idols,  but  not  without  human  sacrifice. 

An  order  of  priests  and  an  order  of  poets,  the  Druids  and 
Bards  were  common  to  both  races,  and  in  the  case  of  the 
latter  were  still  held  in  the  highest  estimation  long  after  the 
times  of  Christianity,  both  in  the  Gaelic  and  Cymric  lands. 
The  Welsh  indeed  tell  us  of  three  orders, — ^Druids,  Bards, 
and  Avenydd,  who,  even  to  comparatively  modem  times, 
carried  on  mystic  and  poetic  rites  in  conjunction  with  Chris- 
tianity. Their  existence  in  latter  times  is  certain,  their  an- 
tiquity is  less  so,  at  least  in  the  regular  form  they  describe. 
They  have  handed  down  many*  beautiful  sentences  in  the 
Triads, — ^iheir  peculiar  mode  of  composition ;  but  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  tell  which  of  these  have  a  Christian  colouring  from 
tiieir  authors,  and  which,  as  they  would  have  us  believe,  express 
the  ancient  presages  of  the  truth  among  the  old  Druids. 

Many  curious  myths  exist  among  the  Kelts,  chiefly  of  the 
heroic  order.   The  Rev.  Edward  Davies  collected  all  the  Welsh 


1 6  NAMES  FROM  THE  KELTIC. 

ones  that  he  could  find  to  bear,  as  he  thought,  upon  the  Flood, 
and  showed  us  the  ark  and  its  contents ;  Noah  and  the  rainbow 
figured  in  many  yarious  aspects,  some  grand  and  poetical,  some 
decidedly  ludicrous.  In  later  years.  Lady  Charlotte  Guest's 
translations  of  the  Mahinogion,  or  Children's  Stories,  xnade 
scholars  laugh  Dr.  Dayies  and  his  arkite  traditions  to  scorn, 
and  declare  some  to  be  mere  nursery  tales,  others  to  be  know- 
ingly the  work  of  Christian  Bards,  intended  for  edification. 
The  truth  probably  lies  between  the  two  extremes.  Many  a 
childish  story  is  a  myth  shorn  of  its  beams,  and  these  may 
have  been  the  germs  worked  out  with  over  zeal  by  the  Bards, 
who  have  succeeded  in  destroying  all  our  satisfaction  and 
confidence  in  the  l^nds  they  have  dealt  with. 

These  tales  have,  however,  had  their  effect  on  nomencla- 
ture, and  will  therefore  have  often  to  appear  in  the  ensuing 
pages. 

The  Gauls  had  been  completely  Romanized  in  the  South 
before  they  heard  of  Christianity.  They  gave  up  Greek  and 
Boman  idols  rather  than  Druidism  when  they  listened  to 
the  Gospel.  It  is  thought  that  the  first  seeds  were  sown  by 
St  Paul,  and  that  afterwards  the  Eastern  Church  at 
Ephesus,  under  St.  John,  had  much  communication  with 
them.  Britam  probably  owed  her  first  gleams  of  light  to 
the  imprisonment  of  Caractacus  and  his  family  at  Bome; 
but  however  this  might  be,  Gaul  furnished  hosts  of  mar^rs 
in  the  persecution,  and  Britain  did  her  part  in  testifying  to 
the  truth.  Many  districts  long  remained  unconverted,  how- 
ever, in  both  countries.  St.  Martin  is  said  to  have  completed 
the  conversion  of  Gtaul  in  the  end  of  the  third  century,  and 
in  Wales  St.  Germain  still  found  a  host  to  baptize  in  the 
fifth  century.  Indeed,  the  predominance  of  heathen  remains 
over  Christian,  have  made  antiquaries  very  doubtful  whether 
Britain  could  have  been  by  any  means  universally  converted  by 
the  end  of  the  Roman  empire.  It  had,  however,  sent  fordi 
one  great  missionary,  namely,  St.  Patrick,  firom  the  northern 

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KELTIC  NOMENCLATURE.  1 7 

proTince  of  Yalentia.  He  found  a  feeble  Church  in  Ireland, 
bat  so  enlarged  its  borders  and  won  all  heart's,  that  firom  his 
time  that  island  was  Christian  in  name,  and  filled  with  such 
dusters  of  hermitages  and  convents  as  to  win  its  title  of  the 
Isle  of  Saints. 

This  Keltic  Church,  with  its  eastern  traditions,  was  the 
q)ecial  missionary  Church  of  these  little  heeded  times. 
Frcnn  Ireland,  St.  Columba  went  forth  to  lona,  whence  he 
and  his  disciples  gradually  converted  the  Picts ;  and  though 
St  Gregorfs  mission  laid  the  foundations  of  the  polity 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church  in  Britain,  there  were  the 
Scottish  Aidan,  the  Welsh  Chad,  and  Gallic  Birinus  doing 
the  work  quietly,  in  which  the  Boman  monks  had  been  - 
less  successfuL  From  Ireland  again,  St.  Columbanus,  St. 
Gall,  and  many  others  set  forth  to  complete  the  work  of 
o(mversion  in  France  and  Switzerland,  and  many  churches 
and  convents  regard  as  their  founders  and  patrons,  obscure 
Irish  hermits  forgotten  in  their  own  country.  These  have 
be^  the  chief  difiusers  of  Keltic  names,  called  themselves 
by  some  hereditary  native  word,  which  their  saintliness 
was  to  raise  to  high  honour.^ 


Sbotion  N.— Keltic  Nomenclature. 

The  Kelts  were  highly  poetical  and  romantic  in  their 
nomenclature.  In  general  their  names  were  descriptive; 
many  referred  to  complexion,  and  many  more  described 
either  masculine  courage  or  feminine  grace  and  sweetness. 
But,  unfortunately,  the  language  is  so  uncertain,  and  its 
commentators  are  so  much  at  war,  that  in  dealing  with  these, 
after  the  well-criticized  ancient  tongues,  it  is  like  passing  from 

•  Knight,  Pictorial  History;  Mazzaroth;  Knight,  Celt,  Romany  and 
Saxnm;  Grimm,  DetUtcha  Mythologi^ ;  Jones,  Welsh  Sketches;  Irish 
Poewu  ;  Montalembert 

VOL.  n.  Digitized  ©Google 


1 8  NAMES  FROM  THE  KELTIC. 

firm  ground  to  a  quaking  bog,  and  in  many  cases  there 
is  but  a  choice  of  conjectures  to  deal  with. 

The  names  to  be  dealt  with  are  of  various  kinds.  First, 
the  historical  ones  that  have  come  through  Latin  writers, 
terribly  disguised,  but  the  owners  of  them  certain  to  have 
existed.  These  are  usually  more  Cymric  than  Gadhaelic, 
and  Weldi  and  Breton  writers  find  explanations  for  them. 
A  few  truly  mythological  ones  will  be  considered  with  these, 
and  placed  according  to  the  order — ^if  order  it  can  be  called — 
assigned  to  their  some  supposed  owners  of  them  in  the 
pedigree  of  Brut,  in  which  England  used  to  believe  on  the 
word  of  Geoflfrey  of  Monmouth,  and  the  Welsh  on  that  of 
their  native  chronicle  of  Brut.  Then  follow  a  most  contro- 
verted collection,  chiefly  of  the  two  Gadhaelic  nations.  They 
were  the  property  of  a  set  of  heroes  called  the  Feen,  who  are 
the  great  ancestry  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Scottish  race  in  both 
islands,  and  who  are  said  to  have  performed  fabulous  exploits 
at  some  distant  period,  which  gains  some  sort  of  date  from 
the  poem  representing  Ossian,  the  last  survivor  of  the  band, 
as  extremely  miserable  under  the  teaching  of  St.  Patrick. 
The  fact  was  probably  that  the  floating  myths  of  the  Gael 
attached  themselves  to  some  real  adventurous  band,  and  the 
date  is  no  more  to  be  depended  on  than  those  in  Geoffrey  of 
Monmouth;  but  it  gives  a  point  by  which  to  arrange  the 
names  still  in  great  part  surviving  both  in  Ireland  and  Scot- 
land, though  often  confused  with  those  imported  from  other 
languages. 

After  this  follows  the  cycle  of  names  made  popular  by 
the  romances  of  King  Arthur's  court,  which  naturally  find 
their  place  at  the  time  of  the  fall  of  the  Romui  power  in 
England.  These,  as  far  as  they  can  be  understood  or  inter- 
preted at  all,  are  Cymric,  and  some  have  become  tolerably 
well  known  throughout  Europe. 

The  different  classes  connected  with  one  or  other  of  these 
will  nearly  dispose  of  all  the  Keltic  names  worth  notice. 

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KELTIC  NOMENCLATURE.  1 9 

The  rasaming  will  chiefly  belong  to  the  samts,  in  which 
Wales,  Brittany,  and  Irelaiid  were  particularly  prolific.  The 
odd  thing  is  that  all  the  Welsh  saints  were  in  some  way 
or  oUier  of  royal  birth,  or  else  the  royalty  of  Wales  must 
have  been  peculiarly  pious.  Brittany,  likewise,  had  sundry 
hermits ;  and  Ireland  deserved  its  title  of  the  Isle  of  Saints, 
though,  as  will  be  seen,  some  of  them  were  of  a  peculiarly 
Irish  order,  and  regarded  as  strcxig  cursing  powers. 

The  (jadhaelic  race  had  the  remarkable  custom  of  calling 
their  children  the  servant,  the  disciple,  or  the  votaress  of  the 
patrcm  saint,  so  that  it  is  not  till  recent  times  that  the  pre- 
fixes GioUa,  Maol,  and  Gailleach  have  been  entirely  dropped, 
and  their  traces  are  often  remaining  in  appellations  in  Ire- 
land and  Scotland. 

The  name  was  entirely  personal,  not  hereditary ;  but  the 
pride  of  ancestry  caused  the  father's,  grandfather's,  fore- 
&ther's  names,  to  the  remotest  generation,  to  be  heaped 
upon  one  head,  connected  in  Gadhaelic  by  Macy  the  son^ 
in  Welsh  by  Mah^  or,  as  it  was  contracted,  Ap.  Fiodhbha- 
dach  mac  Conduilig  mhic  Gonani  mhic  Sunanaig  mhic 
Creachain  muaidhe  mhic  Bruide,  answers  to  his  equally 
cumbrous  cousin,  Owen  ap  Rhys  ap  Grufiydd  ap  Dauffyd 
ap  Hugh,  &c.,  &c.,  &c. 

The  Welsh,  about  the  fifteenth  century,  found  these  pedi- 
gree names  unmanageable  in  contact  with  ordinary  society, 
and  contented  themselves  each  with  one  ancestral  surname 
for  good.  Some  incorporated  their  Ap,  as  Pryce,  Ap  Rhys, 
Pugh,  or  Ap  Hugh ;  some,  in  English  fashion,  adding  the 
possessive  s  to  the  end  of  the  father's  name,  like  the  hosts  of 
Joneses  and  Williamses ;  others  took  some  favourite  name  &om 
the  roll  of  ancestry,  or  called  themselves  after  their  estates. 

In  Gradhaelic,  ^e  word  ua,  id  (plu.),  uihh  (dat.)  (see 
the  Greek  vfo$),  signified  the  grandchild,  as  in  vernacular 
Scottish  06  still  does.  In  consequence,  when  the  patience 
was  exhausted  by  Macs  and  Mhics,  a  leap  was  made  back 

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20  NAMES  FROM  THE  KELTIC. 

to  the  great  ancestor  of  the  clan,  and  the  man  who  called 
himself  Mac  to  his  father,  called  himself  Ui,  or  0,  to  his 
chief  forefather.  His  sister  would  be  called  ni,  a  contrac- 
tion of  nigheUy  a  daughter.  When  surnames  first  becaxne 
fashionable,  at  a  date  which  is  perfectly  uncertain,  though 
Irish  authors  placed  it  in  the  time  of  Brien  Boromhe, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  the  clans  in  the 
Highlands  called  themselves  Mac,  those  in  Ireland,  Mac 
uid  0,  or  rather  Hy  in  the  plural,  according  to  their  taste, 
only  Mac  was  generally  the  nearer,  0  the  more  remote  re- 
lation; and  sometimes  both  would  be  used  by  some  minor 
division  of  a  great  tribe.  Thus  an  off-shoot  of  the  O'Brien 
became  Mac  I  Brian,  the  son  of  the  children  of  Brien. 

These  names,  commencing  with  0,  were  never  used  in 
Scotland,  though  Mac  was  common  to  both  divisions  of  the 
race.  After  the  English  conquest  of  Ireland,  not  only  did 
foreign  pronunciation  make  strange  work  with  the  native 
surnames,  but  some  of  the  Irish,  living  within  the  English 
pale,  took  English  surnames;  and  in  the  time  of  Edward 
rV.,  an  Act  of  Parliament  commanded  those  dwelling  in 
the  counties  of  Dublin,  Myeth,  Uriell,  and  Eildare,  to  go 
apparelled  like  Englishmen,  wear  their  beards  after  the 
English  manner,  and  take  English  surnames,  under  pain 
of  forfeiting  their  goods  yearly  till  the  premises  were  done, 
to  be  levied  two  times  a  year  to  the  king's  wars ! 

Terrible  havoc  did  this  Act  make  with  the  Erse  Os  and 
Macs.  Some  translated, — and  hideous  were  their  transla- 
tions,— some  assimilated,  some  took  the  name  of  their  native 
home,  and  some  ran  the  risk  of  forfeit  and  never  changed 
at  all;  but  even  they  were  considerably  disguised  by  pro- 
nunciation, and  the  same  work  has  gone  on  ever  since. 
Thus  O'Conor  becomes  Conyers;  O'Reilly,  Ridley;  Mac 
Mahon,  Matthews ;  in  fact  the  catalogue  is  endless,  uid  the 
only  wonder  is,  that  so  many  old  Erse  names  still  exist. 


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KELTIC  NOMENCLATURE.  21 

The  chief  of  the  family  used  to  sign  official  documents 
with  the  surname  only,  Misi  (^iVctH,  I  am  O'Neill,  and 
was  spoken  of  as  the  O'Neill,  or  whatever  he  might  be, 
as  a. sort  of  title,  though  all  his  family  had  an  equal  right 
widi  himself  to  the  prefix.  This  distinction  continues  in 
use  at  the  present  day,  and  is  sometimes  thought  an  affec- 
tation. 

There  is  a  much  greater  variety  of  ancient  surnames  in 
Ireland  than  in  Scotland,  where  the  dependents  of  a  clan 
gaierally  took  the  name  of  their  chief;  and,  besides,  the 
space  was  much  smaller,  and  the  Lowlanders  followed  the 
English  system  of  surnames. 

Cornwall  and  Brittany  seem  to  have  had  nothing  of  the 
clan  spirit,  but  to  have  used  localities  to  give  the  surnames 
of  their  inhabitants.     The  old  saying — 

•By  Pol,  Tre,  and  Pen, 
you  may  know  the  Cornish  men,' 

is  equally  true  of  their  cousins  the  Bretons,  with  the  addi- 
tion of  Koet,  a  wood,  and  Eaer  or  Ker,  a  rock  or  fortified 
phice. 

The  Keltic  taste  in  names  was  of  the  grand  order,  gene- 
rally in  many  syllables,  and  lofty  in  sense  and  sound,  much 
in  the  style  of  the  Bed  Indian.  Thus  we  find  Brithomar, 
the  great  Briton;  Bathanat,  son  of  the  boar;  Louam,  the 
fox ;  Carvilius,  friend  of  power,  among  the  Kymric  nations 
of  England  and  the  Continent :  and  in  less  complimentary 
s^le,  Mandubrath,  man  of  black  treason.  This  man  of 
Uack  treason  was,  in  Britain,  Avarddwy  Bras,  also  called 
one  of  the  three  disgraceful  men  of  Britain.  It  is  said  that 
Caswallon  had  murdered  Avarddwy's  father,  and  afterwards 
set  out  on  what  the  Triads  call  one  of  the  three  unwise 
armaments,  which  weakened  the  force  of  the  country.  The 
cause  is  romantically  described  by  the  Triads  to  have  been, 


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22  NAMES  FROM  THE  KELTIC. 

that  his  lady-love,  Flur,  had  been  carried  away  by  a  Prince 
of  Gascony  to  be  presented  to  Julius  Csesar ;  moreover,  the 
Mabinogion  says,  he  and  his  two  friends  went  as  far  as 
Rome  to  recover  her,  disguised  as  shoemakers,  whence  .they 
are  called  the  three-fold  shoemakers  of  the  Isle  of  Britain. 
The  aid  that  he  gave  the  Gauls,  does,  in  fact,  seem  to 
have  attracted  the  notice  of  Csesar,  and  the  black  treason 
was  Avarddwy's  invitation  to  the  Romans.  He  was  the 
father  of  Aregwydd  Voeddog,  whose  second  name,  derived 
fnmi  victory,  was  certainly  the  same  as  Boadicea,  though 
her  deed  identifies  her  with  Gartismandua.  Gaswallon,  or 
Gassivellaunus,  as  the  Romans  called  him,  is  sometimes 
explained  as  Cas-gwall-lawn,  chief  of  great  hatred,  some- 
times as  lord  of  the  Gassi.  The  Graels  have  many  grand 
men's  names,  but,  perhaps,  have  used  the  most  poetry  in 
those  of  their  women.  Feithfailge,  honeysuckle  ringlets ; 
Lassairfhina  or  Lassarina,  flame  or  blush  of  the  wine ;  Lassair, 
or  flame,  the  same  in  effect  as  the  Italian  Fiamma ;  Alma, 
all  good,  a  real  old  Erse  name,  before  the  babes  of  Septem- 
ber 1854,  were  called  Alma,  after  the  Grimean  river,  which 
probably  bore  a  Keltic  name.  Bebinn,  or  as  Macpherson 
writes  it,  Vevina,  the  melodious  woman ;  Essa,  the  nurse ; 
Gelges,  swan  white ;  Luanmaisi,  fair  as  the  moon;  Ligach, 
pearly. 

Yet  thirst  had  her  namesake,  Ita;  and  famine  hers,  Una ; 
and  besides  these,  Derdr^,  was  fear ;  Dorenn,  sullen ;  Uailsi, 
proud ;  Unchi,  contentious. 

All  of  these,  and  many  besides,  have  entirely  fallen  into 
desuetude,  and  all  the  Keltic  countries  have  a  practice  of 
adopting  names  from  their  neighbours,  supposed  to  answer  to 
their  own,  but  often  without  the  slightest  aflhiity  thereto. 

Thus  Anmcha,  courageous,  is  supposed  to  be  translated 
by  Ambrose;  Aneslis  is  rendered  by  Stanislaus  and  Stan- 
dish  ;  Fachtna,  is  Festus ;  Baothgalach,  or  youthful  courage, 
Boethius. 

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KELTIC  NOMENCLATUBE.  23 

Corroptions  must  be  permitted  to  otir  English  tongues 
and  throats,  which  break  down  at  a  guttural,  so  it  is  no 
wcmder  that  Berach  (looking  full  at  the  mark)  should  be 
turned  into  Barrj,  Dorchaidhe,  sometimes  into  Darkey,  which 
really  translates  the  word,  and  sometimes  Darcy ;  but  it  is 
rather  hard  when  we  have  to  read  Gillespie  for  Archibald, 
and  Edward  for  Diarmaid."^ 

^  yiIlemArqii6 ;  ODonovan ;  Highland  Socisty'i  OaeUc  Dictionary, 


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H 


CHAPTER  n. 

ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

Section  L —  Wekh  Myths  of  the  Flood. 

Welsh  myths  we  say  advisedly,  for  whether  these  were  really 
Draidical  myths  or  not,  they  have  hecome  so  much  disguised 
by  Welsh  bards,  down  to  Christian  times,  that  there  is  no 
knowing  what  was  the  original  framework.  We  must  be 
content  to  tell  the  story  uninterruptedly  as  it  is  told  in  the 
poems  attributed  to  Taliessin  and  Aneurin,  and  in  the  prose 
2Wadi,.without  pausing  over  the  discussion  whether  the  le- 
gends are  genuine,  and  how  much  in  them  is  Druid,  or  how 
much  Christian.  Our  concern  is  with  the  names  connected 
with  these  traditions,  of  which  there  are  many. 

The  primary  personages  of  semi-divine  rank  in  these  tra- 
ditions are  Hu  Gadam,  or  the  Mighty,  the  sun  god,  and  his 
wife  Ceridwen.  The  whole  world  was  inundated,  and  only  a 
man  and  woman  named  Dwyvan  and  Dwyvach  escaped  in  a 
vessel  without  oar  or  sail,  together  with  two  animals  of  each 
sort.  The  Addank  or  Avanc,  or  beaver,  kept  the  earth 
under  water  till  Hu  Gadam  commanded  his  oxen  to  draw  it 
out ;  but  the  exertion  was  so  great,  that  the  eye-balls  of  one 
of  them  burst,  and  he  died  as  soon  as  his  task  was  completed; 
his  companion  refused  all  food,  and  likewise  died. 

One  legend  makes  the  Addank,  or  Avank-dhu,  or  Avagdu, 
the  black  beaver,  also  mean  utter  darkness ;  and  be  the  son 
of  Ceridwen,  together  with  another  brother,  Mor-vran,  the 
sea-raven  or  cormorant ;  and  a  daughter  called  either  Criez- 
vion,  the  middle  of  the  egg,  or  Creir-wy,  the  token  of 
the  egg* 

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WELSH  MYTHS  OF  THE  FLOOD.  25 

Ayagdha  is  represented  in  one  of  these  poems  as  in  dread 
of  another  deluge,  until  the  danger  was  averted  bj  the  form- 
ation of  Arian-rhod-mach-Don,  the  goddess  of  the  silver 
wheel,  that  is,  the  rainbow.  She  is  the  daughter  of  Beli,  or 
the  son,  and  was  formed  out  of  the  flowers.  She  rides  upon 
a  pale  bright  horse  with  rich  trappings,  upon  the  springing 
grass,  so  swiftly  that  no  pursuer,  ride  as  rapidly  as  he  may, 
can  come  up  with  her ;  and  it  was  her  office  to  scare  away 
the  spirits  of  wrath  from  the  earth,  and  remove  the  bane 
or  poison  of  the  deluge,  as  weU  as  to  become  the  bride  of 
Avagdhu. 

A  still  wilder  story  made  Ceridwen  a  so;rt  of  hag,  desirous 

of  imparting  wisdom  to  her  son  Avagdhu.    For  this  purpose 

she  proceeded  to  brew  a  cauldron  of  mystic  contents  which 

were  to  bring  forth  a  drink  of  inspiration.     The  boiling  was 

to  last  a  year,  during  which  she  set  a  blind  man  named  Morda 

to  keep  up  the  fire,  and  a  dwarf  called  Gwion  (Sense)  to 

watch  him,  and  stir  the  fire.  While  she  was  absent  gathering 

herbs,  three  drops  flew  out  of  the  cauldron  on  Gwion's  finger. 

He  put  it  to  his  lips,  and  the  first  taste  revealed  to  him  all 

that  was  to  come,  especially  his  own  danger  from  the  wiles  of 

Ceridwen.    At  the  same  time  the  cauldron  burst,  and  its 

contents  were  dispersed.     Ceridwen  returning,  pursued  the 

dwarf  in  a  fury,  when  a  set  of  transformations  took  place, 

like  those  of  the  princess  and  the  genie  in  the  Arabian 

Nights.     Gwion,  to  elude  her,  became  a  hare ;  she  pursued 

him  as  a  greyhound :  he  leapt  into  a  river  as  a  fish,  she 

followed  as  an  otter ;  then  he  flew  up  like  a  little  bird,  she 

hovered  over  him  as  a  hawk ;  he  fell  on  the  bam  floor  as  a 

grain  of  wheat,  and  she,  as  a  high-crested  hen,  pecked  him  up. 

But  in  process  of  time  the  unfortunate  Gwion  was  reborn 

of  the  hag  Ceridwen.     So  much  did  she  hate  him,  that  she 

had  resolved  to  destroy  him ;  but  the  beauty  of  die  infant 

moved  her  not  to  kill  him,  but  to  place  him  in  a  coracle 

covered  with  skins,  and  set  him  afloat  on  the  lake. 

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26  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

Meantime^  Elphin,  son  of  Gwjdnn,  had  grown  np  ihe  most 
helpless  and  needy  of  jonths,  always  in  distress,  till  as  a  last 
hope  his  father  grant^  him  the  produce  of  the  drawing  of 
the  nets  on  the  weir  for  one  night,  to  give  him  a  start  in  life. 
The  nets  were  wont  to  yield  largely,  hut  on  the  May  eve  in 
question  nothing  was  found  but  a  leathern  bag.  On  opening 
it,  the  infant  within  was  so  gloriously  beautiful,  that  the 
fisherman  started  back,  exclaiming,  ^  Taliessin ! '  (radiant 
brow.)  Elphin  proceeded  to  carry  his  foundling  home  00 
horseback,  while  the  child  consoled  him  with  a  song,  assuring 
him  that 

*  In  the  day  of  trouble  I  shall  be 
Of  more  worth  to  thee  than  fifty  salmon.' 

He  redeemed  his  promise,  when  Elphin  was  afterwards  made 
prisoner  by  a  hostile  prince,  and  was  released,  won  a  horse 
race,  and  found  a  cauldron  of  gold,  all  through  the  wonder- 
working powers  of  Taliessin,  who  became  the  mythic  parent 
of  Bardism  in  Britain. 

Such  are  the  legends  that  Welsh  and  Breton  antiquaries 
treat  as  the  faith  of  the  Druids,  and  as  distorted  traditions  of 
the  Flood,  the  Rainbow,  and  the  finding  of  Moses.  Later 
critics,  however,  hold  that  the  Welsh  poets  christianized  the 
legends  knowingly,  lolo  Goch,  Owen  Glendwyr's  bard, 
made  confusion  worse  confounded,  by  describing  the  real 
Noah,  under  the  mystic  name  of  Hu  Gadam;  and  Rhys 
Brydedd,  a  century  later,  glorifies  the  sun  as  Hu : 

'  An  atom  of  glowing  heat  is  his  car, 
Great  on  land  and  in  the  sea.' 

Indeed,  in  the  miracle  plays,  he  and  his  oxen, — their  har- 
ness supposed  to  resemble  flames, — seem  to  have  played  a 
part,  perhaps  somewhat  as  early  painters  brought  in  the 
winds  of  ^olus  blowing  the  ship  of  the  Apostles.  Mr. 
Davies  imagines  that  Hu  had  worshippers  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  found  in  support  of  this  theory  a  denunciation 

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WELSH  MYTHS  OF  THE  FLOOD.  27 

against  *  the  men  of  Hu  *  by  Dr.  John  Kent,  for  *  false 
inspiration  and  filthy  predictions/  but  this  is  thought  to  ap- 
ply to  some  of  the  prophecies  that  the  Welsh  were  fond  of 
coming. 

Even  fix^m  this  it  is  evident  that  some  old  belief  in  Ha 
existed ;  and  it  is  further  believed  that  the  two  sacred  islands 
of  lona  and  Mona  were  both  originally  Ynysgwaw  Hu,  the 
island  of  the  worship  of  Hu.  Others,  however,  say,  that 
lona  was  only  I-thon,  or  isle  of  the  waves. 

Other  traditions  make  Hu  Gadam  the  leader  of  the  ori- 
ginal migration  of  the  Cymry  from  Taprobane,  in  Asia, — 
another  instance  of  curious  confusion  between  a  religious  and 
a  colonizing  myth. 

The  word  Hu  is  not  ezplamed ;  but  it  has  passed  into  a 
name  in  Wales  uid  Brittany.  Old  French  has  the  name  in- 
flected as  Hue,  Hues,  Huon,  and  the  feminine  Huette ;  and 
the  true  anglicized  Welsh  form  is  Hu  or  Hew,  though  it 
is  now  universally  confounded  with  the  Teutonic  Hugh, 
from  hugur^  thought,  with  which  it  may  be  cognate,  and 
the  Welsh  patronymic  Ap  Hu  is  always  spelt  Pugh. 

The  Triads  speak  of  Aed  Mawr,  or  Aedd,  as  father  of 
Pridain,  but  he  may  have  been  either  a  title  of  Hu,  or  else 
die  god  himself.  He  had  died  and  lived  alternately,  and  in 
the  Sdnes  Taliessin^  the  bard  speaks  of  having  once  been 
Aedd.  There  is  an  elegy  on  Aeddon  of  Mona,  attributed  to 
Taliessin,  that  speaks  of  him  as  the  leader  of  a  migration 
from  the  land  of  Gwydion,  in  charge  of  a  sacred  ark.  It  is 
very  curious  after  this,  to  find  that  the  Gadhaelic  name  of 
Aedh  or  Aodh,  in  both  Ireland  and  the  Highlands,  is  always 
translated  into  English  nomenclature  as  Hugh,  though  it  means 
fire.  Is  this  a  reminiscence  of  some  ancient  time,  when  the 
Eymry  and  the  Qael  were  one,  and  Aedd,  or  fire,  was  a  title 
of  Hu  ?  Aodh  is,  in  fact,  in  sound  and  sense,  closely  related 
to  the  Greek  aWta  (aitho),  and  our  heat  is  of  the  same  kin. 

Dr.  Meyer  thinks  this  Aed  Mawr  of  the  Triads  was  the 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


28  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

forefather  from  whom  the  ^dui  mentioned  by  Caesar  were 
called,  and  further  derives  from  him  Caeer  Aeddon,  or  Don 
Aeddon,  Dun  Edin,  or  Edinburgh.  Yet,  on  the  other  hand, 
M.  de  Villemarque  explains  the  JEdui  as  eaters  of  wheat ; 
and  it  is  a  part  of  our  English  faith  that  Auld  Reekie  is 
our  Northumbrian  Edwin's  burgh. 

Aed,  Aeddon,  Aodh,  Aedhan  were  far  more  popular 
names  than  those  derived  from  Hu.  Aeddan  is  lamented 
by  Aneurin  as  a  British  warrior  slain  among  the  victims  of 
Henghist's  treachery ;  and  two  Aoidhs  reigned,  the  one  in 
Gonnaught,  the  other  in  Scotland,  in  570 ;  and  to  the  latter 
of  these,  called  by  Scottish  historians  Aidan,  or  Edan,  they 
ascribe  the  foundation  of  their  capital ;  but  it  was  at  that 
time  in  the  possession  of  the  Angles,  and  if  called  after 
Aodh,  it  must  have  been  after  an  earlier  one.  The  Irish 
Aodh  is  said  to  have  been  about  to  expel  the  bards,  but  to 
have  been  prevented  by  the  intercession  of  St.  Columb. 

At  one  time  Ireland  was  afficted  with  thirteen  contempo- 
rary Aodhs ;  and  at  least  two  so  called  reigned  in  Scotland — 
Aodhfin,  or  the  white,  the  Ethfine  of  historians,  and  Aoidh, 
or  Eth,  the  swift  footed.  So  common  was  the  name  among 
the  Irish  that  one  hundred  Aodhs  and  one  hundred  Aoddans 
were  killed  in  the  battle  of  Maghrath,  of  which  we  shall  have 
more  to  say  in  time.  The  Mac  Aodhs  of  Ireland  were  once 
many  in  number,  but  are  now  translated  into  Hughson  or 
Hewson.  But  the  most  interesting  person  so  called  is  known 
to  us  as  Aidan.  Gonnaught  lays  claim  to  his  birth,  and  says 
he  was  sumamed  Maeldog,  or  Moedog,  servant  of  the  star, 
from  the  appearance  of  a  star  before  his  birth.  He  visited 
Wales  and  Scotland,  became  a  monk  of  lona,  and  then 
went  forth  as  a  missionary  to  the  North  of  England.  He 
was  the  friend  of  the  admirable  Oswald,  free  of  hand,  king 
of  Deira,  who  used  to  interpret  his  Keltic  speech  to  the 
Angle  population ;  and  his  gentle  teaching  won  to  the  Church 
multitudes  whom  the  harshness  of  former  missionaries  had 
repelled.    He  is  reckoned  as  first  bishop  of  Lindisfam,  and 


WELSH  MYTHS  OF  THE  FLOOD.  29 

has  left  his  name  to  sundry  churches  of  St.  Aidan.  Aoidhne, 
or  Eithne^  was  the  Irish  feminine  once  distinguished,  but  now 
disused. 

Aidan  is  still  a  female  name  among  some  Welsh  families, 
and  it  is  very  possible  that  the  old  French  Eudon  and  Eudes 
may  be  really  sprung  from  Aeddan,  rather  than  from  the 
German  Odd,  to  which  they  are  generally  referred. 

Another  Irish  St.  Aeddan,  who  was  bishop  of  Ferns  about 
the  year  632,  has  a  most  curious  variety  of  namesakes — 
some  from  his  baptismal  name,  others  from  his  soubriquet  of 
Maidoc,  or  Madwg,  the  beneficent.  The  Latin  translation 
of  Aidan,  Aideus,  or  Aidanus,  has  adhered  to  him  in  Basse 
Bretagne,  but  has  there  been  cut  down  into  De,  St.  De  being 
the  appellation  of  a  village  there,  the  church  of  which  is 
dedicated  to  him ;  but  in  his  native  country,  in  the  families 
of  (yDoyle  and  Eavanagh,  Maidoc  or  Mogue,  is  the  here- 
ditary Christian  name  adopted  from  him,  and  which  is  by 
the  Protestants  anglicized  as  Aidan,  by  the  Roman  Ca- 
tholics as  Moses ;  an  exceedingly  strange  rule. 

Madog,  or  Madawc,  was  the  usual  form  in  Wales,  where  it 
has  always  been  in  great  favour.  Madawc,  prince  of  Powys- 
land,  who  died  in  1158,  in  great  favour  with  Henry  11. 
Another  Madawc,  prince  of  North  Wales,  sailed  westward 
about  the  year  1169,  and  is  supposed  by  some  to  have  been 
die  traditional  teacher  from  the  East  dimly  remembered  by 
die  Aztecs  of  Mexico;  thus  frumishing  Southey  with  the 
subject  of  his  poem  of  Madoc,  a  tale  of  adventure  that 
would  be  more  inviting  were  it  in  prose  instead  of  blank 
Terse.  Some  Ap  Madoc  has  bestowed  on  England  the  sur- 
names of  Maddock  and  Maddox. 

Betoming  to  the  other  supposed  traditions  connected  with 
die  deluge,  we  are  told  in  the  beautiful  myth  of  Arianrod, 
diat  the  wheel  in  some  of  the  Cunobelin  coinage  is  her  silver 
wheel,  or  rainbow;  but  later  enquiry  insists  on  our  con- 
sidering her  story  as  a  mere  fairy  tale.  The  Triads  mention 
Arianrod  as  sister  of  Caswallon,  and  mother  of  two  chiefs, 


30  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

who  joined  their  uncle  in  his  *  unwise  armaments/  when  he 
went  to  Gaul,  and  so  brought  Caesar  down  on  Britain.  At 
any  rate,  Arian  is  the  Welsh  word  for  silver,  and  Arianwen, 
silver  lady,  is  the  name  of  a  very  early  Welsh  saint,  and 
has  frequently  been  repeated  even  down  to  the  present  day. 
Neither  the  name*  nor  the  story  seem,  however,  to  have  tra- 
velled beyond  the  Cymry.  The  leek  is  said  to  have  been 
used  by  the  Welsh  in  the  worship  of  Ceridwen.  Afterwards 
a  story  rose  that,  in  one  of  Cadwallawn's  battles,  his  Welsh- 
men marked  themselves  with  leeks  from  a  garden  hard  by, 
and  the  story  was  transferred  to  the  Welsh  troops  of  the 
Black  Prince  in  France. 

Ced,  or  Cyridwen,  in  whom  Mr.  Davies  sees  an  emblem  of 
the  ark,  shows  no  namesakes ;  but  JwadA,  or  buddy  victory, 
furnished  for  her  the  epithet  of  Buddug,  or  Buddud ;  and, 
perhaps,  she  is  the  Boundonica  mentioned  by  Dion  Cassius 
as  a  Keltic  goddess.  Probably  it  was  either  as  a  victorious 
omen,  or  else  in  honour  of  her,  that  the  name  of  Buddug 
was  given  to  that  fierce  chieftainess  of  the  Iceni,  whose 
savage  vengeance  for  her  wrongs  has  won  for  her  a  very 
disproportionate  fame,  as  much  changed  as  her  name,  when 
we  call  it  Bonduca,  or,  more  usually,  Boadicea.  Aregwedd 
Voeddog,  or  Foeddog,  who  betrayed  Garadwg,  is  said  by 
some  to  be  this  queen ;  but  though  the  name  is  the  same» 
the  nature  is  far  otherwise.  It  has  not  met  with  much  repe- 
tition, yet  we  have  heard  of  a  family  so  patriotic  as  to  con- 
tain both  Garactacus  and  Boadicea.  Buadhach  was,  how- 
ever, long  a  man's  name  in  Ireland,  and  Budhic  was  one  of 
the  early  Armorican  princes. 

Gwion,  the  unlucky  dwarf,  the  victim  of  Ceridwen's  brew- 
ing, seems  to  have  left  his  name  behind  him,  whether  it  be 
as  M.  Pitre  Chevalier  explains  it,  esprit^  sense,  or  be  con- 
nected with  the  Welsh  gwythy  and  Cornish  gwgy  anger. 

Aneurin  mentions  a  knight  named  Gwiawn  as  having  been 
slain  in  the  battle  of  Cattraeth ;  and  Gwion  is  a  knight  of 

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WELSH  MYTHS  OF  THE  FLOOD.  31 

Arthur's  court,  figaring  as  Sir  Guj  among  the  knights  of 
the  Round  Table,  and  famishing  Spenser  with  his  Sir  Gu jon, 
the  hero  of  the  second  "  Book  of  Courtesie  "  in  his  Faerie 
Queen. 

Qnj  has  since  been  a  favoarite  name,  but  it  has  become 
so  entangled  with  the  Latin  Vitus  that  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible to  distinguish  the  Keltic  from  the  Roman  name.  It 
iqspears  to  have  prevailed  in  France  very  early  as  Guy, 
Guies,  Guyon,  in  the  feminine  Guiette;  and  besides  the 
Sicilian  infant  martyr,  Vitus,  obtained  two  patrons,  St.  Guy, 
the  Poor  Man  of  Anderlecht,  a  pilgrim  to  Jerusalem,  who 
died  in  1014 ;  and  the  Italian,  St  Guide,  abbot  of  Pomposa, 
in  Ferrara,  who  died  in  1042.  Both  lived  long  after  their 
name  had  become  so  popular,  that  it  could  not  have  depended 
upon  diem.  Queen  Matilda,  in  her  Bayeux  tapestry,  labels 
as  Wido,  the  Count  Guy  of  Ponthieu,  who  captured  Harold 
on  his  ill-starred  expedition  to  Normandy,  and  thus  she  evi- 
dently does  not  consider  him  as  Vitus. 

The  Guy,  Earl  of  Warwick,  who  killed  the  Dun  Cow,  went 
on  pilgrimage,  became  a  hermit,  and  slew  the  giant,  Dane 
Gdbrand,  before  the  gates  of  Winchester,  bears  in  his  name 
tok^s  of  Anglo-Norman  invention,  though  he  is  said  to 
have  lived  under  wSthelstan.  His  traditions  have  been  traced 
back  no  further  than  the  thirteenth  century,  and,  perhaps, 
weare  inspired  by  the  huge  bone,  called  the  Cow's  Rib,  and 
shown  at  the  Church  of  St  Mary  Redclyffe.  Gu/s  Cliff, 
at  Warwick  Castle,  is  likewise  connected  with  him ;  and  he 
really  seems  to  have  been  the  occasion  of  the  naming  of  the 
veritable  Guy,  Earl  of  Warwick,  of  Edward  IL  's  reign,  who 
BO  fearfully  took  vengeance  for  Piers  Gaveston  having  called 
Um  the  Black  Dog  of  Arden. 

Guy  and  Guide  were  both  fairly  frequent  with  us,  until 
'  Gimpowder  Treason '  gave  a  sinister  association  to  the  sound 
of  Guide  Fawkes,  and  tlie  perpetual  celebrations  of  the  5th 
rf  November,  wilii  the  burning  of  Guy  Fawkes  in  efSgy^ 

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32  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

have  given  a  meaning  to  the  tenn  of  Guy,  that  will  probably 
continue  long  after  the  last  tar-barrel  has  flamed,  and  the 
last  cracker  exploded  over  his  doom. 

Guido  and  Guidone  were  the  proper  Italian  forms,  much 
used  in  the  whole  Peninsula,  and  appearing  in  Ariosto's 
poem  in  the  person  of  Guidon  Selvaggio,  a  rustic,  unci- 
vilized knight.  From  the  sound  it  was  long  imagined  that 
the  names  came  either  from  guide  or  from  guidon^  a  banner 
or  ensign ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  either  the  Keltic 
Gwion,  or  the  Latin  Vitus  was  their  true  origin. 

Elphin,  who  fished  up  the  young  bard  Taliessin,  is  by  Mr. 
Davies  supposed  to  have  been  called  from  phaneSj  the  sun ; 
but  this  is  a  very  wild  conjecture.  Elphin  was  really  a 
British  name,  and  the  IViads  say  Elfin  was  one  of  the  four 
men  who  were  despatched  by  Uewfyr  Mawr  to  bring  home 
the  Gospel  to  Britain.  The  rationalizing  process  explains 
the  tale  of  the  finding  of  Taliessin  thus.  The  bard,  a  fuU- 
grown  man,  was  said  to  have  been  fishing  in  a  skin  coracle 
when  he  was  taken  prisoner  as  before,  but  made  his  escape, 
pushed  off  in  his  own  coracle,  and  was  carried  by  wind  and 
tide  to  the  Weir  of  Aber-dyvi,  where  he  was  caught  in  the 
nets  of  Elphin  ap  Gwyddnu  as  before,  and,  like  every  one 
else,  both  were  absorbed  into  the  court  of  King  Arthur. 

As  to  Taliessin,  there  was  a  veritable  poet  of  the  name 
who  lived  in  the  sixth  century,  and  is  caUed  one  of  the  three 
baptismal  bards  of  Britain.  Genealogies  make  him  the  son 
of  St.  Henwg,  the  bard ;  and  one  MS.  says  that  he  built  the 
church  of  Llanhenwg  to  his  father's  memory.  Some  few 
poems  of  his  are  preserved,  but  an  immense  number  of  much 
later  authorship  have  been  fathered  upon  him,  together  with 
a  number  of  prophecies  after  the  pattern  of  those  of 
Merlin. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  he  was  the  namesake  of  some 
mythical  Taliessin,  and  it  is  just  within  the  bounds  of  pos- 
sibility that  ^me  distant  remembrance  of  Moses  may  lurk 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


LIB  AND  HIS  DAUGHTERa  33 

in  the  infant  of  radiant  brow,  poet  and  lawgiver,  preserved 
in  the  wicker  coracle.  Taliessin  has,  however,  been  since 
used  as  a  name  in  Wales ;  Talorgan,  splendid  brow,  was  a 
Pictish  king ;  and  Elphin  has  had  some  limited  use,  but  it  is 
not  easy  to  distinguish  its  derivatives  from  those  of  the  Teu- 
tonic Elf.  Indeed,  it  probably  likewise  comes  from  the  Indo- 
European  alby  white,  which  probably  named  Albin,  Albion, 
and  Albany,^  as  well  as  the  Alps  and  the  Elbe.  It  was  the 
name  of  one  of  the  ambassadors  sent  by  Lucius  to  Rome  to 
bring  home  Christian  teachers,  and  belonged  to  a  Hctish 
king,  who  was  killed  in  727  at  Fit  Elpie.  In  730  a  Pictish 
princess,  marrying  into  the  Scottish  royal  family,  gave  the 
same  name  to  her  son,  who  was  called  Alpin,  and  was  killed  on 
the  borders  of  Galloway,  at  a  spot  called  from  his  tomb  Lacht 
Alpin,  the  stone  of  Alpm,  in  836.  The  clan  of  Alpin  con- 
tinued in  the  Highlands,  and  its  members  bore  the  name  of 
Macalpin.  Professor  CSosmo  Lmes,  however,  relates  an 
amusing  promotion  frx)m  the  original  surname  of  Halfpenny 
to  the  aristocratic  Macalpin.f 


Section  IL — Lir  and  his  Daughters. 

Geoflfrey  of  Monmouth  made  the  eleventh  of  his  kings, 
descended  from  Brute,  to  be  called  Leir,  and  live  at  Leircester 
of  Leicester,  on  the  river  Sore,  somewhere  about  the  time  of 
the  prophet  Elisha. 

ELe  is  one  of  the  earliest  authorities  for  the  story  of  Leir  and 
the  ungrateful  daughters,  whom  he  calls  Gononlla  and  Regan. 
He  gives  the  name  of  Cordeilla  to  the  reserved  but  faithful 
daughter  who  could  not  pay  lip  service,  but  redeemed  her 

•  Chalmers,  howeTer,  deriTes  the  Eeltio  Alban  flx)m  a  word  meaning 
tbebeigfata. 

t  Davies,  Rites  of  the  Druids;  Ktre,  Bretagne  Aneienne  et  Modeme  ; 
Meyer;  Butler;  Lappenbnrg,  Anglo-Saxons;  DonoTan;  Lower;  Chal- 
nun;  Cosmo Izmes;  Cambro-Briton. 

vo^-  n.  Digit  zecRy  Google 


34  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

father's  kingdom  when  he  was  exiled  and  misused  by  her 
flattering  sisters.  It  was  a  very  remarkable  conception  of 
character,  even  thus  barely  narrated,  without  the  lovely 
endowments  with  which  we  have  since  learnt  to  invest  the 
good  daughter.  The  sequel  in  GeoffJpey's  chronicle  related, 
that  after  his  kingdom  was  restored,  old  Leir  died  in  peace 
at  Leicester,  and  was  buried  by  Cordeilla  *in  a  certain  vault 
which  she  ordered  to  be  made  for  him  under  the  river  Sore, 
at  Leicester,  and  which  had  been  built  originally  under  the 
ground  to  the  honour  of  the  god  Janus ;  and  here  all  the 
workmen  of  the  city,  upon  the  anniversary  solemnity  of  that 
festival,  used  to  begin  their  yearly  labours.' 

He  further  narrates  that  Cordeilla  was  dethroned  by  her 
nephews,  and  committed  suicide  in  despair.  To  this  story 
adhered  both  the  old  ballad-monger  and  Spenser,  in  the 
history  studied  by  Sir  Guyon;  but  Shakespeare  loved  his 
sweet  Cordelia  too  well  to  stain  her  with  self-murder,  and, 
though  omitting  all  allusion  to  Christianity,  made  her  in  all 
her  ways  and  actions  a  true  Christian,  and  never  perhaps 
showed  more  consummate  art  than  in  producing  so  perfect  an 
effect  with  a  person  so  chary  of  her  words. 

Whence  did  GreoflBrey  get  the  story  which  has  produced 
such  fruits  ? 

Lir,  beyond  a  doubt,  is  the  word  in  all  Keltic  tongues  for 
the  sea,  and  has  named  places  in  all  countries.  He  is  also  a 
mythological  personage,  a  god  in  the  elder  Lrish  belief,  and 
father  of  Man-&-n&n,  the  Erse  Neptune. 

'Their  ocean  god  was  Mftn-d-n&n,  Mao  Lir, 

Whose  angry  lips 
In  their  white  foam  ftdl  often  would  inter 
Whole  fleets  of  ships.' 

Lideed,  his  name  seems  to  have  been  adopted  by  the 
Scandinavians,  for,  with  them,  Hler  is  another  name  for  the 
sea  god,  also  called  CBgir,  or,  the  terrible. 

Afterwards,  later  ballads  humanized  Lir,  and  made  him 
the  fSEkther  of  M&n-&-nfin,  one  of  the  Tuadi  De  Danan,  or 


LIB  AND  HIS  DAUGHTERS.  35 

earlj  ccmqnerors  of  Lreland,  and  Lord  of  the  Isle  of  Man, 
which  is  said  to  be  called  after  him.  There  is  a  tradition 
in  Londonderry  that  his  spirit  lives  in  an  enchanted  castle 
in  the  waves  of  Magilligan,  and  that  his  magic  ship  appears 
everj  seventh  year.  Moreover,  the  daughters  of  Mananan, 
gnnddaoghters  of  Lir,  were  cidled  Aind  and  Aoifid,  and  had 
t  desperate  quarrel  whose  husband  was  the  best  hunter. 

Wales,  on  its  side,  shows  in  the  Isle  of  Anglesea  a  crom- 
lech, called  the  tomb  of  Bronwen,  daughter  of  King  Lljr  or 
Leiros.  The  tomb  was  opened  in  1813,  and  an  ancient  urn, 
once  probably  containing  ashes,  was  found  there.  It  seems 
thit  a  somewhat  more  substantial  Llyr  lived  about  the  time 
of  the  Roman  conquest,  and  was  the  father  of  Bronwen, 
who  married  the  king  of  Ireland,  was  ill-treated  by  him, 
and  received  a  box  on  the  ear,  which  was  one  of  the  three 
fatal  insults  of  the  Isle  of  Britain.  This  lady  is  very 
probably  the  Bronwen  of  the  cromlech ;  but  the  conjecture 
of  the  Bev.  Edward  Davies  is,  that  in  the  story  of  King 
I^,  we  may  have  the  remains  of  an  ancient  myth. 

It  is  certainly  remarkable  that  the  notion  of  Lyr,  in  con- 
nection with  turbulent  daughters  or  granddaughters,  should 
be  common  to  both  Britain  and  Ireland.  Mr.  Davies  ex- 
plains Cordelia  to  have  been  originally  Greirdyddlydd,  the 
token  of  the  overflowing,  also  called  Creirwy,  or  the  token  of 
the  egg.  Crair  is  a  token,  the  sacred  article  on  which  a  man 
inakes  oath,  whence  it  came  to  mean  either  a  relic  or  a 
jewel;  and  Creirwy  is  explained  by  Dr.  Owen  Pugh,as  a  fine 
woman.  Creirdyddlydd  might  thus  be  the  jewel  of  the  sea, 
or  the  token  of  the  flood.  At  any  rate,  Creirdyddlydd  or 
Creirwy  is  a  creation  of  ancient  Welsh  poetry,  once  mythical, 
the  dau^ter  of  the  sea,  Llyr  or  Uud,  on  which  Geofirey  seized 
for  his  history.  Bronwen,  or  fair  bosom,  is  either  another 
daughter  of  Lyr,  or  else  Creirdyddlydd  under  another  name, 
and  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  British  Proserpine.  Both 
Bronwen  and  Creirwy  are  called  Gwrvorwyn,  man-maid,  or 
TOigo,  and  it  does  not  seem  impossible  that  h^^  jg(Wg^e 

D2 


36  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

origin  of  Cordelia,  B^an,  and  Goneril,  as  ihey  have  tieen 
adapted  to  English  pronunciation,  the  token  of  the  overflow- 
ing, the  fair  bosom,  and  the  yirago.  Surely  these  are  the 
daughters  of  the  ocean,  rebellious  and  peaceful.  Dynwen, 
too,  is  the  white  wave,  the  patroness  of  lovers ;  and  as  we 
shall  find  by-and-bye  wave  names  are  remarkably  common 
among  the  Welsh. 

Lear  is  also  called  Llwyd,  the  grey,  or  the  extended,  a 
fitting  title  for  the  sea^  and  which  has  passed  on  to  form 
Lloyd,  so  common  as  a  Welsh  Christian  and  surname,  and 
passing  to  England  as  Floyd. 

Creirdyddlydd  has  due  justice  done  her  in  the  Mabinogion, 
where  we  further  learn  that  she  remains  with  her  father  till 
the  day  of  doom,  and  that  in  the  meantime  two  kings, 
Gwyn  ab  Nudd  and  Ghwythir  mab  Graidiawn,  have  a  battle 
for  her  hand  on  every  May-day. 

Cordula  is  set  down  in  Welsh  and  German  calendars  on 
the  22nd  of  October  as  one  of  the  ii,ooo  virgins,  her  feast 
following  that  of  St.  Ursula.  It  may  be  remembered  that 
St.  Ursula  was  said  to  be  Cornish ;  and  that  her  only  re- 
corded companion  should  bear  a  Cymric  name,  is  in  favour 
of  some  shade  of  foundation  for  her  story.  Eordula  is  in  con- 
sequence a  German  name.  Eordula  was  a  princess  of  Ling^i 
in  1473  9  ^^  Michel  and  Eordel  are  two  children  in  Ger- 
man household  tradition  so  constantly  falling  into  mishaps  as 
to  have  become  a  proverb  for  folly. 

The  Germans  fancy  Cordula  is  the  diminutive  of  the 
Latin  cor  J  a  heart ;  others  have  wildly  made  it  the  feminine 
of  CordeleOj  lion  heart,  and  it  has  been  confused  with  Delia, 
the  epithet  of  Diana,  firom  Delos,  her  birthplace ;  but  Creir- 
dyddlydd is  certainly  its  origin,  and  remembering  that  in 
Welsh  d  is  softened  and  aspirated  by  being  doubled,  is  not 
far  firom  it  in  sound.  Cordelia  is  hereditary  in  some  Lrish 
families;  but  is  chiefly  used  for  love  of  Shakespeare's 
heroine  of  filial  love. 

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Lm  AND  HIS  DAUGHTERS.  37 

Bronwen  makes  her  appearance  agam  in  the  romance  of 
Sir  Tristram,  mider  the  name  of  Brengwain,  the  maid  of 
Tseulte.  When  the  Lady  Teeulte  was  sent  from  her  home 
in  Ireland,  mider  the  escort  of  Tristram,  to  be  married  to 
King  Mark,  of  Cornwall, 

*  Her  moder  about  was  blithe, 
And  tok  a  drink  of  might, 
That  love  would  kithe, 
And  tok  it  Brengwain  the  bright 
To  think 
At  a  spouseing  a  night 
Gif  Mark  and  her  a  drink.' 

Unfortunately,  a  tempest  arose  on  the  voyage,  and,  in  the 
consequent  exhaustion, '  Swete  Tsonde,  the  fi^,  asked  Breng- 
wain a  drink.' 

'  Brengwain  was  wrong  bi  thought, 
To  that  drink  sche  gan  win ; 
And  swete  Ysonde  it  bitanght, 
Sche  bade  Tristram  begin 
To  say, 
Her  love  might  no  man  turn. 
Till  her  ending  day ! ' 

Even  the  ^  hound  that  was  there  biside,  yclept  Hodain,' 
who  licked  up  the  drops  that  were  spilt  of  the  philtre,  became 
attached  to  the  knight  and  lady  with  the. same  magic  love. 

Hereupon  Davies  carries  us  off  to  the  realms  of  mystic 
mydi,  and  tells  us  that  Brengwain  was  the  old  goddess  Bron- 
wen, and  that  her  draught  was  of  the  liquor  of  the  mystic 
cauldron  of  Geridwen,  or  of  the  wine  and  bragget  by  which  the 
Welsh  bards  were  initiated,  and  that  even  Hodain  represented 
the  priesthood !  Be  that  as  it  may,  Bronwen  or  Brengwain 
has  since  been  in  use  as  a  Welsh  female  Christian  name. 

The  names  of  the  granddaughters  of  the  Irish  King  Lear 
were  Aine  and  Aoife,  and  their  dispute  was  whose  husband 
was  the  best  hunter.  Aine  means  joy  or  praise,  Aoife  is 
another  form  of  Aoibheal  or  Aoibhinn,  pronounced  Aevin, 

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38  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

and  usually  meaning  pleasant;  but  Aoibhle  also  means  a 
token,  and  thus  remarkably  reminds  us  of  Creirwy.  Aine, 
the  daughter  of  Eogah-hal,  was  looked  on  as  queen  of  the 
fairies  of  South  Munster,  and  her  abode  was  said  to  be  Gnoc 
Aine  or  Knockany,  the  Hill  of  Aine,  in  county  Limerick ; 
Aoibhinn  was  queen  of  the  fairies  in  Thomond  or  North 
Munster;  Una,  of  those  in  Ormond.  This  answers  curiously 
to  Unna,  the  daughter  of  the  Scandinavian  sea  giant,  Hler, 
whom  Professor  Munch  thinks  was  called  from  the  same  word 
as  that  whence  Unda,  a  wave,  arose. 

Another  legend  made  Aine  and  Milvachra,  daughter  of 
Guillim  Cualgne,  of  the  Tuath  De  Danaan.  Aine  was  the 
beloved  of  the  great  Fionn,  but  she  had  unfortunately  made 
a  vow  never  to  marry  a  man  with  grey  hair,  and  her  jealous 
sister  contrived  by  her  enchantments  to  form  a  magic  lake 
beside  Slieve  Guillim,  endowed  with  the  property  of  bringing 
premature  old  age  on  the  bather.  She  then  assumed  the  form 
of  a  white  doe,  and  beguiled  him  into  pursuing  her  into  the 
water,  or  according  to  another  version,  she  dropped  her  ring 
into  the  lake  and  begged  him  to  dive  for  it.  He  emerged  a 
withered  old  white-haired  man.  His  followers  pursued  her 
to  her  cave,  and  forced  her  to  restore  his  youth  and  beauty 
by  a  counter  draught  from  a  magic  cup,  which  even  enhanced 
his  former  strength  and  wisdom. 

In  some  parts  of  Ireland  there  is  a  Banshee,  the  harbinger 
of  joy,  as  the  ordinary  Banshee  is  the  messenger  of  evil : 
they  are  distinguished  as  the  Banshee  Haine  of  joy,  the 
Banshee  Wain  of  woe. 

Aine  continued  to  be  a  favourite  name  in  Ireland  for  many 
centuries ;  but  in  later  times  it  has  become  the  practice  to 
anglicize  it  as  Anna  and  Hannah,  and  possibly  Anastasia, 
though  this  may  have  come  more  directly  from  the  Greek. 
In  705  reigned  a  Scottish  king  called  AineecaUeah  or  Ainbh- 
ceallach  the  Good.  He  is  turned  by  different  authors  into 
Arinchellar,  Armkelleth,  Amberkelletus,  etc.,  and  his  right 

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LIB  AND  HIS  DAUGHTERS.  39 

one  is  either  joyful  war,  or  agile  war,  or  if  with  the  i,  fero- 
cious war.  He  was  too  good  for  his  savage  people,  and  was 
dethroned  at  the  end  of  a  year,  and  is  usually  mentioned 
by  the  few  historians  who  name  him  as  Amberkdleth. 

It  is  eyident  then  that  Aine  had  come  to  Scotland  with 
other  Graelic  names,  and  it  is  probable  that  this  is  the  word 
that  had  come  forth  as  Anaple  or  Annabell  in  Scotland  long 
before  the  period  of  devotion  to  St.  Anne.  In  1158  An- 
nabel Fitz  Duncan,  daughter  to  Duncan,  Earl  of  Moray, 
carried  the  name  into  the  Lucie  family ;  Annabella  of 
Strathem  appears  in  1244;  Annaple  Drunmiond  was  wife 
to  King  Robert  m.  of  Scotland,  about  1390;  and  thence- 
fcnrth  Anaple  has  been  somewhat  common  in  Scotland,  while 
Anabla  and  Anabella  are  equally  frequent  in  Ireland,  and 
Annabella  is  occasionally  used  in  England  as  Anna  made  a 
little  finer. 

Aoiffe  was  more  generally  used  than  Aine,  but  most  likely 
is  the  origin  of  the  Effie  of  Scotland,  now  always  used  as  short 
finr  Euphemia,  though  the  Highland  version  of  this  name  is 
DOW  Aoirig,  or  Oiglrigh.  In  other  places  Aoifie  seems  to  have 
be^  turned  into  Afirica.  In  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury *  Affiica,'  daughter  of  Fergus  of  Gralway,  married '  Olaus' 
the  Swarthy,  King  of  Man,  and  her  daughter  '  Effirica'  mar- 
ried Somerlea,  Thane  of  Argyle  and  Lord  of  the  Isles,  by 
whose  genealogists  she  seems  to  have  been  translated  into 
RacheL  Africa  is  still  used  as  a  female  name  in  the  Isle  of 
Han  and  in  Ireland.  Aoifie  was  the  wife  of  Guchullin  in 
die  Ossianic  poetry,  and  Evir  AUin  and  Evir  Coma,  properly 
Aoibhir  Aluir  and  Aoibhir  Caomha,  the  pleasantly  excellent 
and  pleasantly  amiable,  both  appear  there. 

The  recognized  equivalent  for  Aoifie  was,  however,  Eva, 
b^inning  almost  frt>m  the  first  Christian  times,  so  that,  until 
I  found  Aoifie  in  such  unquestionably  heathen  company  as 
Lear  and  Mananan,  I  had  made  up  my  mind  that  she  was 
the  Gadhaelic  pronunciation  of  our  first  mother. 

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40  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

Eva  is  found  in  the  oldest  documents  extant  in  Scotland, 
and  high  in  their  genealogies :  Eva  O'Dwhine  carried  the 
blood  of  Diarmid  to  the  Anglo-Norman  Campbells ;  Eva  of 
Menteith  married  one  of  the  first  Earls  of  Lennox ;  and 
Alan,  the  first  High  Steward  of  Scotland,  married  Eve  of 
Tippermuir,  and  made  her  the  ancestress  of  the  Stuarts; 
about  the  same  time  that  the  Irish  Aoifie  or  Eva,  for  she  at 
least  is  known  to  have  borne  both  names,  was  being  wedded 
to  stout  Earl  Strongbow. 

Aevin,  or  Evin,  is  occasionally  found  in  the  house  of  Ken- 
nedy, but  Eveleen  is  by  far  the  most  common  form  of  both 
names  in  Ireland,  and  has  held  its  ground  unchanged  ever 
since  it  emerged  from  the  form  of  Aioibhinn. 

To  our  surprise,  however,  Aveline  or  Eveline  make  their 
appearance  among  the  Normans  long  before  the  marriage  of 
the  Earl  of  Pembroke.  Aveline  was  the  name  of  the  sister 
of  Gunnar,  the  great  grandmother  of  William  the  Conqueror ; 
and  Aveline  or  Eveline  was  so  favourite  a  Norman  name  that 
it  well  suits  the  Lady  of  the  Garde  Douloureuse  in  the  Be- 
trothed. Avelina  de  Longo-Campo,  as  the  name  is  latinized 
in  old  chronicles,  married  the  last  Earl  of  Lancaster,  and 
was  the  mother  of  that  heiress  Avelina  or  Eveline,  who, 
though  short-lived  and  childless  herself,  carried  to  her  hus- 
band, Edmund  Crouchback,  and  the  sons  of  his  subsequent 
marriage,  the  great  county  of  Lancaster,  which  made  the 
power  of  the  Bed  Rose  formidable. 

Eveline  has  never  been  frequent,  but  was  never  entirely 
forgotten  in  England,  (for  instance,  an  Eveline  Elstove  was 
baptized  in  1539,)  and  was  revived  as  an  ornamental  name 
by  Miss  Bumey's  Evelina.  At  present  it  is  one  of  those 
most  in  vogue,  but  it  ought  not  to  be  spelt  with  a  y,  unless 
it  be  intended  to  imitate  the  surname  Evelyn,  the  old  French 
form  of  the  Latin  avellana,  a  hazel.  It  was  well  the  tree- 
loving  author  of  the  Sylva  should  bear  such  a  surname,  and 
from  him  and  his  family,  men  have  frequently  been  christened 

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BBI.  41 

by  it;  but  ladies  do  not  follow  the  old  Eveline  of  song  and 
romance  unless  they  nse  the  trae  feminine  termination. 

It  is  curious  that  several  Erse  names  should  have  come  to 
us  with  the  Normans.  They  may  either  have  been  of  the 
set  interchanged  with  the  Nortbnen  at  some  pre-historical 
time,  or  old  Keltic  ones  picked  up  from  the  Gallic  inhabitants 
of  Neustria,  or  from  the  Bretons  on  the  border.  In  the 
present  case,  the  latter  supposition  is  the  most  likely,  as  the 
Scandinavians  do  not  seem  to  have  used  Eveline.  It  may  of 
course  be  after  all  a  diminutive  of  Eve,  but  the  alternate 
use  of  the  initial  A  and  JE  seems  to  contradict  this,  and 
identify  it  with  Aoibhinn  or  Aoiffe,  daughter  of  the  Irish 
King  Lear ;  and  may  not  it  be  likewise  the  remnant  of  the 
days  when  the  Kelt  tongues  were  one,  and  Aoibli  in  Cymric, 
as  well  as  in  Gaelic,  was  the  token  ?^ 

Section  HI. — Bri. 

The  next  hero  worthy  of  note  in  (Jeoffrey  of  Monmouth 
is  die  first  of  the  Kelts,  whose  name  has  been  preserved  to 
us  by  the  Romans, — ^namely,  Brennus,  as  we  have  learnt  to 
call  him  from  those  Latin  legends  that  are  so  much  more 
familiar  to  us  than  our  own. 

The  root  An,  meaning  force  or  strength,  is  found  in  many 
branches  of  the  Indo-European  tongues.  It  is  considered  to 
be  akin  to  the  Sanscrit  virja,  strength,  and  is  found  in  the 
Greek  verb  j9pttfo)  (britho)^  to  be  heavy,  or  to  outweigh,  and 
&e  adjective  Ppuipoi  (briaros),  strong.  And  thus  it  named 
the  hundred-handed  Titan,  whom  gods  called  Briareus,  and 
men  ^geon,  and  who,  in  the  Titanic  revolution,  was  dis- 
posed of  either  in  the  ^gean  sea,  or  under  Mount  ^tna. 
Briennios,  the  surname  of  some  of  the  eastern  emperors, 
must  have  come  from  this  root. 

*  DaTies,  Keltic  Mythology  ;  ODono^an ;  Mabinogion ;  Dasent ;  Miss 
Brooke;  Geoffery  of  Monmouth;  Dr.  Owen  Pugh;  Highland  Society's 
JHctionary;  Gambro-Briton. 


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42  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

In  the  Keltic  tongues  it  again  appears  in  Irish  as  (ri  or 
hrigh^  force  or  valour,  answering  to  the  Roman  virtus  (a  near 
connection,  as  we  shall  presently  see),  and  in  Britain  it 
named  the  tribe  known  to  the  Romans  as  Brigantes.  Welsh, 
Breton,  and  Cornish,  all  repeat  it  in  various  forms,  and  from 
thence  arose  the  titles  for  a  ruler,  judge,  or  king, — in 
QaSliCj  Brenhin ;  in  Inshj  Brehon  ;  in  Breton,  jBom^r ;  in 
Cornish,  Bren  or  Brennyn.  Many  Breton  local  names  retain 
the  word,  such  as  Kerbrianty  Chtebrianty  Goesbriandj  IVo- 
hrianiy  Chaieavhriant ;  and  the  old  French  word  Jric,  pecu- 
liarly expressive  of  the  gay,  light  Gallic  courage,  was  a  now 
forgotten  legacy  from  the  ancient  population. 

Brennius,  as  Greoffirey  calls  him,  is  made  in  his  British 
history,  the  son  of  Dunwallon,  and  brother  of  Belinus.  Ex- 
pelled by  his  brother,  he  proceeds  to  Gaul,  there  marries  the 
daughter  of  the  Duke  of  the  Allobroges  in  Switzerland,  and 
raises  an  army  to  attack  his  brother ;  but  their  mother  re- 
conciles them,  and  they  set  off  together  to  conquer  Graul  and 
the  Franks  ;  then  proceed  to  Rome,  where  they  defeat  the 
consuls  Gabius  and  Porsena,  and  pillage  the  city.  Thence 
Belinus  returned  home,  and  built  the  gate  called  after  him 
Billingsgate,  on  the  top  of  which,  after  his  death,  his  ashes 
were  placed  in  a  golden  urn. 

The  subsequent  career  of  Brennius  in  Italy,  good  Geoffirey 
declines  to  narrate,  as  being  to  be  found  in  Roman  histories. 

By  this,  no  doubt  he  meant  the  account  given  by  Livy  of 
the  defeat  of  tiie  Gauls  by  Camillus,  just  in  time  to  pre- 
vent them  from  carrying  off  the  ransom,  and  the  death  of 
Brennus  in  battle.  Unfortunately,  modem  critics  have 
taught  us  to  believe  that  the  grand  romance  of  the  Senators 
in  their  ivory  chairs,  the  ascent  of  the  Tarpeian  rock,  the 
cackling  geese,  the  heroism  of  Manlius,  the  tardy  forgive- 
ness of  Camillus,  and  even  the  Va  victis  of  Brennus,  are 
little 'more  trustworthy  than  the  urn  upon  the  top  of  Bil- 
lingsgate, and  that  the  Gallic  foray  was  really  even  more 
terrible  and  fatal  than  Roman  vanity  chose  to  avow.    It  was 


BRL  43 

like  Caleb  Balderstone's  thunder  stonn,  or  Edward  the  Firsts 
destmction  of  charters,  for  it  utterly  ruined  early  Roman 
history,  if  ever  there  were  any,  and  left  us  only  what  se  non 
e  vero  e  ben  trovaio. 

The  Gallic  invaders  are  known  to  have  been  Senones,  men 
of  a  Gaelic  tribe  ;  and  from  the  Kymric  form  of  the  name 
of  Brennus,  it  is  conjectured  that  he  must  have  been  of  the 
other  branch  of  the  race,  so  that  it  is  possible  that  GeoflBrey 
may  have  found  some  tradition  of  his  British  birth. 

Another  Brennus  was  the  leader  of  a  division  of  the  great 
host  of  Gauls  that,  about  B.C.  279,  came  out  of  Pannonia, 
and  made  a  backwsurd  rush  towards  the  East.  One  of  their 
bands  settled  in  Asia  Minor,  and  were  the  parents  of  the 
Galatians;  but  Brennus  was  less  successful.  He  marched 
upon  Delphi,  promising  his  followers  the  plunder  of  the 
Temple  ;  but  was  totally  defeated  by  the  Delphians  ;  and 
finding  his  army  destroyed,  and  himself  severely  wounded, 
pat  an  end  to  his  own  life. 

In  the  Mabinogianj  Bran  is  son  of  Llyr,  and  brother  of 
Bronwen.  To  avenge  her  box  on  the  ear,  he  invaded  Ireland, 
made  a  great  destruction  there ;  but  was  mortally  wounded, 
and  caused  his  head  to  be  buried  on  White  Hill  in  London, 
as  a  spell  against  all  further  invasions.  But  in  the 
Triadsy  one  of  the  three  fatal  disclosures  is  when  Arthur 
revealed  the  spot,  because  he  scorned  to  keep  the  kingdom, 
except  by  his  own  might. 

Next  time  Bran  comes  to  light,  it  is  altogether  in  Welsh 
setting.  The  Triads  and  the  prolific  Genealogy  of  Wekh 
Saints  J  are  the  authorities  for  the  existence  of  a  prince  of 
that  name.  Bran  the  Blessed,  the  son  of  Llyr  Lledaith, 
and  father  of  Garadwg,  is,  we  are  told,  one  of  the  three 
blessed  princes  of  Britain,  having  brought  home  the  faith 
of  Christ  from  Rome,  where  he  had  been  seven  years  as  a 
hostage  for  his  son  Garadwg,  whom  the  Romans  put  in 
prison  after  being  betrayed  through  the  enticement,  deceit, 
and  plotting   of   Gartismandua,  or  by  her  Welsh  nam^Ie 


44  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

Aveywedd  Foeddog,  the  daughter  of  Avarwy,  who  betrayed 
Caswallon.  Her  act  is  called  by  the  Triads  one  of  the  three 
secret  treasons  of  Britain. 

Now  Caradwg  is,  without  a  doubt,  the  Caractacus  of 
Boman  history,  and  the  captivity  of  his  family  exactly 
coincides  with  the  time  of  St.  Paul's  first  journey  to  B<Hne. 
Moreover,  as  has  been  already  shown  under  the  head  of 
Aristobulus,  there  is  great  reason  to  consider  that  Aristo- 
bulus,  the  friend  of  St.  Paul,  was  the  same  as  the  Arwystli, 
whom  the  Triads  commemorate  as  among  their  first  mis- 
sionaries. A  farm-house  in  Glamorganshire,  called  Trevran, 
house  of  Bran,  is  pointed  out  as  the  place  where  Bran 
used  to  reside,  and  it  is  near  Llanilid,  which  is  considered  as 
the  oldest  church  in  Britain. 

Such  is  the  British  account  of  the  father  of  Caradwg. 
The  Roman  account  is,  that  Gunobelinus  was  king  of  the 
Silures,  and  husband  of  Gartismandua,  queen  of  the  Bri- 
gantes,  and  was  a  prosperous  and  powerful  prince  in  league 
with  the  Romans.  In  confirmation  of  this  account,  gold 
coins  have  been  found  bearing  the  head  and  name  of  Guno- 
belinus, and  supposed  to  have  been  moulded  on  dies  made  in 
Gaul  or  at  Rome.  This  Gunobelinus,  they  say,  had  three 
sons,  Adminius,  Togodumnus,  and  Garactacus.  The  first  was 
exiled,  and  going  to  Rome,  invited  Galigula  to  his  abortive 
invasion.  The  other  two,  they  say,  quarrelled  after  their 
father's  death  ;  but  bravely  encountered  the  invasion  of 
Glaudius,  imtil  Garactacus  was  betrayed  by  the  wicked  Gar- 
tismandua, came  to  Rome,  and  made  the  noble  speech  so 
well  known  to  us. 

Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  gives  his  Kymbelinus  two  sons, 
Guiderius  and  Arviragus.  In  the  battle  with  the  Romans, 
Guiderius  is  killed ;  but  Arviragus  puts  on  his  armour,  and 
gains  a  complete  victory ;  after  which,  he  makes  peace  with 
Rome,  and  goes  thither  on  a  friendly  visit  to  marry  Glaudius's 
daughter.     Arviragus  is  a  name  really  found  on  ancient 

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BBL  45 

British  coins,  and  is  mentioned  by  Juvenal  as  a  British 
prince.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  is,  in  fact,  a 
latinized  title,  Ardhrygh,  chief  king,  of  which  we  shall  have 
mate  to  say. 

Cimobelinus  is  in  like  manner  a  title,  though  not  of  man. 
Cftn  is,  as  will  be  shown  in  due  time,  a  chief  or  lord.  Bel 
or  Belin  was  the  Keltic  god  of  light  and  of  war,  in  whose 
hoDoiir  British  coins  were  struck  in  the  heathen  days  of 
Bran,  whose  own  name  the  Romans  thought  they  were  read- 
ing on  his  coins.  Beli  also  meant  war,  and  more  than  one 
king  was  called  from  him.  The  Triads^  however,  make 
the  three  brave  sovereigns  of  Britain,  Cynvelyn  Weedig, 
Oaradwg,  son  of  Bran,  and  Arthur.  This  separates  Bran 
from  Cymbeline ;  but  these  compositions  were  so  late  that 
they  are  rather  illustrations  than  commentaries.  They, 
however,  mention,  as  the  three  primary  battle  princes,  Cas- 
wallawn,  son  of  Beli,  Caradwg,  son  of  Bran,  and  Gweirryd, 
4e  son  of  Cynvelyn;  thus  showing  whence  came  Guiderius, 
eidier  from  bim  or  the  brother  Gwydyr,  whom  British  pedi- 
grees give  as  the  sons  of  Cynvelyn.  One  of  them  may  be 
the  Togodumnus,  mentioned  by  the  Latin  authors  as  a  third 
flcm  of  Cunobelinus ;  out  of  whom  the  Cynvelyn  of  the  Triads 
was  probably  manufactured. 

Bran  the  Blessed  may  thus  be  our  old  friend  Cymbeline,  a 
Mme  repeated  in  Cornwall,  but  from  literature,  not  tra- 
dition. Cartismandua,  or  Aregwydd,  is  the  wicked  queen, 
and  Caradwg  one  of  the  sons.  Guiderius  is  not  accounted 
for,  but  the  Romans  call  him  Togodumnus.  Cogidumnus, 
ft  prince  who  became  imperial  legate  in  the  South,  was 
Csrtismandua's  son,  and  must  have  been  Cloten,  whose 
name  Shakespeare  took  from  an  elder  king  in  Geoffirey  of 
Monmouth. 

As  to  Imogen,  the  real  charm  of  the  play,  no  British  lady 
oither  accounts  for,  or  explains  her  name ;  but  in  German 
genealogies  we  fall  upon  Imagina,  of  Limburg,  in  14XX) ;  and 

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46  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

there  are  various  other  instances  of  the  like,  so  that  Shake- 
speare may  be  supposed  to  have  heard  of  one  of  them,  and 
adopted  her  as  the  heroine  of  the  old  story  of  the  deserted 
and  betrayed  wife,  which  he  so  strangely  placed  at  the  court 
of  the  last  independent  British  prince.  Or  Imogen  may  be 
a  Shakespearian  version  of  Tgnoge,  daughter  of  Pandrasus, 
emperor  of  Greece,  and  wife  of  Brutus,  according  to  Geoffirey 
of  Monmouth.  In  Anne  of  Brittany's  funeral  oration,  in 
1 5 14,  her  birth  was  deduced  from  this  last. 

Caradwg's  own  proper  name  comes  from  the  same  root  as 
the  Greek  x^^^»  grace,  and  the  Latin  carti$j  dear.  It 
means  beloved,  and  has  the  Breton  form  Keridak.  Caer 
Garadoc  in  Shropshire,  retains  the  name  of  his  camp.  He 
had  a  worthy  namesake  in  Caradawc  Vreichfras,  or  strong 
armed,  called  the  pillar  of  the  Kymry,  and  one  of  the  three 
battle  knights  of  Britain.  Vreichfras  means  the  strong 
arm,  but  the  French  trouveurs  rendered  it  Brise-bras,  the 
wasted  arm ;  and  told  of  an  enchanter  who  fixed  a  serpent  on 
the  knight's  arm,  from  whose  torture  nothing  could  relieve 
him  but  that  she  whom  he  loved  best  should  undergo  it  in  his 
stead.  His  faithful  wife  offered  herself;  the  serpent  was  just 
about  to  seize  on  her,  when  her  brother  smote  off  its  head  with 
his  sword ;  but  her  husband  thus  never  recovered  the  strength 
of  his  arm !  Others,  however,  read  Vreich-fras  as  Fer-a- 
brasy  iron  arm;  and  thus,  perhaps,  from  some  Breton  ro- 
mance, was  one  of  the  Hauteville  brothers  called  WiUiam 
Ferabras.  Hence,  again,  did  the  French  and  Italian  ro- 
mancers name  their  fierce  Moorish  champion  Ferrail,  or  Fer- 
ragus,  the  same  who  lost  his  helmet,  and  possessed  the  healing 
salve,  valued  by  Don  Quixote  as  the  balsam  of  Fierabras ! 

Caradwg's  wife,  Tegan  Euvron,  or  golden  beauty,  was  men- 
tioned by  the  Triads  as  one  of  the  three  fair  ladies  and 
chaste  damsels  of  Arthur's  court,  possessing  three  precious 
thmgs,  of  which  she  alone  was  worthy, — the  mantle,  the 
goblet,  and  the  knife.    Later  romance  and  ballad  have  ex- 

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BRI.  47 

panded  these  into  the  story  of  the  three  tests  of  the  faithftil 
wife ;  and  Sir  Garadoc  and  his  lady  remain  among  the  prime 
worthies  of  the  Round  Table. 

In  the  twelfth  century  a  saint  named  Garadwg  retired 
fifom  the  world  in  disgust  at  the  violence  shown  to  him  by 
his  master,  Rhys,  prince  of  South  Wales,  on  learning  the 
loss  of  two  greyhounds  that  had  been  in  Caradwg's  charge. 
He  lived  in  various  hermitages  in  Wales,  and  left  a  well  in 
tiie  parish  of  Haroldstone,  called  by  his  name.  Moreover, 
Bocm  after  his  death,  he  was  said  to  have  suddenly  closed  his 
hand,  in  frustration  of  the  designs  of  the  historian,  William 
cS  Malmsbury,  who  wanted  to  cut  off  his  little  finger  for  a 
relic.  Our  insular  saints  were  decidedly  of  Shakespeare's 
opinion,  and  had  no  desire  to  have  their  *  bones  moved,*  or 
be  made  relics  of. 

Caradwg,  Garadoc,  and  Eeriadek  continue  to  be  used  in 
Wales,  Scotland,  and  Brittany ;  several  Welsh  families  con- 
sider themselves  as  descended  from  Sir  Garadoc,  and  the 
somame  Gradock  is  not  uncommon  in  England. 

Oara,  friend,  was  sometimes  prefixed  to  a  saint's  name  by 
the  Christian  Gael,  as  Gara  Michel,  friend  of  St.  Michael,  as 
ike  name  of  his  devout  client,  and  thus  arose  such  surnames 
as  Garmichael. 

This  pursuit  of  Gymbeline  and  his  family  has  carried  us 
far  from  Bran  the  Blessed.  Under  this,  his  proper  name,  he 
stands  forth  in  old  Welsh  romance  as  the  original  importer 
of  the  Sanc-greal.  One  very  old  and  wild  version  says  that 
King  Bran  brought  from  Ireland  a  magic  vessel,  given  him 
by  a  great  black  man  in  Ireland,  which  healed  wounds  and 
raised  the  dead.  It  was  one  of  the  thirteen  wonders  of  the 
Isle  of  Britain,  and  disappeared  with  the  enchanter  Merlin, 
in  the  glass  vessel,  of  which  more  will  be  told  in  the  sequel. 
This  Bran  may  have  been  altogether  an  ancient  mythical 
character,  for  ^e  cup  was  an  old  Druidical  idea,  connected 
with  the  famous  cauldron  of  Geridwen,  and  it  is  curious  that 

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48  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

both  this  and  the  magic  cup  of  Brengwain  should  come  from 
Ireland.  Mr.  Davies  would  make  Br&n  a  raven,  and  con- 
nected with  the  raven  of  the  flood ;  but  though  bran  or  vran 
does  mean  a  raven  in  the  Keltic  tongues,  this  interpretation 
of  the  name  has  been  rejected  by  the  later  authorities* 
Bran  and  Branan,  in  the  sense  of  raven,  were  occasionally 
given  in  Ireland. 

In  the  twelfth  century  the  Sanc-greal  had  assumed  its 
Christian  character,  and  Bran  the  Blessed,  as  the  first 
Christian  prince  of  Britain,  was  said  to  have  received  it 
from  St.  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  and  guarded  it  to  the  CTid 
of  his  life.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that  Brittany  loved  and 
honoured  his  name. 

Bran  the  Blessed  is  frirther  said  by  an  Irish  fairy  tale  to 
have  had  four  brothers,  who  were  all  turned  into  swans  by 
their  cruel  stepmother, — a  curious  reminiscence  of  Bran's 
own  wife,  Gartismandua. 

But  Gaelic  tradition  chiefly  commemorates  Bran  as  the 
dog  of  Fingal,  whose  hunting  exploits  were  equal  to  his 
military  achievements.  Gleann  Bhrain,  Bran's  Yale,  in 
Scotland,  is  so  termed  in  his  honour.  Bran,  too,  was  a 
Pict  prince,  killed  in  839,  in  battle  with  the  Danes,  and  it 
is  highly  probable  that  St.  Burmus,  the  Keltic  apostle  of 
Wessex,  was  another  form  of  Bran. 

Brian  has  been  from  very  old  times  a  favourite  Christian 
name  in  both  Brittany  and  Ireland,  the  flrst  no  doubt  from 
the  Christian  honours  of  the  blessed  Bran,  the  second  from 
the  source  whence  he  was  named. 

The  great  glory  of  Brian  in  Ireland  was  in  the  renowned 
Brian  Boromhe,  or  of  the  tribute,  so  called  from  the  tribute 
that  he  imposed  upon  Ulster.  He  defeated  the  Danes  in 
twenty-five  battles,  and  finally  was  slain  in  the  great  battle 
of  Clontarf,  on  the  Good  Friday  of  1014.  Around  that 
battle  has  centered  a  wonderful  amount  of  fine  legendary 
poetry  on  both  sides.    If  the  man  of  Caithness  beheld  the 

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BRI.  49 

Valkyrier  weaving  their  web  of  slaughter ;  if  the  northern 
pirate,  in  hia  vessel  on  the  ocean,  beheld  the  vision  that 
impelled  him  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  just  king,  seek 
bi^tism  on  the  eve  of  the  fight,  and  fall  as  a  Christian 
wurior;  on  the  other  hand,  Brian  had  his  warning  in  a 
visbn  of  the  night,  that  the  victory  should  be  purchased 
with  his  life,  and  that  firom  his  tune  the  glories  of  Erin 
fihoold  fade  awaj.  Gmcifiz  in  hand,  he  reviewed  his  men 
in  the  grey  of  the  morning,  declared  his  readiness  to  be 
sacrificed  on  that  sacred  day  above  all  others  of  the  year,  and 
commanded  that  there  should  be  no  pause  in  the  battle  to 
remove  his  corpse  from  the  field  till  night.  Victory  and 
death  were  his  portion,  but  such  was  the  spirit  of  his  troops 
that,  when  on  tiieir  homeward  march  they  were  attacked  by 
the  men  of  Ossory,  the  wounded  insisted  on  being  tied  to 
stakes  planted  in  the  ground,  that  they  might  do  their  part 
in  defending  his  corpse.  The  lament  of  his  bard,  Mac  Liag, 
10  called  '  Kinkora,'  from  the  name  of  Brian's  Castle,  and  is 
one  of  the  favourite  Erse  poems.  One  of  the  verses  has 
be^i  thus  translated: — 

*  They  are  gone,  those  heroes  of  royal  birth, 
Who  plundered  no  churches,  and  broke  no  trust ; 

Tis  weary  for  me  to  be  living  on  earth. 
When  they,  0  Kinkora,  lie  low  in  the  dust. 
Low,  O  Kinkora!' 

From  this  very  noble  king  descended  the  great  sliocht, 
Bept  or  clan,  of  the  O'Briens  of  Thomond.  At  one  time  its 
minor  branches  took  various  additional  agnomina  by  way  of 
distinction,  as  the  Mac  I.  Brien  Ara  ;  Mac  Brian  Goonagh, 
Ac. ;  but  these  were  found  cumbrous,  and  Mac  Brian  and 
O'Brien  alone  are  in  use. 

Brian,  or  Bryan,  is  a  very  frequent  Christian  name,  but 
according  to  the  usual  lot  of  its  congeners,  has  an  equiva- 
lent, ue.j  Bernard,  with  which  it  has  not  the  most  distant 
oomiection.    Bryney  is  its  contraction,  sometimes  Barney. 

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TOL.  n.  Br 

Digitiz    ■■ 


50  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

Brien  was  always  a  favourite  in  Brittany,  and  is  very 
common  as  a  surname  with  the  peasantry  there.  The 
Bretons,  who  joined  in  the  Norman  conquest,  imported  it  to 
England.  Two  landholders,  so  called,  are  recorded  in  Domes- 
day Book ;  and  during  the  first  century  of  Norman  rule  it 
was  far  more  common  than  at  present,  when  it  is  considered  as 
almost  exclusively  Irish.  Some  of  our  older  etymologists  have 
been  beguiled  into  deriving  it  fix)m  the  French  bruyanty  noisy. 

The  feminine  Brennone  is  given  in  German  dictionaries, 
but  it,  as  well  as  Brennus,  are  there  derived  from  old  Ger- 
man, and  explained  as  protection,  which  is  clearly  a  mistake. 

Bri  occurs  in  other  words  and  names.  In  old  Welsh,  the 
primrose  is  hriallwy  from  hri  and  gaUuj  power,  no  doubt 
from  the  magic  force  ascribed  to  them,  since  together,  with 
the  well-known  hri  wi  marchj  or  vervain,  they  were  ingre- 
dients in  the  magic  cauldron  of  the  Druids. 

Brieuc  was  a  Breton  saint;  Breasal  was  once  common  in 
Ireland,  and  survives  in  a  few  families,  but  is  generally 
turned  into  Basil,  and  sometimes  to  Brazil,  in  which  shi^ 
the  Manxmen  frequently  bore  it. 

It  may  be  worth  mentioning  here,  that  Brazil  itself  was 
probably  called  from  Hy  Brasail,  the  Isle  of  the  Blessed,  the 
paradise  of  the  heathen  Irish,  and  their  fairyland  after  their 
conversion,  always  supposed  to  lie  far  away  on  the  Western 
ocean,  and  thus  expressing  the  Irish  notion  of  the  Fortunate 
Isles,  or  the  Land  of  Atlantis.  This  accounts  for  the  Brazil 
80  perplexingly  mentioned  in  a  Papal  Bull,  long  before  the 
discovery  of  the  Continent  of  America. 

Bfigh,  or  strength,  is  the  most  satisfactory  explanation  of 
Brighid,  the  daughter  of  the  fire  god,  and  the  Erse  god- 
dess of  wisdom  and  song,  skill  and  poetry. 

'  Bride  was  their  Queen  of  Song,  and  unto  her 
They  prayed  with  fire-touched  lips  I' 

Cormac,  king  and  bishop  of  Oashel,  explains  the  word  as 

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BBL  51 

* '  fieiy  dart ;'  but  this  looks  like  one  of  the  many  late  and 
untrustworthy  interpretations  of  Keltic  names. 

Brighid  was  always  a  fayourite  female  name  in  Ireland, 
and  has  become  one  of  the  very  few  Keltic  ones  of  European 
popularity.  This  was  owing  to  a  maiden  who  was  brought 
up  by  a  bard,  and  afterwards  became  a  pupil  of  St.  Patrick; 
and  from  a  solitary  recluse  at  Kildare,  rose  to  be  the  head 
of  five  hundred  nuns,  and  was  consulted  by  the  synod  of 
Inshops.  She  died  in  510,  and  after  her  death,  a  copy  of 
the  Gospels  was  found  in  her  cell,  too  beautiful  to  have  been 
written  by  mortal  hand,  ^with  mystical  pictures  in  the 
niaigent,  whose  colours  and  workmanship  were,  at  first  blush, 
dark  and  unpleasant,  but  in  the  view  marvellously  lively  and 
artificiall.' 

It  was  long  kept  at  Kildare,  and  a  little  hand-bell,  such 
as  was  much  used  by  the  Irish  missionaries,  and  which  had 
belonged  to  her,  and  was,  therefore,  called  Clogg  Brietta, 
<^  Bridget's  Bell,  was  exhibited  to  the  devout,  in  both  Eng- 
land and  Ireland,  until  it  was  suppressed  by  a  prohibition  fix>m 
Heuy  v.,  perhaps,  because  it  tended  to  keep  up  a  national 
spirit. 

She  was  one  of  the  patron  saints  of  Ireland,  and  was  re- 
garded with  such  devotion,  both  there  and  in  Scotland,  that 
children  were  baptized  as  her  servants,  Maol  Brighd,  Giolla- 
Inrid;  and  to  the  present  day,  hers  is  the  favourite  name 
in  Ireland. 

St  Bride's  churches  are  common,  both  in  England  and 
Scotland,  and  the  village  of  Llanafllraid,  in  Wales,  records 
her  m  her  Welsh  form  of  Ffraid.  Bridewell  was  once  the 
palace  of  St.  Bride,  and  after  its  conversion  into  a  prison, 
spread  its  sinister  name  to  other  like  buildings.  The  Por- 
tognese  believe  themselves  to  possess  the  head  of  St.  Bridget 
at  Lisbon,  and  have  accordingly  more  than  one  DoQa  Brites 
among  their  historical  ladies. 

Sweden  has  also  a  St.  Bridget,  or  rather  Brigitta;  but 

Digitj^caydoOQlC 


5^ 


ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 


her  name  is  in  her  own  tongue  Bergljot,  shortened  to 
Bergiit,  and  then  confounded  with  the  Irish  Bridget.  It 
unfortunately  means  mountain  fright,  or  guardian  defect, 
though  German  antiquaries  have  twisted  both  Bridgets  into 
Berahi  Qifu^  bright  gift.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  Swedidi 
Brigitta  was  a  lady  of  very  high  birth,  who,  in  her  widow- 
hood, founded  an  order  of  Brigittin  nuns,  somewhere  about 
1363,  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Home,  and  was  greatly  revered 
for  her  sanctity.  She  named  the  very  large  class  of  Nor- 
wegian,  German,  and  Swedish  Bridgets,  who  are  almost  as 
numerous  as  the  Irish. 

There  is  a  favourite  Erse  ditty,  called  Bright  ditm  Bim 
mo  stoTy  meaning  Bridget,  my  white  treasure ;  and  another 
Bridget  is  famous  for  having  been  recognized  by  her  blind 
lover,  by  the  touch  of  her  hand,  after  nearly  twenty  years' 
absence.* 


English. 
Bridget 
Bride 

Irish. 

Brighid 
Biddy 

Scotch. 
Bride 

French. 
BrigiUa 

ItAlian. 

Brigida 
Brigita 

Portogaese. 
Brites 

Swedish. 

Brigitta 

Brita 

Begga 

Bergliot 

Bergiot 

German. 
Brigitta 

Esth. 
Pirrit 

Lnsatian. 

BriBchia 
Briflcha 

Lettish. 

Britto 

Birte 

Pirre 

lith. 

Berge 
Berzake 

Lapp. 
Pirket 
Pikka 
Pikke 

♦  Hayes,  Irish  Poetry;  Campion,  Ireland i  Lady  C.  Guest;  Ifo&tfio- 
gion;  Scott  and  lidddl ;  YiUemarqnd ;  Butler;  O'Donovan;  Dasent, 
BurM  Nial;  Jones,  Welsh  Legends;  Bees,  WeUh  SainU;  Campbell, 
Highland  Stories;  Hanmer,  Ireland;  V^iUiam,  Ecclesiastic  AnHpUHesj 
Professor  Munch,  Om  Betydningm  aS  vore  Nationale  Navne. 


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FEAR,  GWB,  Vm.  53 


Section  IV.— JWjr,  Chor,  Vir. 

The  free  days  of  the  Kelt  were  fast  ending.  He  fell  before 
Boman  discipline,  though  not  without  a  worthy  struggle. 

In  Cisalpine  Graul,  Maroellus  and  Scipio  themselves  found 
Britomartns,  or  Yiridomarus,  king  of  the  Boii,  so  worthy  an 
antagonist  that  Marcellus,  having  slain  him  in  single  fight,' 
dedicated  his  spolia  apima  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Feretrius. 
In  Spain,  a  Lusitanian  hunter  or  shepherd,  named  YiriathuSs 
carried  on  a  guerilla  warfare  with  the  Boman  legions  for  four- 
teen years.  In  Gaul,  GsBsar  mentions  Yirdumarus  among 
his  allies  the  iBduans,  and  says  that  their  chief  magistrate 
was  termed  vergohretuSy  and  among  his  enemies,  the  Unelli 
and  Anremi,  he  records  Viridovix,  Vergosillanus,  and  Ver- 
cingetoriz. 

The  last  chieftain  was  one  of  the  most  gallant  men  who 
straggled  in  yain  against  the  eagles.  Even  by  Caesar's  own 
account,  his  defence  of  the  mountains  of  Auvergne  was  con- 
ducted with  infinite  skill  and  courage ;  and  when  at  last  he 
could  no  longer  hold  out  his  fortified  camp  of  Alesia,  the 
remains  of  which  are  still  in  existence,  he  freely  ofiered  him- 
self to  be  delivered  up  to  the  Romans,  as  an  atonement  for 
his  countrymen,  was  exhibited  as  a  captive  in  Caesar's  tri- 
umph, and  met  with  the  usual  fate  of  the  prisoners  of  that 
ungenerous  nation.  It  is  strange  that  while  we  English 
treat  the  Silurian  Caradoc  as  a  subject  of  national  pride,  the 
French,  though  still  Gauls  in  blood,  have  well  nigh  forgotten 
to  cherish  the  fame  of  the  opponent  of  the  great  Julius. 

However,  our  concern  is  chiefly  with  his  name.  In  fact, 
fiiese  Virs  of  Caesar  mi^t  have  been  placed  in  our  preceding 
division,  for  they  are  from  the  same  root,  hri^  or  force,  and  still 
more  resemble  the  Sanscrit  tnr/a,  as  well  as  the  Latin  mrtus 
and  vir.  Exactly  answering  to  vivy  though  coming  in  an 
independent  stream  from  the  same  source,  the  Gadhaelic  man 

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54  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

is  fear^  plnral  fir  ;  the  Cymric  is  jrwr,  gen,  gyry  plural  wyr. 
Again,  valour  or  virtue  is  in  Welsh  gtoyrthy  and  givr  is  die 
adjective  for  excelling. 

Thus  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt,  that  the  ver  or  vir 
of  the  Latin  version  of  these  Keltic  heroes  was  a  rendering 
of  the  fear  of  the  Gael,  or  of  the  gwr  of  the  Cymry,  both 
not  infrequent  commencements ;  and  the  double  name  of  the 
hero  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  Yiridomarus,  or  Britomartus,  brings 
us  back  to  the  original  root.  He  might  be  explained  as  Fear- 
dhu-mor,  great  black  man,  and  thus  would  not  be  far  from 
the  existing  Irish  name,  Ferdoragh,  or  Fardorougha,  mean- 
ing dark-visaged  man,  and  now  generally  murdered  by  being 
made  Frederick,  or  Ferdinand;  or  it  may  be  that  Brito- 
martus referred  to  his  great  strength.  Any  way  it  was 
probably  the  Keltic  sound  of  the  name  that  made  Spenser 
take  it  from  the  Cretan  goddess  for  his  Britomart.  Nay, 
could  the  Cretan  goddess  of  skill  have  been  a  Keltic  legacy 
of  Brighid? 

Yergobretus,  the  magistrate  of  the  ^dui,  is  explained 
either  as  Fear-co-breithy  man  who  judges,  or  War-cy-fraithy 
man  placed  over  the  laws ;  or,  taking  gtvr  as  excelling,  and 
hrawd,  as  justice,  he  would  be  excelling  in  justice. 

Yiriathus  must  be  referred  to  feary  man,  and,  perhaps, 
to  aodh,  fire. 

Yercuigetorix  himself  may  be  translated  into  Fear-cuin' 
cedo-righy  man  who  is  chief  of  a  hundred  heads ;  and  his 
cousin,  Yergosillanus,  is  the  man  either  of  the  banner  or  the 
spear,  according  as  sillarms  is  referred  to  saigheariy  a  banner, 
or  to  saehny  a  spear. 

Here,  then,  are  the  tokens  of  kindred  between  the  Gauls 
of  the  continent  and  the  Grael  of  our  islands,  for  JFVor,  the 
frequent  commencement  in  both  Ireland  and  Scotland,  is  as- 
suredly the  word  that  Caesar  rendered  by  FtV,  more  correctly 
both  in  sense  and  sound  than  he  knew. 

Fearghus,  man  of  virtue  or  of  action,  from  guSy  a  deed. 

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FEAB,  GWB,  Vm.  55 

aooording  to  Dr.  ODonoyan,  is  the  rendering  of  one  of  the 
most  national  of  Gradhaelic  names,  though  Macpherson  makes 
it  Feargath,  man  of  the  word.  Chalmers  thinks  the  us  a 
mere  addition  to  feargy  a  champion ;  and  Mr.  Campbell  to 
feargy  wrath. 

Bold  genealogists  place  Fearghus  at  the  head  of  the  line  of 
Scottish  kings,  and  make  him  contemporary  with  Alexander 
the  Great.  Another  Fergus  was  son  of  Finn,  and  considered 
as  even  a  greater  bard  than  his  nephew,  Oisean.  Poems  said 
to  be  by  him  are  still  extant,  in  one  of  which  he  describes 
his  rescue  of  his  brother,  Oisean,  who  had  been  beguiled  into 
a  fairy  cave,  and  there  imprisoned,  till  he  discovered  himself 
to  his  brother  by  cutting  splinters  from  his  spear,  and  letting 
them  float  down  the  stream  that  flowed  out  of  the  place  of 
his  captivity.    Fergus  was  the  mildest  of  all  the  Fenians : 

'  Mild  Fergus  then,  his  errand  done, 
Betumed  with  wonted  grace, 
His  mind,  like  the  unchanging  sun^ 
Still  beaming  in  his  face.* 

Fergus  is  thus  apostrophized  in  Macpherson:  ^  Fergus, 
first  in  our  joy  at  the  feast,  son  of  Rossa,  arm  of  death, 
Cometh  like  a  roe  from  Maimer,  like  a  hart  fipm  the  echoing 
hiUs.'  It  is  possible  that  Ferragus,  the  giant  of  Karling 
romance,  may  be  another  version  of  Fergus. 

Feaj:ghus  MacRoigh  is  reckoned  as  king  of  Ulster  in  the 
first  century ;  and  there  was  a  huge  Irish  clan  Fhiarghus, 
but  it  was  divided  into  lesser  sliochts  or  septs,  which  went 
by  their  own  patronymics,  so  that  there  are  no  surnames  thus 
formed  except  the  Scottish  Fergusson,  frequent  as  still  is  the 
baptismal  Feargus  or  Farghy. 

Fearghus,  the  son  of  Ere,  a  Dalriad  prince,  was,  in  493, 
Messed  by  St.  Patrick,  and  led  the  great  migration  of  Scots 
to  Albin,  together  with  his  brothers  Loam  and  Aonnghus,  who 
each  named  their  own  district,  while  he  reigned  over  the 

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56  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

whole  region  of  the  Scots, — that  around  Argyle ;  whither  he 
had  transported  the  stone  of  dominion,  that  sooner  or  later 
brought  conquest  to  the  race  who  possessed  it. 

Fearghal,  or  man  of  strength,  long  existed  in  Ireland,  and 
has  resulted  in  the  surnames  O'FerroU  and  Ferral. 

Fearachur  is  another  Scottish  form,  which  some  translate 
a  champion,  from  fearachas^  manhood,  and  others  a  hunter. 
Ferquard  is  given  as  prince  of  the  Scots  in  Ireland,  at  some 
incalculable  time;  and  Fearchur  or  Ferchar  was  the  king  of 
the  Scots  just  after  St.  Columbus'  death.  He  is  latinized 
as  Ferquard ;  and  this  was  the  name  of  an  Earl  of  Boss  in 
1231 ;  and  as  Farquhar  has  continued  in  favour  in  the  High- 
lands, and  has  thrown  out  Farquharson  as  a  surname. 

flW,  or  Tfr,  is  the  Cymric  form  of  the  same  word,  and 
the  parallel  to  Fergus  among  the  Kcts  was  Wrguist,  or  Ur- 
guist,  a  prince  who  lived  about  800,  and  whose  daughter  was 
called  after  him,  married  the  Scottish  Eacha  or  Achaius,  and 
thus  led  to  the  union  of  the  two  races  under  her  descendant, 
Kenneth  Mac  Alpin.  Some  call  her  Fergusiana,  but  this  is 
probably  from  the  Scottish  pronunciation  of  her  first  syllable, 
the  whole  being  afterwards  latinized. 

The  Welsh  appearance  of  the  prefix  Gwr  is  far  less  credit- 
able. It  is  in  the  person  of  an  extremely  fabulous  monarch, 
of  whom,  whether  in  history,  romance,  or  the  compound  of 
both  that  passes  for  the  former,  nolMig  creditable  has  ever 
been  said. 

One  would  think  he  wished  to  escape,  for  he  owns  a  perfect 
cloud  of  aliases.  Vortigem  is  the  title  by  which  he  has 
descended  to  us,  through  Latinizers  ;  but  a  Gallic  bishop, 
his  contemporary,  calls  him  Gortigemus ;  the  Welsh  have 
him  as  Gworthigem,  Gortheym,  and  Gwrtheim ;  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  know  him  as  Wyrtgeom ;  the  Irish  as  Foirtotiem.  On 
the  whole,  there  cannot  be  much  doubt  that  a  person  there 
was  by  name  Gwrtigeam,  t.^.,  excelling  king;  that  he  was 
native  prince  of  the  Silures,  at  the  time  when  the  rebellion 

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FBAB,  GWR,  Vm.  57 

of  Mazimiis  had  involyed  the  Roman  empire  in  confusion, 
and  left  Britain  without  any  legions  to  defend  it  against 
ihe  robber  nations  round ;  that  he  made  some  attempt  at  a 
partial  revival  of  national  spirit ;  but,  failing  this,  entered 
into  a  treaty  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  invaders,  and  was  thought 
to  have  betrayed  the  cause  of  his  country. 

What  these  doings  were  is  another  matter.  We  all  know 
Ae  romantic  history  of  Vortigem's  letter  to  Henghist  and 
Horsa ;  of  his  visit  to  the  Saxon  camp ;  of  Rowena,  her 
cup,  and  her  greeting  was  hael ;  of  the  Isle  of  Thanet 
marked  out  by  strips  of  cow  hide ;  and  of  the  treachery 
of  the  Saxons  at  Stonehenge.  There  is  nothing  morally 
impossible  in  the  story  as  it  was  dished  up  for  modem 
history,  and  it  used  to  satisfy  our  ancestors  before  they  had 
found  out  that  a  small  king  on  the  Welsh  border  could  hardly 
have  dealt  with  Thanet,  and,  moreover,  that  the  Teutonic 
immigration  had  been  going  on  for  many  years  past  on  the 
eastern  coast. 

As  to  the  cow  hide  and  the  massacre,  they  are  said  to 
be  old  Thuringian  traditions ;  and  the  Welsh  seem  to  have 
either  invented  or  preserved  the  story  of  the  fascinations  of 
Bowena.  At  any  rate,  they  named  her ;  for,  alas  for  Saxon 
Bowena,  there  is  nothing  Teutonic  in  the  word,  and  the 
Eymric  meaning  Bhonwen^  white  skirt,  betrays  its  origin* 
Bhonwen,  or  Bradwen,  is  the  name  by  which  she  is  called  in 
the  O-ododitiy  a  poem  ascribed  to  the  bard  Aneurin,  and, 
perhaps,  containing  some  germs  of  truth,  though  its  con- 
nection with  the  Stonehenge  massacre  is  hotly  disputed.  One 
of  the  Triads,  too,  speaks  of  the  three  treacherous  meetings ; 
the  betrayal  to  the  Bomans  by  Avarddwy ;  the  plot  of  the 
long  knives  through  Gwrtheym  Gwrthenan ;  and  the  treason 
of  Medrawd  against  Arthur.  Another  Triad  makes  the 
coming  of  Hors,  Henghis,  and  Bhonnwen  one  of  the  three 
fatal  counsels. 

Bomance,  however,  adopted  Yortigem  into  her  own  hands. 

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58  ANCIENT  KELTIC  NAMES. 

There  is  some  reason  for  thinking  that  he  may  have  been  a 
sort  of  Julian  the  Apostate  towards  Druidism,  and  that  he 
thus  acquired  his  fame  as  the  first,  though  unwilling,  patron 
of  the  magician  Merlin,  at  whose  command  the  blocks  of 
Stonehenge  were  transported  to  Ireland.  Geofirej  of  Mon- 
mouth breaks  away  in  his  reign  from  all  semblance  of  fact, 
and  bursts  out  in  dragons,  portents,  and  prophecies,  all  which 
later  romance  amplified.  And  finally,  Yortigem  is  made  to 
murder  Uthyr  Pendragon,  and  be  burnt  to  death  in  a  tower 
by  Aurelius  Ambrosius.* 

♦  OsHanie  Society  ;  O'DonoTan,  IrUh  Namet ;  PearRon,  Early  and 
Middle  Aget  of  England  ;  Charlotte  Brooke,  Reliques  of  Irish  Poetry  / 
Cesar,  de  BeUo  OaUieo  ;  Smith,  Dictionary  ;  Zeuss,  Deutchen  und  die 
Nachber  Staume  ;  Diefenhach,  Celtica ;  Andersen,  Royal  Genealogiee ; 
Chalmers,  Caledcmia ;  Highland  Society'*  Dictionary ;  Dr.  Owen  Pogh, 
Dictionary, 


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S9 
CHAPTER  m. 

OADHABLIC     NAMBS. 

Section  L — Scottish  Oohnists. 

Thi  strange  and  wild  beliefs  that  prevailed  regarding  the 
origioal  settlement  of  ancient  Ireland,  have  left  strong  traces 
on  the  names  still  borne  by  the  population,  both  there  and  in 
Scotland. 

We  need  not  go  back  quite  to  Adam's  great  grandson,  and 
tiie  wicked  race  that  sprang  from  him,  and  all  perished,  ex- 
cept one  giant,  who  took  up  his  abode  in  a  caye,  and  there 
lived  till  he  was  baptized  by  St.  Patrick ;  nor  to  Fintan, 
who  was  changed  into  a  salmon  during  the  time  that  the 
flood  prerailed,  and  afterwards  gave  rise  to  the  proverb,  ^  I 
could  tell  jou  many  things  were  I  as  old  as  Fintan.'  A 
btfd,  so  called,  was  said  to  have  existed,  and  a  poem  is 
attributed  to  him,  which  gives  a  very  queer  account  of  the 
first  settlors,  though  he  does  not  thelt  claim  quite  such  a 
startling  experience. 

Fomorians,  Fir  Bolg,  men  dwelling  in  caves,  or,  more  pro- 
bably, ravaging  men,  and  Tuath  De  Danan,  t.  e.,  chiefs, 
priests,  and  bards,  are  all  conducted  in  turn  to  Erin  by 
tradition  and  poetry ;  but  none  equal  in  fame  or  interest 
llie  tribe  called  Milesian,  from  whom  the  purest  Irish  blood  is 
Rq^)osed  to  descend. 

The  favourite  legends  start  this  famous  colony  from  the 
East,  where  Phenius,  the  head  of  the  family,  was  supposed 
to  have  taught  the  Phoenicians  letters,  and  left  them  his 
name !  His  son,  Niul,  not  to  be  behindhand  with  him, 
named  the  Nile,  having  been  sent  on  an  embassy  to  Egypt, 

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6o  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

where  he  married  Pharaoh's  daughter !  Whether  her  name 
was  Scota  or  not,  authorities  are  not  agreed ;  but  all  declaore 
that  it  waa  her  father  who  was  drowned  in  the  Red  Sea,  and 
that  a  subsequent  dispute  with  the  Egyptians  caused  either 
Niul  or  his  son  to  migrate  to  Spain. 

It  is  this  Niul,  or  Neill,  to  whom  the  whole  legion  of 
Neals  are  to  be  referred.  The  name,  from  niadhy  means  a 
champion,  and  was  probably  carried  backwards  to  the  ancestor 
from  the  various  Neills,  who  thought  they  might  as  well 
claim  the  Nile  as  their  namesake. 

Neill  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  was  one  of  the  greatest  of 
the  ancient  heroes;  he  was  the  last  but  one  of  the  pagan 
kings  of  Ireland,  and  himself  most  unconsciously  imported 
the  seed  of  the  Gospel,  for  it  was  his  men  who,  in  a  piratical 
descent  on  the  Roman  colony  of  Valentia,  carried  oflF  the 
boy  who,  in  after  days,  was  to  become  the  Apostle  of  Ireland, 
— one  of  the  many  slaves  by  whom  the  Grospel  has  been 
extended.     Neill  of  the  Nine  Hostages  was  killed  by  an  as- 
sassin about  the  year  405  ;  but  his  family,  the  Hy  Neill,  or 
children  of  Neill,  became  one  of  the  leading  septs  in  the 
North  of  Ireland.     Of  them  the  story  is  told,  that  on  going 
to  settle  on  the  Ulster  coast,  one  of  them  resolved  to  take 
seisin  of  the  new  couStry  by  touching  the  shore  before  any 
one  else,  and  finding  his  boat  outstripped,  he  tore  out  his 
dagger,  cut  off  his  right  hand  at  the  wrist,  and  threw  it  on 
the  beach,  so  that  his  fingers  were  the  first  laid  on  the 
domain.     Such,  at  least,  is  the  tale  that  accounts  for  the 
O'Neill  war-cry,  Lamhdearg  Ahoo  (Red  hand  set  on),  and  for 
the  red  hand  on  the  shield  of  the  O'Neills  and  of  Ulster. 
The  red  handed  shield  was  afterwards  given  by  James  I.  to  the 
knights  baronets,  whom  he  created  as  *  undertakers '  of  the 
new  colony  of  English,  which  he  wished  to  found  in  Ulster ; 
and  thus  it  is  that  the  inescutcheon  argent,  a  hand  dexter 
gules,  couped  at  the  wrist,  has  become  the  badge  of   a 
baronet. 


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SCOTTISH  COLONISTS.  6 1 

The  O'Neills  of  Ulster  claim  another  great  ancestor,  Niall 
Gfamdubh,  monarch  of  Ireland,  who  was  killed  in  a  tre- 
mendous battle  with  the  Danes  in  919,  after  which,  the 
so?ereignty  of  Ireland  passed  to  Brien  Boromhe  of  Ulster, 
though  the  O'Neills  continued  to  be  kings  of  Ulster ;  and 
after  the  royalty  had  passed  away,  *  the  O'Neill,'  or  head  of 
the  family,  was  inaugorated  in  a  stone  chair  in  the  open 
field  at  a  place  called  Tullagh-og,  or  the  hill  of  the  yomig 
men,  now  called  Tnllaghogae,  in  the  comity  of  Tyrone.    The 
OTSfeills  were  for  many  years  one  of  the  five  fBonilies  of 
'  mere  Irish '  Uood  admitted  to  English  privileges ;  but,  after 
the  great  rebellion  of  Hugh  O'Neill,  in  Queen  Elizabeth's 
time,  the  chair  of  stone  was  broken  down  by  the  lord  deputy. 
Neale,  as  a  Christian  name,  and  the  surnames,  Neale,  Neill, 
and  both  T?ith  the  0  and  the  Mac,  swarm  in  Ireland.    The 
O'Neill,  indeed,  were  considered  by  all  the  North  of  Erin  to 
be  the  greatest  of  all  their  clans ;  and  a  contention  took 
place  among  the  bards  of  the  island,  in  the  reign  of  James 
L,  in  which  it  was  asserted  that  the  comparative  value  of 
the  Hy  Neill  to  all  other  races,  was  as  a  hundred  pounds 
to  one. 

Scotland  likewise  made  much  use  of  Niel,  as  it  is  there 
spelt,  but  it  is  ffiur  more  surprising  to  meet  with  it  among  the 
Scandinavian  races.  It  is  evidence  that  there  must  have  been 
some  considerable  intercourse  between  Ireland  and  the  North 
before  the  days  of  the  piracies  of  the  historical  ages.  The 
old  Irish  legends  constantly  speak  of  Norway  as  Lochlinn,  or 
die  land  of  lakes,  and  show  visits  taking  place  between  the 
iBhabitants ;  and  there  are  names  to  be  found  in  both  coun- 
tries borrowed  from  one  another  too  far  back  to  be  ascribed 
to  the  Norse  invadons. 

Li  the  Landnama  Boh^  the  Domesday  Book  of  Iceland, 
1M>  less  than  three  Njals  appear,  and  the  Njalssaga,  the 
history  of  the  noble  spirited  yet  peaceful  Icelander,  who, 
even  in  the  tenth  century,  had  never  shed  blood,  and  pre- 

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62  GADHAEUC  NAMES. 

ferred  rather  to  die  with  his  sons  than  to  live  to  avenge 
them,  is  one  of  the  finest  histories  that  have  come  down  to 
ns  from  any  age.  Njal's  likeness  to  the  contraction  Nils, 
has  caused  many  to  suppose  that  it  abo  is  a  form  of  Nicolas, 
/  but  the  existence  of  Nials  both  in  Ireland  and  Iceland  before 

the  conversion  of  either  country  contradicts  this.  Nielsen 
is  a  frequent  Northern  patronymic,  and  our  renowned  name 
of  Nelson  probably  came  to  us  through  Danish  settlers. 

The  Northmen  apparently  took  their  Njal  to  France  with 
them,  and  it  there  was  called  Nesle  or  Nele.  Chroniclers 
latinized  it  as  Nigellus,  supposing  it  to  mean  black ;  and  in 
Domesday  Book  twelve  landholders  called  Nigellus  appear, 
both  before  and  after  the  Conquest,  so  that  they  may  be 
supposed  to  be  Danish  Niels,  left  undisturbed  in  their 
possessions. 

Nigel  de  Albini,  brother  to  him  who  married  the  widow  of 
Henry  I.,  must  have  been  a  genuine  Norman  Niel;  and 
through  the  numerous  Anglo-Norman  nobles  who  were 
adopted  into  the  Scottish  peerage,  this  form  was  adopted  in 
addition  to  the  old  Graelic  Nial,  or  as  a  translation  of  it,  for 
the  young  brother  of  Robert  Bruce  is  called  by  both  names, 
Nigel  and  Nial.  At  present  this  latinized  Normanism  of 
the  old  Keltic  word  is  considered  as  peculiarly  Scottish, 
chiefly  because  it  has  been  kept  up  in  that  form  in  old 
Scotch  families,  and  latterly  on  account  of  the  interest  given 
by  Scott  to  poor  *  Nigel  Bruce'  and  Nigel  Olifant. 

The  original  Neill  of  the  Nile  appears  to  have  had  a  son,' 
who,  according  to  the  Scot,  Hector  Boetius,  was  called 
Grathelus ;  married  Scota,  went  to  Spain,  caused  his  followers 
to  be  called  Scots,  aad,  after  another  tradition,  invented 
Gbdhaelic,  that  is,  as  the  same  authority  delares,  GhvidheakuB^ 
a  compound  of  many  tongues.  Cuinfada,  however,  makes 
Scota  come  out  of  Scythia  and  marry  Milidh,  the  son  of 
Neill ;  and  Royne  the  Poetical,  who  considers  Scota  to  be 
mother  and  not  wife  of  this  hero,  says  that  his  original 

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SCOTTISH  COLONISTS.  63 

name  was  Ilith,  and  that  in  Spun  he  got  the  noble  name  of 
Milidh,  whence  his  descendants  were  called  Mic  Milidh^  the 
sons  of  the  warrior,  now  termed  Milesians. 

His  eight  sons  came  to  Ireland  with  their  followers,  and 
after  a  great  deal  of  desperate  fighting,  established  them- 
selves as  the  leading  race.  It  is  in  favour  of  this  unyary- 
iog  beKef  that  the  Scots  came  oat  of  Spain,  that  the  Irish 
who  boast  Milesian  blood,  are  for  the  most  part  dark-haired, 
and  with  the  fine  figure  and  carriage  of  the  Spaniards, 
though  with  the  peculiar  deep,  dark  blue  eye  that  is  a  re- 
mai^ble  characteristic  of  Irish  beauty. 

Heremon,  one  of  the  sons,  had  namesakes  in  the  Mac 
Sweeny  family,  but  they  turned  into  Irwin,  and  show  us  the 
souroe  of  Irwin  and  Irving  in  Scotland. 

A  king  called  Oairbre  Riada,  of  the  Milesian  race,  settled 
in  Ulster,  and  from  him  came  the  name  now  called  Garbury, 
meaning  a  strong  man. 

His  people  were  called  Dalriada,  or  the  race  of  Riada,  and 
it  was  they  who,  from  the  third  to  the  fifth  centuries,  were 
gradually  migrating  to  Albin,  imtil  they  had  transferred  the 
term  of  Scotia  from  one  isle  to  the  other ;  Fergus,  Loam,  and 
Aonghns  are  said  to  have  been  the  three  brothers  who  led 
tiie  migration  in  503,  and  Loam  and  Angus  gave  their 
names  to  two  districts  in  Scotland.  They  brought  with  them 
to  Argyle  the  stone  of  empire,  said  to  be  that  of  Jacob's 
pillar. 

Aonguss  was  indeed  a  popular  name  both  in  Scotland  and 
Ireland :  it  comes  from  the  numeral  turn,  one ;  also  conveying 
the  sense  of  pre-eminence,  means  excellent  strength,  and  is 
generally  pronounced  Haoonish  in  Gaelic.  Irish  genealogists 
make  Aongus  Turimheach  king  two  hundred  and  thirty-three 
years  before  the  Christian  era ;  and  we  are  afterwards  told  of 
another  Aongas,  king  of  Munster,  also  called  Enghus  and 
Oengos,  who  had  a  family  of  forty-eight  sons  and  daughters, 
of  whom  he  gave  half  to  St.  Patrick  to  be  monks  and  nuns. 

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64  QADHAELIC  NAMES. 

In  Hanmer's  Okronick^  ^^ing  Arthur  visits  Ireland  and  c(m- 
yerses  with  King  Anguish,  which  painful  title  is  precisely 
that  which  Henry  VUL,  in  his  correspondence,  gives  hia 
brother-in-law,  the  Earl  of  Angus. 

Angus  is  specially  at  home  in  Scotland,  but  there  it  has 
been  called  Hungus  and  Ungus,  likewise  Enos,  and  is  now 
generally  translated  into  ^neas,  the  christened  name  of  many 
a  Scot  who  ought  to  be  Angus ;  and  the  Irish  are  too  apt  to 
do  the  same.''^ 

Section  n. — The  Fern. 

A  remarkable  cycle  of  traditions  are  cherished  by  the 
Gbdhaelic  race  regarding  a  band  of  heroes,  whom  they  call 
the  Feen,  or  Fenians,  and  whose  exploits  are  to  them  what 
those  of  Jason,  or  Theseus,  were  to  tilie  Greeks. 

Scotland  and  Ireland  claim  them  both  alike,  and  point  to 
places  named  after  them  and  their  deeds ;  but  the  balance  of 
probability  is  in  favour  of  Ireland,  as  their  chief  scene  of 
adventure,  although  they  may  also  have  spent  some  time  in 
Morven,  as  their  legends  call  the  West  of  Scotland,  since  the 
Gadhaelic  race  was  resident  in  both  countries,  and  kept  to- 
gether in  comparative  union  by  its  hatred  to  the  Cymry  in  both. 
This  supposition  is  confirmed  by  the  semblance  of  a  date  that 
is  supplied  by  the  conversion  of  the  last  survivor  of  the  band 
by  St.  Patrick,  which  would  place  their  era  in  the  end  of  the 
fourth  century,  just  when  the  migrations  of  the  Scots  were 
taking  place,  supposing  these  to  have  lasted  from  about  aj>. 
250  to  500.  After  all,  the  Feen  may  be  only  one  of  the 
ancient  imaginations  of  the  Grael,  and  either  never  have  had 
any  corporeal  existence  at  all,  or  else  ancient  genuine  myths 
may  have  fixed  themselves  upon  some  forefathers,  who  under 

♦  Hanmer,  Chronicle;  Ostianie  Society* 8  Tratuactioru ;  Taylor,  Bitu 
of  Ireland  ;  Dasent,  NiaUaga  ;  Highland  8ociety*8  Dictionary  ;  EDis, 
Domesday  Book, 


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THE  FEEN.  65 

their  inflnence  have  been  magnified  into  heroic — ^not  to  say — 
giguitic  proportions. 

These  tales,  songs,  and  poems  lived  among  the  story-telling 
Highlanders  and  Irish,  unnoticed,  until  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tary,  when  the  Scottish  author,  James  Macpherson,  per- 
cei?ed  that  they  contained  a  mine  of  wild  beauty  and  heroic 
deeds,  and  were,  in  fact,  the  genuine  national  poetry  of  his 
race.  In  that  age,  literary  honesty  had  not  been  invented, 
the  curiosity  and  value  of  so  called  barbarisms  were  not 
perceived,  and  translators  deemed  it  their  duty,  not  so  much 
to  give  a  representation  of  their  author,  as  to  polish  up  to 
the  taste  of  the  public.  Traduttoriy  traditori^  was  a  proverb 
eqncially  true  at  that  time,  though  the  treason  chiefly  con- 
asted  in  disguising  every  hero,  from  the  Euphrates  to  the 
Boyne,  in  a  sort  of  Franco-classical  court  suit. 

Macpherson  used  this  license  to  the  utmost.  He  put  his 
firagments  together  into  the  books  of  an  epic,  and  wrought 
up  the  measured  metre  of  the  Gaelic  into  a  sort  of  stilted 
English  prose,  rhythmical,  and  not  without  a  certain  grandeur 
of  cadence  and  expression ;  moreover,  he  left  out  a  good  deal 
of  savagery,  triviality,  repetition,  and  absurdity ;  and  pro- 
duced an  exceedingly  striking  book,  by  expanding  the  really 
grand  imagery  of  the  ancient  bards,  and,  perhaps,  uncon- 
acioQsly  imparting  Christian  heroism  to  his  characters.  The 
poet  Gray  admired,  the  literary  ladies  were  enraptured  at 
their  introduction  to  heroes  more  magnanimous  and  pure  in 
sentiment  than  those  of  Homer ;  and  even  the  great  Na- 
poleon himself  preferred  these  poems  to  any  others. 

There  had  been  some  unscrupulousness  from  the  first. 
Either  from  nationality  or  ignorance,  Macpherson  had  en- 
tirely ignored  the  connection  with  St.  Patrick,  and  made  his 
lieroes  altogether  Scottish,  though  passing  into  Ireland; 
<Qd  when  a  swarm  of  critics  arose,  some  questioning,  some 
mocking,  he  did  not  make  a  candid  statement  of  what  were 
his  materials,  but  left  the  world  to  divide  itself  between  the 

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66  GADHAEUC  NAMES. 

beliefs  that  the  whole  was  Ossian's,  or  the  whole  Macpher- 
son's.  Had  he  been  truthful,  he  would  have  gained  high 
credit,  both  as  poet  and  antiquary;  but  taking  the  part  he 
has  done,  he  has  brought  on  himself  the  reputation  of  an 
impostor,  his  literary  talents  have  been  forgotten,  and  the 
poems  themselves  are  far  less  regarded  than  they  deserve, 
except  by  those  of  Keltic  birth',  whose  patient  investigations, 
honestly  set  forth,  have  done  much  to  establish  a  correct 
opinion  on  the  matter. 

Be  the  truth  what  it  may,  the  names  of  the  Feen  were 
in  constant  use  long  before  Macpherson  was  heard  of. 

In  Ireland  and  West  Scotland,  the  early  poems  represent 
Finn  and  his  friends  performing  high  feats  of  prowess. 

*  Great  were  their  deeds,  their  passions,  and  their  sports ! 

With  clay  and  stone, 
They  piled  on  strath  and  shore  their  mystic  forts, 

Not  yet  o'erthrown : 
On  oairn-crown^d  hills  they  held  their  council  court, 

While  youths  alone 
With  giant  dogs  explored  the  elk  resorts, 

And  brought  them  down.* 

Their  dogs,  indeed.  Bran  the  strong,  and  Luath  the  swift, 
were  almost  as  famous  as  themselves,  and  almost  every  strange 
work  of  nature,  or  unexplained  antiquity,  is  attributed  to 
them. 

Finally,  the  Feen  either  invaded  Ireland,  or  became  ob- 
noxious to  the  natives,  and  were  set  upon  at  the  battle  of 
Garristown,  or  Gabhra,  pronounced  Gavra,  loud  shouting; 
Gavra  named  a  king  of  the  Scots  at  the  time  of  King  Ida's 
invasion.  The  last  survivor  of  them  was  the  poet  Oisean, 
or  Ossian,  as  he  is  now  called,  who  was  said  to  have  lived  till 
the  coming  of  St.  Patrick,  and  to  have  been  taken  into  his 
monastery,  where  old  Irish  poems  show  him  in  most  piteous 
case,  complaining  much  of  fasts,  and  of  the  ^  drowsy  sound 
of  a  bell.' 


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FINN.  67 

*  Alas !  though  Patriok  from  Borne  saith 

That  the  Fenians  sorely  live  not, 

I  deem  not  that  his  speech  is  true ; 
And  my  delight  is  not  in  the  meaning  of  his  Psalms. 

'Alas !  whither  go  the  men  that  were  mighty, 
That  they  come  not  to  succour  me ; 
0  Oscar,  of  the  sharp  blades  of  victory, 
Come,  and  release  thy  father  from  bondage.* 

Then  St.  Patrick  comes  and  argnes  with  him  after  the 
{Seishian  of  the  poem  translated  by  Captain  Mclntjre  to  the 
antiqnarj.  Ossian  must  have  been  a  terribly  unpromising 
convert;  but  he  finallj  makes  a  really  touching  end,  dying 
before  St.  Patrick's  eyes,  under  his  reproof  for  still  in  his 
last  prayer  entreating  that  his  dear  Fenians  may  be  with 
him  at  the  last  day ;  in  spirit  like  the  Saxon  who  refused 
to  receive  baptism  from  Charlemagne's  priests,  because  he 
preferred  to  share  the  perdition  to  which  they  rashly  con- 
signed his  forefathers,  forgetting  that  the  heathen  ^  to  their 
own  master  stand  or  fall.' 

No  wonder  that  ^  Ossian  after  the  Feen '  is  in  Scotland  a 
proverb  for  dreariness.^ 


Sbction  nL — Finn. 

Leader  of  the  Feen,  and  bestowing  on  them  their  very 
title,  stands  the  great  Fionn  or  Finn,  the  grand  centre  of 
iocient  Gadhaelic,  giant  lore ;  called  in  Ireland,  Finn  Erin, 
or  Finn  Mac  Goyle ;  and  in  Scotland,  Fion  na  Gael,  or  Finn 
Mac  Cumhall,  or  Fionna  Ghal,  whence  tradition  has  handed 
him  down  to  us  modems  as  Fingal,  a  name  he  bears  in 
Barbour's  Bruce. 

There  is  no  doubt  of  the  meaning  oi  Jinn.    It  is  the  same 

*  Campbell,  Tale$  of  the  Highlands;  EncyeU  Brit. ;  Maophenon,  0$$ian; 
Foftn  of  the  (HHmic  Society;  Hayes,  BaUadM  of  Ireland, 

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68  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

with  the  Cymric  Gwynn,  or  Wynn,  and  like  them  Bignifies 
white,  fair  or  clear,  as  in  the  name  of  Longh  Fyne,  and  in 
the  proper  name  of  the  Phoenix  Park  at  Dublin,  which  was 
once  Fion  UisgCj  or  clear  water,  the  latter  being  the  same 
word  that  entitled  the  many  Usks  and  Esks,  and  the  Exe, 
to  say  nothing  of  whiskey  and  usquebaugh.  In  the  days  of 
scholarship,  sound  guided  spelling  into  Phoenix;  and  the 
effigy  of  the  self-consuming  bird  has  entirely  fixed  the 
Dublin  mind  into  the  notion  that  the  appellation  is  bestowed 
on  the  *  Phoenix*  in  honour  of  its  exclusive  perfection. 

One  very  remarkable  feature  in  the  history  of  Finn  is 
that  the  same  meaning  of  white  attaches  to  it  in  ancient  ch* 
poetical  Scandinavian,  though  not  in  the  other  Teutcmic 
languages  ;  nor  is  the  name  found  in  any  Teuton  naticm 
but  the  northern  ones,  except  that  in  the  Saxon  chronicle 
Finn  is  Odin's  fourth  forefather,  whereas  he  is  his  grand- 
father in  the  Udda. 

The  island  of  Fuhnen  is  said  to  be  called  from  Finn,  as  a 
form  of  Odin.  Mr.  Eemble  thinks  that  the  term  may  be 
related  to  f an jfiuj  fun,  funs  (Goth.), /mm  (Norse),  all  giving 
the  idea  of  motion, — and  pre-supposing  a  last  verb^finnan^ 
fan^ftinnonyfunnen, — and  tilius  it  would  mean  the  moving 
acting  deity.  It  is  impossible  to  say  whether  this  be  so  or 
not,  if  Woden's  title  of  Finn  be  borrowed  fix)m  the  Keltic 
white,  or  if  again  the  Keltic  hero  Finn,  avowedly  bom  in 
Denmark,  brought  home  a  Danish  title  conveying  the  idea 
of  deity. 

In  the  great  Anglian  poem  of  Beowolf  Finn  is  king  of 
the  Frisians,  but  is  conquered  by  the  Danes,  strangely 
enough,  under  Henghist ;  another  poem,  called  the  Battk 
of  Finnsburhf  records  the  strife — ^Finn  lost  half  his  king- 
dom, but  the  next  year  killed  Henghist ;  then  being  set  upon 
by  the  other  Danes,  lost  his  crown  and  life.  It  is  likely 
that  old  as  the  poem  is,  it  has  been  much  altered,  and  that 
it  really  existed  before  the  Anglian  colonization  of  England; 

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FINN.  69 

indeed,  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  it  was  in  memory  of 
the  bnrgh  of  this  Frisian  Finn,  that  Finsbory  manor  in  the 
(dty  of  London  acquired  its  name. 

It  is  evident  that  Finn  was  known  in  the  North,  and  as 
something  apart  either  from  the  aboriginal  Finns  or  Lapps, 
or  from  the  Norse  inhabitants  of  the  Finmark. 

Finn  is  a  giant  in  Norway,  compelled  by  the  good  Bishop 
Laurence  to  erect  the  church  at  Lund,  after  which  he  was 
turned  into  stone  by  way  of  payment,  wife,  child,  and  all, 
as  may  still  be  seen.  A^ain  in  Denmark  as  a  trolld,  he  did 
the  same  service  for  Esbem  Snare,  building  Kallundborg 
church,  on  condition  that  if  his  name  was  not  guessed  by 
the  time  the  church  was  finished,  his  employer  should  become 
his  property.  As  in  the  German  tale  of  Rumpel  Stitzcheny 
the  danger  was  averted  by  the  victim,  just  in  time,  over- 
hearing this  amiable  lullaby  in  the  hole  of  a  rock — 

'  Be  still,  my  babe,  be  still, 
.  To-morrow  comes  thy  father  Finn, 
Esbem^s  heart  and  eyes  for  a  toy  thou  shalt  win.^ 

Next  morning  Esbem  saluted  Finn  by  his  name  as  he 
was  bringing  the  last  half  pillar,  whereupon  he  flew  away, 
pillar  and  all,  wherefore  the  church  only  stands  to  this  day 
on  three  pillars  and  a  half! 

Finn  alone,  and  in  combination,  is  rather  a  favourite  in 
the  North.  The  Laudnamorboky  which  gives  the  Icelandic 
genealogies  from  the  settlements  there  in  the  ninth  century 
down  to  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth,  has  five  men  named 
Finnr,  two,  Finni,  and  three  ladies  called  Finna;  and  in  the 
three  countries  in  the  mainland  it  has  been  equally  common, 
even  to  comparatively  recent  times,  when  Finn  Magnusson 
was  one  of  the  chief  authorities  for  Scandinavian  antiquities. 
Among  the  compounds  of  the  name  the  Swedes  have  Finn- 
gaard,  which  their  pronunciation  contrives  to  make  sound 
like  Fingal,  with  what  is  called  the  *  thick  /;'  and  in  jaodern 

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70  GADHAETiTC  NAMES. 

times  is  so  spelt  in  allusion  to  Macpherson's  hero,  though  it 
would  properly  mean  *  white  house,'  or  *  white  defence,'  unless 
indeed  we  refer  it  to  the  mythical  Finn,  and  make  it  Finn's 
defence.  The  name  Finnketyl,  or  Finnkjell,  with  the  femi- 
nine Finnkatla,  is  better  explained  as  the  cauldron  or  vessel 
of  some  semi-divine  Finn,  than  as  only  a  white  kettle,  its 
more  obvious  meaning.  Kettles  are  rather  common  in  the 
North,  but  almost  always  belong  to  some  divinity  of  high 
rank,  which  is  in  favour  of  the  dignity  of  Finn.  He  has 
his  weapons,  as  Finnbogi,  or  Finbo,  a  white  bow ;  Finngeir, 
a  white  spear ;  his  sport,  as  Finleik,  or  white  reward ; 
his  forest,  as  Finn-vidr,  *t>r  white  wood  ;  as  well  as  his 
guardianship,  as  Finn-vardr,  or  white  ward,  all  represented 
in  northern  nomenclature,  in  a  manner  analogous  to  those  of 
the  national  deities. 

All  this  makes  it  highly  probable  that  Finn  was  an  idea 
borrowed  from  the  Gael  by  the  Norsemen,  especially  as  the 
hammer  of  Thor  is  sometimes  to  be  heard  in  Scottish  legend 
resounding  in  the  hand  of  Finn.  Another  curious  feature 
in  the  history  is,  that  Scottish  tradition  makes  Fionn  the  son 
of  a  Scottish  king  who  came  frt)m  Ireland,  and  of  a  Scandi- 
navian princess,  and  says  that  he  and  his  men  drove  the  Danes 
from  Scotland.  The  Booh  of  JBowthj  which  is  extremely 
inimical  to  him,  makes  him  very  nearly  a  Dane  himself, 
being  sixth  in  descent  from  a  certain  Realmond,  king  of 
Ulster,  who  was  banished  and  took  up  his  abode  in  Denmark. 
In  the  third  century,  Finn  and  a  large  party  of  followers 
invaded  Ireland,  and  fought  a  seven  days'  battle  with  the 
natives  at  Fentra  in  Ulster,  after  which  the  Irish  hired  them 
to  defend  the  country  against  further  Danish  incursions,  and 
a  long  list  of  the  names  and  the  places  they  guarded  is 
given.  After  this  they  grew  insolent,  and  oppressed  the 
Irish,  and  whilst  Finn  was  absent  at  Rome  the  MUesians 
mustered  against  them,  and  defeated  them  totally  in  the 
terrible  battle  of  Crarristown.    Finn  himself  was  furthw 

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FINN.  71 

said  to  have  made  sundry  expeditions,  among  others  a 
yiait  to  the  king  of  Denmark,  who  offered  him  his  daughter 
in  marriage,  but  finailj  to  have  died  a  beggar  in  great 
misery. 

All  the  traditions  agree  in  this  fatal  battle  of  Garristown, 
more  poetically  called  Gaura,  from  Gara  or  shouting,  and  it 
is  the  subject  of  Macpherson's  poem  of  Temora.  Fionn's 
own  fate  does  not  seem  clear,  but  he  has  floated  into  a 
gigantic  being  of  mist  and  wonder,  receiving  the  credit  of 
all  the  stupendous  works  of  nature,  whose  regularity  and 
design  suggests  the  idea  of  a  magnified  human  architect. 
His  is  the  basaltic  cave  of  Staffa,  which,  however,  is  also 
called  the  King's  Gave,  and  said  to  have  held  Bruce ;  but 
Finn,  as  the  giant,  has  undoubted  right  to  the  huge  pier  of 
columns,  projecting  from  the  coast  of  Ulster,  his  stepping- 
stone;  his  boiler  is  in  Perthshire;  his  habitations  in  Liosmor 
and  at  Stratheam;  and  his  tomb.  Gill  Fhinn,  pronounced 
Killin,  is  likewise  in  Perthshire. 

Was  he  really,  as  the  Booh  of  Howth  says,  a  leader  of 
Norsemen  ?  Every  name  of  his  followers  contradicts  this ; 
Ui^re  is  not  one  that  is  not  genuine  Kelt,  except,  perhaps, 
that  of  Osgar.  Or  is  it  open  to  us  to  imagine  that  the  Kelt 
had  not  entirely  melted  from  the  Danish  peninsula,  and  that 
it  was  a  last  migration  from  thence  that  he  led  ?  The  difficulty 
in  this  supposition  is  that  the  Ghersonese  was  Gimbric,  and 
that  he  and  his  followers  bear  Gaelic  names ;  but  if  he  and 
his  chief  firiends  were  really  of  Erse  extraction,  and  took  the 
command  of  a  fugitive  tribe,  this  would  account  for  the 
names.  At  any  rate  it  is  a  curious  feature,  that  though 
Ronn  evidently  resided  much  in  Ireland,  he  is  there  re- 
garded as  an  enemy,  while  in  Scotland  he  is  a  national  hero, 
and  he  and  his  men  are  favourite  ancestors. 

Fionnaghal  Mac  Donald,  E^ing  of  the  Isles,  was  reckoned 
as  a  descendant  of  the  great  Fingal,  and  from  him  ^de- 
scended the   Mac  Intyres,  or  sons  of  the  carpenter,  so 

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72  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

called  from  the  father  of  their  race  (an  illegitimate  son 
of  Fiomiaghal)  stopping  a  hole  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat 
both  were  sailing  in^  bj  thrusting  in  his  thmnb  and  cutting 
it  off.  '  My  fine  lad,  the  thmnb  carpenter,'  said  the  king, 
and  T'saor,  a  carpenter,  has  thus  furnished  the  name  of 
Macintyre.  Indeed,  the  Irish  Mc'Intjres  have  gone  back 
again  to  Carpenter.  A  Fingal  was  king  of  Man  in  1066 ; 
and  Finn  long  continued  to  be  used  in  Scotland  and  Ireland, 
until  the  Scots  devised  translating  it  into  Albany,  as  a  w<»nd 
of  like  meaning,  since  which  time  it  has  disappeared,  thou^ 
leaving  behind  it  the  surnames  of  Phinn,  Mac  Phunn,  Fin- 
lay,  &c. 

Of  Gral,  Ghala,  or  Cumhall,  we  will  speak  under  its  own 
head.  There  are  many  other  names  connected  with  Finn  in 
the  sense  of  white,  such  as  Finghin,  or  the  fair  offspring, 
which  became  Finian  or  Fineen ;  and  as  such  was  the  name 
of  two  saints,  one  a  friend  of  St.  Patrick,  and  a  teacher  of 
St.  Columb,  but  with  ideas  like  those  which  are  said  to  jh^ 
vail  in  the  Vatican  as  to  copying ;  for  when  Columb  had 
written  out  the  Psalms  from  a  book  lent  by  him,  he  claimed 
the  copy  on  the  plea  that  it  was  the  offspring  of  his  manu- 
script. Nevertheless,  St.  Columb  took  care  that  St.  Finan 
should  be  duly  revered  in  Scotland,  where  he  has  various 
churches,  and  one  royal  namesake,  for  probably  he  was  the 
real  original  of  the  Finnan,  whose  reign  is  placed  B.C.  134. 
Another  St.  Finghin  is  patron  of  Ulster,  and  left  his  name 
to  be  a  favourite  in  the  families  of  McCarthy,  O'Sullivan, 
and  O'DriscoU,  until  Finghin  McCarthy  anglicized  himadf 
as  Florence,  in  which  he  has  ever  since  been  imitated  by 
his  countrymen,  though  the  name  did  not  bring  him  much 
good  fortune,  as  his  enemies  represented  that  his  alias 
showed  sinister  intentions ;  and  for  other  more  definite  mis- 
deeds, he  was  thirty-six  years  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of 
London.    It  was  a  mistake  in  Lady  Morgan  to  make  Flo- 


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FINN.  73 

rence  McCarthy  a  woman,  for  Florence  and  Flory  in  Ireland 
are  always  men.  We  do  find  a  Florence  mentioned  as  con- 
temporary with  St.  Patrick ;  but  this  is  doubtless  meant  as  a 
translation  of  Finghin. 

The  ladies,  however,  have  not  been  behindhand  in  spoiling 
their  derivative  from  Fionn.  Fionn-ghuala,  or  of  the  white 
shoulders,  was  a  tough-looking  name  enough,  though  no  one 
need  complain  of  it  as  Finnala,  as  it  actudly  is  spoken,  still 
less  as  Fenella.  Early  Keltic  maidens  used  it  frequently, 
and  it  is  found  in  all  manner  of  shapes  in  genealogies.  In 
the  clouds  at  the  opening  of  Scottish  history,  we  find 
Fynbella,  or  Finella,  recorded  as  the  cruel  Lady  of  Fetter- 
cairn,  who,  in  994,  killed  King  Kenneth  HI.  A  ruin  in 
the  province  is  still  called  Fenella's  Castle,  and  Denfenell  at 
Ecclesgreig  is  said  to  have  been  the  place  where  she  was 
taken,  and  put  to  death. 

Another  Fynbella  was  Lady  of  the  Meams  in  1174; 
Finvola  is  found  in  the  M'Leod  pedigree  twice  in  the  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  centuries.  The  Macdonnells  called  her 
Finwald  in  1497;  but  they  may  have  obtained  this  form 
finom  the  Scandinavians  of  the  Hebrides,  in  which  case  it 
would  rather  mean  white  power.  Finvola  and  Finola  thickly 
stud  the  Irish  pedigrees ;  and  it  was  perfectly  correct  in 
Scott  to  make  Fenella  the  name  of  the  little  wild  dumb 
sprite,  whom  he  placed  in  the  Isle  of  Man  as  a  daughter  of 
the  house  of  Christian.  In  almost  all  its  original  homes, 
however,  Fenella  has  been  discarded,  having  been  ousted 
by  its  supposed  equivalent,  Penelope  (a  weaver),  and  only 
in  a  few  Irish  families  is  it  still  retained,  and  then  in  the 
form  of  Nuala.  In  Scotland  it  has  turned  into  the  well- 
known  Flora  or  Florie,  the  special  name  of  the  island  and 
highland  lassie. 

The  other  feminine  forms  of  Finn  have  entirely  passed 
away.     They  were  Finbil  and  Finscoth,  white  blossom  and 


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74  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

white  flower,  answering  to  the  Blanche-fleur  of  romance, 
which  it  is  possible  was  really  meant  as  a  translation; 
Findelvh,  fair  countenance ;  Finnabhor,  of  the  fair  eyelids ; 
A  Finni,  the  fair ;  and  Findath,  fair  colour.  The  notable  Fin- 
tan,  the  salmon,  was  called  from  this  source.  Besides  that 
worthy,  there  were  three  Irish  saints  so  called,  one  of  whom 
also  had  the  surname  MwynUy  and  is  thence  mentioned  in 
an  old  Scottish  breviary  as  St.  Mund. 

Men  in  Ireland  were  also  called  Fionnan  and  Fionnagan, 
or  the  fair,  and  the  latter  has  resulted  in  the  surnames 
Finucane  and  Finnegan. 

According  to  the  usual  rule  of  affinities,  the  Ghoen  of 
Wales  ought  to  come  under  this  head ;  but  the  prefix  plays 
so  important  a  part  in  the  Round  Table  cycle  of  romance, 
that  we  prefer  reserving  it.* 


Section  IV. — Cw,  Cun^  Qal. 

We  have  treated  the  name  of  Fionn  alone,  because  that  is, 
comparatively,  plain  sailing,  while  the  second  syllable  of  the 
name  by  which  we  call  him  is  beset  with  interminable  per- 
plexities. 

If  he  was  only  Fingal,  it  would  be  easy  enough  to  translate 
him  by  *  white  courage;'  but  unluckily  we  know  that  this 
was  a  Lowland  contraction,  used  indeed  in  Barbour's  Brucey 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  but  not  the  original  form.  He 
was  Fionn-na-Ghal,  Finn  MacCoyl,  or  Finn  MacCumhall; 
or,  according  to  Hector  Boece,  in  1526,  Finn,  filius  Ccdi^ 
Finn,  the  son  of  Heaven;    thus  making  him  —  as  every 

*  Eemble,  Introd'oction  to  Beowolf  Campbell,  Tales  of  West  High- 
lands ;  Hanmer,  Chronicle;  Grimm,  Mythologies  Munch,  Naimret; 
Ossianic  Society  ;  O'Donovan ;  Irish  Society  ;  Marrjat^  Sweden  ;  LatMi- 
nawA-hoh  ;  Anderson,  Qenealogies  ;  Butler,  Lives  of  the  Saints. 


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CU,  CUN,  GAL.  75 

mythic  worthy  from  Hercules  to  Arthur  has  been  made — 
an  astronomical  parable. 

In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  observed  that  CumhaU  is  in 
pronunciation  nothing  but  Coul,  or  Coyl.  That  murderous 
letter  h  has  destroyed  the  m^  and  itself  into  the  bargain,  and 
their  only  use  is  to  testify  to  what  the  etymology  of  the 
word  has  been.  That  word  appears  to  be  ct*,  a  chief,  in  com- 
bination with  gal^  courage,  or  else  gaUy  a  stranger.  Leaving 
out  the  chief,  then,  we  have  Finn,  son  of  the  stranger,  or 
Finn,  son  of  courage,  or,  more  properly,  Finn,  son  of  Chief 
Gall,  otherwise  Gonghal,  a  very  common  name  in  Ireland,  and 
Cor,  Scotland,  but  always  running  into  Goul  when  spoken, 
according  to  the  suicidal  propensities  of  Gadhaelic. 

Here  we  unite  with  the  other  branch  of  the  language  in  a 
most  curious  manner,  for  Col,  Coel,  or  Coll,  was  a  highly 
mythic  personage  in  Kymric  legend,  connected  with  the 
original  population  of  Britain. 

He  is  one  of  the  three  great  swineherds  of  Britain,  in  the 
Triads^  the  other  t^o  being  PwU  and  Tristram ;  also,  he  is 
one  of  those  who  conferred  benefits  upon  Britain,  and  appears 
in  company  with  Hu  Gradam. 

The  title  of  the  Swineherd  is  accounted  for  in  the  Welsh 
tale  of  a  sow  called  Henwen,  the  old  lady,  who  was  placed 
mider  his  charge,  and  came  swimming  straight  for  Britain, 
with  Coll  holding  by  her  bristles,  wherever  she  swam.  There 
were  predictions  that  Britain  would  suflFer  harm  from  her 
progeny,  and  Arthur  therefore  collected  his  forces  to  oppose 
her  landing ;  but  at  Aber  Tarrogi  she  came  to  the  shore,  and 
at  Wheatfield  in  Gwent  she  laid  three  grains  of  wheat  and 
three  bees,  whence  com  and  honey  are  the  great  pride  of  the 
district  At  Dyved  she  produced  a  barleycorn  and  a  pig,  to 
the  subsequent  benefit  of  Dyved  beer  and  bacon.  She  fa- 
voured Lleyn  with  rye,  but  on  Snowdon  she  bestowed  the 
wolf  and  the  eagle,  and  on  Mona  a  kitten. 


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y6  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

Without  going  back,  like  Mr.  Davies,  to  make  the  sow 
either  into  the  ark,  or  a  Phoenician  ship,  it  is  worth  observiDg 
that  there  are  traces  in  Ireland  of  some  pig  myth.  There  is 
a  famous  poem  called  77ie  Hunting  of  the  Pig^  resulting  in 
its  being  slain  at  Muckamore ;  and  muck^  a  pig,  and  torc^  a 
boar,  are  constantly  found  in  old  names  of  places,  as  if  the 
swine  cult  had  been  of  a  higher  kind  than  that  at  present 
received  by  the  species. 

Would  not  this  throw  back  the  period  of  the  mythic  Col 
sufficiently,  to  connect  him  in  name  at  least  ^ith  the  Coul 
who  was  father  to  Finn  ?  In  like  manner  his  name  might 
have  come  from  gaUy  a  stranger. 

Not  wholly  substantial  is  the  next  British  Coel-ap-Cyllin, 
who  with  Bran  the  Blessed,  and  his  own  son  Lleurig,  makes 
up  a  triad  of  promoters  of  Christianity  in  Britain. 

We  are  scarcely  sure  of  more  than  his  existence;  not 
quite  that  he  left  his  name  to  Colchester,  and  far  less  that  he 
is  the  father  of  the  Empress  Helena,  the  mother  of  Constan- 
tino ;  and  he  is  further  relegated  to  the  realms  of  fable,  by 
the  rhyme  that,  basely  transmuting  his  fame  in  the  Triads^ 

sings — 

*  Old  King  Coal 
Was  a  merry  old  soul. 
Himself  and  his  fiddlers  three.^ 

The  Col  thus  introduced  was  however  probably  the  source 
of  the  frequent  surname  of  Col  and  Coulson.  Col  or  (Jail 
was  the  name  of  a  companion  of  St.  Columbanus,  and,  like 
him,  one  of  the  great  missionary  saints  of  Ireland,  who 
finished  the  imperfect  work  of  conversion  of  the  Kelts,  scat- 
tered in  the  borders  of  France,  Germany,  and  Switzerland. 
His  name  of  St.  Gull  is  still  attached  to  the  great  monastery 
near  the  Lake  of  Constance,  and  that  he  was  indeed  the 
founder  is  remarkably  confirmed,  as  we  are  told,  by  the  pre- 
servation there  of  MSS.,  with  illuminations  in  the  peculiar 
style  of  early  Irish  art 

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CU,  CUN,  GAL.  77 

The  prefix  cu  is,  in  its  primary  meaning,  a  dog,  and  is  thus 
declined:  cu  (nom.),  conn  (gen.),  coin  (dat)  ;  thus  showing 
its  kindred  with  the  Sanscrit  fvan,  Greek  Kwaif  (cyon),  and 
Latin  canis^  the  ckien  of  France,  and  C€me  of  Italy ;  hund 
tnd  hmmd  elsewhere.  Only  the  land  of  the  magnificent  wolf- 
hound would  have  made  his  designation,  elsewhere  a  term  of 
scorn,  into  the  title  of  a  brave  warrior,  and  thence  into  that 
of  a  chieftain.  And  so  again  it  is  the  Kelts  of  Britain  that 
transmuted  the  mmigoose  and  snake  of  the  Indian  legend 
into  the  faithful  dog  and  wild  wolf  of  Bedgelert,  the  grave  of 
die  homid.  Caleb,  and  an  occasional  Danish  Hund,  have 
alone  elsewhere  endured  the  name  of  the  most  faithful  of 
animals ;  but  in  Gaelic  it  is  a  most  favourite  prefix.  By  the 
author  of  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  it  is  literally  translated  caniSy 
leminding  ns  how  the  £[hans  of  Tartary  were  by  the  medi- 
ml  imagination  confounded  with  great  dogs,  and  making  us 
wonder  whether,  in  the  Scala  family.  Cane,  so  famous  in 
Dante's  time,  could  have  been  a  rendering  of  some  ancient 
Celtic  Cu. 

Conn,  when  standing  alone,  as  in  the  case  of  Conn  of  the 
Hundred  Battles,  means  wisdom ;  but  at  the  beginning  of  a 
word,  it  is  generally  either  a  dog,  or  a  chief. 

Several  of  the  most  distinguished  Fenians  have  this  prefix, 
and  have  handed  it  on  to  a  great  number  of  successors.  Con- 
ghal  would  seem  to  have  been  the  proper  name  of  Finn's 
&ther;  and,  in  Macpherson's  poem,  a  Congal  reigns  over 
Ulster,  as  many  a  Congal  assuredly  did  both  before  and  after 
his  time.  There  is  no  resisting  telling  the  story  of  Congal 
Claen,  or  the  Squinting,  who,  in  637,  brought  a  dangercms 
Scottish  invasion  on  his  country,  and  was  killed  in  the  battle 
of  Magh  Bath.  Invasion,  battle,  and  death,  are  fact ;  the 
causes  of  all  are  given  in  an  ancient  Erse  Jiarrative,  writter 
not  later  than  the  twelfth  century,  and  recaitly  edited  by  f 
Irish  Society.  ^^ 

Domhnall,  king  of  Erin,  and  foster-father  to  the  k^«l- 

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78  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

Ulster,  dreamt  that  he  saw  Feargloun,  his  favourite  honnd, 
collecting  the  dogs  of  Erin,  Albin,  and  Britain,  who  all  made 
war  on  him  and  his  men  for  seven  days,  until  all  the  dogs 
were  killed.  In  much  alarm  he  went  to  consult  an  old  retired 
king,  who  was  living  in  a  hermitage  (an  Irish  one),  with  ten 
women  and  a  himdred  clerks  to  sing  mass.  This  sage  ad- 
vised him  to  obviate  the  mischief  evidently  in  store,  by 
inviting  all  the  under-kings  to  a  great  banquet,  and  obtaining 
hostages  from  them,  meanwhile  closely  imprisoning  the  foster- 
son,  who  was  evidently  intended  by  the  pet  dog. 

To  this  part  of  the  advice  Domhnall  demurred  as  dis- 
honourable towards  his  foster-son ;  but  he  had  no  objection  to 
the  banquet,  and  issued  his  invitations  to  all  his  under-kings, 
to  feast  with  him  at  his  new  palace  of  Dun-na-gedh,  or  Fort 
of  the  Geese,  and  sent  out  his  purveyors  to  collect  every  sort 
of  provision  for  the  occasion,  especially  goose  eggs,  perhaps 
in  compliment  to  the  name  of  his  fort,  though  it  is  said  that 
neither  his  queen  nor  himself  deemed  it  melodious. 

These  collectors  unfortimately  carried  off  a  vessel  full  of 
goose  eggs,  intended  as  the  food  of  a  bishop,  who  was  so 
holy  that  he  spent  the  whole  day  in  praying  up  to  his  neck 
in  the  Boyne,  with  his  Psalter  on  the  bank,  and  lived  upon 
nothing  but  a  goose  egg  and  a  half  every  evening,  with  three 
sprigs  of  cress.  Now  it  seems  that  the  Irish  notion  of  a 
saint  was  of  a  strong  cursing  power,  for  all  the  evils  that 
befeU  Erin  were  occasioned  by  the  curses  of  the  hungry 
bishop ! 

Domhnall  did  indeed  send  for  the  twelve  Apostles  of  Ire- 
land, each  with  a  train  of  a  hundred  saints,  to  say  grace, 
and  thus  obviate  the  malediction ;  but  unfortunately  not 
until  Congal  Claen,  who  had  been  sent  in  to  survey  the 
jmrangements,  had  tasted  half  a  goose  egg,  and  thereby 
fo^tred  the  curse  upon  himself,  though  the  rest  of  the  com- 
servT  were  exempt, 
style  ^consequence,  when  by  way  of  dessert,  a  goose  egg  on  a 

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CU,  CUN,  GAL.  79 

silver  dish  was  set  before  every  king,  Congal's  was  trans- 
formed into  the  egg  of  a  red  feathered  hen,  upon  a  wooden 
dish.  At  first,  Congal  took  the  indignity  quietly,  but  his 
servants  sung  songs  till  they  lashed  him  into  going  before 
Domhnall  with  a  list  of  grievances.  The  first  was,  that 
when  an  infant,  fostered  by  Domhnall,  a  bee  had  stung  him 
in  the  eye  and  caused  his  squint ;  the  second,  that  when  on 
Domhnall's  behalf  he  had  assassinated  the  previous  king  of 
Erin,  the  victim  had  thrown  a  chessman  at  him,  which  put 
oat  the  damaged  eye ;  the  third,  that  he  had  not  due  pre- 
cedence at  the  feast ;  the  fourth,  the  hen's  egg.  Therewith 
be  went  away  in  a  rage,  and  Domhnall  sent  all  the  saints 
oat  with  bells  and  croziers  to  recall  him.  They  threatened 
if  he  would  not  come  back  to  curse  him,  but  Congal  declared 
4at  if  they  did  he  would  slaughter  them  all.  Whereupon 
Aey  waited  till  he  was  out  of  hearing  and  cursed  him  after- 
wards, and  into  the  bargain  a  certain  Suibhne  who  had  taken 
away  by  force  a  many-coloured  garment  committed  to  the 
charge  of  one  of  them.  As  they  observed  in  their  song, 
each  saint  had  the  influence  of  a  hundred  men  !  It  is 
wtisfactory  that  though  the  tale  mentions  St.  Columb  Kill 
wid  other  real  saints,  they  all  had  been  dead  long  before 
the  battle  of  Magh  Rath.  Congal  went  off  to  consult  his 
wide,  a  bed-ridden  old  warrior,  who  so  strongly  felt  the 
insolt  of  the  hen's  egg  as  to  declare  that  he  would  kill  his 
nephew  himself  unless  it  were  duly  avenged,  and  advised 
kirn  to  go  and  ask  aid  from  the  kings  of  Albin  and  Britain. 

In  spite  of  the  profusion  of  saints,  Eochoid  Buidhe,  king 
of  Albin,  kept  a  Druid  named  Dubhdiadh,  who  introduced 
Congal  at  his  court  and  gave  him  advice.  The  king  would 
iiot  go  himself  to  fight  with  Domhnall  because  they  had 
8Wom  firiendship  together,  but  he  allowed  his  four  sons  to  go, 
«fter  a  contention  which  was  to  be  Congal's  host. 

By  the  Druid's  advice  this  was  to  be  determined  by  the 
choice  of  the  king,  to  which  he  should  lend  his  magic  caul- 

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80  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

dron  to  entertain  Congal,  for  this  cauldron  not  only  cooked* 
and  provided  food  for  any  number  of  guests,  but  adapted  the 
fare  to  their  rank,  so  that  there  was  no  difficulty  in  ordering 
dinner.  Each  of  the  son's  wives  used  her  eloquence  to 
obtain  this  loan,  one  pleading  that  her  husband  deserved  it 
for  his  bounty,  another  for  his  absence  of  jealousy,  another 
for  his  generosity,  the  fourth  for  his  hospitality.  To  none 
of  them  however  was  the  cauldron  granted,  and  the  voice  of 
prophecy  was  decidedly  averse  to  the  expedition.  However, 
Congal  went  on  to  Britain,  and  there  found  the  king  and 
queen  in  perplexity  as  to  the  identity  of  their  only  son,  who 
had  gone  out  in  quest  of  adventures  twenty  years  before, 
and  behold,  three  heroes  had  appeared,  each  claiming  to  be 
their  son.  The  true  son  had  also  returned  and  proved  him- 
self to  his  mother  by  a  ring  and  a  mark  on  the  shoulder. 
He  showed  them  a  long  bridge,  one  by  one,  and  asked  them 
what  they  wished  to  see  it  full  of:  *  Gold  and  silver,'  said  the 
first ;  ^  Thou  art  the  son  of  a  base  mechanic,'  said  the  king's 
son,  and  put  him  to  death.  The  next  wished  it  were  full  of 
flocks  and  herds,  so  he  was  decided  to  be  a  farmer's  son.  The 
third  desired  to  see  it  full  of  fighting  men,  each  a  match  for 
himself,  and  he  was  indeed  a  king's  son,  but  a  banished 
prince  of  Lochlinn,  not  the  prince  of  Britain.  Lastly,  the 
real  son's  truth  was  further  tested  by  being  made  to  lift  a 
stone  that  a  false  hand  could  not  lift,  and  ride  a  hundred 
steeds  who  would  not  move  under  a  liar. 

Men  of  Albin  and  Britain,  however,  alike  joined  Congal, 
and  Domhnall  convened  his  men  at  Magh  Rath.  The  king 
of  Ulster  rather  doubting  of  the  bravery  of  some  of  his 
men,  especially  the  foreigners,  exposed  them  all  suddenly  to 
the  sight  of  a  furious  dog  and  a  man  with  a  javelin,  who 
both  appeared  to  attack  them  at  once.  Only  one  stood  the 
test,  and  he  killed  man  and  dog,  and  had  nearly  killed 
Congal  too  in  lus  rage.  Whereupon,  to  prevent  the  cowards 
from  taking  flight,  Congal  fettered  them  all  in  pairs ;  other- 


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CU,  CUN,  GAL.  8 1 

wise  the  battle,  though  lasting  seven  days,  wad  not  more  in- 
teresting in  the  detail  than  other  battles,  from  Homer  down- 
wards ;  and  the  chief  events  to  be  mentioned  are  that  the 
Snibhne  who  had  shared  in  the  1200-samt-power  curse  went 
mad  upon  the  spot,  in  consequence  of  the  number  of  rhymes 
made  upon  him,  and  took  three  furious  leaps  over  men's 
heads  which  carried  him  out  of  the  battle.  Such  a  slaughter 
was  made  that  the  place  was  called  Magh  Rath  of  the  Red 
Pool,  and  on  the  seventh  day  Congal  himself  was  mortally 
wounded  by  a  dart  from  an  idiot ;  but  afterwards  he  revenged 
himself  by  slaying  one  hundred  Aodhs,  one  hundred  Aedans, 
Mty  Conchobhars,  and  Christian  names  of  all  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet  in  proportion ;  and  finally,  when  his  right  hand 
had  been  cut  off,  disappeared  out  of  the  battle, — no  man 
knowing  his  fate. 

As  to  the  rest  of  his  forces,  only  six  hundred  Ulster  men 
escaped,  and  of  the  foreigners,  only  Dubhdiadh,  the  Druid, 
who  swam  all  the  way  to  Scotland  with  a  dead  man  fettered 
to  his  1^ ! 

The  more  matter-of-fact  history  says  that  Congal  Claen, 
king  of  Ulster,  slew  Suibne,  king  of  Ireland,  but  was  then 
attacked  and  defeated  by  Domnall  £[.,  Suibne's  successor; 
that  he  then  fled  to  Donald-brec,  or  the  Freckled,  king  of 
the  Scots,  and  brought  him  to  Ireland  to  be  defeated  at 
Magrath,  in  637. 

Congal  is  generally  turned  into  Connal,  or  Connel,  a  name 
which,  whether  it  is  this,  or  whether,  as  some  say,  it  means 
friendship,  is  given  to  one  of  the  Ossianic  heroes,  who 
makes  a  great  figure  in  Macpherson's  epic,  and  is  said 
to  have  named  TirconneL  The  name  continued  in  great 
favour,  and  the  popular  tales  of  the  Highlands  describe  a 
certain  ingenious  Conal  whose  adventures  are  a  most  curious 
mixture  of  those  of  Ulysses  and  Sindbad  the  Sailor,  and  are 
related  in  the  same  way  as  those  of  the  Three  Calenders 
aad  other  worthies  in  the  Arabian  NighU.    An  Irish  saint, 

^^^  °»  Digitized  b^oogle 


82  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

called  Congal,  founded  the  Great  Abbey  of  Ben-chor^  in 
Ulster,  answering  to  Ban-chor,  in  Wales,  and  thus  formed 
the  nursery  of  the  great  missions  of  the  Irish  Church  in  die 
sixth  century.  Connel  has  ever  since  been  a  frequent  and 
favourite  Irish  name,  though  latterly  disfigured  as  Cornelius 
and  Constantino.  O'Connel's  name  was  one  constantly,  be- 
fore the  last  generation,  to  the  Kelt  as  a  hero-patriot,  to 
the  Saxon  as  a  traitor. 

Conan  of  small  renown,  as  Macpharson  calls  him,  was  an 
unfortunate  Fenian,  who  always  served  as  the  butt  of  the 
rest,  and  is  called  in  other  legends  Conan  Maol,  the  bald,  or 
the  dwarf  He  is  in  character  a  good  deal  like  tiie  Sir  Kay 
of  Arthur^s  court  The  IkFConnons  now  have  borrowed  the 
English -names  of  Eenyon  and  Canning.  His  name  comes 
to  light  in  the  Cymric  branch,  in  the  person  of  the  British 
Conan,  or  Kynan  Meriadech,  who  is  said  to  have  led  a  mi- 
gration of  Britons  to  Armorica,  and  to  be  the  patriarch  of 
the  Dukes  of  Brittany.  Of  him  is  told  the  pretty  tale  of 
the  spotiess  ermine,  that  took  refuge  under  his  shield,  and 
was  spared  by  him,  its  skin  thenceforth  forming  the  cog- 
nizance of  Brittany,  with  the  motto^  Malb  mori  quidm  foedari. 

He  is  also  said  to  have  been  the  intended  husband  of  St 
Ursula ;  and,  at  any  rate,  suggested  the  name  of  many  a 
Conan  among  the  Breton  princes,  until  the  father  of  the 
unfortunate  Constance,  a  name  very  possibly  given  as  a  sup- 
posed feminine  to  Conan,  since  Constantino  has  devoured  all 
manner  of  varieties  of  cu  and  coriy  and  thus  occasions  the 
numerous  occurrences  of  this  imperial  designation  as  labels 
to  the  grim  portraits  in  the  hall  at  Holyrood,  who,  after  all, 
look  more  like  Roman  Constantines  than  Caledonian  Congab, 
Conaires,  or  Conchobars. 

Connchobar  is*  also  translated  as  Cornelius  and  Charles. 
Here  conn  means  strength,  and  colhair^  aid,  and  it  is  a  word 
as  variously  rendered  by  those  who  wish  to  retam  its  native 
form  as  by  those  who  try  to  change  it  into  an  ordinary  name. 

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CU,  CUN,  GAL.  83 

Macpherson  calls  it  Conachar,  and  thence  we  have  the  assumed 
name  of  the  unfortunate  young  chieftain  whom  Sir  Walter 
Scott  placed  in  the  deadly  fight  between  Clan  Chattan  and 
Clan  Kay,  to  exemplify  the  struggle  between  constitutional 
timidity  and  fear  of  shame.  Conchabhar,  who  reigned  in 
Scotland  in  847,  and  Gunechat  or  Gonquhare,  who  was 
Maormar  of  Angus  in  the  tenth  century,  are  both  forms  of 
Connchobhar,  which  in  Ireland  is  likewise  called  Grogher 
and  Grohoore.  The  last  is  said  to  be  the  best  representation 
of  the  spoken  word;  but  Gonnor  is  the  usual  version,  and 
much  the  most  euphonious  to  English  ears ;  but  then  it  is 
said  also  to  represent  Gonnaire,  hound  of  slaughter,  and 
Conmor,  also  in  use  in  the  days  of  the  Fenians.  Indeed, 
Ireland  had  many  royal  Gonnors,  one  dignified  as  the  Great ; 
but  Gonchobar,  Gonmor,  and  Gonnaire,  are  all  confused  in 
them. 

Constantino  is  used  in  the  Maguire  family  as  a  rendering 
of  Cu  Connacht,  the  hound  of  Connaught,  as  odd  a  Christian 
niune  as  could  weU  be  invented;  Munster,  Cu  Mumhan; 
Cashel,  Cu  Ghaisil.  The  river  Shannon  has  Cu  Sionna;  the 
mountain  has  Gu-sleibhe ;  and,  strangest  of  all,  there  is  Gu- 
gan-mathair,  hound  without  a  mother.  Gu-mhaighe,  hound 
of  the  meadow,  is  simply  pronounced  Gooey ;  but  in  the 
CELane  family  has  been  turned  into  Quentin,  and  it  may  be 
concluded  that  a  similar  process  in  Scotland  changed  the 
meadow-hound  into  the  fifth,  and  accounts  for  the  various 
Quentins. 

Ulster's  hound,  Cu  Uladh  or  Cuchullin,  is  the  name  of  the 
h^ro  with  which  Macpherson's  epic  opens :  ^  Cuchullin  sat  by 
Tara's  wall,  by  the  tree  of  the  rustling  leaf.'  His  name  is 
explained  in  the  note  to  mean  the  voice  of  XJllin  or  Ulster ; 
but  Dr.  O'Donovan's  explanation  is  proved  by  the  other 
similar  names.  Cuchullin  was  a  great  hero,  and  a  Ghielic 
proverb,  ^as  strong  as  Cuchullin,'  is  still  in  use.  To  Cu- 
ohnUin  belongs  the  Keltic  version  of  the  story  of  the  single 

DigitizeftyCoOgle 


84  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

combat  between  the  unknown  father  and  son,  only  recognized 
too  late  by  the  tokens  left  with  the  mother.  In  Persia  and 
Ireland  the  son  is  killed ;  in  Greece,  the  father ;  in  Germany 
alone  the  conclusion  is  happy ! 

As  to  the  MacCuinns,  they  haye  dignified  themselves  as 
Mac  Queen  in  Scotland,  while  their  cousins  in  Ireland  from 
O'Cuinn  have  become  Quin.  After  all,  when  our  Sovereign 
was  a  Wolf  (Guelf),  it  was  no  wonder  he  reigned  over  dogs. 
Cuillean,  usually  called  Culen,  belonging  to  the  king  of 
Scotland  in  965,  was  the  diminutive,  a  whelp ;  and  the  Caw 
of  Britain,  father  of  Gildas,  is  called  by  the  Scots,  perhaps 
rightly,  Cu.* 


Section  V. — Diarmaid  and  Graine. 

Of  all  the  heroes  of  the  Feen,  Diarmaid  was  one  of  ihe 
most  distinguished,  and  though  not  brought  in  by  Macpher- 
son,  his  legend  bears  the  same  sort  of  relation  to  the  main 
cycle,  as  does  the  story  of  Orlando  to  the  Court  of  Charle- 
magne, or  that  of  Lancelot  to  the  Round  Table. 

Diarmaid  has  been  explained  to  come  from  Dia,  divinity, 
and  arm^  arms,  and  to  mean  the  god  of  weapons ;  but  the 
more  correct  interpretation  is  a  freeman.  Graidhne  is  de- 
rived from  gradhj  love. 

Graidhne  was  the  daughter  of  Cormac  MacArt,  king  of 
the  fifth  pf  TJUm,  who  built  at  Tara  for  her  the  Grianan  of 
one  piUar,  or  royal  palace,  which  was  one  of  the  models  of 
Dom-na-Gedh.  She  was  a  lady  of  extremely  quick  wit,  and 
gained  the  heart  of  Fionn  by  her  answers  to  a  series  of  ques- 
tions, which  tradition  still  preserves ;  such  as, — 

*  CampbeU,  WeBtHighUmdi;  Davies,  i2itos  0/  the  Druids;  Bees,  Welsh 
Saints;  Montalemberti  Monks  of  tfte  West;  Bo^joux,  Rots  et  Dues  d€ 
Bretagne;  Htre  Qxeyalier,  Bretagne,  Ancienne  et  Modems;  Hanmer, 
Chronicle, 


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DIABMAH)  AND  GRAINE.  85 

What  is  whiter  than  snow  ? 
There  is  the  trnth. 

What  is  swifter  than  the  wind  ? 

A  woman^s  thought  between  two  men. 

What  deed  is  the  best  of  deeds? 
A  high  deed  and  a  low  conceit. 

The  like  series  of  questions  are  to  be  found  in  the  Lowland 
Scottish  ballad  of  the  Proud  Sister,  and  in  a  similar  Danish 
one  in  the  Kcempe  viser,  thongh  the  results  are  different 

Fionn,  then,  was  enamoured  of  the  ingenious  lady;  but  he 
met  with  the  usual  fate  of  uncles  in  romance,  for  his  nephew, 
Diannaid,  fell  in  love  with  her  too,  and  was  the  more  irre- 
sistible, as  he  had  a  beauty  spot,  which  made  every  woman 
who  saw  it  fall  in  love  with  him.  They  fled  away  together, 
and  there  is  an  extremely  long  poem  on  their  adventures  and 
mutual  affection,  but  fate  at  length  overtook  Diarmaid.  A 
great  hunting  took  place,  at  which  all  the  Feen  were  present; 
m  the  course  of  which  they  came  on  the  track  of  a  venomous 
boar,  whose  back  was  sixteen  feet  long,  and  soon  after  on  some 
shavings  of  wood  made  by  Diarmaid  in  cutting  out  dishes 
with  his  knife.  Having  thus  discovered  his  retreat,  Fionn 
summoned  his  rival,  and  commanded  him  to  join  in  the  hunt, 
in  hopes  that  he  would  thus  meet  his  death ;  but  Diarmaid 
killed  the  animal  without  receiving  damage.  Fionn  then 
remembered  that  Diarmaid,  like  Achilles  and  Siegfried,  had 
1  fatal  spot  in  his  foot,  and  desired  him  to  measure  the  boar 
by  pacing  it  against  the  hair.  One  of  the  bristles  went  into 
the  fatal  spot,  and  Diarmaid  fell  dying ;  he  asked  for  some 
water,  and  Fionn  was  bringing  him  some  from  the  stream 
between  his  hands,  when  he  thought  on  Graine,  and  let  it 
run  through.  Diarmaid  died,  and  his  corpse  was  brought 
borne  to  his  wife,  whose  lamentation  is  given  as  a  separate 
poem.  There  are  all  manner  of  different  versions.  She  is 
sometimes  Fionn's  wife,  sometimes  Diarmaid's,  sometimes 

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86  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

devoted  to  Diarmaid,  sometimes  betraying  him  and  com- 
passing his  death ;  but  his  love  for  her,  his  death  from  the 
boar's  bristle,  and  her  subsequent  marriage  to  Fionn,  are  all 
clear.  I  believe  she  is  the  Roscrana  of  Macpherson,  who, 
he  says,  was  a  proverb  for  beauty,  and  whose  name  means 
a  rose-bush.     She  is  said  to  be  the  mother  of  Ossian : 

'  Fin  once  overtook  Qraine  the  golden-haired, 

The  fleet  and  strong ; 
From  her  the  lovely,  and  from  him  the  feared. 
The  primal  poet  sprung.* 

Diarmaid  was  called  from  his  father's  name,  (yDuinhe,  the 
son  of  the  Brown ;  and  a  clan  of  O'Dwins  arose  in  Scotland, 
claiming  to  be  his  descendants.  The  heiress,  Eva,  married 
Gillespiug  Campbell,  of  an  Anglo-Norman  family,  and 
Campbell  has  ever  since  been  the  Lowland  surname  of  the 
great  clan ;  but  in  the  North  they  are  still  the  sons  of  Diar- 
mid ;  and  their  crest,  the  boar's  head,  is  in  memory  of  the 
fatal  hunting.  Dearg,  or  the  Red,  was  his  soubriquet,  and 
appears  in  Macpherson,  who  calls  him  Dergo,  king  of  spears, 
and  his  wife,  Mingala,  meaning  the  soft  and  fair:  *Why 
dost  thou  lift  the  stone,  0  bard,  why  dost  thou  shut  the 
narrow  house;  Mingala's  eyes  are  heavy,  she  must  sleep 
with  Dergo !'  as  she  there  sings. 

Diarmaid  continued  in  use  both  in  Scotland  and  Ireland ; 
and  in  historical  times  it  was  Diarmaid,  king  of  Leinster, 
who  acted  the  part  of  Paris,  and  ruined  his  countiy  by  the 
abduction  of  Devorgoil  of  Meath ;  and  then,  when  forced  by 
the  superior  king  to  give  up  the  lady,  revenged  himself  by 
calling  in  Earl  Strongbow  and  the  English. 

Diarmid,  or  as  it  is  commonly  called  Dermot  or  Darby,  is 
still  common  among  the  Irish ;  but  it  has  not  escaped  the 
usual  lot  of  absurd  equivalents,  and  is  sometimes  translated 
into  Edward,  or,  more  frequently,  by  Jeremiah.  Its  sur- 
name, Mac  Dermot,  has  not  only  continued  in  its  own  right, 
but  has  been  adopted  as  more  English  than  O'Dubhdierma, 

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DIABMAID  AND  GRAINE.  87 

the  son  of  Black  Dermot.  Where  the  saying  about  Darby 
and  Joan  arose,  I  cannot  discover.  Darby  is  the  form  of 
Diannid  in  Limerick  and  Tipperary ;  Jeremiah  in  Cork  and 
Kerry. 

Gnudhne's  name  has  been  equally  popular  with  that  of  her 
lo?er.  Ancient  Irish  ladies  constantly  used  it;  the  most 
celebrated  being  Gndne  (yMaille,  a  notable  sailor  chief- 
tamess  of  the  south-western  coast,  whence  she  once  sallied 
forth  to  pay  a  friendly  yisit  to  Queen  Elizabeth ;  and  when 
Ae  two  h^h-spirited  women  were  together,  the  semi-bar- 
barian was  more  than  a  match  for  the  civilized  queen.  She 
scorned  Elizabeth's  feminine  habits,  and  despised  the  gift  of 
t  lap  dog,  offering,  however,  in  return  her  own  infant  son, 
who  had  been  bom  on  the  voyage.  The  English  queen  was 
welcome  to  educate  him,  since  he  would  never  make  a  man  of 
q)irit,  for  his  father  came  of  a  bad  stock. 

On  her  return,  Qraine  being  in  want  of  provisions,  made 
a  visit  to  the  St.  Lawrences  of  Howth ;  but  the  castle  gates 
were  shut ;  the  family  being  at  dinner,  she  could  obtain  no- 
tiiing,  and  in  her  rage  she  carried  off  the  heir  of  the  family, 
who  was  fostered  in  a  cottage  on  the  shore ;  and  when  after 
t  time,  she  restored  him,  it  was  on  condition  that  ever  after 
the  castle  doors  should  be  left  open  all  dinner  time,  and  a 
vacant  seat  should  be  always  left  at  table,  a  custom  that  has 
ever  since  been  preserved.  Qraine's  own  family  were  such  a 
race  of  sailors  iJiat  the  old  Irish  proverb  ran  thus : — 

*  A  good  man  never  was  there 
Of  the  Olklalleys,  but  a  mariner ; 
The  prophets  of  the  weather  are  ye, 
A  tribe  of  affection  and  good  will.* 

Graine  was  soon  after  translated  into  Grace ;  indeed,  the 
piratess  was  also  called  Grace  O'Malley;  and  ever  since, 
Grace  has  been  a  favourite  national  name  in  Scotland  and 
Irdand,  wherever  Graine  had  been  used;  it  has  been  ac- 

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88  GADHAFJiTC  NAMES. 

cepted  for  its  English  meaning  and  pleasant  sound,  and  is 
now  very  frequent. 

The  form  gradl  connects  Graidhne  with  the  name  of  several 
of  the  Cymric  branch :  Grradlon,  which  belonged  to  several 
Gomits  of  Oomonailles,  one  of  whom  has  great  fame  in 
Breton  legend  as  Gradlon  Mor,  or  the  Great.  In  a  Breton 
poem  of  the  sixth  century,  his  story  is  told.  He  was  be- 
loved by  a  fairy,  whom  he  had  first  met  while  she  was  bath- 
ing in  a  fountain,  and  who  gave  him  a  splendid  horse  named 
Gadifer,  a  coffer  of  gold,  and  invincible  armour,  telling  him 
that  if  he  would  keep  his  secret,  he  had  only  to  call  her  and 
she  would  be  instantly  with  him.  He  faithfully  observed  her 
commands,  till  at  a  great  feast  given  by  the  king  of  Brittany 
at  his  castle  of  Pen  Goat,  the  queen  was  brought  forward, 
and  all  the  guests  were  required  to  declare  that  she  was  pear- 
less  in  loveliness.  Gradlon  alone  was  silent,  and  when  pressed 
to  reply,  declared  that  his  lady-love  was  thirty  times  fairer. 
The  wrathful  king  and  queen  insisted  on  his  producing  her ; 
he  summoned  her,  but  she  appeared  not,  and  in  vain  he  re- 
paired to  her  fountain  and  invoked  her.  The  spell  was 
broken,  and  she  was  his  no  more.  For  his  insult  to  the 
queen,  he  was  condemned  to  die ;  but  as  the  axe  was  lifted 
up  over  his  head,  his  fairy  spouse  stood  beside  him  in  her 
radiant  beauty,  and  bore  him  away  in  her  dragon  chariot 
to  the  fountain,  where  they  had  finit  met.  There  she  told 
him  that  though  she  had  saved  him,  their  compact  was 
broken,  and  she  must  leave  him,  then  plimged  into  the 
water.  He  leaped  in  after  her,  she  prevented  him  from 
drowning,  and  they  were  reconciled.  It  is  said  that  in  the 
next  century  these  adventures  were  transferred  to  King 
Arthur^s  court. 

Wales  has  a  curious  homely  parody  of  the  story,  where 
the  hero  is  a  farmer,  and  the  nymph  endows  him  with  the 
power  of  catching  her  by  sending  him  some  moist  faiiy 
bread.     She  brought  with  her  a  whole  herd  of  cattle,  and 

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DIABMAID  AND  GRAINE.  89 

lired  with  him  long  enough  to  have  three  sons ;  bat  the  spell 
was  broken  by  the  farmer  hurrying  her  one  day  to  fetch 
home  his  horse,  touching  her  arm  three  times  with  his  glove, 
and  saying,  ^  Gro,  go,  go ! '  whereupon  she  and  all  her  cattle 
TBnished  into  the  lake.  She  afterwards  had  an  interview 
with  one  of  her  sons,  and  was  supposed  to  have  imparted  to 
him  some  noted  secrets  in  medicine,  for  all  three  were  great 
physicians. 

In  the  legends  of  Sts.  Gorentin  and  Grwennole,  Gradlon 
is  a  king,  and  appears  in  a  very  different  aspect.  He  was 
at  first  a  furious  and  violent  man,  but  was  entirely  tamed  by 
the  exhortations  of  St.  Gorentin,  whom  he  used  to  visit  at 
his  hermitage,  and  sometimes  partake  of  that  one  perpetual 
fish,  which  was  always  ready  to^pare  a  meal  out  of  its  body 
for  the  saint,  and  was  renewed  the  next  day,  much  after  the 
pattern  of  St.  Neot's,  and  likewise  of  the  Prince  of  the 
Black  Islands,  in  the  Arabian  Nights.  For  this  saint  the 
king  founded  the  see  of  Quimper  Gorentin,  and  left  that 
town  free  to  the  new  bishop,  himself  retiring  to  the  sea- 
ooast  city  of  Is,  a  place  of  extreme  wickedness. 

This  city  was  built  on  so  low  a  part  of  the  shore  that  it 
was  only  guarded  from  inundation  by  dykes  and  dams.  The 
keys  of  the  hatches  were  kept  in  a  golden  casket  under  the 
king's  pillow ;  but  his  wicked  daughter,  Dahut,  stole  them, 
like  Scylla  of  old,  and  gave  them  to  her  lover.  The  doors 
were  unclosed,  the  water  rushed  in,  the  king  was  warned  by 
St.  Gwennole  just  in  time  to  mount  and  ride  for  his  life, 
with  his  daughter  behind  him  on  his  horse ;  the  waves  gained 
on  him,  till  at  the  stem  command  of  the  saint,  he  undid  the 
hold  of  the  wretched  woman,  whose  weight  of  sin  was  bear- 
ing him  down,  and  escaped  with  lus  life. 

Gradlon  was  buried  at  St.  Gwennole's  convent  of  Lan- 
deoenet,  and  his  stone  coffin  was  visible  not  more  than  forty 
years  ago,  for  he  was  a  veritable  personage  who  lived  about 

435-  r-        T 

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90  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

The  Bretons  still  suppose  that  the  ruins  of  the  city  of  Is 
are  tol^e  seen  under  water,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  extensive  buildings  are  submerged  in  the  bay  now 
called  Dou-ame-nez.  In  fact,  Breton  vanity  imagines  that 
Is  was  so  splendid  that  the  derivation  of  Paris  is  Far-is j  as 
the  only  peer  of  Is.  There  is  a  popular  song  of  Brittany, 
describing  the  treachery  of  Dahut  and  the  destruction  of 
the  city,  ending  with  representing  her  as  still  a  mermaid, 
combing  her  golden  hair,  and  singing  as  plaintively  as  the 


waves.* 


Section  VI. — Oormac. 

Cormac  is  a  name  that '-makes  a  great  figure  in  the 
Ossianic  poems,  and  no  one  seems  to  dispute  that  it  means 
the  son  of  Corb^  i.e.,  a  chariot.  Cormac,  king  of  Ulster,  was 
the  young  ward  of  Cuchullin ;  and  another  Cormac,  called 
Cairbar,  or  the  strong,  is  the  father  of  a  lady  called  Moma, 
or  more  properly,  Muime,  who  when  one  lover  returned  from 
battle,  announcing  that  hevhad  slain  his  rival,  she  demands 
his  sword  stained  with  the  blood,  and  then  takes  revenge 
by  plunging  it  into  his  breast,  then  killed  herself  with  it 
A  still  more  misty  Cormac  figures  in  ancient  pedigrees,  as 
having  been  choked  by  the  bone  of  an  enchanted  salmon ; 
and  Cormac  Cas  is  a  more  remote  ancestor  of  the  O'Briens 
than  the  great  Brien  Boromhe  himself. 

Another  Cormac  is  named  in  Irish  calendars,  as  an  abbot 
of  eminent  sanctity  in  the  days  of  St.  Columba,  and  is 
further  thought  to  have  visited  lona,  and  at  home  enjoys 
the  credit  of  having  endowed  the  sept  of  the  Hy  Muireadach 
with  *  prosperity  of  cattle,  the  gift  of  eloquence,  success  in 
fosterage,  the  gift  of  good  counsel,  and  the  headship  of  peace 
atid  protection.'    His  name  has  since  been  common  in  Ire- 

*  Ossianic  Society;  CampbeU;  Yillemarqu^ ;  Pitre  Chevalier,  Bre- 
tagfu  Ancienne  et  Modeme  ;  Dr.  O'Donovan. 

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CORMAC.  91 

land;  and  Orofton  Oroker  has  a  pretty  ballad  founded  on 
a  fairy  legend  of  Galway,  of  a  maiden  carried  off  by  the 
fidries  beneath  Lough  Corrib,  riding  past,  like  Tamlane,  in 
the  elfin  procession,  and  rescued  by  her  lover's  utterance  of 
Ae  sacred  name : 

*  And  now  on  CJorrib's  lonely  shore, 

Freed  from  his  word  by  power  of  fairy ; 
To  life,  to  love,  restored  once  more, 
Young  Cormack  welcomes  back  his  Mary.* 

Cormac  used  to  be  barbarously  spelt  Gormick  and  Gor- 
muck,  and  the  MacGarthy  family  have  substituted  Gharles 
for  it.  There  is  a  long  Icelandic  poem  on  a  hero  named 
Eormak,  who,  though  his  parents  and  brothers  have  Norse 
names,  evidently  had  Milesian  blood  as  well  as  name,  for 
he  is  described  as  having  dark  eyes  and  hair,' with  a  fair 
skin.  He  was  an  admirable  warrior  and  poet,  but  was  the 
victim  of  hopeless  love  for  a  lady  named  Steingerda. 

Gairbre,  strong  man,  is  likewise  one  of  the  Ossianic 
names,  as  well  as  a  soubriquet  ef  Gormac.  Gairbre  again 
is  reckoned  as  the  first  of  the  Milesians  to  settle  in  Ulster ; 
and  another  Gairbre,  son  of  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages, 
bequeathed  his  name  to  the  district  now  called  Garbury. 

Gairbre  appears  as  the  Irish  sovereign  who  was  the  great- 
est foe  of  the  Fenians,  and  commanded  at  the  battle  of 
Gabhra,  in  which  their  force  was  broken;  and  the  son  of 
Oisean,  the  grandson  of  Fionn,  the  beloved  Osgar,  was 
treacherously  slain,  by  a  thrust  in  the  side,  by  Gairbre 
himself.  The  only  times  that  the  great  Fionn  was  seen  to 
ahed  tears,  were  for  his  grandson  Osgar,  and  for  his  faithful 
dog  Bran;  and  a  great  quantity  of  poetry  has  clustered 
round  the  death  of  this  young  hero,  both  in  popular  ballad, 
and  in  the  poem  entitled  Temora.  So  famous  has  he  become, 
that  Oscar  has  been  adopted  as  a  Ghristian  name  in  modem 
France,  and  a  French  Oscar  has  recently  sat  upon  the  Swed- 

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92  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

ish  throne,  though  amongst  us,  this,  like  others  of  the  Feni; 
names,  has  descended  to  dogs.    It  is  explained  as  the  bouncf 
ing  warrior,  and  the  Mac  Oscars,  in  Ireland,  have  been  tonw 
into  Cosgrove  and  CosteUo. 

The  like  fate  has  befallen  the  object  of  Osgar's  lo^ 
Malvina,  as  Macpherson  calls  her,  a  name  of  which  the  firsi 
sjUable  is  perhaps  Mael,  the  handmaid.  It  has  been  adopi 
by  French  women  to  such  an  extent,  that  Malvine  is  one  of  ^ 
the  regular  Parisienne's  names,  and  it  has  further  travelled 
to  Germany.  Thus  Osgar  and  Malvina,  though  with  few 
namesakes  in  their  own  country,  are  the  only  Fenians  who 
have  been  commemorated  in  continental  nomenclature. 

Muime  Monchaoimh,  beloved  maid  with  engaging  wiles,  was 
the  name  of  the  mother  of  Finn,  as  well  as  of  the  revengeful 
lady  mentioned  above.  The  first  word  is  softened  into  Moma, 
and  is,  as  well  as  Mona,  a  hill,  considered  a  Highland  name.* 

Section  Yil.—Caih. 

Universal  among  the  Kelts  is  Cath  or  Gad,  a  battle  or 
defence,  such  a  prefix  that  is  sure  to  flourish  in  every  war- 
like nation.  Thus  the  Cadrhael,  defensive  boundary,  still 
exists  in  part,  showing  the  rampart  of  the  old  British 
kingdom  of  Strathcluyd,  which  occupied  the  Roman  pro- 
vince of  Valentia,  between  the  departure  of  the  Romans 
and  the  full  colonization  of  the  Angles. 

Gathmor,  or  great  in  war,  is  the  brother  of  Cairbre,  and 
too  generous  to  share  in  his  treason,  according  to  Macpher- 
son, and  finishes  the  battle  of  Gabhra.  Cathuil,  eye  of 
battle,  is  a  great  chieftain  attended  by  three  hundred  fol- 
lowers ;  and  Cathal,  as  the  name  became,  continued  in  use 
in  Ireland  till  it  was  turned  into  Charles.  The  favourite 
hero  there  was  Gathal  Convdearg,  or  of  the  red  hand,  who 

*  ODonoyan;  Macpherson;  IrUh  Society;  Hy  Fiachra;  Butler;  Miss 
Brooke. 

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CATH.  93 

fought  hard  against  the  English  invaders;  and,  therefore, 
was  described  bj  them  as  a  blood-thirsty  ruffian,  and  bj 
natire  historians  as  pious  and  amiable,  probably  being  both 
characters  in  turn.  His  name  was  probably  Uie  parent  of 
the  Scottish  surname,  Cadell ;  but  a  Welsh  saint,  named 
Cadell,  a  battle-defence  or  shield,  lived  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury. He  had  been  a  fierce  warrior,  and  a  great  enemy  to 
the  English ;  but  during  his  recovery  from  some  severe  wounds, 
he  repented,  went  to  the  Holy  Land  as  a  penitent,  and  finally 
became  a  monk,  and  the  patron  of  many  a  Cadell  besides. 

Gathlin  is,  in  the  Ossianic  poems,  both  a  lady  and  the 
name  of  a  star,  and  is  translated  by  Macpherson,  beam  of 
the  wave  ;  and  thence  came  the  EaUileen,  generally  treated 
as  the  Irish  endearment  of  ICatharine. 

Gathbar  means  battle-choice.   Cathbat  was  so  renowned  a 

chief,  that  to  strike  his  shield  with  a  spear  was  the  summons 

to  his  clan  to  arm.    Cath  Gomar  Mac  Mhic  Gon,  is  a  hero  of 

tradition  among  the  Fenians.     Gathaoir,  or  battle-slaughter, 

exactly  answering  to  the  German  Hedwig,  became  Cathir, 

then  Cahir,  and  finally  was  destroyed  by  the  substitution 

of  Gharles.    The  Welsh  made  great  use  of  the  same  prefix. 

Cadwallon,  apparently  firom  cadw^  to  defend,  has  always  been 

common  among  them.     Cadwallon  was  the  brother  of  the 

Madoc  of  Southey,  and  a  much  earlier  Cadwallon  was  the 

&ther  of  Cadwaladyr,  or  battle-arranger,  regarded  by  the 

two  parties  much  as  Cathal  was ;  for  by  the  Saxons,  Cead- 

^«lla,  as  they  call  him,  the  slayer  of  the  good  Edwin  and 

OswiJd,  is  regarded  with  unmixed  horror,  while  his  own 

Cymric  countrymen  revere  him  as  a  glorious  patriotic  prince, 

second  <mly  to  Arthur,  and  worthy  of  saintly  honours;  in- 

ided  he  was  canonized  by  Pope  Sergius  in  688,  and  is  sur- 

named  the  Blessed.   Cadwaldr  in  Breton,  and  Cadwalladyr  in 

Welsh,  continue  to  the  present  day.    Cadwallader  is  also 

need  in  the  Highlands,  though,  perhaps,  this  may  be  a 

hhmder  for  some  Gaelic  Cath* 

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94  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

Saints  of  this  name  were  nnmerons.  Among  them  was 
Cedd,  as  his  adopted  people  called  him^  the  Good  Bishop, 
whose  Keltic  ecclesiastical  hahits  were  so  distasteful  to  the 
fiery  Wilfred  of  York,  and  who  finally  is  revered  at  Lich- 
field as  '  good  St.  Chad/  a  form  in  which  it  lingered  among 
the  midland  peasantry.  The  grandfather  of  Cadwalladyr 
was  Cadvan,  whose  Latin  epitaph  calls  him  ^Catamaros, 
rex  sapientissimuSy  and  whose  name  means  battle-horn.  An- 
other Gaduan,  or  Gadvan,  was  a  hermit  who  migrated  from 
Brittany  to  live  on  the  coast  of  Gaemarvonshire,  on  the  isle 
called  Bardsey  by  the  English,  and  Ynis  Eolli,  Isle  of  the 
Current,  by  the  Welsh.  It  was  reputed  a  place  of  so  much 
sanctity,  that  it  was  called  the  Rome  of  Britain ;  and  so  many 
saints  were  buried  there,  that  it  was  a  saying  of  the  bards — 

*  Twenty  thousand  saints  of  yore, 
Came  to  lie  on  Bardsey's  shore.' 

Cattwg,  or  Gadoc,  was  of  princely  blood,  founded  a  monas- 
tery, and  trained  the  veritable  bard,  Taliessin. 

The  Greek  Adelphios  was  translated  by  the  Welsh  into 
Gadffrawd,  brother's  war.  Sir  Cados  is  one  of  gentle  Enid's 
enemies,  in  the  French  romance  of  her  constancy ;  but  Gado, 
her  son,  in  Welsh  pedigree,  swells  the  roll  of  saints.  Gadfar, 
or  stout  in  battle,  is  almost  certainly  one  of  the  Armorican 
contributions  to  the  Paladins  of  Charlemagne,  in  the  shape  of 
Sir  Gadifer,  the  Don  Gayfcros  of  Spanish  ballad  and  of  Don 
Quixote, 

Ceallach  was  another  Scoto-Irish  name,  meaning  war ; 
but  it  had  a  saint  who  gave  it  a  better  reputation.  Most 
likely  this  was  the  proper  name  likewise  of  the  missionaiy 
saint  who  has  been  grsecized  in  Germany  into  Killian. 

Grig,  properly  Gairig,  is  the  fierce  or  cruel.  He  reigned 
in  Scotland  from  88i  to  897,  and  was  highly  praised  by  the 
monks  of  St.  Andrew's  as  their  Gregory  the  Great.  From 
this  word  springs  the  name  of  the  clan  M'Gr^r. 


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CATH.  9^ 

Grim,  meaning  war  or  battle,  was  originallj  only  the 
floubriqnet  of  King  Kenneth  IV.  ;  but  it  turned  into 
Grsrane,  and  became  the  patronymic  of  the  gallant  Grahams, 
from  whom  it  has  had  a  tendency  to  be  adopted  as  a  bap- 
tismal name. 

Giimsdyke,  battle  rampart,' or  strong  defence,  was  the 
Keltic  term  for  many  of  the  works  of  the  Romans,  and  as 
the  most  noted  to  which  it  was  permanently  attached  was 
the  wall  of  Antoninus  Pius,  tradition  decided  that  the 
breach  was  so  caUed  in  memory  of  its  haying  there  been 
forced  by  the  Scots,  led  by  the  father  of  the  Grahams. 

In  the  Triads  Cattwg-doeth,  or  the  wise,  appears  as  one 
of  the  three  blessed  youth-trainers  of  the  Isle  of  Britain ; 
again,  as  one  of  the  three  knights  of  a  virtuous  discretion 
at  the  court  of  Arthur,  whose  principles  were  to  defend  the 
infirm,  orphans,  widows,  and  virgins,  and  all  who  should  put 
themselves  under  the  protection  of  God  and  His  peace,  and 
every  one  that  was  poor,  feeble,  and  a  stranger.  Again,  with 
nitut  and  Bwrt,  he  is  one  of  the  three  chaste  knights  of 
the  court  of  Arthur  ;  can  he  be  the  veritable  origin  of 
Sir  Gralahad  ?  Another  Triad  makes  the  three  knights 
that  guarded  the  Greal,  Cattwg,  lUtud,  and  Peredur  ;  and, 
lastly,  another  triad,  evidently  made  after  the  foreign  ro- 
mance had  influenced  the  bards,  are  Galath  ab  Lawnslot  dy 
Lac,  Peredur  ab  Evrog,  and  Bwrt,  the  son  of  King  Brwt. 
The  word  (?a/,  in  Welsh,  is  pure  or  fair.  Galath  is  the 
Milky-way,  probably  borrowed  from  its  Greek  title ;  but  this 
is  no  reason  that  the  late  British  name  of  Galath  should  not 
have  been  formed  from  it  by  persons  who  believed  that  Arthur 
was  the  Gbeat  Bear.    Of  course  this  is  the  merest  conjecture. 

Cadwgan  was  a  king  of  North  Wales,  whose  name  survives 
m  Cadogan,  once  a  common  Welsh  Christian  name."^ 

^ODonovan  ;  Maopbenon,  Otsian;  Campbell,  Weitem  Highland*; 
Williams,  EeeleHoitiedl  AfOiquitUi  of  the  Kymry ;  Bees,  Welih  SainU; 
Lappenbeig,  AnglO'Saxont ;  Lady  C.  Guest,  Mabinogion ;  Chabners,  Cole* 
dama;  Dr.  Chren  Pugb;  Highland  8ociety*t  Dictionary. 

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g6  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

Section  Vm. — Fiackra. 

Fiachra,  or  Fiaghra,  is  said  to  be  in  Erse^  an  eagle,  as  the 
Scottish  Fitheach  is  a  ynlture,  but  Fiach  also  means  worthy,  so 
the  meaning  must  be  uncertain ;  Fiachere  MacFhinn  is  a  son  of 
Fingal,  who  does  his  part  among  the  traditions  of  the  Fenians ; 
and  another  Fiachra  was  the  father  of  the  last  pagan  king  of 
Ireland,  who,  as  Erse  lore  relates,  reigned  over  Erin,  Albin, 
and  Britain,  and  as  far  as  the  mountains  of  the  Alps.  He  suc- 
ceeded his  uncle  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  in  405,  and  went 
to  the  Alps  to  revenge  his  death.  Being  still  a  pagan,  he  demo- 
lished a  tower  of  sods  and  stones  sixty  feet  high,  in  which 
lived  a  saint,  eleven  feet  from  the  light,  and  was  accordingly 
cursed  by  the  samt,  and  killed  by  a  flash  of  lightning ;  but 
his  servants  put  a  lighted  sponge  in  his  mouth  to  imitate  his 
breath,  by  way  of  concealing  his  death  for  some  time.  He 
was  called  Dathi,  from  his  skill  (daire)  in  darting,  and  the 
Hy  Fiachrach,  or  great  clan  of  children  of  Fiachra,  have 
kept  it  up  till  the  O'Dowds,  one  of  their  branches,  turned  it 
into  David.  Another  branch  of  them,  the  Mac  Fiachrach, 
were  corrupted  into  M'Keighry,  then  into  Keary,  and  lastly 
anglicized  as  Carey. 

Fiachra  was  the  name  of  a  hermit  who  left  home  to  seek 
for  solitude  in  France,  and  lived  at  Brenil,  about  two  leagues 
from  Meaux.  He  particularly  applied  himself  to  the  culti- 
vation of  his  little  garden,  and  has  ever  since  been  con- 
sidered as  the  patron  of  gardeners;  and  his  austerity  was 
such,  that  no  woman  was  allowed  to  come  within  his  precincts. 
He  died  about  670,  and  his  relics  began  to  obtain  a  miracu- 
lous reputation,  which  increased  so  much,  that,  though  little 
known  in  his  own  country,  France  is  full  of  churches  dedi- 
cated to  him. 

Anne  of  Austria  was  particularly  devoted  to  him;  she 
thought  the  recovery  of  her  husband,  and  the  birth  of  the 
great  Louis  XIY.  himself,  were  due  to  his  intercessions; 


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NAMES  OF  CX)MPLEXION.  97 

and  she  made  a  pilgrimage  to  his  shrine,  remembering  so 
veil  his  objections  to  womankind,  that  she  never  attempted 
to  cross  his  threshold,  but  knelt  before  the  door. 

It  does  not  i^pear,  however,  that  the  name  of  Fiacre  was 
adopted  bj  any  one  in  deference  to  this  devotion,  except, 
perhaps,  the  Fiak  of  Brittany.  All  it  did  was  to  pass  to 
the  fint  hackney-coaches  of  Paris,  which,  from  being  used 
aa  a  commodious  mode  of  going  on  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine 
of  St  Fiacre,  received  the  appellation  they  have  had  ever 
aince.  It  Ib  a  whimsical  concatenation  that  has  named  the 
fiacres  of  Paris  after  the  misty  eagle  of  the  race  of  FingaL 

What  a  difference  between  the  associations  of  the  coach  of 
St  Fiacre,  and  of  the  staff  and  cockle-shell  of  St.  James. 

Eon  or  Bonan  certainly  means  a  seal  or  sea-calf  in  Gaelic. 
It  would  be  dangerous  to  decide  that  this  is  the  right  mean- 
ing of  the  unexplained  name  of  Bonan,  but  it  is  the  only 
mnrd  that  resembles  it.  Bonan  is  a  hero  whose  death  is 
lamented  in  the  Ossianic  poetry,  and  his  name  was  afterwards 
bome  by  a  large  number  of  Irish  and  Scottish  saints,  from 
whom  Bonan  became  a  common  Scottish  name,  and  once  had 
the  Irish  feminine  Bonaf^ 

Section  EX. — Names  of  Oomplexion, 

Names  of  complexion  were  very  frequent  among  the  various 
bnmehes  of  Kelts,  often  as  mere  affixed  soubriquets,  but  grow- 
ing from  thence  into  absolute  individual  names.  Dku  and 
dor  J  the  black ;  dorchaidy  the  dark ;  dearg  and  ruadhy  red ; 
4»,  brown ;  boidy  yellow ;  ban  and  ^/&m,  white ;  odhary  pale ; 
fiann  and  carcair^  ruddy ;  laMm  and  uaithney  green ;  glas^ 
^ddch  is  blue  in  Wales,  green  in  Ireland,  and  grey  in  the 
Highlands ;  gormy  blue ;  licUhj  grey ;  riabhachj  greyish,  have 
all  famished  their  share  of  names  and  epithets. 

•  ODonoran ;  Macpherson  ;  Maitland,  History  of  Scotland  ;  Cosmo 
lanes;  Saturday  Rwiac;  Batlar. 

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98  GADHAEUO  NAMES. 

Maopherson  introduces  us  to  ^  that  cloud  in  war,  Ducho- 
mar,'  whom  he  translates  a  ^  black  well-shaped  man/  and 
makes  him  that  slayer  of  Moma's  lover,  whom  she  despatches 
with  his  own  sword  before  destroying  herself  with  it  He 
desires  that  his  corpse  may  be  given  to  ^  Moina,  the  maid.' 
Duchomar  was  the  dream  of  her  night.  This  lady's  name 
is  said  by  Macpherson  to  be  Moiha,  the  gentle,  and  is  pro- 
bably the  same  as  Moncha,  now  considered  as  Monica  in 
Ireland. 

In  Islay,  Mr.  Campbell  found  a  story  where  Finn  is  called 
MacDhuU  or  MacDi:^d,  which  he  translates  as  the  son  of 
black  and  white ;  or,  might  not  MacDhugal  be  only  the  son 
of  the  black  gal^  or  stranger,  the  epithet  instead  of  the  title 
Cu  t  Indeed,  Duflfgallus  is  the  earliest  Latinism  of  Dougall, 
as  in  the  Lennox  pedigree. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  Dougall  and  Dugald  have  been  firom 
time  immemorial  Highland  names,  and,  together  with  Donald, 
serve  as  the  national  nickname  of  the  Gael  among  the  Low- 
landers.  Dowal  is  used  in  Ireland.  Donald  is  the  Angli- 
cism of  Donghal,  brown  stranger,  an  early  Scottish  and 
Iri^h  name,  and  likewise  of  Domhnall,  which  is  probably 
really  the  same,  though  the  Irish  glossographers  translated  it 
a  proud  chieftain,  and  now  have  turned  it  into  Donat 
and  Daniel,  or  Dan.  In  Wales  it  is  made  to  answer  to 
Dynnval,  which  Chahners  translates,  ^what  was  of  the 
weaned  couch.'  Dunwallon,  another  Cymric  form,  was  last 
king  of  the  Strathcluyd  Britons,  and  on  being  conquered  by 
Kenneth  HI.  of  Scotland,  in  975,  resigned  his  crown,  and 
became  a  monk  at  Rome. 

Donald  is  reckoned  as  the  first  Christian  king  of  Scotland. 
Dhuboda,  who  reigned  in  961,  has  been  handed  down  to 
posterity  as  Dufiiis,  by  the  same  respectable  authority  that 
declares  that  he  suflTered  from  a  deadly  sickness  produced  by 
the  incantations  of  some  witches,  who  roasted  his  waxen 
eflfigy  before  the  fire,  but  were  detected  in  time  to  save  his 

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NAMES  OF  COMPLEXION. 


99 


life  ;  though  he  was  soon  after  slam  hy  surer  means,  and  his 
body  concealed  for  six  months,  during  which  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars  hid  their  faces.  We  feel  ourselves  getting  into  the 
r^ons  of  Mcuilethy  and,  in  fact,  he  was  really  great  grand- 
father to  Lady  Macbeth,  who  derived  from  him  certain 
claims  to  the  throne,  passed  over  by  Shakespeare.  Many  of 
the  names  in  Macbeth  are  names  of  complexion,  and  this 
seems  the  place  for  discussing  most  of  those  connected  with 
^t  wonderful  tragedy,  which  is  verily  truth  of  nature, 
though  may  be,  not  historical  truth. 

The  trudi,  as  far  as  can  be  gathered,  is  that  there  was  an 
uncertain  and  hotly-disputed  succession  to  what  was  rather 
a   chieftainship  than  a  crown.     Ghim,    the    grandson    of 
Dojflr,  reigned  for  a  short  time,  but  was  slain  in  battle,  in 
1004,  by  Malcolm,  the  representative  of  the  other  branch  of 
the  faiaily,  and  his  son  Boidh  was  set  aside,  and  disabled 
frwn  reigning.    The  daughter  Gruach  was  pursued  with  the 
utmost  hatred  by  Malcohn,  who  surrounded  the  castle  where 
she  was  with  her  husband,  Gilcomginn,  and  set  fire  to  it, 
after  the  terrible  fashion  of  Gaelic  malignity,  paralleled 
again  in  the  sixteenth  century,  as  in  the  piteous  ballad 
of  Sdom  of  Q-ordon^  and  unhappily  even  in  the  nineteenth, 
in  Irdand.    Her  husband  and  fifty  of  his  friends  perished ; 
but  she  barely  escaped  with  life  into  the  lands  of  her  rela- 
tive, Macbeath,  Thane  of  Ross,  son  of  Doada,  daughter  of 
Malcolm  IE.,  who  defended  her  from  her  enemies,  and  finally 
married  her,  uniting  their  two  streams  of  royal  blood.    After 
Malcolm's  death,  he  was  succeeded   by  the    son  of  his 
daughter  JBethoi,  Donnacha,  Duncha,  or  Duncan,  called  by 
the  Scots  the  pure  breathed,  by  Shakespeare,  the  gracious. 
After  all,  the  temptation  to  murder  the  sleeping  enemy,  and 
the  views  upon  the  crown,  were  less  unprovoked  than  we  feel 
them  to  be,  when  the  predictions  of  the  witches  have  the 
entire  credit  of  the  mischief,  as  Shakespeare  has  made  them, 
in  accordance  with  old  Hector  Boece.    The  only  wonder  is, 

H  a  joogle 


lOO  GADHAELIG  NAMES. 

bow  Duncan  could  trust  himself  for  a  single  night  under  the 
same  roof  with  the  injured  Gruach. 

That  most  inharmonious  name  of  hers  is  from  gruag^  hair, 
and  is  the  same  in  meaning,  though  not  in  sound,  as  the  Irish 
Mongfinn,  of  the  fair  hair,  and  Murrinn,  of  the  long  hair. 

Macbeth  himself  meant  son  of  life.  Our  verb  to  he  is 
near  of  kin  to  the  Keltic,  in  Gaelic  hith^  in  Welsh  hezu^ 
and  thence  came  the  word  for  existence  or  life,  heath  or  hezu. 
The  Scots  of  either  island  loved  to  call  good  men  Macbeath, 
sons  of  life,  and  this  was  the  name  of  the  Thane  of  Ross 
and  of  Cawdor,  and  lastly  king  of  Scotland.  He  seems  to 
haye  been  a  fair  specimen  of  a  monarch  for  his  day,  and 
entered  into  correspondence  with  Rome,  a  great  step  out  of 
barbarism ;  but  nothing  to  his  credit  can  do  away  with  the 
impression  left  by  the  weakness  of  the  brave  man,  goaded 
into  crime,  or  the  remorse  of  the  strong  woman.  Bethoc, 
his  rival's  mother,  likewise  was  named  from  life,  and  the 
same  name  was  frequent  among  the  early  Scottish  ladies,  but 
was  soon  turned  into  Beatrix,  as  even  Duncan's  mother  is 
termed  by  latinizing  historians.  The  old  name  of  Bethia, 
to  be  found  in  various  English  families,  probably  came  from 
an  ancestral  Beth,  on  either  Welsh,  Scots,  or  Irish  sides,  and 
there  can  be  scarcely  a  doubt  that  the  Manx  feminine 
Bahee  is  another  form  of  the  same,  and  Beoan,  lively,  is  Irish. 

To  this  source  likewise  must  be  referred  the  Latinism  of 
Bega  or  Begga,  for  a  saint,  called  otherwise  Hien  or 
Hayne.  She  was  of  Irish  birth ;  but  about  620,  was  im- 
ported by  some  of  the  Keltic  missionaries  of  the  North  of 
Bngland,  and  St.  Aidan  consecrated  her  at  Whitby  as 
the  first  nun  in  Northumbria.  Leaving  St.  Hilda  to  govern 
there  in  her  stead,  she  founded  the  abbey,  known  by  her 
English  name  of  St.  Bees,  and  at  present  serving  as  a  uni- 
versity. A  French  St.  Begga,  whose  mother  was  Northum- 
brian, was  wife  to  a  man  whose  strange  destiny  was  to 
be  first  Maire  du  Palais,  then  Bishop  of  Metz,  and  lastly  to 

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NAMES  OF  COMPLEXION.  lOI 

be  killed  in  the  chace.  After  his  death,  she  founded  a 
monastery,  which  is  considered  by  some  to  have  be^  the 
g^rm  of  the  admirable  institution  of  h^ines^  who  did  the 
work  of  sisters  of  charity  in  the  Netherlands  long  before  the 
French  order  was  established  by  St  Vincent  de  PauL  Some, 
however,  deduce  them  from  a  priest  at  Liege,  called  Lam- 
bert le  bigtte^  or  the  stammerer.  Begga  was  probably  im- 
ported by  the  Danes  to  Scandinavia,  where  it  is  still  in  use, 
though  Uiere  it  may  be  a  contraction  for  either  Bergljot  or 
Brigitta.  The  Venerable  Bede  himself,  the  father  of  English 
history,  called  Beda  in  Latin,  is  referred  to  the  Welsh 
Bedaws,  another  form  of  the  word  life  ;  but  it  has  been  more 
usual  to  explain  his  name  by  reference  to  the  Teuton  verbs, 
meaning  to  bid  or  to  pray;  However,  that  several  Keltic 
forms  did  prevail  is  certain,  especially  among  the  churchmen 
of  the  northern  counties. 

Banquo  was  Bancu,  the  white  chief,  or  white  dog.  Banan 
is  an  old  Lrish  name,  and  Banba  was  one  of  those  given  to  one 
of  the  Tuath  de  Danan ;  but  Jinn  is  much  more  usual  in 
names  than  han^  though,  as  a  soubriquet,  this  last  is  very 
common,  as  in  Donaldbane,  younger  son  of  Duncan,  and  his 
namesake  in  Waverletfj  Donald  Bean  Lean.  It  figures  in 
various  words  as  the  Ghielic  term  for  a  queen.  Ban  Righy 
the  white  king ;  also  in  Banshee^  the  white  spirit.  Chalmers, 
however,  thinks  the  names  of  both  Banquo  and  Fleance  un- 
Gaelic,  and  mere  inventions ;  yet  what  we  call  Fleance,  must 
have  been  the  same  with  the  Flann  of  Lreland,  signifying 
rosy,  and  now  immolated  to  Florence,  while  its  feminine 
Flannahas  disappeared.  Oeara  and  Corcran,  in  Lreland,  both 
meant  the  same,  but  have  left  no  remains  but  in  the  surname 
Corcoran. 

Boidh,  Lady  Macbeth's  brother,  was  yellow,  a  name  sur- 
viving in  the  Scottish  family  of  Boyd.  Her  son  Lulach,  who 
reigned  for  a  short  time  after  Macbeth,  is  explained  as 
Luilkach,  or  the  mimic.    Macduff  himself  no  doubtjwas  so 

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t02  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

called  from  Dubhoda,  Maormar  of  Fife.  Another  Duff  had 
exchanged  the  Gaelic  Maormar  for  the  English  Earl,  in 
1 1 15,  and  Dubican  was  Maormar  of  Angus,  in  939. 

Ireland  had  Dubhan,  Dhubdothra,  black  man  of  the  Dod- 
der— the  river,  Dubhdaimbher,  black  man  of  the  two  rivers, 
Dubhdaintuath,  black  man  of  the  two  territories,  also  Dub- 
halteach,  Dubhdalethe,  Dubhdhaa,  all  the  latter  of  which 
thej  anglicize  as  Dudley. 

Among  ladies  they  had  Dubhdeasa,  dark  beauty,  Dubh- 
choblaith  (pronounced  Duvcovla),  or  black  victory,  and 
Dubhessa,  or  black  nurse.  Duvessa  O'Farrell  died  in  1301 ; 
and  this  same  appellation  Spenser  must  afterwards  have  heard 
in  Ireland,  when,  struck,  no  doubt,  by  the  du  at  the  com- 
mencement sounding  like  (wOy  as  did  the  other  Irish  name 
Una  resemble  oney  he  called  his  emblem  of  falsehood,  or  per- 
haps of  the  Church  of  Rome,  the  false  Duessa,  while  he  gave 
the  title  of  Una  to  his  lovely  personation  of  the  one  trath, 
the  one  true  undivided  Church,  the  guide  of  the  Red  Cross 
Knight.  Irish  antiquaries  assure  us  that  Una  means  dearth 
or  famine ;  but  it  hardly  suits  this  etymology.  Una  is  queen 
of  the  fairies  in  the  county  of  Ormond,  in  which  character 
she  appears  in  one  version  of  the  story  of  the  soldier  billeted 
on  a  miser.  The  man  was  amazed  at  his  hospitable  recep- 
tion and  entertainment,  as  he  thought,  by  the  avaricious 
squire  in  question,  until  morning  disclosed  that  the  faiiy 
queen  Una  had  raised  the  mansion  and  provided  the  supper, 
but  from  the  prime  cow  in  the  miser's  herd. 

Una  has  continued  in  use  among  the  Irish  peasantry, 
though  much  corrupted,  being  often  pronounced  Oonagh, 
and  anglicized  as  Winny,  the  contraction  of  Winifred,  the 
English  version  of  the  Welsh  Gwenfrewi. 

The  female  Christian  name  of  Douglas,  which  belonged  to 
Qne  of  the  unfortunate  wives  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  Earl  of 
Leicester,  was  either  a  free  version  of  one  of  those  varieties 
of  *  dark  ladyes,'  or  else  was  oue  of  the  first  specimens  of  a 

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NAMES  OF  COMPLEXION.  IO3 

miname  converted  into  a  Cliristian  name,  perhaps  in  compli- 
ment to  Lady  Margaret  Douglas,  the  niece  of  Henry  ViLL 
and  mother  of  Lord  Damley.  Douglas  was,  without  doubt, 
a  territorial  designation  from  the  dark  vale  and  stream  of 
Douglas;  bnt  the  heralds  and  genealogists  of  the  gallant 
lineage  of  the  bleeding  heart  made  out  an  ancestor, '  Sholto 
Dhu  Glas*  (see  the  dark  grey  man),  and  thence  Sholto  was 
adopted  as  a  name  in  the  Douglas  family,  and  crept  from 
thence  to  others.  I  have  found  no  instance  of  it  before 
the  sev^iteenth  century  in  looking  through  the  peerage  of 
Scotland,  and  the  probable  derivation  of  the  word  would  be 
tioUaichy  a  sower. 

Macdu£f  is  still  a  patronymic  in  Scotland,  and  so  are  Duff 
and  Dow.  Lreland,  her  O'Dubhda  into  O'Dowd  and  Doady, 
her  O'Dubhagain  into  Duggan,  her  O'Dubhain  into  Downes, 
ODubshlaine  into  Delany,  O'Duibhida  into  O'Dwyn  ;  and  in 
England,  Dew,  Dewes,  and  Dove,  both  the  gentle  doctor  and 
the  beautiful  river,  all  are  the  offspring  of  the  Keltic  dhu. 

King  Duncan  himself  was  either  Donnachu,  brown  chief, 
X)r  Donngal,  brown  stranger,  both  which  names  were  rife 
among  the  Scots,  and  Duncan  has  so  continued  ever  since. 
Duncan  and  Donald  both  occur  as  Keltic  slaves  in  Iceland, 
in  the  Saga  of  Burnt  Njal ;  and,  perhaps,  not  only  the  Lish, 
hut  even  the  saintly  Scottish  David,  may  have  been  at  first 
an  anglicized  Domnhall,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  some  of  the 
earlier  kings,  it  is  called  Dunvenald. 

Don  stands  alone  as  a  name  in  Hanmer's  list  of  Finn's 
warriors ;  and  Diarmaid,  as  son  of  Don,  left  the  name  of 
ODhuine  to  his  descendants.  Donnan  was  an  Lish  name, 
and  Donchada  became  Donoghoe,  sometimes  even  now  bap- 
tisQud,  but  best  known  as  the  (^Donoghoe,  the  great  vision- 
ary horseman  of  Killamey. 

The  word  is  really  the  same  as  our  dftm,  though  that  has 
now  come  to  express  a  misty  dark  grey,  while  don  evidently 
laeans  brown  haired,  as  in  the  feminine  Duinsech.    Don,  as 

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I04  GADHAELIO  NAMES. 

it  stands  at  the  end  of  the  name  of  ^  The  O'Connor/  simjdj 
shows  that  he  is  the  head  of  the  brown  branch  of  that  sqpt, 
which  anciently  split  into  brown  and  red — O'Connor  Tkm 
and  O'Connor  Roe,  like  the  black  and  red  Douglases  of 
Scotland. 

Roe  is  the  Anglicism  for  ruadhy  the  colour  that  goes  hj 
the  same  title  in  all  our  cognate  tongues,  from  the  Greek 
po8o9  to  the  Gadhaelic  ruadhy  and  Cymric  rudy  rhud.  It  plays 
the  chief  part  in  nomenclature  in  Ireland  and  Scotland,  where 
the  true  undiluted  Gaels  are  divided  between  the  black  and 
the  red,  as  their  epithets  constantly  testify ;  as  in  the  case  of 
Owen  Roe  O'Neill,  the  leader  of  the  rising  of  Ulster,  in  1641, 
and  in  Scotland  of  the  well  known  Rob  Roy.  Thus  it  is  that 
the  numerous  surnames  of  Roe,  Rowe,  and  Roy  have  arisen. 

Ruadh  or  Rory  is  the  Highland  *  byword '  for  the  fox,  who 
is  at  full  length  madadh  ruadh,  the  red  dog ;  but  familiarlj 
in  the  many  Highland  fables  founded  on  his  shrewdness  he  is 
Rory,  like  his  English  cousin  Reynard,  and  the  German  Rein- 
ecke  Fuchs,  leading  us  to  suspect  that  these  his  titles  may 
originally  have  been  a  Keltic  legacy,  although  since  adapted 
to  Teutonic  names,  and  associated  with  the  treacherous  Frank, 
Count  Reginhard. 

It  is  only  what  the  fox's  human  namesakes  have  done  for 
themselves ;  for  the  Irish  Ruadri,  Ruadhan,  Ruadhaic,  the 
Scottish  Ruaridh,  and  Welsh  Rhydderch,  have  all  alike  difr- 
guised  themselves  as  Roderick,  which  is  in  each  case  supposed 
to  be  the  full  name  of  those  who  in  ordinary  parlance  call 
themselves  Rory  or  Roy. 

In  Welsh  myths  we  meet  with  Rhwddlwan  Gawr,  the  red 
bony  giant,  and  in  Merddhyn's  time  we  come  upon  Rhyd* 
derch  Hoel,  or  the  liberal,  the  champion  of  the  Christian 
faith,  who  was  the  friend  of  St.  Columba,  restored  St  Kenti* 
gem  to  Glasgow,  and  was  promised  by  the  former  that  he  should 
never  fall  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  but  should  die  with 
his  hea^on  his  pillow — a  promise  that  a  Saxon  long  after  would 


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NAMES  OF  COMPLEXION.  lOJ 

htye  scorned.  He  was  a  discourager  of  Dmidism,  and  is 
reviled  by  Merlin.  His  name  may  come  from  rhydezy  the 
exalted. 

Several  less  shadowy  kings  reigned  in  Wales,  the  most 
distingaished  of  whom  united  all  the  three  principalities  till 
the  year  877,  and  was  called  Rydderch  Mawr,  or,  as  it  is 
laAaronsly  called  in  onr  histories,  Roderick  Maur;  much 
resembling  what  has  been  done  with  Roderick  Dhu.  The 
Rory  CMore  of  Irish  ballad  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
great  Irish  rising  suppressed  by  Cromwell,  and  Roger  Mc 
Cirthy,  another  bitter  foe  of  the  English,  was  only  another 
version  of  the  discarded  Ruadri.  In  fact,  Rogers  has  been 
asBomed  as  a  surname  by  the  fanuly  of  MacRory,  just  as 
the  Welsh  ap  Rydderch  became  first  ap  Rody,  and  then 
Biodie.  O'Ruadhin  has  become  Rooney,  and  Ruadhaic's 
diildren  were  Mac  Ruaric,  or  (VRourke,  a  name  memorable 
to  Ireland,  for  it  was  the  (VRuarc  of  Breflhy  whose  wife's 
abduction  led  to  the  conquest  of  Ireland  by  the  English. 

Her  name,  Dearbhforgail,  or  Derforgal,  is  translated  by  the 
Four  Masters,  ^  purely  fair  daughter ;'  but  later  critics  make 
it '  the  true  oath,'  firom  dearbhj  an  oath,  nudjior-glany  true. 

It  was  a  name  common  to  both  Erse  and  Gael,  and  there  is 
^I^ndary  heroine  in  Ireland  so  called,  whose  betrothed  was 
^  eager  in  the  chace  that  he  forgot  it  was  his  wedding  day, 
^hereupcm  he  took  the  peculiarly  Hibernian  way  of  atoning 
for  his  omission  by  immediately  making  war  on  her  father. 
His  troops  were  defeated,  whereupon  he  stabbed  himself  to 
the  heart ;  and  the  scene  closes  on  the  lady  snatched  away 
&<)>m  passionately  embracing  his  corpse  and  thrown  into  a 
dnngewi  by  her  father,  on  the  same  principle  on  which 
Horatius  stabbed  his  sister. 

Dearbhforghal  was  a  yery  tough  name  for  the  genealogists, 
•ad  they  had  a  good  deal  of  it,  for  it  was  very  fashionable  in  the 
twelfth  century  both  in  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  was  turned 
^to  Devorgilla  and  Domadilla  by  the  much  tormented  chroni- 

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Io6  OADHAELIC  NAMES. 

clers ;  and  they  had  enough  of  it  when  the  Anglo-Norman 
Balliol,  originally  from  Cambray,  married  the  Devorgoil  of 
Gralloway,  the  rights  of  whose  mother,  Margaret,  as  the 
eldest  daughter  of  David  of  Huntingdon,  caused  the  house  of 
Balliol  to  acquire  their  unfortunate  notoriety  in  the  history 
of  Scotland,  and  her  uncouth  name  to  be  rung  out  by  the 
contending  parties.  Even  to  the  present  day,  however, 
Balliol  College,  Oxford,  observes  the  statute  of  its  founder, 
the  father  of  the  ex-king,  and  mentions  his  wife  Devor- 
gil,  in  the  commemoration  of  its  benefactors.  Devorgoil 
was  again  the  lady  above  referred  to,  the  faithless  wife  of 
(yBourke;  and  thus,  curiously  enoi^h,  Devorgoil  was,  in 
each  country,  the  occasion  of  English  invasion, — innocently 
on  the  part  of  the  Scottish  lady,  guiltily  on  that  of  the  Iri^ 
one.  The  name  occurs  again  in  the  great  Anglo-Irish  house 
of  De  Burgh,  the  grand-daughter  of  the  great  Hubert  bearing 
it ;  but  it  was  soon  discarded,  unless  Dowsabel  be  considered 
as  the  equivalent 

Lachtnan,  from  the  Erse  lachtnay  green,  is  less  easily  ac- 
countable, unless  it  meant  fresh  and  flourishing.  It  is  now 
turned,  in  Ireland,  into  Loughnan,  and  more  often  into  Lucius, 
and  the  families  of  the  O'Lachnaos  are  now  either  Mac 
Loughlin  or  Loftus.  The  Scottish  name  so  like  in  sound 
Lachlan  or  Loughlan,  is  however  more  probably  from 
laochail,  warlike,  and  Maclauchlan  is  the  patronymic. 

Cf-las,  grey,  blue,  or  green,  changes  its  meaning  wherever  it 
goes ;  but  Glasan,  in  Irish,  is  its  only  Christian  name,  though 
it  was  a  great  epithet  in  all  its  countries  and  has  resulted  in 
many  a  surname  of  Glass,  besides  the  Highland  Maglashan. 

Cearan,  or  Ceirin,  from  ctar,  black,  was  the  name  of 
one  of  the  twelve  Irish  bishops  whom  St.  Patrick  con- 
secrated. He  betook  himself  to  solitude  in  a  place  sur- 
rounded with  bogs  in  Ireland,  called  from  him  Salger,  or  Sier 
Eieran ;  but  a  tribe  of  disciples  followed  him,  and  a  monas* 
tery  arose ;  so,  in  search  of  loneliness,  he  fled  to  Cornwall, 

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NAMES  OF  COMPLEXION.  IO7 

where  he  lived  in  a  cell,  and  taught  the  inhabitants  so  mnch, 
that  they  ascribed  to  him  even  their  knowledge  of  mining ; 
and  the  5th  of  March,  his  day,  was  considered  as  the  tinners' 
holiday,  in  honour  of  their  patron  saint.  His  name,  however, 
following  the  rule  of  the  Cymric  p  for  a  Gadhaelic  i,  has 
turned  into  Pirin,  or  Perran,  and  is,  in  this  form,  not  yet 
lost  among  the  Cornish  miners.  His  cell  had  a  church  built 
o?er  it,  called  St.  Pierans  in  Sabulo,  or  in  the  sand,  and 
now  Peranzabuloe.  And  in  the  sand  it  is,  for  it  -was  abso- 
lutely choked  by  drifting  sands,  and  abandoned  in  favour  of 
a  new  one.  In  1835  it  was  disinterred,  and  found  to  be  a  very 
curious  specimen  of  ancient  architecture ;  and  it  was  strongly 
•ppealed,  and  rather  overworked,  as  a  proof  of  the  existence 
and  individuality  of  the  ancient  British  Church  before  the 
tune  of  Augustin's  mission.  Another  Ceiran  was  the  patron 
of  the  Scots  who  first  came  from  Ireland ;  he  was  sumamed 
Mac  Iter,  the  carpenter's  son,  and  left  his  name  to  many  a 
Kilkeran  on  the  west  coast.  He  is  sometimes  called  St, 
Qoeran. 

Cear  is  the  soubriquet  of  Caeinnach  I.  of  Scotland,  who 
was  killed  in  621,  after  a  reign  of  three  months.  The  mean- 
ing of  the  epithet  is  questioned  in  his  case,  some  calling  it 
ciWy  black ;  others,  ceatTy  left-handed.  The  king  himself 
rejoices  in  many  varieties  of  name, — Caoinnach,  in  Irish, 
Coinadh  ;  then  again,  Conchad,  Connadh,  Einat,  and  Cinead; 
til],  finally,  it  has  settled  into  the  national  Scottish  Christian 
ittme  of  Kenneth  in  the  Lowlands,  Caioneach  in  the  Graelic, 
d^oting  a  fair  and  comely,  or  mild  tempered  or  peaceable  man. 
Another  Kenneth  was  the  king  in  whom  the  long  con- 
flicting lines  of  Picts  and  Scots  were  united. 

*  Qnben  Alpyne,  this  Eyng  was  dede, 
,     He  left  a  sowne  was  cal'd  Kyned, 
Dowchty  man  he  was,  and  stowt, 
All  the  Peychtis  he  put  owt.' 

This  ^  dowchty  man  and  stowt '  brought  the  stone  of  do- 

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1.0&  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

minion  from  Argyle  to  Scone,  and  is  looked  upon,  though 
incorrectly,  as  the  lawgiver  of  Scotland. 

Kenneth  III.  is  the  contemporary  of  Edgar  the  Peaceable, 
who,  as  English  stories  tell,  was  amazed  to  see  the  tall 
Englishman  obey  so  small  a  man ;  but,  unguardedly  express- 
ing his  surprise,  was  taken  by  the  king  into  a  wood,  given 
his  choice  between  two  swords,  and  bidden  to  try  what  a 
little  man  could  do.  He  was  murdered  by  the  lady  of  Fetter- 
cairn,  in  revenge  for  the  death  of  her  son ;  and  the  fourth 
and  last  royal  Kenneth  was  the  grandfather  of  Lady  Macbeth. 

The  two  derivatives,  as  surnames,  from  Kenneth,  are 
Mackenzie  in  the  Highlands,  Kennedy  in  the  Lowlands. 

Gaoin  and  Gaomh  are  closely  related,  and  both  mean  kind 
or  fair.  Caoimghin  was  that  Lish  saint  who  is  commonly 
known  as  Kevin,  and  owns  one  of  the  seven  churches  of 
Glendalough,  as  well  as  the  cave,  whence  a  very  modem  legend, 
versified  by  Moore,  shows  him  rejecting  Kathleen's  visit  by 
hurling  her  into  the  lake.* 

Section  X. — Feidlimy  ^c. 

Feidlim  was  a  very  early  Lrish  name,  meaning  the  evor 
good,  and  Feidhlim  Beachtmar,  or  the  lawgiver,  gained  him- 
self high  reputation  early  in  the  second  century,  from  which 
time  Feidlim  flourbhed  in  Lreland  as  Felimy  or  Felim,  until 
a  fjEishion  arose  of  spelling  it  like  a  Greek  word,  Phelim,  and 
then  one  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill,  who  was  deeply  implicated  in 
the  great  Popish  massacre  of  1641,  changed  his  name  to 
Felix.  He  was  seized  by  the  English  army  and  condemned, 
but  was  offered  his  life  by  Cromwell  if  he  would  inculpate 
King  Charles,  and  on  his  gallant  refusal,  was  executed.  His 
new  name  caused  the  Lrish  poet  M^Gree  to  exclaim — 

♦  O'Donovan ;  Maq)her8on ;  Maitland,  History  of  Scotland ;  Cosmo 
Innes;  Scottish  Surnames ;  Saturday  Review ;  BuUer;  Highland  Society's 
Dictionary;  Pugh;  Crofton  Croker;  Irish  Legends;  Chalmers;  Hajes, 
Irish  BaUads. 


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FEIDLIM,  ETC.  IO9 

*  Why  when  that  hero  age  you  deify, 
Why  do  you  pass  infelix  Felix  by  ? ' 

A  later  Phelim  O'Neill,  in  the  last  century,  who  made  the 
same  change,  and  called  himself  Felix  Neele,  was  indignantly 
addressed  in  a  Latin  epigram : — 

'  Poor  paltry  skulker  from  thy  noble  race, 
Infelix  Felix,  blush  for  thy  disgrace/ 

Felim  once  had  a  feminine  Fedlimi,  now  either  forgotten 
or  transmuted  into  Felicia. 

Tadhg  is  translated  a  poet,  and  was  always  a  favourite  iu 
Ireland,  where  it  has  degenerated  into  Teague,  Teige,  or 
Thady,  and  ilien  has  been  translated  into  Timothy,  Thaddeus, 
Theodore,  Theodosius,  according  to  the  fancy  of  the  owner, 
though  Tim  is  perhaps  the  most  usual.  But  no  one  who  has 
read  Mr.  Britten's  capital  tale  of  the  Election  can  forget  the 
indignation  of  the  old  gentlewoman  on  recognizing  ^the 
man  that  was  called  Thady,'  in  the  full-blown  dignity  of  the 
candidate,  Thaddeus  O'SuUiyan  Gafirey,  esquire. 

Matthew  is  in  like  manner  the  Anglicism  of  Mathgham** 
bain,  pronounced  Mahoone,  or  Mahon,  and  meaning  a  bear ; 
nhence  the  family  of  Mac  Mahon  have  endeavoured  to  make 
out  that  they  are  Norman  Fitz  Ursulas.  According  to 
liacpherson,  the  foremost  pointer  in  Ursa  Major  is  Gean 
Uathon,  the  bear's  head. 

Here  again  we  meet  with  that  universal  Amal,  as  in  the 
Roman  ^milii  and  Teutonic  Amaler,  and  probably  like 
them  originally  meaning  work,  though  the  direct  meaning 
of  AmuU  in  Gaelic  is  now  a  hindrance,  possibly  as  in- 
creasing labour.  Amalgaid  was  a  good  deal  in  use  in 
the  elder  times.  The  seven  sons  of  Amalgith  are  said  by 
Nfflmius  to  have  been  baptized  by  St.  Patrick,  and  the 
race  formed  a  sept  called  the  XJi  Amalghaidh,  who  left 
their  designation  to  the  barony  of  Tir  Awlay,  in  Ireland ; 

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no  GADHAETJC  NAMES. 

while  their  Scottish  cousins  became  the  memorable  clan 
Macaulaj,  the  sods  of  labour.  Awlay  is  the  genuine  Angli- 
cism, not  entirely  disused  in  Scotland ;  but  in  Ireland,  inter- 
course with  the  Danish  conquerors  led  to  the  substitution  of 
Amlaidh,  as  the  Erse  spelt  the  Danish  Anlaff,  ancestor's 
relic,  the  same  name  as  Olaf,  and  now  this  is  likewise  called 
Auley.* 

Sbction  XL — Names  of  Majesty. 

Foremost  among  these  names  of  greatness  must  stand 
tigheamy  a  king,  a  word  of  most  ancient  lineage,  recurring 
in  the  Greek  tyrannos. 

Tigheamach  was  an  Irish  saint,  who  flourished  at  the  end 
of  the  fifth  century,  and  whose  dish  is  still  presenred  at 
Rappa  Castle,  in  Tirawley,  by  the  name  of  Mior  Tigeaman, 
or  the  'dish  of  St.  Tieman.  Tigeamach  became  common 
among  Irish  princes,  and  even  appears  in  English  history, 
when  Tigeamach  O'Rourke  was  robbed  of  his  wife.  It  was 
long  in  dying  out  among  the  Erse  population,  and  remains  as 
a  surname  in  the  form  of  Tiemay. 

Tigem  was  also  used  by  the  Cymry.  Vortigem,  as  has 
ahready  been  shown,  (jwrthigem,  the  excelling  king,  and  his 
far  braver  and  better  son  was  Kentigem,  head  chief ;  whence 
he  is  sometimes  called  Categem,  in  modem  Welsh,  Cyn- 
deym. 

Kentigem  in  the  North,  Cyndeym  in  Wales,  was  the  name 
of  an  early  Pictish  saint,  who  recalled  his  countrymen  from 
Pelagianism,  and  is  regarded  as  the  apostle  and  patron  of 
Glasgow.  Persecution  obliged  him  to  take  refuge  in  Wales, 
where  he  founded  the  church  of  Llandwy,  being  guided, 
as  saith  the  legend,  to  the  spot  by  a  milk-white  boar,  which 
ran  before  him,  and  on  arriving  at  the  spot  began  to  stamp 

*  O'Donoyan;  Macpherson;    Nenmos;    Munch;  Highland  Societ^M 
Dictionary. 

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NAMES  OF  MAJESTY.  Ill 

and  root  up  the  groand  with  his  tusks.  Returning  to  Glas- 
gow, he  thence  sent  missionaries  to  Ireland,  who  no  douht 
w^re  the  teachers  of  the  few  inhabitants  whose  descendants 
were  long  after  found  there  by  the  Norse  settlers,  and  called 
by  them  Papa^  from  the  title  of  their  priests,  a  title  still 
lingering  in  many  a  bay  and  islet  of  the  Hebrides,  attesting 
that  there  the  Guldee  clergy  had  been  owned  as  the  fathers  of 
their  flocks.  After  a  custom  that  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
uncommon  among  the  Keltic  saints,  Kentigem  used  every 
night  to  sing  through  the  whole  Book  of  Psalms,  standing  up 
to  his  neck  in  water.  He  obtained  for  himself  the  epithet, 
Mwyngn,  or  Munghu,  the  amiable,  by  which  he  is  best 
known  in  his  own  city,  and  which  has  named  both  it  and  a 
faffge  number  of  the  inhabitants  and  of  his  other  countrymen, 
one  of  whom,  namely,  Mungo  Park,  has  made  it  memorable. 

Wales  had  a  feminine  St.  Kentigem,  perhaps  named  after 
hhn;  perhaps  derived  from  the  Irish  Gamtigem,  or  fair 
lady. 

Gean,  head,  the  first  syllable  of  the  saint's  name,  is  found 
in  all  the  Keltic  tongues,  forming  many  geographical  terms, 
generally  in  the  form  of  can  or  ken. 

Either  this  or  ctan,  vast,  was  the  Irish  name  Gian  or 
£ean,  hereditary  in  the  O'Hara  family,  but  often  sup- 
posed to  be  short  for  Gomelius.  So  common  was  it  once 
that  fifty  Gians  were  killed  in  the  battle  of  Magh  Bath. 

Ceannaich,  head  chief,  or  perhaps,  a  covenant  or  reward, 
was  an  early  Irish  saint,  the  founder  of  Kilkenny,  t.^., 
die  cell  of  Geannach,  or  Kenny ;  thence  we  have  O'Keene 
and  M'Kenny. 

Tuathal,  lordly,  turned  into  Toole  and  O'Toole,  are  his 
descendants,  and  the  feminine,  Tuathflaith,  is  entirely  lost* 
The  ladies  had  various  of  these  majestic  names :  Uallach, 
die  proud ;  So-Domina,  good  lady,  which  must  have  had  a 
Latin  origin;  Dunflaith,  lady  of  the  fort;  besides  Mor, 
ifhich  the  Scots  are  pleased  to  translate  by  Sarah,  and 

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Ill  GADHAELIO  NAMES. 

the  Irish  by  Mary  and  Martha,  though  it  reaUy  means  s 
largewoman.  Morriga  had  been  thegoddessof  battle  among 
the  Tuath  de  Danan,  and  she  is  described  as  inspiring  Onigal 
Claen  before  the  battle  of  Magh  Bath : 

^  There  is  over  his  liead  shrieking, 
A  lean,  nimble  hag,  hovering 
Orer  the  points  of  their  weapons  and  shields ; 
She  is  the  grey-haired  Morrign.' 

The  ^  grey  Morag,'  who  expostulates  with  Edith  of  Lorn  on 
her  wedding  morning,  must  have  been  called  after  this  ami- 
able divinity. 

Martha,  Maud,  and  Mabel  are  employed  to  extiDgaiah 
Meadhbh,  Meave,  or  Mab,  one  of  the  very  oldest  and  most 
famous  of  Irish  names.  It  would  be  most  satisfactory  to 
take  it  from  meadhaU,  joy ;  but  this  is  far  &om  certain,  and 
it  may  come  from  an  old  comparative  of  moTy  great.  But 
Mirth  is  analogous  with  the  meaning  of  AinS,  the  other 
fairy  queen;  and  mear^  or  merry,  has  furnished  another 
Irish  name,  namely,  the  masculine  Meaghar  or  Meara. 
Meadhbh  was  the  daughter  of  Eochaid  Freidhleach,  king 
of  Erin,  as  it  is  said,  a.m.  3922,  and  was  so  brilliant 
a  heroine  of  Irish  romance,  that  Gongal  Claen  bids  the 
men  of  Gonnaught,  her  husband's  kingdom,  to  ^Remem- 
ber Meave  in  the  battle.'  Afterwards,  like  other  favourite 
Irish  heroines,  she  became  queen  of  the  fairies ;  and  some 
of  the  Irish  settlers  must  have  carried  tidings  of  her  to 
England,  when  Shakespeare,  Drayton,  and  Ben  Jonson  made 
Queen  Mab  our  own  peculiar  possession,  if  knowing  how  to 
make  the  best  use  of  her  establishes  a  claim.  Meave,  or 
Mab,  has  not  entirely  lost  ground  among  the  Irish  peasantry, 
though  generally  it  has  an  equivalent 

Toirdelvach,  tall  as  a  tower,  or,  more  properly,  tower-like, 
must  have  been  taken  from  those  riddles  of  Ireland,  the  mys* 
terious  towers,  scattered  throughout  the  island^  and  generdlj 

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DEVOTIONAL  NAMES.  1 1 3 

supposed  to  have  been  erected  m  the  earliest  period  of  GhriB- 
tiaQ  art,  if  art  it  may  be  called. 

TcMrdelvach  was  Ising  of  Gonnaught  at  the  time  that  Der- 
mot  ATMorough  carried  off  Devorgoil,  and  as  supreme  king 
of  Ireland  he  pmiished  the  offender ;  nor  was  it  till  after 
his  death  that  the  invitation  to  Earl  Strongbow  was  given. 
In  English  history,  he  is  usually  called  Turlough,  the  later 
form  dT  the  name,  which  is  still  in  some  use,  though  more 
often  turned  into  Terence,  which  has  been  oddly  borrowed 
finm  the  Latin  dramatist  to  translate  the  tall  Irishman. 

SeaJbh^  cattle  or  possessions  (for  in  Graelic  they  are  the 
same  ;  just  like  pecus  and  pectmia^  vieh  and  fee^  cattle  and 
chatteb),  is  the  origin  of  Sealbhach,  pronounced  Selvach, 
owned  by  two  kings  of  the  Scots,  and  of  the  feminine 
Sealbhflaith,  lady  of  possessions,  now  become  Sally.^ 


Section  Xn. — Devotional  Names. 

The  early  Gadhaelic  Christians  were  too  reverent  to  call 
diemselves  by  the  same  name  as  the  objects  of  their  devotion, 
whether  divine  or  human.  They  were  the  servants,  or  at 
most  the  fi-iends  of  those  to  whom  thej  thus  looked  up. 
They  used  in  this  manner  the  prefixes,  Oeile^  the  companion 
(ff  vassal;  Cear,  the  friend;  Oaitteachy  the  handmaid;  and 
fiir  more  frequently  GHoUa  and  MaoL 

GioUa  is  the  very  same  word  as  the  Scottish  vernacular 
fpUie^  a  servant;  and  in  Ireland,  the  gioUa  eachaidy  or  horse 
Bervant,  resulted  in  the  term  gallowglass,  which  is  so  con- 
stantly used  in  English  narratives  of  Irish  wars. 

The  primary  meaning  of  Maol,  or  Mad,  is  bald ;  thus  it 
came  to  mean  one  who  has  received  the  tonsure,  or  a  student 
of  theology,  and  was  given  in  the  sense  of  a  disciple ;  but  to 

«  DiefiBnbaoh ;  ODonovan;  Danes;  Jones,  Welsh  Sketches;  Bees,  Welsh 

^^^'  ^  Digit  zed  fy  GoOglC 


1 14  GADHAELIG  NAMES. 

the  confusion  of  etymology,  this  same  Maol,  when  followed  by 
an  adjective,  is  synonymous  with  Mai,  and  signifies  a  chief. 

Cailleach  originally  meant  a  devotee,  and  was  once  perliaps 
a  Druidess,  but  she  afterwards  was  a  female  disciple,  or  nun, 
and  finally  in  Scotland  has  become  only  an  old  woman. 

It  will  be  endless  work  to  go  through  all  the  list  of  ser- 
vants and  disciples,  and  yet  some  of  these  present  some  of 
the  most  whimsical  facts  in  the  history  of  names. 

Gilla  is  sometimes  used  alone,  and  not  only  in  the  two 
Gaelic  languages,  for  we  have  it  latmized  as  Gildas,  the 
doleful  Welsh  historian  who  rates  all  the  contemporary 
princes  so  soundly.  Culdee,  the  term  for  the  first  mission- 
aries of  Scotland,  is  also  explained  as  Giolla  De.  This  vras 
in  use,  with  Cailleach  De,  the  handmaid  of  God,  but  are 
both  now  extinct ;  but  not  so  either  the  servant  or  disciple 
of  Jesus.  Giolla  losa  was  used  in  both  countries,  but 
sank  in  Scotland  into  the  homely  surname  of  Gillies,  whilst 
in  Ireland  it  was  wildly  transformed,  in  the  person  of  the 
primate  of  Armagh,  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  into  the 
Greek  Gelasius,  laughter;  a  curious  specimen  of  the  con- 
sequences of  supposing  that  Greek  must  be  better  than  their 
natural  tongue.  Maol  losa  grew  into  the  Scottish  Christian 
name  of  Malise,  by  which  we  know  the  Earl  of  Strathem  at 
the  battle  of  the  Standard,  and  again,  the  bearer  of  the 
Fiery  Cross  in  the  Lady  of  the  Lake — 

'  Speed,  Malise,  speed ! ' 

Nor  has  it  ever  become  disused  in  the  Highlands.  Giolla 
Christ  was  a  Christian  name  in  many  Scottish  families  of 
the  old  Keltic  blood.  In  11 74,  one  Gilchrist  was  Earl  of 
Angus,  and  another.  Earl  of  Mar ;  it  has  not,  even  to  the 
present  day,  fallen  into  disuse  at  baptism,  and  is  a  not  un- 
common surname.  This  may  perhaps  have  been  the  origin 
of  some  of  the  Christians,  and  others  may  once  have  been 
Cailleach  Christ. 


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DEVOTIONAL  NAMES.  1 1 5 

The  Archangel,  St.  Michael,  was  the  subject  of  much 
devotion:  Gara  Michael  has  now  become  Garmichael;  but 
GKlliemichael  was  more  common,  and  turned  into  Gilmichal. 
The  influence  of  the  great  Keltic  mission  at  Lindisfam,  on 
the  North  of  England,  is  visible  as  late  as  the  Norman  Gon- 
qneet ;  for  Domesday  Book  shows  four  northern  proprietors, 
called  respectively,  Ghilemicel,  Ghilander,  Ghillepetair,  and 
Crhilebrid. 

Votaries  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  are  not,  however,  very 
common.  Ireland  shows  Geile  Petair,  and  also,  Mail  Eoin ; 
bat  what  is  remarkable,  it  hto  no  servant,  male  or  female,  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin.  In  Scotland  only  was  there  Gilmory  and 
GUmour ;  both  masculine,  and  now  surnames.  Maolmhuire 
was  the  daughter  of  King  Kenneth  M'Alpm  of  Scotland, 
and  marrying  into  Ireland,  was  the  mother  of  many  kings. 

Some  persons  were  servants  of  all  the  saints,  coUectively ; 
as  Giolla-na-naomh,  very  frequent  in  Irish  genealogies.  In 
the  Highlands  it  becomes  Gille-ne-ohm,  and  thence  has  oc- 
casioned the  modem  surnames  Niven  and  Maoniven.  They 
are,  probably,  all  connected  with  the  Welsh  nenj  sky. 

This  word,  in  Gymric,  leads  us  to  the  name  of  Ninius, 
prince  of  Gumberland,  who  there  established  Ghristianity, 
and  of  Nennius  the  British  historian ;  though  these  are  too 
much  disguised  by  the  Latin  to  be  easily  recognized.  St. 
Ninidh,  the  pious,  was  one  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  of 
Ireland,  and  left;  a  hand  bell,  which  is  still  preserved  in  the 
county  of  Fermanagh.  Another  bell,  kept  as  a  tenure  of 
land,  is  still  extant  in  Galloway,  and  is  said  to  have  belonged 
to  St.  Ninian,  who  is  called  by  the  Irish,  Ringan,  a  prince 
rf  Gumbrian  birth,  who  became  a  monk,  in  412  built  the 
first  stone  church  between  the  Forth  and  Glyde,  earned  the 
title  of  Apostle  of  the  Picts,  and  died  in  432;  leaving 
Ninian  and  Bingan  both  to  be  Ghristian  names  in  Scot- 
land. 

The  great  object  of  Keltic  veneration  was,  however,  St. 

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Il6  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

Patrick.  Nobody  ventured  to  be  Patrick  alone,  but  many 
were  Giolla  Phadraig,  or  Mael  Phadraig,  and  the  descendants 
were  Mag  Giolla  Phadraig,  whence  arises  the  surname  Fits- 
patrick,  translating  the  Mac,  and  omitting  the  Gillie.  Others, 
again,  were  Eillpatrick ;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  tell  whether  this 
Eil  is  the  contraction  of  Gillie,  or  territorial,  firom  the  Cell 
or  Church  of  St.  Patrick.  The  first  syllable  of  Cospatric, 
or  Gospatrick,  the  Christian  name  of  the  Earls  of  North- 
umberland in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  is  less  easily 
explained ;  but  I  believe  (on  Mr.  Lower's  authority)  it  is  the 
Gossoon,  the  boy  of  St.  Patrick: 

St  Patrick's  pupil,  Bridget,  had  her  votaries  in  large 
numbers,  GioUa  Brighde,  Gilbrid,  Maelbridh,  all  now  lost 
but  for  the  occasional  surnames  of  Macbride  and  Kilbride, 
which  last  is  sometimes  the  Church  of  Bride.  Possibly,  too, 
the  Scottish  Gilbert  may  have  been  taken  up  as  an  equi- 
valent to  Gilbrid. 

The  great  St.  Columba,  who  established  the  centre  of  his 
civilizing  and  Christianizing  efforts  at  lona,  had  many  a 
grateful  disciple,  as  Gillecolumb,  or  Maelcolum.  The  latter 
form  rose  to  the  throne  of  Scotland  in  936,  when  the  father, 
who  had  thus  dedicated  his  son  to  the  missionary  saint,  re- 
tired into  a  convent.  The  second  Malcolm  was  the  per- 
secutor of  Lady  Macbeth's  family,  the  third  was  Duncan's 
grandson,  he  of  the  Great  Head,  who,  by  the  help  of  his 
sweet  wife,  St.  Margaret,  was  the  first  to  lift  Scotland  out  of 
her  barbarism,  and  begin  that  assimilation  with  the  English 
which  was  in  full  progress  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  his 
great  grandson,  Malcolm  the  Maiden,  and  perhaps  was  the 
reason  why  no  more  kings  were  called  by  this  Keltic  name, 
so  puzzling  to  Latinizers,  that  in  utter  oblivion  of  St  Columb, 
they  call  it  Milcolumbus.  However,  the  people  of  Scotland 
have  kept  it  up,  and  many  are  still  the  disciples  of  Columb, 
or '  the  S^rant  of  the  Dove.  It  was  a  fine  puzzle  to 
foreigners: — ^in  1385,  Sir  Malcolm  Drummond  received  4X)0 

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DEVOTIONAL  NAMES.  1 1 7 

firancs  fix)m  France,  and  is  designated  in  the  conveyance  as 
Matorme  Dromod !  Galium  is  considered  in  the  Highlands 
as  the  form  of  Malcobn,  and  Gailein  of  Colin. 

Sectmdinus  was  another  pupil  of  St.  Patrick,  whom  the 
Irish  first  made  into  SeachnaU,  and  then  termed  their  chil- 
dren Mael-seachlain,  as  his  pupils.  The  great  Irish  king, 
Malachy  with  the  collar  of  gold,  was  thus  rendered  to  suit 
the  weak  Saxon  capacity,  when  we  are  called  on  to  believe 
of  his  palmy  days,  when  *  rich  and  rare  were  the  gems  she 
irorey  as  she  walked  unscathed  the  length  and  breadth  of 
£rin« 

Cailleach-Coeimghin  is  the  votaress  of  St.  Kevin,  a  very 
unpromising  object  of  hero-worship,  if  we  were  to  believe  the 
legend  with  which  Moore  and  other  modems  have  quite  gra- 
tuitously favoured  Glendalough. 

Giolla  Cheallaigh  was  common  in  honour  of  Oeallach,  a 
very  local  saint,  of  royal  birth,  who  was  educated  by  St. 
Kieran.  On  his  fathei^s  death,  he  was  about  to  ascend  the 
throne,  when  his  tutor  interfered,  probably  considering  this 
an  infraction  of  his  vows,  and  on  his  persisting,  laid  him 
under  a  curse,  after  the  usual  fashion  of  Irish  saints.  He 
lost  his  kingdom,  became  a  bishop,  but  resigned  his  see  for 
fear  of  lus  enemies,  and  retired  to  a  hermitage  on  Lough 
Con,  where,  however,  he  was  murdered  by  four  ecclesiastical 
students,  whose  names  all  began  with  Maol.  His  corpse  was 
hidden  in  a  tree,  where  for  once  it  did  not  show  the  incor- 
ruptibility supposed  to  be  the  property  of  sanctity.  The 
murderers  were  all  put  to  death  on  an  eminence,  called  from 
them  Ardna-maol,  or  hill  of  the  shavelings,  and  his  admirers 
have  resulted  in  the  surname  CKilly-kelly,  or,  for  short, 
Kelly.     Ceallach  is  one  of  the  many  words  meaning  war. 

St.  Congal  and  St.  Angus  had  likewise  their  Gilly  and 
Cailleach ;  indeed,  there  could  of  course  be  as  many  of  these 
as  there  were  of  saints  in  the  calendar.  Gille  Earch  is  ser- 
vant to  him  of  the  goose  eggs ;  and  besides  these  are  GioUa- 

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1 1 8  GADHAELIC  NAMES. 

finn,  Finn's  servant,  resultmg  in  Gillifinns  and  GilfiUans, 
Giollabuidhe,  Boyd's  servant,  now  the  truculent  Killboy ;  in 
fact,  aU  the  MacgilU,  Gilli,  and  some  of  the  Kills  of  Ireland 
thus  commenced. 

Scotland  had  several  instances  of  bishop's  servant,  Gil- 
lescop,  or  Gillespiug,  this  last  being  the  Keltic  form  of 
qnscopus.  Gillespiug  Campbell,  already  Scotticized  enough 
to  have  been  christened  by  this  Gaelic  term,  married  Aioffe 
O'Duinne,  the  daughter  of  the  line  of  Diannid ;  and  thence- 
forth Gillespiug,  or  Gillespie,  was  the  hereditary  Christian 
name  in  the  family,  till,  in  the  twelfth  century,  his  fourth 
descendant  called  himself  Archibald,  and  thenceforth  the 
heads  of  the  house  of  Campbell  have  been  Archibald  to  the 
Lowlands,  to  their  own  clan  Gillespiug.  It  is  a  curious  fact 
that  Gillespie  Grumach  and  his  son,  the  two  Covenanting 
Argyles,  should  thus  have  proclaimed  themselves  *  Bishop's 
gillies.'  Gillespie  has  become  a  frequent  surname  in  Scotland* 

The  Mael,  or  Mai,  a  chief,  is  likewise  frequent.  Mael- 
mordha,  the  majestic  chief,  is  changed  to  Myles  by  the 
O'Reillys.  Maelcluith  was  the  youth  of  the  game,  and  thus 
descended  to  the  O'Molcloighs ;  but  they  fancied  that  their 
patronymic  came  from  dothj  and  anglicized  themselves  into 
Stones.  Maeldearg  is  the  red  chief;  Maeldubh,  the  black 
chief;  Malduin,  the  Scotch  king,  was  a  brown  chief;  and 
hosts  of  Irishmen  commencing  in  Mul  or  Mai  owe  their 
origin  to  vassals  or  to  chiefs, — the  question  which  is  decided 
by  whether  the  word  is  followed  by  an  adjective  or  a  proper 
name. 

Mael  or  Mai,  in  the  sense  of  chief,  was  used  in  the  Cymric 
countries.  Brocmael,  fierce  or  cruel  chief,  was  prince  of 
Powysland,  and  a  great  foe  of  the  invading  Saxons,  and  has 
left  a  name  to  Wales.  Maelgwn,  or  Maelgwas,  was  his  suc- 
cessor in  Powys  and  Gh^ynned,  and  is  desperately  abused  by 
the  indignant  Gildas  for  all  manner  of  crimes ;  while  even 
Taliessin,  yho  praises  his  beauty,  rebukes  his  licentiousness. 

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DEVOTIONAL  NAMES.  1 1 9 

Tbree  centuries  later^  a  bard  alleges  that  he  hid  himself  in  a 
wood,  waylaid  and  carried  off  the  wife  of  King  Arthur.  In 
the  twelfth  centory,  Caradoc,  abbot  of  Llancarven,  adds  that 
Arthur  besieged  him  in  his  castle,  and  had  challenged  him  to 
single  combat,  when  the  sage  Gildas  and  the  abbot  of  Glas- 
tonbury interposed,  and  obtained  the  lady's  restoration.  Wal- 
ter of  Oxford  adds,  that  this  Maelgwn  reigned  after  King 
Arthnr,  and  finally  died  of  terror  in  a  convent,  having  seen 
the  Yellow  Spectre,  namely  the  plague,  through  the  chinks 
of  the  church  door.  Dr.  Owen  Pugh  further  tells  us,  that 
Jack-in-the-Green,  on  May-day,  was  once  a  pageant  repre- 
senting Melva,  or  Melvas,  king  of  the  country  now  called 
Somersetshire,  disguised  in  green  boughs,  as  he  lay  in  am- 
bush to  steal  King  Arthur's  wife,  as  she  went  out  hunting. 

From  these  coincidences,  M.  de  Yillemarque  argues,  that 

Mael,  meaning  both  servant  and  chief,  was  translated  into 

old  Romance  French  as  the  former,  by  the  word  Ancel,  or 

Ancelot,  otherwise  L' Ancelot ;  and  he  quotes  a  mention  of 

the  ^  fable  Ancelot  et  TristaUy   from  the  romance  of  Ogier, 

to  show  that  in  earlier  days  Mael,  or  Ancelot,  was  mentioned 

without  the  article,  which  has  since  become  incorporated  with 

it,  so  that  Lancelot  has  grown  to  be  the  accepted  name,  and 

so  miiversally  supposed  to  mean  a  lance,  that  the  Welsh 

themselves,  re-importing  his  history,  called  him  Palladr,  a 

ahiyered  lance.     It  is  favourable  to  this  supposition,  that 

Ancelot  and  Ancelin  were  certainly  early  chivalrous  names, 

the  latter  perhaps  confused  with  the  Ansir  or  ^sir  of  the 

Teutons.    Ancilee  and  Anselote  are  feminine  names  in  the 

register  of  Gambrai,  of  the  dates  of  1169  and  1304 ;  and  as 

there  most  of  the  feminines  are  changed  from  those  of  men, 

it  is  evident  that  Ancil  and  Anselot  must  once  have  existed 

there,  either  named  from  the  hero  of  romance,  or  translated 

from  some  Walloon  Mael ;  and  thence  no  doubt  the  Asselin, 

Ascelin  of  our  old  Norman  barons,  and  the  Atscelina  Fossard, 

mentioned  in  a  curious  old  tract  on  female  names,  as  having 

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1 20  GADHAELIO  NAMES. 

lived  in  the  North  of  EnglaDd.  It  is  cmious  that  even  ro- 
maace  does  not  profess  that  Launcelot  was  the  true  name  of 
the  knight,  thus  formed  fix)m  the  Cambrian  chieftain,  though 
Galahad  is  there  said  to  have  been  his  proper  name,  after- 
wards given  to  his  worthier  son.  Lanncelot  was  bestowed  on 
him  by  Vivian,  the  Lady  of  the  Lake,  who  stole  him  in  in- 
fancy from  his  father,  King  Ban,  and  brought  him  up  under 
her  crystal  waves,  till  he  was  eighteen,  when,  as  Sir  Lancelot 
du  Lac  he  appeared  at  King  Arthur's  court,  and  became  the 
principal  figure  there,  foremost  in  every  feat  of  chivalry,  the 
flower  of  knighthood ;  but  the  noble  severity  of  the  English 
romance  withheld  from  counsels  of  perfection,  by  his  guilty 
love  for  Gwenever,  and  lying  spell-bound  in  a  dull  trance 
when  the  holy  vision  of  the  Sanc-greal  past  by.  Finally  he 
broke  with  King  Arthur,  and  opened  the  way  to  Mordred's 
fatal  rebellion  by  his  defection,  too  late  repenting  at  the 
dying  letter  of  Gawain,  and  after  Arthur's  fall  became  a 
hermit  and  a  penitent. 

His  story  was  told  with  deep  warning  in  England,  but  in 
Italy  it  was  ^  Lancilotto '  that  Francesca  di  Rimini  looked 
back  to  as  the  tale  that  had  been  the  spark  to  awaken  fatal 


He  has  ever  since  been  regarded  as  the  type  of  penit^oe 
for  misdirected  love  and  chivalrous  prowess,  and  in  conse- 
quence Lancelot,  and  its  contraction  Lance,  have  never  been 
entirely  out  of  use  in  England,  though  not  universal. 

Maelgwn,  or  Mailcom,  is  however  translated  by  Chalmers, 
the  origin  of  good.* 

*  O'Donoyan;  OiHanic  Society ;  Cosmo  Innes,  Scotch  Surnames; 
Ellis,  Domesday  Book;  Dr.  Owen  Pugh;  Villemarqufi. 


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121 


CHAPTER  IV. 

NAMBS     OF     OTMBIO     BOMANOB. 

Sbction  I.—The  Bound  Table. 

It  is  a  yery  remarkable  fact,  that  the  grand  cycle  of  our 
Ditioiial  romance  and  poetry,  has  been  made  to  centre  romid 
the  hero  of  a  people  whom  we  have  subdued,  and  were  hold- 
ing in  oar  power  with  difficulty,  at  the  very  time  that  min- 
8treb  were  singing  the  adventures  of  the  leader  who  had  for 
the  longest  time  kept  our  forces  in  check. 

Ni^leon  I.  is  said  to  have  blamed  the  pamter  David  for 
representing  Leonidas  at  Thermopylae,  because  he  was  the 
hser.  What  good  did  it  do  to  represent  the  man  who  died 
defeated,  and  got  nothing  by  it  ? 

He  who  had  no  inward  ear  to  listen  to  what  Scott  called 
^  the  roaring  voice  sent  down  to  all  posterity'  by  blood  shed 
in  a  noble  cause,  even  apparently  in  vain,  would  have  had 
litde  sympathy  with  the  feeling  that  has  rendered  the  petty 
chieftain  of  a  semi-barbarous  tribe,  one  of  the  most  pro- 
minent figures  in  the  imagination  of  Europe,  because  he  was 
the  last  hope  of  a  losing  cause. 

Many  a  patriot  has  fought  as  boldly  as  Arthur,  many  a 
nation  has  held  out  as  bravely  as  the  remains  of  the  Bri- 
tons ;  but  as  the  ^  battle  is  not  to  the  strong,'  so  renown 
is  not  to  the  most  able;  and  it  was  to  a  very  peculiar 
concatenation  of  circumstances  that  the  Britons  owed  it,  that 
their  struggles  in,  Somerset,  Cornwall,  and  Strathcluyd 
should  have  been  magnified  into  victories  over  Rome  and  half 
Surqpe,  and  themselves  metamorphosed  from  wild  Gymry, 

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1 22  NAMES  OF   CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

with  a  little  Roman  polish  aad  discipline,  into  ideal  models 
of  chivalry. 

That  they  did  fight  there  can  be  no  doubt.  If  the  dismal 
groans  of  the  Britons  were  ever  sent  at  all,  it  was  but  a 
small  number  who  groaned.  As  to  the  Anglo-Saxons,  they 
had  been  coming  even  before  the  Romans,  and  Garausius 
and  his  fleet  held  them  in  check  for  awhile ;  but  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  they  came  in  much  greater  numbers,  and 
with  more  intent  to  settle,  than  in  former  times,  in  the 
decay  of  the  empire.  Moreover,  the  resistance  evidently 
became  more  resolute  and  valid,  as  the  tide  flowed  west- 
ward over  the  diagonally  arranged  strata  of  the  island; 
the  alluvial  lands  to  the  East  have  no  traditions  of  battles, 
but  at  the  chalk  downs,  the  rounded  hills  have  names  and 
dim  legends  of  fights  and  of  camps,  and  cities  begin  to 
claim  to  be  the  scene  of  Arthur's  court. 

Westward  again,  with  the  sandstone  hill  and  smiling 
vaUey,  the  tales  multiply  spots  where  the  court  was  held 
in  perplexing  multitude,  river  upon  river  puts  forth  its  old 
Keltic  name  of  Gam,  the  crooked,  and  calls  itself  the  place 
of  the  last  decisive  fight.  And  when  the  moorland  and 
mountain  are  actually  reached,  and  the  heather  stretcher 
wide  over  the  granite  moor,  with  the  igneous  peak  of  stone 
crowning  the  lofty  crag :  there  the  Briton  is  still  firee,  and 
points  to  his  rocky  summits  as  his  hero's  home. 

To  those  fastnesses  were  the  Gymry  finally  limited,  if 
they  WQuld  enjoy  their  native  government ;  and  though  many 
remained  as  serfs,  and  some  as  clergy,  in  the  open  country, 
the  national  spirit  was  confined  to  those  who  dwelt  in  the 
strongholds  of  the  West.  There  did  their  bards  sing  and 
tell  tales,  and  compose  Triads  on  the  past  glories  of  their 
race,  with  a  natural  tendency  to  magnify  the  exploits  of 
their  most  able  defender.  At  the  same  time,  the  Armori- 
cans  on  the  other  side  of  the  water,  some  of  whom  had, 
probably,  according  to  their  tradition,  migrated  from  Britain, 

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THE  ROUND  TABLE.  1 23 

told  their  own  legends,  and  sung  their  songs  on  the  chief 
who  had  maintained  the  cause  of  their  countrymen. 

When  the  Normans  settled  in  Neustria,  their  lively  fancy 
caught   up  all  that  was  imaginative  among  those  around 
them.     It  is  from  their  arrival  that  the  first  dawn  of  French 
literature  dates,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  they  who  first 
listened  to  the  Breton  lays,  and  brought  them  forward  in 
the  French  tongue.    At  the  central  court  of  France,  the 
Norman  trouvSre  met  the  Provenfal  troubadour,  and  their 
repertory  of  tales  was  exchanged,  the  one  giving  his  native 
Norse  myths,  tinctured  with  Keltic  heroic  tales,  the  other  the 
Greco-Boman  and  Arabic  stories  that  had  travelled  to  him. 
And  there,  both  sets  of  stories  were  steeped  in  that  mys- 
terious atmosphere  of  chivalry,  which  could  dream  of  no 
court  that  was  not  based  on  the  model  of  feudal  France, 
no  warrior  without  a  horse  and  an  esquire,  a  cone-shaped 
helmet,  and  kite-shaped  shield.     Nay,  our  very  word  cowrt 
shows  how  deep  ingrained  is  the  chivalric  system,  since  its 
true  meaning  is  the  tilt-yard  of  the  royal  castle,  where  the 
youth  were  trained  in  warlike  exercises. 

That  true  knights  were  all  equal,  was  a  maxim  held, 
though  hardly  carried  out,  in  the  eleventh  century,  and  the 
floating  noti(m  of  a  table,  where  all  were  on  an  equality, 
was  ready  to  fix  itself  on  the  golden  age  of  chivalry.  And 
when  the  Normans  themselves  became  the  owners  of  Britain, 
and  brought  with  them  a  fair  sprinkling  of  Bretons,  no 
wonder  they  decided  that  the  heroes,  who,  at  least,  were 
not  Saxon,  should  be  their  own  property.  Siegfried  and 
BrynhUd  had  fallen  into  oblivion,  and  the  British  chiefs 
did  veritably  flourish  on  their  native  soil.  Geoffirey  of 
Monmouth  pretended  to  hunt  up  their  history  in  Wales 
and  Brittany;  Marie  of  Bretagne  more  faithfully  repro- 
duced her  native  lays  in  Norman-French ;  and  as  fresh  tales 
were  hunted  up  or  invented,  metrical  romances  spread  them 
far  and  wide,  and  began  all  to  place  their  scene  at  the  court 

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1 24  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

of  Arthur.  Most  noted  among  these,  was  the  story  of  the 
Sanc-greal,  the  cup  of  healing  and  lance  of  wounding,  that 
may  have  heen  a  shadow  of  a  mighty  truth,  hut  which  be- 
came myth  in  many  countries,  until,  in  the  hands  of  the 
Cymry,  they  assumed  to  be  the  veritable  original  cup  of 
blessing  of  the  last  supper,  and  the  lance  of  the  soldier  at 
the  cross. 

A  relic-adoring  age  willingly  believed,  that  to  find  these 
treasures  was  the  great  task  of  the  knights  they  had  in- 
vented. Thenceforth,  English  imagination  beheld  the  glo- 
rious past  as  a  feudal  court,  where  all  the  good  Knights  of 
the  Round  Table,  now  an  order  of  chivalry,  had  bound 
themselves  to  seek  the  holy  relics,  that  could  only  be  re- 
vealed to  the  perfectly  pure  and  worthy.  Mallory's  beau- 
tiful book  preserves  the  main  line  of  the  allegory,  though 
it  is  full  of  episodes,  and  it  is  the  veritable  prose  epic  of  the 
Round  Table. 

France  and  Lombardy  likewise  believed  in  the  Round 
Table,  but  not  with  the  same  national  faith.  As  was 
natural,  their  poems  centered  about  the  great  Frank  em- 
peror, and  what  they  wrote  or  told  of  the  British  knights 
rather  dealt  in  the  less  creditable  adventures  of  individuals, 
than  in  the  ennobling  religious  drift  of  the  main  story. 

However,  it  is  these  names  that  are  the  most  widely 
known  and  used  of  all  the  Keltic  nomenclature,  with  a  re- 
putation almost  entirely  romantic,  and  very  seldom  saintly. 
Among  the  Round  Table  names,  there  is  not  one  that  is 
Teutonic,  except,  perhaps,  Lancelot,  an  error  of  translation 
and  imitation;  all  the  rest  are  either  genuine  Cymric,  or 
else  such  modifications  of  Latin  nomina  as  citizenship  was 
sure  to  leave  to  the  Britons. 


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ARTHUR.  125 


Sbction  n. — Arthur. 


No  Keltic  name  approaches  in  renown  to  that  of  the 
central  figure  of  the  Round  Table ;  yet,  in  the  very  dazzle 
of  his  brightness,  his  person  has  been  so  much  lost,  that, 
as  the  author  of  Wekh  Sketches  observes,  *  Whereas  Peter 
Schlemihl  lost  his  shadow,  Arthur  has  lost  his  substance.' 

To  begin  with  his  name.  Most  people  imagine  it  to  be 
a  bear,  and  connect  it  with  Arctus,  '  Arthur's  slow  wain 
rolling  his  course  round  the  pole,'  and  Arcturus,  the  bear's- 
tail,  far  behind  him  in  Bootes.  Arth  does  indeed  mean  a 
bear  in  British ;  but  this  seems  to  have  been  the  Latin  word 
assimilated,  since,  as  we  have  seen,  Mahon  is  the  Oaelic 
form,  both  for  the  beast,  the  man,  and  the  constellation. 
On  that  ground,  the  theory  that  would  make  Arthur  the 
remains  of  an  old  astronomical  myth  breaks  down. 

There  seems  to  have  been  a  British  deity  called  Arthur, 
and  Mr.  Dayies  tries  hard  to  prove  that  he  is  another  form 
of  Noah  and  the  Ark,  in  which  he  is  not  very  successful. 

The  fact  is,  that  Ard,  the  consonant,  softening  into  th 
in  composition,  means  high  or  noble,  in  all  the  Keltic 
tongues,  and  had  been  a  name  from  time  immemorial  in 
Ireland,  as  Scott  knew  when  he  made  the  Bertram  family 
tree  bear  fruit  of  Arths  in  fabulous  ages.  Art,  a  Milesian, 
is  said  to  have  lived  B.o.  233;  Art  MacGormac  appears  in 
the  Ossianic  legends,  ^  Art  Oge  MacMome  kept  Dundorme;' 
according  to  Hanmer's  catalogue  of  Finn  MacGoul's  com- 
rades. Art  and  Arth  recur  for  ever  in  Erse  EDghland  pedi- 
grees ;  and  in  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Art  Mac 
Morough  was  the  great  hero  of  Ireland,  who  slew  Roger 
Mortimer,  and  sorely  puzzled  Richard  11.,  reigned  in  Lein- 
Bter  for  forty  years,  and  cost  the  English  treasury  twelve 
million  marcs ;  so  that  when  he  died, 


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126  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

*  Since  Brien^s  death  in  Erin 
Saoh  a  monming  had  not  been.' 

Arthmael,  high  chief,  was  a  Welsh  prince,  but  here,  as  in 
Ireland,  all  the  Arths  are  now  merged  in  Arthur. 

Ardghal,  or  Ardal,  of  high  valonr,  is  an  Erse  name,  and 
was  long  used,  though  it  has  now  been  suppressed  by  the 
supposed  Anglicism  Arnold,  eagle-power.  It  explains  the 
name  of  Arthgallo,  who,  in  GreofGrey  of  Monmouth's  Legen-- 
dary  History,  is  the  persecuting  brother,  whom  Elidure's 
untiring  love  and  generosity  finally  won  from  his  cruel 
courses  to  justice  and  mercy.  Artegal  and  Midure  was  one 
of  the  best  ante-Shakesperian  dramas ;  and  Artegal  was 
selected  by  Spenser  as  one  of  the  best  and  noblest  of  his 
knights  errant. 

Ardrigh  was  an  Erse  term  for  the  supreme  monarcli  over 
their  five  lesser  realms,  and  is  still  applied  by  the  native 
Irish  to  the  king  of  France, — much  as  the  Greeks  were 
wont  to  style  the  Persian  monarch  the  Great  King.  This 
most  probably  accounts  for  the  term  Aryiragus,  which  we 
picked  up  from  the  Romans,  and  applied  to  that  son  of 
Gymbeline  who,  as  we  have  seen,  was  really  the  brave 
Caradwg.  However,  this  must  have  been  an  older  form  if 
so  used,  for  the  Welsh  call  Arviragus,  Gweirydd.  Ardheer  is 
another  form  of  this  same  title  of  the  highest  chief,  and  the 
later  critics  tell  us  to  consider  this  as  the  origin  of  our  hero, 
and  bring  a  whole  crowd  of  Arthurs  into  the  field,  all  mean- 
ing chieftains,  all  fighting  with  the  Saxons,  and  all  finally 
united  into  one,  like  the  many  Homers  and  many  Herculeses, 
which  a  like  strain  of  interpretation  would  have  us  accept. 
But  the  unity  of  Arthur  is  a  thing  not  to  be  given  up.  He 
is  not,  indeed,  mentioned  by  Gildas,  unless  he  be  the  ^  dragon 
of  the  island ;'  but  his  omission  from  that  letter  is  only  to 
his  credit,  and  the  individuality  of  Arthur  stands  on  the 
testimony  of  Welsh  bards  up  to  his  own  date,  and  of  tmi^ 
versal  tradition. 

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ARTHUR.  127 

Arthur,  or  Arthwys,  seems  to  have  been  the  son  of  Uthyr, 
also  called  Meirig-ap-Tewdrig,  and  a  relative  of  Gwgrthejm 
and  Emrys,  whom  he  succeeded,  bearing  the  title  of  Pen- 
dragon  in  his  own  tongue,  and  of  Imperator  in  Latin,  which 
was  the  language  of  politics  to  the  Britons.    A  Silurian  like 
Caradwg,  his  spirit  was  the  same,  and  his  hereditary  posses- 
sions would  seem  to  have  been  on  the  Welsh  border,  with 
Caerleon  on  Uske  for  their  capital ;  but  he  was  bom  at 
^Gntagel  in  Cornwall,  and  he  was  prompt  in  flying  to  the 
aid  of  the  British  cause  in  all  quarters.    The  West  Saxons 
were  his  chief  enemies,  and  his  battles,  twelve  in  number, 
are  almost  all  in  the  kingdom  of  Wessex ;  but  he  must  also 
have  been  acknowledged  by  the  northern  Britons  of  the  old 
province  of  Valentia,  and  have  ruled  over  *  fair  Strathcluyd 
and  Beged  wide '  fix)m  his  fortress  at  Carlisle.   After  a  brave 
reign  of  forty  years,  he  at  length  perished  through  the  trea- 
eheiy  of  his  nephew;  but  whether  his  last  fatal  battle  was 
fought  in  Cornwall  or  in  Somerset,  it  seems  impossible  to 
determine,  though  the  latter  county  appears  the  most  pro- 
bible,  since  he  was  certainly  carried  away  wounded  to  Glas- 
tonbury, and  there  died,  and  was  buried,  but  with  such  secrecy, 
tiiat  his  return  was  long  hoped  for. 

The  Gymry  mourned  passionately.  The  Welsh  bards  made 
Triads  J  and  the  Armoricans  sang  songs.  ^  The  March  of 
Arthur,'  which  is  still  chanted  with  rapture  by  the  Bretons, 
is,  M.  de  Yillemarque  tells  us,  an  evident  importation  from 
Wales ;  and  in  Brittany,  a  war  is  thought  to  be  foretold  by 
visions  of  Arthur's  army  on  the  tops  of  the  dark  moors 
before  sunrise,  while,  in  some  parts  of  our  own  island,  the 
Northern  Lights  were  Arthur's  host.  It  is  possible  that 
the  original  meaning  of  Arih  may  help  to  account  for  his 
many  possessions  in  the  way  of  heights, — the  magnificent  old 
couchijQg  lion  that  bears  his  name  at  Edinburgh,  his  table  at 
Penrith,  his  stone  at  Cupar  Angus,  his  fountain  in  Clydes- 
dale, his  palace  at  Penrhyn,  his  oven  on  the  Garron,  also  his 

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128  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

fold  and  his  lee  in  Strathclujd ;  but  he  had  gained  full  pos- 
session of  the  Keltic  mind  long  before  the  Norman  con- 
quest. 

In  720,  a  person  called  Eremita  Britannus,  or  the  British 
hermit,  is  said  to  have  written  about  King  Arthur ;  the 
Welsh  Mabinogion^  or  children's  tales,  were  all  centering 
on  him ;  and  when,  in  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  century, 
Geoffirey  of  Monmouth  brought  out  his  chronicle,  it  was 
translated  all  over  Europe,  even  into  Greek,  and  furnished 
myriads  of  romances,  metrical  and  otherwise. 

The  outline  of  the  Arthur  of  romance  scarcely  needs  to 
be  here  traced  :  the  prince,  brought  up  in  concealmmt, 
establishing  his  claim  by  pulling  the  sword  out  of  the  stone 
that  no  one  else  could  detach  ;  the  Christian  warrior,  con- 
quering all  around,  and  extending  his  victories  to  Rome; 
die  band  of  knights ;  the  yow  and  quest  of  the  Holy  Greal 
that  breaks  the  earthly  league ;  the  fall  and  defection  of  the 
two  most  accomplished  knights  through  unhallowed  lore,  the 
death  of  one,  and  the  rebellion  of  the  other ;  the  lover  of 
Arthur's  own  faithless  wife, — all  opening  the  way  to  the  fatal 
treason  of  the  nephew;  and  the  last  battle,  when  the  wounded 
king  causes  his  sword  to  be  thrown  into  the  river,  as  a  signal 
to  the  fairies,  who  bear  him  away  to  their  hidden  isle.  All 
this  is  our  own  peculiar  insular  heritage  of  romance,  ennobled 
as  it  has  been  by  old  MaUor/s  prose  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  in  the  nineteenth  by  Tennyson's  poetry,  the  best  of  all 
the  interpretations  of  the  import  of  Arthur  himself. 

These  tales  are  little  varied  from  elsewhere.  Ireland 
claims  a  visit  from  our  Arthur,  and  declares  he  held  a 
chapter  of  the  Round  Table,  where  he  received  Kings  Guil- 
lomar  and  Anguish ;  at  least  so  says  Dr.  Hanmer.  Spain 
has  heard  of  el  Rey  Artus,  but  thinks  he  was  turned  into  a 
crow. 

As  to  his  name,  it  was  not  very  common  ev^  in  Wales. 


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ABTHUB.  129 

It  only  came  forth  as  matter  of  romance,  and  was  given 
occasionally  either  from  fancy  or  policy. 

Constance  of  Brittany  gave  her  little  son  this  popular 
namey  perhaps  in  the  hope  that  in  time  British  Arthur 
would  be  restored  to  Englimd,  and  thenceforth  Arzur,  as  the 
ftetmis  call  it,  was  occasionally  used  in  the  duchy. 

An  old  prophecy  of  Merlin  was  said  to  have  declared  that 
Richmond  should  come  from  Brittany  to  conquer  England, 
and  diis  prediction  caused  Henry  Y.  to  refuse  all  requests 
to  allow  Aj-thur,  C!omte  de  Richemont,  son  of  the  Duke  of 
ftittany,  to  be  ransomed  when  taken  prisoner  at  Agincourt. 
His  name  of  Arthur  no  doubt  added  to  the  danger,  and 
Henry's  keen  eyesight  might  likewise  have  detected  in  him 
the  military  skill  which  made  him  so  formidable  an  enemy  to 
the  English  <ni  his  own  soil,  not  theirs. 

When  Richmond  really  came  out  of  Brittany  and  con- 
quered England,  he  named  his  first  son  Arthur,  but  that  son 
Oflfer  wore  the  British  crown,  nor  did  the  infant  Arthur  of 
Seotland,  so  named  by  James  Y.,  survive  to  be  known 
in  history.  Arthur,  however,  had  become  an  occasional 
name;  but  it  was  reserved  [for  the  great  Arthur  Wellesley, 
idiose  name  had  perhaps  more  to  do  with  the  old  Art  of  Erse 
times  than  with  the  king  of  the  Round  Table,  to  make  it, 
as  it  is  at  present,  one  of  the  most  universally  popular  of 
English  names.  Even  the  French  use  it,  for  its  sound  may  be 
presumed  rather  than  for  its  recent  distinction,  and  they 
have  ceased  to  spell  it  in  the  old  form,  Artus,  and  adopted 
our  own.  The  Italians  know,  but  do  not  use  Arturo ;  how- 
ever, the  name  changes  so  little  that  Madame  Schopenhauer's 
husband  was  justified  in  choosing  it  for  his  son  as  a  useful 
name  for  a  merchant,  because  it  does  not  alter  in  being 
translated. 

The  English  feminine  Arthurine  is  occasionaUy  used. 

The  name  of  Arthur's  father,  Uthyr  Pendragon,  would 

TOL.II.  K 

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IJO  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

mean  the  terrible  chieftain,  and  may  have  been  a  designation 
of  Meirrig  ap  Tewdrig,  or  even,  as  some  suggest,  of  Aurelins 
Ambrosius.    At  any  rate,  Uthjr  has  become  a  Welsh  name.''^ 

Section  m. — Chvenever. 

The  staunchest  supporters  of  Arthur's  existence  give  him 
three  wives ;  indeed,  the  TViads  mention  together — 

*  The  three  fair  ladies  of  Arthur's  court, 
The  three  wives  of  Arthur.' 

One  of  them  was  she  who  was  stolen  by  Maelgwn,  the  origin 
of  Lancelot,  and  she  it  is  who  is  the  dame  of  romance. 

Gwen,  the  commencement  of  her  name,  is  used  in  Welsh, 
in  the  double  sense  of  the  colour,  white,  and  of  a  woman, 
perhaps  for  the  same  reason  that  ^  the  fair '  so  often  stands 
for  a  lady  in  poetry.  The  word  is  closely  related  to  the^nn 
and  ban,  both  meaning  white  in  the  other  branch  of  the 
Keltic  tongue,  and  but  for  the  fulness  of  interest  belonging 
to  both,  all  might  have  been  treated  of  together.  Gwen,  the 
feminine  of  Gwyn,  white,  becomes  wen  in  composition,  and 
as  such  we  have  already  met  it  at  the  end  of  words. 

Gwen  is  considered  as  the  British  Venus.  The  planet  is 
Seren-Wener,  as  a  morning  star,  Gweno  as  an  evening  star ; 
nay,  it  is  highly  probable  that  Venus  herself  may  be  but  a 
Cymric  Gwen,  in  a  Latin  dress  or  undress. 

Gwendolen,  or  the  lady  of  the  bow,  or,  perhaps,  fix)m 
gwendaL  white  browed,  was,  it  seems,  an  ancient  British 
goddess,  probably  the  moon,  and  to  her  Mr.  Davies  adds  a 
brother  deity,  Guendoleu,  whom  he  calls  the  sun,  and  whose 
eagles  and  apple  trees  had  mystic  meanings  which  lie  in 
debate  between  the  supposed  god  and  a  veritable  prince  of 
North  Wales  so  called. 

•  O'Donovan ;  Hanmer,  Chronicle ;  Geoffrey  of  Moninoath ;  Yillemarqa^ ; 
Roujoux,  Bretagne  ;  Jones,  WeUh  Sketches  ;  Cambro- Briton  ;  Damop, 
HUt,  of  Fiction  ;  Chahners  ;  Thackeray,  AnderU  BritoM  ;  Mabimogum ; 
Gildas;  Nennios;  Lappenbuig;  Shi^n  Tiirner|  ^^^^qqIc 


QWENEVER.  I3I 

Gnendolen  is  made  by  the  Brut,  and  by  (JeoflBrey  of 
Monmouth,  the  daughter  of  Corineus,  Duke  of  Cornwall, 
and  wife  of  Locrine,  son  of.  the  original  Brutus.  He 
deserted  her  for  the  sake  of  Estrild,  a  fair  German  captive, 
and  she  made  war  upon  him,  in  the  course  of  which  he  was 
killed,  and  Estrild  and  her  daughter  Sabre^  or  Avem,  made 
prisoners;  whereupon,  the  jealous  and  revengeful  queen 
caused  both  to  be  drowned  in  the  river,  thenceforth  called 
Sabrina  or  Severn,  in  Welsh,  Havem,  where  we  may  hope 
that  the  damsel  became  the  lovely  nymph  who  ^  listened  and 
saved  *  the  lady  from  Comus  and  his  crew. 

The  Welsh  saints  give  us  St.  Gwendolen  or  Gwen  as  the 
nwther  of  Caradoc  Vreichfras,  the  excellent  Sir  Oradocke  of 
the  Round  Table.  In  the  Triads  and  the  Mabinogion,  Guen- 
dolen  is  a  beauty  of  Arthur's  court,  and  in  the  bardic  enu- 
meration of  the  thirteen  wonders  of  Britain  appears  the  gold 
chess-board  of  Guendolen,  on  which,  when  the  silver  men 
were  placed,  they  would  play  of  themselves,  rather  a  doubt- 
fiil  advantage  one  would  think,  but  perhaps  the  remains  of  a 
myth  from  Guendolen's  goddess  days,  when  her  chess-men 
inay  have  been  the  stars.  It  was  altogether  an  invention  of 
Sir  Walter  Scott  to  put  Guendolen  into  the  magic  castle 
of  St  John,  and  on  the  whole  it  must  be  confessed  that  the 
whole  story  of  Triermain  is  an  oflfence  against  the  true  scope 
of  the  Morte  d? Arthur.  However,  Guendolen,  Gwen,  and 
Owyn  have  never  been  disused  in  Wales.  The  first  was  the 
daughter  of  the  last  native  prince,  and  hers  is  increasingly 
in  favour  with  the  lovers  of  archaisms. 

Gwenhwyvar,  the  swelling  white  wave,  is  in  curious 
correspondence  with  two  other  Welsh  names,  namely,  Gwen- 
frewi,  the  white  stream,  and  Dwynwen,  the  white  wave.  Mr. 
Davies  makes  her  the  lady  of  the  summit  of  the  water,  and 
wants  us  to  see  in  her  another  variety  of  the  ark;  but 
setting  this  aside,  the  ocean  names  of  the  Britons  are  worth 
iU)tiDg,  when  we  remember  that  they  also  had  ^T^7  with 
Bronwen  and  Creirdydlidd,  all  certainly  liythicald  by  Google 


Ija  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

Without  consigning  Queen  Gwnhwyvar  to  the  regions  of 
Began,  it  is  likely  that  hers  was  a  hereditary  name  descended 
from  some  part  of  the  ancient  faith.  A  Welsh  couplet  de- 
scribes her  j 


•  Qwenhwyfar,  daughter  of  Gogyrvan  the  Qreat, 
Bad  when  little,  worse  when  great.' 

And  the  various  early  tales  in  the  Mabinogianj  as  well  as 
the  metrical  romances,  always  give  the  same  character  of  the 
beautiful  queen  of  light  conduct.  In  the  Morte  ^ Arthur ^ 
guilty  love  for  her  paralyzes  Lancelot's  eyes  when  the  Sanc- 
greal  passes  before  him,  the  same  passion  drives  him  to  his 
rebellion,  and  finaUy  the  repentant  queen  takes  refuge  in  the 
convent  at  Ambresbury,  where  Tennyson  has  described  the 
parting  between  her  and  Arthur  in  the  most  noble  and 
beautiful  of  aU  his  poetry. 

Guenever  waa  her  full  English  name,  contracted  into 
Ganivre,  or  Ganore,  a  form  that  occurs  in  old  Welsh  rois- 
ters. Jennifer,  as  they  have  it  in  Cornwall,  is  still  frequent 
there ;  but  nowhere  else  in  our  island  has  the  name  been  fol- 
lowed. Scotland  has  a  tradition  of  her  crimes  that  calls 
her  Queen  Wanders,  or  Yanora,  and  Soece  actually  imprisons 
her  in  the  great  old  fort  on  Barra  Hill,  in  Perthshire ;  bdt 
abroad  she  met  with  more  favour,  as  (j6nidvre  in  France,  and 
in  Italy  as  Ginevra,  or  Zinevra.  The  latter  was  usual  at 
Venice,  and  Boccaccio  so  calls  the  slandered  wife,  whom  we 
best  know  as  Imogen.  Ariosto  put  a  Ginevra  into  Scotland, 
and  made  her  heroine  of  the  adventure  attributed  to  the 
forefather  of  the  Plantagenets,  and  related  in  the  beautiful 
ballad  of  Sir  Aldingar. 

Observing  that  the  French  caD  Gwenhwyvar,  Genidvre, 
we  can  hardly  doubt  that  either  this,  or  Gwenfrewi,  most 
have  been  the  origin  of  their  own  G^n6vidve,  though  the 
German  et^ologists  try  to  construe  her  as  gan^  magic,  vaips^ 
a  crown.    But  G6n6vidve  was  a  Gaul,  bom  at  Nanterre,  in 

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GWENEVER.  1 33 

422,  and  oonl^  hardly  have  borne  anything  but  either  a 
Keltic  or  a  Roman  name ;  and  the  whole  family  of  Gwens 
were,  as  has  been  shown,  dear  to  the  Cymric  race,  whose 
religi(m  was  the  same  in  Gaul  and  Britain.  A  shepherd- 
maid,  like  Joan  of  Arc,  Gen^yidve  anticipated  her  deeds  of 
patriotism,  though  she  wore  no  armour  and  carried  no  sword. 
When  Paris  was  besieged  by  the  Franks,  she,  mMurmed,  and 
strtmg  only  in  her  pious  confidence,  walked  forth  as  the 
escort  of  the  citizens  in  search  of  provisions,  and  when  the 
ettj  was  taken,  her  heroic  holiness  so  impressed  the  heathen 
Franks,  BQodwig  and  Hilderik,  that  her  entreaties  in  behalf 
of  their  prisoners  were  always  granted.  When  she  died,  in 
h^  90th  year,  she  was  erected  into  the  primary  patron  saint 
of  Paris,  and  has  so  continued  ever  since,  leaving  G6n6vidve 
in  high  esteem  among  Parisiennes  of  all  degrees  down  from 
Anne  Genevieve  de  Bourbon,  the  sister  of  Gond6.  The 
numerous  contractions  testify  to  the  popularity  of  the  gentle 
patriot,  who  fell  on  more  believing  times  than  those  that 
burnt,  but  never  canonized,  the  Maid  of  Orleans.  Some  of 
the  German  forms  may,  however,  be  ascribed  to  the  apocry- 
phal saint  Genovefa,  of  Brabant,  to  whom  has  attached  the 
story,  of  suspicious  universality,  of  the  wife  who  was  driven 
hy  malicious  accusations  to  the  woods,  there  to  give  birth  to 
an  infant,  and  to  be  nourished  by  a  white  doe  until  the  final 
discovery  of  her  innocence.  From  whatever  cause,  the  name 
is  widely  used  on  the  Continent. 


French. 

G^6vidve 

Javotte 

Genevion 

Breton. 

Jenovefa 
Fa-ik 

Italian. 
Genoveffit 

German. 

(Genovefa 

Vevay 

Vefele 

Bassiflo. 
Zenevieva 

lUyrutn. 
Genovefa 
Genovefica 

Veva 

Digiti 


zed  by  Google 


134  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

Giirenfrewi  was  the  Welsh  nun  whose  head  was  cut  off 
by  a  furious  prince  called  Garadoc,  because  she  refused  his 
addresses;  whereupon,  in  the  usual  fashion  of  Welsh  saints, 
she  caused  a  well  to  spring  up  on  the  spot  of  her  mar- 
tyrdom. But  unlike  other  such  wells,  it  is  intermitting, 
and  su£Sciently  impregnated  with  mineral  substances  to  sup- 
port its  high  character  to  miraculous  powers,  and,  in  addi- 
tion, the  stones  are  marked  with  red  veins,  which  represent 
the  blood  of  St.  Wenefred,  as  our  Anglo-Saxon  tongues  have 
long  since  made  her.  Such  undoubted  wonders  made  Wini- 
fred a  most  flourishing  name  in  Wales,  and  it  is  occasionallj 
found  in  England,  though  usually  through  a  Welsh  connection, 
and  so  spelt  as  to  confuse  it  with  the  true  Saxon  Winfrith, 
or  friend  of  peace.  The  Irish  take  Winny  as  the  equivalent 
of  Una. 

There  are  other  Gwens  among  the  Cymry,  far  too  many  to 
enumerate.  Gwenwynwyn  is  a  man's  name,  and  in  the  Triads 
he  was  one  of  the  three  commanders  of  fleets  of  Britain. 
Gwenwynwyn,  otherwise  Gwenwyn,  the  chieftain  who  besieged 
the  Garde  Douleureuse,  was  really  an  historical  personage,  only 
he  lived  under  Ejng  John,  instead  of  under  Henry  11.  The 
modem  meaning  of  Gwenwyn  is  poison. 

In  Breton,  Guennole,  also  called  Wingallok,  was  a  cele- 
brated saint,  and  was  the  counsellor  who  saved  King  Gradlon 
in  the  inundation.  Guennola  is  the  feminine,  and  is  used, 
very  correctly,  to  translate  the  French  Candide,  as  is  Guen- 
n^an,  the  white  spirit,  for  angel,  both  the  being  and  the 
name. 

Dwynwen,  or  the  white  wave,  was  invoked  as  the  patroness 
of  lovers,  and  became  a  Welsh  name.  It  id  just  possible 
that  an  echo  of  this,  on  the  other  side  of  the  water,  may  be 
Damhnait,  or  Devnet,  latinized  as  Dymphna,  or  Dympna, 
though  the  more  obvious  likeness  in  sound  is  damhna^  a  reason. 
An  Irish  princess,  so  called,  was  obliged,  about  the  year  600, 
to  fly  from  the  persecutions  of  her  father,  protected  by  a  priest, 

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GWEi^VER.  135 

a  jeeter,  and  his  wife,  until  near  Antwerp  her  father  over- 
took her  and  cat  off  her  head.  Hanmer  adds,  ^  the  Irish  in 
the  county  of  Lowth  do  honour  her ;  belike  her  father  dwelt 
there :'  and  Djmpna,  or  Demmy,  is  not  wholly  extinct  as  a 
name. 

This  same  wen^  a  woman,  or  fair,  enters  into  the  com- 
position of  two  other  saintly  Keltic  names.  The  first,  St. 
Mawdwen,  or  Modwen,  was  one  of  St.  Patrick's  Irish  nuns ; 
and  another  later  Modwen,  also  Irish,  came  to  England  in 
840,  educated  Edith,  daughter  of  King  Ethelwolf,  and 
founded  an  abbey  at  Polsworth.  She  was  rather  a  favourite 
samt;  her  name  is  traceable  in  various  places;  and  Mod- 
wenna  continued  in  Cornwall.  Perhaps  it  comes  from  modhy 
manners. 

Geinwen  is  said  to  be  Coin,  the  virgin.  The  first  half 
means  splendid  or  beautiful,  things  or  jewels.  The  Welsh 
declare  that  she  was  of  princely  birth  ;  but  being  determined 
to  live  a  holy  life,  she  travelled  on  foot  beyond  the  Severn, 
and  there  found  a  solitary  place  were  no  one  had  ever  lived, 
because  it  was  infested  with  snakes  and  vipers,  which  she 
forthwith,  by  her  prayers,  turned  to  stone,  and  they  may 
still  be  picked  up  in  a  petrified  state  in  the  fields.  Keyn- 
sham,  in  Somersetshire,  is,  in  fact,  famous  for  ammonites, 
which  thus  have  given  rise  to  another  legend  like  those  of 
St  Guthbert  and  St.  Hilda,  Camden  himself  saw  one  of 
these  stones,  and  was  somewhat  perplexed  thereby. 

She  afterwards  repaired  to  St.  Michael's  Mount,  in  Corn- 
wall, where  she  met  her  nephew,  St.  Cador,  and  there  her 
name  became  attached  to  a  well,  in  the  parish  of  Bt.  Neots, 
arched  over  by  four  trees — oak,  ash,  elm,  and  withy,  all  ap- 
parently growing  from  one  root.  The  water  was  further  sup- 
posed to  endow  whichever  of  a  married  pair  first  tasted  it 
with  the  mastery  for  life.  No  one  can  forget  that  best 
of  all  Southey's  humourous  ballads  where  the  Comishman 
confesses, — 

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136  NAMES  OF  CTMBIC  EOMANCE. 

*  I  hastened,  as  soon  as  the  wedding  was  done, 

And  left  my  wife  in  the  porch ; 
Bat,  r  faith,  she  had  been  wiser  than  I, 
For  she  took  a  bottle  to  church.' 

Comishmen,  apparently,  never  forgaye  St.  Eejne  for  the 
properties  of  her  well ;  for  Carew,  in  his  Survey  of  ChmwaMy 
terms  her  ^  no  over  holy  saint ;'  and  Norden  thus  yituperates 
her :  ^  this  Eayne  is  sajde  to  be  a  woman  sajnte,  of  whom  it 
(the  well)  taketh  name ;  but  it  better  resembleth  Kajne,  the 
devil,  who  had  the  shape  of  a  man,  the  name  of  an  apostle, 
the  qualitie  of  a  traitor,  and  the  hands  of  a  bribom.' 

Gwyn  also  signifies  blessed  or  happy,  and  this  gwynnedd  is 
an  epithet  of  some  of  the  favourite  kings.  Gwynaeth,  a 
state  of  bliss,  is  a  female  name  still  in  use,  and  often  written 
Gyneth,  though  it  gets  translated  into  Yenetia,  and,  in  the 
latter  form,  named  the  lady  whom  Sir  Kenelm  Digby  ren- 
dered famous.  Gwynnedd,  or  Gwent,  is  also  a  district  in 
Wales,  and  answering  to  the  district  of  Yannes,  in  Brittany, 
both  having  been  inhabited  by  the  Yeneti,  whose  name  may 
either  come  from  their  eating  gwenith,  wheat,  or  from  their 
fairness.    It  was  called  by  the  Romans,  Yenedotia.^ 

Section  IY. — Ghvalchmai^  Sir  Q^awava^  and  Sir  Owen, 

No  knight  is  more  distinguished,  either  in  the  Triads  or 
in  romance  than  Gwalchmai,  the  hawk  of  battle. 

He,  too,  we  venture  to  consider  as  a  namesake  of  a  more 
remote  hero,  though  we  know  we  are  here  treading  on  doubt- 
ful ground,  and  running  counter  to  high  authority. 

Among  the  patriots  who  withstood  Roman  prowess,  none 
merits  higher  fame  than  the  Caledonian  Galgacus,  who  so 
gallantly  stood  at  bay  in  the  Grampians  against  Agricola. 

♦  MahinogUm;  Dayies ;  Cambro-Briton ;  GeoffVey  of  Monmouth ;  Owen 
Pngh ;  Chalmers ;  Alban  Butler ;  Jones,  Welsh  Sketches  ;  Pitre  CheTalier, 
Bretc^ne;  Bees,  Welsh  Saints;  Williams,  Ecclesiastical  AfUiquities  of 
Wales;  Camden;  Norden;  Carew;  Owen  Pugh. 

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GWALCHMAI,  SIB  GAWAIN,  AND  SIB  OWEN.       1 37 

He  is  thus  commemorated  in  the  ancient  rhymes  of  the  good 
town  of  Berwick-upon-Tweed : 

'  Sin  the  days  of  Oilligacns, 

There's  been  fishers  on  the  Tweed ; 
Sin  the  Bomans  came  to  wrack  ns, 

And  consume  oar  ancient  seed, 
A  castle  strong  has  been  to  back  ns, 
On  the  top  of  yon  brae  head.' 

M.  de  Yillemarqa^  thinks  that  the  name  of  this  great 
chieftain  should  be  resolved  into  Gwall-gag,  great  stam- 
merer, from  gwaHy  the  Keltic  mttchy  and  gag  or  ga  gag^  the' 
ezpressiye  term  for  a  stammerer.  It  is  not  a  flattering  epi- 
thet ;  but  remembering  that  a  thousand  years  later,  a  brave 
French  warrior  always  figures  in  courtly  Froissart  as  le  Bdgue 
de  Yilaines,  the  title  does  not  seem  improbable. 

Yet  I  cannot  help  thinking  it  more  likely  to  have  been 
more  nearly  related  to  gtuilfy  a  hawk.  Gwallawg  was  a 
Welsh  name,  and  Gh^allawg  ap  Lleenawg  is  celebrated  in  old 
Welsh  poems,  and  supposed  to  have  been  a  champion  who 
fought  against  King  Ida,  in  the  sixth  century.  In  the  Triads j 
he  is  one  of  the  three  pillars  of  battle  of  the  Isle  of  Britain, 
and  the  song  in  his  honour  declares, — 

*  In  the  assault,  rising  up  in  his  armour, 
Never  was  seen  a  better  man  than  Gwallawg.' 

Finally,  he  seems  to  have  been  slain  by  an  arrow,  for 
there  is  a  poem  of  six  triple  stanzas  severally  cursing  the 
shaft, — ^the  black  shaft,  the  white  shaft,  and  the  green  shaft, 
— ^that  pierced  the  dark  eye  of  Gwallawg  ap  Lleenawg. 

ChvaU  does  assuredly  mean  much  or  well,  and  the  direct 
meaning  of  gwallawg  is  defective ;  but  still  it  is  highly  pro- 
bable that  these  two  heroes  were  hawks,  like  Gwalchmai, 
the  hawk  of  battle.  In  Welsh  pedigrees,  he  is  Arthur's 
nephew,  son  of  his  sister  Morganse  and  of  Llew,  king  of 
Lothian  and  Orkney.  He  probably  had  a  real  existence, 
for  the  Triads  celebrate  him  as  one  of  the  three  golden- 

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IjS  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

tongned  knights  of  Britain,  one  of  the  three  learned  ones 
of  Britain,  and  one  of  the  three  most  courteous  men  to- 
'wards  strangers.  In  a  Welsh  poem,  he  is  represented  as 
using  his  courteous  tongue  in  behalf  of  his  friend  Trystan ; 
and  in  the  Mabinogiany  in  the  ^  Lady  of  the  Fountain,'  he 
takes  such  a  prominent  part,  that  the  French  romance  is 
called  that  of  Sir  Tvaine  and  Sir  Gawaine.  Walganus  and 
Walwyn  had  latinized  the  Hawk  of  Battle,  and  have 
caused  it  to  be  confounded  with  the  Teutonic  Walwine, 
slaughter-lover ;  but  the  Gwalchmai  of  Wales  can  be  iden- 
tified with  the  Gawain,  or  Wawyn,  of  romance  by  his  friend- 
ship with  Trystan,  his  relationship  to  Arthur,  and  his  title 
in  the  romances  of  the  Flower  of  Courtesy . 

It  was  Sir  Gawaine  who  in  the  ballad  boldly  adventured 
himself  to  wed  the  ^  Loathly  Lady,'  and  was  rewarded  by 
breaking  the  spell,  and  discovering  her  loveliness.  Gawaine 
was  the  hero  of  the  great  battle  with  the  giant  Rhyenoe, 
and,  though  unsuccessfrd,  was  one  of  the  foremost  in  the 
quest  of  the  Sanc-greal,  until  warned  by  a  dream  how  the 
enterprise  was  to  result.  Finally,  Sir  Gawaine  took  his 
uncle's  side  first  in  the  war  with  Lancelot,  then  with  Mor- 
dred,  and  died  of  the  renewal  of  a  wound  received  in  battle 
with  the  former,  writing  on  his  death-bed  a  letter  that 
brought  Lancelot  to  repentance.  Gawaine  was  buried  at 
Dover,  where,  says  Mallory,  his  skull  may  yet  be  seen,  with 
the  wound  that  Sir  Lancelot  gave  him ;  though  William  of 
Malmesbury  says,  that  in  his  time  it  was  discovered  on  the 
sea  shore,  in  the  province  of  Bhos,  near  Gastell  Gwalchmai 
or  Walwyn's  Castle ;  and  in  the  Welsh  poem  of  the  graves 
of  the  warriors,  it  is  said — 

'  The  grave  of  Gwalchmai  is  in  Fyton, 
Where  the  ninth  wave  flows.' 

His  ghost  appeared  to  King  Arthur,  to  warn  him  against 
the  unfortunate  battle  of  Camelford ;  and  Chaucer  seems  to 
have  thought  he  had  shared  Arthur's  fate,  for  the  squire 

^y^>  Digit  zed  by  GoOglC 


GWALCHMAI,  SIR  GAWAIN,  AND  SIB  OWEN.        1 39 

'  That  Gawaine  with  all  his  olde  cortesie, 
Though  he  were  come  again  ont  of  faerie.^ 

Haniner  calls  him  Garrett,  the  Irish  Gerald,  and  brings 
him  to  Arthur's  Irish  Round  Table. 

His  name,  whether  as  Walwyn,  Gawain,  or  Gavin,  was 
popular  in  England  and  Scotland  in  the  middle  ages ;  and 
in  the  last-mentioned  shape  named  the  high-spirited  bishop 
of  Dunkeld,  the  one  son  of  old  Bell  the  Cat,  who  could 
'  pen  a  line,'  and  who  did  so  to  such  good  purpose  when  *  he 
gave  rude  Scotland  Virgil's  page,'  in  the  translation,  whose 
broad  Scottish  was  William  Lisle's  stepping-stone  to  Anglo- 
Saxon.     Nor  is  Gavin  by  any  means  extinct  in  Scotland. 

Sir  Grawain  is  coupled  in  English  romance  with  his  inti- 
mate friend.  Sir  Ywaine,  as  in  French  with  Sir  Yvaine ;  and 
in  the  Welsh  story,  in  the  Mabinogiony  he  is  Sir  Owain. 
He  there  sets  forth  from  court  in  search  of  adventures,  and 
fella  in  with  a  knight  in  black  armour,  whom  he  conquers, 
and  thereupon  is  conducted  to  a  castle,  where  he  becomes 
guardian  of  an  enchanted  fountam,  and  husband  of  a  lady 
in  yellow  satin,  with  long  yellow  hair,  and  a  hundred  maids 
always  embroidering  satin.  Of  course,  when  Sir  Gawain 
came  in  quest  of  him,  and  he  was  allowed  to  go  back  to 
King  Arthur's  court,  he  forgot  the  whole  affair,  imtil  at  the 
end  of  three  years,  he  was  recalled  by  his  lady's  confidential 
handmaid,  Luned,  and  proceeded  to  atone  for  his  unfaithful- 
ness by  another  severe  course  of  adventures,  during  which 
he  delivered  a  black  lion  from  a  serpent,  thus  binding  the 
faithfid  beaat  to  his  service  for  ever,  and  after  a  due  slaugh- 
ter of  giants,  rejoined  his  wife,  and  lived  happy  ever  after. 
Other  accounts  make  her  faithless,  and  Penarwen,  or  silver 
head,  which  was  her  name,  is  reckoned  among  the  unchaste 
matrons  of  Britain.  The  first  version  of  the  story,  how- 
ever, has  had  wide  fame.  The  French  of  the  thirteenth 
century  knew  him  as  Sir  Yueins,  le  Chevalier  du  Lion ;  and 
even  the  Scandinavians  had  his  story  in  their  Ivent  Saga. 
la  the  Morte  cT Arthur^  he  is  Sir  Gareth,  and  brother  t<K[^ 


140  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMAKCB. 

Gawain ;  but  he  must  have  been  his  consm,  as  he  was  the 
son  of  Urien,  and  of  Arthur's  sister,  Morgwen.  In  the 
Morte  ^ Arthur y  Luned  is  Linet,  and  in  the  French  i^mances 
she  is  Lunette;  but  in  the  Welsh  version  she  keeps  her 
name  and  fame  for  cleyemess,  esp^ciallj  as  she  had  a  ring, 
the  stone  of  which,  when  turned  inwards  on  the  finger,  ren- 
dered the  wearer  invisible,  and  which  was  reckoned  with 
Quendolen's  chessboard  among  the  thirteen  rarities  of  the 
Isle  of  Britain.  Her  name  seems  to  be  derivable  from  Uim^ 
a  shape  or  form,  and  if  so,  would  mean  the  shapely ;  but  the 
hagiologists  identify  it  with  that  Elined,  (the  daughter  of 
Brychan,  who  suffered  martyrdom  on  the  hill  of  Penginger, 
and  was  canonized  as  St.  Almedha,  a  name  still  to  be  seen 
on  the  sign  of  an  inn  at  Knaresborough. 

Owain,  Oen  in  Brittany,  continued  popular  in  Wales, 
though,  perhaps,  rather  more  usual  at  a  late  than  an  early 
period.  The  notable  Owen  Glendower,  as  Shakespeare  has 
taught  us  to  call  him,  was  really  Owain  ap  Grufiyd  of  Glen- 
dwyrdy,  his  estate  in  Merionethshire,  where  he  kept  a  grand 
household,  combining  in  himself  the  ancient  bard  and  droid 
and  the  modem  knight,  till  the  death  of  Richard  11. ;  and 
his  quarrel  with  Lord  Grey  and  Henry  of  Monmouth  bring- 
ing on  his  alliance  with  the  Percys — ^Hotspur's  impatience  of 
his  ^  skimble  skamble  stuff,'  and  of  Merlin's  prophecies,  and 
the  battle  of  Shrewsbury. 

For  many  years,  Glendwyr  continued  to  assert  himself  as 
Prince  of  WtJes,  and  died  a  natural  death  in  141 6,  when 
Henry  V.,  unable  to  conquer  him  in  his  mountains,  was  en- 
deavouring to  treat  with  him.  It  was  he  who  qiade  Owen 
the  most  common  of  Welsh  names,  in  honour  of  the  last 
Welshman  who  lived  and  died  free  of  the  English  yoke. 

Owain  is  so  like  the  word  oen  that  in  Weh^  stands  for  a 
sheep  or  lamb,  that  it  is  generally  so  translated ;  but  it  is 
most  likely  that  this  is  a  case  of  an  adaptation  of  a  deriva- 
tive from  an  obsolete  word  to  a  familiar  one,  and  that  Owen 
ought  to  be  carried  much  further  back  to  the  same  source  as 


GERAINT  AND  ENID.  I4I 

Ae  Erse  Eogban,  which  comes  from  eoghunn,  youth,  from  offj 
joongy  and  duiney  man,  and  is  translated,  yomig  warrior.  It 
has  the  feminine  Eoghania,  of  course  turned  into  Eugenia. 

There  were  many  Eoghans  in  Ireland.  One  of  them,  a 
king  of  Connaught,  when  dying  of  his  wounds,  commanded 
himself  to  be  buried  upright,  with  his  red  javelin  in  his 
hand,  and  his  face  turned  towards  Ulster,  as  though  still 
^ting  with  his  foes.  As  long  as  he  thus  remained.  Con- 
naught  prevailed  and  Ulster  lost;  but  the  Ultonians  dis- 
oorered  the  spell,  and  re-buried  him  in  an  opposite  direction, 
thereby  changing  the  tide  of  success. 

Eoghan,  in  Scotland,  is  pronounced  Yo-h8n,  and  indis- 
cnminately  translated  by  Evan,  Ewan,  and  Hugh.  Several 
of  the  early  kings,  wEo  are  all  numbered  together  in  Scotland 
IS  Eugenius,  were  properly  Eoghan,  and  Evan  or  Ewan  is 
certainly  the  right  Anglicism,  though  Hugh  is  made  to 
do  duty  for  these  as  well  as  for  Aodh. 

The  same  Eoghan  seems  in  another  form  to  have  supplied 
^  Welsh  Jevan  or  Evan.  A  certain  Evan  of  Wales, 
daoning  the  blood  of  the  Welsh  princes,  who  became  a 
mercenary  under  Charles  Y.  of  France,  made  a  bold  descent 
iipon  Guernsey,  and  was  killed  at  the  siege  of  Mortain-sur- 
mer,  by  what  Froissart  calls  a  short  Spanish  dagger,  but  his 
fllominator  has  made  to  look  much  more  like  a  very  large 
vrow.  Welsh  history  takes  no  cognizance  of  him,  but  he  is 
thought  to  be  traceable  in  the  national  songs  as  Jevan  Dovy. 
Another  translation  of  Owain  is  ^  apt  to  serve.'  A 
British  prince  of  Strathcluyd  was  called  Uen  or  Hoen.* 

Section  V. — Geraint  and  Enid. 

These  are  two  of  the  characters  whom  Teimyson  has 
,    recently  rescued  from  unmerited  oblivion,  and  raised  to  their 

^  MabinogUm;  UorU  tT Arthur;  Traett  an  AnHquities  of  the  Northern 
0<mH€»t  by  B.  D.  D. ;  Combro-Briton ;  Jones,  WeUh  Sketches;  Chalmers; 
^erey,  ReUee;  Bees,  WeUh  SainU;  O'DonoYan;  H7  Fuchraoh^  Owen 
^;  Highland  Soeiety'i  Diaianoqf.  Digi,„ed  by  Google 


142  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

true  dignity  among  the  chivalry  of  the  Round  Table.  Their 
story  was  indeed  in  the  Mabinogion,  and  Chrestien  de  Troyes 
had  put  them  into  French  verse  by  the  names  of  Erec  and 
Enide ;  but  they  had  not  been  admitted  to  the  general  cycle 
of  the  romances,  though  a  Triad  mentioned  Enid  as  one  of 
the  three  celebrated  ladies  of  Arthur's  court.  She  is  as 
beautiful  a  picture  of  wifely  patience  as  Grisell  herself,  and 
does  not  go  to  such  doubtful  lengths  of  endurance.  Her 
name  is  the  Keltic  form  of  animus,  the  soul ;  and  if  Geraint 
ever  meant,  as  Davies  explains  it,  a  ship  or  vessel,  it  would  be 
tempting  to  see  in  the  story  an  allegory  of  the  scenes  through 
which  the  soul  is  dragged  by  its  mate,  the  ship  that  bears  it. 

Geraint  is  relegated  by  Davies  to  the  realms  of  myth ; 
but  there  really  was  a  naval  commander  whom  the  Romans 
termed  Gerontius,  who,  just  at  the  time  of  the  supposed 
groans  of  the  Britons,  was  murdering  a  sham  imperator 
raised  by  the  soldiery,  and  defending  the  coast.  He  was 
attacked  by  mutineers,  and  killed  himself  while  his  house 
was  burning  around  him.  Some,  in  consideration  of  this 
conclusion,  identify  him  with  Vortigem,  but  he  seems  to 
have  been  a  very  different  character.  His  name  may  be  a 
derivative  from  the  Greek  ycpwi^  (geron),  an  old  man,  elder, 
or  senator,  which  perfectly  explains  the  Latin;  but  it  would 
be  more  agreeable,  though  less  probable,  to  follow  Mr.  Davies, 
and  consider  it  as  meaning  a  ship.  Greraint  ap  Erbin, 
Gwenwynwyn,  and  March,  are  the  three  naval  champions 
of  Britain,  and  this  same  Geraint  was  the  prince  of  Devon, 
and  husband  of  Enid. 

*  Thou,  0  (Jeraint,  didst  raise  a  shout  before  the  South ; 
on  the  shield  didst  thou  strike  a  signal  to  repair  to  the  white 
water,'  says  the  bard  Aneurin,  when  praising  the  gallant 
commander  of  Arthur's  ships.  He  was  canonized,  and  had 
a  church  dedicated  to  him  at  Hereford.  Llywarch-hen  com- 
posed his  elegy,  and  represented  him  as  slain  at  the  battle  of 
Llongborth.    There  seems  to  have  been  a  second  Geraint  at 

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TRYSTAN  AND  YSEULTE.  1 43 

Arthur's  court,  and  there  is  a  curious  wild  legend  of  a  king 
of  ComwaO  named  Greraint  or  Gerennius,  who  was  miracu- 
louslj  kept  alive  to  receive  his  last  communion  &om  Samt 
Telliaw  of  Llandaff. 

Geraint  continued  in  use  in  Wales,  and  was  the  home 
name  of  the  monk  of  St.  David's,  who  is  believed  to  have 
been  Alfred's  friend,  teacher,  and  historian,  chiefly  because 
his  adopted  name  of  Asser  is  supposed  to  be  meant  for 
Asure,  and  to  translate  the  epithet  of  Gbraint,  Bardd  Glas, 
(Mr  the  blue  bard.  The  Guerin  and  Guarin  of  the  middle 
ages  may  have  been  forms  of  Gbraint  as  well  as  of  Gherwine. 
They  were  chiefly  used  in  France.* 

Section  VI. — Trystan  and  YseuUe. 

The  episode  of  Trystan  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated  in- 
cidents of  Arthur's  court,  and  has  not  failed  to  be  treated 
by  Davies  as  a  magnificent  emblematic  myth. 

The  Triads  begin  by  declaring  that  the  three  mighty 
swineherds  of  the  Isle  of  Britain  were  Prydheri,  Coll,  and 
Trystan. 

Another  adds, — 

The  third  swineherd  was  Trystan,  son  of  Tallwch,  who 
kept  the  swine  of  March,  the  son  of  Meirchawn,  while  the 
swineherd  was  conveying  a  message  to  Essylt,  to  appoint 
an  assignation  with  her. 

Again,  he  is  one  of  the  three  heralds  of  Britain,  also  one 
of  the  three  diademed  chiefs,  also  one  of  the  three  knights 
who  had  the  conducting  of  mysteries. 

Besides,  the  three  unchaste  matrons  of  Britain  are  Fenar- 
wen,  Bun,  and  Essylt  Vingwen. 

And  the  tale  told  by  the  Cymric  race  in  Cambria  and 
Armorica  has  resounded  throughout  southern  Europe.    There 

*  Mabinogion;  Yillemarqai ;  'Williftms;  Cambro-Briton;  Wright,  Celt, 
BoiMii,  and  Saxon, 

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144  NAMES  OF  CTMBIC  ROMANCE. 

the  mighty  swineherd  is  the  son  of  Roland,  or  Bohand  and 
Blanchefleor,  sister  of  Mark,  king  of  ComwalL  Almost  at 
the  moment  of  his  hirth,  she  hears  the  tidings  of  his  father's 
death,  and  expires  from  the  shock,  calling  her  babe  Tristan, 
or  the  sad.  He  grows  up  to  be  an  accomplished  knight,  and 
after  yarions  adventmres,  is  sent  by  his  imcle,  King  Mark,  to 
Ireland,  to  bring  home  the  promised  bride  Ysolt  the  fair. 

The  mother  of  Ysolt  gives  her  maid,  Brengwain,  a  magic 
draught,  which  was  to  be  administered  to  the  pair  on  their 
bridal  day,  to  secure  their  mutual  affection.  A  storm  rises 
on  the  voyage,  and,  intending  to  refresh  her  lady  and  the 
knight  after  his  exertions  and  her  alarm,  Brengwain,  in  her 
confusion,  gives  them  the  fatal  draught,  and  their  passion 
for  one  another  became  the  theme  of  the  story-tellers  who 
preferred  guilty  love  to  high  aspirations.  Tristrem  was 
married  to  another  Ysolt,  called  of  the  white  hands,  or  of 
Brittany ;  he  was  dangerously  wounded,  and  lay  sick  in  her 
caatle  in  Brittany.  Nothing  could  cure  him  but  the  pre- 
sence of  Ysolt  of  Cornwall,  and  to  her  he  sent  his  squire, 
with  his  ring,  entreating,  like  the  father  of  Theseus,  that 
if  she  came  to  him  the  sails  of  the  ship  might  be  white,  if 
she  refused,  the  squire  should  hoist  a  black  sail. 

She  came,  but  the  wife,  Ysolt,  of  the  white  hands,  falsdy 
told  the  sick  man  that  the  sails  were  black ;  he  sank  back 
in  despair  and  died,  and  Ysolt  died  of  grief  beside  him. 

Such  is  the  story  told  by  Thomas  of  Ercildoune,  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  as  well  as  by  hosts  of  romances.  The 
Booh  of  JBbwth  omits  the  love  potion,  but  makes  the  passion 
(as  Hanmer  says)  ^  begin  and  end  with  the  harpe ;'  for  his 
music  first  caused  her  affection,  and  he  was  slain  by  Mark 
while  playing  to  Yseult,  or  Izod,  as  she  is  there  called. 
Ghappell  Izod,  near  Dublin,  is  sud  to  have  been  built  by 
her  father,  and  named  after  her. 

Davies  thinks  this  story  was  an  allegory  of  a  new  worship 
which  Trystan  endeavoured  to  introduce  from  Ireland,  wi^ 

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TRYSTAN  AND  YSEULTE.  1 45 

fresh  Dniidical  rites,  in  support  of  which  he  appeals  to  the 
names  of  the  actors  in  the  romans.  Esylt  is,  he  says,  a 
sight  or  spectacle,  and  Dr.  Owen  Pugh's  dictionary  trans- 
lates it  *  fair,  open  to  view.'  Thus  the  lawful  wife  is  the  true 
spectacle  of  rel^on,  her  surname  of  Vyngwen  being  not  white 
hands  but  white  mane.  March  certainly  means  the  horse,  wid 
Trystan  was  thus  the  priest  of  the  horse,  and  his  own  name 
meant  the  proclaimer.  Ceridwen  was  often  represented  as 
a  mare,  and  the  cup  of  Brengwain  represented  her  cauldron. 

However  this  may  be,  Trwst  was  really  a  Cymric  name, 
and  was  called  among  the  Picts  Drust,  or  Drest.  The  Pict- 
ish  Pendragon,  who  was  elected  at  the  time  the  Romans 
quitted  Britain,  was  called  by  his  countrymen  Drust  of  the 
Hundred  Battles,  and  many  of  his  successors  bore  the  same 
name,  which  means  din,  tumult,  or  loud  noise,  and  thus  may 
poetically  be  translated  as  a  proclaimer  or  herald.  Trwst 
ail  Tanm  (tumult  the  son  of  thunder)  was  the  poetical  name 
of  another  of  the  line.  The  influence  of  Latin  upon  Welsh, 
however,  made  irtsi  really  mean  sad,  so  that  it  was  there  ac- 
cepted as  suited  to  the  melancholy  circumstances  of  the  hero's 
birth ;  and  Tristram,  or  sad  face,  became  identified  with  the 
notion  of  sorrow ;  so  that  the  child  of  St.  Louis,  bom  while 
his  father  was  in  captivity  on  the  Nile,  and  his  mother  in 
danger  at  Damietta,  was  named  Jean  Tristan.  Never  would 
the  cheerful  Greeks  have  accepted  such  a  name  as  Tristrem, 
Tristan,  Tristano;  but  in  Europe,  it  regularly  entered  the 
ranks  of  the  names  of  sorrow,  and  it  was,  no  doubt,  in  al- 
losion  to  it  that  Don  Quixote  accepted  the  soubriquet  of  the 
Enight  of  the  Rueful  Countenance. 

Esylt  was  the  French  Yseulte,  or  Ysonde,  the  Italian 
Ifiolti^  and  English  Ysolt,  Isolda,  or  Izolta,  and  in  all  these 
shapes  was  frequent  in  the  families  of.  the  middle  9ges;  re- 
curring again  and  again  in  registers,  down  to  the  seventeenth 
Ottitury:  indeed,  within  the  last  fifty  years  a  person  was 
dive  who  bore  this  romantic  name. 


VOL.  u. 

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146  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

Tallwch  is  explained  ss  the  torrent,  and  seems  to  have  been 
translated  into  Boland,  from  the  somid  of  rolling,  when  the 
Armorican  bards  laid  claim  to  the  great  Paladin  of  Charle- 
magne's court,  on  the  score  of  his  having  been  Warden  of  the 
Marches  of  Brittany,  and  wanted  to  make  out  that  Roland 
was  a  name  of  their  own.  They  have  thus  caused  Rowland 
to  be  considered  as  a  regular  Cymric  name. 

£jng  Mark  himself  was  most  probably  a  compromise  be- 
tween the  Roman  Marctis  and  the  native  word  marchy  whicli 
belongs  to  all  the  Kelts — ^nay,  Fausanias  tells  us,  meant  a 
horse,  in  the  dialect  of  the  tribe  who  tried  to  take  Delphi. 
Its  fellow,  9nar,  passed  into  Teutonic;  named  Marshalls,  as 
Marskalk,  or  horse  servant ;  and  lives  among  us  as  our  marey 
in  the  feminine.  Indeed,  Marcus  may  itself  be  another 
instance  of  the  Keltic  element  in  Latin. 

The  husband  of  Esylt  may  be  the  same  with  a  King 
Mark,  of  the  island  of  Britain,  who  refused  to  St.  Pol  of 
Leon  one  of  the  hand-bells  of  which  the  Keltic  clergy  were 
so  fond.  The  saints  went  on  to  Batz,  to  Count  Withun,  and 
were  telling  him  of  their  disappointment,  when  some  fisher- 
men brought  a  huge  fish  with  a  bell  in  its  mouth. 

This  is  believed,  in  Brittany,  to  be  a  very  old  bell  pre- 
served in  the  cathedral  of  St.  Pol  de  Leon,  made  of  red 
copper  mixed  with  silver,  and  supposed  to  possess  such  mira- 
culous powers  that  it  is  put  on  deaf  children's  heads  to  restore 
their  hearing.  Meirchawn,  or  Marchun,  was  not  a  reputable 
name,  for  a  Strathcluyd  king  so  called  was  said  to  have  been 
struck  dead  for  his  sacrilege  in  raising  his  foot  against  St. 
Kentigem. 

Marchell  was  the  daughter  of  Tewdrig,king  of  North  Wales, 
and,  in  382,  married  Brychan,  son  of  Cormac  Mac  Cairbre, 
one  of  the  kings  of -Ireland.  Her  name  was,  no  doubt,  a 
mixture  of  the  Keltic  March  and  the  Latin  Marcella ;  and 
it  was  she  who  must  have  rendered  the  name  of  Marcella  so 
common  in  Ireland. 


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TBT8TAN  AND  YSEULTE.  I47 

There  may  possibly  be  a  remnant  of  old  horse-worship, 
brought  from,  the  East,  in  the  Welsh  custom  of  carrying 
aboat  the  skeleton  of  a  horse's  head,  decked  with  ribbons  and 
the  eyes  lighted  np,  on  Christmas  eve.  In  some  parts  of 
Wales,  at  houses  where  the  yomig  women  had  been  unfavour- 
able to  the  youths  who  carried  about  the  skull,  it  was  nailed 
up  to  an  opposite  wall  to  grin  at  them  in  the  morning,  and 
vas  r^arded  with  great  horror.  We  shall  find  warrant  for 
ttus  custom  among  the  Teutons. 

The  more  common  Gradhaelic  word  is,  however,  eachy  first 
eooon  to  equuSy  aspa^  and  many  another  word  for  the  gallant 
animal. 

Each  was  the  saint  who  spent  his  life  in  Boyne  Water, 
and  was  said  to  have  uttered  the  curse  that  caused  the  battle 
of  Magh  Rath,  a  libel  disproved  by  his  previous  death. 

Each,  in  combination,  has  formed  sundry  names, — ^Each- 
nuffchach,  a  sort  of  reduplication;  Eachmilidh,  horse-warrior; 
Eachaid,  horseman,  the  most  famous  of  them  belonging  to 
many  kings,  and  rendered  into  Latin — ^Eochodius,  or  Equitius, 
die  last  not  so  incorrect  Auhy,  or  Atty,  were  the  usual 
^ya  of  rendering  it ;  but  these  have  been  confounded  with 
ArAur,  and  the  name  is  lost. 

Several  other  Eochaids  were  kings  of  Scotland,  but  they 
w  grievously  confused  by  Latinity,  and,  with  the  owners  of 
tiie  following  name,  turned  into  Eugenius ;  Eochaidbuidhe, 
or  the  fair-haired,  appearing  as  Eugenius  Flavus;  uid 
Eochoid  Rinne  Mhail  as  Eugenius  Crooked  Nose ! 

Another  Eochaid  has,  by  the  capricious  fancy  of  Scotland, 
Wsi  transmitted  to  us  as  Achaius.  He  is  said  to  have  been 
>n  ally  of  Charlemagne,  and  begun  the  custom  of  lending 
vmlifuries  to  the  French,  numerous  Scotsmen  coming  to 
honour  and  dignity  for  their  assistance  in  their  conquest  of 
\  Saxony.  Achaius  is  also  said  to  have  married  the  sister 
of  the  king  of  the  Picts,  and  formed  an  alliance  with  him 
against  the  Anglo-Saxons.     While  marching  against  the 

L2   jOOgle 


148  NAMES  OF  CYMRIG  ROMANCE. 

English  forces,  the  cross  of  St.  Andrew  suddenly  appeved 
in  the  sky,  giving  assurance  of  victory,  and,  in  consequence, 
was  adopted  as  the  ensign  of  the  Picts,  and  afterwards  of  the 
Scots. 

The  *  double  tressure,  flory  and  counterflory,'  that  sur- 
rounds the  field  where  ^  the  ruddy  lion  ramps  in  gold,'  is  also 
said  to  have  been  *  first  by  Achaius  worn,'  though  he  was 
probably  innocent  of  all  armorial  bearings,  as  he  died  in  819. 

Eachan  is  the  most  usual  form  of  the  Highland  name,  and 
has  for  many  years  been,  by  general  consent,  converted  into 
Hector.    It  was  the  true  name  of  Scott's  unhappy  Conachar. 

We  have  all  heard  of  the  Highlander  who,  at  the  woftJ 
Carlisle  assize  of  1746,  owed  his  life  to  his  non-recognition 
of  his  own  name  of  Eachan  M'Eachan,  in  the  pronunciation 
of  the  clerk  of  the  court  as  Hatchen  MacHatchen. 

The  feminine  Eacha  is  an  old  Irish  name."^ 

Section  YJL—Soel  and  Byence. 

The  romances  of  Arthur  give  him,  among  his  many  nephews, 
one  named  Hoel,  Duke  of  Brittany,  whose  niece  Helena  was 
seized  upon  by  the  horrible  giant  Ritho,  and  devoured  upon 
the  top  of  Tombelaine. 

This  Hoel  does  not  seem  to  have  been  a  real  character. 
His  name,  Hywel,  the  lordly  or  conspicuous,  was  a  comnuHi 
one  in  Wales  and  Brittany ;  and  a  prince  so  called  seems 
really  to  have  fled  to  Arthur  for  aid  against  the  Franks,  and 
to  have  returned  with  a  firesh  colony  of  Britons,  by  whose 
ud  he  became  king  of  Armorica,  and  is  called  in  Brittany 
Biowal  Mor  Mac  Caw,  King  Hoel,  great  son  of  the  chief 

He  reigned  for  thirty  years,  and  died  in  545.  Other  Hoeb 
reigned  after  him,  the  third  of  whom  is  said  to  have  been 
killed  at  Boncevalles. 

*  Chalmers ;  VillemarqaS  ;  M(ibinogi<m  ;  O'Donovan ;  Pogh  ;  Pitre 
Gheyalier;  Sir  W.  Soott,.£d.  of  &ir  Tratram, 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


HOEL  AND  RYENCE.  1 49 

In  Walee,  Hywel  continued  in  favour,  and  Hywel-dha,  or 
tbe  Good,  who  reigned  in  the  tenth  century,  is  famous  for 
haying  gone  to  Kome  to  study  law,  by  which  he  so  profited 
18  afterwards  to  draw  up  the  famous  code  that  has  thrown  so 
much  light  on  the  manners  of  the  Cambrian  mountaineers, 
the  order  of  precedence  in  the  king's  household,  and  even  the 
price  of  animals. 

Hywel  was  a  name  in  frequent  use  among  the  Welsh 
princes,  and  *  high  Hod's  harp '  was  frequently  sounded,  for 
various  bards  were  so  called,  especially  one  in  the  twelfth 
oentory,  who  has  puzzled  critics  by  singing  of  Oeridwen. 

Another  Hoel  was  that  unfortunate  relative  of  Owain 
Gl^dwyr  whom  he  was  said  to  have  killed  and  hidden  in 
the  blasted  tree.  The  name  is  in  use  to  this  day,  and  has 
fiinushed  the  English  surnames  of  Powell  and  Hall.  A 
Welsh  Hywel,  among  the  adventurers  who  came  with  the 
^1  of  Pembroke,  left  behind  him  the  family  of  Mac  Hale, 
or  Hale. 

The  giant  Ritho  is  evidently  a  relation  of  Rhitta  Grawr, 
who,  in  the  Welsh  stories,  interfered  to  put  a  stop  to  a  fu- 
rious battle  between  two  kings  named  Nynniaw  and  Peibiaw, 
who  had  quarrelled  about  the  moon  and  stars.  Rhitta 
Gawr  defeated  them  both,  and  cut  off  their  beards,  and  after- 
wards the  beards  of  seventy-eight  more  kings  who  collected 
to  avenge  them.  Of  these  eighty  beards  he  made  a  mantle 
that  reached  from  his  head  to  his  heels,  for  he  was  the  largest 
man  in  Britain,  and  wore  it  as  a  warning  to  all  to  mamtain 
law  and  order. 

The  romances  of  Arthur  turned  Rhitta  Gawr  into  a  fierce 
monarch  called  Rhyence,  king  of  North  Gales,  an  aggressor 
"mstead  of  a  defender  of  justice,  who,  however,  had  his  scarlet 
mantle  purfled  with  the  moderate  number  of  eleven  royal 
Wds,  and  politely  demanded  that  of  King  Arthur  to  com- 
plete the  trimming,  with  what  consequences  no  one  acquainted 
with  King  Arthur  can  doubt. 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


150  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

Whence  come  the  names  of  Ryence  and  Rhittar  ?  They 
connect  themselves  closely  with  the  miiversal  words  for  ruler, 
the  Ghdhaelic  righy  Teuton  riky  Latin  reXy  and  the  rajah  of 
India.  Khys-vyr  is,  in  Welsh,  a  warrior,  and  most  likely 
comes  from  the  same  source;  and  Rhesus,  the  chieftain, 
slain  by  Ulysses  and  Diomed,  on  the  night  of  his  arrival  be- 
fore Troy,  probably  was  called  from  some  extinct  word  of  the 
same  origin. 

At  any  rate  Rhys  has  ever  since  been  a  Welsh  name,  some- 
times spelt  in  English  according  to  its  pronunciation  as  Reece, 
and  sometimes  as  Rice.  It  has  furnished  the  surnames  of 
Rice,  Rees,  Rice. 

In  Brittany  we  meet  a  saint  called  by  the  diminutive  of 
Rhys,  Riok,  or  Rieuk.  His  legend  begins  with  one  of  the 
allegories  that  arose  from  the  prophecy,  that  the  weaned  child 
should  put  his  hand  on  the  cockatrice's  den,  for  when  he  was 
almost  an  infant  he  was  employed  by  the  holy  knight  Derrien, 
to  lead  away  in  a  scarf  a  terrible  basilisk,  whom  the  saint 
had  tamed  by  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  over  him.  His 
parents  were  heathens,  but  were  convinced  by  this  miracle ; 
and  he  became,  in  after  years,  a  great  saint,  living  for  forty- 
one  years  on  a  rock  on  the  sea  coast,  eating  nothing  Imt 
herbs  and  little  fish,  and  wearing  a  plain  garment  which, 
when  it  wore  out,  was  supplied  by  a  certain  ruddy  moss 
growing  all  over  his  body.  His  name  has  continued  in  use 
in  Brittany.* 

Section  VHI. — Percival. 

No  name  has  had  more  derivations  suggested  for  it  than 
this«  The  Norman  family  so  called  came  from  Ferche-val, 
the  valley  of  the  Ferche ;  but  as  to  the  knight  of  romance, 
he  was  at  first  supposed  to  be  Perce-val,  pierce  the  valley,  <mi 
the  principle  on  which  Percy  was  hatched  out  of  Pierce-eye, 

*  Uahinogion\  Pitre  Cheyalier,  Bretagne;  Mallozy,  Morte  d^ Arthur; 
Jones,  Welsh  Sketches*  Digit  zed  by  LjOOglC 


PERCIVAL.  151 

and  the  story  inyented  of  the  Fiercie  who  tlirust  his  spear  with 
the  keys  dangling  on  it  into  the  eye  of  Malcolm  Geanmohr 
8t  Alnwick  Castle.  The  romance  of  Perceforest  was  even 
Dftmed  on  the  principle  that  it  was  as  suitable  to  pierce  the 
fin^t  as  the  yaUey. 

Mr.  Keightley  derives  the  name  from  the  Arabic  Parse^ 
or  Parsc^al,  poor  dmnmling,  who  appears  to  have  been  the 
hero  of  an  Eastern  tale  of  a  wonderful  cup,  whence  arose 
the  mysterious  allegory  of  the  Holy  GreaL  A  Proven9al 
troubadour,  named  Kyot,  or  Guiot,  professes  to  have  found 
at  Toledo  a  book  written  in  heathen  characters  by  a  magician, 
Saracen  on  the  father's  side,  but  descended  by  his  mother 
from  Solomon.  His  book  is  lost,  but  two  founded  on  it  sur- 
Tive, — the  German  romance  of  Parzifal,  by  Wolfram  von 
Eschenbach,  and  the  Norman  French,  Sir  Perceval,  of  Walter 
Mapes,  Archdeacon  of  Oxford  under  Henry  H. 

Equally  old,  however,  is  a  Welsh  legend  of  Peredur, 
which  M.  de  Yillemarque  explains  as  Per-kedor,  companion 
of  the  bowl,  and  considers  Per-keval,  or  cy-faill,  also  com- 
panion of  the  bowl,  to  be  synonymous  with  it.  Aneurin 
speaks  of  Peredur  as  a  real  warrior.  Chretien  de  Troyes  has 
a  bug  poem  on  the  story  of  Perceval,  and  his  adventures  are 
ahnost  identical  with  those  of  the  Peredur  of  the  Mabinogion* 

The  story  of  the  orphan,  stirred  up  to  chivalry  by  the 
Bight  of  the  knight  whom  he  took  for  an  angel,  the  same 
as  that  of  Mervyn  les  Breiz,  here  appears,  and  Perceval  or 
Peredur  shows  some  kindred  with  the  dummling  of  Persia 
by  his  ignorance  and  dulness  till  he  comes  to  the  castle, 
where  he  sees  the  wounded  king,  the  bleeding  lance,  and  the 
Greal  or  bowl  of  pure  gold  that  are  the  great  features  in 
bis  history.  Probably,  the  magic  bowl  was  an  Indo-European 
idea,  but  there  seems  to  have  been  Druidic  traditions  about  a 
magic  bowl,  which  Bran  the  Blessed  obtained  from  a  great 
Uack  man  in  Ireland,  and  which  cured  mortal  wounds  and 
raised  the  dead.  It  was  one  of  the  thirteen  wonders  of  the  Isle 
if  Britain^  and  disappeared  with  Merddhyn  in  his  glass  vess^e 


152  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

However,  in  the  twelfth  century,  the  ideas  of  this  vessel  had 
assumed  a  Christian  form.  It  was  the  bowl  used  at  the 
institution  of  the  Holy  Eucharist,  and  the  lance  was  that  of 
Longus  the  centurion,  brought  to  Bran  by  Joseph  of  Ari- 
mathea,  and  thenceforth  its  quest  became  Ihe  emblem  of  the 
Christian  search  for  holiness  through  the  world,  only  grati- 
fied by  gleams  here,  but  with  full  fruition  hereafter.  Per- 
ceval, once  the  companion  and  guard  of  the  sacred  Greal, 
gradually  descended  from  his  high  estate,  and  became  only  a 
knight  of  the  Round  Table,  high  and  pure  of  faith  and  spot- 
less of  life,  but  only  on  the  same  terms  as  the  rest,  and 
though  not  failing  in  the  quest,  still  inferior  to  Galahad. 

It  is  curious  that  his  other  name,  Peredur,  has  by  the 
sound  been  turned  into  Peter.  One  Robert  de  Barron  tells, 
that  from  Bran,  the  Greal  descended  to  Alan,  and  thence  to 
Petrus  his  nephew;. and  a  story  of  the  Breton  peasantry 
still  gives  the  adventures  of  Perronik,  like  the  original 
Peredur,  an  idiot  at  first,  but  sent  to  the  Castle  of  Caer- 
glas  to  fetch  a  diamond  lance  and  golden  cup,  which  would 
raise  the  dead  by  a  touch.  One  of  his  adventures  was 
meeting  my  Lady  Pestilence  with  a  yellow  face  and  black 
satin  dress — no  doubt  the  Yellow  Spectre  that  was  the 
death  of  Mael — ^but  she  proved  a  most  useful  auxiliary  to 
Perronik. 

The  later  French  romances  spoilt  the  nobleness  and  purity 
of  Perceval's  character,  but  he  is  always  one  of  the  best  of 
the  knights,  and  succeeds  in  finding  the  Sanc-greal.  But 
Galahad,  the  pure  and  virgin  knight,  son  of  Lancelot,  and 
predestined  to  occupy  the  Siege  Perilous  at  the  Round  Table, 
resist  all  temptation,  conquer  all  peril,  and  finally,  obtain 
full  fruition  of  the  Greal,  then,  at  his  own  desire,  pass  out  of 
the  world  of  sin  and  care,  has  latterly  taken  the  place  once 
the  right  of  Peredur  or  Perceval.  I  suspect  him,  as  before 
said,  to  have  been  the  separate  produce  of  the  story  of  Cattwg, 
first  warrior,  and  afterwards  hermit  and  saint,  and  that  Gala- 
had may  have  been  an  epithet  firom  his  starry  purilrfr. 


PEBCIVAL.  153 

In  the  Mabinogion,  Perceval  has  a  ladje  love,  whom,  how- 
ever, he  only  loves  with  distant  chivalrous  devotion,  and  who 
nswers  to  his  sister,  who  in  Mallory's  beautiful  story  gave 
flie  blood  firom  her  own  veins  to  heal  a  lady  who  could  (solj 
be  cured  with  the  life-blood  of  a  pure  virgin. 

In  the  Mabinogion  her  name  is  Angharawd  Lan-eurawc, 
or  with  the  hand  of  gold,  and  Angharawd,  or  the  free  firom 
shame,  the  undisgraced  (from  angharz)^  was  continued  in 
Wales,  but  it  is  now  generally  considered  as  the  equivalent 
of  Anne,  and  thus  accounts  for  Anna  being  universally  called 
in  romance  the  sister  of  Arthur,  and  mother  of  the  traitor 
nq)hew  Medrawd. 

The  Welsh  Angharawd  probably  accounts  for  Ankaret, 
which  occurs  in  the  family  of  Le  Strange  in  1344,  as  well 
as  in  several  others,  and  is  generally  supposed  to  mean  an 
aochorite ;  but  as  it  has  no  parallel  on  the  Continent,  it  is 
much  more  likely  to  be  the  Welsh  Angharawd  mispronounced, 
and  then  with  the  spelling  adapted.  Annan  was,  however, 
a  separate  name — ^for  the  three  sprightly  ladies  of  Britain 
are  Annan,  Angharawd,  and  Perwyr. 

Myvanwy  is  one  of  the  unaccountable  feminine  Welsh 
names,  not  yet  extinct  among  families  of  strong  national 
feeling,  though  in  general  Fanny  has  been  substituted  for  it. 

The  three  primary  bards  of  Britain  were  Plenydd,  Alawn, 
and  Gwron,  whom  Mr.  Davies  explains  as  light,  harmony, 
and  virtue.  Plenydd,  it  is  thought,  is  related  to  Belenus ; 
and  Alawn  is  erected  by  ardent  Cymrians  into  the  mythic 
Greek  Olen,  who  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  writer  of 
hjmns  in  hexameter,  and  whom  the  Delphic  poetess,  Boeo, 
calls  a  Hyperborean ;  this  name  is  said  to  mean  the  flute 
player.  At  any  rate,  I  have  found  Alwn  Aulerv  in  Welsh 
genealogies  as  brother  of  Bran  the  Blessed,  and  this  must  be 
the  real  origin  of  the  Breton  Alan,  although,  very  likely, 
Elian  and  Hilarius  were  both  used  as  its  Latinisms.''^ 

♦  ViOemArQa^:  Cambro-Briton;  Mabinogion;  MaUoiy,  Morte  fiArtlwuri 

^  Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


154  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

Sbction  IX. — Merlin. 

Prime  magician  of  the  Bound  Table,  stands  Merlin  the 
enchanter,  well  known  to  fame  and  tradition. 

Child  of  a  human  mother  and  demon  father,  he  was 
brought,  at  seyen  years  old,  to  Yortigem,  that  the  death 
of  a  fatherless  boy  might  appease  the  troublesome  stones 
of  a  castle  which  the  king  in  vain  tried  to  build,  as  they 
fell  down  as  fast  as  they  were  set  up.  The  child  saved 
his  life  by  declaring,  that  the  agitation  of  the  stones  was 
merely  caused  by  a  couple  of  dragons  fighting  underground ; 
whereupon  the  king  caused  his  men  to  disinter  two  horrid 
monsters,  one  red  and  one  white,  who  continued  their  wars 
unconcernedly,  while  Merlin  explained  them  to  mean  the 
Welsh  and  the  English.  He  became  court  magician  to  Yor- 
tigem, transplanted  Stonehenge  from  Ireland  to  Salisbury 
Plain  in  one  night,  saw  Arthur  inaugurated,  gave  him  some 
good  advice,  performed  a  great  number  of  prophecies,  and 
finally  was  beguiled  by  Yyvyan  into  the  fatal  hawthorn  in 
the  forest  of  Brocelyande,  where  nothing  remains  of  him  but 
his  voice. 

Merlin  is  the  form  in  which  we  take  the  enchanter's  name 
from  Norman  French.  In  Welsh  it  is  Merddhin,  and  the 
Triads  tell  us  of  the  three  baptismal  bards  of  Britain, — 
Merddhin  Emiys,  Merddhinn  ap  Madawg  Mororyn,  and 
Taliessin.  There  were  also  three  disappearances  from  Bri- 
tain, those  of  Ghbvran,  of  Madawg,  and  of  Merddhin  Emrys, 
who,  in  Welsh  story,  went  off,  not  with  Yyvyan,  but  with 
nine  bards  in  a  ship  of  glass,  to  the  happy  islands  of  the 
West.  As  to  the  poems  and  prophecies  current  in  Merddhin's 
name,  they  are  beyond  computation. 

M.  de  Yillemarqu6  has  compiled  the  narration  of  which 
the  following  is  an  outline.  He  thinks  that  the  original 
idea  is  to  be  found,  by  going  back  to  the  Marsi,  ancient 
inhabitants  of  Apulia,  who  were  great  physicians,  and  sup- 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


HEBLIK.  155 

posed  to  derive  arts  of  magic  firom  their  god,  Marsns ;  and 
tiius,  that  among  the  Romans,  Marsns  came  to  be  syno* 
nymons  with  a  magician. 

The  Britons  and  Armoricans,  in  their  Romanised  state, 
came,  he  thinks,  to  nse  the  same  term,  only  pronouncing 
it  Mandn  and  Marddhin.  Leaving  some  of  the  Roman 
deities,  whose  altars  were  multiplied  all  over  Britain,  and 
of  these,  more  to  the  obscure  and  local  deities  who  were 
tutelary  to  individuals  and  nations,  than  to  the  great  Olym- 
pian diivinities  ;  the  Armorican  Cymry  came  to  make  of 
Marzin  a  sort  of  god,  with  three  kingdoms  of  flowers,  golden 
fruits,  and  of  laughing  pygmies. 

He  further  thinks  that  Emrys,  or  Ambrosius,  was  really 
a  young  bard,  who  grew  up  at  the  court  of  the  great  Am- 
brosius, and  who  was  bi^tized  by  the  same  name,  though 
called  Merddhin  from  his  talents,  and  perhaps  his  relapse  into 
heathenism.  With  Gwrtheym,  there  may  have  been  a  sort 
of  revival  of  Druidism,  of  which  Merddhin  was  probably  the 
leader;  some  fresh  consecration  of  Stonehenge,  and  a  re- 
newal of  ancient  rites,  calling  forth  the  vehement  censure 
of  Gildas,  for  it  seems  that  Gospels  were  torn,  churches 
bomt,  imd  monasteries  robbed.  He  is  thought,  however,  to 
have  lived  through  Arthur's  reign,  and  then,  i^ter  the  fatal 
battle  of  Gamelford,  to  have  poured  forth  lamentations  in 
sditude,  much  like  that  of  Ossian  after  the  Feen,  until  he 
was  reconverted,  the  Scots  say  by  St.  Kentigem,  the  Irish 
by  St.  Columbanus,  the  Bretons  by  St.  Cadoc. 

The  person,  however,  who  wrote  the  lamentations  here 
referred  to,  may  have  been  the  second  Merlin  in  the  Triads 
also  called  Merddhin  the  Caledonian,  or  Merdhinn  Vardd, 
or  Merddhin  ap  Morvryn.  According  to  Davies,  Merddhinn 
and  Morvryn  are  the  same  name,  and  both  mean  hill  in  the 
Bea ;  and  he  explains  Merddhin  Yardh,  as  bard  or  priest  of 
the  sea-girt  hill. 

Whetiber  he  is  right  or  not  in  so  explaining  the  origin  of 

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1 56  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

the  word,  Merddhin  is  in  sound  Mervyn,  and  this,  as  well 
as  Marzin,  is  popularly  used  for  the  great  magician  in  Brit- 
tany, instead  of  the  Merlin  of  French  and  Latin  romance, 
or  Merlino  of  Italian.  And  even  if  Marsus  was  a  Roman 
legacy,  the  Britons,  without  a  doubt,  assimilated  the  sound 
to  one  of  their  many  derivatives  firom  the  universal  word 
of  the  sea.  To  this  very  day,  Mervyn  is  a  Welsh  Christian 
name,  though  the  letter  t;  is  a  substitute  for  so  many  others 
in  the  Keltic  languages,  that  it  is  not  certain  whether  it 
stands  for  Merlin  or  some  other  sea  name. 

Like  mare  in  Latin,  and  meer  in  Teuton,  the  Gadhaelic 
muirj  Welsh  wor,  and  Breton  wor,  are  close  kindred,  and 
watery  names  derived  fix)m  them  abound. 

King  Arthur's  sister,  Morgana,  or  Morgaine,  Morgue  la 
Fee,  or  La  Fata  Morgana,  as  she  is  variously  termed  in  dif- 
ferent tongues,  was  probably  Morgwen,  or  the  sea  lady.  Is 
it  from  her,  or  from  some  lingering  old  Keltic  notion  in 
ancient  Italy,  that  the  Sicilian  fisherman  connects  the  towers 
and  palaces  painted  on  the  Mediterranean  surface,  with  La 
Fata  Morgana,  the  lady  of  the  sea  ? 

Morgwn,  the  masculine,  a  dweller  by  the  sea,  was  the 
native  name  of  the  heresiarch,  who  called  himself  by  the 
Grreek  equivalent  Pelagius,  and  thus  named  the  Pelagian 
heresy.  Some  writers  say  that  sundry  heretic  names  lin- 
gered about  the  Spanish  Visigoths  after  their  union  with 
the  Church,  and  instance  both  Ario,  a  distinguished  author, 
and  Pelayo,  the  Asturian  Robert  Bruce,  as  instances  of 
names  so  borne.  However  this  may  be,  Morgan  has  con- 
tinued, even  to  the  present  day,  to  be  very  common  in 
Wales.' 

Morvran,  sea-raven,  is  now  bestowed  on  the  cormorant ; 
but  the  original  Morvren  figures  as  son  of  Ceridwen,  and 
nothing  less,  in  Mr.  Davies'  opinion,  than  Noah's  own 
faithless  raven. 

Morvryn  is  sea-king,  Morman  is  sea-hero,  but  is  also  pro- 
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HEBLIN.  157 

noimced  Moiren,  and  in  this  form  has  named  one  of  the 
most  interesting  heroes  of  Armorican  tradition.  Monren 
was  leaQy  viceroy  or  mactiem  of  Leon  in  the  end  of  the 
eighth  century,  and  fought  so  fiercely  with  the  Franks,  as  to 
be  called  Lez  Breix,  the  support  of  Britain. 

A  series  of  old  songs  relate  his  hbtory,  beginning  with  the 
Perceral  of  romance.  The  boy,  carefully  guarded  from  all 
sight  of  warlike  weapons,  fatal  once  to  his  father,  beholds  by 
chance  a  knight  in  full  armour  riding  through  the  wood,  and 
takes  him  for  the  Archangel  Michael ;  then,  on  being  unde- 
ceiyed,  runs  away  from  home,  and  enters  on  the  career  of 
arms.  In  the  Breton  legends,  Lez  Breiz  returns  ten  years 
after,  to  find,  to  his  sorrow,  his  mother  dead,  her  cottage 
mined,  his  sister  desolate.  His  wars  are  related,  especially 
the  slaughter  of  a  gigantic  Moor,  in  the  Frank  king's  ser- 
vice, after  which  he  threw  away  his  good  sword,  because  it 
was  stained  with  infidel  blood;  and  finally,  when  he  was 
surrounded,  whilst  alone,  and  treacherously  beheaded  by  the 
Franks,  he  brought  his  head  in  his  hands  to  a  hermit,  who 
joined  it  on  again,  that  he  might  dree  a  seven  years' 
penance  of  fetching  water  every  day,  with  a  cloak  of  lead 
chained  round  his  neck.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  his 
mother,  St.  Anne  of  Armor,  came  and  cut  the  chain  with 
her  golden  scissors,  and  dismissed  him  to  rest. 

*  For  seven  years  and  a  month  his  squire  had  sought  bim. 
His  squire  spoke  thus,  as  he  rode  through  Hellian  wood — 
*  Though  I  have  slain  thy  slayer,  yet  I've  lost  my  dear  lord.' 
At  the  end  of  a  wood  he  heard  a  horse's  neigh, 
His  horse  raised  his  nose  to  the  wind,  and  bounding 
At  the  end  of  the  wood,  he  knew  Lez  Breiz's  black  steed, 
He  was  near  the  spring,  his  head  was  down,  but  neither  to 

drink  nor  graze ; 
But  he  smelt  the  green  turf,  and  he  scratched  with  his  hoofs, 
He  lifted  his  head,  and  again  he  moumftdly  neighed, 
He  mournfully  neighed,  some  even  say  that  he  wept. 
'Tell  me,  grave  sire,  who  com'st  to  the  spring,  who  sleeps 

*neath  this  turf?' 


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158  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

*Lez  Breiz  sleeps  there,  as  long  as  Bretagne  stand  lasts  his 

fame, 
With  a  shont  one  daj  will  he  wake,  and  g^ve  chase  to  the 

Franks/' 

So  ends  this  strange  wild  mixture  of  pathos  and  marvel, 
leaving  Morven  a  popular  name  in  Brittany. 

*'  Morolt  with  the  iron  mace,'  as  romance  calls  him,  the 
brother  of  Yseulte,  who  was  killed  by  Sir  Trystan,  is  called 
Morogh  by  his  own  countrymen  in  Ireland.  It  is  the  con- 
traction of  Muireadhach,  or  sea  protector,  a  favourite  Irish 
name,  though,  after  degenerating  into  Morogh,  it  was  usually 
rendered  mto  Morgan,  and  so  continues  in  modem  Ireland. 
It  is  the  same  with  Meriadek,  or  Meiriadwg,  the  title  of 
Conan,  the  chieftain  who  is  said  to  have  colonized  Brittany, 
and  also  with  the  Welsh  Meredith,  both  as  a  Ghristiaa 
and  a  surname.  In  Ireland,  the  sons  of  Morogh  became 
O'Muireadaig,  and  then  contracted  into  Murray.  They  are 
thus  celebrated  in  an  Erse  quatrain : 

^  Mac  Mnireadhaigh  with  spirit, 
O'Qormog,  OTigeamach, 
A  generous  mind  is  innate  in  this  people, 
Rule  over  the  splendid  uneven  Ceara.' 

In  Scotland,  Muireadhach  named  the  earldom  of  Moray 
and  the  great  family  of  Murrays  of  Athol.  Muredach  is 
said  to  have  reigned  over  the  Scots  from  733  to  736,  and  is 
transformed  into  Murdach,  Murochat,  Muirtec,  Mordacus. 
It  must  have  become  mixed  with  Muircheartach,  from  ceart 
(a  right),  the  sea  warrior,  which  has  produced  Moriertagh, 
Mortough,  or  Morty ,  as  a  Christian  name  in  Ireland ;  but  it 
is  now  made  into  Mortimer.  It  is  Murdoch  in  Scotland, 
once  very  common,  and  not  yet  extinct,  and  the  North, 
adopting  it  with  other  Keltic  names,  caUs  it  Ejartan. 

Muirgis,  once  common  in  Ireland,  is  rendered  by  Maurice, 
or  Morris,  and  Murchada  has  become  Murphy. 

And  there  is  a  name,  still  very  common  in  the  North  of 

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LLEW.  159 

England,  that  I  cannot  help  connecting  with  some  of  these, 
namely  Marmaduke,  which  appeared  among  the  chivalry  of 
England  about  the  thirteenth  century,  and  has  never  become 
extinct.  It  is  most  likely  a  corruption  of  one  or  other  of 
the  sea  names,  in  fact,  it  is  not  far  from  Muireadach ;  or  it 
may  be  llie  offspring  of  the  Scottish  title,  Maormar,  from 
moor,  a  steward  or  officer,  and  mor,  great,  thus  meaning  the 
great  officer  of  the  crown,  the  term  which  prevailed  before 
the  Saxon  Thegn  or  Danish  Earl  displaced  it.^ 

Section  X. — Llew. 

We  find  Llew,  light,  naming  Lleurwg  ab  Coel  ab  Cyllyn, 
also  called  Llewfer  Mawr,  the  great  light,  and  correctly 
Iraoslated  by  the  Latin  Lucius,  the  king  who  is  said  to  have 
sent  messengers  to  Rome  to  bring  home  Christianity,  though 
some  think  Lucius  a  mere  figment  of  Roman  writers  ac- 
cepted by  the  bards  who  invented  the  translation,  from  their 
own  word,  so  closely  analogous  to  the  Latin  lux. 

Uew  is  the  name  given  in  Welsh  genealogies  to  the  king 
of  the  Orkneys,  who  married  Eling  Arthur's  sister,  and  was 
the  father  of  Gwalchmai.  The  French  call  him  Loth,  and 
the  Morie  cT Arthur  Lot,  not  much  to  his  improvement. 

Llewel,  lightning,  formed  Llywelyn,  which  is  not  very 
early  in  Wales,  unless  the  Sir  Lionel  of  romance  be  intended 
to  rq)resent  it.  A  Welsh  Llywelwyn  seems  to  have  come 
over  to  Ireland  with  Richard  Strongbow,  and  his  descendants, 
after  passing  through  the  stage  of  MacUighiUns,  are  now 
the  Quillinans. 

The  English  have  broken  it  down  into  Leoline,  and  con- 
nect it  with  a  lion,  Lleiwel  in  Welsh ;  but  the  other  view 
appears  the  most  satisfactory.  Llywelyn  the  Great  of  Wales 
was  a  contemporary  of  King  John,  and  from  his  time  the 

«  ymemarape;  Davies;  Ellis;  Cambro-Briton ;  Geof&eyof  Momnonth; 
ODonoyan;  ChalmerB;  Monoh. 

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l6o  NAMES  OF  CYMRIC  ROMANCE. 

name  has  been  mach  in  use,  partly  from  affection  to  the  last 
native  prince,  Llywelyn  ap  Gruffyd,  who  perished  at  Pierce- 
field.  It  is  now  osnallj  anglicized  as  Lewis  for  a  Christian, 
Lewin  for  a  family  name. 

Llywarch  Hen,  the  famous  bard,  appears  to  be  another 
variety  of  this  prefix. 

It  is  tempting  to  unite  with  King  Llew  the  Scottish  Leod, 
whence  M'Leod ;  but  this  is  far  too  doubtful  to  be  ventured 
on,  and  might  be  as  wild  as  the  hypothesis  that  St.  Mac- 
Ion,  or  Malo,  of  Brittany  was  himself  a  MacLeod  ! 

It  is  more  likely  to  come  from  the  Irish  Lughaid,  usually 
anglicized  Lewy  and  Lewis,  which,  however,  may  be  itself 
from  the  root  kwy  light.*  ' 


Section  XI. — Cymric  Saints. 

The  old  records  of  Brittany  give  a  most  graceful  story  of 
the  saint  who  made  Herve  a  favourite  in  the  duchy. 

Hyvemion,  a  British  bard,  was  warned  by  an  angel  in  a 
dream  to  come  to  Armorica  in  quest  of  his  wife.  Near  the 
fountain  of  Rivannon,  he  met  a  beautiful  maiden  drawing 
water,  who,  when  he  accosted  her,  sang  *  Though  I  am  but 
a  poor  flower  by  the  wayside,  men  call  me  the  little  queen  of 
the  fountain.'  Perceiving  that  she  was  the  damsel  of  his 
vision,  he  married  her,  and  they  had  one  child,  who  was  bom 
blind,  and  was  named  by  his  parents  in  their  sorrow,  Houer/y 
or  bitter.  His  worm-eaten  oaken  cradle  is  still  shown  in  the 
parish  of  Treflaouenan,  as  a  relic,  for  the  blind  child  became 
both  monk  and  poet,  and  according  to  his  maxim,  ^  It  is 
better  to  instruct  a  child  than  to  gather  wealth  for  him.' 
He  composed  numerous  simple  and  religious  poems,  which 
have  been  sung  by  the  Breton  peasantry  through  the  twelve 
hundred  years  that  have  passed  since  the  death  of  the  blind 

*  ChalmerB. 

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CYMRIC  SAINTS.  l6l 

bard :  one  of  them,  on  the  duties  of  a  Christian  child,  is 
exceedingly  beautiful. 

Houery,  or  Henre,  is  not  accepted  by  the  Roman  Calendar y 
but  he  was  enthusiastically  beloved  in  the  country  for  which 
he  had  ^made  ballads/  and  Herve  has  been  the  name  of 
peer  and  peasant  there  oyer  since  his  time.  Herye  came 
over  to  us  among  the  many  adventurers  who  ^  came  out  of 
Brittany/  two  landowners  so  called  are  mentioned,  and  the 
widely  spread  surname  of  Haryey  can  hardly  be  taken  from 
anything  else,  though  some  derive  it  from  Heriwig,  army 
war,  a  Teutonic  word. 

Here  let  us  mention  a  Breton  name,  Tanneguy.  There 
was  a  saint  so  called  who  founded  an  abbey  at  Finisterre, 
and  who  is  claimed  as  a  relation  by  the  family  of  Du  GhasteL 
It  is  curious  to  find  Sir  Tanneguy  Du  Ghastel  figuring  among 
the  heroes  of  Froissart,  and  making  his  old  Christian  name 
renowned. 

But  the  local  saints  of  the  Kelts  are  far  past  enumeration, 
such  as  St.  Monacella,  or  Melangell,  whose  Welsh  name  is 
periii^s  from  mdainy  honey ;  the  Latin  name  means  a  little 
nun,  who  saved  a  hare  hunted  by  Broemael,  prince  of  Powys, 
and  is  buried  at  Pennant  Melangle ;  or  St.  Sativola,  or  Sid- 
well,  as  she  is  called  at  Exeter,  whose  head  was  cut  oflf  by  a 
mower  with  a  scythe,  and  who  had  a  well  marking  the  spot, 
till  the  railway  made  away  with  it ;  but  at  least  she  appears 
in  her  own  church,  with  her  head  in  one  hand  and  a  scythe 
in  the  other,  and  has  a  window  in  the  cathedral.  Once  she 
had  namesakes,  but  they  are  idl  gone  now. 

Einiawn,  w  Einion,  is  said  to  signify  a  just  man,  in  Welsh, 
though  the  word  most  like  it  in  Dr.  Owen  Pugh's  dictionary 
is  einioeSy  life.  St.  Einiawn  was  one  of  the  early  saints 
of  the  Cymry,  after  whom  is  named  a  spring  at  Llanvareth, 
in  Radnorshire.  Another  Einiawn  was  grandson  of  Howell 
Dha.    The  name  is  sometimes  rendered  by  .tineas. 

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l62 


PART  VL 

TIUTONIO     KAMI8. 

CHAPTER  L 

THB    TEUTON    RAOB. 

Section  L — Oround  occupied  (y  the  Teutons. 

The  great  mass  of  modem  Enropean  nomendatare  springs 
from  the  class  of  language  which  it  is  convenient  coUectivelj 
to  call  Teutonic. 

That  title  is  by  some  confined  to  one  main  fanulj,  while 
the  whole  race  is  termed  Gothic ;  but  as  this  last  is  the  dis- 
tinctive appellation  of  a  single  collection  of  tribes,  confosicm 
will  be  best  avoided  by  applying  Teutonic  to  the  class,  Grothic 
to  the  order,  more  especially  as  there  is  evidence  that  in  all 
the  divisions  of  the  race,  the  word  which  is  the  root  of  Teu- 
tonic was  used  much  in  the  same  manner,  and  Teutones  was 
applied  by  the  Romans  to  the  first  of  the  race  with  whom 
they  were  concerned. 

The  Teutonic  wave  of  population  pursued  the  Keltic. 
Scattered  gleams  of  the  light  of  history  occasionally  flash 
upon  the  obscurity  of  their  tossings  to  and  fro,  which  aie 
even  darker  than  the  ^  dark  Cimmerian  desert,'  which  they 
inundated ;  and  we  are  enabled,  not  to  trace  their  progress, 
but  occasionally  to  note  their  standing  ground,  as  familiar 
names  occur  among  the  barbarians  contemptuously  mentioned 
by  Greeks  or  Romans. 


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GBOUND  OCCUPIED  BY  THE  TEUTONS.     1 63 

For  a  l(mg  time  the  Scythians  who  fought  with  Darius 
were  supposed  to  have  been  the  yanguard  of  Uie  Teutons,  but 
more  enlightened  criticism  has  decided  that  the  Scythians 
were  a  separate  people,  since  become  extinct  or  fused  into  the 
Kelts.  The  notices  of  Herodotus,  as  to  the  people  sur- 
rounding him,  have  been  subject  of  much  speculation  and 
contest,  but  on  the  whole  there  is  reason  to  think  that  the 
Sakai,  whom  he  mentions  as  living  on  the  banks  of  the 
Arazes,  and  the  Getai  on  the  Danube  and  the  South  of  Rus- 
sia, may  have  been  the  first  of  the  Teutons  to  appear  in 
history.  The  Getai  are  aknost  beyond  a  doubt  Goths ;  but 
ihe  identity  of  the  Sakai  with  the  Saxons  is  a  much  more 
imcertain  matter* 

The  Teutons  were  divided  into  large  confederations  of 
tribes,  owning  one  hero  forefather,  called  by  one  general 
name,  and  then  parting  into  lesser  tribes,  each  with  its  own 
ancestor. 

The  character  of  the  race  was  less  fiery,  but  more  per- 
severing than  that  of  the  Kelt,  with  less  of  height  of  stature, 
but  with  stronger  muscles,  and  a  nature  of  much  greater 
permanence  combined  with  progress  than  belongs  to  any 
other  people.  Eastern  nations  cannot  improve  beyond  a 
certain  point,  the  classical  nations  were  demoralized  and 
became  d^enerate  under  civilization,  the  Kelts  either  re- 
jected it  or  dwindled  away  under  it,  and  only  the  Teutons 
were  able  to  accept  and  adopt  it  so  as  to  increase  instead  of 
destroying  their  mental  energy  and  physical  force. 

Even  as  savages  they  were  able  to  drive  before  them  the 
Kelt,  whether  wild  or  polished,  and  were  a  match  for  the 
discipUned  Roman ;  and  the  slightest  training  in  warlike  arts 
rendered  them  invincible  by  any  other  race.  They  have 
never  permanently  succumbed  to  any  nation  of  other  blood 
tiian  their  own ;  and  among  themselves,  the  conquering  side 
is  always  that  which  has  the  most  of  the  northern  high  spirit 
united  to  the  endurance  of  the  more  central  races. 

M  z^oogle 


164  THE  TEUTON  RACE. 

Men  fhus  constituted  were  sure  to  carry  all  before  them, 
and  fulfil  their  destiny  of  replenishing  the  earth  and  sub- 
duing it ;  and  thus  long  before  history  took  distinct  cogni- 
zance of  tibem,  they  had  won  those  dwellings  in  middle 
Europe  which  haye  ever  since  been  the  Fatherland  of  the 
Teuton. 

The  foremost  in  the  westerly  march  seem^  as  has  before 
beai  said,  to  hare  become  fused  with  the  hindmost  gI  the 
Kelts,  and  to  have  formed  that  mixed  race  that  left  its 
Teuton  name  of  Welsh,  or  foreign,  in  one  broad  line  across 
Europe  from  Wallachia  to  Wales. 

In  the  days  of  Tarquinius  Prisons,  this  forest  tribe  was 
struggling  with  the  Gauls  upon  the  Rhine;  by  those  of  Alex- 
imder,  Teutons  were  on  the  borders  of  the  Baltic ;  in  the 
great  days  of  the  Roman  Republic,  idl  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Alps  was  an  unknown  wilderness  of  fair-haired  bar- 
barians; and  in  die  last  century,  before  our  era,  Marius 
fought  his  two  desperate  battles  with  that  strange  conjunc- 
tion of  Gimbri^  and  Teutones,  one  at  Aiz,  the  other  at 
MHaRt 

Forty  years  later,  when  Julius  Osesar  fought  and  wrote, 
Belgse  were  in  Great  Britain,  and  Germans  were  already 
showing  their  faces  over  the  Rhine  and  throu^  the  Alpine 
passes,  in  pursuit  of  their  Gallic  prey,  but  were  turned 
back  for  a  time  by  Roman  yalour  into  their  own  forests. 

Under  Augustus  and  Tiberius,  RcHne  learnt  that  though 
her  legions  could  as  yet  keep  the  Teutons  £rom  conquering 
the  territory  of  the  empire,  yet  that  t^ere  was  no  subduing 
the  stem  native  courage.  The  old  policy  of  borrowing  and 
educating  young  chiefs  failed  to  enervate  or  attach  them, 
but  only  rendered  them  skilled  warriors,  able  to  turn  their 
lessons  against  their  instructors. 

Wars  raged  with  little  interval  between  the  Romans  and 
Teutons  and  between  the  different  tribes  till  the  great  em- 
«  Some  regard  these  Cimbri  as  Teutons* 

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THE  TBIBES  OF  TEUTONS.  1 65 

pire  finallj  saccnmbed ;  and  while  one  of  its  fragmentB  con- 
tinaed  the^name  of  Bmne  among  the  Greeks,  the  other  half 
was  tinctured  in  every  limb  bj  the  Teatop ;  till  most  lands 
of  the  great  European  commonwealth  came  to  consist  of  a 
subsoil  of  £elt,  a  superstructure  of  Roman,  and  an  upper 
surface  of  Teuton — ^all  mixed  in  different  proportions.  The 
Btratam  of  Kelt  pervaded  the  whole  in  IVance ;  the  Latin 
was  by  far  the  strongest  in  Italy  and  Spain,  though  barely 
appreciable  in  England,  and  oidy  reaching  the  outskirts  of 
Germany.  There,  indeed,  as  in  England  and  Scandinavia, 
layer  upon  layer  of  Teuton  has  intensified  the  natural  cha- 
racter, though  in  the  easterly  provinces  the  Slavonic  races 
have  had  bowb  slight  influence. 

America,  too,  may  be  said  to  have  her  population  likewise 
Teutonic,  though  in  the  southern  continent,  the  Latinized 
Teuton  prevails,  while  the  northern  is  chiefly  filled  with 
English  and  Germans,  all  of  the  deep-dyed  Teutonic 
type.* 

Sbction  n. — The  Tribes  of  Teutons. 

The  Teuton  stock  had  much  in  common,  but  also  strong 
individuality,  and  nothing  can  be  more  clearly  marked  than 
are  its  great  main  divisions  and  their  branches. 

The  two  great  stems  of  race  and  language  are  called-  the 
Gothic  and  the  Scandinavian. 

To  the  Gothic  belonged  all  the  earlier  races  who  were  the 
foes  of  Rome.  Of  them  were  the  invaders  whom  Gsesar  drove 
back  from  Gaul ;  of  them  the  mass  of  tribes  who  defeated 
the  legions  of  Quinctilius  Varus;  of  them  the  Suevi,  who 
wandered  far  and  wide,  imd  occupied  at  different  times  Swe- 
den, Switzerland,  and  Swabia,  where  their  descendants  bear 
their  name ;  while  another  part  of  the  tribe  settled  in  northern 

*  Kombst,  in  Johnttan*$  Phffiiedl  AUat;  Sharon  Turner;  Latham; 
BatK^inaoni  Herodotui* 

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l66  THE  TEUTON  RACE. 

Spain.  Of  them,  too,  were  the  Angehi  or  Saxons  on  the 
coast  of  the  North  Sea,  and  the  great, tribe  of  Allemanni 
on  the  upper  Rhine. 

It  would  seem  that  a  great  migration  took  place  of  the 
races  called  from  their  present  locality  Scandinavian,  or 
Northern,  but  who  certainly  came  from  the  East,  to  occupy 
the  northern  peninsulas.  They  were  the  purest  and  most 
high  spirited  of  the  whole  race,  and  carried  victory  with 
them. 

If,  which  is  very  doubtful,  the  people  whom  they  found  ia 
Scandinavia  were  Groths,  the  main  body  of  that  tribe,  as  well 
as  the  Slavonian  race  <^  Wends,  were  impelled  to  the  South 
again,  and  took  up  their  abode  in  eastern  Europe.  Here  it 
was  that  these- Groths  took  their  historic  titles  of  Visigoths, 
Ostrogoths,  and  Maesogoths ;  and  the  Gbspels  were  translated 
into  the  language  now,  by  way  of  distinction,  called  Mseso- 
gothic,  or  Grothic. 

A  Slavonic  incursion  from  the  East  drove  the  Goths  down 
upon  the  Roman  ^npire,  whose  exhausted  forces  no  longer 
availed  to  stem  the  tide ;  the  barrier  was  swept  away,  and 
Blyria,  Italy,  and  northern  Africa  were  .mastered  by  the 
Goths.  Another  tribe,  the  Windiler,  or  Yandak,  whose 
lineage  is  less  clear,  spread  round  the  Alps  and  into  Spain, 
and  were  there  conquered  by  the  Goths,  though  they  con- 
quered the  Goths  in  Africa.  In  one  last  flash  of  Roman 
valour,  Belisarius  recovered  Africa  from  the  Vandals,  and 
Italy  from  the  Groths ;  but  more  Vandals  came  on,  by  name 
the  Longbeards,  straight  from  Jutland  to  northern  Italy, 
whence  their  merchant  sons  have  carried  the  term  Lombard 
into  all  quarters  of  the  world;  and  other  families  settling 
in  the  vidleys  of  Switzerland  and  on  the  Rhine  were  known 
as  Burgunder,  from  living  in  burghs  or  towns.  All  these 
seem  to  have  spoken  the  tongue  represented  by  the  Mseso- 
gothic  Bible  of  Ulfilas. 

The  Franks  meanwhile  had  overflowed  Gaul,  settling  most 

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THE  TRIBES  OP  TEUTONS.  1 67 

ihicUj  in  the  centre,  leaving  the  Kelts  unsubdued  in  Ar- 
oMMrica,  and  only  using  the  Roman  settlements  in  Provence 
as  plundering  ground  for  summer  forays.  They  extended 
&r  back  into  central  Europe,  as  the  name  of  Frankland,  or 
Franconia,  testifies  to  the  present  day;  and  they,  as  well  as 
the  Allemanner  and  Schwaben,  spoke  a  dialect  that  had 
parted  &om  the  Msesogothic,  and  is  now  known  to  philologists 
aj  old  High  German. 

The  Frisians,  or  Angeln,  occupied  the  country  about  the 
Elbe  and  Weser,  and  were  gradually  peopling  southern  Bri- 
tain, known  from  them  as  England ;  while  individual  coun- 
ties, both  there  and  on  the  Continent,  took  their  designation 
from  Seaxen,  or  Saxon,  the  name  diat  other  nations  gave 
to  this  people.^  Their  tongue  was  what  is  called  old  Low 
Qerman. 

The  Franks  were  the  first  of  these  tribes  to  rise  into  emi- 
nence. While  the  Goths  of  Spain  had  grown  demoralized, 
and  had  been  driven  into  their  farthest  comer  by  the  Moors 
of  Africa,  the  Franks  had  learnt  civilization  from  their  Ro- 
manized subjects  ;  and  under  their  great  leader,  Charle- 
magne, subdued  the  Lombards  and  many  of  the  continental 
Saxons,  protected  Rome,  and  established  that  Holy  Roman 
Empire  that  long  continued  the  care  of  the  whole  European 
system. 

The  empire  attached  itself  to  the  central  focus  of  the 
race,  that  region  which  called  itself  by  the  old  national 
name  of  Deutschland ;  and  when  the  Frank  royal  line  became 
effete,  the  imperial  crowns  passed  to  the  Swabiand,  and  in 
turn  to  the  Saxons,  and  to  all  the  principalities  held  together 
in  that  league  which  calls  itself  Deutsch,  while  we  know  it  by 
the  old  Latin  title  of  the  people — German.  Their  language 
fen  into  the  modem  German  as  we  now  know  it. 

*  It  is  a  oontroTerted  point  whether  these  two  names  belonged  to  sepa- 
rate tribes.  At  any  rate,  the  difference  between  their  language  and  habits 
cannot  be  detected  from  the  remains  in  our  hands. 

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1 68  THE  TEUTON  RACE. 

England  meantime  formed  her  yariety  of  Low  (jerman  into 
what  is  called  Anglo-Saxon,  while  Frisian  and  Dutch  repre- 
sented it  on  the  Continent.  The  small  English  kingdoms 
had  coalesced  into  one  about  the  time  of  the  establishment 
of  the  Frank  empire,  and  shortly  afterwards  began  the 
northern  inroads,  when  hordes  of  pirates  from  Scandinayia 
came  sometimes  to  deyastate,  sometimes  to  settle  on,  the 
whole  western  seaboard  of  Europe. 

They  seized  all  the  isles  north  and  west  of  Scotland ;  dis- 
puted the  soil  of  Ireland  with  the  Kelts,  rendering  them- 
selves an  appreciable  element  in  the  population ;  they  sup- 
plied the  &rst  princely  dynasty  to  Slayonic  MuscoVy;  and 
filled  the  northern  counties  of  England,  and  the  province  of 
Neustria  in  France.  There,  joining  themselves  to  the  (jallic 
population,  they  enabled  it  to  gain  the  preponderance  over 
the  worn-out  Franks,  and  establish  a  national  monarchy, 
from  which,  however,  they  kept  themselves  distinct;  and, 
having  acquired  a  tinge  of  Gallic  civilization,  went  forth 
again  to  be  conquerors  of  Sicily  and  England ;  and  it  was 
owing  to  their  influence  that  our  language  passed  from  its 
Anglian  to  its  English  form. 

The  Scandinavian  tongue,  with  few  external  influences,  de- 
veloped into  Norse,  Danish,  and  Icelandic,  of  which  the  last 
is  the  eldest  and  purest. 

In  this  way  it  came  to  pass  that  though  the  population  of 
the  southern  lands  of  Europe  was  (^efly  of  the  nations  sub- 
dued by  the  Romans,  and  their  speech  broken  Latin,  yet 
their  royalty  and  nobility  had  in  every  case  been  once  Teu- 
tonic, and  their  traditions  and  nomenclature  were  chiefly  of 
the  Teuton  class,  so  much  so,  that  almost  all  the  royal  lines 
of  Europe  are  fair ;  and  in  the  countries  where  the  population 
is  dark,  fair  hair  is  considered  as  the  token  of  gentle  blood.** 

*  Max  Holler,  Lectures  on  Language  ;  Eombst;  Latl^am,  Handbook  of 
English  Language;  Adams,  ElemenU  of  English;  PrLohardl,  History  of 
Man, 


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TEUTONIC  NOMENCLATURE.  1 69 


SBcmoN  in. — Teutonic  Nmendatwe. 

NolUng  shows  the  identity  of  the  entire  Teutonic  race 
more  than  the  resemblance  of  the  names  in  each  of  the 
iHranches.  Many  are  fomid  in  each  of  the  stems — Gothic^ 
Scandinavian,  and  High  and  Low  German — ^the  same  in 
sense,  and  with  mere  dialectic  changes  in  somid,  proving 
themselves  to  have  sprang  from  a  name,  or  from  words, 
current  in  the  original  tribe  before  the  varioos  families 
parted  from  it.  Others  are  fonnd  in  some  branches  and 
not  in  others ;  but  there  are  comparatively  very  few  belong*- 
ing  to  a  single  tongue,  and  the  analyzation  of  one  into  its 
component  words  is  never  safe  till  the  same  name  has  been 
sought  for  in  the  cognate  languages.  All  the  more  popular 
of  these  personal  names  have  gone  on  a  little  in  the  rear  of 
the  spoken  language  of  the  country,  undergoing  changes, 
though  somewhat  more  slowly.  Then,  perhaps,  some  famous 
character  has,  as  it  were,  crystallized  his  name  for  ever  in 
the  form  in  which  he  bore  it,  and  it  has  been  so  continued, 
ever  after,  in  his  own  country,  as  well  as  imitated  by  others, 
who  often  have  adopted  it  in  addition  to  their  own  original 
national  form  of  the  very  same. 

The  Teutonic  names  were  almost  all  compounds  of  two 
words.  Sometimes  they  used  a  single  word,  but  this  was 
comparatively  rare.  For  the  most  part,  families  were  dis- 
tinguished by  each  person  bearing  the  same  first  syllable, 
with  other  words  added  to  it  to  mark  the  individual,  much  in 
the  same  way  as  we  have  seen  was  the  custom  of  the  Greeks. 
Scnne  fSEumlies,  like  the  royal  line  of  Wessez,  would  alternate 
between  iEIthel  and  Ead;  others  between  Os  and  Sieg  and 
the  like.  The  original  compounds  forming  names  were  ex- 
pressive and  well  chosen ;  but  it  seems  as  if  when  once  cer- 
tain words  had  come  into  use  as  component  parts  of  names, 
they  were  apt  to  be  put  together  without  much  heed  to  theii 

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170  THE  TEUTON  BACE. 

appropriateness  or  signification,  sometimes  with  rather  droll 
results.  Their  names  were  individual,  but  every  man  was 
also  called  the  son,  every  woman  the  daughter  of  her  father ; 
a  custom  that  has  not  passed  away  from  some  parts  of  Nor- 
way, the  Hebrides,  or  even  the  remoter  parts  of  Lancashire, 
where,  practically  the  people  use  no  surnames.  A  family  was 
further  collectively  spoken  of  by  the  ancestor's  or  father's 
name,  with  the  addition  of  ingy  the  diminutive ;  aa,  in  France, 
the  sons  of  Meervig  were  the  Meerwingen ;  the  sons  of  Earl, 
the  Earlingen,  not  Merovingians  and  Garlovingians,  as  Latin- 
ism  has  barbarously  made  them.  Remarkable  features,  or  dis- 
tinguished actions,  often  attached  soubriquets  to  individuals, 
and  these  passed  on,  marking  off  families  in  the  genealogical 
minds  of  the  Scallds ;  and  from  these  derivations,  as  well  as 
from  the  fertile  source  of  territorial  terms,  have  most  of  our 
modem  surnames  arisen. 

The  words  whence  names  were  compounded  were  usually 
the  names  of  deities  and  those  of  animals,  together  with 
epithets,  or  terms  of  office,  generally  conveying  good  augu- 
ries. They  were  usually  connected  with  some  great  hero 
belonging  to  the  various  cycles  of  myth,  in  which  the  Teuton 
imagination  revelled,  and  which,  for  the  most  part,  under 
Christian  influence,  descended  firom  the  divine  to  the  heroic, 
and  then  to  the  fairy  tale. 

These  Teutonic  centres  of  legend  may  be  considered  as 
threefold.  There  is  the  great  Scandinavian  mythological 
system,  as  elaborate  and  poetical  as  that  of  the  Greeks,  and 
which  belonged  in  part,  at  least,  to  the  Goths,  Franks,  and 
Saxons,  though  their  early  conversion  gave  it  five  hundred 
years  less  of  development,  and  Louis  le  Debonnaire  unfortu- 
nately destroyed  the  poetry  that  would  have  shown  us  what 
it  had  been  amon^  them^ 

Next,  there  is  the  cycle  of  Romance,  represented  in  Scan- 
dinavia by  the  latter  part  of  the  elder  Edda  and  by  the 
Yolsunga  Saga,  in  Denmark  by  the  Yilkina  Saga,  and  in  the 

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TEUTONIC  NOMENCLATURE.  1 7 1 

centre  of  Europe  by  the  Nibelungenlied,  where  old  myths 
haye  become  heroic  tales  that  have  himg  themselves  round 
the  names  of  AttUa  the  Hun  and  Theodoric  of  Verona,  who 
in  Germany  is  the  centre  of  a  great  number  of  ancient 
I^ndS|  once  doubtless  of  deified  ancestors. 

Thirdly,  we  have  the  grand  poetical  world,  in  which 
Charlemagne  has  been  adopted  as  the  soyereign,  and  Boland 
as  the  hero — ^the  world  of  French  romance,  Spanish  ballad, 
and  Italian  poetry,  which  is  to  continental  chivalry  what  the 
Round  Table  is  to  our  own. 


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172 


CHAPTER  n. 

NAMES  7B0M  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGT. 

Section  L — ChUh. 

It  is  hard  to  class  this  first  class  of  names  under  those  of 
mythology,  for  they  bear  in  them  our  own  honoured  word  for 
divinity ;  and  though  some  arose  when  the  race  were  worship- 
pers of  false  deities,  yet  under  the  same  head  are  included 
many  given  in  a  Christian  spirit. 

Some  philologists  tell  us,  though  they  are  not  unanimous 
in  the  explanation,  that  this  name  is  firom  the  same  source 
as  the  Sanscrit  SvadcUa^  self-given  or  uncreate,  and  as  the 
Zend  Quadatay  Persian  Khoda^  and  our  own  Teuton  term  for 
Deity — the  Northern  Chid  and  Gothic  Q-uthy  whence  the 
High  German  Cot  and  Low  German  Q-od.  Others  explain  it 
as  the  creating  or  all-pervading.  Others,  again,  derive  it 
firom  ody  possession,  and  in  early  Christian  times  there  was 
a  distinction  between  God  (mas.)  and  the  neuter  god^  an 
idol.  It  is  equally  doubtful  whether  this  divine  word  be  the 
origin  of  the  adjective  gvihj  gtUj  cuoty  gode.  Whether  they 
are  only  cognate,  or  whether  they  are  absolutely  alien,  and 
Ae  adjective  be  related  to  the  Greek  ayatfo?,  wherever  ihey 
come  from,  the  names  derived  firom  either  God  or  good  are  so 
much  alike,  as  to  be  inextricably  mixed,  so  that  they  must  be 
treated  of  together. 

The  great  leading  race  seem  to  have  called  themselves  the 
good — Gutans  in  Gothic,  Euzun  in  high  German,  and  Getai 
in  ancient  Greece,  when  they  were  the  near  neighbours  of 
Thrace,  and  supplied  so  many  slaves  to  Ghreece  and  Rome 
that  Geta  is  the  stock  name  for  a  slave  in  the  comedies  of 
Terence.     Whether  these  are  the  same  race  as  the  Gautsoc 

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auTH.  173 

Qattones,  who  once  dwdt  on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  who 
named  Gotha,  and  have  descendants  in  Swedish  Gothland,  is 
a  knotty  point  on  which  the  learned  are  at  variance ;  but  what 
is  matter  of  certainty  is  their  settlement  on  the  Danube ; 
dieir  cony^rsion  to  Arianism ;  their  translation  of  the  Gros- 
pels,  onr  standard  for  their  language ;  their  conquest  of  Italy 
and  Spain ;  their  perishing  from  the  one  country,  and  long 
trial  beneath  the  Moorish  yoke  in  the  other,  imtil  at  length 
th^  triumphed  as  the  dominant  nobility,  though  with  a 
mixed  population  under  them.  With  the  Romance  nations, 
Goths  were  almost  synonymous  with  barbarians,  and  even 
now  gotico  and  goihique  are  Italian  and  French  terms  for  the 
mde  and  antiquated ;  though  of  late  Gothic  architecture  has 
re-asserted  its^daim  to  be  the  good — ^nay,  the  divine  form  of 
the  art. 

In  the  Anglo-Saxon  genealogies,  that  are  a  sort  of  repre- 
sentation of  the  supposed  connection  of  the  tribes,  Geat 
stands  seven  above  Seaznot,  where  our  own  stem  branches 
o£f ;  and  his  son  is  Godwulf,  which  is  still  a  surviving  name 
in  Norway  as  Gudolv,  divine  wol£ 

The  North  is  the  great  region  of  these  names ;  but  they  are 
not  very  easy  to  distinguish  from  the  very  large  class  begin- 
ning with  gund,  war,  as  in  pronunciation,  and  latterly  in 
spelling,  the  distinctive  letters,  n  and  Uy  get  confounded  or 
dropped. 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  among  those  from  Ghud  we 
may*place  Gudhr,  which  waa  owned  by  one  of  the  Valkyre, 
Ae  battle  maids  of  northern  bdief,  and  must,  with  her,  have 
meant  the  brave,  or  the  goddess ;  Guda  was  known  in  Scan- 
dinavia; and  G^ermany  used  the  name,  till  it  was  translated 
into  Bona  and  Bonne,  and  thus  passed  away. 

In  the  northern  version  of  the  Nibelv/agen^  the  second 
heroine  is  Gudnma.  The  last  syllable  means  wisdom,  or 
counsel ;  it  is  the  same  as  ntm^  the  old  northern  writing, 
and  alludes  to  the  wisdom  that  Odin  won  at  so  dear  a  rate. 

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174  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

Gudnina  may  then  be  translated  divine  wisdom,  a  name  well 
suited  to  the  inspired  priestesses,  so  highly  regarded  by  the 
Teutons.  It  was  very  common  in  the  NorUi ;  eighteen  ladies 
so  called  appear  in  the  Icelandic  Landnama;  and  it  was  so 
uniyersal  there,  that  Johann  and  Gudruna  there  stand  for 
man  and  woman,  like  our  N  ot  M.  In  Norway,  likewise, 
Qudruna  is  common;  and,  near  Trondjem,  is  contracted  into 
Guru;  about  Bergen,  into  Gum  or  Gero.  High  German 
tongues  rendered  it  Eutrun. 

The  Landnama-boky  which  gives  all  the  pedigrees  of  the 
free  inhabitants  of  Iceland  for  about  four  hundred  years, 
namely,  from  the  migration  to  the  twelfth  centctry,  gives  us 
Gudbrand,  divine  staff,  now  commonly  called  Gulbrand; 
Gudbiorg,  divine  protection;  Gudiskalkr,  God's  servant,  or 
scholar,  which  is  the  very  same  as  Godeskalk,  the  name 
assumed  by  the  first  Christian  prince  of  the  Wends  of 
Mecklenburg,  who  was  martyred  by  his  heathen  subjects, 
and  thus  rendered  Gottschalk  a  German  Christian  name ;  in 
niyrian,  Go^alak ;  and  known  even  in  Italy  as  Godiscaloo, 
just  like  Gildas  or  Theodoulos.  Gudleif  is  feminine,  Gudleifr 
masculine  for  a  divine  relic ;  and  this  last  coming  to  England 
with  the  Danes,  turned  into  a  surname  as  Gulleiv,  then  short- 
ened into  Gulley,  and  lengthened  into  Gulliver— a  veritable, 
though  quaint  surname  for  the  Lemuel  Gulliver  whom  Swift 
conducts  through  Laputa  and  Brobdignag,  with  coolness 
worthy  of  northern  forefathers. 

Gudleik,  divine  service,  is,  perhaps,  repeated  by  our  St. 
Guthlac ;  but  both  these  may  come  from  ffund.  Gudmund 
contracts  into  Gulmund,  divine  protection.  Five  ladies  called 
Gudny  appear,  which  latter  termination  is  a  common  femi- 
nine form,  and  comes  from  the  same  word  as  our  new.  If  an 
adjective,  it  would  mean  young  and  pretty;  if  a  noun,  it 
stands  for  the  new  moon,  a  very  graceful  name  for  a  woman. 
Ghmi  is  the  contraction  used  in  the  North. 

Gudfinn  and  Gudfinna  must  be  reminiscences  of  Finn, 
whom  we  shall  often  meet  in  the  North.    jGrudridi  and  Gud- 

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GUTH.  175 

ridor  mean  the  divine  shock  or  passion,  from  the  word  hrid 
or  hrith,  one  that  is  constantly  to  be  met  with,  as  a  termina- 
tion, in  northern  names,  and  which  has  sometimes  been  taken 
for  the  same  eajfridy  with  the  aspirate  instead  of  the/.  Gnri 
is  the  contraction. 

Gndveig's  latter  syllable  would  naturally  connect  itself 
with  the  vngy  war,  that  is  found  in  all  the  Gothic  tongues ; 
but  Professor  Munch  translates  it  as  liquid — divine  liquor — 
the  same  meaning  as  Gudlaug  and  the  masculine  Gudlaugr^ 
lauffy  firom  2a,  liquor,  or  the  sea.  Divine  sea^  would  be  a  noble 
meaning  for  the  Gulla  or  GoUaa  to  which  Gudlaug  is  com- 
monly reduced  in  Norway. 

Oudvar  is  divine  prudence  or  caution,  the  last  part  being 
our  word  ware;  in  fact,  every  combination  of  the  more 
dignified  words,  was  used  with  this  prefix  in  the  North,  and 
it  was  probably  the  Danes  who  introduced  this  commence- 
ment into  England,  for  we  do  not  find  such  in  pedigrees 
before  the  great  irruption  in  Ethebed  I.'s  time. 

In  spite  of  the  romantic  story  of  Earl  Godwine's  rise  into 
honour  from  acting  as  a  guide  to  a  Danish  chief,  it  is  certain 
that  he  was  of  an  honourable  family,  of  Danish  connection,  and 
thus  he  probably  obtained  his  name,  which  would  mean  God's 
beloved,  and  thus  translate  Theophilos.  Few  are  recorded  in 
history  as  bearing  the  same ;  but  there  must  have  been  some 
to  transmit  the  frequent  surname  of  Godwin  and  Goodwin, 
the  latter  connected  to  our  minds  with  the  Groodwin  sands, 
which  were  really  once  the  estate  of  the  ambitious  earL 
Godin  is  the  remains  of  the  same  in  French.  It  is  found  at 
Cambrai,  in  1065,  belonging  to  the  ^  Echanson  d'Ostrevant.' 
The  old  French  word  godeau  meant  a  cup,  and,  as  Godin 
soon  became  a  surname  of  a  family  which  carried  a  cup  in 
their  arms,  there  might  have  been  a  double  allusion  to  the 
ofBce  of  the  ancestor  and  to  the  sound  of  the  name.  Godine 
and  Godinette  were  also  in  use  there,  but  were  considered  as 
fieminines  to  Goderic — a  v«y  old  word,  which,  strange  to  say, 
was,  at  Cambrai,  equivalent  to  fain^tU^  or  *ne'er  do  wed/  it 


176  NAMES  FBOM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

must  be  gnpposed  in  aUusion  to  some  particularly  discredit- 
able Goderic,  as  eyerywhere  else  it  signifies  divine  ruler. 
Our  own  St  Groderic  was  an  Anglo-Saxon  abbot,  and  the 
name,  which  means  divine  rule,  grew  so  common  among  the 
English,  that  the  Norman  nobles  called  Henry  I.  and  his 
Queen,  Godric  and  Grodiya,  in  derision  of  the  lady's  English 
blood.  Groderic  does,  indeed,  swarm  in  Domesday  Book,  and 
has  left  the  surname  Goderich. 

*  The  woman  of  a  thousand  summers  back, 
Godiya,  wife  to  that  grim  Earl  who  ruled 
At  Ooyentry,' 

really  existed,  and  was  probably  Godgifu,  the  gift  of  God, 
like  Dorothea,  as  ive  or  eva  was  the  Norman  rendering  of 
gifu.  Her  namesakes  are  in  multitudes  in  Domesday,  and, 
in  1070,  one  liyed  in  Terouenne,  a  pious  lady,  tormented, 
and  at  last  murdered,  by  her  husband,  on  which  account  she 
was  canonized  as  St.  Godeleya. 

The  High  Germans,  howeyer,  made  far  more  use  of  thia 
commencement,  and  won  for  it  the  chief  honour.  The  elder 
forms  are  according  to  the  harsh  old  Grerman  sounds — Cbto- 
hdm^  diyine  helmet,  Cotahramn,  diyine  rayen,  Cotalintj  diyine 
serpent!  But  the  more  uniyersal  spelling  preyaUed,  as 
Frankish  or  Allemannic  saints  came  into  honour.  Gotthard, 
bishop  of  Hildesheim,  was  one  of  these.  His  name,  which 
may  be  rendered  diyine  resolution,  or,  perhaps,  firm  through 
Gbd,  was  also  borne  by  Godard,  abbot  of  Rouen,  and  has 
adhered  to  the  great  mountain  pass  of  the  Alps,  as  well  as  to 
families  of  Godard  in  France,  Goddard  in  England.  In 
Germany  it  is  still  used  as  a  Christian  name;  and  in 
Lithuania  is  Gattinsch,  Gedderts,  or  Eodders. 

Glottfrid,  diyine  peace,  was  abbot  of  St.  Quentin  early  in 
the  eleyenth  century,  and  named  two  godsons,  the  canonized 
bishop  of  Ami^s,  and  the  far  more  famous  Gott&ied  of  Lor- 
raine, who  might  weU^  as  leader  of  the  crusading  camp,  be- 

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GUTH. 


177 


qiieath  his  name  to  all  the  nations  whose  representatives 
fought  under  him,  and  thus  we  find  it  everywhere.  In  Flo- 
rence it  has  become  Giotto,  to  distinguish  the  artist  who  gave 
us  Dante's  face ;  in  Germany,  cut  down  into  Goetz,  it  dis- 
tmguished  the  terrible,  though  simple  hearted,  champion 
with  the  iron  hand,  then,  falling  into  a  surname,  belonged  to 
Goethe.  We  received  our  Godfrey  from  the  conqueror  of 
Jerusalem,  but  previously  the  Grottfried  had  been  taken  up 
by  the  French,  and  was  much  used  by  the  Angevin  counts  in 
the  gallicized  form  of  Geoffiroi.  Geoffroi  Grise-goimelle,  a 
title  fit  for  a  wicked  giant  in  sound,  was,  however,  only  so 
called  from  his  grey  gown,  and  in  ajtemation  with  Foulques, 
the  name  continued  among  the  Angevins  till  they  came  to  the 
English  throne ;  and  then  Jafirez,  as  the  Bretons  called  the 
young  husband  of  their  duchess  Constance,  was  excited  to 
rebellion  by  the  Proven9als  as  Jaffre.  Geoffrey  spread 
among  the  English,  and  the  Latinizers  made  it  into  Gald- 
fridus,  which  misled  Camden  into  translating  it  into  Glad- 
peace. 


English. 

Godfrey 
Geoffrey 
Jeffrey 
Jeff 

Breton. 
Jaffi*ez 

French. 

Godefroi 
Godafrey 
Geoffroi 
Jeoffroi 

Italian. 
Goffredo 
Godofredo 
Giotto 

Spanish. 
Godofredo 
Gofredo 

German. 
Gottfried 

Gatz 

Godel 

Polish. 
Godfrid 

Frido 
Fridko 

Dutch. 
Govert 

Besides  these,  Germany  has  Godegisel,  divine  pledge; 
Godebert  and  Grodeberta,  divine  brightness ;  and  Gottwald, 
divine  power :  repeated  in  Provence  by  Jaubert,  or  Joubert. 

Germany  also  has  a  Grottleip,  the  same  with  the  old  Anglo- 


VOL.  IL 


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178  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

Saxon  Guthlaf,  meaning  the  leavings  of  God,  or  remains 
of  Divinity,  but  which  has  been  made  in  modem  German 
into  Gottlieb,  or  love,  and  contracted  in  Lower  Lusatia  into 
Lipo;  in  Dantzic,  into  Lipp.  There  are  several  of  these 
modem  devotional  German  names,  such  as  Grottlob,  the  veiy 
same  in  meaning  as  belonged  to  the  Speaker  of  the  Rump, 
Praise  God  Barebones^  but  has  been  continued  as  Lopo,  or 
Lopko,  in  Lusatia.  Li  fact,  the  Moravians  use  these  appella- 
tions, and  thus  we  have  the  modem  coinage  of  Gottgetreu, 
Gotthilf,  and  GotthUfe,  and  even  of  Grottsei-mit-dir,  much 
like  the  Diotisalvi  of  Italy,  but  not  without  parallel  among 
the  early  Christians. 

The  Spanish  Goths  left  behind  them  Guzman,  once  either 
divine  might  {magen)^  or  Man  of  God.  Guzman  el  Bueno 
was  an  admirable  early  Spaniard,  who  beheld  his  own  son 
beheaded  rather  than  surrender  the  town  committed  to  his 
keeping.  It  became  a  sumame,  and  it  may  be  remembered 
how  Queen  Elizabeth  played  with  that  of  Philip  11. 's  envoy, 
when  she  declared  that  if  the  king  of  Spain  had  sent  her  a 
gooseman,  she  had  sent  him  a  man-goose. 

Another  old  form  taken  by  this  word  was  Geata,  or  Gautr. 
It  was  used  as  an  epithet  of  Odin,  and  has  been  explained  by 
some  to  mean  the  keeper,  and  be  derived  from  geata^  to  keep; 
but  it  is  far  more  likely  that  it  is  only  another  pronunciation 
of  the  same  term  for  the  All-pervader  or  Creator. 

Gautr  is  sometimes  a  forefather,  sometimes  a  son  of  Odin ; 
and  there  is  a  supposed  name — father,  Gaut,  for  the  Groths  of 
Sweden,  whether  they  are  the  same  as  the  Goths  of  Italy  and 
Spain  or  not. 

In  this  form,  Gaut  had  its  own  brood  of  derivatives,  chiefly 
in  Sweden,  but  with  a  few  straying  into  Grermany ;  such  as 
Grosswin,  divine  friend,  and  Gossbert,  in  Proven9al  Joubert, 
Gossfried,  which  may  be  the  right  source  of  Geoffrey. 

The  most  noted  of  all  is,  however,  Gtotzstaf,  or  Gozstaf, 
meaning  either  the  divine  staff*,  or  the  staff*  of  the  Gbths. 

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GUTH. 


179 


Twice  has  it  been  endeared  to  the  Swedes;  first,  by  the 
braye  man  who  deliyered  the  conntry  from  the  bondage  of 
the  union  of  Gahnar,  and  whose  adventures  in  Dalecarlia, 
like  those  of  Bruce  in  Scotland,  were  more  attaching  than 
even  his  success.  Him  the  country  calls  affectionately 
*  G-amle  Kong  Q-ostay  and  no  less  was  its  loye  and  pride  in 
his  noble  descendant,  ^  the  Lion  of  the  North,  the  bulwark  of 
the  Protestant  faith,'  who  casts  the  only  gleam  of  brightness 
over  the  dull  waste  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  Thus  it  is 
no  wonder  that  so  many  bear  his  name,  Gustav,  Grosta, 
Gjosta,  that  it  is  considered  in  the  North  as  the  national 
nickname  of  a  Swede,  and  it  has  the  feminine  Gustava. 

For  our  misfortune  it  grew  eminent  in  the  obtuse  days  of 
classical  taste,  and  so  we  murder  it  by  putting  a  Latin  tail 
to  it. 


English. 
GuBtavUB 

French. 
GuBtave     ' 

Italian. 
Gustavo 

Swedish. 

GozBtav 
GuBtav 
Gosto 
Gjoflta 

German. 
GuBtef 

Lett 

Guatavs 
Gusto 

Esthonian. 
EuBtav 
EuBtas 

After  all,  it  is  no  small  testimony  to  a  man's  renown  to 
have  his  name  borne  to  so  many  lips  that  cannot  frame  it 
aright,  and  but  for  him  would  never  have  known  it.  Sweden 
likewise  had  her  (Jauta,  Gautrek^  Gautulf,  but  with  none  of 
them  has  language  played  any  tricks.^ 

*  Grimm ;  Turner ;  Dasent ;  Bawlinson ;  Monch ;  MaUet ;  Butler ; 
Pott;  Michaelis;  Ellis,  Pomtftclay ;  Landnama-bok* 


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1 80  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 


Section  n. — The  Aasir. 

Tacitus  tells  us  that  the  supreme  god  of  the  Germans  was 
called  Esus  or  Hesus,  and  though  some  have  thought  he 
meant  the  Keltic  Hu,  it  is  far  more  likely  Ijiat  he  had  heard 
the  word  as  or  ces^  the  favourite  Teutonic  term  for  their 
divinities. 

Old  Etruria  called  a  god  ces  or  ais,  in  the  plural  tzed^  and 
isten  is  the  Magyar  term,  so  that  it  is  plain  that  is  or  es 
must  originally  have  been  a  universal  word  meaning  deity, 
and  not  as  some  have  supposed,  solely  Teutonip,  and  thus 
indicating  the  migration  from  Asia.  The  word  is  known 
in  all  the  Teutonic  languages :  it  is  as,  aasir ,  in  the  North,  os, 
es  in  Anglo-Saxon,  and  anseis  or  ensi  in  Gothic  and  High 
German.  Jomandes  tells  us  that  the  Goths  called  their  deified 
ancestors  anses^  but  it  is  only  in  the  North  that  the  pantheon 
of  the  race  was  so  developed  ttat  we  can  follow  it  out. 

The  Aasir  are  in  northern  myth  a  family  like  the 
Olympian  gods  of  Greece ;  they  inhabit  Valhalla,  and  there 
receive  the  spirits  of  the  worthy  dead,  to  feast  and  hunt  with 
them  till  the  general  battle  and  final  ruin  of  all  things,  when 
a  new  and  perfect  world  shall  arise. 

Blended  with  this  notion  there  is  a  grand  allegory  of  the 
contention  between  the  seasons.  The  Aasir,  or  sunmier 
gods,  are  always  struggling  with  the  Hrimthusir,  or  frost 
powers,  and  winning  the  victory  over  them. 

And  further,  the  tradition  of  a  migration  from  the  warmer 
East,  and  of  the  battles  with  the  aborigines,  is  mixed  up  in 
the  legends,  and  the  Aasir  are  a  band  of  heroic  settlers  from 
Asgard  or  Asia,  who  fix  themselves  in  Europe,  and  become 
the  ancestors  of  all  the  various  races  of  Teutons. 

So  speaks  the  Udda  and  the  various  sagas  of  the  North ; 
and  though  the  poetry  and  legends  of  the  other  nations  have 
not  come  down  ta  us,  their  use  of  the  names  formed  from 

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THE  AASm.  1 8 1 

<w,  08^  ans,  testifies  to  their  regard  for  the  term  as  conveying 
the  idea  of  deity. 

To  begin  with  the  North,  where  the  pronunciation  is  the 
purest,  the  word  in  the  singular  is  aaSj  in  the  plural,  aasir  or 
aesir,  and  the  older  form  of  all  these  names  began  with  the 
aa,  though  usually  spelt  with  a  single  a  in  Norsk  and 
Icelandic,  with  an  e  in  Danish.  And  let  it  be  remembered 
throughout,  that  the  Northern  oa  is  pronounced  like  our  o. 

The  Low  Grermans  change  the  aas  into  oSy  and  in  this  way 
most  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  continental  German  names 
commence. 

^fw,the  High  German  and  Gothic  form, occurs  in  the  Frank, 
Lombardic,  and  Gothic  names.  Asgaut  or,  as  the  Saxons  call 
it,  Osgod,  and  Asgrim,  are  both  reduplications  of  divinity. 

Asa  appears  in  the  Landnama-hok^  and  Aasir,  the  collec- 
tive term  for  the  gods,  is  used  in  Norway  as  a  name,  cor- 
rupted into  Asser,  or  0zer,  perhaps  the  source  of  the  name 
Aissur,  assumed  by  Geraint  Glas  at  Alfred's  court,  and  like- 
wise suggesting  the  Azor  used  by  the  French  for  genii  and 
lap-dogs.  It  is  probably  the  same  with  Esa,  the  ancestor  of 
the  Bemician  kings,  who  may  have  used  '  Os '  in  compliment 
to  him.  Aasketyl  is  the  divine  kettle  or  cauldron,  probably 
connected  with  creation.  It  was  usually  called  in  the  North 
Askjell,  and  has  the  feminine  Askatla.  Oscetyl,  as  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  spelt  it,  was  used  by  them  in  Danish  times,  when  one 
of  the  marauders  terribly  tormented  them ;  and  it  is  given  to 
the  ^  bantling'  said  to  have  been  found  in  the  eagle's  nest,  as 
in  the  Stanley  and  Latham  crest ;  but  Frank  pronunciation 
so  affected  the  Normans,  that  they  brought  in  the  name  as 
Ansketil;  and  a  person  so  called  was  settled  at  Winchester  in 
1 148.     Anquetil  is  still  a  French  surname. 

Aasbjom,  divine  bear,  is  a  queer  con^und,  and  so  is 
Aasolfr,  or  divine  wolf ;  but  as  will  be  shown  when  we  come 
to  the  beasts  themselves,  a  certain  divinity  did  hedge  about 
these  formidable  animals  in  the  days  of  name-coining  in  the 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1 8  2  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

North.  The  first  Asolfr  with  whom  I  have  met  was  a  Chris- 
tian, who,  with  twelve  companions,  was  wrecked  upon  the 
shores  of  Iceland  in  the  interval  between  its  settlement  and 
conversion.  They  erected  buildings,  resolutely  refused  all 
commerce  with  the  heathen,  and  lived  solely  on  the  produce 
of  their  fishing.  A  church  has  since  been  built  where  they 
settled.  The  name  has  fallen  into  Asulf  in  the  North,  and 
was  paralleled  by  Osulf  in  England.  As  to  the  divine  bear,  he 
had  a  wider  fame,  for  Asbiom  came  among  the  Northmen  to 
Neustria,  and  was  there  Frenchified.  An  Osbom  was  the  senes- 
chal who  was  murdered  in  the  sleeping  chamber  of  William 
in  the  stormy  days  of  the  minority  of  the  future  conqueror ; 
and  his  son,  William  Fitzosbom,  was  the  chief  friend  and  con- 
fident of  the  stem  victor  of  Hastings.  Osbom  figures  in 
Domesday,  and  has  now  become  a  common  English  sumame, 
which  used  to  be  translated  house-bom,  before  comparison  with 
the  other  tongues  had  shown  the  true  relations  of  the  word. 
Asbera  is  the  northern  feminine. 

Esbem  Snare,  or  the  swift,  the  Danish  noble,  whose  heart 
and  eyes  were  to  have  furnished  Finn's  child  with  amuse- 
ment, was  really  a  powerful  earl  at  the  end  of  the  twelfth 
century,  and  his  still  more  celebrated  twin  brother,  Bi^op 
Absalom,  was  a  great  statesman  and  warrior,  and  prompted 
Saxo  Grammaticus  to  write  his  chronicle  of  Norway.   Bishop 
Absalom  is  believed  to  have,  like  his  brother,  received  at 
baptism  one  of  the  derivatives  from  the  old  gods  of  Den- 
mark, namely,  Aslak,  the  divine  sport  or  reward,  a  name 
which  in  Denmark  and  Sweden  is  always  called  Axel,  in 
which  shape  it  belonged  to  Oxenstjema,  the  beloved  minister 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  has  ever  since  been  a  favourite 
national  name.    A^lak  is  in  the  Noi:th  pronounced  Atlak,  and 
sometimes  taken  for  the  original  Atli  in  the  Yolsunga  Saga ; 
but  this  is  far  more  probable  the  Tartar  Attalik.     We  had  a 
Bemician  Aslak  of  the  like  meaning.   Never  were  there  a  more 
noted  pair  of  twins  than  these  brothers,  of  the  bear  and  the  sport. 
Well  might  their  birth  be  first  announced  to  their  absent  father. 


THE  AASIR.  1 83 

on  his  return  to  the  isle  of  Soro,hy  twin  church  steeples,  built 
by  the  mother  to  greet  his  eyes  over  the  sea.     His  name  was 
Askar,  or  Ansgjerr,  divine  spear,  was  so  common  that  six- 
teen appear  in  the  Iceland  roll,  and  the  word  Osgar  gets  con- 
fused with  the  Keltic  Osgar,  son  of  Ossian  ;  nay,  it  may 
p^haps  have  been  his  proper  name.     A  Frank  Ansgar, 
bom   in   Picardy  about  the  year  800,  was  the  apostle  of 
Denmark,  and  afterwards  bishop   of  Hamburgh  and  Bre- 
men; he  was  canonized  as  Anscharius,.  and  is  popularly 
called  in  his  bishopric  St.  Scharies,  by  which  title  the  col- 
l^iate  church  of  Bremen  is  called.    It  is  curious  to  find 
the  Ansbrando  of  ancient  Lombardy  reflected  by  the  As- 
braadr,  divine  sword,  of  Iceland     Lombardy  had  likewise 
Anshelm,  the  divine  helmet,  softened  down  into  Anselmo  or 
Antelmo,  the  name  of  that  mild-natured  Lombardic  arch- 
bishop of  ours,  whose  constancy  cost  him  so  dear  in  his  con- 
tention with  the  furious  Rufus  and  politic  Beauclerc.     That 
firmness,  however,  together  with  his  deep  theological  writings, 
won  him  the  honours  of  sanctity,  though   it   is  only  on 
the  Continent  that  his  name  took  root;   England  had  no 
national  love  for  her  Anselm  ;  and  he  chiefly  appears  in  Italy, 
France,  and  Germany,  where  he  has  been  cut  short  as  Anso, 
endeared  as  Ensilo,  has  a  feminine  Ansa,  and  is  called  by 
the  Jews  Anschel. 

Of  other  terms  which,  like  helm^  give  the  idea  of  protec- 
tion, there  are  many ;  the  feminine  Asbjorg  or  Asburg,  divine 
fort,  is  reflected  by  the  Anglo-Saxon  Asburgha.  Asgardr, 
divine  guard,  may  be  most  probably  an  allusion  to  the  abode 
of  the  gods,  Asgard,  the  abode  to  which  the  rainbow-arch 
Bi&ost  was  the  access,  trod,  according  to  the  grand  death 
song  of  Eirikr  Blodaxe,  by  the  spirits  of  the  courageous  dead 
on  their  way  to  feast  in  the  hall  of  Odin.  As  men's  names 
appear  the  Norwegian  Asgard  and  Ansgard,  a  Winchester 
householder  in  Stephen's  time  ;  but  the  Northern  feminine 
Asgerdur  is  the  divine  maiden,  in  honour  of  the  goddess 
Q^da.    Asmundr  is  the  northern  form  of  a  favourite  name« 

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184  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

giving  the  idea  of  protecting  with  the  hand.  It  is  caUed 
Ansmunt  in  old  German,  Osmund  in  Anglo-Saxon  and  Nor- 
man-French, and  in  this  form  most  popular,  at  first  perhaps 
from  Osmond  de  Centeville,  the  brave  Norman,  who  fled 
from  Laon  with  the  young  Richard  Sans  Peur,  but  afterwards 
for  a  Norman  Osmond,  who  was  canonized  as  Bishop  of  Salis- 
bury, whence  this  form  in  England  and  Osmont  in  France  have 
continued.  Osmond  Royal,  the  flowering  fern,  was  Odin's 
sacred  plant,  growing  under  his  altars,  a  protective.  Aasvalldr, 
divine  power,  was  in  Germany  Ansvalt,  and  has  modernized  as 
Asvald ;  but  the  Anglo-Saxon  Oswald  was  the  glory  of  the 
name  in  the  Northumbrian  monarch, '  free  of  hand,'  as  even 
his  Welsh  foes  called  him,*  who  has  left  Oswald  to  be  an 
English  name.    Asvor  and  Asvora  express  divine  prudence. 

*  Aslaug,  dottur  Sigurdur  Fafhisbana,'  is  recorded  in  the 
Landnama-hoh  in  sober  earnest  as  having  married  Ragnar 
Lodbrog.  It  is  very  curious  to  see  how  legend  attaches  itself 
to  any  well  known  name,  for  if  Sigurd  and  Brynhild  were 
the  contemporaries  of  Attila  the  Hun,  Aslaug  must  have 
lived  in  the  same  magic  sleep  as  her  mother,  if  she  was 
to  be  a  wife  for  the  viking  whose  death  was  the  ruin 
of  Ella  of  Northumbria,  Alfred's  contemporary.  Northern 
legend,  however,  makes  her  be  carried  from  the  last  fatal 
battle-field  in  a  lute,  and  to  have  been  brought  up  as  a  peasant- 
maid,  called  Krake,  to  have  won  the  heart  of  Ragnar,  and 
after  several  years  of  marriage,  to  have  divulged  her  birth, 
to  be  the  wife  of  the  heroic  Ragnar,  and  thence  Fouque 
derived  the  idea  of  his  wild  emblematic  autumn  tale  of 
Ashuga^s  Knight^  and  his  devotion  to  the  fair  vision,  whose 
golden  tresses  were  ever  floating  before  him  to  draw  him  to 
the  things  unseen.  Aslaug  has  continued  in  use  among 
northern  damsels. 

Divine  legacy,  or  relic,  appears  in  Asleif,  the  English 
Oslaf.  Osney,  near  Oxford,  must  have  been  named  from 
the  northern  Aasny,  which,  with  Ashildur,  has  always  been 


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ODIN,  OR  GBImR.  185 

a  fayonrite.  Osthryth,  divine  tlireatener,  came  out  of  the 
house  of  Bemicia  into  Mercia,  where  she  was  murdered  by 
the  Danes,  and  revered  as  St.  Osyth  with  a  priory  in  her 
honour.  St.  Osyth's  spring  was  the  subject  of  some  of  the 
most  musical  and  poetical  verses  that  Crabbe  ever  wrote. 

Thoroughly  English  are  likewise  Osmod,  divine  mood  or 
wrath,  Osfrith,  divine  peace,  Osred,  divine  council,  Osgifu, 
divine  gift,  Oswine,  divine  friend,  the  third  of  the  admirable 
but  short-lived  kings  of  Bemicia;  Oswiu,  who  overthrew 
him,  was  probably  named  from  a  word  meaning  sacred,  of 
which  more  in  its  place.  Osbeorht  we  share  with  Germany, 
which  calls  it  Osbert,  and  has  the  feminine  Osberta.  In  fact, 
most  of  these  names  were  in  use  there,  beginning  with  os  or 
anSy  according  to  the  dialect  in  which  they  were  used. 
Ansgisel  was  one  of  the  Prankish  forms,  that  section  of  the 
race  always  making  much  use  of  giselj  a  pledge.* 

Section  HI. — Oditiy  or  Chimr. 

The  head  of  the  Aasir  was  Odin,  as  we  have  learned  to  call 
him  from  the  North,  which  worshipped  him  long  after  we  had 
forgotten  our  Wuotan,  except  in  the  title  of  his  day  of  the 
week.  There  are  various  opinions  as  to  the  meaning  of  his 
name,  some  making  it  come  from  the  word  for  rage ;  in  the 
North,  odhr;  in  A.  S.,  wod;  and  still  tmth  in  German ;  and 
the  adjective  umd  in  Scottish.  Others  make  it  from  0.  G., 
waian,  N.,  vathay  to  pervade,  the  title  of  the  Divinity,  as 
being  through  all  things,  in  fact,  the  same  as  Grod. 

However  this  may  be,  Odin,  in  the  higher  myths,  is  the 
All-father,  standing  at  the  head  of  Asg9.rd,  as  Zeus  does 
of  Olympus.  He  governs  all  things,  and  knows  all  things. 
He  obtained  this  mighty  influence,  says  the  JEdday  by  hang- 
ing for  nine  nights  on  the  world-tree,  Yggdrasil,  without  food 

*  Orimm;  Turner;  Munch;  Lappenberg;  MaUet;  Landnama-bok ; 
DotMiday;  Michaelifi;  Hermann  LUning,  Edda;  Hist,  of  Scandinavia; 
Jdarryat,  Jutland, 

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1 86  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

or  drink,  transfixed  with  a  spear,  as  a  self-sacrifioe.  Then 
he  looked  down  into  the  depth,  and  sank  from  the  tree  into 
it ;  but  in  the  abyss  beneath  he  drank  the  costly  poet-mead, 
and  learnt  powerful  songs,  obtaining  the  Runes,  the  beginning 
of  wisdom,  by  which  he  could  compel  to  his  will  all  nature : 
wind,  sea,  and  fire,  hate  and  love!  A  grand  though  dis- 
torted myth  is  this  of  the  veritable  sacrifice  that  gained 
^  all  power  in  heaven  and  earth.' 

A  vulgarized  version  made  the  sun  and  moon  his  eyes, 
and  said  that  the  latter  was  dim,  because  he  had  given  its 
sight  for  a  drink,  from  Mimir,  the  well  of  wisdom,  under  the 
roots  of  Yggdrasil. 

The  Runes  (run,  runar^  in  Gothic  rwfwi,)  come  from  a  word 
meaning  trust  or  wisdom :  they  are  the  impress  of  wisdom, 
and,  as  such,  came  to  be  applied  to  the  independent  northern 
letters  that  were  anciently  used  for  cutting  out  on  wood  or 
stone,  before  the  European  alphabet  so  entirely  drove  it  out, 
that  in  1 241,  the  great  historian,  Snorre  Sturleson,  lost  his 
life  &om  not  being  able  to  read  a  warning  sent  to  him  in 
Runic  writing,  that  his  sons-in-law  meant  to  assassinate  him. 
The  termination  ruuy  or  runay  so  common  in  the  Scandina- 
vian names,  is  an  allusion  to  the  wisdom  won  by  Odin, 
and  conveyed  in  writing.  Odin  and  his  brethren,  Hoemir 
and  Lodur,  found  Ask  and  Embla,  the  first  man  and  woman, 
without  sense  or  motion,  formed  the  one  from  the  ash, 
the  other  from  the  elm ;  perhaps,  Odin  gave  them  breath, 
Hoemir,  feeling,  Lodur,  blood  and  colour ;  and  Odin  has  ever 
since  ruled  over  their  ofispring,  and  received  their  courage- 
ous dead  in  his  hall  of  Valhalla,  there  to  hunt  and  banquet 
till  the  outbreak  of  the  powers  of  evil,  when,  in  the  general 
destruction,  he  will  be  devoured  by  the  wolf  Fenris. 

Coupled  with  this  entirely  divine  Odin,  there  was  the 
abiding  notion  of  ancestry  beginning  with  a  god ;  and  who- 
ever might  be  the  children  of  Ask  and  Embla,  no  one,  of 
any  nobility,  was  content  without  having  Odin  for  his  fore- 
father.   Even  when  Christianity  deth^o^g(|  (Odin  from  his 


ODIN,  OR  GBImR.  187 

place  in  Heaven,  he  was  still  retamed  as  a  heroic  ancestor ; 
and  somewhat  grotesquely,  the  old  chroniclers,  after  carry- 
ing up  their  kings  to  him,  brought  him  down  from  Noah, 
and  he  became  reduced  to  be  the  leader  of  the  great  migra- 
tion from  Asia,  while  the  gods  were  made  his  human  sons. 

The  Ynglinga  Saga,  or  history  of  the  descendants  of 
Yngvar,  is  the  chief  of  these  nationalized  legends  of  Odin, 
and  a  colony  from  Asia;  indeed  it  makes  out  such  a 
vraisemblable  account  of  settlement  and  conquest,  that  some 
historians  have  tried  to  reconcile  the  two  stories,  by  sup- 
posing that  there  was  a  real  adventurer,  who  took  the  title 
of  the  deity,  in  order  to  gain  more  influence  with  his  fol- 
lowers. But  a  comparison  of  the  course  of  fable  and 
history,  in  this  and  other  nations,  shows  that  these  are 
only  the  usual  forms  taken  by  popular  belief  descending 
firom  the  god  to  the  hero. 

Testimony  of  the  amount  of  Odin-worship  among  the 
Gothic  and  High  German  nations  is  wanting,  but  we  know 
that  it  prevailed,  to  a  considerable  degree,  among'  the  Scan- 
dinavians ;  but  though  we  go  to  them  for  legends  of  Odin, 
it  was  the  Saxon  race  who  were  specially  devoted  to  him, 
and  considered  themselves  as  under  his  tutelage.  More 
places  than  can  here  be  enumerated,  both  in  England, 
Sweden,  and  Denmark,  still  bear  his  name,  as  Wednesbury, 
Odensey,  Fuhnen,  &c.,  &c.  The  *  dawn  and  dusk  of  one 
fair  day'  of  the  week,  are  his  throughout  the  northern 
nations,  the  Onsdag  of  the  North,  Woensdag  of  the  Dutch, 
Wednesday  of  the  English,  though  the  Germans  are  con- 
tent with  Mittwoche,  and  the  South  of  Europe  calls  the 
day  after  Mercury,  with  whom  Tacitus,  and  after  him  the 
other  early  writers,  had  identified  Odin.  The  shout  of 
*Wold,  wold,  wold!'  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  a  rude 
rhyme,  sung  by  the  peasants  of  Saxon  Germany  after  cutting 
the  last  sheaf  at  harvest,  is  supposed  to  be  the  remnant  of 
some  rite  in  honour  of  Wuotan,  the  wild  huntsman,  or  Wuthen- 
desheer^  as  his  ghastly  troop  is  called  in  Germany,  is  the  last 


1 8  8  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

relic  of  faith  in  him,  and  many  poetical  terms,  in  old  Norse 
versification,  were  derived  from  him ;  but  in  comparison  vrith 
other  deities,  the  impressions  of  his  name  are  but  few ;  the 
only  plant  sacred  to  him  is  the  Osmunda  Regalis ;  the  only 
bird,  the  tiny  Tringa  Miminay  or  least  sandpiper,  which  in 
the  North  is  Odinsfugl,  Odin's  fowl. 

Nor  do  we  find  Odin  itself  forming  part  of  any  personal 
name ;  it  seems  to  have  been  avoided  as  Zeus  was  in  Greece, 
and,  to  a  greater  degree,  Jupiter  in  Rome.  But  he  had  no 
less  than  forty-nine  epithets,  all  of  which  are  rehearsed  in 
the  prose  Edda^  and  his  votaries  were  called  by  one  or  other 
of  these ;  moreover,  some  of  them  helped  the  genealogists 
in  arranging  his  descent  from  Noah. 

Finn  has  been  spoken  of  already  as  one  of  these ;  also 
Gautr,  as  one  of  the  forms  of  divinity.  Grimr  is  another, 
which  appears  to  be  obviously  interpreted  as  grim,  fierce,  but 
it  does,  in  fact,  come  from  the  old  Norse  word  grima^  a 
mask  or  helmet,  and  the  accent  marks  that  it  was  once 
pronounced  with  a  long  t.  Odin  was  probably  called  Grimr, 
meaning  the  concealed,  or  possibly  the  helmeted ;  and  though 
the  accent  has  in  general  passed  away,  the  names  beginning 
with  Grim  may  generally  be  referred  to  the  hidden  god. 
Grima  is  a  term  for  night,  because  the  sight  was  veiled. 
Grimmr,  Grimolfr,  and  Grimarr,  are  three  brothers,  one 
of  whom  can  command  the  storm ;  and  in  Anglo-Saxon, 
Grimhelm  is  the  poetic  name  for  clouds,  which  are  thus 
connected  with  the  tarn-cap,  or  helmet  of  invisibility,  that 
has  curiously  descended  from  a  grand  allegory  of  a  God  who 
hideth  himself,  first  into  a  broad-brimmed  hat  worn  by  Odin, 
and  then  into  a  mere  magic  gift  to  favoured  champions,  like 
the  Giant-killer.  In  the  JElder  Edda^  a  poem  represents 
Odin  as  visiting  the  earth  under  the  name  of  Grimner,  to 
judge  of  the  character  of  a  family  under  his  protection. 

The  cap  given  by  Mercury  to  Perseus  had  probably  run 
a  like  course  before  coming  to  the  same  use. 

Grimhild,  or  in  High  German,  Erimhild^as  originally 

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ODIN,  OR  GEImB.  189 

one  of  the  Valkyrier,  or  choosers  of  the  slain,  who  was  so 
called,  as  being  endowed  with  a  helmet  of  terror.  Hidden 
battle-maid,  or  helmeted  battle-maid,  would  be  her  fittest 
translation.  In  the  northern  version  of  the  Nihelungenliedj 
Grimhild  is  the  witch-mother  of  Sigurd's  wife,  Gudrun,  and 
performs  a  part  like  that  of  the  Oda,  or  Uta,  in  the  German 
and  Danish  versions,  in  which  the  heroine  herself  is  called 
Kriemhild,  or  Chriemhild,  and  does  her  fatal  part  in  wreaking 
revenge  for  the  murder  of  her  husband.  In  the  ballad  of 
Lady  Grimhild's  wrack,  in  the  Kcempe  Viser^  she  is  starved  to 
death  in  the  treasury.  Grimhildur  was  somewhat  used  in 
the  North,  but  nothing  was  so  fashionable  as  Grim,  who 
occurs  twenty-nine  times  in  the  Landnama-hoky  and  with 
equal  frequency  in  Domesday;  besides  that  one  of  these  Danish 
settlers,  named  Grimsby,  in  Lincolnshire. 

Grim  has,  of  course,  his  kettle,  in  the  North,  Grimketyl, 
or  Grimkjell;  in  Domesday,  Grimchel;  an  allusion,  probably, 
to  creation,  quaint  as  is  the  sound  to  our  ears.  Grimperaht, 
or  helmeted  splendour,  first  was  turned  into  Grimbert,  then 
into  the  common  German  surname  of  Grimmert.  Grimar  in 
the  North  was  Grimheri  in  Germany.  Grim  was  in  greater 
favour  as  a  prefix  in  the  High  German  dialects  than  in  the 
North,  and  chiefly  in  the  Frankish  regions. 

Grimbald,  helmeted  prince,  was  a  monk  of  St.  Omer,  trans- 
planted by  King  Alfred  to  Oxford,  in  the  hope  of  promoting 
learning,  and  he  thus  became  a  Saxon  saint.  Grimvald, 
helmeted  ruler,  was  a  maire  du  palais  in  the  Faineant  times 
of  the  Franks ;  and  in  Spanish  balled  el  Conde  Grimaltos  is 
knight  at  the  court  of  Charlemagne,  who  is  slandered  and 
driven  away  with  his  wife  to  the  mountains,  where  the  lady 
gives  birth  to  a  son,  who  was  baptized  Montesinos,  from  the 
place  of  his  birth,  and  educated  in  all  chivalry  till  he  was  old 
enough  to  go  to  Charlemagne's  court,  refute  the  slander  by  the 
ordeal  of  battle,  and  restore  his  family  to  favour.  Grimaldo 
was  borne  by  the  Lombard  kings,  and  left  remains  in  the 
great  Grimaldi  family  of  Genoa.  Digit  zed  by  Google 


190  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

Most  of  our  English  Grims  were  importations,  and  there 
are  few  of  them,  though  we  have  Grimulf  in  Domesday, 
probably  a  Dane. 

Odin  was  also  called  Wunsch^  wish,  probably  as  meaning 
the  supreme  will,  and  thence  came  one  of  the  mythic  an- 
cestry of  our  kings,  Wuscfrea,  or  lord  of  the  wish. 

Beo,  or  harvest,  is  shown  by  Mr.  Kemble  to  form  another 
title  for  the  great  god,  namely,  Beawa,  who  has  been  placed 
among  the  ancestors  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Woden.  Beowulf, 
the  hero  of  the  remarkable  old  Anglian  poem,  is  thus  thought 
to  be  another  form  of  the  old  harvest  god. 

Odin  is  not  wholly  forgotten  in  the  eastern  land  whence 
the  Teutons  came.  In  Buss,  Odin  means  the  number  oncy 
or  sole, alone.  The  tribes  on  the  Black  Sea  long  adored  him; 
and  a  heathen  tribe  on  the  Siberian  border  do  so  still.  He 
is  the  chief  god  of  the  Tungi ;  and  in  Daghistan,  where  the 
blood  is  of  the  pure  Circassian  type,  Odin  means  a  remark- 
able man.^ 

Section  IV. — Frey. 

Every  false  religion  preserves  in  some  form  or  other  the 
perception  of  a  Divine  Trinity,  and  the  Teutonic  Triad  con- 
sisted of  Odin,  Frey,  and  Thor,  whose  images  always  occu- 
pied the  place  of  honour  in  their  temples,  and  who  owned 
the  three  midmost  days  of  the  week. 

The  history  of  the  word  Jreyr  is  very  curious.  The  root 
is  found  iaprij  Skt.  love  or  rejoice,  the  Zend  ^n,  the  Greek 
^17;  but  to  be  glad  was  also  to  free  ;  Bofreon  or  frigon  mean 
to  free  and  to  love,  and  thence  free  in  aU  its  forms  (N.  fri  ; 
Goth./nye;  H.  G.frei;  L.  Q.freoh).  Thus  again,  the  Ger- 
mans came  hjfroh^  and  we  hj  fresh.    Fro  was  both  glad  and 

*  Grimm ;  Munch  ;  BlackweU's  Mallet,  Northern  AnHquities  ;  Liining, 
Edda;  Lavdnama-bok ;  Laing,  SturUsorCi  Heinukringla ;  CrichtoUt  Sca$i- 
dinavia;  Bodd,  Spanish  Ballads;  Michaelis;  Pott;  Chalmers;  Munter, 
OeschichU  det  Einfuhrung  de$  Christenthuma  in  Danemarck  und  Norgen  ; 
Kemble;  Beownlfl 


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FREY.  191 

dear ;  and  as  in  Qothic  frowida,  was  joy,  so  isfreude  in  modem 
Grerman ;  and  we  exult  in  frolics  and  freaks.  He  who  loved 
was  known  by  the  present  participle,  frigonds^  the  friend  of 
modem  English,  the  same  in  all  our  Teutonic  tongues ;  and 
as  the  effect  of  love  is  peace,  the  term  was /red  or  friedy  our 
Saxon  frithy  which  we  have  lost  in  the  French-Latin  word. 
To  be  free  was  to  be  noble,  so  the  free  noble  was  -Fraw/a,  the 
name  by  which  Ulfilas  always  translates  Kvpu>9,  in  the  New 
Testament,  by  a  beautiful  analogy,  showing,  indeed,  that  our 
Lord  is  our  Friend  and  our  Redeemer,  loving  us,  and  setting 
us  free. 

Fraujay  or  free,  was  the  lord  and  master,  so  his  wife  was 
likewise  freay  both  the  beloved  and  the  free  woman ;  the 
northem  fruCy  German  fraUy  and  Dutch  vrowty  all,  as  donna 
had  done  in  Italy,  becoming  the  generic  term  for  woman. 

Out  of  all  the  derivatives  of  this  fertile  and  beautiful 
term,  there  were  large  contributions  to  mythology,  and  a 
great  number  of  names. 

Freyr,  lord,  lover,  was  once  a  god  of  very  high  rank,  lord 
of  sun  and  moon,  hermaphrodite,  and  regulating  the  seasons, 
blessing  marriage,  and  guarding  purity :  and  this  was  pro- 
bably a  universal  notion  brought  from  Asia. 

Aa  old  notions  formed  into  mythic  tales,  and  the  gods 
grew  human,  the  wife  of  Odin  was  invented,  and  what  could 
she  be  but  the  /raw,  the  lady  of  Asgard,  Frigga?  Again, 
Freyr  was  brought  down  from  his  mysterious  vagueness,  and 
tumed  into  a  nephew  of  Odin,  with  the  moon  to  take  care 
of,  and,  moreover,  was  disintegrated  into  a  brother  and  sister, 
called  Freyr  and  Freya. 

The  sixth  day  of  the  week  had  probably  originally  be- 
longed to  Freyr,  but  Frigga  got  possession  of  it;  and,  in 
right  of  her  presiding  over  love  and  marriage,  she  was  con- 
sidered to  be  Venus;  and  in  France  and  Italy  it  is  still 
Vendredi  and  Venerdi,  while  we  have  it  as  Friday,  the  Ger- 
mans as  Freitag,  the  North  as  Fredag. 

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192  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

Frigga  is  a  good  wife,  for  she  knows  the  destinies  of  all 
men,  but  never  reveals  them.  She  blesses  marriage,  and  brings 
plenty.  Her  most  remarkable  interference  with  earthly  af- 
fairs was  when  the  Vandals  were  going  to  start  southwards 
from  Jutland,  and  their  wives  entreated  her  to  give  them  the 
victory.  She  bade  them  stand  forth  the  next  morning  in 
the  rising  sun,  with  their  hair  let  down  over  their  chins. 
*  Who  are  these  longbeards  ? '  asked  Odin.  '  Now  thou  hast 
given  them  a  name,  thou  must  give  them  the  victory,'  said 
Frigga.  So  the  Lombards  conquered,  and  named  Lombardy, 
acted  as  bankers  to  Europe,  and  entitled  many  a  Lombard- 
street,  as  well  as  the  term  lumber  for  such  articles  as  look 
as  if  they  were  in  pledge  at  a  pawnbroker's  shop. 

Frigga  has  an  odd  partnership,  on  the  one  hand  with  our 
Lady,  on  the  other  with  Venus.  Orion's  belt  was  once  her 
distaff,  Frigge-rocky  but  now  it  is  the  blessed  Virgin's,  Marien- 
rock.  Adiantiumy  the  little  black  stemmed  fern,  has  been 
Friggen-haar,  then  Venus-gras,  then  Marien-gras,  and  with 
us  Maiden-hair;  and  the  Satyrium  Albidimiy  used  in  love 
potions,  was  in  Iceland  Frigg-jahr-gras,  whilst  its  nearest 
English  resemblance  is  still  ladies'  tresses. 

Freya  is  also  a  goddess  of  love,  but  she  likewise  drives 
over  every  battle-field  with  her  car  drawn  by  cats  (once, 
perhaps,  panthers,  like  those  of  Bacchus,  whom  her  brother 
is  thought  to  resemble),  and  chooses  half  the  slain,  whom 
she  marshals  to  their  seats  at  the  banquet  of  Valhalla.  Her 
husband,  Othur  or  Odhr,  curiously  repeats  Odin's  name,  as 
she  does  Frigga's.  She  weeps  continually  drops  of  gold  when 
he  is  absent,  and  the  metal  is  poetically  called  Freya's  tears. 

Her  brother,  Freyr,  was  always  a  chaste,  dignified,  bene- 
ficent personage,  a  sort  of  severe  Bacchus,  or  grave  Apollo. 
Li  the  great  final  battle,  he  is  to  be  destroyed  by  Surti. 
He  is  the  tutelary  god  of  Sweden,  as  was  Odin  of  the 
Saxons. 

There  are  hosts  of  names  connected  with  these  deities. 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


FRET.  193 

and  the  words  sprung  from  their  source.  Frith  in  Saxon, 
Jrey  or  Jreya  in  the  North,  ^^-ici  iij  German,  falling  in  France 
into  froiy  was  a  favourite  termmation  generally  masculine, 
and  so  probably  in  honour  of  Freyr,  though  it  is  safe  to 
translate  it  peace,  it  probably  also  meant  freedom. 

Old  Spuiish  has  Froila,  or  Fruela,  among  the  kings  of  the 
Astorias,  and  this  may  be  translated  lord,  and  compared 
with  the  Freavine,  or  Frowin,  free  darling,  now  become 
Frewen.    Franta,  too,  was  a  king  of  the  Spanish  Suevi. 

Fritigem,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  who  first  fixed  himself 
<m  the  Danube,  bore  the  name  afterwards  Frideger  (spear  of 
peace),  in  Germany,  a  compound  much  resembling  that  borne 
by  that  Jezebel  of  the  Meerwings,  Fredegunt,  or  Fredegonde, 
as  she  is  called  by  French  historians.  Freygerdur  of  the 
North,  as  found  in  the  Landnama-boky  serving  four  men  and 
two  women,  is  there  explained  cither  as  freedom-preserver, 
or  pea^e-keeper. 

But  what  is  to  be  said  of  Fridthjof,  or  Frithjof,  the  re- 
nowned hero  of  the  Frithjofsaga  bemg  no  better  than  free- 
dom-thief, or  peace-thief.  Northern  pirates  thought  no 
scorn  of  being  thieves,  and  we  shall  fall  on  plenty  more  of 
them ;  but  the  compound  is  certainly  startling. 

Fridulf ,  or  Fridolf ,  is  nearly  as  bad ;  but  it  seems  to  have 
contracted  into  Friedel  in  Germany,  and  expanded  into 
Fridolin,  probably  in  imitation  of  Fedlim,  or  some  such 
Erse  name,  since  the  saint  thus  recorded  in  the  calendar  is 
one  of  the  many  Scottish  missionaries  of  the  fifth  century, 
who  preached  to  the  Burgundians.  He  is  the  titular  patron 
of  the  Swiss  canton  of  Glaris,  whose  shield  bears  his  figure 
in  the  Benedictine  dress  he  never  wore.  Thence  Schiller 
took  the  name  of  the  youth  in  his  ballad  on  the  strange  ad- 
Tenture  of  Isabel  de  la  Paz  of  Portugal,  which  is  best 
known  through  Retzch's  illustrations.  The  German  Friedel 
must  be  short  for  this,  as  Frider  is  for  Fridheri,  peace- 
warrior.    In  fact,  Germany  is  the  great  land  of  this  com- 

VOL.  n.  Digitized  by  GoOglC 


194 


NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 


mencement,  and  has  fostered  the  best  known  name  of  the* 
whole.  There  was  indeed  a  Fridrikr  in  the  LandnanM-hijkj 
and  a  Fredreg,  or  Frederic  in  Domesday,  but  these  would 
have  been  forgotten  but  for  an  old  Frisian  bishop,  Freod- 
horic,  who,  in  the  time  of  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  had  been . 
murdered  while  praying  in  his  chapel,  and  being  canonized, 
was  a  patron  saint  of  the  Swabian  house.  The  attempts 
of  Friedrich  with  the  red  beaded,  to  seize  the  slippery  eel,  as 
he  called  Italy,  by  the  head  and  tail,  spread  his  Fedengo 
among  the  Ghibellines ;  and  when  his  Neapolitan  grandson's 
claims  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies  had  been  trans- 
mitted through  Manfred's  daughter  to  the  Aragonese  mon- 
archs,  Fadrique  was  usual  in  Spain.  Friedrich  had  grown 
national  in  Germany,  and  not  a  king  of  Prussia  has  reigned 
without  it,  in  compliment  to  their  hero,  who,  while  the  sol- 
diers called  him  Old  Fritz,  thought  it  graceful  to  write  him- 
self Federic,  having  with  his  French  tastes  taken  a  dislike 
to  the  sound  of  his  own  name,  even  in  the  correct  spelling 
of  his  adopted  language.  It  was  from  the  father  of  this 
monarch  that  the  son  of  George  11.  was  called  Frederick, 
a  name  we  have  twice  had  next  in  succession  to  the  crown, 
though,  to  use  the  expression  of  the  Irishman  at  Oulloden, 
*  Prince  Frederick  never  has  been  King  George.'  The  Danes 
obtained  the  name  from  their  (jerman  connections,  and  make 
it  alternate  on  the  throne  with  Ghristiem.  The  feminine  is 
a  late  invention  in  Germany,  very  common  there,  but  barely 
recognized  elsewhere. 


English. 
Frederick 
Fred 

French. 

Fr6d4ric 
Ferry 

Breton.         j        Spanish. 
Fdidrik         ;     Fadriquo 

Portagnese. 

Frederico 
Federico 

Italian. 
Pederigo 

German. 

Fridrich 
Fritz 

Dutch. 
Frederik 
Freerik 

it  zed  by  Google 


FRET. 


195 


Frifrian. 

Frerk 

Frek 

Friko 

Swedish. 
Fredrik 

Danish. 
Frederik 

Swiss. 

Fredli 
Fridli 

Boflsian. 
Fridrich 

Polish. 

Fryderyk 
Fryc 

Slovak. 
Friderik 

Bohemian. 
Bedrich 

Fidrich 
Bedrich 

Lettish. 
Sprizzis 
Prizzis 
Wrizzis 
Wridriks* 
Pridriks 

Lithuanian. 

Prydas 

Prjrdikis 

PncznB 

Finn. 
Rietu 
Wettrikki 
Wetu 
Wetukka 

Hungarian. 
Fridrik 

Gi«ek. 

FKMIKINB.                                                            1 

English. 

1     Frederica 
Freddie 

French. 
Fr^^rigue 

Portuguese. 
Frederica 

ItaHan. 
Federica 
Feriga 

Oennan. 

Fridrike 

Fritze 

Fritzinn 

Rika 

Rikchen 

Swiss. 
Fredrika 

PoUsh. 
Frydryka 

Bohemian. 
Bedriska 

Greek. 

Probably  this  popular  Frederick  has  deyonred  all  the  other 
forms  with  the  same  commencement ;  for  after  the  middle 
ages  bad  fairly  begun,  we  hardly  ever  hear  of  the  German 
Fridrad,  Fridrada,  Fridhehn,  Fridrun,  Fridbald,  Fridbert, 
Fridburg,  Fridgard,  Fridilind.  Fridmund,  peace  protection, 
also  a  northern  name,  has  turned  into  the  well  known  Fre- 
mont of  France  and  America ;  but  with  these  must  not  be 
confounded  Fremont,  the  designation  of  the  devoted  Abb6 
Edgeworth  de  Fremont,  who  attended  Louis  XYI.  to  the 
scaffold,  for  he  was  called  from  Fairy-mount,  a  haunted  hill 

d  by  Google 


Digitized  b 


196  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

opposite  to  Edgeworthstown.  Fridwald,  peace-power,  has 
been  preserved  in  Friesland  as  Fredewolt,  Fredo,  or  Freddo. 
Fridleifr  in  the  North  has  failed  into  Friedlieb  in  Germany : 
it  is  the  same  as  the  Frithlaf  whom  our  Saxon  chroniclers 
bestowed  on  Wuotan  by  way  of  ancestor. 

Our  own  Saxon  saint,  Frithswith,  strong  in  peace,  was  the 
daughter  of  the  Lord  of  Oxford,  in  the  eighth  century.    She 
lived  in  a  little  cell  at  Thombury,  had  various  legendary  ad- 
ventures, which  may  be  seen  pourtrayed  in  a  modem  window 
of  the  cathedral  at  Oxford,  and  became  the  saintly  patroness 
of  the  university  and  cathedral,  where,  by  the  name  of  St. 
Fridiswid,  she  reigned  over  Alma  Mater,  till  Wolsey  laid 
hold  of  the  church  and  its  chapter  for  his  own  splendid 
foundation  of  Christchurch.     At  the  Reformation,  her  bones 
were  taken  from  their  shrine  and  misused,  but  came  back  to 
their  honours  in  Mary's  time,  then  in  Elizabeth's  were  judi- 
ciously buried,  mixed  up  with  those  of  Martin  Bucer's  wife, 
^  that  in  future  neither  Roman  Catholic  nor  Protestant  might 
either  adore  or  desecrate  the  remains  in  any  certainty  whe- 
ther he  was  dealing  with  Catholic  or  Calvinist,  &  very  cm- 
rious  case  of '  strange  bedfellows.'  Frethesantha  Piaynell  was 
wife  of  Geoffrey  Lutterell,  about  the  fourteenth  century ;  and 
Fridiswid  is  by  no  means  uncommon  in  the  old  genealogies 
of  Essex  and  the  northern  counties.     Alban  Butler  gives 
Frewissa  as  the  contraction;  but  in  Ireland,  according  to 
Mr.  Britten's  capital  story  of  The  Election^  it  is  Fiddy. 

From  freiy  free,  modem  Germany  has  taken  Freimund,  by 
which  they  mean  Freemouth,  though  it  ought  to  be  free  pro- 
tection, Freimuth,  free  courage,  Freidank,  free  thought. 
But  the  older  word  for  free  plays  a  far  more  important  part 
in  modem  nomenclature,  namely,  Frangy  the  High  German 
form  of  free  lord. 

The  nation  called  Cheruschi  by  Tacitus  denominated  them- 
selves Fraugen  when  they  warred  on  northern  Gaul,  overspread 
it,  and  termed  it  from  themselves  Frankreich.  As  their  pri- 
mary energy  decayed  their  dominion  divided ;  Frankenlandy 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


FRET.  197 

under  the  Latinism  of  Franconia,  became  leagued  with  the 
lands  of  the  Swabjaos,  AUemanni,  and  Saxons,  and  thus  became 
part  of  Deutschland  and  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  while 
Frankreich  was  leavened  by  the  Gallo-Romans,  who  worked 
up  through  their  Frank  lords,  and  made  their  clipped  Latin, 
or Langue  (Tout*  (the  tongue  of  aye),  the  national  language, 
and  yet  called  themselves  les  Frangais^  and  the  country 
France.  And  as  the  most  enthusiastic  and  versatile  of  the 
European  commonwealth,  they  so  contrived  to  lead  other 
nations,  and  impress  their  fashions  on  them,  that  the  Eastern 
races  regarded  all  Europeans  as  Franks,  called  their  country 
Franghistan,  and  the  patois  spoken  by  them  in  the  Levant 
became  Lingua  Franca. 

Our  old  word,  Franklin,  meant  a  freeman  of  small  property, 
and  has  become  a  surname,  as  well  as  Freeman,  famous  as 
Sarah  of  Marlborough's  choice  as  a  soubriquet  which  might 
express  her  independence.  Freimann  is  also  conmion  in  Ger- 
many, and  there  are  hosts  of  places  recording  either  liberty  or 
Frankish  possession.  Franc,  or  Franco,  was  the  archbishop  of 
Rouen,  who  made  terms  with  RoUo ;  and  from  this  form  may 
be  derived  the  German  Frandsen  aifd  Italian  Franchetti. 

Long  before  the  Emperor  Charles  Y.  had  pronounced 
French  to  be  the  language  for  men,  an  Italian  merchant  of 
Assisi  caused  his  son,  Giovanni,  to  be  instructed  in  it  as  a 
preparation  for  commerce.  The  boy's  proficiency  caused 
him  to  be  called  '  il  Francesco,'  the  Frenchman,  until  the 
baptismal  Giovanni  was  absolutely  forgotten ;  and  as  Fran- 
cesco he  lived  his  ascetic,  enthusiastic  life ;  as  Franciscus  was 
canonized ;  and  the  mendicant  order,  humbly  termed  by  him 
fratrea  minoreSy  lesser  brethren,  were  known  as  Franciscans 
throughout  the  Western  Church. 

Many  a  little  Italian  of  either  sex  was  christened  by  his 
soubriquet,  and  though  one  of  the  first  feminines  on  record 
was  the  unhappy  lady  whose  fall  and  its  doom  Dante  made 

*  *  We- we '  is  the  name  now  given  by  the  Sonth  Sea  Islanders  to  the 

French.  Digitized  by  Google 


198  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

famous,  yet  the  sweet  renown  of  the  devout  housewife,  San 
Francesca  di  Roma,  assisted  its  popularity;  there  was  a 
Fran9oise  at  Gambrai  even  in  1300,  and  Gecarella  is  the 
peasant  mother  of  a  damsel  in  the  Pentamerone. 

San  Francesco  di  Nola  reformed  the  Fi^ciscans  into  a 
new  order,  called  the  Minimi,  or  least,  as  the  former  ones 
were  the  Minores.  It  is  to  him  that  the  spread  of  the  name 
beyond  the  Alps  is  chiefly  owing,  for  Louise  of  Savoy  was 
so  devoted  to  him,  that  she  made  him  sponsor  and  name- 
father  to  her  passionately  loved  son,  and  sewed  his  winding 
sheet  with  her  own  hands. 

The  name  was  not  absolutely  new  to  France,  for  that  of  the 
grandson  of  the  first  Montfort,  Duke  of  Brittany,  had  been 
Fransez,  and  so  had  been  that  of  the  father  of  the  Duchess 
Anne,  who  carried  her  old  Keltic  inheritance  to  the  crown 
of  France ;  but  it  was  her  daughter's  husband,  the  godson 
of  the  saint  of  Nola,  who  was  the  representative  Frenchman, 
the  type  of  showy  and  degenerate  chivalry ;  and  thus  spread 
Fran9ois  and  Francjoise  universally  among  the  French  no- 
bility, where  they  held  sway  almost  exclusively  till  the  me- 
mories of  the  House  of  Yalois  had  become  detestable ;  but 
by  that  time  the  populace  were  making  great  use  of  it,  and  at 
the  present  time  it  is  considered  as  so  vulgar  that  a  French 
servant  in  England  was  scandalized  that  a  child  of  the  family 
should  be  called  Francis. 

Franz  von  Sickingen  is  an  instance  that  even  in  the  fierce 
days  of  war  between  the  emperor  and  the  king,  the  name 
of  the  latter  was  borne  in  his  rival's  dominions ;  but  it  did 
i^ot  take  root  there  at  once.  The  grandchildren  of  Francois 
I.,  intermarrying  with  the  house  of  Lorraine,  rendered 
his  namesakes  plentiful,  both  in  the  blood-stained  younger 
branch  of  Guise,  and  in  the  dull  direct  stem,  the  continuation 
of  the  Earlingen,  who  at  length,  by  the  marriage  with 
Maria  Theresa,  were  restored  to  the  throne  of  Gharlemagne,. 
in  the  person  of  him  whom  the  classiealizing   Germans 

■ned  Franciskus  I.    This  cumbrous  form  is  still  officiali 


FRET.  1 99 

but  Franz  is  the  real  name  in  universal  use  in  the  German 
parts  of  the  Austrian  Empire,  though  the  Slavonic  portions 
genenJlj  use  the  other  end,  as  2^k. 

It  was  the  same  gay  French  monarch  who  sent  us  our 
forms  of  the  name.  Mary  Tudor,  either  in  gratitude  for  his 
kindness,  or  in  memory  of  her  brief  queenship  of  France, 
christened  her  first  child  Frances — that  Lady  Frances  Bran- 
don whose  royal  blood  was  so  sore  a  misfortune  to  her  daugh- 
ters, and  who  had  numerous  namesakes  among  the  maidens  of 
the  Tudor  court;  but  they  do  not  seem  to  have  then  made 
the  distinction  of  letter  that  now  marks  the  feminine,  and 
they  used  what  is  now  the  masculine  contraction.  '  Frank, 
Frank,  how  long  is  it  smce  thou  wast  married  to  Prannel,* 
was  the  rebuke  of  the  Duke  of  Richmond  to  his  Howard  lady 
when  he  was  pleased  to  take  down  her  inordinate  pride,  by 
reminding  her  of  her  youthful  elopement  with  a  vintner. 

The  modem  Fanny  is  apparently  of  the  days  of  Anne, 
coming  into  notice  with  the  beautiful  Lady  Fanny  Shirley, 
who  made  it  a  great  favourite,  and  almost  a  proverb  for 
prettiness  and  simplicity,  so  that  the  wits  of  George  II.'8 
time  called  John,  Lord  Hervey, '  Lord  Fanny,*  for  his  efiemi- 
nacy.  Fanny,  like  Frank,  is  often  given  at  baptism  instead 
of  the  full  word ;  and,  by  an  odd  caprice,  it  has  lately  been 
adopted  in  both  France  and  Germany  instead  of  their  national 
contractions. 

The  masculine  came  in  at  the  same  time,  and  burst  into 
eminence  in  the  Elizabethan  cluster  of  worthies — Drake, 
Walsingham,  Bacon ;  but  it  did  not  take  a  thorough  hold  of 
the  nation,  and  was  much  left  to  the  Roman  Catholics; 
probably  being  disliked  from  memories  left  by  the  Franciscan 
friars,  and  the  curious  traditional  parody  of  confession  which, 
by  the  title  of  *  Father  Francis  and  Sister  Cattem,'  has  lin- 
gered on  as  a  child's  game  among  the  peasantry  to  the  pre- 
sent day.  It  was  not  till  Frank  had  been  restricted  to  men 
that  it  took  hold  of  the  popular  mind,  so  as  to  become,  as  it 
is  at  present,  exceedingly  prevalent.        oigt  zed  by  Google 


200 


NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 


The  original  saint  of  Assisi  made  deyont  Spaniards  use 
Francisco  and  Francisca,  before  the  fresh  honour  won  for  the 
first  by  the  two  early  Jesuits — ^the  Duke  of  Gandia,  the 
friend  and  guide  of  Charles  Y.,  and  Xayier,  the  self-devoted 
apostle  of  the  Indies.  His  surname  has  thrown  out  another 
stock.  It  is  in  itself  Moorish,  coming  from  the  Arabic 
Ga'afar,  splendid,  the  same  as  that  of  our  old  friend,  the 
Giaffar  of  the  Arabian  Nights^  the  Jaffier  of  old  historians. 
Wherever  Jesuits  have  been  there  it  is;  Savero  in  Italy, 
Xavier  in  France,  Xaverie  in  Wallachia,  Xavery  in  Poland, 
Saverij  in  Ulyria ;  even  Xaveria  for  the  feminine  in  Roman 
Catholic  Germany,  marking  the  course  of  the  counter-Re- 
formation. Even  Ireland  deals  in  Saverius,  or  Savy,  though 
when  English  sailors  meet  a  Spanish  negro  called  Xaver, 
they  call  him  Shaver !  Savary  de  Bohnn,  whom  Dugdale 
places  under  Henry  I.,  was  probably  a  form  of  Sigeheri,  or 
Saher,  which  may  have  been  absorbed  by  Xaver  in  Roman 
Catholic  lands. 


English. 

Francis 
Frank 

Erse. 
Fromsais 

Breton. 
Franse 

French. 
Franyois 

Spanish. 
Francisco 
Francilo 

Portuguese. 
Francisco 
Francisqninho 

Italian. 

Francesco 

Franco 

Cecco 

WaUaohian. 
Francisk 

German. 
Franciskus 
Franz 
Frank 

Dutch. 
Frenz 

Scotch. 
Francie 

Swedish. 
Frans 

Polish. 
Franciszek 
Franck 

Bohemian. 
Frantisek 

Slovak. 

Francisek 

Franc 

Franjo 

Zesk 

Lettish. 
Spranzis 



Digiti 


zed  by  Google 


THOR. 


20I 


lithuanian. 
Prancas 

Finn. 
Banssu 

Hungarian. 

Ferencz 

Ferko 

Greek, 
^payic/cricos 

PBMININE. 

English. 

Frances 
Fanny 

Breton. 

Franseza 
Fantik 

French. 

Fran9oise 
Francisque 
Fanchette 
Fanchon 

Span,  and  Port 
Francisca 

Italian. 
Francesca 
Cecca 
Geccina 
Ceccarella 

German. 

Franziske 
Franze 
Sprinzchen 
(Lower  German.) 

Dutch. 

Francyntje 

Francina 

Fransje 

PoUsh. 

Franciszka 

Frannlka 

Franusia 

Bohemian. 
Frantiaka 

Slovak. 
Franciaka 
Franika 
Franja 

Hungarian. 
Francziska 

Greek. 
<l>payKurKa* 

Section  V. — Thor. 


The  third  in  the  Teutonic  Triad  is  the  mighty  Thor, 
whose  image  stood  on  the  other  side  of  that  of  Odin,  in  the 
northern  temples,  whose  day  followed  Odin's,  and  who  was 
the  special  deity  of  the  Norsemen,  as  Wuotan  was  of  the 
Saxons,  and  Freyr  of  the  Swedes. 

The  most  awful  phenomenon  to  which,  in  Northern  Europe, 
human  ears  are  accustomed — the  great  electric  Yoice  from 
heaven,  could  not  fail  to  be  connected  with  divinity,  by 
nature,  as  well  as  by  the  lingering  reminiscence  of  the  reve- 
lations, when  it  accompanied  the  Voice  of  the  Most  High. 

*  Grimm;  Munch;  Munter;  Michaelis;  Alban  Bailer;  Mrs.  Busk, 
Qerman  Empire  ;  Dugdale ;  Ellis,  Domeaiay. 

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202  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

If  the  classic  nations  knew  the  mighty  roll  as  the  bolts  of 
Zeus  or  Jupiter,  they  called  it  fipovrtf  (broni^)  and  tanUrUy 
names  corresponding  to  those  of  divinities  wherewith  their 
northern  neighbours  connected  the  sound — the  Perun  of  the 
Slavonians,  the  Taran  of  the  Cymry,  the  Thunnr,  Donnar, 
or  Thor  of  the  Teuton.  It  is  scarcely  to  be  doubted  that,  in 
all  these  cases,  the  name  of  the  sound  was  an  imitation  of  its 
deep  rolling  note,  and  that  the  god  was  called  after  it.  Thor 
also  means  courage  in  the  North,  as  in  the  Danish  tor^  and 
our  own  darCy  but  is  probably  derived  from  the  god.  It 
must  have  been  his  thunders  that  caused  his  day  to  become 
Dies  Jovis,  Giovedi,  or  Jeudi,  in  the  Latinizing  lands,  while 
the  Grermans  kept  their  Donnersdag,  and  England  yielded  to 
the  influence  of  her  northern  conquerors  so  much  as  to 
change  her  Thunursdag  for  Thursday,  like  the  Thorsdoeg  of 
the  North. 

In  Gothland  the  thunder  is  called  Thorsacken,  from  ackaj 
from  aka^  to  be  carried,  because  the  sound  was  thought  to  be 
carried  by  the  wheels  of  his  chariot ;  nay,  in  an  old  Swedish 
chronicle,  Ursa  Major  is  the  wagon  of  Thor.  This  car  of  his 
is  said,  in  the  Udda,  to  be  drawn  by  two  he-goats,  named 
Tanngniost  and  Tanngrissir ;  but  Munter  thinks  that  they 
were  once  antelopes,  and  the  similar  word  blkken  dropped  into 
goats  when  the  Asiatic  animals  were  forgotten  by  the  Scan- 
dinavians. Yet  it  is  from  the  strange  confusion  between 
Thor  and  Elijah,  as  both  thunderers,  that  a  black  he-goat  is 
sacrificed  to  the  prophet  by  the  Caucasians,  in  order  to  ob- 
tain favourable  weather. 

In  the  northern  myths  Thor  is  the  eldest  son  of  Odin, 
mightiest  of  all  the  Aasir,  partly  in  right  of  his  belt  of 
strength,  which  doubles  his  force,  and  of  the  iron  gauntlets 
which  he  wields  whenever  he  throws  his  mighty  hammer — 
Mjolner,  the  crusher  (from  the  word  that  named  Milo), 
which,  like  a  boomerang,  always  returns  to  him  when  he  has 
hurled  it.    He  has  a  palace  caUed  Thrudheim^or  Thrudvangr, 

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THOR.  203 

the  abode  of  courage,  resting  on  five  hundred  and  forty  pillars, 
which  seems  like  a  tradition  of  some  many-columned  Indian 
edifice.  It  was  he  who  was  foremost  in  the  fight  with  the 
powers  of  evil ;  he  bound  Lok,  the  destroyer,  and  banished 
him  to  Utgard,  where  the  famous  visit  was  made  that  so 
curiously  reflects  Indian  and  Persian  myths,  and  has  dwindled 
into  the  tricks  of  our  Giant-killer  and  the  German  Schneider- 
lein.  He  brought  the  giant  Orvandil  from  Utgard  in  a  basket, 
on  his  back,  but  with  the  loss  of  one  of  the  giant's  toes, 
which  was  left  behind,  frozen  to  the  groimd,  till  Thor  tossed 
it  up  to  the  sky,  to  become  the  constellation  OrvandU's  toe, 
but,  unluckily,  no  one  now  knows  which  it  is.  He  has 
more  adventures  than  any  other  single  deity  in  northern 
story,  and  continues  champion  of  the  gods  till  the  fimal  con- 
summation, when,  after  having  destroyed  many  of  the  enemies, 
he  is  finally  stifled  by  the  flood  of  poison  emitted  by  the  Mid- 
gard  snake. 

Thor  has  a  long  beard  and  red  hair,  whence  in  Fries- 
land  one  of  the  many  names  of  the  fox  is  Wald-Thor; 
but  his  sacred  animal  was  the  bull,  as  symbol  of  strength; 
and  perhaps  he  was  originally  worshiped  under  this  form, 
for  little  bull-images  are  to  be  found  in  old  graves.  One, 
which  is  in  the  royal  museum  at  Copenhagen,  has  a  winged 
serpent  on  its  back,  biting  his  neck,  as  if  in  allusion  to  the 
future  fate  of  the  god.  His  Runic  sign  -^  is  also  said  to  be 
taken  from  the  bull's  horns:  his  hammer  ptj  ^^  marked 
on  infant  Scandinavians,  in  strange  parody  of  baptism. 
Coupled  with  this,  the  Latin  name  iauruSy  a  bull,  is,  at  least 
a  remarkable  coincidence. 

Some  of  the  Kelts  are  said  to  have  made  oaths  on  a  small 
iron  image  of  a  bull,  but  which  Kelts,  or  if  in  honour  of 
Taran,  does  not  appear.  The  same  cross  is  found  on  Keltic 
coins  in  honour  of  Taranis,  and  likewise  on  some  figures 
found  at  Albano  and  Castel  Gandolfo,  which  Roman  anti- 
quaries declare  to  be  northern. 

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204  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

Little  iron  axes  are  often  found  in  Northmen's  graves,  and 
are  called  by  tradition,  both  in  the  North  and  in  ScoUand, 
thunderbolts — ^they  are  thought  to  have  been  talismans,  to 
put  the  dead  under  Thor's  keeping.  Perhaps  they  were  used 
when  out  of  reach  of  belemnites,  which  among  other  wonder- 
ful origins,  such  as  elf-bolts  in  England,  candles  in  Scotland, 
petrified  leeks  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt,  are  in  the  North 
supposed  to  be  Thor's  darts,  and  to  protect  the  house  that 
holds  one  from  lightning. 

Perhaps  from  the  horns  being  like  his  bull's,  the  great 
stag-beedes  are  in  southern  Germany,  donner  guge,  but  in 
other  places  the  poor  insects  are  called  burners,  and  accused 
of  carrying  burning  brands  in  their  horns  to  insert  in  the 
thatch  of  cottages ;  and  as  Odin  had  the  sandpiper  by  way 
of  bird,  the  snipe  is  bestowed  on  Thor  by  the  name  of  Don- 
nerziege,  or  thunder-goat,  or  still  more  drolly,  as  Donners' 
tagspferdy  Thursday-horse.  In  the  vegetable  world,  the  oak 
belongs  to  Thor ;  also  a  certain  species  of  barley  is  in  Nor- 
way Thor's  barley,  probably  on  account  of  the  barley  of  the 
realms  below  which  brewed  divine  ale  for  the  feasts  of  ValhaL 
House-leek  in  Germany  protects  from  thunder,  and  is  donner^ 
barty  Thor's  beard,  just  as  it  is  jou-barbej  or  Jove's  beard,  in 
France;  sedum  is  donner-kratU^  fumaria^  dormer-flugy  and 
eryngiumy  danner-distd. 

In  the  Grerman  poem  of  JSildebrand  and  JBiadubrandy  poor 
Thor  has  fallen  from  his  high  estate  into  a  mere  man,  called 
Thord,  who  is  robbed  of  his  golden  hammer.  But  faith 
in  him  lasted  with  the  Northmen  till  their  conversion ;  and 
even  on  the  plains  of  Neustria, '  Thorhjolfe '  was  the  battle- 
cry,  till  changed  to  '  Dieu  aide  J 

Thord  seems  to  have  been  a  contraction  of  the  old  Low 
German  Donarad,  which  has  vanished;  but  in  fact  Thor, 
though  regnant  in  the  North,  was  not  very  popular  elsewhere, 
and  almost  all  the  names  he  commences  are  Scandinavian ; 
though  the  old  Spanish  Goths  had  a  king  Thorismundo, 

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THOR.  205 

Thorns  protection,  the  same  as  our  Norman  Tormnnd.  They 
had  also  an  Asturian  bishop,  Toribio,  who  long  after  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  sainted  namesake  in  Spanish  South  America. 

Every  possible  change  that  could  be  rung  on  Thor  seems 
to  have  been  in  use  among  the  Northmen.  The  simplest 
masculine,  Thordr,  comes  seventy  times  in  the  Landnama-hoh^ 
Thorer  forty-seven  times,  after  the  early  settler  Thorer  the 
silent,  and  the  feminine  Thora  twenty-two,  and  she  still 
flourishes  in  Iceland  and  Norway. 

Thor  had  his  elf,  Thoralfr,  his  household  spirit  Thordis, 
his  bear  and  his  wolf.  His  bear  Thorbjom  is  fifty-one  times 
in  the  Iceland  roll,  and  was  not  without  a  she-bear,  Thorbera ; 
and  the  '  Torbem,'  in  Domesday,  was  doubtless  the  father  of 
die  family  of  Thorbum.  Indeed,  though  Thor's  hammer  was 
not  an  artistic  one,  he  has  had  other  artist  namesakes  by 
inheritance,  namely,  the  Flemish  Terburg,  an  offshoot  from 
the  northern  Thorbergr,  with  its  feminine  Thorbjorg,  or 
Thorberga,  and  the  great  Danish  Thorwaldsen,  the  son  of 
Thorvalldr,  Thor's  power,  or  maybe  of  thunder-welder,  the 
Thorwald  of  Germany,  and  Thorold  or  Turold  of  the  Nor- 
man Conquest.  Readers  of  Andersen  may  remember  his 
stoiy  of  the  boy-sculptor  mortified  by  the  consequential  little 
girl  declaring  that  no  one  whose  name  ended  in  sen  was 
worlli  speaking  to.  Thorwald,  too,  was  one  of  the  old 
Icelandic  discoverers  of  America. 

As  to  Thor's  wolf,  Thorolf,  it  is  contracted  into  Tolv  in 
Norway,  and  thus  may  be  the  origin  of  that  curious  Danish 
superstition  that  at  noon-day  (twelve  being  iolv  in  Danish) 
Kong  Tolv,  a  terrific  and  mysterious  personage,  drives  by  in 
his  chariot,  invisible  except  to  maidens  inadvertently  left  in 
solitude,  when  they  are  borne  off  by  him  to  his  domains  for 
seven  years,  which  pass  like  a  single  day. 

Forty-two  Thorarinns,  as  well  as  a  Thorama  for  a  feminine, 
assisted  to  people  Iceland,  and  of  course  Thor's  sword,  spear, 
and  kettle  were  there  too  ;  Thorhrandr  six  times  over.    The 

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206  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

spear  and  kettle  figure  again  in  the  story  of  Croyland  Abbey, 
as  told  by  Ingulf.  Turgar,  the  little  child  who  escaped  the 
destruction,  is  no  doubt  Thorgeir,  and  it  may  be  feared  thus 
betrays  a  Norman  invention;  but  Turcetyl,  the  good  man 
who  re-built  it,  was  really  Ethelstane's  chancellor,  and  no 
doubt  took  his  name  from  some  of  the  invading  Danes,  who 
called  the  Thorketyl  or  Thorkjell  of  the  North,  Thurkil  or 
Trukill,  of  which  we  have  some  traces  remaining  in  the  sur- 
name Thurkell.    Thorkatla  was  the  Icelandic  feminine. 

It  is  an  evidence  how  greatly  our  population  was  leavened 
by  the  Danes,  that  though  Thor-names  are  very  rare  in 
Anglo-Saxon  history,  we  have  many  among  our  surnames, 
such  as  Thurlow  from  Thorleik,  Thor's  sport,  Tunstall  and 
Tunstan  from  Thurstan,  the  Danish  Thorstein,  the  proper 
form  of  Thor's  stone,  who  is  thus  the  *  stainless  TunstiJl,' 
whose  *  banner  white '  waves  in  Flodden  Field,  just  as  long 
^  before  Tostain  the  white  had  been  the  foremost  knight  at 
Hastings,  and  left  his  name  to  the  northern  peasantry  to  be 
confounded  with  Toussaint,  the  .popular  reading  of  All 
Saints'  day,  and  thus  to  pass  to  the  negro  champion  of 
Hayti,  Toussaint  L'Ouverture. 

Thorgils,  pledge,  also  runs  into  Thurkil  or  Trokil,  and  cuts 
down  to  Troels ;  but  coming  to  the  Western  Isles  has  there 
continued  in  the  form  of  Torquil,  and  has  been  mixed  up 
with  the  idea  of  the  Latin  torques,  a  neck  chain.  The 
Swedes  call  it  Thyrgils,  and  the  feminine  is  Thorgisla.  It  is 
Torchil  in  Domesday. 

>4    White  Thors  were  Thorfinn  and  Thorfinna;  Thorvid,  or 
Thor's  wood,  is  in  Denmark  Truvid,  Truid,  Trudt,  probably 
our  Truefit.    Besides  these  were  used — 
Thorbert,  Thor's  splendour  (Torbertus  in  Domesday). 
Thorgautr,  Thor  the  good  (or  Goth). 
Thorgerdur,   Thor's  protection   (thirty-seven    in   I^mi^ 
nama-bok). 
Thorgestur,  Thor's  guest. 


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BALDUR  AND  HODUR.  207 


Thorgrim,  Thor  the  helmeted. 
Thorgunna,  Thor's  war. 
Thorhildr,  Thor's  batde-maid, 
Thorleif,  Thor's  relic. 
Thormod,  Thor's  mood. 
Thorhalla,  Thor's  stone. 
Thorlaug,  Tlior's  liquor.* 


Section  VI. — Baldur  and  Sbdur. 

Most  beautiful  of  all  the  gods  was  Baldur,  the  fair  white 
god,  mild,  beautiful,  and  eloquent, — ^beloved,  but  fore-doomed 
to  death.     His  story  is  well  known.     His  mother,  Frigga, 
vainly  took  an  oath  of  all  created  things  not  to  be  the  instru- 
ment of  his  fate, — she  omitted  the  misletoe ;  and  Lok^  the 
destroyer,  haying,  in  the  guise  of  a  sympathetic  old  woman, 
beguiled  her  into  betraying  her  omission,  placed  a  shaft 
of  the  magic  plant  in  the  hands  of  the  blind  god,  Hodr, 
when  all  the  Aasir  were  in  sport  directing  their  harmless 
weapons  against  the  breast  of  their  favourite.     Baldur  was 
slain,  and  his  beautiful  wife,  Nanna,  died  of  grief  for  his 
loss.     Even  then  Hela  would  have  relented,  and  have  given 
him  back,  provided  every  living  thing  would  have  wept  for 
him  ;   but  one  stem  giantess  among  the  rocks  refused  her 
tears,  and  Baldur  remains  in  the  realms  of  death,  until  after 
all  his  brethren  shall  have  perished  in  the  last  great  conflict, 
when  with  them  he  shall  be  revivified  in  the  times  of  the 
restitution  of  all  things,  so  remarkably  promised  in  these 
ancient  myths.    According  to  the  Orvarod  Saga,  in  Oehlen- 
schlager's  beautiful  version,  *  Baldur  is  not  wholly  dead  f  but 
when  the  dwarfs  are  busied  in  the  malignant  tasks  that  they 
describe  thus :  • 

*  Landnama-hok ;   Thierry,  Conquite  SAngUterre:  EUis,  Dometday; 
Manch;  MaUet. 


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2o8  NAMES  FEOM  TEXJTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

<  Or  forge  we  armour  for  the  knight, 
The  grey  steel  clasps  his  breast  so  tight, 
That  to  life's  joys  his  thoughts  we  chill, 
Harden  his  heart  and  steel  his  will, 
To  doubt  or  caution  close  his  soul ; — 
He  rushes  on  a  bloody  goal. 
Beakers  of  silver  when  we  work. 
Discords  within  the  goblet  lurk, 
Wrath  fills  the  banquet  hall,  and  rage 
With  slaughter  fills  the  friendly  stage ; 
Or  when  our  golden  rings  go  forth. 
Pledges  esteemed  of  plighted  troth. 
We  mingle  sulphur  with  the  gold, — 
The  ring  of  faith  will  burst  its  hold.* 

This  pastime  is,  however,  disconcerted  by  the  white  form  of 
Baldur  emerging  from  the  abyss,  and  taking  part  in  the 
work : 

'  In  many  a  harness  blue  and  fair 
Doth  Baldur  set  his  jewel  rare, — 
Then  in  the  fight  the  champion  wild 
In  peace  is  faithful  friend  and  mild ; 
Or  when  the  beaker's  silver  edge 
Beareth  the  ruby,  Baldur's  pledge, 
No  discord  doth  the  draught  betray, 
Peace  blooms  like  flowers  with  rain  in  May. 
The  faithful  heart  may  burst  the  frame, 
But  Baldur's  ring  is  still  the  same.' 

Baldor's  heavenly  kingdom  was  called  Breidablik,  or 
broad  shining ;  on  its  pillars  were  written  Runes  that  could 
raise  the  dead ;  nothing  impure  could  enter  there,  and  even 
around  his  temples  neither  man  nor  beast  might  be  slain. 
He  had  princes  for  his  priesls,  and  he  also  had  priestesses  ; 
and  his  name  is  widely  given  to  places : 

*  When  Denmark^  Baven  roared  on  high 
Triumphant  through  Northumbrian  sky, 
Beneath  the  shade  the  Northmen  came, 
Fixed  on  each  vale  a  Bunic  name, 


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BALDUE  AND  HODUK.  2O9 

Beared  high  their  altar^s  mgged  stone, 
And  gave  their  gods  the  lands  they  won ; 
Then  Balder,  one  bleak  garth  was  thine, 
And  one  sweet  brooklet's  silver  line  :* 

namely,  Baldergarth,  and  the  Balder,  a  tributary  of  the  Tees, 
as  well  as  Baldersby,  also  in  Yorkshire ;  and  there  are  Balders- 
bnumen  and  Baldersbrond  in  Denmark.  In  flowers,  Baldur 
owned  our  own  deep  blue  gentian,  which  used  to  be  called 
Biddmoney ;  while  in  the  North  the  camomile  (Matricaria 
or  Anlhemis)  is  Balsensbre,  Ballensbra,  Barbrogras,  all  cor- 
ruptions of  Baldur's  brow,  in  allusion  no  doubt  to  the  open- 
eyed  glory  of  the  golden  eye  and  white  circlet  of  rays  of 
this  class  of  flowers. 

The  Tnglinga  Saga  made  Baldur  a  mere  human  son  of  the 
invading  Odin,  and  appointed  him  viceroy  over  the  Angeln 
in  the  Cimbric  Chersonese,  in  the  district  of  Breidablik. 
This  must  have  been  to  agree  with  the  Anglian  genealogies, 
which  place  Baldeag,  the  son  of  Woden,  as  the  next  forefather 
in  the  descent. 

As  to  his  name,  authorities  are  not  agreed.  Baldr  is  a 
prince  in  several  Teutonic  languages,  and  the  royal  family  of 
the  Visigoths  were  the  Balten.  Balths,  bald,  bold,  is  also  a 
word  among  them ;  but  Grimm  deduces  the  god's  title  from 
Ijely  or  haltasy  the  word  that  is  the  first  syllable  of  the 
Slavonic  Belisarius,  and  thus  would  make  the  Anglian 
Baldoeg  mean  white  as  day.  It  is  the  word  that  lies  at  the 
root  of  beUuSj  pretty,  whose  derivations  are  now  so  universal  in 
Romanized  Europe.  Others  turn  the  name  over  to  the  Bel, 
or  Beli,  of  the  Kelts,  or  the  Eastern  Belus ;  but  on  the  whole, 
the  derivation  Baldr,  a  prince,  is  the  least  unsatisfactory. 

The  legend  seems  to  have  been  unknown  to  the  German 
races,  or,  at  least,  no  trace  of  it  has  been  found,  and  the 
names  that  constantly  occur  beginnmg  and  ending  with  hald 
or  paid  J  are  supposed  merely  to  mean  the  prince  and  not  the 
god.    As  an  end  it  is  more  common  than  as  a  beginning,  and 


2IO 


NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 


it  ia  peculiar  to  the  Anglian  races,  our  own  Anglo-Saxcms, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Low  Countries,  and  continental  Saxons. 
The  names  that  have  become  universal  all  emanated  from  one 
or  other  of  these  sources. 

Baldric,  or  prince  ruler,  was  Anglo-Saxon ;  but  the  Swedes 
learned  it  as  Balderik,  the  Poles  as  Balderyk,  the  French  as 
Baudri.  Baldred,  an  English-named  saint,  was  bishop  of 
Glasgow;  thence,  too,  the  early  French  took  Baldramn, 
prince  raven,  which  thej  made  Baudrand,  and  confused  with 
Baldrand,  prince  of  the  house,  also  Baldemar,  famous  prince, 
unless  this  is  a  confusion  with  Waldemar. 

The  most  general  of  these  was,  however,  Baldwine,  princely 
friend,  who  was  very  early  a  feudatory  of  the  empire  in 
Flanders,  and  the  name  continued  in  his  family,  so  as  to  ti^e 
strong  hold  of  the  population,  and  to  spread  into  the  adjoin- 
ing lands.  Baldwin  was  the  father  of  William  the  Con- 
queror's Matilda,  and  the  one  Baldwinus  before  the  Conquest 
has  very  considerably  multiplied  after  it,  so  that  to  us  Bald- 
win has  all  the  associations  of  a  Norman  name.  Its  Euro- 
pean celebrity  was  owing  to  the  two  knights  of  Lomdne 
and  du  Bourg,  who  reigned  successively  at  Jerusalem  after 
the  first  Crusade,  and  left  this  to  be  considered  as  the  appro- 
priate Christian  name  in  their  short-lived  dynasty;  and 
again,  it  was  borne  by  the  unfortunate  count  who  was  thrust 
into  tilie  old  Byzantine  throne  only  to  be  demolished  by  the 
Bulgarians,  or  if  indeed  he  ever  returned,  to  be  disowned  as 
an  impostor  by  his  daughter. 


English. 
Baldwin 

French. 
Baudonin 
Baudoin 

German. 
Baldoin 

Dutch. 
Boudewijn 

ItAlian. 

Baldovino 
Balduino 

The  Germans  have  Baldo,  the  French  Baud,  both  contrac- 
tions from  either  Baldwin,  or  Balderich,  and  there  are  a 


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BALDUB  AND  HODUB.  21 1 

good  many  surnames  therefrom  in  England,  France,  and 
Germany. 

Examples  of  Baldegisel,  prince  pledge,  Baldbrecht,  Balde- 
mnnd,  Baldeflede,  Baldetmde,  have  also  been  found,  but  no- 
where  are  any  such  fc^ms  prevalent. 

Baldur^s  wife,  Nanna,  probably  comes  from  nanihjan,  in 
Gothic,  to  be  courageous.  There  are  a  few  Frisians  called 
Nanno,  Nanne,  Nonne ;  but  it  is  very  probable  that  this  old 
goddess  may  have  contributed  to  famish  some  of  the  in- 
herited names  now  all  absorbed  in  Anne. 

Baldur's  unfortunate  murderer  has,  strange  to  say,  many 
more  namesakes.  He  was  Nanna's  brother,  blind,  and  of 
amazing  strength,  and  is  supposed  to  typify  unheeding  rash- 
ness and  violence,  in  opposition  to  prudent  valour.  His  name 
is  in  Gothic  Hathus,  in  old  German  Hadu,  and  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  Headho,  and  is  said  to  come  from  Aeadho,  an  attack 
or  fight,  so  that  the  right  way  to  translate  it  in  the  com- 
pounds, where  it  forms  part  of  a  name,  would  perhaps  be 
fierce. 

It  has  a  great  many  different  forms.  The  old  northern 
Hedinn  is  believed  to  be  one,  belonging  first  to  a  semi-fabulous 
sea-king  of  the  mythic  ages,  who  tried  to  elope  with  the 
Valkyr  EUldur.  IVom  him  the  sea  was  poetically  called,  in 
the  strange  affected  versification  of  the  North,  the  road  of 
Hedinn's  horses.  There  were  eight  Hedinns  in  the  Land" 
fuwia-boky  and  it  sometimes  occurred  at  the  end  of  the  word, 
as  with  Skarphedinn,  the  fierce  but  generous  son  of  Njal, 
who  dies  singing  to  the  last  in  the  flame,  with  his  faithful 
axe  driven  deep  into  the  wall  that  the  fire  might  not  spoil  its 
edge. 

Tacitus  mentions  two  chiefs  whom  he  calls  Catumer  and 
Catualda,  and  who  are  supposed  to  be  by  interpretation 
Hadumar,  or  fierce  fame,  and  Hadupald,  or  Haduwald,  each 
of  which  would  be  fierce  prince.  Hadumar  has  lingered  in 
southern  France,  where  it  has  become  Azimar,  or  Adh6mar, 

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212 


NAME&  WHXm  TEUTON  ICTTHOLOGT. 


the  last  the  well  known  surname  of  the  Grignan  family. 
Hadubrand,  fierce  sword,  is  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  most 
ancient  existing  poem  in  Lower  German.  Heddo  is  to  be 
found  as  a  name  of  some  Frisians,  contracted  either  from 
this,  or  from  Hadub^,  or  one  of  the  other  componnds. 
Even  ladies  were  named  by  this  aflBx,  as  Haduburg,  war 
protection;  Hadulint,  war  serpent;  Haduwig,  which  the  old 
German  name-writer,  Luther,  makes  war  refuge. 

This  last  is  the  only  usual  form,  owing  to  the  saintly  fame 
of  a  daughter  of  the  Markgraf  of  Meranie.  While  one 
daughter,  Agnes,  was  the  victim  of  Philippe  Auguste's  ir- 
regular marriage,  the  happier  Haduwig  married  a  duke  of 
Silesia,  and  shared  his  elevation  to  the  throne  of  Poland, 
where  she  evinced  such  piety  as  to  be  canonized ;  and  the 
name  she  left  was  borne  by  a  Polish  lady  in  the  next  century, 
who  converted  her  husband,  the  duke  of  Lithuania.  Thus 
doubly  sainted,  all  eastern  Germany  delighted  in  it,  and  the 
French  sent  it  to  us ;  they  calling  it  Hedvige ;  we  took  it 
as  Hawoyse,  and,  descending  into  Avice,  or  Avis,  it  was  at 
one  time  very  common  here,  and  is  to  be  found  in  almost 
every  old  register. 


English. 

Havoise 

Hawoyse 

Havoisia 

Avice 

Avicia 

Avis 

French, 
Hedvige 

German. 

Hedwig 
Hedda 

PoUsh. 
Jadviga 

ItAlian. 
Edvige 

Lusatian. 
Hada 

Esth. 

Eddo 
Edo 

.Lett 
Edde 

Hungarian. 
Hedviga 

The  Spanish  Goths,  too,  had  their  compounds  of  Hado. 
The  Lady  Adosinda,  whom  Southey  has  placed  collecting  the 


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TYR.  213 

eorpses  of  her  family  in  the  ruins  of  the  city  destroyed  by 
the  Moors,  is  Hadaswinth,  or  fierce  strength ;  and  the  Por- 
toguese  Affonso  is  firom  Hadofuns,  the  last  syllable  of  if hich 
means  yehemence,  and  is,  in  fact,  no  other  than  our  own  un- 
dignified fu$s;  Afibnso,  Afonso,  thus  mean  fierce  fuss,  though 
for  more  euphony,  warlike  impetuosity.  Alfonso,  Alonso,  are 
firom  Hildefuns,  battle  impetuosity,  tiiough  now  all  are  con- 
founded together,  and  one  is  used  to  translate  the  other.*^ 

Section  Vn.— Tyr. 

In  Northern  mythology  Tyr  is  another  son  of  Odin,  and 
god  of  strength  and  victory.  When,  in  the  great  fight  with 
the  powers  of  evil,  the  terrible  Fenris,  the  wolf  of  the  abyss, 
was  to  be  bound  with  a  fetter,  slender,  but  which  no  power 
could  break,  he  was  only  induced  to  stand  still  by  Tyr  volun- 
teering to  put  his  right  hand  into  the  monster's  mouth,  as  a 
pledge  of  the  good  faith  of  A^ard.  Finding  himself  chamed, 
die  wolf  at  once  closed  his  jaws  and  bit  off  Tyr's  hand ; 
nevertheless,  the  Runic  letter  A  (thorny  the  sound  of  (ft), 
which  was  left-handed,  like  the  god,  and  therefore  his  sign, 
was  esteemed  the  mark  of  truth  and  treaties.  Two  one- 
handed  images  of  Tyr  have  been  found,  one  at  Mecklenburg, 
and  it  is  thought  that  the  stone  knives  sometimes  found  in 
tombs  are  his  emblems.  His  plants  are,  in  the  North,  the 
monkshood  (aconitum)  called  iyrshjaim  ;  the  violet,  tyrsfiola  ; 
the  mezerium,  iyvida. 

These  last  may  be  so  called  from  their  month  being  March, 
since  it  was  the  fashion  to  consider  Tyr  as  Mars,  and  his  day 
is  dies  Martis,  or  Mardi.  In  the  North  it  is  Tyrsday, 
Dienstag  in  German,  Ertag  in  Bavaria,  and  the  Anglo- 
Sax<m  Tiwersdag  has  become  our  Tuesday. 

*  Mtinch  ;  Grimm  ;  Munter  ;  Loning  ;  Blackwell,  Mallet ;  Laing, 
Heimskringla ;  Michaelis;  Oehlenschlager;  Butler;  Dosent,  Burnt  Njal; 
Hi$toire  des  CroUada  ;  Landnama-hok, 

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214  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

Tacitus  has  recorded  him  aa  the  chief  god  of  the  Goths 
and  Germans,  and  the  precedence  of  his  day  would  lead  to 
the  idea  that  he  may  once  have  been  a  greater  god  than  Odin. 
His  name  too  leads  to  the  same  conclusion;  it  is  cognate 
with  the  Sanscrit  Djaus^  DivaSy  the  Persian  Deev,  Greek 
ZeuSy  DioSy  and  Theos^  the  Boman  Beus^  and  the  Keltic 
LoUy  all  the  idea  of  godhead  conveyed  in  day  or  open  hearen. 

This  deity's  names  are  Tins  in  Gothic,  Zeu  in  Allemanic, 
Tir  in  Saxon,  Tyr  in  the  North,  where  the  word  also  means 
glory.  It  is  quite  a  mistake  to  call  our  Tuesday  Tuisco's 
day,  for  Tuisco  is  a  mere  inyention,  as  name-father  to  the 
Teutons. 

Thiodo  was  the  old  continental  Saxon  title  of  a  priest; 
thiota  was  the  Allemanic  priestess  ;  and  dienst  passed  on 
from  divine  worship  to  mean  any  sort  of  service.  The  ich 
dim  taken  by  our  Princes  of  Wides  from  Germany  may  be 
on  allusion  to  some  ancient  priesthood,  and  it  is  tempting  to 
believe  that  this  divine  word  may  be  the  root  of  the  national 
term  Teuton ;  but  our  foot  is  not  firm  enough  here  to  do 
more  than  hint  at  some  apparent  connection. 

Tyr  has  few  namesakes.  Tyre,  in  Norway,  is  the  only 
direct  one  ;  but  it  sometimes  finishes  a  word,  as  in  the  case 
of  Angantyr,  favourite  of  Tyr,  the  warrior  who  obtained  the 
terrible  sword,  Tyrfing,  forged  by  the  dwarfs,  which  did, 
indeed,  always  give  victory,  but  which  would  never  go 
back  into  its  scabbard  till  it  had  been  fed  with,  at  least, 
one  human  life.  The  dio^  or  thiuSy  of  the  old  Grothic  and 
German  names  thus  arose,  such  as  Alathius,  Halltyr,  and  the 
like. 

Hermann  Luning  explains  the  last  syllable  of  Angantyr's 
name  thus ;  but  Professor  Munch  connects  it  with  tjeney  to 
serve,  and  with  the  theow  that  finishes  some  of  our  Anglo- 
Saxon  names  in  the  genealogies.''^ 

^  Oiimm;  Munter;  Edd^i;  Blaokwelli  Mallet;  Oehlensohlager. 

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NIORD,  ETC.  215 


Sbohon  YIJL—Ni&rd,  ^c. 

Niord  was  god  of  the  sea,  almost  equal  in  rank  to  Odin 
himself.  He  was  a  yery  ancient  deity,  known  to  the  German 
nations  as  Nairthns,  and  probably,  like  Freyr,  male  and 
female.  The  goddess  Nerthus,  mentioned  by  Tacitus,  has 
been  supposed  by  Qrimm  to  mean  Niord;  but  Hermann 
Luning  makes  it  Tord,  a  wife  of  Odin,  and  one  of  the  three 
titles  of  the  earth :  at  any  rate,  out  of  this  mention  has  been 
made  a  goddess — ^Hertha,  who  has  not  been  without  name- 
sakes. 

The  water  orchis  was  niardiarvoth,  or  Niord^s  glove. 

Many  derivations  have  been  suggested  for  his  name. 
Finn  Magnusson  thought  it  might  be  cognate  with  the  Grreek 
vqpos  (neros),  wet;  Grimm,  that  it  might  be  connected  with 
the  Northy  though  he  declines  to  speak  positively;  and 
Hermann  Luning  deduces  it  from  nairauy  to  join,  because 
the  sea  joins  the  land  together. 

Niord's  direct  derivatives  seem  to  be  Nordhilda  and  Nord- 
bert ;  the  last  fashionable  in  Germany,  from  a  youth  of  im- 
perial family,  who  was,  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century, 
brought  to  serious  thoughts  by  having  his  horse  struck  by 
lightning  under  him,  when,  like  St.  Paul,  he  cried  out '  What 
wouldst  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?'  He  became  a  monk,  and  was 
afterwards  archbishop  of  Magdeburg,  and  founder  of  the 
Prsemonstratensian  Order;  and  Norbert  became  known  and 
used  after  he  was  canonized. 

Niord  alone  is  used  in  the  North ;  and  thence  too,  perhaps, 
comes  Norman,  which  was  in  use,  both  in  France  and  England, 
at  the  time  of  the  Conquest.  It  may  have  been  only  from  the 
nation,  but  it  is  puzzling  to  find  sixteen  Normans  before  the 
Conquest,  and  only  eight  after— one  of  whom,  Norman 
d'Arcie,  at  least,  was  a  Norman  bom.  Afterwards,  during  the 
friendly  thirteenth  century,  English  nobles  carried  Norman 

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21 6  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

to  Scotland,  where  it  was  adopted  in  the  Leslie  family,  and, 
like  Nigel,  became  exclusively  Scottish.  The  Highlanders 
called  it  Tormaid,  which  is  considered  to  be  really  its  (jaelic 
form,  not  an  equivalent.  The  last  Englishman  I  have  found 
so  called  was  Norman  de  Verdun,  under  Edward  I. 

From  nairatiy  too,  Luning  derives  the  title  of  the  Scandi- 
navian fates — the  Nomir,  because  they  join  together  our 
destiny.  The  three  chief  Nomir  dwell  in  a  beautiful  abode 
near  the  Ashyggchasil,  and  are  called  Urd,  Yerdandi,  and 
Skuld,  literally,  was,  becoming,  and  shall — ^past,  present, 
and  future ;  the  two  first  fix)m  the  verb  verday  the  last  from 
shda.  Urd  has  furnished  our  weird.  There  were  many 
other  Nomir;  every  man  had  his  own  attendant  fate ;  but,  as 
names,  they  were  unused,  except  when  assumed  by  Noma  of 
the  Fitful  Head,  in  The  Pirate.  Skuldr  was  also  a  Valkyr, 
and  now  and  then  had  a  Danish  namesake. 

The  story  of  Niord's  marriage  is  one  of  the  wild  ones  of 
later  Norse  mythology.  Iduna,  the  wife  of  Bragi,  god  of 
poetry,  kept  the  apples  of  gold  which  renewed  the  youth  of 
the  gods.  However,  Loki,  having  fallen  into  the  clutches  of 
the  great  frost  giant,  Thiassi,  in  the  form  of  an  eagle,  only 
afiected  his  release  by  promising  to  bring  Iduna  and  her 
apples  to  Jotunheim.  He  beguiled  her  into  a  forest,  under 
pretence  that  he  had  found  finer  apples  than  her  own, 
and  there  Thiassi  flew  away  with  her.  The  gods  began  to 
grow  old  without  their  apples,  and  insisted  that  Loki  should 
bring  her  back.  He  arrayed  himself  as  a  falcon,  and,  flying 
to  Jotunheim,  turned  Iduna  into  a  sparrow  and  flew  home 
with  her,  pursued  by  Thiassi.  The  Aasir,  seeing  her  danger, 
lighted  a  fire  with  chips  on  the  walls  of  Asgard,  which  flamed 
up  and  singed  Thiassi's  wings,  so  that  he  fell  down  among 
them  and  was  slain.  Afterwards,  his  daughter,  Skadi,  came 
to  avenge  his  death,  but  was  mollified  by  being  allowed  to 
choose  a  husband  from  the  Aasir,  but  was  only  allowed  the 
sight  of  the  feet  to  select  from ;  and  thus,  hoping  she  had 


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NIORD,  ETC.  217 

taken  Baldnr,  she  obtained  Niord.  Thiassi's  eyes  are  said  to 
have  become  stars;  but,  as  usual,  the  northern  astronomy 
has  been  ruined  by  the  classical,  and  they  are  lost. 

Bragi  was  followed  as  an  Icelandic  name.  Its  etymology 
is  uncertain;  some  make  it  cognate  with  Brahma;  others 
with  hragay  to  shine ;  others  with  Irain,  Braga  was  poetry, 
and  thence,  unfortunately,  comes  to  brag,  and  braggart ;  and 
from  Braga's  divine  di^ught  we  may  perhaps  have  brewy 
brothy  and  brose ;  but  these  last  are  highly  doubtful. 

Iduna,  or,  more  properly,  Idhuna,  Ithuna,  is  a  myth  of 
spring  reft  away  by  winter,  who  dies  of  the  warmth  of  the 
flame  of  the  summer  gods.  Her  name  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  followed  in  the  North ;  but  it  is  almost  certainly  the 
origin  of  Idonea,  which  is  very  common  in  old  pedigrees. 
Idonea  de  Camville  lived  under  Henry  m. ;  Idonea  de 
Vetriponte,  Vieuxpont,  or  Oldbridge,  is  cited  in  the  curious 
tracts  on  Northern  curiosities,  put  forth  some  years  back  in 
Durham,  which  say  the  name  is  very  common ;  and  though  it 
might  be  the  feminine  of  the  Latin  idoneuSy  fit,  its  absence 
in  the  Romance  countries  may  be  taken  1^  an  indication  that 
it  was  a  mere  classicalizing  of  the  northern  goddess  of  the 
apples  of  youth. 

The  word  itself  is  translated  by  Luning  in  the  most  satis- 
factory manner  as  ^  she  who  works  incessantly,*  and  by  Munch, 
as  *  she  who  renovates  incessantly.*  Idja  is  to  work,  unnay 
love,  so  that  others  make  her  one  who  loves  work.  The 
word  unnay  however,  though  derived  from  the  verb  an  unnay 
to  love,  has  come  to  mean  only  a  woman,  and  as  such  is 
frequently  used  as  a  termination,  as  well  as  now  and  then 
standing  alone  as  a  female  name,  Unna,  of  whom  there  are 
three  in  the  Landnama-boky  and  several  in  the  Saga  of  Burnt 
Njal. 

Una  is  likewise  used  in  both  Ireland  and  the  North; 
but  in  the  former  it  means  famine,  in  the  latter  it  is 
the  feminine  of  Uni;  in  the  North  it  is  most  probably 

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2 1 8  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

from  that  word  vin,  win^  or  winey  a  friend,  wliict  we  shall 
often  meet  with  again,  and  which  lies  most  likely  at  the  root 
of  tmna. 

The  word  idja^  to  work,  the  first  syllable  of  Iduna's  name, 
formed  <fcm,  activity,  and  thence  the  person  who  ought  to  be 
active,  the  old  German  itis^  and  Anglo-Saxon  ides^  a  woman, 
in  the  North,  dds  or  dis.  The  idea  of  the  active  sprite  was 
divided  between  womankind  and  certain  household  spirits, 
like  the  Roman  genii,  only  feminine,  and  possibly  another 
name  for  the  Nomir,  as  each  man  had  his  own,  and  they 
were  sometimes  visible  as  animals  suiting  with  the  charact^ 
of  their  proteges :  powerful  chiefs  had  bears  or  bulls,  crafty 
ones  foxes;  and  even  on  the  introduction  of  Christianity, 
faith  in  the  Disir  was  not  abandoned,  though  there  were  no 
more  sacrifices  at  their  Disir  saJeriy  or  temples.  Sometimes 
a  family  would  have  various  disir  at  war  with  one  another, 
some  for  the  old  faith,  some  for  the  new.  While  Iceland 
was  still  in  suspense  between  heathenism  and  Christianity,  a 
young  chieftain  one  night  heard  three  knocks  at  his  door,  and 
despite  the  warnings  of  a  seer,  went  forth  to  see  the  cause. 
He  beheld  nine  women  in  black  riding  from  the  North,  and 
nine  from  the  South,  the  disir  of  his  family,  the  black  for 
heathendom,  the  white  for  Christianity.  The  black  knowing 
that  they  must  vanish  from  the  land,  seized  his  life  as  their 
last  tribute,  and  wounded  him,  so  that  he  returned  a  dying 
man  to  tell  his  tale.  Probably  these  disir  are  either  the 
cause  or  the  effect  of  those  strange  phantoms  which,  whether 
of  doves,  dogs,  heads,  children,  or  women,  portend  death 
in  certain  famUies.  They  may  likewise  account  for  some  of 
the  family  bearings  in  the  form  of  animals. 

Disa  is  a  Norwegian  and  Icelandic  name,  now  nearly  dis- 
used: it  is  also  a  very  frequent  termination,  such  as  in 
Thordis,  Alfdis,  Freydis,  &c.,  and  it  may  be  most  fitly  trans- 
lated as  the  sprite  giving  the  idea  of  the  guardian  protecting 


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TTRTMnATT..  21 Q 

qpirit  that  woman  sbonld  be.  In  the  German  names  it  appears 
as  the  termination  itis  or  idisy  as  Adelidis,  one  that  appears 
at  first  sight  like  a  mere  Latinism.*^ 


Section  lX.—Eeimdall. 

'  The  porter  of  Yalhall  is  Heimdall,  the  son  of  nine 
sisters,  who  watches  at  the  further  end  of  the  rainbow-bridge 
Bifrost  to  guard  the  ^srr  from  the  giants.  He  sleeps  more 
lightly  than  a  bird,  can  see  a  hundred  leagues  by  day  or 
night,  and  can  hear  the  grass  growing  in  the  fields,  and  the 
wool  on  the  sheep's  backs.  He  bears  in  one  hand  a  sword, 
in  the  other  a  trumpet,  the  sound  of  which  resounds  through- 
out the  universe. 

When  the  powers  of  evil  break  loose,  Heimdall  will  jouse 
the  gods  to  their  last  conflict  by  a  blast  of  his  trumpet,  and 
in  the  struggle  will  kill  and  be  killed  by  Loki. 

His  name  is  explained  by  A^tm,  home,  and  daJHr^  powerful. 
The  latter  half  is  in  Anglo-Saxon  (feoS,  in  old  High  German 
UllOy  and  in  the  old  Norse  dallr^  whence  Dalla  is  found  as  a 
name  in  the  Landmma-boh. 

Seim  is  in  Ulfhilas  both  a  field  and  a  village,  and  the 
Anglo-Saxon  uses  the  word  ham  in  a  similar  manner,  as  is 
still  shown  in  the  diminutive  hamlet,  for  a  small  village,  as 
well  as  in  the  ham  that  concludes  many  locsJ  names.  At  the 
same  time,  the  word  slightly  altered  assumed  with  us  that 
closer,  dearer,  warmer  sense  which  is  expressed  by  the  terms, 
heimy  hiemmey  hjem^  hame^  and  homey  in  all  the  faithful- 
hearted  Teutonic  race,  yet  which  is  so  little  comprehended  by 
our  southern  relatives,  that  they  absolutely  have  no  power  of 
expressing  such  an  idea  as  ^  It's  hame,  and  it's  hame,  and  it's 
hune.' 

•  Grimm;  Lnning;  Monter;  Munch;  Blaokwell,  Mallet;  Ellis, 
I>(me$day;  Dngdale. 


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220  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

Even  in  their  heathenism  ^  true  to  the  kindred  points  of 
heaven  and  home,'  the  guardian  of  the  dwelling  of  the  brave 
spirits  of  the  dead  was  made  bj  the  Northmen  no  grim 
Cerberus  nor  gloomy  Charon,  but  the  Home  ruler. 

And  though  Heimdaller  nowhere  occurs  as  a  name,  jet 
the  old  German  Heimirich  is  almost  identical  with  it;  though 
it  should  be  observed  that  heim  is  a  commencement  peculiar 
to  the  (Jermans ;  we  never  find  one  with  this  commencement 
originating  either  with  the  Northmen  or  the  English. 

Where  Heimirich  first  began  does  not  appear,  but  it 
sprung  into  fame  with  the  Saxon  emperor  called  the  Fowler, 
and  his  descendant  won  the  honours  of  a  saint,  whence  this 
became  a  special  favourite  in  Germany,  where  it  was  borne 
by  six  emperors,  princes  innumerable,  and  by  so  many  others 
that  the  contraction  Heintz  had  passed  to  cats  even  as  early  as 
the  writing  of  Reinecke  Fuchs. 

It  is  from  this  endearment,  Heinz,  that  the  handsome  and 
unfortunate  son  of  Frederick  II.,  who,  after  his  brief  royalty 
in  Sardinia,  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  a  Genoese  prison, 
was  known  to  Italy  as  Enzio,  and  to  history  as  Enzius. 

From  the  kaisers,  the  third  Capetian  king  of  France  was 
christened  Henri,  a  form  always  frequent  there,  though  only 
four  times  on  the  throne.  Its  popularity  culminated  during 
the  religious  wars,  when  Henri  de  Valois,  Henri  de  Bourbon, 
and  Henri  de  Guise  were  fighting  the  war  of  the  three 
Henris ;  but  in  spite  of  the  French  love  and  pride  in  h  grand 
monarquey  the  growing  devotion  to  St.  Louis,  from  whom  the 
Bourbon  rights  to  the  throne  were  derived,  set  Henri  aside 
from  being  the  royal  name,  until  the  birth  of  him  whom 
legitimists  still  call  Henri  V. 

There  are  but  three  instances  of  Henricus,'  even  after  the 
Conquest,  ih  Domesday;  and  it  must  have  been  firom  the 
reigning  French  monarch  that  William  the  Conqueror  took 
Henry  for  his  youngest  son,  from  whom  the  first  Plantagenet 
received  and  transmitted  it  to  his  ungracious  son,  his  feeble 

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HEIMDALL.  221 

gnndson,  anct  througb  him  to  the  elder  Honse  of  Lancaster, 
th^i  to  Ae  youngar,  ii?ho  for  three  generations  wore  it  on  the 
throne^  and  for  whoso  sake  it  was  revived  in  the  House 
of  Tndor.  Its  right  native  ahi^  is  Harry ;  the  other  form 
is  only  an  imitation  of  French,  spelling.  It  was  '  Harry  of 
Winchester'  who  cried  out  for  help  at  Evesham;  Harry  of 
Bolingbroke  who  rode  triumphant  into  London,  and  who  died 
worn  out  in  Jerusalem  chamber;  Harry  Hotspur  whose  spur 
was  cold  at  Shrewsbury;  Harry  of  Monmouth  who  was 
Hal  in  his  haunts  at  Eastche^p,  and  jested  with  Fluellen  on 
the  eve  of  Agincourt;  Harry  of  Windsor  who  foretold  the 
exaltation  of  Harry  Tudor  when  ^  Richmond  was  a  little 
peevish  boy;'  and  Harry  VUL  who  lives  in  the  popular  mind 
as  Blue  Beard;  perhaps  connected  in  some  cases  with  th^ 
popular  soubriquet  of  the  devil. 

An  early  Swedish  bishop  bore  the  name,  and  so  did  a 
bishop  of  Iceland  before  the  twelfth  century ;  but  these  must 
have  been  foreigners,  for  there  are  no  other  instances  in  die 
North  in  early  times,  though  the  general  fusion  of  European 
names  brought  in  Hendrik,  to  the  loss  of  their  own  Heidrick, 
just  as  Heinrich  seems  to  have  in  Grermany  destroyed  an 
independent  Haginrich. 

The  founder  of  the  Portuguese  kingdom  was  a  Henri  from 
Burgundy;  but  the  name  did  not  greatly  flourish  in  the 
Peninsula  till  Enrique  of  Trastamare  climbed  to  the  Gastilian 
throne,  and  his  namesakes,  alternating  with  Juan,  threw  out 
die  old  national  Alfonso  and  Fernando* 

On  the  whole  this  is  one  of  the  most  universal  of  Teutonic 
names,  and  one  of  the  most  English  in  use,  although  not 
Anglian  in  origm.  The  feminine  seems  to  have  been  in- 
vented in  the  sixteenth  century,  probably  in  France,  for 
Henriet  Stuart  appears  in  the  House  of  Stuart  d'Aubigne  in 
1588,  and  there  were  some  Henriettes  to  match  the  Henris 
at  the  court  of  Catherine  de  Medicis.  England  received  the 
name  from  the  daughter  of  Henri  lY.,  Henriette  Marie, 

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222 


NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 


whom  the  Prayer  Book  called  Queen  Mary,  thoBgh  her  god- 
children were  always  Henrietta,  so  Latinized  by  their  pedigrees, 
though  in  real  life  they  went  by  the  queen's  French  appella- 
tion, as  well  as  English  lips  could  frame  it,  so  that  Hawyot 
was  formerly  the  universal  pronunciation  of  Harriet,  and  is 
still  used  by  a  few  old-fashioned  people. 


English. 
Henry 
Harry 
Hal 
Halkin 
Hawkin 

French. 
Henri 
Henriot 

Spanish. 
Enrique 

Italian. 

Enrico 

Arrigo 

Enzio 

Arriguccio 

Arrigozzo 

Guccio 

Breton. 
Hery 

Portuguese. 
Enrique 

German. 

Heimirich 

Heinrich 

Hein 

Heine 

Heinz 

Heinecke 

Henke 

Henning 

Dutch. 
Hendrik 
HendricuB 
Heintje 

Danish. 
Hendrik 

Enrik 

Swedish. 
Henrik 

Polish. 
Henryk 

Bohemian. 
Jindrich 

Tjett 

Indrikis 

Indes 

Induls 

lithnanian. 

Endrikis 
Endruttis 

FBMIMINB. 

English. 

Henrietta 

Harriet 

Harriot 

Harty 

Hatty 

Etta 

Hetty 

French. 
Henriette 

Spanish. 
Enriqueta 

Swedish. 
Henrika 

Italian. 
Enrighetta 

Portuguese. 
Henriqueta 

German. 

Henriette 
Jette 

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WILL. 


223 


Dutch. 

Hendrike 
Jetje 

Polish. 
Henryeta 

Bohemian. 
Jendiska 

Slovak. 
Enrika 
Henrinka 

Heimo,  or  Hamo^  is  another  old  German  form,  becoming  in 
French  Hamon,  Haymon,  Aymon ;  and  Amone  in  Italian. 
Les  Quatre  Fib  Aymon  were  notable  freebooters  in  Karling 
romance,  and  in  Italy  were  t  Quattro  Figli  cPAmane.  Early 
Norman  times  gave  us  Hamo,  Hamelin,  and  Fitzaymon ;  but 
except  for  an  occasional  Hamlyn  in  an  old  pedigree,  they  have 
disappeared. 

Germany  had  Heimrod,  Heimbert,  and  Heimfred;  but 
these  are  not  easy  to  disentangle  from  the  derivatives  of  the 
word  huny  which  are  much  more  in  use.* 

Section  X.—FtW. 

This  section  has  thus  been  headed  because  the  Will  was 
(me  of  the  ideas  most  strongly  expressed  in  various  forms  in 
the  religion  of  the  high-spirited  North. 

The  word  to  mU  ia  ot  bH  tongues;  the  Greek  /SowAay, 
Latin  veUe  or  wfo,  Gothic  viljany  Keltic  mdi,  all  show  a 
common  origin,  and  every  Teuton  language  has  the  deriva- 
tives of  ivittj  just  as  the  Romance  have  of  volo. 

But  it  is  the  Teuton  who  brings  the  Will  into  his  mytho- 
logy. When  the  creation  began,  the  cow  Andumbla  licked 
out  of  the  stones  a  man  named  Bur,  who  was  the  grandfather 
of  die  three  primeval  gods,  Odin,  Wili,  and  V6,  the  all-per- 
vading, the  will,  the  holy,  and  it  was  these  who  together 
animated  the  first  human  pair.  We  hear  no  more  of  Vili  or 
Hoemir,  as  he  is  also  called  after  he  thus  infused  feeling  and 

*  Miohaelis;  Pott;  Edda, 


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224      NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

will  into  the  first  man ;  but  we  meet  the  word  vnU  again 
forming  valjaUy  to  choose,  velja  in  the  North. 

Thence  the  home  where  Odin  welcomed  his  brave  descend- 
ants was  Yalhall,  the  hall  of  the  chosen;  and  the  maidens 
who  chose  the  happy  who  were  there  to  dwell,  were  the  Val- 
kyrier,  or  Walcyrge,  the  last  syllable  from  i/c^a,  cureuy  to 
choose,  the  word  whence  an  electoral  prince  is  called  in  Ger- 
man, Kiirfurst.  But  the  passport  to  the  hall  of  the  chosen 
was  a  glorious  death  on  the  battle-field ;  and  thus  it  was  that 
vdly  valij  waK,  belonged  to  the  carnage  of  the  fight,  since 
slaughter  did  but  seal  the  marks  of  the  Valkyr  upon  the 
brave,  whose  spirits  were  passing  over  the  rainbow-arch, 
while  the  comets  marked  the  course  of  the  chariot  which 
glanced  across  the  sky  with  weapons  forged  for  their  sport 
in  battle  and  chase. 

So  the  hall  of  the  chosen  became  the  hall  of  carnage,  the 
abode  of  the  slain ;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  no  Christian 
writer  transfers  the  term  to  paradise,  although  the  epithet 
Schildburg,  the  castle  of  shields,  is  once  applied  to  heaven 
as  the  home  of  the  victors.  Indeed,  Yalhall  was  not  eternal; 
the  warrior  there  admitted  had  yet  to  fight  his  last  fight  by 
Odin's  side,  perish  with  him  and  his  sons,  and  share  wiUi 
them  the  renovation  of  the  rawverse.  So  deeply  interwoven 
with  the  ideas  of  the  North  was  a  violent  death  with  the 
hope  of  bliss,  that  crags  in  Norway  aflEwrding  scope  for  a 
desperate  leap,  were  called  the  vestibule  of  Yalhall,  and  the 
preference  for  a  death  on  the  battle-field  lingered  into  Chns- 
tian  days,  so  that  not  only  did  fierce  Earl  Siward  bemoan 
his  fate  in  dying  of  sickness,  albeit  he  rose  upon  his  feet  to 
draw  his  last  breath,  but  even  the  Chevalier  Bayard  mourned 
angrily  over  the  fever  that  had  nearly  caused  him  to  pass 
away  like  a  sick  girl  in  his  bed. 

Well  then  might  the  Valkyrier  be  the  favoured  messengers 
of  Odin,  sent  forth  to  select  the  champions  who  should 
become  the  guests  of  their  mighty  forefather,  himself  called 

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WILL.  225 

Valfreyr,  or  Slaughter  Lord.  They  hovered  over  the  camp 
in  armonr  with  swan  wings,  marked  those  who  were  to  fall, 
and  wove  the  web  of  slaughter  ere  the  battle  began.  Their 
number  varies  in  different  sagas,  aad  so  do  their  names, 
although  Hildor  is  always  the  chief.  Their  last  appearance 
was  when  the  islander  of  Caithness  beheld  the  twelve  weaving 
their  grisly  web  in  a  loom  of  lances,  the  weights  of  men's 
heads,  on  the  eve  of  the  Good  Friday  of  the  battle  of  Glon- 
tarf,  between  King  Sigtrygg  and  Brian  Boromhe,  singing  the 
weird  song  that  Gray  tnuuslated  long  before  Teutonic  antiqui- 
ties were  revived. 

'  Horror  covers  all  the  heath, 

Oloods  of  carnage  blot  the  sun ; 
Sisters,  weave  the  web  of  death, 
Sisters,  cease,  the  work  is  done/ 

The  work  done,  the  web  was  torn  in  sunder,  and  divided  be- 
tween the  Valkyra,  who  flew  off,  half  to  the  North,  half  to 
tiie  Sonth,  denoting  the  rending  of  the  ancient  faith. 

In  fact,  in  later  sagas,  the  Yalkyrier  lose  their  wild  mys- 
tery and  divinity,  and  fall  into  mere  magic  maidens,  some- 
times with  extraordinary  strength,  sometimes  with  swan 
wings,  and  at  the  very  last  gasp  of  the  supernatural  with 
goose  feet,  which  at  their  next  step  become  merely  large 
feet.  The  mother  of  Charlemagne  absolutely  makes  the 
transition  from  Bertha  the  goose-footed,  to  Berthe  aux  grands 
fieds. 

To  this  source  probably  may  be  referred  Wala  or  wise 
woman,  the  inspired  priestess,  aJso  called  in  ancient  German 
the  Yelleda.  Caesar  tells  us  that  the  matrons  among  the 
Crermans  cast  lots,  and  prophesied  the  issue  of  battle,  and 
thus  wala  may  have  been  the  wise  or  inspired  woman  and 
the  Voluspa :  the  great  prophetic  song  of  the  fate  of  the 
Aasir  is  Voluspa^  either  the  wise  woman's  spae,  or  the  in- 
spired spae  or  prophecy ;  for  vda  or  volw  means  inspired  in 

^^  ^  Digitized  b^GoOgle 


226       NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

ancient  Grerman  (no  doubt  from  the  wala  or  prophetess), 
and  by  a  very  small  transition,  mad.  Probably  the  Kelts 
borrowed  it,  for/o/  was  inspired  or  mad ;  and  Folia  of  Arin- 
nimn  is  mentioned  by  Horace  as  a  magician.  Our  fool  is 
thus  traceable  to  vohj  inspired,  but  probably  through  the 
Keltic  and  French  medium. 

Yili,  though  his  myths  have  been  forgotten,  still  stands  as 
a  great  ancestor.  From  him  in  Germany,  either  directly  or 
through  a  renewal  of  him  as  on  ancestor,  must  hare  been 
named  the  great  race  of  the  Billingen,  the  first  dynasty  of 
the  continental  Sachsen,  who  gave  emperors  to  Germany. 

Billing  is  the  son  of  Wili,  or  Will ;  and  so  again  is,  in  the 
North,  Vilkin,  the  father  of  the  famous  smith  Volundr, 
whose  name  is  probably  from  this  original  root,  will  or  mind, 
though  its  immediate  source  is  thought  to  be  vdy  art  or  cun* 
ning,  cognate  with  our  own  guile,  and  probably  the  participle 
of  a  lost  verb,  to  devise.  Some  connect  it  with  Vulcan, 
from  the  name  and  character  of  Volundr.  He  was  the  oatt 
of  a  sea  maiden,  and  of  Vidja  the  Vilkin ;  and  he  and  his 
two  brothers  each  married  a  Valkyr,  who  at  the  end  of  a 
stated  period  had  to  quit  them  for  nine  years,  giving  them 
each  magic  gifts  and  precious  stones  that  dimmed  when 
disaster  was  about  to  befall  them.  Volundr  was  the  fortu- 
nate brother  of  the  three,  and  was  the  mighty  smith  to 
whom  all  good  weapons  are  ascribed.  From  him  the  early 
part  of  the  Norse  poem  ending  with  the  slaying  of  Fafiier 
is  called  the  Volsunga  Saga,  as  from  his  father  the  Danish 
version  is  the  Wilkina  Saga ;  for  the  hero  himself  is  his 
descendant,  a  Wselsing,  or  Vilking,  and  fights  with  his 
redobted  weapons.  Wei  and  again  makes  the  impenetrable 
corslet  of  Beowulf,  *  the  twisted  breastnet  which  pro- 
tected his  life  against  point  and  edge;'  he  is  the  Wiolent, 
Velint,  or  Wieland  of  (Jermany,  and  Galando  of  Italy, 
the  Ghdant  of  France,  who  forged  their  Joyeuse,  the  sword 


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WILL.  227 

of  Charlemagne,  and  Cortana  that  of  Ogier,  A  skilM 
Weland  is  mentioned  in  an  old  Anglo-Saxon  MS.  found  at 
Exeter,  and  in  King  Alfred's  translation  of  Boethius,  he 
renders  the  line, 

'  Ubi  nuno  fidelis  ossa  Fabricii  jacent  ?* 

(meaning,  of  course,  an  artificer,  the  sense  of  the  name,) 
*  Where  are  now  the  bones  of  the  wise  Weland  ?  the  gold- 
smith who  was  most  famed.'  Workman  is  still  called  in 
Iceland,  Volmidrinjam,  and  a  labyrinth  is  Volundrhus.  This 
famous  armourer  took  possession  of  a  Druidical  cromlech  in 
the  midst  of  the  battle-grounds  between  the  Danes  and  Saxons 
on  the  Berkshire  downs,  and  there  drove  his  shadowy  trade 
as  Wayland  Smith,  close  to  King  Alfred's  own  birth-place, 
Wantage.  He  was  spared  from  oblivion  by  being  embahned 
in  KenUworthy  where  the  only  blunder  is  in  making  Lancelot 
Wayland  the  real  name  of  the  estimable  mountebank,  who 
personated  the  mythical  smith.  Though  Wieland  is  a  Grer- 
man  surname,  the  coincidence  of  an  English  Wayland  was 
too  much  for  probability  ;  and,  in  fact,  Scott  does  not 
seem  to  have  known  how  very  ancient  Wayland  Smith  had 
really  been. 

Names  in  Wal  are  chiefly  Northern,  those  in  Wil  mostly 
Sachsen.  Ullr,  or  UU,  another  Northern  form,  has  been 
much  used  in  Iceland;  and  among  the  Northern  isles  of 
Scotland,  where  it  may  be  remembered  that  Ulla  Troil  was 
the  real  name  of  Noma.  Ullr  was  the  stepson  of  Thor,  son 
of  Sif,  and  renowned  as  a  great  bow-bearer. 

Wil  is  almost  always  a  commencement.  The  Frank  queen 
Bilichilde  was,  of  course,  Willihilda,  resolute  battle.  Our 
earnest  but  turbulent  Wilfrith,  the  Yorkshire  bishop,  hardly 
deserved  to  be  called  resolute  peace ;  but  as  patron  of  Bipon, 
his  name  has  continued  in  the  North,  Wilfroy  being  very 
frequent  in  older  registers  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bipon, 

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228 


NAMES  FBOM  TEUTON  MTTHOLOOT. 


though  of  late   fashion   has   adopted   it  in  the  form  of 
Wilfred. 

In  the  seventh  century,  we  sent  Germany  two  missionaries 
with  this  prefix,  Willibrord  who  laboured  at  Utrecht,  Willi- 
hold  at  Utrecht ;  also  Willibald,  resolute  prince,  went  on 
pilgrimage  with  his  father,  St.  Richard  of  Wessex,  in  721, 
and  finished  his  career  as  bishop  of  Aichstadt,  leaving  his 
name  to  take  root  in  various  forms. 


French. 

Portnguese. 

Dutch. 

BaTBiiin. 

WiUibald 

Gaillibaud 

Goilbaldo 

WiUeboId 

WiUilMld 

Wibald 

Vilibaldo 

Waldl 
WalU 

Native  to  Germany  is  Williburg,  which  has  a  northern 
fac  simile  Yilbjorg,  and  Vilgerd,  the  same  in  meaning,  reso- 
lute protection ;  Willrich,  resolute  ruler ;  Willehad,  resolute 
violence ;  Willeram,  resolute  raven ;  Willihard,  reduplicating 
firmness;  Willigis,  willing  pledge,  or  pledge  of  Ae  will; 
Willimar,  resolute  fame,  making  our  surname  Wilpier.  Wil- 
liheri,  resolute  warrior,  is  the  source  of  the  German  Wilier,  the 
English  Weller,  the  French  Villiers  and  Villars,  which  with 
their  aristocratic  sound,  betray  little  of  their  kindred  to  Sam 
WeUer. 

Where  the  most  popular  of  all  the  Wills  was  invented  it 
is  not  easy  to  discover,  but  Germany  is  its  most  likely  re- 
gion, since  helm  is  a  specially  Germanic  termination,  and  the 
Billings  favoured  the  commencement ;  besides  which  the  pro- 
nunciation in  that  language  leaves  the  words  their  natural 
meaning.  Will-helm,  resolute  helmet,  or,  perhaps,  helmet  of 
resolution.  The  native  northern  name  would  be  Yilhjalm,  but 
this  is  never  used,  it  being  only  imported  bodily  as  Wilhehn 
into  Denmark  from  Germany,  just  as  our  Ethelbert  is  su- 
perseded by  Albert 


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WILL. 


229 


English. 

WiUiam 

WiU 

Willie 

BiU 

Wilkin 

Welsh. 
Goillim 

Breton. 

Guillem 
Guillam 

French. 

Gnillaume 
Guillemot 

Old  French. 

WiUelme 

Willeaulme 

Guillermo 
Guillen 

Portngaese. 
Guilbenno 

Italian. 
Guglielmo 

Gennan. 

Wilbelm 
Wilm 

Dutch. 

Wlllem 
Wim 

Swiss. 

Wilbelm 
Wille 

Frisian. 
Willo 

Polish. 
VUbelm 

BohemiAQ. 
Vilem 

Lett 

WillumB 
Wille 

Greek. 

GoulielmoA 
Bilelmos 

FEMININE. 

Engliflh. 

Wilhelmina 

Wilmett 

Wilmot 

Mina 

Minella 

French. 

Gaillerame 

Guillemette 

Minette 

Mimi 

Guillette 

Spanish. 
GuiUemma 

Italian. 
Guglielma 

Portuguese. 
Guilbermma 

Swedish. 
Vilbelmine 

German. 

Wilbelmine 

Helmine 

Mine 

Mincben 

Minna 

Swiss. 

Mimmoli 
Mimmeli 

Lithuanian. 

Myne 
Mynette 

Dutch. 
Willemyn 
Willempje 

Polish. 
Minka 

The  cause  of  its  adoption  in  Normandy  cannot  be  made 
out  of  the  eight  saints  who  bear  it  in  the  Roman  calendar . 


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230       NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

not  one  is  anterior  to  the  son  of  Rollo,  the  second  duke 
of  Normandy,  from  whom  William  descended  to  the  Con- 
queror, and  became  one  of  the  most  national  of  English 
names. 

Old  Camden's  account  of  it  is  too  quaint  not  to  be  here 
inserted :  *  William,  geme.  For  sweeter  sound  drawn  from 
Wilhelm,  which  is  interpreted  by  Luther  much  defence,  or 
defence  to  many ;  as  Wiliwald,  ruling  many ;  Wildred,  much 
reverent  fear,  or  awful ;  Wilfred,  much  peace ;  Wilibert,  much 
brightness.  So  the  French,  that  cannot  pronounce  TF,  have 
turned  it  into  Philli,  as  Philibert  for  Wilibert,  much  bright- 
nesse.  Many  names  wherein  we  have  Will  seem  translated 
from  the  Greek  names  composed  of  ^oXw ;  as  Polydamas, 
Polybius,  Polyxenes,  &c.  Helm  yet  remained  with  us,  and 
Villi,  Willi,  and  Billi  yet  with  the  German  for  many.  Others 
turn  William,  or  willing  defender,  and  so  it  answereth  the 
Roman  Titus,  if  it  come  from  iuendo,  as  some  learned  will 
have  it.  The  Italians  that  liked  the  name  but  could  not 
pronounce  the  TT,  if  we  may  believe  Gesner,  turned  it  into 
Galeazzo,  retaining  the  sense  in  part  for  helm;  but  the 
Italians  report  that  Galeazzo,  the  first  viscount  of  Millain, 
was  so  called  for  the  many  cocks  that  krew  lustily  at  his 
birth.  This  name  hath  been  most  common  in  England  since 
William  the  Conqueror,  insomuch  that  on  a  festival  day  in 
the  court  of  King  Henry  H.,  when  Sir  William  St.  John  and 
Sir  William  Fitzhamon,  especial  officers,  had  commanded  that 
none  but  the  name  of  William  should  dine  with  them  in  the 
great  chamber  with  them,  they  were  accompanied  with  one 
hundred  and  twenty  Williams,  all  knights,  as  Robert  Mon- 
tensis  recordeth,  anno  1173.* 

Camden's  authority  is  not  Martin  Luther,  but  one  Mr. 
Luther  Dasopodius,  by  whom  he  sets  great  store,  and  whose 
German  Villi  or  Billi,  much,  must  Lave  been  the  word  now 
called  viel»    Verstegen's  history  of  William  is  still  droller, 


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WILL.  231 

namelj,  that  any  German  who  killed  a  Roman  assumed  the 
golden  head-piece  of  the  slain,  and  was  thence  called  Gildhelm, 
which  would  of  course  be  inconsistent  with  the  old  German 
form  of  Wilihelm.  Be  it  observed  that  our  ^wrname  Wilmot 
descends  firom  a  name  to  be  found  in  German  Wilmod,  reso* 
lute  mood ;  but  the  feminine  Wilmott,  which  is  to  be  found 
continually  in  old  Devon  and  Cornwall  registers,  is  no  doubt 
the  same  as  the  old  French  Guillemette,  and  it  is  a  pity  it 
has  been  discarded  for  the  cumbrous  German  Wilhelmina,  or 
the  Williamina  that  is  of  no  language  at  all. 

From  whom  Sweet  Williams  were  named  does  not  appear, 
but  Stinking  Williams  were  from  the  duke  of  Cumberland 
of  anti- Jacobite  memory,  on  whom  the  Scots  bestowed  the 
credit  of  filling  their  fields  with  the  obnoxious  rag-wort 
(senecio). 

Hosts  of  surnames  rise  from  William.  Besides  the  more 
obvious  Bilson,  Wickins,  and  Weeks  are  his  remains,  and 
Germany  and  Holland  hare  their  complement.  As  to  Peter 
Wilkins,  the  flying  Dutchman,  he  may  be.  the  very  last 
renmant  of  the  Nibelungen  or  Wilkingen,  floating  in  their 
uncertain  mist. 

Camden  is  probably  right  in  taking  Filiberto  from  Wili- 
beraht,  or  Wilibert,  resolute  splendour,  though  Germans 
refer  it  to  viel,  the  same  as  our  full  and  the  Greek  polys. 
The  founder  of  the  name  in  the  sixth  century  was  a  Frank 
Willibert,  who  founded  the  abbey  of  Jumieges,  which  the 
Normans  first  desolated  and  then  restored,  their  Frenchified 
tongues  bringing  the  patron's  name  to  England  as  Fulbert, 
which  is  still  occasionally  found  in  old  families.  The  ninth 
grand  master  of  St.  John  meantime  bore  the  French  form, 
which  historians  wrote  as  Philibert ;  and  the  old  counts  of 
Savoy  alternated  Filiberto  with  AmS,  until  they  blossomec 
out  into  double  names,  as  Yittore  Amadeo  or  Filiberto 
Emanuele. 


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232      NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

The  Vol  of  choice,  or  slaughter,  is  not.  Professor  Munch 
tells  us,  to  be  confounded  with  another  Valj  taken  from  the 
word  waleh,  or  wacUh,  a  stranger,  which,  as  has  been  already 
said,  named  Wales.  Our  own  "Waltheof,  being  spelt  in  hifl 
native  tongue  Wealtheof,  thus  removes  himself  and  an  Ice- 
landic Valtheof  from  being  slaughter-thieves  to  being  foreign- 
thieves;  a  change  not  much  for  the  better.  There  were 
fierce  Danish  ancestors,  however,  to  account  for  this  preda- 
tory appellation  lighting  upon  the  earl  whom  the  Conqueror 
executed  at  Winchester  and  the  English  revered  as  a  saint ; 
then  from  him  it  descended  to  his  grandson,  Waltheof  de 
St.  Lys,  the  stepson  of  St.  David  of  Scotland,  companion 
of  the  excellent  prince  Henry,  and,  finally,  abbot  of  Melross, 
where  he  was  canonized  as  St.  Walthenius,  or  Walen,  and 
thus  accounts  for  the  surname  of  Wathen. 

Walmer  is,  in  old  German,  Walahmar,  and  thus  shows 
itself  to  be  foreign  fame ;  Walager  is  also  foreign  war,  and 
became  Yalgeir  in  the  North,  Gaucher  in  France  ;  and 
thence,  too,  by  corruption,  Yalgard,  the  evil  genius  of  the 
Njal  Saga. 

Walaraban,  or  Walram,  seems  appropriate  as  slaughter- 
raven,  but  is  uncertain.  The  French  made  it  Gauteran; 
and  in  the  form  of  Waleran  it  was  used  in  the  House  of 
Luxembourg,  Counts  of  St.  Pol ;  it  is  Galerano  in  Italy. 

Walabert,  a  monk  who  died  at  Luxen,  in  625,  is  the  same 
as  the  northern  Valbjart ;  and  another  Valbert,  or  Vaubert, 
as  he  is  called  in  France,  had  a  daughter  Yaltrud,  canonized 
as  St.  Vautrude,  or  Vaudru.  From  Walheri  we  have  Wal- 
ler ;  from  Walamund,  the  French  take  Yalmont ;  and  Wala- 
rik,  an  Auvergne  hermit,  was  Latinized  as  Yalaricus,  and 
Frenchified  into  St.  Valery,  a  territorial  surname. 

The  Gothic  king  Wallia  is  left  in  possession  of  the  battle- 
field; and  so  is  the  northern  Valdis  and  Valbiorg,  both 
thorough  Valkyr  names,  not  yet  disused. 


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HILDA.  233 

Yalasqnita,  an  old  name,  found  among  the  ladies  of  the 
Astnrias,  Navarre,  and  Biscay,  was  probably  from  this 
flource.* 


Sbctioh  XL — Hilda. 

Chief  among  the  Valkyrur  was  Hildur,  Hild,  or  Hiltia,  who 
is  never  wanting  in  any  enumeration  of  these  warlike  spirits. 
The  word,  in  its  original  sense,  means  battle,  and  has  thus 
attached  itself  to  the  principal  war-maiden;  nay,  it  has 
passed  from  her  to  be  a  poeticid  term  for  any  maiden,  and  is 
one  of  the  very  commonest  terminations  to  feminine  names 
thronghout  the  Teutonic  world,  and  is  likewise  often  found  at 
the  beginning  of  men's  names,  predominating  perhaps  in 
Qermany. 

Alone,  it  was  only  used  in  the  North  and  in  England, 
where  the  Deiran  princess  Hildur  became  the  holy  abbess 
HUda  of  Whitby,  succeeding  St.  Begga,  and  leaving  a  repu- 
tation for  sanctity  enhanced  by  the  sight  of 

*  The  very  form  of  Hilda  fair 
Hovering  upon  the  sunny  air ;' 

a  vision  which,  though  Clara  de  Clare  could  not  see  it,  is  to 
be  beheld,  under  certam  conditions  of  light,  in  the  windows 
of  Whitby  church  to  the  present  day ;  as  well  as  the  ammo- 
nites, believed,  as  usual,  to  have  been  serpents  turned  to  stone 
at  the  prayer  of  the  saint.  In  honour  of  her,  Hilda  is  still 
used  as  a  name  about  Whitby. 

The  mother  of  Rolf  Ganger,  progenitress  of  our  royalty,  who 
vainly  besought  Harald  Harfagre  not  to  banish  her  sons  from 

*  Junius;  Qrimm;  Luning;  BlackweU,  Mallet;  Lappenburg;  Dasent; 
Manter ;  Aiban  Butler ;  Camden ;  Yerstegen ;  Pott;  Koeppen ;  MiohaeliB; 
Howitt,  Literature  of  the  North, 


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234       NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY, 

Norway,  waa  named  Hildr ;  and  it  still  survives  in  Scandi- 
navia and  Iceland,  where  the  Landnama-bok  shows  it  to  have 
been  very  plentiful,  seventeen  ladies  being  recorded  as  bearing 
it.  There,  too,  occurs  Hildiridur,  battle  hastener,  a  thorough 
Valkyr  name,  but  not  very  suitable  to  Fouque's  sweet  Lady 
Minnetrost,  of  the  moonlight  brown  eyes. 

Hildelildis  is  a  latinized  form  of  an  Anglo-Norman  lady's 
name. 

The  true  Frank  form  of  the  aspirate  was,  however,  exceed- 
ingly harsh,  amounting  to  the  Greek  Xj  <^d  therefore^  usually 
set  down  in  its  transitions  through  Latin  and  French  as  a  c&. 
So  we  meet,  among  the  Meerwings,  with  Childebert,  who  by 
translation  is  Hildebert,  battle-splendour,  and  Ghildebrand, 
or  battle-sword. 

These  two  last  names,  in  their  Low  (Jerman  form  of  Hil- 
tibrant  and  Hiltibraht,  occur  again  in  the  old  poem,  already 
referred  to,  of  Hiltihrant  and  Hadubrant,  both  meaning  battle- 
swords,  which  goes  through  a  dispute  about  Hadubrand's 
father,  and,  finally,  leaves  them  in  the  middle  of  a  single 
combat. 

Hildebrand  is,  as  we  know  from  old  German  and  Danish 
poems,  the  companion  and  friend  of  Dietrich  of  Bern.  He 
had,  like  some  hero  in  every  cycle  of  story,  married  and 
deserted  a  young  wife  ;  and  after  assisting  his  master  in 
many  adventures,  and  much  dragon  killing,  and  being  the 
sole  survivor  of  all  Dietrich's  men  in  the  great  massacre 
of  the  Nibelung,  he  encountered,  without  knowing  him,  his 
young  son,  Alebrand.  Li  a  single  combat,  where  both  do 
their  devoir,  the  old  knight  is  wounded,  the  younger  over- 
thrown. Then  they  discover  each  other,  by  the  tokens  that 
Hildebrand  had  left  with  the  mother,  and 

'  Up  rose  the  youthful  Alebrand, 
And  into  Bern  they  ride ; 
What  bears  he  on  his  helmet? 


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HILDA.  23  f 

A  little  cross  of  golcL 

And  what  on  his  right  hand  bears  he? 

His  dearest  father  old/ 

So,  recommended  bj  fame,  Hildebrand  continued  a  knightly 
name  in  England  and  Grermanj  for  many  ages,  and  belonged 
to  that  battle-sword  of  the  Church,  who,  on  his  election  to 
the  papacy,  waa  called  Gregory  VII.,  though  we  still  continue 
to  think  of  him  as  Pope  Hildebrand ;  and  the  eccentric  Dr. 
Wolffe  tells  us  that  one  of  the  dreams  of  his  youth  was  to 
wear  the  tiara  by  the  name  of  Hildebrand !  In  Italy,  pro- 
nunciation turned  it  into  Aldobrando,  then  into  Aldrovando, 
and  then  Latin  made  Aldrovandus. 

Hildegunnr,  battle-maid  of  war,  was  another  northern 
name,  and  is  the  same  as  the  German  Hildegund,  which 
was  rather  a  favourite.  It  is  Aldegonde  in  the  Cambrai 
register,  and  the  territorial  St.  Aldegonde  is  memorable  in 
the  revolt  of  the  Low  Countries.  Hildegard,  in  honour  of 
an  abbess  in  the  Palatinate,  who  died  in  1004,  is  still  a  very 
common  name  among  German  ladies,  and  going  to  Denmark, 
has  been  corrupted  into  OUegaard.  It  is  exactly  thei  same 
in  meaning  with  the  northern  Hildebjorg.  So  again  are 
Hildewig  and  Hildegar,  and  among  the  Gothic  queens  of 
Spain  is  found  Hilduara,  or  battle  prudence. 

St.  Hiltrude  of  Liessies,  revered  in  Poitou  and  Hainault, 
unites  two  Valkyr  titles — ^Hildur  and  Thrudr ;  for  Thriidr  is 
generally  enumerated  among  the  Valkyr.  The  word  once 
meant,  in  the  North,  fortitude,  or  firmness,  and  is  possibly 
connected  with  truth ;  but  in  all  the  Teuton  languages  it 
signifies  maiden,  or  virgin.  Perhaps,  in  connexion  with  the 
Valkyrer,  Hildur  might  have  been  the  patroness  of  courage, 
and  Thrudr  of  fortitude;  but,  unfortunately,  perhaps  from 
the  spells  used  by  the  women  in  soothsaying  before  a  battle, 
Thrudr  sank  down  from  its  high  estate,  and  dtude^  or  drut^ 


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236       NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

means  a  witch,  and  in  German,  also,  an  evil  spirit.  Thmd- 
vangr,  or  the  abode  of  constancy,  was  one  of  the  names  of 
Valhall.  Thrud,  tmdj  tru,  is,  in  Scandinavia  and  Germany, 
as  favourite  a  feminine  termination  as  Hilda,  and,  no  doubt, 
with  the  same  meaning,  though  its  owners  would  fain  trans- 
late it  by  truth ;  but  it  cannot  be  brought  nearer  than  con- 
stancy, or  fortitude.  Sometimes  it  stands  alone.  Drot,  as 
it  has  become  by  pronunciation,  figures  in  the  Heimskringla  ; 
and  the  Danes  must  have  brought  it  to  England,  for  in 
Bishop-Middleham,  in  the  county  of  Durham,  we  meet,  in 
1683,  with  Troth  Bradshau,  who  is  again  Trouth,  or  Troath, 
in  the  old  spelling.  Trott  also  several  times  occurs ;  and  we 
are  thus  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  dear  old  Dame  Trott 
of  the  nursery  bears  the  respected  name  of  the  Valkyr  of 
fortitude.  Truth  is,  perhaps,  the  same,  originally  coaxkl  by 
Puritan  invention. 

Cyndrida,  or  Quendrida,  as  the  histories  call  her,  the  wife 
of  Offa,  is  suspected  by  Mr.  Eemble  to  have  been  mixed  up 
with  her  namesake,  Thrudr,  the  Valkyr.  She  was  said  to 
be  a  Frankish  princess,  who  came  floating  over  the  waters, 
having  been  exposed  in  a  boat  for  some  unknown  crime.  Her 
beauty  fascinated  Offa,  king  of  Mercia;  he  married  her,  and 
she  was  the  only  queen  who  caused  her  image  to  be  stamped 
on  her  coins.  She  treacherously  murdered  her  son-in-law, 
and  was  put  to  death  by  being  thrown  down  a  well.  Some 
part  of  this  is  history ;  other  parts  are  thought  to  be  taken 
from  the  legend  of  an  elder  Offa,  an  Anglian  myth,  whose  wife; 
was  almost  certainly  a  Valkyr,  who,  on  her  marriage,  lost  her 
supernatural  strength.  Cyne,  or  Cwen,  a  woman,  only  appears 
again  with  Owenburh,  another  Saxon  queen,  and  may  have 
been  only  an  affix. 

Other  German  masculine  forms  are  Hildeman,  or  Hilman  \ 
Hildemund,  or  Hilmund ;  Hildewart — ^in  Friesland,  Hilwert ; 
Hildefrid,  or  Hilfrid;.  Hildebold;   Hilding;    Hildrad,  the 


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HILDA. 


m 


Hildert,  or  Hillert,  of  Friesland ;  Hilram,  the  contraction  of 
Hilda's  raven. 

€k)thic  Spain  coined,  however,  the  most  noted  form  of  the 
name  when  Hildefuns,  or  battle  eagerness,  came  on  the  Latin 
lips  of  her  people  to  be  Bdefonso,  or  Illefonso,  as  the  great 
bishop  of  Toledo,  of  the  seventh  century,  was  called.  Then, 
shortening  into  AJfonso,  the  same  came  to  the  second  gallant 
king  of  the  Astorias,  husband  of  Pelayo's  daughter,  and 
became  the  most  national  of  all  the  Peninsular  names,  belong- 
ing to  eleven  Gastillian  kings  and  nine  Aragonese ;  but  never 
passing  beyond  the  Peninsula  as  a  royal  name,  save  to  the 
Aragonese  dynasty  in  Sicily  and  Naples.  Here  we  nearly 
had  it,  for  one  of  the  sons  of  Edward  I.  and  the  Castillian 
Eleanor  was  so  baptized,  but  his  early  death  saved  onr  lips 
firom  the  necessity  of  framing  themselves  to  its  southern  flow. 
Nor  had  Spain  the  good  taste  to  renew  it  after  her  princes 
had  become  Austrian  and  French ;  but  in  spite  of  the  Em- 
perador  Alonso,  of  AJonso  el  Sabio,  and  of  many  another 
noble  name,  Alphonse  is  chiefly  an  ornamental  French  name. 
The  Portuguese  Afibnso,  though  often  used  as  its  equivalent, 
is  Hadufuns.  The  feminine  is  the  Spanish  Alfonsina,  and 
French  Alphonsine.* 


English. 

Alphonso 
Alonzo 

I 

1 

Gennan. 
AlfoDS 

French. 
Alphonse 

Spanish. 
Ildefonso 
Alfonso 
Alonso 

Italian. 
Alfonso 

•  Orimm;  Luning;  Monter;  Blackwell,  Mallet;  Monoh;  Landncma- 
hok;  White,  Walking  Tour;  Boscoe,  Int.  to  Boiardo ;  Thieny,  EkiU 
de*  Tempi  Merovingieru;  Weber  and  Jamiason,  Northern  Romance;  Mi- 
chaelis;  Pott;  Surtees;  Butler. 


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238       NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 


Section  Xn. — Ve. 

The  third  deity  who,  with  Odin  and  Wili,  gave  life  to 
man,  was  Ve,  who  bestowed  blood  and  colour. 

Ye  is  thought  to  be  connected  with  the  Persian  word  vAj 
pure,  and  to  lie  at  the  root  of  vdhan^  to  consecrate,  m 
Mseso-Grothic ;  wdhan^  in  German;  whence  Christmas  is 
Weihnacht,  holy  night. 

Ve  was  the  god  in  ancient  (jerman,  vear  the  plural  for 
gods;  but,  moreover,  ve,  as  a  plural,  was  sacred  regicms, 
and  these,  among  the  Teutons,  were  groves;  wA,  a  grove 
in  old  German,  a  temple  in  old  Saxon.  Thence  the  northern 
vid,  German  waldy  English  woody  all  passing  from  the  sense 
of  the  consecrated  forest  to  be  merely  the  trees,  and,  in  our 
language,  the  actual  timber  of  which  they  are  composed. 

Ve  appears  no  more ;  but  Vidar  (Vithar),  a  son  of  Odin, 
explained  by  Luning  to  signify  the  inexhaustible  force  of 
nature,  is  in  the  final  conflict  to  set  his  foot  on  the  Fenris 
wolf,  and  rend  him  asunder,  and  with  Vali,  the  chosen,  to  pass 
unscathed  through  fire  and  flood,  and  behold  the  renovaticm 
of  all  things.  This  is  a  fine  idea,  only,  unfortunately,  the 
prose  JSdda  plunges  into  the  bathos  of  informing  us,  that 
Vidar's  invincibility  is  owing  to  his  wearing  a  pair  of  shoes 
made  from  the  parings  of  the  soles  of  all  that  have  ever 
been  made,  and  to  request  the  believing,  devoutly  to  throw 
away  all  such  fragments  to  add  to  the  collection.  Is  this 
connected  with  the  superstitions  about  old  shoes  ? 

Ve  and  Vid  do  their  part  in  names.  Vadi,  Wade,  or 
Wato,  is  a  giant  ancestor  in  the  Vilkinga  Saga ;  and  the 
father  of  Volundr  is,  in  the  North,  Vidja  or  Vudga;  in 
Ctermany,  Wittege  or  Wittich,  a  name  mentioned  by  Jor- 
nandes  as  Vidigoja.  The  son  of  Volundr  also  bears  the 
same  name,  Vedja  or  Wilken,  and  kUls  the  giant  Etgeir, 
called  ill  the  Danish  ballad,  Langbeen  Riser,  or  long-l^ged 


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VE.  239 

giant    The  grave  and  the  oven  of  the  giant  are  still  shown 
in  Zealand. 

It  is  the  Yitiges  whom  the  Byzantine  writers  mention 
among  their  Gothic  foes  in  Italy,  and  the  Yitiza  of  the 
latter  Yisigoths  in  Spain,  and  may  fairly  be  rendered  a 
dweller  in  a  wood,  though,  in  effect,  it  conveyed  the  sense 
of  consecration. 

Thence,  too,  the  Widukind,  or  Witukind,  of  Saxony,  the 
fierce  old  chieftain  subdued  by  Charlemagne,  whose  name 
Scott  gave  to  old  *  Witikind,  the  waster,'  but  erroneously, 
for  a  Dane  would  have  begun  his  name  with  Yed.  Before 
comparison  had  cleared  up  the  history  of  names,  Witikind 
used,  however,  to  be  translated  white  child. 

Germany  has  many  of  such  grove  names,  the  forest  wolf 
and  raven,  as  Witolif  and  Witram;  the  forest  prince,  as 
Witrich,  and  his  fame  as  Witmar ;  also  Witpald,  Witperaht, 
and  Witheri,  the  like  of  which  last  is  found  in  Domesday 
Book  before  the  Conquest,  as  Wither,  in  company  with 
WiUac,  Witgar,  and  Wit,  and  Witgils  is  high  up  in  the 
Anglo-Saxon  genealogy. 

It  is  tempting  to  refer  such  names  as  these  to  wit  and 
wise,  from  vidjany  to  know,  and  to  think  of  the  vedas  ;  but 
the  wood  and  its  spirit  of  consecration  is  the  real  source 
of  all  these,  as  of  Yebiom,  Yebrandr,  Yedis,  Yedomn, 
Vegeir,  Yekug,  Yemundr,  Yedny,  Yedhelm,  Yedhild,  Yestan, 
all  names  of  the  North.  Yerena,  the  gentle  mother  of  Sin- 
tram,  may,  perhaps,  be  meant  for  Yedrun,  which  would  mean 
sacred  wisdom,  or  for  Yedrid,  sacred  eagerness  ;  just  as 
Sigrid  has  formed  Siri  and  Serena. 

The  only  cases  where  wise  or  vit  has  produced  a  name,  were 
Vilgeir  of  Iceland,  who  received  that  prefix  for  his  magic 
powers,  and  Robert  d'Hauteville,  sumamed  Guiscard,  or  wise 
heart,  or  wizard,  the  Norman  conqueror  of  Apulia,  from 
whose  soubriquet  Guiscard  was  afterwards  used  as  a  name  in 
France,  whence  Sir  Guiscard  d' Angle  appears  in  Froissart. 

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^40       NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

Vey  or  verTy  is  common  at  the  end  of  northern  names,  as 
in  Raadve  or  Randverr,  and  stood  as  vih  at  the  end  of  the 
old  Frankish  names,  where  it  is  apt  to  get  confused  with 
wig,  war.  Vid,  the  forest  or  tree,  is  also  a  favourite  Norsk 
termination^  apt  to  be  taken  for  hvity  white.^ 

Section  XTTT. — Gerda. 

Freyr^s  beautiful  wife,  whose  loveliness  was  reflected  by 
land  and  sea,  was  Oerda,  a  word  coming  from  gerdlU  or 
gerthij  to  gird  round,  and  thus  denoting  the  enclosed  corn- 
field, the  emblem  of  peace  and  blessing. 

And,  on  the  other  hand,  gerd  was  sometimes  poetically 
used  for  the  entire  girding  or  harness  of  a  warrior  prepared 
for  battle,  and  in  both  these  senses,  as  well  as  of  die  dedi- 
cation to  the  goddess,  Gerdur  was  a  favourite  feminine  in 
the  North ;  and  Gerda  has  still  continued  in  use  in  Norway 
and  Iceland,  besides  supplying  a  great  many  terminatioDS, 
chiefly  to  Germany,  such  as  Ermengard,  Hildegard,  &c. 

Its  original  source  is  exceedingly  old,  and  conveys  the 
idea  of  turning  round,  as  in  yvpos  (gyros),  curvuSy  &c.,  and 
all  their  derivatives  in  the  classical  languages. 

In  the  northern  tongues  arose  gjorde  (Nor.),  gyrden 
(A.  S.),  whence  all  the  varieties  of  girth  and  gird.  Thence 
came  the  Danish  Gyrthr,  which,  when  borne  by  the  best 
and  most  faithful  of  the  sons  of  Earl  Godwin,  was  rendered 
into  modem  English  as  Gurth,  and  thus  was  bestowed  by 
Scott  upon  the  honest  thrall  of  Cedric  of  Botherwood.  This 
name,  then,  properly  means  the  warrior  girt  for  battle. 

Again  this  word  for  an  encircling,  gyrdely  gyrddandy  or 
girdling,  formed  gyrland,  garland,  originally  a  circlet  ot 
crown,  and  has  its  analogies  in  the  French  guirlandcy  Span- 
ish guimalday  and  Italian  ghirlanda;  and  it  is  curious  to 

«  Blackwell ;  Grimm ;  Manch ;  Domesday  Book;  Landnama;  Le  Bean ; 
Maiiane;  Weber  and  Jamieson,  Northern  Romance, 


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(Eom.  241 

Snd  our  own  English  somame  of  Gurland  responded  to  by 
the  Italian  Ghirlandajo.  Thence,  too,  garter,  jarreii^ey 
while  the  French  call  the  gartered  part  of  the  legjarret. 

The  enclosed  piece  of  ground  was  in  Latin  kartuSj  among 
the  Scandinavians  and  Anglo-Saxons  gaardj  or  gyrd,  whence 
yard  and  garden  were  the  double  offspring,  the  latter  being 
Ukewise  repeated  in  Holland,  Germany,  France,  and  even 
Italy.  Chard  is  a  farmstead  in  modem  Norsk,  but  anciently 
it  had  a  far  wider  significance,  and  served  for  a  dwelling- 
place,  and  even  for  an  entire  country.  Asgaard,  the  abode 
of  the  Aasir,  Midgard,  the  middle  region,  and,  indeed,  every 
place  visited  by  the  Vikingr  was  called  by  them  the  gaard 
of  its  inhabitants.  In  this  sense,  gard  is  part  of  a  man's 
name  in  the  North ;  e.g.^  Gardar,  who  was  the  Swede  who 
first  sailed  round  Iceland,  came  from  Gtuxlhar,  house-warrior, 
or  perhaps  patriot ;  Gardmund  and  Gardbrand,  sword  of  his 
country,  are  also  found ;  but,  in  general,  this  is  a  termina- 
tion, as  with  Finngard,  Thorgard,  Valgard. 

Other  names  of  men  ending  with  gerd  are  generally  cor- 
ruptions of  words  fipom  gdr.* 

Section  XTf.—CEgir. 

When  the  Aasir  took  up  their  abode  in  Asgard,  they  there 
found  the  Jotun,  or  giants,  of  whom  the  chief  was  Fomioti, 
a  word  meaning  the  aged.  He  had  three  sons,  Hler,  Logi, 
and  Eari,  ruling  sea,  flame,  and  wind.  After  a  long  contest 
ihey  seem  to  have  been  promoted  to  the  privileges  of  Aasir, 
and  remained  allies,  if  not  friends,  till  the  treason  of  Logi  or 
Loki  brought  about  the  death  of  Baldur,  after  which  the 
destroyer  Loki  and  his  children,  the  Fenris  wolf  (the  wolf  of 
tbe  fai  or  abyss),  Hel,  or  death,  and  the  Midgard  serpent, 
were  bound  tiU  the  last  outbreak  shall  take  place. 

•  Lonmg;  Munch;  Grinun;  Tooke;  liddeUandSoott;  Landnama^ioh, 
YOL.  n.  B^         , 

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242  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

Jotnnheim,  the  abode  of  these  Jotun  or  giants,  of  whom 
the  Bed  Etin  of  Ireland  was  the  last  survivor,  has  by  some 
been  turned  into  Jutland;  without  the  least  probability, 
though  it  is  possible  that  there  may  be  in  this  myth  some 
allusion  to  the  conflict  between  the  first  settlers  and  their 
predecessors,  and  likevrise  to  the  heathen  perception  of  the 
strife  between  good  and  evil. 

Kari  and  Hler  appear  to  have  retained  their  privil^es  as 
gods  or  demi-gods  of  wind  and  wave.  Kari  is  called  Fasolt 
in  Grermany,  but  his  name  of  Eaari  or  Kari  has  continued  in 
use  in  Norway  and  Iceland,  and  belonged  to  the  generous 
avenger  of  Burnt  Njal  and  his  sons. 

Hler  is  evidently  the  Keltic  Lyr,  but  on  his  promotion  to 
rank  with  the  Aasir,  he  took  the  northern  name  of  Agir, 
Ygg,  or  CEgir.  He  was  on  very  friendly  terms  with  the  Aasir, 
gave  them  banquets,  visited  them  at  Asgard,  and  heard 
Bragi  tell  stories  of  their  deeds ;  but  his  usual  occupation 
was  to  raise  his  hoary  head  above  the  water  when  he  meant 
evil  to  vessels;  and  when  he  raised  storms,  his  wife  Ban 
(from  rcsinay  to  spoil,)  sat  fishing  for  sailors,  whose  spirits 
she  imprisoned  like  a  water  Hela,  so  that  drowned  men  were 
said  to  be  gone  to  Ban,  before  Davy  Jones  superseded  her  in 
nautical  language.  His  daughter,  Urma,  was  the  wave  rising 
as  in  human  shape.  All  these  images  evidently  suggested  by 
the  wUd,  heaped,  confused,  masses  of  waves  in  the  North  Sea, 
which,  instesid  of  forming  the  even  sweep  of  ridge  and  furrow 
of  the  Atlantic,  are  in  tumbling  masses,  suggesting  the  hu- 
man form.  Unna  is  said  to  come  from  the  same  root  as 
tmda,  the  Latin  wave ;  but  the  word  also  means  love,  and 
thence  a  woman,  and  there  is  a  curious  similitude  in  it  to 
Aine,  the  granddaughter  of  Lyr,  in  Irish  legend.  In  Germany, 
(Egir  was  Ecke,  but  was  reduced  to  fresh  water  and  rivers. 
In  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries  the  Oder,  or  Eider,  was, 
however,  called  CEgisdora,  or  Egidora,  the  door  to  (Egir; 
and  to  the  present  day,  Ware  (Egir,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Se- 


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(EGm.  243 

yem,  Gare  Aigre,  at  that  of  the  Seine,  are  memories  of  how 
CEigir  was  once  thought  to  come  riding  in,  on  the  tidal  waye, 
to  sabmeige  the  boats  in  the  riyer-mouth.  And  no  doubt 
the  Ogre  of  fairy  tsdes,  the  Oreo  of  the  Italians,  are  yarieties 
of  the  terrible  (Egir. 

The  root  of  his  name  is,  in  fact,  o^or  uok^  the  same  as  our 
awe.  Thence  Yggr  is  a  title  of  Odin,  and  the  great  world 
tree  was  called  Yggdrasil,  from  ygg^  and  drdsall,  a  horse  or 
bearer,  because  of  Odin's  haying  hung  upon  it.  Thence  come 
many  words,  such  as  the  Frank  egUy  cunning;  the  Saxon  ege, 
fear ;  also  the  yerb  eggan^  to  incite,  still  common  in  the  North ; 
while  we  haye  to  egg  on. 

It  has  been  extremely  fertile  in  names,  in  many  different 
forms,  the  simplest  being  the  Frank  Ega,  a  maire  du  paJais. 
Our  own  two  kings,  Ecgfrith  and  Ecgberht,  are  probably  thus 
deriyed,  though  some  explain  their  first  syllable  by  edge;  but 
they  are  far  more  probably  the  same  with  the  awe  of  the 
North.    Egbert  continues  in  Friesland  as  Ebbert. 

Aug  is  the  oldest  form  in  the  North,  as  in  Augmund, 
which,  howeyer,  was  soon  turned  into  0gmund,  Agmund,  and 
Amund,  a  shape  in  which  it  is  common  in  the  North,  while 
in  the  Low  Countries  it  gaye  the  title  of  Egmont  to  the  yic- 
tim  of  Alya.  0gwald  has  run  something  the  same  course  in 
the  North,  and  become  Ayald ;  (Egunn  and  CEguly  are  also 
there;  and  in  Ctermany  Egiheri  once  existed,  and  gave  us  the 
Bumames  of  Agar  and  Eggar ;  Eggerich  makes  tilie  Frisian 
Eggert,  Iggerick,  and  Eggo. 

The  most  famous  Oerman  hero  connected  with  the  name  is 
der  freue  Mkhardty  who,  in  Eisleben,  appears  as  an  old  man 
with  a  white  staff*  on  the  eyening  of  Maundy  Thursday,  and 
driyes  eyery  one  into  their  houses,  lest  they  should  be  harmed 
by  a  terrible  procession  of  dead  men,  headless  bodies,  and 
two  l^ged  horses,  that  immediately  after  passes  by.  In 
other  legends  faithful  Eckhardt,  well  named  awful  firmness, 
wans  trayellers  firom  the  tempting  mountain  of  fSatal  delights^ 

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244  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

the  Venusberg,  once  belonging  to  Hela  herself,  that  mountain 
where  Bitter  Tannhauser  sinned  so  deeply  that  the  Pope 
deemed  him  past  absolution,  till  the  dry  staif  blossomed  only 
too  late,  as  a  token  that  he  might  yet  be  pardoned.  In  the 
beautiful  story  founded  by  Tieck  on  the  legend,  Eckhardt  is 
the  good  servant  who  perishes  to  save  his  master's  children 
from  the  seducing  fiends  of  the  mountain.  Eckhard  is  chiefly 
Frisian  in  the  present  day,  and  there  it  forms  into  Eggo, 
Ike,  and  Edzard. 

It  is  identically  the  same  name  as  Eginhard,  the  true 
contemporary  chronicler  of  Charlemagne,  the  hero  of  the 
story  with  which  tradition  has  invested  Emma,  the  daughter 
of  Charlemagne,  who  was  said  to  have  carried  him  on  her 
back  over  the  snow,  that  his  footsteps  might  not  betray  his 
stolen  tryste  with  her.  The  n  being  used  in  declining  the 
leading  noun,  is  retained  in  the  pronunciation  of  the  name. 
Friesland,  however,  separates  the  two,  and  shortens  Eginhard 
into  Eino,  Aynnert,  Aynt. 

Thus  again  is  formed  the  original  northern  Aginhar,  awful 
warrior,  who  fell  down  into  Agnar  and  Agne.  Einar,  of 
which  there  were  twenty-two  in  the  Landnama-bokj  looks 
very  much  like  another  contraction  of  Aginhar ;  but  analogy 
is  against  it;  and  Professor  Munch  decides  that  the  first 
syllable,  both  of  Einar  and  Eindride,  a  rather  popular  old 
Norsk  feminine,  is  m,  one,  in  the  sense  of  chief  or  superior; 
so  that  Einar  would  be  chief  warrior,  Eindride,  Endride,  or 
Indride,  as  it  is  also  used,  superior  rider. 

The  dative  form  of  Ag  is  Agli,  whence  Egils,  or  Eigils, 
has  come  to  be  a  favourite  northern  name,  and  in  this  shape 
it  is  a  very  frequent  t)refix.  Egilona  was  the  unfortunate 
wife  of  Rodrigo,  the  last  of  the  Goths,  and  afterwards  of 
the  Moorish  prince,  his  conqueror,  whom  she  forced  to  do 
homage  to  the  Cross,  by  having  the  door  of  her  room  oppo- 
site to  it  made  so  low  that  he  could  not  enter  without  stoop- 
ing.   Agile  waa  a  Frank  nobleman,  and  in  Domesday  we 

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ING— SEAXNOT.  245 

fall  upon  an  nndoubted  Agilward  and  Egelmar,  and  on  what 
are  probably  their  contractions,  Aylward  and  Aylmer,  after- 
wards Aymar;  bat  both  these  are  contractions  of  other 
names,  and  cannot  always  be  referred  to  the  awful  god  of 
the  sea.  Agilard,  Agilulf,  and  Agilbert  were  Frank  forms, 
the  last  Eilbert  in  German ;  Egilhart  is  Eilert,  or  Eilo,  in 
German;  Eilert,  Ayelt,  or  Ayldo,  in  Frisian.  And  the 
Spanish  Gothic  Egica  is  another  of  the  progeny  of  the  old 
sea  giant    Oht  is  a  word  also  meaning  terror.*^ 


Sbotion  XV. — Ing—Seaamot. 

Leaying  the  comparatively  clear  and  consistent  regions  of 
Scandinavian  mythology,  we  pass  to  the  divinities  and  fore- 
fathers of  whom  we  know  far  less,  those  of  our  own  Anglian 
ancestors ;  some  accepted  by  them  in  common  with  the  High 
Germans,  others  exclusively  their  own,  and  some  apparently 
known  to  the  North,  though  not  admitted  into  the  system  of 
iheUdda. 

The  northern  cosmogony  tells  us  of  the  first  man,  Buri, 
whom  the  cow  Audumbla  licked  out  of  the  stone,  and  whose 
grandson  Odin  was.  It  also  tells  us  of  the  primeval  man 
and  woman.  Ask  and  Embla,  whom  Odin,  Yili,  and  Ye, 
animated. 

On  the  other  huid,  Tacitus,  writing  of  the  ancient  Ger- 
mans, makes  them  start  from  an  earth-bom  god,  Tuisco, 
whose  son  was  Mannus ;  and  again,  Mannus's  three  sons  were 
Ingus,  Iscus,  and  Hermius,  from  whom  descended  the  IngsB- 
vones,  Iscsvones,  and  Hermiones. 

Tuisco  is  Tiu,  or,  more  properly,  the  divine  word  in  an- 
other form.  He  represents  the  original  stock  of  Teutonism, 
and  also  the  human  sense  of  a  divine  origin,  for  Mannus, 

•  Giijnm;  Munch;  BlackweU;  Liming;  Biichaelis. 

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246  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOaT. 

wno,  of  course,  is  man,  a  word  of  all  languages — ^Itermon, 
in  this  Anglo-Saxon  genealogy,  is  supposed  to  be  this  same 
man,  with  the  epithet  iter,  famous.  Some  think  it  possible 
that  all  the  three  words  Ing,  Isk,  Er,  may  only  be  gram- 
matical terminations  of  the  same,  but  t^iis  is  scarcely  possi- 
ble; they  are  far  more  likely  to  be  representative  name- 
fathers  of  the  nearly  related  tribes. 

Of  Esc,  the  ash  tree,  there  is  little  to  say.  He  seems  to 
be  related  to  the  northern  idea  of  Ask,  the  man  of  wood, 
and  his  supposed  descendants  were  the  Franks  and  Alle- 
manni ;  but  the  only  instance  of  his  name  occurring  again 
is  as  the  soubriquet  of  the  son  of  Hengist,  from  whom  the 
kings  of  Kent  were  called  Escings. 

Ing  is  far  more  interesting,  but  infinitely  more  inexpli- 
cable. At  the  end  of  a  man's  name  it  means  his  son ;  at  the 
end  of  that  of  a  place,  an  inhabitant ;  when  in  the  name  of 
a  place,  a  meadow.  It  is  tempting  to  suppose  it  related  to 
young^  but  they  are  absolutely  apart,  and  it  probably  con- 
veys the  sense  of  the  clearness  and  brightness  of  the 
divinity. 

Ing,  or  Yngve,  was  looked  on  as  the  ancestor  of  the 
Swedish  kings,  who  thence  were  called  the  YngUnga;  and 
the  history  which  rationalizes  Odin  is  thence  termed  the 
Ynglinga  Saga,  as  it  makes  Yngve  his  son,  and  deduces  the 
line  from  him.  Ing,  the  son  of  Tuisco,  is,  however,  a  far 
more  universal  forefather,  being  almost  without  a  doubt  the 
name-father  of  that  great  race  that  we  have  called  Angeb, 
Anglo-Saxons,  and  English. 

Seaxnot  is  a  son  of  Woden  in  the  Saxon  genealogies,  and 
is  very  possibly  the  same  as  Ing.  We  have  been  taught  to 
imagine  that  our  country  was  invaded  by  three  separate  races 
of  Jutes,  Saxons,  and  Angles ;  but  there  is  no  reliable  evi- 
dence to  show  that  there  was  any  real  difference  between  the 
races ;  their  language  is  precisely  the  same,  and  there  isy 
evidence  to  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  Angehi  was  the  tUJie 

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INO — BEAXNOT.  247 

bj  which  they  knew  themselves,  while  their  neighbours  called 
them  Saxons,  just  as  at  the  present  moment  we  ore  Sasse- 
nach to  the  Gael,  Saxon  to  the  Welshman,  Saozon  to  a 
Breton.  When  oar  island  was  won  by  them,  it  was  called 
both  Anglia  and  Saxonia  Transmarina.  This  island,  from 
die  Forth  to  the  Channel,  and  on  the  continent,  the  basin  of 
the  Weser,  are  filled  with  the  race  of  Ing  and  Seaxnot ;  the 
English  of  our  isle,  the  Angeln  of  Holstein,  and  their  lands, 
have  on  ijie  one  side  of  the  water  received  the  term  of  Sachs, 
on  the  other  the  counties  end  with  sex.  The  Saracens  of  the 
romances  of  Charlemagne  were  no  other  than  heathen  Saxons 
accommodated  to  crusading  tastes ;  and  our  old  title  of  Saxon 
still  marks  at  Rome  the  Strada  Sassonica,  where  King  Offii 
built  the  pilgrim  hospice,  which  the  Popes  used  as  a  plea  for 
extracting  Peter  pence. 

Sismondi  has  devised  the  notable  hypothesis  that  the 
Saxons  were  called  so  because  they  sasseny  sat,  while  the 
Schwaben  Bailed ;  but  it  was  far  less  unlikely  that  they  were 
called  from  their  knives,  the  seaxeSj  with  which  Hengist's 
men  were  said  to  have  done  execution  upon  the  Britons  at 
Stonehenge.  This  is  according  to  the  theory  that  names 
the  Franks  fit)m  their  axes,  as  the  Ctermans  from  their 
spears.  But  on  the  other  hand,  the  seax  was  at  first  saihSj 
a  stone ;  it  was  a  stone  knife,  hammer,  or  plough  coulter, 
and  saihs  was  thus  applied  in  England  long  after  the  iron 
age  had  begun.  Sahsnot,  the  ancestor,  means  stone  com- 
rade; and  though,  perhaps,  named  from  his  supposed  de- 
scendants with  the  stone  knives,  may  also  be  so  called  be- 
cause of  the  stony  origin  of  the  whole  race.  In  Lorraine 
there  have  been  found  inscriptions  to  a  Hercules  Saxoni- 
cos,  to  account  for  which,  a  legend  was  produced,  that 
Hercules,  when  driving  home  the  oxen  of  Cteryon,  was 
attacked  by  the  Ligurians,  and  distressed  for  want  of  wea- 
pons, which  Jupiter  supplied  to  him  by  a  shower  of  stones, 
the  remains  of  which  continue  only  too  plentiful  in  the 

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248      NAMES  FEOM  TEUTON  mTTHOLOGY. 

plaios  of  sonthem  France.  This  story  muBt  have  risen  (ran 
some  old  attempt  to  reconcile  the  ancestral  Saxnot  with  the 
Greek  Hercules. 

Seaxnot  has  not  numerous  namesakes.  In  the  East  Saz<Hi 
pedigree,  we  find  Seaxbeohrt  and  Seaxbald,  and  in  the  EasI 
Anglian  Seaxburh  or  Sexburga ;  and  in  Scandinavia  Sakse 
remained  as  a  name ;  and  the  historian  of  the  twelfth  century, 
who  enlightened  ud  so  much  on  Danish  history,  is  latinised 
as  Saxo  Grammaticus. 

Ing  was  a  great  deal  more  popular,  though  not  among  the 
Angles,  either  insular  or  continentsd.  The  only  trace  of  him 
in  Germany  is  in  the  old  name  of  Hinkmar  or  Hinko ;  and 
our  Anglo-Saxon  kings  enumerated  Ingvi,  Ingebrand,  and 
Ingegeat  as  connecting  links  between  themselves  and  Wuo- 
tan.  The  Goths,  Burgundians,  and  Vandals  also  claimed 
descent  from  Ingvja,  and  their  princes  were  called  Ing- 
vineones. 

Ingve,  or  Ingvar,  was  a  royal  name  in  Scandinavia,  and 
80  travelled  with  the  sons  of  Rurik  to  Russia ;  where  Igor, 
as  he  was  there  called,  led  an  army  to  strike  terror  into 
Constantinople,  and  the  name  has  since  become  confused 
with  Egor,  or  George.  Ingulf  was  the  secretary  of  William 
the  Conqueror,  and  we  would  fain  believe  in  the  history 
of  Croyland  that  goes  by  his  name.  Ingebjorg  found  her 
way  into  an  old  Saga  as  a  demi-goddess  directing  wind 
and  rain ;  but  her  historical  interest  is  connected  with  the 
unfortunate  Danish  princess,  whom  Philippe  Auguste  mar- 
ried only  to  repudiate,  and  whom  French  historians  translate 
into  Ingeberge,  English  ones  into  Ingoberga.  Hers  is  the 
most  common  female  name  in  Norway. 

The  North  has  likewise  Ingegerdur,  Ingeleif,  Ingemundr, 
Ingeridur,  Ingiallur,  Ingvilldur,  Ingjard,  and  Ingrim.  Ing- 
vethild  has  become  Engelke,  or  Engel,  uid  is,  in  fact,  now 
merged  in  the  idea  of  the  Greek  angel.  The  same  fate  has 
befallen  other  names  in  Germany  and  France,  where  that 

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ING — ^SEAXNOT.  249 

best  of  all  pnns,  as  far  as  results  were  concerned,  that  of 
St.  (jregorj  between  Angeli  and  Angli,  has  been  constantly 
repeated  in  nomenclature.  The  Eng,  Ing,  or  Engel,  already 
1^  a  forgotten  tradition  firom  Ing,  was  well  pleased  to  be 
dedicated  to  an  angel;  Ingram,  once  Ing's  raven,  became 
Engelram,  and  thought  he  was  of  angelic  purity,  in  name 
if  not  in  nature ;  and  either  he  or  Engelhard  passed  into 
France  as  Enguerraud,  the  chief  Christian  name  of  the  brave 
house  whose  proud  saying  was — 

'  Je  suis  m  roi,  ni  comte  aussi, 
Je  BuiB  le  Sire  de  Ooocy  ;* 

and  the  English  called  it  Ingeltram,  when  Isabel,  the 
daughter  of  Edward  UI.,  made  her  love  match  with  the 
brave  Lord  de  Coucy,  whose  loyalty  was  so  sorely  perplexed 
by  his  connection  with  her  family. 

Engelfrid,  Engelschalk,  Engelberga,  and  Engelbert,  are 
probably  originally  German  angels  in  connection  with  peace, 
discipleship,  protection,  and  splendour ;  and  Professor  Munch 
thinks  the  northern  Ingobert  an  instinctive  attempt  to  na- 
tionalize the  last.  On  the  other  hand,  he  leaves  to  Ing, 
Angilbald,  Angiltrud,  Angelrich ;  as,  in  fact,  may  be  always 
done  with  every  name  of  the  kind  that  can  be  traced  to  an 
owner  prior  to  the  time  when  angels  were  popular  ideas 
among  our  northern  ancestors. 

Ingvar  was  a  terrible  name  to  our  Saxon  ancestors,  when 
the  Danish  viking,  so  called,  carried  terror  to  our  coasts ; 
but  Ivar  is  not  the  short  for  it,  but  is  from  yr ;  German, 
eibe  ;  Dutch,  ihe  ;  English,  yew  ;  and  Aar,  a  warrior,  so  that 
Ivar  is  the  Yew  warrior,  the  bow  bearer,  or  archer.  He  is 
Ivor  in  Danish,  and  in  Scotland  and  Ireland  Mac  Ivor  has 
been  adopted  as  a  rendering  of  one  of  the  old  hereditary 
Keltic  names.  Ivbald  and  Ivbert  have  also  been  used  and 
cat  down  to  Ibald  and  Ibert.    Ireland  had  a  St.  Ivor,  or 

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250  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

Ivory,  "who  was  considered  to  have  prayed  away  from  Feme- 
genall  the  mures  maiores  qui  vulgartier  Rati  vocatUur  so  com- 
pletely that  none  ever  survived  there  again ;  but  whether  he 
was  named  by  Dane  or  Kelt  does  not  appear.  At  any  rate, 
St.  Ivory  was  deemed  good  to  invoke  against  rats.  Was  it 
he  who  berhymed  Rosalind  before  she  could  remember  ? 

It  is  probable  that  Ivhar  is  the  real  origin  of  Ives,  the 
saint  who  named  the  town  in  Huntingdonshire ;  but  l^end 
strangely  makes  him  a  Persian  bishop,  who  chose  that  lo- 
cality for  a  hermitage,  in  the  seventh  century,  and  whose 
body  was  discovered  uncorrupt  in  the  year  looi,  thus  pro- 
viding a  patron  for  many  an  Ivar  of  Danish  or  Norman 
extraction,  who  became  Yvon,  or  Ivone,  in  France ;  and  Ivo 
in  the  chroniclers.  Ivo  de  Taillebois  is  the  villain  of  the 
story  of  Hereward  and  his  camp  of  refuge ;  and  the  name 
is  common  with  the  Normans  and  Bretons,  all  the  more  for 
the  sake  of  St.  Ivo  de  Chartres,  who  was  imprisoned  for  his 
resistance  to  the  adultery  of  Philip  I.  and  Bertrade  of 
Anjou,  and  St.  Ives  of  Brittany,  the  good  lawyer,  called  the 
advocate  of  the  poor.  These  Breton  Ivons  may,  however,  be 
from  Sir  Twain,  or  Owen,  the  same  as  Eoghan.*^ 


Section  XVI. — Hormm. 

The  third  son  of  Mannus  was  said  to  be  Er,  a  word,  per- 
haps, connected  with  Tyr  on  one  side,  and  Ares  on  the  other; 
for  Ertag  is  the  Tuesday  of  southern  Germany,  and  Eres- 
burg,  now  Mersburg,  was  the  centre  of  the  worship  of  the 
continental  Saxons.  The  day  was,  however,  also  called,  in 
Bavaria  and  Austria,  Ermintag,  or  Irminstag ;  and  the  deity 
worshipped  at  Eresburg  was  Irman,  or  Ermin ;  and  it  is  not 
quite  plain  whether  the  word  should  be  considered  as 
Er-man  in  conjunction.       From   him  the  Herminiones  of 

*  Grimm;  Munch;  LtmiDg;  Eemble;  O'Donovan;  Butler. 

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EOBMEN.  251 

Tacitus  are  said  to  be  descended,  being  chiefly  the  old  Ger- 
mans and  the  Franks. 

At  Eresburg,  even  np  to  the  eighth  century,  there  stood  a 
great  central  temple,  containing  a  marble  column  on  which 
stood  an  armed  warrior,  holding,  in  one  hand,  a  banner 
bearing  a  rose,  in  the  other  a  balance.  The  crest  on  the 
helmet  was  a  cock,  on  the  breast-plate  was  a  bear,  on  the 
shield  that  hmig  from  the  shoulders  was  a  lion  in  a  field  of 
flowers.  Around  lived  a  college  of  priests,  who  exercised 
judgment  and  made  biennial  offerings.  Before  going  out  to 
war,  the  host,  in  full  armour,  galloped  round  the  figure, 
brandishing  their  ^>ears  and  praying  for  victory.  Lesser 
images  were  carried  with  the  army,  and,  on  its  return, 
captives  and  cowards  were  slain,  as  ofierings  to  the  great 
idol. 

This  temple  was  destroyed  by  Charlemagne,  who  buried 
the  idol  where  afterwards  stood  the  abbey  of  Corbye.  In  his 
son's  reign  it  was  dug  up,  and  carried  off  by  the  French  as  a 
trophy,  when  the  Saxons  rose  to  rescue  it  and  a  battle  took 
place,  after  which  it  was  thrown  into  the  river  Lmen,  but 
was  fished  out,  exorcised,  purified,  and  made  to  serve  as  a 
candelabrum  in  the  church  of  Hillesheim.  A  rhyme  current 
in  Hesse  seems  a  reminiscence  of  this  struggle  for  the  idol : 

'  Herman  sla  dermen, 
Sla  piper,  sla  triimmen, 
De  kaisar  will  kommen, 
Met  hammer  and  stangen, 
Will  Herman  uphangen/ 

The  battle  was  called  Armansula,  and  the  image  Irmansul ; 
whence  many  have  fancied  that  Irmansul  was  the  chief  Ger- 
man god,  and  the  opera  of  Norma  has  bestowed  him  upon  the 
Druids.  Irmin  is  invoked  by  Hiltibrand  in  the  poem  of 
BUtibrand  and  Hadubrand. 

Suly  or  satdy  is,  however,  a  pillar ;  and  it  is  a  very  curious 
fact  that  two  sacred  colunms  were  the  penates  of  every  Teu- 

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252  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

ton's  hearth  and  city.  When  a  migration  was  decided  on  hj 
the  Scandinavians,  a  solemn  feast  was  held,  the  master  of 
the  house  seated  between  his  two  sulur,  or  columns,  which  he 
uprooted  and  carried  with  him,  and,  on  his  approach  to  his 
intended  home,  threw  them  overboard,  and  followed  them 
with  his  ship,  landing  wherever  they  were  cast  up.  It  was 
thus  that  the  situation  of  Reykjavik,  in  Iceland,  was  deter- 
mined. Such  columns,  down  to  a  very  late  period,  stood  at 
the  gates  of  the  elder  towns  in  Germany,  called  Ermensaol^, 
or,  sometimes,  one  the  Bolandsaul,  the  other  the  ErmensauL 

Eormon,  in  the  Anglian  of  Beowulf,  means  universal; 
earmoncyn,  the  whole  of  mankind;  in  old  Norse,  jormiin  is 
the  world,  and  Jormungandr  is  another  name  of  the  Midgard 
snake  which  encircles  the  world.  Most  likely,  the  Irmansul 
thus  signified  the  universal  column,  the  pillar  adored  by  all 
men ;  just  as  the  Anglo-Saxons  called  the  great  Roman  road 
Eormenstreot,  or  Ermingstreet,  the  public  road.  J?r,  then, 
would  be  the  divinity,  man  the  human  word,  and  Erman 
would  thus  express  something  revered  by  all;  and  thence, 
the  name  of  the  tribes  of  the  Hermiones  and  Hermunduri, 
both  meaning  all  the  people.  Later,  the  word  jbnwi^i,  or  eor- 
many  came  to  mean  only  very  large ;  and,  probably,  the 
Saxons  of  Thuringia  had  forgotten  the  original  significaticm 
of  their  columns  when  they  gave  the  single  one  of  Irmansul 
such  an  exclusive  prominence.  Some  have  tried  to  explain 
one  pillar  as  Heermansaul,  pillar  of  the  anny  man,  and  the 
other  as  Raginholdsaul,  pillar  of  firm  judgment,  as  em- 
blems of  military  and  civil  power ;  but  though  this  meaning 
may  have  later  been  bestowed  on  them,  the  signification  of 
Eormon  is  decidedly  adverse  to  this  explanation,  and  it  is 
safest  to  translate  it,  when  it  occurs  in  names,  as  public,  or 
general. 

It  probably  named  the  great  Herminian  gens  at  Rome, 
though  its  origin  had  there  been  forgotten;  nor  is  it  impossi- 
ble that  Hermes  may  likewise  be  related  to  it :  but  this  is  dan- 

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EORMEK. 


^53 


geroQS  ground;  nor  are  we  even  quite  aafe  when  emerging  on 
the  Teatonic  ground,  where  the  Cheruschi,  themselves  Her- 
miniones,  broke  the  heart  of  Augustus  by  cutting  off  the 
l^ons  of  Quinctilius  Varus.  Their  leader  was  Arminius, 
a  name  probably  Irman  as  he  bore  it,  but  which,  by  after 
generations,  was  mixed  up  with  Herman,  or  warrior  man,  so 
that  the  hosts  of  Hermans,  named  when  national  feeling  was 
roused  by  French  invasion,  are  in  his  honour;  just  as,  pre- 
viously, the  Dutch  Jacob  Hermannsen  had  rendered  himself 
into  Latin  as  Arminius,  the  term  he  left  for  the  doctrine 
that  was  long  rampant  in  Holland*  From  Holland  the 
Norfolk  name  of  Armyn  must  have  been  imported. 


EDgtish. 
Armyn 
Armine 

French. 
Armand 

Spanish. 
Armando 

Italian. 
Arminio 
Armanno 

G^FZIMUl. 

Swedish. 
Hermann 

Dutch. 

Hermanns 

Herman 

Manus 

Swiss. 
Herma 
Hermeli 

Slovak. 
Jerman 

Lettish. 
Ermannb 

Esth. 
Henn 

lithnanian. 

Ermas 
Ermonas 

The  Germans  use,  as  the  feminine,  Hermine  and  Herminie, 
which  properly  belong  to  the  Latin  Herminius;  and  the 
French  have  made  their  own  form  of  Armand  into  Armantine. 
A  Burgundian  hermit,  Ermin,  too,  gave  St.  Ermo  to  Italy,  a 
name  now  inextricably  mixed  with  Elmo,  and  the  contraction 
of  Erasmus ;  it  is  the  St.  Erme  of  France. 

Very  early,  so  as  to  be  almost  mythical,  was  the  Thurin- 
gian  Irmanfirit,  or  Lruvrit,  who  hardly  conduced  to  *  public 
peace '  by  calling  in  the  Saxons ;  but  Hermanfred  continued  in 
use  in  Germany,  and  was  known  to  the  French  as  HermanfroL 

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254  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

The  Bnrgandlan  version  of  the  great  world-girding  snake 
was  Ermelind,  a  name  that  came  to  a  saintly  virgin  of  the 
sixth  centnry,  from  whom  Ermelinda  flonrished  as  an  Italian 
name,  being  probably  common  to  both  Lombards  and  Bnr- 
gondians,  as  both  Vandals. 

But  these  Irmins  are  most  frequent  in  ancient  Spain. 
The  Suevi  had  Hermanrik,  or  Hermanarico,  public  ruler, 
and  the  Ooths,  Hermanegar  and  Hermanegildo ;  the  last 
being  the  prince  who  is  revered  as  having  been  converted 
from  Ariamsm  by  his  orthodox  Frank  wife,  and  whose  death, 
by  his  father's  persecution,  sealed  the  triumph  of  Catholicism 
in  Spam.  Hermenburga  was  a  princess,  offered  to,  but  re- 
fused by,  a  Frank  king ;  and  Ermesinda,  or,  as  Southey's 
poem  calls  her,  Hermesind,  the  daughter  of  Pelayo,  carried 
the  blue  blood  of  the  Balten  to  the  line  of  Alfonso.  Her 
name  meant  public  dignity. 

Parallel  to  these  the  Anglo-Saxons  enumerate  Eorm^uic, 
Eormenburh,  Eormenburg,  Eormengyth,  EormengUd;  and 
after  the  Conquest  there  still  continue  the  forms  of  Erem- 
burga,  Ermentrude,  and  Ermengarde ;  the  last  by  far  the 
most  frequent,  and  not  yet  disused  in  Qermany. 


Section  XVn. — Urce. 

The  Anglo-Saxons  were  accustomed  to  perform  an  incan- 
tation to  restore  the  fruitfulness  of  their  fields.  It  began  by 
the  cry  jEVce,  Mrce^  Erce^  JSordhan  MSder,  as  if  it  were  not 
earth  itself,  but  her  mother  that  was  called  upon. 

The  same  word  erce  is  used  for,  like  its  produce,  ark,  chest, 
or  ship,  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  New  Testament.  It  may  thus 
point  to  the  primeval  recollection  of  the  Ark  as  the  origin 
of  all.  And  Erce  does  not  seem  to  have  been  entirely  for- 
gotten ;  for  Erche,  or  Herkja,  is  a  famous  lady  in  old  Ger- 
man hero  songs. 


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ERCE.  255 

From  thence,  too,  may  have  sprung  the  Old  German  ad- 
jective ^chofij  meaning  holy,  genuine,  or  simple,  which  is 
thought  to  have  named  the  famous  Heroynian  forest  of  an- 
cient Germany,  which  would  thus  be  the  sacred  wood. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  founder  of  the  East  Saxon  king- 
dom in  England  is  called  both  Escwine  and  Ercenwine,  the 
darling  of  Ese,  or  of  Erce,  as  if  there  were  some  connection 
in  the  Saxon  mind  between  the  sacred  Ash,  or  Ask,  the  fa- 
ther of  all,  and  the  Ark,  whence  all  living  things  i8su^d,  and 
likewise  ^  Uie  wood  whence  salvation  cometh.'  In  the  Kentish 
genealogy  we  find  Eorconberht,  sacred  brightness,  answering 
to  the  Lombardo-Italic  Erchimperto;  and  also  Eorcongot, 
sacred  divinity. 

St.  Eorconwald,  holy  power,  was  a  bishop  of  London, 
about  678,  and  may  almost  be  reckoned  as  the  second 
founder  of  St.  Paul's,  where  his  shrine  was  greatly  revered ; 
and  about  the  same  time  Erkenoald  was  a  maire  du  palais 
in  France;  and  Erchenold,  or  Herohenhold,  was  an  old 
Qerman  name,  meaning  probably  firm  in  truth. 

In  old  knightly  times,  we  find  the  GFerman  Erchanbald, 
meaning  a  sacred  prince,  from  which  the  French  took  many 
a  Sire  Archambault,  and  the  Italians  Arcibaldo. 

The  Soots,  by  some  strange  fancy,  adopted  Archibald  as 
the  Lowland  equivalent  of  Oilliespiug,  or  Gillespie,  the 
bishop's  servant.  So  frequent  was  it  in  the  houses  of  Gamp- 
bell  and  Douglas,  that,  with  its  contractions  of  Archie  and 
Baldie,  it  has  become  one  of  the  most  commonly  used  in 
Scotland,  recalling  many  a  fierce  worthy  from  old  Archibald 
Bell-the-Oat  downwards,  and  always  translating  the  Gil- 
lespiug  of  the  Campbells  to  Lowland  ears.* 

•  Grinun,  &o. 


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256  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  HTTHOLOGT. 


Section  XVUL—Amal. 

Amal  is  a  very  remarkable  word.  We  have  had  it  in 
Greek,  as  Ac/xvAos  ;  in  Latin,  as  ^milius ;  in  the  Ejmric, 
Amaethon;  in  the  Erse,  Amalgaidh;  and  in  all  it  would 
seem  as  if  one  notion  could  be  detected — ^that  of  work. 
Even  in  Hebrew  Amal  means  to  work ;  ami  is  work  in  old 
Norse ;  and  we  have  still  our  verb  to  moU,  taken  therefrom. 
Mahly  be  it  remembered,  is  in  German  a  time;  maUf  a 
stroke;  maklen^  to  paint  or  make  strokes;  and  so  in  the 
North,  maal  is  a  measure  or  an  end,  a  goal.  Probably  there 
is  a  notion  of  repetition  of  marks,  stroke  upon  stroke,  in  all 
cases,  and  the  Sanscrit  meaning  of  Amal,  or  spotless,  with- 
out mark,  is  in  favour  of  the  meaning.  Gould  the  floating 
ancestral  Amal  have  been  a  dim  idea  of  a  spotless  ancest(»r 
left  in  the  East? 

It  is  safest,  however,  to  translate  Amal  by  work,  the 
thought  most  familiar  to  the  sturdy  northern  nations  who 
used  it,  and  loved  work  for  its  own  sake.  It  is  very  curious 
to  find  that  in  the  name  of  Gaut,  or  Gapt,  the  form  of 
divinity  that  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  the  exclusive  an- 
cestor of  the  Goths,  the  word  originally  meaning  pervading, 
has  come  to  mean  pouring  or  measuring,  so  that  Gaut  was 
regarded  as  the  patron  of  pouring  and  measuring.  Amal, 
his  son  or  grandson,  then,  is  the  working  or  measuring ;  and 
by  Jomandes  is  called  Halmal,  the  ancestor  of  the  Ame- 
lungen,  or  royal  tribe  of  the  Ostrogoths :  indeed,  the  Ostro- 
gothic  kingdom  was  called  in  the  North  Omlungar. 

I  do  not  find  any  traces  of  worship  being  paid  to  Amal; 
but  he  is  one  of  the  Anses  of  Jomandes,  and  can  only  be 
reckoned  as  a  semi-divine  mythic  forefather. 

In  the  Yilkina  Saga,  the  mighty  smith  Yelint's  first  great 
trial  of  skill  was  with  Amilias,  an  armourer  at  the  court  of 
King  Nielung.    Yelint  struck  him  with  his  sword  Mimung ; 

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AMAL.  257 

he  siud  he  felt  as  if  a  drop  of  water  had  flowed  down  him. 
'  Shake  yourself/  said  Yelint,  and  the  unfortunate  smith  fell 
down  cloven  painlessly  firom  head  to  heel,  an  example  of 
labour  verstis  skill. 

Aumlung  the  strong,  is  mentioned  in  the  Bo<A  of  Heroes 
as  feasting  at  the  Nihelung  court ;  and  it  was  at  Duke  Ame- 
lang's  court  that,  according  to  the  Danish  ballad,  old  Sir 
Hildibrand  had  been  staying  for  twenty-two  years,  before 
gomg  back  to  Bern,  he  met  his  unknown  son  Alebrand. 

Amala  was  rather  a  favourite  Lombardic  commencement, 
and  was  not  ill  chosen  by  Fouque  as  the  heroine  of  his 
curious  story  of  WUd  Love.  Amala  was  likewise  much  in 
favour  with  German  ladies ;  it  became  first  Amalie,  and  then, 
when  Italy  and  France  had  taken  up  the  Latin  .Emilia,  this 
old  Teuton  was  mixed  up  with  it ;  and  Amelia  in  England, 
Amelie  in  France,  are  scarcely  considered  to  differ  from  it ; 
and  though  historically  Emily  is  the  descendant  of  the  ^milii, 
Amelia  of  the  Amaler,  yet  both  alike  may  come  from  some 
Amal  of  old. 

Amalaswinth,  which  would  bear  the  translation,  dignity  of 
labour,  though  probably  it  was  only  given  in  the  sense  of 
dignity  of  the  Amaler,  was  the  unfortunate  Lombardic 
queen,  whom  the  Romans  could  not  protect  from  the 
treachery  of  her  favourites.  Amalasontha  is  what  his- 
torians call  her;  but  on  Burgundian  lips  it  came  to  be 
Melisenda,  Melicerte,  Melusine. 

Melisenda  is  in  Spanish  ballad  lore  the  wife  of  Don  (}ay- 
feros,  and,  being  taken  captive  by  the  Moors,  was  the  occa- 
sion of  the  feats  that  were  represented  by  the  puppet  show 
in  which  Don  Quixote  took  an  unfortunately  lively  interest. 
Melisende  again  was  the  princess  who  carried  the  uneasy 
crown  of  Jerusalem  to  the  House  of  Anjou;  and,  perhaps, 
from  the  Proven9al  connections  of  the  English  court.  Lady 
Mdisent  Stafford  bore  the  name  in  the  time  of  Henry  H., 
whence  Melicent  has  become  known  in  England,  and  never 

VOL.  II.  ^rn,n^n]r> 

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258  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MTTHOLOGT. 

quite  disused,  though  often  confounded  with  Melissa,  a  bee, 
and  sometimes  spelt  Millicent. 

Melusine  was  a  njmph  who  became  the  wife  of  the  Lord 
de  Leezignan,  or  Lusignan,  on  condition  that  he  should  never 
intrude  upon  her  on  a  Saturday ;  of  course,  after  a  long  time, 
his  curiosity  was  excited,  and  stealing  a  glance  at  his  lady  in 
her  solitude,  he  beheld  her  a  serpent  from  the  waist  down- 
ward !  With  a  terrible  shriek,  she  was  lost  to  him  for  ever ; 
but  she  left  three  sons,  all  bearing  some  deformity,  of  whom 
0-eoffroi  au  grand  dent  was  the  most  remarkable.  Prose 
makes  this  gentleman  the  son  of  Bustachie  Ghabot,  heiress  of 
Vouvant ;  but  the  Melusine  tradition  lingers  round  his  castle 
of  Lusignan,  near  Poictiers ;  and,  to  this  day,  at  the  fairs  of 
that  city,  gingerbread  cakes  are  sold,  with  human  head  and 
serpent  tail,  and  called  m^lusines.  A  cri  de  Merlusine  is, 
likewise,  a  proverbial  expression  for  a  sudden  scream,  recalling 
that  with  which  the  unJFortunate  fairy  discovered  the  indis- 
cretion of  her  lord. 

The  story  is  a  frequent  one :  it  occurs  in  Brittany,  where 
the  spell  was  broken  by  the  husband  speaking  the  word  deaih 
before  his  fairy  wife,  and  in  Wales,  where  the  lady  is  called 
a  pellen. 

Melusina  continued  in  use  in  the  south  of  France,  Holland, 
and  Germany,  and  is  occasionally  used  in  England.  We 
find  Melicerte  in  old  French  chronicles. 

The  very  ancient  queens  of  Navarre  and  the  Asturias  have 
a  wonderful  set  of  aliases,  and  one,  the  oddest,  is  '  Amelina, 
or  Simena,  or  Ximena,'  the  sister  of  Sancho  I.,  of  Navarre, 
who  married  Alfonso  the  Great.  Could  the  Spaniards,  by 
any  possibility,  have  contracted  the  soft  Amal  into  the  harsh 
guttural  Xi,  which  sounds  as  if  it  came  from  a  Moorish 
throat.  Yet,  Goths  as  they  were,  they  show  no  Amal^ 
though  their  Ximen  and  Ximena  reach  up  to  700,  and 
Ximena  survived  long  as  a  name  among  their  ladies,  and 


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259 

was  the  wife  of  the  Gid,  whence  the  French  turned  her  into 
Chimene.  Emmeline,  as  it  is  now  generally  spelt,  came 
from  France  as  Emeline,  and  is  frequent  m  old  ballad  poetry, 
and  in  northern  registers  as  Emlyn.  It  is  probably  another 
form  of  this  same  Amaline,  or  lindy  Amal's  serpent 

The  northern  races  have  the  one  much  reduced  name  of  Mai- 
frid,  from  Amalafrida,  fair-work,  or  Amal's  fair  one ;  and 
Malfrid  is  the  heroine  of  a  wonderful  story:  having  been  left 
for  security  in  an  underground  abode  during  the  absence  of 
her  father,  an  old  viking,  but,  as  he  was  lost  at  sea,  her  burial 
was  forgotten ;  she  exhausted  her  provisions ;  saw  her  maiden 
die  of  hunger ;  and,  at  last,  was  saved  by  dextrously  laying 
hold  of  the  tail  of  a  wolf  which  had  penetrated  to  her  retreat, 
and  she  thus  forced  it  to  drag  her  to  the  light,  fortunately, 
just  in  time  to  prevent  her  lover  fix)m  marrying  another  ! 

The  ladies  have  certainly  been  the  chief  owners  of  Amal, 
as  a  commencement ;  but  it  has  had  a  brilliant  part  to  play 
in  the  form  of  Amalrich,  Almerich,  or  Emmerich,  on  the 
German  side ;  Almerigo  in  Spain ;  Amalric,  or  Amaury,  in 
France ;  Almerick  in  England.  Amaury  was  an  Angevin 
king  of  Jerusalem ;  and  our  own  Sir  Almerick  St.  Lawrence 
was  brother-in-arms  to  Sir  John  de  Gourcy,  and  founded  the 
House  of  Howth  in  Ireland.  The  House  of  Lusignan, 
Melusina's  descendants,  called  it  Aymar ;  and  in  this  form  it 
came  to  England  with  Henry  IH.'s  half-brother,  whom  he 
promoted  to  the  see  of  Winchester,  but  who  episcopally  called 
himself  Ethelmarus ;  though  his  nephew,  Aymar  de  Valence 
kept  his  proper  name.  Emmery  is  a  surviving  English  sur- 
name, and  Merica  occurs  in  old  Yorkshire  genealogies. 

But  it  is  the  Italian  form,  Amerigo,  which  was  destined 
to  the  most  noted  use, — ^when  the  adventurer,  Amerigo  Ves- 
pucci, gave  his  name  to  the  tract  of  land  that  Golumbus  saw 
for  the  first  time  in  his  company ;  little  knowing  that  it  was^ 
no  island,  but  a  mighty  continent,  which  should  hold  fast 

82 

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aSo  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

that  almost  fortuitous  title,  whence  thousands  of  miles,  and 
millions  of  men,  bear  the  appellation  of  the  forgotten  fore- 
father of  a  tribe  of  the  Goths — Amahrich,  the  work  ruler ;  a 
curiously  appropriate  title  for  the  new  world  of  labour  and 
of  progress,  on  the  other  side  the  Atlantic. 

Amalberge  is  an  old  Gambrai  name;  Malburg  a  Danish 
one;  Amalgund,  Amalbert,  Amalbertine,  and  Amalhild, 
have  also  been  known.  The  French  Amelot  must  be  the 
contraction  of  one  of  the  masculine  forms.^ 


Sbction  XIX. — Forefathers. 

The  deification  of  forefathers,  or  the  claim  to  divine  origin, 
whichever  it  might  be,  led  to  the  employment,  as  a  prefix,  of 
the  very  word  that  expressed  them — that  word  which  we  use 
still  at  the  beginning  of  ancestors^  and  that  the  Germans  call 
(Anen.  In  old  German  the  singular  was  anOy  and  it  signified 
a  remote  forefather.  The  Rigsmaaly  an  old  Icelandic  poem 
which  explains  the  origin  of  the  various  castes  which  the 
northern  races  acknowledged,  represents  Heimdall,  the  por- 
ter of  heaven,  as  wandering  to  the  earth,  and  being  enter- 
tained by  Ai  and  Edda,  or  great-grandfather  and  great-grand- 
mother, who  lived  in  a  lowly  hut ;  then  by  Avi  and  Amma 
(Lat.  Avus) ,  or  grandfather  and  grandmother,  who  had  a  com- 
fortable dwelling  house ;  and  lastly  by  Fadher  and  Modher, 
whose  abode  was  a  splendid  mansion.  The  son  of  Edda  was 
Thrall ;  the  son  of  Amma  was  Karl ;  the  son  of  Modher  was 
Jarl;  and  firom  these  descended  the  three  castes  of  the 
North — the  thralls,  or  slaves,  the  churls ;  bondr,  or  farmers ; 
and  the  jarls,  or  nobles. 

This  is  an  absolute  mythic  allegory  by  way  of  explanation 
of  existing  circumstances ;  but  the  names  therewith  connected 

•  Grimm;  Michaelis;  Kemble;  Int.  toBeowuJ/;  Weber;  Dngdale. 

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FOREFATHERS.  l6l 

mostly  survivedy  though  they  refer  to  these  mere  embodi- 
ments of  abstract  ideas. 

Aiy  or  ant,  enters  into  the  composition  of  the  Icelandic 
Anar,  ancestral  warrior,  and  thus,  no  doubt,  contributed  to 
form  our  surname  of  Anson,  which,  like  almost  all  our  great 
naval  names,  thus  traces  back  to  some  ancient  viking,  who 
has  done  us  at  least  as  much  good  as  evil,  by  leaving  us  his 
sons  to  keep  all  other  invaders  from  our  shores. 

The  old  Saxon  histories  call  some  of  these  enemies  by  the 
name  of  Anlaff,  in  particular  the  chief  who  visited  King 
^thelstan's  tent  in  a  minstrel's  disguise,  and  betrayed  him- 
self by  burying  the  guerdon  that  he  was  too  proud  to  keep. 
The  same  persons  whom  England  called  Anlf^,  and  Ireland 
Amlaidh,  were,  in  the  North,  Alafr,  or  Olafr,  according  to  the 
.custom  of  pronouncing  the  diphthong  a  like  an  o,  and  then  so 
spelling  it,  e.g.j  Aasbiom,  Osbiom.  The  latter  syllable  is 
la/oT  leify  from  the  verb  Zev,  the  Anglo-Saxon  leafan^  our 
own  leave.  It  is  a  word  that  never  is  used  as  a  commence- 
ment, and  but  rarely  stands  alone,  though  the  North  some- 
times has  a  Leifr,  and  it  is  used  in  the  sense  of  what  is 
remaining.  Anlaff,  or  Olaf,  is  thus  what  is  left  of  his  fore- 
fathers, his  ancestor's  relic,  and  a  very  notable  relic  was  the 
gallant  king  Olaf  Trygveson,  the  prime  hero  of  the  Hetms* 
hriiigla^  whose  last  battle  is  so  nobly  described  there. 
Scarcely  less  noble  is  his  relative,  Olaf  the  saint,  the  ally 
of  England,  who  fought  h,er  battles  near  London-bridge,  and 
has  left  his  name  to  the  church  of  St.  Olave,  near  the  site  of 
the  battle,  though,  unluckily,  English  tongues  made  him  St. 
Toly.  St.  Olaf  was  over  harsh  in  his  endeavours  to  introduce 
Christianity  to  his  subjects,  and  perished  in  a  war  with  the 
rebels,  assisted  by  Knut  of  Denmark  and  England ;  but  his 
name  continued  glorious,  and  another  royal  St.  Olaf,  in 
Sweden,  assisted  to  make  it  one  of  the  most  national  of 
Scandinavian  names,  even  to  the  present  day. 
Its  Latinism  is  Olaus,  and  its  contraction  Ole,  or,  rather. 

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26  a  NAMES  FROM  T  EUTON  MTTHOLOGY. 

this  answers  to  the  very  old  Aale,  which,  in  its  torn,  answers 
to  the  Analo,  Anilo,  Anelo,  of  the  old  Qermans. 

Leif^  or  hf^  we  shall  often  meet  as  a  termination,  both  in 
the  North  and  in  Germany,  where  it  generally  becomes  feii 
or  /tp,  and  then  the  modem  Germans  take  it  for  hve^  and 
thus  have  changed  the  old  Gottleip  into  Gottleib.  In  the 
North  it  has  scarcely  fared  better,  especially  in  the  case  of 
Thorleif,  or  Thor's  relic,  who  changed  from  Tholleiv  to  Thod- 
deiv,  or  Tadeiv,  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other,  to  Tellev, 
which,  thanks  to  some  classically  disposed  clergyman,  has  be^ 
written  Teleph,  and  referred  to  the  Gbeek  Telephus. 

Of  the  other  names  connected  with  the  Rigsmaal^  we  find 
Edda,  the  great-grandmother,  giving  title  to  the  ancient 
poem  on  cosmogony  and  mythology  that  may  be  regarded  as 
the  parent  of  all  the  northern  songs.  Thrall  was  likewise, 
in  spite  of  its  meaning,  used  as  a  name. 

The  next  generation,  Avi,  Amma,  and  the  son  Karl,  are 
the  prominent  ones.  The  equivalent  of  Karl,  Bondr,  a 
farmer,  is  now  and  then  a  northern  name ;  but  it  is  the  great 
Frank  line  whose  names  so  curiously  answer  to  these. 

Were  they  of  the  middle  class  of  landholders,  and  were 
they  proud  of  it,  and  anxious  to  trace  their  connection  back 
to  the  grandfather,  grandmother,  and  churl  ?  Whether  there 
were  a  Frank  version  of  the  Rigsmaal  we  do  not  know,  as 
Louis  le  Debonnaire  destroyed  all  the  old  poetry  collected  by 
his  father ;  but  the  leading  name  of  the  family  was  Karl,  the 
churl  (of  which  more  in  its  relation  to  the  cycle  of  Romwice), 
and  it  is  found  in  constant  company  with  Amma,  or  Emma, 
and  alternates  with  one  that  almost  certainly  represented 
Avi,  or  grandfather. 

Charles,  Pepin  PHeristal,  Charles  Martel,  Pepin  le  Bref, 
Charles  the  Great,  is  the  succ^sion  till  the  alternation  was 
broken  by  the  death  of  Pepin,  the  eldest  son  of  Charles  the 
Ghreat.  Now  this  most  undignified  Pepin  is  traced  by  the 
best  authorities  to  be  one  of  the  many  forms  of  the  primitive 

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FOREFATHERS.  263 

and  uniyersal  abbaj  father,  papa,  and  to  answer  to  the  old 
€rerman  names  of  Bobo,  Bobbo,  and  Poppo.  And  is  it  not, 
therefore,  probable  that  Pepin  and  Emma  stood  for  the 
northern  Avi  and  Amma,  both  alike  with  the  son  Karl? 
And  from  the  free  bnt  middle  station  they  rose  through  the 
prime  ministry,  to  dislodge  the  worn-out  Salic  line  of  the 
jarl,  or  noble  blood. 

Amme,  or  Emma,  no  doubt  formed  by  the  first  lispings  of 
a  child,  is  ammej  a  nurse,  in  Germany,  and  ama,  a  house- 
keeper, in  Spain.  As  a  name,  it  was  at  first  exclusively 
Frank,  and  used  by  the  Karling  daughters.  The  first  Emma 
mentioned  by  popular  rumour  was  a  daughter  of  Charlemagne, 
who  was  said  to  have  carried  her  lover,  Eginhard  the  chroni- 
cler, on  her  back,  over  the  snow,  that  his  footmarks  might 
not  betray  his  visits ;  a  story  which,  of  course,  neither  Egin- 
hard himself,  nor  any  rational  historian,  records.  At  any  rate, 
Emma  was  very  early  used  by  the  French  maidens ;  and  the 
fiister  of  Hugh  Capet,  who  married  Richard  the  Fearless,  of 
Normandy,  was  so  called.  Her  granddaughter  was  the  wife, 
first  of  Ethelred  the  Unready,  then  of  Knut,  and  the  sup- 
posed heroine  of  the  ordeal  of  the  ploughshares.  Hence 
Emma  took  hold  of  the  popular  mind  as  a  ^  Saxon '  name, 
and  has  been  profusely  bestowed  upon  Saxon  ladies  in  stories, 
though,  in  fact,  before  the  Conquest,  it  was  considered  as  so 
on-English,  that  Emma  of  Normandy  was  translated  into 
^Ifgifu.  However,  it  is  the  Norman  names  that  chiefly 
took  root  amongst  us,  and  we  find  ^Emme'  among  the 
daughters  of  Dru  de  Baladon,  who  came  over  with  the  Con- 
queror, and  thus  ^  Emm '  and  '  Emr '  are  by  no  means  un- 
common in  the  registers  of  Yorkshire  and  Durham,  even 
down  to  the  seventeenth  century.  Then  Prior,  when  mo- 
dernizing and  sentimentalizing  the  beautiful  ballad  of  the 
Nut  Browne  Maidj  supposed  to  be  on  the  history  of  the 
shepherd  Lord  Clifford,  called  it  Henry  and  Emma,  whence 
it  became  rather  a  favourite  romantic  name  of  literature. 

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264  NAMES  FROM  TEUTON  MYTHOLOGY. 

Gergymen  were  apt  to  use  it,  in  Latin  registers,  as  a  trans- 
lation of  Amy,  as  well  as  of  its  own  Em ;  and,  indeed,  a 
tombstone  exists  where  the  name  is  caryed  as  Emr,  while  the 
granddaughter  namesakes  have  been  christened,  the  one 
Amy,  the  other  Emma.  It  is  also  confounded  with  Emily, 
and  at  the  present  day  recurs  extremely  often  in  England, 
while  it  is  sJmost  disused  in  France,  its  native  home.  The 
Welsh  use  it  as  a  translation  of  Ermin,  probably  a  legacy  of 
the  Roman  Herminii.  Emmott  is  another  old  name  of 
northern  England,  probably  amplified  fix)m  Em;  but  Erne- 
line,  as  has  been  aU^ady  said,,  is  far  more  probably  Amaline 
than  any  relation  to  Emma. 

Jarl,  as  might  be  expected,  was  a  very  favourite  eponym ; 
but  not  in  the  same  pronunciation ;  for  it  first  became  Irl, 
then  Erl,  in  nomenclature.  Erling,  a  name  much  used  by 
the  Norsemen,  and  often  corrupted  into  Elling,  is  the  son  of 
the  earl ;  and  the  Swedish  once  had  a  Jarlar,  or  earl-warrior, 
who  changed  into  Erlher ;  Erlo,  Erlebald,  Erlebrecht,  Erlhild, 
have  all  been  used  by  the  Germans,  though  the  title  with 
them  has  always  been  Graff,  properly  Gerefa,  fix)m  rufen  to 
summon,  expressing  the  judicial  power,  and  perhaps  betto 
answering  to  our  Reeve  and  Shire-reeve  than  to  the  militaiy 
northern  Earl,  who,  however,  so  absorbed  the  English  imagi- 
nation, at  the  time  of  the  Danish  invasions,  that  he  supplanted 
the  ancient  theguj  or  servant,  and  married,  instead  of  yielding, 
to  the  child  of  the  Latin  comes^  or  companion.^ 

♦  Pott;  Munch;  Mallet;  Sir  Cuthbert  Sharae;  Sismondi;  Lj^pen- 
burg;  Sharon  Turner;  Laing,  Heimtkringla ;  Homttf  Northern  AnUqui' 
tUi, 


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265 
CHAPTER  m. 

NAMES  FROM  OBJECTS   CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 

Section  I. — Day. 

The  rich  imagination  of  the  North  could  not  fail  to  connect 
natural  appearances  and  anim^  with  their  myths,  and  these 
ideas  are  as  usual  reflected  in  the  names  of  the  race. 

In  the  Edda^  Nott,  or  night,  the  dark,  one  of  the  Jotun, 
is  the  wife  of  Dellingr,  the  brilliant  and  beautiful,  one  of 
the  ^sir,  and  their  son  is  Dag  or  Day.  Mother  and  son 
each  have  a  chariot  in  which  they  career  round  the  sky,  in 
pursuit  of  one  another.  The  horse  of  Day  is  Skinfaxi,  of 
shining  mane ;  the  horse  of  Night  is  Hrimfaxi,  rime  or  frost 
mane. 

Dag  is  the  Teutonic  version  of  the  old  Indo-European 
word,  connected  with  the  free  or  open  heaven,  the  same  div 
that  came  into  all  the  divine  names  so  often  mentioned ;  and 
again,  the  Sanscrit  calls  the  period  of  light  dju,  in  close 
relation  with  the  dies  of  the  Romans,  and  the  dcsg  or  dag  of 
the  Teutons,  the  dels  of  the  Kelts.  So  while  in  the  South 
of  Europe  our  time  is  counted  by  giomiy  diaSj  jourSj  all 
sprung  from  dies^  in  the  North  we  have  day,  tag^  day. 

Day  had  many  namesakes,  though  more  often  at  the  end 
than  the  beginning  of  a  word. 

Dago,  Tago,  or  Tajo,  was  a  Gothic  bishop  of  Zaragoza, 
whom  King  Ghindaswintha  sent  to  Rome  about  640,  to  bring 
home  a  copy  of  St.  Gregory's  Comment  on  the  Booh  of  Job^ 
which  had  been  dedicated  to  a  king  of  Spain,  one  of  the 
Suevi,  but  had  been  lost  in  the  irruption  of  the  Arian  Goths. 
The  Roman  clergy  had  been  equally  careless.    Pope  Theo- 

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266     NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 

dorus  could  not  lay  his  hand  upon  the  manuscript ;  and  the 
search  became  so  tedious,  that  finallj  Bishop  Tajo  betook 
himself  to  prayer,  and  obtained  a  special  vision  of  the  holy 
Pope  Gregory  himself,  who  directed  him  to  the  depository  of 
the  manuscript. 

This  same  Dagr  figures  in  the  Landnama-bok ;  and  the 
North  has  Dagfinn,  perhaps  once  an  allusion  to  the  resplen- 
dent glory  of  Odin,  but  usually  translated  white  as  day. 
Dagulf,  or  Daulf,  day- wolf,  was  no  doubt  in  allusion  to  the 
wolf  SkoU,  who  hunts  the  sun  daily  round  the  sky,  and  will 
eat  her  up  at  last ;  whence  to  this  day  a  parhelion  is  called 
in  Sweden  a  sun-wolf,  Sololf.  Eclipses  are  caused  when  the 
wolf  gains  on  the  sun,  who  has  no  namesakes  in  Teuton 
nomenclature,  the  few  that  sound  like  it  being  from  another 
source.  Scdv  or  sdlv^  anointing  or  healing,  and  the  feminine 
ny,  though  meaning  the  new  moon  when  standing  alone,  is 
only  the  adjective  new,  and  means  fresh  and  fair,  so  that  the 
northern  Dagny  is  fair  as  day.  The  Norse  ladies  also  have 
Dagheid  or  Dageid,  cheerful  as  day. 

Dagobert,  or  bright  as  day,  was  that  long-haired  king  who, 
next  to  Clovis,  impressed  the  French  imagination.  He  was 
the  employer  of  the  great  goldsmith  St.  Eloi,  and  the  throne 
or  chair  of  King  Dagobert,  ascribed  to  that  great  artificer,  is 
still  in  existence.  A  successor  in  the  faineant  times  was 
canonized,  and  together  the  two  Dagoberts,  making  one,  have 
become  the  theme  first  of  heroic  and  then  of  burlesque  in 
France.  It  was  Takaperaht  in  Old  German ;  and  there,  too, 
Tagarat,  or  Dagrad,  is  to  be  found;  but  in  general,  dag 
or  tac  comes  at  the  end  of  words. 

Dagmar — the  favourite  queen  of  the  Danes,  whose  only 
fault  was  lacing  her  sleeves  on  a  Sunday — is  called  only  by 
her  epithet,  Danes'  joy.  Her  true  name  was  Margaret  of 
Bohemia.* 

«  BlackweU,  MaUet ;  Munch ;  Butler ;  Grimm ;  Thierry ;  Michaelis. 

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THE  WOLF.  267 


Section  TI.—The  Wolf. 

It  is  for  the  place  that  he  occupies  in  the  Teutonic 
imagination,  rather  than  for  his  own  merits,  that  the  wolf 
stands  foremost  among  the  creatures  that  have  supplied 
Teutonic  names. 

He  is  also  the  most  universal.  Zeeb,  Lycos,  and  Lupus, 
have  been  already  mentioned ;  and  the  midnight  prowler,  as 
the  most  terrible  animal  of  Europe,  held  his  place  in  imagina- 
tions,  whence  the  lion  and  tiger  faded  for  want  of  experience. 
The  French  have  no  less  than  forty-nine  proverbs  about 
wolves,  many  no  doubt  remains  of  the  beast  epic. 

Wolves  called  Geri  and  Freki  sat  on  either  side  of  Odin's 
throne,  and  devoured  his  share  of  the  bears'  flesh  of  Valhalla, 
a  banquet  he  was  too  ethereal  to  require.  Wolves  chase  the 
8un  and  moon  round  their  daily  courses  ;  and  a  terrible  wolf 
called  Mangarmr,  or  moon-gorger,  is  to  devour  the  moon  at 
the  coming  of  the  wolf-age,  which,  in  the  Voluspa^  shadows 
the  last  days  of  the  world.  Fenris,  the  wolf  of  the  abyss, 
is  the  son  of  Loki ;  and  though  bound  by  the  -ffisir  at  the 
cost  of  Tyr's  right  hand,  will  finally  break  loose,  destroy 
Odin  himself,  and  only  be  rent  asunder  by  Vidur  in  his 
resistless  shoes.  The  wolf,  in  the  tale  of  Reinecke  Fuchs^  is 
rather  a  dull,  easily-outwitted  animal. 

Nevertheless,  «{/*,  wlf  wolf  was  highly  popular  as  a  name- 
sake ;  perhaps  more  common  at  the  end  than  the  beginning 
of  a  word,  but  often  standing  alone.  It  was  the  diminutive 
Yulfila  that  was  the  right  name  of  that  good  bishop  whose 
Maeso-Gothic  version  of  the  Gospels  goes  by  his  Latinism  of 
Ulphilas. 

Ulf  was  twenty- three  times  in  the  Landnama-hok;  and  w^  in 
every  possible  form  ravaged  the  coasts  of  Europe.     Wolf  was 


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268     NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY- 

again  the  hereditary  prefix  in  the  House  of  Bavaria,  where 
the  dukes  varied  between  Wolf  and  Wolfart,  till   Wolfen 
became  the  designation  of  the  family,  and  a  legend  was 
invented  to  account  for  it.     An  ancestress  had,  it  was  ssdd, 
given  birth  to  twelve  infants  all  at  once,  and  in  the  spirit  of 
the  child  who,  being  shown  his  twin  brothers,  asked  '  Which 
shall  we  keep,'  sent  her  maid  to  dispose  of  the  eleven  unne- 
cessary ones  in  the  river.     The  father  met  her,  and  asked 
what  she  had  in  her  apron.     *  Only  whelps,'  she  answered; 
but  he  was  not  to  be  thus  put  ofi^,  made  an  inspection,  saved 
the  children's  lives,  and  called  them  the  Wolfen,  or  wolf- 
whelps  !     The  Booh  of  Heroes^  however,  makes  the  Wolfings 
descend  from  the  brave  Sir  Hildebrand,  and  be  so  called 
from  a  wolf  on  their  shield  granted  them  by  the  Emperor 
Wolfdietrich,  in  remembrance  of  an  adventure  of  his  own 
infancy,  when  he  had  been  carried  oflF  by  a  she- wolf  to  her 
den,  and  remained  there  unhurt — ^whence  his  name  of  Wolf- 
dietrich.     The  male  line  of  the  Wolfen,  however,  in  time 
became  extinct,  and  the  heiress  married  one  of  the  Italian 
House  of  Este,  which  adopted  the  German  Wolf  in  the 
Italianized  form  of  Guelfo,  and  constantly  used  it  as  a  name. 
Thence  when  the  popes  set  up  Otho  d'Este,  one  of  the  Wolfm 
of  Bavaria,  as  anti-emperor  in  opposition  to  the  House  of 
Hohenstaufen,  his  partisans  were   called  Welfen ;  those  of 
the  Fredericks,   Waiblingen,  from   the   Swabian  castle  of 
Waibling.     The  Italian  cities  rang  with  the  fierce  cries  of 
Guelfo  and  Zibelino,  for  the  pope  or  the  emperor,  and  Europe 
learnt  to  identify  the  Guelph  with  the  cause  of  the  Church; 
the  Ghibelline  with  that  of  the  State,  when  the  origin  of  the 
words  had  long  been  forgotten. 

One  of  the  Bavarian  Wolfen  d'Este  became  Duke  rf 
Brunswick  Luneburg,  and  from  him  are  descended  the  Hano- 
verian line  of  English  sovereigns,  who— in  the  time  of  Revo- 
lution'^— thence  were  said  to  be  properly  sumamed  Guelf,  or 


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THE  WOLF.  269 

even   Whelps,  with  about  as  much  correctness  as    when 
Lfonis  XVI.  was  styled  Louis  Capet. 

We  had  a  wolf  among  our  sovereigns  in  the  days  of  the 
Heptarchy,  in  Vulf here,  king  of  Mercia,  the  same  as  the 
northern  Ulfar,  and  German  Wolfer,  meaning  wolf-warrior. 
Also  Vulfhilda  was  a  sainted  abbess  in  England,  while  XJlv- 
bildur  colonized  Iceland.  We  had  also  Vulfred,  Vulfnoth, 
Vulfstein,  better  known  as  St.  Wulstan,  the  admirable  bishop 
of  Worcester,  whom  Lancfranc  forebore  to  displace.  These 
English  wolves  of  ours  have  a  great  inclination  to  lapse  into 
sheep's  clothing  and  become  wool,  in  which  form  we  use 
them  in  the  harmless  surnames  of  Woolgar,  Woolstone, 
Woolmer,  Wolsey. 

Ulfketill,  or  Ulfkjell,  as  odd  a  compound  as  can  well  be 
found,  was  one  of  the  pirates  who  invested  England,  but  is 
a  peaceable  inhabitant  in  Domesday,  where  Ulf  swarms,  as 
Ulfac,  Ulfeg,  Ulfert,  Ulfener,  Ulfric ;  just  as  he  does  m  the 
Iceland  Domesday,  as  Ulfhedinn,  Ulfherdur,  Ufliotr. 

In  Grermany,  Wolfgang,  perhaps  best  rendered  as  Wolf- 
progress,  was  a  sainted  bishop  of  Ratisbon,  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, whence  this  strange  name  flourished,  .and  coming  to 
Goethe,  became  prized  by  all  his  admirers.  There,  too,  is 
Wolfram,  the  wolf-raven,  Wolfrad,  and  Wolfert. 

Some  have  translated  idf^  or  wolf^  at  the  end  of  a  word 
by  help ;  but  this  is  impossible,  as  though  hdf  is  help  in 
German,  the /is  the  property  of  that  language  alone. 

Wolf  enters  into  many  names  of  places.  Our  English 
Wolvesey  at  Winchester  is  Wolves'  Isle,  from  the  tribute  of 
wolves'  heads  there  received  from  the  Welsh ;  and  wolfsfeld^ 
dorfy  hageriyfelsy  &c.,  swarm  in  Grermany,  forming  territorial 
titles  for  Freiherren  and  Graffen. 

Ulvstand  was  a  soubriquet  assumed  by  Harald  Ulv  of 
Denmark  in  his  rage  at  an  attempt  of  one  Trotte  to  carry 
off  his  bride,  for  which  he  vowed  that  the  traitor  should 


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270  NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 

find  him  an  ulvstatidy  or  wolTs  tooth,  mnd  he  kept  his 
word. 

To  the  faithful  and  affectionate  rehitire  of  the  wolf,  the 
dog,  something  of  the  eastern  dislike  to  the  nnclean  animal 
most  haye  remained,  for  in  the  northern  myth,  he  only  vp- 
pears  as  the  hell-honnd  Garmr,  who  is  to  be  the  destroy^' 
of  Tyr  in  the  twilight  of  the  gods,  and  the  spectre  hounds 
who  accompany  the  wild  huntsman  in  Germany,  or  the 
yelping  pack  whose  yoices  terrify  the  northern  peasant. 
<  The  Manthe  Doggie,'  or  spectre  honnd  of  man,  though  his 
name  seems  to  be  the  Keltic  madadhy  was  most  likely  be- 
queathed to  the  isle  as  one  of  the  fancies  of  its  northern 
masters. 

So  while  Gu  was  both  dog  and  chieftain  in  Ireland,  he  was 
at  a  discount  among  the  northern  races,  until  a  few  of  the 
Danes  seem  to  have  learnt  to  respect  the  qualities  of  the  mag- 
nificent Irish  wolf-hound,  whose  qualities  are  highly  praised 
in  the  Htimskringla.  Then  they  took  to  calling  themselyes 
Hunde ;  and  a  son  of  Sigurd,  Earl  of  Orkney,  is  called  both 
Hyalp  or  Hund.  The  name  of  Hundolf  is,  howerer,  sup- 
posed to  be  either  hardened  from  Hun,  or  else  to  be  from  a 
word  meaning  booty  or  plunder,  so  as  to  mean  the  wolf  of 
plunder.* 


Section  m.— J^er,  the  Boar. 

The  boar,  whom  we  found  so  popular  in  Roman  nommi- 
clature,  is  quite  equally  so  among  the  southern  Teutons, 
among  whom  the  tusky  boar  was  one  of  the  prime  beasts 
of  chase.     The  Romans  apparently  viewed  him  and  his 

*  Grimm;  Turner,  Angto-Saxoni ;  Blackwell,  Mallet;  Dietionnain 
det  Proverbei  Fran^ais ;  Sismondi,  R^pmbliquM  Italianet;  Anderson, 
Genealogies;  Lappenbuiig,  Anglo- Scucont ;  Albon  Butler;  Manyat^  Jut- 
land; Pott. 


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EBER,  THE  BOAR.  27 1 

titles  in  their  domestic  aspect ;  but  the  Teutons  honoured 
the  fierce  JSber  of  their  forests  as  their  highest  and  most 
dangerous  prey,  and  gave  him  a  place  among  their  my- 
thology. 

Freyr  had  a  boar  with  golden  bristles,  called  Gullenborsti, 
and  when  the  com  waved  in  the  wind,  the  saying  was,  *  Freyr's 
boar  is  passing  by.'  The  same  golden  bristled  boar  is  repeated 
among  the  Tscherkessen,  who  have  a  god  called  Mesitch  riding 
on  such  an  animal,  and  no  doubt  he  is  of  kin  to  the  swine  whose 
worship  has  been  traced  among  the  Kelts.  The  appropriate 
sacrifice  to  Freyr  was  a  boar,  and  as  Yule  was  his  feast,  the 
boar's  head,  on  which  yows  were  made,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
fatal  vow  in  the  opening  of  Sintram,  was  in  his  honour; 
and  the  ^  boar's  head,'  once  an  essential  part  of  Christmas 
festivities,  but  now  dwindled  down  to  a  mere  piece  of  brawn, 
is  a  remnant  of  Freyr's  worship.  In  Gueldres  the  boar  and 
bis  master  are  thought  to  go  about  on  Christmas  night,  but 
there  Freyr  has  turned  to  the  more  German  hero,  Dietrich. 
From  his  connection  with  the  beneficent  Freyr,  the  boar  be- 
came a  holy  symbol,  supposed  to  protect  those  who  wore  it. 
Jewels  were  fashioned  in  its  shape,  and  worn  as  talismans 
even  in  Christian  times ;  and  it  was  very  common  to  shape 
helmets  like  the  head  and  tusks  of  the  boar,  whence  this  be- 
comes so  common  a  bearing  in  heraldry,  and  may  perhaps 
have  suggested  the  title  of  the  *  Wild  Boar  of  Ardennes.' 
Epurhelm,  an  old  (jerman  name,  was  thus  an  appeal  to  the 
protection  of  Freyr. 

The  boar  Sehrimnar  was  likewise  the  future  feast  of  the 
brave  in  Yalhall,  daily  hunted  and  eaten,  and  as  often  re- 
suscitated for  the  next  day's  sport  and  banquet.  Scandinavia 
lay  too  far  north  for  his  porcine  majesty ;  and  the  Norsemen 
had  no  personal  acquaintance  with  him  in  their  daily  life, 
whatever  they  might  look  forward  to ;  and  thus  *  de  grand 
JEber^  does  not  figure  in  their  nomenclature,  and  scarcely 

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I 


272  NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 

among  our  own  insular  Saxons,  though  he  is  said  to  haye 
ranged  our  forests. 

But  turning  to  the  Goths,  we  fall  at  once  upon  Ebroinus, 
an  evident  classicalism  of  Eberwine,  not  so  much  the  boards 
friend,  as  Freyr's  friend.  Ebrimuth,  another  early  Goth,  is 
wild  boar's  mood  or  wrath,  and  in  Visigothic  Spain  we  find 
Eborico,  namely,  Eberik,  boar  ruler. 

Frankland  produced  the  formidable  compound  of  boar- 
wolf,  Eberulf ;  but  its  two  owners  grew  up  monastic  saints 
in  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries,  and  were  honoured  by  the 
French  as  SS.  Evrault,  Evrols,  Evrou,  or  Evraud.  The 
second  of  these  saints  was  a  native  of  Normandy,  and  is 
patron  of  the  abbey  of  Font^vraud,  the  burial  place  of 
Henry  11.  and  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  and  the  noblest  nun- 
nery in  France.  The  abbess  ruled  the  men  of  her  order  as 
well  as  the  women ;  and  by  the  old  law,  was  to  be  a  person 
who  had  begun  life  in  the  secular  world,  although  in  later 
times  this  rule  was  evaded,  when  this  magnificent  station 
was  regarded  as  a  resource  for  superfluous  daughters  of  the 
blood  royal. 

It  is  difficult,  however,  to  distinguish  between  the  forms 
of  the  French  Eberulf,  and  the  German  Eberhard,  who 
was  abbot  of  Einsiedlen  in  934 ;  indeed,  it  is  highly 
probable  that  the  Norman  St.  Evrhault,  though  derived 
from  a  saint  latinized  as  Eberulfus,  and  in  German  caUed 
Erulf,  was  supposed  to  be  the  same  as  Eberhard,  and 
that  this  accounts  for  the  English  form  of  Everard,  which 
sprung  up  from  the  four  Evrards  of  the  Domesday  roll 
after  the  Conquest.  Eberhard  hardly  reaches  the  rsmk  of 
saint  in  the  Roman  calendar ;  but  his  exertions  in  a  great 
famine  that  ravaged  Alsace,  Burgundy,  and  Upper  Germany, 
in  942,  account  for  the  nationality  of  his  name  in  all  that 
region. 


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•RRFT^  ^I'HK  BOAR. 


473 


English. 

lUlian. 

Frisian. 

German. 

Everard 
Ewart 

Everardo 
Eberardo 
Ebbo 

Evart 
Evert 

Eberhard 

Ebert 

Ewart 

Eppo 

Ebbo 

French. 

Dutch, 

Lett. 

Ebo 

EbUo 

Ebin 

Etto 

UfiFo 

Uppo 

Appo 

Evraud 
Ebles 

Everhard 
Evert 

Ewarts 

The  (jermans  likewise  have  a  feminine  from  this  ^  boar* 
firm '  word  Eberhardine,  contracted  into  Ebertine,  or  Ebba, 
and  in  Frisian,  Ebbe  or  Jebbe.  I  am  afraid  these  (jerman 
forms  do  not  certainly  account  for  the  Saxon  Ebba,  or  ^bbe, 
Bister  of  St.  Oswald,  and  foundress  of  the  famous  priory  of 
Coldingham.  However,  England  had  one  St  Eberhilda,  who 
was  a  pupil  of  St  Wilfrid,  and  foundress  of  a  monastery 
called  Everidisham,  the  locality  of  which  cannot  be  dis- 
covered ;  but  it  must  have  left  an  impression  on  the  ladies 
of  the  North,  to  judge  by  the  fr^uency  of  the  occurrence 
of  Everilda,  which,  with  its  Anglicisms  of  Averilla  and 
Averil,  is  not  yet  extinct 

Ofia,  the  Low  German  legendary  hero— was  very  probably 
a  contraction  of  the  wild  boar.  His  name  is  repeated  by  the 
king  of  Mercia,  who  seems  to  have  borrowed  somewhat  of 
the  legend  in  his  story,  and  Offa  was  not  extinct  even  in 


Ebermund,  a  Neustrian  Frank  of  Meerwing  days,  was 
founder  of  Fontenoy  Abbey,  and  was  honoured  as  St.  Evr6- 
mond,  whence  the  territorial  surname  familiar  to  readers  of 
French  memoirs. 

St  Evre,  who  is  frankly  htinized  into  Sanctus  Aper,  was 

VOL.  IL  Digit  zed  t^OOgle 


274    NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 

the  seventh  bishop  of  Toul,  where  the  register  of  bishops 
presents  a  curious  succession  of  wild  beasts,  and  some  of  die 
Ebbos  and  Affos  of  Germany  may  be  his  rightful  property, 
though  they  are  now  all  turned  over  to  the  charitable  Ebcr^ 
hard  of  Einsiedlen.  Eburbero,  or  Boar-bear,  seems  to  have 
been  a  German  invention.  We  have  the  surnames  Everard, 
Everett,  Everest,  Every,  from  this  animal ;  and  the  (jermanB 
have  hosts,  chiefly  from  places — ^Ebermeier,  Ebenhalm,  or 
Eppenhagen,  Ebbecke,  Abbendorf,  Eppendorf,  Iphofen, 
Ebelbach,  &c.  &c.* 


Section  IV.— The  Bear. 

The  bear  does  not  enter  into  the  legends  of  the  Uddaj  but 
he  enjoyed  immense  regard  in  the  North,  and  was  looked  on 
as  a  sort  of  ancestor,  to  whom,  when  he  was  killed,  polite 
apologies  were  always  made,  and  who  is  still  called  by  the 
pet  name  of  the  Wise  Man,  rather  than  by  his  own  proper 
term.  Even  in  France  he  was  mysteriously  alluded  to  as  le 
vieux  or  le  grand  phre ;  and  probably  the  Swiss  veneration 
for  the  bears  of  Berne  originated  in  the  general  devotion  to 
the  deliberate  and  almost  human  looking  plantigrade. 

The  Anglo-Saxons  made  Beom  the  great  grandson  of 
Wuotan,  and  the  ancestors  of  the  kings  of  Beomland;  in 
Latin  Bemicia,  or  Beomia,  afterwards  the  earldom  that  gave 
title  to  Richard,  son  of  William  I.  Legend  again  declared 
that  the  stout  old  Earl  Siward  Biom  was  actually  the  off- 
spring of  a  bear,  and  that  the  ears  of  his  parent  might  have 
been  found  concealed  beneath  his  matted  locks. 

Norway  and  Iceland  are,  as  in  duty  bound,  the  land  of 
bears,  but  the  Pyrenees  had  their  share  likewise  ;  and  if 
the  North  has  Bjomulf,  the  same  bear-wolf  reigned  oyer 

^  Mnnter,  Histoire  de  Normandie;  Mallet;  Batter;  Pott;  Miohaelis; 
Surtees. 


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THE  BEAR  275 

Gothic  Spain  in  the  form  of  Yemulfo ;  and  in  the  Asturias 
and  Navarre,  the  bear's  mood  was  dreaded  as  Bermudo,  or 
Yermudo,  and  his  protecting  hand  sought  as  Yeremundo. 

In  the  Pyrenees,  too,  flourished  the  bear-spear,  the  same 
with  the  northern  Bjomgjer,  though  southern  tongues  made 
Berenger  and  Berengario,  in  which  forms  it  was  owned  by 
many  a  mountain  king  of  Navarre  and  count  of  Boussillon, 
Barcelona,  or  Toulouse.  There,  too,  it  formed  the  feminine 
Seraiguela,  and  this,  as  princesses'  names  always  do,  tra- 
▼dUed  farther;  for  Berenguela  was  queen  of  Castille,  and 
mother  of  St.  Fernando ;  another  Berenguela,  or  Berangdre, 
as  French  tongues  called  her,  is  familiar  to  us  under  that 
most  incorrect  historical  title  of  Berengaria,  the  bride  of  the 
king  of  England,  that  was  married  at  Cyprus,  and,  rather 
undeservedly,  always  made  by  novelists  a  foolish  and  frivo- 
lous woman,  instead  of  the  devout  and  meek  one  she  really 
was.  Another  Berenguela,  who  from  Portugal  married  the 
king  of  Denmark,  so  misconducted  herself  that  Bjomgard 
or  Bemgard,  the  Danish  version  of  her  name,  stands  for 
an  abandoned  woman. 

Biom  of  the  fiery  eyes  was  appropriately  jaamed  by  Fouqu6 ; 
for  the  Landnama-bok  shows  forty- two  Bioms,  and  the  name  is 
still  common  in  Norway  and  Iceland,  where  abo  are  found 
stilly  as  man's  names,  Bersi  and  Besse,  also  titles  of  the  bear, 
and  Bera  by  way  of  feminine.  Bjomhedinn  is  also  northern, 
and  there  are  numerous  varieties  of  compounds,  one  of  them 
rather  of  late  date  being  Bjomstem,  bear-star,  probably  in 
reference  to  the  Pole-star.  One  of  the  present  authors  in 
Norway  bears  the  fierce  name  of  Bjomstem  Bjomsen. 

The  most  famous  of  all  the  beurs  is,  however,  of  Frank 
growtL  Some  have  tried  to  resolve  it  into  Baim-heart, 
child-hearted ;  but  though  bam  is  of  most  ancient  lineage, 
found  even  in  Ulfilas's  Bible,  all  analogy  is  against  the  in- 
terpretation ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  when  the  first 
historical  Biomhard  was  named,  his  parents  would  much  have 

T  2  joogle 


276 


NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 


preferred  his  haying  the  resolution  of  a  bear  rather  than  ihe 
heart  of  a  child. 

That  first  was  an  unde  of  Charlemagne,  and  from  him  it 
was  that  the  momitain,  erst  of  Jupiter,  was  termed  of  Ber- 
nard, even  before  a  second  Bernard,  sumamed  De  Menlhon, 
fled  from  his  home  for  love  of  a  monastic  life,  and  erected 
his  noble  hospice  for  the  reception  of  travellers.  Then  came 
further  glory  to  the  name  through  the  Cistercian  monk, 
whose  pure  character  was  revered  by  all  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  until  his  became  a  universal  name  throughout 
Europe;  in  Ireland  absorbing  the  native  Bryan.  In  Spidn, 
too,  Bernardo  del  Carpio  is  a  great  legendary  champion, 
nephew  to  King  Alfonso  11.  of  Leon,  and  who,  in  the  battle  of 
Boncevalles,  was  said  to  have  squeezed  Roland  the  paladin 
to  death  in  his  arms.  Bemal  Diaz  is  the  simple-hearted 
chronicler  of  Cortes. 


English. 

Bernard 
Barnard 

French. 

Bernard 
Bemadin 

Italian. 
Bernardo 
Bemadino 

Spanish. 
Bernardo 
Bemal 

Portuguese. 

Bernaldo 

Bemadim 

Wallachian. 
Bemardu 

German. 

Bemhard 

Berend 

Benno 

Dutch. 
Bemhart 
Barend 
Bamdt 

Frisian. 
Bernd 

Losatian. 
Bemat 

Lettish. 

Berents 
Bems 

Esth. 

Pero 
Perent 

Slovak. 
Bemardek 

Hnngarian. 
Bemat 

It  has  the  German  feminine  Bemhardine. 

Other  less  celebrated  Gbrman  forms  are  Bemwald ;  tbe 
French,  Berault ;  and  Italian,  Bernaldo.  Berwart,  abbot  of 
Hildesherm ;  Bemolo,  the  Bavarian  bear's  claw;  Bemer,  and 
many  others  where  hem  or  pern  ends  the  word. 

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THE  HOBSE.  277 

Bahrend,  Berndt,  Behr,  Behring,  all  are  Burnames  from 
the  bear  in  Grermaiiy,  and  the  last  very  appropriately  named 
Behring's  Straits.  It  is  the  same  that  came  to  England  as 
Baring.* 


Section  V. — The  Horse. 

No  sacred  animal  was  in  more  request  than  the  horse. 
The  gods  had  their  wonderftd  horses.  Sleipner  (the  slippery) 
was  the  eight-footed  steed  of  Odin  ;  Gullfaxi,  or  gold  mane, 
belonged  to  the  giant  Hrimgrim ;  and  the  shining-maned 
and  hoary-maned  coursers  of  day  and  night  have  been  already 
mentioned. 

The  eastern  origin  of  the  Teutons  was  never  more  shown 
than  by  their  homage  to  horses.  Beautiful  and  choice  white 
steeds  were  reserved  for  the  gods,  drawing  the  waggons  that 
conveyed  the  images,  when  the  army  went  out  to  battle,  or  a 
colony  migrated,  and  omens  were  derived  from  their  neigh- 
ings  when  alive,  and  from  their  heads  when  kiUed  in  sacrifice. 
Indeed,  many  fairy  tales  preserve  relics  of  this  power  of 
divination,  as  in  the  instance  of  the  wise  steed  of  Fortunatus, 
whose  ear  produced  whatever  his  mistress  needed,  and  the 
faithful  horse  Falada,  whose  head,  after  he  had  been  killed, 
and  it  had  been  hung  up  to  the  wall,  continued  the  counsellor 
of  the  oppressed  princess. 

There  was  some  universal  notion  connected  with  the  horse's 
head  on  a  pole.  Pliny  considered  it  as  a  charm  to  protect 
gardens  frt)m  caterpillars ;  we  have  already  seen  that  young 
Welshmen  used  to  use  one  as  a  manifestation  of  spite  against 
hard-hearted  damsels;  and  in  the  North  such  a  pole  was 
called  a  nithing-post,  and  brought  injuries  upon  the  persons 
against  whom  its  face  was  directed. 

*  Munch;  Lappenborg;  Pott;  Michaelis;  Batler. 

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278  NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MTTHOLOGY. 

Great  sacrifices  of  horses  were  made  on  solemn  occasioDB, 
and  feasts  were  made  upon  their  flesh  as  a  religious  rite,  so 
that  the  abstaining  from  horse-flesh  became  absolutely  a  test 
of  Christianity.  The  converted  Germans  were  forbidden  in 
the  eighth  century,  by  Pope  Crregory  HI.,  to  eat  vultures, 
ravens,  or  horses ;  and  afterwards  we  find  Hakon,  first  Chris- 
tian king  of  Norway,  who  had  been  bred  up  in  the  truth  by 
his  foster-father,  our  own  ^thelstan,  was  earnestly  entreated 
by  his  friends  to  conform  so  far  as  to  hold  his  mouth  over 
the  kettle  and  inhale  the  smoke  of  the  seething  horse-flesh 
to  gratify  his  heathen  subjects.  It  is  probable  that  it  is  to 
this  sacred  character  of  the  flesh,  and  its  being  employed 
as  a  mark  of  severance  between  Christian  and  heathen,  that 
the  universal  European  disgust  to  it  is  owing. 

The  horse  was  the  national  emblem  of  the  Saxons ;  and 
Henghist  and  Horsa  are  both  old  Teuton  names  for  the 
animal,  the  first  surviving  in  the  German  hengst  and  northern 
hesty  the  last  in  our  ordinary  word  horse;  while  the  High 
German  hross  has  fallen  into  the  modem  ross.  White  horses 
cut  out  in  the  chalky  hill  sides  of  southern  England  from 
time  immemorial,  attest  the  antiquity  of  the  symbol  still 
claimed  by  the  county  of  Kent,  and  by  the  Anglian-conti- 
nental kingdom  of  Hanover. 

In  the  old  poem  of  Beowulf ^  however,  Hengist  is  a  Dane, 
invading  and  oppressing  Finn  of  Friesland,  and  afterwards 
slain.  It  is  possible,  then,  that  Hengist  may  after  all  be  a 
mere  mythic  name  erected  into  an  ancestor  by  the  Kentish 
monarchs,  and  serving  as  a  nucleus  for  the  tales  of  Yortigem 
and  Rowena,  the  grant  of  Thanet,  and  the  treachery  at 
Stonehenge,  which  was  even  supposed  to  mean  the  stones  of 
Hengist.  Some  have  tried  to  derive  hross  from  horeny  to 
hear  or  obey,  in  honour  of  the  noble  creature's  obedience ;  but 
it  is  in  fact  only  another  form  of  the  ashva  of  India,  to  which 
cinros,  eguuSy  and  each  have  been  traced ;  and  it  is  curious  to 
find  that  Brittany  preserves  the  word  ronse^  as  does  Spain 


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THE  HOBSE.  279 

rofudfiy  the  term  that  D(m  Quixote  magnified  into  the  mag- 
nificent designation  of  Bosinante. 

The  nation  that  sat  round  their  cauldrons  and  feasted 
solemnly  on  horse-flesh  might  well  call  their  sons  Rossketjl^ 
or  Bosskjell.  Three  are  to  be  found  in  the  Landnama-bokj 
and  Roskil  is  not  extinct  in  Denmark.  The  agreeable  title 
of  Hrossbiom,  or  horse-bear,  is  there  to  be  found  likewise, 
and  Saxo-Grammaticus  dignifies  as  Rostiophus,  a  gentleman 
who  was  properly  called  by  the  term  of  Hrossthiof,  or  horse- 
thief,  one  that  would  not  be  pleasant  to  be  christened  by 
in  the  present  day,  when  horse-stealing  is  anything  but  a 
glory !  Most  of  ^ese  names  are  Danish;  and  it  is  a  Danish 
ballad  that  tells  how  the  merman  Rosmer  Hafmand  kept 
Ellen  Lyle  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  till  her  lover  Roland 
came  and  carried  her  off,  turning  poor  Rosmer  into  stone. 
Mer  generally  means  great,  but  here  it  is  probably  the  sea, 
and  he  may  be  a  Triton,  or  horse  of  the  sea,  the  creature 
magnified  by  Mediterranean  imaginations  out  of  the  quaint 
little  homy  hippocampus. 

Hrossb^  formed  into  Rospert,  Hroshelm  into  Roselm, 
Hrosmod  into  Rosmund,  Hrosswald,  or  horse  power,  into 
Boswal,  who  was  the  hero  of  a  poem  called  Boswal  and 
LUlian^  an  exceeding  favourite  in  Scotland;  but  Roswal 
seems  only  to  have  suggested  the  faithful  dog  of  the  2^a/is- 
man.  He  is  the  disinherited  heir  of  Naples ;  and,  after  a 
series  of  troubles,  fights  his  way  back  to  honour  and  the 
hand  of  Lillian,  the  fair  princess  of  Beahi. 

The  feminines  Hrossmund,  Hroswith,  Hroshild,  Hrosa, 
have  by  general  consent  been  changed  from  horses  to  roses, 
and  giving  up  the  old  idea  of  the  Valkyr  on  her  tall  shadowy 
horse  weaving  her  web  of  victory,  are  only  Rosamond, 
Boswitha,  Rosilde,  Roesia,  or  Rose,  and  as  such  have  been 
treated  of  under  the  head  of  flowers. 

The  surnames  Ross  and  Rowse  are  horses ;  and  many  con- 
tinental ones  follow  them,  such  as  Rossi,  Rossini,  Rosetti,  in 

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28o  NAMES  CX)NNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGT. 

Italy;  Rossel,  Rosselt,  Rosshnrt,  in  Germany.  Manyplaees, 
too,  in  Germany  are  thence  called,  such  as  Rossbach,  notable 
for  one  of  the  victories  of  Frederick  the  Great 

Hengst  seems  to  have  been  used  for  the  male,  horse  for  tlie 
female;  but^or  in  the  North,  ehu  in  Old  German,  ekvus  in 
Gothic,  for  both  horse  and  mare;  and  this /or,  or  sometimes 
only  the  jOy  is  not  uncommon  in  Norsk  names,  as  Jogeir, 
Jofred,  Jogrim,  Jostein,  or  flower  of  chivalry,  Johar  or 
Joar,  horse  warrior,  Joketyll,  or  Jokell.  The  women  wero, 
Jora,  Jodis,  Jofrid,  Joreid,  Jonmna,  all,  be  it  remembered, 
being  pronounced  as  with  a  y. 

Afterwards  Justin  devoured  Jostein,  and  George  probably 
consumed  some  of  the  others ;  indeed,  some  of  the  early 
specimens  of  Jordan  among  the  Normans,  probably  accom- 
modated their  names  to  the  river  in  their  crusading  fervour; 
but,  en  revanche^  the  great  Gothic  historian,  Jomandes,  is 
supposed  to  have  been  so  called  by  corruption  from  his  state 
name  of  Jordanes. 

Jorund,  which  looks  very  like  one  of  this  race,  is  referable 
to  another  source. 

Probably  in  honour  of  Thor's  he-goats  we  find  the  goat 
figuring  in  names,  as  Geitwald,  Geithilt,  and  the  wife  of 
Robert  Gmscard,  Sichelgaita.^ 


Section  YI.— The  JSagle. 

There  is  an  eagle  sitting  on  the  ash  Yggdrasil  who  knows 
many  things. 

He  is,  in  the  North,  aar^  in  Germany  ar^  in  Scotland  erne ; 
though  we  and  the  modem  Germans  use,  in  eagle  and  adler^ 
mere  contractions  of  the  Latin  aquUa.    Places  named  from 

♦  Grimm  ;  Hunter  ;  Mtmch  ;  Dasent ;  Cambro-Briton  ;  BlackweU, 
MaUet;  Weber  and  Jamieson,  Northern  Romance;  Sturleson,  Heime- 
kringla ;  Kemble,  BeoumJf;  Ellis,  Specimene  of  Early  English  Poetry ; 
Pott,  Penonen  Namen* 


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THE  EAGLK 


281 


the  king  of  birds  are  fonnd  wherever  there  are  mountains,  and, 
besides  the  many  Amheims  and  Amstadts,  the  bird  is  thought 
to  have  his  rivers — the  Erne,  the  Aar,  the  Amo. 

His  influence  on  nomenclature  was  exercised  from  the 
Dovrefeld  and  frt)m  the  Alps,  for  the  eagle-names  are  chiefly 
either  Scandinavian,  or  High  Qerman;  we  do  not  seem  to 
have  any  native  English  ones. 

The  most  noted  of  these  southern  ones  are  Amwald,  eagle 
power,  and  Amulf,  or  eagle-wolf,  and  it  is  very  difficult  to 
distinguish  their  derivatives  from  one  another.  The  saint 
of  the  Roman  calendar  was  certainly  Amulf,  a  prince  of  the 
long-haired  line,  who  in  614  retired  into  a  convent  at  Metz, 
ftnd  became  its  bishop,  when  alive,  and  its  patron,  when  dead. 
Another  previous  Amulf,  after  whom  he  was  probably  chris- 
tened, for  their  day  is  the  same,  was  martyred  by  the  heathen 
Franks,  about  the  time  of  the  conversion  of  Clovis ;  and  a 
subsequent  one  was  bishop  of  Soissons,  under  Pope  Hildebrand. 
Amoul  was  common  as  a  name  among  the  Burgundian  kings, 
and  was  known  in  Italy  as  Amolfo ;  but  it  has  been  swal- 
lowed up  by  Amwald,  or  Amvalldr,  as  he  is  in  the  North, 
perhaps  because  this  latter  was  made  famous  in  Provence  by 
Amaldo  di  Maraviglia,  the  troubadour ;  in  Italy  by  the  un- 
fortunate Amoldo  of  Brescia,  and  later  in  Switzerland  by  the 
patriot  Amold  von  Melchthal,  and  thus  it  has  become  popu- 
lar enough  to  have  the  feminines  Amolde  and  Amoldine. 


English. 

French. 

Italian. 

Spanish. 

Arnold 

Amaud 
Araaut 

Amoldo 

Amaldo 

German* 

Dutch. 

North. 

Arnold 

AmolduB 

Aravalld 

Amo 

Amoud 

Amalldr 

Ahrent 

Arend 

Ahrens 

Arold 

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^82  NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MTTHQLOGT. 

The  Arnolds  and  Amoldines  keep  their  feast  upon  St 
AmulTs  dajy  thus  confessing  that  thej  have  no  patnm  of 
their  own.  Emrdf  is  an  old  form  found  in  Domesday  Book, 
and  not  jet  quite  extinct. 

The  northern  eagles  are  much  confused  by  ann^  a  hearth, 
the  same  which  is  found  at  the  end  of  Thorarin.  It  con- 
tracts into  am  at  the  beginning  of  a  word,  so  that,  except 
when  we  meet  with  it  in  full,  as  in  the  case  of  the  brave  old 
sea-king,  Arinbiom,  the  hearth-bear,  it  is  difficult  to  tell  to 
which  to  send  the  owner,  to  the  eyrie  or  the  fireside.  And  fur- 
ther, am  and  arin  both  contract  indiscriminately  into  or  and 
any  so  that  the  list  of  Northern  names  is  given  rather  in 
the  dark.  They  are  both  masculine  and  feminine,  for  Araa 
was  both  used  standing  alone  and  as  a  termination. 

Amridur  or  Ameidur,  eagle  haste,  one  of  these  eagle  ladiea, 
had  a  curious  history  told  in  the  Landnama-bok.  She  was 
the  daughter  of  Asbiom,  a  jarl  in  the  Hebrides,  and  was 
taken  captive  by  Holmfast  Yedormson,  who  sold  her  to  an 
Icelander  named  Eetell  Thrymr.  He  was  so  much  smitten 
with  her  as  to  pay  for  h^  twice  the  sum  demanded  by  old 
Yedorm ;  but  before  the  departure  for  Iceland  she  found  a 
quantity  of  silver  beneath  the  roots  of  a  tree,  sufficient  for 
her  ransom.  Instead  of  claiming  it,  her  new  master  gener- 
ously gave  her  the  choice  of  purchasing  her  freedom  or  re- 
maining his  wife ;  she  chose  the  latter  alternative,  and  stands, 
as  honourable  women  do  in  the  Landnama'hoky  as  the  mother 
of  a  house  in  Iceland. 

Amthor,  and  his  feminine  Amthora,  contract  into  Amcur 
and  Amora,  and  this  latter  explains  Annora,  to  be  found  in 
Norman  pedigrees.  Annora  was  wife  of  Bernard  de  St. 
Valery;  and  was  carried  into  the  family  of  Braose  by  king 
John's  victim,  Maude  de  St.  Valery,  who  called  one  of  her 
daughters  Annora. 

Ari  was  an  adventurer  who  sailed  to  Greenland  in  fourteen 


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THE  EAGLE.  283 

dajs,  fifteen  years  before  the  preaching  of  Chrifltianitj  in 
Iceland. 

This  Ari,  be  he  eagle  or  hearth,  seems  to  conduct  us  to  the 
source  of  the  first  syllable  of  Arabella.  The  first  lady  so 
called,  whom  I  can  detect,  was  Arabella,  the  grand-daughter 
of  William  the  Lion,  of  Scotland,  who  married  Robert  de 
QumcL  Another  Arabella,  with  her  husband  John  de  Mont- 
pynfon,  held  the  manor  of  Magdalen  Layer  in  the  thirty- 
ninth  of  Henry  m.,  and  thus  it  was  evidently  a  Norman 
name.  The  Normans  made  wld  work  with  all  that  did  not 
sound  like  French,  and  their  Latin  secretaries  made  the 
matter  worse,  so  that  I  am  much  tempted  to  believe  that  both 
Arabella  and  that  other  perplexing  name,  Annabella,  may 
once  have  been  Amhilda,  cut  down  into  Arbell,  or  Anable, 
and  then  amplified.  ^  My  Lady  Arbell '  was  certainly  what 
the  lady  was  called,  in  her  own  time,  whose  misfortunes  are 
80  well  known  to  us,  under  the  name  of  Arabella  Stuart,  and 
from  whom  Arabella  has  been  adopted  in  various  families, 
and  is  usually  contracted  by  Belle.  Some  have  made  it 
Arabella,  or  fair  altar,  others  the  diminutive  of  Arab,  both 
equally  improbable. 

The  most  common  form  of  Am  at  present  used  in  Scandi- 
navia is  Amvid,  the  eagle  of  the  wood,  often  contracted  into 
Arve,  as  in  the  instance  of  Emilie  Garlen's  honest  hero  in 
her  Base  of  Tisieldn. 

The  other  old  Icelandic  and  Norsk  forms  are : — 

Ambiorg,  eagle  defence; 
Amdis,  eagle  sprite ; 
Amfinn,  white  eagle ; 
Amfridur,  eagle  fair  one ; 
Arngeir,  eagle  war ; 


Amgrimm, )  or  Angrim, 
Amgrimur, )    eagle  mask ; 
Arnkatla.)        ,         , , 


Amlaug,  eagle  liquor ; 
Amleif,  eagle  relic ; 
Amliotr,  eagle  wanderer ; 
Ammodur,    ^        ,  , 

orArmodrj««l«'"*^' 
Amstein,  eagle  stone ; 
Amthrudr,  eagle  maiden. 


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284 


NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGT. 


With  much  doubt  I  question  whether  the  name  of  Einest 
should  not  be  added  to  this  catalogue.  It  is  so  obTious  to 
take  its  native  (jennan  form,  Ernst,  from  emst,  earnest, 
grave,  or  serious,  that  this  is  quite  unlike  the  usual  analogy 
of  such  names.  Amust  was  the  older  Grerman  form  of  the 
name,  and  some  even  think  that  this  was  the  proper  name  oi 
Ariovistus,  the  German  chief  who  fought  with  Osesar,  though 
others  consider  this  to  be  Caesar's  version  of  Heerfurst,  or 
general,  and  others  think  they  detect  the  universal  root  or, 
husbandry. 

The  more  certain  form  of  the  name  begins  in  Lombardy, 
where  Ernesto,  lord  of  Este,  was  killed  in  battle  by  king 
Astolfo,  in  752.  Is  not  Ernesto  just  what  Italy  would  make 
of  Amstein,  after  fancying  that  Amstino  was  a  diminutive  ? 
Then,  over  the  mountains,  comes  Amust  I.,  duke  of  Swabia, 
in  right  of  his  wife,  in  10 12,  and  Amust  the  Strenuous, 
markgraff  of  Austria,  from  whom  Emst  spread  all  over  Ger- 
many, especially  after  the  Reformation,  when  Emst,  Duke  of 
Brunswick,  had  striven  so  hard  to  spread  Lutheranism 
among  his  subjects  that  Protestants  called  him  the  Confessor. 

This  is  now  one  of  the  most  national  of  German  names, 
and  it  is  working  its  way  into  England,  though  not  yet  with 
a  naturalized  sound.  Its  German  feminine,  Emestine,  is  one 
of  the  msuiy  contracted  by  stine  and  tine.  Bohemian  has 
Amostinka. 


English. 
Ernest 

French. 
Emeste 

ItaUan. 
Ernesto 

Emst 

Dutch. 
Ernestus 

Bohemian. 
Amoat 

Lettish. 
Ernesto 

Hungarian. 
Erneszt 

One  or  two  instances  of  Hauk  occur.  Hauk  Habrok  was 
a  noted  pirate ;  and  there  are  two  Haukrs  in  the  Landnama'^ 
bok    The  bird  is  now  called  h0g  in  Denmark,  and  most  of 

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THE  RAVEN.  285 

our  families  named  Hogg  are  supposed  to  rejoice  in  Hawk  as 
an  ancestor. 

As  to  Folco  and  his  kin,  though  it  is  often  attributed  to 
the  falcon,  it  has,  as  we  shall  see,  quite  another  source.^ 


Section  Vn. — The  Raven. 

,  Ferocious  and  predatory  nations  love  and  admire  even  the 
raven  that  scents  slaughter  from  afar,  and  is  the  comrade 
and  emblem  of  the  battle-field.  So  as  Oreb  and  Zeeb  were 
among  the  Bedouin  desolators  of  Israel,  Hraben  and  Ulf 
were  among  the  wasters  of  Christendom. 

Perhaps,  too,  the  raven  of  Koah  had  some  share  in  the 
homage  paid  to  the  bird,  which  has  some  connection  with  a 
message  and  intelligence,  perhaps  from  its  power  of  imi- 
tating words,  and  its  conversational  notes  among  its  own 
kind.  The  raven's  feathers  were  by  the  Gh*eeks  said  to  have 
been  turned  to  black  from  white  for  her  ofiSciousness  in  in- 
forming Apollo  of  the  infidelity  of  Coronis.  A  raven,  again, 
is  said  to  have  given  great  assistance  to  Marcus  Valerius  in 
his  single  combat  with  a  gigantic  (h,vl ;  and,  at  any  rate, 
C!orvus  and  Corvinus  were  Valerian  cognomina.  Bran  and 
Morvren,  as  we  have  seen,  are  closely  interwoven  with  Keltic 
fancies ;  and  the  North  had  its  own  notions  of  the  bird  of 
sable  plumage  of  evil  augury  to  the  peaceful. 

Two  ravens,  Mind  and  Memory,  go  forth  throughout  the 
world,  then  returning  and  perching  on  Odin's  shoulders,  re- 
veal to  him  all  that  passes  on  the  earth.  Kaulbach  has 
made  grand  use  of  these  two  ravens  in  his  grand  figure  of 
^  Saga '  in  the  Pinacothdc.  She,  the  spirit  of  poetry,  is 
seated  among  Bruid  stones,  with  a  rapt  and  awful  gaze,  and 
a  raven  on  each  shoulder  whispers  to  her  of  past  and  future. 

*  Grimm;  Munch;  Pott;  Michaelis;  Batler;  Landnafna'hoh :  Chal- 
mers;  Essex  Pedigree$ ;  Dogdale;  Andersoiii  Oenedlogies. 

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286  NAMES  CX)NNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 

Descending  to  bathos,  we  ask  if  these  are  the  little  birdfl 
that  tell  all  that  children  do. 

The  raven  seems  to  have  the  special  mark  of  Odin,  and 
sometimes  used  for  Thor ;  for  amulets  have  been  fomid  m 
Sweden  and  Denmark,  where  a  raven  flies  before  the  momitei 
figure  of  Odin,  and  again  is  seen  in  company  with  the  hammer 
of  Thor.  And  who  does  not  know  the  raven  banner  of  the 
sons  of  Ragnar,  denoting  probably  their  family  dts^  which 
flapped  its  wings  before  victory  and  drooped  them  heton 
defeat  ? 

No  wonder,  then,  that  the  raven  has  left  traces  in  the 
nomenclature  of  Teutonic  Europe,  though  it  is  not  always 
easy  to  distinguish  its  progeny  from  those  of  ragn,  judg- 
ment, and  randj  a  house. 

The  raven,  in  his  harshest  croak,  entitled  the  Frank 
sovereign  Chramne,  who  is  hard  to  recognize  as  the  near 
kinsman  of  the  sixteen  Rafns  of  the  Landnama-bok,  and 
Babanus  Maurus,  the  Latinism  of  the  learned  archbishop  of 
Mainz  of  the  ninth  century. 

Hrafenhilldur,  a  suitable  title  for  a  Valkyr,  and  Hrafbn- 
kell  also  figure  among  the  Lcmdnama^  and  in  Domesday 
stand  Ravengar  and  Bavenswar,  showing  the  transition  from 
the  gjer^  or  spear,  down  to  our  word  war. 

Bafhulf  is  northern,  but  has  been  mixed  up  with  the 
derivatives  of  Randolf.  Rambert,  successor  of  St.  Anegar, 
in  Holstein,  was  a  bright  raven,  Bampold  a  raven  prince,  aad 
the  Italian  form  Bamusio  may  be  another  variety;  but  in 
general  the  raven  comes  at  the  end  of  words,  as  in  Wolfiram, 
Yaldraban,  Bertram,  &c. 

It  is  common  in  the  names  of  places  and  in  surnames,  as 
Baap,  Bamberg,  Bamspergen;  and  with  us,  Bavenspur, 
Bavensworth,  &c.* 

*  Mimter;  Munch;  Gxixnm;  Edda;  Landnama-hoK 

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THE  SWAN.  287 


Section  YUI.— The  Swan. 

The  swan  might  well  figure  prommentlj  in  the  northern 
mythology,  familiar  as  she  was,  as  the  fair  creature  of  the 
aatomn,  when  huge  squadrons  of  the  whistling  swan,  ^  like 
flocks  of  flying  lambs/  according  to  Fouqu6's  graceful  de- 
scription, fly  southwards,  athwart  the  darkened  heavens  and 
pine  forests,  making  the  air  resound  with  the  solemn  beat  of 
their  heavy  wings,  and  their  deep  peculiar  cry. 

Two  swans,  parents  of  aU  those  who  dwell  on  earth,  had 
their  home  in  the  holy  spring  of  Urd,  beneath  the  world- 
tree,  Yggdrasil;  and  the  power  and  fierceness  of  these  mag- 
nificent, pure,  cahn-looking  birds  connected  them  with  the 
Yalkyrer,  who  were  supposed  to  have  swan  wings,  and  to  be 
able  to  change  themselves  into  swans.  When  the  Yalkyrier 
began  to  pass  into  mere  magic  ladies,  they  preserved  their 
power  of  changing  into  swans,  and  by-and-bye  had  swan 
garments,  which  they  put  off  when  they  wished  to  assume 
human  shapes,  and  which  were  now  and  then  captured  by 
some  happy  mortal,  who  thus  won  the  owner  for  his  bride. 
Swanhvit,  or  Swan  white,  was  thus  the  suitable  name  of 
one  of  the  three  Yalkyrer  who  married  the  sons  of  Yidja  in 
the  Yilkina  Saga ;  and  in  the  Orvarod  Saga,  another  Swanh- 
vit is  the  companion  of  the  self-willed  Hervor,  and  the 
first  victim  of  the  deadly  sword,  Tyrfing,  when  the  maiden 
recovered  it  from  the  fire-encircled  tomb  of  her  father,  and 
imprudently  drew  it,  without  heed  to  the  warnings  from  his 
grave,  on  that  terrible  property, 

*  That  Tyrfing  must  with  blood  be  fed  V 

The  swan  transformations  appear  again  in  the  beautiful 
tale  common  to  aU  Teutonic  countries  of  the  twelve  princes 
transformed  into  swans,  and  of  the  faithful  sister  who  re- 

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288  NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 

deemed  them  by  the  netde  shirts  that  she  wove,  ever  in 
silence,  through  every  vioissitade  of  life  eren  to  the  y^rge 
of  death. 

Svana  is  an  Icelandic  name,  also  Svanlaog,  a  swan  ocean, 
which  has  c<mtracted  to  SvaDaug.  S?anhild  was  used  bodi 
by  Norway  and  Germany,  being  Swanahilda  in  the  latter, 
and  Svanaburg  and  Swangarde  were  also  th^re;  but  it  is 
strange  that  so  pretty  a  word  for  a  white  skinned  muden 
should  not  hare  been  more  frequent  The  Erse  Gelges 
imitates  the  sense,  but  we  have  no  English  swan  ladies,  for 
Swanhals  was  only  the  epithet  of  the  often  commemorsted 
lady,  who  is  said  to  have  discovered  the  corpse  of  Harold  at 
Hastings. 

For  the  most  part,  the  swans  were  left  to  womankind; 
but  the  Germans  had  a  Swanbrecht  and  Swanahold. 

As  has  been  before  said,  the  goose  feet  of  witches  or  magic 
ladies  are  the  last  remains  of  the  swan  element  of  the 
Valkyr.* 


Section  IX. — The  Serpent. 

Either  firom  terror,  or  fix)m  a  shadowy  remembrance  of  the 
original  temptation,  the  implanted  enmity  between  the  serpent 
and  man  has  often  resulted  in  a  species  of  worship. 

The  North  believed  in  the  Jormungandr,  or  Midgaids- 
orm,  the  serpent  that  encircled  the  world  and  was  one  of  the 
monstrous  progeny  of  Loki.  It  appeared  as  a  cat  to  Thor  in 
his  visit  to  Utgard,  when  he  was  challenged  to  lift  it  off  the 
ground,  and  only  by  the  utmost  exertion  succeeded  in  raising 
a  single  paw,  to  the  universal  consternation  of  the  Joten,  at 
the  strength  that  could  accomplish  such  a  feat.  Another 
time  he  fished  for  it,  with  a  bull's  head  for  a  bait,  and  had  » 

^  Gximm;  Munch;  Orvarod  Saga ;  Landnafm^hok. 

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THE  SERPENT.  289 

most  tremendous  straggle  with  it,  only  ended  by  the  giant 
Hymer  cutting  his  Une  in  two ;  and  finally  it  is  to  die  by 
Thor's  hand,  but  will  sufibcate  him  by  its  venom.  Also,  the 
permanent  abode  of  the  perjured,  is  lined  with  the  carcases 
of  snakes.  Meanwhile,  a  serpent  hangs  over  Loki,  dropping 
yenom  upon  him  as  he  lies  bound,  like  Prometheus,  on  the 
rock;  but  his  fidthful  wife,  Sigtuna,  is  always  beside  him, 
holding  a  bowl  to  catch  the  poison,  and  he  never  feels  it  save 
when  she  turns  aside  to  empty  the  vessel.  Then,  however, 
such  are  his  agonies,  that  his  writhings  produce  earthquakes. 
Another  serpent,  named  Svafidr,  lies  coiled  round  the  root 
of  the  world-tree,  as  if  he  were  the  serpent  around  the  tree 
of  knowledge. 

Even  till  late  in  the  seventh  century  the  Lombards  had  a 
golden  image  of  an  enormous  viper  to  which  they  sacrificed, 
until  St.  Barbatus  recovered  them  firom  the  heathenism  into 
which  they  had  relapsed. 

In  general,  howev^,  in  Teutonic  legends,  dragons  are  the 
guardians  of  treasures  and  the  victims  of  heroes ;  either 
being  actual  reverberations  of  the  Greek  myths  of  Python 
slam  by  Apollo,  and  the  Hydra  by  Hercules,  or  else  being  inde- 
pendent legends,  suggested  by  the  innate  perception  of  the  strife 
between  the  Seed  of  the  woman  and  the  serpent,  or  by  the  fossil 
remains  of  gigantic  saurians,  or  even  by  some  remaining  scion 
of  the  monstrous  serpent  brood.  Sigurd,  Theodoric,  Beo- 
wulf, are  all  serpent  slayers.  St.  Greorge's  legend  took  up 
the  allegory  in  a  Christian  aspect ;  and  even  the  maiden  and 
the  child  are  found  in  saintly  imagery,  destroying  and  lead- 
ing away  the  conquered  monster.  Local  names,  connected 
with  his  destruction,  are  to  be  found  everywhwe.  Wurms, 
called  after  Fafner,  the  Drachenfels  where  a  dragon  was 
quelled  by  a  holy  maiden,  the  dragon's  hill  in  Berkshire,  and 
many  an  Ormsby  and  Worm's  head  testify  to  the  general 
belirf  that  the  serpent  was  everywhere  being  slaughtered,  as 
verily  he  is  stilL 
VOL.  n.  Digit  zed  8?GoogIe 


290  NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 

One  species  of  ships  among  the  Nortibmen  were  caDel 
serpents.  They  were  long  and  low,  with  the  gilded  bead 
of  a  dragon  at  the  prow,  a  long  tail  raised  and  curling  oyer 
the  stem,  while  with  coloured  shields  ranged  along  the  odeB, 
and  thirty  oars  on  either  side  propelling  it,  besides  the  winged 
sails,  it  must  have  been  more  like  a  water-dragon  than  any 
creature  that  has  ploughed  the  waves  since  the  IchthyosaufoSy 
and  this  probably  accounts  for  the  prevalence  of  the  name  of 
Qrm  among  the  northern  nations. 

Twenty-two  Ormrs  appear  in  the  Landnama-bok ;  Orm 
and  Ormar  (Ger.  Wurmhar)  are  both  in  Domesday.  Orm 
was  the  founder  of  the  Scottish  house  of  Abemethy ;  and  (lie 
surname  of  Orme  is  far  more  probably  fix)m  one  of  these 
northern  worms,  than  firom  the  IVench  elm  tree,  as  generally 
supposed.  Homer  was  considered,  by  the  Danes  of  the  mid- 
dle ages,  as  the  translation  into  Latin  of  the  name  of  Orm. 

Ormilda  is  likewise  a  northern  name,  and  it  is  not  quite 
impossible  that  Ophelia  may  have  been  a  translation  of  one  of 
these  serpent-names,  with  the  Greek  o<^  (ophis) ;  at  any  rate 
the  fair  Ophelia  shows  no  precedents  for  her  name,  and  no 
other  derivation  for  it  occurs.  The  gentle  maiden,  with  her 
most  touching  fate  is  altogether  an  invention  of  Shakespeare, 
for  though  a  woman  appears  in  the  old  story  of  Amleth,  she  is 
of  far  other  mould,  and  Ophelia  may  have  been  merely  devised 
by  himself.  K  so,  it  is  curious  that  he  should  have  placed 
her  in  the  only  land  of  serpentine  names.  A  few  lovers  of 
its  sound  have  used  it  in  England  and  America. 

Lind  is  another  term  for  a  serpent  The  German  dragons 
are  always  called  lindumrmery  and  the  word  is,  in  fact,  the 
same  as  that  which  we  still  use  as  lUhey  expressing  supple 
grace;  the  adjective  Unihs  becoming,  on  the  one  side,  Undy  on 
the  odier  liihe.  The  Spaniards  use  Undo,  linda,  for  prettf, 
with  about  the  same  diflference  of  sense,  in  the  masculine  <Hr 
feminine,  as  we  do  when  we  speak  of  a  pretty  woman  or 
a  pretty  man.    The  linden,  or  lime  tree,  so  dear  to  Gennan 

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EETTLE.  291 

imaginations,  is  probably  called  from  the  same  source. 
Norse  poetry  considered  it  a  compliment  to  compare  a  gaily 
dressed  lady  to  a  glistening  serpent,  and  thus  the  idea  seems 
to  have  passed  fix)m  the  reptile  to  the  woman,  so  that,  though 
the  German  Lintrude  is  Ihe  only  instance  of  a  commenciiig 
Undj  the  word  is  one  of  the  most  common  of  all  terminations 
among  German  and  Italian  names,  and  dropping  its  d,  so  as  to 
become  /mn,  was  made  to  serve  as  a  fayonrite  feminine  dimi- 
nntiye,  its  relation  to  the  Spanish  linda  keeping  up  its  repu- 
tation. Thus  we  have  Rosalind,  or  Rosaline,  Ethelind,  and 
many  more  of  the  same  kind.* 

Section  X. — Kettk. 

Among  mythological  objects  the  kettle  or  cauldron  can 
hardly  be  omitted ;  certainly  the  very  quaintest  of  human 
names,  but  perhaps  referring  originally  to  the  cauldron  of 
creation,  and  afterwards  to  the  sacr^cial  cauldrons  that 
boiled  the  flesh  of  the  victims  at  the  great  blots  or  sacri- 
fices. 

In  the  North,  the  vessel  is  hetU:  in  old  German,  chezil; 
in  English,  cytd;  but  the  names  from  it  seem  to  be  almost 
entirely  northern,  though  the  cauldron  is  almost  certainly 
the  oSa,  so  common  a  bearing  in  Spanish  heraldry,  and  there 
at  present  regarded  as  the  token  of  a  large  following,  bene- 
ficently fed,  somewhat  in  the  same  spirit  as  that  in  which 
the  Janissaries  used  a  camp  kettle  as  their  ensign. 

Ketyl  was  the  Norwegian  conqueror  of  the  Hebrides,  and 
founder  of  the  line  of  Jarls  of  the  Western  Isles ;  and  the 
family  of  Ketyl  was  very  famous  in  Iceland,  holding  in 
honour  an  ancestor  called  Eetyl  Hseng,  from  hccng^  a  bull 
trout;  because  when  his  fath^  asked  what  he  had  been 
doing,  he  answered,  ^  I  am  not  going  to  make  a  long  story 


«  Mnndh;  Bfallet;  Grimm;  Chalmen;  Laing. 

U 


iz76  byA^OOgle 


292  NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 

of  every  fish  I  see  leap ;  but  true  it  is,  that  I  chopped  a  boU 
trout  asunda:  in  the  middle/  which  trout  turned  out  to  be 
a  great  dmgon. 

Eatla  was  KetjPs  feminine,  and  not  uncommon.  The 
Eyrbiggia  Saga  tells  wonderful  stories  of  a  sorceress  so 
called,  who,  when  her  son  was  in  danger  from  his  enemies, 
made  him  appear  first  like  a  distaff,  then  like  a  tame  kid, 
and,  lastly,  like  a  hog,  but  all  in  vain,  for  her  spells  irere 
disconcerted  by  a  rival  sorceress,  and  she  herself  stoned  to 
death. 

Ketel  does  not  often  stand  at  the  beginning  of  a  word  ; 
but  Eetelbiom  and  Eetelridur  are  both  Iceland  names,  and 
both  the  masculine  and  feminine  are  very  common  termina- 
tions ;  the  masculine  being,  however,  generally  contracted  into 
Ejel,  and  then  into  JdU  or  kel* 


Sbction  XI. — Weapon  Names. 

Weapons  were  so  nearly  divine,  so  full  of  the  warlike 
temper  of  their  owners,  and  so  often  endowed  with  powers 
of  their  own,  that  it  seemed  as  if  they  themselves  were 
living  agents  in  the  deeds  wrought  with  them. 

The  sword  forged  by  supernatural  smiths,  the  terrific 
helmet,  the  heavenly  shield,  are  dreams  of  every  warlike 
nation,  either  endowing  the  Deity  with  the  symbols  of  pro- 
tection or  wrath  or  of  might,  or  carrying  on  the  tradition 
of  some  weapon  which,  either  its  own  intrinsic  superiority 
or  the  prowess  of  its  owner,  had  made  an  object  of  enthu- 
siasm or  of  terror. 

Some  of  these  tales  of  magic  weapons  are  perhaps,  as 
Mr.  Campbell  suggests,  remnants  of  the  days  when  the  iron 
age  was  coming  in,  and  the  mass  of  arms  being  of  brass, 

*  Grimm;  Munoh;  Dasent;  IrU»  to  Nial  Saga ;  Weber  andJamieson ; 
Spanish  Henddiy  (Quarterly  Review). 


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WEAPON  NAMES.  293 

one  iron  sword,  ^  a  sword  of  light,'  as  Graelic  tales  call  it, 
would  have  given  irresistible  superiority  to  its  wielder,  and 
even,  perhaps,  earned  the  worship  that  was  paid  by  Attila's 
Huns  to  the  naked  sword. 

It  accords  with  this  theory  that  Iron  appears  as  a  com- 
ponent part  of  numerous  names  in  Germany,  and  probably 
likewise  in  Scandinavia,  though  there  the  similarity  of  the 
Bound  to  lis  J  ice,  occasions  a  doubt  whether  the  word  was 
intended  for  ice,  or  for  iron.  The  North  has,  indeed,  the 
cold  but  not  inappropriate  Snffiulf  and  SnBebiom,  Snsefirid, 
snow  fedr,  and  ev^  the  uncomfortable  Snselaug ;  and  when 
tiieir  language  had  dropped  the  form  eisam  for  the  metal,  and 
called  it  jerriy  as  we  do  iron,  they  probably  transferred  to  ice 
the  meaning  of  the  names  that  once  meant  iron. 

Isa  is  an  old  German  feminine,  revived  by  a  poetess  of 
our  day.  Isambart,  or  iron  splendour,  is  the  best  known  of 
all  the  varieties,  having  been  used  in  France  as  Ysambar, 
and  travelled  to  England  as  the  suitable  baptismal  name  of 
the  two  engineers,  to  whom  so  much  of  our  *  iron  splendour ' 
is  due.  Its  German  contractions  are  Isabert  and  Isbert. 
The  wolTs  name  in  Reinecke  Fuchs  is  Isengrim,  perhaps 
from  his  having  a  mask,  or  else  in  the  modem  sense  of  iron 
grey ;  and  it  has  left  this  to  be  the  title  of  the  wolf. 


Nor.  Isgeir ;  Q^r.  Isegar,  Isgar — Iron  spear 

Nor.  Isbraud ;  Ger.  Isebrand — ^Iron  sword 

Gar.  Isebald ;  Fr.  Isambaus — Iron  prince 

Nor.  lamgard;  Ger.  Isengard— Iron  defence 

Ger.  Isenhard — Iron  strong 

Nor.  Isrid — Iron  vehemence 

Nor.  Isulf — Iron  wolf 

Nor.  Ising — Son  of  iron 


Steel  or  Staale,  likewise  had  one  name  from  it  in  the 
North,  and,  perhaps,  likewise  named  even  the  historical 

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294 


NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 


Stilicho  of  barbarous  birth,  but  tlie  sole  hope  of  Rome  in 
her  final  f  alL 

Bat  the  stone  of  the  elder  age  was  not  foigotten;  the 
stone  that  at  all  times  is  the  readiest  weapon,  and  often  the 
mark  of  the  place  honoured  by  conflict.  To  say  nothing  of 
the  Seax,  whether  st<me  or  stone  knife  of  our  ancestral 
Seaznot,  we  find  the  North  using  the  word  Stein,  both  alone 
and  as  a  prefix  and  suffix ;  while  in  England,  though  it  is  not 
very  frequent,  we  have  it  in  the  honoured  names  of  Athd- 
stan  and  Wulstan. 


Norwegian. 

Stein,  )    ^ 

Sten  (2)an.)r*^''^- 
Steinama,  stone  eagle. 
Steinbjom,  stone  bear. 
Steinfinn,  white  stone. 
Steingrimm,  stone  helmet. 


stone  warrior. 


Norwegian. 
Steinhar,  \ 
Steinar,    ) 
Steinthor,! 

Steindor,  P*^^^^^^^'- 
Steinulf,  stone  wolf. 
Steinvar,  stone  prudence. 


Another  old  word  for  stone  is  hatt^  much  used  in  the  North ; 
and  in  a  few  cases,  such  as  that  of  the  Scottish  Halbert,  or 
Hobbie,  creeping  to  our  island  with  its  Danish  invaders,  but 
except  in  this,  and  a  few  surnames,  unknown  away  from  the 
North,  save  for  the  Haller,  or  stone  warrior  of  Gkomany. 

The  northern  varieties,  however,  had  much  reputation  in 
their  own  country.  Hallgerda  is  in  the  Njal  Saga  the 
haughty  wife  of  Gunnar,  of  Lithend,  the  dame  whose  viru- 
lence is  the  cause  of  all  the  vengeance  and  counter  vengeance 
of  the  story. 


Hallbiorg,  stone  protection. 
Halldis,  stone  spirit. 
Hallfrid,  stone  fair. 
Hallgerd,  stone  fence. 
Hallgeir,  stone  spear. 

augnm,    i   g^j^^  jj^j^^i^^ 
Hallgnma,  J 


Hallken,  )  ,      , 

Halkatla,  /  '^^^  ^""^"^ 

Hallmund,  stone  protection. 

Hallthor,  \ 

Haldor,     -  stone  of  Thor. 

Haldora,  . 

Hallvard,  1    ^  , 

Halvor,     js^ne  guard. 

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WEAPON  NAMEa  295 

Ofjot^  in  (Jerman  gries^  is  another  word  for  a  stone.  It 
was  not  so  common  as  the  others;  but  there  was  both  a 
masculine  and  feminine  Grjotgard,  who  in  Denmark  were 
rendered,  the  one  into  Gregorius,  the  other  into  Margarethe ; 
and  I  am  afraid  that  this  gries^  a  stone^  must  be  the  true 
origin  of  Griselda,  and  that  nothing  is  left  me  to  do  but  to 
apologize  for  my  golden  theory  of  the  name  in  the  first 
Tolnme.  The  English  lady,  Grsesia  de  Bruere  {temp. 
Henry  m.)  could  only  be  this  word  grieSy  a  stone. 

Though  in  general  Borg,  or  Bjorg,  is  used  to  mean  pro- 
tection, yet  Bergstein  is  most  probably  a  mountain  stone, 
and  it  curiously  answers  to  two  names  of  noted  ecclesiastics 
from  Somersetshire,  whose  first  syllable  Dun  is  a  hill ;  the 
same  with  our  present  word  down^  and  the  dunes  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Channel,  where  Dunkirk  answers  to  our  Dun- 
church.  The  word  is  probably  the  Keltic  doviy  dark  brown, 
grey,  or  dun,  used  as  the  epithet  of  a  hill,  and  lasting  on  like 
other  Keltic  local  titles  in  the  dvnvm  of  the  Romans  and  the 
dun  of  the  Teutons. 

The  two  Somerset  Duns  are  the  hill  wolf,  Dunulf,  who  is 
said  by  one  of  the  traditions  that  ought  to  be  true,  to  have 
been  the  swineherd  whose  cakes  King  Alfred  burnt,  and  to 
have  been  afterwards  made  by  him  bishop  of  Winchester, 
which  a  Dunulf  certainly  was.  The  other  was  Dunstan,  the 
mighty  ascetic  abbot  of  Glastonbury  and  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  whose  career,  between  wisdom  and  devotion, 
frenzy  and  sternness,  is  one  of  the  least  explicable  studies  of 
history.  He  figures  strangely  in  a  song  of  the  fishermen's 
wives  at  Croisie,  having  been  adopted  as  a  patron  saint  of 
Breton  sailors  from  a  tradition  that  he  was  once  stolen  by 
pirates,  and  placed  in  ]^huys  Abbey,  near  Morbihan. 

*  St.  €h>n8tan,  notre  ami, 
Bam^ne  nos  maris ; 
St.  Gk>n8tan,  notre  amant, 
Bam^e  nos  parens.' 


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2^6  NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 

His  place  in  the  calendar  has  given  this  nigged  mountam 
stone  a  few  namesakes. 

There  is  a  race  of  names,  chiefly  German,  beginning  with 
kun,  that  it  wonld  seem  natural  to  ascribe  to  the  Hnns  of 
Attila ;  but  the  original  term  f<nr  this  race  seems  to  have  been 
in  their  own  language  Hiognu,  and  was  retained  in  the  pro- 
nunciation by  other  nations  before  writing  and  Latin  had 
made  the  word  Hun.  In  old  Germanic  poems,  the  Huns 
figure  as  giants  or  Titans,  so  that  some  translate  huniy  or 
hitme^  as  a  giant.  The  word  A«n,  however,  also  means  a 
sti^e,  and  it  is  most  according  to  the  ordinary  analogy  of 
nomenclature  to  suppose  the  names  thus  commencing  were 
used  in  the  sense  of  a  stake,  meaning  either  the  weiq)on  or 
that  the  bearer  was  strong  and  straight  as  a  stake  or  a  sup- 
port, like  the  staff  in  Gkistav. 

The  names  of  this  commencement  are  Huno,  Hunnerich, 
latterly  lost  in  Heinrich,  Hunold,  the  French  Hunold,  Hum- 
bert, which  was  corrupted  in  France  into  Humbert,' and  be- 
longed to  various  counts  of  Savoy  and  dauphins  of  Auvergne, 
Hunigar,  in  Hungeir,  and  Hunifred,  which  the  French  mnch 
affected  in  the  form  of  Onfroi,  which  belonged  to  one  of  the 
short-lived  kings  of  Jerusalem,  and  was  latinized  as  Onu- 
phrius.  In  the  form  of  Humfrey  it  was  much  used  by  tlie 
great  house  of  Bohun ;  and  through  his  mother,  their  heiress, 
descended  to  the  ill-fated  son  of  Henry  IV.,  who  has  left  it 
an  open  question  whether  dining  with  Duke  Humfrey  alludes 
to  the  report  that  he  was  starved  to  death,  or  to  the  Elizii- 
bethan  habit  for  poor  gentility  to  beguile  the  dinner  hour  by 
a  promenade  near  his  tomb  in  old  St.  Paul's.  From  being  a 
noble  and  knightly  name,  Humphrey,  as  we  barbarously  speD 
it,  came  to  be  a  peasant's  appellation,  and  now  is  almost 
disused. 


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WEAPON  NAMES. 


297 


English. 
Humfrey 
Humphrey 
Humps 
Numps 

French. 
Onfroi 

Italian. 

Onufrio 
Onofredo 

Ger. 
Humfrid 

The  northern  Hundolf,  or  Hunnolf^  and  Hungerdur^  are 
m  some  doubt  between  the  dog  and  the  stake. 

The  helmet  is  die  most  popcdar  piece  of  armour  in  Ger- 
many. It  comes  from  the  word  meaning  to  cover,  the  very 
same  that  furnished  holy  whole,  hale,  and  holy.  To  heal 
a  wound  is  to  cover  it,  and  health  is  wholeness.  The  Teu- 
tonic languages  teem  with  derivatives  from  hulyan  and  helan, 
of  which  all  that  shall  be  here  mentioned  are  our  own ;  heel, 
the  covered  part  of  the  foot,  the  hold  of  a  ship,  its  hull,  and 
the  provincial  hulls  (chaff),  and  hillier  (a  slater). 

Even  the  terrible  Hela  herself,  and  her  realm  helja,  were 
from  this  term  to  cover  or  conceal.  She  ruled  over  the 
ignoble  dead,  who  were  hidden  from  sight,  in  a  dull  and 
dreaiy  r^on,  not  exactly  of  suffering,  the  term  for  which 
was  transferred  to  the  Christian  region  of  the  intermediate 
state,  and  also  to  that  of  the  condemned. 

By  an  old  Danish  idea,  Hda  was  thought  to  range  through 
the  land  on  a  three-legged  horse  scattering  famine  and  death; 
and  perhaps  there  is  here  some  connection  with  Frau  Hulda, 
the  muffled  lady,  who  is  akin  to  Bertha. 

The  lAtvDt  galea  was  nearly  related  to  the  hebn  of  the 
German,  anq  may  be  from  the  same  source.  Indeed,  it  is, 
as  has  been  Said  before,  doubtful  whether  Ghileaszo  Yisconti 
was  the  offspring  of  a  classical  or  of  a  (Gothic  helmet 
The  only  popular  northern  hehnet  ia  Hjalmar,  the  helmed 
warri<»r,  apparently  in  honour  of  one  of  the  heroes  of  the 
Qrvarod  Saga;  but  Germany  has  Helmar,  Helmerich,  in  Fries- 
land  Elmark,  the  helmed  king,  Helmund,  or  helmet  protec- 
tion, Helmbold,  Helmut,  Helmich,  Hehntac ;  besides  numer- 

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298  NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 

ous  helms  at  the  end  of  words,  of  which  Wilhelm  is  the  most 
notable. 

The  sword  figures  in  northern  and  German  nomenclatore 
as  Brand ;  but  not  from  the  verb  to  huruy  but  from  hrandr^ 
an  elastic  staff,  transferred  to  the  blade  of  a  sword.  It 
would  also  mean  the  staff  of  a  bow,  and  a  short  straight 
stripe  of  colour,  whence  a  cow  so  marked  is  hrandd  in  the 
North,  branded  with  us.  The  Brands  are  many,  with  Ger- 
man and  Frank  commencements,  such  as  Hildeprant, 
Liutprant,  &;c.,  but  seldom  common;  though  Brand  some- 
times stands  alone  in  the  North,  and  Brandolf,  or  sword 
wolf,  is  an  old  name.  Perhaps  the  Zetland  Brenda  may  be 
the  feminine. 

Degen,  a  blade,  is  another  sword  name  of  rarer  use,  and 
exclusively  German.  It  also  is  compounded  into  Degenhard, 
then  contracted  into  Deinhard ;  but  the  primary  meaning  is 
the  hero,  as  it  comes  from  the  same  word  as  tugend,  virtue  or 
valour. 

Another  very  old  term  for  a  sword  was  hj0ruy  or  Airw,  in 
the  North ;  hairuy  heruy  in  the  Gothic ;  heoruj  in  Anglo-Saxon. 
Here  we  see  that  the  Heruli  and  Gheruschi,  as  the  Bomans 
called  them,  were  both  sword  men.  Heoruvard,  or  Here- 
ward  the  Saxon,  was  the  sword  guardian ;  Heorugar  answered 
to  the  northern  Hj0rgeir ;  there  was  a  Gothic  Hairuwolf,  or 
Heruwulf ;  in  the  North,  Hi0rulf,  Hi0rleif,  and  Hi0rdis  also 
occur ;  but  the  syllable  gets  contracted  into  Her,  and  the 
names  are  not  easily  distinguished  from  those  beginning  with 
heVy  a  warrior.    Hjaraande  is  another  northern  form. 

Boge,  the  bow,  is  sparsely  found  alone,  and  as  Bauggisd 
in  Iceland,  and  now  and  then  in  Norway  at  the  end  of  a 
name.  Bogo  was  Old  German,  and  the  surnames  in  Denmaik 
Bugge,  in  England  Bogue.  But  its  English  fame  rests  upon 
a  champion  called  Bogo,  who  was  supposed  by  our  ancestors 
to  have  been  Earl  of  Southampton  at  the  time  of  the  Norman 
Conquest ;  to  have  fought  a  battle  with  the  invaders  at  Car- 
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WEAPON  NAMES.  299 

diff,  and  to  have  left  his  sword  as  a  relic  at  Arundel  Castle. 
Whether  this  ever  occurred  or  not,  Boge  was  rendered  by 
Norman  tongues  into  Bevis,  or  Beayois,  and  was  the  subject 
of  an  old  metrical  romance,  where  his  great  exploit  is  killing 
the  tremendous  giant  Ascapart,  who  had  carried  off  his  wife, 
the  converted  Saracen  princess  Josyan.  He  lives  to  a  good 
old  age,  sees  his  twin  sons  kings,  and  dies  happily  on  the 
same  day  as  his  wife  and  his  good  horse  Arundel,  once 
doubtless  Hirondelle,  or  the  swallow.  The  old  metrical  ro- 
mance ends  with  invoking  pity  on  the  souls  of  knight  and 
lady. 

*  And  on  Arondel  his  good  steed, 
Qiff  men  for  horse  shoulders  sing  or  read : 
Thus  endeth  Sir  Bevis  of  Hamptonn, 
That  was  so  noble  a  baronn.' 

Bevis  and  Ascapart,  painted  in  dusky  oils,  still  stand  on 
either  side  of  the  bar  gate  of  Southampton,  and  his  fame 
travelled  to  Italy,  where  Buovo  d'Antona  is  accepted  as  one 
of  the  heroes  of  romance,  though  he  stands  alone,  not  fitting 
into  any  of  the  cycles.  The  etymologists  of  Elizabeth's 
time  were  led  by  the  form  Beavois,  in  which  they  spelt  the 
word,  to  imagine  that  it  was  Bellovisus,  beautiful  to  behold. 
But  if  ^  Bevis  of  Hampton '  was  anybody,  he  was  an  Anglo- 
Danish  ^  Bow,'  or  Boge,  a  word  which,  like  bay,  bough,  and 
boughsome  or  buxom,  comes  from  hygan^  to  bend. 

The  spear  and  the  breastplate,  Geir  and  Brune,  will  be 
mentioned  in  the  next  chapter.  The  shield  is  now  and  then 
found  in  the  North,  as  Skialde,  Skioldbjom,  Skiolulf,  and 
Skioldvar,  shield  bear,  wolf,  and,  more  appropriately,  shield 
caution.  The  shield  wolf  is  capable  of  being  contracted  into 
Schelluf. 

8arOj  saru^  searuy  is  the  entire  equipment  or  suit  of 
armour;  S0rle  is  a  Norwegian  name  from  it,  contracted 
into  SoUe ;  and  among  the  Normans  was  called  Serlo,  and 
considered  to  be  the  same  with  Saher. 

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300    NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 

If  there  were  plenty  of  weapons,  there  was  also  balsam  to 
heal  their  wounds ;  that  is,  if  the  northern  names  beginnh^ 
with  Solv  are  rightly  referred  to  salve,  the  same  word  in  the 
North  as  with  ns.  The  v  has  for  the  most  part  been  left 
oat  by  pronmiciation,  but  the  dotted  o  remains  to  testify  that 
Solmund,  or  Saamimd,  has  no  connection  with  Sol,  die  son, 
as  little  as  with  Solomon,  by  which  the  Danish  bishops  ren- 
dered it.  Solveig,  healing  drink,  is  now  Solva,  and  Solvar 
is  Solvi.* 


Section  XTL— Thought. 

Mind  or  thought  amounts  to  a  mythical  character  in 
northern  fancy.  The  word  is  hugr^  the  same  with  Av,  still 
the  Scandinavian  word  for  thought,  as  heuge  is  in  Holland, 
all  coming  from  old  verbs  represented  by  the  Masso-Gothic 
gahugany  and  Anglo-Saxon  gehygan. 

The  two  ravens  who  sat  on  Odin's  shoulders,  and  revealed 
to  him  all  that  passed  in  the  world,  were  Huginn  and  Mun- 
ninn,  thought  and  memory ;  and  when  Thor  made  his  fa- 
mous visit  to  Utgard,  it  was  Hugi,  or  thought,  alone  that 
was  swift  enough  to  outstrip  him  in  the  race.  At  Tours,  the 
Northern  Lights  are  le  carrosse  du  roi  HugueSy  perhaps  orip- 
nally  from  some  connection  with  the  speed  of  thought,  though 
latterly  mixed  up  with  Hugues  Capet. 

The  name  has  been  much  used  by  all  the  Teutons,  and  it 
was  not  inappropriately  chosen  by  Fouqu6,  as  that  of  the 
old  knight  in  the  Magic  ringy  whose  character  he  has  sacri- 
ficed for  the  sake  of  making  him  the  representative  parent 
of  all  the  chivaby  of  Europe,  except  the  English,  which  he 
considers  as  independently  typified  by  Richard  Coeur  de 
Lion.    This  roving  knight  appears  at  home  as  Hugo ;  Hugro* 

^  Munch;  Michaelis;  Ellis;  CampbeU;  Montalembeit. 

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THOUGHT. 


301 


in  the  North ;  Hogaes,  in  France ;  Ugaccione,  in  Italy ;  ancl 
even  as  Hygies,  in  Greece,  which  last  is,  however,  only  a  re- 
semblance, not  a  translation. 


English. 

Scottish. 

GaeUc. 

French. 

Hugh 

Hugh 

Uisdean 

Hugnes 

Hugo 

Haghie 

Huea 

Hntchin 

Hutcheon 

Huon 

Huet 

Hugolin 

Huguenin 

Ugues 

Proren^al. 

Italian. 

Gennan. 

Norwegian. 

Oc 

Ugo 

Hngo 

Hugr 

Ugolino 

Hugi 

Ugone 

Ugotto 

i 

Uguccione 

Part  of  the  popularity  of  the  name  was,  no  doubt,  owing  to 
the  Cymric  countries  having  adopted  it  a«  the  nearest  resem- 
blance to  the  mighty  Hu  Gadam,  from  whom  the  national  Hugh 
of  Wales  almost  certainly  sprung.  A  Frank  saint,  Archbishop 
of  Bonen,  and  one  of  the  many  canonized  cousins  of  Pepin,  first 
made  Hugo  current  among  his  own  race ;  but  the  only  person 
wh^iy  wore  it  on  the  throne  was  the  Crallican  Count  of  Paris, 
who  na^have  had  it  as  a  compromise  between  the  Cymric 
Hu  and  Frank  Hugr ;  at  any  rate,  it  was  long  spelt  without 
the  ^  in  France,  and  declined  as  Hues,  Huon.  The  old  Gam- 
brai  form  was  Huet,  with  the  feminine  Huette. 

Hugo  is  very  frequent  in  Domesday  Book,  and  the  name 
was  much  more  common  in  earlier  times  than  at  present.  In 
Scotland  and  Ireland  it  has  been  pressed  into  the  service  of 
anglicizing  the  native  Aodh,  or  fire;  but  the  Gaelic  name 
Uisdean,  pronounced  something  like  ocean,  is  most  likely  in* 
toided  as  a  rendering  of  Hutcheon,  the  form  in  which  the 

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302  NAMES  CONNECTED  WITH  MYTHOLOGY. 

Soots  caught  the  Hngon  of  their  Anglo-Nonnan  ndghboon, 
who  reyered  the  name  doubly  for  the  sake  of  the  good  bishop 
of  Lincohi,  and  for  another  St  Hugh  of  Lincohi,  i.e.  the 
child  murdered  by  the  Jews,  as  in  the  Prioresses  Tale  in 
Chaucer.  St  Hugh  of  Lincoln  is  revered  in  the  north  of 
Italy  as  well  as  at  home ;  and  Ugo  is  common  there  in  all 
manner  of  yarieties,  the  most  memorable,  perhaps,  being 
that  of  the  terrible  Genoese,  Ugolino  de  Gherardesca,  whose 
fearful  fate  has  been  rendered  famous  by  Dante.  In  Dutdi, 
it  is  Huig.  Huig  Crroot  was  the  home  name  of  the  author 
whom  the  world  hailed  as  Hugo  Grotius,  and  the  WaUooDS 
use  the  contraction  Hoech. 

Hyge  was  the  Low  German  form,  and  Hygelac  is  the  sea- 
king  of  the  Geats,  the  friend  and  lord  in  the  poem  of  Becwnlf. 
The  latter  syllable  Joe  is  the  northern  2^,  and  Gothic  laiks^ 
signifying  both  reward  and  sport,  the  same  word  that  in 
some  parts  of  England  has  become  lake^  meaning  to  play  or 
to  be  idle,  and  in  slang,  to  lark.  It  is  rather  a  favourite 
termination,  but  only  a  commencement  in  the  Norse  feminine 
Leikny,  fresh  sport 

Hygelac  is  thus  the  sport  of  thought,  or  it  may  be,  the 
reward  of  thought  Hugoleik  was  thus  not  an  inappropriate 
name  for  an  old  Frank  chronicler,  who  has  had  the  misfcNv 
tune  to  descend  to  the  world  by  the  horrible  Latinism  of 
Ghochilaicus.  Hugleik  was  current  in  Norway,  was  trans- 
formed by  the  Danes  into  Hauleik  and  Hovleik,  and  in  Ire- 
land seems  to  have  turned  into  Ulick,  a  favourite  name,  but 
latterly  transmogrified  into  Ulysses. 

Hugibert,  or  bright  mind,  belonged  to  the  bishop  of 
Liege,  to  whom  attached  the  Teutonic  story  of  the  hunter's 
conversion  by  the  cross-bearing  stag,  making  him  the  patron 
of  hunters,  and  his  name  very  popular  in  France,  Flanders, 
northern  Italy,  and  probably  once  in  England,  since  it  has 
left  us  the  two  surnames  of  Hubbard  and  Hobart 


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THOUGHT. 


303 


Engliflh. 
Hubert 

French. 
Hubert 

ItaUan. 
Uberto 

Portugoese. 
Huberto 

Germui. 

Hucpraht 
Hagibert 
Hubert 

It  used  to  be  wrongly  translated  bright  of  hue. 

Hugibald  became  the  German  Hugbold  and  the  Italian 
Ubaldo,  the  prince  of  thonght ;  Hugihard^  or  firm  in  mind, 
is  the  French  Huard,  and  thence^  perhaps,  our  Howards, 
thougli  far  more  certainly  Hogarth. 

The  old  English  Uchtred  is,  perhaps^  a  form  of  mind- 
counciL* 

•  Munch;  Mallet;  Eemble,  P€otfm{^;  Pott;  MiohaeliB. 


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304 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HBBOIO  NAMES  OF  THE  NlfiBLUNG. 

Section  l.—The  Nihelung. 

As  the  Greeks  believed  in  the  exploits  of  semi-divine  haroes, 
a  sort  of  borderers  between  Olympus  and  the  human  race,  so 
the  Teutonic  race  had  its  grand  universal  legends  of  beings 
rising  above  human  nature,  and  often  embodying  beliefis  that 
once  had  attached  to  the  gods  themselves. 

The  great  Teutonic  legend,  holding  the  same  place  as  the 
deeds  of  Hercules,  Theseus,  and  the  Argonauts  did  in  Greece, 
or  those  of  Fionn  with  the  Gael,  is  the  story  of  the  Nibdtmg' 
How  old  it  may  be  is  past  computation,  but  it  was  apparently 
common  to  the  whole  Gothic  race,  since  names  connected 
with  it  come  from  Spain,  Lombardy,  and  France ;  fragments 
of  the  story  are  traceable  in  England  and  the  Faroe  Mands, 
and  the  whole  is  told  at  length  in  Germany,  Norway,  and 
Denmark.  Each  of  these  three  latter  countries  claim  ve- 
hemently to  have  originated  the  romance,  but  there  is  little 
doubt  that  it  was  one  of  the  original  imaginations  of  the 
entire  race,  and  that  each  division  moulded  the  framework 
their  own  way,  though  with  a  general  likeness. 

Names  of  historical  personages,  probably  called  frt>m  its 
heroes,  have  led  many  to  suppose  it  exaggerated  history ;  bat 
each  attempt  to  fit  it  on  to  a  real  person  has  resulted  in  con- 
frision,  and  led  to  the  perception  that  the  actors  are  really 
mythical,  and  the  localities,  which  chiefly  lie  in  Buigundian 
Germany,  were  only  connected  with  it  by  that  general  law 
that  always  finds  a  home  for  every  heroic  adventure. 


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THE  NIBELUNG.  305 

The  tale  is  begun  by  the  Norwegian  Volsunga  Saga,  and, 
23iboat  half  way  through,  it  is  taken  up  by  the  Danish  Yilkina 
and  Niflung  Saga,  and  by  the  German  Nibelungenlied,  and  it 
is  finished  by  numerous  Danish  ballads  and  German  tales, 
songs,  and  poems,  with  the  sort  of  inconsistencies  always  to 
be  found  in  popular  versions  of  ancient  myths,  but  with  the 
same  main  incidents. 

Nifelheim,  the  supposed  abode  of  these  heroes,  is  inter- 
preted to  be  nehelwelt^  the  world  of  mist,  or  cloud  land,  and 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  heroes  said  to  be  descended 
from  the  mythic  Vili,  Vidga,  and  Velint,  are,  in  fact,  fallen 
deities.  Germany,  however,  turned  Nifelheim  into  the 
Netherlands,  and  placed  the  realm  of  Brynhild  in  Iceland, 
and  the  scene  of  Aldrian's  and  Gunter's  court  at  Wurms,  the 
centre  of  the  Burgundians. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  the  story  is  another  form  of  the 
original  myth,  with  the  same  idea,  carried  through,  of  the 
early  death  of  the  glorious  victor,  and  of  the  revenge  for  his 
death,  but  only  through  a  universal  slaughter  in  which  all 
perish.  But  the  whole  has  become  humanized,  and  the  ac- 
tors are  men  and  not  deities ;  the  allegory  is  far  less  trace- 
able. 

The  story,  as  it  begins  in  the  Volsunga  Saga,  relates  that 
there  were  three  brothers,  Fafner,  Reginn,  and  Andvar,  or 
Ottur,  whose  name  is  from  the  same  source  as  0^,  awe, 
80  that  he  may  be  another  form  of  (Egir.  Transforming 
himself  into  the  beast  that  bears  his  name,  for  the 
convenience  of  catching  himself  a  fish  dinner,  Ottur  was 
killed,  in  this  shape,  by  Loki.  The  father  and  the  other 
brothers  insisted  that,  by  way  of  compensation,  in  the 
Teutonic  fashion,  Loki  should  fill  the  dead  otter's  skin 
with  treasure,  which  he  accomplished,  but  laid  the  treasure 
under  the  curse,  that  it  should  do  no  good  to  its  owner. 
Accordingly,  the  amount  excited  the  avarice  of  Fafner,  and 
after  murdering  his  father,  he  transformed  himself  into  a 

VOL.  n.  ,  X 

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306  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 

dragon,  and  kept  watch  over  the  treasnrey  to  prevent  B^im 
from  obtaining  it.^ 


Sbction  TL— Sigurd. 

Sigy  or  siga,  means,  in  all  Teutonic  tongoes,  conqneBt; 
and  the  Victor  seems  to  have  been  a  very  old  epithet  f<»:  the 
divinity.  St.  Angustin  speaks  of  a  Gothic  exclamation  »- 
hara  armeriy  which  he  translates  as  Kvpu  tKetivjVy  and  the  first 
word  of  which  evidently  answers  to  Ceadmon's  epithets  fat 
the  Almighty,  Sigorafreay  Sigaragod,  Sigar<icyning.  If  wo, 
sirey  are  not  from  senior  j  they  are  from  this  word. 

Odin  was  called  Sigfadir,  or  conquering  father,  and  this 
accounts  for  the  later  notion  that  the  adventurer  was  called 
Sigge,  and  assumed  the  divine  appellation  of  Odin. 

Thence  the  victorious  god,  conquering  the  serpent,  yet 
afterwards  dying,  whether  he  were  originally  meant  for  Odin 
himself,  or  for  another  form  of  Baldur,  sank  into  a  human 
serpent  slayer,  bearing  the  name  of  victory — Sigward,  per- 
haps, orighially,  but  varied  into  Sigufrit,  Siegfried,  and 
Sigurd. 

The  main  points  in  Siegfried's  story  are  that  he  was  the 
son  of  Siegmund  the  Yolsung,  and  of  Queen  Sigelind ;  bom, 
according  to  the  Book  of  Heroes^  under  the  same  circum- 
stances as  Perdita,  in  the  Winter^ 8  Tale  ;  put,  by  way  rf 
cradle,  into  a  drinking-glass,  and  accidentally  thrown  into  the 
river,  where  he  was  picked  up  by  the  smith  Mimir,  and 
educated  by  him.  Other  versions,  however,  make  him  be 
royally  bred  up  in  his  father's  realm  of  the  Netherlands,  and 
go  out  to  seek  his  adventures  from  thence.  In  the  Book  of 
Seroes  he  is  so  strong  that  he  caught  the  lions  in  the  woods 
and  hung  them  over  his  castle  wall  by  their  tails,    fi^inn  in- 

♦  Lettsom,    NUhehmp ;    Weber    and   Jamieson;    Koepper;    Howitt, 
Northern  Romance  ;  Qrimm,  DetUeehe  Belderuagen: 


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SIGURD.  307 

cited  him  to  fight  with  and  slay  the  dragon,  Fa&er,  and  obtain 
the  treasure,  including  the  tarn-cap  of  invisibility.  Also,  on 
roasting  and  eating  the  heart  of  Fa&er,  he  became  able  to 
understand  the  language  of  the  birds.  His  first  experience 
of  the  speech  of  birds  was  the  discovery  that  Reginn  in- 
tended to  murder  him,  so  as  to  seize  the  whole  of  the  treasure ; 
but  by  this  means  he  brought  on  himself  the  curse  that  Loki 
had  laid  on  the  hoard.  And  by  a  bath  in  Father's  blood  he 
was  made  invulnerable,  except  where  a  leaf  had  unfortunately 
adhered  to  his  skin,  between  his  shoulders,  and  given  him, 
like  AchiUes  and  Diarmaid,  a  mortal  spot.  From  the  song 
of  a  little  bird,  he  learnt  that  Reginn  meant  to  murder  him 
at  once ;  he  therefore  killed  Reginn,  and  took  possession  of 
the  fatal  gift.  The  Booh  of  Heroes  calls  him  Siegfried  the 
homy,  and  introduces  him  at  the  court  of  the  German  favourite, 
Theodoric,  and  the  Nibeltmgenlied  separates  the  dragon  from 
the  treasure,  and  reduces  most  of  the  marvellous  in  the  ob- 
taining it. 

His  next  exploit  was  the  rescue  and  awakening  of  Brynhild ; 
but  he  fell  into  a  magic  state  of  oblivion  as  to  all  that  had 
passed  with  her,  when  he  presented  himself  at  the  court  of 
Wurms,  and  became  the  husband  of  Gudrun,  or  Chriemhild,  as 
a  recompense  for  having,  by  means  of  his  tarn-cap,  enabled 
Grunnar  to  overcome  the  resistance  of  Brynhilda  herself,  and 
obliged  her  to  become  his  submissive  bride.  Revelations  made 
by  ^e  two  ladies,  when  in  a  passion,  led  to  vengeance  being 
treacherously  wreaked  upon  Siegfried,  who  was  pierced  in 
his  vulnerable  spot  while  he  was  lying  down  on  his  face  to 
drink  from  a  fountain  during  a  hunting  party  in  the  forest. 
The  remainder  of  the  history  is  the  vengeance  taken  for  his 
death ;  and  the  North  further  holds  that  his  child,  Aslaug, 
was  left  the  sole  survivor  of  the  race,  and  finally  married 
Bagnar  Ladbrog,  whence  her  descendants  always  began  their 
pecUgree  with  Sigurdr  Fafiier's  bane. 

His  namesakes  are  well-nigh  innumerable.    There  are 

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3o8 


HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 


nineteen  in  the  Landnama-boJc ;  and  Signrdr  swarms  in  the 
earlier  Scandinavian  royal  lines,  being,  perhaps,  most  re- 
markable in  the  perscm  of  King  Sigurd  the  Crusader  of 
Norway,  whose  dream  of  the  early  death  of  his  brothers,  and 
his  own  old  age  of  madness,  is  recorded  in  the  Seimskringla, 
and  who  likewise  sanctioned  the  assumption  of  the  crown  of 
Sicily  by  the  Norman  Robert  de  Hauteville,  who  still  clung 
to  the  North  as  the  cradle  of  his  race. 

At  the  instance  of  the  king  of  Sweden,  our  Edred  had  sent 
a  missionary  named  Sigefried,  who  is  esteemed  the  apostle  of 
Sweden,  and  gave  a  Christian  sanction  to  the  serpent  slayer's 
name,  whence  it  has  continued  extremely  common  there. 
The  stout  old  Danish  Earl  Siward,  the  conqueror  of  Macbeth, 
the  same  who  had  the  bear's  ears  and  would  only  die  upon 
his  feet,  is  an  English  version  of  the  northern  Sigurdr,  and 
bore  the  name  tiiat  is  now  Seaward.  Indeed  Saeward  is 
found  among  tiie  kings  of  Essex  in  6i6,  and,  in  fact,  that 
line  have  so  many  prefixes  of  Sige^  that  it  is  likely  that  they 
thought  themselves  connected  with  Fafiier's  bane.  There  is 
a  Sigefugel,  or  Sigewlf,  in  their  descent  from  Odin,  who  may 
be  another  form  of  Sigurd.  Germany  has  made  the  feminine 
Sigfridac 


English. 

Sigefrid 

Siward 

Seaward 

Seaforth 

Seyferth 


French. 

Bigefroi 
Sififroi 


Italian. 

Sigefredo 
Siflfredo 


Gennan. 
Sigefrid 
Siegfried 
Sigfrid 
Seifrid 
Sikko 
Sicco 
Sigo 


Polish. 
Sygftyd 


Bavarian. 
8igl 


Norwegian. 

Sigvard 

Sigurdhr 

Siurd 

Sjurd 

8jul 

Syvert 

Syver 

Siewers 


Some  have  considered  the  story  to  be  chiefly  Bmgundian; 

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SIGUBD. 


309 


and  Sigmund,  conquering  protection,  the  name  of  Sigurdr's 
father,  was  that  of  the  first  Catholic  king  of  Burgundy,  who 
was  canonized  both  for  the  recovery  of  his  kingdom  firom 
Arianism,  and  for  the  severity  of  his  penance,  after  having 
killed  his  son,  Sigeric,  on  a  false  stepdame's  calumny.  His 
relics  were  carried  to  Prague  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and 
the  effect  of  the  translation  appeared  at  once  in  the  name  of 
the  Bohemian-bom  Emperor  Sigismund,  firom  whom  this 
became  European,  and  formed  the  feminine  Sigismunda, 
which  appears  in  Cervantes'  novel,  and  in  the  dismal  tragedy 
of  Tancred  and  Sigismunda.  Gismonda  is  thus  an  old 
Lombardic  feminine. 


English. 
Sigismund 
Sfemund 

French. 
Sigismond 

Italian. 

Sigismondo 
Sismondo 

German. 
Sigmund 
Sigismund 

Portuguese. 
Sigismundo 

Norwegian. 

Sigmand 
Ssemond 

PoUsh. 
Zygmunt 

Illyrian. 
Sisman 

Hungarian. 

Zsigmond 
Zsiga 

Bohemian. 
Zikmund 

Some  have  imagined  that  the  curious  correspondence  of 
names,  when  Sigebert,  the  Frank,  married  Brynhild,  the 
Goth,  is  a  sign  that  the  Nihelung  referred  to  the  Austrasian 
court ;  but  the  Frank  Sigebert  would  have  been  a  very  poor 
serpent  slayer,  and,  no  doubt,  only  bore  the  name  as  a  re- 
membrance of  him,  as  did  our  East  Saxon  monarch  Saebert, 
and  the  Spanish  bishop  Siseberto.  It  has  lasted  on  in  Ger- 
many and  Friesland,  to  be  called  Sizo,  Sitto,  Sibert,  and 
Sidde,  and  is  the  English  surname  Sebright.  Sigelind,  con- 
quering snake,  now  and  then  used  by  German  ladies,  has 
the  Eastern  looking  abbreviation  Zelinde.  It  may,  perhaps, 
have  contributed  to  Selina. 

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310 


HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 


Sigridur,  or  conquering  impnlse,  was  a  fayonrite  among 
northern  ladies.  Sigrid  the  hanghty  of  Sweden,  was  wooed 
by  King  Olaff,  Trygoesson,  and  had  accepted  him ;  but  on 
her  refusal  to  be  baptized,  he  struck  her  on  the  face  with  his 
glove,  and  said,  *  Why  should  I  have  thee,  an  old  faded  jade, 
and  a  heathen  to  boot.'  She  remembered  his  discourtesy 
against  him,  and  stirred  up  the  war,  which  ended  in  his  fatal 
battle  with  Earl  Sigvalddr.  Sigrid  is  Sired  in  Domesday  ;  in 
the  North,  she  is  shortened  into  Siri,  and  then  latinized  as 
Serena. 

Sigvalldur,  conquering  power,  curiously  ran  into  Sjovald, 
from  whence  we  take  our  surname  Shovel,  one  of  the  many 
by  which  our  naval  commanders  are  traceable  to  the 
vikings. 

Sigeheri,  Sigehere,  Sighar,  conquering  warrior,  is  what 
on  Norman  lips  was  Sagar,  and  then  Saber,  the  hereditary 
name  of  the  De  Quincys,  and  as  a  surname  spelt  Sayers.*^ 

The  other  forms  are, 


North. 
Sigbi0rg 
Siborg 
Siber 


German. 
Sigebald  1 

North. 

German. 
Sigbod 


} 


Conquering  protection         Qer.  Sigburg 


EngUsh. 
Sibbald 


Frisian. 

Sibold 

Sibel 


Italian. 
Sibaldo 


\  Conquering 
J      prince 

Sigbiorn ;    Eng.  Sibome — Conquering  bear 


Frisian. 
Sibot 
Sibo 
Sibbe 


Spanish 
Sisebuto 


>  Messenger  of  victory 


♦  Nibelung  ;  Weber  and  Jamieeon ;  Kemble,  Beowulf;  Michaelis ;  Pott; 
BuUer;  Heimskringla. 


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BRTNHILD.  31I 


Nor.  Gennan.  Frisian. 

Sigbrand   I    Sigbrand    I    Sibrant     1  ^  .  , 

II    Sibbern    |  Conquenng  sword 

Nor.  Sigfiis — Conquering  impetuosity 

Gennan.        English.  Frisian.  French. 

Sighard   I    Sigehard  I    Siard        I    Sicard     ')  Conquering 

Siegert    |  |    Siade       |  j      firmness 

Qer.  Sighelm— Conquering  helmet 

Nor.  Sighvatr — Conquering  swiftness 

Nor.  Sigmar ;  Ger.  Sigmar — Conquering  greatness 

Nor.  Signy — Conquering  freshness 

Qer.  Sigrad — Conquering  advice 

Ger,  Sigrich — Conquering  ruler 

Sigtrud — Conquering  maid 

Nor.  Sigtrygge — Conquering  security 

Nor.  Sigulf,  Siulf ;  Eng.  Sigewolf— Conquering  wolf 


Section  m. — Brynhild. 

A  thorough  Valkyr  was  Brynhilda,  the  maiden  whom  Odin 
had  touched  with  his  sleep-thom,  so  that  she  lay  in  a  deep 
slumber  in  the  midst  of  a  circle  of  flame,  through  which 
Sigurd  made  his  way,  aroused  her,  and  won  her  for  his  own ; 
but  became  utterly  and  magically  oblivious  of  all  that  had 
passed  as  soon  as  he  had  returned  to  common  life.  This  is 
the  northern  version,  the  evident  origin  of  our  fairy  tale  of 
the  Sleeping  Beauty^  pricked  not  by  the  thorn  of  Odin,  but 
by  the  distaff,  perhaps,  of  one  of  the  Nomir.  The  Book  of 
Heroes  reduces  the  circle  of  flame  to  a  mere  strong  castle, 
with  seven  gates ;  and  the  Nilehmgenlied  only  takes  up  the 
story  at  the  time  of  Sigfried's  appearance  at  the  court  of 
Burgundy,  and  courtship  of  Brynhild's  rival,  Chriemhild. 

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312  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 

Brynhild  had  retained  her  matchless  strength,  and,  like 
the  Greek  Atalanta,  was  only  to  be  won  by  a  champion  who 
could  excel  her  in  games  of  strength,  and  her  conquer^ 
suitors  were  all  put  to  death.  Gunther,  the  brother  of 
Chriemhild,  being  willing  to  obtain  her  on  these  conditions, 
Siegfried,  by  means  of  his  tarn  cap,  invisibly  vanquished  the 
Valkyr,  while  Gunter  appeared  to  be  her  conqueror;  and 
when  she  thus  had  been  compelled  to  give  her  hand,  it  waa 
Siegfried  who  again  unseen,  broke  down  her  violent  resist- 
ance, and  compelled  her  to  become  a  submissive  wife,  on 
which  she  lost  all  her  supernatural  strength.  Siegfried  was 
rewarded  by  the  hand  of  Chriemhild,  Gunther^s  sister. 

By-and-bye  the  two  sisters-in-law  had  a  desperate  quarrel 
about  precedence ;  in  the  old  northern  version,  which  should 
wade  farthest  into  the  Rhine  when  bathing ;  in  the  half- 
civilized  German  song,  which  should  first  enter  the  cathedral 
of  Wurms ;  and  in  the  course  of  it,  Brynhild  was  roundly 
informed  that  she  had  not  given  way  to  her  husband,  but 
to  Siegfried.  Valkyr  nature  could  not  stand  such  an  aflfront, 
so  Brynhild  set  on  Hagen  to  assassinate  Siegfried.  The 
northern  story  makes  her  slay  herself,  and  be  burnt  with  his 
corpse  on  a  funeral  pile,  in  Suttee  fashion ;  the  Germsm  tames 
her  into  being  merely  brought  to  repentance  too  late  by  the 
death  of  her  husband. 

No  doubt  from  her  was  called  the  Grothic  princess,  daughter 
of  King  Athanagild,  who,  for  her  misfortune,  was  married  to 
the  Frank  Sigebert,  and  through  the  whole  of  her  long  life 
continued  a  fierce  and  dauntless  resistance  to  her  savage 
rival  Fredegund,  until  when  both  were  aged  women,  Brai- 
hilda  fell  into  her  rival's  power,  and  was  implacably  sen- 
tenced to  be  dragged  to  death  by  wild  horaes.  Her  high 
spirit  and  generous  habits  left  a  strong  impression,  for  she 
has  had  the  traditionary^credit  of  most  of  the  great  works 
unaccounted  for  in  her  kingdom.  Near  Bourges  was  a 
Gh&teau  de  Brunehault,  a  Tour  de  Brunehault  at  Etampes, 

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BRTNHILD.  JIJ 

and  in  Belgium  are  roads,  apparently  Roman,  but  called 
Chaussees  de  Bnmehault.  French  historians  aver  that  her 
name  was  at  first  only  Bruna,  and  that  hilda  was  added  to 
make  it  royal ;  but  this  is  very  unlikely,  since  Spanish  his- 
torians call  her  Brenhilda.  The  Latinism  is  Brunechildis, 
but  the  name  has  not  been  followed,  except  by  the  northern 
race,  whose  existence  was  hardly  developed  at  the  time  of 
the  misfortunes  of  the  Austrasian  queen,  and  who  therefore 
take  it  from  her  original.  Among  these  it  has  been  con- 
tracted to  Brunilla  and  Brynil. 

The  meaning  is  the  Valkyr  of  the  Breastplate,  the  bymi 
of  old  Scottish,  bryne  of  the  North,  hnmiga  of  the  German, 
hroigne  in  Old  French,  bronha  in  Provencal.  A  near  con- 
nection of  this  name  is  the  northern  Bryngerd,  placing  the 
gentle  Grerda  in  this  cuirass;  and  the  North  has  likewise 
Brynjar,  properly  harij  the  Cuirassier,  and  Brynjolfr,  which 
wolf  in  a  breastplate  was  a  great  Icelandic  ancestor,  and  has 
been  cut  short  into  Brynjuv  and  Btynjo. 

The  Chriemhild,  or  helmeted  Vfdkyr  of  the  Nibelung^  is 
the  Grudrun  of  the  northern  version;  and  Gudrun,  as  before 
saidj^  would  be  either  good  wisdom,  or,  far  more  probably, 
war  wisdom.  In  the  Nibelungenlied,  the  action  of  the  story 
begins  with  Chriemhild  telling  her  mother  her  dream  of  her 
favourite  falcon  being  torn  to  pieces  by  two  eagles;  and 
when  it  is  explained  to  mean  her  future  husband,  vowing 
that  she  will  never  marry.  However,  Siegfried's  arrival,  and 
his  successful  exertions  in  winning  Brunhild  for  Gunther, 
caused  all  the  lady's  scruples  to  be  overpowered.  In  the 
German  Book  of  Heroes  she  has  a  garden  full  of  roses, 
seven  miles  round,  fenced  with  a  silken  thread,  guarded  by 
twelve  champions,  all  of  whom  are  overcome  by  Dietrich 
of  Bern  and  his  men. 

She  had  lived  happily  ten  years  in  the  Netherlands  with 
Siegfried  before,  on  a  visit  to  Wurms,  she  was  so  ill-advised 
as  to  reproach  Brynhild  with  his  victory  over  her ;  and  after- 
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314  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 

wards  was  deluded  into  sewing  a  mark  upon  his  garments  to 
show  where  his  vnlnerable  spot  was ;  just  as  Frigga  was  de- 
ceived into  telling  what  alone  could  injure  Baldur.  After 
his  death,  she  found  out  the  murderer  by  the  ordeal  of 
touch,  and  treasured  up  a  deadly  and  enduring  spirit  of 
revenge ;  perhaps  the  most  terrible  of  all  the  many  forms  in 
which  legend  has  proclaimed  the  old  rule  of  blood  for  blood. 
The  horrors  of  the  House  of  Atreus  hardly  stand  a  compari- 
son  with  the  vengeance  of  Ghriemhild. 

She  was  left  the  heiress  of  all  Siegfiried's  treasure,  and 
his  Nibelwigm  or  Netherlandian  troops,  but  it  was  taken 
from  her  by  her  husband's  murderer,  and  sunk  beneath 
the  Rhine.  After  thirteen  years  of  widowhood,  she  was 
induced  to  marry  Etzel,  or  Atli,  king  of  the  Huns,  by  the 
promise  that  he  would  avenge  all  her  injuries;  but  still 
she  bided  her  time  for  thirteen  more  years,  at  the  aid  of 
which  space  she  invited  her  brothers  and  all  their  champions 
to  visit  her  in  Hungary  at  Etzelenburg.  They  had  not  long 
been  there'  before  she  stirred  up  a  most  tremendous  battle,  in 
which  mutual  destruction  took  place,  as  is  minutely  related 
in  the  ancient  lays.  Finally  her  brother  Gunther  was  cap- 
tured and  slain  at  her  savage  command,  and  she  herself  slew 
the  murderer  Hagen  with  Siegfried's  own  sword.  Immedi- 
ately after,  however,  she  was  put  to  death  as  an  act  of  justice 
by  old  Sir  Hildebrand ;  at  least  so  says  the  Nibelungenlied ; 
but  in  the  Kcempe  Viser^  there  is  a  still  further  revenge,  for 
the  secret  of  the  deposit  of  the  treasury  is  left  with  the  son 
of  Hagen,  who  beguiled  Grimhild  into  the  cave  with  the  hope 
of  its  restoration,  and  there  locked  her  in  and  starved  her  to 
death.    In  the  words  of  Jamieson's  translation — 

*  Bank^  hight  that  kemp  that 
Bevenged  his  father  dead ; 
Grimhild  in  the  treasury, 
She  quailed  for  want  of  bread.' 

The  historical  Attila  is  really  said  to  have  had  a  German 

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GUNTHER.  315 

wife  named  Eremheilch.  The  Gudrun  of  the  North  is  a  far 
more  amiable  personage.  She  forgives  her  brother,  and  is 
with  difficulty  persuaded  to  marry  Atli,  who  is,  in  this  ver- 
sion, Brynhild's  brother,  and  lays  the  plot  against  Gunther, 
in  order  to  avenge  his  sister's  death.  She  does  all  in  her 
power  to  warn  them,  but  in  vain ;  and  when  all  had  been 
slain,  her  senses  failed  her,  and  in  her  frenzy  she  slew  her 
two  children  by  Atli,  and  made  him  drink  their  blood ;  he 
died  of  horror,  and  she  cast  herself  into  the  sea,  but  was 
carried  alive  to  the  land  of  King  Jonakr,  whom  she  married, 
and  then  underwent  other  misfortunes  which  extinguished 
the  last  remains  of  her  family.  Her  name  of  Gudrun  has 
ahready  been  treated  of.* 


Sbction  IV. — Gunther. 

Gv/nth  (Goth.),5rw^A  (A.G.S.),  gunnr  (^or\h) y gond or gonz^ 
High  German,  all  meant  war  or  battle,  and  have  an  immense 
number  of  derivative  names,  inextricably  mixed  up  with 
those  from  God  and  Gut ;  and  it  is  even  thought  that  there 
may  be  a  close  connection  between  them,  so  much  did  the 
Teutons  believe  their  deities  to  be  gods  of  battle,  and  good- 
ness to  be  courage.  The  word  gunth  has  lived  on  even  in 
Lombardy  in  the  Gonfalon,  the  war  banner,  solemnly  carried 
out  to  battle  in  a  car  as  the  images  of  the  gods  had  formerly 
been,  in  charge  of  the  official  known  as  the  gonfaloniere  in 
the  republics  of  northern  Italy.  Gundahari,  warrior,  was 
really  an  old  name  among  the  kings  of  Burgundy,  who  were, 
no  doubt,  called  in  honour  of  Gunther  or  Gunnar,  the  eldest 
brother  of  Kriemhild,  and  husband  of  Brynhild.  He  seems 
to  have  been  brave  but  weak,  led  first  by  Sigurd,  then  by 
Hagen,  but  at  last  fighting  with  great  spirit. 

(xunthar,  or  Gunnar,  at  full  length  Gundahari,  continued 

♦  Nibehtngenlied ;  Weber  and  Jamieson  ;  Thierry ;  Mariana ;  Munch, 

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3l6  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 

in  fayotir  with  the  Burgnndians ;  and  an  abbot  in  Brittany 
being  canonized,  left  Gkmthier  to  France,  and  Gontiere  to  Italy. 

This  masculine  Gunnar  was  very  common  in  the  North, 
and  so  was  likewise  the  feminine  Gonnr,  war,  or  GundTar, 
war  prudence,  both  confounded  in  Gunnar,  which  historians 
generally  render  as  Gunnora. 

Gunnhildur  was  in  high  favour  in  the  North.  One  meet 
celebrated  owner  was  the  wicked  queen  of  Eric  Blodaxe.  She 
was  said  to  be  a  native  of  the  Orkneys,  and  to  have  filled 
Scandinavia  with  her  crimes,  upon  the  details  of  which,  how- 
ever, Norse  and  Danish  histories  are  not  quite  agreed.  One  of 
the  very  finest  poems  in  old  Norse  is  said  to  have  been  com- 
posed by  her  desire  as  a  lament  for  her  husband ;  and  Danish 
tradition  finishes  her  story  by  declaring  that  the  puniahm^it 
of  her  deeds  of  violence  was  that  she  was  drown^i  in  a  bog. 
The  spot  was  thence  called  Gunhild's  moss,  and  in  curious 
response  to  the  story,  in  a  place  answering  to  the  description, 
a  female  corpse,  like  a  black  statue,  in  a  surcoat  of  calfskin 
and  a  shirt  of  Scottish  tartan,  is  pegged  down  by  wooden 
hooks.  The  punishment  of  sinking  in  a  morass  was  not  un- 
common ;  but  it  is  the  plaid  that  especially  connects  the 
corpse  with  the  wicked  queen. 

Gunhild  again  was  the  Danish  princess  whose  murder  on 
St.  Brice's  night  brought  her  brother  Sweyn  down  in  fury 
upon  England ;  and  her  nephew  Knud  likewise  had  a  daughter 
so  called,  but  who  was  anglicized  into  ^thelthryth;  and 
each  generation  of  the  Godwine  family  records  a  lady  Gun- 
hild. After  the  Conquest,  however,  Gunhild  died  away  in 
England;  but  it  has  never  been  discarded  in  the  North, 
where  it  is  now  called  Gunnilda,  or  Gunula. 

That  daughter  of  William  the  Conqueror,  or  sister  of 
Gherbod,  the  Fleming,  whichever  she  was,  who  was  the 
ancestress  of  the  Warrennes,  and  is  buried  at  Lewes,  has  a 
name  so  much  disguised  as  to  be  as  doubtful  as  her  birth. 
It  may  be  Gundtrud,  a  Valkyr  title,  or  Gundridur,  war  haste, 

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GUNTHEB. 


317 


or  Gundrada,  war  council,  the  same  as  the  Spanish  Gontrado; 
at  any  rate  it  has  had  few  followers. 

Gunnr  and  Gondol  were  both  Valkyr  titles,  and  the 
Valkyr  Gondol's  most  noted  namesake  was  a  maiden  of 
the  Karling  race,  who  was  bred  up  by  St.  (Jertrude,  at 
Nivelle ;  and  on  her  return  to  her  father^s  castle  at  Morzelle, 
used  to  go  to  her  early  deyotions  at  a  church  half  a  league 
distant  from  home.  On  winter  mornings  she  was  lighted  by 
a  lantern,  which  the  legend  avers  to  have  been  blown  out  by 
the  wind,  but  rekindled  by  her  prayers.  Thence  comes  the 
name  of  St.  Gundula's  lamp,  applied  to  the  TremeUa^  an 
orange-coloured  jelly-like  fungus  that  grows  on  dead  branches 
of  trees  in  the  winter.  She  is  the  patroness  of  Brussels, 
where  the  church  of  St.  Gudule  is  the  place  used  for  corona- 
tions ;  but  her  common  title  in  Flanders  is  Ste.  Goelan,  while 
the  convent  built  in  her  honour  at  Morzelle,  in  Brabant,  is 
Ste.  Goule. 

War  could  not  fail  to  have  her  wolf,  the  Gundulf  of  Norman 
England,  the  Gunnolfr  of  Iceland,  the  Gundolf  of  Germany, 
and,  far  more  notable  than  either,  the  Gonsalvo  or  Gonzalo 
of  Spain,  always  frequent  among  the  Visigothic  families,  and 
becoming  especially  glorious  in  the  person  of  the  great  cap- 
tain, the  brave  and  honourable  conqueror  of  Naples,  and 
the  trainer  of  the  infantry  that  gave  the  predominance  to  Spain 
for  a  hundred  years,  until  they  fell  as  one  man  at  Rocroy. 


French. 
Gonsalve 
(Jonzalve 

ProvenvaL 
GuoBsalvo 

Spanish. 
Gonzalo 

Portuguese. 
Gonyalo 

ItaUan. 
Gonsalvo 

The  war  raven,  Gunthram,  figures  in  French  history  as 
Gontran,  and  the  war  serpent  is  the  German  Gundlin,  or 
Gondoline,  when  a  lady;  when  a  man,  the  terrible  Ghithorm, 
whom,  as  King  Alfred's  foe,  godson,  and  tributary,  our 
histories  call  Guthrum.    In  Denmark,  the  name  was  very 

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3 1 8  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 

early  contracted  into  Gorm ;  but  it  has  been  so  often 
Gudthorm,  that  a  doubt  has  arisen  whether  the  latter  half  of 
the  word  may  not  be  thorm  or  thyrma. 

It  is  very  diflScult  to  distinguish  between  the  derivatives  of 
(jhd  and  (hmd^  both  being  very  apt  to  eliminate  the  distiiio- 
tive  letters.  On  the  whole,  however,  it  seems  as  if  these 
warlike  names  had  been  some  of  the  most  universal  througli- 
out  the  continent,  though  in  England  they  were  very  scarce, 
and  do  not  occur  in  royal  pedigree,  nor  in  hagiology,  except 
in  the  case  of  St.  Guthlac,  the  first  founder  of  the  original 
Croyland  Abbey,  whose  name  in  the  North  would  be  GudWk 
or  Gulleik,  war  sport. 

Hosts  of  northern  Frankish  and  Yisigothic  names  thus 
commence,  and  many  feminines  end  with  this  word.  The 
other  varieties  thus  beginning  are : — 


Nor.  Gunbjorg ;  Ger.  Gondaberge ;  GK>th  Sp. — War  protection 
Nor.  Gunbjom — ^War  bear 
German.  French. 

Gondebert  Gondobert    \ 

Gondeberta         Gombert       >  War  splendour 
Gumpert  Jombert       ) 

Ger.Gondebald;  Fr.Gondebaud;  Sp.  Gondebaldo— War  prince 
Nor.  Gudbrand,  Guldbrand,  Gulbrand — War  sword 
Ger.  Gundekar — War  spear 
Nor.  Gunlaug,  Gullaug — War  liquor 
Nor.  Gunleif,  (Eng.  Cunliffe)— War  love 
Nor.  German.  Spanish. 

Gudmar      |    Gandemar    j    Gondomiro 
Gulmar 

Nor.  German. 

Gudmund    I    Gundemund  \    War  hand 
Gulmund     |    Gunimund      J 

Ger.  Gunderich ;   Fr.  Gonderic;   Sp.  Gonderico — ^War  ruler 
Sp.  Gondesinda — ^War  strength 
Nor.  Gunnstein — War  jewel  t 


K:£riarr}^«s~«- 


HAGEN.  319 

Gnnthe  was  the  old  German  feminine  contraction  for  any 
of  these  warlike  damsels,  and  being  further  endeared  into 
Jatte,  or  Jutta,  was  probably  the  source,  under  the  hands  of 
chroniclers,  of  the  Judiths,  who  make  their  appearance  among 
the  Franks  so  long  before  the  days  of  Scripture  or  saintly 
names.* 

Section  V. — Bagm. 

Haghen,  Hagano,  or  Hogni,  may  be  considered  as  the 
Tillain  of  the  Nihelungm.  In  the  Danish  version  he  is  the 
half-brother  of  Grimhild  and  Gunther,  with  an  elf-father;  in 
the  German,  he  is  their  wise  and  far-travelled  uncle,  who  first 
related  the  adventures  of  the  newly  arrived  stranger,  Siegfried, 
but  always  seems  to  have  disliked  him,  and  readily  undertook 
to  revenge  Brynhild's  injuries  upon  him.  As  Loki  deceived 
Frigga,  he  persuaded  his  niece  to  mark  where  was  the  mortal 
spot  on  her  husband's  skin,  and  contrived  that  no  wine  should 
be  taken  into  the  forest,  so  that  Siegfried  might  be  reduced  to 
lie  down  to  drink  at  the  stream,  and  thus  expose  the  fatal  place. 

The  body  bled  at  his  touch,  and  he  was  the  chief  object 
of  Chriemhilt's  vengeance,  more  especially  after  he  had  ta^en 
the  treasure  away  from  her,  placed  it  in  a  cave  beneath  the 
Rhine,  and  jealously  guarded  the  secret  of  the  spot.  When 
she  invited  the  brothers  to  Hungary  he  was  much  averse  to 
the  journey,  till  he  found  that  his  disinclination  was  imputed 
to  fear,  when  he  became  vehemently  set  upon  going,  in  spite  of 
the  omens  against  it.  Taunts  and  injuries  passed  between 
him  and  Ghriemhilt,  and  the  next  day  the  fierce  and  furious 
battle  began,  which  raged  till  Gimther  and  Haghen  alone 
were  left.  After  Gimther  had  been  killed,  Ghriemhilt  offered 
Haghen  his  life,  on  condition  that  he  would  disclose  the  place 
where  the  treasure  was,  but  he  refused,  and  died  by  her  hand. 

*  Munch  ;  Michaelis  ;  lUihelung  ;  Weber  and  Jamieson  ;  Mariana ; 
Thierry;  Qarlandfor  the  Year ;  Alban  Butler;  Fleischner,  OrumakUologie; 
Loppenburg ;  Dasent,  Burnt  Njal ;  Marryat,  JiUland. 

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320  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 

There  is  a  curious  poem,  called  the  Dvke  of  Aquitaine, 
which  is  evidently  another  version  of  the  same  notion  of 
Haghen.  Hagano,  a  descendant  of  the  Trojans,  is  there  sent 
to  deprecate  the  invasion  of  Attila,  and  afterwards  assists  the 
Burgundian  king  Gunther  of  Wurms  in  an  attack  on  Duke 
Walther  of  Aquitaine,  and  Hildegimna,  sister  to  Gunther,  in 
order  to  recover  a  treasure  that  they  had  carried  off  from 
Attila's  court,  where  they  had  been  hostages.  After  this 
fallen  version  of  the  great  central  story  of  Europe  was  named 
Hagen,  count  of  Aquitaine,  the  uncle  of  Charles  the  Bald; 
but  the  North  has  used  it  more,  in  the  form  of  Hogen, 

The  name  is  either  from  hagry  deft,  or  handy,  or  else  from 
luyiy  a  hook ;  most  probably  the  latter,  perhaps  in  connection 
with  the  other  meaning,  a  thorn  or  prickle,  so  that  here 
we  may  find  a  personification  of  the  thorn  destroying  the 
victor.  The  word  hag  is  seldom  found  in  names,  and  is 
probably  imitated  from  Hagen,  without  much  regard  to  the 
meaning.  It  occurs  only  in  the  Danish  as  Hagbrand,  Hagbart, 
contracted  as  Habaar,  or  Habor;  Hagthor,  which  is  incorrectly 
modernized  as  Hector  and  Hagny.  The  more  usual  form  in 
Denmark  is  Hogne,  probably  from  the  Grerman  Hagano. 

But  there  has  b^n  a  confusion  between  this  Hagan,  or 
Hogni,  and  Haagan,  properly  Haakvin,  from  haa^  high,  and 
kyriy  meaning  of  high  kin,  the  well-known  Norwegian  and 
Danish  name  of  many  a  fierce  viking ;  sometimes  Latinized 
as  Haquinus,  Frenchified  as  Haquin,  and  called  in  the  North 
Haaken,  or  Hakon.  Domesday  has  it  as  Haco,  Hacon, 
Hacun,  and  Hakena,  and  Hacon  still  lingers  among  the  fish- 
ermen of  the  Orkneys.  Other  northern  names,  with  the 
same  opening,  haay  (pronounced  ho,)  are  Haamund,  no  doubt 
the  parent  of  our  Hammond,  and  Haavard,  whence  our 
Hayward,  both  alike  meaning  high  protection.* 

*  Lettsom;  Nibelungerdied ;  Weber  andJamieson;  Munch;  Andenon, 
Royal  and  Noble  Genealogies. 


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OHISiELBSB.  321 

Sbction  VL — Cfhisekr. 

Ghisder  is  one  of  the  brothers  of  Gnnther,  an  inoffensive 
personage,  and  the  only  one  of  the  party  of  whom  Ghriemhild 
took  any  civil  notice,  when  she  had  decoyed  them  ib  her  court 
to  their  destruction.  Nevertheless  he  did  not  escape,  but 
died  in  combat  with  Wolfhart,  of  Bern,  when  the  champions 
of  Dietrich  could  not  be  withheld  from  the  fray. 

His  name  is  tolerably  dear — Giselhare,  the  pledged  warrior. 
The  first  syllable  is  from  gUdan^  gddan^  keltan^  to  owe,  or  to 
pay  what  was  due.  The  terms  ran  through  all  the  Gothic 
tongues,  and  caused  the  Anglo-Saxons  to  call  all  the  offerings 
due  to  the  gods  gidd  and  gh^lstar.  Thence  money  is  das  geld 
in  G^ermany,  and  gelten  to  cost ;  gtdty  a  provincial  word  for 
rent  or  impost ;  and,  in  England,  fraternities  of  tradesmen 
bound  together  by  common  obligations,  are  guilds j  meeting  in 
their  Chaildhall^  as  in  Germany  they  are  gilden^  and  have 
ihi&r  gildhaus. 

The  word  gUd  appears  curiously  in  the  old  baptismal  form 
of  renunciation  drawn  up  by  St.  Boniface: — ^ Frosachistu 
Diabolaf  A.  Ecforsache  Diaholwm.  EnddUumDiabolgeldet 
End  aUvim  JDiabolas  wercumt  End  ecforsach  aUum  Diaboles 
wercwn  end  werdtm.  Thunaer  ende  Saamoty  ende  allvm  them 
unholdenem  the  hire  genobas  sint.^ 

A  pledge  of  mutual  obligation  was,  in  Anglo-Saxon,  gisel^ 
and  is  still  gidsel  in  the  North;  in  the  German,  geissel. 
Thence,  far  more  probably  than  from  the  older  word  geisliy  a 
beam,  or  nimbus,  was  derived  the  Frank  Gisel,  as  a  maiden's 
name.  A  daughter  of  Pepin,  so  called,  was  offered  to  Leo  X. 
of  Constantinople ;  and  afterwards  the  daughter  of  Charles 
the  Simple,  who  became  the  pledge  of  amity  between  the 
Karlingen  and  Northmen,  by  her  marriage  wil^  Rollo.  She 
was  called  by  the  French  Gisdle,  by  the  Normans  Gisla,  in 
which  same  form  it  has  lived  on  in  Friesland  and  in  Norway. 
The  oommcDcement  is  not,  however,  a  very  common  one  in 

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322 


HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUKG. 


the  North,  though  Giselher  is  repeated  in  Gissor  Idei&cm, 
bishop  of  Iceland,  in  the  elevendi  century.  Gislaog,  the 
pledge  drink,  is  likewise  northern,  bat  though  gUs  is  an  ex- 
tremely common  termination,  almost  all  the  names  where  it 
is  a  commencement  are  Franldsh,  or  German,  and  thus 
probably  Giselfrid  came  to  the  North  as  Gisrod. 

Giselhilda,  and  Giselberge,  were  German,  also  Gisalhart, 
and  Giselof ;  and  Gisalrico  is  fomid  among  the  Spanish  Goih&. 
Geltfiried  and  Giltimir  are  also  German  forms,  and  the  lat- 
ter explains  G^limer,  the  Vandal  king  in  Africa,  conquered 
by  BeUsarius. 

Gils  is  a  common  Norwegian  name,  and  no  donbt  contri- 
buted to  the  English  Giles,  French  Gilles,  and  Spanish  Gil, 
though  all  these  look  to  the  Greek  hermit  in  France,  Aigidios, 
as  their  patron.  In  the  North  ^gidius  is  rendered  by  Bian, 
Tljan,  Yrjan,  Orjan,  but  not  by  Giles :  and  it  would  seem  as 
if  Julius  had  been  confounded  with  the  name,  as  well  as, 
perhaps,  Giolla,  a  senrant. 

Giolla  Brigde,  or  Sridgef  s  disciple,  is  thought  to  have 
contributed  the  Scottish  examples  of  Gilbert,  which  is  incor- 
rectly explained  by  some  as  Gelb-bert,  or  yellow  bright ;  but 
is  clearly  traceable  to  the  old  Frank  Giselbert.  There  were 
four  saints  so  called,  namely,  an  abbot  of  Fontenelle,  a  great 
friend  of  William  the  Conqueror,  an  Auvergnat  knight  in  the 
second  Crusade,  the  English  founder  of  the  order  of  Gilbe^ 
tine  monks,  and  a  bishop  of  Caithness ;  and  it  has  been  a 
prevalent  name  in  England,  Scotland,  and  the  Low  Comitriee, 
with  many  contractions,  especially  in  the  latter.^ 


English. 

Gilbert 

Gilpin 

GU 

Gibbon 

Gipp 

French. 

Guilbert 

Gisebert 

Gileber 

Gilbert 

Ghiliber 

Italian. 
Gilberto 

German. 

Giselbert 

Gilbert 

Gisbert 

Giepert 

Giseprecht 

Dutch. 
Gysbert 

Flemish. 
GiUi 

«  Hunter;  Munch;  Michaelig;  Oiimip;  Took. 

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GHEENOT.  323 


Section  Vn. — Qhemoi. 

Ghemot  was  Gnnther's  second  brother,  free  of  the  guilt 
of  the  murder  of  Siegfried,  and  greatly  displeased  with 
Haghen  for  depriymg  Chriemhilt  of  the  treasure,  but  he 
shared  the  fate  of  his  brothers,  being  killed  early  in  the 
encounter  by  the  Markgraf  Budiger. 

Perhaps,  necessity  of  war,  or  spear  compulsion,  would  be 
the  best  sounding  translations  of  l^is  remarkable  name. 

Ghere,  the  same  as  the  northern  Gejr  and  German  Eero, 
is  the  messenger  sent  to  invite  Siegfried  and  Chriem- 
hild  to  Wurms,  when  they  paid  the  visit  that  had  such  fatal 
consequences ;  and  gher  or  gjer  is  one  of  the  most  fi^uent 
of  the  component  parts  of  names.  Its  right  and  original 
meaning  is  a  spear,  the  same  as  that  of  the  Latin  quiris  and 
Keltic  coir.  Thence  the  Anglo-Saxons  called  all  other 
weapons  waren^  and  the  battle  war^  a  word  we  stiU  use  as 
war,  just  as  the  French  do  guerre^  and  the  Spaniards 
ffuerra. 

One  great  section  of  the  Teutons  were  known  as  the 
speannen,  Germanner,  whence  we  call  the  inhabitants  of 
their  country  Germans,  though  they  themselves  adhere  to 
the  more  universal  Deutsch,  and  the  rest  of  Europe  mostly 
calls  them  and  their  country  by  the  other  tribe-title  of 
Alemanner. 

Q-ar  is  quite  in  modem  German,  and  gher  has  dropt  out 
of  the  language,  and  thus  most  of  the  German  names  com- 
mencing with  it  have  been  misinterpreted  to  mean  off,  but  it 
is  impossible  to  compare  them  witii  their  northern  cousins 
without  tracing  the  same  spear  in  both. 

St.  Germanns,  though  from  this  root,  has  been  treated  of 
among  Roman  names  taken  from  nations,  as  it  was  not  a 
native  Teutonic  form. 

The  chief  favourite  amongst  these  qpear  titles  seems  to 

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324  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUKG. 

hare  been  once  a  Valkyr  name  (xerdrftd,  or  Geirthrad,  the 
8pear  maid ;  for  alas !  the  pretty  interpretation  that  has 
caosed  so  many  damsels  of  late  to  bear  it,  as  all  tmth,  is 
utterly  untenable,  unless  they  will  regard  themselyes  as 
allegorically  constant  battle-maids,  armed  with  the  spear  d 
Ithuriel. 

The  ancient  popularity  of  this  name  was  owing  to  a 
daughter  of  one  of  the  great  Pepins,  in  their  maire  du 
palais  days.  She  founded  the  abbey  of  Nivelle,  and  was 
intensely  revered  by  the  Franks  and  (Jermans,  chiefly  on 
account  of  the  miracles  imputed  to  her.  At  old  heathen 
feasts,  the  cups  quafled  in  honour  of  gods  or  demi-gods  were 
prefaced  by  the  words '  Wuotansminne,  Thorsminne,'  meaning 
in  Woden's  or  Thor's  memory ;  but  the  Christian  teachers 
changed  these  toasts  to  be  in  the  memory  of  the  saints,  such 
as  Michelsminne  for  the  guardian  angel.  Johaionisminne 
was  the  special  favourite,  and  was  supposed  to  be  a  charm 
against  poison,  because  the  Evangelist  was  thought  to  have 
experienced  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise,  '  K  ye  drink  any 
deadly  thing  it  shall  not  hurt  you,'  as  typified  by  the  dragon 
in  his  cup.  The  royal  nun,  Gertrude,  was  ahnost  as  great  a 
favourite  as  the  Apostle  with  the  Germans,  and  the  regular 
toasts  at  their  banquets  came  to  be  Johannisminne  and  Ger- 
drutsminne,  till  drinking  to  St.  John  and  St.  Crertrude  were 
almost  a  proverb  for  revelry. 

Let  us  observe,  en  passant y  that  mmne^  lately  in  honour  of 
Minna  Troil  erected  into  a  lady's  name,  is  from  the  Gothic 
mimany  to  remember,  from  the  Saxon  form  of  which  we  take 
our  mind.  It  is  the  northern  relative  of  memory ;  the  dkalds, 
who  in  the  North  conmiemorated  the  departed,  were  minne 
singers  in  Germany,  whence  the  French  menestriers,  and  onr 
own  minstrels ;  and  as  their  poems  became  amorous,  mnne  was 
transferred  to  love  or  affection,  whence  the  mignony  or  darling, 
of  the  French,  used  in  a  despicable  sense,  as  our  minion. 
Munnin,  or  memory,  is  one  of  Odin's  ravens. 


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GHERNOT. 


3^5 


A  second  St.  Gertrude,  of  noble  blood  in  Saxony,  was 
abbess  of  Heldelfs,  had  an  exceedingly  high  reputation  for 
sanctity,  and  died  in  1334,  leaving  her  name  doably  popular. 

In  Norway,  the  woodpecker,  with  black  and  white  plumage 
and  a  red  h^,  is  called  the  Jartrudfhgl,  or  Gertrude  bird, 
possibly  from  the  original  Valkyr  sense  of  Gertrud,  just  as 
the  red  and  black  war-bird  of  America  obtained  its  name 
from    its   colours.      Northern   tradition,   however,   makes 
Qertrude  the  name  of  a  woman,  who  was  baking  when  our 
Lord  passed  by,  and  asked  her  for  a  morsel.    On  her  pro- 
mising it,  the  dough  began  to  grow  beneath  her  hands ;  but 
an  access  of  covetousness  made  her  repent,  and  refuse  her 
gift,  whereupon  she  was  transformed  into  the  bird,  and  con- 
demned to  seek  her  living  between  the  bark  and  the  wood, 
and  never  go  home  till  the  red  should  fall  from  her  head, 
and  accordingly  she  migrates  from  Norway  when  she  begins 
to  moult.   In  England,  the  same  story  seems  to  have  been  told 
of  the  owl,  as  Hamlet  says,  ^  They  say  the  owl  was  a  baker's 


English. 

Gertrude 
GaUy 

French. 
Gertrude 

Italiim. 

Gertrude 
Geltruda 

Portaguese. 
Gertrudes 

Gennan. 

Gertraud 
Trudchen 

Bavarian. 

Traudl 
Traul 

Netherlands. 
Drutje 
Trudje 
Trudel 

Danish. 

Gertrud 
Jartrud 

Slovak. 

Jera 
Jerioa 
Jedert 
Jra 

Lettish. 

G6rde 
Gerte 
Gedde 

Esth. 

Kert 

Truto 

Truta 

Polish. 
Giertruda 

Lithuanian. 
Trude 

Hungarian. 
Gertrud 

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226  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 

There  is  great  confiision  between  Gerwald  and  Geihaid; 
the  one  meaning  spear  power,  the  other  firm  spear. 

Though  gar  was  not  a  common  English  prefix,  the  first 
Saint  Gerhold  was  Anglo-Saxon.  He  migrated  to  Ireland, 
teceived  the  cowl  in  the  monastery  of  Mayo,  fomided  that 
of  Tempul  Gerald,  died  in  732,  and  became  the  subject  of 
one  of  the  Irish  legends  of  saints.  It  declared  that  the  wife 
of  Gaomhan,  king  of  Gonnaught,  turned  him  out  of  the  fort 
of  Gathair  Mhor,  with  his  300  saints,  who  thereupon  joined 
him  in  one  of  the  peculiar  prayers  of  Erse  saints,  that  there 
never  should  be  another  king  of  the  same  race  for  ever. 
However,  he  afterwards  relented,  and  only  cut  off  from  the 
throne  the  ofispring  of  the  lady  herself,  while  to  those  of  the 
king's  former  wife  he  granted  the  right  of  sitting  first  in  the 
drinking  house  and  of  arraying  the  battle.  The  Irish  call 
him  (Jaralt,  and  have  confused  his  name  with  the  Keltic 
Gareth,  one  of  the  knights  of  the  Round  Table,  so  that 
Garrett  and  Gerald  are  regarded  as  identical. 

The  great  prevalence  of  the  name  in  Ireland  is,  however, 
chiefly  owing  to  the  Normans.  There  had  been  two  Franx 
saints  thus  called  in  the  twelfth  century,  Gerard  of  TonI, 
and  Girroald  of  Fontenelle ;  but  it  was  also  a  Lombardic 
name,  and  the  old  Florentine  family  of  the  Gherardi  claims 
the  parentage  of  one  of  the  many  Gerolds  who  accompanied 
William  the  Conqueror,  the  same  whose  descendant,  Maurice 
Fitzgerald,  was  one  of  the  companions  of  Earl  Strongbow, 
and  parent  of  the  Fitzgeralds,  or  Geraldins,  of  Kildare,  the 
turbulent  race,  who  disputed  with  the  Butlers  of  Ormond 
the  supremacy  of  the  island.  Lady  Elizabeth  Fitzgerald, 
a  daughter  of  this  house,  was  the  lady  who,  in  imitation  of 
Beatrice  and  of  Laura,  was  erected  by  Surrey  into  the  heroine 
of  his  poetry,  under  the  title  of  the  Fair  Geraldine,  thus  lead- 
ing to  the  adoption  of  this  latter  as  one  of  the  class  of  romantic 
Ghristian  names.  Gerald  Barry,  whom  the  Welsh  chronicler 
latinizes  himself  as  Giraldus  Cambrensis,may  have  been  rightly 

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GHERNOT. 


3^7 


Gkuredi,  and  the  provincial  form  Jarrett,  still  common  in  the 
North,  is  probably  rather  a  renmant  of  the  (}areth  of  Strath- 
olujdy  thtm  a  version  of  the  Norman  Gerald. 

Another  St.  Gerald,  bishop  of  Namur,  left  his  name  to  be 
yery  common  in  the  Low  Countries,  where  we  have  ahready 
shown  how  curiously  the  transformation  was  effected  of  Ger- 
hard G^hardson  into  Desiderius  Erasmus.  Lastly,  a  St. 
Oerhard  went  on  a  mission  to  convert  the  Hungarians,  and 
the  name,  or  rather  the  two  names,  for  there  is  no  dis- 
tinguishing between  them,  have  become  universal 


English. 
Gerard 
Garrett 
Jarett 

French. 

Gerard 
Giraud 
Girairs 

ProYen9aL 

Girart 
Guerart 

Gherardo 
Gerardo 

Qennan. 
Gerhard 

9 

Netherlands. 

Gerard 

Gerrit 

Geert 

Dutch. 
Gerbardus 
Gerrit 

Frisian. 
Geerd 

Danish. 

Gerhard 
Geert 

Polish. 
Gieraud 

Lettish. 
GerkiB 

Hnngarian. 
Geller 

English. 
Gerald 

French. 
Giraud 
Gairauld 
Girault 

Italian. 
Giraldo 

German. 
Gerold 

Frisian. 

Gerold 
Gerelt 
Gerel 

Gerhardine  in  German,  and  Giralda  in  Italian,  are  the 
feminines,  besides  our  own  Geraldine.  Possibly  Giralda 
may  once  have  been  the  Valkyr  name  Geirhilda,  which  has 
survived  in  tte  North  in  the  form  of  Jerilla,  jer  being  the 
Northern  corruption  of  geir.  Jerlau  is  thus  Geurlaug,  and 
Jemf,  or  Jerul,  Geirolf. 

Li  like  manner,  though  with  different  pronunciation,  we 

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3^8  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 

make  Jervis  oat  of  the  old  N(Hrmaii  G^rvns^  which  ms  pro- 
bably Geirfnss,  or  warlike  eagerness.  It  used  to  be  explained 
as  gerfasiy  all  firm^  but  this  is,  of  course,  wrong;  though,  as 
I  have  not  found  Geirfuss  in  die  roll  of  northern  names,  and 
it  would  haye  been  Gerfuns  in  Germany,  where  Gerwas  is 
common,  as  is  Gervais  in  France,  and  Gervaso  in  Italy,  this 
must  be  doubtful. 

The  Gerberge  of  French  histcny,  the  queen  of  Louis 
I'Outremer,  was  the  same  as  the  Geirbjorg  of  the  North : 
(jerwin,  or  spear  friend,  made  the  Guarin  of  France,  whence 
the  Waryn  of  a  few  English  families,  and  Guarino  of  Italy. 

The  old  Spanish-Grothic  feminine  Garsendis  was  certainfy 
Garswinth,  or  spear  strength,  and  the  equally  ancient  Garsias, 
or  Garcia,  so  common  in  Cralicia  and  Navarre,  must  haye  its 
first  syllable  from  the  same  source,  though  the  last  has  lost 
its  individuality  on  the  soft  Spanish  tongues.  It  was  long  a 
royal  name,  but  was  dropped  about  the  thirteenth  centoiy, 
and  makes  its  last  public  appearance  in  the  person  of  the 
good  knight  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega. 

The  spear  raven,  Gerramn,  is  the  old  English  Jerram,  that 
has  become  lost  in  Jerome ;  and  the  spear  prince,  Gerbdd, 
has  furnished  the  family  name  of  GaribaldL  Chr  is  very 
rare  in  native  Anglo-Saxon  names,  whether  as  a  beginning 
or  end,  but  most  frequent  in  all  the  other  bnmches  of  the 
Teuton  stock ;  and  its  other  form,  ^ais,  is  the  most  reasonable 
explanation  of  the  beginning  of  the  name  of  Geisserich,  the 
king  of  the  Vandals,  who  has  been  made  into  Genserich,  and 
then  translated  into  the  gander  king !  The  remaining  forms 
are: — 


Gei 

r.  Gerbert 

;  It.  Gerberto— Bright 

spear 

Ger. 

Gerfnd — Spear  peace 

Nor. 

Gennan. 

Neth. 

Frisian. 

Gierlac 

Gerlach 

Garlef 

Spear  sport 

Gerlib 

Garlaf 

Garleff 

Spear  relic 

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FOLEER.  329 


Nor.  Geirmnnd,  Gannund — Spear  band 

Nor.  Geirny — Spear  fresh ;  Gierrandor — Spear  house 

Nor.  (Jeirridur — Spear  impulse :  Gierstein — Spear  stone 

Nor,  Geirthiofr — Spear  thief 

GeirvSr — Spear  prudence 

Nor.  Geirvart;     Pris.  Gerber — Spear  guard 


Section  Yni.—FoIker. 

Of  all  the  champions  of  Burgundy,  none  is  more  full  of 
gallantry  and  bonhommie  than  Folker,  the  mighty  fiddler  of 
Alsaoe,  a  true  knight,  always  equally  ready  for  music  or  for 
fighting.  If  the  Nibdungenlied  be  really  another  form  of  the 
Eddaic  myth,  Folker  may  answer  to  Bragi,  the  god  of  poetry, 
but  he  has  his  own  individual  character  of  blithe  undaunted 
courage.  Even  when  the  terrible  battle  has  begun,  and  the 
heroes  find  themselves  hemmed  in  by  Chriemhild's  warriors, 
Folker  fiddles  on,  and 

'  King  Etzel  cried, ''  Alas  and  woe 

That  to  this  feast  they  came, 
For  there  a  fearftil  champion  fights, 
Folker  is  his  name. 

'  **  Baging  like  a  savage  boar, 
A  fiddler  mad  is  he ; 
Praised  be  my  luck,  that  from  the  fiend 
I  could  in  safety  flee. 

*  "  Foully  his  lays  resound; 
His  fiddlestick  is  red  ; 
And  ah !  the  dreadful  tones 
Strike  many  a  champion  dead." ' 

However,  when  Theodoric  at  last  interfered,  the  brave 
Folker  at  length  died  by  the  hand  of  old  Sir  Hildebrand. 

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330 


HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 


In  the  Danish  ballad  he  is  called  Folkvard  or  Folqyar,  aad 
is  Hogen's  brother.    He  retains  his  fiddlestick. 

'  The  first  straik  fifteen  kempis, 
Laigh  to  the  floor  did  straik ; 
Ha!  ha!  Folkqvar  Spillemand, 
Well  wags  thy  fiddlestick.^ 

But  what  could  avail  when,  by  Grimhild's  treachery,  the 
floor  was  spread  with  wet  hides  and  scattered  with  pease! 

Folker's  name  is  from  our  own  word/o2%,  the  near  relation 
of  the  Latin  wlguSy  whose  progeny  are  found  all  over  Europe 
in  vulgar y  vulgoyfauk,  &c.  Most  likely  Folkvard  is  really  lie 
right  version,  and  would  mean  people's  guard,  and  that 
Folker  is  rather  its  corruption  than  independently  the  peo- 
ple's warrior,  and  the  same  with  Folko ;  ^ey  are,  therefore, 
all  thrown  together  in  the  following  table. 


English. 
Fulk 

Gennan. 

Volquard 

Volkvart 

Folkward 

Folquhard 

Folkhard 

Folker 

Folko 

Fulko 

Frisian. 
Folkert 
Foke 
Fokko 

Nor. 

Folkvard 

Folke 

Fokke 

French. 
Fulcher 
Feuquiers 
Foulques 
Fouques 

In  the  Foulques  stage,  this  name  was  borne,  alternately 
with  Geoffroi,  by  the  counts  of  Anjou,  and  with  the  strange 
soubriquets  of  Nerra  and  Urchin.  One  of  these  counts,  the 
grandfather  of  our  Henry  EL,  became  king  of  Jerusalem; 
but  our  English  Angevins  made  no  use  of  it ;  and  though  six 
Fulcos  are  recorded  in  Domesday,  Fulk  never  took  root  in 
England,  and  is  chiefly  remembered  because  it  belonged  to 
Fulk  Greville,  the  friend  of  Sydney.  It  was,  in  fact,  with 
all  its  varieties,  chiefly  Burgundian,  and  La  Motte  Fouqn^'s 

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DANKWART.  33 1 

ancestors  brought  the  form  that  he  bore  in  his  surname  to 
Prussia^  when  they  were  expelled  from  France  by  the  revo- 
cation of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  Therefore  he  called  his 
favomite  mirror  of  chivalry  Folko  de  Montfaucon,  but  he 
seems  to  have  imagined  that  it  meant  a  falcon,  an  idea  into 
which  the  sound /oZco  had  betrayed  the  few  who,  at  that  time, 
had  tried  to  understand  Christian  names. 

Germany  shows  a  few  other  forms :  Folkwin,  or  Volquin, 
which  exactly  answers  to  Demophilos,  or  Publicola ;  Folkrad, 
Folkrich,  and  Folkmar ;  also  Folkbert,  which  some  prefer  to 
Wilibert,  as  the  origin  of  the  Savoyard  Filiberto,  and  our 
Fulbert.* 


Sbction  rX. — Dankwart, 

In  the  Ntbelungenlied  the  father  of  Chriemhilt,  who  dwelt 
at  Wurms,  was  'hight  Dankrat,'  and  the  marshal  at  the 
court  was  Dankwart  the  swift,  Hagen's  brother.  Innocent 
as  he  was  of  a  share  in  his  brother's  crime,  he  was  the  first 
to  be  assailed  while  he  was  dining  with  Etzel's  knights,  and 
he  had  to  fight  his  way  through  Chriemhild's  warriors  before 
he  could  return  to  his  comrades  in  the  hall,  when  he  kept 
the  door  until,  like  all  the  rest,  he  perished  in  the  massacre. 

The  first  syllable  of  the  name  is  really  the  same  as  our 
word  thank^  and  the  name  means  thankful  or  grateful.  The 
father  of  Chriemhild  was  thus  Thank-rede,  or  grateful  speech, 
and  from  him  the  Northmen  seem  to  have  taken  their  Thak- 
raad,  which  in  Normandy  became  Tancred,  the  knight  of 
Hauteville,  whose  twelve  gallant  sons  chased  the  Saracens 
fipom  Apulia,  and  were  the  founders  of  the  only  brave  dynasty 
that  ever  ruled  in  the  enervating  realms  of  the  Two  Sicilies. 
The  son  of  one  of  these  gallant  knights,  Tancredi  di  Puglia, 
was  the  foremost  in  the  first  crusade,  and  the  favourite  hero 

*  Sibelungenlied ;  Weber andJamieson;  Mnnoh;  Michaelis. 

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;i2^  HEROIC  NAMES  OP  THE  NIBELUNG. 

of  TaasOy  in  whose  epic  he  is  a  .Christian  Achilles ;  and  Tan- 
credi  again  was  the  last  Sicilian  king  of  the  true  I^onnan 
line,  the  same  whose  bickerings  wilh  Ccenr  <le  Lion  make  so 
unpleasant  an  episode  in  the  third  Crusade.  Though  appear- 
ing in  the  tragedy  of  Tancred  and  Sigismmda^  the  name  has 
never  again  been  popular. 

Dankwart,  thankful  guardian,  lingered  in  Germany ;  and  in 
1668,  a  Yorkshire  register  records  the  baptism  of  Tankaid, 
the  son  of  a  ^  Turkey  merchant/  who  had  probably  learnt  die 
name  from  some  of  his  foreign  connections.  Dankheri, 
thankful  warrior,  was  in  Normandy  Tancar,  whence  the  city 
of  Tancarville,  and  the  English  surname  of  TankerviUe. 
Dankker  is  the  (German  surname,  and  has  even  come  to 
Tanzen;  so  that  our  surname  Dance  may  have  the  same 
origin.  Thangbrand  was  the  German  priest  whom  King  Olaf 
Tryggvesen  of  Norway  sent  to  convert  Iceland,  but  whose 
severity  led  to  his  expulsion;  and  Germany  also  mentions 
Dankmar ;  but  the  prefix  is  almost  exclusively  German.* 

Sbction  X. — Theodoric. 

Theodoric  of  Bern  is  hardly  a  genuine  hero  of  the 
Nihdung^  being  really  the  main  figure  in  a  cycle  of  G^rmanio 
romances  of  his  own ;  but  as  he,  under  the  abbreviati^ 
Dietrich,  is  brought  in  to  play  a  consideraUe  part  in  tiie 
final  action  of  the  tale,  this  seems  the  fittest  place  for  treat- 
ing of  him  and  the  names  in  connection  with  him. 

He  seems  to  have  been  brought  into  the  Nihdvmgeniid 
because  the  Germanic  mind  could  conceive  of  nothing  consi- 
derable passing  without  him.  He  is  represented  as  one  of  tbe 
four-and-twenty  princes  in  King  Etzel's  train,  and  as  anxioos 
to  prevent  mischief  to  the  visitors  from  Burgundy,  warning 
them  of  Chriemhilt's  enmity,  and  refusing  to  attack  them  at 

*  NibekmgenUed;  Munch;  Pott 

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THEODORIC.  ;i23 

her  request.  When  the  great  slaughter  began,  it  was 
Dietrich  who  conyejed  the  king  and  queen  safely  out  of  the 
mSl^j  and  withheld  his  men  from  engaging  in  it,  until  almost 
at  the  end,  when  they  could  no  longer  be  restrained,  and 
rushing  into  the  fray  were  all  slain  but  old  Sir  Hildebrand, 
though  on  the  other  hand,  Ghmther  and  Haghen  alone  re- 
mained aliYe  of  the  Burgundians.  Dietrich  then  armed 
himself,  and  after  a  fierce  combat,  made  them  both  prisoners, 
and  delivered  them  up  to  Ohriemhilt,  fully  intending  that 
she  should  spare  their  lives ;  but  when  her  relentless  fury  had 
fallen  on  them,  he  assisted  King  Etzel  to  bury  the  dead,  and 
to  return  the  horses  and  armour  of  their  fallen  champions  to 
their  respective  countries. 

Other  German  romances,  however,  elevate  this  prince  to  a 
much  higher  rank.  The  Book  of  Heroes^  written  .by  Wolfram 
of  Eschenbach,  and  Heinrich  of  Ofterdingen,  begins  with 
his  ancestor,  Hughdietrich,  son  of  the  Ghreek  emperor,  who 
gained  the  hand  and  heart  of  the  princess  of  Sabeck  in  a 
female  disguise,  and  whose  son  WoUdietrich,  as  already  men- 
tioned, was  carried  oflf  by  a  she-wolf,  and  thence  derived  his 
name,  given  to  him  when  St.  George  stood  godfather  to  him ! 
Wolfdietrich's  dragon-killing  exploits  and  other  victories  axe 
described  at  length;  and  after  his  wife's  death  he  became 
a  monk.  On  an  invasion  of  the  Pagans,  he  came  forth  in 
full  fury,  and  gamed  a  great  victory;  but  he  paid  dearly  for 
breaking  his  rule,  for  as  he  watched  all  night  in  church  he 
was  beset  by  the  ghosts  of  all  the  warriors  he  had  slain. 

'  Half  the  night  against  the  ghosts 

He  waged  the  battle  fierce ; 
But  the  empty  air  he  struck 
When  he  weened  their  breasts  to  pierce. 

*'  Little  ^^ked  they  for  his  blows, 

With  his  terror  aod  his  woe; 
Ere  half  the  night  was  past, 
His  hair  was  white  as  snow.' 


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334  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 

The  great-grandson  of  this  hero  was  Dietrich  of  "Bexn^  ia 
Lombardy,  son  of  King  Dietmar.  Hearing  of  Chiiemhilt'f 
rose  garden,  which  measured  seven  miles  round,  and  was 
guarded  by  twelve  champions,  he  was  seized  with  a  desire 
to  do  batde  with  them,  for  love  of  battle,  not  of  ladies, 
though  the  victor  was  to  receive  a  chs^let  of  roses  and  a 
kiss  from  the  young  lady.  The  wise  old  Sir  Hildebrand,  of 
the  Wolfing  line,  conducted  him  and  his  eleven  companicm 
champions  to  Wurms,  where  the  single  combats  took  plaoe, 
Dietrich's  knights  were  successful,  and  for  the  most  part  took 
the  chaplets,  but  refused  the  kisses,  because  they  disdaimd 
Ghriemhild  as  a  faithless  maiden. 

Even  the  homy  Siegfried  himself,  who  is  here  reduced 
to  a  mere  defender  of  the  rose  garden,  had  his  hawberk  and 
homy  skin  cut  through  by  Dietrich,  and  was  forced  to  hide 
under  Chriemhilt's  veil,  and  her  father,  here  called  Ghibich, 
was  obliged  to  swear  fealty  to  the  king  of  Bern. 

Another  section  of  the  Book  of  Heroes  describes  the  feats 
of  Dietrich,  in  company  with  his  friend  Dietlieb  and  Wittidi, 
the  son  of  Wieland,  to  rescue  Similt,  the  sister  of  Dietlieb, 
who  had  been  carried  away  by  Laurin,  king  of  the  dwarfs,  to 
a  fairyland  in  the  heart  of  the  TyroL    The  Danish  WiDdna 
Saga  further  tells  of  Thidrek,  son  of  King  Thietmar,  ci 
Bem,  in  Aumlungaland,  or  Italy,  the  land  of  the  Amaler; 
tells  how  he  was  brought  up  with  Hildebrand,  and  how  he 
was  the  head  of  a  society  of  heroes,  including  Yidga  and 
Sigurd.    Then  comes  the  Niflung  Saga,  much  as  we  have 
before  related  from  the  Nibelungen-noih ;  and  it  was  ifbm 
Thidrek  and  Hildebrand  were  returning  alone  together  after 
the  slaughter,  that  Hildebrand  had  his  battle  with  his  un- 
known  son   Alebrand.     Thiderik  was  afterwards  crowned 
emperor  of  Rome,  and  embraced  the  Christian  faith,  living 
to  the  age  of  i8o  or  200  years.    A  Danish  ballad  de- 
scribes ^Eong  Tidrich's'  tremendous  battle  with  a  Lind- 
wurm,  the  progeny  of  one  that  had  escaped  his  great-grand- 


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THEODORIC.  335 

father  Wolfdietrich.  He  was  led  to  enter  on  the  battle  by 
the  entreaties  for  help  of  a  lion  whom  the  dragon  had 
seized;  but  at  first  he  came  by  the  worst,  for  his  sword 
broke,  and 

*  The  Lindwarm  took  him  on  her  back, 

His  steed  beneath  her  tongue, 
Bore  them  into  the  hollow  hill 
To  her  eleren  yonng.' 

She  bade  them  eat  the  horse  to  pass  away  the  time  while 
she  rested,  promising  that  on  her  awakening  they  should 
dcYOur  the  knight  In  the  cave,  however,  Tidrich  found 
the  magic  sword  of  Siegfried  and  two  knives ;  and  in  spite 
of  the  threats  of  the  young  dragons,  and  the  promises  of 
the  old  one,  he  killed  them  all;  but  the  old  worm  fell 
so  as  to  choke  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  whereupon  the 
friendly  lion  dug  him  out,  and  supplied  the  place  of  the 
slain  steed  by  carrying  him  to  Bern  on  his  back.  It  is 
further  said  that  Dietrich,  with  all  the  other  chief  heroes, 
were  summoned  by  a  spell  to  gratify  the  desire  of  Charle- 
magne, to  see  the  great  men  of  old.  They  came  in  three 
TOWS  on  their  war  horses;  Dietrich  leapt  from  his  horse, 
and,  all  following  his  example,  they  seated  themselves  round 
the  throne  of  Charlemagne.  A  still  wilder  tale  makes 
Dietrich  of  Bern  the  son  of  a  spurit,  removed  &om  earth  at 
the  summons  of  a  dwarf. 

So  much  for  romance.  History  mentions  a  real  Theodoric, 
son  of  Theudemir,  and  king  of  the  Ostrogoths  in  Italy,  from 
475  ^  5^7-  ^^  ^^  ^^  ^^^  ^  ^  hostage  to  Constantinople, 
and  there  educated ;  and  though  he  could  not  write  his  name, 
and  had  a  stamp  perforated  with  the  letters  Theod  to  enable 
him  to  sign  his  letters,  he  was  exceeding  able,  wise,  and  skil- 
ful, and  Arian  as  he  was,  conciliated  the  love  of  tixe  Catho- 
lics. Verona  was  his  chief  city,  and  evidently  the  Bern  of 
the  romances.    He  lived  too  late  for  the  historical  Attila, 

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236  HEROIC  NAMES  OP  THE  NIBELUNO. 

who  had  died  in  453 ;  and  though  there  is  a  report  of 
a  previous  Theodorio,  who  meddled  in  a  dissension  be- 
tween AttUa's  sons,  and  took  part  in  a  great  slaughter  that 
lasted  fifteen  days,  it  is  most  likely  that  the  original  Then- 
derik  was  a  mytiiical  personage,  after  whom  these  historical 
princes  were  called,  and  who  afterwards  received  the  credit  of 
some  of  their  deeds,  and  was  localized  in  the  places  of  Iheir 
d<»ninion«  It  is  in  favour  of  this  notion  that  Dietrich  of 
Berne  is  one  of  the  many  titles  of  the  wild  huntsman, 
though  the  Lusatians  corrupt  him  into  Dietrich  Bemhaid, 
and  the  Low  Countries  into  Dirk-mit-den-Beer,  or  with  the 
beard.  Indeed,  Dirk,  the  Dutch  form  of  Theodoric,  was 
a  half  mythical  king  of  Holland. 

My  own  idea  is  that  Theodorik  is  connected  wiUi  the  veiy 
roots  of  the  Teuton  race.  The  word's  direct  siguification  is 
ruler  of  the  Teutons,  that  is,  of  the  people.  The  term  for 
people  was  the  German,  tetdes;  Saxon,  theow;  Frank,  theata; 
GbUiic,  theada;  Northern,  thjod;  the  same  word  firom 
which  Deutsch,  Dutch,  Teutones  all  come.  But  this  wofd 
thiuda  is  almost  the  same  with  the  thiodo  that  among 
the  continental  Saxons  meant  a  priest,  as  thiota  did  anumg 
the  Allemanni ;  and  diensty  or  service,  no  doubt  came  firom 
thence.  But  Diensttag  is  the  German  Tyr's-day ;  and  Tyr, 
as  was  before  shown,  is  the  same  word  as  Dew.  May  it 
not,  then,  be  that  the  national  term  conveyed  the  divine 
origin  of  man  ? 

It  is  true,  that  the  Teutons  invented  an  ancestor  Tuisco, 
earth-bom,  and  parent  of  the  Gk>ths  and  Germans,  as  Odin  is 
of  the  Saxons  and  Northmen.  This  is  the  name  giv^i  him  by 
Tacitus;  but  in  Gk>thic,  he  was  Thiudiska;  in  High  German, 
Diutisco ;  in  Frank,  Thyois.  Some  think  the  term  means 
the  double  or  twin  of  Odm,  but  it  is  more  likely  to  have 
been  a  creation  backwards  from  the  national  title.  And  may 
not  the  dim  idea  of  a  great  Theodorio  have  been  that  of  a 
great  divine  ruler,  it  may  be  of  Tyr  himself?    It  was  a  most 

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THEODOBIC. 


337 


Hniyersal  name,  Anglo-Saxon  and  Yisigothic,  as  well  as 
Frank  and  German;  and  two  saints  made  it  everywhere 
popular  in  the  middle  ages,  though  the  Dutch  at  preset 
ehi^y  use  it 


English. 
Theodric 
Theodoric 
Derrick 
Terry 
Tedric 
(Dameiday) 

French. 

Theodoric 
Thierry 
Thian 
Thean 

Italian. 

Teodorico 
Dieterioo 

Span,  and  Port. 
Theodorico 

German. 
Diotrich 
Dietrich 
Dies 
Diether 

BaTftrian. 
Died 

Tiaderik 

Tiarik 

Tiark 

Tiado 

Tiaddo 

Todo 

Tade 

Tido 

Tide 

Dudde 

Danish. 
Tjodrckr 
Didhrikr 
Theodrckr 
Tidrich 
Didrik 

Dutch. 

Diederik 

Dierk 

Dirk 

Slovak. 
Todorik 

Polish. 
Dytrych 

Bohemian. 
Detrich 

LettUh. 
Diriks 
Didschis 
Ti« 

Hungarian. 
Ditrik 

The  name  of  Dietmar,  the  father  of  Theodoric,  is  to  be 
found  in  many  forms;  in  Theudemir,  a  Frank,  who  faith- 
fully served  Gonstantius ;  in  an  Ostrogothic  Theodomir ; 
Spanish,  Theodomiro;  and  the  modem  Frisian,  Thiadmar, 
Tiedmer,  Tyeddemer,  Tidmer.     It  means  people's  greatness. 

Dietleib,  his  friend,  is  rightly  Ditlev ;  and  in  the  North, 
llijodleif,  the  people's  relic,  or  what  is  left  to  them.  He, 
too,  survives  in  constant  Friesland,  as  Teallef,  Taedlef, 
ISadelef. 

VOL.  n. 


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338 


HEBOIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 


Our  own  Tidemaim  and  Tidy  are  importations  from  some 
Netherlandish  Thiad,  as  our  Todd  and  Dodd  are  from  smne 
Danish  Thjod.  The  German  Dieto  ccmducts  ns  to  the  deii- 
yation  of  theur  word  Diet,  for  the  convocation  of  the  princes 
of  the  empire ;  and  Thendis  is  the  dignified  form  in  which 
this  name,  when  belonging  to  a  Spanish  king,  has  come  to 
ns. 

The  chief  fayourite  of  this  class  is,  however,  the  people's 
prince,  occurring  both  among  the  Frank  and  early  Anglian 
kings,  and  belonging  to  two  French  hermits  and  one  English 
archbishop.  It  took  firm  root  in  Provence,  and  has  an  aroma 
of  crusades  and  courts  of  love  surrounding  it ;  and  though  it 
is  not  in  Domesday,  it  and  its  contractions  survive  as  English 
surnames;  and  in  a  Gloucestershire  parish  register  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  feminine  form  occurs  frequently  in 
every  variety  of  spelling ;  Tibelda,  Tiballa,  Tibotta,  TybaL 
In  Reynard  the  Fox,,  Tibald  is  the  name  of  the  cat,  thus  ex- 
plaining the  Tib,  by  which  pussey  is  so  often  called,  and 
which  may,  perhaps,  when  the  clouded  tabby-silks  came  in 
from  Italy,  have  been  confrised  with  them,  and  accounted  for 
the  term  tabby. 


English. 

French. 

Spanish. 

Portognese. 

Theodebald 

Theudobald 

Theudebaldo 

Theobaldo 

Theobald 

Thiebault 

Tybalt 

Thiebaud 

Tibbie 

Tibaut 

Dibble 

Italian. 

German. 

Dutch. 

Netherlands. 

Teobaldo 

Dietbold 

Tibout 

Dippolt 

Tebaldo 

Diephold 

The  people's  wolf  was  canonized  as  a  Frank  hermit,  who 
gets  called  St.  Thiou.  Our  friend  Theodolf,  the  Icelander, 
as  Fouqu6  calls  him,  would  have  been  in  his  own  land  Thjo- 


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UTA,  OBTWIN.  339 

dolf,  and  the  oontraction  is  there  Ejold,  or  Ejol,  as  Ejoil, 
or  Kjoille,  is  for  Thjodhild,  the  same  as  the  DiuHiilt  of  the 
GermaDSy  and  Thendhilda,  a  nun-sister  of  Cloyis,  St  Au- 
dard  has  undergone  a  still  greater  change;  he  was  once 
archbishop  of  Narbonne,  and  called  Theodhard,  or  ward,  the 
Tiard  of  Friesland,  and  Thjodvar,  or  Ejovar,  in  the  North. 
The  remaining  forms  are. 


Dietgar     Theodokar — People's  spear 


Ger.  Dietbert;  Prank.  Thendebert — People's  brightness 
G^er.  Dietbrand — People's  sword 
Ger.  Dietbnrg — People's  protection 
Nor.  German.  Frank. 

Thjodgjer  \ 
Toger 
Kiogjeir 
Kygeir 
Eyer 

Ger.  Bietfrid ;  Prank.  Theodofrid — People's  peace 
Ger.  Theodegisel ;  It.  Teodisclo— People's  pledge 

Ger.  Blether — People's  warrior 
Nor.  Thjodhjalm;  Ger.  Diethelm — People's  helmet 
Ger.  Dietlind ;  Lomb.  Thendelinda — People's  snake 

G^er.  Dietman — People's  man 
€kr.  Dintrat ;  Prank.  Theodorada — People's  comidl 

Cter.  Dietram — People's  raven 
Nor,  Thjodvald,  Ejodvaldy  Kjoval — People's  power.* 


Sbotion  XL — Z7to,  Ortwin. 

Eraa  Uote  was  the  mother  of  Eriemhild,  who  interpreted 
her  dream  and  predicted  the  early  death  of  her  bridegroom. 
Ortwin,  of  Metz,  was  truchseas^  or  carver,  and  was  the  nephew 
of  Hagan  and  Dankwart,  sharing,  of  course,  their  fate. 

*  Weber  and  Jamieson;  Mnneh;  Orimm;  Butler;  NihtUing* 

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340  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNQ. 

They  are  not  very  interesting  personages,  but  it  is  cniioos 
that  they  bear  the  only  names,  among  all  the  Nibelmigen, 
which  have  any  genuine  Anglo-Saxon  likenesses ;  that  is,  if 
Uote  is,  indeed,  from  the  word,  in  Anglo-Saxon,  cod,  in  the 
North  atid,  in  Mseso-Gothic  audr,  in  High  German  orf,  every- 
where meaning  wealth.  Some  ascribe  it  to  the  same  root  as 
good  and  as  Woden^  including  them  with  adely  noble ;  but  its 
derivatives  are  more  easy  to  follow  than  its  forefathers. 

In  the  North,  odel  is  the  term  for  property  to  which  an 
entire  family  retains  an  equal  right,  aU-od^  or  allodial  property. 
But  when  the  warriors  made  incursions  on  their  neighbours, 
they  obtained,  in  addition,  their  share  of  spoil,  originally 
cattle,/eA,  or/co,  i.e.,  their /ec.  So  feh-od  came  to  be  the 
word  for  possessions  gained  by  the  individual  by  personal 
service  to  his  lord,  and  thus  passed  from  cattle  to  land  itself, 
when  held  of  the  chief  on  conditix)n  of  following  him  in  war ; 
and  thus  we  have  the  fevdal  system,  with  its  feoffs  and,  too 
often,  i\A  feuds. 

The  feminine  of  this  word  probably  named  Uta.  It  was 
popular  everywhere.  Audur-diupaudga,  or  Audur  the  deeply 
rich,  was  a  female  viking,  one  of  the  first  Icelandic  settlers, 
who  called  a  promontory  Kambness,  because  she  dropped  her 
comb  upon  it ;  nor  has  her  name  passed  from  her  own  country, 
while,  in  Norman-England,  it  appears  first  as  Auda  and  then 
as  Alda,  answering  to  Alda,  the  wife  of  Orlando  the  Paladin, 
and  Alda  queen  of  Italy  in  926,  also  to  another  Alda,  a  lady 
of  the  house  of  Este,  in  1393.  These  are  from  the  Grothic 
and  Scandinavian  avd\  but  the  High  German  form  was  also 
represented  by  Oda  and  the  Low  German  by  the  old  Saxon 
Bad,  which  was  soon  translated  into  Ide,  the  most  common  of 
all  the  early  feminines  in  the  Cambrai  register,  together  with 
its  diminutive  Idette.  Ida  was  the  name  of  king  Stephen's 
granddaughter,  the  countess  of  Boulogne,  was  always  used  in 
Germany,  and  has  of  late  been  revived  in  England,  from  its 
sounding  like  the  poetical  mountain  of  the  Troad. 

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UTA,  OBTWIN. 


341 


It  is  not  quite  clear  whether  Othilie,  the  Alsatian  virgin 
of  the  seventh  century,  who  was  said  to  have  been  bom  blind, 
but  to  have  obtained  sight  at  her  baptism,  is  a  form  of  Odd, 
noble,  or  a  diminutive  of  Oda;  or  whether  she  is  Otthild,  an- 
swering to  our  Eadhild,  one  of  the  many  sisters  of  ^thelstane: 
and  there  is  the  same  doubt  with  Odilo  and  Odilon,  the  mas- 
culines. 

The  masculine  form  of  aud  was  extremely  common.  We 
had  it  in  the  person  of  Ida,  king  of  Bemicia ;  the  North 
owned  many  an  Audr ;  the  Germans  used  Odde,  Orto,  and 
Otto,  and  when  the  gallant  Saxon  coimts  won  the  impe- 
rial crown,  they  took  the  old  Latin  Otho  for  the  rendering  of 
their  name.  France,  meantime,  had  called  her  Burgundian 
prince  Eudon,  but  when  a  relay  of  Norman  Audrs  appeared, 
they  were  Odons ;  and  in  the  needlework  with  which  Queen 
Matilda  adorned  Bayeux  cathedral,  her  husband's  doughty 
episcopal  half-brother  is  always  labelled  *  Odo  Eps,*  when  he 
appears  in  his  patchwork  wadded  suit,  saying  grace,  exhorting 
the  youths,  or  laying  about  him  with  a  club.  But  though  we 
had  previously  had  a  grim  Danish  archbishop  Odo,  and 
though  Domesday  shows  plenty  of  Eudos  and  Odos,  neither 
form  took  root,  and  both  are  entirely  continental. 


French. 
Odon 
Eudon 
Eades 
Otbes 

Provencal. 
Orzil 

Italian. 

Otto 

Ottone 

Ottorino 

Oerman. 
Odo 
Otto 
Orto 
Otho 

Nor. 

Audr 

Odo 

Oddr 

Lettish. 

Atte 
ttiD'ch 

Ortvin  the  truchsess,  had  his  namesake  in  the  Lombard 
Audoin,  father  to  Alboin,  also,  in  the  Frank  Audwine, 
blessed  by  St.  Golumbanus,  beloved  by  St.  Eligius,  and  bishop 
of  Rouen,  whose  loveliest  church  is  that  of  St.  Audoenus, 
now  transformed  by  French  lips  into  St.  Ouen.  And,  at 
home,  we  hail  the  same  ^  rich  friend '  in  Eadwine,  the  first 

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34^  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBBLUNG. 

Christian  king  of  Northmnbria^  whose  conversion  is  the  most 
striking  portion  of  Bede's  history.  His  dominion  ezt^ded 
oyer  the  Lothians,  and  he  disputes  with  Aodh  and  the  .Skfad 
the  naming  of  Edinburgh.  Beloved  as  he  was,  his  name  of 
Edwin  never  entirely  died  away,  and  became  in  modem  timee 
diffused  by  the  popularity  of  Groldsmith's  ballad,  and  of 
Beattie's  minstrel.  It  is  just  known  upon  the  Continent. 
Ortwin,  or  Audoenius,  is  very  possibly  the  Don  Ordofio  of 
the  early  Spanish  kingdoms;  but  Germany  has  chi^y 
dealt  in  the  independent  Odvin.  Edwin,  in  spite  of  Mr. 
Taylor's  tragedy  of  Edwin  the  Fair^  is  not  the  same  as  Edwy, 
namely  Eadwig,  rich  war,  a  name  well  remembered  for  the 
unhappy  fate  of  the  owner. 

Odoacer,  as  the  Romans  called  him,  who  was  put  to  death 
by  Theodoric,  was  properly  Audvakr,  treasure  watcher ;  not 
quite  the  same  as  the  Germanic  Ottokar,  or  Ortgar,  happy 
spear,  which  is  identical  with  our  familiar  Eadgar,  or  Edgar. 
This  name,  after  being  laid  to  rest  with  the  Anglo-Saxon 
monarchy,  came  to  life  again  with  the  taste  for  antiques ;  and 
Edgar  Ravenswood,  in  his  operatic  character,  has  brought 
Edgar  and  Edgardo. 

Eadmund,  or  happy  protection,  is  one  of  our  most  English 
names,  belonging  to  the  king  of  East  Anglia,  who,  as  the 
first  victim  of  the  Danes,  became  the  patron  saint  of  Bury 
St.  Edmund's,  and  the  subject  of  various  legends.  The  sud- 
den deaths  of  Sweyn,  and  afterwards  of  Eustace  de  Blois, 
when  engaged  in  ravaging  his  shrine,  made  him  be  r^arded 
as  an  efficient  protector ;  and  Henry  m.,  when  he  had  the 
good  taste  to  make  his  sons  Englishmen,  christened  the  second 
after  this  national  saint,  so  that  Edmunds  were  always  to  be 
foimd  in  the  House  of  Plantagenet,  and  thence  among  the 
nobility  and  the  whole  nation.  The  Irish  called  it  Emmon, 
the  Danes  adopted  it  as  Jatmund,  in  addition  to  their  own 
Oddmund,  the  French  occasionally  use  it  as  Edmond,  and 
Italy  knows  it  as  Edmondo. 

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UTA,  OBTWIN. 


34J 


The  most  really  noted  of  all  our  own  genuine  appellations 
is,  however,  Eadvard,  the  rich  guardian.  It  comes  to  light 
in  our  royal  line  with  the  son  of  Alfred,  and  won  the  popular 
love  for  Uievake  of  the  young  king  whom  St.  Dunstan  and 
the  English  called  the  martyr,  in  their  pity  for  his  untimely 
£ate.  And  again,  little  as  ^  the  Confessor  had  been  loved  in 
his  feeble  lifetime,  enthusiastic  affection  attached  to  him  as 
the  last  native  sovereign ;  while,  on  the  one  hand,  it  was  the 
policy  of  the  Norman  kings  to  regard  him  as  their  natural 
predecessor,  and  of  the  barons  to  appeal  to  the  laws  that  had 
prevailed  in  his  time.  All  parties  thus  were  ready  to  elect 
St.  Edward  to  be  the  patron  saint  of  England,  and,  in  the 
ardour  of  embellishing  his  foundation  of  Westminster  Abhey, 
it  was  natural  to  give  his  name  to  the  heir  of  the  crown, 
afterwards  ^  the  greatest  of  the  Plantagenets.'  The  deaths  of 
his  three  children  bearing  Norman  or  Spanish  names  confirmed 
this  as  the  royal  name,  and  the  third  so  called  spread  it  far 
and  wide.  It  was  carried  by  his  granddaughter  to  Portugal, 
and  there  had  its  honour  so  well  sustained  by  her  noble  son, 
as  there  to  find  another  home ;  and  with  us  it  has  recurred 
continually  in  every  rank,  though  since  the  young  Tudor, 
of  beloved  memory,  it  has  never,  as  yet,  again  reached  the 
throne.  The  Irish  use  it  to  render  Diarmaid,  but  they  have 
the  Erse  form,  Eudbaird. 

The  contraction  Neddy,  common  to  all  of  these,  is  one  of 
the  titles  of  a  donkey. 


English. 

Edward 

Neddy 

Teddy 

V^elsh. 
Jorwarth 

Erse. 
Eudbaird 

French. 
Edouard 

Italian. 
Odoardo 

Portuguese. 
Duarte 

German. 
Ediiard 
Oddward 

Nor. 

Jaward 
Audvard 

Netherlands. 
Ede 

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J44.  HEROIC  NAICES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 

The  other  less  celebrated  parallel  varieties  are : — 


Eng.  Eadbald— Rich  prince 

* 
Eng.  Eadburh — Rich  pledge 

Eng.  Eadburge;  Nor.  Oddbjorg;  Ger.  Edburge — 
Rich  protection 

Eng.  Eadbryht — Rich  splendour 

Eng.  Eadfrith ;  Grer.  Otfrid ;  Prov.  Audafrei— Rich  peace 

Eng.  Eadfled ;  Fr.  Audofled — Rich  increase 

Nor.  Gennan. 

Oddgrim     I    Ortgrim     |    Rid^bdmet 
Andgnm     |  J 

Nor.  Odgisl — Rich  pledge 


Augen 

Rich  war 


} 


Nor.  Oennan.  French. 

Andgnnnr       Oddgond 

Ougimna 

Augunna 

*  Nor.  Odkel,  Odkatla— Rich  ketUe 

Pr.  Anthaire — Rich  warrior 

Oddlang — Rich  Hquor 

Nor.  Oddleif ;  Ger.  Ortleip,  Ortleib— Rich  relic 

Eng.  Eadmar;    Nor.  Odmar;  G^r.  Otmar — Rich  greatness 

Nor.  Oddny — Rich  freshness 

Eng.  Eadred — ^Rich  cooncil 

Eng.  Eadric,  Edric ;  ItaL  Odorico— Rich  king 

English.  Nor.  German. 

Eadnlf       I      Odulf        1      Oddulf 


I      Odulf        I      Oddulf     \    T>.  V       u 
I      Oulf  I      Ortwulf    I   Rich  wolf 

German. 
I      SI    }     «'•*!«-'• 

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English.  German. 

Eadwald 
Edwald 


UTA,  OBTWIN.  345 

Eadawith,  Eadgifa,  and  Eadgyth^  all  once  separate  names, 
together  with  Adelgifn  and  iE!l%ifa,  seem  to  have  been  all 
mixed  up  together  by  the  Normans.  Eadgyth  was  mi- 
doubtedlj  the  name  of  Earl  Godwin's  daughter,  of  whom 
Ingulf  said,  *  Sicut  spina  rosanty  genuit  Oodwinus  Egithamf 
but  in  the  roll  of  her  lands  in  Domesday,  she  is  Eddeva, 
Eddid,  and  Edeya,  and  for  some  little  time  Edeva  seems  to 
have  been  used  among  the  Normans,  though  the  queen  of 
Henry  I.  was  not  allowed  to  retain  anything  so  Saxon. 
Aline  and  Edith  were  used  in  a  few  families,  but  Edith 
surriyed  the  others;  it  belonged  to  Pope's  mother,  and  to 
Southey's  wife ;  was  bestowed  by  Scott  on  the  Maid  of  Lorn, 
and  on  the  heroine  of  Old  Mortality ^  and  has  become  at  pre- 
sent the  reigning  English  favourite. 

CHav  or  give  is  not  a  very  common  commencement ;  but  in 
the  Yilkina  Saga,  King  Gjuko  is  the  father  of  Gunnar  and 
Gudrun,  and  the  whole  family  are  called  Giukungr.  In 
German,  in  the  Book  of  Heroes^  he  is  Gibicho,  and  there  was 
really  a  historical  Burgundian  King  Gibica,  mentioned  as  a 
law-giver ;  but  in  the  Nihelungen-noty  Gibich  is  only  a  vassal 
king  of  EtzeFs.  The  North  had  Gjaflaug,  liquor  giver, 
no  doubt  the  Hebe  of  the  Norse  banquets,  (jrjavvald,  in  Ger- 
man, Gevald,  and  perhaps  Gabilo  and  Gavele,  the  Gebelius 
of  Latinists.  Germany  had  likewise  Gebahard,  a  firm  or 
perhaps  a  strong  giver,  which  still  survives  under  the  un- 
promising sound  of  Gebhard. 

Gyda,  or  Gytha,  that  most  difficult  northern  name,  some- 
times sounds  like  Gith,  the  contraction  of  Eadgyth ;  but  it 
was  evidently  northern,  having  belonged  to  the  proud  damsel 
of  Hordaland,  who  refused  to  marry  Harald  Harfagre,  imless 
he  was  sole  king  of  all  Norway.  Afterwards  it  was  borne  by 
the  semi-Danish  ladies  of  Earl  Godwine's  family,  and  melted 
into  Gjutha,  then  became  confounded  with  Jutta,  which  was 
considered  as  short  for  Juditha.    It  is  also  possible  that 


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346  HEBOIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNa. 

Gyda  has  been  formed  from  the  Qerman  Ida  (like  geang^jongj 
ttngj  joong),  whether  we  consider  Ida  to  be  eady  happy,  or 
t^,  a  woman.* 

Sbction  Xn. — Sintram. 

Sindolt  was  the  schenke^  or  butler,  at  the  court  of  Wurms,  in 
the  Nihelungenlied  ;  and  in  the  Vilkina  Saga,  Sintram  is  one  of 
the  heroes  of  Thidrek's  following.  The  derivation  of  the 
first  syllable  is  uncertain.  Michaelis  takes  it  from  the  old 
High  German  si/nihs^  a  journey.  Professor  Munch  refers 
Sindre  to  a  word  meaning  sparkling  or  spark,  and  mentions  a 
mythological  dwarf  who  was  a  famous  smith,  and  was  yclept 
Sindre ;  also  a  poet  in  Harald  Harfagre's  time,  whose  appel- 
lation was  Guthorm  Sindre,  or  the  sparkling.  Sundre,  or 
Sondre  is,  the  same  authority  tells  us,  more  used  in  the  Thell- 
marken  in  Norway  than  elsewhere;  and  another  possible 
derivation  for  it  is  from  *  sondra^  to  sunder.  The  forma 
Snnrir  and  Sunris  are  there  found ;  and  Germany  had  a  few 
others,  such  as  Sindwald,  or  Sindolt,  Sindbald,  the  Sinibaldo 
of  Italy,  Sindbert,  Sindolf,  and  the  above-mentioned  Sindh- 
ram,  chiefly  interesting  to  us  as  chosen  by  Fouque  for  the 
name  of  his  masterpiece,  the  wonderful  allegory  spim  out  of 
Albert  Durer's  more  wonderful  engraving. 


Sbction  'KUl.—Elhench. 

The  elf  king  Elberich  here  brings  in  his  own  fairy  kindred. 
In  the  Nibeltmgy  he  is  watching  over  the  fatal  treasure  when 
Siegfried  comes  to  claim  it,  and,  dwarf  as  he  is,  does  such 
fierce  battle  over  it  that  Siegfried  was  *in  bitter  jeopardy;' 
but  he  is  at  length  overcome,  sworn  to  Siegfried's  service, 

*  Lappenborg ;  Sharon  Tomer;  Alban  Butler. 

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ELBERICH.  347 

and  brought  by  him  to  Worms,  where  he  has  no  more  to  do 
but  to  lament  when  Haghen  makes  away  with  the  treasure. 

He  is  called  very  ancient,  and  well  he  may  be,  for  he  had 
appeared  in  the  Booh  of  Heroes  long  before  the  time  of  even 
Hnghdietrich,  when  King  Otnit  of  Lombardy  had  set  forth 
to  win  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  Syria,  and  Elberich 
showed  himself  under  a  linden  tree  in  the  guise  of  a  beautiful 
child.     Otnit  was  about  to  pick  him  up,  but  receiyed  from 
him  a  tremendous  blow,  and  after  a  sharp  fight  came  to  terms, 
and  thenceforth  assisted  him  in  his  enterprise,  gave  him 
magic  armour,  and  assisted  him  to  gain  the  lady.     Much  of 
this  story  is  repeated  in  the  French  romance  of  Huon  de 
Bourdeavxy  where  Auberon,  as  he  is  there  called,  gives  the 
knight  an  ivory  horn  wherewith  to  summon  him  to  his  aid  in 
any  emergency,  and  thus  arose  the  English  Oberon,  the  elf- 
rik  or  king,  l^e  graceful  but  petulant  fairy  whom  Drayton 
marries  to  the  Irish  Mab,  and  Shakespeare  to  the  Greek 
Titania.    He  had  his  human  namesakes,  too ;  Alberich  was 
in  fashion  as  a  Frank  name,  as  ^Ifric  was  as  a  Saxon ;  and 
the  Domesday  Book  shows  that  while  we  had  plenty  of  the 
latter  native  form,  Edward  the  Confessor  had  already  im* 
ported  two  specimens  of  ^  Albericus  comes,'  and  these  or 
their  sons  contracted  into  Aubrey,  which  was  known  to  fame 
as  almost  hereditary  among  the  De  Veres,  earls  of  Oxford. 
France,  too,  had  her  Aubri ;  and  Alberico  was  used  in  Lom- 
bardy, where  likewise  the  notable  and  terrible  monarch  Alboin, 
whose  name  as  Alboino  is  still  common  among  the  peasantry, 
bore  the  name  that  Anglo-Saxons  called  JBlfwine,  or  elf- 
friend,  perhaps  likewise  an  allusion  to  the  aid  and  friendship 
of  ^  Oberon  the  faery,'  whose  first  protege  was  a  Lombard. 
Alwine  is  the  feminine  used  in  Germany,  and  perhaps  may 
be  our  Albinia. 

The  elf  of  England  and  Germany,  the  alfr  of  the  North 
was  a  being  dear  to  the  imagination  of  the  people.  Thei; 
title  is  the  white^  the  same  word  already  mentioned  as  forming 

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348  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 

the  Latin  alhus,  and  designating  the  Elbe  and  the  Alps,  as 
well  as  appearing  in  the  Elphin  of  Cymric  legend.  The 
elyes,  or  white  spirits,  were  supposed  to  be  beautiful  shadowj 
gifted  beings,  often  strangely  influencing  the  life  of  mortals, 
80  that  in  old  Germany  the  Alfr  were  the  genii  of  man's  life, 
like  the  Disir  of  the  North ;  and  Elberich  probably  origin- 
ally attended  Otnit  in  this  capacity.  Christianity  did  not 
destroy  the  faith  in  the  elf- world,  but  the  existence  of  these 
beings  waa  accounted  for  by  supposing  them  children  of  Eve, 
whom  she  had  hidden  &om  the  face  of  her  Maker,  and  He 
had  therefore  condemned  to  be  hidden  from  the  face  of  man. 
They  were  thought  to  mourn  for  their  exclusion  from  Redemp- 
tion, and  to  seek  baptism  for  their  infants ;  but  in  process  of 
time  their  higher  attributes  dropped  off  from  them,  and  they 
were  mixed  up  with  the  malicious  black  dwarfs.  They  took 
to  stealing  young  maidens,  as  the  Scottish  Burd  Ellen,  and  to 
exchanging  infants  in  the  cradle;  and  Scotland  created  an 
Elfinland,  which  was  a  striking  element  of  worldly  vanity. 
In  England,  the  traditions  of  the  Keltic  spirits,  pucks  and 
pixies,  were  mixed  up  with  them,  and  our  Elizabethan  poets 
treated  them  as  the  males  of  the  French  fairies ;  and  what 
comes  to  us  so  recommended,  surely  we  must  accept 

These  elves,  in  their  more  dignified  days,  played  a  con- 
siderable part  in  our  native  nomenclature;  nay,  the  most 
honoured  of  all  our  English  sovereigns  wrote  himself  upon  his 
jewel  Alfred,  i.e.,  Elf  in  council,  wise  as  a  supernatural 
being.  Some  have  tried  to  read  the  word  Alfried,  all  peace ; 
but  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Elf  is  the  right  prefix.  The 
English  loved  to  continue  his  name,  but  it  was  latinized  as 
Aluredus,  and  thus  Alured  is  the  form  in  which  it  is  borne 
by  many  persons  recorded  in  Domesday,  and  is  still  kept  up 
and  regarded  as  a  separate  name,  though  Alfred  has  been 
within  the  last  century  resumed  in  England ;  it  is  much  used 
about  the  good  king's  birth-place  at  Wantage,  in  Berkshire, 
and  has  of  late  been  adopted  in  France  and  Germany. 

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ELBERICH.  349 

iElfhag  was  as  high  as  an  elf ;  whether  given  to  a  very 
•  small  infant,  or  supposed  to  refer  to  a  being  of  unearthly 
stature,  does  not  appear.  It  was  the  very  inappropriate 
name  of  the  archbishop  who,  under  Ethelred  the  Unready, 
was  pelted  to  death  at  a  Danish  banquet  because  he  would 
not  oppress  his  flock  to  obtain  a  ransom.  The  ofience  given 
by  Lanfranc  in  refusing  to  regard  him  as  a  true  martyr  may 
be  judged  by  the  large  numbers  called  after  him  in  Domesday. 
In  Sussex  they  are  set  down  as  ^Ifech ;  in  Hants  as  ^Ifec; 
in  Nottingham  as  ^Ifag ;  and  thanks  to  the  Latinism  of 
Alphegius,  our  calendar  calls  him  Alphege. 

^Ifjgifu,  or  the  elf  gift,  was  the  unfortunate  Elgiva  of 
history,  a  not  unsuitable  name  for  one  whose  beauty  was  like 
a  fatal  fairy  gift,  bringing  ruin  on  her  and  on  her  husband ; 
but  it  was  also  used  to  translate  into  Saxon  that  of  the 
Norman  Emma,  which  was  r^arded  as  too  foreign  for  the 
Saxons.  Knut's  first  wife,  iElfwine  (elf  darling),  the 
daughter  of  -^Ifhelm,  earl  of  Southampton,  is  recorded  by 
Dugdale  as  Ailive ;  and  Aileve,  -^Iveva,  or  Alveva,  is  very 
common  in  Domesday.  Aileve  indeed  continued  in  use  for 
many  years. 

In  fact,  it  was  England  that  made  by  far  the  most  use  of 
elf  names.  The  North  was  perhaps  the  next  in  the  use  of 
them,  having  an  immense  number  of  instances  of  Alfr  in  the 
Landnama-bokj  but  there  the  elf  at  the  end  of  a  word  has 
0uch  lui  unfortunate  tendency  to  transform  himself  into  a 
wolf,  that  it  is  impossible  to  tell  which  was  the  original,  the 
same  person  being  sometimes  written  Thoralf,  and  sometimes 
Thorulf.  There  are  few  instances  preserved  from  the  other 
Teutonic  branches,  except  as  we  have  seen  the  two  Lombardic 
names,  that  seem  direct  from  Elberich. 

English  names  in  ^thel  often  contract  into  El,  and  when 
followed  by  an/,  appear  to  be  elves;  but  they  must  be  pur- 
sued to  their  original  form  before  being  so  rendered. 


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350  HEROIC  NAMES  OF  THE  NIBELUNG. 


Nor.  Alfdis— Household  fairy 

Nor.  Alfgejr;  Eng.  -ffilfgar— Elf  ipear 

Nor.  Alfgerdur — Elf  woman 

Nor.  Alfheidur,  Alfeidur — Elf  cheerfiiliiess 

Eng.  iElfhelm—Elf  helmet 

Nor.  Alfhild— Elf  battle  maid 

Nor.  Alfliotr— Elf  terror 

Eng.  -ffilfric— Elf  king 

Eng.  ^Ifchryth,  Elfrida^Threatening  elf 

Eng.  -^Ifwold— Elf  power 


A  bishop  of  Lichfield,  whose  name  was  ^Ifwine^  was 
always  called  ^lla,  and  thns  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that 
elves  named  both  the  ^lle  of  Deira,  whose  name  caosel 
Gregory  the  Great  to  say  that  Alleluja  should  be  sung  in 
those  regions,  and  also  the  later  ^lla,  who  put  Ragnar  Lod- 
brog  to  deatfi.  Otherwise  these  would  be  referred  to  the 
word  in  Gothic,  aijanj  meaning  battle,  found  in  the  Old  Ger* 
man  Ellanheri  and  EUanperaht. 

Some  of  our  commencing  els  are  no  doubt  from  the  fairy 
source;  but  there  are  others  very  difficult  to  account  for, 
beginning  in  Anglo-Saxon  with  eidhj  which  is  either  a  hall, 
or  without  the  final  A,  the  adjective  oS,  by  which  in  fact 
they  are  generally  translated.  The  most  noted  of  them  is 
EaUiwine,  the  tutor  of  Charlemagne's  sons,  generally  called 
Alcuin,  though  his  name  has  remained  at  home  as  Aylwin. 
Some  Aylwins,  are,  however,  certainly  from  ^gilwine,  or 
awful  friend;  Ealhfrith,  Ealhmund,  and  Ealhred,  are  also 
found,  and  one  of  these  must  have  formed  the  modem  Edred. 
Among  ladies  are  Ealhfled,  and  Ealhswyth,  or  AlswitluL 
On  the  whole  it  seems  to  us  that  the  hall  is  the  mon 
probable  derivation;  the  h  so  carefully  used  in  the  Saxon 
Chronicle  is  unlike  a  contraction.^ 

*  Munch;  Weber  and  Jamieson ;  St  Pelaye,  Htum  de  Bourdemut; 
Grimm;  Keightley;  Lappenbm^;  Landnama-bok ;  Domesday;  Soott» 
Minstrelty  of  Scottith  Border;  Sharon  Turner;  Eemble,  Natnee  cf  iki 
Anglo-Saxons. 


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3S^ 


CHAPTER  V, 

THE     KARLIHG     BOMAHCBS. 

Section  I. — The  Paladins. 

Akother  remarkable  cycle  of  romantic  fable  connected  it- 
self with  a  prince,  not  lost  in  the  dim  light  of  heroic  legend, 
but  described  bj  a  contemporary  chronicler,  and  revealed  in 
the  full  light  of  history.  However,  in  reality,  the  records 
of  Eginhard  were,  no  doubt,  as  unread  and  unknown  as  if 
they  had  never  existed,  and  with  the  notion  that  a  magnifi- 
cent prince  had  reigned  over  half  Europe,  there  was  ample 
scope  for  tradition  to  connect  with  him  and  his  followers  all 
the  floating  adventures  that  Teutonic,  Keltic,  or  Latin  in- 
vention had  framed ;  and,  by-and-bye,  literature  recorded 
them,  using  them  as  her  own  world  of  beauty  and  of  wonder, 
until  nothing  but  the  names  were  left  in  common  with  their 
originals. 

The  dynasty — ^for  though  the  romances  refer  to  but  one 
emperor,  they  have  heaped  together  the  traditions  of  three 
princes  in  one — ^was  one  eminently  fitted  to  be  the  centre  of 
universal  homage.  Uncivilized  man  can  never  exist  for  many 
generations  upon  the  throne ;  and  the  Latin  civilization  of 
Guul  had  proved  fatal  to  the  vigour  of  the  Frankish  chiefs  of 
the  line  of  Meerveh,  when  the  new  family,  trained  for  several 
generations  in  government  as  prime  ministers  or  maires  du 
jpalaisj  came  into  full  view  and  ousted  them  from  the  throne* 
True,  this  new  line  was  in  its  turn  to  become  efiete,  and  to  give 
way  to  the  native  lords  of  the  soil ;  but  in  its  first  rise,  it  owned 
aa  unusual  succession  of  great  men,  uniting  the  firesh  vigour 

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^S'^.  THE  KABLIKG  B0MANCE8. 

of  the  barbarian  to  the  thought  and  culture  of  the  dvilised 
man.  Moreover,  this  was  a  period  when  all  the  neighbour- 
ing continental  Teutons  had  become  even  more  demoralized 
than  the  Franks,  so  that  men  of  ability  were  able  to  unite 
them  under  one  head,  and  commence  that  central  European 
system  which  remained  the  theory  of  statesmen  for  nearly 
twelve  centuries,  and  was  only  overthrown  by  another  union 
of  Italian,  Frank,  and  GhJlic  civilization. 

It  was  the  great  Saracen  outburst  that  first  made  the 
Franks  not  mere  petty  plunderers,  but  the  champions  of 
Europe,  and  rendered  the  Karlings  the  leading  men  of  the 
western  world.  The  battle  of  Tours,  in  752,  was,  indeed, 
one  of  the  most  decisive  battles  of  the  world,  f<^  it  stemmed 
the  inundation  of  Mahometanism,  and  forced  back  the 
Moors  within  the  barrier  of  the  Pyrenees.  Another  gene* 
ration  brought  the  Karlingen  to  the  Frank  monarchy,  and 
commenced  their  connection  with  Italy,  as  protectors  of  ih.e 
Pope  from  the  Lombards,  who,  with  the  savage  instincts  of 
their  origin,  were  losing  energy  in  the  Italian  atmosphere. 
In  the  next  sovereign  the  glory  of  the  line  culminated.  On 
the  one  hand,  he  overthrew  the  tottering  Lombardic  kingd<Hn, 
and  received  from  them  the  sacred  titles  of  Caesar  and  Em- 
peror ;  on  the  other  hand,  he  subdued  and  forcibly  converted 
the  fia*ce  continental  Saxons,  and  he  mastered  Northern 
Spain,  though  not  without  the  hatred  and  treachery  of  the 
Basque  and  Grothic  nations  in  his  rear.  The  Elbe,  the  Ebro, 
the  Adriatic,  the  Atlantic  were  his  frontiers,  and  the  theory 
of  a  Holy  Roman  Empire,  where  one  Caesar,  crowned  by  the 
Pope,  both  as  representative  of  the  SPQR,  and  as  head  of 
the  church,  should  be  the  temporal  chief  of  Christian  Europe, 
took  its  rise  from  his  dominion.  After  him,  the  star  of  his 
race  began  to  wane ;  and  after  the  turbulent  reign  of  his  son, 
his  grandson  sustained  an  attack  from  the  terrible  Northmen, 
who  absolutely  besi^ed  him  in  Paris,  then  one  of  his  capitals. 
After  tUs,  France  fell  away  from  the  central  confederacy  of 


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THE  PALADINa  353 

prmoes,  became  more  and  more  gaUicized,  and,  finallj,  de- 
tiironed  the  last  Karling  in  favour  of  a  native  noble ;  but  all 
the  time  she  eontinued  to  hold  to  the  great  Franks  as  her 
own  ezclusiTe  property,  acnd  to  think  of  the  German  empire 
as  if  it  had  been  a  revolted  oonqnest. 

Thus  it  was  that  France,  G^ermanj,  Lombardj,  and  Spain, 
all  looked  back  to  the  same  emperor,  and  hung  their  tra- 
ditions around  him,  with  a  far  more  national^sentiment  than 
it  was  possible  for  them  to  possess  for  the  British  Arthur. 
In  the  one  who  hore  the  surname  of  iixe  Great,  all  the  legends 
centered.  He  was  at  once  emperor,  and,  like  his  grandfather, 
champion  of  Europe  against  the  Saracens,  with  whom  in 
popular  fancy,  botii  his  own  Saxons  and  his  grandson's 
Northmen  were  fused  together;  he  was  besieged,  like  his 
grandson,  in  Paris,  and  lost  all  Ms  best  followers  in  the  pass 
of  Boncesvalles,  bj  the  treachery  of  the  Navarrese. 

These  were  the  mat^als  that  fancy  bad  to  work  upon. 
The  existing  feudal  system  supplied  the  machinery,  and  not 
with  utter  iucorrectness,  since  it  had  actually  then  existed 
in  its  infancy,  and  the  chiefs  of  the  Frank  court  were  veri- 
tably obliged  to  pay  martial  service  to  their  head  for  the 
lands  that  they  had  received  from  Imn  on  tjhe  conquest  of 
the  country.  Pfab^  the  same  word  which  we  now  call 
palace,  the  central  court,  furnished  the  title  for  the  feuda- 
tories employed  at  the  court  Pfahen^  a  word  that  continued 
in  use  in  its  proper  region  Germany,  naming  the  Pfalzgraf 
of  the  Rhine,  whence  we  have  learnt  to  speak  of  the  Count 
Palatine  and  the  Palatinate.  The  two  old  counties  palatine 
of  England,  Durham  and  Chester,  were  so  termed  because  their 
holders,  the  bishop  and  the  earl,  held  the  same  privileges  as 
those  of  the  continental  pfaizm,  as  speedy  executive  power 
was  required  in  these  counties,  the  one  serving  as  a  curb  to 
the  Scots,  die  other  to  the  Welsh. 

Pfalzen,  then,  on  French  tongues,  became  Paladins,  and 
Paladins  were  supposed  to  have  been  not  so  much  political 

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354  "^^  KAKLmO  BOMAKCEa 

as  military,  so  tiist  we  r^ard  ihe  tenn  as  meaning  m  diam 
pi<m  of  high  prowess.  There  was  an  idea  likewise  of  s  coao- 
dl  of  these  Paladins  as  the  twelve  peers  of  France  in  tiie 
golden  age  of  her  constitution ;  and  the  Docipairs,  as  tiie 
Douzepairs  were  sometimes  ran  together,  stood  <m  a  level 
in  romantic  imaginations  with  the  Seven  Ghampicms  of 
Christendom,  or  tiie  Knights  of  the  Boond  Table. 

Spanish  ballad,  German  lays,  and  Provai9al  songs,  had 
been  working  up  the  stories  of  the  Paladins,  when  some- 
where abont  the  year  iioo,  there  came  forth  a  Fr^ich  trans- 
lati<m  of  the  supposed  chronicle  of  Turpin,  who  had  reaiDy 
been  archbishop  of  Rheims  in  the  reign  of  Charlemagne. 
The  chronicle  was  confirmed  in  1 122  by  the  infallible  an- 
ihority  of  the  Pope,  and  was  translated  agun  and  again, 
amplified  and  referredtobyeveryone  who  wrote  or  sung  of  the 
Paladins,  for  the  events  they  celebrated,  whether  it  contained 
them  or  not.  Everybody  read  it,  and  every  writer  improved 
on  it,  till  a  host  of  prose  and  metrical  romances  arose,  which 
came  to  their  chief  glorification  under  the  hands  of  the 
Italian  poets,  b^inning  with  Luigi  Pulci,  about  1480,  and 
then  carried  on  by  Bernardo  Tasso,  father  of  Torquato,  hj 
the  romantic  Count  Bojardo,  and  by  Ludovico  Ariosto, 
who,  between  allegory,  satire,  and  poetry,  raised  his  long 
poem  to  the  foremost  ranks  of  literature.  It  is  worthy  (^ 
remark,  that  the  trae  knight  errant  temper  of  love,  to  tiie 
spiritual  in  heaven  and  beautiful  on  earth,  is  chiefly  the 
heritage  of  the  Round  Table  knights,  the  produce  of  cni- 
sading  hearts  and  the  memory  of  patriots.  Dressed  up  as 
tiie  Paladins  are  by  conrupt  Italy,  they  are,  indeed,  said 
to  fight  with  Saracens,  but  they  are  rather  lovers  in  search 
of  adventures,  than  Christian  men  with  a  high  purpose  b^ore 
them. 

The  influence  of  the  Earlingen  upon  our  subject  has  heat 
great.  First,  some  of  the  genuine  historical  characters  left 
hereditary  Christian  names ;  next,  several  were  adopted  in 

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THE  PALADINS.  355 

romantic  and  duTalrons  families,  and  in  the  poetical  ages  of 
literary  Italy,  they  became  absolutely  frequent. 

Moreover  Paladins  connect  themselres  with  hardly  any 
genuine  female  names  of  the  same  period.  The  Feen  have 
their  wives  and  beloved  maidens,  the  knights  of  the  Round 
Table  bring  with  them  ladies  of  Cymric  title,  like  their  own, 
and  evidently  as  traditionary  as  themselves ;  the  dames  of 
the  Nibelungenlied  are  intimately  comiected  with  the  whole 
stmcture  of  the  l^nd ;  but  the  knights  of  Charlemagne  have 
brought  with  them  no  ladye  loves.  Orlando  once  had  a  wife, 
the  Alda,  or  Belinda,  of  the  old  traditions,  and  probably 
genuine ;  but  even  the  Clarice  of  Benaud  in  the  Quatre  FUs 
Aymon^f  betrays  a  late  French  or  rather  Romanesque  influ- 
ence ;  and  far  more  do  the  Dofia  Clara,  Belerma,  and  Sebilla 
of  the  Spanish  ballads,  show  how  late  they  must  have  arisen ; 
whilst  Angelica,  Marfisa,  Bradamante,  Fiordespina,  and  Fior- 
diligi,  and  the  like,  are  absolute  Italian  invention,  just  as 
Spenser  afterwards  made  the  knights  of  Arthur's  date  meet 
with  Britomart,  Belphoebe,  and  Amoret. 

The  Frankish  ladies  seem,  in  fact,  to  have  been  held  in 
little  estimation.  Chivalry  had  not  blossomed  into  respect 
for  womanhood,  and  they  had  probably  been  left  behmd  for  a 
time  by  their  lords  in  the  march  of  civilization.  The  mar- 
riages and  divorces  of  Charlemagne  are  the  one  flaw  in  his 
character ;  and  the  female  names  from  time  to  time  cast  up  in 
the  surging  tide  of  afiairs  only  appear  for  disgrace  or  misfor- 
tune, so  that  we  come  to  the  conclusion  that  womanhood  in  the 
Frank  empire  was  seldom  happy  or  honourable  except  in  the 
cloister.  Thus,  no  traditional  names  of  woman  came  down 
with  the  Paladins ;  and  when  love  became  an  essential  part 
of  the  machinery  of  the  Italian  poets,  they  had  to  invent  and 
entitle  the  heroines  for  themselves,  making  them,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  by  no  means  models  for  imitation.^ 

^  B06CO6,  Italian  Poetry ;  Bnnlop,  Romamtie  Fiction;  Sismondi,  Histoiu 
i€  France ;  Clarke,  SpanUh  BaUad$. 

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356  THE  EABLING  BOMANCES. 


Section  EL — Charles. 

Most  heroes  gain  by  becoming  the  subjects  of  romaooe, 
bat  this  has  be^  by  no  means  the  case  with  iJie  great  Kfil 
of  the  Franks,  for  thongh  *  il  R^  Carlo'  be  tliree  rolled  into 
one,  he  has  lost  the  heroism  (rf*  him  of  the  hammer,  and  the 
large  minded  statesmanship  of  the  first  emperor,  obtainii^ 
instead  the  dolness  and  weak  credulity  of  him  wlio  was  called 
the  Bald. 

The  three  Charleses  are  matter  of  history,  and  tbe  Carb 
Magno  of  romance  and  ballad  is  little  more  than  a  lay  figofe, 
always  persuaded  to  beliere  traitorous  stories  of  his  belt 
friends,  and  meeting  widi  undignified  adventures,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  enchanted  ring  that  bound  his  affectioBS  to  lad/, 
bishop,  and  lake.  We  therefore  pass  on  at  once  to  this  name, 
which  a  foolish  old  story  thus  accounts  (or.  As  am  infant  he 
was  put  out  to  nurse,  and  when  brought  home,  much  gnma, 
his  mother  exclaimed,  *  What  great  carle  is  this  V  whence 
he  continued  to  be  so  called,  instead  of  by  his  baptional  name 
of  Dayid.  This  tale  may  have  been  suggested  by  tiie  M, 
that  the  veritable  Charles  the  Great,  whai  laying  aside  Us 
state  he  became  a  scholar  in  his  palace  hall,  under  ^ 
teaching  of  the  English  Alcuin,  assumed  the  apprc^ffi^ 
title  of  David. 

Earl  was  in  fact,  as  we  have  shown  in  the  chapter  on 
ancestral  names,  the  regular  femiily  name  of  the  line,  used  in 
regular  alternation  from  its  first  appearance  with  the  grand- 
father of  the  hammering  Charles,  who  perhaps  took  hi9 
soubriquet  from  Thor,  and  gradually  acquiring  more  and  moi<e 
ignominious  epithets  till  it  sunk  into  obscurity  in  Lonaifi^ 
whence  it  only  emerged  again  when  the  Earlings  intermarried 
with  Philippe  Auguste,  and  brought  the  old  impmal  nave 
into  the  French  royal  family,  where  five  more  kings  bore  it. 
They  sent  it  to  Naples  with  Charles  of  Anjou ;  and  his  bob, 

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OHABLES. 


357 


Charles  Robert,  or  Caroberto,  being  elected  to  Hungary,  had 
so  manj  namesakes  that  Camden  was  led  to  suppose  that  all 
Hungarian  kings  were  called  Carl.    It  went  to  Germany  when 
the  son  of  the  blind  king  of  Bohemia  received  it  from  his 
father's  connection  with  the  French  court,  and  afterwards 
reigned  as  the  4th  Earl  of  Germany,  taking  up  his  reckoning 
firom  the  old  Earlingen.    Again,  the  second  ducal  house  of 
Burgundy  was  an  off-shoot  from  the  line  of  Yalois,  and  it  was 
from  Charles  the  Bold  that  the  name  was  transmitted  to  his 
great  grandson  of  Ghent,  soon  known  to  Europe  as  Carlos  L 
of  Spain,  Earl  V.  of  Germany,  Carolus  Quintus  of  the  Holy 
Soman  Empire.    He  was  the  real  name  spreader  from  whom 
thb  became  national  in  Spain,  Denmark,  and  even  in  Britain, 
for  his  renown  impressed  James  I.  widi  the  idea  that  this 
must  be  a  fortunate  name ;  when,  in  the  hope  of  averting  the 
mihappy  doom  that  had  pursued  five  James  Stuarts  in  suc- 
cession, he  called  his  sons  Henry  and  Charles.     The  destiny 
of  the  Stuart  was  not  averted,  but  ^  the  fate  of  the  royal 
martyr*  made  his  the  most  popular  of  all  appellati(ms  among 
the  loyalists,  and  afterwards  with  the  Jacobites,  in  both  Eng- 
land and  Scotland,  so  that  rare  as  it  formerly  was,  it  now 
disputes  the  ground  with  John,  George,  and  William,  as  the 
most  common  of  English  names.    Cathal  and  Cormac,  in 
Ireland,  have  both  been  merged  into  it,  and  there  is  hardly  a 
family  that  has  not  a  Charlie. 


English. 
Charles 
Charlie 

Keltic. 

GAEL. 

Tearlach 

ERSE. 

Searlos 

French. 

Charles 
Chariot 

Span,  and  Port 
Carlos 

Gennan. 
Karl 

Italian. 
Carlo 
Carolo 

Swedish. 
Karl 
KaUe 

Danish. 
Karl 
Karel 

Dutch. 

Carolus 

Carel 

Earel 

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358 


THE  EJLBLING  BOMANCES. 


Polish. 
EatoI 
Earolek 

Bohomiao. 
Karel 

niyrian. 

Karlo 

Karlica 

KarUc 

Till  flat!  Ml. 
Karlo 
Ktflko 

Slovak. 
Karol 

Lettish. 
Karls 

Esthonian. 

Karl 

Karel 

Hong^arian. 
Karoly 

Dantzic. 
Kuch 

Another  namesake  of  Charlemagne  most  not  be  forgottai, 
namelj,  the  son  of  St.  Olaf,  of  Norway,  whom  his  foUowars, 
intending  an  agreeable  surprise  to  the  father,  baptized  after 
the  great  emperor  bj  the  name  of  Magnus,  whence  the  very 
frequent  Magnus  of  Scandinavia,  and  Mauus  of  Ireland. 

The  two  feminines  are  of  late  invention.  The  first  I  have 
been  able  to  find  was  Carlota  or  Charlotte,  of  Savoy,  who 
married  Louis  XI.,  and  thus  introduced  this  form  to  French 
royalty.  Charlotte  d'Albret  had  the  misfortune  to  be  given 
in  marriage  to  Cesare  Borgia,  and  had  one  daughter,  who 
married  into  the  house  of  La  Tremouille,  whence  the  brave 
Lady  Derby  carried  it  into  England,  and  our  registers  of  the 
seventeenth  century  first  acknowledge  Charlet.  The  Hugoe- 
notism  of  the  house  of  La  Tremouille  connected  it  with  that 
of  Bouillon,  where  the  heiress  Carola,  or  Charlotte  was 
married  in  1588.  The  house  of  Orange  probably  thence 
derived  it,  and  it  became  known  in  Germany,  whence  it 
was  brought  to  us  in  full  popularity  by  the  good  queen  of 
George  IIL  A  sentimental  fame  was  also  bestowed  on  it,  as 
the  name  of  Goethe's  heroine  in  Werther.  Carolina,  the 
other  form,  seems  to  have  been  at  first  Italian,  and  thence 
to  have  spread  to  Southern  Germany,  and  all  over  that 
country,  whence  we  received  it  with  the  wife  of  George  DL, 
by  whom  it  was  much  spread  among  the  nobility,  and  is 
now  very  common  among  the  peasantry,  having  often.  Miss 
Mitford  thinks,  been  given  by  mistake  for  the  much  older 

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CHABLES. 


359 


£[atharine.    Both  are  clumsy  feminines  of  an  essentially 
masculine  name. 


En^ish. 

Charlotte 

Lotty 

Chatty 

Caroline 

Carry 

French. 

Charlotte 

Lolotte 

Caroline 

Spanish. 

CarloU 
Lola 

lUlian. 

CarlotU 
Carlota 
Carolina 

German. 

Charlotte 
Lottchen 
Caroline 
Lina 

Swedish. 
Lotta 

Slovak. 

Bjirolina 

Karolinka 

Karla 

Lettish. 
Latte 

Dantzig. 
Linnschca 

The  two  Carolinas  of  America  were  so  called  hy  a  colony 
of  Huguenots,  who  still  preserved  their  loyalty,  even  to  their 
enemy  Charles  IX.  The  Caroline  Isles  of  the  South  Sea 
were  from  the  great  Charles  Y.  coins,  as  our  gold  carolus, 
and  the  Carolina  of  Naples  take  their  title  from  the  monarch 
whose  head  they  bear.  And  lastly  the  carline  thistle  is  said 
to  derive  that  appellation  from  having  been  pointed  out  to 
Charlemagne  by  an  angel  as  the  remedy  for  a  disease  from 
which  his  army  was  suffering. 

The  word  karl  was  in  Old  German  charal^  in  Anglo-Saxon 
cearly  in  Scottish  carl,  in  English  churl,  all  primarily  used 
like  vir  to  denote  man  in  his  manhood.  Thus  in  Scotland  a 
man-child  would  be  called  a  carle-bairn,  and  in  Anglo-Saxon 
times  sturdy  strength  made  Ceorl,  the  title  of  the  free 
husbandman,  though  after  the  Conquest  his  stem  and  sullen 
spirit  of  defiance  led  to  the  use  of  churl  in  its  present  signi- 
fication, while  kerl  is  in  Germany  a  homely  peasant.  Yet 
the  churl  has  given  a  name  to  one  of  the  few  constellations 
that  bear  any  titles  besides  the  classical  ones.  Ursa  Major, 
and  Thor's  Waggon  is  the  Churl's,  or  Charles's  Wain,  and 
no  doubt  Bootes  was  once  the  herd.    The  title  of  the  Great 


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360  THE  KABLING  BOMAKCES. 

Bear  is  said  to  be  from  a  mistranslation  of  the  Arabic  dMk^ 
cattle,  and  that  the  old  astronomers  here  saw  a  fotd  guarded 
by  Bootes,  the  herdsman,  and  never  intended  to  invent  any- 
thing so  preposterous  as  a  pair  of  long  tailed  bears.  The 
Christian  Arabs  prettily  caU  it  the  funeral  of  Lazarus,  and 
make  the  four  stars  the  bier,  the  three,  Martha,  Mary,  and 
their  handmaid. 

Georl  was  the  name  of  an  early  king  of  Mercia,  and  of  a 
thane  of  Alfred's,  who  defeated  the  Danes,  and  Carloman 
was  ahnost  as  common  as  Carl  in  the  old  Earling  family.^ 


Section  m. — Roland^  ^c. 

When  the  army  of  Charles  the  Great  was  marching  back 
from  Spain,  the  Gascons,  Nayarrese,  and  Goths,  who  were 
afraid  of  being  swallowed  up  by  his  empire,  if  they  exchanged 
his  protection  for  that  of  the  Arabs,  plotted  together,  fell 
on  the  rear  of  his  columns  as  they  were  passing  through 
the  defile  of  Roncesvalles,  close  to  the  little  town  of  Fuente 
Arabia,  and  slaughtered  the  whole  division  that  were  guarding 
the  baggage.  ^  There  was  slain  Botlandus,  prefect  of  the 
Armorican  border.' 

So  says  Eginhard,  the  contemporary  chronicler,  and  as  he 
mentions  only  two  other  nobles  as  having  been  killed,  it  is 
natural  to  conclude  that  he  was  a  man  of  mark.  Who  was 
he  ?  Certainly  Warden  of  the  Marches  of  Brittany,  but 
was  he  a  Frank  Hruodland  (the  country's  glory),  the  re- 
presser of  the  Kelts,  or  was  he  a  Breton  in  the  Franki^ 
service  ?  The  Cymry  have  laid  claim  to  him ;  they  say  that 
the  rolling  word  is  intended  to  render  Tallwch,  a  rolling  or 
overwhelming  torrent,  the  name  of  the  father  of  Tristrem ; 
and  in  the  later  romances,  this  knight  has  actually  been 

*  Sismondi;  Boscoe ;  Michaelis;  Pott;  Anderson,  GtneaXogia. 

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BOLAND.  361 

turned  into  Rowland,  wliich  thus  has  beccnne  a  favouritd 
national  Welsh  name. 

It  is  far  more  likely  that  ^  Rotlandus'  was  Frank,  but  the 
next  question  is,  what  were  the  d^eds  that  made  his  birth 
^(Hrth  ocmtending  for,  and  the  war  song  of  Ron  be  the  chant 
of  the  gallant  minstrel  Taillefer,  to  cheer  the  Normans  on  to 
their  victory  at  Hastings  ? 

Eginhard  is  utterly  silent.  Turpin  tells  us  that  Rolandus 
was  the  emperor's  nephew,  the  son  of  his  sister  Bertha,  and  of 
Milo  de  Anglars.  With  Turpin,  the  expedition  to  Spain  is  the 
prominent  feature  of  the  reign,  and  he  gives  us  an  account 
of  a  mingled  battle  and  controversy  between  Roland  and 
Ferragus,  a  giant  of  the  race  of  Goliath,  and  only  vulnerable 
in  one  point,  where,  however,  Roland  managed  to  pierce  him. 
Very  soon  after  follows  the  ambush  of  Roncesvalles,  the 
enemy  being  Saracens,  not  Christians,  but  conducted  by  the 
traitor  Granelon.  After  a  terrible  battle,  Roland  sorely 
wounded,  lay  down  under  a  tree,  and  apostrophizing  his  good 
sword  Ihirenda,  in  the  most  tender  manner,  thrice  struck  it 
upon  a  block  of  marble,  and  shattered  it  in  twain,  lest  it 
should  fall  into  Saracen  hands.  Then  he  blew  upon  his  horn, 
which  had  such  wondrous  tones  that  all  other  horns  split  at 
the  sound,  and  this  blast  was  with  such  effort  that  he  burst 
all  the  veins  in  his  neck,  and  the  sound  reached  the  king, 
eight  miles  off !  He  then  commended  his  soul  to  heaven,  and 
made  a  most  pious  and  beautiful  end. 

That  block  of  marble  is  magnified  by  popular  fame  into 
the  mountain  it6elf,  and  la  Brdche  de  Roland  is  supposed  to 
be  the  cleft  made  by  his  sword !  The  Northern  Lights,  too, 
are  said  to  be  King  Charles  riding  by,  and  Roland  bearing  the 
bannw.  The  Spaniards,  as  they  were  Christians  and  Teutons, 
felt  with  the  Franks;  as  they  were  Celtiberians,  against  them, 
and  the  result  was  a  collection  of  admirable  popular  ballads, 
all  prime  authorities  with  Don  Quixote^  in  which  il  rey  Carlos 
and  his  peers  are  treated  as  national  heroes.  Nevertheless  they 

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362  THE  EABLING  BOMANCES. 

are  proud  of  his  defeat  at  BoncesvalleSy  declare  that  die 
emperor  broke  his  word  to  Don  Alfonso,  of  Leon,  and  that 
the  attack  was  therefore  made  in  which  Don  Alfonso's 
nepheWy  Bernardo  de  Carpio  was  leader,  and  demolished  the 
invulnerable  Conde  Roldan,  by  squeezing  him  to  death  in  his 
arms,  an  end  rather  inconsistent  with 

'The  blast  of  that  dread  horn, 
On  Fontarabian  echoes  borne, 

That  to  King  Charles  did  come ; 
When  Roland  brave,  and  Olivier, 
And  every  paladin  and  peer, 

On  Boncesvalles  died.* 

It  is  the  Spaniards  alone  who  have  transferred  to  Roldan 
the  invulnerability  of  Achilles,  Siegfried,  and  Diarmaid ;  the 
French  and  Italians  bestow  it  only  on  Ferragus,  who  is,  as 
already  mentioned,  an  evident  Keltic  importation  through  the 
Breton  poets,  being  either  the  Irish  Fergus,  or  the  Welsh 
Yreichfras,  though  he  has  since  become  a  Moorish  giant. 

The  English,  having  their  own  Arthur  to  engage  their 
attention,  did  little  more  than  versify  Turpm,  but  allowed 
Koland's  sword  to  be  carried  away  by  his  friend  Sir  Bald- 
win, and  took  vengeance  for  his  death. 

*  Here  endeth  Otnel,  Roland,  and  Olyvere, 
And  of  the  twelve  dussypere, 
That  dieden  in  the  batayle  of  Roncy  Vale.' 

But  it  was  the  Italians  who  did  the  most  fo^  their  Orlando. 
Some  floatmg  Valkyr  notion  had  attached  itself  in  Grerman 
fancy  to  his  .mother,  who  was  at  first  Bertha  the  goose-footed, 
and  then  the  large  footed,  and  romance  further  related  that 
she  was  the  emperor's  sister,  who  had  secretly  married  the 
knight  Milone  di  Anglante,  and  therefore  was  driven  out  of 
the  court,  and  forced  to  take  refuge  in  a  cave,  where  the  hero 
was  bom,  and  was  called  Rotolando,  from  his  rolling  himself 

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EOLAND.  363 

on  the  grooncL  His  father  went  to  the  wars,  and  Berta  be- 
came the  diligent  spinner  before  alluded  to,  but  was  still  so 
poor  that  his  young  companions  each  gave  him  a  square  of 
cloth  to  cover  him,  two  white,  and  two  red,  whence  he  always 
bore  those  colours  quartered  on  his  shield.  There  is  a  pretty 
German  ballad,  describing  how  the  brave  boy  attracted  his 
uncle's  attention  by  carrying  off  a  dish  of  meat  &om  the 
emperor's  own  table  to  supply  his  mother's  needs.  After- 
wards he  was  taken  into  favour,  and  became  the  chief 
Paladin. 

Here  Luigi  Pulci  took  him  up,  and  made  him  the  hero  of 
a  poem  called  the  MorganU  Maggiore,  from  a  giant  whom 
Orlando  converted,  and  who  followed  him  faithfully  about 
through  all  his  adventures.  Orlando  is  here  a  high  spirited 
Christian  knight,  brave,  pious,  and  faithfully  attached  to  his 
wife  Alda.  When  slain  at  Roncesvalles,  he  mentions  her  in 
his  last  and  very  beautiful  prayer,  and  his  sorrow  for  his 
comrades,  and  parting  with  his  horse  and  sword,  are  very 
touching. 

It  was  Bojardo  who  deprived  Orlando  of  his  old  traditional 
character  of  the  high  minded  champion,  that  crusading  days 
had  dwelt  upon.  Led,  perhaps,  by  the  idea  of  the  frenzy  of 
Amadis  de  Gaul,  he  made  Orlando  fall  desperately  in  love 
with  the  fair  and  false  Angelica,  princess  of  Gatay,  and  leave 
the  court  and  all  his  duties  just  as  the  Saracen  king  Gradasso 
was  invading  France,  to  obtain  possession  of  Durindana, 
Orlando's  sword.  The  action  of  the  poem  is  taken  up  with 
the  adventures  imposed  upon  Orlando  by  the  mischievous 
beauty,  and  the  pursuit  of  him  by  the  other  Paladins,  and 
finally  it  leaves  off  with  the  whole  chivahry  of  Charlemagne 
besieged  in  Paris  by  the  Saracens. 

Orlando  was  only  innamorato  in  Bojardo's  hands ;  Ariosto 
took  him  up  and  made  him  furioso.  Continuing  the  poem 
where  it  had  dropped  from  Bojardo's  hands,  Ariosto  made 
Angelica  fall  in  love  with  an  obscure  youth,  and  marry  him, 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


3^4 


THE  EABLING  ROMANCES. 


whereupon  Orlando,  after  the  example  of  Amadis  de  Gaid, 
went  into  the  state  of  frenzy  that  Don  Quixote  tried  to  inu- 
tate,  and  the  Christians  suffered  as  much  as  the  Grreeks  did 
without  Achilles,  till  his  senses  were  brought  back  from  the 
moon,  when  he  returned  to  his  duty,  restored  fortune  to  the 
Christians,  and  saved  France  from  booming  tributary  to  the 
infidel. 

It  would  be  idle  to  speak  of  the  merits  or  demerits  of 
Ariosto's  poem,  but  it  is  worthy  of  observation  how  the  frivo- 
lous fancy  of  Italy  degraded  the  model  of  Christian  constancy 
into  the  mere  love-sick  swain — brave  and  victorious,  but 
denuded  of  all  the  patriotism  and  principle  that  had  made  his 
name  a  glorious  sound — so  current  in  Italy  that  it  is  a  com- 
mon proverb, — 


'  Molti  parlan  di  Orlando 
Ohi  non  videro  mai  sue  brando.' 


Charles  VIII.  of  France,  in  his  romantic  youth,  named 
one  of  his  short-lived  children,  Charles  Roland,  by  way  of 
union  of  the  two  heroes. 


English. 

Roland 
Rowland 

French. 
Roland 

Italian. 
Orlando 

Spanish. 
Roldan 

Portuguese. 

Rolando 
Roldao 

German. 
Roland 
Ruland 
Rudland 

Netherlands. 
Roeland 

The  derivation  of  the  first  syllable  is  the  word  hruod  in 
Frank,  hrothr  in  the  North,  and  in  modem  German  ruhsHj 
meaning  fame  or  glory,  the  very  same  which  we  before 
mentioned  as  perhaps  lying  at  the  root  of  the  title  of  the 
city  of  seven  hills  herself. 

Be  this  as  itmskj^hruod  is  a  most  prolific  word.  As  Hruod- 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


BOGEB.  ^6$ 

gar,  &moiis  spear,  it  figoree  in  the  NibdungenUed^  where  the 
Markgraf  Rudiger  is  the  special  friend  of  Dietrich,  and  for 
a  long  time,  like  him,  refrains  from  the  fray,  but  at  length 
plunging  into  it,  and  being  killed,  is  the  immediate  cause 
that  first  Dietrich's  nephew  and  then  himself,  were  drawn 
into  the  conflict. 

Put  on  its  own  account,  as  well  as  that  of  its  ccnnmence- 
ment,  does  Hruodgar  stand  in  the  Earling  cycle.  Buggiero 
is  the  hero  preferred  by  Ariosto  to  all  the  rest.  There  seems 
to  have  been  a  veritable  Hruodgar  living  in  the  time  of  Pepin, 
who  married  a  lady  whose  father's  name  was  Hector,  whence 
it  was  taken  for  granted  that  she  descended  from  Hector  of 
Troy,  and  thence  the  House  of  Este  were  said  to  bear  the 
white  eagle  in  their  coal  of  arms,  because  he  of  Troy  had  a 
shield  azure  with  a  silver  eagle !  Roger,  Olivier,  and  Roland 
are  mentioned  together  as  subjects  of  minstrel  songs,  and 
some  of  the  Nibelung  may  have  attached  to  him.  In  the  old 
romances  there  is  a  Ruggieri  de  Risa,  or  Reggio,  who  marries 
an  Amazon,  called  Ghdaciella,  but  is  soon  after  murdered,  and 
she  is  carried  off  by  sea  by  her  enemies,  whom,  however,  she 
manages  to  overpower  and  destroy  on  the  voyage,  but  only  to 
be  driven  to  a  c^rt  island,  where  she  dies  at  the  birth  of 
her  twins,  Ruggiero  and  Marfisa.  This  Ruggiero  is  he  of 
the  Italian  poets.  Bojardo  tells  how  he  was  bred  up  on  lion's 
marrow  by  the  enchanter  Atlante,  in  Africa,  and  when  his 
education  was  finished,  was  sent  to  France  with  the  wonderful 
hippogriff,  or  winged  horse.  And  Ariosto,  probably  in  com- 
pliment to  the  House  of  Este,  made  his  adventures  the  main 
plot  of  the  Orlando  Furioso,  and  completed  it  by  converting 
him  to  Christianity,  and  marrying  him  to  the  brave  and 
amiable  Amazon,  Bradamante. 

Bojardo  probably  adopted  Ruggiero  because  his  country 
was  Reggio,  a  country  with  which  the  name  had  become 
connected,  when  Roger  de  Hauteville  had  founded  the  king- 
dom of  Sicily,  and  Ruggero,  the  son  of  his  elder  brother, 

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366 


THE  EABUNG  ROMANCES. 


Robert  Gtiiscard,  had  been  count  of  Apulia.  These  were 
both,  of  course,  direct  from  the  northern  Hruodgeir,  as  was 
the  turbulent  Roger  de  Montgomery,  who  gave  so  much 
trouble  in  Normandy.  It  was  once  a  famous  knightly  name, 
but  is  now  too  much  discarded.  The  French  peasants'  pro- 
verb for  ^  there's  a  good  time  coming,'  is  ^  Roger  Bon  Tems,' 
but  I  suspect  this  to  be  caused  by  a  confusion  with  Holger 
Danske. 


English. 

Roger 
Hodge 

French. 
Roger 

Italian. 

Ruggiero 
Rogero 

Spanish. 
Rogerio 

German* 

Riidiger 
Roger 

Nor. 
Hrodgjer 
Raadgjer 

Netherlands. 

Rogier 

Rutger 

Bassian. 
Rozer 

^     Polish. 
Rydygier 

Lettish. 
Rekkerts 

Hrothgar  was  also  a  famed  name  among  the  Angles.  It 
appears  in  Beowulf,  as  the  chief  of  the  Scyldings,  the  son 
of  Healfdane.  There,  too,  are  found  Hrothmund  and  Hroth- 
wulf ;  and  the  northern  names  of  Hroar  and  Hrolfr  are  con- 
tractions of  these,  though  the  characters  they  belong  to  are 
not  the  same  as  those  in  Beowulf.  Hrolf  Krake  was  the  sub- 
ject of  a  northern  Saga;  and  the  father  of  our  Norman  kings, 
whom  we  are  wont  to  call  by  his  Latinism  of  Hollo,  formed 
fipom  the  French  stammer  of  Rou,  was  in  fact  Hrolf  Gangr, 
or  at  full  length,  Hrothulf,  the  wolf  of  fame.  A  name  of 
fame  and  terror  it  was,  when  the  mighty  man,  too  weighty 
for  steed  to  carry  him,  was  expelled  from  his  own  land,  and 
fought  for  a  home,  not  for  plunder,  among  the  fertile  orchards 
of  Neustria,  when  his  followers'  rude  homage  overthrew  the 
degenerate  Karling,  and  *  the  grisly  old  proselyte,'  in  his 
baptism,  assumed,  without  perhaps  knowing  of  the  similarity, 
the  French  Robert.  This  change  prevented  his  original  name 
from  being  very  prevalent  among  the  Normans ;  and  the  Ge^ 

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RODOLPH. 


367 


man  form^  Rudolf,  is  chiefly  from  a  sunted  Earling  prince^ 
mrho  was  bishop  of  Bourges,  and  from  whom  Rudolf,  of  Haps- 
burg  must  have  taken  it,  when  it  became  imperial,  and  other 
countries  receired  it  without  knowing  it,  for  their  old  firiend. 


English. 

Rodolph 
Rolf 

French. 

Rodolpbe 
Raoul 
Roul 
Rou 

Spanish. 
Rodulfo 

Italian. 

Rodolfo 
Ridolfo 

0 

Portugnese. 
Rodolpho 

German. 
Rudolf 

Bayarian. 
Ruedolf 

Frisian. 

Rulef 

Rulves 

Rotbolf 

Swiss. 
Ruedi 
Ruedeli 
Rudi 

Swedish. 

Rudolf 
Rolf 

Nor. 

Hruodulf 
Hrolfr 

Lettish. 
Roblope 

Hungarian. 
Rudolf 

The  name  assumed  by  Rolfr  at  his  baptism  was  Frank, 
rather  than  Northern,  inasmuch  as  Ijart  is  an  uncommon 
conclusion  among  his  natire  race.  Hruadperaht,  or  bright 
fame,  was  the  original  form,  the  property  of  a  bishop,  who 
somewhere  about  the  year  700  founded  the  first  Christian 
church  at  Wurms.  Honoured  alike  in  France  and  Germany, 
he  became  Ruprecht  in  the  latter,  and  Robert  in  the  former, 
lake  St.  Nicolas,  he  is  in  Germany  supposed  to  exercise  a 
secret  supervision  over  children  ;  in  some  places  KnecM 
Ruprecht  dispenses  Christmas  gifts,  but  he  more  often  keeps 
watch  over  naughty  children,  and  thus  answers  to  the  Eng- 
lish Robin  Gt)odfellow,  or  Hob  Goblin.  The  German  spirit, 
Biibezahl  is  probably  of  the  same  connection,  but  when  the 
countryfolk  wish  to  propitiate  him  they  call  him  ^  Herr  Jo- 
hannes,' and  near  Vienna  ^  Earl.'  In  Denmark,  Bohin  Q-od 
Jhreng  is  the  polite  name  for  the  ntsSy  or  water  spirit,  exactly 
answering  to  Robin  Goodfellow,  a  semi-human  goblin  or  df 

d  by  Google 


Digitized  b 


368  THE  KABLING  EOMANCES. 

in  the  old  English  ch^pbook,  thoB^  where  we  know  him  beeki 
in  MidMvmmer  NighPs  Dream^  Shakespeare  has  melted  him 
into  one  with  the  Keltic  ^n^A;,  or  fhoohay  the  pixie  of  Devon. 
It  was  probably  from  sound  that  so  many  i^  objects  were 
named  after  Robin:  the  Bobin  Redbreast,  Herb  Robert  {(hror 
nium  Jtobertianum)j  the  Ragged  Robin  or  Lycknis  Jlo$ 
euctdisy  and  the  Lychnis  dioicay  or  red  campion,  commonly 
called  robins.  These  latter  may  indeed  be  all  so  called  from 
their  similafity  to  the  original  Herb  Robert,  which  is  really 
sacred  to  St.  Ruprecht,  but  red  was  long  supposed  to  be  the 
origin  of  the  name,  which  some  made  Redbert,  or  luright 
speech,  others  Redbeard  !  The  German  form,  however,  dis- 
proves both  of  these,  and  Ruprecht  continued  in  honour  in  its 
own  country,  naming  in  especial  that  wise  Pfalgzraf  of  the 
Rhine,  who,  in  346  founded  the  university  of  Heidelberg ;  and 
on  the  deposition  of  the  crazy  Bohemian  Kaisar  Wenzel,  was 
elected  Emperor  of  Grermany,  and  reigned  for  nine  years  with 
great  success  and  glory.  It  was  after  him  that  the  infant, 
bom  at  Prague,  during  the  brief  greatness  of  the  Winter 
King,  received  that  name  of  Rupert,  which  was  so  terrible  to 
the  Roundheads,  but  which  for  die  most  part  they  translated 
by  their  native  Robert — ^native,  because  thoroughly  angli- 
cized, for  it  was  of  French  growth,  had  belonged  to  two  or 
three  saints,  and  to  the  hymn-writing  and  much  persecuted 
king  called  the  pious,  the  second  of  the  Capet  or  Parisian 
dynasty ;  but  after  the  son  of  St.  Louis  carried  it  off  to  the 
House  of  Bourbon,  it  scantily  appeared  among  the  royal 
fSftmily.  Normandy,  however,  cultivated  it  after  it  had  been 
chosen  at  the  baptism  of  her  first  duke,  and  sent  it  to 
Apulia  with  the  astute  Robert  Guiscard,  whence  Roberto 
became  national  in  the  Neapolitan  realms,  and  was  adopted 
by  the  Angevin  line,  among  others  by  the  king  who  patron- 
i^  Petrarch.  The  next  Duke  of  Nonnandy  who  bore  it 
was  that  wild  pilgrim,  whose  soubriquet  varies  between  the 
Devil  and  the  Magnificent.    The  disinheritance  of  his  equally 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


BOBEBT. 


3h 


wild,  bat  more  nnfortnnate  grandson,  of  the  court  house, 
diverted  it  from  the  English  throne,  but  a  flood  of  knights 
and  nobles  had  poured  in  and  established  it  so  completely, 
that  in  a  few  generations  more  Hob  was  one  of  the  estab- 
lished peasant  names  in  England.  Bobin  was  its  more 
gracious  contraction — ^let  our  dearly  beloved  archer  be  who 
he  will — either  as  ballad  tells,  the  outlawed  Earl  of  Hun- 
tingdon, or  as  late  critics  would  have  us  believe,  only  another 
manifestation  of  Bobin  Goodfellow,  or  of  the  wild  huntsman. 
Bobin  was  the  epithet  by  which  Queen  Elizabeth  was  wont 
to  address  the  two  earls,  stepfather  and  stepson,  who  so  long 
named  themselves  in  her  favour;  and  though  it  has  now 
acquired  a  homely  sound,  and  the  popularity  of  the  full 
name  has  somewhat  waned,  it  is  still  frequent.  To  ScotlaAd 
it  was  brought  by  the  Anglo-Norman  barons,  and  when  the 
English  Bruces  had  made  their  distant  drop  of  royal  Scot- 
tish blood  float  them  to  the  throne,  Bobert  the  Bruce  became 
a  passionately  beloved  national  hero,  and  his  name  one  of 
the  most  favoured  in  the  Lowlands.  In  Ireland  it  is  called 
Boibin,  a  gentleman  called  in  English  Bobin  Lawless  being 
in  Erse,  Boibin  Laighleis. 

It  has  been  fertile  in  surnames,  from  Bobertson  to  Hobbs, 
and  the  Welsh  Probert 


English. 
Bobert 
Bobin 
Hob 
Bob 
Bnpert 

Scotch. 

Bobert 
Bobin 
Bobbie 
Bab 

French. 

Bobert 

Bobers 

Bobin 

Bobinet 

Bnpert 

Italian. 

Boberto 
Buberto 
Bnperto 

Gennan. 
Hrnodebert 
Buprecht 
Bnpert 
Budbert 
Bobert    ^ 

Bayarian. 

Buprecht 
PrechU 

Slovak. 
Buprat 

Losatian. 
Huprecht 

VOL.  n. 


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370 


THE  KABLING  BOMANGES. 


Not  behindhand  in  glory  is  the  northern  Hrothrekr,  or 
Germanic  Hmoderich,  famous  ruler.  In  Gothic  Spain,  it 
was  indeed  Rodrigo,  who  lost  his  country  to  the  Moors,  but 
became  in  his  people's  minds  the  centre  for  pity  as  mnch  as 
for  blame,  and  the  subject  of  the  beautiM  legends  that 
Southey  has  embodied  in  the  finest  of  his  poems.  And  it 
was  Rodrigo  Diaz  de  Bivar,  *  Ruy  mi  Cid  Campeador'  who 
was  the  most  noble  and  most  beloved  of  all  Spanish  heroes, 
and  left  his  to  be  one  of  the  most  frequent  of  all  the  grand 
sounding  names  prefaced  by  Don,  and  Rodriguez  and  Ruiz 
to  be  very  common  surnames. 

The  northern  Hrothrekr  was  not  long  in  being  shortened  to 
Hrorekr,  and  thence  came  the  name  of  that  Norseman,  who, 
according  to  Russian  historians,  was  invited  by  the  Slaves  to 
be  their  protector,  and  founded  the  Norman  dynasty  of 
Ruric,  which  continued  on  the  throne  during  the  troubled 
days  of  Tartar  supremacy.  Roric  and  Godwald  were  the 
first  Northmen  to  obtain  fiefs  in  France.  In  Wales,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland,  Roderick  has  a  sort  of  false  honour,  being 
adopted  as  the  equivalent  of  the  native  Keltic  names,  the 
Welsh  Rhydderc,  and  the  Gadhaelic  Ruadh ;  for  Roy  and 
Rorie,  though  rightly  and  traditionally  so  called  by  their 
firiends,  would  now  all  make  Teutons  of  themselves,  and  use 
the  signature  of  Roderick. 


English. 
Roderick 

French. 
Rodrigue 

ItAh'an. 
Rodrigo 

Spanish. 

Rodrigo 
Ruy 

German. 
Roderich 

Nor. 
Rotbrekr 
Hrorek 

Russian. 
Rurik 

There  are  numerous  other  forms  from  this  prolific  source. 
Rother,  who  figures  in  Lombardic  history,  is  the  German 
Hruodhari,  or  famous  warrior,  and  in  the  North  divides  with 

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RADEGOND.  371 

Hrothgar  the  property  of  the  strange  abbreyiation.  Roar,  and 
in  the  harsh  old  Latinisms  of  Frank  names  is  Grotcharins. 

There  too  is  found  Ohrodovaldos,  which  in  German  was 
once  Hrodowald,  and  afterwards  Rudold,  perhaps,  too,  the 
Danish  and  Scottish  Jlibolt,  and  in  the  North  Boald,  and 
in  Italian  Roaldo,  the  fomider  of  an  order  of  monks.  Nay, 
Homeo  de'  Montecchi  himself ,  the  Montagae  of  Shakespeare, 
bore  a  common  Lombardic  name,  softened  down  firom  the 
Chrodomams  of  Frankish  Latin,  as  in  Germany  Hmotmar 
is  Budmar  and  Bomar.  Hromund,  or  Bomnnd,  m^t  not 
be  confxised  with  the  deriyatiyes  of  Bagin,  though  it  is  n^t 
likely  that  the  Irish  Redmond  is  a  Danish  legacy  from  this 
source. 


Nor.  Hrodbem — Famous  bear 

Frank.  Ohrodogang — Famous  progress 

Nor.  Hrothild ;  Ger.  Hrodhilde ;  Frank.  Ghrodehilda— 
Famous  heroine 

Ger.  Hrodfrid — Famous  peace 

G^r.  Hrodhard — Famous  strength 

Gter.  Hrudo;  Frank.  Ghrodo;  Nor.  Hroi — Fame 

Nor.  ELrodny — Famous  freshness 

Nor.  Hrollaug — Famous  liquor 

Nor.  Hrolleif — Relic  of  fame 

Nor.  Hrodsind;  Frank.  Ohrodoswintha — Famous  strength 

Ger.  Hrodstein— Famous  stone. 


Rued  must  haye  been  eyolyed  from  the  word  meaning 
speech,  razda  in  Gothic,  ra?(!(>  in  Anglo-Saxon,  whence  adyice 
became  rede  in  Old  English  and  Scottish,  and  rath  in  modem 
German. 

Bad  is  chiefly  a  Frankish  prefix,  though  we  had  one  king 
Bedwald.    Radegond,  or  war  council,  was  a  Frankish  queen 

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37  2  THE  EABLING  BOMANCES. 

who  became  a  nun  at  Poitiers,  and  left  a  name  still  used  hj 
French  girls  in  that  neighbourhood.  King  Ordofio  of  Gal- 
licia  married,  abont  the  year  910,  a  lady  recorded  as  Rade- 
gonda,  or  Arragonda,  or  Urraoa,  so  that  the  perplexing 
Urraca  may  possibly  be  a  contraction  of  this  name. 

Radegist  or  Raddchis,  and  Radegar,  were  princes  of  B^ie- 
ventmn.  Radbad,  the  Frisian  Rabbo,  and  Radbert,  seem  to 
be  Old  German  forms,  but  it  is  a  word  liable  to  be  confused 
with  kramny  and  with  rand^  and  though  a  common  masculine 
termination  in  England,  in  the  North  it  is  only  a  coxruption 
of  fredy  peace. 

Section  IV. — Bemud. 

To  the  French,  Renaud  de  Montauban  was  a  far  more 
popular  and  national  hero  than  even  Roland. 

His  name,  Raginwald  was  common  among  the  Franks,  and 
his  origin  is  suspected  to  be  an  Aquitanian  Rainaldus,  who 
in  843  was  killed  in  fighting  with  the  Bretons,  when  in  the 
miserable  days  of  Charles  the  Bald,  they  invaded  France 
under  Nominee,  and  were  joined  by  the  traitorous  Count 
Lambert. 

Charles  the  Bald,  as  has  been  said,  seems  to  have  sat  for 
the  picture  of  his  grandfather,  the  Bretons  turned  into  the 
Saracens,  Count  Lambert's  treachery  went  to  swell  the 
account  of  Gano,  and  Rinaldus  could  fall  at  Mans  quite  as 
well  as  at  Roncevaux !  The  fine  old  castle  of  Montauban, 
between  the  rivers  Garonne  and  Tarn,  seems  to  have  belonged 
to  him,  for  the  oldest  part  of  the  fortress  is  called  the  Tour 
de  Renaud,  though  the  present  building  was  not  begun  till 
1 144.  Froissart  tells  us,  however,  that  all  the  castles  in  the 
south  of  France  that  were  built  by  Renaud  de  Montauban, 
have  secret  passages  leading  to  the  open  country. 

He  is  just  mentioned  by  Turpin  as  among  the  knights  wbo 
accompanied  Charlemagne,  and  w^:e  killed  at  Roncesvallee ; 


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RENAUD.  373 

and  the  Spanish  ballads  dwell  mach  upon  the  exploits  of 
!Don  Reynaldos;  indeed  it  appears  that  he  enjoyed  Don 
Quixote's  special  admiration  for  haying  carried  off,  in  spite  of 
forty  Moors,  a  golden  image  of  Mahomet,  which  he  wanted 
to  pay  his  men ! 

Such  an  exploit  was  decidedly  in  the  line  of  the  French 
hero  Renaud,  or  Renault,  who  is  in  romance  a  sort  of  prince 
of  freebooters.  He  and  his  three  brothers  go  by  the  title  of 
the  Quatre  Fils  Aymon,  and  he  is  a  sort  of  chiyalrous  Robin 
Hood  to  the  French  mind,  insomuch  that  country  inns  may 
still  be  found  with  the  sign  of  the  Qtuitre  Fils  Aymon. 
Maugis,  the  great  enchanter,  who  answers  to  Merlin  in  this 
cycle  of  romance,  is  either  their  uncle  or  their  cousin.  In 
the  old  French  tale,  the  outlawry  of  Renaud  is  accounted  for 
by  his  having  been  insulted  by  the  emperor's  nephew  Ber- 
thelot,  while  playing  at  chess,  and  replying  with  a  blow  of 
the  golden  board  that  struck  out  the  offender's  brains.  He 
.  and  his  brothers  then  were  banished,  lired  a  fireebooting  life, 
built  the  castle  of  Montalban  in  Gascony,  the  king  of  which 
country  bestowed  on  him  in  marriage  his  daughter  Clarice, 
and  finally  went  on  pilgrimage,  made  his  peace  with  the 
emperor,  and  of  all  things  in  the  world,  turned  his  hand  to 
the  building  of  Cologne  Cathedral,  and  was  killed  there  by 
his  jealous  fellow  workmen. 

In  Italy  Rinaldo  became  a  wild,  high  spirited  Paladin, 
always  fighting  and  falling  in  love,  and  retaining  little  in 
common  with  his  French  original,  except  the  possession  of 
his  matchless  horse  Bayard,  or  Bajardo,  which  fought  as  well 
as  his  master,  and  on  his  loss  ran  wild  in  the  woods,  and  may 
be  living  still !  In  the  Morgardey  Rinaldo  mistrusts  Ghino, 
and  avoids  the  ambush  of  Roncesvalles,  but  is  afterwards 
carried  with  his  brother  Ricciardetto  by  two  devils,  to  revenge 
the  slaughter,  which  they  do  most  effectually. 

In  the  Orlando  Innamorato,  Rinaldo  is  at  first  ensnared  by 
Angelica's  beauty,  but  is  cured  by  drinking  unwittingly  of 

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374  ^™^  KABLIKG  BOMANCE& 

the  fountain  of  hate,  while  she  drank  of  the  fountwi  of  lore, 
and  was  enamoured  of  him.  He  is  carried  off  bj  Malagigi 
to  an  enchanted  island  of  delight,  bat  returns  during  the 
great  siege  of  Paris,  takes  a  counter  draught  of  the  fountain 
of  love,  fights  in  single  combat  with  Ferrau,  but  is  interrupted 
by  Bajardo  straying  into  a  wood,  whither  he  pursues  the  animal, 
and  is  there  deserted  by  Boiardo,  to  be  taken  up  by  Ariosto, 
and  after  many  adventures  brought  to  relieve  the  Christian 
army  in  the  utmost  danger,  and  to  give  his  sister  Bradamante 
in  marriage  to  Buggiero. 

Some  have  thought  that  Tasso's  one  fictitious  hero,  Rioaldo, 
was  partly  borrowed  from  the  Paladin,  going  as  he  does  to 
the  enchanted  gardens  of  Armida,  and  only  brought  back 
when  the  crusading  host  was  in  the  utmost  jeopardy.  The 
chief  mission  of  this  latter  Rinaldo  was,  however,  it  may  be 
suspected,  to  be  a  compliment  to  the  House  of  Este. 

Some  even  think  Roland  himself  only  another  version  of 
Ragenwald,  but  the  one  Paladin  is  undoubtedly  traceable  to 
Hruodland,  as  is  the  other  to  Bagenwald,  though  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  the  Bolandsaulen,  that  accompany  the 
Irminsaulen  at  the  gates  of  old  cities,  may  perhaps  be  rightly 
from  Raginwald,  or  judge,  power  of  judgment. 

The  Normans  received  this  name  fit)m  two  sources,  iht 
French  Begnaiilt  or  Benaud,  generally  from  the  Paladin, 
and  from  their  own  northern  Ragnwold  or  Bognwald.  So 
Domesday  has  it  in  various  forms,  as  Bagenald,  Reynald,  and 
Bainald,  the  latter  fourteen  times  after  the  Conquest ;  and 
amongst  them  all  we  have  derived  our  Christian  name  of 
Beginald,  and  the  surname  of  Beynolds.  The  Scots  took 
their  form  from  the  northern  Bognvald,  belonging  to  a  great 
Jarl  of  the  Orkneys,  a  noted  skald,  and  thus  obtained  Bonald, 
which  is  in  Gaelic  Baonmill. 

Bagn^  or  judgment,  the  leading  word  in  this  class  of 
names,  is  connected  with  the  Latin  rego^  to  rule,  and  as 
rectus  sprang  from  the  one,  so  the  Gothic  railUs  and  our  rigU 
arose  from  the  Teutonic  forms,  as  well  as  ^^^^^and  die 


BENAUD. 


375 


Gierman  rachej  yengeancey  both  from  the  old  idea  of  justice, 
jRofffif  though  primarily  meaning  justice^  is  also  used,  aa 
judgment  is,  in  the  sense  of  wisdom. 


English. 
Reginald 
Reynold 

Scottish. 

Ronald 
Ranald 

Gaelic. 
Raonmill 

Italian. 
Rinaldo 

Spanish. 
Reynaldos 

French. 

Regnaald 

Renand 

Regnault 

Gennan. 

Reinwald 
Reinald 

Polish. 
Raynold 

Esth. 
Rein 
Reino 

Lettbh. 
Reinis 

Frisian. 

Reinold 
Rennold 

Some  of  Renaud's  freebootmg  fame  may  have  come  from 
a  person  whose  name  so  closely  resembles  his  own,  that  it  is 
by  no  means  easy  to  distinguish  their  progeny;  namely, 
Raginhard,  or  firm  judge.  A  nobleman  of  this  name  was 
Count  of  the  Palace,  or  Pfalzgraf,  to  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  and 
engaged  in  a  conspiracy  against  him,  with  Bernard,  king  of 
Italy.  They  were  made  prisoners,  and  condemned;  the 
emperor  commuted  the  sentence  to  the  loss  of  their  sight ;  but 
his  wife,  who  wanted  Bernard's  inheritance,  took  care  that  so 
savage  a  person  was  sent  to  perform  the  operation  that  they 
both  died  in  consequence. 

Another  R^inard  is  said  by  Le  Grand  to  have  been  a 
cunning  politician,  who  lived  in  Austrasia  in  the  ninth 
century,  and  much  troubled  his  lord  by  sometimes  taking  part 
with  the  Germans,  sometimes  with  the  French,  by  which 
means  he  became  so  much  detested  that  he  was  the  subject  of 
many  songs  in  which  he  was  called  the  Little  Fox.  At  any 
rate,  in  the  great  animal  epic  the  fox  has  taken  the  name  of 
Reinart,  or  Reinecke  Fuchs,  and  as  early  as  13 13,  when  the 
sons  of  the  wily  Philippe  le  Bel  were  knighted,  the  edifying 
spectacle  was  represented  before  them  of  the  life  of>Reni 

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37^ 


THE  EARLING  ROMANCES. 


the  Fox,  who  became  successively  physician,  clerk,  bishop, 
archbishop,  and  pope,  eating  however  hens  and  chickens  all 
the  while,  much  after  the  fashion  of  their  father^s  unhappy 
tool  at  Avignon.  Renard  has  thus  become  the  absolute  name 
of  the  animal  in  France,  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  the  an- 
cient golpe,  and  in  England  Reynard  is  his  universal  epithet. 
It  was  not  however  confined  to  the  creature,  but  was  once 
prevalent  among  the  human  kind. 


English. 
Reynard 

French. 

Regnard 
Renart 

Provencal. 
Rainart 

Rainardo 

German. 

Raginhart 

Reinhard 

Reineke 

Renke 

Renz 

Frisian. 
Renert 
Rennert 
Rinnart 
Rienit 

Polish. 
Raynard 

Hungarian. 
Reinhard 

Another  old  Frankish  form  is  Raginmund,  much  in  use  in 
southern  France,  where  there  was  a  long  line  of  counts  of 
Toulouse,  called  Raymond,  one  of  whom  was  celebrated  by 
Tasso  in  the  first  Crusade  as  a  gallant  knight,  but  the  last  of 
whom,  Raymond  Berenger,  one  of  the  earliest  examples  of 
double  names,  went  down  before  the  sword  of  the  first  Simon 
de  Montford,  as  a  supporter  of  the  Albigenses.  The  counts 
of  Barcelona,  in  Spain,  bore  the  like  name,  and  the  old  Ro- 
manesque territories  are  still  its  usual  home. 


English. 
Raymond 

Provencal. 
Raimons 

Italian. 
Raimondo 

German. 

Reinmund 
Reimund 

French. 
Raimond 

Spanish. 
Ramon 

Terrible  to  us,  but  glorious  to  Denmark,  was  the  name  of 
Ragnar.    Once  we  had  it  peacefully  in  East  Anglia,  as  Ragin- 

Digitized  by  VjOO^IC 


RAGNAR  377 

here,  the  warrior  of  judgment,  but  in  that  same  East  Anglia 
it  was  to  ha7e  a  deadly  fame.  The  historical  Ragnar  seems 
to  have  been  decorated  with  a  few  mythical  exploits  of  some 
more  ancient  hero,  for  he  is  one  of  the  dragon  killers.  His 
first  wife,  Thyra,  had  her  bower  encircled  by  a  deadly  poisonous 
serpent,  the  ravager  of  the  whole  country,  until  he  won  her 
hand  by  the  slaughter  of  the  serpent,  having  guarded  him- 
self from  its  venom  by  a  suit  of  hairy  garments  covered  with 
pitch,  whence  he  obtained  the  soubriquet  of  Lodbrog.  After- 
wards he  married  a  poor  but  beautiful  maiden  called  Krake, 
who,  after  she  had  borne  him  four  sons,  disclosed  that  she  was 
the  last  of  the  Wolsungen,  the  daughter  of  Sigurd  and  Bryn- 
hild.  Nay,  Icelandic  families  connect  themselves  through 
her  with  the  heroes  of  Wurms  !  And  after  this  it  is  strange 
to  find  Jarl  Ragnar  sailing  up  the  Seine,  and  ravaging  Paris, 
in  the  days  of  Charles  the  Bald,  being  in  fact  the  Agramante 
of  the  poets.  Here  again  he  is  the  cause  of  bitter  woe  to 
England,  falling  into  the  hands  of  King  -ffiUa  of  Northumbria, 
and  being  put  to  death  by  being  thrown  into  a  pit  filled  with 
vipers,  where,  till  his  last  breath  he  chanted  the  grand  death 
song  that  is  worthy  to  stand  beside  the  dirge  of  King  Eric 
Blodaze.  It  was  revenge  for  his  death  that  brought  his 
fierce  sons  with  that  dire  armament  which  ravaged  England 
— the  invasion  that  was  fatal  to  Edmund  of  East  Anglia, 
ruined  the  great  abbeys  of  the  fens,  and  though  finally 
mastered  by  Alfred,  made  the  north  of  England  Danish. 
This  name  of  dread  was  brought  to  Normandy  by  his  kin- 
dred, and  figures  in  Domesday  as  Raynar,  a  frequent  surname 
in  England.  In  France  it  was  cut  down  to  Rene,  a  name 
that  crept  into  the  House  of  Anjou,  and  was  bestowed  on  the 
prince— too  much  of  a  troubadour  and  knight  errant  for  a  king 
— who  vainly  tried  on  so  many  crowns,  and  was  hated  in 
England  because  ^  Sufiblk  gave  two  dukedoms  for  his  daugh- 
ter.^ Why  the  feminine  of  this  name,  Renfee,  was  chosen  for 
the  younger  daughter  of  Louis  XH.,  does  not  appear,  but 

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378 


THE  EABLING  B0MAKCE8. 


irhen  she  married  into  the  House  of  Este^  it  was  translated 
into  Renata,  and  the  Italians,  in  their  revived  classicaUamy 
seem  to  have  fancied  it  had  some  connection  with  r^neration. 
Her  friendship  for  Calvin,  and  endeavours  to  protect  the 
Huguenots  from  her  terriUe  son-in-law  of  Guise,  rendered 
hers  rather  a  favourite  name  with  the  French  Calvinists — 
a  very  remote  descent  from  the  terrible  viking.  Benira  is 
the  Dutch  feminine  form. 


English. 

Rayner 
Rainer 

French. 
Reignier 
Renier 

Proven^aL 
Raynier 

German. 
Reiner 

Italian. 

Renato 
Ranieri 

Nor. 
Ragnar 

Bagmmar,  great  judgment,  still  exists  in  Grermanj,  as 
Reinmar,  or  Reimar,  and  is  the  most  probable  origin  of  the 
Ramiro,  so  frequent  among  the  early  kings  of  the  small 
struggling  Pyrenean  realms. 

Ragnhild,  a  favourite  with  old  Norwegian  dames,  has  be- 
come in  Lapp,  Ranna. 

The  German  contraction  rein  has  been  often  translated  into 
pure,  but  this  is  an  error,  as  these  names  can  almost  uniformly 
be  traced  back  to  ragn. 

The  remaining  forms  are — 


German.               English. 

Ragnfrid,  m.     Renfred,  h. 
Ragnfrida,  p. 

y  Judgment  of 

peace 

Nor. 

Ragnfrid,  f.  \ 

Ragnrid,  p. 
Randid,  p. 

Fair  judgment 

Randiy  p.      J 

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EICHARD.  379 


Rambauld 

Prince  of  judgment 


} 


Ger.  Prov. 

Ragiobald 
Reinbold 
Reobold 
Rembald 

Ger.  Reginbrecht,  Reinbert — Splendour  of  judgment 
Nor.  Ragenheid — Wise  impulse 
Ger.  Reinger — Spear  of  judgment 
Nor.  Reginleif — Relic  of  judgment 
German.  Frisian. 

Raginward         Remward 

Rein  ward  Ren  ward      ^  Guardian  of  judgment. 

Remma 


} 


And  lastly  Regina,  called  in  Bavaria  Beigl  and  Regl,  was 
originally  less  the  Latin  queen  than  the  feminine  of  ragn. 
Nor  in  effect  is  the  meaning  far  apart.^ 

Section  V. — Richard. 
• 

Richard,  or  Richardet,  was  one  of  the  Quatre  Filz 
d^Aymon,  who,  according  to  one  version,  was  the  person 
who  gave  the  fatal  blow  with  the  chess-board,  instead  of 
Benaud.  He  is  not  a  very  interesting  personage,  being 
rather  the  attendant  knight  than  the  prime  hero,  the  rescued, 
not  the  rescuer ;  but  under  his  Italian  name  of  Ricciardetto, 
he  has  a  whole  poem  to  himself,  written  by  a  secretary  of 
the  Propaganda,  who  afterwards  broke  his  heart  at  not  being 
made  a  cardinal.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  mere  scurrilous  satire 
upon  friars,  and  was  the  lowest  depth  to  which  romantic 
poetry  fell. 

It  was  not  to  this  Paladin  that  his  name  owed  its  fre- 
quency, but  to  Ricehard,  or  stem  king,  an  Anglo-Saxon 

*  Boscoe,  Bqjardo  and  Arioito;  Sismondi,  HUtoire  de  France  ;  Mallei; 
Northern  Antiquities  ;  Spaniih  Balladi, 

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jSo 


THE  KARLING  ROMANCES. 


monarch  of  Kent,  who  left  his  throne  to  become  a  monk 
at  Lucca,  and  was  there  said  to  have  wrought  many  miracles. 
The  Normans  must  have  had  some  connection  with  Lucca, 
as  it  may  be  remembered  the  Holy  Face  of  Lucca  was 
William  Rufus's  favourite  oath, — ^for  the  third  of  their  dukes 
bore  the  name,  and  transmitted  it  to  two  successors,  whence 
we  obtained  as  many  as  twenty  Richards  at  the  Conquest, 
and  have  used  it  as  a  favourite  national  name  ever  since. 
Two  more  saints  bore  it,  the  excellent  bishop  of  Chichester, 
and  a  hermit,  who  was  made  bishop  of  Andria,  in  Apulia. 
Three  times  has  it  been  on  the  throne,  though  finally  dis- 
carded by  royalty  after  the  enormities  imputed  to  the  last 
Plantagenet ;  and  latterly  it  has  lost  a  little  of  ite  popu- 
larity, though  never  entirely  disused. 


EngUsh. 
Richard 
Ritchie  (Scot) 
Diccon 
Dick 

French. 
Richard 

Italian. 
Riccardo 
Kicciardo 
Kicciardetto 

NetheilandB. 

Rijkert 
Riikard     . 
Kiik 

Portuguese. 
Ricardo 

Pob'sh. 
Ryszard 

The  leading  syllable  is  from  the  same  source  as  ragn; 
it  is  he  who  executes  judgment,  the  ruler  or  king,  the  same 
word  as  the  Lidian  rajahy  and  the  Latin  rex.  It  was  re€cs 
in  Gothic,  rich  in  Old  German,  ryce  in  Anglo-Saxon ;  and 
its  derivative  reich  was  the  origin  of  the  Neustria  and 
Austrasia,  the  oster  reich  and  ne  oster  reichy  eastern  and  not 
eastern,  realms,  of  the  Franks,  and  of  the  present  Austria  or 
eastern  kingdom.  Reich  is  the  home  term  for  the  German 
empire  at  the  present  day.  Our  adjective  rich  is  its  sordid 
offspring,  and  in  France  a  wealthy  peasant  is  un  richart. 

Rik  is  more  in  vogue  as  a  Gothic  and  Frank  commence- 
ment than  among  most  of  the  other  Teutons,  though  all  use 

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BICHABD. 


381 


it  aB  a  conclusion.  Richard  is  its  only  mdyersal  name ;  but 
among  the  first  foes  of  the  Romans,  we  find  among  the 
Saeviy  Rechiarius,  who  is  the  same  with  the  German  Richer, 
or  kingly  warrior,  and  the  French  saint,  Riquier.  Ricimar, 
the  name  of  the  terrible  Goth  who  for  a  short  time  held  Rome, 
is  the  great  king,  and  was  the  maker  and  dethroner  of  the  four 
last  Augnsti;  and  his  namesakes,  Ricimer  and  Jlechimiro,  ap- 
pear in  Spain,  and  may,  perhaps,  be  the  right  source  of  Ramiro. 
Recared,  Richila,  Riciburga,  are  also  Gothic. 

The  Franks  show  Rigonthe,  or  royal  war,  a  daughter  of 
Fredegonda ;  Rictrude,  a  saint,  as  well  as  Richilde,  also  a 
queenly  name,  which  continued  for  some  time  in  use,  and  is 
better  than  the  Richenza  and  Richarda,  sometimes  used  in 
England  as  the  feminines  of  Richard.  Richolf  endures  in 
Friesland  as  Rycolf,  Ryklof  or  Rickel,  and  Germany  once 
had  Ricbert. 

One  great  name  of  this  derivation  is  the  northern  Eirik. 
The  first  syllable  is  that  which  we  call  aye  to  the  present 
day,  the  word  that  lies  at  the  root  of  the  Latin  cptrnm,  the 
German  ewigy  and  our  own  ever.  Ei-rik  is  thus  Ever  King. 
An  ancient  Eirik  was  said  to  have  been  admitted  among  the 
gods,  and  Earic  was  the  second  name  of  ^sc,  the  son  of 
Henghist ;  but  it  was  the  northern  people  who  really  used 
Eirik,  which  comes  over  and  over  in  the  line  of  succession  of 
all  the  Northern  sovereignties,  figures  in  their  ballads,  and, 
in  the  person  of  King  Eirik  Blodaxe,  is  connected  with  their 
finest  poetry.  In  the  present  day  it  is  scarcely  less  popular 
than  in  old  times,  and  has  the  feminine  Eirika. 


English. 
Erie 

FreQoh. 
Eric 

German. 
Erich 

Nor. 
Eirik 

Swedish. 
Erik 

Polish. 
Eryk 

Slovak. 

Erih 
Areh 

Lettish. 
Erik 

Esth. 
Erik 
Eers 

Lapp. 
Keira 

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382  THE  KARUNG  ROMANCES. 

Two  other  names  of  the  North  have  the  same  commence- 
ment, Eimmid,  ever  protecting,  or  eternal  guard,  commonly 
called  Emund,  and  Eilif,  the  ever-living,  answering  to  the 
Greek  Ambrosios.  Eilif  is  also  written  Eiliv,  EUiv,  Ellef, 
and  even  Elof,  and  latinized  in  Elavus.^ 


Section  YI.—'Astolfo. 

Astolfo  is  to  the  Paladins  what  Conan  is  to  the  Feen,  the 
butt  or  grazioso.  In  his  full-blown  perfection  he  is  first 
cousin  to  Orlando,  being  the  son  of  Milone's  brother  Ottone, 
and  was  also  related  to  Rinaldo,  according  to  the  quaint 
genealogies  of  the  chivalrous  heroes  that  exact  heraldry  loved 
to  draw  up.  He  joined  the  four  sons  of  Aymon,  when  they 
left  the  court  after  the  quarrel  at  chess,  and  joined  in  their 
wild  exploits;  but  apparently  permitted  no  meaner  inter- 
lopers in  the  trade,  for  when  he  caught  a  party  of  robbers, 
he  insisted  on  some  unfortunate  hermits  being  their  execu- 
tioners, declaring  such  an  office  was  quite  as  pleasing  to 
Heaven,  *  che  dire  il  pater  nostro^  and  finally  pummelling 
them  into  compliance.  In  Bojardo,  Astolfo  gains  possession 
of  a  magic  lance,  brought  by  Angelica  fix)m  Catay,  which 
unhorsed  all  its  antagonists,  and  secure  in  its  aid,  refused 
when  he  was  required  to  deliver  up  to  Gradasso,  Bajardo 
and  Durindana,  which  had  been  left  in  his  charge  while  their 
masters  were  wandering  after  Angelica,  but  challenged  (3ra- 
dasso  to  single  combat,  defeated  him,  and  then  went  in  search 
of  his  cousins.  Ariosto  conducts  him  into  the  enchanted 
palace,  where  every  one  was  pursuing  something  lost; 
Rinaldo  his  horse,  Bradamante  Ruggero,  Ruggero  Brada- 
mante. 

One  blast  of  Astolfo's  horn,  also  magical,  destroyed  the 
enchantment,  and  he  became  possessed  for  the  time  of  the 

*  BoBcoe;  Munch;  Butler;  Miohaelis. 

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ASTOLFO.  383 

Hippogriff,  upon  whom  he  soared  to  the  terrestrial  paradise, 
and  was  conducted  by  St.  John  to  the  moon,  where  he  ob- 
tained possession  of  Orlando's  senses,  and  restored  them  to 
him.  The  later  writers,  who  added  to  the  burlesque  ele- 
ment and  diminished  the  chivalrous,  made  more  and  more  of 
Astolfo's  boastfulness,  till  he  is  quite  the  buffoon  of  their 
poems.  He  was  finally  killed  at  Roncesvalles ;  and  the 
Spaniards  call  him  Don  Estolfo. 

The  person  killed  with  Rotlandus  is  called,  by  Eginhard, 
Anselmus,  and  he,  no  doubt,  contributed  in  the  idea  of  the 
Astolfus,  Count  of  Champagne,  whose  burial  after  the  battle 
is  recorded  by  Archbishop  Turpin.  But  the  real  bearer  of  the 
name  of  Astolfo  was  one  of  the  enemies  of  the  Earlings,  and 
of  the  House  of  Este,  namely,  Astolfo,  king  of  the  Lombards, 
who  held  his  court  at  Pavia,  and  whose  encroachments  on 
the  Roman  territory  were  the  first  cause  of  the  interference 
of  the  Franks  in  Italy.  He  was  besieged  by  Pepin  at  Pavia 
in  755,  and  forced  to  come  to  terms ;  but  he  was  evidently  a 
very  considerable  sovereign ;  and  Ernesto,  Marchese  d'Este, 
was  killed  in  battle  with  him  in  745.  His  promotion  to  be 
a  Paladin  is  accounted  for  by  his  having  been  a  Christian, 
and  the  character  he  bears,  by  the  possibility  of  there  having 
been  satirical  songs  and  poems  upon  him,  especially  at  the 
time  when  Charlemagne  ill-treated  his  granddaughter,  De- 
sirata.  Astolfo  is  still  a  current  name  in  Lombardy,  though 
we  do  not  find  it  anywhere  else,  and  its  congeners  only  in 
Scandinavia. 

The  meaning  of  the  last  syllable  is,  of  course,  wolf;  the 
first  is  oast  or  ast^  love  or  wishes,  or  if  the  sense  of  hot 
impetuosity  be  allowed,  Astolf  is  the  swift  wolf.  Aasta  was 
rather  a  favourite  name  with  the  maidens  of  the  North,  and 
as  Asta  is  not  disused,  though  too  often  treated  as  the  short 
for  Augusta. 

Astridur  is  from  hridhvr^  an  impulse,  and  thus  would  mean 
swift  impulse,  or  the  impulse  of  love.    It  was  greatly  used  by 

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384  THE  EABLING  BOMANCES. 

the  royal  ladies  of  the  North,  among  whom  may  be  specified 
the  mother  of  St.  Olaf,  and  a  daughter  of  Knut,  called  by 
Danish  pronunciation,  Estridh,  but  transmuted  into  Margaret 
The  diminutive  of  Ast,  under  various  mispronimciations, 
named  that  most  terrible  of  vikings,  Hasting,  whose  ravages, 
though  kept  from  England  by  the  policy  originated  by  Alfred, 
were  fearful  all  along  the  French  coast,  and  even  extended  to 
Italy.  It  is  he  who  is  said  to  haVe  many  times  submitted  to 
baptism,  and  then  returned  to  his  fury  again ;  and  there  is  a 
curious  report,  that  RoUo's  Normans  found  him  settled  in 
France,  and  reproached  him  with  the  tameness  of  his  old 
age,  so  that  he  dashed  away  again,  and  returned  to  his  ships 
and  his  piracy.  Hastinc  occurs  in  Domesday,  and  Warren 
Hastings'  family  claimed  descent  from  the  old  Sea  King.* 

Section  VH. — Ogier  le  Danais. 

One  of  the  Paladins  was,  undoubtedly  the  legacy  of  a 
much  more  ancient  myth,  namely,  Ogier  le  Danois.  He  does 
not  play  a  very  prominent  part  in  the  poems  of  the  Italians, 
but  as  Ogier  the  Dacian  he  is  one  of  Turpin's  catalogue  of 
knights,  and  a  ballad  especially  dear  to  Don  Quixote  thus 
commences : — 

*  De  Mantua  sale  el  Marques, 
Danes  Urgel  el  leal., 

It  proceeds  to  tell  how  he  found  Valdovinos,  his  nephew, 
dying  under  a  tree,  having  been  assassinated  by  the  emperor's 
son,  Carloto,  and  making  a  long  speech,  which  Don  Quixote 
rehearsed  the  first  time  he  found  himself  in  a  similar  condi- 
tion. Also,  how  el  Marques  proceeds  to  court,  gets  Carloto 
tried  by  his  peers  and  sentenced  to  death,  and  though  el  Bey 
Garb  banishes  them  all  for  the  condemnation,  sees  it  carried 
out. 

*  Boscoe;  Sismondi;  Munch;  Michselis;  Hittoire  de  Normandie, 

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OGIEB  LE  DANOIS.  385 

This  Italian  marquis  is  an  exceedingly  droll  deyelopment 
of  the  old  Teutonic  hero,  Holger  Dan^e.  In  Italy  he  is 
Oggieri,  Oggero,  or  Uggieri,  il  Danese;  in  French,  Ogier 
le  Danois ;  and,  at  times,  le  damnS,  or  il  dannaiOj  which  title 
is  farther  accounted  for  by  the  story  that  he  was  a  Saracen 
who  became  a  Christian,  and  that  his  friends  wrote  from  home 
^iHes  damni^  whence  he  chose  to  be  thus  christened.  In 
the  ReaU  de  Francia^  Charlemagne  cuts  off,  with  his  own 
hand,  the  head  of  an  mifortnnate  Oldrigi,  whose  blood  was 
too  noble  to  be  shed  by  anyone  else.  Now  this  Oggier  was 
without  doubt  a  contribution  from  the  stores  of  Norman  tra- 
dition, for  Holger,  or  Olger,  Danske  is  the  grandest  national 
hero  of  Denmark.  There  is  a  ballad,  given  by  Weber,  where 
he  and  Tidrek  the  Strong  have  a  tremendous  battle,  and  he 
comes  off  victor.  Moreover,  he  has  eaten  of  the  fruit  of  the 
trees  of  the  sun  and  moon,  and  has  become  immortal,  and 
there  he  sits  with  his  fellows  in  the  vaults  of  the  Caslle  of 
Kronberg,  near  which  are  two  ponds,  called  his  spectacles. 
A  peasant,  with  a  ploughshare  on  his  shoulder,  once  lost  his 
way,  and  wandered  in ;  he  found  a  circle  of  tall  old  men  in 
armour,  all  asleep  round  a  stone  table,  with  tiieir  heads 
resting  on  their  crossed  arms.  Holger  Danske,  who  sat  at 
the  head  of  the  table,  raised  his  head  and  tiie  stone  broke 
asunder,  for  it  had  grown  into  the  stone.  He  asked  his 
guest  some  questions  about  the  upper  world  and  dismissed 
him,  offering  his  hand.  The  peasant,  dreading  the  gigantic 
grip  of  the  old  champion,  gave  his  ploughshare.  ^  Ha !  ha ! ' 
said  Holger,  as  he  felt  its  firmness,  ^  it  is  well.  There  are  still 
men  in  Denmark.  Tell  them  that  we  shall  come  back  when 
there  are  no  more  men  left  than  can  stand  round  one  tun ! ' 
But  the  ploughshare  had  been  twisted  round  in  his  fingers. 
Can  this  return  of  Holger  be  the  Bogw  Bon  Temps  of  the 
French  peasantry  ? 

But  Holger,  though  I  have  placed  him  among  the  Paladins, 
might  have  gone  even  farther  back  than  the  days  of  Dietrich. 

yoL.  n.  00 

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386  THE  KABUNG  ROMANCES. 

He  is  a  mythical  king,  well-nigh  a  god,  originally  called 
Haaloge,  and  owning,  as  his  sacred  island,  HaalogiJand,  or 
Heligoland. 

His  name  itself  is  holtfj  our  very  word  holff — ^the  halig  of 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  the  hellig  of  the  North,  the  heQig  of  Ger- 
many, and  these  words  sprang  from  those  denoting  health; 
as  the  Latin  salvej  hail,  salvusy  safe,  and  satvoHo^  safety,  are 
all  related  to  soundness. 

Leaving  this,  as  not  belonging  to  our  main  subject,  we 
find  that  Helgi,  the  Norse  form  of  the  word  for  this  holy  old 
mythic  king,  was  exceedingly  popular  in  the  North.  Hdgi 
has  a  poem  to  himself  in  the  elder  Udda.  Forty-two 
cases  of  Helgi  are  found  in  the  Landnama-bok^  and  thirty- 
four  of  its  feminine,  Helga;  and  a  son  of  Burnt  Njal 
was  Helgi.  Li  Domesday  there  are  five  called  Helgi,  besides 
fourteen  Algars,  very  possibly  meant  for  Holger ;  and  it  may 
be  suspected  that  the  Helie  of  the  early  Norman  barons  may 
have  been  as  much  due  to  the  Helgi  of  their  forefathers  as  to 
the  prophet  whom  they  learnt  to  know  on  Mount  CarmeL 
Perhaps,  too,  Helga  was  the  source  of  Ala,  or  Ela,  by  which 
a  good  many  Norman  ladies  are  recorded,  the  best  known  of 
whom  was  Ela,  heiress  of  Salisbury,  the  wife  of  one  William 
Longsword  and  mother  of  the  other,  one  of  the  founders  of 
Salisbury  Cathedral,  and  the  witness  of  a  vision  of  her  son's 
death  in  Egypt. 

Helgi's  descendants  towards  the  East  are  far  more  certain 
matters.  Helgi,  called  Oleg  by  the  Russian  historians,  was 
the  son  of  Rurik,  the  first  Norman  grand  prince  of  Kief,  and 
his  daughter,  Olga,  visited  Constantinople,  and  was  there  bap- 
tized by  the  name  of  Helena,  which  makes  the  Russians  sup- 
pose her  two  names  to  translate  one  another ;  but  they  have 
fortunately  not  discarded  either  Oleg  or  Olga,  which  thus 
remain  mementoes  of  the  northern  dynasty  among  the  very 
scanty  number  of  Russian  names  that  are  neither  Greek  nor 
Slavonic. 


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LOUIS.  387 

In  its  own  country  Helgi  gets  contracted  into  Helle,  and 
Helga  into  Hsege.* 


Sbotion  VnL— i(w«. 

With  the  throne  of  the  Franks,  the  Earlingen  took  their 
fayonrite  prefix  of  the  old  Salic  line.  Mod. 

This  word,  the  same  in  root  as  the  Sanscrit  fru^  Greek 
icXiktf,  (kluo,)  Latin  duo,  Anglo-Saxon  hlowan,  may  possibly 
have  been  originated  by\he  cow,  to  whose  voice,  in  our  own 
language,  the  verb  tolowia  now  restricted;  all  mean  to  make 
a  noise ;  and  the  dignity  of  that  noise  increased,  for  kXvto9 
(klutos)  was  Greek  for  renowned,  kXcos,  fame,  as  we  saw  when 
dealing  with  Cleomenes,  Cleopatra,  &c. ;  and  in  Latin,  clueOj 
was  to  be  famous,  clientes  or  callers  beset  the  honoured  man, 
and  laus  was  praise  or  fame ;  and  so  not  only  have  we  hvd  in 
English,  lyde  in  the  North,  for  the  ordinaijy  adjective,  but 
Jdod  or  hlvd  was  the  old  German  term  for  renown,  the  los  for 
which  French  knights  afterwards  fought  and  bled,  and  a 
score  of  other  words,  less  relevant  to  our  purpose,  will  easily 
suggest  themselves  as  current  in  every  European  tongue, 
first  cousin  words  firom  laus  or  firom  hlod. 

The  rough  aspirate  at  the  beginning  was  once  an  essential 
portion  of  the  word,  and  among  the  Franks  it  must  have 
been  especially  harsh,  since  their  contemporary  Latinists 
always  render  it  by  ch. 

Chlodio,  as  they  call  him,  is  numbered  as  the  second  of 
the  long-haired  Salians,  the  father  of  *  Meroveus,'  and  leader 
of  the  incursions  of  the  Franks  about  428.  His  grandson 
married  the  Burgundian  maiden,  called  by  the  Valkyr  title  of 
Hlodhild,  or  Chlodechilda,  as  the  Latin  civilization  of  her  day 
called  her,  when  it  hailed  her  with  delight  as  the  converter  of 

•  Munch;  Botooe;  Eeightl^;  Manyftt,  JiOJoiid. 

0  0  ioogle 


388  THE  EABUNG  BOMANCES. 

her  hosband  to  Christianity.  Although  canonized^hername was 
not  in  great  use  for  agood  many  generations,  and  to  this  she 
probably  owes  it  that  when  it  was  revived  as  belonging  to  a  royal 
saint,  for  the  benefit  of  the  daughter  of  the  good  daaphin, 
son  of  Louis  XY.,  it  had  not  been  shorn  of  its  aspirate  like  all 
the  cognate  ones.  It  has  since  become  a  favourite  with 
French  ladies. 


French. 
Clotilda 

ItaliAii. 
Clotilda 

German. 
Klothilde 

The  husband  of  Clotilda  was  known  to  his  own  fierce 
Franks  as  Hluodoveh,  or  famous  holiness,  or  consecration ; 
but  when  his  success  after  his  prayer  to  Ihe  god  of  Hluodhild 
had  brought  him  to  abjure  his  Teuton  gods,  and  receive  bap- 
tism from  St.  Remi,  the  pope  accepted  the  only  orthodox 
sovereign  of  Europe  as  most  Christian  king  and  eldest  s<m  of 
the  Church  by  the  appellation  of  Chlodovisus ;  and  round 
Clovis,  the  re-translation  into  French,  clustered  the  French 
legends  of  the  angel  who  bade  him  change  the  toads  upcm  his 
shield  into  the  emblematic  iris  or  fleur-de-lys  of  the  hdy 
dove  that  brought  the  ampulla  of  celestial  oil  to  Rheims  for 
his  coronation,  and  all  those  of  his  successors,  and  of  the 
cast  of  his  axe  which  determined  the  length  of  the  cathedral 
of  Notre  Dame. 

A  monarch  of  whom  such  tales  were  told  was  sure  to  have 
namesakes,  and  among  his  successors  were  found  many  a/oi- 
nicmt  who  had  nothing  of  him  but  his  prefix  and  his  long 
hair,  and  one  who  is  counted  as  Clovis  IL  When  these  had 
passed  away,  Charles  the  Great  gave  the  name  of  the  great 
founder  of  the  former  line  to  one  of  his  younger  sons,  the 
only  one  who  lived  to  succeed  him. 

What  he  was  called  in  his  own  day  may  be  seen  by  the 
curious  barbaric  Latin  poem  sung  by  his  soldiers  in  honour  of 
their  exploit  in  setting  him  at  liberty,  when  he  had  beea 

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LOUIS.  389 

treacherously  made  prisoner  by  Adelgis,  Duke  of  Beneyen- 
tamy  a  song  that  shows  Latin  in  its  finit  step  towards  the 
tongnes  of  southern  Europe. 

'  Andite  omnes  fines  terre  errore  cmn  tristitia, 
Qaale  soelas  fiiit  faotom  in  oivitas  Beneventnm 
Llndnicnm  comprendemnt,  sancto  pio  Angosto.' 

'  Uuduicns '  is  now  known  to  the  French  as  Louis  le 
Debonnairey  a  title  that  some  ascribe  to  his  piety,  others  to 
his  weakness.  The  (Germans  took  him  as  Ludwig,  and 
thenceforth  these  two  varieties  held  a  double  course,  while 
the  softer  Proyen9al8  made  him  Aloys,  which  is  now  regarded, 
owing  to  a  saint  of  its  own,  as  a  separate  name.  Three 
monarchs  of  the  Karling  line  bore  this  favourite  name,  and 
the  fifth  descendant  of  Hugh  Capet  brought  it  in  agam,  to 
come  to  its  especial  honour  with  the  saintly  Crusader,  ninth 
king  so  called,  from  whom  it  became  so  essentially  connected 
with  French  royalty,  that  after  the  accession  of  the  Bour- 
bons, no  member  of  the  royal  family  was  christened  without 
it.  Lideed,  hardly  any  one  of  rank  or  birth  failed  to  have 
it  among  their  many  names,  till  its  once-beloved  sound  be- 
came a  peril  to  the  owners'  heads  in  the  Revolution,  and  it 
has  in  the  present  day  arrived  at  sharing  the  unpopularity  of 
Fran9ois. 

Elsewhere  it  is  chiefly  a  French  importation ;  the  Welsh 
use  Lewis  as  an  Anglicism  of  Llywelwyn,  and  the  Lrish  of 
Lachtna ;  and  the  Scots  make  rather  more  use  of  it  from 
their  old  alliances  and  connection  through  the  Scottish 
guard.  There  Lodowick  is  probably  taken  from  the  northern 
form  of  the  original  word ;  just  as  with  the  Italians,  Luigi  is 
the  mere  Italian  version  of  Louis,  Lodovico  the  inheritance 
from  the  Lombards  or  Germans,  and  in  this  shape  long  cur- 
rent in  northern  Italy,  belonging  in  particular  to  the  un- 
fortunate Sforza,  of  Milan,  who  perished  in  the  first  shock 
.between  France  and  Italy. 

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39® 


THE  KABLINa  BOMANCZS. 


English. 
Ladovick 
Lewis 
Louis 

Breton. 
Loiz 
Loizik 

Scottish. 
Lodowick 

French.       ' 

Clovia 
Louis 
Looys 
Loys 

ProvenQaL 

Aloys 

Chlodoben 

Lozoic 

ItaliAn. 

Lodovico 

Luigi 

Aloldo 

Spanish. 

Clodoveo 
Luis 

Portn^fueae. 
Luijs 

(German. 
Ludwig 
Lnz 
Lotze 

Swiss. 
Ludi 

Swedish. 
Lndwig 

Dntch. 
Lodewick 
Lood 

BaTftrian. 
Wickl 

PoUsh. 

Ludvik 
Ludvis 

Bohemian. 
Ludvik 

SloYsk. 
Ludvick 
Ljudevit 

Lajos 

The  Provencal  Aloys  apparently  was  the  first  shape  that 
threw  out  a  feminine,  the  Aloyse  or  Heloise,  whose  oone- 
spond^ce  with  Abelard  was  the  theme  of  so  much  sentiment, 
and  whose  fame,  brought  by  the  archers  to  Scotland,  no 
doubt  was  the  origin  of  the  numerous  specimens  of  Alison 
found  in  that  romantic  nation.  According  to  Dugdale,  the 
wife  of  William  Mallet  (that  gallant  though  conceited  hero, 
whom  the  readers  of  Sir  E.  Bulwer's  Scarold  cannot  forget) 
was  Hesilia  or  Helewise,  no  doubt  the  same  as  Heloise,  and 
causing  a  little  hesitation  whether  this  may  not  be  an  ezc^ 
tional  Heiliwig,  or  holy  war,  instead  of,  as  is  generally 
allowed,  and  far  more  probable,  Hlodovicia,  holy  fame. 
Heloise  had  nearly  died  away  in  France  when  Kousseaa's 
romance  of  La  NouveUe  Heloise  brought  it  as  well  as  Julie 
into  fashion  again. 

The  votaresses  of  St.  Louis  had,  however,  chos^  to  come 

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LOUIS. 


39^ 


mucli  nearer  to  his  name,  and  bj  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century  Louise  was  in  great  vogue  at  the  French  court ;  it 
travelled  everywhere  witii  French  princesses,  came  to  us  with 
the  House  of  Hanover,  and  has  now  a  thorough  hold  of  all 
ranks,  often  getting  confused  with  Lucy. 


English. 
Louisa 
Louie 

French. 

Louise 
Liaette 
Loulou 
Heloise 
Louison 

Italian. 

Luisa 
Elolsa 

Luisa 

Portaguese. 

Luisa 

Luiidnha 

Scotch. 
Leot 
Alison 
Ailie 

German. 

Ludowicke 
Luise 

Swedish. 
Ludovica 
Lovisa 
Lova 

Polish. 
Ludvika 
Ludoisia 
Lodoiska 

Lettish. 

Lusche 
Lasche 
Lawise 

The  eldest  son  of  the  great  Clovis  was  Hlodmir,  or  Glodomir, 
great  fame,  made  more  euphonious  in  German  as  Ludomir, 
and  furnishing  such  surnames  as  Luttmer  and  Lummers. 

All  his  sons  were  murdered  by  their  uncles,  except  one  who 
was  shorn  of  his  long  locks  to  save  his  life,  and  was  put  into  a 
convent,  where  he  became  a  holy  man,  was  canonized,  and  his 
harsh  name  of  Hlodowald,  or  Glodvald,  became  the  pleasant 
one  of  St.  Oloud,  best  known  for  the  sake  of  the  palace  near 
Paris.  Another  St.  Ghlodvald,  of  Metz,  is  commonly  called 
St.  Clou. 

One  of  the  uncles  who  killed  the  poor  boys  was  Hlodhari, 
or  Chlotachari,  famous  warrior,  a  terrible  savage,  but  the 
last  survivor  of  the  brothers,  and  counted  in  the  Frank  his- 
tory as  Chlother,  or  Clotaire.  Others  of  his  race  likewise 
were  so  baptized,  and  when  the  name  passed  to  the  Earlingen 
it  was  as  Lothar.  So  was  called  the  son  of  Louis  le  Debon- 
naire,  whose  portion,  known  at  first  as  Lotharingen,  came  to 

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39^ 


THB  KABLIKO  BOMANOES. 


be  in  Latin  Lotharingia,  and  still  remains  Lorraine.    Lothar 

did  not  pass  away  from  Germany;  one  emperor^  after  the 

separation^  was  so  called ;  and  it  fell  into  many  forms  of 

gomameSyin  especial  into  Lather;  and  when  Martm  Lndier 

had  rendered  this  almost  saintly  to  his  countrymen^  they 

over-hastily  exfdained  it  by  lotherj  pure ;  while  the  Bohemians 

found  a  similar  word  in  their  own  t<Higue,  meaning  a  swaa. 

Oddly  enough,  Huss  signified  a  goose,  and  the  saying  arose 

that  the  Bohemian  goose  had  let  fall  a  quill,  which  had  beoi 

picked  up  by  a  swan  of  far  more  distant  flight.    Lideed  an 

inn  where  Luther  slept,  on  his  way  to  the  Diet  of  Wurms, 

still  bears  a  swan  as  its  sign,  in  his  honour ;  and  the  story 

must  in  some  shape  or  other  have  travelled  eastward,  since 

it  is  an  Armenian  opinion  that  the  English  and  Germans 

were  deluded  by  Luther  into  the  worship  of  a  swan. 

Luther  has  a  fewnamesakes  in  his  own  country  on  his  own 
account,  but,  in  general,  Chloter  has  died  out  of  Christian 
nomenclature. 


English. 

Lothario 
Lowther 

French. 
Clotaire 
Lothaire 

German. 

Lothar 
Luther 

Spanish. 
Clotario 

Lettish. 
Lutters 

Italian. 
Lotario 

Chlodoswintha,  or  famous  height,  was  a  Frank  princess, 
without  namesakes  beyond  her  own  race ;  in  fact,  the  use  of 
this  prefix  seems  to  have  been  exclusively  Erank.^ 

*  Sismondi,  HUtoire  de$  Fran^,  LitUrapire  du  Midi  de  tEuropg  - 
Friedrich Pott;  Michaelisj  Thierry,  BdciU  de$  Temps  lUrovingien. 


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393 


CHAPTER  VL 

DBSCBIPTIYB   KAMBS. 

Sbotion  L— iVoWK^y. 

Thb  names  connected  with  any  great  cycle  of  interest  have 
been  nearly  exhansted,  and  only  those  remain  that  seem  to 
have  been  chosen  more  for  sense  than  connection,  though 
afterwards  continued  for  the  sake  of  their  owners.  Several 
of  our  own  truly  English  or  Anglo-Saxon  names  are  among 
these,  and  in  especial  those  with  the  prefix  meaning  noble, 
^thel,  Athel,  Adel,  Edel,  or,  in  High  German,  Adal.  It  is 
thought  to  come  firom  the  universal  word  atta^  a  father,  and 
thus  to  convey  that  the  owner  has  forefathers,  the  essence  of  no- 
bility,  as  with  the  pater  and  patrician  of  Rome,  and  the  hidalgo, 
the  son  of  something,  of  Spain.  Adel,  or  ^thel,  is  a  favourite 
prefix  in  all  the  Teutonic  branches  except  the  Scandinavian, 
where  it  does  not  occur  at  all.  It  is  essentially  Gothic, — 
witness  Athalaric,  the  formidable  but  gentle  conqueror  of 
Rome,  who  well  deserved  his  name  of  noble  king.  He  is 
generally,  however,  called  Alaric,  and  his  name  has  been 
deduced  firom  a/,  all;  but  the  right  reading  seems  to  be 
that  which  identifies  his  appellation  with  our  own  English 
JSthelric,  and  the  Uadalrich  of  Germany. 

Udahich,  archbishop  of  Augsburg  till  the  year  973,  is 
notable  as  the  first  person  canonized  by  the  pope  according 
to  tiie  present  forms,  which  could  not,  however,  have  included 
the  half  century  of  posthumous  probation,  as  he  was  placed 
in  the  calendar  only  twenty  years  after  his  death.  Contract- 
ing his  name  to  Ulrich,  Germany  made  him  a  favourite 

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394 


DESCRIPnVB  NAMEa 


national  saint;  and  we  find  him  and  his  feminine  spread 
throughout  the  comitries  influenced  by  the  empire,  and  the 
feminine  particularly  prevalent  in  Denmark,  whither  it  was 
carried  by  German  queens.  Though  the  ensuing  table  places 
all  the  forms  of  Athalaric  together,  it  should  be  kept  in 
mind  that  the  forms  beginning  with  A  are  the  modem  name- 
sakes of  the  great  Goth,  those  with  U  and  0  the  votaries  q£ 
the  saint,  and  Adelrich  is  treated  as  a  separate  name. 


English. 

iEjthelric 

Alario 

Ulrick 

French. 

Alaric 

Ulric 

Olery 

Italian. 

Alarico 
Uhrico 

German. 

Adelrich 

Alarich 

Uadalrich 

Ulrich 

Alerk 

Oelric 

BavariAn. 
Rickel 

Swedish. 
Alarik 
Ulrik 

Frisian. 
Ulrik 
Olrick 
Ulerk 
Ulk 
Ucko 
Ocko 

Swiss. 

Uoli 
Ueli 
Uerech 

Polish, 
triryk 

Bohemian. 

Ulric 
Oldrich 

Slovak. 

Ureh 
Ulrih 

Lettish. 
Uldriks 

FEMININB. 

German. 
Ulrike 

French. 
Ulrique 

Boman. 
Ulrica 

Polish. 
Ulryka 

The  successor  of  Alaric,  who  laid  him  in  his  river-grave, 
is  known  to  us  as  Ataulfus.  In  his  own  time  he  was  Athaol^ 
the  noble  wolf,  and  his  likeness  stands  in  our  own  roll  of 
English  kings  as  the  father  of  Alfred,  and,  by  popular  report, 

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NOBIUTT. 


39S 


the  founder  of  the  tithe  system^  namely,  ^thelvnlf ;  bnt  this 
good  old  name  was  dropped  in  England,  while  its  German 
consin,  in  honour  of  a  sainted  bishop  of  Metz,  of  the  ninth 
oentorjy  became  very  common  in  the  principalities  of  the 
empire,  and  was  imported  with  the  house  of  Hanover  in  the 
barbarous  Latin  form  of  Adolphus.  Its  feminine,  coined  in 
Germany,  is  Adolfine,  usually  called  Dolfine,  and  now  ex- 
tremely common.  This  may  possibly  be  the  source  of  the 
Dolphhie  given  as  the  name  of  one  of  the  daughters  of  Wal- 
theof,  Earl  of  Northumbria,  as  the  habit  of  making  barbarous 
feminines  was  just  beginning  in  her  time. 


Engliflh. 
Ethelwolf 
AdolphuB 
Dolph 

French. 
Adolphe 

Italian. 

Adolfo 
Udolfo 

Oennan. 

Adolf 

Odulf 

Finn, 
Ato 
Atu 

Athanagild,  or  Athalagild,  noble  pledge,  was  another  of 
these  early  Goths,  and  afterwards  we  meet  the  same  meaning 
in  Adelgis,  or  Adelchis,  the  brave  son  of  the  last  Lombardic 
king,  whose  noble  spirit,  under  his  misfortunes,  is  the  subject 
of  a  fine  tragedy  of  Manzoni,  The  duke  of  Beneventum, 
who  made  Louis  le  Debonnaire  prisoner,  was  Adelgis ;  but 
it  is  curious  to  find  the  soldiers  in  the  dog-latin  poem  above 
alluded  to,  terming  him  Adalfieri,  thus  showing  the  source  of 
the  Italian  Alfiero,  and  its  patronymic  Alfieri.  Odelgis  was 
old  High  German. 

^thel  was  so  much  used  by  the  royal  families  of  Kent 
and  Wessex,  that  the  diminutive  ^theling  was  latterly  ap- 
plied to  designate  the  heir  to  the  crown,  and  was  thus  con- 
tinued even  after  the  Conquest  to  the  son  of  Henry  I.,  who 
perished  in  the  white  ship. 

^thelbryht,  or  noble  splendour,  named  our  first  Christian 
king  of  Kent,  also  a  brodier  of  King  Alfred's,  and  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  royal  blood  of  Northumbria,  who  preached  in 

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396 


DESGBIPnVE  NAMES. 


southern  GiennaQy^  and  died  about  the  year  700,  at  Egmond, 
where  as  St.  Adelbrecht,  he  became  patron.  His  name  was 
taken  at  baptism  by  one  who  became  archbishop  of  Magde- 
burg, who,  in  his  turn,  bestowed  it  on  his  puj^l,  the  Bohe- 
mian Woyteich,  anny  help.  This  convert  was  afterwards 
bishop  of  Prague,  and  was  martyred  near  Dantzic  while 
preaching  to  the  heathen  Prussians  in  997.  Adelbrecht 
could  not  fail  to  become  naticmal  wherever  tiie  saint  had 
set  his  foot;  and  when  shortened  to  Aibrecht,  was  adq)ted 
by  Italy,  and  thence  s^t  to  Jerusalem  with  a  Latin  pa- 
triarch, who,  being  beatified,  rendered  Alberto  freshly  popu- 
lar in  the  South.  Albrecht,  and  the  feminines  Alberta  and 
Albertine,  were,  however,  almost  entirely  German,  until  the  late 
Prince  Consort  brought  the  name  to  England,  where  it  bids  fair 
to  become  one  of  the  most  frequent  of  national  names.  Some 
fancy  it  comes  from  Allbright;  but  the  German  saints, 
whence  it  was  taken,  are  evidently  direct  from  our  English 
^thelbryht,  though  in  Germany  Adelbert  and  Albrecht 
are  now  treated  as  two  separate  names.  Bela,  which  belonged 
to  an  excellent  blind  king  of  Hungary,  is  believed  to  be  the 
Magyar  form  of  the  name. 


English. 

Ethelbert 
Albert 

French. 

Albert 
Aubert 
Aibret 
Aubertin 

Provencal. 
Azalbert 

Italian. 

Alberto 
Albertino 

Gennan. 

Adalbert 
Albrecbt 
Ulbricbt 

WaUachian. 
Averkie 

Finn. 
Alpu 

Danish. 
Albert 
Bertel 

Polish. 
Albert 
Olbracht 

jSltheLred,  or  noble  speech,  the  brother  of  Alfred,  was 

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NOBILITY.  397 

almost  canonized  by  his  sabjects,  and  is  sometimes  called 
Etheredy  whence  the  Scottish  Ethert ;  but  the  dismal  repu- 
tation of  ^the  miready'  king  prevented  this  firom  being 
popular.  It  must  not  be  confosed  with  Etheldred^  the  femi- 
nine name^  properly  ^thelthryth^  meaning  in  Anglo-Saxon 
the  noble  threatener,  though  at  the  same  time  it  may  be 
connected  with  the  German  Ediltmd^  or  noble  maiden. 
Most  likely  names  ending  in  irud  had  been  brought  to 
England,  and  as  tiie  Valkyr  sense  was  forgotten,  the  na- 
tiye  meaning  of  threat  was  attached  to  the  word,  and  the 
spelling  adi^ted  to  it.  When  ^  a  resolute  will  and  a  strong 
hand  were  a  woman's  best  title  to  respect/  as  Mr.  Pearson 
says  in  his  excellent  lectures  on  the  early  and  middle  ages  of 
England,  a  noble  threatener  was  no  inappropriate  ladies'  name, 
and  something  of  the  same  spirit  still  prevails ;  for  we  are 
told  that  the  truly  popular  hospital  nurse  is  she  who  is  firm 
of  hand  and  decided  of  will;  kind,  indeed,  but  ready  to 
enforce  discipline  even  sharply.  St.  ^thelthryth  was  a 
queen  who  must  have  been  a  very  uncomfortable  wife,  and 
who,  finally,  retired  into  a  monastery,  getting  canonized  as 
St.  Etheldreda,  and  revered  as  St.  Audrey.  From  the  gew- 
gaws sold  at  her  fairs  some  derive  the  term  tawdry ;  and,  at 
any  rate,  Awdrey  has  never  been  wholly  extinct  as  a  name 
among  the  peasantry,  and  has  of  late  been  revived,  though 
with  less  popularity  than  the  other  more  modem  contrac- 
tion, Ethel,  which  is  sometimes  set  to  stand  alone  as  an 
independent  name.  Addy  is  the  common  Devonian  short  for 
Audrey. 

Germans  do,  however,  seem  to  have  used  the  word  without 
another  syllable,  for  Adilo,  or  Odilo,  was  an  old  name,  and 
Ado  and  Addo  are  still  current  in  Friesland,  no  doubt,  the 
same  as  the  Ade  of  the  Cambrian  registers.  Adela  and 
Addle,  too,  occur  very  early ;  indeed,  there  is  reason  to  think 
that  just  as  in  England  the  son  was  the  iBtheUng,  in  Frank- 
land  the  daughter  was  the  Adalheit,  or  the  Adelchen.    This 

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398  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES. 

word  heit  is  translated  as  the  root  of  the  present  German 
heiteTj  cheerful,  and  thus  would  mean  noble  cheer ;  but  I  sus- 
pect it  is  rather  heidj  condition,  answering  to  the  hood  at  the 
end  of  our  abstract  nouns,  and  that  the  princess  royal  of 
each  little  Frankish  duchy  or  county  was  thus  the  ^  nobleness ' 
thereof. 

All  the  feudal  princes  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries 
seem  to  have  had  an  Adelheid  to  offer  in  marriage,  and  to 
have  latinized  her  in  all  maimer  of  ways,  while  practically 
they  called  her  Mix,  (or  Alisa  in  Lombardy,)  a  name  that 
was  naturalized  in  England,  when  Alix  la  BeUe  married 
Henry  I.  Alice  is  our  true  English  form,  though  it  has 
been  twisted  into  Alicia,  and  then  referred  for  a  derivation 
to  the  Greek  Aiezios,  so  as  often  to  appear  in  Latin  docu- 
ments of  the  later  middle  ages  in  the  form  of  Alexia; 
whereas  in  earlier  tunes,  before  its  origin  was  forgotten,  it 
is  translated  by  Adelicia,  Adelisa,  or  Adelidis. 

The  French  made  great  use  of  all  the  forms  of  the  name ; 
the  Germans,  in  honour,  perhaps,  of  the  Italian  Que^i 
Adelaide — ^whose  adventures  before  her  marriage  with  Ae 
Emperor  Otho  were  so  curious — ^preferred  that  variety,  and 
from  them  we  received  it  again  with  our  good  Queen  Ade- 
laide, from  whom  it  is  becoming  frequent  amongst  us.  The 
German  Alice,  is  Else,  a  favourite  old  peasant  word,  distin- 
guishing the  damsel  in  Grimm's  collection  as  ^  die  kluge  Msej 
when  she  was  so  much  overpowered  by  contingencies  as  to 
let  all  the  beer  run  to  waste,  and  the  ^  frau  die  Ilsebill,'  who 
impelled  her  husband  to  such  unwarrantable  demands  of  the 
Old  Man  of  the  Sea.  This  same  contraction  is  common  in 
northern  ^England,  but  gets  confused  with  Elizabeth,  as  in 
Scotland,  with  Alison ;  and  in  Ireland,  the  prevalent  AJicia 
is,  perhaps,  meant  for  Aileen,  or  Helen. 


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NOBIUTT. 


399 


English. 

French. 

Proven9al. 

Italian. 

Adelaide 

Adelaide 

AzalaiB 

Adelaida 

Adeline 

Adeline 

AliBA 

Adeliza 

Adelaifl 

AdelA 

AdMe 

Alice 

Alix 

Alicia 

Ekie 

Geimaii. 

NetherlandB. 

Slovak. 

Lettigh. 

Adelheid 

Adelheid 

Adelajda 

Audule 

Adeline 

Adelais 

Addala 

Adele 

Else 

Ilse 

' 

'  The  Adeleve  of  early  Nonnan  times  is  probably  meant  for 
^thelgifuy  noble  gift,  a  frequent  Old  Saxon  lady's  name, 
which  we  generally  call  Ethelgiya. 

^thelwoldy  the  Saxon  historian  of  royal  blood,  is  noble 
power,  ^thelheard,  or  noble  resolution,  answers  to  Adelhard, 
a  cousin  of  Charlemagne,  and  abbot  of  Corbie,  whom  his 
contemporaries  glorified  as  at  once  the  Augustin,the  Antony, 
and  the  Jeremiah  of  his  day,  and,  being  canonized,  Idft 
Alard  and  Alert  to  Friesland,  and  Aleardo,  Aiearda  to 
Provence.  Probably,  too,  the  celebrated  Abelard  was  so 
called  by  a  Breton  corruption  of  the  same. 

^thelstan,  the  noble  jewel,  was  second  only  to  Alfred  in 
ability  and  glory,  and  his  name  lived  on  to  the  Conquest, 
when  it  is  set  down  as  Adestan  and  Adstan.  The  surnames 
Alstan  and  Huddlestone  are  regarded  as  its  remains. 

Adelhelm,  the  noble  helmet,  named  the  excellent  and 
poetical  Aldhelm,  bishop  of  Sherbom,  from  whom  the  head- 
land on  the  Dorset  coast  was  once  called  St.  Aldhelm's  head, 
but  is  now  corrupted  into  St.  Alban's  head. 

Adelgar,  or  noble  spear,  was  chiefly  continental,  first  figur- 
ing in  the  beautiful  Scottish  ballad  of  Sir  Aldingar^  but 

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400  DESCBIPnVE  NAMES. 

better  known  in  LomtMordj,  wbere  ADigbero  sprang  finom  it^ 
and  gave  bis  patronymic  to  Dante  AligbierL  Algaiotti, 
was  another  Italian  deriyatiye ;  and  in  France,  Angier  and 
Angereaa;  in  Qermany,  Oeblkar,  sbow  that  it  imee  mist 
bave  been  mncb  in  use.  It  is  not  always  easy,  bowever,  to 
separate  between  tbe  words  from  Add  and  from  HOda.  The 
remaining  varieties  i 


Qer.  Adelar — ^Noble  eagle 

Qer.  Adolbar,  Alpero— Noble  bear 

Ger.  Adelbold;  Eng.  iBtbelbald^Koble  prince 

Eng.  ^tbelburh^Noble  pledge 
Oerman. 
Adelfrid     \ 


Adalfrid 
Ulfrid 
Ulfert 
Olfert 


Noble  peace 


Eng.  ^tbelfledbr—Noble  increase 

Ger.  Adelgard — Noble  protection 

Ger.  Adelgnnd ;  Fr.  Adelgonde— Noble  war 

G^r.  Adelbild — Noble  heroine 

Ger.  Udalland,  Uland— Noble  land 

Ger.  Adelinde,  Odelind;  Eng.  Ethelind  (moJ.)— Noble  snake 

G^r.  Adelmann,  Ullman— Noble  man 

Qer.  Adelmnnd ;  Eng.  Eddmund  {Damet.) — ^Noble  protection 

Ger.  Adelmar;  Eng.  Ethelmar;  Fr.  Ad^nar,  Adhemar — 
Noble  greatness 

G^.  Addschalk*— Noble  servant 

Ger.  Addswind— Noble  strength 

Ger.  Adeltao — Noble  day* 


•  Pott;  MiohaeHs;  Lftppenburg;  Butler;  Palgrsve,  Ditto  </  Ifbr* 
wumdy;  Turner. 

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COMMAND  401 


Sbotion  n. — Oammand. 

The  Gothic  bidyan  has  resulted  in  our  verb  to  bidy  the 
Qmwa  bateUy  the  Danish  bydcy  besides  botCy  a  messenger, 
and  the  budsticky  bidding-stiok,  or  summons  to  the  muster. 

All  these  were  in  the  sense  of  command ;  but  firom  the 
same  root  grew  the  race  of  entreating  words^  the  Scandi- 
nayian  bede^  German  bitteny  and  English  beg.  When  these 
entreaties  were  devotional,  the  Germans  made  the  verb  betmy 
aiul  our  term  for  prayer,  bedey  passed  on  to  the  mechanical 
appliance  for  counting  prayers — the  beads  of  the  rosary, 
while  the  pensioner  bound  to  pray  for  his  benefactor  was  his 
bedesman. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  this,  or  the  Welsh  bedawsy  life,  gave 
Ills  name  to  the  Venerable  Bede,  but  no  doubt  to  hhnself  and 
his  contemporaries  it  suggested  the  idea  of  prayer.  There  is 
no  doubt,  however,  in  the  case  of  Baudvildur,  or  Bathilda, 
(the  commanding  heroine,)  the  daughter  of  king  Nidudr, 
llie  lady  whom  Yolundr  carried  ofif  with  him  when  he 
fled  firom  her  mother's  cruelty.  After  her  was  called  Bat- 
hilda, an  Anglo-Saxon  slave,  who  was  elevated  to  be  the 
wife  of  the  second  Hluodwig,  and  lived  so  holy  a  life  and 
exerted  herself  so  much  to  obtain  the  redemption  of  slaves, 
that  she  was  canonized,  and,  as  la  reine  Bathildey  was  greatly 
venerated  in  the  believing  days  of  France.  Denmark  also 
used  this  name,  having  probably  taken  it  firom  England. 
There  ^  Dronning  Bothild,'  the  wife  of  king  Ejegod,  spread 
the  name  among  the  maiden^,  so  that  it  passed  to  Norway  as 
Bodild,  BodU,  and  even  to  the  contraction  Boel. 

Of  English  birth,  too,  was  the  commanding  wolf — ^Bed- 
yuolf,  or  Bodvulf— who,  with  his  brother,  St  Adolf,  went, 
about  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  to  seek  religious  instruc- 
tion in  Gallia-Belgica.  Adolf  b^[^ame  bishop  of  Maestricht, 
and  eponym  to  the  Adolphuses.     Bodvulf  came  home,  and 

▼OL.  n.  Digit  zedl>®OOgIe 


402  DBSCBIPTIVE  NAMES. 

founded  the  monasteiy  of  Ikano,  where  he  died  in  655,  and 
was  canonized.  The  monastery  was  destroyed  by  the  Danes, 
and  the  situation  forgotten,  but  the  saint's  relics  were  carried 
away  by  the  fugitive  monks,  and  dispersed  into  yarious 
quarters,  giving  title  to  four  churches  in  London,  besides  St 
BotolTs  bridge,  commonly  called  Bottlebridge,  in  Hunting- 
donshire, and  St.  BotolTs  town,  in  Lincolnshire,  usually 
known  as  Boston,  whence  was  called  its  American  cousin 
Boston,  with  little  relation  to  the  saint.  The  tower  of  the 
church  of  St.  Botolf,  looking  forth  over  the  Wash,  was  a 
valued  landmark,  and  thence  the  saint  was  apparently  viewed 
as  a  friend  of  travellers,  and  connected  with  the  entrances  to 
cities,  much  as  St.  Christopher  is  elsewhere.  Camden  even 
supposed  him  to  be  Boathulf,  or  boat  helper,  and  his  day,  the 
17th  June,  is  a  market  day  in  Christiania,  under  the  term  of 
Botolsok,  or  Botsok.  Li  Jutland  there  is  a  church  of  St 
Botolv ;  and  in  the  North  the  names  of  Botol  and  Bottel  are 
kept  up ;  while,  in  England,  there  only  remain  to  us  the  sur- 
names of  Bottle  and  Biddulph.  The  Old  German  forms  of 
the  two  names  above-mentioned  are  Botzhild,  Botzulf,  and 
Botzo,  or  Boso,  a  commander,  was  now  and  then  used  as  a 
name  with  them,  as  in  the  instance  of  the  troublesome 
duke  of  Burgundy,  whom  French  historians  generally  call 
Boson,  and  who  is  apt  to  be  translated  by  bdse^  wicked. 

Boto,  Botho,  Poto,  are  also  found  in  Germany,  and  the 
very  earliest  specimen  of  this  class  of  name  is  to  be  found  in 
Botheric,  commanding  king,  the  name  of  the  governor  whose 
murder  in  the  hippodrome  caused  Theodosius  to  give  his 
bitterly  repented  command  for  the  massacre  of  Thessalonica. 
Now  and  then  hot  occurs  at  the  end  of  a  word,  as  in  the 
Spanish  prince  Sisebuto,  the  messenger  of  victory,  or  vic- 
torious commander. 

These  are  not  the  same  with  some  that  look  much  like 
them,  derived  from  the  Northern  J0d,  German  baduj  A.G.S. 
beadoj  war.    Beadwig,  in  the  Wodenic  ancestry,  is  thus  bat- 

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BBIGHTNE88.  4^3 

tie  war,  and  the  Gothic  king  of  Italy,  Totila,  is  probably 
made  by  the  Romans  from  B0dYhar,  battle  pleader,  a  name 
still  nsed  in  the  North  as  B0dyar.  B0dmod,  B0dalf,  and 
B0dhild,  or  B0dyild,  have  also  been  in  nse.^ 


Sbction  nL — Brightness. 

The  root  hr&j  furnished  the  Greek  ^Xcyciy,  Latin  flagrare^ 
and  (Gothic  bairhtj  the  Anglo-Saxon  beohrt,  or  byrhty  the  Old 
Qermeji  perchty  and  Northern  bjart. 

It  is  a  component  of  Frank,  German,  and  Anglo-Saxon 
nomenclature,  but  is  rarely  found  in  genuine  Norsk;  the 
only  instance  in  the  Landnama-boh  is  Biartmar,  who  is 
noted  as  of  Irish  birth,  so  may  have  brought  an  Anglo-Saxon 
name. 

Bertha,  the  most  obvious  of  all  the  progeny  of  biarty  has 
been  treated  of  in  her  character  as  a  personification  of  the 
bright  epiphany  night,  mixed  up  with  an  old  epithet  of  Frigga 
and  with  the  spinning  Holda.  So,  in  Swabia,  these  legends 
have  formed  a  masculine,  Berchthold,  who  has  become  the 
wild  huntsman  in  that  quarter.  Berchtvold  was  really  an 
English  prince  of  the  Heptarchy,  and  Brichtold  is  in  Domes- 
day. Perahtholt,  a  veritable  Old  German  name,  making  the 
modem  Bartold — ^Niebuhr's  name, — the  Italian  Bertaldo,  and 
French  Bertould.  Bertalda  is  not  so  likely  to  be  the  femi- 
nine of  this  word  as  to  come  from  BerchthUda,  like  the  name 
of  Bertille,  a  sainted  abbess  of  Chelles. 

It  is  not  easy  to  discover  whether  the  most  popular  of  all 
thus  commencing  should  be  regarded  as  a  single  corrupted 
name,  or  the  produce  of  two,  of  which  one  has  the  second 
syllable  hramfiy  a  raven,  the  other  randy  a  house.    The  patron 

*  Munch;  Michaelis;  Pott;  Sismondi;  Butler;  Camden;  Le  Befta; 
Kemble. 


,itBdi^£oogIe 


404 


DB8CBIPTIVE  NAMES. 


aaint  of  all  alike  is  Berfdchranmufly  bishop  of  Mans  till  623, 
and  his  T<atini«Tn  leaves  no  doubt  that  he  was  a  bright  rayeau 
It  was  chiefly  pofmlar  in  Erance,  whence  we  must  haye  ob- 
tained it,  although  there  is  no  instance  of  it  in  Domeadaj, 
and  it  was  especiallj  glorious  in  the  fourteenth  century,  for 
the  sake  of  gallant  Constable  du  Guesclin,  ^  the  eagle  of 
Brittany/  whom  Spanish  chroniclers,  by  a  droll  penrersion 
of  his  appellation,  called  ^  Mosen  Beltran  Claquin,'  when  he 
came  to  fight  their  battles. 


English. 
Bertram 

Scotch. 
Barthram 

French. 
Bortrand 

ProTen9«L 
Bertran 

Italian. 
Bertrando 

Spanish. 
Beltran 

Portaguese. 
Bertrao 

Gennan. 

Bertram 
Berdrand 

Lusatiui. 
Batram 
Batramusch 

Hnnganan. 
Bertok 

The  wolf  was  sure  to  accompany  the  rayen ;  so  Perahtolf , 
or  Bertulf,  was  canonized  as  an  abbot  in  Artois,  and  left  the 
German  Bertulf,  and  our  own  Bardolph,  the  flaming  comrade 
of  Fabtaff. 

Bertwine,  or  bright  friend,  was  the  St.  Bertin  of  "France, 
and  the  Bertuccio  of  Italy,  often  found  in  the  old  Lombardic 
towns. 

Brihtric  was  the  English  earl  who  so  gallantly  died  in  de- 
fending England  firom  the  Danes  in  the  unhappy  days  of 
Ethelred  the  Unready,  and  another  Brihtric  was  the  unsuc- 
cessful suitor  of  Matilda  of  Flanders,  on  whom  she  wreaked 
an  unworthy  vengeance  after  the  Conquest.  All  the  Brights 
in  Domesday  seem  to  be  of  Saxon  birth,  since  they  use  the 
English  instead  of  the  French  commencement,  which  was 
already  Ber^  as  in  the  instance  of  Bertrade,  bright  speech, 
the  countess  of  Anjou,  who  deserted  her  husband  for  Philippe 
I.  of  France.    The  remaining  forms  are — 


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BBI0HTNES8.  4^5 


Ger.  Bertar ;  Fr.  Berthier— Bright  warrior 

r    Bricbteva—Bright  gift 

Bricfrid — Bright  peace 

Brichtmar — Bright  fame 

Eng.  /     Brichsteg— Bright  warrior 

Britfleda— Bright  increase 

Brichstan— Bright  stone 

Bricsteg— Bright  day 

Cter.  Bertrud — Bright  maid. 

Bert  is  one  of  the  most  indispensable  conclusions  among 
all  the  German  range  of  names^  and  is  far  more  common 
there  than  as  a  commencement. 

Another  word  meaning  bright,  or  glittering,  is  the  Northern 
jar  J  jar  J  jery  the  German  tV.  Iring,  or  Irinc,  is  a  semi- 
mythological  person.  Old  German  tradition  declared  him  to 
haye  been  the  counsellor  of  Imyrit  of  Thuringia,  and  that 
when  both  had  been  taken  by  the  Franks,  he  was  deceived 
into  slaying  his  sovereign,  after  which,  in  his  rage,  he  killed 
the  victorious  Frank,  laid  him  under  his  master's  body,  and 
then  cut  his  way  through  the  enemy,  and  returned  home. 
It  is  said  that  it  is  in  commemoration  of  this  exploit  that 
Iringsw^  is  one  of  the  many  titles  of  the  Milky-way. 

He  appears  again  in  the  Nibelungen-noth  as  the  Mark- 
graf  Irinch  of  Tenemarche,  or  Denmark,  in  company  with 
Imvrit  of  Diiringen,  t.c,  Thuringia:  he  wounds  Hagen,  but 
is  slain  by  him,  and  lamented  over  by  Ejiemhild.  In  the 
Yilkina  Saga,  Irung  dies  leaning  on  a  stone  wall,  in  Danish 
veggr^  while  vegr  is  a  road,  and  the  tradition  has  made  the 
G^axy  a  reflection  of  this  wall,  confusing  vegr  and  veggr.  In 
fact,  this  glittering  path-way  in  the  sky  has  always  had  a 
tendency  to  be  called  after  the  roads  on  earth.  Even  in 
Chaucer's  time  it  was  called  after  Watling-street ;  and  the 
Anglo-Saxons  called  one  of  their  Roman  roads  Eormonstreot, 

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406  DESOBIPnVE  NAMES. 

as  well  as  the  aforesaid  path  in  the  sky.  Aventin,  a  German 
writer  in  the  tenth  centnry,  calls  it  Euringstrasse,  and  makes 
it  belong  to  a  mythical  king  Euring,  on  the  Danube.  It  is 
thought,  however,  that  the  original  term  for  the  Milky-way 
was  an  allusion  to  its  appearance,  and  that  the  sound  caused 
it  afterwards  to  be  connected  with  the  hero  Irung.  His 
name  was  sometimes  subsequently  used,  and  is,  perhaps,  what 
French  histories  call  Harenc. 

J0rund  is  a  northern  name  with  a  similar  prefix,  and  means 
a  brilliant  or  glittering  man ;  but  it  gets  called  J0ren,  and 
mixed  up  with  Jorgen,  or  Oeorge.^ 


SbctionIV. —  War. 

In  Ulfilas'  Bible,  *  the  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host '  is 
translated,  ^  Saryis  hunniakundis  managei.^  In  Anglo- 
Saxon,  an  army  is  Aere,  in  old  German  Am,  in  the  North 
her^  all  perhaps  coming  from  the  ear,  and  to  heaVy  as  having 
been  summoned,  like  the  legion  from  being  chosen.  Thence 
the  leader  was  the  English  Heretoga,  and  German  Her- 
zog,  finally  translated  into  the  Latin  duXy  and  becoming 
political  and  territorial.  The  doings  of  the  herr  were  ex- 
pressed by  various  old  words,  of  which  the  Scottish  io  harry 
is  the  direct  descendant.  Heerfwrsty  or  army  leader,  may  be 
the  Ariovistus  of  Csesar. 

The  single  warrior  was  har  in  the  North,  hari  in  Germany, 
and  as  ar  is  often  found  at  the  end  of  names.  Many  Ger- 
man critics  translate  the  word  by  the  army,  instead  of  the 
warrior ;  but  Professor  Munch  considers  that  the  warrior,  Aart , 
was  the  original  meaning,  and  that  herjary  his  plural,  after- 
wards came  to  mean  the  army. 

*  Chimm,  DetUcher  Mythologie,  DetUche  Heldentage;  Manch;  Albui 
Butler;  Sismondi;  AyaU-y-s-urita, 


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WAR.  407 

Hie  oldest  and  most  famous  of  all  the  family  is  introduced 
to  us  by  Tacitus  as  Ghariovalda,  a  Batavian  prince.  It  is 
the  hardened  sound  of  Harivald,  warrior'  power,  or  ^  army 
wielder/  a  name  that  the  Germans  soon  called  Heriold,  and 
the  North  Harald.  This  soon  became  one  of  the  most 
renowned  northern  names.  Harald  Harfagre,  or  the  fair- 
haired,  was  he  who  vowed  never  to  tiim  his  locks  till  he  was 
sole  king  of  Norway,  and  thus  sent  Thorer  the  Silent  to  Ice- 
land, and  Rolf-ganger  to  Normandy.  Harald  Erake,  king  of 
Sleswig,  was  baptized  in  the  presence  of  Louis  le  Debonnairey 
and  used  the  already  mentioned  vow  to  forsake  Thunner, 
Scaxnot,  and  all  their  works.  He  afterwards  introduced  St. 
Anschar  to  Denmark,  but  like  all  the  first  Christian  kings  of 
Scandinavia,  was  himself  expelled  from  his  realm  by  his  sub- 
jects. Harald  Hardrada,  or  the  resolute,  was  the  very  crown 
of  the  poetic  sea-kings  of  Norway,  meeting  with  romantic 
adventures  in  Constantinople,  singing  the  praises  of  his 
Russian  bride  all  across  the  sea,  exchanging  gallant  messages 
with  his  namesake  Harold  Godwinson,  at  Stamford  Bridge, 
and  dying  as  poetically  as  he  had  lived  at  the  foot  of  his 
banner  Landwaster.  It  was  from  the  Danes  that  Harold 
came  to  England  with  the  son  of  Enut,  and  to  the  son  of  Earl 
Godwin,  the  usurper,  more  than  half  a  Dane  in  blood  and 
temper,  who,  because  he  died  in  battle  with  the  Normans,  is 
regarded  by  the  popular  mind  as  an  English  patriot,  and  has 
in  very  modem  times  had  a  good  many  namesakes.  Harald, 
or  as  the  Frisians  call  it,  Herold,  is  only  properly  national  in 
Scandinavia  and  the  islands  from  Iceland  to  Man. 

Next  in  note  is  what  the  Franks  called  Charibert,  when  it 
belonged  to  the  king  of  Paris,  whose  daughter  brought  Chris- 
tian doctrine  to  Kent,  and  prepared  the  way  for  St.  Augus- 
tine. St.  Haribert  was  archbishop  of  Cologne  about  the 
year  1000,  and  at  that  time  the  name  became  extremely 
common  among  the  French  nobility.  A  Norman  settler  had 
brought  it  to  England  even  in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Con- 


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408  DESOBIPnVE  KAHES. 

feasor;  and  one  of  the  many  Herberts  founded  a  fftinily  in 
Wales,  which,  in  the  time  of  Henry  V.,  was  one  of  the  firrt 
to  follow  the  adTice  to  use  one  patronymic  instead  of  tiie 
whole  pedigree  of  names.  It  is  probably  owing  to  the 
honours  in  yarious  kinds  of  the  branches  of  this  family  that 
Herbert  has  of  late  years  become  an  exceedingly  preralent 
Christian  name  in  England.  Except  that  the  Frisians  call 
it  Harber  and  Hero,  and  Italy  puts  an  o  at  the  end,  it  has 
no  variations.  Herman  is  confiised  with  Eormen ;  and  the 
other  forms  i 


Qer.  Herberge — Warrior  protection 

Qer.  Herbold — Warrior  prince 

Nor.  Herbrand ;  Ger.  Herbrand — Warrior  sword 

Nor.  Herbjorn — ^Warrior  bear 

Ger.  Herdegen — ^Warrior  blade 

Ger.  Hertag — ^Warrior  day 

Nor.  Hergilfl — Warrior  pledge 

Nor.  Herlaug — ^Warrior  drink 

Nor.  Herieik — ^Warrior  sport 

Nor.  Herieif— Warrior  relic 

Ger.  Herimar — Warrior  greatness 

Nor.  Hennod ;  Ger.  Hermnnd ;  Frank.  Charimund — 
Warrior  protection 

Nor.  Herjolf ;  Qer.  Heriulf ;  Prank.  Chariwulf— 
Warrior  wolf 

Ger.  Heraric — Warrior  king. 


The  warrior  names  were  of  the  fiercest  order.  Leid  (if 
it  do  not  mean  a  road)  was  the  same  with  the  word  in 
modem  German,  meaning  hurt  or  mischief,  and  expressed 
spite  or  violence.  The  North  had  Liedulf,  afterwards  con- 
tracted into  Leiul,  and  no  doubt  the  Scottish  Lyulf,  and 
German  Lethard,  Lethild,  Laidrad,  Laidwald,  Laidwig. 

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WAR. 


409 


In  the  same  spirit  we  have  neid  or  rUftj  meaning  violenoe  or 
compulsion,  though  it  has  resulted  in  the  German  neidy  envji 
and  our  needy  want.  We  have  it  in  the  name  of  St.  Neot, 
the  relative  and  rebuker  of  King  Alfred  in  his  haughty' days, 
and  the  hero  of  a  legend  of  little  fishes  daily  renewed  for 
his  food.  Also  Nidhard  was  a  great  chronicler  of  Frank 
history,  and  left  a  name  surviving  as  Nyddert,  in  Friesland, 
and  cut  into  Nitz,  in  Germany.  There,  too,  were  Noiburg 
and  Notger,  Nidbert  in  France,  and  in  the  North,  Notulf, 
afterwards  written  Notto.  The  terminal  n6t  is,  however, 
more  common. 

Wig  or  Vig  is  war  itself,  and  is  found  in  the  genealogy  of 
Odin.  WsBgdaeg,  or  war  day,  is  an  ancestor  of  the  Deiran 
kings.  The  participle  wigandy  warring,  was  an  Old  GermiBm 
name,  which  contmued  in  Holland  and  Friesland,  as  Wigel, 
Gellies,  Gyllys,  Jellies,  and  comes  out  in  the  history  of 
the  blunders  of  Philip  IPs  teign  as  Yigelius,  the  counsellor 
of  the  duchess  of  Parma. 

Yigleik  still  subsists  in  the  North,  and  so  does  Yiglaf, 
l^lic  of  war,  the  same  as  that  of  Wiglaf,  the  chronicler,  and 
perhaps  as  Wickliffe,  unless  this  is  local,  and  be  Wyeclifie. 
•    The  other  forms  are — 


Qer.  Wigbert ;  Fris.  "Wicbo — ^Bright  war 

Nor.  Vigbrand— War  sword 

Ger.  ^Igbald — War  prince 

Qer.  Wigborg — ^W'ar  protection 

Nor.  VigfuB — War  eagerness 

Gennan.           Frisiazi.                 Nor. 

Wigbard 

Wygard 

Vighard     \ 

Wicbbard 

Wiart 

Weikard 
Wigo 

Wiert 

)    War  firmness 

Wigi 

Viga 

/ 

Digitized  by  G00gl( 

> 

4^0  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES. 


Wigher,  Wicher — Warrior 
Wighelm— War  helmet 
W'iglind — War  aerpent 
Wigmann,  Wichman — War  man 
Wigmar — War  fame 
Wigram — ^War  raven 


These  are  almost  all  German,  and  the  terminations  in  wig 
are  chiefly  owing  to  German  pronunciation  of  the  word  veh^  or 
viehy  consecration,  and  sometimes  of  the  northern  veigj  liquor. 

The  strange  northern  name  of  Snorre,  famous  for  the  sake 
of  that  Froissart  of  the  North,  Snorre  Sturleson,  comes  fixun 
snerra^  strife. 

Styrhe  is  the  strong,  the  same  word  as  that  in  which  the 
old  chroniclers  describe  William  the  Conqueror,  as  *  so  very 
stark.'  Sterkuly  and  a  few  other  forms  have  been  found  in 
the  North. 

Toke  is  a  very  curious  old  name.  It  seems  to  mean  the 
mad  or  raging,  and,  growing  into  Tyke  or  Tyge  in  D^i* 
mark,  was  the  name  that  was  latinized  into  Tycho  by  the 
celebrated  astronomer  Brahe,  who  did  not  leave  his  madness 
behind  him  with  his  name.  The  famous  Jomsburg  sea  rover, 
a  sort  of  northern  Lycurgus  of  the  tenth  century,  was 
Palnatoke,  supposed  to  be  properly  Toke,  the  son  of  Falne. 
Paine  is  an  unexplained  name  used  by  the  Danes,  and  per- 
haps borrowed  from  the  Wends ;  but  there  are  a  few  other 
instances  of  it,  among  them  the  anglicized  Earl  Pallig,  the 
husband  of  Sweyn's  sister  Gunhild,  who  was  killed  by 
Ethebred  the  Unready. 

One  curious  fact  is,  that  of  Palnatoke  is  told  the  same 
story  that  Swiss  tradition  has  connected  with  William  Tell, 
and  that  at  least  some  English  peasants  relate  of  Bobin 
Hood's  archery  (though  they  place  the  apple  on  his  wife's 

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PBOTECTION.  41 1 

head).  Now  Tell  is  the  corrapted  form  of  ioUy  mad,  and 
hood  is  the  same  as  umd  or  wtdh.  Has  some  old  myth  of  the 
mierring  arrow  of  wrath  been  mixed  up  with  the  three  heroes 
whose  names  lent  themselves  to  the  tradition  ? 

Thiostr  means  hardness  or  harshness,  and  was  in  nse  in  the 
North  as  Thiostolf,  since  contracted  into  Kjostol,  Thiostvald, 
Thiostar ;  and  probably  Tostig,  the  migracious  son  of  €rod- 
wine,  who  brought  Harald  Hardrada  to  invade  England,  took 
his  name  firom  thence. 


Section  V. — Protection. 

Bar — the  word  for  strength — ^has  been  most  fertile  in 
produce.  Its  progeny  are  far  too  numerous  to  describe ;  but 
the  most  notable  at  present  in  use  are  the  Berg,  the  strength 
of  the  hills,  a  mountain,  and  Burg,  a  fortress. 

The  names  derived  from  it  are,  in  combination,  the  Ijorg 
of  the  North,  in  the  masculine,  meaning  protector,  and 
borgy  the  feminine,  meaning,  perhaps,  protection, — the  herge 
of  the  Germans  and  hurg  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  answering  to 
the  same.  The  Anglo-Saxon  ladies  also  bear  names  ending 
with  hurh^  also  from  the  same  root,  and  meaning  a  pledge, 
the  strength  of  an  engagement,  and  the  origin  of  our  verb, 
to  borrow.  Burrhed,  king  of  Mercia,  bore  this  name ;  but 
instances  of  it  are  not  very  common. 

Birger,  Byrger,  Birge,  are  the  masculines  much  used  in 
Scandinavia ;  and  the  combinations  were  Biorgulv,  Bergthor, 
Bergthora,  the  faithful  wife  of  Njal,  and  Bergliot,  the  daughter 
of  Thorer  the  Silent,— the  same  name  that  has  been  already 
mentioned  as  the  northern  one  that  has  been  mixed  with  the 
Irish  Brighid,  and  which  would  mean  protecting  ugliness. 
Other  forms  are  Bergswain,  protecting  youth,  Berghild,  an- 
swering to  our  Mercian  princess  Burgenhild,  and  Borgny, 
apt  to  be  cut  down  to  Bomy. 


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41 2  DBSCRIFTIVE  KAHES. 

This  is  the  word  to  which  the  Borgnndians  owed  dieir 
title,  as  dwellers  in  burghs,  instead  of  wanderers  on  the  open 
plain. 

Another  large  race  of  names  comes  from  the  Gothic 
warjany  Anglo-Saxon  wariany — ^the  *  ware '  of  rustic  shouts 
in  England  like  the  ^gare '  of  France,  the  latter  syllable  of 
beware  and  aware,  and  the  wehrer  of  Germany.  The  quality 
of  precaution  furnished  the  North  with  its  favourite  termina- 
tions var  and  vara^  indicating  the  possession  of  the  prad^it 
virtue  that  makes  a  man  wary.  It  does  not  begin  names, 
but  it  often  ends  them,  both  in  the  North  and  Grermany,  as 
Geirvar,  Hervar,  Amalvara,.  EQldiwara,  &c. 

The  inhabitant  was  the  natural  defender,  and  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Norsk  ware  became  synonymous  with  the  dweUer, 
as  Gantwara,  the  defenders  of  Kent,  for  the  Eentishmoi ; 
Burgwara,  the  burghera;  and  in  the  North,  Vikvaljar,  bay 
defender.  Ware,  a  defender,  is  thus  a  commencemeitt  in  the 
German  Warimunt,  guarding  protection,  the  Voermund  of  the 
Mercian  genealogy,  and  Vermund  of  the  North,  while  its 
surviving  representatives  in  France  are  Guiremond  and  Ver- 
mont, in  which  latter. shape  it  has  entitled  an  Alnerican 
state. 

Warenheri,  or  protecting  warrior,  is  the  Guamiero  of 
Tasso,  the  Gamier  of  France,  whence  this  form  came  as 
a  surname  after  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  whilst  Warner  had  beem 
the  legitimate  descendant  of  the  native  Yoemhiure. 

Warand,  the  German  participle  name,  may  have  assisted 
in  forming  Guerin  and  Warren,  unless  there  was  a  Warewine 
to  account  for  it.  Wamfrid  or  Wamo,  Werinhold  and 
Wamebold,  are  also  German* 

The  defender  was  with  us  the  Weardy  guard-warden,  and 
weardian  was  to  ward  or  guard ;  as  in  French  garde  and 
garder,  in  the  North  vdrdhr,  in  Germany  wart^  warten.  This 
is  the  favourite  termmation,  the  ward  of  England  passing  ihe 
wart  of  Germany,  the  vard  of  the  North ;  but  of  rare  ap- 

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PBOTECnON.  413 

pearance  as  a  commencement,  though  there  is  an  instance  of 
&  German  Wartgar,  or  guardian-spear. 

These  are  extremely  like  the  words  taken  from  to  gird^ 
like  gerdaj  gaardy  &c.,  but  they  are  essentially  di£ferent: 
watching  is  here  die  idea  of  safety,  as  enclosure  is  there. 

The.  termination  mvnd^  so  common  among  all  the  Teuton 
nations,  has  been  a  very  great  difficulty.  Some  regard  it 
as  the  German  mund  or  mvnihsy  a  moudi ;  others  as  muthj 
courage.  The  fact,  however,  appears  to  be  that  mund  means 
a  hand  in  the  elder  languages,  and  from  a  hand  was  early 
transferred  to  him  who  used  his  hand  in  protection. 

All  the  best  authorities  agree  in  translating  mund  as  pro- 
tection ;  but  as  mund^  a  hand,  is  a  feminine  noun,  the  deri- 
vation from  this  source  is  a  little  doubtful,  as  the  only 
feminine  instance  of  the  name  is  Bosamcmd.  It  is  nevmr  a 
prefix. 

It  is  very  often  confused  with  the  names  derived  from  mod 
or  muthj  meaning  courage  or  wrath,  the  mood  of  England 
and  muth  of  Germany.  Even  in  very  early  times,  Thuris- 
mund,  or  Thurismod,  would  be  indifferently  written ;  but  m4>d 
is  not  very  common,  and  is  apt  to  shorten  into  mo,  as 
Thormod,  Tormo. 

The  Germans  used  to  imagine  that  all  their  names  ending 
in  hulf  meant  help ;  but  this  pleasant  faith  was  destroyed  by 
the  northern  wolf,  and  only  one  real  help  name  is  extant,  the 
Helfrich  of  modem  Germany,  and  Hialfrek  of  the  North, 
which  own  an  ancient  precedent  in  the  old  Frank  Hialperik 
or  Chilperic. 

The  pronunciation  of  ward  runs  so  naturally  into  hard^ 
that  many  names,  which  when  traced  to  their  roots,  turn 
out  to  terminate  with  ward^  are  spelt  in  German  and  Fr^ch 
as  if  they  were  hard.  The  word  hard  does,  however,  really 
enter  into  the  composition  of  a  few  names,  chiefly  German. 
There  is,  however,  a  semi-mythical  northern  lady  called  by 
the  amiable  name  of  Harthgrepa,  firm  grip  or  hard-daw ;  and 

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414  DESCBIPTIVE  NAMES. 

Harthektmd,  or,  as  we  call  him,  Hardicannte,  seems  to  hare 
had  this  distinguishing  epithet  added  to  his  father's  name. 
The  most  noted  of  the  other  forms  was  Hardwine,  a  firm 
friend,  the  Hardouin  of  old  French  chroniclers,  called  in 
Italy  Ardoino. 

Harding,  firm  Hartmund,  firm  protection 

Hartrich,  firm  king  Hartmod,  firm  spirit. 

Hartwig,  firm  war 

The  names  in  rand  have  likewise  been  a  difficulty;  but  the 
word  is  best  referred  to  the  Gothic  razn^  a  house,  and  likewise 
a  shield,  from  the  protection  both  afibrd. 

Rand  is  a  northern  prefix,  and  its  deriyatives  are  not  easy 
to  distinguish  from  those  of  Regin  and  Raven.  Kondolfr, 
or  house  wolf,  was  certainly  a  northern  name,  and  the  same 
seems  to  have  belonged  to  St.  Radulphus,  bishop  of  Bouiges 
in  888,  and  to  thirty-eight  Radulfs  in  Domesday  Book,  then 
to  the  good  justiciary,  Ranulf  de  GlanvUle,  under  Henry  IL, 
to  the  crusading  Earl  Randle  of  Chester,  and  subsequently 
to  many  a  Randal,  Randolf,  and  Ralf,  or,  as  we  foolishly 
spell  the  word,  Ralph. 

The  North  had  Rannveig,  house  liquor,  by  way  of  a 
lady,  and  haye  shortened  her  into  Rannog  and  Ronnau,  also 
Rannmod,  Randyid,  Randye,  or  Randyerr,  house  consecra- 
tion. 

Fast — in  the  sense  of  firm,  not  of  quick — ^is  found  in  the 
northern  Fastolf,  in  the  Frank  queen  Fastrade,  firm  council, 
in  Fastburg,  Fastmann,  Fastmimd.  Lidyard,  an  old  Norse 
name,  that  with  us  has  run  into  Ledyard,  in  its  own  country 
into  Leyor,  is  the  gate  ward. 

Tryggye,  a  fayourite  old  northern  name,  is  the  true  or 
trusty.  The  same  word  sometimes  seryes  as  a  termination, 
as  in  Sigtryg  or  Sihtric. 


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POWER.  415 


Section  VL — Power. 

Magan  is  the  Gothic  and  Saxon  to  be  able,  whence  our 
defectiye  may^  and  a  nnmber  of  other  words  in  all  the 
varions  northern  tongues,  in  especial  main  or  chief.  The 
names  frcmi  it  are  chiefly  of  German  origm.  Maginfred,  or 
powerful  peace,  was  a  fine  Old  German  name,  which,  by  the 
time  it  came  to  the  braye  but  unfortunate  Sicilian,  son  of 
Frederick  11.,  had  been  worn  down  to  Manfred,  whence  he 
wa^  called  by  his  subjects  Manfredi,  by  his  French  foes 
Mainfroi,  and  by  his  English  contemporaries  Mainfroy. 

Meginhard,  main  power,  was  a  chronicler  of  the  early 
ages,  and  in  1130  appears  in  the  Gambrai  registers.  The 
Germans  used  it  as  Mainhart,  and  the  English  surname 
Maynard  is  from  it.  Meginrat  made  Meinrad,  or  powerful 
council,  and  Maginhild  is  still  in  use  in  the  North  as  Mag- 
nild. 

The  main  land  is,  in  fact,  the  chief  land,  and  might  and 
mxiin  are  so  closely  connected  together,  that  Maginhild  is 
the  most  natural  step  to  Mahthild,  main  heroine  to  might 
heroine ;  for  maht  is  really  the  modem  German  macht^  and 
our  own  mighty  and  both  these  mighty  names  were  in  early 
use  in  Germany.  Mahthild  was  the  wife  of  the  emperor 
Henry  the  Fowler,  and  afterwards  became  the  sainted  abbess 
of  Quedlingburg.  Another  Swabian  Mechtild  was  canonized 
after  being  abbess  of  Adilstetten ;  and  so  fashionable  did  the 
name  become,  that  all  the  French  maidens,  who  were  not 
Alix,  seem  to  haye  been  Mahthild ;  and  in  Italy  it  was  borne 
by  the  Countess  Matilda,  the  friend  of  Gregory  VII.,  whose 
bequest  was  one  of  the  pope's  first  steps  to  the  temporal 
power,  and  who  is  introduced  by  Dante  in  the  flowery  fields 
of  Paradise.  The  Flemings  call  it  Mahault,  and  thus  term 
the  lady,  who,  as  the  wife  of  William  the  Conqueror,  brought 
it  to  England.    Molde,  as  the  Normans  were  pleased  to  term 

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4i6 


DESCBIPTIVE  NAMES. 


it,  was  regarded  as  so  decidedly  a  Norman  name,  that  the 
Scottish-Saxon  Eadgyth  was  made  to  assmne  it,  and  it  om- 
tinued  the  regnant  royal  name  until  it  sunk  beneath  the 
influences  of  the  Proyenfal  Alienor.  It  seems  as  if  MatUde 
had  been  freshly  introduced  in  Flanders  when  Count  Philip 
married  Matilda  of  Portugal;  and  this,  and  the  old  traditional 
Mehant,  went  on  side  by  side,  just  as  in  England  did  the 
full  name  Matilda,  and  the  anglicized  Norman  contractioa 
Maude.  The  soft  sound  of  the  former  brought  it  into  favour 
with  Spenser,  who  so  calls  one  of  his  maidens  in  the  Fairu 
Queen;  but  of  late  years  Maude  has  been  fashionable,  though 
not  so  near  the  right  word  as  Matilda. 


English. 

MaUldA 
Maud 
Tilda 
Tilly 

French. 

Mathilde 
Mahaud 
Mehaut 

Italian. 
Matilda 

Bavarian. 

Mechtild 

Mechel 

Melchel 

Mathilde 

Uamb. 
Tilde 
TiUe 

Maatfred  and  Maatulf  were  old  masculines. 

From  may  and  might  we  pass  to  our  other  defective  aux- 
iliary can.  *  J^owledge  is  power,'  is  an  idea  deeply  rooted 
in  our  languages,  for  the  difierence  between  /  ken  and  I  can 
is  well  nigh  imperceptible.  The  Sanscrit  gna,  forming  the 
Greek  verb  yiyvwrKm  (gignosco),  reappears  in  the  Latin  nasco^ 
and  the  Anglo-Saxon  cnawan.  Another  Anglo-Saxon  form 
is  cunnany  answering  to  the  Danish  kjende,  Iceland  ibmna, 
German  kennan.  Thence  our  word  cunningy  knowing,  and 
cuthy  the  past  participle,  known,  noted,  or  dextrous,  whence 
came  several  North- Anglian  names,  Gutha,  Cuthwealh,  noted 
power ;  Cuthred,  noted  council ;  Guthwine,  noted  frigid ; 
Guthburh,  noted  pledge ;  and  chief  of  all  Guthbryht,  the  great 
saint  of  Lindisfam  in  his  lifetime,  of  Durham  after  hia 

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POWER.  417 

death,  when  the  wanderings  of  his  relics  rendered  his  fame 
so  great  that  Guthbert  is  still  national  among  the  peasantry 
of  Northumbria  and  the  Lothians,  where  it  has  shortened 
into  Caddie,  and  become  the  epithet  of  asses,  so  strange  are 
the  drawbacks  of  popularity.  More  honourable  namesakes 
are  the  gentle  eider  ducks,  which,  in  the  saint's  time,  were 
exceedingly  common  on  Fame  Island,  and  so  intimate  with 
him,  that  they  are  termed  St.  Guthbert's  ducks,  and  together 
with  porpoises  were  wrought  on  the  silken  robe  that  enveloped 
his  relics  in  his  coffin.  Moreover,  like  many  other  saints  of 
the  blue  lias,  he  has  a  share  in  the  anunonites,  ^  the  beads 
that  bear  his  name.' 

The  word  couth  long  continued  in  the  English  tongue; 
namecouth  used  to  statid  for  well  known,  and  uncouth  still 
continues  to  witness  to  the  reverse  from  which  it  sprung. 

Kann  seems  to  have  been  originally  a  past  tense  of  ken^ 
and  the  Teutonic  mind  concluded  that  to  have  learnt  is  to 
be  able,  for  all  adopted  the  word  can  without  an  infinitive, 
and  varied  it  into  past  tenses.  To  be  able  was  likewise  to 
dare,  whence  the  old  Teuton  kuonij  Frank  chiwny  Saxon 
eene,  German  kuhn ,  bold.  Thence,  too,  the  northern  konrj  noble, 
and  the  famous  dispute  whether  the  Konung,  Gyning,  Konig, 
Kong,  King,  be  the  hioningy  chiefs  son,  or  the  kenning^ 
knowing  man,  involving  the  whole  question  of  hereditary  or 
elective  right. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  a  large  class  of  names  has  arisen  from 
these  words  of  knowledge  and  action,  earliest  of  the  bearers 
of  which  should  stand  Kunimund,  king  of  the  Gepidse,  and 
Chunimund,  king  of  the.  Suevi,  both  meaning  able  protec* 
tion.  Suevic,  too,  was  able  or  bold  council ;  Ghuonrath,  after* 
wards  a  world-wide  name  in  the  Swabian  house  of  Hohen- 
staufen,  till  the  last  of  their  generous,  though  impetuous 
blood  was  shed  on  the  scaffold  of  Gorradino,  as  Naples 
fondly  termed  its  unfortunate  young  heir,  the  Gonradin  of 
history.    Pily  for  his  untimely  fate  assisted  to  spread  the 

VOL.  n.  Digitldl  Google 


4i8 


DESGBIPnVE  NAMES. 


name  through  all  the  German  dependencies,  and  it  has  come 
to  the  pass  of  frequency  that,  like  Yasili,  Tom,  and  Heins, 
Eiinz  has  descended  to  cats.  It  has  the  feminine  Gxmzila; 
and  our  old  Mercian  King  Genred  represented  it  in  England; 


English. 

Conrad 
Genred 

French. 
Gonrade 
Qnenes 

ProYen^aL 
Gohat 

Italian. 
Gorrado 
Gurrado 

Gennan. 

Eonrad 
Kanz 
Kurt 
Kuno 

Bayarian. 
Kadi 
Kuenl 
Kuenz 
Kunl 

Swiss. 
Ghuedli 
Kudli 
Ghuedler 
Kored 
Koredii 
Ghuered 

Swedish. 
Konrad 

Netherlands. 

Koenraad 

Court 

Danish. 
Gort 

Bnssian. 

Konrad 
Eunrat 
Eondratij 

Bohemian. 
Kunad 

Slovak. 
Kunsch 

Losatian. 
Kunat 

A  host  of  German  surnames,  as  Gonz,  Gonds,  Kunits, 
Gorssen,  arise  from  the  *  bold  of  speech,'  and  from  bold,  or 
able  resolution,  whicheyer  we  choose  to  turn  Kuonhart,  we 
appropriately  deriye  Gunard,  so  familiar  through  the  aUe 
and  resolute  company  that  direct  the  steamers  called  after 
them. 

Kunigund,  or  bold  war,  was  the  name  of  a  daughter  of 
the  counts  of  Luxemburg,  who  was  wife  to  Henry  of  Bava- 
ria, the  sainted  emperor,  and  shared  in  his  canonization,  rai- 
dering  her  name  national  in  Bavaria.  Another  royal  saint 
reigning  in  Hungary  added  to  its  honours,  nor  has  it  ever 
sunk  into  disuse. 


French. 
Gunigonde 


Italian. 
Ounegonda 


Portngoese. 
Gunegundis 


German. 
Kunigunde 


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Googl 


Bavarian. 
Kunl 
Kundl 


POWER.  419 

The  West  Saxon  Cenbyrht  is  the  same  with  the  German 
Kunibert ;  md  Wessez  likewise  reckoned  among  her  kings 
Cenfyrth,  or  able  peace,  Cenfus,  bold  impetuosity;  while 
Mercia  has  Genhelm  and  Genwnlf. 

Alternating  with  these  are  GynriCy  Gynebald,  Gynewald, 
Ojnebnrh,  Gynethryth,  whose  first  syllable  is  cyriy  Jdny  or 
kindj  meaning,  of  coarse,  kindred  or  lineage.  Some  refer 
Kunibert  and  Kunigund  to  this  same  kin  instead  of  huhn. 
This  word  eyn  is  one  of  those  r^arded  as  the  root  of  king, 
cyningy  the  son  of  his  race  or  kindred. 

Another  word  seems  to  have  had  the  same  double  meaning 
of  ability  being  strength ;  for  mf»n,  which  is  wise  in  the 
northern  tongues,  is  in  those  of  central  Europe,  strong ;  the 
English  sunthy  (}othic  sunnthsj  German  swind;  whence 
the  present  geschmndj  and  swift ;  moreoyer,  smndig  is  much, 
or  many,  in  vulgar  Dutch,  and  to  swindle  is  probably  to  be 
too  much  for  the  victim. 

Suintila  was  an  old  Gothic  king  of  Spain,  Swithbert,  one 
of  the  early  Anglo-Saxon  missionaries,  especially  honoured 
as  the  converter  of  the  kindred  land  of  Friesland,  where  he 
was  revered  as  St.  Swibert.  Swithelm  was  another  Saxon 
form;  but  the  most  noted  amongst  us  was  Swithun,  the 
bishop  of  Winchester,  tutor  to  King  Alfred,  and  endowed 
with  many  supposed  miracles,  the  best  known  of  which  was 
the  forty  days'  rain,  by  which,  like  other  honest  English 
saints,  he  testified  his  displeasure  at  having  his  bones  meddled 
with.  It  is  curious  that  while  Winchester  itself  considers 
rain  on  his  feast  to  forbode  forty  more  wet  days,  most  other 
parts  of  England  prefer  a  shower  to  christen  the  apples. 
The  Germans  have  had  Swidburg,  Swintfried,  Swidger ;  but 
in  general  this  has  served  as  a  feminine  termination,  as  in 
Melicent,  Frediswid,  and  in  all  the  many  swUhs  and  swinds 
of  the  Franks  and  Gbths. 

Whether  this  be  the  root  or  not,  Svein  is  in  the  North  a 
strong  youth,  generally  a  servant,  but  in  the  form  of  Svend 
becoming  the  favourite  name  of  the  kings  of  Denmark, 

BB  2 


420  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES. 

bdongmg  to  him  whom  Ethebred's  treacheiy  brought  down 
on  England,  where  it  was  called  Swayn,  and  translated 
into- Latin  as  Sueno,  while  Tasso  calls  the  crusading  Swend, 
Syeno.  Syinbjom  occurs  in  Iceland,  and  is  our  Swinbum. 
Svenke,  agam,  is  the  active  or  slender  youth.  It  is  amusing 
hoW;  from  a  strong  man,  the  swain  became  a  young  man, 
then  a  batchelor,  then  a  lover,  and,  finally,  a  shepherd. 

Another  of  the  mighty  words  that  have  been  formed  into 
names  is  vcUd^  the  near  relative  of  the  Latin  valeo.  Our 
verb  to  wield  continues  the  Anglo-Saxon  wecddanj  which 
named  the  wealds  of  Kent,  nay,  and  the  world  itself;  and 
from  the  like  source,  too,  came  worth,  in  all  its  forms,  in  lite 
different  languages. 

Yald  still  stands  alone  in  the  North,  and  once  was  the 
name  of  a  Frank  abbot  of  Evreux ;  St.  Valdus,  in  Latin, 
St.  Gaud,  in  French. 

The  leading  name  is,  however,  Waldheri,  powerful  war- 
rior, appearing  as  the  yoimg  prince  of  Aquitaine,  who,  in  the 
curious  Latin  poem  which  seems  to  represent  the  Frankish 
Nibelungerdied  in  the  south  of  France,  flies  from  Attila^s 
court  with  his  fellow  hostage,  the  Burgundian  Hildegunna,  and 
her  treasure,  and  repulses  the  pursuing  Gunther  and  Hagano. 
This  same  Walther  was  said  to  have  afterwards  reigned  thirty 
years  in  Aquitaine,  and,  no  doubt,  the  name  was  already  com- 
mon there,  when,  about  990,  it  came  to  saintly  glory,  throu^ 
a  monastic  saint  of  that  dukedom,  who,  being  followed  by  two 
others,  caused  it  to  be  spread  far  and  wide.  Indeed,  there 
are  twenty-eight  Walters  in  Domesday,  and  Gambrai  made 
plentiful  use  of  it  in  the  same  form,  till  about  1300,  the 
spelling  was  altered  to  the  French  Gautier.  Walther  v<ni 
Yogelwied,  the  minnesinger,  who  bequeathed  a  perpetual 
dole  to  the  birds  of  the  air  at  his  tomb,  well  deserved  that 
the  memory  of  his  name  should  be  kept  up  in  Germany,  and 
it  has  always  been  very  popular.  Wat,  as  a  contraction^  is 
as  old  as  Bufus's  time,  and  Water  was  in  use,  at  least,  in 

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POWEB. 


421 


Shakespeare's  time,  when  he  shows  the  prophecy  of  Suffolk's 
death  by  water  fulfilled  by  the  name  of  his  assassin. 


English. 
Walter 
Water 
Wat 
Watty 
Wattles 

IiiBh. 
Thaiter 

French. 
Waltier 
Gualtier 
Waotier 
Gatier 
Gaatier 

Italian. 
Gualtiero 

Spanish. 
Guttierre 

Portngnese. 

Gualter 
Gualterio 

Netherlands. 

GualteruB 
Walter 
Wouter 
Wout 

Lettish. 
Waters 

Dutch. 
Wolder 

Swiss. 
Watli 

The  Irish  Thaiter,  with  the  contraction  Waltin,  founded 
^•the  family  of  MacBhaitin  Bared,  now  Barrett.' 

Waldemar  is  an  old  German  form  imported  by  the  Nor- 
mans to  England,  and  sometimes  supposed  to  haye  been  car- 
ried to  Russia,  and  to  have  turned  into  Vladimir ;  but  this 
has  been  traced  to  a  genuine  Slavonic  source,  though  it  is 
used  by  the  Russians  to  represent  Walter. 

This  commencement  is  almost  exclusively  German;  its 
other  varieties  are  Waldobert,  or  Walbert,  the  Gualberto  of 
Italy,  Waldrich,  and,  perhaps,  Walpurg,  though  she  is  more 
probably  from  val^  slaughter. 

Frodhr,  the  wise  or  learned,  is  sometimes  an  epithet,  but 
is  also  used  for  a  name,  and  latinized  into  Frotho.  The 
Germans  have  it  in  combination  as  Frodwin,  wise  friend, 
Frodbert  and  Frodberta,  whence  the  French  make  Flobert 
and  Floberte. 

The  root  mahy  which  made  the  Sanscrit  mahaty  Zend 
maZy  Greek  megaSy  Latin  magnuSy  Kelt  mawTy  comes  forth 
again  in  Teutonic,  with  mcerey  or  maray  in  Anglo-Saxon^ 
with  its  comparatives  mcsrre  and  mceristey  whence  our  more 

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422  DESGBIPnVE  NAMES. 

and  most.  This  same  sense  of  greatness  formed  the  mai 
maaray  fame,  and  marmj  to  celebrate,  both  old  German,  and 
it  is  the  commencement  of  the  Frank  chieftain's  name  from 
whom  all  the  princes  of  the  earlier  race  were  called  Meet- 
wings,  Meroweh,  or  famed  holiness,  the  Meerwig  of  German 
writers  and  Meroyeus  of  Latinity,  whence  the  MeroTee  of 
French  history. 

Our  own  Anglian  Mercians  had  among  their  royal  line 
Merowald,  Merehelm,  and  Merewine ;  but,  in  general,  mefy 
or  mary  is  used  as  a  termination  rather  than  a  commaice- 
ment,  and  then  is  always  masculine.  Merohelm  is  also 
called  Merehelm,  so  the  French  saint,  ^  Marculphe,'  nuqr 
haye  been  Merowulf ,  though  he  now  looks  more  like  Mark- 
ulf,  a  border  wolf.* 


Section  Vn. — Affectum. 

The  Teutons  had  a  few  names  denoting  affection.  Dyre  is 
the  same  in  Norse  as  our  own  word  dear^  or  dyr  in  Anglo- 
Saxon.  An  inlet  on  the  north-west  comer  of  Iceland  is 
still  termed  Dyrefiord,  from  one  of  the  first  settlers,  and 
Dyre  was  the  hero  of  a  ballad  in  the  Kcempevisery  answering 
to  the  Scottish  Katharine  Janfarie,  the  original  of  young 
Lochinvar.  The  old  Germans  had  Dioro  and  Diura,  and  the 
Anglo-Saxons  affectionately  called  the  young  sons  of  their 
nobility  Dyrling,  or  darling.  The  last  relic  of  the  custom  is 
that  in  some  parts  of  England  the  smallest  pig  of  the  litter 
is  termed  the  darling. 

Leofy  the  German  liebj  beloved,  is  much  used  by  the 
Anglo-Saxons.  Two  bishops,  one  of  Wells,  and  afterwards 
primate,  the  other  of   Crediton,  were  called  Leofing,  or 

*  Manoh;  Sismondi;  Butler;  Junius;  Kemble;  Michaelis;  LappeD- 
burg;  Mariana;  Weber andJamieson ;  DonoYan. 


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AFFECTION.  423 

Lyfing.  The  first  was  certftinly  properly  ^Elfstan,  so  it  is 
probable  that  in  both  instances  Leofing  was  merely  an  en- 
dearing name  that  grew  up  with  them,  and  displaced  the 
baptismal  one ;  but  its  Latin  translation,  Livingns,  shows  the 
origin  of  the  surname  of  Liyingstone. 

England  also  had  Leofvnne,  beloved  friend,  the  only  native 
name  borne  by  any  of  the  sons  of  Earl  Godwin.  An  earlier 
Leofwine  was  a  member  of  St.  Boniface's  mission,  and  con- 
yerted  many  of  the  heathens  on  the  banks  of  the  Weser ; 
and  as  St.  Lebwin  is  patron  of  Deventer,  probably  occasioned 
the  name  of  Lubin,  which,  from  being  borne  by  French 
peasants,  crept  into  pastoral  poetry. 

Another  of  the  same  mission  party  was  Leobgytha,  or  dear 
gift,  called  also  Liuba  and  Liebe,  who  was  sent  for  from  her 
conyent  at  Wimbome  to  found  one  of  the  earliest  nunneries 
in  Germany.  It  is  probably  from  her  that  Lievine  became 
an  old  Cambrecis  name. 

Leof  seems  to  have  been  the  special  prefix  of  the  earls  of 
Mercia,  for  we  find  among  them,  besides  Leofwine,  Leofstan 
and  Leofric,  the  last  the  best  known  for  the  sake  of  his  wife 
and  of  Coventry. 

The  continental  instances  of  the  prefix  are  among  the 
Spanish  Goths,  Liuva,  Leovigildo,  and  Liuvigotona;  and 
among  the  Franks,  Leobhard,  or  Liebhard,  a  saint  of 
Touraine. 

The  only  present  survivor  of  all  the  varieties  is  probably, 
if  we  exclude  the  occasional  Puritan  Love,  the  Cornish  and 
Dey<m  feminine  Lovedy. 

Far  more  universal  are  the  names  derived  from  the  old 
word  tnnr,  or  tm'ne,  meaning  friend  or  object  of  love,  the  same 
which  has  left  a  descendant  in  the  German  wanney  affection, 
and  the  Scottish  adjective  winsome.  It  is  a  continual  termi- 
nation, as  must  have  been  already  observed,  and  we  had  it  as 
a  commencement  in  our  great  English  missionary  Winfrith, 


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4H  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES. 

or  friend  of  peace,  the  Deyonian  bbhop  wbo  spread  Chris- 
tianity over  Germany,  but  who  is  far  better  known  by  the 
Latin  snmame  which  he  assamed,  namely,  Bonifacins.  Wini- 
bald  was  another  of  our  missionary  saints,  and  Germany  has 
also  had  Winrad,  Winrich,  and  Winmar. 

Mild,  or  mild,  is  exclusively  Saxon;  nay,  almost  exclu- 
sively Mercian,  for  it  only  occurs  in  one  family ;  that  of 
King  Merowald,  who  named  his  three  daughters  Mildgyth, 
Mildburh,  and  Mildthryth :  all  became  nuns,  the  two  latter 
abbesses,  one  in  Shropshire,  the  other  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet, 
and  they  were  canonized  as  Milburga  and  Mildreda.  Mil- 
borough,  as  the  first  became  anglicized,  was  found  within  the 
last  century  in  Shropshire,  and  Mildred  was  never  entirely 
disused;  it  belonged  to  the  daughter  of  Burleigh,  and  has 
lately  been  much  revived,  under  the  notion  that  it  means 
mild  speech ;  but  red  is  always  masculine,  and,  as  has  been 
before  said,  thryth  commands  or  threatens,  so  that  Mildthryth 
is  the  gently  strict. 


Section  Vill. — Appearance. 

Miss  Carolina  Wilhelmina  Amelia  Skeggs  was  verily  named 
after  a  beard.  Skegg  means  neither  more  nor  less  than  a 
beard,  and  strange  to  say,  Bardr  and  Skegg  were  both  fashion- 
able names  in  the  North  ;  indeed,  one  Icelandic  gentleman 
rejoiced  in  the  euphonious  title  of  Bardr  Bla-skegg,  or  Beard 
blue-beard.  Truly  he  must  have  belonged  to  a  remarkable 
family. 

But  we  have  an  independent  name  of  this  class.  Winiam 
de  Albini,  the  second  husband  of  Henry  I.*s  widow,  Alix,  rf 
Louvaine,  wore  moustachios,  which  the  Normans  called  ger- 
nons,  and  thus  his  usual  title  was  William  ah  Q-emaiis;  and 
as  the  common  ancestor  of  the  Howards  and  Percys,  left 
this  epithet  to  them  as  a  baptismal  name,  one  of  the  most 

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APPEARANCE.  425 

whimsiciJ  of  tbe  entire  roll  From  the  Percys  it  came  to 
Algernon  Sidney;  and  partly  through  his  admirers,  partly 
through  inheritance,  and  partly  through  the  love  of  trisylla- 
bles, has  become  difiused  in  England. 

The  axe  was  called  by  the  northern  people  harihr^  on  ac- 
count of  its  form  (like  barbed  or  bearded  darts) »  whence  the 
halbard  and  bartisan,  or  partisan.  Sometimes  it  was  the 
Langbard,  and  thus  the  Lombards  have  the  same  sort  of 
curious  connection  with  this  weapon  that  the  Saxons  have 
with  the  seax^  the  Franks  with  the/ranJrt^ia,  or  axe,  and  the 
Germans  with  the  gher,  or  spear. 

Faxe  meant  the  hair  or  tresses,  as  may  be  seen  in  the 
names  of  the  horses  of  day  and  night,  Skinfaxi  and  Hrin- 
faxi.  Two  instances  of  it  are  found  in  the  Landnama-boky 
Faxi,  a  colonist  from  the  Hebrides,  and  Faxabrandr,  most 
likely  an  epithet  to  some  peculiarity  of  hair,  probably  white- 
ness, or  perhaps  fieriness ;  but  it  was  not  common,  though  it 
came  to  England  to  be  the  surname  of  the  Boundhead  Sir 
Thomas  Fairfax. 

The  name  of  our  excellent  friend  Wamba  in  Ivanhoe  must 
probably  have  been  taken  from  one  of  the  Yisigothic  kings  of 
Spain,  with  whom  it  was  most  likely  a  nickname,  like  that  of 
Louis  le  Gros  in  France,  for  it  means  nothing  but  the  belly. 
Epithets  like  this  were  not  uncommon,  and  sometimes  were 
treated  as  names,  such  as  Mucel,  or  the  big,  the  soubriquet 
of  the  earl  of  the  Gevini ;  or  Budde,  the  pudding,  the  person 
who  showed  Knut  the  way  over  the  ice.  Many  of  those 
used  in  England  were  Keltic,  showing  that  Uie  under- 
current of  Cymric  peculation  must  still  have  been  strong. 

It  is  remarkable  how  very  few  are  the  names  taken  from 
the  complexion  in  comparison  with  the  many  used  by  the 
Kelts,  and  even  by  the  Romans,  either  because  the  Teuton^ 
were  all  fair  alike,  or  because  they  thought  these  casual 
titles  unworthy  to  be  names.  Bruno  was  exclusively  German, 
and  may  perhaps  be  only  a  nickname,  but  it  came  to  honour 

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4^6  DESGBIPnVB  NAMES. 

with  the  monk  of  Cologne,  who  founded  the  Carthusian 
order,  and  has  been  used  ever  since ;  and  the  North  has 
Syerke,  Sverkir,  swarthy  or  dark,  a  famous  name  among  the 
yikings. 

Far  more  modem  is  the  name  of  Blanche.  The  absence 
of  colour  is  in  all  tongues  of  western  Europe  denoted  by 
forms  of  blec.  In  Anglo-Saxon,  bkec  or  bloc  is  the  colour 
black,  but  blceca  is  a  bleak^  empty  place,  and  blmcan  is  to 
bleach  or  whiten ;  blcecOy  like  the  German  bkichj  stands  for 
paleness.  It  is  the  same  with  German  and  Norse,  in  the 
latter  of  which  blakke  hund  is  not  a  black  dog  but  a  white 
one.  All  these,  however,  used  their  own  weiss  or  whiie  for 
the  piire  uncoloured  snow ;  while  the  negative  bUzCj  or  colour- 
less, was  adopted  by  the  Romance  languages,  all  abandoning 
the  Latin  aJhus  in  its  favour.  It  is  literally  true  that  our 
black  is  the  French  whiie;  black  and  blanc  are  only  the 
absence  of  colour  in  its  two  opposite  effects. 

Blach,  Blacheman,  Blancus,  and  Blancard,  all  appear  in 
Domesday;  but  Blanchefleur  and  Blanche,  seem  to  have  beoi 
the  produce  of  romance.  The  mother  of  Sir  Tristrem  was 
Blanchefleur,  a  possible  translation  of  some  of  the  Keltic 
Gwenns  or  Finns,  and  it  probably  crept  from  romance  to 
reality  among  the  poetical  people  of  southern  France.  The 
first  historical  character  so  called  was  Blanca  of  Navarre,  the 
queen  of  Sancho  lY.  of  Castillo,  from  whom  it  was  bestowed 
on  her  granddaughter,  that  child  of  Eleanor  Plantagenet 
whom  her  uncle.  King  John,  employed  as  the  lure  by  which 
to  detach  Philippe  Auguste  from  the  support  of  Arthur  of 
Brittany.  The  treaty  only  bore  that  the  son  of  Philippe 
should  wed  the  daughter  of  Alfonso  of  Castillo;  the  choice 
among  the  sisters  was  entrusted  to  ambassadors,  and  they 
were  guided  solely  by  the  sound  of  the  name  borne  by  the 
younger,  that  of  the  elder  sister,  Urraca,  being  considered  by 
them  hateful  to  French  ears,  and  unpronounceable  to  French 
lips.    John  was  punished  for  his  policy,  for  Blanche's  rojal 

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APPEAKANCE. 


427 


Bngliflh  blood  was  the  pretext  of  the  pope  in  directing  against 
him  her  husband,  Louis  the  Lion,  but  no  choice  could  haye 
been  a  happier  one  for  France,  since  Blanche  of  Castille  was 
the  first  and  best  of  her  many  distinguished  queen-regents, 
and  was  so  much  revered  as  to  leave  it  doubtful  whether  she, 
or  the  custom  of  wearing  white  weeds,  were  the  origin  of  the 
old  term  of  La  Eeine  Blanche  for  the  dowager  queen  of 
France. 

From  her  the  name  became  very  common  in  France.  One 
of  the  daughters  of  Edward  I.  was  so  called,  probably  from 
her,  in  honour  of  his  friendship  for  her  son ;  it  became  usual 
among  the  English  nobility,  and  is  most  common  in  Italy, 
though  it  is  somewhat  forgotten  in  Spain. 


English. 
Blanch 

French. 
Blanche 

Italian. 
Bianca 

Spanish. 
Blanca 

Portuguese. 
Branca 

A  Swedish  heroine  called  Blenda  made  this  name,  from 
blenden  to  dazzle,  conmion  in  her  own  country,  but  it  is  not 
known  elsewhere. 

KoUy  with  a  double  /,  meaning  head,  is  sometimes  used  in 
northern  names,  but  far  less  conmionly  than  kol,  cool,  or 
rather  in  the  act  of  cooling  after  great  heat.  The  great 
blast-bellows  with  which  the  gods  charitably  refreshed  Hhe 
horses  of  the  sun,  are  called  in  the  Eddaic  poetry,  isarnkoly 
or  iron  coolers,  and  there  may  have  been  some  allusion  to 
this  in  the  names  of  Eol  and  Kale,  which  alternated  in  one 
of  the  old  northern  families.  But  as  the  cooling  of  iron  in- 
volved its  turning  black,  kolbrUnn  meant  a  black  breastplate, 
and  was  thus  used  as  a  bye-name;  and  it  may  be  in  this 
sense  of  black  that  kol  eaters  into  the  composition  of  Kolbjom, 
black  bear  (the  origin  of  the  surname  of  Colbome),  Kolgrim, 
Eolgrima ;  Eolskegg  would  thus  be  black  beard;  but  Eolbein 
can  hardly  be  black-leg,  so,  perhaps,  it  may  refer  to  the 

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428  DESCRIPTIVB  NAMES. 

bones  being  strong  as  wrought  iron ;  and  Kolfinn  and  its 
feminine  are  either  cool-white  or  refer  to  Finn's  strengtL 
Colbrand  is  in  English  romance  the  name  of  the  Danish  giant 
killed  by  Guy  of  Warwick,  at  Winchester ;  but  the  Heptarchy 
displays  a  very  perplexing  set  of  Cols,  as  they  have  been 
modernized,  though  they  used  to  be  spelt  Ceol.  There  were 
three  Ceolwulfs  in  Bemicia,  Mercia,  and  Wessex ;  Ceolred  in 
Mercia,  Geolwald  in  Wessex,  Ceolnoth  on  the  throne  of 
Canterbury.  Are  these  the  relatives  of  the  northern  kolj 
cool,  or  are  they  ceol^  keel,  meaning  rather  a  ship  than  merely 
the  keel,  as  it  does  now?  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  are  bo^ 
these,  and  the  northern  coly  adaptations  of  the  Keltic  col  or 
gaUj  like  those  already  mentioned  of  Finn  ?  Their  exclusive 
prevalence  among  the  Scandinavians  and  Anglo-Saxons  would 
somewhat  favour  the  notion. 

The  northern  feminine  terminal, /neJ,  belongs  to  this  class, 
and  means  the  fair,  or  pretty,  from  the  old  northern  fridltr^ 
though  it  is  most  deceitfully  like  Jred^  or  frey,  peaee,  and  is 
probably  from  the  same  root. 

Teitr  is  a  northern  man's  name,  meaning  cheerful :  Zeiz 
answers  to  it  in  old  German;  and  though  the  analogue  in 
Anglo-Saxon  does  not  otherwise  occur  in  any  Anglo-Saxon 
work,  yet  we  find  from  Bede  that  -Slthelburh,  the  daughter 
of  -SIthelbeorht  and  Bertha,  of  Kent,  who  carried  her  Chris- 
tianity to  her  husband,  Eadwine,  was  also  called  T&te,  by 
which  we  may  gather  that  she  was  particularly  lively  and 
cheerful.    The  surname  Tate  is  evidently  from  this  source.* 

Sbction  IX. — Locality. 

A  large  and  interesting  class  of  names  relate  to  country, 
and  express  the  birthplace  or  the  wandering  habits  of  the 
original  bearers. 

Munch;  Grimm;  Pott;  Mrs.  Green,  Prince$t€$  of  England:  Bna- 
tOme;  Dometday;  Lappenbuiig. 


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LOCALITY.  429 

The  word  land  was  <nie  of  these.  Its  primary  meaning 
seems  to  be  the  abode  of  the  people.  Long  ago  we  spoke  <^ 
the  Greek  Aaos,  prominent  in  Laodamia,  and  many  other 
of  the  like  c(Hnmencement.  An  almost  similar  term  runs 
through  the  Teutonic  tongues;  the  Saxon  leod,  (jerman 
kuUy  Frank  liade.  Northern  lydhr.  The  leodj  or  kuUj 
seem  to  have  been  the  &ee  inhabitants,  including  all  ranks, 
and  thence  we  have  the  laitt/y  for  the  general  people,  and 
the  lewdj  which  has  sunk  from  the  free  to  the  ignorant, 
and  then  to  the  dissipated. 

The  great  region,  of  these  names  taken  from  the  people 
is  Qermany.  Leutpold,  the  people's  prince,  was  a  canonized 
Markgraf  of  Austria,  in  the  days  when  that  family  had 
hardly  yet  begun  its  course  of  marrying  into  greatness,  and 
making  Leutpold  better  known  at  every  stage,  and  by 
each  new  dialect  differently  pronounced  till  it  turned  into 
Leopold,  and  was  confoimded  with  the  old  lion  names.  Li- 
deed,  in  the  old  Swiss  ballad  on  the  battle  of  Sempach, 
translated  by  Scott,  Leopold  the  Handsome  is  called  the 
Austrian  Lion.  The  recurrence  of  the  name  in  the  modem 
imperial  line  has  made  it  European,  and  the  close  connection 
of  our  own  royal  family  with  the  wise  king  of  the  Belgians 
has  brought  it  to  England.  Of  course,  it  has  not  escaped 
a  modem  German  Leopoldine. 


English. 
Leopold 

French. 
Leopold 

Italian. 
Leopoldo 

German. 

Luitpold 
Leopold 
Leopo 

Slav. 

Leopoldo 

Poldo 

Poldi 

Leutgar,  the  people's  spear,  was  a  good  bishop  of  Antrim, 
who  was  speared  by  the  people,  or,  at  least,  murdered  by 
them,  in  the  furious  wars  of  the  long-haired  kings,  and  was 
rerered  as  a  martyr  under  the  Latin  form  of  Leodigarius. 

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430 


DESCBIPnVB  NAMES. 


A  priest  of  Chalons  was  canonized  by  the  same  name,  which 
is  in  France  Lagnire,  and  was  brought  as  a  territorial  sur- 
name to  England  as  St  L^er. 

Liutgarde  seems  to  have  been  a  Frank  saint,  but  there  is 
no  account  of  her  in  Alban  Butler ;  but  hers  is  one  of  the 
favourite  old  names  at  GambraL  Liutprand,  the  people's 
sword,  is  one  of  the  chief  chroniclers  of  early  French  his- 
tory, and  the  other  forms  are  Liuther,  the  only  one  accepted 
by  the  North,  and  that  in  the  form  of  Lyder. 


Gtor.  Liutbert ;  Fries.  Liubert — People's  brightness 

Ger.  Liutberga — People's  protection 

Fr.  Leodefired,  Leufroi — People's  peace 

Ger.  Liutmar ;  Fries.  Lnttmer,  Lummer ;  Fr.  Leodemir — 
People's  greatness 

Ger.  Leuthold,  Liutold ;  Ags.  Leodwald — People's  power. 


The  land  itself  was  compounded  into  names  chiefly  among 
the  Franks,  Germans,  and  Lombards,  often  as  a  conclusion, 
but  now  and  then  at  the  beginning.  Lantperaht,  or  Ae  coun- 
try's brightness,  is  the  most  noted  of  tiiese,  liaying  been 
borne  by  three  saints  of  Maestricht,  Lyons,  and  Venice,  and 
haying  thus  become  national  in  all  the  countries  around ;  but 
it  is  uniyersally  corrupted  into  Lambert,  and  has  been  gene- 
rally derived  from  a  lamb.  The  murderous  '  Lammikin '  of 
Scottish  ballad  is  sometimes  said  to  have  been  really  named 
Lambert  Linkin,  sometimes  to  have  this  as  an  ironical 
epithet 


English. 
Lambert 

French. 

Lambert 
Lanbert 

Italian. 
Lamberto 

Gennan. 

Landbert 
Lambert 

Batch. 
Lambert 
Lammert 

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LOCALITY.  431 

Landerich,  or  country's  ruler,  was  an  early  Frank  saint, 
wbo  has  left  Landry  to  be  still  frequent  among  the  Flemish 
and  French  peasantry. 

Land&ang,  lord  of  the  country,  was  the  Lombardic  Lan- 
firanoo,  whence  the  Lanfranc  of  the  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, whom  William  the  Conqueror  imposed  on  the  Church, 
but  who  brought  in  fresh  yigour  and  learning.  Landfrid  has 
lefl  the  surname  Laffert  to  France;  its  contraction  Lando 
belonged  to  a  saint,  and  has  the  feminines  Landine  and 
Landoline.  There  are  also  recorded  Landolf,  Landrad,  Lan- 
drada,  and  Landinn. 

If  Germany  and  Italy  talked  of  dwellers  in  the  land,  the 
North,  with  its  seas  and  numerous  islets,  distinguished  the 
islanders  with  the  word  Ey,  or  0i,  the  word  that  we  use  to 
this  yery  day  in  speaking  of  Guernsey,  Jersey,  Ac,  of  an 
eyot  in  a  river ;  and  even  in  Sodor,  that  puzzling  companion 
to  the  Isle  of  Man,  which  once  was  the  Sudoe,  or  South  Isles, 
the  Hebrides.  Our  very  term  t-land  preserves  the  word, 
though  in  spelling  the  s  has  been  foisted  in  from  some  sup- 
posed connection  with  instdaj  of  which  isle  is  the  legitimate 
French  contraction. 

The  most  famous  northern  island  name  is  Eystein,  or  0is- 
tein,  much  in  use  among  the  early  kings,  and  specially  honoured 
for  the  sake  of  the  good  brother  of  Sigurd,  the  Crusader, 
who  staid  at  home  and  worked  for  his  people's  good,  while 
Sigurd  was  killing  blue  men  in  the  land  of  the  Saracens. 
The  Danish  Eystein  was  turned  into  Austin,  or  Augustin, 
to  be  more  ecclesiastical,  and  this  may  be  the  origin  of  some 
of  our  Austins.  Eyulf,  or  the  island  wolf,  has  become,  in 
the  course  of  time,  0iel  and  0iuf.  Eyvind,  who  appears  in 
the  Landnama-bok  with  the  unpleasant  soubriquet  of  Skall- 
dur  Spiller,  or  the  poet  spoiler,  is  supposed  to  have  been  the 
Island  Wend,  a  reminiscence  of  the  Wends  on  the  shores  of 
the  Baltic.  It  was  a  very  conmion  name,  and  became  0vind 
and  Even^  while  Eymund,  in  like  manner,  was  turned  into 

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43^  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES. 

Emund.  An  island  thief  was  not  wanting,  as  Ejthiof ;  nor 
an  island  warrior,  as  Ejar ;  also  E jfrey,  Ejlang ;  uid  the 
ladies  Ejgerd,  Ejdis,  Eyny,  and  Ejyar,  or,  as  Sazo  calb 
her,  Ofura. 

An  island  is  also  sometimes  holm^  whence  the  northern 
Holmstein  and  Holmfrid,  with  Holmgeir,  which  gets  mixed 
with  Holger. 

Persons  of  mixed  birth  were  drollj  called  by  the  actual 
fractional  word  halfj  in  Germany  Halbwalah,  half  a  foreign^, 
or  half  a  Wallachian,  and  Halbturing  or  half  a  Thuringian; 
and  in  the  North,  generally,  Halfdan,  half  a  Dane.  So  early 
was  this  in  use  that  there  was  a  mythical  king  Halfdan,  from 
whom  the  name  was  adopted  by  many  a  true  bom  Dane  and 
Northman,  and  has  been  latinized  as  Haldanus.  Onr  MM, 
of  Northumbria,  the  mule  of  half  breed,  is  thought  to  have 
been  named  in  the  same  way,  as  having  a  British  mother ; 
and  his  brother  Ceadwalla  actually  bears  a  Eymric  name. 

Travellers  had  their  epithets,  which  probably  came  to  be 
family  names.  Ltde^  the  northern  wanderer,  was  compounded 
in  Haflide,  sea  wanderer ;  Vestlide,  west  wanderer ;  Vetilide, 
winter  wanderer;  and  Sumalide,  or  summer  wanderer,  which 
last  was  current  among  the  lords  of  the  Isles,  and  kings  of 
Man,  in  the  shape  of  Somerled,  or,  in  Gaelic,  Somhle;  but 
<  the  heirs  of  mighty  Somerled'  did  not  long  keep  up  his 
name. 

Travellers  again  had  their  name  from  fara^  the  modem 
German /aAren,  and  the 'scarcely  disused  English  to  fare j 
meaning  to  journey.  The  most  noted  instance  is  Faramund, 
who,  in  the  guise  of  Pharamond  is  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
long-haired  Frankish  dynasty,  far  travelled  it  may  be,  from 
the  river  Yssel  whence  the  Salic  stock  took  the  title  that 
was  to  pass  to  one  peculiar  law  of  succession ;  also  Fara- 
bert,  Farulf,  and  Farthegn,  contracted  into  Farten,  and  Fal- 
tin,  and  then  supposed  to  be  a  contraction  of  Falentin,  cr 
Valentine.      Thegn  did,  in  fact,  originally  mean  a  servant. 

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LOCALITY.  433 

SO  that  Farthegn  was  either  the  travelled  seryant,  or  the 
travelled  thane.  Fargrim  appears  in  Domesday;  but  these 
names  are  not  easy  to  divide  from  those  taken  from  warenj  to 
beware. 

Even  the  exile  had  his  sorrows  commemorated  in  his  chil- 
dren's names.  No  doubt  if  we  conld  meet  with  the  story  of 
the  original  Erland,  we  should  find  that  he  was  bom  under 
the  same  circumstances  as  Peregrine  Bertie,  for  the  name 
is  from,  the  old  northern  er^  out,  or  away  from,  and  land. 
Erland  is  the  Outland,  the  banished  man,  and  he  must  have 
been  beloved,  or  celebrated,  for  Erlendr,  as  the  Icelanders 
had  it,  occurs  plentifully,  with  its  diminutive  Erling,  and 
perhaps  the  corruption  Elling.  It  was  from  the  misery  of 
the  exile  that  the  German  noun  elend  was  taken ;  also  elland 
was,  in  Anglo-Saxon,  a  stranger ;  and  ellande  often  is  used  in 
old  Scottish  ballads  for  a  forlorn  dreary  place. 

The  unfortunate  Bishop  Hatto's  name  was  anciently  Hazzo, 
and  is  translated  a  Hessian. 

Viking  has  been  used  as  a  Christian  name  in  Norway  in 
comparatively  modem  days,  in  memory  of  the  deeds  of  the 
terrible  Vikingr  of  old ;  but,  in  spite  of  the  resemblance  in 
sound,  it  must  not  be  suspected  of  any  relation  to  sea-kings, 
being  only  the  inhabitant  of  a  vik,  or  bay,  of  course  the  most 
convenient  abode  for  a  sea  rover. 

The  sea,  Aa/,  or  haVj  as  it  was  called  in  the  North,  named 
besides  Hafiide,  Hafthor,  and  Hafgrim,  as  well  as  the  mythic 
hero,  Haflok,  the  Dane,  whose  life,  according  to  his  legend, 
was  saved  by  his  faithful  servant  Grim,  the  founder  of 
Grimsby,  in  Lincolnshire,  the  native  place  of  our  own  Sir 
Henry  Havelock,  who  was  bewailed  by  the  Danish  school- 
children as  their  own  ballad  hero.  Ilie  two  feminine  ter- 
minations laty  and  veig  may  have  been  in  its  honour,  but  it 
is  much  to  be  feared  that  they  only  meant  liquor,  and  at 
the  best  were  allusions  to  the  costly  mead  of  the  gods,  the 
drink  of  inspiration,  or  the  magic  bowls  that  inflamed  the 

VOL.    II.  Digit  zefb^OOgle 


434  DESCRIPTIVE  NAMES. 

Berserks.  Nay,  men  rejoiced  in  the  name  of  0l7er,  or  0l7e, 
meaning  neither  more  nor  less  than  ale,  0I,  which  acquires  a 
V  in  the  oblique  cases  and  plural.  01yer,  together  with  Okf, 
has  no  doubt  been  confounded  into  the  modem  Oliver. 

Knud,  or  Ejiut,  a  very  common  northern  name,  is  a  yerj 
puzzling  one.  Its  origin  and  nationality  are  Danish,  and  it 
only  came  to  Norway  by  intermarriages,  nor  does  it  appear 
at  all  in  the  Landnama-bok.  The  great  Dane  who  brought 
it  here  is  called  by  the  chroniclers  Ganutus,  from  some  noti<m 
of  making  it  the  Latin  hoary y  and  thus  we  know  him  as 
Canute ;  but  even  in  Domesday,  one  landholder  in  Yorkshire, 
and  another  in  Derbyshire,  are  entered  as  Cnud.  The  whole 
North,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  Hebrides,  use  the  name, 
which  comes  from  the  same  root  as  our  knot,  and  properly 
means  a  protuberance,  a  hill,  or  barrow. 


Section  X.'—Life. 

Life  played  its  part  amoug  Teutonic  names.  One  old 
word  conveying  this  sense  was  the  Gothic  ferchvuSy  Sax(m 
feorhy  and  Northern  ^/!(>rA.  The  Anglo-Saxon/eorA  also  meant 
youth,  and  thus  passed  on  to  mean  a  young  man. 

There  are  not  many  names  from  thence,  but  one  of  the 
few  has  been  a  great  perplexity,  and  has  been  explained  in 
many  ways,  t.c,  the  Gothic  Ferhonanths,  the  last  syllable 
being  nanthy  daring,  so  that  its  sense  would  be,  *  adventuring 
his  life.'  It  was  the  Spanish  Groths  who  used  this  gallant 
name,  and  made  it  with  their  Romance  tongues  into  Feman 
and  Fernando.  San  Fernando,  king  of  Castille,  and  father 
of  our  own  Eleanor,  made  it  a  favourite  for  his  royal  line; 
and  a  younger  son  of  Castille  so  called,  being  heir  of  Aragon, 
carried  it  thither,  and  thence  it  passed  to  southern  France, 
where  the  grandson  of  old  King  Rene  was  Ferrand  or  Ferry. 

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LIFK 


43S 


Aragon  again  bestowed  it  upon  Nicies;  but  it  was  there 
prolonged  into  Ferdinando,  whilst  Spanish  elisions  had  at 
home  tamed  it  to  Hernan,  as  the  conqueror  of  Mexico 
termed  himself.  It  was  bestowed  upon  the  second  son  of 
Juana  la  Loca,  who  was  bom  in  Spain,  and  long  preferred 
there  to  hb  brother,  though  it  was  to  the  imperial  throne 
that  he  was  destined  to  succeed,  and  to  render  his  Spanish 
name  national  through  Germany,  where  Ferdinand  has  long 
been  a  sore  puzzle;  sometimes  explained  by  fart^  a  journey, 
and  sometimes  by/nW,  peace,  but  never  satisfactorily.  The 
contraction  Nandel  was  die  shout  of  the  mob  in  the  ears  of 
Ferdinand,  the  obstinate,  narrow-minded  man  who  won  his 
cause  by  mere  force  of  undivided  aim.  It  is  so  popular  in 
Spain  and  Germany  as  in  each  to  have  a  feminine,  Fernanda 
and  Ferdinandine. 


English. 
Ferdinand 

French. 

Ferdinand 

Ferrand 

Ferry 

Spanish. 

Fernando 
Hernando 
Hernan 

ItaUan. 
Ferdinando 
Fernando 
Ferrante 

GermaD. 
Ferdinand 
Nandl 

Polish. 
Ferdynand 

Lettish. 
Werlands 

Ferahbald  and  Ferahmund  were  forgotten  old  German 
forms,  and  Fjorleif  was  known  in  the  North. 

This  is  probably  relic  of  life,  as  otherwise  the  word  would 
be  a  reduplication ;  but  the  termination  leif  or  lif  is  some- 
times used,  being  our  very  word  life. 

There  are  two  words  which  may  be  said  to  form  names  of 
progress,  the  German  gang^  from  to  go,  sometimes  commencing 
as  in  Gangolf,  but  more  usual  at  the  end  of  a  word,  and 
the  northern  5%,  from  the  universal  root  stigy  found  in  the 

FF2 


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43^  DESGBIPnVE  NAMES. 

Greek  brtxwy  and  in  onr  step  and  Btile^  also  stairs^  for  the 
usual  sense  of  the  word  implies  mounting  upwards ;  and  die 
name  of  ibe  semi-Danish  archbishop  of  Canterbury  who 
orowned  Harold,  and  was  one  of  the  Conqueror's  lifeloi^ 
captiTes,  was  the  participle  Stigand,  mounting,  and  was  long 
extant  in  the  Nordi,  as  well  as  the  Danish  Stjge  and  Stfgge. 


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437 


PAET  vn. 

KAMSS     FBOM    THB     BLAVONIO. 

CHAPTER   L 

Sbction  I. — Slavonic  Races. 

Thb  last  class  of  names  that  have  had  any  influence  upon 
European  nomenclature  are  those  borne  by  the  Slavonic 
race  dwelling  to  the  eastward  of  the  Teutons,  and  scarcely 
coming  into  notice  before  the  period  of  modem  history. 

Nor,  indeed,  have  they  been  ever  very  prominent.  Slip- 
ping into  the  regions  left  empty  by  the  Teutons,  or  depopu- 
lated by  the  forays  of  the  Tatars,  these  nations  have  carried 
on  a  life  for  the  most  part  obscure  and  industrious,  though  now 
and  then  drawn,  either  by  Mongol  fury  on  the  one  hand,  or 
by  Teuton  ambition  on  the  other,  into  gallant  exertions ;  but 
a  genuine  Slavonian  has  seldom  or  never  extended  his  power 
far  beyond  his  own  country.  Imaginative  and  poetical,  they 
have  nevertheless  few  ancestral  traditions,  they  have  no  his- 
tory previously  to  coming  under  the  influence  of  other 
countries,  and  their  migrations  are  even  less  known  than 
those  of  the  early  Kelts  and  Teutons. 

All  that  we  do  know  is  that  by  the  time  the  ten  horns  of 
modem  empire  were  developing  themselves,  there  was  a  long 
strip  of  Slavonians,  or  Wends,  extendmg  from  the  White  and 
Baltic  seas  down  to  the  Black  and  Adriatic,  making  a  divi-* 
sion  between  the  Teutons  and  the  Tatars,  but  utterly  unable 

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438  NAMES  FROM  THE  SLAVONIC. 

to  oppose  a  barrier  when  periodical  fits  of  fxiry  and  invasion 
seized  upon  the  wild  hordes  to  the  eastward  of  them. 

Wends,  or  Venedi,  seems  to  have  been  one  universal  national 
term ;  Shva  furnished  another.  The  word,  like  the  Ghreek 
«cXva  and  Teuton  Mod^  is  from  the  root  pru,  and  denotes  fame 
or  glory ;  and  it  is  constantly  employed  in  the  personal  names, 
commencing  Slavoljub,  glorious  love,  Slavomir,  glorious 
peace,  Slavomil,  friend  of  glory,  and  terminating  Siroslav, 
far  famed,  and  many  others,  usually  rendered  as  slas  and 
slaus. 

But  just  as  G-eta,  the  G-oth,  stood  for  a  bondsman  in  clas- 
sical literature,  so  when  the  Slav  became  the  captive  of  the 
Qerman,  his  once  glorious  epithet  became  the  generic  term 
of  the  thrall,  bought  and  sold,  while  the  derivatives  of  the 
Latin  servus  were  reserved  for  the  free  hired  domestic. 
Glory  had  literally  turned  to  slavery,  perhaps  the  more 
readily  because  it  is  the  Slav,  who,  of  all  the  Indo-European 
race,  most  readily  bows  beneath  the  yoke,  so  that  to  this 
day,  his  forms  of  courtesy  are  the  most  servile,  his  respect- 
ful address  the  most  extravagant  used  in  Europe. 

At  our  first  glimpse  of  the  Slavonic  nations,  the  Danube 
flowed  through  the  midst  of  a  considerable  settlement  of 
them,  known  to  classical  writers  as  Bulgarians,  and  most 
savage  foes  to  the  Eastern  empire,  who  lost  army  after  army 
in  expeditions  against  these  barbarians. 

In  the  North,  two  great  merchant  republics  at  Kief  and 
Novgorod  were  conducting  the  trade  of  the  North,  and  ap- 
parently living  an  honourable  life  of  industry  and  self- 
govemment. 

All  around  the  east  and  south  of  the  Baltic  were  other 

large  territories  occupied  by  Slavonians,  from  Finland  to 

Jutland ;  and,  with  few  exceptions,  most  of  these  lands  still 

♦own  a  Slavonian  population,  though  only  one  has  a  native 

government. 

The  Mongols  have,  perhaps,  chiefly  influenced  the  changes 

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SLAVONIC  RACES.  439 

undergone  by  the  Slaves.  The  great  and  terrible  Tatar  in- 
vasion of  Attila  trod  them  down,  but  by  ruining  the  Roman 
empire,  established  homes  for  them,  especially  round  the 
Danube.  In  the  kingdom  now  called  Hungary,  there  is  a 
large  Slavonian  population,  called  Slovak,  from  the  term 
sloVy  a  word,  living  mixed  with  the  remains  of  the  Huns,  but 
keeping  a  separate  language. 

The  mountain-girt  lozenge  of  Bohemia  was  also  a  separate 
kingdom,  with  its  own  language,  not  the  same  though  nearly 
related,  and  more  resembling  that  of  the  fierce  elective  king- 
dom of  Poland. 

The  migrations  of  the  Teutons  drove  most  of  the  Wends 
out  of  Denmark  into  the  marshy  and  sandy  lands  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Vistula ;  and,  somewhat  later,  home  quarrels, 
and  fears  of  the  Tatars,  impelled  the  republics  of  Russia 
to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  Northmen,  who  quickly  put  an  end 
to  the  freedom  of  the  cities,  and  set  up  the  principality  that 
was  the  germ  of  the  Russian  empire. 

The  Greek  Church  converted  the  Bulgarians  about  the 
year  870,  and  the  translations  of  the  liturgy  and  Scriptures, 
made  for  their  benefit,  have  been  the  authorized  version  of 
the  Slavonians  ever  since.  The  same  missionaries,  Cyrillus 
and  Methodius,  likewise  baptized  the  first  Christian  king  of 
Bohemia;  and  in  the  next  century,  a  Bohemian  bishop, 
Adalbert  of  Prague,  converted  Hungary  and  Poland.  But 
these  three  realms  gave  their  allegiance  to  the  Western,  not 
the  Eastern  Church ;  and  though  Hungary  received  much 
of  her  civilization  from  Constantinople,  her  faith  was  with 
Rome.  The  Norse  Grand  Princes  of  Muscovy  themselves 
sought  Christianity  from  Byzantium,  and  the  Russian 
Church  has  ever  since  been  the  most  earnest  and  conservative 
of  the  Eastern  Churches. 

The  Baltic  Slavonians  held  out  longest  against  the  Gospel. 
Missionaries  preached  to  them,  and  orders  of  knighthood 
crusaded  against  them  on  far  into  modem  history,  and  the 

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440  NAMES  PROM  THE  SLAVONIC. 

final  period  of  their  conversion  and  settlement  into  ra&all 
duchies  or  realms,  held  bj  the  conquering  knights,  is  hardly 
worth  tracing  out. 

The  next  step  in  general  Slavonic  history  is  the  great 
Turkish  outbreak,  which  almost  crushed  Muscovy,  and  in- 
fused a  strong  Tatar  element  into  the  Russian  population ; 
and,  finally,  conquered  the  Greek  empire,  and  with  it  the 
Bulgarian  lands,  which,  though  never  Mahometanized,  have 
ever  since  remamed  under  Turkish  dominion. 

The  kingdoms  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary,  with  the  other 
western  Slavonic  provinces,  were  one  by  one  absorbed  into 
the  German  empire,  or  by  the  House  of  Austria — it  made 
little  difference  which  was  the  original  tenure — all  are 
*  Austrian  *  now,  whether  willingly  or  not 

With  the  same  skill,  the  House  of  Brandenburg  obtained 
the  domains  of  the  Baltic  Slaves,  and  formed  the  kingdom 
of  Prussia,  very  Tataric  to  the  west,  and  very  Slavonic  to 
the  east. 

Meantime,  after  a  long  period  of  exhaustion,  almost  of 
extinction,  the  Muscovites  came  forth  from  the  Tatar  op- 
pression stronger  than  ever ;  and  by  gradual  conquests  from 
their  former  enemies,  at  length  formed  their  huge  empire  of 
the  east. 

And  Poland,  after  many  a  turbulent  election,  many  a 
summons  to  German  princes  to  hold  the  reins  of  its  restless 
multitude,  was  finally  and  unrighteously  dismembered  and 
divided,  and  the  cry  of  its  wrongs  has  ever  since  rent 
the  ears  of  Europe. 

The  existing  Slavonian  languages  are  the  Russian,  the 
literary  language  of  the  great  empire ;  the  Livonian,  or  the 
language  spoken  by  the  persons  who  are  not  of  Finnish  blood 
in  the  elbow  beneath  the  Gulf  of  Finland ;  the  Lettish  and 
Lusatian,  used  by  the  old  Prussian  subjects  and  their  neigh- 
bours in  Russia ;  the  Polish ;  the  Slovak,  spoken  in  Hungary ; 


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SLAVONIC  RACES.  44 1 

the  Servian,  Slyrian,  and  Croatian,  all  representing  the  old 
Bulgarian. 

Of  all  these,  it  is  perhaps  the  Polish  that  has  contributed  the 
most  names  to  the  European  stock,  and  they  are  but  few ; 
but  there  were  intermarriages,  and  fiiendlj  intercourse,  be- 
sides occasional  elections  to  the  Polish  throne ;  and,  latterly, 
the  dispersion  and  exile  of  the  Polish  nobility  carried  their 
names  into  distant  parts  of  Europe,  and  gave  them  a  ro- 
mantic interest. 

Bohemia  and  Hungary  sent  a  few  names  into  the  Austrian 
line,  but  they  soon  died  out ;  and  Russia  uses  comparatively 
few  native  Slavonic  names,  but  makes  chief  use  of  those  of 
the  saints  of  the  Greek  Church. 

Slavonian  languages  are  said  to  be  soft  in  their  own 
speech,  but  our  letters  clumsily  render  their  sounds,  and 
make  them  of  cumbrous  length ;  and  the  few  names  that 
have  been  adopted  have  been  severely  mangled. 

They  are,  for  the  most  part,  grand  and  poetical  com- 
pounds, often  exactly  corresponding  to  Ghreek  or  Teutonic 
names,  and  with  others  more  poetical  than  either,  such  as 
Danica,  the  morning  star ;  Zwezdana,  or  in  Russian,  Swet- 
lana,  a  star ;  Zora,  Zorana,  Zorica,  the  Slovak  Aurora ;  and 
Zorislava,  the  dawn  of  glory ;  Golubica,  the  dove ;  Lala,  the 
tulip.  The  Slaves  use  likewise  the  amaranth,  or  everlasting 
flower,  as  a  name  both  for  men  and  women,  namely,  Smiljan 
and  Smiljana ;  and  while  a  man  may  be  called  Dubislav,  or 
oak  fame,  the  Servians  and  Illyrians  call  their  daughters  after 
fruits, — Grozdana,  rich  in  grapes ;  Jagoda,  the  strawberry ; 
and  Kupina,  or  Kupjena,  the  gooseberry* 

•  Kombst  (in  Johnson's)  Phytical  AtUu;  Max  Mnller,  Lectures;  Le 
Beau,  Bos  Empire;  Schleicher,  Spraehen  Europen;  Zeuss,  Deuttchen 
und  die  Nachbar  Stamme. 


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44^  NAMES  FROM  THE  SLAVONIC. 


Section  n. — Slavonian  Mythology. 

The  Slavonians  had  a  polytheistic  religion,  answering,  in 
spirit,  to  that  of  the  other  Indo-European  nations;  but  as 
they  had  no  mythic  literature,  like  Greece  and  Scandinavia, 
we  are  dependent  for  information  upon  popular  ballads  and 
superstitions,  eked  out  by  the  notices  of  missionaries  and 
statements  of  conquerors ;  and  it  is  not  easy  to  perceive 
whether  their  myths  were  an  independent  branch  of  the  gene- 
ral stock,  or  only  the  Teutonic  religion  under  another  dress. 

The  divine  word,  in  all  the  various  nations,  is  Bog.  It  is 
used  for  God,  both  in  the  old  heathen  times,  and  afterwards 
in  its  full  sense,  when  Christianity  became  known  to  them. 
It  enters  into  numerous  names,  both  before  and  after  Christi- 
anity. The  most  noted  is  Bogoslav,  or  God's  glory,  which 
waa  borne  by  many  a  Pole  and  old  Prussian;  and,  in  1627, 
it  finbhed  off  the  old  Slavonic  line  of  dukes  of  Pomerania, 
by  whom  that  state  was  bequeathed  to  the  acquisitive  house 
of  Brandenburg.  Bogislav  was  the  last  of  a  large  family  of 
brothers,  who  all  died  childless,  a  misfortune  which  was 
ascribed  to  witchcraft,  and  thus  furnished  the  plot  of  the 
wild  story  of  Sidonia  the  Sorceress,  The  historical  Latinism 
of  the  name  is  Bogislaus ;  and  it  is  still  current  in  Illyria  as 
Bogosav. 

Theophilus  is  literally  translated  by  Bogoljub  or  Bogoje 
in  Illyria,  and  Bohumil  in  Bohemia.  This  makes  it  pro- 
bable that  Robert  Guiscard  thence  took  the  name  of  his 
eldest  son,  Bohemond,  giving  it  a  Norman  termination..  The 
mother  is  called  Alvareda,  and  she  is  said  to  have  been 
divorced  on  the  score  of  consanguinity ;  but  it  is  not  impro- 
bable that  this  was  a  mere  excuse  oif  the  wily  duke  of  Calabria 
for  ridding  himself  of  an  Ulyrian  wife.  Bohemond  is  said  to 
have  been  called  after  a  giant  of  romance ;  but  the  giant  has 


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SLAVONIAN  MYTHOLOGY.  443 

not  as  yet  transpired,  and  may  have  been,  after  all,  a  Sla- 
Tonic  divinity.  Bohemond,  or  Boemondo,  as  Tasso  calls  him, 
was  the  Ulysses  of  the  first  Crusade,  and  left  a  grandson 
namesake. 

Theodoras  and  Theodora  are  answered  by  Bogdan  and 
Bogdana,  both  spelt  with  h  in  Bohemia — Bohdan,  Bohdana, 
and  in  Dlyria  Bozidar,  Bozidara ;  and,  as  has  been  already 
said,  the  divine  birth-night,  Christmas,  is  commemorated 
by  Slovak  children  being  called  Bozo.  Bogohval  is  thank 
God,  Bogoboj,  God's  battle,  all  names  in  use  in  Poland  and 
the  kindred  nations  before  the  general  names  of  Europe  dis- 
placed the  native  growth. 

The  word  does  not  answer  to  either  Deus  or  God,  but  is 
related  to  the  Sanscrit  bhagaSy  destiny.  That  which  does 
answer  to  Theos  and  Deiis  is  Dievas,  the  proper  title  of 
the  supreme  deity,  though,  as  wielding  the  thimder,  the  old 
Prussians  called  him  Perkunas,  the  Russians  Perun,  answer- 
ing both  to  ppiotrrq  and  to  Thunner,  and  reminding  us  of  the 
Sanscrit  Parjanyas^  the  title  of  India  as  rainy  god.  Among 
the  Wends  of  Luneburg  Thursday  is  Perunsdan,  as  usual, 
belonging  to  the  thunderer.  In  Russia  he  had  huge  forests 
consecrated  to  him,  and  temples  with  perpetual  fires  burning 
before  his  image,  where  sacrifices,  both  human  and  of  cattle, 
were  offered  to  him.  The  Servian  name  of  Burac  is,  perhaps, 
connected  with  him,  as  it  means  a  storm,  also  the  Illyrian 
Jurisa. 

There  are  various  points  in  which  the  Slavonians  bring  us 
back  more  directly  to  their  Eastern  origin  than  do  either  of 
the  other  European  races.  With  them  the  moon  is  masculine, 
and  reminds  us  of  its  origin  as  the  measurer.  Meno  is  the 
name  of  the  genius  who  was  once  betrothed  to  Saule,  the 
genius  of  the  sun,  but,  for  the  love  of  the  morning  and  even- 
ing stars,  deserted  her,  and,  as  a  punishment,  his  moon  was 
clipped  into  her  crescent  form  by  Dievas. 


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444  NAMES  FROM  THE  SLAVONIC. 

Another  curious  fSu^t  is,  that  while  the  BrahminB  have  a 
legend  of  Vishnu  having  once  become  incarnate,  as  Kupalo, 
or  the  penitent,  a  deity  was  once  adored  at  Kief  as  god  of 
the  fruits  of  the  earth ;  and,  moreover,  the  fires  lighted  on 
Midsummer  eve  by  the  Slavonians  bear  his  name,  so  that 
the  feast  of  St.  Agrippina  coming  on  that  day,  she  is  termed 
by  the  Russians  Agrifinia  Kupalnitscha,  and  St.  John  the 
Baptist  himself  is  distinguished  as  Iwan  Kupalnitsch.  On 
the  other  hand,  Christmas  bonfires  are,  in  Bohemia,  Koljada, 
and  it  is  thus  likely  that  Kupalo  was  connected  with  some 
solstitial  observance  in  mid-summer  and  mid-winter ;  but  so 
entirely  has  he  been  forgotten,  that  some  have  tried  to  derive 
the  summer  feast  from  kupa^  a  haycock,  and  others  from 
huhey  a  cow. 

IMa  is  the  Sanscrit  love,  and  upaUla  is  felicity.  The  root 
appears  in  the  pretty  Slavonian  myth  of  Lada,  or  joy,  the 
goddess  answering  to  Venus  and  owning  her  planet,  which 
the  Bohemians  call  Hladolet,  while  lado  is  the  term  for  a 
lover  in  Russian  ballads.  Lada  had  three  sons.  Dido,  Lelja, 
and  Polelja,  who  answer  most  curiously  to  some  of  the  Greek 
myths.  Lelja  and  Dido  are,  like  Eros  smd  Anteros,  love  and 
rivaby,  and  Polelja  is  after-love,  returned  love,  or  marriage, 
answering  to  Hymen.  In  an  old  Gracovian  ballad,  Lei  and 
Polel  are  said  to  fly  over  the  fields,  bringing  summer,  and 
leaving  the  gossamer  in  their  track  ;  and  it  should  be  observed 
that  the  Germans  likewise  call  these  silvery  threads  ^  flying 
summer,'  or,  in  some  parts,  Mariensamar.  SamoTy  or  simoTy  is 
a  cymar,  a  veil,  or  train ;  and  sometimes  the  spring  threads  are 
the  maidchensaniar^  the  autumn  ones,  aUeweibersamaVj  the  old 
woman's  train.  Our  own  word  gossamer ^  goUesamar^  con- 
veys the  same  notion  of  being  the  traU  of  the  summer  god. 
So  closely  united  were  Lei  and  Polel,  that  they  served  as  % 
popular  interjection,  like  the  Castor  and  Pollux  of  Roman 
exclamation,  and  they  have  even  been  thought  to  represent 
these  twin  deities ;  but  it  is  more  likely  that  both  are  shoots 

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SLAVONIAN  MYTHOLOGY.  445 

from  the  same  idea,  since,  in  Greek,  Leda  is  the  mother, 
Polydeukes  one  of  the  sons. 

The  word  Ijube  is  rather  a  favourite  in  the  affectionate 
Slayonic  nomenclature.  At  the  outset  of  Bohemian  history 
we  come  on  the  heautiful  legend  of  Queen  Libussa,  or  the 
darling.  She  succeeded  her  father  in  618,  governed  alone 
for  fourteen  years,  then,  finding  her  people  discontented, 
sought  the  wisest  man  in  her  domains  for  a  husband,  and 
found  him,  like  Gincinnatus,  at  the  plough,  when  he  not  only 
retained  his  homely  cloak,  iron  table,  and  bark  sandals,  as 
marks  of  his  origin,  but  bade  them  be  produced  at  all  future 
royal  elections.  His  name,  Przemysl,  or  the  thoughtful,  was 
continued  in  his  line,  though  chroniclers  cut  its  dreadful  knot 
of  consonants  by  calling  it  Premislaus,  and  the  next  ensuing 
namesake  Germanized  himself  as  Ottokar.  He  was  afterwards 
elected  king  of  Poland,  where  the  name  was  used  with  the 
feminine  Przemyslava. 

Russia  has  the  feminine  Ljubov,  love,  fondly  called  Lu- 
bnika,  and,  in  families  where  French  is  spoken,  called  Aimee, 
though  this  more  properly  translates  Ljubka  and  Ljubnia. 
The  Slovaks  have  Ljutx>slav  and  its  feminine,  and  the  Polish 
Lubomirsky  is  peace  loving.  The  Russian  Ljubov  is  chiefly 
used  in  allusion  to  the  Christian  grace  of  love ;  and  faith, 
or  Vjwa,  and  hope,  Nadezna,  are  both,  likewise,  very  popu- 
lar at  the  present  day,  the  latter  usually  Frenchified  into 
Nadine ;  while  the  Serbs  have  Nada,  or  Nadan. 

The  Slaves  of  Rugen  had  a  terrible  deity  called  Sviatovid, 
or  the  luminous,  who  was  considered  to  answer  to  Mars,  or 
Tyr,  and  had  a  temple  at  Acron,  and  an  image  with  seven 
heads,  which  must  have  much  resembled  Indian  idols.  A 
white  horse  was  sacred  to  him,  and  was  supposed  to  be  ridden 
by  him  during  the  night,  and  to  communicate  auguries  by 
the  manner  in  which  it  leaped  over  lances  that  were  arranged 
in  its  path.  Human  sacrifices  were  offered  to  this  deity  both 
in  Rugen  and  Bohemia ;  and  when  his  image  was  at  length 

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446  NAMES  FROM  THE  SLAVONIC. 

overthrown,  St.  Vitus,  from  the  resemblance  of  sound,  was 
confounded  with  him  by  the  populace,  and  Svantovit,  as  they 
called  both  alike,  was  still  the  great  idea  of  the  spot.  Sve- 
tozor,  dawn  of  light,  and  Svetlana,  a  Russian  lady's  name 
still  in  use,  are  connected  with  light,  the  first  syllable  of  his 
name. 

Conjoined  with  Sviatovid,  and  lying  on  a  purple  bed  in 
the  temple  in  Rugen,  was  the  seven-headed  Rugevid,  or 
Ranovid  (whose  name  is  explained  by  reference  to  the  Sanscrit 
ranttj  blood-thirsty)  ;  and  likewise  Radegost,  the  god  of  hos- 
pitality, from  rady  prosperous,  and  gosc^  a  guest,  die  word  so 
often  encountered.  Several  names  began  with  the  first  syllable 
— Rada,  Radak,  Radan,  Radinko,  Radmir,  Radivoj,  Radko, 
Radman,  Radmil,  Radoje,  Radoslav ;  and  the  Qlyrians  have 
the  hospitable  name  of  Grostomil,  or  guest  love :  indeed,  gost 
forms  the  end  of  many  Slavonic  names,  in  accordance  with  the 
ready  and  courteous  welcome  always  ofiered  by  this  people. 

Davor  is  another  war  god,  whose  name  seems  of  very  near 
kindred  to  Mavors,  or  Mars,  and  who  left  Davorinn,  Davroe- 
lav,  and  Davroslava,  as  names. 

Tikla  was  the  old  Slavonic  goddess  of  good  luck,  and, 
being  confounded  with  St.  Thekla,  made  this  latter  name 
popular  in  Poland,  Russia,  and  Himgary ;  and,  in  like  man- 
ner, Zenovia,  the  huntress  goddess,  conduced  to  make  Zeno* 
bia,  and  Zizi,  its  contraction,  common  in  Russia. 

The  Lesi,  or  Lechi,  of  the  Poles  answered  to  the  Greek 
satyrs,  and  were  supposed  to  have  human  bodies,  with  the 
hair,  beard,  and  legs  of  goats,  and  to  be  sometimes  so  small 
as  to  be  hidden  by  the  grass,  at  others  as  tall  as  forest  trees, 
their  size  varying  with  the  cover.  They  would  chase  the 
unwary  wanderer  in  the  forest  all  day,  and  tickle  him  to 
death  at  nightfall.  They  were  appropriate  spirits  for 
Poland — the  hunting  ground — and  probably  from  them  was 
taken  the  name  of  Lech,  the  mythical  founder  of  the  king- 


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WARLIKE  NAMES.  447 

dom^  bj  whose  name  it  is  still  said  to  be  called  in  eastern 
tongues.  At  any  rate,  Lech  named  many  of  the  early  kings, 
and  Lechsinska  belonged  to  that  Polish  princess  whose 
insignificance  recommended  her  to  the  base  ministry  of 
Louis  XV.  as  the  queen  of  their  young  sovereign. 

The  fire  god  was  Znitch ;  and  though  he  does  not  show 
any  direct  namesakes,  yet  there  are  sundry  fire-names  in 
his  honour,  such  as  the  Slovak  Yatroslav  and  Ulyrian 
Ognoslav,  both  signifying  fire  glory.  Possibly,  too,  the 
Bussian  Mitrofan  may  be  connected  with  the  old  Persian 
miihraSy  or  sacred  fire ;  though  in  history  it  figures  in  Greek 
ecclesiastical  guise,  as  the  patriarch  Metrophanes.^ 


Section  DI. — Warlike  Names. 

Few  more  Slavonic  names  remain  to  be  mentioned,  and 
those  more  for  their  correspondence  with  those  of  other  races 
than  for  much  intrinsic  interest. 

Very  few  are  known  beyond  their  own  limits.  Stanislav, 
or  camp  glory,  is,  perhaps,  the  best  known,  and  is  one  of  the 
very  few  found  in  the  Roman  calendar,  which  has  two  Polish 
saints  thus  named.  The  first,  Stanislav  Sczepanowski,  bishop 
of  Cracow,  was  one  of  the  many  prelates  of  the  eleventh 
century  who  had  to  fight  the  battle  of  Church  against  king, 
and  he  waa  happy  in  that  his  cause  was  that  of  morality  as 
well  as  discipline.  Having  excommunicated  King  Boleslav 
for  carrying  off  the  wife  of  one  of  the  nobles,  he  was  mur- 
dered by  the  king  in  his  own  cathedral ;  and  Gregory  YII. 
being  the  reigning  pope,  his  martyrdom  was  an  effectual 
seed  of  submission  to  the  Church.  The  wretched  king  died 
by  his  own  hand,  and  the  bishop  became  a  Slavonian  Becket, 

•  Tooke,  Russia;  Eichioff,  Tableau  de  laLittiraturs  du Nord au Moyen 
Ags ;  Zeoss,  Deutsehen  und  die  Nachbar  Stamme  ;  Universal  History. 


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448 


NAMES  FROM  THE  SLAVONIC. 


was  enshrined  at  Cracow,  and  thought  to  work  miracles.  His 
name  was,  of  course,  national,  and  was  again  canonized  in 
the  person  of  Stanislay  Kostka,  one  of  the  early  Jesuits 
who  guided  the  reaction  of  Roman  Catholicism  in  Poland. 
The  name  has  even  been  used  in  France,  chiefly  for  the  sake 
of  the  father  of  the  Polish  queen,  and  afterwards  from  the 
influx  of  Poles  after  the  partition  of  their  kingdom. 


English. 
Stanislaus 

French. 
Stanislas 

Portogaese. 
Estanislau 

Italian. 
Stanislao 

German. 
Stanislay 

Bavarian. 

Stanes 
SUnisl 
Stanel 
Stanerl 

Polish. 

Stanislay 

Stach 

Stas 

Hljiian. 
Stanisav 
Stanko 

Lettish. 

StanislavB 
Stachis 

Much  in  the  same  spirit  is  the  Russian  Boris,  from  the 
old  Slavonian  horotjy  to  fight.  It  has  never  been  uncommon 
in  Muscovy,  and  belonged  to  the  brother-in-law  of  Ivan  the 
Terrible,  Boris  Goudenofi*,  who  was  regent  for  his  imbecile 
nephew  Feodor ;  and,  after  assassinating  the  hopeful  younger 
brother,  Dmitri,  reigned  as  czar,  till  dethroned  by  a  coun- 
terfeit Dmitri.  Borka  and  Borinka  are  the  contractions, 
and  Borivor  was  the  first  Christian  duke  of  Bohemia. 

l^ron,  a  weapon,  forms  Bronislav  and  Bronislava.  Yoj  is 
the  general  Slavonic  term  for  war,  and  is  a  very  frequent 
termination.  Yojtach,  the  Polish  Yojciech,  and  Lithuanian 
Waitkus,  all  mean  warrior. 

It  is  a  curious  feature  in  nomenclature  how  strongly 
glory  and  fame  is  the  leading  notion  of  the  entire  race,  whose 
national  title  of  glory  has  had  such  a  falL  Slav  is  an  in- 
evitable termination;  voj  almost  as  constantly  used;  and 
even  the  tenderest  commencements  are  forced  to  love  war, 
and  to  love  fame.    The  old  Russian  Mstisslav  glories  in  ven- 

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NAMES  OF  MIGHT.  449 

gesnoe  {mest)j  but  is  usnallj  recorded  as  Mistislaos;  Bos- 
tislay  increases  glory;  Yratislay,  or  glowing  glory,  names 
not  only  the  Wratislaus  of  history,  but  the  city  of  Breslaw. 
The  Slovak  Yekoslav,  and  Yekoslaya,  are  eternal  fame. 

The  two  animals  used  in  Slavonic  names  are  warlike; 
Yuk,  the  wolf,  and  Bravac,  the  wild  boar ;  but  both  these 
are  very  possibly  adopted  from  the  German  Wulf  and 
Eber. 


Section  VT.— Names  of  Might. 

Boleje,  strong  or  great,  answers  to  the  Teuton  mer,  and 
Boleslav  is  great  glory.  Boleslav  Ghrobry,  the  second 
Christian  prince  of  Poland,  was  a  devout  savage  and  great 
conqueror,  both  in  Bussia  and  Bohemia.  He  was  the  first 
Pole  to  assume  the  title  of  king;  and  after  his  death,  in 
1025,  there  are  many  instances  of  it  in  both  Poland  and 
Bohemia. 

In  this  latter  country  it  had,  however,  a  far  more  sinister 
&me.  Borivor  and  Ludmilla,  the  first  Christian  prince  and 
princess  of  that  duchy,  had  two  grandsons,  Boleslav  and  Yes- 
teslav,  or  Yenceslav,  the  first  a  heathen,  thelatter  a  Christian. 
Boleslav  stirred  up  the  pagan  population  against  his  brother, 
and  murdered  him  while  praying  in  church  at  Prague,  on  the 
28th  of  September,  644,  thus  conferring  on  him  the  honour 
of  a  patron  saint  and  centre  of  legends.  The  House  of 
Luxemburg  obtained  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia  by  marriage, 
and  Yenceslav  was  introduced  among  their  names  in  the  form 
of  Wenzel ;  and  the  crazy  and  furious  Bohemian  king  of 
that  name  sat  for  a  few  unhappy  years  on  the  imperial 
throne ;  but  in  spite  of  the  odium  of  his  memory,  the  name 
of  good  King  Wenceslas,  as  we  call  it,  held  its  ground,  and 
contracts  into  Yacslav  and  Yaclav.  Some  say  that  it  is 
crown  glory,  from  vienice  ;  others  deduce  the  prefix  from  vest^ 

^^^*  ^*  Digit  zed^yCoOgle 


450  HAXES  FBOM  TSB  fflUkTOSia 

tiw  wpqlaUw  <^  veOm^  great,  ^MA  fmiahed  die  Bri- 
gtfian  y  dika,  Y  eiedar,  Y dimir. 

The  fiyniliar  root  diet  bee  been  so  oftea  eneomteied  n 
M&o,  tpteU,  Ac.,  in  tlie  sense  of  p<mer,  gifes  the  piefix  Mstf 
to  Tsrioofl  &Tonrite  9eTonie  nsaieB.  The  Bwiwiin  Ylndiaiiry 
being  <rf  the  noe  of  Bvrik,  is  sometimfle  sened  ^>on  as 
WaUemar ;  and,  in  fact,  there  is  little  diflferenee  in  the  sense 
of  his  first  sjllaUe.  He  is  a  great  national  saint,  siiwe  ft 
was  his  marriage  with  the  GrredL  Princess  Anna  that  ob- 
tained for  the  Byzantine  Church  her  migh^  Mnsoonte 
daughter;  and  in  honour  of  him,  Yladimir  has  been  per- 
petoallj  used  in  Bnsda,  8h<»tened  into  Yolodia,  and  ex- 
panded into  Yolodinka  bj  waj  of  endearment. 

The  national  saint  of  Hungary  was  Yladislay,  who  was  the 
restorer  of  the  faidi  tha t  had  almost  faded  away  after  the  death 
of  die  sainted  King  Stephen ,  and  was  chosen  as  leader  {£  a  cm- 
sade,which  was  prerented  by  his  death  in  1 095.  His  name,  and 
thatof  his  many  votaries,  have  S(»elypusaded  Latin  and  Teu- 
tonic tongues,  when  not  contait,  like  the  Frrach,  to  term  him 
St.  Lancelot,  his  countrymen  call  themseiyes  after  him  Las- 
zlo,  or  Laczko,  die  Blyrians  Lako,  the  Letts  Wendis ;  but 
chroniclers  vary  betwemi  Uladislaus  and  Ladislaus  in  Hun- 
gary and  Poland ;  and  when  die  Angeyin  connecdon  brmi^t 
down  a  king  from  Hungary  to  revenge  the  death  of  his 
brother  upon  G-iovanna  of  Naples,  the  Italians  called  him 
Ladislao ;  and  as  Ladislas  we  recognize  the  last  nadve  Hun- 
garian king,  brother-in-law  to  Charles  Y.  Yladislavka  is  a 
feminine,  contracting  into  Yaleska,  which  is  still  borne  by 
Polish  young  ladies.  Yladivoj  is  imother  of  the  same  class, 
and  wty  all,  with  the  verb  vladaii,  to  rule,  has  £»med 
Ysevolad  and  Svevlad,  all  ruler,  and  Yseslav,  all  fame. 

Possibly  there  may  be  some  connection  <  here  with  die 
deity  Yolos,  Weles,  or  Yeless,  invoked  under  diese  names 
by  the  Slaves,  Bohemians,  and  Bussians,  as  witness  of  their 
oaths,  and  likewise  as  guardian  of  flocks.     Possibly  the 

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NAMES  OF  MIQHT. 


451 


Boman  Pales  may  be  the  same  deity  under  another  form ; 
bat  the  name  of  Yolos  is  still  applied  to  shepherds,  and 
eomes,  no  doubt,  from  the  Slavonic  vlw^  or  Bussian  volosj  the 
tame  word  as  wool. 

The  word  mir  at  the  end  of  Vladimir  is  somewhat  doubt- 
foL  It  may  mean  peace,  or  it  may  mean  the  world ;  and  in 
like  manner  the  Slovak  Miroslav  stands  in  doubt  between 
world-fame  or  peaceful-fame. 

Purvan,  Purvanfe,  is  the  Bulgarian  first^  whether  used  in 
Uie  sense  of  chief  or  of  first-bom  does  not  appear ;  but,  at 
any  rate,  bearing  a  most  eastern  sound  with  it. 

We  are  familiar  with  the  Bussian  ukase^  from  vkasaij  to 
show  forth ;  and  £02^  in  Polish  has  the  same  sense  of  com- 
mand. Kazimir  is  thus  command  of  peace,  a  noble  title  for  a 
prince,  and  essentially  national  in  Poland,  where  it  was  en- 
deared by  the  fame  of  three  of  the  best  of  the  earlier  sove- 
reigns. It  has  the  feminine  Kasimira,  and  is  one  of  the 
very  few  Slavonic  names  used  by  Teutons.  Intermarriages  in* 
troduced  it  among  the  German  princes ;  and  Johann  Kasimir, 
a  scm  of  the  Pfalzgraf  of  the  Bhine,  was  a  noted  commander 
in  the  war  of  the  Bevolt  of  the  Netherlands,  and  received 
the  Garter  from  Queen  Elizabeth.  He  was  commonly  called 
Prince  Easimir,  and  his  namesakes  spread  in  Germany ;  and 
either  i(x  the  sake  of  the  sound,  or  for  Polish  sympathies,  was 
somewhat  &shionable  in  France.  It  was  the  true  name  of 
the  son  of  Madame  de  Genlis,  the  Gsesar  of  the  VeiUdes 
du  Chateau. 


Erenob. 
Gasimir 

Polish. 

Kazimir 
ELazimierz 

Bohemiaii. 
Kazimir 

Lettish. 

Kasimirs 
Kasche 
Kaschis 
Kaachuk 

Gemuun. 
Kasimir 

Koly  council,  formed  Eoloman,  somewhat  noted  in  early 
Slavonic  history. 

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45  2  NAMES  FROM  THE  SLAVONIC. 

eTar,  pronounced  as  beginning  with  y,  means  strengtli  or 
firmness.  Jaromir,  firm  peace,  was  prince  of  Bohemia  in 
999.  Jaropolk,  firm  government,  was  the  last  heathen 
grand  prince  of  Muscovy ;  and  this  name,  with  Jaroslav,  is 
very  frequent  in  the  early  annals  of  the  House  of  Rurik. 

From  lidj  the  people,  (our  old  friends  hleute  and  Aaos,) 
came  Ljudomir  and  Ludmilla,  who  was  the  first  Christian 
duchess  in  Bohemia,  and  was  strangled  by  her  heath^i 
granddaughter,  Dragotina,  the  mother  of  Boleslav  and  Ven- 
oeslav,  leaving  a  sainted  name  much  used  among  all  Slavonian 
women,  and  called  at  home  Lida  and  Lidiska;  in  Russia, 
Ljudmila.  Lidvina  was  likewise  Bohemian,  from  Vina,  an 
old  goddess. 


Section  V. — Names  of  Virtue. 

Words  signifying  goodness  are  far  from  uncommon  in  this 
class  of  nomenclature.  Dobryj  good,  has  a  worthy  family. 
Dobrija,  sometimes  called  Dobrowka,  was  the  Bohemian 
princess  whose  marriage,  like  those  of  Clotilda,  Bertha,  and 
Anna,  brought  religion  into  her  new  country.  Her  husband, 
Miczslav,  of  Poland,  had  been  bom  blind,  but  recovered  his 
sight  at  seven  years  old.  He  had  seven  wives  while  still  a 
heathen,  but  was  told  that  he  would  have  no  children  unless 
he  began  afresh  with  a  Christian  lady.  He  demanded  the 
Czech  princess.  She  brought  St.  Adfdbert,  of  Prague,  with 
her;  and  Mistislaus,  as  he  is  generally  called  in  history, 
counts  as  the  first  Polish  Christian  king,  in  the  year  970. 
So  national  was  the  name,  that  the  Poles  altered  Maria  of 
Muscovy  to  Dobrija,  on  her  marriage  with  Easimir,  their 
king.  The  other  names  of  this  commencement  are  Blyrian 
— ^Dobrogast,  Dobroljub,  Dobroslav,  and  its  feminine  Dobro^ 
voj,  Dobrvok,  Dobrutin,  and  Dobrotina,  good  guest,  good  love, 
good  glory,  good  war,  good  wolf,  and  beneficent. 

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I 


KAMES  OF  AFFECTION.  45  J 

'  SsviUyjy  holy,  and  poOc^  goyemment,  are  the  component 
parts  of  the  old  Russian  Smtopolk,  often  found  among  the 
earlj  race  of  Rurik«  Holy  glory,  Sviatoslay,  was  the  inap- 
propriate name  of  the  son  of  the  Christian  princess  Olga,  the 
same  who  refused  baptism,  believing  that  all  the  converts 
were  cowards,  and  that  he  should  lose  the  support  of  the  war 
gods  and  of  his  followers. 

The  Blyrian  hlag^  good,  makes  Blagorod,  good  birth,  also, 
as  usual,  Blagovoj,  Blagoslav,  Blagodvor,  Blagogost,  and  the 
contraction  Blagoje. 

Prav  is  upright,  a  connection,  it  may  be,  of  probuSy  and 
it  has  formed  the  Slavonic  Upravda,  and  the  Blyrian  Prav- 
doslav,  Pravdoslava,  Pravoje.  It  is,  perhaps,  the  same  with 
the  Wend  pribj  which  formed  the  name  Pribislava,  which 
may  be  remembered  as  that  of  the  favourite  daughter  who 
died  of  terror  at  the  sight  of  the  resuscitated  White  Lady,  at 
the  commencement  of  her  weary  weird.  The  Danes  amalga- 
mated the  Wend  pred  into  their  own  names  as  Predbiom,  or 
Preban. 

fasty  or  cesij  is  honour.  The  first  letter,  f ,  should  be  pro- 
nounced 2; ;  it  is  rather  a  favourite  with  Poland  and  Bohemia, 
^astibog  exactly  answers  to  the  Greek  Timotheus,  as  does 
^astimir  to  the  modem  German  Ehrenfried,  very  possibly  a 
translation  from  it.  9^^^^^  ^  ^^  ^^^^  popular  form,  like 
all  else  ending  in  slav^  and  has  shortened  into  9&slav,  ^aislav, 
Cestislav,  Geslav. 

Of  the  same  sound  is  the  first  letter  of  fistj  pure,  whence 
^istav  and  ^istislav.  From  tverd^  firm,  we  have  Tverdko, 
Tverdimir,  Tverdislav. 


Section  VL — Names  of  Affection. 

The  Slavonian  nature  has  much  in  common  with  the  Irish, 
and  there  is  much  of  caressing  and  personal  affection,    Lfttb^ 

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454  NAMES  FROM  THE  SLAVONIC. 

as  has  been  seen,  is  a  fayonrite  element  in  names,  and  dragij 
dear,  does  a  considerable  part  Dragomira,  or  dear  peace, 
was  the  name  of  the  heathen  mother  of  Boleslay  and  Yen- 
ceslay.  Dragoslav,  or  dear  glory,  is  Russian,  and  Poland  and 
Bohemia  have  used  Dragan,  Draganka,  Bragoj,  Dragojila^ 
Dragioila,  Dragnja,  Dragotin,  Dragotinka,  Dragilika,  Dragya. 

Duschinka  is  the  tender  epithet  which,  in  Russia,  a  8^ 
applies  to  her  lady  in  addr^ng  her.  It  is  properly  the 
diminutive  of  Duscha,  hi^py,  which  is  sometimes  a  Christian 
name  in  Russia,  as  well  as  in  Illyria,  where  it  is  called  Dusa 
and  Dusica.  Stastny  is  the  Bohemian  word  for  happy,  and 
is  sometimes  used  as  a  name.  Blazena,  meaning  happy,  in 
these  tongues,  is  used  as  the  South  Slavonic  equivalent  for 
Beatrice. 

Another  word  for  love  is  miL  Mila  and  Milica  are  the 
feminines,  meaning  lovely,  or  amiable,  Milan  the  masculine; 
but  all  these  are  now  confounded  with  the  numerous  progeny 
of  the  Latin  .^Imilius.  Mil  is  a  favourite  termination,  ai^ 
is  found  loving  war  and  glory — Milovoj  and  Miloslav. 

Cedoljub  and  Gedomil  are  both  most  loving  names,  the 
first  half  of  the  name  signifying  a  child,  so  that  they 
signify  ^  child-love,'  or  ^  filial  affection.' 

Brotherly  love  is  likewise  honoured  as  nowhere  else,  save 
in  the  Greek  Philadelphus,  which  exactly  renders  Bratoljub, 
from  bratGy  a  word  of  the  universal  family  likeness  whence 
a8cX^  and  hermano  are  the  only  noted  variations.  Brajan 
and  Bragican  also  belong  to  brotherhood. 
.  Deva  is  a  maiden,  whence  Devoslav  and  Devoslava,  prob- 
ably formed,  or  at  least  used,  in  honour  of  the  Blessed  Virgin* 


Section  Vn. — Names  from  the  Appearance. 

A  few  names  of  extremely  personal  application  exist,  such 
as  the  Servian  Mrena,  white  in  the  eyes,  and  Mladen,  young, 

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NAMES  FROM  THE  APPEARANCE.  455 

and  the  highly  uncomplimentary  Blyrian  Smoljan  and  Smol- 
jana,  from  smoljOj  an  overhanging  nose,  probably  a  continoa- 
tion  of  the  nickname  of  some  favoured  individuiJ. 

Krasan^  the  beautiful,  however,  was  used  in  names,  as 
Krasimir,  Krasislav,  Ej^isomil,  &c. ;  and  zlataj  golden,  though 
once  used  in  Zlatoust,  as  a  literal  translation  of  Ghrysostomos, 
in  other  names  may,  it  is  hoped,  be  employed  to  denote 
beauty :  or  else  Zlatoljub,  with  its  contractions  Zlatoje  and 
Zlatko,  would  be  a  most  avaricious  name.  Zlata,  Zlatana, 
Zlatibor,  and  2jlatislav,  are  also  used. 

Tiho^  silent,  is  a  curious  prefix.  Tihomil,  silent  love,  and 
Tihomir,  silent  peace,  are  clear  enough;  but  Tihoslav,  sU^t 
glory,  is  a  puzzling  compound,  probably  only  ari^ng  from  the 
habit  of  ending  everything  with  slav. 

It  is  remarkable,  however,  that  there  is  an  entire  abseoee 
of  the  names  of  complexion  so  common  among  the  Kelts  and 
Romans. 


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456 


CONCLUSION, 


MODBBN    NOMBNOLATUBB. 

It  Still  remains  to  cast  a  passing  glance  over  the  countries 
of  the  European  commonwealth,  and  observe  the  various 
classes  of  names  that  have  prevailed  in  them.  It  is  only  pos^ 
sible  to  do  this,  with  my  present  information,  very  broadly 
and  generally.  In  fact,  every  province  has  its  own  peculiar 
nomenclature,  the  more  remote,  the  more  characteristic,  and, 
therefore,  the  most  curious  are  the  least  accessible.  It  is  the 
tendency  of  diffused  civilization  to  diminish  variations,  and 
np  to  a  certain  point,  at  least,  to  assimilate  all  to  one  model, 
and  this  process  for  many  years  affected  the  educated  and 
aristocratic  community,  although  latterly  a  desire  for  dis- 
tinctiveness and  pride  in  the  individual  peculiarities  of 
race  and  family  has  arisen;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
class  below,  which  used  to  be  full  of  individualities,  has 
now  reached  the  imitative  stage,  and  is  rapidly  laying 
aside  all  national  and  provincial  characteristics.  The  Euro- 
pean nobility,  except  where  some  old  family  name  has  been 
preserved  as  an  heirloom,  thus  cease,  about  the  sixteenth 
century,  to  bear  national  names ;  but  all  are  on  one  level  of 
John,  Henry,  Frederick,  Charles,  Louisa,  &c.,  while  the 
native  names  come  to  light  among  citizens  and  peasants; 
but  now,  while  the  gentleman  looks  back  for  the  most  dis- 
tinctive name  in  his  remote  ancestry,  and  proudly  bestows 
it  on  his  child,  the  mechanic  or  labourer  shrinks  from  the 
remark  and  misunderstanding  that  have  followed  his  old  tra> 
ditional  baptismal  name,  and  calls  his  son  by  the  last  remark- 


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GBEECE.  457 

ible  one  he  can  find,  or  by  one  culled  from  literature.  These 
remarks  apply  chiefly  to  England,  but  also,  in  great  measure, 
to  the  town  population  of  France,  and  to  all  other  places 
which  are  much  affected  by  the  universal  fusion  of  national 
ideas  and  general  intercourse  of  the  present  day. 


Section  I. — Qreece. 

Modem  Greece  has  the  most  direct  inheritance  from  the 
ancient,  classical,  and  old  Christian  name.  True,  her  popu- 
lation has  undergone  changes  which  leave  but  little  of  the 
proud  old  Ionian  or  Dorian  blood ;  but  her  language  has  been 
victorious  over  the  barbarous  speech  of  her  conquerors, 
and  Latins  and  Bulgarians  became  Greek  beneath  her 
influence. 

The  inhabitants  of  her  peninsulas  and  islands  are,  then, 
with  few  exceptions,  called  by  Greek  names.  The  exceptions 
are,  in  the  first  place,  in  favour  of  the  Hebrew  names  that 
are  in  universal  use,  not  only  the  never-failing  Joannes 
and  Maria,  but  Isaakos,  Danid,  Elias,  and  others,  for  whom 
the  Greek  Church  has  inculcated  more  constant  veneration 
than  has  the  Latin.  Next  there  are  the  few  Latin  names 
that  were  accepted  by  the  Greeks  during  the  existence  of 
the  Byzantine  empire,  and  either  through  martyrs  or  by 
favourite  sovereigns,  recommended  themselves  to  the  love  of 
posterity;  but  these  are  few  in  number,  and  Konstantinos 
is  the  only  distinguished  one.  And,  lastly,  an  extremely 
small  proportion  have  been  picked  up  by  intercourse  with 
the  Western  nations,  but  without  taking  root. 

The  mass  of  Greek  names  belongs  to  the  class  that  I 
have  called  *  Greek  Christian,'  being  those  that  were  chiefly 
current  in  the  years  of  persecution  and  martyrdom — some 
old  hereditary  ones  from  ancient  time,  others  coined  with 
the  stamp  of  the  Faith.    These,  with  others  expressive  of 

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458  MODERN  NOMENCaiiATURE. 

favourite  ideas,  such  as  Macharios,  blessed,  Sophia,  wisdom^ 
Zoe,  life,  Haidee,  were  the  staple  of  the  Greeks  until  the 
modem  revival  brought  forward  the  old  heroic  and  historical 
names;  and  Achilles,  Alkibiades,  Themistokles,  Ac.,  are 
again  in  familiar  use. 

In  a  list  of  names  used  at  the  present  day  in  the  Ionian 
Islands,  I  find  seventeen  men  and  four  women  of  the  old 
historical  and  heroic  class;  the  four  ladies  being  Kalliope, 
Arethusa,  Euphrosyne,  and  Aspasia;  and,  perhaps.  Psyche 
and  Olympiad  ought  to  be  added  to  these :  twenty-three  male 
and  nineteen  female  of  the  Christian  Greek  class :  two  He- 
brew, i.e.y  Joannes  and  Jakobos,  of  men;  three  of  wom^i, 
Maria,  Anna,  and  Martha.  Paulos  and  Eonstantinos,  and 
perhaps  Maura,  alone  represent  the  Latin,  and  Artorios  the 
Kelt,  a  probable  borrowing  from  some  Englishman. 

Surnames  are  inherited  from  the  Latin  nomina,  and  began 
earlier  in  Constantinople  than  anywhere  else.  They  are  di- 
vided between  the  patronymic,  ending,  as  of  old,  in  ides^  the 
local,  and  the  permanent  nickname. 


Section  IL — Eussia. 

The  European  portion  of  the  vast  empire  of  Russia  is 
nationally  Slavonic,  but  much  mixed  with  Tatar;  and  the 
high  nobility  is  descended,  at  least  by  tradition,  from  the 
Norsemen.  The  royal  line  is,  through  intermwiagea, 
almost  Grermanized.  The  Church  continues  the  faith,  prac- 
tice, and  ritual  of  the  Greek  Church,  but  in  the  old  Sla- 
vonic tongue,  from  which  the  spoken  language  has  much 
altered. 

The  Ghreek  element  greatly  predominates  in  the  nomen- 
clature :  native  saints  have  contributed  a  few  Slavonic  speci- 
mens, and  a  very  few  inherited  from  the  Norsemen  occur ; 
but  the  race  of  Rurik  seem  very  quickly  to  have  adopted 


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RUSSIA.  459 

Russian  names.  The  Tatar  population  hardly  contributes  a 
Christian  name  to  history,  and  the  Germans  almost  always, 
on  their  marriage  with  the  Russian  imperial  family,  assumed 
native,  t.e.,  Ghreek  or  Roman-Greek  names.  The  present 
fashions  in  nomenclature  are,  however,  best  explained  in  the 
following  letter  from  an  English  lady  residing  in  Russia : — 

*  Children  (and  grown-up  persons  in  their  own  family) 
are,  I  may  say,  universally  called  by  their  diminutives.  In 
society  the  Christian  name  and  patronymic  are  made  use  of, 
and  you  seldom  hear  a  person  addressed  by  his  family  name, 
though  he  may  be  spoken  of  in  the  third  person  as  ^^  Ro- 
manoff," or  ^^Romanova"  (surnames  take  the  gender  and 
number  of  their  bearers),  except  by  his  superiors,  such  as  a 
general  to  his  younger  ofiBcers,  &c. 

*  The  patronymic  is  formed  by  the  addition  of  vitchy  or 
evitchy  to  the  Christian  name  of  a  person's  father ;  as  Con- 
Btantine  Petrovitch,  Alexander  Andreevitch,  in  the  mascu- 
line ;  and  of  ovnay  or  evna^  in  the  feminine,  Olga  Petrovna, 
Elizavetta  Andreovna. 

^  I  would  call  your  attention  to  the  error  that  is  generally 
made  in  the  newspapers,  where  these  patronymics  are  spelt 
with  a  Wy  whereas  they  really  are  spelt  and  pronounced 
with  a  V. 

*  The  diminutives  can  always  be  traced  to  the  root,  being 
derived  from  the  first,  or  the  accented  syllable,  of  the  full 
name,  with  the  termination  of  a  little  fond  syllable,  sha^  ia, 
inka,  otchkay  oushka ;  for  instance,  M&ria,  M&sha,  Mashinka 
— Olga,  Glinka,  Olitchka:  Ian,  John,  Yanoushka,  Yanka 
— ^Alexandre,  Alexandra,  Sasha,  Sashinka.  Not  in  one  di- 
minutive are  there  such  glaring  differences  of  spelling  and 
sound,  as  Dick  for  Richard,  Polly  for  Mary,  Patty  for 
Martha. 

^  Perhaps  it  is  not  superflous  to  mention,  that  there  are 
diminutives  of  reproach  as  well  as  of  affection ;  if  you  scold 
Glga,  she  becomes  Glka;  Ivan,  Yanka;  and  so  on.    This 

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460  MODERN  NOMENCLATURE. 

form,  howeyer,  is  seldom  made  use  of  by  well  educated 
people,  except  in  fun;  though  there  are  some  who  do  not 
hesitate  to  make  free  use  of  it  in  their  kitchens  and  nur- 
series, in  a  private  sort  of  a  manner.  Among  the  lower 
orders,  and  especiallj  in  the  country,  it  is  not  considered 
reproachful,  but  is  the  general  form  of  appellation.  You 
observe,  that  this  is  formed  by  the  addition  of  A:a  to  the 
principal  syllable. 

*  I  find,  on  attentive  search  in  the  "  Monument  of  Faith^ 
a  sort  of  devotional  book  for  prayer  and  meditations  applied 
to  every  day  of  the  year,  and  with  the  names  and  a  short 
biography  of  each  saint,  that  there  are  822  men's  names, 
and  204  women's  in  the  Russian  calendar.  Of  these,  you 
will  be  surprised  to  hear  twelve  only  are  really  Slavonic. 
Unfortunately  I  am  unable  to  inform  you  of  their  meanings, 
notwithstanding  every  enquiry  among  the  few  educated  in- 
habitants of  this  little  out-of-the-way  town ;  but  if  ever  I 
have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  a  real  ^'  Sclavonophile,"  as 
searchers  into  Russian  antiquities  are  called,  I  will  not  fail 
to  ask  about  it.     The  names  are  as  follows : — 

'  I  Boris  (m.),  grand  duke ;  murdered  in  10 15. 

'  2  Gleb  (i».),  brother  to  Boris ;  murdered  in  1016. 

*  3  Vetcheslav  (m.),  Duke  Chetsky. 

^4  Vladimir  (in.),  grand  duke  ;  baptized  in  988  (ist 

Christian  grand  duke). 
'  5  Vs6volod  (m.),  duke ;  he  changed  his  name  to  Gabriel 

when  baptized;  died  in  1138. 

*  6  Igor  (m.),  grand  duke  of  Tchemigoff,  1 147.    (Norse.) 
^  7  Raz6omnik  (m.)  ;   this  name  is  taken  from  rdzoam^ 

which  means  sense,  wisdom,  and  signifies  a  wise, 
sensible  person. 

*  8  Olga  (/.),  grand  duchess,  god-mother  to  Vladimir. 

She  was  the  first  Christian  duchess.     (Norse.) 

*  9  Ludmilla  (/.),  god-mother  to  Vsevold,  and  martyred 

in  the  cause  of  Christianity. 

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RUSSIA.  461 

*  10  V6ra  (/),  means  faith. 

*  II  Nadejda  (/.),  hope. 

*  12  Lubov,  charity,  love. 

*  All  the  other  names  are  of  Greek,  Latin,  or  Hebrew 
origin  (with  a  very  few  exceptions,  of  which  I  will  speak 
afterwards),  and  though  they  generally  differ  in  termination, 
yet  they  are  to  be  recognized  instantly.  I  observe  that  in 
Greek  names  JTis  used,  and  not  the  sound  of  i9,  as  in  Eiril, 
Kiprian  (Cyril,  Cyprian).  Also  that  Th  takes  the  sound  of 
Fj  as  F^odore,  Fomd  (Theodore,  Thomas).  But  the  Th  is 
represented  by  a  letter  distinct  from  that  by  which  Ph  or  F 
are  represented,  the  former  being  written  ®  and  the  latter  0, 
but  both  have  exactly  the  same  sound.  U  sometimes  becomes 
F' when  used  in  the  middle  of  names,  as  Evgenia  (Eugenia), 
Evstafi  (Eustace).  B  in  many  instances  becomes  F*,  as  in 
Vasili  (Basil),  Varvara  (Barbara),  Varfolomey  (Bartholo- 
mew). 

*  The  names  of  other  origm  are  very  few,  viz : — 

*  Avenir — ^Indian ; 
Arisa — Arabian ; 
Daria — Persian ; 
Sadof — ^Persian ; 
Erminigeld — Grothic. 

*  Gbrman  names,  I  may  say,  are  not  to  be  found  in  the 
Busso-Greek  calendar. 

^  When  I  say  that  there  are  1026  Christian  names  in  the 
calendar,  I  must  explain  that  the  number  of  saints  is  infi- 
nitely greater ;  there  being  from  two  or  three  to  twenty  or 
thirty  every  day  of  the  year,  the  29th  of  February  included. 
There  are  sixty-one  St.  John^s  days,  thirty  St.  Peter's, 
twenty-seven  St.  Feeder's,  twenty-four  St.  Alexandre's, 
eighteen  St.  Gregory's,  sixteen  St.  Vasili's,  twelve  St 
Andre's,  ten  St.  Constantino's,  &c. 

*  Sometimes  the  same  saint  is  feted  two  or  three  times  ia 

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462  MODERN  NOMENCLATUBE. 

the  year,  but  the  different  saints  of  the  same  name  are  Tery 
many.  The  female  saints  are  in  less  nmnber.  Maria  and 
Anna  each  occur  ten  times  in  the  year,  Euphrosinia  six  times, 
Feodora  eight,  and  so  on.  In  proportion  to  the  number  ai 
saints  so  are  the  names  of  the  population ;  so  that  Ivan  is 
the  most  common;  next,  I  think,  comes  Yasiii,  Andr6,  Petre, 
Nicholas  (Nikol&i),  Alexandre. 

^  The  lower  orders  have  no  idea  of  dates;  they  always 
reckcm  by  the  saints'  days.  Ask  a  woman  the  age  of  her 
baby,  she  will  say,  "  Well,  I  suppose  it  is  about  thirty  weeks 
old."  "What  is  its  name?''  "Ivan."  "Which  Ivan?" 
you  ask,  your  calculations  being  defeated  by  the  sixty-one 
St  Johns.  "  Why,  the  Ivan  that  *  lives '  four  days  after 
dirty  Prasc6via."  You  then  understand  that  the  child  must 
have  been  bom  about  the  loth  or  12  th  October,  as  the 
blessed  saint  is  irreverently  called  "dirty  Prascdvia"  from 
falling  on  the  14th  October,  a  very  muddy  time  of  year  in 
holy  Russia. 

^  One  name  only  can  be  given  at  baptism,  and  it  must  be 
taken  from  the  orthodox  calendar.  German,  French,  and 
English  names  not  to  be  found  there  cannot  be  bestowed,  nor 
can  a  surname,  as  in  England.' 


Sbction  in. — Italy. 

Italy,  like  Ghreece,  has  her  classical  inheritance.  Her 
Lucio,  Marco,  Tito,  €Kulio,  bear  appellations  h&nie  by  itmt 
Oscan  or  Sabine  forefathers,  even  before  Rome  was  a  dty ; 
but  mingled  with  this  ancient  stream  there  have  been  suoh 
an  infinite  number  of  other  currents,  that  no  land  has  under- 
gone more  influences,  or  has  a  more  remarkable  variety  of 
personal  names. 

In  the  decay  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  the  growth  of  the 
Ohurch,  the  old  prsenomina  were  a  good  deal  set  aaide,  by 

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ITALY.  463 

the  heathen  in  his  search  for  heroie^sotmding  titles,  by  the 
Christian  in  his  veneration  for  the  martyrs  and  saints  of  his 
Ghorch.  So  the  prosaio  matter-of-fact  three-storied  name  of 
the  Roman  was  varied  by  importations,  generally  of  Chris- 
tian Greek,  but  now  and  then  of  heroic  Greek ;  and  as  the 
Christian  element  predominated,  the  Hebrew  apostle  or  pro- 
phet became  the  name  of  the  young  Roman.  Barbarians, 
acquiring  rights  of  citizenship,  ceased  to  adopt  the  nomen  of 
their  patron,  retaining  appellations  that  a  Scipio  or  Cato 
would  have  thought  only  fit  to  be  led  in  a  triumph,  but  stiU 
putting  on  a  Latin  finish  and  regarding  them  as  Roman. 
But  these-— disgraceful  as  they  are  now  regarded — were  the 
days  that  stamped  the  Roman  impress  on  the  world,  and 
marked  the  whole  South  of  Europe  with  an  indelible  print 
of  Latin  civilization  and  language. 

Goths,  Vandals,  Gepidse,  and  Lombards  came  on  northern 
Italy  one  after  the  other ;  and  the  Lombards  established  a 
permanent  kingdom  that  deeply  influenced  the  North  of  the 
peninsula  and  Teutonized  its  nobility.  The  towns  were  less 
open  to  their  influence;  and  Venice  remained  the  Roman 
and  partly  Byzantine  city  she  was  from  her  source — using  a 
language  where  her  g  is  still  the  Greek  {,  and  christening 
her  children  by  the  names  of  later  Rome  in  its  Christian 
days,  only  with  the  predominance  of  the  national  saint, 
Marco,  the  guardian  of  the  city  ever  since  his  bones  were 
stolen  from  Alexandria.  The  recurring  ono,  or  am,  of 
Venetian  surnames  is  the  adoptive  anus  of  Rome — ^republican 
Rome — whose  truest  representative  the  merchant  city  was 
till  her  shamefol  degradation  and  final  ruin. 

The  Italian  element  in  the  population  of  Cisalpine  Gaol 
continued  far  too  strong  for  the  Lombardic  conquerors,  and 
ere  long  had  taught  them  its  own  language.  If  they  wrote, 
it  was  their  best  approach  to  classical  Latin ;  when  they  spoke, 
it  was  the  dialectic  Latin  of  the  provinces  farther  broken  by 
the  inability  of  the  victors  to  learn  the  case  terminations^ 

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464  MODERN  NOMENCLATURE. 

which  were  settled  bj  making,  in  the  first  declensions,  all  the 
singular  masculines  end  in  0,  and  plurals  in  i,  all  the  femininea 
in  a  and  e ;  in  the  others,  striking  a  balance  and  calling  all 
tie.    But  though  the  speech  was  Latin,  the  Lombard  kept 
his  old  Teutonic  name — ^Adelgiso,  Astolfo,  or  the  like,  and 
handed  it  on  to  his  son,  softened,  indeed,  but  with  its  north- 
em  form  clearly  traceable.    Time  went  on,  and  the  Lorn- 
bardic  kingdom  was  fused  into  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 
The  towns  remained  self-governing,  self-protecting  old  Bomaa 
municipalities ;  the  Lombardic  nobles,  if  they  had  a  strong 
mountain  fastness.  Lived  like  eagles  in  their  nests  and  were  the 
terror  of  all ;  if  they  had  but  a  small  home  on  the  plains, 
were  forced  to  make  terms  with  the  citizens  and  accept  their 
privileges  as  a  favour.    Thus  came  the  Teuton  element  into 
the  cities,  and  old  Lombardic  names  were  borne  by  Florentine 
and  Milanese  citizens.    The  Roman  nomina  so  far  were  pre- 
served that  a  whole  family  would  be  called  after  its  founder, 
whether  name  or  nickname.    The  noted  man  might  be  origin- 
ally Giacopo,  but  called  Lapo  for  short    His  children  were, 
collectively,  Lapi ;  a  single  one  would  be  either  Bindo  Lapo, 
or,  latterly,  dei  Lapi,  one  of  the  Lapi.     Sometimes  oflBce  gave 
a  surname,  as  Gancelliero,  when  the  family  became  GancellierL 
One  of  these  Gancellieri  was  twice  married;  and  one  of  the 
wives  being  yclept  Bianca,  her  children  were  called  Bianchi; 
their  half-brothers  Neri,  merely  as  the  reverse;  and  thaioe 
arose  the  two  famous  party  words  of  the  Guelfs  of  Florence. 
Latterly,  when  these  names  in  i  were  recognized  as  surnames, 
it  was  usual  to  christen  a  boy  by  the  singular,  and  thus  we 
have  Pellegrino  Pellegrini,  Gavaliere  Gavalieri,  and  many 
other  like  instances,  familiar  to  the  readers  of  Dante  and  of 
old  Italian  history.    Dante's  own  names — the  first  contracted 
from  a  Latin  participle,  the  second  the  direct  patronymic 
from  his  father — Alighiero,  the  Teutonic  noble  spear,  form  a 
fit  instance  of  the  mixed  tongue,  which  he  first  reduced  to  the 
dignity  of  a  written  language.  Those  were  its  days  of  vigour 

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ITALY.  465 

and  originalitj ;  of  fresh  name-coining  from  its  own  resonrcoB^ 
— Gremma,  Fiamma,  Brancaleone,  Yinciguerra^  CacciaguidOy 
— ^words  not  merely  of  common-place  tradition^  but  original 
invention. 

Meantime  southern  Italy  had  been  under  other  influences. 
Long  remaining  a  province  of  the  Eastern  empire,  Calabria^ 
Apulia,  and  Sicily  were  the  marauding  ground  of  the  Sara- 
cens, till  the  gallant  Norman  race  of  Hauteville  came  to  their 
deliverance,  and  imposed  on  them  a  Norman-French  royalty 
and  nobility,  with  their  strange  compound  of  French  and 
Northern  names— Robert  and  Roger,  Tancred  and  William, 
Ferabras  and  Drogo,  the  latter  certainly  Frank,  as  it  belonged 
to  an  illegitimate  son  of  Charlemagne.  It  was  brought  to 
England  by  Dru  de  BaUdon,  a  follower  of  the  Conqueror ; 
and  we  find  it  again  in  Sir  Drew  Drury,  the  keeper  of  Mary 
of  Scotland.  It  may  be  related  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  (fry,  a 
sorcerer,  and  dreisty  the  German  skilful,  but  its  derivation  is 
uncertain. 

When  the  Norman  influence  waned,  the  Swabian  power 
gave  a  few  German  names  to  the  Two  Sicilies,  but  was  less 
influential  than  either  the  French  in  Naples  or  the  Aragonese 
in  Sicily,  where  the  one  strewed  Carlo,  the  other  Fernando 
and  Alfonso. 

All  this  time  the  Christian  name  was  the  prominent  one, 
more  used  and  esteemed  than  titles  throughout  all  ranks. 
Men  and  women  would  be  simply  spoken  of  as  Giovanni  or 
Beatrice,  or  more  often,  by  contractions,  Yanni  or  Bice, 
Massuccio,  or  Cecca,  pow  and  then  with  Ser  or  Monna 
(signer  or  madonna)  added  as  titles  of  respect. 

All  the  time,  what  may  be  called  the  Roman  Catholic  in- 
fluence on  nomenclature  was  growing  in  its  great  centre. 
The  city  of  martyrs  was  filled  with  churches  where  the 
remains  of  the  saint  gave  the  title,  and  was  thought  to  give 
the  sanctity,  and  these  suggested  names  to  natives  and  pil- 
grims alike.    Cecilia,  Sebastiano,  Lucia,  &c.,  and  more  than 

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466  MODERN  NOMENCLATURE. 

can  be  enumerated^  won  their  popularity  from  owning  a 
church  that  served  as  a  station  in  the  pilgrimages^  and  thus 
influenced  the  world.  Belies  brought  to  RomCy  and  thai 
bestowed  as  a  gift  upon  princes,  carried  their  saints'  epithets 
far  and  wide ;  and  when  Constantinople  was  in  her  decay, 
and  purchased  the  aid  of  Western  sovereigns  by  gifts  of  her 
sacred  stores,  the  Greek  and  Eastern  saints  had  their  names 
widely  difiused,  as  Anna,  Adriano,  &c.  Moreover,  the  feasts 
of  different  events  in  the  life  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 
began  to  tell  on  Italian  names,  and  Annunciata,  and  later, 
Assunta,  were  the  produce. 

Francesco  is  the  most  universal  name  of  native  Italian 
fabrication.  It  is  one  of  what  may  be  called  the  names 
spread  by  religious  orders,  all  of  which  originate  in  Italy ; 
Benedetto,  oldest  of  all  and  'universal  in  Bomanist  landb ; 
Augustine,  never  very  popular;  Domenico,  not  uncom- 
mon in  Italy,  but  most  used  in  gloomy  Spain ;  Francesco 
and  Clara,  both  really  universal  in  I^testant  as  well  as 
Boman  Catholic  lands. 

The  revival  of  classical  literature,  produced  partly  by  die 
influx  of  Greek  scholars  on  the  fall  of  Constantinople,  partly 
by  the  vigour  of  Boccaccio  and  Petrarch,  brought  a  classical 
influence  to  bear  on  Italy,  of  which  her  names  are  more 
redolent  than  those  elsewhere.  Emilia,  Yirgilio,  Olimpia, 
Ercole,  Fabrizio,  all  arose  and  flourished  in  Italy,  and  have 
never  since  been  dropped,  though  the  Bomanist  influence 
has  gone  on  growing,  and  others  have  affected  parts  of  the 
country. 

Bomance  had  some  influence — Orlando,  Oliviero,  BinaldO| 
Buggiero — and  the  more  remote  Lancilotto,  Ginevra,  Isolda, 
Tristano,  all  became  popular  through  literature;  and  the 
great  manufacture  of  Italian  novels,  no  doubt,  tended  to 
keep  others  in  vogue. 

The  French  and  German  wars  in  Italy,  the  erection  of  the 
Lombardic  republics  into  little  tjrannicid  duchies,  and  the 

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SPAIN.  467 

Si>ani8h  conquest  of  Naples^  all  tended  to  destroy  much  of 
the  indiyiduality  of  Italian  nomenclature^  and  reduce  that 
of  the  historical  characters  to  the  general  European  leyel. 
And  this  tendency  has  increased  rather  than  diminished^  as 
Spain  devoured  the  North,  and  '  balance  of  power '  struggled 
for  Austrian  interests,  and  established  Bourbon  kingdoms 
and  duchies.  The  old  national  names  were  not  utterly  dis- 
carded ;  there  was  still  a  Lombardic  flayour  in  the  North,  a 
classical  one  in  the  old  cities,  a  Norman  in  Sicily ;  but  the 
favourite  common-place  names  predominated  in  the  noblesse, 
and  titles  b^an  to  conceal  them.  Moreover,  the  women 
were  all  Maria,  and  many  of  the  men  likewise ;  and  the  same 
rule  at  present  holds  good,  though  of  late  the  favourites  have 
become  Filomena  and  Goncetta — in  honour,  the  one  of  the 
new  saint,  the  other  of  the  new  dogma  of  Rome. 

The  House  of  Savoy,  which  is  just  now  the  hope  of  Italy, 
always  had  its  own  peculiar  class  of  names — ^Humbert,  Am6, 
Filiberto,  Emanuele,  Yittore,  and  these  are  likely  to  become 
the  most  popular  in  liberal  Italy. 


Section  FV.— /Sjpatn. 

Spain  has  many  peculiarities  of  her  own,  to  which  I 
would  fain  do  greater  justice  than  is  in  my  power.  Celti- 
berian  at  first,  she  seems  to  have  become  entirely  Latin,  ex- 
cept in  those  perplexing  Basque  provinces,  where  the  language 
remains  a  riddle  to  philologists.  One  Spanish  name  is  claimed 
by  Zamacola  as  Basque,  i.e.,  Mi^o,  with  its  feminine  MuSa, 
or  Munila ;  and  for  want  of  a  more  satisfactory  history,  one 
is  inclined  to  suppose  that  Gaston,  or  Gastone,  must  be  like- 
wise Basque.  It  first  comes  to  light  as  Gascon  among  the 
counts  of  Foix  and  Beam,  from  whom  the  son  of  Henri  lY. 
derived  it,  and  made  it  French. 

LSb?GoogIe 


HH 

Digitiz 


468  MODERN  NOMENCLATURE. 

Rome  latinized  the  Spanish  speech  for  eyer^  and  left  many 
an  old  Latin  name,  which,  however,  went  on  chiefly  among 
the  lower  orders,  while  the  Suevi  and  the  Goths  ruled  as 
nobles  and  kings,  bringing  with  them  their  Teutonic  names, 
to  be  softened  down  to  the  dignified  Romance  tongue,  which 
took  the  Latin  accusative  for  its  stately  plurals  in  as  and  e^. 
It  is  likely  that  the  Latin  element  was  working  upwards  at 
Ae  time  of  the  Mahometan  conquest,  since  the  traitor 
Julian,  his  daughter  Florinda,  the  first  patriot  king,  Pelayo, 
all  have  classically  derived  names ;  and  some  of  these  occur 
in  the  early  royal  pedigrees  of  the  Asturias  and  Navarre, 
and  the  lords  of  Biscay,  as  these  small  mountain  territories 
proclaimed  their  freedom  and  Christianity.  Here  we  find 
Sancho  (Sanctus),Eneco  (Ignatius),  Lope,  Manse,  Fortunio, 
Adoncia,  Teresa,  Felicia,  all  undoubtedly  Latin  and  Greek ; 
and  curiously,  too,  here  are  the  first  instances  of  double 
Christian  names,  probably  the  remnant  of  the  Latin  style. 
Eneco  Aristo,  Tniffl)  Sancho,  (jarcias  Sancho,  and  the  like, 
are  frequent  before  the  year  1000 ;  and  the  Cid's  enemy. 
Lain  Calvo,  is  supposed  to  be  Flavins  Calvus.  The  Goths, 
however,  left  a  far  stronger  impression  on  the  nomenclature 
than  on  the  language.  Alfonso,  Fernando,  Rodrigo,  Beren- 
gario,  Fruela,  Ramiro,  Ermesinda,  are  undoubtedly  theirs ; 
but  other  very  early  names  continue  extremely  doubtful, 
such  as  Ximen  and  Ximena,  Urraca,  Elvira,  or  Gelvira, 
Alvaro,  Bermudo,  Ordono,  Yelasquita,  all  appearing  in  the 
earliest  days  of  the  little  Christian  kingdoms,  though  not  in 
the  palmy  times  of  the  Gothic  monarchy.  These  names  have 
been  abready  mentioned,  vrith  the  derivations  to  which  they 
may  possibly  belong ;  but  they  are  far  from  being  satisfac- 
torily accounted  for.  The  simple  patronymic  ez  was  in 
constant  use,  and  formed  many  surnames. 

As  the  five  kingdoms  expanded  and  came  into  greater  in- 
tercourse with  Europe,  the  more  remarkable  names  gradually 
were  discarded;  but  Alfonso,  Fernando,  Rodrigo,  Alvar, 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


SPAIN.  469 

(}onzalOy  were  still  national,  and  the  two  first  constantly 
royal,  till  the  House  of  Trastamare  brought  Enrique  and 
Juan  into  fashion  in  Castillo.  The  favourite  saint  was 
James  the  Great,  or,  more  truly,  Santiago  de  Compostella, 
in  honour  of  whom  Diego  and  his  son  Diaz  are  to  be  found 
in  very  early  times.  Maria,  too,  seems  to  have  been  in  use 
in  Spain  sooner  than  elsewhere,  and  Pedro  was  in  high 
favour  in  the  fourteenth  century,  as  it  has  continued  ever 
since. 

Aragon  and  Portugal  had  variations  from  the  GastiUian 
standard  of  language ;  and  Portugal  now  claims  to  have  a 
distinct  tongue,  chiefly  distinguished  by  the  absence  of  the 
Moorish  guttural;  and  in  nomenclature,  by  the  close  ad- 
herence to  classic  spelling,  and  by  the  terminations  which 
would  in  Spanish  be  in  on,  or  t^n,  being  in  oJ,  the  contraction 
of  nho.  Aragonese  has  been  absorbed  in  Castillian,  and 
Catalan  is  only  considered  as  a  dialect. 

After  Aragon  and  Castillo  had  become  united,  and  crush- 
ing the  Moors  and  devouring  Navarre,  were  a  grand  European 
power,  their  sovereigns  lost  all  their  nationality.  French,  or 
rather  Flemish,  Charles,  and  Greek  Philip,  translated  as 
Carlo  and  Felipe,  reigned  on  their  throne  as  the  House  of 
Austria,  while  the  native  Fernando  went  off  to  be  the  Ger- 
man Ferdinand.  Isabel,  the  Spanish  version  of  either 
Jezebel,  or  Elizabeth,  did  retain  her  popularity,  but  hardly 
in  equal  measure  with  the  universal  Maria;  and  as  the 
Inquisition  Romanized  the  national  mind  more  and  more, 
the  attribute  names  of  Mercedes  and  Dolores,  and  the 
idolatrous  Pilar  were  invented.  Literary  names  seem  to 
have  been  few  or  none,  and  the  saint,  or  rather  the  Ro- 
manist nomenclature,  was  more  unmitigated  in  Spain  and 
her  great  western  colonies  than  anywhere  else ;  even  in 
Italy,  where  the  classics  and  romance  always  exerted  their 
power.  In  the  Spanish  colonies  even  divine  names  are  used, 
without  an  idea  of  profanity. 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


470  MODERN  NOMENCLATUBE. 

The  nse  of  the  Christian  name  in  speech  has,  hoireyei', 
never  been  dropped,  even  under  the  French  influence  of  the 
Bourbon  monarchy;  and  Don  Martin,  DoSa  Luisa,  ftc, 
would  still  be  the  proper  tide  of  every  Spanish  gendeman 
or  lady. 

The  Spanish  names  that  have  been  most  spread  have  been 
Fernando  in  Germany,  Tffigo  and  Teresa  throughout  all 
Roman  Catholic  countries,  for  the  sake  of  the  two  Spanish 
saints  who  revived  their  old  half-forgotten  sound. 


Section  V. — France. 

France,  the  most  influential  of  European  countries  for 
evil  or  for  good,  can  hardly  be  properly  spoken  of  as  one^ 
in  nation  or  language.  Yet  that  one  dialect  of  hers  that 
has  contrived  to  be  the  most  universal  tongue  of  Europe,  that 
character,  which  by  its  vivacity  and  earnestness,  and,  per- 
haps, above  all,  by  its  hard,  rigid  consistency,  has  impressed 
its  ideas  on  all  other  nations,  and  too  often  dragged  th^n  in 
its  wake,  though  both  only  belonging  to  a  fraction  of  the 
population,  are  still  in  general  estimation,  the  French,  and 
their  importance  is  past  denial.  Dislike,  despise,  struggle 
as  we  will,  we  are  still  influenced,  through  imitation  and 
vanity,  and  the  deference  of  the  weaker  majority  in  matters 
of  conventional  taste. 

Old  Gaul  had  its  brave  Keltic  inhabitants,  and  its  race  in 
Brittany,  unsubdued  by  even  Rome,  were  only  united  to  the 
rest  of  the  country  by  the  marriage  of  their  heiress,  only 
subdued  by  gradual  legalized  tampering  with  their  privileges. 
Even  in  the  Keltic  province,  however,  genuine  Keltic  names 
are  nearly  gone;  though  Herv^,  Guennole,  Yvain,  Arzur, 
are  still  found  in  their  catalogues;  and  in  France,  G6ne- 
viSve,  by  her  protection  of  Paris,  left  her  ancient  name  fw 
perpetual  honour  and  imitation. 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


FRANCE.  471 

The  Roman  overflow  came  early  and  lasted  long ;  it  left 
a  language  and  manners  strongly  impressed,  and  the  names 
seem  to  have  been  according  to  Latin  forms  and  roles. 
Dionysius,  Pothinns,  Martinus,  Hilarius,  are  all  fomid 
among  the  Gauls  in  the  end  of  the  Roman  sway ;  and  when 
the  Franks  had  burst  over  the  country  and  hdd  the  north 
of  the  Loire,  whenever  a  Gaul  comes  to  the  surface,  he  is 
called  by  a  Roman  name — Gregorius,  Sidonius  ApoUinarius, 
Germanus,  Eligius. 

Southern  Gaul  was,  indeed,  never  Frank.  The  cities 
were  Roman  municipalities,  shut  their  gates,  and  took  what 
care  of  themselves  they  could;  while  the  Hlodvehs  and 
Meervehs,  the  Hilperics,  and  Hildeberts  ravaged  over  the 
stony  country,  which  still  called  itself  Plrovincia.  And  there, 
though  Burgundians  on  the  east,  and  Goths  from  the  Pyre- 
nees, gradually  contrived  to  erect  little  dukedoms  and  coun- 
ties, and  hold  them  under  the  empire  established  by  Charle- 
magne; the  country  was  still  peopled  by  the  Romanized 
Gaul,  and  the  Langue  cToc  was  spoken  and  sung.  This  was 
the  centre  of  the  softened  classic  name,  Yolande  and  Con- 
stance, Alienor  and  Delphine,  while  the  legends  of  St.  Marthe 
and  of  the  Martyrs  of  Lyons  supplied  provincial  saints. 
The  rich  literature,  chiefly  of  amatory  songs,  died  away,  and 
the  current  remains  of  the  language  are  now  unwritten,  fall- 
ing further  and  ftirther  into  patois,  and  varying  more  from 
one  another.  One  of  its  curious  peculiarities  is  to  make  0  a 
feminine  termination ;  Dido  is  there  short  for  Marguerite, 
Zino  for  Theresine,  &c. 

A  great  number  of  French  surnames  are  still  Roman,  such 
as  Chauvin  (Calvinus),  Godon  (Claudius),  Marat,  Salvin, 
and  many  more,  showing  that  Latin  nomenclature  must  long 
have  been  prevalent  among  the  mass  of  the  people,  though 
as  history  is  only  concerned  with  the  court,  we  hear  chiefly 
of  the  Franks  around  the  unsteady  thrones  of  Neustria  and 
Austrasia.    The  High  German  of  these  kingdonus,  as  used 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


47^  MODERN  NOMENCLATURE. 

by  the  Meerwings,  was  extremely  harsh ;  Hlodveh  and  Hlod- 
hild,  Hlother  and  Hlodvald  were  their  rough  l^acies ;  but, 
despised  as  was  the  name  and  cheap  the  blood  of  the  Roman 
among  them,  his  civilization  was  conquering  his  victors; 
and  when  the  Karlings,  with  their  middle  class  cultivation, 
subdued  the  effete  line  of  Meerveh,  they  spoke  Latin  as 
freely  as  Frankish,  and  the  names  they  bore  had  softened; 
Ludovicus  and  Lotharius,  Carolus  and  Emma  in  Latin,  or 
in  German,  Ludwe  and  Lothar,  Earl  and  Emme.  And  now, 
among  the  many  saints  that  were  fostered  by  the  religious 
government  and  missionary  spirit  of  Frankland,  arose  the 
founders  of  the  chief  stock  names  of  Europe — Robert, 
Richard,  Henry,  Williaume,  Walther,  Bernard,  Bertram, 
Eberhard,  and  the  like. 

When,  in  the  next  generation,  Germany,  Lorraine,  and 
France  fell  apart,  the  latter  country  was  beginning  to  speak 
the  Langue  cTouiy  retaining  the  Latin  spelling,  but  disre- 
garding it  in  speech,  as  though  the  scholar  had  written  cor- 
rectly, but  the  speaker  had  disregarded  the  declension,  and 
dropped  the  case  endings  alike  of  Latin  and  Teutonic.  And 
so  Earl  was  Charles,  and  Lodwe  Louis,  long  before  the 
counts  of  Paris,  with  their  assimilation  of  the  Cymric  Hu  to 
the  Teuton  Hugur,  had  thrust  the  Earlings  down  into  Lor- 
raine, and  commenced  the  true  French  dynasty  in  their  small 
territory  between  the  Seine  and  Loire. 

Already  had  the  Northmen  settled  themselves  in  Neustria, 
and,  taking  the  broken  Frank  names  and  mangled  Latin 
speech  for  badges  of  civilization  and  Christianity,  had  made 
them  their  own,  and  infused  such  vigour  into  the  French 
people,  that  from  that  moment  their  national  character  and 
literature  begin  to  develop. 

Then  it  was  that  France  exercised  a  genuine  and  honour- 
able leadership  of  Europe.  Her  language  being  the  briefest 
form  of  Latin,  wa?,  perhaps,  the  most  readily  understood 
of  the  broken  Romance  dialects;  and  though  Rome  had 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


FRANCE.  473 

the  headship  of  the  Church,  and  (jermanj  the  nominal 
empire  of  the  West,  France  had  the  moral  chieftainship. 

The  Pope  did  but  sanction  the  crusades ;  it  was  France 
that  planned  them.  Frenchmen  were  the  connecting  link 
between  the  Lorrainer  Godfirey,  the  Norman  Robert,  the 
Sicilian  Tancred,  the  Proven9al  Raymond,  the  Flemish 
Baldwin.  The  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  though  founded  by 
the  Lorrainer,  was  essentially  French ;  the  religious  orders 
of  knighthood  were  chiefly  French;  the  whole  idea  and 
language  of  chivahy  were  French ;  and,  perhaps  rightly,  for 
France  has  at  times  shown  that  rare  and  noble  spirit  that 
can  exalt  a  man  for  his  personal  qualities,  instead  of  his 
rank,  even  in  his  own  lifetime.  The  nation  that  could  appre- 
ciate its  St.  Bernard,  its  Du  Grueeclin,  its  Bayard,  deserved, 
while  that  temper  was  in  it,  to  be  a  leader  of  the  civilized 
world. 

England  was  in  these  earlier  days  regarded  as  a  foreign 
and  semi-barbarous  realm  held  by  a  French  duke  or  count, 
while  southern  France  was  divided  into  independent  fiefs 
of  the  empire.  The  names  began  to  be  affected  by  reverence 
for  saints,  and  fast  included  more  and  more  of  the  specially 
popular  patrons,  such  as  Jean,  Jaques,  Simon,  Philippe. 
They  became  common  to  all  the  lands  that  felt  the  central 
crusading  impulse,  and  the  daughters  of  French  princes, 
Alix,  Matilda,  the  Proven9al  Constance,  Alienor,  Isabel, 
Marguerite,  were  married  into  all  parts  of  Europe,  and  in- 
troduced their  names  into  their  new  countries,  often  backed 
up  by  legends  of  their  patrons. 

Normandy  lapsed  to  France  through  King  John's  crime 
and  weakness,  and  the  persecution  of  the  Albigenses,  and 
the  narrower  views  of  the  popes,  changed  the  Crusades  to  a 
mere  conquest  of  the  Langue  d*oc  by  the  Langue  d^ouiy  com- 
pleted by  the  marriages  of  the  brothers  of  St.  Louis ;  and 
though  Provence  continued  a  fief  of  the  empire,  and  the 
property  of  the  Angevin  kings  of  Naples,  yet  their  French 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


474  MODERN  NOMENCLATUBE. 

royal  blood  united  it  more  closely  to  the  central  kingdom, 
and  the  transplanting  of  the  papal  court  to  Avignon,  gave 
a  French  tinge  to  the  cardinalate  which  it  only  recovered  at 
the  expense  of  the  Great  Schism. 

Philippe  le  Bel  was  the  last  able  sovereign  of  France  of 
the  vigorous  early  middle  ages ;  but  the  brilliant  character 
of  the  nobUity  still  carried  men's  minds  captive,  and  in- 
fluenced the  English  even  through  the  century  of  deadly 
wars  that  followed  the  accession  of  the  House  of  Yalois,  and 
ended  by  leaving  Louis  XI.  king  of  the  entire  French  soiL 

The  ensuing  century  was  that  when  the  influence  of  France 
on  other  nations  was  at  the  lowest  ebb.  Exhausting  hersdf 
first  by  attacks  on  Italy^  and  then  by  her  savage  civil  wan, 
she  required  all  the  ability  of  Henri  IV.  and  of  Richelieu 
to  rouse  her  from  her  depression,  and  make  her  be  respected 
among  the  nations.  Meantime,  her  nomenclature  had  varied 
little  from  the  original  set  of  names  in  use  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury ;  dropping  a  few  obsolete  ones,  taking  up  a  few  saintly 
ones,  recommended  by  fresh  relics,  and  occasionally  choosing 
a  romantic  one,  but  very  scantily;  Francois  was  her  only 
notable  adoption.  The  habit  of  making  feminines  to  male 
names  seems  to  have  spread  in  France  about  the  eighteenth 
century,  rather  narrowing  than  widening  the  choice.  Jeanne 
seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  undergo  this  treatment; 
Philippine  was  not  long  after,  then  Jacqueline,  and,  indeed, 
it  may  have  been  the  habit — as  it  is  still  among  the  pea- 
santry of  the  South — always  to  give  the  father's  name  to 
the  eldest  child,  putting  a  feminine  to  it  for  a  girl. 

tfTith  the  cinque-cento  came  a  few  names  of  literature, 
of  which  Diane  was  the  most  permanent ;  and  the  Huguenots 
made  extensive  use  of  Scripture  names — ^Isaac,  66deon, 
Benjamin,  and  many  more;  but  the  Christian  name  was 
quickly  falling  out  of  fashion.  People  were,  of  course, 
christened,  but  it  is  often  difficult  to  discover  their  names. 
The  old  habit  of  addressing  the  knight  as  Sire  Jehan,  or 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


FRANCE.  475 

Sire  Pierre,  and  speaking  of  him  as  le  Beau  SieuTy  had  been 
entirely  dropped.  Even  his  surname  was  often  out  of  sight, 
and  he  was  called  after  some  estate — ^as  le  Sieur  Pierre  Ter- 
rail  was  to  the  whole  world  Chevalier  Bayard.  Nay,  even  in 
the  signature,  the  Christian  name  was  omitted,  unless  from 
some  very  urgent  need  of  distinction.  Henri  de  Lorraine, 
eldest  son  of  the  duke  of  Guise,  signs  himself  Le  Guisard 
in  a  letter  to  the  Dauphin  Henri,  son  of  Fran9ais  I.  Mar- 
ried ladies  wrote  themselves  by  their  maiden,  joined  to  their 
married  title,  and  scarcely  were  even  little  children  in  the 
higher  orders  called  by  one  of  the  many  names  that  it  had 
become  the  custom  to  bestow  on  them,  in  hopes  of  concili- 
ating as  many  saints  and  as  many  sponsors  as  possible, — 
sometimes  a  whole  city,  as  when  the  Fronde-bom  son  of 
Madame  de  LongueviUe  had  all  Paris  for  his  godmother, 
and  was  baptized  Charles  Paris. 

Now  and  then,  however,  literature,  chiefly  that  of  the 
ponderous  romances  of  the  Scudery  school,  influenced  a  name, 
as  Athenais  or  Sylvie;  but,  in  general,  these  magnificent 
appellations  were  more  used  as  soubriquets  under  which 
to  draw  up  characters  of  acquaintances  than  really  given  to 
children.  Esther  is,  however,  said  to  have  been  much  pro- 
moted by  the  tragedy  of  Racine. 

The  Bourbons,  with  their  many  faults,  have  had  two  true 
kings  of  men  among  them — ^Henri  IV.  and  Louis  XIV. — 
men  with  greatness  enough  to  stamp  the  Bourbon  defects 
where  their  greatness  left  no  likeness. 

And  thus,  half  French  as  English  royalty  had  grown  in 
exile  during  the  days  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  French  by 
birth  as  was  the  young  king  of  Spain,  France  again  rose 
to  pre-eminence  as  the  leader  of  European  thought  and  taste. 
Her  literature  received  a  strong  impulse  through  the  vigor- 
ous Jansenists  whom  she  crushed;  her  strategy,  from  the 
genius  of  Turenne  and  Conde,  her  fortifications,  under 
Vauban,  were  the  model  of  Europe ;  and  when  Marlborough 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


476  MODERN  NOMENCJLATURE. 

defeated  her,  it  was  with  her  own  weapons.  Her  artificial 
ornament  and  unbending  code  were  the  canons  of  taste. 
The  symmetry  she  loved  in  architecture  and  composition  is 
feebly  reflected  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  Europe ;  and, 
for  a  full  century,  many  a  prince  who  could  not  be  like  Louis 
XrV.  in  grandeur,  endeavoured,  at  least,  to  resemble  him  in 
morals. 

There  is  something  very  significant  in  the  fact,  that  these 
were  the  days  when  it  was  fashionable  to  forget  the  simple 
baptismal  name.  There  was  little  distinction  in  it,  if  it  had 
been  remembered ;  Louis  or  Marie  always  formed  part  of  it 
with  half-a-dozen  others  besides.  As  to  the  populace,  nobody 
knows  anything  of  them  under  Louis  XIV.  :  they  were 
ground  down  to  nothing. 

The  lower  depth,  under  Louis  XY.,  brought  a  reaction  of 
simplicity ;  but  it  was  the  simplicity  of  casting  ofi*  all  tram- 
mels— ^the  classicalism  of  the  Encyclopaedists.  Christian 
names  are  mentioned  again,  and  were  chosen  much  for 
literary  association.  Emile  and  Julie,  for  the  sake  of  Rous- 
seau; and,  from  Roman  history,  Jules  and  Gamille,  and 
many  another,  clipped  down  to  that  shortened  form  by  which 
France  always  appropriated  the  words  of  other  nations,  and 
often  taught  us  the  same  practice. 

So  strong  was  the  taste  for  the  antique,  that  in  Mde. 
de  Genlis'  tale  of  Les  Parvenus  she  represents  her  hero  as 
presenting  to  the  heroine  a  devotional  book,  where  he  has 
illustrated  the  festival  services  of  all  the  saints  who  bore  clas- 
sical names,  by  copies  of  the  gems  of  their  heathen  originals, 
mentioning,  as  a  discovery,  that  many  saints'  names  can  thus 
be  connected  with  the  antiques  to  which  the  fashioni^le 
world  was  then  devoted. 

The  Revolution  stripped  every  one  down  to  their  genuine 
two  names,  and  woe  to  the  owners  of  those  which  bore  an 
aristocratic  sound,  or  even  meaning.  Thenceforth  French 
nomenclature,  among  the  educated  classes  and  those  whom 

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GREAT  BRITAIN.  477 

tbej  infiaence,  has  been  pretty  much  a  matter  of  taste. 
Devotion,  where  it  exists,  is  satisfied  by  the  insertion  of 
Marie,  and  anything  that  happens  to  be  in  vogue  is  added 
to  it.  Josephine  flourished  much  in  the  first  Bonapart6 
days;  but  Napol6on  was  too  imperial,  too  peculiar,  to  be 
given  without  special  warrant  from  its  owner ;  nor  are  po- 
litically-given names  numerous :  there  are  more  taken  fh>m 
popular  novels  or  dramas,  or  merely  from  their  sound.  Zephy- 
rine,  Goralie,  Zaidee,  Zenobie,  Malvine,  Seraphine,  prevail 
not  only  among  the  ladies,  but  among  the  maid  servants  of 
Paris;  and  men  have,  latterly,  been  fancifully  named  by 
appellations  brought  in  from  other  countries,  never  native  to 
France — Gustavo,  Alfred,  Ernest,  Oswald,  ftc.  Moreover, 
the  tendency  to  denude  words  of  their  final  syllable  is  being 
given  up.  The  names  in  us  and  in  a  are  let  alone,  in  spell- 
ing, at  least ;  and  some  of  our  feminine  English  contractions, 
such  as  Fanny,  have  been  absolutely  admitted. 

All  this,  however,  very  little  affects  the  peasantry,  or  the 
provinces.  Patron  saints  and  hereditary  family  names,  con- 
tracted to  the  utmost,  are  still  used  there ;  and  a  rich  harvest 
might  be  gathered  by  comparison  of  the  forms  in  Keltic, 
Latin,  Gascon,  or  German,  in  France. 


Section  YL.— Cheat  Britain. 

The  waning  space  demands  brevity ;  otherwise,  the  appel- 
lations of  our  own  countrymen  and  women  are  a  study  in 
themselves ;  but  they  must  here  be  treated  of  in  general 
terms,  rather  than  in  detail. 

The  Keltic  inhabitants  of  the  two  islands  bore  names  that 
their  descendants  have,  in  many  instances,  never  ceased  to 
bear  and  to  cherish.  The  Gael  of  Ireland  and  Scotland  have 
always  had  their  Niel  and  Brighd,  their  Fergus  and  Angus; 
Aodh,  Ardh,  and  Bryan,  Eachan,  Gonan,  the  most  ancient 

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478  MODERN  NOMENCLATURE. 

of  all  traditional  names,  continuing  without  interval  on  ike 
same  soil,  excepting  a  few  of  the  more  fayoured  Greek  and 
old  Italian. 

The  C jmrj,  in  their  western  mountains,  haye  a  few  equally 
permanent.  Garadoc,  Bronwen,  Arianwy,  Llud,  and  the 
many  forms  of  Owen,  are  extremely  ancient,  and  have  neyer 
dropped  into  disuse.  In  both  branches  of  the  race  there  was 
a  large  mass  of  poetical  and  heroic  myth  to  endear  these 
appellations  to  the  people;  and  it  is  one  of  the  peculiar 
features  of  our  islands  to  be  more  susceptible  than  any  other 
nation  to  these  influences  on  nomenclature.  Is  it  from  the 
under  current  of  the  imaginative  Kelt  that  this  tendency  has 
been  derived  ? 

Rome  held  England  for  four  hundred  years ;  and  though 
Welsh  survived  her  grasp  and  retained  its  Keltic  character, 
instead  of  becoming  a  Romance  tongue,  it  was  considerably 
imbued  with  Latin  phraseology;  and  the  assumption  of 
Latin  names  by  the  British  princes,  with  the  assimilation  of 
their  own,  has  left  a  peculiar  class  of  Welsh  classic  names 
not  to  be  paralleled  elsewhere,  except,  perhaps,  in  Wallachia. 
Gystenian,  Elin,  Emrys,  lolo,  Aneurin,  Ermin,  Gruffydd^ 
Kay,  are  of  these ;  and  there  are  many  more,  such  as  March, 
Tristrem,  Einiawn,  Geraint,  which  lie  in  doubt  between  the 
classic  and  the  Cymric,  and  are,  probably,  originally  the  latter, 
but  assimilated  to  those  of  their  Latin  models  and  masters. 
It  was  these  Romanized  Kelts  who  supplied  the  few  martyrs 
and  many  saints  of  Britain ;  whose  Albanus,  Aaron,  and  Julius 
left  their  foreign  names  to  British  love,  and  whose  Patricius 
founded  the  glorious  missioiftu^  Church  of  Ireland,  and  made 
his  name  the  national  one.  His  pupils,  Brighde  and  Columba, 
made  theirs  almost  equally  venerated,  though  none  of  these 
saintly  titles  were,  at  first,  adopted  in  the  Gadhaelic  Churches 
.without  the  reverent  prefix  fl^fc,  or  Mad^  which  are  com- 
ar>unded  with  all  the  favourite  saintly  names  of  the  Keltic 
nouBndar. 


Digiti 


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GREAT  BRITAIN.  479 

Again,  the  semi-Roman  Kelts  were  the  origin  of  the 
Knights  of  the  Round  Table.  Arthur's  own  name,  though 
thorough  Keltic,  is  claimed  by  Ghreek.  Lancelot  is  probablj 
a  French  version  of  the  Latin  translation  of  Maelgwn ;  and 
the  traces  of  Latin  are  here  and  there  visible  in  the 
rather  nomenclature  of  the  brave  men  who,  no  doubt,  aimed 
at  being  Roman  citizens  than  mediaeval  knights. 

The  great  Low  Gterman  influx  made  our  island  English, 
and  brought  our  veritable  national  names.  An  immense 
variety  existed  among  the  Anglo-Saxons,  consisting  of  dif- 
ferent combinations,  generally  with  some  favourite  prefix,  in 
each  family— i9^e,  j^hel^  Ead^  Hilde,  Cuthy  JStf,  and  the 
terminations,  generally,  JeorW,  r«rf,  vdf^  veald^  frithj  or,  for 
women,  ihrythe^  hilde^  gifuy  or  hurh.  The  like  were  in  use 
in  the  Low  German  settlements  on  the  Continent,  especially 
in  Holland  and  Friesland. 

Christianity,  slowly  spreading  through  the  agency  of  the 
Roman  Church  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Keltic  on  the  other, 
did  not  set  aside  the  old  names.  It  set  its  seal  of  sanctity 
on  a  few  which  have  become  our  genuine  national  and  native 
ones.  Eadward,  Eadmund,  Eadwine,  Wilfrith,  ^adgifu, 
^thelthryth,  Mildthryth,  Osveald,  and  Osmund,  have  been 
the  most  enduring  of  these ;  and  ^thelbyrht  we  sent  out  to 
Germany,  to  come  back  to  us  as  Albert. 

The  remains  of  the  Danish  invasions  are  traceable  rather 
in  surnames  than  Christian  names.  The  permanent  ones 
left  by  them  were  chiefly  in  insular  Scotland  and  Ireland. 
Torquil,  Somerled,  Ivor,  Ronald,  Halbert,  are  Scottish  relics 
of  the  invaders ;  and  in  Ireland,  Amlaidh,  Redmond,  Ulick. 

But  it  was  the  Normans,  Norsemen  in  a  French  dress, 
that  brought  us  the  French  rather  than  Frank  names 
that  are  most  common  with  us.  Among  the  thirty  kings 
who  have  reigned  since  the  Conquest,  there  have  been  nine 
Christian  names,  and  of  these  but  two  are  Saxon  English, 
three  are  Norman  Frank,  two  French  Hebrew,  one  French 

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480  MODERN  NOMENCLATURE. 

Qreek,  one  French,  one  anglicized  Gennan  Greek.  Strictly 
speaking,  Richard  is  Saxon,  and  began  with  a  native  English 
saint;  but  it  was  its  adoption  by  Normans  that  made  it 
popular  after  the  Conquest ;  and  it  came  in  company  with 
William,  Henry,  Robert,  Walter,  Gilbert,  all  in  perpetual 
use  eyer  since.  Alberic,  Bertram,  Baldwin,  Randolf,  Roger, 
Herbert,  Hubert,  Reginald,  Hugh,  Norman,  Nigel,  and 
many  others  less  universally  kept  up,  came  at  the  same 
time ;  and  Adelheid  and  Mathilda  were  imported  by  the 
ladies ;  but,  in  general,  there  were  more  men's  names  than 
women's  then  planted,  probably  on  account  of  William's 
policy  of  marrying  Normans  to  English  women. 

Scripture  names  were  very  few.  There  are  only  two 
Johns  in  Domesday  Book,  and  one  is  a  Dane ;  but  the  saints 
were  beginning  to  be  somewhat  followed ;  Eustace  was  pre* 
dominant ;  Cecily,  Lucy,  Agnes,  Constance,  were  already  in 
use;  and  in  the  migration,  Brittany  contributed  Tiffany, 
in  honour  of  the  Epiphany.  At  the  same  time  she  sent 
us  her  native  Alan,  Brian,  and  Aveline;  and  vernacular 
French  gave  Aimee  and  afterwards  Algernon. 

It  was  a  time  of  contractions.  Between  English  and 
French,  names  were  oddly  twisted;  Alberic  into  Aubrey, 
Randolf  into  Ralph,  Ethelthryth  into  Awdry,  Eadgifu  into 
Edith,  Mathilda  into  Maude,  Adelheid  into  Alice. 

Saint  and  Scripture  names  seem  to  have  been  promoted 
by  the  crusading  impulse,  but  proceeded  slowly.  The  An- 
gevins  brought  us  the  French  Geoffrey  and  Fulk,  and  their 
Proven9al  marriages  bestowed  on  us  the  Proven9al  version 
of  Helena — ^Eleanor,  as  we  have  learnt  to  call  their  AlieniH*, 
in  addition  to  the  old  Cymric  form  Elayne.  Thence,  too, 
came  Isabel,  together  with  Blanche,  Beatrice,  and  other  boH 
names  current  in  poetical  Provence.  Jehan,  as  it  was  called 
when  Lackland  bore  it,  and  its  feminine  Jehanne,  seem  to 
have  been  likewise  introductions  of  our  Aquitanian  queen. 

The  Lowland  Scots  had  been  much  influenced  by  the  An- 

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GREAT  BRITAIN.  431 

glo-Saxons,  whose  tongue  preyailed  throughout  the  Lothians ; 
and  after  the  fall  of  Macbeth,  and  the  marriage  of  Malcohu 
Geanmore,  English  names  were  much  adopted  in  Scotland. 
Guthbert  has  been  the  most  lasting  of  the  old  Northumbrian 
class.  The  good  Queen  Margaret,  and  her  sister  Christian^ 
owed  their  Chreek  names,  without  a  doubt,  to  their  foreign 
birth  and  Hungarian  mother,  and  these,  with  Alexander, 
Euphemia,  and  George,  forthwith  took  root  in  Scotland,  and 
became  national.  Probably  Margaret  likewise  brought  the 
habit,  then  more  eastern  than  western,  of  using  saintlj 
names,  for  her  son  was  David ;  and  from  this  time  seems 
to  have  begun  the  fashion  of  using  an  equivalent  for  the 
Keltic  name.  David  itself,  beloved  for  the  sake  of  the  good 
king,  is  the  equivalent  of  Dathi,  a  name  borne  by  an  Irish 
king  before  the  Scottish  migration.  David  L,  nearly  related 
to  the  Empress  Maude,  and  owning  the  earldom  of  North- 
nmbria  in  right  of  his  wife,  was  almost  an  English  baron ; 
and  the  intercourse  with  England  during  his  reign  and  those 
of  his  five  successors,  made  the  Lowland  nobles  almost  one 
with  the  Northumbrian  barons,  and  carried  sundry  Norman 
names  across  the  border,  where  they  became  more  at  home 
than  even  in  En^and;  such  as  Alan,  Walter,  Norman, 
Nigel,  and  Robert. 

Henry  H.  was  taking  advantage  of  the  earl  of  Pembroke's 
expedition  to  Ireland,  and  the  English  Pale  was  established, 
bringing  with  it  to  Erin  the  favourite  Norman  names,  to  be 
worn  by  the  newly  implanted  nobles,  and  Iricized  gradually 
with  their  owners.  Cicely  became  Sheelah  ;  Margaret, 
Mairgreg ;  Edward,  Eudbalrd ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Lrish  dressed  themselves  for  civilization  by  taking  English 
names.  Finghin  turned  to  Florence,  and  Buadh  to  Rode- 
rick, kc. 

ELenry  IIL  had  been  made  something  like  'an  Englishman 
by  his  father's  loss  of  Normandy ;  and  in  his  veneration  for 
English  saints,  he  called  his  sons  after  the  two  royal  saints 

^^^  ^'  Digit  zedly  Google 


482  MODERN  NOMENCLATURE. 

most  beloved  in  England,  Edward  and  Edmund ;  and  ihe 
death  of  the  elder  children  of  Edward  I.  having  bron^t 
the  latter  a  second  time  to  the  throne,  it  was  thenceforth 
in  honour.  Thomas  owed  its  popularity  to  Becket,  who  was 
80  christened  from  his  birth  on  die  feast  of  the  Apostle,  St 
Thomas,  and,  in  effect,  saintly  names  were  becoming  more 
and  more  the  fashion.  Mary  was  beginning  to  be  esteemed 
as  the  most  honourable  one  a  woman  could  bear;  and 
legends  in  quaint  metrical  English  rendered  Agnes,  Bar- 
bara, Katharine,  Margaret,  and  Cecily,  well  known  and  in 
constant  use. 

The  romances  of  chivalry  began  to  have  their  influence. 
Lionel  and  Roland,  Tristram,  Tsolda,  Lancelot,  and  Guen- 
ever,  were  all  the  produce  of  the  revival  of  the  tales  of 
Arthur's  court,  arrayed  in  their  feudal  and  chivalrous  dress, 
and  other  romances  contributed  a  few.  Diggory  is  a  highly 
romantic  name,  derived  from  an  old  metrical  tale  of  a 
knight,  properly  called  D'Egar6,  the  wanderer,  or  the  almost 
lost,  one  of  the  many  versions  of  the  story  of  the  father 
and  unknown  son.  Esclairmonde  came  out  of  Huon  de 
Baurdeatuc ;  Lillias,  such  a  favourite  in  Scotland,  came  out 
of  the  tale  of  Sir  Eger,  Sir  Graham,  and  Sir  Graysteel; 
Lillian  out  of  the  story  of  Roswal  and  Lillian ;  and  Grizel 
began  to  flourish  from  the  time  Chaucer  made  her  pati^ice 
known. 

The  Scots,  by  their  alliance  with  France,  were  led  to  im- 
port French  terminations,  such  as  the  diminutives  Janet  and 
Annot ;  also  the  foreign  Cosmo,  and  perhaps  likewise  Esm6. 
Meantime  we  obtained  fresh  importations  from  abroad. 
Anne  came  with  the  queen  of  Richard  II. ;  Elizabeth  fitun 
the  German  connections  of  Elizabeth  Woodville's  mother, 
Jaquetta  of  Luxemburg ;  Gertrude  was  taken  from  (Jennany; 
Francis  and  Frances  caught  from  France ;  and  Arthur  was 
revived  for  his  eldest  son  by  the  first  Tudor ;  Jane  instead 
of  Joan  began,  too,  in  the  Tudor  times. 

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GREAT  BRITAIN.  483 

But  when  the  Refonnation  came,  the  whole  system  of  no- 
menclature received  a  sadden  shock.  Patron  saints  were 
thrown  to  the  winds;  and  though  many  families  adhered 
to  the  hereditary  habits,  others  took  entirely  new  fashions. 
Then,  Camden  says,  began  the  fashion  of  giving  surnames 
as  Christian  names  ;  as  with  Guildford  Dudley,  Egremont 
Ratcliffe,  Douglas  Sheffield;  and  in  Ireland,  Sidney,  as  a 
girl's  name,  in  honour  of  the  lord  deputy.  Sir  Henry,  the 
father  of  Sir  Philip,  from  whom,  on  the  odier  hand,  Sydney 
became  a  common  English  boy's  name. 

Then,  likewise,  the  classical  taste  came  forth,  and  be- 
stowed all  manner  of  fanciful  varieties;  Homer,  Virgil, 
Horatius,  Lalage,  Cassandra,  Diana,  Virginia,  Julius,  Ac, 
Ac.,  all  are  found  from  this  time  forward;  and  here  and 
there,  owing  to  some  ancestor  of  high  worth,  specimens  have 
been  handed  on  in  families. 

The  more  pious  betook  themselves  to  abstract  qualities; 
Faith,  Hope,  Charity,  Prudence  and  Patience,  Modesty, 
Love,  Gift,  Temperance,  Mercy,  all  of  which,  even  to  the 
present  day,  sometimes  are  used,  but  chiefly  by  the  pea- 
santry, or  in  old  Nonconformist  families. 

Between  the  dates  1500  and  1600  began  the  full  employ- 
ment of  Scripture  names,  chosen  often  by  opening  the  Bible 
at  hap-hazard,  and  taking  the  first  name  that  presented 
itself,  sometimes,  however,  by  juster  admiration  of  the  cha- 
racter. Thus  began  our  use  of  Abraham  and  Sarah,  Isaac 
and  Bebecca,  Bachel,  Joseph,  Benjamin,  Josiah,  &c. ;  and 
others  more  quaint  and  peculiar,  which  are  apt  to  be  neg- 
lected in  the  next  generation  to  those  who  have  made  proof 
of  the  ridicule  apt  to  be  excited  by  an  unusual  Christian 
appellation. 

Comparatively  few  of  these  Puritan  names  were  used  in 
Scotland ;  but  several  were  for  sound's  sake  adopted  in  Ire- 
land as  equivalents;  Jeremiah  for  Diarmaid;  Timothy  for 
Tadhgh ;  Grace  for  Graine. 

Digitized  J  £?)OgIe 


484  MODERN  NOMENCLATURE. 

Charles  was  first  made  popular  through  loyalty  to  King 
Charles  I.,  who  had  received  it  in  the  yain  hope  that  it 
would  be  more  fortunate  than  the  hereditary  James,  itself 
brought  into  Scotland  seven  generations  back  by  a  vow  of 
Annaple  Drummond,  mother  of  the  first  unfortunate  James. 
English  registers  very  scantily  show  either  Oharies  or  James 
before  the  Stuart  days,  but  they  have  ever  since  been  ex- 
tremely popular.    Henrietta,  brought  by  the  French  queen, 
speedily  became  popular,  and  with  Frances,  Lucy,  Mary, 
Anne,  Catherine,  and  Elizabeth,  seems  to  have  been  pre- 
dominant among  the  ladies ;  but  all  ccmtracted  as  Harriet, 
Fanny,  Molly,  Nanny,  Kitty,  Betty.    The  French   sup- 
pression of  the  Christian  name  considerably  affected  the 
taste  of  the  Restoration ;  noblemen  dropped  it  out  of  tbor 
signature;   the  knight's  wife  discarded  it  with  the  prefix 
Dame;  married  daughters  and  sisters  were  mentioned  by 
the  surname  only;  young  spinsters  foolishly  adopted  Miss 
with  the  surname  instead  of  Mistress  with  the  Christian ; 
but  the  loss  was  not  so  universal  as  in  France,  for  custom 
still  retained  the  old  titles  of  knights  and  of  the  daugfatos 
and  younger  sons  of  the  higher  ranks  of  the  nobility.     The 
usual  fashion  was  in  imitation  of  the  French,  for  ladies  to 
call  themselves,  and  be  addressed  in  poetry  by  some  of  the 
Arcadian  or  romantic  terms,  a  few  of  which  have  crept  into 
nomenclature ;  Amanda,  Ophelia,  Aspasia,  Cordelia,  JHiyllis, 
CUoe,  Sylvia,  and  the  like. 

The  love  of  a  finish  in  a  was  coming  in  wiUi  Queen  Anne^s 
Augustan  age.  The  soft «,  affectionate  ie  or  y,  that  had  been 
natural  to  our  tongues  ever  since  they  had  been  smoodied  by 
Norman-French,  was  twisted  up  into  an  Italian  ia :  Alice 
must  needs  be  Alicia;  Lettice,  Letitia;  Cecily,  Cecilia; 
Olive,  Olivia;  Lucy,  Lucinda;  and  no  heroine  could  be 
deemed  worthy  of  figuring  in  narrative  without  a  flooriah  at 
the  end  of  her  name.  Good  Queen  Anne  harself  had  an  a 
tacked  on  to  make  her  ^  Great  Aima;'  Queen  Bess  must  needs 

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GBEAT  BRITAIN.  485 

be  Great  Eliza ;  and  Mary  was  erected  into  Maria;  Nassau 
had  lately  be^  invented  for  William  LQ/s  godchildren  of 
both  sexes ;  and  Anne,  after  French  precedent,  made  mascu- 
line for  his  successor's  godsons.  Belinda,  originally  the 
property  of  the  wife  of  Orlando,  was  chosen  by  Pope  for  his 
heroine  of  JRape  of  the  Lock  ;  Clarissa  was  fabricated  out  of 
the  Italian  Clarice  by  Richardson ;  and  Pamela  was  adopted 
by  him  out  of  Sir  Philip  Sydney's  Arcadia^  as  a  recommen- 
dation to  the  maid  servant  whom  he  made  his  heroine ;  and 
these,  as  names  of  literature,  all  took  a  certain  hold.  Pamela 
is  still  not  uncommon  among  the  lower  classes. 

Li  the  meantime  the  House  of  Brunswick  had  brought  in 
the  regnant  names  of  German  taste — George,  of  which, 
thanks  to  our  national  patron,  we  had  already  made  an 
EngUsh  word,  Frederick,  Ernest,  Adolphus — a  horrible  Eng- 
lish Latinism  of  good  old  Grerman,  Augustus,  an  adoption  of 
German  classic  taste ;  and,  among  the  ladies,  generally  clumsy 
feminines  of  essentially  masculine  names — Caroline,  Charlotte, 
Wilhelmina,  Frederica,  Louisa,  t(^ther  with  the  less  incor- 
rectly formed  Augusta,  Sophia,  and  Amelia. 

This  ornamental  taste  flourished,  among  the  higher  classes, 
up  to  the  second  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  the 
affectations,  of  which  it  was  one  sample,  were  on  the  decline, 
under  the  growing  influence  of  the  chivalrous  school  of  Scott, 
and  of  the  simplicity  upheld  by  Wordsworth.  The  fine  names 
began  to  grow  vulgar,  and  people  either  betook  themselves  to 
the  hereditary  ones  of  their  families,  or  picked  and  chose  from 
the  literature  then  in  fashion. 

Two  names,  for  the  sake  of  our  heroes  by  sea  and  land, 
came  into  prominence— Horatio  and  Arthur,  l^e  latter  trans- 
cending the  former  in  popularity  in  proportion  to  the  longer 
career  and  more  varied  excellences  of  its  owner.  Woman- 
kind had  come  back  to  their  Ellen,  Mary,  and  Lucy ;  and 
it  was  not  till  the  archaic  influence  had  gone  on  much  longer 
that  the  present  crop  sprang  up,  of  Alice  and  Edith,  Ger- 

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486  MODERN  NOMENCLATURE. 

trade,  Florence,  and  Constance,  copied  again  and  again,  in 
fact  and  in  fiction,  and  with  them  the  Herbert  and  Reginald, 
Wilfrid  and  Maurice,  formerly  only  kept  up  in  a  few  old 
families.  It  is  an  improvement,  but  in  most  cases  at  the 
expense  of  nothing  but  imitation,  the  sound  and  the  fashion 
being  the  only  guides.  After  all,  nomenclature  cannot  be 
otherwise  than  imitative,  but  the  results  are  most  curious 
and  interesting,  when  it  is  either  the  continuation  of  old 
hereditary  names,  like  the  Algernon  of  the  Howards  or  the 
Aubrey  of  the  de  Veres,  or  else  the  record  of  some  deeply 
felt  event,  like  the  Oiustina  of  Venice,  in  honour  of  the 
battle  of  Lepanto,  or  our  own  Arthur,  in  memory  of  the 
deeds  of  our  great  duke. 

Names  are  often  an  index  to  family  habits  and  temper. 
Unpretending  households  go  on  for  generations  with  the  same 
set,  sometimes  adopting  one  brought  in  by  marriage,  but 

•  soon  dropping  it  out  if  it  is  too  fine.  Romantic  people  re- 
flect the  impressions  of  popular  literature  in  their  children's 
names ;  enthusiastic  ones  mark  popular  incidents, — Navarino, 

'  Maida,  Alma,  have  all  been  inflicted  in  honour  of  battles. 
Another  class  always  have  an  assortment  of  the  fashionable 
type — ^Augusta,  Amelia,  and  Matilda,  of  old;  Edith  and 
Kate  at  present. 

Non-conformity  leaves  its  mark  in  its  virtue  names  and 
its  Scripture  names,  the  latter  sometimes  of  the  wildest  kind. 
Talithacumi  was  the  daughter  of  a  Baptist.  A  clergyman 
has  been  desired  to  christen  a  boy  ^  Alas,'  the  parents  sup- 
posing that '  Alas!  my  brother,'  was  a  call  on  the  name  of  the 
disobedient  prophet.  There  is  a  floating  tradition  of  ^  Acts ' 
being  chosen  for  a  fifth  son,  whose  elder  brothers  had  been 
called  after  the  four  Evangelists;  and  even  of  Beelzebub 
being  uttered  by  a  godfather  at  the  font. 

Ajmong  other  proposed  names  may  be  mentioned  ^  Elibris,' 
which  some  people  persisted  belonged  to  their  family,  for  it 
was  in  their  grandfather's  books :  and  so  it  was,  being  e  librisp 

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GREAT  BRITAIN.  487 

{from  the  books,)  the  old  Latin  manner  of  commencing  an 
inscription  in  a  book.  ^Valuable  and  serviceable'  is  also 
said  to  have  been  intended  for  a  child,  on  the  authority  of 
an  engraving  in  an  old  watch ;  and  an  unfortunate  pair  of 
twins  were  presented  for  the  imposition  of  Jupiter  and 
Orion,  because  their  parents  thought  them  pretty  names, 
and  '  had  heard  on  them.' 

Double  names  came  gradually  in  from  the  Stuart  days, 
but  only  grew  really  frequent  in  the  present  century;  and 
the  habit  of  calling  girls  by  both,  now  so  common  among  the 
lower  classes  in  towns,  is  very  recent. 

With  many  families  it  is  a  convenient  custom  to  chrbten 
the  sons  by  the  mother's  maiden  name  in  addition  to  their 
first  individual  name ;  but  the  whole  conversion  of  surnames 
into  Christian  names  is  exclusively  English,  and  is  impossible 
on  the  Continent,  as  state  and  church  both  refuse  to  register 
what  is  not  recognized  as  in  use.  Of  English  surnames  we 
need  say  nothing ;  they  have  been  fully  treated  of  in  other 
works,  and  as  any  one  may  be  used  in  baptism,  at  any  time, 
the  mention  of  them  would  be  endless. 

In  speaking  of  England  we  include  not  only  our  colonies 
but  America.  There  our  habits  are  exaggerated.  There  is 
much  less  of  the  hereditary  ;  much  more  of  the  Puritan  and 
literary  vein.  Scripture  names,  here  conspicuous,  such  as 
Hephzibah,  Noah,  Obadiah,  Hiram,  are  there  common-place. 
Virtues  of  all  kinds  flourish,  and  coinages  are  sometimes  to 
be  found,  even  such  as  '  Happen  to  be,'  because  the  parenta 
happened  to  be  in  Canada  at  the  time  of  the  birth. 

'  Peabody  Duty  perhaps  keeps  a  store, 
With  washing  tubs,  and  wigs,  and  wafers  stocked ; 
And  Dr.  Qoackenbox  proclaims  the  cure 
Of  such  as  are  with  any  illness  docked : 
Dish  Alcibiades  holds  out  a  lure 
Of  sundry  articles,  all  nicely  cooked ; 
And  Phocion  Aristides  Franklin  Tibbs, 
Sells  ribbons,  laces,  caps,  and  slobbering-bibs.^ 

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488  MODERN  KOMENGLATURE. 

The  Boman  and  Greek  influence  has  been  stnmg,  pro- 
ducing Gato,  Scipio,  Leonidas,  &c.;  but  the  habit  of  calling 
negroes  bj  such  euphonious  epithets  has  rather  discouraged 
them  among  the  other  classes,  and  the  romantic,  perhaps, 
predominates  with  women,  the  scriptural  with  men.  The 
French  origin  of  many  in  the  Southern  States,  and  the  Dutch 
in  New  England,  can  sometimes  be  traced  in  names. 


Section  VIL — Qermany. 

What  was  said  of  Frankish  applies  equally  to  old  High 
Qerman,  of  which  Frankish  was  a  dialect,  scarcely  distm* 
guishable  with  our  scanty  sources  of  information. 

We  have  seen  Frankish  extinguished  in  Latin  in  the  West; 
but  in  the  East  we  find  it  developing  and  triumphing.  The 
great  central  lands  of  Europe  were  held  by  the  Franks  and 
Sueyi,  with  the  half  civilized  Lombards  to  their  south,  and  a 
long  slip  of  Burgundians  on  the  Biiine  and  the  Alps,  all 
speakers  of  the  harsh  High  German,  all  Christians  by  the 
seventh  century,  but  using  the  traditional  nomenclature, 
often  that  of  the  Nihelungmlied.  The  Low  Germans, 
speaking  what  is  best  represented  by  Anglo-Saxon  literature, 
were  in  the  northerly  flats  and  marshes,  and  were  still 
heathens  when  the  Franks,  under  Charlemagne  conquered 
them,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  mission  of  Boniface  began  their 
conversion. 

The  coronation  of  Charles  by  the  pope  was  intended  to 
establish  the  headship  of  a  confederacy  of  sovereigns,  one 
of  them  to  be  the  Eaisar,  and  that  one  to  be  appointed  by 
the  choice  of  the  superior  ones  among  the  rest.  This  chief- 
tainship remained  at  first  with  the  Karlingen  ;  but  after  they 
had  become  feeble  it  remained,  during  four  reigns,  with  the 
house  of  Saxony,  those  princes  who  established  the  strange 


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GERMANY.  489 

power  of  the  empire  oyer  Italy,  and  held  the  papal  elections 
in  their  hands.  It  was  under  them  that  Germany  became  a 
oanfederation,  absolutely  separate  from  her  old  companion 
France. 

There  is  not  much  to  say  of  German  nomenclature.  She 
little  varied  her  old  traditional  names.  Otto,  Heinrich, 
and  Konrad,  constantly  appeared  from  the  first;  and  the 
High  German,  as  the  literary  tongue,  has  had  the  moulding 
of  all  the  recognized  forms. 

The  Low  German  continued  to  be  spoken,  and  became,  in 
time,  Dutch  and  Frisian,  as  well  as  the  popular  dialect  of 
Saxony  and  West  Prussia.  The  Frisian  names  are,  indeed^ 
much  what  English  ones  would  be  now  if  there  had  been  no 
external  influences. 

In  spite  of  being  the  central  empire,  the  German  people 
long  resisted  improvement  and  amalgamation.  The  merchant 
cities  were,  indeed,  far  in  advance,  and  the  emperors  were, 
of  necessity,  cultivated  men,  up  to  the  ordinary  mark  of  their 
contemporary  sovereigns;  but  the  nobility  continued  surly 
and  boorish,  little  accessible  to  chivalrous  ideas,  and  their 
unchanging  names — Ulrich,  Adelbert,  Eberhard,  marking 
how  little  they  were  affected  by  the  general  impressions  of 
Europe.  A  few  names,  like  Wenceslav,  or  Boleslav,  came 
in  by  marriage  with  their  Polish,  Bohemian,  and  Hungarian 
neighbours ;  imd  Hungary,  now  and  then,  was  the  medium 
of  the  introduction  of  one  used  at  Constantinople,  such  as 
Sophia,  Anne,  Elisabeth,  which,  for  the  sake  of  the  sainted 
Landgraflinn  of  Thuringia,  became  a  universal  favourite. 
Friedrich  came  in  with  the  Swabian  dynasty;  Rudolf  and 
Leopold,  with  the  house  of  Hapsburg. 

Holland  and  the  cluster  of  surrounding  fiefs  meanwhile 
had  a  fluctuating  succession,  with  lines  of  counts  continually 
c<»ning  to  an  end,  and  others  acceding  who  were  connected 
with  the  French  or  English  courts.  The  consequence  was, 
that  the  gentlem^  of  these  territories  gained  a  strcHig 

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490  MODERN  KOMENCLATUBB. 

French  tinge  of  civilization,  especially  in  Flanders,  where 
the  Walloons  were  a  still  remaining  island  of  Belgse.  The 
Flemish  chivalrj  became  highly  celebrated,  and,  under  the 
French  counts  of  Hainault  and  Flanders,  and  dukes  <S 
Burgundy,  acquired  a  tone,  which  made  their  names  and 
language  chiefly  those  of  France,  and  tinctured  that  of  the 
peasantry  and  artizans,  so  as  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
Hollanders.  Andreas,  Adrianus,  Cornelius,  saints  imported 
by  the  French  dukes,  were  both  in  Holland  and  the  Nether- 
lands, however,  the  leading  names,  together  with  Philip, 
which  was  derived  from  the  French  royal  family.  The 
Dutch  artificers  and  merchants  had  their  own  sturdy,  pre- 
cise, business-like  character — their  Grerman  or  saintly  names, 
several  of  which  are  to  be  found  among  our  eastern  English, 
in  consequence  of  the  intercourse  which  the  wool  trade  esta- 
blished, and  the  various  settlements  of  Dutch  and  Flemish 
manufacturers  in  England. 

The  revival  of  classical  scholarship  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury was  considerably  felt  in  the  great  universities  of  the 
Netherlands  and  of  Grermany,  and  its  chief  influence  on 
nomenclature  is  shown  in  the  introduction  of  classical 
names;  namely,  Julius  and  Augustus,  and  the  Emperor 
Friedrich^s  notable  compound  of  Maximus  iBmilianus  into 
Maximilian,  but  far  more  in  finishing  every  other  name  off 
with  the  Latin  us.  Some  were  restorations  to  the  original 
form ;  Adrianus,  Paulus,  and  the  ever  memorable  Martinus ; 
but  others  were  adaptations  of  very  un-Latin  sounds.  Poppo 
turned  to  Poppius  ;  Wolf  to  Wolfius ;  Ernst  to  Ernestus ; 
Jobst,  instead  of  going  back  to  Justinus,  made  himself 
Jobstius  ;  Franz,  Franciscus.  The  surnames  were  even 
more  unmanageable,  bemg  often  either  nicknames  or  local ; 
but  they  underwent  the  same  fate ;  Pott  was  Pottus ;  Beman, 
Bemavius ;  while  others  translated  them,  as  in  the  already 
mentioned  instance  of  Erasmus,  from  Oerhardson,  and  the 
well  known  transformation  of  Schwarzerd  into  Melancthon. 

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GERMANY.  49 1 

The  Danish  antiquary  Broby  (bridge  town),  figures  as  Pon- 
toppidan ;  Och  became  Bos ;  Heilman,  Servetus ;  Goldmann, 
Chrysander;  Neumann,  Neander;  and  as  to  the  trades, 
Schmidt  was  Faber ;  Miiller,  Molitor ;  Schneider,  Sartorius ; 
Schuster,  Sutorius ;  KeUner,  Gellarius. 

The  German  Christian  names  did  not  permanently  retain 
this  affectation;  but  the  Netherlanders,  owing  probably  to 
the  great  resort  to  their  universities,  retained  it  long  and  in 
popular  speech,  so  that  in  many  Dutch  contractions,  the  us 
is  still  used,  as  in  Janus  for  Adrianus ;  Rasmus  for  Eras- 
mus; and  almost  always  the  full  baptismal  name  includes 
the  classical  suffix.  The  surnames,  of  course,  adhered,  and 
are  many  of  them  constantly  heard  in  Germany  and  Holland, 
while  others  have  come  to  England  chiefly  with  the  fugitives 
from  the  persecution  that  caused  the  revolt  of  the  Nether- 
lands. The  Latin  left  in  Dacia  and  long  spoken  in  Hungary 
must  have  assisted  to  classicalize  the  Germans  even  on  Uieir 
Slavonic  side. 

The  Reformation  did  not  so  much  alter  German  as  English 
nomenclature.  The  Lutherans,  following  their  master's  prin- 
ciple of  altering  only  what  was  absolutely  necessary,  long 
retained  their  hereditary  allegiance  to  their  saints,  and  did 
not  break  out  into  unaccustomed  names,  though  they  modi- 
fied the  old  Gottleip  into  Gottlieb.  Some  of  their  sects  of 
Germany,  however,  invented  various  religious  names ;  Gott- 
seimitdir,  Gottlob,  Traugott,  Treuhold,  Lebrecht,  Tugend- 
reich,  and  probably  such  others  as  Erdmuth  and  Ehrenpreis 
were  results  of  this  revival  of  native  manufacture.  A  few 
Scriptural  names  came  up  among  the  Galvinists,  but  do  not 
seem  to  have  taken  a  firm  hold. 

This  was  the  land  of  the  double  Christian  name.  It  was 
common  among  the  princes  of  Germany,  before  the  close  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  long  before  France  and  Italy  showed 
more  than  an  occasional  specimen.  It  was  probably  neces- 
sitated, by  way  of  distinction,  by  the  large  families  all  of 

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492,  MODERN  NOMENCLATURE. 

the  same  rank  in  the  little  German  states.  They  seem  to 
have  set  the  fashion  which  has  gradually  prevailed  more  and 
more  in  Europe ;  indeed,  there  are  some  double  names  that 
have  so  grown  together  as  to  be  recognized  companions,  such 
as  Annstine  for  Anne  Christine,  Anngrethe  for  Anne  Mar- 
garethe.  At  present  it  is  the  custom  in  almost  all  royal 
families  to  give  the  most  preposterous  number  of  Christian 
names,  of  which  one,  or  at  most  two,  is  retained  as  service- 
able, kc. 

A  few  Slavonic  names  crept  in,  chiefly  Wenzel  from  Bo- 
hemia; Kasimir  from  the  Prussian  Wends;  Stanislas  from 
Poland ;  and  the  house  of  Austria,  when  gaining  permanent 
hold  of  the  empire,  spread  the  names  derived  from  their  va- 
rious connections ;  the  Spanish  Ferdinand,  and  Flemish  Earl 
and  Philipp,  besides  their  hereditary  Leopold  and  Budolf, 
and  invented  Maximilian. 

The  counter  reformation  brought  the  Jesuit  Ignaz  and 
Franz  into  the  lands  where  the  Reformation  was  extin- 
guished, and  canonized  Stanislav.  Under  the  horrors  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  Germany  retrograded  in  every  respect; 
and  when  she  began  to  emerge  from  her  state  of  depression, 
the  brilliance  of  the  French  court  rendered  it  her  model, 
which  she  followed  with  almost  abject  submission.  Every 
one  who  could  talked  French,  and  was  called  by  as  Frendi 
a  name  as  might  be ;  the  royal  Fritz  became  Federic,  and 
little  Hanne,  Jeannette,  the  French  ine  and  ette  were  liberally 
tacked  to  men's  names  to  make  them  feminine,  and  whatever 
polish  the  country  possessed  was  French. 

This  lasted  till  the  horrors  of  the  Revolution,  a&d^^ 
aggressions  that  followed  it,  awoke  Germany  to  a  sense  St^^ 
her  own  powers  and  duties  as  a  nation.    Her  poets  and  great 
men  were  thoroughly  national  in  spirit ;  and  though,  after 
the  long  and  destructive  contest,  she  emerged  with  her  grand 
Holy  Roman  Empire  torn  to  shreds,  her  electoral  princes 


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GERMANY.  493 

turned  into  pettj  kings,  her  noble  Hanae  towns  mostly 
crushed  anct-absorbed  in  the  new  states,  her  Eaisar  merely 
the  Markgraf  of  Austria,  enriched  by  the  spoils  of  Lombardy 
and  the  Slavonic  kingdoms,  yet  she  had  recovered  the  true 
loyalty  to  the  fatherland  and  its  institutions,  cared  again 
for  her  literature  and  her  language,  and  had  an  enthusiasm 
for  her  own  antiquities,  a  desire  to  develop  her  own 
•powers. 

German  names,  to  a  degree,  reflect  this.  They  have 
ceased  to  ape  Latin  or  French.  So  far  as  any  are  literary, 
they  come  from  their  own  national  literature ;  but  as  in  most 
of  the  states  only  ordinary  names  are  registered,  the  va^ 
riety  is  not  great.  More  and  more  German  names  pass 
to  England  in  each  generation,  and  become  naturalized 
there;  but  the  same  proportion  of  English  do  not  seem 
to  be  returned. 

Bavaria,  having  been  always  Boman  Catholic,  has  more 
saintly  names  than  most  other  parts  of  Germany,  and,  in 
particular,  uses  those  of  some  of  the  less  popular  apostles, 
who  probably  have  been  kept  under  her  notice  by  the  great 
miracle  plays. 

Switzerland,  once  part  of  the  empire,  though  free  for 
five  hundred  years  back,  is  a  cluster  of  varying  tongues, 
races,  languages,  and  religions, — Kelt  and  Roman,  Swabian 
and  Burgundian,  Romanist,  Lutheran,  Calvinist,  German, 
French,  Italian.  Names  and  contractions  must  vary  here ; 
but  only  those  on  the  Grerman  side  have  fallen  in  my  way, 
those  about  Berne,  which  are  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  Ours 
and  Ursel,  in  honour  of  the  bears,  and  Salome  among  the 
women ;  the  diminutive  always  in  It. 


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494  MODERN  NOMENCLATURE. 


Sbctiok  VnL — Scandinavia. 

Grand  old  Northmen !  They  had  their  own  character,  and 
never  lost  it ;  they  had  their  own  nomenclature,  and  kept  it 
with  the  purity  of  an  unconquered  race. 

The  few  influences  that  sJected  their  nomenclature  were, 
in  the  first  place,  in  some  pre-historic  time,  the  Gaelic. 
Thence,  when  Albin  and  Lochlinn  seem  to  have  been  on 
friendly  terms,  they  derived  Njal,  Kormak,  Kylan,  Ejartan, 
Maelkoln,  and,  perhaps,  Brigitte.  Next,  in  Denmark,  a  few 
Wend  names  were  picked  up ;  and,  in  fact,  Denmark  being 
partly  peopled  by  Angles,  and  always  more  exposed,  first  to 
Slavonic,  and  then  to  German  influences,  than  the  North, 
has  been  less  entirely  national  in  names. 

In  the  great  piratical  days  the  Northmen  and  Danes  left 
their  names  and  patronymiqs  to  the  northern  isles,  from 
Iceland  to  Man,  and  even  m  part  to  Neustria  and  Italy. 
Oggiero  and  Tancredi,  in  the  choicest  Italian  poems,  are 
specimens  of  the  wideness  of  their  fame.  Our  own  popula- 
tion, in  the  north-east  of  England,  is  far  more  Scandinavian 
than  Anglian,  and  bears  the  impress  in  dialect,  in  manners, 
and  in  surnames,  though  the  baptismal  ones  that  led  to  them 
are,  in  general,  gone  out  of  use. 

Christianity  did  not  greatly  alter  the  old  northern  names, 
though  it  introduced  those  of  the  universally  honoured  saints. 
But  the  clergy  thought  it  desirable — and  chiefly  in  Den- 
mark— to  take  more  ecclesiastical  names  to  answer  to  their 
own ;  so  Dagfinn  was  David ;  Solmund,  Solomon ;  Sigmundf 
Simon;  and  several  ladies  seem  to  have  followed  their 
example,  so  that  Astrida  and  Griotgard  both  became  Mar- 
garethe,  and  Bergliot  Brigitte. 

The  popular  nomenclature  has  included  all  the  favourite 
saints  with  the  individual  contractions  of  the  country.  The 
royal  lines  have  been  influenced  by  the  dynasties  that  have 


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COMPABATIVE  NOMENCLATUBB. 


495 


reigned.  Gustaf  grew  national  in  Sweden  after  the  disruption 
of  the  onion  of  Galmar,  and  Denmark  alternated  between 
Christiem  and  Friedrich ;  but  the  main  body  of  the  people 
are  constant  to  Olaf  and  Eirik,  Ingeborg  and  Gudnm ;  and 
in  the  Norwegian  yalleys  the  old  immediate  patronymic  of 
ike  father  is  still  in  use.  Linnea  as  a  feminine  from  Lin- 
nseus,  the  Latinism  of  their  great  natural  historian's  sur- 
name, is  a  modem  invention.  Linne  itself  means  a  lime  tree. 
The  Northmen  have  hitherto  been  the  most  impressing, 
and  least  impressed  from  without,  of  all  the  European 
nations;  and  thus  their  names  are  the  great  key  to  those 
of  the  South. 


Section  IX. — Comparative  NomendcUure. 

Before  entirely  quitting  our  subject,  it  may  be  interesting 
to  make  a  rapid  comparison  of  the  spirit  of  nomenclature, 
and  the  significative  appellations  that  have  prevailed  most  in 
each  branch  of  the  civilized  family  which  we  have  been  con- 
sidering. 

For  instance — of  religious  names,  the  Hebrew  race  alone, 
and  that  at  a  comparatively  late  period,  assumed  such  directly 
Divine  appellations,  as  Eli,  Elijah,  Adonijah,  Joel.  The 
most  analogous  to  these  in  spirit  would  be  the  heathen  Teu- 
tonic ones,  Osgod,  Asthor,  Aasir ;  but  these  were,  probably, 
rather  assertions  of  descent  than  direct  proclamations  of  glory. 

The  very  obvious  and  appropriate  Gift  of  God  is  in  all 
branches  save  the  Keltic. 


Hebrew. 

Jonathan 

EhiHthan 

Nathnnnel 

Mattaniah 

Nethaniah 

Greek. 

Theodores 
Dorotheus 

Teutonic. 

Godgifu 
Cbttgabe 

(late) 

Persian. 

Megahyzos 

i.e, 
Bagabukhsha 

Latin. 

Adeodatus 
(late) 

Slavonic. 
Bogdan 

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496 


COMPARATIVE  NOMENCLATURR. 


Seryant  of  God  is  eyerywhere  but  among  LattDS  and 
the  Slaves. 


Hebrew. 
Obadiah 

Greek. 
Theodoulas 

Tentonio. 
Gottschalk 

Keltic. 
GioUa-De 

Sanscrit. 
Devadasa 

Greek  and  Graelic  likewise  own  the  Service  of  Christ,  by 
Christopheros  (Christbearer),  Gilchrist,  and  Malise;  and  Ihe 
Arabic  has  Abd-Allah,  and  Abd-el-Kadir,  servant  of  the 
Almighty.  The  name  of  the  late  Sultan,  Abdul  Medschid, 
signified  the  servant  of  the  All-Famed. 


THE  LOVE  OF  GOD,  OB  BELOVED  OF  GOD. 

Greek. 
TheophiliiB 
PhUotheuB 

Latin. 
AmadeuB 

Teutonic. 

Gottlieb 

(late) 

Slayonie. 
Bogomil 

Persian. 
Bagadaushta 

HONOUBTNG  GOD. 

Greek. 
Timotheus 

SlaTonic. 
gastlbog 

Persian. 
Megabazns 

god's  JUDGMENT. 

Heb. 

Daniel 

Jehoshaphat 

Jehoiachim 

Greek. 
TbeokrituB 

god's  globy. 

HELP  OP  GOD. 

Greek. 
Theokles 

Slavonio. 
Bogoslav 

Hebrew. 
Eleazar 

German. 
Gotthilf 

The  Greek  and  Slavonic  have  by  far  the  most  directly  re- 
ligious names,  next  to  the  Hebrew,  from  having  been  lees 
pledged  to  hereditary  names,  and  the  time  of  the  conversioiL 

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COMPARATIVE  NOMENCLATURE.       497 

The  Gaelic  deyotion  was  almost  all  expressed  in  the  GKoIla 
and  Mael  prefiz« 

•  Idol  names  are  of  course  nmnerous,  but  comparison  be- 
tween them  is  not  easy,  as  they  vary  with  different  mytho- 
logies. One  point  is  remarkable,  that  the  Supreme  God, 
whether  Zeus,  Jupiter,  Divas,  or  Woden,  never  has  so  many 
votaries  as  his  vassal  gods.  Zeno,  Jovius,  and,  perhaps,  the 
Grim  of  the  North,  are  almost  exceptions.  The  Phoenician 
Baal  had,  indeed,  many  namesakes,  and  the  Persian  Ormuzd, 
giver  of  life,  had  several,  of  whom  the  pope,  called  Hor- 
misdas,  was  one.  In  general.  Ares,  Mars,  Thor,  and  Ranovit, 
the  warlike  gods,  or  the  friendly  Demeter  and  Gerda,  the 
beneficent  Athene,  the  brilliant  Artemis,  and  Irish  Brighde, 
the  queens  of  heaven,  Hera,  Juno,  Frigga,  are  chosen  for 
namesakes.  Mithras  in  Persia,  and  Apollo  in  Greece,  have 
their  share ;  but,  in  general,  the  sun  is  not  very  popular, 
though  Aurora  and  Zora  honour  the  dawn ;  and  the  North 
has  various  Dags. 

Of  animals  the  choice  is  much  smaller  than  would  have 
been  expected.  The  lion's  home  is,  of  course,  the  East,  and 
Sinhay  his  Sanscrit  title,  is  represented  by  the  Singh,  so 
familiar  in  the  names  of  Hindu  chiefs.  The  Arabs  have 
Arslan  in  many  combinations ;  the  Greeks  introduced  Leo, 
which  has  been  followed  by  the  Romans,  and  come  into  the 
rest  of  Europe ;  but  many  as  were  the  lion  names  of  Greece 
and  later  Rome,  Leonard,  and,  perhaps,  Lionel,  alone  are  of 
European  growth. 

The  elephant  is  utterly  unrepresented,  unless  we  accept 
the  tradition,  that  the  cognomen  of  Csesar  arose  from  his  Afri- 
can name.    Persia  has  a  few  leopards,  such  as  Chitratachna. 

The  bear  does  not  show  himself  in  favourable  colours  in  the 
South,  and  Ursus  and  Ursula  are  more  likely  to  be  transla- 
tions of  the  northern  Biom — so  extremely  common — than  ori- 
ginal Latin  names.    The  Erse,  however,  owns  him  as  Mahon. 

The  wolf  is  the  really  popular  animal    Even  the  Hebrews 

VOL.  IL  B/K^^^T^ 

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49^  CaifPARATIVB  NOMENCLATUBH 

knew  Zeeb  through  the  MidianiteSy  the  Greeks  used  Lyocw 
in  all  sorts  of  forms,  the  Romans  had  many  a  Lnpos,  the 
Teatons  have  Wolf  in  eyery  possible  combination,  the  Slaves 
Yuk ;  the  Kelts  alone  ayoid  the  great  enemy  of  the  fbldy 
whose  frequency  is  almost  inezplicftble.  The  Kelts  axe, 
however,  the  namesakes  of  the  dog,  the  Cu  and  Con,  so 
much  loathed  in  other  lands,  that  (mly  a  stray  Danish  Hmid, 
Italian  Cane,  and  the  one  Hebrew  Caleb,  unite  in  bearing 
his  name  in  honour  of  his  faithful  qualities. 

The  horse  is,  of  course,  neglected  in  Judea,  where  his  use 
was  forbidden ;  but  in  Sanscrit  was  found  Vrada^ya,  owning 
great  horses ;  and  the  horse  flourished  all  over  Persia.  Aspa- 
mithras,  horse's  friend,  Aspachava,  rich  in  horses,  Vishtaspa, 
and  many  more,  commemorate  the  animal ;  and  in  Greece, 
Hippolytus,  Hippodamos,  Hippomedon,  Hipparchus,  and 
many  more,  showed  that  riding  was  the  glory  of  the  Hellaies. 
Rome  has  no  representative  of  her  equus^  except  in  Equitius, 
a  doubtful  runaway,  more  likely  to  be  named  in  honour  of 
the  equestrian  order,  than  direct  from  the  animal.  Marcus 
may,  however,  be  from  the  wwd  that  formed  the  Keltic 
March,  which,  with  Eachan  and  Eochaid,  and  many  more, 
represent  the  love  of  horses  among  the  Kelts,  answering  to 
the  Eporedorix,  mentioned  by  Csesar.  The  Slaves  have 
iq>parently  no  horse  names ;  but  all  our  modem  Roses  are 
properly  horses,  and  Jostein,  Rosmund,  and  various  other 
forms,  keep  up  the  horse's  fame  in  northern  Europe. 

Rome  dealt,  to  a  curious  degree,  in  the  most  homely 
domestic  names ;  Mus,  the  surname  of  the  devoted  Decius, 
was,  probably,  really  a  mouse ;  for  while  the  swine  of  other 
nations  never  descend  below  the  savage  wild  boar  of  the  forest 
— ^Eber,  Baezan,  Bravac,  the  Romans  have  indeed  one  Aper, 
but  their  others  are  but  domestic  pigs,  Verres,  Porcius,  Scitifa. 

Goats  flourished  in  Greece  in  honour  of  the  iBgis,  and 
of  Zeus  goats,  and  ^gidios,  with  others,  there  arose ;  but 
Sichelgaita,  and  a  few  northern  Geits,  alone  reflect  them. 

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COHPABATIVE  NOMENGLATUBE.        499 

The  chamoiB,  or  mountam  goat^  named  Tabitha  or  Dorcas, 
and  is  paralleled  by  an  occasional  masculine  Hirsch,  or  stag, 
in  Germany. 

The  sheep  appears  to  be  solely  represented  by  Rachael,  for 
though  the  lamb  has  laid  claim  to  both  Agnes  and  Lambert, 
it  is  only  through  a  delturion  of  sound. 

Serpents,  as  Orm  and  Lind,  are  peculiar  to  the  Korth. 

The  eagle  figures  in  Aias,  Ajax,  Aquila,  the  Russian 
Qrlof,  and  many  an  Am  of  the  Teutons.  It  is  rather  sur- 
prising not  to  find  him  among  the  Ghiel ;  but  the  raven,  like 
the  wolf,  is  the  &shionable  creature,  as  an  attendant  upon 
slaughter — Oreb,  Corvus,  Morvren,  Fiachra,  Rafh,  he  croaks 
his  name  over  the  plunderer  everywhere  but  among  the  Greeks 
and  Slaves. 

The  swan  has  Gelges  in  Ireland,  Svanwhit  in  the  North ; 
the  dove  named  Jonah,  Jemima  in  Palestine,  Columba  in 
Christian  Latinity,  Gblubica  in  Qlyria ;  but  gentle  birds  are,  in 
general,  entirely  neglected,  unless  the  Gh*eek  Philomela,  which 
properly  means  loving  honey,  were  named  after  the  nightingale. 
The  Latin  Gallus  may  possibly  be  a  cock ;  but  Genserich  is 
not  the  gander  king,  as  he  was  so  long  supposed  to  be. 

The  bee  had  Deborah  in  Hebrew,  and  Melissa  in  Greek ; 
but,  in  general,  insects  are  not  popular,  though  Vespasian  is 
said  to  come  from  a  wasp ;  and  among  fishes,  the  dolphin  has 
the  only  namesakes  in  Romance  tongues,  probably  blunders 
from  Delphi. 

Plants  were  now  and  tiien  commemorated ;  Tamar,  a  palm 
tree,  Hadassah,  a  myrtle,  are  among  the  scanty  eastern 
examples.  Rome  had  a  Robur,  and  Dlyria  Dobruslav,  in 
honour  of  the  oak;  but  the  Slaves  have  almost  the  only 
guanine  flower  names.  Rhoda  is,  indeed,  a  true  Gh*eek  Rose, 
but  the  modem  ones  are  mistakes  for  hross,  a  horse.  Violet, 
probably,  rose  out  of  Valens,  and  Lilias  from  Gcecilius, 
Oliver  frt)m  Olaf.  Primrose,  Ivy,  Eglantine,  A;c.,  have  been 
invented  in  modem  books  at  least,  and  so  has  Amaranth. 


K 

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500        COMPARATIVE  NOMENCLATURB. 

Paasing  to  qualities,  goodness  is  found  in  many  an 
Agathos  of  the  Greeks,  with  his  superlative  Aristos,  ^but 
earlj  Rome  chiefly  dealt  in  Valens,  leaving  Bonus  and 
MeUor  for  her  later  inventors  to  use.  The  goods  of  the 
Teutons  are  rather  doubtful  between  the  names  of  the  Dei^ 
and  of  war,  but  in  passing  them,  the  relation  between  Gustaf 
and  Scipio  should  be  observed.  The  Slaves  have  many 
compounds  of  both  Dobry  and  Blago,  and  the  Irish,  Alma. 

Love  is  everywhere.  David  represents  it  in  Hebrew, 
Agape  and  Phile  in  Greek;  but  the  grim  Roman  never 
used  the  compounds  of  his  amo,  only  left  them  to  form  many 
a  gentle  modem  name — ^Amabel,  Aim6e,  Amy.  Caradoc 
was  the  old  Cymric,  and  Aiffe  the  Gradhaelic,  beloved ;  and 
Wine  and  Leof  in  the  German  races,  Ljubov,  Libusa,  Milica 
in  the  Slavonic,  proved  the  warm  hearts  of  the  people.  Indeed, 
the  Slavonic  names  are  the  tenderest  of  all,  owning  Bratoljnb 
and  (^edomil,  fraternal  and  parental  love,  unparalleled  except 
by  the  satirical  surnames  of  the  Alexandrian  kings. 

Purity — a  Christian  idea — is  found  in  Agnes  and  Katha- 
rine, both  Greek ;  perhaps,  too,  Devoslava,  or  maiden  glory, 
with  the  Slaves.  Holiness  is  in  the  Hieronymus  uid  Hagios 
of  heathen  Greece,  meaning  a  holy  name,  and  in  the  northern 
Ercen  and  Yieh,  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  names,  the 
Sviato  of  the  Slavonians. 

Peace,  always  lovely  and  longed-for,  names  both  Absalom 
and  Solomon,  and  after  them  many  an  eastern  Selim  and 
Selima.  Greece  had  Irene  and  Iren9&us,but  not  till  Christian 
days,  and  the  Roman  Pacificus  was  a  very  modem  invention ; 
but  the  Friedrich,  &;c.,  of  the  North,  and  Miroslav  of  the 
Slav,  were  much  more  ancient. 

The  soul  is  to  be  found  in  Greece,  as  Psyche,  and  nowhere 
else  but  in  the  Welsh  Enid.  Life,  however,  figured  at  Rome, 
as  Yitalis,  and  in  the  Teutonic  nations  as  the  prefix  ^or; 
and  the  Greek  Zoe  kept  it  up  in  honour  of  the  oldest  of  all 
female  names.  Eve. 

Ghrace  is  the  Hebrew  Hannah  or  Anna,  apd  the  xharis  in 

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COMPARATIVE  NOMENCLATURE.        5OI 

Greek  compounds.  Eucharis  would  not  answer  amiss  to  the 
Adelheid,  or  noble  cheer,  of  Teuton  damsels.  Abigail,  or 
father's  joy,  Zenobia,  father's  ornament,  are  in  the  same  spirit. 

Euy  meaning  both  happy  and  rich,  wealthy  in  its  best 
sense,  is  exactly  followed  by  the  Northern  a^  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  ead.  Eulalia  and  Eulogies  are  the  same  as  Edred, 
Euphrasia  would  answer  to  Odny,  Eucharis  and  Aine  like- 
wise have  the  same  sense  of  gladness.  Eugenics  is,  perhaps, 
rather  in  the  sense  of  Olaf,  or  of  the  host  of  Adels  and 
Ethels.  Patrocles  and  Cleopatra,  both  meaning  the  father's 
fame,  have  nothing  exactly  analogous  to  them  in  the  Teuton 
and  Keltic  world. 

Royalty  is  found  in  the  Syriac  Malchus,  the  Persian 
Eshahtra,  or  Xerxes,  the  Malek  of  the  Arab,  the  early 
Archos,  Basileus,  and  Tyrannos  of  the  late  Greek ;  even  the 
Roman  Regulus,  with  Tigeamach  among  the  Kelts,  and  Rik 
in  its  compounds  in  the  Teutonic  world.  The  loftiness  and 
strength  of  the  royal  power  is  expressed  in  the  Persian  prefix 
arta^  first  cousin  to  our  Keltic  Art  and  Arthur,  akin  to  the 
root  that  forms  Ares,  Arius,  Aretinus,  and  many  more 
familiar  names  from  the  superlative  Aristos.  It  is  the  idea 
of  strength  and  manhood,  perhaps  akin  to  the  Latin  vir  and 
Keltic  fear.  Boleslav  is  the  Wendic  name,  filling  up  the 
cycle  of  strength  and  manly  virtue. 

Majesty  and  greatness  are  commemorated  by  closely  re- 
sembling words — the  Persian  Mathista  or  Masistes,  Megas 
and  M^alos  in  their  Greek  compounds,  Latin  Magnus  and 
Maximus,  Keltic  Mor,  Teutonic  Mer ;  it  is  only  the  Yelika 
of  the  Slav  that  does  not  follow  the  same  root.  His  crown 
names  Stephanas  and  Venceslas,  or  crown  glory. 

Justice  and  judgment  are  the  prevalent  ideas  in  the  Hebrew 
Dan  and  Shaphat,  Greek  Archos,  Dike,  and  Krite,  Latin 
Justinus,  Northern  Ragn ;  perhaps,  too,  in  the  Lrish  Phelim 
and  Slavonic  Upravda.  Damo^  to  tame,  is  in  many  Greek 
names ;  and  wardy  or  protection,  answers  to  the  Latin  Titus. 

Venerable  is  the  Persian  Arsaces,  with  Augustu£Mmd  j 

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502       COMPARATIVE  NOMENCLATURE: 

bastian.  Power  figures  in  Yladimir  and  Waldemar,  and  ike 
many  forms  of  wald ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  people  assert 
themselves  in  the  Laos  and  Demos  of  Greece,  the  leutfoOc 
and  {heod  of  the  Teuton,  and  even  the  Ijvd  of  the  Slave.  The 
lover  of  his  people  may  be  found  under  the  various  titles  of 
Demophilos,  Publicola,  Theodwine,  and  the  Slavonic  feminine 
Ludmila;  their  ruler,  as  Democritus,  or  Archilaus,  or  Theo- 
doric ;  their  tamer,  as  Laodamos ;  their  justice,  as  Laodike. 

Boulos,  council,  finds  a  parallel  in  the  Teuton  road  ;  but 
Sophia,  wisdom,  is  far  too  cultivated  for  an  analogy  among 
the  name  makers  of  the  rude  North. 

But  fame  and  glory  were  more  popular  than  wisdom  and 
justice.  Slava  rings  through  the  names  of  the  Wends,  and 
Idas  through  the  Greeks ;  while  Jduod  and  hruad  form  half 
the  leading  names  of  Germanized  Europe. 

Clara  is  the  late  Latin  name  best  implying  fame,  but 
answering  best  to  Bertha,  bright,  like  the  Phl^on  of  Chreece, 
and  Barsines  of  Persia,  which  are  all  from  one  root.  Lucius, 
light,  translates  some  of  these. 

Conquest,  that  most  desired  of  events  to  a  warlike  nation, 
is  the  Nike  of  the  Greeks.  Nikias,  Victor,  Sige,  Cobhflaith, 
are  all  identical  in  meaning ;  and  the  Greek  and  Teuton  have 
again  and  again  curiously  similar  compounds.  Nicephorous 
and  Sigebot,  Nikoboulous  and  Sigfred,  Stratonice,  would 
perhaps  be  paralleled  by  Sighilda.  Nicolas  has  not  an  exact 
likeness,  because  the  Teutons  never  place  either  sige  or  theod 
at  the  end  of  a  word. 

War  itself  has  absorbed  the  Teuton  spea/r^  and  is  ^^  in 
our  Teuton  lands.  But  the  Greek  mache^  and  Teuton  haduj 
the  Kelt  cath^  and  the  Slav  hqj  or  voj^  all  are  in  common  use. 
Telemachus,  or  distant  battle,  is  best  represented  by  Siroslav, 
or  distant  glory.  Stratos,  meaning  both  army  and  camp, 
Eleostralos  and  Stratokled,  answer  to  Stanislav;  and  Cad- 
waladyr,  in  sound  as  well  as  sense,  to  Haduvald. 

Cathair,  the  Lrish  battle-slaughter,  has  likeness  in  the 

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CX)MPARATIVE  NOMENCLATURE.  503 

Teutonic  derivatives  of  Yal,  but  the  North  stands  alone  in 
honouring  the  Thiof  with  namesakes. 

The  hero,  the  warrior  himself,  the  Sero  as  he  really  is  of 
Greece,  the  haH  of  our  Teutons,  the  eon  and  cathal  and  mal 
of  Ireland,  the  miles  of  the  Roman,  has  namesakes  in 
hosts.  Herakles  himself  was  not  far  removed  from  Herbert, 
Robert,  or  Lothaire,  in  meaning ;  and  Sigeher  is  the  con- 
quering warrior,  as  Nikostratos  is  the  victorious  army. 

In  fact,  warlike  names  are  exhausting  in  similarity  and 
multitude,  and  our  readers  will  discover  many  more  for  them- 
selves.    The  peaceful  ones  are  far  more  characteristic. 

See  how  the  ocean  figures  in  Pelagios,  in  Morvan,  Muir- 
cheartash,  Haflide, — all  the  formation  of  maritime  nations, 
while  the  Slaves  have  no  sea  names  at  all,  and  the  Latin 
Marina  is  mere  late  coinage.  It  is  the  Welsh,  however,  who 
have  the  most  sea  names :  Guenever,  Bronwen,  Dwynwen,  &c. 

The  earth  makes  Georgos  and  Agricola,  and  its  culti- 
vators have  in  Greece  commemorated  their  harvest  with 
Eustaches  and  Theresa ;  in  Illyria,  their  vintage  with  Groz- 
dana ;  but  though  the  old  farmer  citizens  of  Rome  were  called 
Faber,  Lentulus,  Cicero,  and  the  like,  produce  of  their  fields, 
they  were  much  too  homely  for  our  fierce  Teuton  ancestry. 

Gold  is  not  in  much  favour;  Chryseis,  Aurelia,  Orflath, 
and  Zlata,  just  represent  it;  and  silver  is  to  be  found  in 
Argyro,  Argentine,  and  Arianwen;  but  iron  nowhere  but 
with  the  Germanic  races,  Eisambart,  &c.,  in  accordance  with 
the  weapon  names  in  which  they  alone  delight.  Nor  are 
jewels  many, — Esmeralda,  Jasper  (perhaps),  Margaret,  Li- 
gach,  are  idmost  their  only  representatives.  Spices  we  have 
as  Kezia,  Muriel,  and  strangest  of  all,  Kerenhappuch,  a  box 
<^  stibium  for  the  eyes.  Whether  the  Stein  of  the  North  is 
to  be  regarded  as  a  jewel  does  not  seem  clear,  but  it  is  more 
according  to  the  temper  of  the  owners  to  regard  it  as  an- 
swering to  Petros,  a  rock.  Veig,  Laug,  and  01,  represent 
liquors,  and  are  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  North. 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


504        COMPARATIVE  NOMENCLATURE. 

Beauty  is  less  common  than  might  have  been  expected. 
EaOista  is  the  leading  owner  of  the  word  in  (jreece^  but  tiie 
Latin  bella  must  not  be  claimed  for  it,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
ny  and  fridhr  of  the  North,  it  is  the  Kelts  who  deal  most 
in  names  of  beauty, — ^Findelbh,  Graine,  and  more  than  can 
here  be  specified. 

Indeed,  complexion  names  are  chiefly  found  among  the 
Kelts  and  Romans.  The  white,  Albanus  and  Finn,  (which 
last  Finn  passed  to  the  North,)  with  Gwenn  in  Wales  and 
Brittany;  the  light  haired.  Flavins,  Bufiis,  Buadh,  and 
Dearg.  Fulvius,  Niger,  and  Dubh,  with  the  answering 
Swerker,  paralleled  only  by  the  late  Greek  Melania,  have 
yery  few  answering  names  in  other  lands,  though  the  Bruno 
of  Germany  corresponds  to  Don,  and  the  Blond,  now  Blount^ 
of  England  is  said  to  be  meant  to  translate  Fulvius. 

On  exceptional  names,  from  the  circumstances  of  the 
birth,  we  have  not  here  dwelt.  They  were  accidental,  and 
never  became  national,  except  from  the  fame  of  some  bearer 
of  one.  The  names  derived  from  places  are  almost  all  Latin, 
at  first  cognomina,  then  taken  at  baptism  by  converts.  The 
number  names  are  likewise  Latin.  Those  of  high,  Christian 
ideas,  like  Anastasius,  Ambrosius,  Alethea,  are  generally 
Greek;  and  when  Latin,  as  Benedictus,  the  blessed,  and 
Beatrix,  the  blesser,  are  apt  to  be  renderings  of  the  Greek. 
Macharios  was  probably  the  occasion  of  the  invention  of  botii 
of  these.  The  early  Latin  names  are  the  least  explicable, 
and  the  least  resembling  those  of  other  nations ;  the  Keltic 
are  the  most  poetical ;  the  Slavonic  either  tender  or  warlike ; 
the  Greek  and  the  Teutonic  are  the  most  analogous  to  one 
another  in  sense,  and  are  the  most  in  use,  except  the  more 
endeared  and  wide-spread  of  the  Hebrew. — John  and  Maiy 
deservedly  have  the  pre-eminence  in  the  Christian  world  above 
all  others. 

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