Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

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With this must be compared what Tacitus relates concerning the views and customs of the Germans in regard to crime and punishment. He says: "The nature of the crime determines the punishment. Traitors and deserters they hang on trees. Cowards and those given to disgraceful debauchery they smother in filthy pools and marshes, casting a hurdle (crates) over them. The dissimilarity in these punishments indicates a belief that crime should be punished in such a way that the penalty is visible, while scandalous conduct should be punished in such a way that the debauchee is removed from the light of day" (Germania, ch. 12.). This passage in Germania is a commentary on Saxo's descriptions, and on the Völuspá strophe in the form resulting from my investigation. What might naturally seem probable is corroborated by Germania's words: that the same view of justice and morality, which obtained in the camp of the Teutons, found its expression, but in gigantic exaggeration, in their doctrines concerning eschatological rewards and punishments. It should, perhaps, also be remarked that a similar particularism prevailed through centuries. The hurdle (crates) which Saxo mentions as being placed over the venom and filth-drinking criminals in the hall of Nastrands has its earthly counterpart in the hurdle (also called crates), which, according to the custom of the age of Tacitus, was thrown over victims smothered in the cesspools and marshes (ignavos et imbelles et corpore infames cæno ac palude injecta insuper crate mergunt). Those who were sentenced to this death were, according to Tacitus, cowards and debauchees. Among those who received a similar punishment in the <strong>Germanic</strong> Gehenna were partly those who in a secret manner had committed murder and tried to conceal their crime (such were called morðvargar), partly debauchees who had violated the sacredness of matrimony. The descriptions in the Völuspá strophe and in Saxo show that also in the hall of the Nastrands the punishment is in accordance with the nature of the crime. All are punished terribly; but there is a distinction between those who had to drink the serpent venom unmixed and those who receive the mixed potion, and finally those who get the awful liquid over themselves and doubtless within themselves. In closing this chapter, I will quote a number of Völuspá strophes, which refer to <strong>Germanic</strong> eschatology. In parallel columns I print the strophes as they appear in Codex Regius, and in the form they have assumed as the result of an investigation of which I shall give a full account in the future. I trust it will be found that the restoration of á fellur austan um eitrdala into á fellur austr eitrdæla, and the introducing of these words before þanns annars glepur eyrarúnu not only restores to the strophe in which these words occur a regular structure and a sense which is corroborated by Saxo's eschatological sources and by the Germania of Tacitus, but also supplies the basis and conditions on which other strophes may get a regular structure and intelligible contents.
Codex Regius (36) A fellr austan vm eitr dala sauxom oc sverþom Sliþur heitir sv. stod fyr norðan aniþa vollom salr or gvlli sindra ettar. enn annar stoð a okolni bior salr iotvns en sa brimir heitir. (37) Sal sa hon standa solo fjárri na strondo a norþr horfa dyrr. fello eitr dropar inn vm lióra sa er undinn salr orma hryggiom. (38) Sa hon þar vaða þvnga stravma menn meinsvara oc morð vargar. oc þann annars glepr eyra rúno þar svg niþhauggr nái fram gegna sleit vargr vera vitoþ er en eþa hvat. Revised Text Stóð fyr norðan á Niða völlum salur úr gulli Sindra ættar; en annar stóð á Ókólni, bjórsalur jötuns, en sá Brimir heitir. Sal sá hún standa sólu fjarri Náströndu á, norður horfa dyr; féllu eiturdropar inn um ljóra, sá er undinn salur orma hryggjum. Sá hún þar vaða þunga strauma menn meinsvara og morðvarga; en á fellur austur eiturdæla þanns annars glepur eyrarúnu. (35) Hapt sa hon liggia undir hvera lundi legiarn lici loca aþeckian. þar sitr sigyn þeygi vm sinom ver velglyioð vitoþ er en eþa hvat Hapt sá hún liggja undir hveralundi lægjarnlíki Loka áþekkjan; þar saug Niðhöggur nái framgengna, sleit vargur vera. Vituð ér enn eða hvað?
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Undersökningar i Germanisk Mytolog
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myth, we shall discover an Erik who
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y a sacred order unlawful for the f
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there, the woman brought him to a p
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That these last ideas have been inf
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The river which is mentioned in Eri
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egg and the egg-shell." Also the ro
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conscious cunning. Nevertheless, he
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51 GUDMUND'S IDENTITY WITH MIMIR. T
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egins. They have explained Mimir's
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elapse into the faults of the forme
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and Leifthrasir were still remember
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the ásmegir demands that he must h
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immortality. In the Germanic mythol
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In the Norse sagas of the Middle Ag
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journey around the world. From a my
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There can be no doubt that "the ás
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Hakon's men are designated in the s
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which calls them ásliðar, a word
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youth of fifteen years. The evil cr
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square, to be an abode for men; an
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there comes a great conflagration a
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carried his prey to Nastrond (Völu
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In regard to the position of Yggdra
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giants, Niflhel, Niflheim, extends
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6. Under the third (subterranean) r
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Hades, the middle condition, and th
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2. Reið hann niður þaðan Niflhe
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In Grímnismál, the word Hel occur
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first cross a river and then come t
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creative force, over which the "ove
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oaths to serve the gods. Their chie
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Tamsvendi eg þig drep, en eg þig
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appellation suggests, and receive t
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Gerd, who tries to reject the love
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One of the signs that Ragnarok and
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conqueror in hundreds of battles, t
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While a terrible winter is raging,
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dead) beings called ásmegir and á
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in the dialects of several Germanic
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Page 83 and 84: 30; Grímnismál 36; Skáldskaparm
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Page 89 and 90: THE CHOOSING. THE MIDDLE-AGE FABLE
Page 91 and 92: 67. THE PSYCHOPOMPS OF THOSE NOT FA
Page 93 and 94: In our mythical records there is me
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Page 97 and 98: dead. Another road went to the sout
Page 99 and 100: The Aesir go to the thingstead near
Page 101 and 102: unes which Hadding applied were car
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Page 105 and 106: In Völuspá 26 orð is employed in
Page 107 and 108: To understand this strophe correctl
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Page 111 and 112: The hamingja hears of it before any
Page 113 and 114: He who has observed these virtues m
Page 115 and 116: it is said that an immense subterra
Page 117 and 118: The author of the second song about
Page 119 and 120: him (in the capacity of hilmir Fán
Page 121 and 122: uttering a sound; but, when the spi
Page 123 and 124: Their way from Urd's well goes to t
Page 125 and 126: grotto" - reka einn fyrir Geitis gn
Page 127 and 128: is also Saxo's statement, that the
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Page 139 and 140: itself. 5 The true etymology of Mú
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Page 143 and 144: tradition explained how the mill ca
Page 145 and 146: Vafþrúðnismál does not mean a w
Page 147 and 148: In its character as an institution
Page 149 and 150: According to Sólarljóð, the mill
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Page 157 and 158: Point by point the descriptions of
Page 159 and 160: or turn, wind, to turn anything aro
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Page 173 and 174: The discrepancy shows that the auth
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Page 177 and 178: The two fundamental ideas of the my
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Though Völund is in the highest de
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The names, epithets, and paraphrase
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former. The name mjötviður, with
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103, 104) that on this occasion he
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concerned, from the expression að
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Ölvaldi, Ölmóður, and Sumbli fi
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Mimir and Urd. That he tried to get
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him they have called Svithiod geiri
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nourish the roots of the world-tree
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Some monosyllabic names ending in -
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out there. We must therefore choose
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wind-ship" (ausa Hertýs víngnóð
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mythology rescued in Germany, the s
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weapons of his foes. Surrounded by
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The misfortune which happened first
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atmosphere, and as we have also lea
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get light on this point. According
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Ægir's hall is far out in the dept
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which once was his, after the arch
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In the strophe immediately precedin
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form given above it appears through
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the Frisians pursued by the plunder
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that is to say, that they are the s
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hiti við himin sjálfan -- "high l
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Syrian" who had interpreted the sto
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The anthropological conception pres
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mælsku þína og meginhyggjur. you
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serpent-symbol of eternity, the liq
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spirit, and on the other hand by th
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covering of a personal kernel (óð
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Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

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