[421] Dr. Murray kindly informs me that the etymology of withershins (A.-S. wiþersynes) is uncertain. It is from wiþer, ‘against,’ and either some lost noun, or one derived from séon, ‘to see,’ or sinþ, ‘course.’ The original sense is simply ‘backwards,’ and the equivalence with deasil not earlier than the seventeenth century. A folk-etymology from shine may account for the aspirate.
[422] Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, 196; Jevons, 130; Frazer, ii. 352; Grant Allen, 318; Hartland, ii. 236; Turnbull, The Blood Covenant. Perhaps, as a third type of sacrifice, should be distinguished the ‘alimentary’ sacrifice of food and other things made to the dead. This rests on the belief in the continuance of the mortal life with its needs and desires after death.
[423] Grimm, i. 47; Golther, 565; Gummere, G. O. 40, 457. Gregory III wrote (†731) to Boniface (P. L. lxxxix. 577) ‘inter cetera agrestem caballum aliquantos comedere adiunxisti plerosque et domesticum. hoc nequaquam fieri deinceps sinas,’ cf. Councils of Cealcythe and Pincanhale (787), c. 19 (Haddan-Stubbs, iii. 458) ‘equos etiam plerique in vobis comedunt, quod nullus Christianorum in Orientalibus facit.’ The decking of horses is a familiar feature of May-day in London and elsewhere.
[424] C. J. Billson, The Easter Hare, in F. L. iii. 441.
[425] N. W. Thomas in F. L. xi. 227.
[426] Grimm, i. 55; Golther, 559, 575; Gummere, G. O. 456. The universal Teutonic term for sacrificing is blôtan.
[427] Frazer, Pausanias, iii. 20; Jevons, 130, 191. Does the modern huntsman know why he ‘bloods’ a novice?
[428] Grimm, i. 47, 57, 77; Jahn, 24; Gummere, G. O. 459. Hence the theriomorphic ‘image.’
[429] Robertson Smith, 414, 448; Jevons, 102, 285; Frazer, ii. 448; Lang, M. R. R.1 ii. 73, 80, 106, 214, 226; Grant Allen, 335; Du Méril, Com. i. 75. Hence the theriomorphic larva or mask (Frazer, Pausanias, iv. 239).
[430] Grimm, i. 46, 57; Golther, 576; Frazer, ii. 318, 353; Jevons, 144; Grant Allen, 325. Savages believe that by eating an animal they will acquire its bodily and mental qualities.