(Brynh.-qu. i. 13.)
But this is an additional point of approximation to the deities whom we consider identical with Hermes, and in some respects with Mercury, as for instance Thoth.
[634]. MS. Cotton, Julius E. vii. 237, b. etc. See the author’s edition of Salomon and Saturn, p. 120, seq.
[635]. “Ceterum et Ulixen quidam opinantur longo illo et fabuloso errore in hunc Oceanum delatum adiisse Germaniae terras, Asciburgiumque, quod in ripa Rheni situm hodieque incolitur, ab illo constitutum nominatumque. Aram quinetiam Ulixi consecratam adiecto Laertae patris nomine eodem loco olim repertam, monimentaque et tumulos quosdam Graecis litteris inscriptos in confinio Germaniae Rhaetiaeque adhuc exstare. Quae neque confirmare argumentis, neque refellere in animo est; ex ingenio suo quisque demat vel addat fidem.” Germ. iii.
[636]. Saxo Gram. Hist. Dan. lib. viii.
[637]. Oþinn is called heklumaðr, the man with the cloak. Forn. Sög. i. 325. “Kom þar maðr gamall, miök orðspakr, einsýnn [Oþinn was one-eyed only] ok augdapr, ok hafði hatt sídan.” Fornman. Sög. ii. 138. “Sá hann mann mikinn með síðum hetti ... ók þotti konúngi gaman æt ræðum hans, þviat hann kunni af öllum löndum tiðindi at segja.” Fornman. Sög. v. 250. He is called Síðhöttr even in the Edda. Through this cloak or Hackle, Wóden becomes Hacleberend or Hackleberg, who rides at the head of the Wilde Jagd or wild hunt.
[638]. The MS. lists read Tætwa, but as the alliteration which prevails in those pedigrees fails in this instance, Grimm threw out the suggestion that the original reading was Bætwa. Selden, in the English Janus, p. 9, cites Heuter de vet. Belgio, lib. ii. cap. 8, for Bato (Bætwa) the eponymus of the Batavians, but this does not appear to rest upon any sound authority. On the subject of the names of Wóden, and the Anglosaxon genealogies, the reader may consult a tract of the author’s, Die Stammtafel der Westsachsen, Munich 1836, and Beówulf, vol. ii., the Postscript to the Preface: together with a review of the first-named book by Jacob Grimm, in the Göttinger Gel. Anz. for 1836.
[639]. The ancient Germans sacrificed human victims to him. “Deorum maxime Mercurium colunt, cui certis diebus humanis quoque hostiis litare fas habent.” Tac. Germ. xxxix. “Victores diversam aciem Marti ac Mercurio sacravere, quo voto equi, viri, cuncta victa occidioni dantur.” Tac. Annal. xiii. 57. King Ane or Avn the old, offered up in succession nine of his sons to Oþinn, to increase the length of his own life. Yngling. Sag. cap. xxix.; Geijer, Gesch. Schwed. i. 416. “Sunt etenim inibi vicinae nationes Suevorum; quo cum moraretur et inter habitatores illius loci progrederetur, reperit eos sacrificium profanum litare velle, vasque magnum, quod vulgo cupam vocant, quod viginti et sex modios amplius minusve capiebat, cerevisia plenum in medio habebant positum. Ad quod vir dei accessit et sciscitatur, quid de illo fieri vellent? Illi aiunt: deo suo Wodano, quem Mercurium vocant alii, se velle litare.” Ion. Bobbiensis Vita Columbani. Compare also what Saxo Grammaticus says of the immense tub of beer which Hunding prepared to celebrate the obsequies of Hadding. Hist. Dan. p. 19. On festal occasions it was usual to drink to the health, love or minne of the gods. Oþinn was generally thus honoured: the custom was preserved among Christians, who drank minne to St. John, St. Martin, St. Gertrude and other saints. Grimm, Myth. p. 53 seq.
[640]. Wolves and ravens appear to have been Oþinn’s sacred animals: the Saxon legends do not record anything on this subject; but here and there we do hear of sacred trees, which may possibly have been dedicated to this god: thus the Wónác (Cod. Dipl. No. 495), the Wonstoc (Ibid. Nos. 287, 657), “ad quendam fraxinum quem imperiti sacrum vocant.” Ibid. No. 1052. Respecting the sacred character of the ash see Grimm, Myth. p. 617.
[641]. Deut. Myth. p. 126 seq.