The name is absent

GEA'T, in Old-norse GAUTR, in Old-German
KO'Z.—A cursory allusion has already been made
to Geat, probably only another form of Woden,
since in the mythology of the North, OJtinn is
Gautr, but certainly the eponymus of the Gcatas,
that tribe of whom Beowulf was the champion and
afterwards the king. Geat appears in the West-
saxon genealogy as a progenitor of Woden, but this
collocation is unimportant in Inytliological inqui-
ries. It is probable that Gapt, whom Jornandes
places at the head of the Gothic genealogy, is only
a misreading of Gavt, which is the equivalent
Gothic form of Geat, and that Sigegcat, Angclgeat,
Waftelgeat, which occur in other Anglosaxon ge-
nealogies, are identical with him ɪ. IIis love for
Mafthild, a legend unknown to all the nations of
the North, save our own forefathers, is noticed in
the Exeter Book : it is there said,

To ∆la'δhild, wo
the talc have heard,
that endless was
the love of Geat,
so that the pain of Iovo
took all sleep from him².

It is much to be regretted that this is all we learn
on this subject, which becomes very interesting when

¹ And see Geijer, Gesch. Schwed. ɪ. 30. Gaut, Gautrek, Algaut,
Gauthilld. Yngl. Sag. cap. 38.

² Cod. Exon. p. 378. If Geat really be Woden, this is another ap-
proximation to Hermes in his phallic character. Altogether the myth
of the Iepis γ⅛ιos, so constant in Greek mythology, is scarcely trace-
able in the North. The Woden worship,at least, may hare had some-
thing more of the character of the Apollo worship among the Dorians-

_we remember how little trace there is x>f phallic
₀∙ods in the Northern mythology. But that Gcat
was a god, and not merely a hero, is not left
entirely to inference : it is distinctly asserted by
various and competent authorities: Nennius has
declared him to have been filius dei, not indeed
the God of Hosts, and God of Gods, but of some
idol¹. But Asser, who was no doubt well acquainted
with the traditions of Ælfred’s family, says², “Quern
Getam dudum pagani pro deo venerabantur,”
which is repeated in the same words by Florence of
Worcester³ and Simeon of Durham⁴, and is con-
tained in a Saxon genealogy preserved in the Tex-
tus Roffensis, “ Geata, Sene Sa IiseSenan WurSedon
for God.” We can therefore have no scruple about
admitting his divinity ; and a comparison of the
Go.thic and Scandinavian traditions proves the be-
lief in it to have been widely held. The name, which
is derived from geotan, to pour, most probably de-
notes only the special form in which Woden was
worshipped by some particular tribes or families ;
and the occurrence of it in the genealogies, only
the fact that such tribes or families formed part of
the national aggregates, to whose royal line it be-
longs. But nevertheless we must admit the per-
sonality attributed to him by those tribes, and the
probability of his having been, at least for them,
the national divinity. The circumstance of his

Nennius_j § 31. Huntingdon follows Nennius, Hist. Angl. bk. ii.
De Reb. Gest. Ælfredi, an. 849.

Flor. Wig. Chron. an. 849.

De Reb. Gest. Regum, an. 849.

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