374
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book ɪ.
From the Gods we pass to the Goddesses : of these
we have indeed but scanty record in England. Of
the great and venerable goddess Fricge, Woden’s
wife, we are only told that she gave her name to
the sixth day of the wτeek ; and we must admit that
this is all we know of her, unless she be implied
under some other name, which is possible.
Beda in acquainting us with the ancient names
of the Anglosaxon months tells us of four which
were called from their especial reference to the
gods : these are SolmdnaS or February ; HrdSmd-
naS, March ; EostermonaS, April ; and BlotmonaS,
November. SolmonaS he says received its name
from the cakes which were offered to the gods at
that time1; BlotmonaS from the victims (cattle) that
were vowed for sacrifice; of the others he says2,
“ HrdSmdnaS is called from a goddess of theirs,
—Rheda, to whom they sacrificed in that month.
EostermonaS, which is now interpreted by the
‘Paschal month,’ had its name of old from a god-
dess of theirs named Eostre, to whom in this month
they offered celebrations.”
The Scandinavian and German mythology are
alike destitute of these names ; although among
the many goddesses they recognize some two may
perhaps be identical with ours. The name HrdSe
may possibly mean severe, fierce, and denote a war-
like goddess ; but still I am more inclined to con-
nect it with the adjective HroS, glorious, famous,
1 Can this word sol (perhaps s6l) be a contracted form of sufl ? ɪf
not, I cannot offer an explanation of it.
a De Natura Rerum, cap. xv.
сн. x∏∙]
HEATHENDOM. GODDESSES.
376
and to see in it the meaning of the great or glori∙
ous goddess, that is, in some form or other, Fricge,
Woden’s wife: it is however not to be forgotten
that the German Chrodo, in Anglosaxon HroS or
even HréSe, is now admitted, and that this god
was in fact Saturn. It is true that we have more
than one fragmentary legend in which the name of
Saturn survives, but in a heroic rather than a god-
like form, and this may have been the cause of its
preservation : the Church found Saturn useful, and
kept him ; nor is it at all surprising that a change
of sex should have taken place : the same thing
happened with the German goddess Nerthus, who
reappears in the Norse god Niordr, and the classical
scholar will at once remember the god Lunus, as
well as the goddess Luna1. Whatever explanation
we may attempt to give of HreSe, it is clear that
she was a Saxon goddess to whom at stated periods
sacrifice was offered. The same thing may be said
of Eostre or Eastre, whose name must be etymolo-
gically connected with East, oriens, and who there-
fore was in all probability a goddess of brightness
and splendour, perhaps also a Beorhte or Bright
goddess: she may have been a goddess of light, of
the morning beams, of the newly awakening year,
when the sun first begins to recover power after the .
‘ The name of Nerthus stands in all the best MSS. of Tacitus’ Ger-
mania, and the change of it into IIerthus, though very plausible, was
unnecessary. One easily sees the cause of error : it was thought that
Herthus1 terra mater, was the Gothic Airthus1 in Old-german Erdu1 in
Anglosaxon EorSe. But there is no H in these words; if there were
"β should have had a Teutonic Vesta. The goddess’s name was Nair-
thus, Nerdu1 NerSe1 and her corresponding form in Old-norse1 Niordr.