308
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book I.
it can hardly be doubted that the others are of a
different order ; moreover it attributes human pas-
sions to them which are hardly consistent with the
functions of the venerable Fates ; in this case it is
possible that the Valkyriur, a race of beings whose
functions might in some respects be confounded with
those of the Nornir, have been so mixed up with
them. Man, dealing with the daily affairs of trou-
bled life, thinks more of the past than of the future :
to him the present is the child of the past, the past
the excuse for or cause of all he does and suffers ;
his intellect comprehends the events that are com-
pleted or in course of completion, but not the inde-
finite, illimitable probabilities of the undiscovered
to be; hence perhaps Ur,δr is considered the old-
est and most powerful of the Fates ; her work is
done, the others are doing or yet to do. Through
this progress of opinion it became possible for the
conception of the older Fate to include and finally
supersede those of the others, as soon as the living
belief in their personal agency became weakened.
1 do not know that any certain trace of these Fates
can be found in the High-german countries1, but
in the Low-german the eldest Norn still survives
long after the introduction of Christianity, in a
sense little removed at times from that of Necessity
itself. That this should still have been coupled
with a lively feeling of personality only proves how
deeply rooted the old Heathen creed had been. In
l Grimm, Mythoi, p. 377, does not seem to lay much stress upon the
tu`o instances which he gives, one of which is extremely doubtful, and
the other of no certain authority.
CH. ∑∏∙]
HEATHENDOM. WIERD.
39Э
the following instances from the Oldsaxon Héljand1,
Wurth might almost in every case be replaced by
dod, mors : “ Thiu AVurth is at handun, dod is at
hcndi ; ”—the wierd2, or death, is at hand, i. e. so
near that she might lay hold of the doomed. “ Thiu
Wurthnahida thuo,”—Iheweirddrewnigh. iiWurth
ina benam,” Wierd, i. e. the goddess of death, ra-
vished him away ; as in Anglosaxon we have Swylt
benam, Deaft benam, and similar expressions.
The Anglosaxon equivalent is Wyrd, an expres-
sion of the very commonest and most frequent oc-
currence. It should however be borne in mind that
there are two separate uses of this word, one a more
abstract one, in which it is capable of being used
in the plural, and which may generally be rendered
eventus'i, another more personal, similar to the Old-
saxon Wurth, and in which it never occurs but in
the singular4. In the following most remarkable
passage tlɪe heathen and Christian thoughts are
ɪ IIdljand. Poema Saxonicum Saeculi Noui. Ed. A. Schmeller. Mu-
nich. pp. 146, 2 ; 92, 2 ; 163, 16 ; 66, 18 ; 111, 4.
- We are fortunate in being able to use not a translation of Wurth,
but the word itself ; ɪ am not aware of its continuing to exist in any
other German dialect.
3 Ne wæs wyrd 'δ.igen
fet he ma nιdste
manna ermies
l>icgpan ofer Λa nilιt. (I3e<5w. 1. 1462.)
wyrd ne cιiδon. (Ibid. 1. 2467.)
4 One exception to be hereafter noticed seems more apparent than
real. If lion er er it be taken in its fullest and ordinary grammatical
sense, it will show that all three or more sisters were in contemplation,
and that the name of the eldest had become a general expression for
theιnall.