Chapter CCXVI: Section IV: War

In Ulfilas' Bible, ‘the multitude of the heavenly host’ is translated ‘_Haryis hunniakundis managei_.’ In Anglo-Saxon, an army is _here_, in old German _heri_, in the North _her_, all perhaps coming from the ear, and _to hear_, as having been summoned, like the legion from being chosen. Thence the leader was the English Heretoga, and German Herzog, finally translated into the Latin _dux_, and becoming political and territorial. The doings of the _herr_ were expressed by various old words, of which the Scottish _to harry_ is the direct descendant. _Heerfurst_, or army leader, may be the Ariovistus of Cæsar.

The single warrior was _har_ in the North, _hari_ in Germany, and as _ar_ is often found at the end of names. Many German critics translate the word by the army, instead of the warrior; but Professor Munch considers that the warrior, _hari_, was the original meaning, and that _herjar_, his plural, afterwards came to mean the army.

The oldest and most famous of all the family is introduced to us by Tacitus as Chariovalda, a Batavian prince. It is the hardened sound of Harivald, Warrior power, or ‘Army wielder,’ a name that the Germans soon called Heriold, and the North Harald. This soon became one of the most renowned northern names. Harald Harfagre, or the fair-haired, was he who vowed never to trim his locks till he was sole king of Norway, and thus sent Thorer the Silent to Iceland, and Rolf-ganger to Normandy. Harald Krake, king of Sleswig, was baptized in the presence of Louis le Debonnaire, and used the already mentioned vow to forsake Thunner, Scaxnot, and all their works. He afterwards introduced St. Anschar to Denmark, but like all the first Christian kings of Scandinavia, was himself expelled from his realm by his subjects. Harald Hardrada, or the resolute, was the very crown of the poetic sea-kings of Norway, meeting with romantic adventures in Constantinople, singing the praises of his Russian bride all across the sea, exchanging gallant messages with his namesake Harold Godwinson at Stamford Bridge, and dying as poetically as he had lived at the foot of his banner Landwaster. It was from the Danes that Harold came to England with the son of Knut, and to the son of Earl Godwin, the usurper, more than half a Dane in blood and temper, who, because he died in battle with the Normans, is regarded by the popular mind as an English patriot, and has in very modern times had a good many namesakes. Harald, or, as the Frisians call it, Herold, is only properly national in Scandinavia and the islands from Iceland to Man.

Next in note is what the Franks called Charibert, when it belonged to the king of Paris, whose daughter brought Christian doctrine to Kent, and prepared the way for St. Augustine. St. Haribert was archbishop of Cologne about the year 1000, and at that time the name became extremely common among the French nobility. A Norman settler had brought it to England even in the time of Edward the Confessor; and one of the many Herberts founded a family in Wales, which, in the time of Henry V., was one of the first to follow the advice to use one patronymic instead of the whole pedigree of names. It is probably owing to the honours in various kinds of the branches of this family that Herbert has of late years become an exceedingly prevalent Christian name in England. Except that the Frisians call it Harber and Hero, and Italy puts an _o_ at the end, it has no variations. Herman is confused with Eormen; and the other forms are—

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Ger. Herberge—Warrior protection │ │ Ger. Herbold—Warrior prince │ │ Nor. Herbrand; Ger. Herbrand—Warrior sword │ │ Nor. Herbjorn—Warrior bear │ │ Ger. Herdegen—Warrior blade │ │ Ger. Hertag—Warrior day │ │ Nor. Hergils—Warrior pledge │ │ Nor. Herlaug—Warrior drink │ │ Nor. Herleik—Warrior sport │ │ Nor. Herleif—Warrior relic │ │ Ger. Herimar—Warrior greatness │ │ Nor. Hermod; Ger. Hermund; Frank. Charimund—Warrior protection │ │ Nor. Herjolf; Ger. Heriulf; Frank. Chariwulf—Warrior wolf │ │ Ger. Heraric—Warrior king │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The warrior names were of the fiercest order. Leid (if it do not mean a road) was the same with the word in modern German, meaning hurt or mischief, and expressed spite or violence. The North had Liedulf, afterw—ards contracted into Leiul, and no doubt the Scottish Lyulf, and German Lethard, Lethild, Laidrad, Laidwald, Laidwig.

In the same spirit we have _neid_ or _nöt_, meaning violence or compulsion, though it has resulted in the German _neid_, envy, and our _need_, want. We have it in the name of St. Neot, the relative and rebuker of King Alfred in his haughty days, and the hero of a legend of little fishes daily renewed for his food. Also Nidhard was a great chronicler of Frank history, and left a name surviving as Nyddert, in Friesland, and cut into Nitz, in Germany. There, too, were Notburg and Notger, Nidbert in France, and in the North, Notulf, afterwards written Notto. The terminal _nôt_ is, however, more common.

Wig or Vig is war itself, and is found in the genealogy of Odin. Wægdæg, or War day, is an ancestor of the Deiran kings.

Vigleîk still subsists in the North, and so does Viglaf, relic of war, the same as that of Wiglaf, the chronicler.

The other forms are—

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Ger. Wigbert; Fris. Wicbo—Bright war │
│ Nor. Vigbrand—War sword │
│ Ger. Wigbald—War prince │
│ Ger. Wigburg—War protection │
│ Nor. Vigfus—War eagerness │
│ │
│ German. Frisian. Nor. │
│ │
│ Wighard │ Wygard │ Vighard } │
│ Wichhard │ Wiart │ } │
│ Weikard │ Wiert │ } │
│ Wigo │ │ } War firmness │
│ Wigi │ │ } │
│ Viga │ │ } │
│ │
│ { Wigher, Wicher—Warrior │
│ { Wighelm—War helmet │
│ { Wiglind—War serpent │
│ Ger. { Wigmann, Wichman—War man │
│ { Wigmar—War fame │
│ { Wigram—War raven │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

These are almost all German. The terminations in _wig_ are often owing to German pronunciation of the word _veh_, or _vieh_, consecration, and sometimes of the northern _veig_, liquor.

The strange northern name of Snorre, famous for the sake of that Froissart of the North, Snorre Sturleson, comes from _snerra_, strife.

_Styrke_ is the strong, the same word as that in which the old chroniclers describe William the Conqueror, as ‘so very stark.’ Sterkulv and a few other forms have been found in the North.

Toke is a very curious old name. It seems to mean the mad or raging, and, growing into Tyke or Tyge in Denmark, was the name that was Latinized into Tycho by the celebrated astronomer Brahe, who did not leave his madness behind him with his name. The famous Jomsburg sea-rover, a sort of northern Lycurgus of the tenth century, was Palnatoke, supposed to be properly Toke, the son of Palne. Palne is an unexplained name used by the Danes, and perhaps borrowed from the Wends; but there are a few other instances of it, among them the Anglicized Earl Pallig, the husband of Sweyn’s sister Gunhild, who was killed by Ethelred the Unready.

_Thiostr_ means hardness or harshness, and was in use in the North as Triostulf, since contracted into Kjostol, Thiostvald, Thiostar; and probably Tostig, the ungracious son of Godwine, who brought Harald Hardrada to invade England, took his name from thence.