Chapter IX: Wineland the Good, the Fortunate Isles, and the Discovery of America (4)

[34] In Cæsar's description [B.G., iii. 13] of the ships of the Veneti it is also stated that "the keels were somewhat flatter than in our ships, whereby they were better able to cope with the shallows and the falling tides."

[35] It has been alleged as a proof that the Phœnicians really knew of the Sargasso Sea that Sargasso weed is mentioned by Theophrastus ["Historia Plantarum," iv. 6, 4], but I have not been able to find anything of the sort in this author; nor can I find any statement in Aristotle [Miral. Auscult.] which can be thus interpreted, as some have thought.

[36] Lycaon was the father of Callisto, and the latter became a she-bear and was placed among the stars as the constellation of the Great Bear. At the axis of Lycaon means, therefore, in the north.

[37] As to Pytheas, see in particular: Müllenhoff, 1870, pp. 211 f.; Berger, iii., 1891, pp. 1 f.; Hergt, 1893; Markham, 1893; Ahlenius, 1894; Matthias, 1901; Kähler, 1903; Detlefsen, 1904; Callegari, 1904; Mair, 1906.

[38] The principal authorities on Pytheas are: Strabo (1st century A.D.), who did not know his original works, but quotes for the most part from Polybius (2nd century B.C.), who was very hostile to Pytheas, and from Erastosthenes, Hipparchus, and Timæus. Pliny has derived much information from Pytheas, though he does not know him directly, but chiefly through Timæus, Isidorus of Charax, who again knew him through Erastosthenes, &c. Diodorus Siculus (1st century B.C.) knows him chiefly through Timæus. Geminus of Rhodes (1st century B.C.), who has a quotation from him, possibly knew his original work, "On the Ocean," but he may have quoted from Crates of Mallus. Solinus (3rd century A.D.), who has much information about Pytheas, knows him chiefly through Pliny and Timæus. Further second-hand quotations and pieces of information derived from Pytheas occur in Pomponius Mela (1st century A.D.), Cleomedes (2nd century A.D.), Ptolemy (3rd century A.D.), Agathemerus (3rd century A.D.), scholiasts on Apollonius of Rhodes, Ammianus Marcellinus (4th century A.D.), Orosius (5th century A.D.), Isidorus Hispaliensis (7th century A.D.), and others.

[39] A "gnomon" was the pillar or projection which cast the shadow on the various Greek forms of sun-dial. In the case mentioned above the gnomon was a vertical column raised on a plane. By measuring the length of the shadow at the solstice, Pytheas found that it was 41-4/5 : 120 or 209/600 the height of the column. According to that the altitude of the sun was 70° 47' 50". From this must be deducted the obliquity of the ecliptic, which was at that time 23° 44' 40", and the semi-diameter of the sun (16'), as the shadow is not determined by the sun's centre but by its upper edge, besides the refraction, which however is unimportant. When the equatorial altitude thus arrived at is deducted from 90°, we get the latitude of Massalia as 43° 13' N. The new observatory of Marseilles is at 43° 18' 19"; but it lies some distance to the north of the ancient city, where Pytheas's gnomon probably stood in the market-place. It will be seen that this is an accuracy of measurement which was not surpassed until very much later times.

[40] It has been supposed that these three stars were β of the Little Bear, α and κ of Draco. The pole was at that time far from the present pole-star, and nearer to β of the Little Bear.

[41] Both "gnomon" and "polus" are mentioned as early as Herodotus; and Athenæus [v. 42] describes the polus in the library on board the ship "Hiero" which was built by Archimedes.

[42] It is not probable that Pytheas divided the earth's circumference into degrees. Even Eratosthenes (275-194 B.C.) still divided the circumference of the earth into sixty parts, each equal to 4200 stadia, and the division into degrees was first universally employed by Hipparchus. But Aristarchus of Samos, and perhaps even Thales, had already learnt that the sun's diameter was 2 × 360 or 720 times contained in the circle described by them. It is possible that they originally had this from the Chaldæans.

[43] When it is brought forward as a proof of Pytheas having made such angle-measurements [cf. Mair, 1906, p. 28], that Hipparchus is said to have given the sun's height (in cubits) above the horizon at the winter solstice for three different places in north-west Europe [cf. Strabo, ii. 75], it must be remembered that if these altitudes were direct measurements by Pytheas himself, he must have been at each of these three places at the winter solstice, that is to say, in three different winters, where he found that in one place the sun stood six cubits, in another four cubits, and in the third less than three cubits above the horizon. This is improbable, and it is more reasonable to suppose that these altitudes are the result of calculations either by Pytheas himself or by Hipparchus from his data.

[44] In Diodorus it is called Orkan, but this may be the accusative of Orkas, as in later writers, also in Ptolemy (Müllenhoff, 1870, p. 377, thinks that Orkan is the real form), and from which the name Orcades has been formed for the group of islands immediately to the north. Orkneyar or Orkneys certainly comes from the same word, which must presumably be of Celtic origin. P. A. Munch [1852, pp. 44-46] thought that the name came from the Gaelic word "orc" for the grampus (the specific name of which in Latin was therefore "Delphinus orca," now called "Orca gladiator"). This species of whale is common on the coasts of Norway, the Shetlands and Orkneys, the Færoes and farther west. It usually swims in schools, and is the great whale's deadliest enemy, attacking it in numbers and cutting blubber out of its sides. The Eskimo in Greenland assert that it is sometimes dangerous to kayaks; I myself have only once seen a grampus attack a boat; but in any case it is a species which easily draws attention to itself wherever it appears.

[45] Allowing for the greater bays, and putting a degree of latitude at 700 stadia, the sides of Great Britain are about 4000, 7800 and 12,000 stadia; altogether 23,800 stadia, or about 2375 miles.

[46] Strabo erred just as much on his side in making the circumference of Britain much too small.

[47] Cf. Hergt, 1893, p. 44. This hypothesis is supported by the round numbers which answer to 7-1/2, 15, and 20 days' sail.

[48] The Greeks divided the day into twelve hours at all times of the year; it was thus only at the equinoxes, when the day was really twelve hours long, that the hours were of the same length as ours. These are, therefore, called equinoctial hours.

[49] A similar statement in Cleomedes [i. 7], after Eratosthenes and Posidonius [i. 10], may also be derived from Pytheas: "the longest day in Britain has eighteen hours."

[50] If we assume that the length of the day was found by a theoretical calculation of the time between the rising and setting of the sun's centre above the horizon, without taking account of refraction, then a longest day of nineteen hours answers to 60° 52' N. lat.; but if we suppose that the length of the day was found by direct observation and was calculated from the first appearance of the sun's limb in the morning until its final disappearance in the evening, then horizontal refraction will be of importance (besides having to take the sun's semi-diameter into account), and a longest day of nineteen hours then answers to 59° 59' N. lat. Now the Shetland Isles lie between 59° 51' and 60° 51' N. lat.; while the northern point of the Orkneys lies in 59° 23' N. lat., and has a longest day, theoretically of 18 hours 27 minutes, and actually of 18 hours 36 minutes. A longest day of 18 hours answers theoretically to 57° 59', actually to fully 57° N. lat. Professor H. Geelmuyden has had the kindness to work out several of these calculations for me. Hipparchus said that at the winter solstice the sun attained to a height of less than three cubits above the horizon in the regions where the longest day was of nineteen hours. If we take one cubit as equal to two degrees these regions will then lie north of 60° N. lat.

[51] It may be possible, as many think, that it was the Shetlands that he called Orkan (or Orkas); but the more reliable of the known quotations from him seem rather to show that it was really the northernmost point of Britain, or the neighbouring Orkneys that were thus called by him, and have thenceforward been known by that name; while it is later authors who have extended the name also to Shetland. If this supposition be correct: that the islands north of Britain mentioned by Pliny [Nat. Hist. iv. 104] are originally derived from Pytheas, which may be doubtful, and that Berricen (or Nerigon) is Mainland of Shetland, then Orkan cannot apply to these. But, as we shall see later, it is very doubtful what Pliny's islands may have been originally.

[52] Cf. Strabo [ii. 114] and Cleomedes [i. 7]. The Arctic Circle (or Circle of the Bear) was, as already mentioned, the circle round the celestial pole which formed the limit of the continuously visible (circumpolar) stars, and it had been given this name because in Asia Minor (and Greece) it ran through the Great Bear (Arctus). Its distance in degrees from the north celestial pole is equal to the latitude of the place of observation, and consequently increases as one goes farther north. At the polar circle, as mentioned above, it coincides with the Tropic of Cancer, and at the North Pole with the Equator. Cleomedes has also the remarkable statement that the latitude for a summer day of one month in length runs through Thule.

[53] It may be thought that Pytheas is merely relating a legend current among the barbarians that the sun went to its resting-place during the night, a myth which is moreover almost universal. But it seems more probable that as an astronomer he had something else in his mind. If he had had the two points accurately indicated to him, where the sun set and rose on the shortest night of the year, he must easily have been able, by measuring the angle between them, to ascertain how long the sun was down.

[54] These figures are kindly supplied by Professor H. Geelmuyden.

[55] According to existing MSS. of Solinus [c. 22] it was five days' sail to Thule from the Orcades, which must here be Shetland, and which are mentioned as the second station on the way to Thule; the Ebudes (Hebrides) were the first station. Mommsen [1895, p. 219] regards the passage as corrupt, and considers it a later interpolation of between the 7th and 9th centuries.

[56] Cf. Brenner, 1877, pp. 32, 98.

[57] Cf. Keyser (1839), 1868, p. 92.

[58] If we were able to make out the etymological origin of the name Thule, it would perhaps give us some indication of where we ought to look for the country. But the various attempts that have been made to solve this riddle have been without success. It has been asserted by several authors that it comes from an old Gothic word "tiele," or "tiule," which is said to mean limit [cf. Forbiger, 1842, iii. p. 312], or an Old Saxon word "thyle," "thul," "tell" (or "tell," "till," "tiul"), said to mean the same [cf. Markham, 1893, p. 519; and Callegari, 1904, p. 47]; but Professor Alf Torp, whom I have consulted, says that no such word can be found in either of these languages. The word has been further erroneously connected with the name Telemarken, which accordingly would mean borderland, but which in reality must be derived from the Norwegian word "tele," Old Norse "þeli," frozen earth, and it is by no means impossible that Thule should be a Greek corruption of such a word. E. Benedikson has supposed that Thule might come from a Gallic word "houl," for sun [cf. Callegari, 1904, p. 47], which with a preposition "de" (or other prefix) might have been thus corrupted in Greek; but Professor Torp informs me in a letter that no such Gallic word exists, though there is a Cymric "haul," "which in Gallic of that time must have sounded approximately 'hâvel,'" and it "is quite impossible that a preposition or prefix 'de' could have coalesced with initial 'h' so as to result in anything like Thule." The Irish "temel" (Cymric "tywyll") for dark, which has also been tried [Keyser, 1839, p. 397; 1868, p. 166], or "tawel" for silent, still [Müllenhoff, 1870, i, p. 408], are of no more use, according to Torp, since both words at that time had "m," which has later become "w." The only Celtic root which in his opinion might be thought of is "'tel' (== raise, raise oneself), to which the Irish 'telach' and 'tulach' (== a height, mound); but this does not seem very appropriate. The Germanic form of this root is 'thel' (modification 'thul'); but in Germanic this is not applied to soil or land which rises. I cannot find anything else, either in Celtic or Germanic; it is thus impossible for me to decide to which of the languages the word may belong; I can only say that the Greek θ (th) rather points to Germanic. For no Celtic word begins with an aspirate, whereas Germanic, as you know, has transmutation of consonants (Indo-germanic 't' to 'th,' etc.), and it is not impossible that this sound-change goes as far back as the time of Pytheas." Professor Torp has further drawn my attention to the fact that from the above-mentioned "thel," raise oneself, is formed the Old Norse "þollr," tree (cf. "þǫll" == fir-tree), which in early times was "þull" as radical form. There might be a bare possibility of Thule being connected with this word.

If it should appear, as hinted here, that the word Thule is of Germanic origin, then the probability of the country lying outside the British Isles would be greatly strengthened; for Britain and the Scottish Islands were at that time not yet inhabited by a Germanic race, and the native Celts can only have known a Germanic name for a country from its own Germanic inhabitants. This land farther north must then be Norway.

It has been pointed out [cf. Cuno, 1871, i. p. 102; Mair, 1899, p. 15] that the name Thule reminds one of "Tyle," the capital of the Celtic colony which was established in Thrace in the 3rd century B.C. But we know nothing of the origin of this latter name, and here again there is the difficulty that it begins with "t" and not "th."

It may be further mentioned that C. Hofmann [1865, p. 17] has suggested that Thule may come from such a name as "Thumla," which in the Upsala Edda [ii. 492] is the name of an unknown island, but which was also the name of an island at the mouth of the Göta river (cf. Thumlaheide in Hising). He thinks that a Greek could not pronounce such a combination of sounds as "ml" (μλ), but would pronounce it as "l" (λ). The word would therefore become "Thula," or according to the usual form of the declension "Thule." Meanwhile we know of no name resembling Thumla for any district which Pytheas could have reached from Britain.

[59] That Thule was Norway or Scandinavia was assumed as early as Procopius. In the last century this view was supported by Geijer, 1825; Sven Nilsson, 1837; R. Keyser, 1839; Petersen; H. J. Thue, 1843, and others. In recent years it has been especially maintained by Hergt, 1893.

[60] Müllenhoff's reasons for supposing that Thule cannot have been Norway are of little weight, and in part disclose an imperfect knowledge of the conditions. That Pytheas, if he came to Norway, must have found new species of animals and new races of men, especially the Lapps with their reindeer, which, according to Müllenhoff, he evidently did not find, is, for instance, an untenable assertion; for in the first place it is very uncertain whether the reindeer-Lapps had reached Norway so early as that time, since they appear to be a comparatively late immigration. In the second place, if they were really already living in Finmarken and the northern part of Helgeland (Hálogaland), it is unreasonable to suppose that a seafarer who went along the coast as far as to the neighbourhood of the Arctic Circle should have met with these Lapps. Finally, it is impossible to take it for granted that Pytheas did not mention all the things that are not to be found in the chance quotations of later writers.

[61] The Arctic Circle at that time lay in 66° 15' 20". If we put the horizontal refraction plus the sun's semi-diameter at 50' in round figures, then the upper edge of the sun would be visible at midnight at the summer solstice a little north of 65° 25'.

[62] Cf. Markham, 1893. If the longest day of the year is given in the different authorities (Strabo, Geminus, etc.) at various places as seventeen, eighteen, nineteen hours, etc., after the statements of Pytheas, it must not, of course, be assumed that Pytheas was at each of these places precisely on Midsummer Day. It was only one of the Greek methods of indicating the latitude of places.

[63] The origin of this name for the northernmost or outer sea, which occurs in several authors, is somewhat uncertain. It is usually supposed [cf. Hergt, 1893, p. 71] that it comes from the Greek god "Cronos" (Latin "Saturn"). R. Keyser [1839, p. 396, 1868, p. 165] thought (after Toland in 1725) that it was of Celtic origin and cognate with the Welsh "croni," to collect together; "Muir-croinn" was supposed still to be Irish for the Polar Sea, and to have some such meaning as the curdled sea; but no such word is to be found in Irish or Old Irish [cf. Müllenhoff, 1870, p. 415].

[64] Hergt [1893, p. 71] lays stress on the use of "ultra" here and not "trans," and thinks that this does not indicate an immediate connection with Thule, but that we must rather suppose an intervening space (?).

[65] Perhaps it is worth while to remark in this connection that on its second occurrence in the quotation the word is simply "lung" and not "sea-lung." If this is not to be looked upon merely as an abbreviation, it may indicate that the writer was really thinking of a bodily lung [cf. Hergt, 1893, p. 74].

[66] It has occurred that drift-ice has been brought as far as the neighbourhood of Shetland by the East-Icelandic Polar current; but this is so entirely exceptional that it cannot be argued that Pytheas might have seen drift-ice there.

[67] It is difficult to understand how he was able to converse with the natives; but probably he took interpreters with him. In the south of England, for instance, he may have found people who had come in contact through the tin-trade with the Mediterranean peoples and understood their languages, and who could thus act as interpreters with the Celts. It would not be so easy with the Germanic people of Thule. But in Scotland he may have found Celts who understood the speech of Thule, and who could act as interpreters through the more southern Celtic people.

[68] It has already been mentioned that Avienus ascribes even to Himilco some similar ideas of the extreme parts of the ocean; and that Aristotle thought that the sea beyond the Pillars of Hercules was muddy and shallow and little stirred by the winds.

[69] According to a communication from Professor Moltke Moe.

[70] It has been supposed by some that this name, which may remind one of the "Æstii" (Esthonians) mentioned by Tacitus, is really a clerical error for "Ostimii."

[71] The more usual spelling "Mentonomon" (after some MSS.) can hardly be right [cf. Detlefsen, 1904, p. 9]. The name may be connected with the Frisian "meden" (Old Frisian "mede" or "medu," English "meadow") for low-lying, swampy pasture, and in that case would suit the German North Sea coast well, between the Rhine and Sleswick-Holstein.

[72] The name may have some connection with those of Habel and Appeland among the Halligen Islands on the west coast of Sleswick [cf. Detlefsen, 1904, p. 60]. It also has some resemblance to "Sabalingii," which is given by Ptolemy as the name of a tribe in Jutland. The name Abalus (Greek, Abalos) has a remarkable likeness to Avalon (the apple-island) of Welsh folk-lore, and it is possibly originally the same word (?).

[73] As to what we know of the work of this important geographer see in particular Berger [1880].

[74] According to Eratosthenes' accurate calculation the Arctic Circle lay in 66° 9' N. lat.

[75] Cf. Strabo, i. 63, ii. 114. More accurately it should be 37,400 stadia.

[76] Cf. Strabo, i. 5-6. Seleucus of Selucia on the Tigris lived in the middle of the 2nd century B.C., and was one of the few who (like Aristarchus of Samos, c. 260 B.C.) held the doctrine of the earth's rotation and movement round the sun.

[77] Herodotus [iv. 26] says of the Issedonians in Scythia that "when a man's father dies, all the relatives bring cattle; and when they have slain them as a sacrifice and cut the flesh in pieces, they also cut up their host's deceased father; then they mix all the flesh together and serve it for the meal; but the head they decorate with gold, after having taken the hair off and washed it; and afterwards they treat it as an idol and bring offerings to it every year." Such a cannibal custom, if it really existed, may have been connected with religious ideas. But Herodotus [i. 216] attributes to the Massagetæ the following still more horrible custom: "when a man grows very old, all his relatives assemble and slay him, and together with him several kinds of cattle; then they boil the flesh and hold a banquet. This is accounted among them the happiest end."

[78] Cf. M. Schanz: "Geschichte der Römischen Literatur," ii. p. 241, 1899; in I. Müller: "Handb. Klass. Altert.-Wiss.," bd. viii. See also Müllenhoff, iv., 1900, p. 47.

[79] Cf. Detlefsen, 1897, p. 197; 1904, p. 45. By his voyage in 12 B.C. with his fleet along the coast of the North Sea from the mouth of the Rhine and the Zuyder Zee to the mouth of the Ems, Drusus won fame as the first general who had sailed in the North Sea. The Romans, of course, were not great seafarers.

[80] The MSS. have "flamine" (winds); but it has been thought that "flumine" (streams) gives a better meaning [cf. Detlefsen, 1897, p. 198]. "Flamine" (winds) might, however, suit the ideas of the earth's limits (cf. the description of Himilco's voyage in Avienus, see above, p. 37).

[81] The text has here "alium liberis (or 'libris') intactum quærimus orbem," which might be: "towards another world untouched by books," that is, of which no book has said anything. As such an expression is quite at variance with the generally pompous style of the poem, Detlefsen [1897, p. 200, 1904, p. 47] has thought that "libris" here was "libra" == "libella," that is, the level used by builders, with two legs and a plumb hanging in the middle, and the meaning would then be that this part of the earth's circumference was not touched by the plumb of the level, but that the latter was obliquely inclined over the abyss at the end of the world. This explanation seems to make Pedo's poem even more artificial than it is, and Detlefsen appears to think [1897, p. 200] that the builder's level is used to find perpendicular lines, instead of horizontal. It is probable, however, that such an idea of a gulf or abyss at the end of the world was current at that time, as it was much later (cf. Adam of Bremen, and also the Ginnungagap of the Norsemen), even if it does not appear in this poem. It might be thought that "libris" was here used in the sense of sounding-lead, so that the meaning would be, "untouched by soundings," in other words, a sea where no soundings had been made; but this meaning of "libris" would be unusual, and besides one would then expect some word for sea, and not "orbem."

[82] I cannot, with Detlefsen [1904, p. 48], find anything in this expression to show that Augustus gives the Greeks the credit for having penetrated beyond the Cimbrian Cape earlier.

[83] Cf. Müllenhoff, ii., 1887, p. 285, and iv., 1900, p. 45; Holz, 1894, p. 23; Detlefsen, 1904, p. 47.

[84] K. Miller [vi., 1898, p. 105] proposes to read "Gotorum rex" (the king of the Goths) instead of the "Botorum rex" of the MSS. The last name is otherwise unknown, and has also been read "Boiorum." Pliny, who has the same story almost word for word [Nat. Hist., ii. c. 67, 170] says that the same Celer had the Indians from the king of the Suevi.

[85] This was a common idea among the Greeks about the Amazons [cf. Hippocrates, Περι αερων, etc., c. 17; Strabo, xi. 504; Diodorus, ii. 45]; it has even been sought to derive the name itself from this, since "mazos" (μαζος) means breast, and "a" (α) is the negative particle; this would therefore be "without breasts." But other explanations of the origin of the name have been given, e.g., that they were not suckled at the breast. It is possible that the name meant something quite different, but that owing to its resemblance to the Greek word for breast it gave rise to the legend, and not vice versa. In Latin the Amazons were sometimes called "Unimammia" (one-breasted), but in Greek art they were always represented with well-developed breasts. Hippocrates says that the right breasts of the Scythian women were burned off by the mother with a special bronze instrument, while the girls were quite small, because "then the breast ceased to grow, and all force and development were transmitted to the right shoulder and the arm."

[86] Cf. Herodotus, iv. cc. 116, 117.

[87] Cf. Herodotus, iv. c. 22.

[88] These are Herodotus's "Argippæi" or "Argimpæi" [iv. c. 23], who lived in tents of felt in winter. They were bald, whereas those of Mela go bare-headed.

[89] To understand [like K. Miller, vi., 1898, p. 105] "vectæ" as the name of an island ("Vectis" == the Isle of Wight) seems in itself somewhat improbable, and is moreover excluded by Mela's rhetorical style, which demands a clause following Hæmodæ to balance that attached to Orcades just before.

[90] These "Belgæ" are, of course, the same as the "Belcæ" already mentioned by Mela as the Scythian people in the northernmost part of Scythia (see above, p. 89). What people is meant is uncertain.

[91] Sophus Bugge [1904, pp. 156 f.] thinks that Codanus may come from an Old Norse word "Kōð," which meant a shallow fjord or a shallow place in the water (equivalent to old Indian "gādhá-m") and which according to him is akin to the root "Kað" in some Norwegian place-names. "Codanus sinus" ("Kōda," accus. "Kōdan") is then the shallow sea, or Cattegat, especially near the Belts. "Codan-ovia" is the island in "Kōdan." Müllenhoff [1887, ii. p. 284] and Much [1893, p. 207] have connected "Codanus" with Old High German "quoden" (== femina, interior pars coxæ) from the same root as the Anglo-Saxon "codd" (== serpent, sack, bag), Middle Low German "koder" (== belly, abdomen), Old Norse "koðri" (== scrotum). It would then mean a sack-inlet or sack-bay, equal to the Frisian "Jâde," or else a narrower inlet to an extended bay of the sea (the Baltic ?). The explanation does not seem quite natural. R. Keyser [1868, p. 82] derives the name from "Godanus," i.e., the Gothic, although the Goths at that time were usually called "Gutones" by the Romans. Ahlenius's suggestion [1900, p. 24] that Codanus might be an old copyist's error for "Toutonos" (Teutons), because one MS. reads Thodanus, does not sound probable. Detlefsen [1904, p. 31] thinks that the name Codanus is preserved in Katte(n)-gat, which would mean the inlet (gat) to Codanus, which would then come to include the whole of the Baltic. If Bugge's explanation given above is correct, it might however mean the shallow gat or inlet.

[92] Professor Alf Torp calls my attention to R. Much's [1895, p. 37] explanation of "Kobandoi" as a Germanic "*Kōwandōz," a derivation from the word cow. This should therefore be divided "Kōw-and-," where "and" is a suffix, and the meaning would be a cow-people.

[93] I have proposed this explanation to Professor Alf Torp; he finds that it "might indeed be possible, but not altogether probable."

[94] It has been sought to derive "Daner" from an original Germanic word, equivalent to Anglo-Saxon "denu" (Gothic "*danei") and "dene" for dale, and its meaning has been thought to be "dwellers in dales or lowlands" [cf. Much, 1895, p. 40; S. Bugge, 1890, p. 236].

[95] That they lived in the sea or bay must, of course, mean that they lived on islands; and the northern part of Jutland, north of the Limfiord, was probably looked upon as an island; but the Cimbrian Promontory is not mentioned; it occurs first in Pliny. The Germanic form of the name, "himbrōz," perhaps still survives in the Danish district of Himmerland, the old Himbersyssel, with the town of Aalborg [cf. Much, 1905, p. 100].

[96] There is a resemblance of name which may be more than accidental between Mela's "Œneæ," or Pliny's "Œonæ," and Tacitus's "Aviones" ["Germania," c. 40], who lived on the islands of North Frisia and the neighbouring coast. "Aviones" evidently comes from a Germanic "*awjonez," Gothic "*aujans," Old High German "ouwon" (cf. Old Norse "ey," Old High German "ouwa" for island), which means islanders. In the Anglo-Saxon poem "Widsid" they are called "eowe" or "eowan" [cf. Grimm, 1880, p. 330 (472), Much, 1893, p. 195; 1905, p. 101]. It is possible that the Greeks, on hearing the Germanic name, connected it with the Greek word "Œonæ" (== egg-eaters), and thereby the whole idea of egg-eating may have arisen, without anything having been related about it.

[97] To this it might be objected that he ought in that case to have obtained much information also about the interior of Scythia and Sarmatia; but in the first place this is not certain, as the special goal of the merchants was the amber countries, and they would therefore keep to the known routes and travel rapidly through--and in the second, Pliny actually mentions a good many tribes in the interior. He says, it is true [iv. 26, 91], of Agrippa's estimate of the size of Sarmatia and Scythia, that he considers such estimates too uncertain in these parts of the earth; but to conclude from this, as Detlefsen [1904, p. 34] has done, that Pliny's Greek authorities cannot have received their information by the land route, seems to me unreasonable, since Pliny perhaps did not even know how his authorities had obtained their knowledge.

[98] This river is not mentioned elsewhere and must be invented, Hecatæus of Abdera (circa 300 B.C.) having imagined that it rose in mountains of this name in the interior of Asia and fell into the northern ocean.

[99] This is certainly wrong. The name "Amalcium" cannot come from any northern language, but must come from the Greek "malkios" (μαλκιος), which means "stiffening," "freezing"; "a" must here be an emphatic particle.

[100] This Greek is given as an authority in several passages of Pliny; he is also mentioned by Ptolemy, but is not otherwise known. He may have lived about 100 B.C. [cf. Detlefsen, 1904, pp. 23-25].

[101] On account of the syllable "rus," which is found in Phœnician names (e.g., Rusazus, Ruscino, Ruspino) and which means headland, cape, it has been sought to derive it from the Semitic; but Detlefsen [1904, p. 24] thinks it more reasonable to suppose it Germanic. Not the smallest trace of Phœnician names has been found in the north. R. Keyser [1868, p. 165] thinks the name, which he reads "Rubeas," "is without doubt the Welsh 'rhybyz'" (rhybudd == sign, warning); but the word cannot have had this form in Pliny's time.

[102] The name may be either Celtic or Old Germanic. In Celtic "mori," Irish "muir," Cymric "môr," is sea; but R. Much [1893, p. 220] thinks that Germanic "mari" and Gothic "marei" (German "Meer," Latin "mare") may also have been pronounced formerly with "o." "Marusa" is related to Irish "marb," Cymric "marw" for dead; but according to Much it may be of Germanic origin and have had the form "*marusaz" (cf. "*marwaz") with the meaning of motionless, lifeless. "Morimarusa" would thus be the "motionless sea," which reminds one of Pytheas's kindred ideas of the sluggish, congealed sea ("mare pigrum, prope immotum mare"). If the name is of Germanic origin, this does not debar its being derived from Pytheas (and taken from him by Philemon); he may have got it from Norway. If Rusbeas is southern Norway, this would point in the same direction. But it is doubtless more reasonable to suppose that the name is derived from the Cimbri, who are mentioned in connection with it, while Pliny does not mention any people in Norway.

[103] Hergt [1893, p. 40] thinks that "Morimarusa" would be the Baltic (and the Cattegat), which was called dead because it had no tides and was frozen in winter. "Rusbeas" would thus be the point of the Skaw. In this way he has two names for the Baltic, and two, if not three, for the Skaw. This interpretation seems to be even less consistent than that given above. Pliny in another passage mentions (see pp. 65, 106) that the sea called "Cronium" was a day's sail beyond Thule, which lay to the north of Britain and within the Arctic Circle. This in itself makes it difficult for Cronium to begin at Lindesnes, but if it has to begin at Skagen, and thus be the Skagerak, it becomes still worse.

[104] This must come from an Old Germanic word "*glez," Anglo-Saxon "glær," for amber. It is the same word as the Norwegian "glas" or Danish "glar," which has come to mean glass.

[105] The origin of the name "Sævo" cannot be determined with certainty. Forbiger [1848, iii. p. 237] thinks it is Kjölen, and asserts that it is a Norwegian name which is still found in the form of "Seve," ridge; but no such name is known in Norway. It seems possible that the name may be connected with the Gothic "saivs" for sea (cf. Old Norse "sær"); but it may also be supposed to have arisen from a corruption of "svevus"; in any case it was so regarded in the Middle Ages. Solinus says [c. 20, 1], following Pliny, that "Mons Sævo ... forms the commencement of Germany," but Isidore Hispalensis says that "Suevus Mons" forms the north-east boundary of Germany, and on the Hereford Map (about 1280) a mountain chain, "Mons Sueuus," runs in north-east Germany to a bay of the sea called "Sinus Germanicus," which may be the Baltic. On the Ebstorf map (1284) "Mons Suevus" has followed the Suevi southwards to Swabia. It is also possible that Ptolemy's mountain chain "Syēba" (Συηβα, vi. c. 14) in northernmost Asia (62° N. lat.) has something to do with Pliny's "Sævo." There has been much guessing as to where the latter is to be sought: some [cf. Detlefsen, 1904, p. 28] think it was Kjölen, although it is quite incomprehensible how this far northern range could be connected with Codanus; others [cf. Lönborg, 1897, p. 20] that it was in Mecklenburg or Pomerania or even in Jutland [Geijer, 1825, p. 77], where no mountain is to be found, least of all an immense one ("inmensus"). Pliny's words could be most simply connected with the Norwegian mountains [cf. Holz, 1894, p. 25]. It may indeed be supposed, as Müllenhoff [iv., 1900, p. 600] thinks, that the men of Augustus's fleet, in 5 A.D., may have seen in the Cattegat or heard of the "Sea-mountains" of the Scandinavian (or rather, Swedish) coast, "*Saivabergo" or "*Saivagabërgia," which rose up over the sea, and the same of which became in Latin "Mons Sævo"; but perhaps it is just as reasonable to suppose that the information may be derived from the Germans of Jutland, who had communication with Norway and knew its high mountainous country, and that therefore it did not originate with the low west coast of Sweden.

[106] One might be tempted to connect the name "Scadinavia" with the old Norse goddess Skade or Skaði, who was of Finnish race; she was black-haired, lived in the mountains in the interior of the country, and was amongst other things the goddess of ski-running. The name Scadinavia would then be of Finnish origin. This derivation has also been put forward [cf. Müllenhoff, ii., 1887, pp. 55 f., 357 f.]. The termination "avi," "avia," must then be the same as "ovia" (see p. 94). This explanation would take for granted an original non-Germanic, so-called "Finnish" population in south Sweden (which does not appear impossible; see below); but it will then be difficult to explain why the name should have survived only in the most southern part, Skåne. Sophus Bugge [1896, p. 424] thought that "Scadinavia" (later "Scadanavia") is related to the common Norwegian place-name "Skǫðvin" or Sköien ("vin" == pasture) and may come from a lost Old Norse word "*skaða" (old Slavonic "skotŭ") for cattle. "Skǫðvin" would then be cattle-pasture. From "*skaða" the word "*skaðanaz" may be regularly derived, with the meaning of herdsman; and "Skadan-avia" or "Skadinavia" will be herdsman's pastures, since the termination "avia" may have the same meaning as the German "Au" or "Aue" (good pasture, meadow). The Old Norse "Skáney" ("Skáni," now "Skåne") would then come from Skaðney, where the "ð" has been dropped as in many similar instances. Bugge himself afterwards [1904, p. 156] rejected this explanation and derived "Scadinavia" from the same word as "Codanus" (see p. 93), taking it to mean the island or coast-land by "Kōdan," which has had a prefixed "s," while the long "o" has been changed into short "a." This explanation may be very doubtful. In many parts of Norway a name "Skåney" is known, which comes from "skán" (meaning crust), and it may therefore not be improbable that the Swedish "Skáney" or Skåne is the same name.

[107] Ahlenius [1900, p. 31] has tried to explain the name as a copyist's error for "Æstingia," which he connects with the "Æstii" (Esthonians) of Tacitus; but the people would then have been called Æstingii rather than Æstii. One might then be more inclined to think of Jordanes' "Astingi" or "Hazdingi," the same as the Old Norse Haddingjar (Hallinger).

[108] R. Keyser [1868, p. 89] explains the name as the same as in the Old Norse name for a people, "Kylpingar," in northern Russia, neighbours of the Finns. He thinks that there may have been an Old Norse name "Kylpinga-botn" for the Baltic; but it is not likely that this word Kylpingar existed at that time.

[109] Keyser [1868, p. 80] derives the word from Gothic "lagus" (corresponding to Old Norse "logr") for sea.

[110] The same islands which are here spoken of as British, have been previously referred to (see above, p. 101) by Pliny as Germanic, or rather as a single island with the name "Glæsaria." This is another proof of how he draws directly from various sources without even taking the trouble to harmonise the statements. In this case he has probably found the islands mentioned in connection with facts about Britain, or a journey to that country. And it may be supposed that the original source is Pytheas.

[111] In his ignorance of astronomy Pliny adds that "this is said to continue alternately for six months."

[112] Some MSS. read "Vergos."

[113] Tacitus, "Agricola," c. 10; see also c. 38. Cf. also Bunbury, 1883, ii. p. 342.

[114] Tacitus, "Agricola," c. 28.

[115] Here Tacitus is mistaken, as amber was extensively employed for amulets and ornaments even in the Stone Age (see above, p. 32).

[116] Much [1905, p. 133] connects the name with "ge-swio" == "related by marriage." It may be just as reasonable to suppose that the name means "burners" ("svier"), since they cleared the land by setting fire to the forests [cf. Müllenhoff, iv., 1900, p. 499].

[117] Cf. Müllenhoff, iv., 1900, p. 502.

[118] This might be thought to show that arms of metal, especially of iron, were still rarities in Scandinavia, which only rich and powerful chiefs could obtain, and this might agree with the statement about the esteem in which wealth was held among this particular people. But perhaps the more probable explanation is that the idea may have arisen through foreign merchants (South Germans or Romans) having been present at the great annual "things" and fairs at some well-known temple, e.g., Upsala [cf. Müllenhoff, 1900, p. 503], where for the sake of peace and on account of the sacredness of the spot it was forbidden to carry arms, and where arms were therefore left in a special "weapon-house," like those which were later attached to churches in Norway, and there guarded by a thrall. The foreigners may have seen this without understanding its meaning, and Tacitus may have given his own explanation.

[119] The name "Sitones" reminds one forcibly of the "Sidones" mentioned by Strabo and Ptolemy [cf. Geijer, 1825, p. 82]; but the difficulty is that Strabo includes the latter among the Bastarni, with the Peucini who lived on the north and east of the Carpathians and therefore far to the south of the Baltic [cf. Ahlenius, 1900, p. 36]. Ptolemy's "Sidones" also lived in the neighbourhood of the Carpathians, and to the north of them. But it is nevertheless possible that Tacitus may have heard a similar word and confused it with this name, or he may have heard a story of a reigning woman or queen among Strabo's Sidones, somewhere north of the Carpathians, and thought that anything so unheard of could only be found in the farthest north. It is also to be noted that Tacitus himself mentions "Peucini" or "Bastarnæ" as neighbours of the "Fenni" (Finns), and therefore inhabiting some distant tract bordering on the unknown in the north-east; on the other hand he does not mention the Sidones in this connection, though they are spoken of in conjunction with the Bastarnæ both by Strabo before him and by Ptolemy after him. Add to this the similarity of names between Sitones and Suiones, and it seems likely that he thought they must be near one another. Müllenhoff [ii., 1887, p. 9] supposes that the word "Sitones" may have been an appellative which has been mistaken for the name of a people, and he connects it with Gothic "*sitans," Old Norse "*setar," from the same root as the Norwegian "sitte" (to sit, occupy). If this is correct we might suppose it to be used in the sense of colonists (cf. Norwegian "opsitter"). Much [1905, p. 31] suggests that perhaps it may be derived from Old Norse "siða" == to practise witchcraft (cf. "seid"), and mean sorcerers. On the "Sidones" cf. Much, 1893, pp. 135, 187, 188; Müllenhoff, 1887, pp. 109, 325.

[120] Wiklund [1895, pp. 103-117] thinks that the "Kvæns" in north Sweden were not Finns, but colonists from Svearike (middle Sweden).

[121] Cf. Zeuss, 1837, p. 157; Müllenhoff, ii., 1887, p. 10.

[122] Cf. Lönborg, 1897, p. 136; Ahlenius, 1900, p. 37.

[123] Cf. Baumstark, 1880, p. 329; Müllenhoff, iv., 1900, p. 516.

[124] Many of his place-names in Ireland especially point to frequent communication, probably due to trade, between this island and the continent, perhaps with Gaul.

[125] Much [1895, a, p. 34] thinks that the "Alociæ" may have been some small rocky islands which have now disappeared. Upon them he supposes there may have been colonies of auks, which have given them their name, as in Gothic, for instance, they may have been called "*alakô." The hypothesis is improbable; even if any such rocky islets had been washed away by the sea they must have left behind submerged rocks, and none such are known in the sea off Jutland.

[126] Macrobius's division of the earth into zones after Parmenides with an equatorial ocean like Mela, in graphic representation, had great influence during the Middle Ages.

[127] Similar conceptions are to be found in Avienus ("Ora Maritima," vv., 644-663), and are derived from ancient Greek geographers (Anaximenes, cf. Müllenhoff, i., 1870, p. 77).

[128] This description would best suit the Baltic (and the Belts) as forming the eastern side of Scandza; but the term inland sea ("lacus") does not agree well with Scandza being an island and lying just opposite the Vistula, which "with its three mouths discharged itself into the Ocean"; and in the rear of the Vidivarii at the mouths of the Vistula "dwelt likewise on the Ocean the Æstii, that very peace-loving people" [v. 36, cf. Tacitus]. Besides which Jordanes' Germanic Ocean may be the Baltic, although his very obscure description may equally well suit the North Sea, or both together. The supposition that the great inland sea and the River Vagi might be Lake Ladoga and the Neva [cf. Geijer, 1825, p. 100] or Lake Vener and the Göta River [cf. Lönborg, 1897, p. 25, and Ahlenius, 1900, p. 44] does not agree with the description of Jordanes, which distinctly asserts that it lay on the east side of Scandza in contradistinction to the immense ocean on the west and north. The fact must be that Jordanes had very obscure ideas on this point, and this has made his description confusing.

[129] These small islands have been taken to be the Danish islands [cf. Ahlenius, 1900, p. 43]; but as we hear in immediate connection with them of severe cold and of the wolves losing their eyes on crossing the frozen sea ("congelato mari"), our thoughts are led farther north and we would be inclined to take them for the Åland islands.

[130] This reminds us of Mela's statement respecting the Œneans, who lived on fen-fowl's eggs (see above, pp. 91, 95).

[131] And or Amd was used formerly not only for the island of And (Andö), but for a great part of Vesterålen and Hinnö.

[132] I will mention as yet another possibility a corruption of Ptolemy's islands, the "Alociæ," which lay at the extreme north of his map, north of the Cimbrian Chersonese and farther north than the island of Scandia (see above, pp. 119 f.). A Greek capital lambda, Λ, may easily be mistaken for a capital delta, Δ, especially in maps, and in such corrupted form may have been transferred to Roman maps, and thence have been used for the name of a people who were said to live specially far north. Läffler [1894, p. 4] thinks that "Adogit" was a Lappish people, and that the name certainly cannot be of Scandinavian-Germanic origin, but he does not say why.

[133] Cleomedes says that the summer day in Thule lasted a month, while the astronomically ignorant Pliny puts it at six months.

[134] As to these tribal names see especially Läffler [1894, 1907] and Sophus Bugge [1907], besides P. A. Munch [1852], Müllenhoff [1887], and others.

[135] The origin of the word "sappherinas" is uncertain. Lönborg [1897, p. 26] proposes that it may have meant deep sapphire blue, and have been used of the skins of blue foxes. Probably it is rather a northern word, not Germanic, but either Slavonic or Finnish (?).

[136] Müllenhoff, Mommsen, Läffler, and others think that the "mitiores" (milder) of the MSS. may be an error for "minores" (smaller), which gives better sense, in contradistinction to the "Suetidi" who come just after and were taller than all the rest. Sophus Bugge proposes that "mitissimi" and "mitiores" may be errors for "minutissime" and "minutiores," and that it should therefore be translated "the very small Finns who are smaller than all the other, etc." [cf. also A. Bugge, 1906, p. 18]; but the necessity for so great a change is doubtful [cf. Läffler, 1907, p. 109].

[137] S. Bugge thought [1907, p. 101] at one time that these might be people of Gond or Gand, i.e., Höiland, south of Stavanger, but afterwards changed this view [cf. 1910, p. 97].

[138] Jordanes, who was a Goth, had even less reason for glorifying the Northmen at the expense of the Germans or Goths.

[139] Cf. Mommsen, 1882, p. 154; A. Bugge, 1906, pp. 21, 33 f.

[140] This is certainly incorrect; probably they came from the north and established themselves near the Danube in the neighbourhood of the Langobards.

[141] Paulus Warnefridi gives a mythical account of the cause of the war and of the battle and death of king Rodulf [Bethmann and Waitz, 1878, pp. 57 ff.]; the fight and king Rodulf are also referred to in the "Origo Gentes Langobardorum" (of about 807). In both these works it is stated that it was the Langobards (and not the Eruli) who had lived in this country (by the Danube ?) in peace for three years.

[142] It is probable that the mention of the tribes in Jordanes is taken from two different sources; for he begins by saying that Ptolemy only has the names of seven, without mentioning any of these, and later on he gives a whole series of others, which may have been added from another author who supplemented the one from whom the mention of Ptolemy is taken.

[143] Jordanes here repeats Ptolemy, from whom the name of Scandza, == Scandia, is taken (and the statement as to the shape of the island ?), while Procopius has nothing about it.

[144] The name appears in the runic inscriptions to be often a designation of the author of the inscription. Sophus Bugge thought that the Eruli had obtained their knowledge of runes from the Goths, and that they kept them a secret (this reappears in the word "run" itself, which means secret), especially in the leading families, who turned them to account. During their centuries of roving life they carried the knowledge of runes with them to various parts of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. In this way the uniformity of language in the inscriptions from widely separated places may also be explained.

[145] It appears to have been a general custom among the Germans to put old people to death (cf. p. 18). Herodotus [i. 216] relates of the Massagetæ, who may have been a Germanic tribe, that "when any one has grown very old all his relatives come together and slaughter him, and with him other small cattle; they then cook the flesh and hold a banquet. This is considered by them the happiest end. But they do not eat one who dies of sickness, but bury him underground, and lament that he did not live to be slaughtered."

[146] This widespread form of anthropophagy is due to the superstition that by eating something of another, beast or man, or particular parts, e.g., the heart (cf. Sigurd Favnesbane), one acquired the peculiar properties of the other, such as strength, courage, goodness, etc. It is thus a similar idea to that in the Christian sacrament.

[147] They were also called =O T= maps; =O T= being the initials of Orbis Terrarum.

[148] Cf. Wuttke, 1854.

[149] The text has "ovium" (== sheep), but this is doubtless a copyist's error for "ovum" (== egg). This may remind us of the Œonæ of Mela and Pliny, who lived on the eggs of fen-fowl (see above, p. 92).

[150] Cf. the "Origo Gentis Langobardorum" (of the second half of the seventh century), where the "Winnilians," who were later called Langobards, live originally on an island called "Scadanan," or in another MS. "Scadan." The latter name, with the addition of a Germanic word for meadow or island, might become Scadanau, Scadanauge, or Scadanovia. Cf. also Fredegar Scholasticus's abbreviated history after Gregory of Tours, where it is related that the Langobards originated in "Schatanavia," or in one MS. "Schatanagia."