Hainal svitá, giž den biely, stavayte velky i maly! dosti sme giž dluho spali. Bohemian writers try to H. shines, now day is white, long enough have we now slept. identify this Hajnal, Heynal, Hennil with a Servian or Bohemian god of herdsmen Honidlo;1 I know not how it may be about this god, but honidlo is neuter in form, and the name of a tool, it must have been gonidlo in Polish, and totally unconnected with eynal, heynal (see Suppl.). We saw that the rising sun uttered a joyful sound, joyful sound, p. 741-2 that the rustling dawn laughed, p. 747; this agrees with the oft-repeated sentiment, that the day brings bliss, the night sorrow. We say, 'happy as the day,' and Shaksp. ‘jocund day'; Reinolt von der Lippe'er verblîde als der dag'; MS. 2, 192 of departing day, 'der tac sîn wunne verlât.' Especially do birds express their joy at the approach of day: 'gæst inne swæf oþþæt hræfn blâca heofenes wynne blid-heort bodôde,' Beow. 3598; the heaven's bliss that the raven blithe-hearted announces is the breaking day. 'I am as glad as the hawks that dewy-faced behold the dawn (dögglitir dagsbrún sid),' Sæm. 167b; nu verðr hann svâ feginn, sem fugl degi,' Vilk. saga, cap. 39, p. 94; Horn was as fain o’ fight as is the foule of the light when it ginneth dawe,' Horn and Rimen. 64, p. 307; 'ich warte der frouwen mîn, reht als des tages diu kleinen vogellîn,' MS. 1, 51a; 'fröit sich mîn gemüete, sam diu kleinen vogellîn, sô si sehent den morgenschin,' MS. 2, 102. Hence the multitude of poetic set-phrases that typify the break of day by the song of cocks (han-krât) or nightingales. Biarkamâl near the beginning: dagr er upp kominn, dynja hana fiaðrar,' cocks' feathers make a din. ́à la mañana, quando los gallos cantaran,' Cid 317. 'li coc cantoient, pres fu del esclairier.' 'l'aube est percie, sesclere la jornee, cil oisellon chantent en la ramee.' 'biz des morgens vruo, daz diu nahtigal rief,' En. 12545 (see Suppl.). Night is represented as swift, overtaking, taking unawares, foǹ vúğ, Il. 10, 394, for does not she drive a chariot? She falls or sinks from heaven, 'la nuit tombe, nuit tombante, à la tombée de la nuit;' she bricht ein (breaks or bursts in, down), whereas day bricht an (on, forth); she gathers all at once, she surprises. In 1 Jungmann 1, 670. 724. Hanusch pp. 369-70. In the same Matth. 14, 15, where the Vulg. has 'hora jam praeteriit,' Luther Germanizes it into 'die nacht fällt daher' (on, apace); and O. Germ. already used the verbs ana gân, fallan in this sense: âband unsih ana geit, ther dag ist sînes sindes, O. v. 10, 8. in ane gåenda naht, N. Bth. 31. der åbent begunde ane gân, Mar. 171. schiere viel dô diu naht an, Roth. 2653. dô diu naht ane gie, Er. 3108. unz daz der âbent ane gie, Flore 3468. Ls. 1, 314. Wigal. 1927. 6693. als der åbent ane gêt, Wigal. 4763. biz daz der åbent ane lac, Ls. 1, 243. diu naht diu gât mich an, Wolfd. 1174. diu naht get uns vaste zuo, Livl. chron. 5078. way sigen (sink): dô der âbent zuo seic, Diut. 3, 68. alsô iz zuo deme âbande seic 3, 70. nû seig ouch der åbent zuo, Frauend. 95, 20. diu naht begunde zuo sigen, Rab. 102. begunde sigen an, 367. dô diu naht zuo seic, Dietr. 62b. diu naht siget an, Ecke 106. der åbent seic ie nâher, Gudr. 878, 1. ze tal diu sunne was genigen, und der âbent zuo gesigen, Diut. 351, diu naht begunde sigen an, Mor. 1620. 3963.1 diu tageweide diu wil hin (the day's delight it will away), der âbent siget vaste zuo, Amgb. 2a. der tach is ouch an uns gewant, uns sîget der âvent in die hant, Ssp. pref. 193. in der sinkenden naht, Cornel. releg., Magd. 1605, F. 5a. in sinklichter nacht, Schoch stud. D. 4a. And we still say 'till sinking night.' Much the same are: nû der âbent, diu naht zuo geflôz (came flowing up), Troj. 13676. 10499. AS. 'æfen com sigeltorht swungen,' Andr. 1246.-But this setting in, gathering, falling can also come softly, secretly, like a thief: diu naht begunde slichen an (creep on), Dietr. 68. nû was diu naht geslichen gar über daz gevilde (fields), Christoph. 413. do nû diu naht her sleich, und diu vinster in begreif (darkness caught him) 376: sô thiu naht bifêng, Hel. 129, 16. dô begreif in die nacht, Flörsheim chron. in Münch 3, 188. wie mich die nacht begrif, Simplic. 1, 18. hett mich die nacht schon begriffen, Götz v. Berl. p. m. 164. In MHG. we find predicated of night 'ez benemen,' to carry off (the light? the victory?): unz inz diu naht benam, Gudr. 879, 1. ne hete iz in diu naht benomen, Diut. 3, 81 (conf. Gramm. 4, 334). Hroswitha says, in Fides et spes: dies abiit, nox incumbit.' 1 Both times' segen' in text; if sigen an (vincere) were meant, we should ex. pect the word day in the dative. 2 Goethe says sweetly: For Evening now the earth was rocking, And on the mountains hung the Night. Clearly in many of these expressions Night is regarded as a hostile, evil power, in contrast to the kindly character of Day, who in tranquil ease climbs slowly up above the mountains; hence night is as leisurely about ending, as she is quick in setting in : 'diu naht gemechlich ende nam,' slowly the night took ending, Frauend. 206, 21. 'Night is no man's friend' says the proverb, as though she were a demon (see Suppl.). Between Day and Night there is perennial strife. Night does not rule till day has given up the contest: 'unz der tac liez sînen strit,' Parz. 423, 15. der tac nam ein ende, diu naht den sige gewan,' the victory won, Wolfd. 2025. dô der tac verquam, und diu naht daz lieht nam,' En. 7866. Nû begunde ouch strûchen der tac, daz sîn schîn vil nâch gelac, unt daz man durch diu wolken sach, des man der naht ze boten jach, manegen stern der balde gienc, wand er der naht herberge vienc. Nâch der naht baniere kom sie selbe schiere.' In this pleasing description the stars of evening precede the Night herself, as pioneers and standard-bearing heralds, just as the morning star was messenger of Day.2 On p. 742 we had a sunrise taken from the Titurel; a description of failing day, which immediately precedes, deserves to stand here too : Dô diu naht zuo slichen durch nieman wolte lâzen, und ir der tac entwîchen muoste, er fuor sâ wester hin die strâzen, dô kund' er sich von ôrient ûf winden.3 Earth devours the departing day (see Suppl.). I find the older poets dwelling more on the sense of gloominess : 1 The Day 'gan founder then and fall, and much was shent his wonted sheen, till thro' the clouds might they be seen, whom couriers of the Night we call, full many a star that fleetly fares, and harbourage for her prepares. Next her banners, soon Night herself came on. 2 Lucifer interea praeco scandebat Olympo, Walthar. 1188. Lucifer ducebat diem, Aen. 2, 801. Evening is called in Sanskr.rajanîmukha, night's mouth, which reminds one of 'Hella's mouth:' so is morning ahamukha, day's mouth. Bopp's gloss. 27a, 284b. 3 Then Night came creeping on, for no man would she stay, and Day must needs be gone, retreating down the western way; the earth devouring him thou see'st, until that he might from her flee, then could he hoist him up from east. vig oppvain the dusky, in Homer. 'thô warth âband cuman, naht mid neflu,' Hel. 170, 25. 'die finstere ragende nacht,' gloomy lowring (jutting), Schreckensgast, Ingolst. 1590, p. 114. die eitele und finstere nacht,' Kornmann's Mons Ven. 329. nipende niht,' Beow. 1088. 1291, conf. genip (caligo). 'scaduhelm,' Beow. 1293. 'nihthelm geswearc deorc ofer dryhtguman' 3576. nihthelm tô glâd,' Andr. 123. El. 78: to her, as a goddess, is ascribed, quite in the spirit of our olden time, a terrible and fearful helmet, like a cloak-of-darkness, niht helmade' (put on her helmet) we are told in Andr. 1306. Still finer perhaps is that 'eye of black night,' KeλaivĤs VUKTòs oupa in Aeschylus (Pers. 428) for thick darkness as opposed to the bright eye of night, the moon, p. 702 (see Suppl.).1 The poetic images I have here collected remove all doubt as to Day and Night having been in the remotest antiquity both alive and divine. But the sentiment must very early have lost some of its hold over the Teutons, from the time they laid aside that name for day, which of itself bespoke his kinship with the gods. Reckoning by nights instead of days does indeed rest on the observance of lunar time (p. 708), but may have another reason too, the same that prompted men to count winters and not summers. The heathens used to fix their holy festivals for, or prolong them into, the night, especially those of the summer and winter solstices, as we see by the Midsummer and Christmas fires; the fires of Easter and May also bear witness to festal nights. The Anglo-Saxons kept a hærfestniht (ON. haustnôtt, haustgrîma), the Scandinavians a hökunôtt (F. Magn. Lex. 1021). Beda in his De temp. rat. cap. 13 has preserved a notable piece of information, though its full meaning is beyond our ken: 'Incipiebant annum (antiqui Anglorum populi) ab octavo cal. Jan. die, ubi nunc natale Domini celebramus; et ipsam noctem, nunc nobis sacrosanctam, tunc gentili vocabulo modranecht (môdra niht),2 i.e. matrum noctem appellabant ob causam, ut suspicamur, ceremoniarum quas in ea pervigiles agebant.' Who were these mothers? Images now familiar to us, about quenching the lamps of day, I have not met with in the old poets; but the night burns her tapers too. Shaksp. describes the end of night by night's candles are burnt,' Rom. & J. 3, 5. 2 Afzelius 1, 4. 13 has no right to speak of a modernatt, which is not founded on Norse docs., but simply borrowed from Beda. [Can 'môdre niht' have meant 'muntere nacht,' wakeful night? conf. ' pervigiles.'] CHAPTER XXIV. SUMMER AND WINTER. The Seasons, which, like day and night, depended on the nearness or distance of the sun, have maintained their personality a great deal more vigorously and distinctly. Their slow revolution goes on with a measured stateliness, while the frequent change of day and night soon effaced the recollection of their having once been gods. Day and night resemble summer and winter in another point, viz. that the break of day and the arrival of summer are greeted with joyful songs by the birds, who mourn in silence during night and winter. Hence the Eddic kenningar of gleði fugla (laetitia volucrum) for summer, and sût ok stríð fugla (dolor et angor avium) for winter. This sympathy of nature finds utterance no end of times in the lays of our minnesingers (see Suppl.). The olden time seems at first to have recognised only two seasons in the year, afterwards three, and lastly four. To this the very names bear witness. Our jahr, Goth. jêr, OHG. jâr, M. Nethl. jaer, OS. gêr, AS. gear, Engl. year, ON. âr, is plainly the Pol. iar, iaro, Boh. gar, garo, which signify spring.1 In the same way the Slavic leto, lieto, liato, strictly summer, and seemingly akin to our lenz, OHG. lenzo, lengiz, MHG. lenze, lengez, AS. lencten, lengten (lent, spring) has come by degrees to cover the whole year. Thus both jâr and lèto mean the warmer season (spring or summer); and southern nations reckoned by them, as the northern did by winters. Ulphilas renders ětos by jêr, and eviavτós either by aþn, Gal. 4, 10, or atapni, John 18, 13, a word that has died out of our language everywhere else, but still lingers in the Gothic names Athanagildus, Athanaricus (Apnagilds, Apnareiks); it seems 1 The Pol. iar looks like čap, but this is understood to be for Féap, Féoap, Lat. ver for verer, veser, closely conn. with Lith. wasara (aestas) and Sanskr. vasanta, Benfey 1, 309. Of the same root seems the Slav. vesna, wiosna (spring), but hardly the ON. vâsaðr, which means sharp winter. |