August Witzschel, Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Thüringen (Vienna, 1878), p. 275, § 82.
230
W. Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren (Vienna and Olmutz, 1893), p. 265; K. Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg, ii. p. 285, § 1431, p. 288, § 1439; J. Napier, Folk-lore, or Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland (Paisley, 1879), p. 125.
231
A. Kuhn, Märkische Sagen und Märchen (Berlin, 1843), p. 330. As to the divining-rod in general, see A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks2 (Gütersloh, 1886), pp. 181 sqq.; J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 ii. 813 sqq.; S. Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages (London, 1884), pp. 55 sqq. Kuhn plausibly suggests that the forked shape of the divining-rod is a rude representation of the human form. He compares the shape and magic properties of mandragora.
232
F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), i. 296 sq.
233
E. Krause, “Abergläubische Kuren und sonstiger Aberglaube in Berlin und nächster Umgebung,” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, xv. (1883) p. 89.
234
J. N. Ritter von Alpenburg, Mythen und Sagen Tirols (Zurich, 1857), p. 393.
235
Karl Freiherr von Leoprechting, Aus dem Lechrain (Munich, 1855), p. 98. Some people in Swabia say that the hazel branch which is to serve as a divining-rod should be cut at midnight on Good Friday, and that it should be laid on the altar and mass said over it. If that is done, we are told that a Protestant can use it to quite as good effect as a Catholic. See E. Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 244 sq., No. 268. Some of the Wends of the Spreewald agree that the divining-rod should be made of hazel-wood, and they say that it ought to be wrapt in swaddling-bands, laid on a white plate, and baptized on Easter Saturday. Many of them, however, think that it should be made of “yellow willow.” See Wilibald von Schulenburg, Wendische Volkssagen und Gebräuche aus dem Spreewald (Leipsic, 1880), pp. 204 sq. A remarkable property of the hazel in the opinion of Bavarian peasants is that it is never struck by lightning; this immunity it has enjoyed ever since the day when it protected the Mother of God against a thunderstorm on her flight into Egypt. See Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern, i. (Munich, 1860) p. 371.
236
J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 iii. 289, referring to Dybeck's Runa, 1844, p. 22, and 1845, p. 80.
237
L. Lloyd, Peasant Life in Sweden (London, 1870), pp. 266 sq.
238
Heinrich Pröhle, Harzsagen (Leipsic, 1859), i. 99, No. 23.
239
J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 ii. 812 sq., iii. 289; A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks2 (Gütersloh, 1886), pp. 188-193; Walter K. Kelly, Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore (London, 1863), pp. 174-178; J. F. L. Woeste, Volksüberlieferungen in der Grafschaft Mark (Iserlohn, 1848), p. 44; A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (Leipsic, 1848), p. 459, No. 444; Ernst Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 240 sq., No. 265; C. Russwurm, “Aberglaube in Russland,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iv. (Göttingen, 1859) p. 153; J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren (Prague and Leipsic, 1864), p. 88, No. 623; Paul Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), ii. 207 sq. In Swabia some people say that the bird which brings the springwort is not the woodpecker but the hoopoe (E. Meier, op. cit. p. 240). Others associate the springwort with other birds. See H. Pröhle, Harzsagen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 116, No. 308; A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers,2 p. 190. It is from its power of springing or bursting open all doors and locks that the springwort derives its name (German Springwurzel).
240
Pliny, Nat. Hist. x. 40.
241
Ernst Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 238 sq., No. 264.
Le Baron de Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Calendrier Belge (Brussels, 1861-1862), i. 423 sq.
244
Anton Birlinger, Völksthumliches aus Schwaben, Freiburg im Breisgau, (1861-1862), i. 278, § 437.
245
Robert Eisel, Sagenbuch des Voigtlandes (Gera, 1871), p. 210, Nr. 551.
246
W. J. A. von Tettau und J. D. H. Temme, Die Volkssagen Ostpreussens, Litthauens und Westpreussens (Berlin, 1837), pp. 263 sq.
247
F. S. Krauss, Volksglaube und religiöser Brauch der Südslaven (Münster i. W., 1890), p. 128.
248
Pliny derives the name Druid from the Greek drus, “oak.” He did not know that the Celtic word for oak was the same (daur), and that therefore Druid, in the sense of priest of the oak, might be genuine Celtic, not borrowed from the Greek. This etymology is accepted by some modern scholars. See G. Curtius, Grundzüge der Griechischen Etymologie5 (Leipsic, 1879), pp. 238 sq.; A. Vaniček, Griechisch-Lateinisch Etymologisches Wörterbuch (Leipsic, 1877), pp. 368 sqq.; (Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Heathendom (London and Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 221 sqq. However, this derivation is disputed by other scholars, who prefer to derive the name from a word meaning knowledge or wisdom, so that Druid would mean “wizard” or “magician.” See J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 iii. 305; Otto Schrader, Reallexikon der Indogermanischen Altertumskunde (Strasburg, 1901), pp. 638 sq.; H. D'Arbois de Jubainville, Les Druides et les Dieux Celtiques à forme d'animaux (Paris, 1906), pp. 1, 11, 83 sqq. The last-mentioned scholar formerly held that the etymology of Druid was unknown. See his Cours de Littérature Celtique, i. (Paris, 1883) pp. 117-127.
249
Pliny, Nat. Hist. xvi. 249-251. In the first edition of this book I understood Pliny to say that the Druidical ceremony of cutting the mistletoe fell in the sixth month, that is, in June; and hence I argued that it probably formed part of the midsummer festival. But in accordance with Latin usage the words of Pliny (sexta luna, literally “sixth moon”) can only mean “the sixth day of the month.” I have to thank my friend Mr. W. Warde Fowler for courteously pointing out my mistake to me. Compare my note in the Athenaeum, November 21st, 1891, p. 687. I also misunderstood Pliny's words, “et saeculi post tricesimum annum, quia jam virium abunde habeat nec sit sui dimidia,” applying them to the tree instead of to the moon, to which they really refer. After saeculi we must understand principium from the
