Notes and Queries, Number 41, August 10, 1850 — John Shaqi
Notes and Queries, Number 41, August 10, 1850Various
History
Notes and Queries, Number 41, August 10, 1850
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
"Upon the corner of the moon,
There hangs a vap'rous drop profound,
I'll catch it ere it come to ground."
In a very excellent note to Dr. Giles' translation of Richard of
Cirencester, p. 432., he adduces the opinion of Dr. Daubeny, of Oxford,
that as the mistletoe is now so rarely found in Europe on oaks, it had
been exterminated with the other druidical rites on the introduction of
Christianity. I am not sufficiently botanist to determine how far it is
possible to destroy the natural habitat of a plant propagated by
extrinsic means, and should be more inclined to account for the
difference then and now by supposing that the Druids may have known the
secret of inoculating a desirable oak with the seeds where birds had not
done so, and practised it when necessary.
P.S. Since writing the above, I recollect that the Latin verse,
"_Ad viscum Druidæ_: Druidæ clamare solebant,"
is frequently quoted from Ovid, sometimes, and that recently, specifying
the Fasti. I need not tell you that it is not to be found there, and I
wish to inquire if any of the numerous readers of your valuable
publication can say where I can meet with it; if classical, it is
another remarkable evidence of the endurance of popular customs to the
present day. In the following quotation from Keyssler's Treatise _de
Visco_, the Anklopferleinstag would be also a noisy demonstration dating
from druidical times, at a period of the year not far removed from the
beginning of November.
"In superiori Germaniæ parte, Marchionatu Onolsbacensi
comprehensa, cujus inolæ plurimas Gentilismi reliquias retinent,
regio ipsa multis Druidum vestigiis abundat, tempore adventus
Christi, sive media Hyeme (am Anklopferleinstag), vulgus per
vias et pagos currit malleisque pulsat fores et fenestras
indesinenter clamans _Gutheyl! Gutheyl!_ Quod quidem non salutem
per Christi adventum partam indicat, quasi diceres: Gut Heyl;
bona salus; multo minus fictitam Sanctam Günthildem, quam
rustici illius tractus miris fabulis ac nugis celebrant, sed
nomen ipsum visci est." {164}
The present popular and only German name of the mistletoe, the parent of
our English denomination, is _Mistel_, which is evidently only
_Meist-heyl_ (most heal, or healing), the superlative of the above
_Gut-heyl_, and both wonderfully agreeing with the name which Pliny says
it bore in his time, _Omnia sanans_.
William Bell, Ph.D.
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
_Folk Lore of South Northamptonshire._--No. 2.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account