Hence in Norse he is called the _one-handed_ god, as Oþinn is the _one-eyed_. The Teutonic gods, unlike the Indian, have not a superfluity, but on the contrary sometimes a lack, of limbs. It is otherwise with their horses, etc. Footnote 659: Hist. Goth. cap. v. Footnote 660: Bell. Goth. ii. 15. Footnote 661: Grimm, D. Myth. p. 179. Footnote 662: Hist. iv. 64. Footnote 663: Deut. Myth. pp. 180, 181. ----- The Anglosaxon runic alphabet, which in several letters recalls the names or attributes of the ancient gods, uses Tír for T: the German runes wanting a Z = T, apply Ziu: there is however another rune, similar in shape to the runic T, but having the power of EA; this bears the name of Ear, but sometimes also in MSS. that of Tír: there are etymological grounds on which the word Tír, _gloria_, must be connected with Tíw, and we are hence led to the supposition that Ear may have been another name for that god. This gains a great importance when we bear in mind that in some parts of south Germany, the third day of the week is called, not Zistag, but Ertag, Eritag, Erichtag, for which we should indeed have expected Erestag: and when we find in Saxon Westphalia an undeniably heathen spot called Eresburg, _Mons Martis_, now Mersberg, i. e. Eresberg, the hill of Er, Ziu or Mars. Now the Anglosaxon poem on the runic characters has something to tell us of Ear. It says of him, Ear bið égle eorla gehwylcum, ðonne fæstlíce flǽsc onginneð hrá cólian, hrúsan ceósan blác to gebeddan. Blǽda gedréosað, wynna gewítað, wera geswícað[664]. that is, “Ear is a terror to every man, when fast the flesh, the corpse beginneth to become cold and pale to seek the earth for a consort. Joy faileth, pleasure departeth, engagements cease.” It is clear that Ear, _spica_, _arista_, will not explain this, and we may believe that our forefathers contemplated the personal intervention of some deity whose contact was death. This may have been Tíw or Ear, especially in the battle-field, and here he would be equivalent to the Ἄρης βροτολοιγός μιαιφόνος of Homer. ----- Footnote 664: On the Runes of the Anglosaxons, by J. M. Kemble. Archaeologia, vol. xxviii. -----