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WIGHTS. 441
MHG-. diu wihtel, 1 MS. 1, 157 a ; boesez wihtel, Elfenm. cxviii. ;
kleinez wihtelin, Ls. 1, 378, 380, Wolfdietr. 788, 799; OHG.
wihteUn penates ; wihtelen vel helbe (i.e. elbe), lemures, dsemones,
Gl. Florian. The dernea wihti, occulti genii, in Hel. 31, 20. 92, 2
are deceitful demonic beings, as f thie derno 164,
19 means
the devil himself; letha ivihti, 76, 15; wreda wiJiti 76, 1. In
Lower Saxony wicht is said, quite in a good sense, of little
children : in the Miinster country dat wiclit holds especially
of girls, about Osnabriick the sing, wiclit only of girls, the pi.
wichter of girls and boys ; innocent wichte are spoken of in
Sastrow, 1, 351. The Mid. Nethl. has a neut. wicht like the
H. German : quade wicht, clene wicht (child). Huyd. op St. 3, 6.
370; arem wiht, Eeinh. 1027; so the Mod. Dutch wicht, pi.
ivwht&ren : arm wicht, aardig wicht, in a kindly sense. The AS.
language agrees with the Gothic as to the fern, gender : wiht,
gen. wihte, nom. pi. wihta; later wuht, wuhte, wuhta; seo wilit,
Cod. Exon. 418, 8. 419, 3. 5. 420, 4. 10. The meaning can be
either concrete :
yfel wiht (phantasma), leas wiht (diabolus),
Cgedm. 310, 16; scewiJit (animal marinum), Beda, 1, 1; or
entirely abstract = thing, affair. The Engl. wight has the sense
of our wicht. The ON. vcett and vcettr, which are likewise fern.,
have preserved in its integrity the notion of a demonic spiritual
being (Saam. 145 a
)
: allar vcettir, genii quicunque, Sa3m. 93 b
;
Sasm. 240b ; ragvcettir or meinvcettir,
hollar vcettir, genii benigni,
genii noxii, 2
landvasttir, genii tutelares, Fornm. sog. 3, 105.
Isl. sog. 1, 198, etc. In the Faroes they say: fear tu tear
til mainvittis (go to the devil) ! Lyngbye,
p.
548. The Danish
vette is a female spirit, a wood-nymph, meinvette an evil spirit,
1 Swer weiz und doch niht wizzen wil, Whoso knows, yet will not know,
der sleet sicli mit sin selbes hant Smites himself with his own ;
hand ;
des wisheit aht ich zeime spil,
His wisdom I value no more than a play
daz man diu wihtel hat genarmt : That they call the little wights :
er lat uns schouwen wunders vil, He lets us witness much of wonder,
der ir da waltet. Who governs them.
The passage shows that in the 13th cent, there was a kind of puppet-show in which
ghostly beings were set before the eyes of spectators. Der ir waltet, he that
wields them, means the showman who puts the figures in motion. A full confir
mation in the Wachtelmare, line 40 : rihtet zu mit den sniieren (strings) die
tatermanne ! Another passage on the wihtel-spil in Haupt s Zeitschr. 2, 60 :
spilt mit dem wihtelin uf dem tisch umb guoten win.
^ Biorn supposes a rnasc.
(fern.?) meinvattr and a neut. meinvtet t i ; no doubt
mein is noxa, malum ; nevertheless I call attention to the Zendic mainyus, daemon,
and agramainyus, da3mon malus.