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PHASES OF THE MOON. 711
part to nymane, nyrnaane, whereby the old ned, nsd }
has become
superfluous, and the meaning of ny somewhat modified. 1
Though the OHG. remains do not offer us a neuter niuwi* such
a form may have existed, to match the Norse ny, seeing that the
Miilhausen statute of the 13th cent. (Grasshof p. 252),in granting
the stranger that would settle in the town a month s time for the
attempt, says ein nuwe und ein wedil, daz sint vier wochin ;
that Martin von Amberg s Beichtspiegel has
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das vol und das
neu, Dasypodius still later das newe, interluniurn/ and Tobler
331 bf das neu, der wachsende mond. For the waning moon,
Tobler 404b gives nid si gehender (going down)/ which reminds
one of niff; otherwise der schwined mo/ OHG. f diu sumenta
manin/ N. ps. 88, 38, its opposite being
<
diu folia (see Suppl.).
I have yet to bring forward another expression of wide range
and presumably old, which is used by turns for one and another
phase of the moon s light, oftenest for plenilunium, but some
times also for interlunium : MHG. wedel : im was unkunt des
manen wedel/ Martina 181 C
; NHG. wadel, wadel, but more among
the common folk and in the chase than in written speech. Pic-
torius 480, Staid. 2, 456, Tobler 441 b have wedel, wadel full-moon,
wddeln to become full-moon, when her horns meet, i.e., when she
completes her circle.
Keisersperg s Postille 138 b : ietz so ist er
niiw, ietz fol, ietz alt, ietz die erst qvart, ietz die ander qvart,
ietz ist es wedel }
; here full-moon and wedel are not so clearly
defined as
on March :
in another passage of
Keisersperg (Oberlin
wan es ist sein wedel, sein volmon. In
1957)
Dasy
podius :
plenilunium, der volmon, wadel. 3 ?} The Germans in
Bohemia commonly use wadel for full-moon, and Schm. 4, 22
produces other notable authorities. But the word is known in
Lower Germany too ; Bohmer s Kantzow p. 266 spells it wadel^
1 Modern Icel. names are : Uany (black new, interlunium) ; prim (nova luna),
also nyqveikt tungl ; hdlfvaxid tungl (first quarter) ; fullt tungl (plenilunium) ;
"halfjyrotid tungl (last quarter). Here too the old names have gone out of use,
4
blany replaces nr5, and prim ny.
2 Notker s Capella 100 has manen niwi fern.
3 Yet under luna he has plenilunium vollmon oder &ruc/*, and the same under
bruch ( = abbruch) a breaking off, falling off, defectus ; which confirms my view,
that we reckon the wane from full-moon itself (Wtb. 2, 408). Ace. to Muchar s
Noricum 2, 36 the waxing and waning moon are called the gesunde and the kranke
man (well and ill).
4 Following Tacitus, he says, the Germani always chose either new or full-moon,
for after the wadel they thought it unlucky. Wadel then comprehends the two phases
of new and full moon, but seems to exclude those of the first and last quarter.
VOL. II. T