TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

200 zio.
and AS. alphabets, dag stood for D, Tfjr and Tiw for T, J?orn for ]>,
being the same three words, only in different places ; occasionally
the Anglo-Saxons wrote Tir or Tis. Whenever a list of runes
keeps thorn for Th, and dag for D, it is sure to have Ti for T (as
the Cod. Tsidori paris. and bruxell.) ; so it is in the St Gall cod.
260 and the Brussels 9565, except that dorn is improperly put for
thorn, and tag for dag, but Ti stands correctly opposite T. The
Paris cod. 5239 has dhron (dhorn), tac, Ziu, that of Salzburg dhorn,
Ti, daeg : everywhere the form Ziu shows the High Germ, accepta
tion, and the form Ti (once, in Cod. vatic. Christinae 338, spelt Tu,
perh. Tii) the Low Germ., the Saxon. The u in Ziu seems to be
more archaic than the o of Zio, which has kept pace with the
regular progress of the OHG. dialect, and follows the analogy of
dio, servus ; this relation between u and o may perhaps
be seen
still more in its true light, as we go on. But what is very remark
able, is that in the Vienna cod. 140 the name Tyz is given to T in
an alphabet which uses the Gothic letters, for Tyz comes very near
to our conjectural Goth. Tius. As well the retention as the unavoid
able alterations of this divine name in the runes of the various races,
may be taken as proofs of the antiquity and extent of Zio- worship.
How comes it that no rune has taken its name from \Vuotan or
OSinn, the inventor of writing itself ? K = reiS, rad, i.e., waggon,
may indirectly at least be referred to the god of the Thunder-car ;
and F according to one interpretation signifies Freyr. Anyhow,
TrzTyr appears to have been a supremely honoured symbol, and
the name of this god to have been specially sacred : in scratching
the runes of victory on the sword, the name of Tyr had to be twice
inserted, Seem. 194 b . The shape of the rune ^ has an obvious
resemblance to the old-established symbol of the planet Mars when
set upright -, and an AS. poem on the runes expressly says : tir
bi5 tdcna sum (tir is one of the tokens, is a certain sign) ; where
again the derivative form tir is employed to explain the the simple
Tiw or Ti. Occasionally the poets speak of tire tacnian, to mark
with tir (El. 753. Jud. 137, 18), and tires to tacne, as mark of tir
(Beow. 3306) ; we may expound it as gloria, decore insignire, in
gloriae signum/ and still think of the heathen symbol of the god,
pretty much as we saw it done at the solemn blessing of the alecups
(see Suppl.). 1
1 Conf. note to Elene 155-6.