TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

228 PALTAR.
to the ordinary F which corresponds to the Saxon F, but rather to .
be an aspirate which, answering to the Saxon tenuis P, represents
an Old-Aryan media B. But we know that a Saxon initial P=OHG.
Ph is found almost exclusively in foreign words 1
(porta, phorta ;
putti, phuzi ; peda, pheit) ; it follows that for Phol, in case the Sax.
form Pol is really made out, we must either look for such a foreign
P, or as a rare exception, in which the law of consonant-change
does assert itself, an Old- Aryan B. I incline to this last hypothesis,
and connect Phol and Pol (whose o may very well have sprung
from a) with the Celtic Bcal, Beul, Bel, Bdcmis, a divinity of light
or fire, the Slav. Bielboyh, Belloyh (white-god), the adj. biel, bel
(albus), Lith. baltas, which last with its extension T makes it pro
bable that Basldaeg and Baldr are of the same root, but have not
undergone consonant-change.
Phol and Paltar therefore are in their
beginning one, but reveal to us two divergent historical develop
ments of the same word, arid a not unimportant difference in the
of the several Teutonic races. 2
mythology
So far as we can see, the god was worshipped under the name
of Phol chiefly by the Thuringians and Bavarians, i.e. according to
ancient nomenclature the Hermunduri and Marcomanni, yet they
seem to have also known his other name Paltar or Balder, while
1 That is, really borrowed words, as port, paternal, palace, in which the Low
Germ, makes no change (like that in filth, father), and therefore the High
Germ, stands only one stage instead of two in advance of Latin : Pforte, Pi ul/,
<&c. Such
words stand outside the rule of consonant-change. TRANS.
2 I have thus far gone on the assumption that Phol and Balder in the
Merseberg spell designate one and the same divine being, which is strongly
supported by the analogy I have pointed out between Pholesouwa and Baldrshagl,
Pholesbrunno and Baldrsbrunnr and his cultus must have been ;
very familiar
to the people, for the poem to be able to name him by different names in suc
cession, without fear of being misunderstood. Else one might suppose by the
names, that Phol and Balder were two different gods, and there would be
plenty of room left for the question, who can possibly be meant by Phol ? If
PH could here represent V = W, which is contrary -to all analogy, and is almost
put out of court by the persistent PH, PF in all those names of places ; then
we might try the ON. Ullr, Ollerus in Saxo, p. 45, which (like nil, OHG. wolla,
wool) would be in OHG. Wol, so that Wol endi \\6dan (Ullr ok OSinn)]
made a perfect alliteration. And Ullr was connected with Baldr, who in Stem.
93 a is called Ullar sen, sib to U., Ulli cognatus (see Suppl.). But the gen.
would have to be Wolles, and that is contradicted by the invariably single L
in Pholes. The same reason is conclusive against Wackernagel s proposal to
take Fol for the god of fulness and plenty, by the side of the goddess Folia ;
think the weak form Folio would be demanded for it by an OHG. Pilnitis ;
Haupts zeitschr. 2, 190. Still more does the internal consistency of the song
itself require the identity of Phol and Balder ; it would be odd for Phol to be
named at the beginning, and no further notice to be taken of him.
I
v.