TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

IKMIN. IKING. 361
habere desideratis, et nos vobis non sufficimus, Ericum, quondam
regem vestrum, nos unanirnes in collegium nostrum asciscimus, 1 ut
sit units de numero deorum. I have transcribed the whole passage,
because it aptly expresses the attitude of the pagan party, and the
lukewarmness already prevailing towards their religion
: the
heathen priests thought of adding a fresh hero to their throng of
gods. 2 This seems to exclude all later Erics from any claim to the
Eriksgata ; probably there were mixed up even then, at least in
Kimbert s mind, traditions of a divine Erik.
It can no longer remain doubtful now, what god or divine hero
lies hidden in this Erik. I had at one time thought of Er (Mars),
because the form Erctag is met with a few times for Ertag (p. 124),
but the short vowel in Er, and the long one in Irinc, Eirikr, are
enough to warn us off . Instead of Eriksgata we also meet with
Riksgata, and this points decidedly to Rigr, the earthly name of
the god Heimdallr, who in the Edda walks the green roads (groenar
brautir) of earth, to beget the three races of men. In the green
earthly roads are mirrored the white and shining paths of
3 heaven.
Then the problem started on p. 234, whether the ON. form Rigr
arose out of Iringr by aphaeresis and syncope, now finds a solution
approaching to certainty. Heimdallr dwells in Himinbiorg on the
quaking roost (Bifrost), the rainbow, which is the bridge or path by
which the gods descend from heaven to earth. The rainbow is the
celestial ring, as the galaxy is the celestial road, and Heimdallr
keeper of that road, Heimdallr is Elgr = Iring, walking the earth
and translated to the skies ; now we comprehend, why there lived
among the nations many a various tale of Eriksgata, Iringesivec,
Iringesstrdza, and was shifted now to one and now to the other
celestial phenomenon. Iring, through luwaring, borders on Ebur-
drung the old name of Orion (see SuppL). And if our heroic
legend associates Irmenfrit, i.e., Irmin with Iring, and Irinin-street
alternates with Iring-street, then in the god-myth also, there must
have existed points of contact between Irmin = OSinn and Iring =
Heimdallr: well, Heimdallr was a son of Oolnn, and the Welsh milky
way was actually named after Gwydion, i.e., Woden. From the
Irminsul four roads branched out across the country, Eriksgata
1 So king Hakon is admitted into the society of gods, HermotSr and Bragi
go to meet him : siti Hakon meS heio in goS a (Hakoiiarmal).
Dahlmann guesses it may be the Upsal Erik (d. 804).
3 Altd. blatter 1, 372-3.