TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

EIGIL. WITICHO. WATE. WIELANT. 377
deep (between Zealand, Falster and Moen) ; the Danish hero Wate
in Gudrun is identical with him ; the AS. Wada is placed toward
Helsingen. Old English poetry had much to tell of him, that is
now lost : Chaucer names *
Wades boot Guingelot, and a place in
Northumberland is called Wade s gap ; Wsetlingestret could only
be brought into connexion with him, if such a spelling as
Wsedling could be made good. Now, that son, whom Vadi carried
through the sea to apprentice him to those cunning smiths the
dwarfs, was Wielant, AS. Weland, Welond, ON. Volundr, but in
the Vilk. saga Velint, master of all smiths, and wedded to a swan-
maiden Hervor -alvitr. The rightful owner of the boat, which
English tradition ascribes to Wada, seems to have been Wieland ;
the Vilk. saga tells how he timbered a boat out of the trunk of a
tree, and sailed over seas. Lamed in the sinews of his foot, he
forged for himself a winged garment, and took his flight through
the air. His skill is praised on all occasions, and his name coupled
with every costly jewel, Vilk. saga cap. 24. Witeche, the son he
had by Baduhilt, bore a hammer and tongs in his scutcheon in
honour of his father ; during the Mid. Ages his memory lasted
among smiths, whose workshops were styled Wieland s houses, 1 and
perhaps his likeness was set up or painted outside them; the
ON. Volundar hus translates the Latin labyrinth; a host of
similar associations must in olden times have been generally
diffused, as we learn from the names of places : Welantes gruoba
(pit), MB. 13, 59 ; Widantes heim, MB. 28 a , 93 (an. 889) ; Wielan-
tis dorf, MB. 29, 54 (an. 1246) ; Widantes tanna (firs), MB. 28 b ,
188. 471 (an. 1280) ; Wielandes brunne, MB. 31, 41 (an. 817).
The multiplication of such names during long centuries does not
admit of their being derived from human inhabitants. The Dan.
Velandsuit (-wort), Icel. Velantsurt, is the valerian, and according to
Staid. 2, 450 Wielandbeett the daphne cneorum. Tradition would
doubtless extend Wieland s dexterity to Wittich and to Wate, who
also gets the credit of the boat, and in the Gudrun-lay of the
healing art. In Sasm. 270a , bcekur ofnar volundom are stragula
artificiose contexta, and any artist might be called a volundr or
wielant. A gorgeous coat of mail (hrsegel, OHG. hregil) is in Beow.
904 Welandes geweorc. JElfred in Boeth. 2, ;7 translates fidelis
1 Juxta donrnm Welandi fabri, Ch. ad arm. 1262 in Lang s reg. 3, 181 :
conf. Haupts zeitschr. 2, 248. I find also Witigo faber, MB. 7, 122.