TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

32 WORSHIP.
God, but to all whom one wished to honour : neig im uf den fuoz,
Morolt 41 b . hie viel sie uf sinen vuoz, Iw. 8130. ouch nige ich ir
unz uf den fuoz, MS. 1, 155 a . valle fiir si (fall before her), und nige
uf ir fuoz, MS. 1, 54 a . buten sich (bowed) weinende uf sinen vuoz,
Greg. 355. neig im nider uf die hant, Dietr. 55 b . These passages show
that people fell before the feet, and at the feet, of him who was to
be reverenced : wilt fallan te minun fotun, bedos te minun barma,
Hel. 33, 7. sich bot ze tal (bowed to the ground) gein sinen fuezen
nieder, Wh. 463, 2. 1 An 0. Boh. song has : sie klanieti bohu, to
bow before God, Koniginh. hs. 72 ; but the same has also the un-
Teutonic se Uti w celo prede bohy, to beat one s brow before God. 2
Uncovering the head (see Suppl.) certainly was from of old a token
of respect with our ancestors, which, like bowing, was shown to
deity as well as to kings and chiefs. Perhaps the priests, at least
those of the Goths, formed an exception to this, as their name pile-
ati is thus accounted for by Jornandes, qui&.opertis capitibus tiaris
litabant, while the rest of the people stood uncovered. In a
survival of heathenish harvest-customs we shall find this uncover
ing further established, ch. VII. In Nicolai Magni de Gow
registrum superstitionum (of 1415) it is said : Insuper hodie
inveniuntur homines, qui cum novilunium priino viderint flexis
gcnibus adorant vel deposito caputio vel pileo, inclinato capite
honorant alloquendo et suscipiendo. 3 An AS. legend of Cuftberht
relates how that saint was wont to go down to the sea at
1
Fial in sine fuazi, 0. III. 10, 27. an sine fiieze, Karl 14b . The Chris
tians in the Mid. Ages called it venie fallen, Parz. 460, 10. Karl 104*. Berth.
173. Ksrchr. 2958. 3055. Kneeling and kissing the ground, to obtain abso
lution : da er uf siner venie lac (lay), Barl. 366, 21. den anger maz mit der langen
venie, Frib. Trist. 2095. venien suoclien, MS. 1, 23b . Morolt. 28a . Troj.
9300. terrae osculationibus, quas venias appellant, Fez. bibl. ascet. 8, 440. gie
ze kirchen und banekte (prostrated ze ?) gote siniu glider mit venien und gebet,
Cod. kolocz. 180.
2 The tchelo-bitnaya, beating of the forehead in presenting a petition, was
prohibited in Russia by Catherine II. Conf. pronis vultibus adorare, Helmold
1, 38.
3 What else I have collected about this practice, may be inserted here :
elevato a capite pileo alloquitur seniorem, Dietm. Merseb. p. 824 (an. 1012).
sublata cydare surgens inclinat honeste, Ruodlieb 2, 93. Odofredus in I.
secundo loco digest, de postulando : Or signori, hie colligimus argumentum,
quod aliquis quando veniet coram magistratu debet ei revereri, quod est contra
Ferrarienses, qui, si essent coram Deo, non extraherent sibi capellum vel birretum
de capite, nee flexis genibus postularent. Pilleus in capite est, Isengrimus 1139.
oster la chape (in saluting), Meon 4, 261. gelupfet den huot, Ms H. 3,330.
sinen huot er abenam, hiemit eret er in also, Wigal. 1436. er z6di durch sin
hubscheit den huot gezogenlichen abe, Troj. 1775. do stuont er uf geswinde