TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

PRAYER. 33
night, and standing up to his neck in the briny breakers, to sing his
prayers, and afterwards to kneel down on the shingles, with palms
stretched out to the firmament. 1
Lifting up and folding of the
hands (sne Suppl.) was also practised to a master, particularly to a
feudal lord. In Ls. 3, 78 we have bat mit zertdnen armen prayed
with outspread arms. The Old Bavarian stapfsaken (denial of
indebtedness) was accompanied by elevation of the hands, EA. 927
(see Suppl.). It is not impossible that the Christian converts
retained some heathen customs in praying. In a manuscript, pro
bably of the 12th century, the prayers are to be accompanied by
some curious actions: so miz (measure) den ubir dinherza in modum
crucis, unde von dem brustleffile zuo demo nabile, unde miz denne von
eime rippe unz an daz andire, unde sprich alsus. : Again so miz
denne die rehtun hant von deme lengistin vingire unz an daz resti
(wrist),
unde miz denne von deme dumin zuo deme minnisten vin
gire. One prayer was called der vane (flag) des almehtigin gotis ;
nine women are to read it nine Sundays, so ez morginet ; the
ninth has to read the psalm Domini est terra, in such a posture
daz ir lib niet ruore die erde, wan die ellebogin unde diit, chnie
that her body touch not the ground, except at the elbows and knees;
the others are all to stand till the lighted candle has burnt out ;
Diut. 2, 292-3.
We cannot now attach any definite meaning to the Gothic
aviliudon ev^apiaTelv ; it is formed from aviliud %?, which
resembles an O. Sax. alat, olat gratiae ; does it contain liuS cantus,
and was there moreover something heathenish about it? (See
Suppl.). The old forms of prayer deserve more careful collecting;
the Norse, which invoke the help of the gods, mostly contain the
gnuoc, ein schapel daz er uf truoc von gimmen und von golde fin, daz nam er ab
dem houpte sin, Troj. 18635. er zucket im sin l^ 8 * feopoft, 3, 35. er was gereit,
daz er von dem houbt den liuot liez vliegen imd sprach, Kolocz. 101. Festus
explains : lucem facere dicuntur Saturno sacrificantes, id est capita detegere;
again : Saturno fit sacrificium capite aperto ; conf. Macrob. Sat. 1, 8. Serv. in
Virg. 3, 407.
1 Waes gewunod Ipset he wolde gan on niht to sae, and standan on ]?am
and siSSan his cneowu
sealtum brimme, 0(5 his swuran, singende his gebedn,
on ]?am.ceosle gebygde, astrehtum handbredum to heofenlicum rodere; Thorpe s
analecta, pp. 76-7. homil. 2. 138. [I have thought it but fair to rescue the
saint from a perilous position in which the German had inadvertently placed
wade into the sea up to his neck, and kneel down to
him by making him "
sing his ". prayers TRANS.]
In the O.Fr. jeu de saint Nicolas, Tervagant
has to be approached on bare elbows and knees ; Legrand fabl. 1, 343.
3