TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL. IV

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HERBS AND STONES. 1677
p. 1200,] Madelger isfc aiu gut crut wurtz. swer si grabn wil,
del" grub si au Sant JoLans tag ze .suu-bendcii (solstice) an dem
abeut, uud beswer si also dri-stuud (adjure it o times thus): ' Icli
beswer dich, Madelger, Aiii luartz so her, Ich manen dich des
geliaiz deu dir Sant Pcffrns gehiez, Do er sineit, stab dri-stund
durch dich stiez, Der dich usgrub Und dich haiiu trug : Wen er mifc
dir umb-fauht (whom he with thee begirds), ez sy fraw oder man,
Der mug ez in lieb oder in minn nimer gelaun. In Gotz namen,
Amen.' wihe si mit andern crutern. Kriiuter-heilkunde (yr
1400) in the Giessen Papierhs. no. 992, bl. 143.
p. 1211.] Fern, bracken. Gt. irrepi'^ fr. its feathery foliage.*
Lat.jilij', it. felce, Sp. helecho, Fr. foitijcre. Filix herba, palmes
Mercurii (Suppl. to 159) ; filicina, filix minuta, AS. eofor-fearn.
Celt, rati'i, Wei. rJtedyn, Bret, raden, Ir. vaifh, raithneach, Gael.
raineach (conf, reiuefano), Pott 2, 102. Adelung's Mithr. 2, 68
from Marcell. c. 25 (Kl. schr. 2, 123). Finn. sana-ijaJ'ka (wordfoot),
Eeth. sona-ijahj, Bocler's Abergl. gebr. d. Esten 144.
Lith. bit-hresJe (bee's chair) = tauacetum vulg., Nesselm. 226.
331. Serv. pouratish, tansy, tauacetum crispum (fr. povratiti,
to turn back ? ON. bnrhni, filix, polypodium, Swed.
hraken, Vesterb. fraken, Dan. bregne. Again, ON. einsta2)i,
Jonsson's Oldn. ordboc, Norw. einstabbe, einstapc, Aasen 79'\
Nemuich sub v. pteris. Swed. ormbunke. Den wilden varm
treten, Parz. 444, 7. 458, 17 ; latentis odii filix excrevit, Dietmar
in Pertz 5, 736 ; file.v iniquitatis exaruit 5, 742. Fernseed makes
invisible. Wolf's Ztschr. 2, 30 : we have the receipt of fernseed,
we walk invisible, 1 Henry IV. 2, 1 ; Swed. osynlighets gras.
As fernseed in Conrad is thrown to the shad (schaid-visch,
Beheim 281, 28), so bugloss, which is said to blind all animals
born blind, is scattered to fishes, Kudl. 12, 13. 1'', 28. 32—48.
After walking naked to the cross-roads and spreading out a
pockethandkerchief, one expects fernseed, Zehn ehen 235.
Christmas ni^ht, high and low used to walk in the fernseed
there you might wish for anything in the world, the devil had to
bring it. The Wend, volksl. 2, 271" makes it blossom at Midsummer
noon : get hold of the blossom, and all the treasures of
On
* So, from the Slav. par-Ri, to dy, peri'i, wing, feather, Hehn derives not only the
redupl. Slav, and Lith. pa-part, pa-prat, but the Teut. farn and even the Celt, ratis
which stands (more Celtico) for pratis. Hehn's Plants and Anim. p. 484.—Thansl.
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