Archaic England Part 29

[331] Haslam, Wm., _Perranzabuloe_.

[332] _Ibid._, p. 60.

[333] "Mr. W. Mackenzie, Procurator Fiscal of Cromarty, writes me from Dingwall (10th September, 1917), as follows: 'We are not without some traces and traditions of phallic worship here.

There is a stone in the _Brahan_ Wood which is said to be a "knocking stone". Barren women sat in close contact upon it for the purpose of becoming fertile. It serves the purpose of the mandrake in the East. I have seen the stone. It lies in the Brahan Wood about three miles from Dingwall.'"--Frazer, Sir J. G., quoted from _Folklore_, 1918, p. 219.

[334] Guerber, H. A., _Myths and Legends of the Middle Ages_, p.

219.

[335] Guerber, H. A., _Myths and Legends of the Middle Ages_, p.

221.

[336] "The Brehon laws are the most archaic system of law and jurisprudence of Western Europe. This was the code of the ancient Gaels, or Keltic-speaking Irish, which existed in an unwritten form long before it was brought into harmony with Christian sentiments.... It is impossible to study these laws and the manners and customs of the early Irish, together with their land tenure, and to compare them with the laws of Manu, and with the light thrown on the Aryans of India by the Sanskrit writings without coming to the conclusion that they had a common origin."--Macnamara, N. C., _Origin and Character of the British People_, p. 94.

[337] _Place-names of England and Wales_, p. 406.

[338] Of the Teutonic _Tiw_, Dr. Taylor observes: "This word was used as the name of the Deity by all the Aryan nations. The Sanskrit _deva_, the Greek _theos_, the Latin _deus_, the Lithuanian _dewas_, the Erse _dia_, and the Welsh _dew_ are all identical in meaning. The etymology of the word seems to point to the corruption of a pure monotheistic faith." In Chaldaic and in Hebrew _di_ meant the Omnipotent, in Irish _de_ meant _G.o.ddess_, and in Cornish _da_ or _ta_ meant _good_. From the elementary form _de_, _di_, or _da_, one traces ramifications such as the Celtic _dia_ or _duw_ meaning a _G.o.d_. In Sanskrit Dya was the bright heavenly deity who may be equated with the Teutonic _Tiu_, whence our Tuesday, and with the Sanskrit Dyaus, which is equivalent to the Greek Zeus. The same radical _d_' is the base of _dies_, and of _dieu_; of _div_ the Armenian for _day_; of _div_ the Sanskrit for _shine_; of _Diva_ the Sanskrit for _day_. Our ancestors used to believe that the river Deva or Dee sprang from two sources, and that after a very short course its waters pa.s.sed entire and unmixed through a large lake carrying out the same quant.i.ty of water that it brought in.

The word "Dee" seems widely and almost universally to have meant _good_ or _divine_, and it may no doubt be equated with the "Saint Day" who figures so prominently in place-names, and the Christian Calendar.

[339] Hone, W., _Everyday Book_, i., 1118.

[340] _Ancient Coins_, p. 3.

[341] Lardner, D., _History of Spain and Portugal_, vol. i, p. 18.

[342] _Ibid._, p. 13.

[343] _Ibid._, p. 6.

[344] Macalister, R. A. S., _Proc. Roy. Ir. Acad._, x.x.xiv., C., 10-11.

[345] Mann, L. M., _Archaic Sculpturings_, p. 34.

[346] _Wild Wales_ (Everyman's Library), p. 258.

[347] Keightley, _Fairy Mythology_, p. 523.

[348] Bell's _Travels_, i., 248.

[349] _Cf._ Guest, Dr., _Origines Celticae_, i., 61.

[350] Bellot, H. H. L., _The Temple_, p. 12.

[351] That there is nothing far-fetched in this possibility is proved by a Vedic Hymn _circa_ 2500 B.C.: "Enter, O lifeless one, the mother earth, the widespread earth, soft as a maiden in her arms rest free from sin. Let now the earth gently close around you even as a mother gently wraps her infant child in soft robes. Let now the fathers keep safe thy resting-place, and let Yama, the first mortal who pa.s.sed the portals of Death, prepare thee for a new abiding place."

[352] Near Land's End is _Bar_tinny or _Per_tinny, which is understood to have meant _Hill of the Fire_.

[353] At Bradfield is a British camp on _Bar_ley Hill. Notable earthwork _abris_ exist at _Bray_ford, _Bor_ingdon Camp, "Old _Barrow_," _Parra_combe, and _Pre_s...o...b..ry in Devonshire: at _Buri_ton, and _Bury_ Hill in Hampshire: at _Bree_don Hill, _Burrough_-on-the-hill, and _Bury_ Camp in Leicestershire: at _Borough_ Hill in Northamptonshire: at _Burrow_ Wood, _Bury_ Ditches, _Bury_ Walls, and Caer_bre_ in Shropshire: at Carn Brea in Cornwall: at _Bourton_, and _Bury_ Castle, in Somerset: at _Bar_moor in Warwickshire: at _Bar_bury, _Bury_ Camp, and _Bury_ Hill in Wiltshire: at _Berrow_ in Worcestershire. Earthworks are also to be found on _Brow_ downs, _Bray_ downs, _Bray_ woods, and _Bury_ woods in various directions.

[354] F. M., p. 464.

[355] "Camps of indubitably British date, Saxon, and Norman entrenchments, to say nothing of minor matters such as d.y.k.es and mounds and so-called amphitheatres, all are accredited to a people who very probably had nothing at all to do with many of them."--Allcroft, A. Hadrian, _Earthwork of England_, p.

289.

[356] The Bull's head will have been noted on the buckler of Britannia, _ante_, p. 120.

[357] Bohn's Library, p. 114.

[358] Stone, J. Harris, _England's Riviera_.

[359] Abelson, J., _Jewish Mysticism_, p. 31.

[360] The authorities equate the names Alberic and Avery.

[361] F. M., p. 206.

[362] Book xl., chap. i.

[363] Friend, Rev. H., _Flowers and Folklore_, ii., 474.

[364] _Myths of Ancient Britain_, p. 18.

[365] Taylor, Rev. R., _Diegesis_, p. 271.

[366] Wood, E. J., _Giants and Dwarfs_, p. 44.

[367] Johnson, W., _Folk Memory_, p. 185.

[368] _Cf._ Shandwick or Shandfort _ante_, p. 327, also Shanid, p.

55.

[369] c.o.x, R. Hippesley, _A Guide to Avebury_, p. 55.

[370] _Ibid._

[371] _Folklore_, XXIX., i., p. 182.

[372] _Curious Myths of the Middle Ages._

[373] Jupiter is said to have been suckled by a goat.

[374] The Sanscrit for _palm_ is _toddy_--whence the drink of that name.

[375] _Proc. of Royal Irish Acad._, x.x.xiv., C., 3, 4.

[376] Book IV., 33.