Second thoughts on some names of days Ekermann, Jan Fornvännen 1998(93), s. 201-202 http://kulturarvsdata.se/raa/fornvannen/html/1998_201 Ingår i: samla.raa.se Debatt 201 Second thoughts on some names of days As Gad Rausing specifically writes in his artide in Fornvännen 1995, pp. 234 ff, the innovative theories he describes c o n c e r n i n g the backg r o u n d to the "lördag"-name were derived from his personal communication with the undersigned on April 2nd 1994. Thus I f e d free to c o m m e n t on Lars Hermodsson's objections {Fornvännen 1997, pp. 229 ff). H e r m o d s s o n ' s objections are convincing but traditional. T h e names "laugardagr" or "lögerdager" from the 12th century are facts. T h e etymology of how they were transformed to the m o d e r n "lördag" is a problem in itself. T h e real difficulties started however already in the late 3rd century, when, probably along the Rhine valley (Maass 1902, p. 280) some pagan Germanic tribes "translated" the Latin patrons of the days into comparable German gods: Dies Martis was understood to be Zis tag (Tyrs dag) and so on. How did these pagans contemporaneously translate dies Saturni? This intricate question calls for a delicate approach. Hermodsson ends his comments with the very true statement: "Thus earlier than the word now known, there may have existed in N o r t h e r n Germanic an older term for this day about which we know nothing, but which further hypotheses perhaps will d u c i d a t e . " O n e approach is to formulate a plausible hypothesis which may then be confirmed by circumstantial evidence. Lödurrs or Lokes dager is part of such a hypothesis. It is known that c. 450 AD the Anglian Continental tribes called this day "Satertag" (F. Kluge 1967, entry "Samstag"), a name which in my opinion is probably not derived from the Latin god Saturn but from a Celtic (?) god Sater(n) or Sac"ter(n)e. Pears C y d o p e d i a (1971-72) gives ground for this theory: "Saturday ... derived its n a m e from Saturn, or, as some hold, is called after the Saxon idol, Saterne, which was worshipped on this day." H. Sweet (1991) too can give some support as he states: Seet = ambush, saetere = robber, waylayer, spy, seducer (devil), scetung = treachery, sedition, all of which suggest that Sater(n)e or Saeter(n)e was an evil god, similar in this respect to Saturn. It is interesting to find that Satertag was still in use in m o d e r n German until the 19th century, at least (K. Heinrich, 1835, entry Satertag). In the same way as it is difficult to find a strict linguistic development from Satertag to the låter G e r m a n Samstag or Sonnabend, it is härd to establish a fundamental etymology from a possible Lådurr dager or Lokes dager to the known lögerdager of the 12th century. This does not pertain to the lack of statutory soundshiftings or other linguistic laws, but may simply be due to a "decision", a linguistic mutation, which changed the language more or less "över night"! As Gad Rausing hints, this decision was probably taken "in order to obliterate the memory of the evil god". Many such attempts were made with or without success on several occasions when the Church had grown strong e n o u g h to impose its will: Dies Solis was r e n a m e d dies Domini already in 321 AD. Isidorus and låter also Bede protested över the immorality of having weekdays named after pagan gods (E. Maass 1902, p. 267). T h e i r protests gave n o lasting results. On the other hand, according to Mullenhoff (1900, p. 644), the Christian Germans were offended at the "Wuoternes daeg" and had it changed to "mittiuuéhha", i.e. the modern "Mittwoch", a name which endured. T h e Icelandic week is the only example where Christianity succeeded in expelling all the heathen gods . It is an expressive sign of the weakness of modern traditional explanations of the origin of "laughardager" that Lennart Moberg (1953, p. 6) in his very detailed artide "Lördag", without objections quotes Seip (1954, p. 302 ff.) saying (translated from Swedish): "The impulse towards the Nordic names could have arisen from the Continental Germanic sambaztag, 'Samstag', which was to be linked by populär etymology with the word bath!" That the n a m e should originate in a p u r e misunderstanding is härd to believe, as is the fact that the N o r t h e r n peoples at that time used two words for bath, that is bad (for a hot bath) and laug (for cold water; Mullenhoff 1900, p. 335). Fornvännen 93(1998) 202 Debatt My research into these questions, of which Gad Rausing was informed in 1994, has continued. Today many piéces in the puzzle fit in well, some of course still lack cohesion. Perhaps it is time to publish the structure of my hypothesis, which could at least add some new and refreshing ideas to the problem of the lögardag Even if it only introduces new approaches to an old problem! References Bajksted, A. 1990. Nordiska gudar och hjältar. Oslo De Vries.J. 1933. T h e problem of Loki. FF Communications No HO. Helsinki. Heinrich, K. 1835. Tyskt och svenskt handkxikon. Volume I. Örebro. Kluge, F. 1967. F.lymologisches Wörlerbuch der Deutschen Sprache. Berlin. Maass, E. 1902. Die Tngesgötter in Rom und den Provinzen. Berlin. Moberg, L. 1953. Lördag. Nysvenska studier, Tidskrift för slit- och språkforskning. Uppsala Mullenhoff, K. 1900. Die Germania des Tacitus. Berlin. Pears Cychpaedia, 1971-72. Rausing, G. 1995. T h e days of the week and Dark Age politics. Fornvännen 90. Seip, D. A. 1954. Lördag i norsk og isländsk. Svenska Umdsmål 1953-54. Seznec.J. 1953. The Survival of the Pagan Gods. Sweet, H. 1991. The Students Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon. Oxford. J a n Ekermann Nordengatan 11, 603 80 Norrköping Why translate baz with laug, when bad already existed in their own language? A n o t h e r example of the researcher's struggle to explain the translation of dies Saturni consists in Miillenhoff s (1900, p. 644) mention of the difficulties in finding a Germanic god corresponding to Saturnus. S d p (1954 p. 303) expresses this by saying (translated from Norwegian): "Only when naming one weekday did the Teutons not have a god, who could be used instead of the Roman god Saturnus ..." This stränge supposition is repeated without objections by Ba;ksted (1990 p. 17). Hermodsson considers Loke to be the principal name of the god and Lödurr, if indeed an alternate, to be a second n a m e . Most experts, who believe they are names of the same god (de Vries 1933, p. 49), neverthdess regard Lödurr as being earlier and Loke of låter date. It is even suggested that Loke is an abbreviation of Lödurr. So which is the principal name? Is the Christian Snorre to be the judge? T h e names of the h e a t h e n gods differed from one district to another in the Germanic world. T h e Rhine valley names Ziu, Wuotan, T h u n a r and Vrie were translated to Tyr, Odinn, T h o r and Frigg in the Northern regions. Thus if the name Säter or Sastere was translated to a Nordic Lödurr or Loke, it would not be too remarkable, or ...? The Viking weathervanes were not navigation instruments In Fornvännen 1996, pp. 137 f f , J a n Engström and Panu Nykänen presented "New interpretations of Viking Age Weathervanes". In short, they suggest that the two miniature vanes with Borre style o r n a m e n t from Saltvik and Birka were used as quadrants for measuring the heights of stars above the horizon, while the full-sized vanes from Söderala, Källunge, Heggen, H0yjord, and Tingelstad enabled the measurement of the height of the sun above the horizon. T h e vane from Norderhov is not Fornvännen 93(1998) mentioned, nor are the miniature vanes on the candlesticks from Dale and Urnes, nor a similar miniature vane found in Lund. Little attention is paid to chronology, för the Romanesque vanes from H0yjord and Tingelstad are most definitdy not "from the Viking Age". In my opinion this new interpretation is not convincing. T h e main reason is that we have no proof whatsoever that lhe practice of measuring the height of the sun or stars in degrees above the horizon was followed by, or even