Harimella

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Harimella ( dea Harimella ) is a Germanic goddess . The only evidence of the goddess is a consecration stone with an inscription from the 2nd century AD near the Scottish town of Birrens, Dumfriesshire on Hadrian's Wall . The meaning and function of the goddess is that of a goddess of war.

Discovery

The stone was found in the 18th century on the site of the former temple area of the Blatobulgium fort ; it was erected there with other consecration stones donated mainly to Roman deities and a Celtic goddess ( Mars , Minerva , Viradesthis ). In addition to the votive stone for Harimella, there is a stone found there in 1812 that can also be assigned to Germanic origin: that of the goddess Ricagambeda . Thomas Pennant visited it in 1772 and made the first scientific description ("Tour in Scotland and voyage to the Hebrides", Volume 2. 1776). Subsequently, the stone was kept in Hoddom Castle , it is privately owned and is on permanent loan to the Dumfries Museum .

inscription

The stone, made of sandstone and clastic sediments, has the dimensions of 68.6 × 35.6 cm in height and width. It is kept simple in design with a simple base and cornice and flat side surfaces, only the top shows simple decors consisting of symmetrical wheel motifs worked out on the outer edges and kullen in the middle. The tablet bears the five-line undisturbed, clearly legible inscription in Capitalis with the usual consecration form.

"Deae / Harimel / lae sac (rum) Ga / midiahus / arc (h) it (ectus) v (otum) s (olvit) l (ibens) l (aetus) m (erito)"

- Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 7, 1065

Donated to a Germanic military official ( architectus ) according to the inscription by Gamidiahus . The dea Harimella was presumably venerated by other Germanic military members of the Cohors II Tungrorum and Cohors I Nervana Germanorum, who were garrisoned there .

Name and position

Two main positions have been taken in research on the interpretation of the name and the associated determination of the function of the goddess:

  • The name derives under the influence of Celtic naming from a place name as an originally local goddess of the Tungerer .
  • The name of the goddess is related to the military profession and environment of the founders and admirers (dedicates) as a war goddess or Valkyrie-like figure.

etymology

In the context of the Latin inscriptions of Germanic origin, there is the parallel form Fledimella to Harimella. There are also early medieval personal names such as: Mellarid , Baromellus , Mellobaudes , Baudomalla .

In research there is uniformity for the interpretation of the Hari segment, for -mella the different solutions compete. Harimella corresponds to the type of two-part Germanic name formation based on basic words. In the first term the defining word harjis is clearly the Germanic * xarjaz (harjaz) = army, army heap as recognizable in the Gothic harjis . For the second link - mella, there are the following essential options for assignment, which sets the course for the overall interpretation as an abstract.

  • Rudolf Much leads - mella to Old Norse mjöll = snow, new or powder snow , as for example in the name of the mythical Mjöll , to Germanic * mella = shiny, pure fresh fresh snow .
  • Siegfried Gutenbrunner follows Much's position and, as an expanding argument for the use of - mella in Nordic mythological personal names, includes the example from the Eddic song Alvíssmál 7 to "et miallhvīta man" = "the snow-white girl" , and from Rígsþula 28 "hals hvītari hreinni mjǫlli " = " the neck whiter than pure, fresh snow " .
  • In contrast to Much and Gutenbrunner, Helmut Birkhan compares -mella with altirsch mall = slow and Latin promellare ( litem promovere ) and with Greek μαλλός in the meaning of "hesitate, I am on the point" .
  • Norbert Wagner sees the e in -mella as a frequent occurrence in Latin inscriptions for the rendering of Germanic a , so that the starting form is more and more simply a Germanic * maþlan = assembly, assembly place .
  • Hermann Reichert presents -mell as etymologically unclear.

interpretation

Edward Schröder added the name of the goddess to the place names of Hermalle-sous-Huy on the Maas near Liège , which is part of the Franconian Haspengau on what was once the Tungrian region. Schröder refers to the spelling of a Carolingian document from the year 779 in the form Harimalla ( Harimalla in pago Hasbaniense ) and sees both names "undoubtedly" connected. He sees the striking difference between the vowels e in -mella and a in -malla without any weight, since the e is sufficiently supported by the evidence in Fledimella. What is more decisive for him is that he saw a Celtic influence in the form - malla , through the “specific” Celtic custom of combining toponyms (place names) with theonyms (names of gods). Schröder sees it as a relic of Celtic Tungians and comes to the following assumptions:

  • Soldiers rich in tungsten see the goddess of the consecration stone as a local goddess and worship her because of their homeland.
  • The founder Gamidiahus came from Harimalla and derived from the place name, due to the only evidence, a divine being. Schröder remains indefinite in the overall interpretation and in the etymology since the findings are unclear for him.

Rudolf Much's generally accepted criticism of Schröder's theses, which he rejects as a whole, relate to two essential points. Firstly, he denied the Celticization of the Tungrians established by Schröder and regards them as a clearly Germanic cultivated ethnic association. Second, and more importantly, he sees the continuity of an alleged Tungrian place name up to the Carolingian period of the 8th / 9th centuries. Century as unprovable speculation. Much refers, for example, to the old English heremeðel as " collecting point of the army " and to the place names from Carolingian founding in the region such as Heristall and other supra-regional documents such as Theotmalli (today's Detmold ). He uses a basic form from Germanic * hari-maþla for the place name . The name of the goddess is to be separated from the place name.

Much himself derived from the Hari a comparison to the Nordic name of the Valkyrie Herja , and connected with his interpretation of the -mella to the overall interpretation of the Harimella as a Valkyrie being ( shine of the army or the shining army ) with probably the same function. He comes to this interpretation in particular through his interpretation of the name Fledimella as the one shining in beauty . Helmut Birkhan adopts Much's approach to assigning the Harimella to the context of the Valkyries, on the other hand, rejects Much's combinations and explains more simply, and according to Rudolf Simek "more conclusively", with the name of the Eddic Valkyrie Herfjötur than the one that hugs the army or the one that captivates the army . For his interpretation, Birkhan refers to the representation of the "Idise" of the First Merseburg Magic as a basis for comparison .

Norbert Wagner uses a basic Germanic * harja-maþl for the Germanic initial form of Harimella (unlike Much who only considers this for the place name Hermallé / Harimalla). He sees a compound consisting of the determiner and an abstraction Germanic * harja-z + maþla with a feminine suffix (attachment) - on to the full form Harja-maþl-on . The present Har-i-mella was said to have originated from a Latin vulgarism in the compositional fugue . As a parallel process, it points to the inscribed name Har-i-gasti des Helm-B from Negau . Ultimately, taking into account the previous name interpretations and interpretations and forms of formation of comparable personal names, he interprets the name and function of Harimella as a "goddess who belongs to the collection point of the army", as a war or battle goddess.

BH Stolte assigns Harimella in his study of the religious conditions in Germania inferior to the indigenous group of Germanic war goddesses, such as the Vihansa or the Vagdavercustis . He justifies this with the type of name which, compared to the other Lower Rhine evidence of the inscription corpus with Germanic reference, shows a recognizable warlike expression.

See also

literature

  • Helmut Birkhan: Teutons and Celts up to the end of Roman times. The informative value of words and things for the earliest Germanic-Celtic cultural relations . Austrian Academy of Sciences, Meeting Reports Vol. 272, Böhlau, Cologne / Vienna 1970.
  • Siegfried Gutenbrunner: The Germanic god names of the ancient inscriptions . Niemeyer, Halle / S. 1936.
  • Karl Helm: Old Germanic history of religion. University Press Winter, Heidelberg 1913.
  • Johann Baptist Keune : Harimella . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VII, 2, Stuttgart 1912, Col. 2365-2366.
  • Rudolf Much: Dea Harimella. In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature , 36 (1892), pp. 44–47 .
  • Rudolf Much: Harimalla - Harimella. In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature, 63 (1926), pp. 19–22.
  • Vladimir Orel: A Handbook of Germanic Etymology . Brill, Leiden / Boston 2003, ISBN 90-04-12875-1 .
  • Hermann Reichert: Lexicon of the old Germanic names . Vol. 1: Text, Vol. 2: Register. Böhlau, Vienna 1987, 1990.
  • Edward Schröder: Dea Harimella . In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature, 61 (1924), pp. 59–60.
  • Rudolf Simek : Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X .
  • BH Stolte: The religious conditions in Lower Germany . In: Wolfgang Haase (Ed.): Rise and decline of the Roman world, Vol. II 18, 1 Religion (Paganism: The religious relationships in the provinces) , de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1986. ISBN 3-11-010050-9 . Pp. 591-671.
  • Jan de Vries: Old Germanic history of religion . Vol. 2, de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 3. unchanged. 1970 edition, ISBN 978-3-11-002807-2 . (Reprint 2010)
  • Norbert Wagner: Fledimella *, Harimella * and Baudihilla . In: Historische Sprachforschung 115 (2002), pp. 93–98.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Siegfried Gutenbrunner: The Germanic god names of the ancient inscriptions, p. 99, 100ff., 217; Rudolf Simek: Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X , p. 171.
  2. ↑ RIB 2100
  3. ↑ RIB 2104
  4. ↑ RIB 2108
  5. ^ Emil Huebner : Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Vol. VII. Berlin, 1873, p. 187 .
  6. ↑ CIL 7, 1065
  7. ^ Hermann Reichert: Lexicon of Old Germanic Names, Vol. 1, p. 420.
  8. ↑ CIL 13, 8821 : Inscription from the Utrecht district of Vechten ( Fectio ).
  9. ^ Hermann Reichert: Lexicon of Old Germanic Names, Vol. 1, p. 272.
  10. ↑ Norbert Wagner: Fledimella * * Harimella and Baudihilla *, S. 93, 94, 95th
  11. ↑ Vladimir Orel: Handbook of Germanic Etymology, p. 163 .; Robert Nedoma: The inscription on the helmet B of Negau . Fassbaender, Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-900538-51-4 , p. 51. in: Personal names in South Germanic runic inscriptions. Studies on old Germanic onomatology I, 1.1 . Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-8253-1646-7 , p. 330f.
  12. ↑ Rudolf Much: Dea Harimella, In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature 36 (1892), p. 44.
  13. ^ Siegfried Gutenbrunner: The Germanic god names of the ancient inscriptions, p. 100.
  14. ↑ Whitley Stokes : Ancient Celtic vocabulary. V&R, Göttingen 1894. pp. 212f. * meldo-s = tender , * mlati- = soft, gentle
  15. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Teutons and Celts up to the end of Roman times, p. 514f. Note 1563. Also with Norbert Wagner: Fledimella *, Harimella * and Baudihilla, p. 94.
  16. ↑ Norbert Wagner: Fledimella * * Harimella and Baudihilla, S. 94, 95
  17. ↑ Vladimir Orel: Handbook of Germanic Etymology, p. 263.
  18. ^ Hermann Reichert: Lexicon of Old Germanic Names, Vol. 2, Etymological Register, p. 571 on Fledimella, Harimella.
  19. ^ Edward Schröder: Dea Harimella, In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature 61 (1924), p. 59.
  20. ^ Ernst Förstemann: Old German name book. Place and other geographical names. Volume 2. Part 2, 3rd edition Hermann Jellinghaus (Ed.), Verlag Peter Hanstein, Bonn 1916. Sp. 181
  21. ^ Rudolf Much: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature 63 (1926) pp. 19f .; Jan de Vries: Old Germanic history of religion, vol. 2 p. 320f.
  22. ^ Rudolf Much: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature 36 (1893), pp. 45f. see also N. Wagner p. 93; Rudolf Simek: Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X , p. 171.
  23. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Teutons and Celts up to the end of Roman times, p. 514f .; Rudolf Simek: Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X , p. 171.
  24. ↑ Norbert Wagner: Fledimella * * Harimella and Baudihilla *, p 96
  25. ^ BH Stolte: The religious conditions in Lower Germany, p. 652f. there further literature; Siegfried Gutenbrunner: The Germanic god names in ancient inscriptions, p. 99ff.