Traces of the Norse Mythology in the Isle of Man - Nature

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Abstract

IN this work Mr. Kermode, whose name is well known in connection with Manx archæology, has printed a lecture delivered to the Antiquarian Society of his native island in December of last year. The Isle of Man contains a large number of cross-bearing gravestones, which, as the inscriptions clearly show, belong to the period when the Scandinavian element was predominant in the island. It is not improbable that in some cases the symbols on these stones may refer to the old Scandinavian mythology rather than to Christian belief and legend, and Mr. Kermode has endeavoured to determine how far this is the case. After a very brief sketch of the Scandinavian settlements in the west, and more especially in Man, a short account is given of some leading details of the old Norse mythology as preserved in the Eddas. Both here and in the following section an interest in the subject is sometimes more evident than familiarity with it in all its bearings. It is, for example, quite {orroneous to state that “of the seven days of the week all but the first two are called after Scandinavian gods.” Even on his own lines, Mr. Kermode cannot thus account for Saturday, and a closer study of the old English forms would have shown him the true origin of the other names. The influence of the Scandinavian tongues on English has been very great, but it requires a close study of philology to decide the particular cases in which it appears.

Traces of the Norse Mythology in the Isle of Man.

By P. M. C. Kermode. Pp. 30. (London: Bemrose and Sons, Ltd., 1904.) Price 2s. 6d.

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