Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



is the property of Lord Ilchester, who owns 

 the great swannery of the Fleet on the coast 

 of Dorsetshire. 



Swans were at one time considered for their 

 useful qualities as food, but it is doubtful if 

 birds so difficult to keep in domestication 

 would have been so carefully preserved in the 

 various royal and other swanneries of England 

 if sentiment and superstition had not worked 

 hand in hand for their preservation. Among 

 the ancients as well as in the twelfth century 

 it was great luck to meet a swan at sea. While 

 the Scandinavian tongues have the word swan 

 it is curious that in Icelandic and Old Norse 

 the name for the swan in common use is and 

 was practically identical with that for fairy. 

 Icelandic alptir, Norse elptr, elftr, swans, is 

 scarcely to be distinguished from Icelandic 

 alfar, albr, elves. It is true that the latter is 

 masculine, while the word for swan is femi- 

 nine ; but one is tempted to see a radical con- 

 nection of thought between the two. 

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