Origin of Mythology, 185 



iials, informs us, that Germanicus, when making war 

 upon the Marsi, within the modern diocese of Munster, 

 destroyed a temple called Tanfane^ which was held in 

 the highest veneration by the inhabitants. Tanfane, 

 tan or teine^ fire, the sun, and Jlmum, a temple, signifies 

 the Temple of the Sun. This is a remarkable fact ; for 

 we read of no other temple of the kind, among the pri- 

 mitive Celts or Teutones of Europe ; and the Druids of 

 Britain had no covered temples. The fact however 

 seems to warrant an opinion, that as those nations ad- 

 vanced in improvement, they began to imitate the prac- 

 tice which prevailed in the east and south, of erecting 

 durable edifices for worship — -a practice which was per- 

 haps interrupted first by the Roman conquests, and after- 

 wards by the introduction of Christianity.* 



Of the origin of Mars, Mavors, the god of war, there 

 are various opinions. The name is generally supposed 

 to be formed from the Greek «f'i?> iron^ as iron is the 

 principal instrument of war ; and the use of Martial, in 

 the old chemistry, to express what belongs to iron, seems 

 to favor this opinion. The word may equally well be 

 deduced from the Greek £/"'?, contention, rixa, according 

 to the opinion of Cluver, who informs us that this deity 

 was called by the ancient Celts, Net, a word, which, in 

 the old Egyptian, as in some modern dialects of Germa- 

 ny, signifies co?ite}ition.\ In some parts of Germany, 

 dies Martis, or Tuesday, is called Erich-tag, Erick's 

 day ; and Erich was a common name of princes and oth- 



* Tacit. Ann. lib. i- 51. — Murphy's Note on the passage, vol. i. 

 473. — Cluver. Germ. Antiq. lib. i. ca. 26. The latter author gives 

 a ludicious exjDlanation of the word Tanfune — Th'anfang the begin- 

 ning. The word fanum seems to be formed from the Celtic inaen 

 or uaen, a stone — and the first places of worship seem to have been 

 inclosures of stones. 



t The word in Irish is .AlzV//, battle, fight; and Cluver informs 

 that this was the Egyptian orthography.... //if', i. ca. 28. He cites 

 passages from Plato in Timaeo, and from Macrobius, who expressly 

 mention this Egyptian deity. The existence of this word JVeith, in 

 the Egyptian and Celtic languages, in Spain, Ireland and Germany, 

 is a fact worthy of notice. It is pi'obably the root of the Latin niior. 

 In Swedish, nit is zeal. 



Y 



