315 
acquainted.* * * § ’* But it has had no great chronicler, cosmogo- 
nist, or poet, and this is perhaps its misfortune almost as much 
as its fault. We can see from the fragments that the general 
outline of the intellectual building was similar to that of the 
Teutons and the Eastern Aryans, but inferior as a Welsh 
cathedral is to Lincoln or York. 
7. The Teutons and their several Divisions. — German 
Religious Belief. 
The Teutons, with whose religion and mythology, as reflected 
in the Scandinavian branch of the family, we are now more 
particularly concerned, may be linguistically divided into the 
High- German, Low- German, and Scandinavian branches. 
High-German, or the general dialect of Germany, divides 
itself into (1) Old High-German, i.e., the language prior to 
the twelfth century; (2) Middle High-German, the language 
from the twelfth century to the Reformation ; and (3) New 
High -German, the language since the Reformation. Low- 
German produced the extinct dialects of Gothic, Anglo- 
Saxon, Old Saxon and Old Dutch, and their living successors ; 
and from the Old Norse of the Scandinavian branch spring the 
dialects of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The German 
religion “ does not essentially differ **f from that of the 
Northmen or Scandinavians, which fortunately has been pre- 
served in full as a specimen of the intellectual development of 
the whole family ; and it is in the Norse religion that the 
Teutonic faith must mainly be studied. Some of the scanty 
statements of classical authors, however, on the subject are, 
notwithstanding their late date and the very limited know- 
ledge of the writers, of considerable value in an archaic 
investigation, particularly when viewed in connection with 
linguistic science. Julius Caesar, who was but a short time in 
Germany, says that the Germans worshipped the gods whom 
they saw — the Sun, Vulcan {i.e. the igneous principle, Agni- 
Ogon), and the Moon.J Tacitus, who had more carefully 
studied the matter, describes them as worshipping Mercury, 
Mars, and Ertha§ (“id est, Terram matrem”), and states also 
that some of the Suevi revered Isis. || The first German 
* Tiele, Outlines of the History of the Ancient Religions , 180. 
t Ibid. 189. 
X Be Bello Gallico, vi. 21. He adds, — “Reliquos ne fama quidem 
acceperunt.” 
§ Boot, ir, ri ; later form, ar ; Sk. ira, ida, Gk. era, Old High-Germ, ero, 
Gaelic ire, Gothic airtha, Ang.-Sax. eorthe, i.e., land which is eared (cf. Auth. 
Ver. Isaiah xxx. 24) or made ctr-able. || Germania, ix. xl. 
