Brising necklace; and Heimdallr fought with Loki for it. When Freyja is
angry the heaving of this ornament betrays her emotion. When Thôrr, to
get his hammer back, disguises himself as Freyja, he fails not to put on
her famous necklace. From its mention in Anglo-Saxon poetry, Grimm would
infer the familiarity of the Saxon race with the whole story.[50]

But what adds vastly to the interest of this legend is that we find it
in Homer. It is essentially the same with the belt of Aphrodite (Hymn,
l. 88). In Iliad xiv., 214, Aphrodite takes it off and lends it to Hêrê
to charm Zeus withal. When we add that just above in the same context
(Iliad xiv., 165) Hêrê also has a curiously contrived chamber, made for
her by Hephaistos (Vulcan), the parallel is too close to be mistaken.


THE GOSPEL TRANSLATION.

Of the old heathen theogony we have a remarkable document in the names
of the days of the week; and these names are best preserved to us in
the rubrics of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels. These names are supposed to have
come from the western shores of Asia, and to have pervaded the nations
of Europe, both Roman and barbarian, in the first and second centuries.
By a comparison of the sets of names in the two families of nations, we
gain certain leading facts about the chief deities of our heathen
ancestry, which all the rest of the scattered evidence tends to confirm.
Thus our Tuesday, A.-S. Tywes-dæg, compared with the French Mardi and
its Latin original Martis dies, teaches us that the old god Tiw (who was
also called Tir) was recognised as the analogue of the Roman Mars, the
god of war. So Wednesday, A.-S. Wodnes-dæg, compared with the French
Mercredi and its Latin form Mercurii dies, gives us proof that the god
Woden answered to the Roman Mercurius. So, too, Thursday, A.-S.