Lyfing
07-12-2009, 10:02 PM
Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustraed by Celtic Heathendom, by Sir John Rhys.. (http://www.archive.org/details/lecturesonorigin00rhys)
Having thus alluded to the quantity of the materials at my
disposal, I would only add as to their nature, that a large proportion
of them is of a philological order ; and I fear that I have
not always taken care enough to make it as easy to skip the
etymological passages as the general reader could wish, at any
rate if publishers and reviewers do not grossly exaggerate the
requirements of his comfort. With regard to comparisons extending
beyond the Celtic group itself, most assistance has been
derived from the ancient literature of Scandinavia. From one
branch of the Aryan family, the Slavonic, I have been almost
wholly unable to draw any help, as I found the existing works
on the subject of old Slavonic religion and mythology either too
antiquated or too brief to consult with advantage. This I regret
all the more, as I do not believe that materials are wanting to
illustrate the religious and mythic aspect of Slavonic history.
After these remarks, it is needless to say that I have not
attempted to discuss the early fortunes of Christianity among
the Celts. That is a large subject worthy of being treated in a
separate series of lectures by some one well versed in the mass
of old literature devoted to the lives of the saints of Erinn and
both Britains. Of course it is not pretended that anything
connected with the history of religion among the Celts—or among
the Teutons, if it comes to that—could vie in popularity with
the pedigree of the last idol unearthed in the East, or even with
the discovery of a new way of spelling Nebuchadnezzar's name.
Still the Celtic field of research has a rapidly growing interest
for scholars, who now regard it as one in which the investigator's
labours are most certain to be crowned with brilliant results.
'The great attraction of Celtic philology consists in the very
fact that every haul of the net, without exception, brings in a
rich spoil.' So wrote a distinguished German scholar the other
day ; and his words are true of Celtic philology in that wider
sense of the term which would embrace not only the study of
Celtic speech, but also of Celtic archceology and history, of Celtic
religion and folk-lore, of Celtic myth and saga.
Later,
-Lyfing
Having thus alluded to the quantity of the materials at my
disposal, I would only add as to their nature, that a large proportion
of them is of a philological order ; and I fear that I have
not always taken care enough to make it as easy to skip the
etymological passages as the general reader could wish, at any
rate if publishers and reviewers do not grossly exaggerate the
requirements of his comfort. With regard to comparisons extending
beyond the Celtic group itself, most assistance has been
derived from the ancient literature of Scandinavia. From one
branch of the Aryan family, the Slavonic, I have been almost
wholly unable to draw any help, as I found the existing works
on the subject of old Slavonic religion and mythology either too
antiquated or too brief to consult with advantage. This I regret
all the more, as I do not believe that materials are wanting to
illustrate the religious and mythic aspect of Slavonic history.
After these remarks, it is needless to say that I have not
attempted to discuss the early fortunes of Christianity among
the Celts. That is a large subject worthy of being treated in a
separate series of lectures by some one well versed in the mass
of old literature devoted to the lives of the saints of Erinn and
both Britains. Of course it is not pretended that anything
connected with the history of religion among the Celts—or among
the Teutons, if it comes to that—could vie in popularity with
the pedigree of the last idol unearthed in the East, or even with
the discovery of a new way of spelling Nebuchadnezzar's name.
Still the Celtic field of research has a rapidly growing interest
for scholars, who now regard it as one in which the investigator's
labours are most certain to be crowned with brilliant results.
'The great attraction of Celtic philology consists in the very
fact that every haul of the net, without exception, brings in a
rich spoil.' So wrote a distinguished German scholar the other
day ; and his words are true of Celtic philology in that wider
sense of the term which would embrace not only the study of
Celtic speech, but also of Celtic archceology and history, of Celtic
religion and folk-lore, of Celtic myth and saga.
Later,
-Lyfing