Portents
dreams
Bodleian Junius 23:150-2; BL Cotton Tiberius A.ii.f.36-37 |
BL Cotton Tib. A.iii |
1-2. eagles |
2. struck by iron [cf. Argonaut struck by metallic feather of bird, GM 151.f] |
3-5. bees |
3. sword [cf. simile of weapon "sharp as a bee's sting", CL, pp. 75-6] |
6-7. fowls |
4. jewel [cf. variegation in fowls] |
8. snake |
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9. eagle |
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10. dragon |
6. a water-spring [cf. "dragon" at Kastalian water-spring, CDCM, s.v. "Cadmus"] |
11-13. hunting, hounds |
7. hounds |
14. fishes |
9-10. coins of money [cf. silveriness of fish-scales] |
15. white horse |
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16. black horse |
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17. bay horse |
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18. dun horse |
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19. adder |
13. strike down person |
20. white sheep |
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21. bull |
14-7. oxen |
22. swine |
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23-4. hens[' eggs] |
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25. goat |
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26. stud stallions |
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27. geese |
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28. sheep |
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AA-SM 25 (pp. 221-4) |
AA-SM 27 (pp. 226-8) |
GM = Robert Graves: The Greek Myths. 1955.
CDCM = Pierre Grimal: Concise Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Basil Blackwell, 1990.
CL = Lu Gwei-Djen & Joseph Needham: Celestial Lancets. Cambridge U. Pr, 1980.
directions of thunder portending death -- De Tonitruis Libellus
east |
battle |
west |
plague |
south |
inhabitants of the ocean |
north |
pagans, haeretics |
AA-SM 30.1 (p. 230)
thunder by months with portents
Jan |
sheep, orchards |
Feb |
ears of hearers |
Mar |
judgement |
Apr |
waves of ocean |
May |
rainfall |
Jun |
fish |
Jul |
trees |
Aug |
snakes |
Sep |
human migration |
Oct |
gales |
Nov |
sterility |
Dec |
health |
AA-SM 30.2 (pp. 230-2)
thunder according to 7 days of week -- Cotton Tiberius A.ii.f.38
Latin |
Latin |
O-E |
O-E |
Sun |
monks & nuns |
Mon |
|
Mon |
married couples |
Tue |
|
Tue |
Wedn |
land-workers & mechanics |
|
Wedn |
prostitutes |
Thur |
womenfolk |
Thur |
inhabitants of sea |
Fri |
sea-creatures |
Fri |
king |
Satur |
officials |
Satur |
Sun |
children |
AA-SM 30.3 (pp. 232-3)
signs of 15 days of apocalypse -- Vespasian D.xiv
1st |
sea will rise 40 ells above normal |
2nd |
sea will descend 40 ells below normal |
3rd |
sea will return to normal level |
4th |
fishes will show themselves above water & speak |
5th |
plants will exude red sap |
6th |
stones will clash together & shatter each other |
7th |
earth will be levelled (poor & rich aequalized) |
8th |
earthquake |
9th |
castles & towers will collapse |
10th |
corpses will re-assemble their limbs |
11th |
animals will stampede |
12th |
people will be speechless, fasting |
13th |
sun, moon, stars will all fall |
14th |
all the living will die; world-fire |
15th |
flood over ashes of that world-fire |
AA-SM 36 (pp. 242-5)
Bill Griffiths: Aspects of Anglo Saxon Magic. Anglo-Saxon Books, Hockwold-cum-Wilton, Norfolk, England, 1996