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200 ALPHABETICAL GLOSSARY
history and meaning of the word Bale, or Bal, has very far diverted
its original sense in our use of its compound, baleful, which, properly
signifying fiery, full of light, or flame, is used in English in the sense
of malignant. The heathen custom of lighting bale-fires or bonfires on
Midsummer’s Ere is still continued in parts of Northern Germany,
Scotland, and Ireland, though the practice is generally supposed to be
intended in honor of the coming festival of St. John the Baptist, which
fails on Midsummer Day.
Bauta-stone. A memorial raised over fallen warriors, and formed
generally of a block of unhewn stone, projecting several feet out of
the ground. The Bauta-stone differed from the Rune-stone in being
uninscribed, the memorial Rune-stone bearing, on the contrary, an
inscription in the form of a serpent, surmounted by the sign of a
hammer, the emblem of Thor, god of War.
Berserkir. A class of mythical heroes imbued with an implacable
frenzy for war. Hence a proverbial expression for any warrior of
unusually ferocious disposition.
Bifrost. The rainbow. It may be interesting to remark the
coincidence between the Eddaic account of the rainbow and Sir David
Brewster’s theory of three primitive colors. The following is from the
Prose Edda, ch. xiii: " ’I must now ask,’ said Gangler, ’which is the
path leading from earth to heaven?’ ’That is a senseless question,’
replied Har, with a smile of derision : ’hast thou not been told that
the gods made a bridge from earth to heaven, and called it Bifrost ?
Thou must surely have seen it; but, perhaps, thou callest it the
rainbow. It is of three hues, and is constructed with more art than any
other work.’"
Bjorn (Bear). The name of Frithiofs comrade. Hence the play on
words, page 112 —
"Bjorn, come to the tiller,
Hold it fast as kear’s-hig."
Blcetand. Blue-toothed.
Blood-eagle (to tear the). A custom of putting to death an enemy
under circumstances of peculiar atrocity. The ceremony consisted in
carving on the back of the prostrate foe the figure of an eagle, and so
separating the ribs from the back-bone. In the text, Bjorn promises to
perform such vengeance on Frithiofs slayer, should his chief fall.
Brace. The god of Poetry and Song.
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