| 1. | Alexander Tille, Yule and Christmas, pp. 72, 216 (London 1899). |
| 2. | Gustav Bilfinger, Zeitrechnung der Alten Germanen, Pt. 2, p. 127 (Stuttgart 1901). |
| 3. | The words for the compass directions in Romance languages are mostly derived from Germanic, not Latin; e.g., French nord, est, sud, ouest. |
| 4. | This method of telling the time is still used in the Alps. See D.C. Heggie, Megalithic Science (London 1981). |
| 5. | King Alfred, The Voyage of Ohthere. |
| 6. | Caesar, Gallic War, Book 1, ch. 50. |
| 7. | This is Reuter’s interpretation of the following passage from Germania, Ch. 11: “They meet, unless there be some unforeseen and sudden emergency, on days set apart – when the moon, that is, is new or at the full; They regard this as the most auspicious herald for the transaction of business. They count not by days, as we do, but by nights; the fixing and settling of their appointments are subject to this principle; the night, that is, seems to usher in the day.” |
| 8. | Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars, Book 6, Ch. 15, 6-15. “And when a time amounting to 35 days has passed in this long night, certain men are sent to the summits of the mountains – for this is the custom among them – and when they are able from that point barely to see the sun, they bring back word to the people below that within five days the sun will shine upon them.” (tr. H.B. Dewing). |
| 9. | Diodorus Siculus, History, Book 2, Ch. 47. British writers have often suggested that the land of the Hyperboreans is Britain and that the “notable temple … spherical in shape” is Stonehenge. That seems unlikely, as Diodorus, writing shortly after Caesar’s invasion, has a separate account of Britain. |
| 10. | Odyssey, Book 10, lines 80–86. “So for six days we sailed, night and day alike, and on the seventh we came to the lofty citadel of Lamus, even to Telephylus of the Laestrygonians, where herdsman calls to herdsman as he drives in his flock, and the other answers as he drives his forth … for the outgoings of the day and night are close together” (tr. A.T. Murray). |
| 11. | Geminus, Introduction to Astronomy, Ch. 6, has the following quotation from Pytheas: “The natives showed us the place were the sun goes to rest. For it happened that in these regions the night was very short, in some places two, in others three hours, so that the sun, after it had set, rose again after a short time.” Also quoted by Cosmos Indicopleustes, Christian Topography, Book 2. |
| 12. | Star Oddi source: Bjornsson’s Rimbegla. |
| 13. | Keil = wedge, Keiler = boar, either from its wedge-shaped tusks, or from keilen = to strike (Grimm’s Wörterbuch). |
| 14. | In English common law, a month still means 28 days unless stated otherwise. See Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary s.v. “month” (4th edition, London, 1971). |
| 15. | The Jewish calendar uses the bound lunar year, a thirteenth month (Ve-Adar) being inserted in 7 years out of 19. The Muslim calendar uses a free lunar year, in which every year has 12 months, amounting to 354 or 355 days. |
| 16. | Bede, De Temporum Ratione, Ch. 15. A modern edition is by Charles W. Jones (Cambridge, Mass. 1943).
Bede’s list of months with his explanations, is as follows:
geola (2 months) – from the turning of the sun solmonath – cake month, from cakes offered to the gods hredmonath – from the goddes Hreda eosturmonath – from the goddess Eostre thrimilchi – because cows could then be milked three times a day lida – (2 or 3 months) – either “mild” or “travelling” month weodmonath – weed month halegmonath – saints’ month winterfilleth – winter full moon blodmonath – blood month, when animals were sacrificed Bede’s etymologies have been disputed by modern scholars. |
| 17. | Alexander Tille, Yule and Christmas, page 217 (London, 1899) says that his term “can only be explained as referring to human mothers who took part in an obscene but well-known cult in honour of the Virgin”. |
| 18. | It is not clear how Reuter arrives at these figures. A solar year is on average 365.2422 days, and a lunar month is 29.53059 days; so a 12-month lunar year should be 10.9 days shorter than a solar year, and a 13-month one 18.7 days longer. |
| 19. | Thietmar of Merseburg, Chronicon, ch. 17. |
| 20. | Adam of Bremen, Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, Book 4 (Descriptio insularum aquilonis), ch. 27 and scholiast. |
| 21. | Her shrine was laid waste by Germanicus Caesar in 14 AD. See Tacitus, Annals 1.51. |
| 22. | Journal for Calendar Reform, vol. 9 (1939). |
| 23. | From an Anglo-Saxon charm for removing an evil spell from a field. Given in full in T.O. Cockayne (ed.),
Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England
(Rolls Series, London 1864–6; facsimile, London, 1961).
I stand towards the east, for grace I entreat, I pray the lord glorious, I pray the lord great, I pray the holy heaven’s ruler. Earth I pray and heaven above And the sooth saintly Mary And heaven’s might and halls on high, etc. |
| 24. | Caesar, De Bello Gallico. |
| 25. | Poems of Sisebut. |
| 26. | Also known as 4339 Camelopardi. |
| 27. | See Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, vol. 3, p. 261. |
| 28. | Rudolf of Fulda, in his Translatio S. Alexandri (written in 851) says: “Truncum quoque ligni non parvae magnitudinis in altum erectum sub divo colebrant, patria eum lingua Irminsul appelantes, quod latine dicitur universalis columna, quasi sustinens omnia.” |
| 29. | Menglöð: a byname of Freyja. |
Otto Sigfrid Reuter was born at Leer in East Frisia in 1876. He was the son of a maritime navigation instructor. After studying the humanities at the high schools in Altona and Leipzig, Reuter joined the Reich Post and telegraph service. He became director of telegraphs at Bremen, where he retired in 1924. He studied part-time under an archaeologist whose name was Kossinna, and became interested in the Norse Edda. By 1922 he had written a book entitled The Riddle of the Edda (Das Rätsel der Edda). His Ancient German Astronomy (Germanische Himmelskunde) was published in 1934. Behrend’s translation comes from an abridged edition published under the title Der Himmel über den Germanen, that is, “The Sky above the German Races”.
For more information about Reuter (in German), see the entry in the Deutsche Biographie.