Page:Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Race.djvu/88

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
74
Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Race.

being mentioned as if the people were a separate tribe. The Phundusii, also mentioned by Ptolemy, were prob-ably the same people at an earlier date, although located by him further to the north.[1] Hunnaland and Friesland are mentioned among the countries the Norse Vikings ravaged.[2] The pagus of the Huntanga, apparently, was located between the River Hunte in Oldenburg and the province of Grönirigen.[3] The name Hun, Hüne, or Hunni is one which in the sense of giant prevails in the popular traditions of North Germany. Grimm[4] tells us that it is especially characteristic of the prehistoric traditions of Westphalia, and that it extends as far westward as the Gröningen country and the river Drenth in Holland. Barrows and dolmens, known as giant hills and giant tombs, are also called in these parts of Europe hünebedde and hunebedden, ‘bed’ being commonly used for ‘grave.’ Another country of the Hunni has been identified by some Northern writers with the northern part of Jutland, where a few place-names that contain the word Hüne still survive. As the Frisians formerly extended much further north than their present limit in Schleswig, the occurrence of these names may be quite consistent with the later connection of the name with the Frisian Hunsings. It is quite certain that the name is a very ancient one, probably as old as that of Frisians themselves.

From these circumstances and references we may see that the Hüne or Huni name was probably applied to some of the inhabitants of Schleswig, as well as to some in East Friesland. In the eighth century we read of the boundaries of the Hune in the south part of Denmark.[5] There is a reference also to the forest which separates

  1. Ptolemy’s Map of Germany, reproduced in Elton’s ‘Origin of English History.’ second ed.
  2. du Chaillu, ‘Viking Age,’ i. 503.
  3. Monumenta Germaniæ, Script. ii. 38.
  4. Grimm, J., ‘Teutonic Mythology,’ 523.
  5. Monumenta Germaniæ, i. 34.