Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 2 1884.djvu/322

314 casting it at the Midgard snake. The Sagzug is the unit of a Saggliederung, and several Sagzüge combine into a Sage (in its more restricted sense), which may bo defined as the story of the adventures of a god or hero. Many Sagen clustering around one person form a Sagkette, and the connection of several such Sagketten a Sagkreis (cycle). The Sagschatz (Sagtreasure) of a people comprehends the entirety of Sagkreisen, Sagketten, independent Sagen, and independent Sagzüge. Thus, the Odysseus Sage, viewed as a whole, is made up of: the Sagkette of Odysseus' adventures before Troy; the Sagkette of his wanderings; the Sage of the punishment of the wooers; whilst it is a member of the Trojan Sagkreis, and a portion of the Hellenic Sagschatz.

"Other compounds of the Sage follow: Sagbildung, Sagentwickelung, Sagverwandlung, Sagumgestaltung, Sagverwandtschaft, Saggattung, Sagstofif, Saggötter or -helden, Weltsage, Gottersage, Heldensage, Ortssage, Cultussage, Sagenmasse, Sagenhaft—all of which have in German a definite and precise meaning, and to scarcely any of which is there an exact English equivalent. It is necessary, however, if folk-lore is to be treated scientifically, that the ideas contained in the German words given above should find expression in English. In some cases this can perhaps best be done by borrowing words from comparative philology or the natural sciences.

"The precise equivalent of the German word märchen should be fixed. The English term 'folk-tale' has at once a wider and a more limited meaning, e.g., it would be used of many jest-tales which the Germans would range under the heading 'Schwank' (another word for which there is no recognised English equivalent), and it would not be used of the Odyssey tales, many of which are genuine märchen. The German Thiermärchen (story in which the characters are animals) has likewise no English equivalent, our word 'fable' denoting quite a different species of composition. Another German word which calls for precise translation is the already mentioned 'Schwank.' This is the more necessary, as J. G. v. Hahn divides the whole of what we call folk-tales into 'Märchen,' and 'Schwänke,' a division corresponding in the main to Mr. Ralston's 'mythological' and 'non-mythological' classes (a terminology which has the defect in my eyes