Oslac

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Óslác is a theophoric Anglo-Saxon given name, cognate to Old Norse Ásleikr/Áslákr (latinised Ansleicus, modern Scandinavian Aslak, Axel) and to Old High German Ansleh (Anslech, Ansleccus). It is composed of ós "god" and lác "play, sport; offering, sacrifice".[1]

Historical individuals bearing the name are a son of Æthelfrith of Northumbria (recorded in MS E of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle s.a. 617), king Oslac of Sussex (8th c.), Oslac of Hampshire, butler of Æthelwulf of Wessex (9th c.) and earl Oslac of Northumbria (10th c.). Anslech de Bricquebec, nephew of Rollo of Normandy (10th c.). Ansleicus is the name of a Dane converted to Christianity in 864 according to the Miracles de St. Riquier. This Ansleicus subsequently mediated between Charles the Bald and the Viking invaders of Normandy.[2]

The French toponym Anneville is from Anslecvilla "the estate of Ansleicus".

The name is attested in a late Viking Age (early 12th century) runic inscription on a sword scabbard, reading Asmundr gerosi mik Asleik a mik "Asmund made me, Asleikr owns me" (Ewart Oakeshott, Records of the Medieval Sword, p. 77).

As a given name, English Oslac unlike Norse Axel is mostly extinct, but it survives into Modern English as a surname, besides Oslac also in the spellings Aslock and Hasluck.

Based on the Anglo-Saxon, Old High German and Old Norse cognates of the name, Koegel (1894)[3] assumes that the term *ansu-laikom may go back to Common Germanic times, denoting a Leich für die Götter, a hymn, dance or play for the gods in early Germanic paganism. Grimm (s.v. "Leich") compares the meaning of Greek χορος, denoting first the ceremonial procession to the sacrifice, but also ritual dance and hymns pertaining to religious ritual. Hermann (1906)[4] identifies as such *ansulaikom the the victory songs of the Batavi mercenaries serving under Gaius Julius Civilis after the victory over Quintus Petillius Cerialis in the Batavian rebellion of 69 (according to Tacitus), and also the "abominable song" to Wodan sung by the Langobards at their victory celebration in 579. The sacrificial animal was a goat, around whose head the Langobard danced in a circle while singing their victory hymn. As their Christian prisoners refused to "adore the goat", they were all killed (Hermann presumes) as an offering to Wodan.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dennis Howard Green, Language and History in the Early Germanic World (1998), ISBN 0521794234, p. 21.[1]
  2. ^ Simon Coupland, Carolingian Coinage and the Vikings (2007), ISBN 0860789918, p. 105.
  3. ^ Rudolf Koegel, Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur bis zum Ausgange des Mittelalters (1894), p.8.
  4. ^ Paul Hermann, Deutsche Mythologie in gemeinverständlicher Darstellung (1906) p. 342; c.f. Altdeutsche Kultgebräuche, Jena (1928) [2]
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