IX
Deorum maxime Mercurium (Mercurium: most likely Wotan, who shares many traits with Mercury, after whom is named the fourth day of the week, Wodanstag (now Mittwoch) in German, Wednesday in English, mercredi (from Mercury) in French. ) colunt, cui certis diebus humanis quoque hostiis litare fas habent. (humanis … hostiis litare fas habent: ‘they consider fitting to immolate human victims’. ) Herculem ac Martem (Herculem ac Martem: Hercules was equated to Donar, Thor in Scandinavia, then with Jove, so we have Donnerstag in German, Thorstag in Norse, Thursday in English, and jeudi (from Jove) in French. Mars is identified with the god Tiu and that gives old Norse Tirsdagr, German Dingstad (now Dienstag), English Tuesday, and French mardi from Mars. ) concessis animalibus placant: pars Suevorum (Suevorum: see ch 38.) et (et: = quoque, etiam, especially when not the first word in a clause.) Isidi sacrificat. Unde causa et origo peregrino sacro parum comperi, nisi quod signum ipsum, in modum liburnae figuratum, docet advectam religionem. (nisi quod signum ipsum … docet advectam religionem [esse]: nisi quod is conjunctional phrase of conditional sense, ‘except that’, ‘but for the fact that’, ‘save that’, usually found followed by indicative‘: ‘except that the emblem itself reveals it to be an imported religion’.) Ceterum (ceterum: ‘in addition’) nec cohibere parietibus deos, neque in ullam humani oris speciem assimulare, ex magnitudine coelestium arbitrantur: lucos ac nemora consecrant, deorumque nominibus appellant secretum illud, quod sola reverentia vident.