## West West, in his book *Indo-European Poetry and Myth*, in the section of "Hymns and Spells", includes the following intriguing footnote: > A commoner [Germanic] word for spell [than *lióð*] is *galdr*, from the verb *galan*, which is used of birds' singing. Cognate words are attested in Old High german and Old English for bewitching by means of spells. It has been inferred that among the Germans a special twittering or screeching voice was used for uttering incantations: de Vries (1956), i. 304f. ## Vries West was referencing the following paragraph from Vries' work on Pre-Christian Germanic religion (Vries, like West, also wrote a whole book of comparative IE studies): > Der gewöhnliche Name für den Zauberspruch ist *galdr*. Dieses Wort ist vom Zeitwort galan abgeleitet, das sonst „singen" bedeutet und besonders auf Vogelstimmen angewendet wird. Man darf daraus schließen, daß die magischen Lieder mit einer hellen, vielleicht zu Falsett neigenden Stimme gesungen wurden (Lindquist , —6 und 4, 102—105); die Vogelstimme war auch deshalb geeignet zum Geisterverkehr, weil Vögel eine sehr verbreitete Seelenepiphanie sind und auch von Toten geglaubt wird, daß sie einen gellenden Laut ausstoßen *[footnote #3: "Vgl. Harva, Altain suvun uskonto 219. Auch in Indien wurden die Asuras mit der krauftca (d. h. des Brachvogels) Stimme angeredet (Taittiriya Samhitâ II, 5, 11, I), oder auch vadantl devatä krutfam (d.h. in einem schrillen Ton, vgl.Brhaddevatä VIII, 114). Daneben kommt auch oft das Murmeln von Zauberliedem vor; vgl. die in § 142 erwähnten Totenlieder. Für Beispiele ähnlicher Vortragsart bei Naturvölkern s. Hutton-Webster, Magic, a sociological study (Stanford 1948) S. 96."]*). Daß diese Vortragsweise allgemeingermanisch gewesen ist, beweist die südgermanische Überlieferung: im 2. ([[vries1956]]vol1p304) **AND MORE** Vries referenced *Taittiriya Samhita* ([TS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taittiriya-Shakha)) 2.5.11.1 > "[...] In that he repeats in the Krauñca, note, that is connected with the Asuras, in the low note, that is connected with men, in the intermediate note, that is connected with the gods. One should repeat in the intermediate note, to secure the gods. (Keith https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/yv/index.htm) Vries also referenced [Bṛhaddevatā](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%E1%B9%9Bhaddevat%C4%81) 8.114 > "[112b] The shrill (*kruṣṭa*) tone (*svara*) is to be recognized as in the head; the first tone belongs to the palate. [113] But the second belongs to the centre of the brows, the third as its place (saṃśrita) in the eat, the fourth should be (regarded as) in the tip of the nose, the low (tone) is stated to belong to the chest; one ponounces the Atisvāra as formed by a protection (*karṣaṇa*) of the low (tone). [114] The Gods speak in (*vadanti*) the shrill (kruṣṭa) tone, men in the first, all beasts in the second, Gandharvas and Apsarases in the (next) tone. [115] Egg-born creatures, birds, serpents, employ the fourth; Piśācas, Rakṣases, and Asuras employ the low tone (*mandra*). [116] But the Atisvāra is peculiar to everything that moves or is stationary. The shrill (*kruṣṭa*) tone, which permanently resides in the head, is sacred to the All-gods." ([[macdonell1904]]p326-7) ## My Comments Vries didn't point out that the "shirky tone" and birds are different categories. While West saw to it to include a footnote about *galdr*, he curiously did not include Vries' comments about the Vedic parallels. This is strange because West's book is a gold mine of IE comparative materials. Perhaps he did not think the parallels were strong enough, he does tend to be more critical than other IE scholars and often includes statements like "EXAMPLE EXAMPLE". Whatever reason he had for not mentioning the Vedic parallels, in this section we will seek to add more example to bolster Vries' observation. ## My Additions ## Price > The most distinctive of these five is undoubtedly galdr, which seems to have been a specific form of sorcery focusing on a characteristic type of high-pitched singing. The word has a relative today in the modern Swedish verb gala, used for the crowing of a rooster and for the most piercing of birdcalls (see Raudvere 2001: 90–7 and 2002 on the importance of verbalising this kind of sorcery). The saga descriptions of galdr-songs note that they were pleasing to the ear, and there is a suggestion of a special rhythm in view of the incantation metre called galdralag, as described by Snorri in Háttatal (101–2) and used occasionally in Eddic poems such as Hávamál and Sigrdrífomál. ([[n-price2019]]p378) ## Raudvere [[raudvere2002]] > "...the verb gala, ‘to say. speak out loud, utter, sing’ is the focus in this context. Metaphorically the word also meant chanting and singing, but not always with pleasant sounds: it could comprehend ‘to crow, to cry’, or even refer to animal sounds, e.g. repulsive noise, wild cries. The associations of the verb gala are clearly negative. [...] ‘In Old Icelandic galdr referred to a song, mainly in the sense of“charm” or “spell”. The corresponding verb was gala, to “chant” or to “cast spells”. This linguistic derivation is an important key to the semantics of magic’, Kirsten Hastrup writes (1990a: 200).The second feature connotes the performative aspects of the use of words. Galdr. songs or poetry with special power, was the instrument for the performer (Halvorsen 1981). for protection, healing, or cursing" ([[raudvere-2001]]p91) ## Me Proto-Indo-European '*gʰel-' Proto-Germanic '*galdraz' "singing, song; charm, incantation, spell" Old Norse galdr