> I believe that in the middle ages and
>early modern period, the semen of hanged men was also considered
>powerful.
Dear Pippa,
I don't know whether it goes back to medieval times, but in Germany there
was a popular (?) belief that the semen ejaculated at the moment of
execution made an "Alraun" grow in the earth below the gallows, i.e. a root
shaped like a human body and possessing magic forces. I have this from oral
tradition in Bavaria (that is, from my then eight year old cousin who told
stories of this kind to scare me to death when I was seven; I still shiver
recalling her vivid description of the ejaculation part), but I vaguely
recall to have seen it also in print. If you read German you might try the
_Handwo"rterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens_, Berlin: de Gruyter, 1927-1943,
10 vols. (repr. ibd. 1987).
Otfried
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Otfried Lieberknecht, Schoeneberger Str. 11, D-12163 Berlin
Tel.: ++49 30 8516675 (fax on request), E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Homepage for Dante Studies:
http://members.aol.com/lieberk/welcome.html
ORB Dante Alighieri - A Guide to Online Resources:
http://orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/culture/lit/Italian/Danindex.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|