One remark has to be added. Mannhardt regarded many or most of the
philological solutions of gods into dawn or sun, or thunder or cloud, as
empty jeux d'esprit. And justly, for there is no name named among men
which a philologist cannot easily prove to be a synonym or metaphorical
term for wind or weather, dawn or sun. Whatever attribute any word
connotes, it can be shown to connote some attribute of dawn or sun. Here
parody comes in, and gives a not overstrained copy of the method,
applying it to Mr. Gladstone, Dr. Nansen, or whom you please. And though
a jest is not a refutation, a parody may plainly show the absolutely
capricious character of the philological method.