Note 171 — Chapter X · Witchcraft.

Mr. Métivier in his dictionary translates Grand-Mêle as Grimoire, or the book by which sorcerers pretend to raise the dead, being derived from the old Norse word grîma, a spectre, a witch, a word which is, he says, also the origin of “grimace.” The Grand-Mêle of the Guernsey folk was literally the big book, just as the Petit-Mêle was the little book, Mêle being nothing but a survival of the Gothic Meli—a writing, discourse, or song. Also Ma’l, with the Norsemen, as Veda with the Hindoos, and as Scripture with us, was simply the collective name of all the holy books.