'Aus-der-dritten-Hand': Herder and his annotators

The article proceeds from the assumption that Herder has been poorly served by his editors, at least when it comes to Ossianic matters. Patterns of mi sinformation have been allowed to become established and major research, su ch as the work of Gillies on Herder and Ossian, is too often simply bypasse d. Nor are important primary sources, notably Hugh Blair's Critical Dissert ation and Denis's translation of Ossian, consulted as they should be, given their significance for Herder's essay, 'Ueber Ossian und die Lieder alter Volker'. The article begins with an illustration of this by attempting to t race the provenance of the Lapp song quoted by Herder in his essay and expl ain what he means by 'aus der dritten Hand'.