Sorry, Steve, but the name is composed of
readily recognisable Scandinavian elements occurring in different combinations
in numerous names (and of course existing also as free lexemes), and there can
really be no mistake about its etymology. Neither *air- nor *er- would have
yielded anything remotely like ON <her-> (or <hær->, since we also
have variant forms like <hærmo:dh>); this can _only_ derive from
older *xar- with I-umlaut. If you propose a different etymology I must ask
you to account for the form of the word. If you propose a borrowing, please
specify a plausible scenario: the source language, the approximate date, and the
further development of the loan (obviously direct loans from Ancient Greek into
Viking Age Scandinavian are impossible without a time machine).
The meaning of Germanic *mo:da- is anything
but narrow (which is not my fault), so the "original" semantics of Hermod could
be anything from 'ésprit de corps' to 'military courage' or 'battle wrath'. The
argument that the name is not suitable for a messenger rests on identifying him
completely with this single function and on selecting just one possible meaning
of the name, and then on insisiting that the two must match. Hermod's name may
be older than his "mission in Hell". Odin himself had several bynames of
the type Herjann, Herjaföðr, Herjatogi, Herteitr etc. The version of the
Baldr story that has reached us was written by Snorri in 1200, and any parallels
between Hermes and Hermod are possibly due to Snorri's erudition rather
than being purely coincidental.
As for the 'army' word, PGmc. *xarjaz is a
very securely established item (in this precise form). King Ine's Laws (57)
define Old English <here> formally as a group of more
than thirty-five armed men (that is, larger than a <hlo:ð> 'band' =
from seven to thirty-five men and <ðe:ofas> '[a gang of] thieves' = fewer
than seven), which of course does not amount to 'army' in the modern sense,
either in terms of number or in terms of organisation, even if from the early
Germanic point of view it was a "large" unit (hence the old title *xarja-tugo:n-
'commander, army-leader' > OHG herizogo, OE heretoga, ON hertogi, etc,
translating Lat. dux). The word is not restricted to Germanic; its older form
was *korjos (reflected also in Baltic and Celtic). Greek <harmos> <
*arhmo- < *arsmo- is thought to be ultimately cognate to Eng. arm 'arm' and
to Lat. arma 'tools, weapons' (and to many other things, the common
denominator being the PIE root *h2arh1- 'fit together'), but it cannot be
the source of *xarja- in Germanic.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2002 10:40 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: the New Age Irmin
PIOTR WROTE:
<<Not a borrowing. It's a native
name: Hermóðr (cf. OE Heremo:d) < *xarja-mo:daz
'army-anger/courage'.>>
Hey, you forgot about 'glorious, shining
and great'!
Actually, there are obviously better names for a messenger
and I suspect that the coincidences are getting a little bit too much for
credibility.
Wright's gives the Gothic words: <a:irino:n>, to be a
messenger, <a:irus>, messenger. Hermes of course is the basis of
messenger words in Greek and there's no real reason to think that Hermudr and
<airinon> are just more coincidences piling up to the ceiling.
That the army word is native Germanic might also raise a question.
The concept of a co-ordinated group fighting according to some order might
suggest the real early meaning of the word was closer to the Greek
<harm->, as in harmony or <harma>, horses joined in pulling a war
chariot. The idea of an army (as opposed to a uncoordinated mass of
"angry" men) probably came north by way of Greeks, Romans or maybe
Etruscans. Arma virumque cano, and all. Another interesting entry in
Lidell-Scott: "harman: polemos [fighting] (Phryg.), EM145.42." The ability
to connect vastly different ideas like "courage", "anger" and "army" covers up a
lot of real original meanings I suspect.
Also interesting is Wright
connecting "aírzjan, to deceive, lead astray" with "OHG. irren, cp. OE. iersian,
to be angry." And "aírzeis, aj. astray, erring; aírzeis wisan or
waír<thorn>an, to go astray, err, be deceived," with "OE. eorre, ierre,
angry, OHG. irri." Here we might see Hermes as both deceiver and enticer of
Christian Goths from
the way (see Martin of Braga). Of course, the
anger word makes no sense here except as evidence that the assumption that these
are native words can be deceiving.