[tied] Re: Hag, Haegtes < Hecate?

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=hag&searchmode=none
HAG
c.1225, shortening of O.E. hægtesse "witch, fury" (on assumption that
-tesse was a suffix), from P.Gmc. *hagatusjon-, of unknown origin.
Similar shortening derived Du. heks, Ger. Hexe "witch" from cognate
M.Du. haghetisse, O.H.G. hagzusa. First element is probably cognate
with O.E. haga "enclosure" (see hedge). O.N. had tunriða and O.H.G.
zunritha, both lit. "hedge-rider," used of witches and ghosts. Or
second element may be connected with Norw. tysja "fairy, crippled
woman," Gaul. dusius "demon," Lith. dvasia "spirit," from PIE *dhewes-
"to fly about, smoke, be scattered, vanish." One of the magic words
for which there is no male form, suggesting its original meaning was
close to "diviner, soothsayer," which were always female in northern
European paganism, and hægtesse seem at one time to have meant "woman
of prophetic and oracular powers" (Ælfric uses it to render the Gk.
"pythoness," the source of the Delphic oracle), a figure greatly
feared and respected. Later, the word was used of village wise women.
Haga is also the haw- in hawthorn, which is a central plant in
northern European pagan religion. There may be several layers of
folk-etymology here. If the hægtesse was once a powerful supernatural
woman (in Norse it is an alternate word for Norns, the three weird
sisters, the equivalent of the Fates), it may have originally carried
the hawthorn sense. Later, when the pagan magic was reduced to local
scatterings, it might have had the sense of "hedge-rider," or "she who
straddles the hedge," because the hedge was the boundary between the
"civilized" world of the village and the wild world beyond. The
hægtesse would have a foot in each reality. Even later, when it meant
the local healer and root collector, living in the open and moving
from village to village, it may have had the mildly pejorative sense
of hedge- in M.E. (hedge-priest, etc.), suggesting an itinerant
sleeping under bushes, perhaps. The same word could have contained all
three senses before being reduced to its modern one.

--- In cybalist@..., "Joao S. Lopes" <josimo70@...> wrote:
> In Theogony Hekate is mentioned as very powerful
> goddess that protects kings, warriors, fishermen,
> sailors, shepherds. No demonic or evil trait.
> But these later traits could have begun in Late Roman
> times, what was enough to influence Saxons and Old
> Germans, wasn´t it?
> Joao SL
> --- "Daniel J. Milton" <dmilt1896@...> wrote:
> ---------------------------------
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Joao Simoes Lopes
> Filho"
> <josimo70@...> wrote:
> >
> > Would there be any link between English hag (OE
> haegtesse, haegtes)
> > and German hex (OHG hagazissa) and Greek goddess
> Hecate?
> > Perhaps her Roman worship could be reached Germania?
> > haegtes, hagazissa < *hagatiss(j)o: < *hacata <
> *Hecate: ?
> >
> > Joao SL
> ******
> I'd say unlikely, since Hekate appears to have
> become associated
> with witchcraft fairly late in her career.
> I can't find anything in my more recent references,
> so back to
> Keightley (1857):
> "The name Hekate is the feminine of Hekatos, one
> of the epithets
> of Apollo, and itself an epithet of his sister
> Artemis. ... supposing
> Artemis to have been an original Moon Goddess, her
> epithet of
> "Far-shooter" ('ekate') may have separated from her,
> and have become
> another Moon Goddess, for such is the real character
> of Hekate."
> Keightley is here accepting an ancient
> interpretation of the
> name. See 'hekatebolos' in Liddell and Scott.
> Dan Milton
>
>
>
>
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