Re: HERG / HEARG : BEOWULF'S SACRED GROVE & C. ARABIC "HRG"

At 10:32:53 PM on Saturday, March 1, 2008, The Egyptian
Chronicles wrote:

[...]

> The focus of this investigation is the term "herg /
> hearg".

> Kathleen Herbert (1), in her book "Lost Gods of the
> English", while discussing the origins of the
> Anglo-Saxons, alludes to the term "herg and/or hearg". A
> term mentioned in Beowulf referring to a grove where a god
> was worshipped. Hence, to the Christian, a wicked
> place(?): dat. pl. hergum geheaðerod, confined in wicked
> places (parallel with hell-bendum fæst), Beowulf 3073.

> "The Heathen worship of gods and goddesses in
> pre-Christian England probably took place in sacred
> groves, and maybe also walled and roofed temples. The Old
> English words for such places of worship are ealh/alh,
> heargh/hearh (hearg, herg) and lea/ley.

I have no idea what that last one is supposed to be; it
looks like modern forms of OE <le:ah> 'a clearing in a
wood'. It doesn't appear to be OE.

[...]

> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> ETYMOLOGY

> Herg, hearg: A grove, a heathen place of worship. Icel.
> hörgr, OHG. harug, haruc, haruch. (2)

More completely, 'temple, altar, sanctuary, idol; grove'
(Clark Hall & Meritt). A.H. Smith, English Place-Name
Elements, gives more detail, noting that in OE glosses it
denotes 'a sacred grove' (rendering Latin <lucus>), 'a
temple' (Lat. <fanum> and <templum>), 'the part of a temple
which housed an altar and idol' (Lat. <delubrum>), and 'an
idol' (Lat. <idolum> and <simulacrum>). It is also equated
with OE <halierne> 'holy building'. ON <hörgr> is 'a heap
of stones, a cairn; a sacrificial altar; a stone altar'.
OHG <harug, haruh> is glossed 'heiliger Stein, Opferstätte'
in the sources readily available to me, which also note OHG
<harahus> 'Steinkreis um Grab'. However, it also glosses
Lat. <lucus>, <nemus>, <fanus>, and <ara>. OSwed. has
<hargher> ~ <horgher> 'stenkummel, offeraltere, offerställe
(i ortnamn)', answering nicely to <hörgr>.

What these seem to have in common is the notion of a heathen
place of worship, especially an altar (specifically of
stone?), not the notion of a grove as such. This is a long
way from the Arabic word and its etymology as given below:

> COMPARE WITH

> Classical Arabic Hrg (Haa' + raa' +djym): a wood or
> collection of trees so called because of their closeness,
> or dense tangled trees which the pasturing animals cannot
> reach. From a trilateral root "Hrg" with a base meaning:
> became collected together, became close, strait or narrow.

Brian