Re: [tied] Schöffe III, Vehme

Of course, the interpretation of Schöffe as someone having to do with providing teams of slaves is just one possibility, if not corroborated elsewhere.
However, the *fe:m- of 'vehmic', specifying the type of court points in the same direction; since it has to do with getting pigs into the herd which goes for
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pannage
, (cf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_land#Commons_rights
) eating
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mast_(botany)
in the forest :

Grimm
'FEMDING, n. was femgericht. cod. dipl. Silesiae 3,117,153.

FEME, f. sagina glandaria, abductio suum in silvam, the taking of pigs to the forest, a word, the antiquity of which in the Low Saxon and Westphalian forests just can't be attested.
first Schottel de singularibus et antiquis in Germania juribus 1671 p. 5.62. 563 lists it in the compounds
vehmschweine, porci ad sagina­tionem, in die mastung ie. for fattening in the forest, destinati,
vehmgeld pecunia pro porcis ad saginaria destinatis,
vehmmahl adustio porcorum.
the uncompounded vehm he interprets very generally 'separatio ad certum aliquem actum', in order to include also the following 'feme'. this arrangement is repeated by Stieler 432 and criticized. but also Frisch 1, 255* accepts it sie and the brem. wb. 1,372 has 'swine upfemen', schweine in die mast verdingen, ie. let pigs join those which go to the forest for fattening, with fernen "verdingen" ie. "enter someone or something into someone's service"; better
Fulda idiot. 91
fem "eichel­mastung" ie "acorn mast, fattening diet consisting of acorns",
femen "mästen" ie "fatten by mast";
Adelung assumes 'fehm' to mean the fruit of oaks and beeches, ie. acorns and beechnuts, mast, and points to:
die schweine in die fehm treiben, "drive the pigs into the 'fehm'", einfehmen,
sie aus der fehme nehmen, "take the pigs out of the 'fehm', ausfehmen,
these verbs Frisch had already taken from the holz- und mastordnung, ie. forest and mast rules of Pomerania.
in Strodtmann, Schambach, Danneil, Stürenburg there is none of this.
it seems impossible to get to the source of a so late and sparingly attested expression, perhaps it is related to 'feime' acervus, manipulus, ie. "heap, armful,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maniple_(military_unit)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_(military_unit) ";
in col. 1451 the Old Saxon aranfimba, "acervus" from the Werden urbarium (ie. survey record, approx. = 'Domesday book') p. 219 was omitted, it is probably, however, identical to the following entry 'feme', as will be demonstrated presently.

FEME, f. supplicium, poena, nowhere in Sachsenspiegel, but attested already in MHG in poems close to Low German:

'unde hâst is dinen spot,
da; wir von rÄ"hter sculde
die vÄ"me dulden.'
vom glauben 1877;

'sô beslô3 man in zu stete
in eine ketinin, die dâ lac,
dâ muoste unz an den drittin tac
Ä"r inne ligin gespannin
vur wîbin und vur mannin,
da3 al da3 volc an ime gesÄ",
von wilchir scult sin vëme gescê.
sô den dÄ"r dritte tac irscein
sô quam da3 volc ubir ein
zu Rôme in den vrônin sal
und die consule ubir al
und irteiltin ime den haft,
die wart dâ bereitit, . .
da3 dÄ"s nicht wart gebeitit.'
Athis A, 142-156;

'mir is be33er herde vële,
dat ich mich dër schände schëme
und lîde âne schult de vëme.'
fragment of Susanna.

In these passages 'vëme' has the general sense of "strafe", "punishment, legal retribution" with no reference to the particular status of those Westphalian courts which are later thus labeled, the particularity of which thus in no way is contained in their name. similarly in the case of the verb 'femen' and the words compounded with 'feme', in which later, after the demise of these secret courts, adventurous material was sought.
Admittedly the word 'feme' may, originating in Saxony and Westophalia, have entered the High German language; but nothing would seem more natural than to join it with the firstmentioned 'feme', if both were based approximately on the concept of 'züchten' "breed, raise (livestock)" and züchtigen "castigate"?
From ziehen "draw" flows zucht nutritio, disciplina, castigatio, poena, as the farmer leads his cattle to mast, fattening, the transgressor is led to the dungeon or to his death and suffers castigation, the lost root fëmen (Gothic fiman, fam, fêmun ?) might have contained what was similar to the developed senses of <ziehen>, in ON fimr means "dexter, sollers" with no matching noun or verb, but many compounds formed with it do. from the concrete feme of the forest the abstract one of the court can be interpreted, Frisch tried in vain to derive the former from the latter.
In a document printed from the original of 1251 in Seibertz n° 269 can be read:
'illud occultum judicium, quod vulgariter vehma seu vridinch appellari consuevit.'
Here the h in inlaut is cause for concern, since it is missing in those MHG passages and in all documents approximately contemporaneous with it, in which vemenote appears, from fêhen "odisse", "hate" feme can't be derived.
Also in the statutes of Goslar (from the first half of the 14 cent.) is found 36, 20:
'spreke. dat de man osten westen suden unde norden 'der hogen veme' vorscult hebbe, also alse he to rechte sin lif vorwarcht hebbe;
in Heinrich von Hervord (+ 1370) p. 30:
'legem secreti judicii, quod illius patriae (Saxonum) lingua 'veme' dicitur.'
The 'fehem' in the 'Blume des Sachsenspiegels' should be ignored, as also the Modern High German spelling vehm, fehm in Schottel, Stieler and those later.
Klopstock 9, 322. 10, 258. 316 even makes the ON dîsir (butchered into 'düsen') 'godesses of the fehm', the false interpretation matches the bad forms. writers of the 18th century have done the most abhorrent things with 'die heilige fehme'.
...
FEMEN,
1) porcos pastum agere, see ausfemen, einfemen.
2) MHG in judicium vocare, in judicio punire, condemnare:
'ze dinge si sie vemeten.' vom glouben 1397;
'man sol sie sân ze stunden alsô bitterliche vÄ"men, da3 sich ës ander vrouwen schëmen.' Ebernand 1143.
cf. vorfemen. rittersp. 1468, German verfemen. in the mss. often "verfemen und verfüren".
FEMER, m, carnifex, executioner, hangman, MHG vëmære. vëmer:
'vëmer: dô man si dar brächte, da3 man ir da3 houbit solde abe slahen, dô bat si den vemer, der ir da3 houbit solde abe slahen, da3 her beitete wan da3 si ir gebet gespreche.' myst. 88,38;
'und dô saite si dem vemere, da3 si ir gebet gesprochen hête, dô slug der vemer dare und sluc ir da3 houbet abe.' 89,15.157,1;
'der krig wart also herte mit dem gesange undir on, da3 sie sich vorphlichten, wer do vorlore. der sulde Stemphele, also hiesz zu dem male der femer, zu teile werden.' Rothe thür. chron. cap. 416.
...
FEMGELD, n. money paid for the mast in the forest.
FEMGENOSZ, m.. scabinus, schöffe, assessor of the peinliches gericht, capital court, in Westphalisan documents 'vemenot'. Kindlinger münst. beitr. III n° 81. 87. 94 from the years. 1267.1280.1291. other passages in Haltaus 433.
FEMGERICHT, n. judicium poenale, secretum, freigericht, free court, das schwere, heilige gericht, die schwere, hohe, letzte acht.
FEMGRAF, m. judex poenalis, freigraf, free count. in the 'Blume des Sachsenspiegels'. (Homeyers richtsteig p. 377) spelled fehemgrefe, vehem­grefe, vehimgreve.
FEMMAHL, n. the branded mark of the mast pigs.
FEMRECHT, n. jus, judicium secretum:
'mittlerweile hatten allhier lande und städte viel handelung wegen des feme­rechtes, was es nun für eine gelegenheit mit dem femerecht oder freiem heimlichen gerichte gehabt habe und welcher gestalt sich dieselben freien heimlichen richter über fremde unterthanen zu erkennen haben angemaszet' etc Schütze beschr. Preuszens 155
FEMRÃœGE, f. accusatio poenalis, femfrage, femsache.
FEMSCHÖFFE, m. was femgenosz, freischöffe. in the 'Blume des Sachsenspiegels'. 375. 376 fehemschepfe, veimschepfe. often joined true, free scheffen.
FEMSTATT, f. locus supplicii, OHG hamalstat. MHG vĕmestat :
'der richter gap da3 urteil uber si und der vater furte si ûz und slug ir selber abe ir houbit, und do her von der veme­stat ging, do quam ein bligze von deme himele und ver­brante in ze aschen.' myst. 12,18;
'und man furte si an die vemestat und sluc ir abe da3 houbit.' 65, 1;
'und do man si brâchte zu der vemestat.' 156, 40. 175, 29 ;
'da3 prufit man bi der kleidir spel,
da3 an der femestad geschach.'
ritterspiegel 922, on the drawing of lots over the garment of Christ.
the weisthümer
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weistum
cf.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retterath#History ,
(a Weistum - cognate with English wisdom - was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the Middle Ages and early modern times)
eg. one of Herrenbreitingen from 1460 (3, 586) determine the place and extension of the feimstadt (in one instance written feinstadt).
All these occurrences designate the ordinary place of execution, in the secret fem­gericht they were often the forest and the freischöffe hanged the transgressor in the nearest tree:
'einem sin recht don und hangen an des koninges wimen,'
ie. beam, which might stand for the gallows tree oder tree in the forest, a ms. from 1459 in Useners westf. freiger. p. 207 however has:
'hangen an des konix vemen, d. i. an dem nechsten bome, die inen darzu bequem ist'
and it would be strange if 'feme' could be shown to stand for the tree elsewhere. There is a smell of forest about 'feme', admittedly one shouldn't derive 'feme' from 'wime', which may have been used instead rather by mistake for that word (brem.-wb. 5, 259. Usener p. 193), making appropriate sense.'

sagina = fattening

Torsten