GENERAL WORDS FOR SEX AND KINSHIP 127 



family now ! Still the hive with the tribal mother and 

 its communistic organisation is by no means an in- 

 accurate representation of the old kin-group and the 

 ideas with which hiiva was originally associated. 1 A 

 further series of Anglo-Saxon words connected with ht are 

 derived from haemed. Thus liaeman is hiwen ; haemed- 

 ding and haemed, coitio ; and haemend, adulterer. Yet 

 just as in O.H.G. hiwen, the original notion is extended 

 to permanent relations of sex. Haemdo stands for nup- 

 tials ; haemedgemana is matrimonium, while haemedrif 

 and haemedceorl are wife and husband, meanings very 

 far from the literal senses of these words. 



We may pass by a whole series of Scandinavian 

 words, of which Landsmaal lijon for spouse and hjuna, 

 to pair, are types, to note that hig seems to have been 

 used for young of all sorts. Thus A.S. hig is young 

 grass. Hig seems to be more nearly connected with 

 higen, produce, than with A. S. heawan, hew, chop. Com- 

 pare the Latin fenum, having the root fe of fecundus 

 andy&ttf. Thus hig as produce of mother-earth is from 

 its sense related to higen, as kin to keimen and team to 

 tyman. It is probable that hig, as produce, is left in 

 A.S. higo and higum for family and domestics. 



The addition of the guttural to the root hi gives us heg, 

 and hag, I believe with the primitive sexual sense of ram ; 

 but it is also used of driving in stakes, and so making a 

 fence or hedge. The presence or absence of the guttural 



r x I think Skeat has too hastily disconnected hive and liiw on account of A.S. 

 hyfe. Notice the L.G. honerhive for a hen's brooding place. The same changes 

 occur in A.S. Mse for hyse, a youth, and in aefre for dwa, ever. Compare also 

 the use ofplebs for hive ; but the plebs were also the non-patrician masses who 

 knew not their male descent. 



