GENERAL WORDS FOR SEX AND KINSHIP 131 



Jakob Grimm, on the ground that an old German equi- 

 valent root is entirely wanting, and that the Norse 

 itself makes no noun hagr for a wise person. 1 Grimm 

 himself suggests hagedissa, a lizard, as a possible con- 

 nection, because the lizard is a magical animal ; but if 

 there be any relation, I should expect it would be of 

 the inverse kind. As to the meaning of the second 

 part of the word, zussa, zissa, tisse, nothing absolutely 

 definite can be stated. There is evidence, however, for a 

 Teutonic goddess, Zisa or Tisa (J. Grimm, Mythologie, 

 i. p. 248), and it is possible that, as in the case of Frud, 

 we have here only an old word for woman. Ziss is still 

 used of a female cat. We may compare it with O.H.G. 

 Itis or Idis for woman, which J. Grimm (Grammatik, i. 

 p. 189) connects with Finnish isa, father, Gothic atta, 

 father, Finnish diti, mother, and Gothic aipei, mother. 

 The woman of the hag would be simply hagitis, which 

 agrees well with the Dutch and Saxon forms, if not so 

 well with the O.H.G. hagazussa. Curtius connects 

 idis with a root ath or anth, having the meaning of 

 budding or bursting. Hence he derives Greek avdos and 

 avOea), and probably 'Afl^z/??, who would thus be the 

 pregnant one, the mother-goddess of fertility ; 2 for the 

 maiden-goddess in her early form was like the primitive 

 types of all virgin-goddesses, only a maid in that she 

 had no definite husband. The same root probably 

 appears in Uote and Ada, frequent names for the 



1 I should not be surprised if Landsmaal hag denoting the fit and con- 

 venient, the orderly, be not the primitive sense of hag and hog. In this case it 

 is parallel with a long series of words to be noted later, which associate comfort 

 and security with kin, and with the kin home, the hag. 



2 For the less reputable side of Athene see Bachofen, Das Mutterrecht, 

 s. 54. 



