1 70 KINDRED GROUP-MARRIAGE 



the earth and to fertility is evidenced in some interest- 

 ing O.H.Gk glosses. Thus Erdfrdwa is a gloss for 

 Cybele, and Liutfroiva for Juno Populonia. 



As frei, free, is related to Frea, and froh, glad, to 

 Frowd and Frti, so freck, shameless, is related to Fricke ; 

 they suggest the essential features of the sexual character 

 of these Teutonic mother-goddesses, who are the Western 

 representatives of Astarte, Isis, and Anaitis. They are 

 frei, froh, and freck all at once. I do not think we 

 can separate the ultimate root of Frea from Fran, and 

 the Sanskrit pri, embrace, enjoy, finds a corresponding 

 cognate in pra-av, satisfy, satiate. Associated with this 

 we have the Wendish god Prove, the god of the plough- 

 share, and counterpart of Freyr, the wooer and par- 

 amour. The notion of the sex-relation as ploughing, or 

 sowing, tilth, is common to nearly all Aryan nations, 1 

 and the goddess of sex is invariably the goddess of the 

 plough, of agriculture and fertility in general. A highly 

 suggestive parallel may, in this respect, be drawn between 

 Demeter- Ceres and Freyja. Demeter is essentially 

 Mother Earth, and is the paramour of her brother Zeus. 

 She helps man to the discovery of the plough, and 

 teaches him how to sow corn. The Thesmophoria in 

 her honour commemorate the origin of civilisation, which 

 may tie identified with the beginnings of agriculture. 

 Demeter falls in love with a mortal, and lies with him 

 in a thrice-ploughed field. In Germany a field is made 

 fertile by the Frau, doubtless symbolising Frowd, going 

 through a representation of the same act. A somewhat 

 similar folk-custom used to be gone through as a maiden 

 completed the operation of grafting fruit trees. In both 



1 See Appendix III. 



