202 KINDRED GROUP-MARRIAGE 



actually find. Modern German for the mother's sister 

 is muhme, equivalent to the Latin matertera. In 

 O.H.G. it is mudma, mome, practically only a variant 

 of mama. In Plattdeutsch, mdme, mum, is, however, 

 used of mother ; 1 thus the Devil's mother is termed des 

 dilbels mome. The Kornmuhme was doubtless also a 

 goddess of fertility, and with the Devil's dam a fossil 

 of a mother-goddess of the Demeter type. The appear- 

 ance of muhme as mother in such antique expressions 

 indicates its primitive weight. In early Low German 

 documents mome is repeatedly used in the sense of 

 mother ; thus, grotemome for grandmother, hundemome 

 and eselmome for the female of dog and ass ; while such 

 expressions as ackermome and viehmome show the 

 term in general use for women engaged in agricultural 

 pursuits, especially for the headwomen on a large farm. 

 Wisemome stands for the midwife, and should be com- 

 pared with Sanskrit mdtrikd, for mother and nurse, and 

 Greek pala. The Sanskrit for mother's brother is 

 mdtrkds, which would suggest that mdtrkd had stood 

 for mother's sister. In High German itself we find the 

 use of muhme for mother's sister somewhat loose, and 

 it is readily extended to any relative through the womb. 

 Thus Geiler von Kaisersberg speaks of the children of 

 sisters as mumen, a use well in accord with kindred 

 group organisations. It was further used for foster- 

 mother and nurse, and as in Low German for the chief 



that the prayers were offered for the nepotes, originally denoting (see p. 219) all 

 the children of the group ; but the primitive significance of this word being 

 lost, it came about that the women were supposed to pray for their sisters' 

 children, their nephews and nieces. Bachofen's interpretation (Das Muttcrrecht, 

 p. 32) is, I take it, much too artificial. 



1 See, for example, the Marchen, Dat MdJcen von Brakel, Grimm, No. 139. 



