LL-L "Etymology" 2008.02.22 (02) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  - 22 February 2008 - Volume 02
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From: Douglas Hinton <douglas.hinton at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Hagen" 2008-2-22

Douglas Hinton (douglas.hinton at gmail.com)

Can someone give me the meaning of the german word "hagen"? It's used in
town or place names like Karlshagen. My wife thinks hagen is another word
for garden, where as a native german speaker, I asked, says it's a land
measurement.
Anyone know it's meaning and perhaps it's source?
Regards, Douglas

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Hi, Douglas, and welcome among the talking Lowlanders!

I happen to know this one because my last name is derived from it,
apparently being the contracted Saxon version (*(de) Haan* in the
Netherlands). In the north, intervocalic /g/ came to be fricative and often
deleted later. You get this for instance in Low Saxon *slagen* > *slaan* 'to
hit' (cognate of English 'to slay').

The root of the word is **ha(a)g*, which I translate as 'grove', 'copse' or
simply 'hedge', any smaller cluster of trees and/or bushes. In early times
this tended to connote "thorny" and "barrier" or "fence." *Hagôn > Hagen* >
*Haan* was an extension with a similar meaning, usually connoting a man-made
barrier or fence and the land within it, often denoting 'secured grazing
land', 'paddock'. (Similarly, Low Saxon *tuun* (*Tuun* ~ *toen*) 'fence' ~>
'garden', 'yard', cf. Dutch *tuin*, English "town," versus German
*Zaun*'fence'.)

Words like "hedge," "hag," "hex," etc. are related to this group. Widows and
never married women tended to be marginalized and live in the woods outside
settlements, especially those that practiced pre-Christian religion and
healing arts, hence the connection with "witch" and stories about witches in
woods.

The English cognate of **ha(a)g* is the now rarely used word "haw" that is
still a part of "hawthorn."

Old English: *haga* (additional meaning: 'settler', 'inhabitant')
Old Frisian: **hâga*
Old Saxon: *hag(**ôn)*
Old Low Franconian: *hag(an)
*Old German: *hag(a(n))*
Old Norse: *hagi*
Germanic: **haga-*
Indo-European:* ***kagh-*  ~ *kogh-* 'woven branches (for a fence)'

Related to these is the verb-based group to which umlauted German
*hegen*('to keep (secure)' >) 'to foster', 'to nourish', and
*Gehege* '(animal) enclosure' belong.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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