The Witch-cult in Western Europe: A Study in AnthropologyMurray, Margaret Alice
Religion
The Witch-cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology
Murray, Margaret Alice
Ethnology; Witchcraft -- Great Britain
The lists of witch-names bring to light several facts as regards the women.
One of these is the entire absence of Saxon names, such as Gertrude, Edith,
Hilda; Old Testament names are so few in number as to be negligible;
Scandinavian names are not found; the essentially Puritan names, such as
Temperance, hardly occur; but the great mass of the names fall under eight
heads with their dialectical differences: 1, Ann (Annis, Agnes, Annabel);
2, Alice (Alison); 3, Christian (Christen, Cirstine); 4, Elizabeth (Elspet,
Isobel, Bessie); 5, Ellen (Elinor, Helen); 6, Joan (Jane, Janet, Jonet); 7,
Margaret (Marget, Meg, Marjorie); 8, Marion (Mary).
At first sight the list suggests New Testament and Greek influence; and
though I am not prepared to dispute this, I would point out (1) that there
was a British goddess called Anna, which may account not only for all the
forms of Ann but also for the terminations in Alison and Marion; (2) that
the name _Christian_ clearly indicates the presence of another religion;
(3) that there is at present nothing to prove that Isobel is a variant of
Elizabeth—it is quite possible that Isobel was the original name and that
the missionaries 'Christianized' it as Elizabeth; (4) that Helen was a
pre-Christian name in Great Britain; (5) that Margaret may have been
originally Marget, the spelling and pronunciation being influenced by the
Greek form; and as g and y are dialectically interchangeable, Marget would
be the same as, or closely allied to, the Finnish Marjatta.
If Christianity had obtained the hold on the people which the
ecclesiastical writers would have us believe, the name Mary should surely
have been the most common, but it hardly occurs in Great Britain before
1645, while Marion is hardly used after that date. This looks as though
Marion were the earlier form, and Mary may therefore be merely the
contraction of the longer name.
As regards the name Joan I can offer no explanations or suggestions. I can
only call attention to its overwhelming preponderance in comparison with
the others.
In the lists the names are arranged without regard to local differences of
spelling. The surnames are in alphabetical order.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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