Making Sense of Anglo-Saxon Mother-Goddess Erce

Written by Dyami Millarson

The earliest known reference to the Angliī (sing. Anglus), who are an ancestral tribe of the Anglo-Saxons, is chapter XL [40] (see the text here or here) of Publius Cornelius Tacitus’ treatise on the origin and location of the Germanic peoples (Dē orīgine et sītū Germānōrum) dated to 98 AD:

Reudigni […] et Aviones et Anglii et Varini et Eudoses et Suarines et Nuitones fluminibus aut silvis muniuntur. nec quicquam notabile in singulis, nisi quod in commune Nerthum, id est Terram matrem, colunt eamque intervenire rebus hominum, invehī populīs arbitrantur. est in insula Oceani castum nemus, dicatumque in eo vehiculum, veste contectum; attingere uni sacerdoti concessum. is adesse penetrali deam intellegit vectamque bubus feminis multa cum veneratione prosequitur. laeti tunc dies, festa loca, quaecumque adventu hospitioque dignatur. non bella ineunt, non arma sumunt; clausum omne ferrum; pax et quies tunc tantum nota, tunc tantum amata, donec idem sacerdos satiatam conversatione mortalium deam templo reddat. mox vehiculum et vestis et, si credere velis, numen ipsum secreto lacu abluitur. servi ministrant, quos statim idem lacus haurit. arcanus hinc terror sanctaque ignorantia, quid sit illud quod tantum perituri vident.
The Reudigni, the Aviones, the Anglii, the Varini, the Eudoses, the Suardones, and Nuithones are protected by rivers or forests. None of these tribes have any noteworthy feature, except they have in common that they worship Nerthus, that is Mother Earth, and they witness she intervenes in human affairs, [as she] is carried to the peoples. In an island of the ocean there is a sacred grove, and within it a consecrated chariot, covered over with a garment. Only one priest is permitted to touch it. He can perceive the presence of the Goddess in this sacred recess, and walks by her side with the utmost reverence as she is drawn along by heifers. It is a season of rejoicing, and festivity reigns wherever she deigns to go and be received. They do not go to battle or wear arms; every weapon is under lock; peace and quiet are known and welcomed only at these times, till the goddess, weary of human intercourse, is at length restored by the same priest to her temple. Afterwards the car, the vestments, and, if you like to believe it, the divinity herself, are purified in a secret lake. Slaves perform the rite, who are instantly swallowed up by its waters. Hence arises a mysterious terror and a pious ignorance concerning the nature of that which is seen only by men doomed to die.

publius cornelius tacitus, de origine et situ germanorum, capitulum xl

The tribal denomination Anglus (pl. Angliī) may or may not be related to Shire Frisian [id est Clay Frisian and Wood Frisian] ing narrow and Dutch eng narrow, which may, in turn, have something to do with Tacitus’ description of this and similar tribes “being protected by rivers or forests” (fluminibus aut silvis muniuntur). It is true that rivers usually have an elongated, narrow shape whilst forests usually take take up a huge area in square metres in any direction; logically, the Shire Frisian ing and Dutch eng are, therefore, more likely to apply to the former than the latter as the adjectives usually describe something that has an elongated shape, such as in Shire Frisian: in inge wei a narrow road or in inge stripe lân a narrow strip of land. However, even if an etymological connection with Shire Frisian ing narrow and Dutch eng narrow is tempting given Tacitus’ own description of the situs location of the Angliī, we ought to be fair and consider other possibilities; an etymological connection with Shire Frisian angel a type of fishhook is another candidate, and this makes perfect sense as those belonging to the ancient tribe of the Angliī dwelled near the Wadden Sea, which is the cradle of Germanic civilisation, and fishing would, therefore, have been a means of sustenance of theirs. Furthermore, it is not strange for West Germanic tribes in the proximity of the Angliī to name themselves after frequently used tools, such as the Francī (sg. Francus) and the Saxōnēs (sg. Saxō) who are named after a type of javelin and knife respectively, and thus technological names for designating tribes may be considered a Germanic tradition, which is a cultural argument in favour of the etymological interpretation of Angliī as a technological name, and additionally, interpreting Angliī as a technological name makes historical sense as the Angliī were a nautical people which traversed the British Channel and thus became the ancestors of the later Anglo-Saxons, whence the Modern English and Scottish languages come. At the same time, if we consider that the Angliī lived near the Wadden Sea, we must also not overlook the fact that the beach along the coast of the Wadden Sea is a narrow strip of land, which, if the Angliī were connected with fishing, might also match well with the Shire Frisian adjective ing, which we discussed as an etymological candidate previously. Yet, the Latin name of the Germanic tribe contains an -l-, which has to be accounted for, and if we interpret this -l- as a Germanic diminutive suffix (cognate with the Latin suffix -(u)l- which may occur in nouns and adjectives), it might make the most sense if we interpret the root word of the tribal denomination as a noun describing a tool rather than an adjective describing the shape of something, although the latter interpretation is not wholly unthinkable. Given the suffix, I have a tendency to favour the Angliī–angel connection over the Angliī–ing interpretation; however, I would not go so far as to suggest the latter is thereby completely ruled out, because ing + diminutive suffix could potentially denote a relatively small narrow object, such as an island (think of the narrowly-shaped North Frisian islands, such as the Halligen Islands, near the coast of Continental Europe) or an estuary.

Having delved into the etymology of the tribal name, we must now return to what Tacitus has to say about the Germanic traditional religion of the Angliī: it was customary among the Angliī and West Germanic tribes related to them “that they worship Nerthus, that is Mother Earth” (quod […] Nerthum, id est Terram matrem, colunt). Moreover, the Angliī and others are witnesses of Mother Earth’s deeds in the human world: “they witness she intervenes in human affairs, [as she] is carried to the peoples” (eam[…] intervenire rebus hominum, invehī populīs arbitrantur). Whilst Tacitus as an ancient Roman is a fellow polytheist, he can give a decent account of the worldview of the Angliī, helping us empathise with how they perceive things; it is evident that the Angliī believed themselves to be the witnesses of Mother Earth, and knowing this perception of Mother Earth as well as the perception of themselves (self-perception) as witnesses fully opens our window into the religious world of the Angliī, which can make us feel that we are much closer to the Angliī than our current year suggests, and this is the right time to realise that Tacitus’ lively description of the folk ways of the Angliī is, in the current year, almost two thousand years old.

Why is the religion of the Angliī so important for the topic of this article? As suggested by the title, the goal of this article is to make sense of an Anglo-Saxon Goddess named Erce, which may appear elusive as she has, unfortunately, been mentioned only once in an Anglo-Saxon charm, which means we do not have much to work with and we therefore had to take a look at the wider ethnoreligious context before we could begin to grasp the nature of Erce as a Germanic Goddess.

While there is only one Anglo-Saxon charm in which Erce is mentioned, there is great merit to reading the entire charm (I edited the Anglo-Saxon text):

Now we should note that the charm is not a purely Germanic folk religious charm, but it is a syncretic charm which incorporates both Germanic and non-Germanic elements – a fact which makes it historically interesting, as Germanic polytheism survived Christianity, which posed an existential threat, by adapting (see more here, here and here), and syncretism thus became a core tenet of the way in which that evolutionary adaptation for survival manifested itself; by carefully studying pagan survivals in modern Germanic languages and cultures as well as the continuity between Germanic paganism and the folklore of later ages, it eventually dawned upon me that, from an evolutionary perspective, Germanic polytheism works like a living organism which adapts for the sake of its self-preservation. As a result of the evolutionary adaptation, paganism was never truly dead & gone, although gravely wounded and in dire need of medical attention if it were to make a full recovery.

I have printed Erce, Erce, Erce, eorþan modor (Erce, Erce, Erce, earth’s mother) in bold as it is the pagan element of the charm that we are interested in. We ought to immediately notice that the name – we are now assuming that it is actually a proper name although other readings are possible – is said three times, and this is no mere coincidence as Germanic pagans believed 3 to denote holiness (also see my previous article where I discuss how deities are worshipped in specific numbers).

The mention of a Germanic Goddess in an Anglo-Saxon charm which exhibits non-Germanic aesthetics is not that strange. The Norwegian Halldor Olson Opedal has collected evidence that Norwegian fishermen used to thank Njörun – who is to be equated with Njorth (also compare Nerthus which is mention in the work of Tacitus) – for bounty whenever they caught fish. This tradition of Norwegian fishermen may be seen in the same light as the Anglo-Saxon charm which fits in an agricultural context; both fishermen and farmers are conservative social groups which tend to preserve ancient traditions, as I have noticed with the Terschelling Frisians, Schiermonnikoog Frisians, and Hindeloopen Frisians in 2018.

Methinks it is time now to move on to the etymology of the Anglo-Saxon divine name Erce so we may get a better grasp of what the Goddess originally stands for.

Let me dispel a spurious etymological connection first: any etymological connection between Latin Cerēs and Anglo-Saxon Erce is fanciful. Namely, it is exceedingly unlikely that Erce stands for *Cere as Germanic consonants do not just wander about in Germanic words that much and if they wander about at all, they stay very close to their original position; an imagined metathesis such as *Ecre is within the realm of the possible in the Germanic language family, but an original form *Cere, which requires an evolution entirely alien to the regular sound developments in the Germanic language family, is simply a bridge too far. So to put it very clearly, an etymological connection with Cerēs is undoubtedly a figment of the imagination.

Erce, if it is a proper name, may mean ‘holy one’ as it appears to be connected with Old English eorcnan true, precious, Old High German erc(h)an true, genuine (equated with Lat. vērō truly), and Gothic unaírkns unholy and aírkns holy, which is a synonym of Gothic háilags holy (in the sense of ‘whole, sound’) and weihs holy (in the sense of ‘chosen, dedicated, sacred’). It is also connected with the first element of the Swedish compound jär-tecken omen and the Icelandic compound jar-teikn omen, which are derived from Old Norse jar-tegn (gen. sg. -tein, nom. pl. -teikn) token, miracle. The meanings of these compounds already demonstrate that the element jar- is closely associated with (pagan) religion. Another interesting compound, in which the same element occurs, is Old Norse jarkna-steinn (gen. sg. -steins, nom. pl. -steinar) glittering gem and Anglo-Saxon eorcnanstān (gen. sg. -stānes, nom. pl. -stānas) precious stone. This compound originally means ‘holy stone’ and it can be inferred that a stone thus called would have possessed special religious significance to the Germ. polytheists, who indeed had an inherited custom of venerating both trees and stones. In any case, it ought to be clear that all of the aforementioned compounds with this element belong to a semantic web that has its pristine origins in Germanic paganism. In Old High German, there is the compound erchanpruoder full brother, which gives a decent idea of the meaning of erchan in Old High German: it means something along the lines of Latin vērus true, genuine and as these two words are semantically comparable, we have a decent idea of what erchan actually means, which in turn helps us understand the meaning of this word in Gothic better as well: Gothic unaírkns, which I translated as impure, may be understood as untrue and while I translated Gothic aírkns as holy, it may also be understood as true, which underscores the relationship between truth and holiness. Therefore, Erce may mean ‘Holy One’ in the sense of ‘True One’; if this is another epithet of Mother Earth, it means she is a manifestation of holy truth (Seith) as opposed to a manifestation of being ‘whole’ (háilags) or ‘sacred’ (weihs), and the fact that the name Erce is mentioned thrice, emphasises her holiness. When Erce is mentioned thrice, this has magical power and the purpose of this is to create a favourable truth or jartegn omen; this is apparently how Seith works. She does not have a healing function (háilags) nor a sacrificial function (weihs), but a fertility or growing function (as seen in the charm), hence she is “genuine” (aírkns). So the aforementioned three-way distinction between háilags, weihs and aírkns, if correct, may help us understand Erce and what her exact function is; she is a Fertility Goddess, and this is also expected from the fact she is equated with Mother Earth. Erce, at least with this specific epithet, is originally called upon for fertility magic rather than sacrificial or healing magic, although that cannot be entirely ruled out whilst Germanic peoples (like in the Anglo-Saxon charm) did not make such clear distinctions and simply did whatever they deemed proper for their situation and in reality, as the Germanic peoples also accepted, things are inevitably not clear-cut but blurred, which means that, for instance as in the case of the Anglo-Saxon charm, when one requires fertility magic, one may require healing magic at the same time. Gothic aírkns may further be compared with Ancient Greek ἀργός bright, white, ἀργής bright, white, ἄργυρος silver (a shining, white metal), Sanskrit अर्जुन bright, white; made of silver, रजत silver-like, whitish, ऋज्र fast, red, Latin argentum silver, arguere to clarify (possibly originally ‘to brighten’), Old Armenian արծաթ silver, Tocharian A ārki white and Tocharian B ārkwi white. The semantic web, which is observed in all of the aforementioned Indogermanic terms, may be connected with the notion that the Germanic Gods were originally perceived as “white, bright, silver-like,” and this quality, if indeed so relevant, may perhaps also be closely associated with “white magic” (i.e., good magic, positive supernatural influence). Finally, there is the Bavarian Erchtag which means Tuesday. I am not entirely sure what to make of this, but Germanic Gods are usually featured in the days of the week, and it may perhaps be assumed that Erch– is apparently a deity; interestingly, the element in the compound has lost the n just like the Anglo-Saxon erce, and this may either be a coincidence, or it may point to a common origin. We have already discussed this en passant, but I would once again like to raise the reader’s attention to the fact that the Anglo-Saxon charm equated Erce with eorþan modor Mother Earth. Why is this so relevant? As a matter of fact, Tacitus said of the Angliī, the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons, in the passage quoted at the onset of this article “that they worship Nerthus, that is Mother Earth” (quod […] Nerthum, id est Terram matrem, colunt). This checks out with the apparent Anglo-Saxon worship of Mother Earth in later times. If it is true that Erce = eorþan modor and if it is true that Nerthus = Terra mater, then it may be true that Erce = Nerthus (i.e., Erce is an epithet of Nerthus) or in case we wish to be more cautious, at the very least very closely relatedness, which, either way, profoundly enhances our comprehension of Erce. In case we assume that Erce is simply closely related to Nerthus, we may surmise that both Goddesses are similar in character and consequently may be expected to be worshipped in similar fashion. The Old Norse also knew Mother Earth, whom they called Jorth, and this was the mother of Thor, whom she begat with Othin. So, we already know that Erce, equated with Mother Earth, must at the very least have been a Jorth-like and Nerthus-like being. Since Erce is not mentioned in further sources and although dubious, the Bavarian Erchtag Tuesday seems to confirm that a Goddess by the name of Erch- existed, it is, perhaps, not likely that she was an unfamiliar deity, but rather that Erce is an epithet of the familiar Nerthus.

Finally, a word of caution: we should briefly consider the possibility that Erce may actually not be a proper name and that we might read the passage differently. In fact, we might read erce, erce, erce as a threefold repetition of holy, and I have indeed seen such a threefold repetition of sanctus in Latin hymns. Therefore, one might interpret Erchtag Tuesday as simply meaning ‘holy day’ but that would strike me as somewhat odd, as the days of the week are usually named after deities in Germanic and Roman tradition. It is definitely reasonable to read erce and Erch- not as a proper name. The fact remains that Tacitus clearly stated that the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons venerated Mother Earth and the Anglo-Saxon charm clearly mentions Mother Earth, and this fact is not negated if we do not read erce as a proper name. So, the connection with Nerthus has no bearing on how to read erce and the argument for the connection between the Anglo-Saxon Mother Earth and the Mother Earth of the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons remains intact. However, reading Erce as a proper name does also certainty make sense and all the etymological evidence does certainly not argue against it; in fact, it would make perfect sense for a Fertility Goddess to have a name meaning ‘holy one.’ So, on the one hand, we cannot rule out a genuine pagan origin, yet on the other hand, we cannot rule out that three times repetition of erce is of non-pagan origin. Given the syncretic nature of the text, it is not possible to discern the truth with any absolute degree of certainly and if no new evidence arises to shed more light on which of the two possibilities is the correct one, one may believe whatever one wishes to believe; however one interprets this does not really alter matters. However, I am personally inclined to believe that it is an imitation of sanctus, sanctus, sanctus as found in other Latin hymns, while I cannot really recall having seen such a threefold repetition of a name before in Germanic poems (although my memory may fail me). Of course, as I have already mentioned, the Germanic peoples did in fact have a tradition of worshipping deities in groupings, and so it would not be entirely surprising within the Germanic tradition if the same name were repeated thrice, yet I find the position of erce before Mother Earth somewhat strange, which inclines me to think that erce is, in fact, not a proper name but something else. Nevertheless, who knows? Human beings are creative and they may create strange combinations, so my suspicion of the placement of erce does not entirely rule out a reading of erce as a proper name for a Goddess also known as Mother Earth. No matter how unsatisfying this may be from an etymological point of view, this matter remains – if we wish to know with much more certainty how to read erce – unresolved for now. Regardless, I am currently thinking of how the matter may perhaps be resolved: a solution might be a thorough meta-analysis of all the available Germanic pagan materials to see whether (1) repetitions of the same proper name occur or not all and whether (2) such repetitions, if they do occur at all, may occur before (or after) another proper name that is used in an attributive manner. Such a meta-analysis could perhaps provide more clarity from a linguistic point of view. Barring the ability to do so within a short timeframe, I can still do a quick literature check as I have access to a wide variety of linguistic sources.