In
Anglo-Saxon paganism
,
Rheda
(
Latinized
from
Old English
*Hreðe
or
*Hreða
, possibly meaning "the famous" or "the victorious"
[1]
) is a
goddess
connected with the month '"Rhedmonth"' (from Old English
*Hr?þm?naþ
). Rheda is attested solely by
Bede
in his 8th century work
De temporum ratione
. While the name of the goddess appears in Bede's Latin manuscript as
Rheda
, it is reconstructed into Old English as
*Hr?þe
and is sometimes modernly anglicized as
Hretha
(also "Hrethe" or "Hrede").
Hr?þm?naþ
is one of three events (apart from the
days of the week
) that refer to deities in the Anglo-Saxon calendar?the other two being
?osterm?naþ
and
M?draniht
.
De temporum ratione
[
edit
]
In chapter 15 of his work
De temporum ratione
, Bede provides information about English months and celebrations. Bede records that
Hr?þm?naþ
is analogous to March, and details that "Hrethmonath is named for their goddess Hretha, to whom they
sacrificed
at this time" (
Rhed-monath a Dea illorum Rheda, cui in illo sacrificabant, nominatur…
). Bede notes that
Hr?þm?naþ
occurs between
Solm?naþ
(February), so named due to the offerings of cakes to the gods during the month, and
?osterm?naþ
(April), named after the goddess
?ostre
.
[2]
Theories
[
edit
]
19th-century scholar
Jacob Grimm
notes, while no other source mentions the goddesses Rheda and ?ostre, saddling Bede, a "father of the church, who everywhere keeps heathenism at a distance, and tells us less than he knows" with the invention of the goddesses Rheda and ?ostre would be uncritical, and that "there is nothing improbable in them, nay the first of them [Rheda] is justified by clear traces in the vocabularies of the
German tribes
." Grimm proposes a connection between
*Hr?þe
and the
Old High German
female personal name
Hruada
. Grimm theorizes that the Old High German form of the goddess name
Rheda
was
*Hrouda
.
[3]
Rudolf Simek
notes that Grimm's derivation of the name Rheda means that Rheda "could have a similar meaning to the eponymous
Roman god
of the same month,
Mars
."
[1]
David Raoul Wilson comments that while "Bede gives us no clues as to the rituals involved during
Rhedmonath
and
Eosturmonath
, it is reasonable to assume that they related to the beginning of spring, the new growing season, and fertility."
[4]
Modern influence
[
edit
]
Appendix D of
J. R. R. Tolkien
's
The Lord of the Rings
contains a presentation of the
Shire calendar
, the calendar used by the fictional society of
Hobbits
, based on what is known of the Anglo-Saxon calendar. Its third month is called "Rethe", modeled after
Hr?þm?naþ
, projected into a Modern English spelling.
[5]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Simek (2007:159).
- ^
English translation by Wallis (1999:53?54). Original Latin from Giles (1843:179).
- ^
Grimm (1882:288?290).
- ^
Wilson (1992:36).
- ^
Staver (2005:209).
References
[
edit
]
- Giles, John Allen
(1843).
The Complete Works of the Venerable Bede, in the Original Latin, Collated with the Manuscripts, and Various Print Editions, Accompanied by a New English Translation of the Historical Works, and a Life of the Author. Vol. VI: Scientific Tracts and Appendix.
London: Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane.
- Grimm, Jacob
(James Steven Stallybrass Trans.) (1882).
Teutonic Mythology: Translated from the Fourth Edition with Notes and Appendix
Vol. I. London: George Bell and Sons.
- Simek, Rudolf
(2007) translated by Angela Hall.
Dictionary of Northern Mythology
.
D.S. Brewer
.
ISBN
0-85991-513-1
- Staver, Ruth Johnston (2005).
A Companion to Beowulf
.
Greenwood Publishing Group
.
ISBN
0-313-33224-X
- Wallis, Faith (Trans.) (1999).
Bede, the Reckoning of Time
.
Liverpool University Press
.
ISBN
0-85323-693-3
- Wilson, David Raoul (1992).
Anglo-Saxon Paganism
.
Taylor & Francis
.
ISBN
0-415-01897-8
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