"A friend recently attended an Anderson Feri Trad ritual which referred
to 'Drychten' [sic] as Goddess.
It had been my understanding that the term 'dryctin' is a neuter
referring to 'The Eternal One' which "begat"
the masculine and feminine forms. But, I can't find provenance for
this statement other than modern
Wicca sources...."
As an Anglo-Saxonist, I can assure you that the word has no use in that
culture as a female. It is the word for "lord" whether earthly or
heavenly (one of the interesting aspects of a lot of Old English
poetry). It comes from the word for army or retainers and is used in all
kinds of compounds to indicate a ruler or noble, e.g. dryhtbearn "noble
child," dryhtcwen "noble queen," dryhtgestreon "noble or princely
treasure."
While the root form, "dryht" (people, retainers, army) is feminine, the
word "dryhten" is masculine. Whether this lends any credence to making
the term "goddess" --- well, linguistically no. But that's never stopped
anyone. The female version of the witch root word (which by the way has
NOTHING to do with bending, that's a different root) is "wicce" not
"wicca" but that has had very little effect over the years on its use.
And no, nothing to do with measuring -- ruling in the sense of ruling a
crowd of people. Hope this helps!
Kate
K. A. Laity
Assistant Professor, English Department
Affiliated Faculty, Women's Studies Program
The College of Saint Rose
432 Western Avenue
Albany NY 12203
518-485-3778
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http://academic2.strose.edu/Arts_and_Humanities/laityk/index.html
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