The Etymology of the Name Hagen

in the Nibelungenlied

HENRY K-RATZ

1:E HARSH, GRIM CHARACTER OF in the Nibelungenlied

HAGEN
(NL), who in his unswerving loyalty and steadfastness seems to
many the very embodiment of the old Germanic ethic, has long
been a puzzle to scholars. While in the NL he is pictured simply as
the vassal of Gunther, in .the Eddic sources he appears under the
name Hogni as the brother of Gunnar (the Norse form of Gunther).
However, in the Thidrekssaga (Ths), generally considered to be
derived either from the same source as the NL, or one close to it,
H ogni is depicted as the bastard brother of Gunnar, begotten of his
mother by a supernatural being, an allr.l A comparison of these
three variants seems to indicate that the Ths version is the more
original one. The fact that the name Hagen does not alliterate with
the names of the three kings is strong evidence that the position of
full brother is a developed one. On the other hand, his influential
position indicates a status little below that of the three brothers,
and the development from 'bastard half-brother' to 'full brother'
on the one hand and to 'vassal' on the other is quite logical.
Wh~le the Burgundian kings are based on historical personages
- the names Gibica (= Gjuki, father of Gunnar in the Eddic sources),
Gundomaris (= ON Gutthormr), Gislaharius (= Giselher) and Gun-
daharius (= Gunther) appear as Burgundian kings of the 4th-5th
centuries in Gundobad's Lex Burgundionum, issued about the year
5002 -, no historical record of Hagen has ever been discovered.
1 In the NL Gunther has two brothers, Giselher and Gernot. In the Eddic sources

the only brother named beside Hogni is called Gutthormr, but in the Siguroarkvioa
in 8kamma a fourth brother is mentioned, but not named (strophe 19). In the The
Gumiar's full brothers are called Gernoz and Gisler, while at one point a fourth one,
called Gutthormr, is mentioned. - References to the Edda are to- Edda, hrsg. v.
Gustav Neckel (Heidelberg, 1914); those to the Ths to Saga f)ioriks Konungs at
Bern, udgivet af C. R. Unger (Christiania, 1853.)
2 Lex. Burg. 3 (MOB, LL I, II, 1, 43).

101
102 Henry Kratz
The phrase von Tronege that so often appears with his name in the
NL has caused some scholars to postulate a historical character
from any of various localities in the Rhineland area that have names
reminiscent of Tronege, while others have sought to find the answer
in the legend (first mentioned by Fredegar3) that the Franks were
of Trojan origin.4 It is not even possible to say with any certainty
whether the character of Hagen had its origin in Franco-Burgundian
legendary history, or whether it was of mythological origin, an in-
herent part of the Siegfried legend at first.
Apart from the Nibelung sources,' Hagen also appears as a charac-
ter in the 10th-century Latin epic Waltharius (based on German
legend, and probably a translation of a German original). He
(named H agano here) is portrayed as a Frank, the son of Hagathie,
and is a hostage among the Huns, along with Gunther (Gundarius).
Hagen is also the name of the father of Hilde in the Hilde and Hetel
legend that appears in three works of the early 13th century: the
Middle High German' folk epic Kudrun, the Icelandic prose Edda
of Snorri Sturluson,5 and the Latin chronicle of the Dane Saxo
Grammaticus.6
The name Hagen is as mysterious as the person who bore it in
the NL, and any number of attempts have been made to etymolo-
gize it, none of them very satisfactory. .
One group consists of endeavors to link the name with those of
various historical personages. Perhaps the best attempt along these
lines is the effort to identify Hagen with Aetius, the victor of the
Catalaunian Fields (whose name is attested also in the forms Age-
tius, Agitius, Aegidius) through Hagathie, the father of Hagano in
the W altharius, where the name occurs only in the accusative
3 Chronicarum quae dieuntur Fredegarii Seholastiei Libri IV eum eontinuationi-

bus, edidit Bruno Iuusch (MGB, Script. Rer. Merov. II, 1888), II, 4-8 and III, 2.
Cf. The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its Continuations, trans. by
J. M. Wallace Hadrill (London, 1960), xi-xii.
4 Cf. Friedrich Panzer, Das Nibelungenlied: Entstehung und Gestalt (Stuttgart,
1955), 313-14, and M. Sonnenfeld, "An etymological explanation of the Hagen
.figure," N eophilologus 43 (1959), 300-30 I-
5 Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, udgivet af Finnur Jonsson (Kebenhavn, 1931),
Skaldskaparmal, chap. 62.
6 Baxonis Gesta Danorum primum a C. Knabe & P. Herrmann recensita, re-
cognoverunt et ediderunt J. Olrik & H. Raeder. Tomus I Textum continens (Hau-
niae, 1931), Liber V, VII, 8ff.
 The Etymology of the Name Hagen in the Nibelungenlied 103
H agathien (v. 629).7 H. Gregoire,S retaining the equation Aetius
= Hagathie,identified Hagano with Echoar-Goar, leader of the
Alani, and sought to derive Hagen's name from the designation for
'ruler' (represented by Turkish han, English khan) in a form chagan.
The equation of Aetius and Hagen, apart from the forced phonetic
combinations that must be made, is unlikely by the very fact that
Aetius was historically an enemy of the Burgundians.9 F. R. Schro-
der points out that the presence of the name Hagen in the Hetel
and Hilde legend is against its provenience from an Oriental lan-
guage.10 Also, K. F. Stroheker11 maintains with justification that
a leader of the Alani, of Sarmatian- Iranian stock, would hardly
bear an Altaic designation.
Even more far-fetched is the derivation of Hagen from Eu:genius,
the name of the lover of the Roman princess Honoria.12
Another group of etymologies centers around the element of the
supernatural that is attached to Hagen's personality, especially in
the Ths. Lachmann13 considered Hagen as the assassin of Siegfried,
the counterpart of Hodr, the blind, unwitting assassin of Baldr
(equated to Siegfried) in the Edda.14 He thus connected the name
Hagen with OHG hag 'hedge, bush,' and looked upon this as a con-
necting link with the mistletoe with which Baldr was killed. He
further. notes that Hagano in the Waltharius is characterized as a
paliurus 'Christ's thorn (a thorny shrub)' (1351) and as being
spinosus (1421). However, engaging as the thought is at first, there
is really no reason for equating Siegfried with Baldr, except for the
motif of limited vulnerability associated with each of them. But the
fact that this motif with respect to Siegfried appears only in the
7 Richard Heinzel, "Uber die Nibelungensage," Sitzungsberichte der Wiener .Aka-
demie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Klasse, 109 (2) (1885), 671-718. - Waltharius
references are to Waltharius, hrsg. v. Karl Strecker (Berlin, 1947).
8 "Ou en est la question des Nibelungen 1", Byzantion 10 (1935), 227ff., 241ff.
9 Cf. Otto L. Jiriczek, Die deutsche Heldensage4 (Sammlung GOschen, Bd. 33. Ber-

lin, 1913), 88.

10 "Die Sage von Hetel und Hilde," Deutsche V ierteljahrsschrift fur Literatur-
wissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte, 32 (1958), 54. .
11 "Historisch-geographische Grundlagen der Nibelungendichtung," Deutsche
Vierteljahrsschrift, 32 (1958), 221.
12 Cf. N. Lukman, "The Catalaunian Battles in Medieval Epics," Olassica et
Mediaevalia 10 (1948), 60-131.
13 Zu den Nibelungen und zu der Klage (Berlin, 1836), 344ff.

14 Vols. 31-32. Cf. Snorri's Edda, Gylfaginning, chap. 33.

:104 'Henry Kratz
NL - i.e", not in the Norse material, even the Ths, that is' so close
to the NL ~ seems to indicate that it is a later addendum in the
German versions. And if Hagen were named after such an attribute,
it would seem that the reference would be more specific, namely
'he of the mistletoe,' or something on that order. For Baldr was not
killed by just any thorny wood, but from an arrow fashioned from
the wood of the sacred mistletoe. In all probability paliurus and
spinosus in the Waltharius were simply puns on the name Hagano,
which the author had interpreted as being connected with; 0 H G
hag and hagan.
Rudolf KoegePS saw in the name the meaning 'shadowy one;'
'ghostly one,' which he arrived at by analogy with the OHG name
H agupart, lit., 'popanz, larve.'16 Because in the synonymous ex-
pression schembart the first element is OHG scema 'shadow,' Koegel
asserts the first element of Hagupart must have the same meaning.
But this does not necessarily follow - a logical connection could be
made, for example, with the stem of hag 'bus~.' Moreover, I\.oegel's
further etymological connections are quite dubious.
Another attempt in the mythological sphere was that of W. Miil-
ler, who connected the name with MHG hage(n) 'breeding bull,' and
wished to identify Hagen with the bull-headed god of the Franks
known as Chlojo bisinus.17 Going out from the same etymon, F. R.
Schroder18 made a series of combinations as clever as they are un-
likely that end up with the identification of Hagen as the boar that
appears in the hunt that prefaces Siegfried's death in the NL and
the Ths. To accomplish this he equated Siegfried with the youthful
vegetation god who is overcome in many religions by a demon who
often appears in the form of a boar. Then, pointing to the fact that
breeding designations for domestic animals often shift from one
animal to another, he cited as evidence for the meaning 'boar' in
German the Swabian hiickel 'Zucht-Eber.' His final point of ev~dence
are the words of Grimhildr in the Ths: after Hogni says that Siguror
had died from goring by a boar, she says, "Hogni, you were that
boar!" (Sa sami villigaulltr hmfir pu verit Haugni.) (chap. 348).' The
15 Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur bis zum A usgange des M ittelalters (Strass-

burg, 1897), I, 2, 208-209.

16 E. Forstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch (Nordhausen, 1856), 1. 575.
17 Mythologie der deutschen ,Heldensage (Heilbronn, 1886), 45.

18 "Sigfrids Tod," GRM 41 (1960), 119-21. ,

 The Etymology of the Name Hagen in the Nibelungenlied 105
chain of "evidence has too many weak links: It is by no means"certain
that the proto-Siegfried was a vegetation god, nor that Hagen is of
mythological origin, or even that he was originally associated with
Siegfried rather than with the Burgundian kings; the evidence that
Siegfried was ever killed by the boar is very dubious indeed in the
Nibelung sources - Grimhildr's remark is easily explained as the
obvious answer to Hogni's. patent lie; there is no evidence from the
OHG orMHG periods that hage ever meant 'boar' - indeed, the
Swabian dialect hiiekel could easily be of different origin.
Various other attempts have been made to explain the name on
a rational basis as an ordinary name for a warrior. K. Mtillenhoff19 "
would' link the word up with 0N hagr 'skillful, '20 wherein he is
followed by Kralik.21 Mtillenhoff also would connect OHG hagustalt
(NHG hagestolz), which he defines as having a basic meaning of
'warrior,' with the same etymon.
Others besides Lachmann have sought to derive Hagen from the
etymon represented by NHG hag 'bush, hedge, etc.' Gustav F~eytag,
pointing to the use of hedges as fences already in prehistoric times
among the Germanic peoples, wanted to give the name the meaning
'guardian of the borderlands. '22F. Panzer thought it was a shortened
form of names like Haganrik, Haganulf, compounds made from
OHG hagan 'thornbush.'23
Although hag is 'poorly attested in OHG, being represented in
Graff only by one gloss, 'urbs,'24 and by the compound hagastalt,
hagustalt,25 and in Forstemann by a few compound names,26 it is
well attested in Middle High German in meanings that appear to be
very old, so that its absence in the older period is surely only for-
tuitous. It is common in the MHG period in the meanings 'bush,'
'fence,' 'enclosure,' "die waldige strecke ... in der das unterholz
vorherscht, obschon es in einzelnen fallen ganz an den begriff wald
ruhrt."27 The DWb gives a further sense (4) which it defines as
follows: .

19 "Zeugnisse und Excurse zur deutschen Heldensage," ZsfdA. 12 (1865), 296

to 299. 20 Cf. Fritzner. 1. 690.
21 Die Sigfridtrilogie im N ibelungenlied und in der Thidrekssaga (Halle, 1941), 239.

22 Gesammelte Aufslitze (Leipzig, 1888), 2. "436.

23 Ope cit., 313. " 24 4. 761. 25 4. 762. 2? 2. 626.

"27 DWb IV, 2, 138-39. Cf. Lexer 1. 1136-37 and Benecke~Miiller-Zarncke 1.

605-606.
106 Henry Kratz
hag geht nun auch iiber aus der bedeutung des umziehenden ge-
heges auf den umzogenen ort selbst, mag er nun ein· einziges
gebaude, ein landgut,.ein ganzer'ort sern; nur bezeichnet hag nie
den eigentlichen herrensitz, das hauptgut und den wohnplatz des
besitzers eines terrains, welcher sitz vielmehr stets hof, sal ..•
heiszt. '
Going out from this latter meaning, Sonnenfeld28 postulates a
meaning similar to~hat of hagastalt, hagustalt, namely, 'one as-
sociated with or ad~inistering a hag, or subordinate estate,' a role
befitting Hagen as the younger brother. As evidence the same
author points to the word haukstaldr in the Edda,29 which has been
emended by many editors to hogstaldr. At this point Gunnar is
called gramr haukstalda, which Sonnenfeld interprets as meaning
'lord of younger sons of land owners,' so that presumably all of
Gunnar's brothers bear the same designation. We would thus have
to assume that Hogni is synonymous with hogstaldr (for which there
is no evidence), and that the title which was given to three brothers
came to be looked upon as a proper name for one of them. Sonnen-
feld feels that many of the inconsistencies in Hagen's character are
due to his being in actuality the end product of a fusion of the thre~
brothers. This seems hardly likely, especially when one considers
that the "complex character" of Hagen is something that appears
only in the NL and is due probably not to the fusion of three
brothers, but rather to the fusion of different layers of story tra-
dition.
It does seem that hag 'bush, etc.,' is the best point of departure
for explaining the name. There is, moreover, a method of combining
~n explanation of the use of this etymon with Hagen's special nature
that seems to have been hitherto overlooked. All the etymological
explanations that depend .on the circumstances of Hagen's birth
are concerned with the supernatural quality of his sire, yet surely
the fact of his bastardry is equally important: indeed, if one assumes
a human, non-supernatural origin for the personality of Hagen, it
would be best to go out from the idea of a bastard half-brother.
The question then is whether we can with any plausibility construe
a meaning 'bastard' for the name.
Now, in terms meaning 'bastard' or iIi allusions to bastardry the
stress is often put upon the fact that the conception took place not
28 Ope cit., 302-303. 29 8iguroarkvioa in skamma, 31.
 The Etymology of the Name Hagen in the Nibelungenlied 107
in the connubial bed, as is fitting and proper, but somewhere else.
Thus the German word bankert 'bastard' (and the variant con-
structions biinkling, bankkind, bankriese) seems to be a derivative
of bank 'bench' and to have originally meant 'one begotten on a
bench.'30 ON hornungr 'bastard' is a derivative of horn 'corner' and
means literally 'one begotten in a corner. '31The word bastard itself,
although its exact etymology is obscure, seems to be of similar
origin.32
If we take as our starting point the- DWb's sense 4 of hag, 'tract
covered with brush,' 'forest of undergrowth,' we thus arrive at a
literal meaning for Hagen of 'one begotten in the brush,' to which
as a designation for 'bastard' there can be no objections on semantic
grounds. The more extensive description of Hogni's procreation
in the Ths (chap. 169), where Hogni's mother is depicted as lying
outside in her garden (grasgaror), gives further support to this
derivation.
We must then assume that the name of Hagano in the Waltharius,
along with that of Gundarius, came into the Walter legend from the
Nibelung legend. The Hagen of the Hetel and Hilde legend could be
explained on the same basis, or on the assumption of an earlier
version in which this Hagen is of obscure birth. Could we look upon
the scene in Kudrun where Hagen appears out of nowhere to save
the maidens from the griffins, as a reflex of this tradition ?33 The
use of Haguno, Hagano, Hagono as a personal name in Old Hig~
German times34 would not necessarily be a reflection upon the birth
of these individuals, but could just as well be e~plained as imitative
of the name of the legendary character (no longer understood in its
literal meaning): Koegel35 gives examples of other names derived
from those of legendary characters.
University of Oregon
30 See DWb and Kluge-Gotze-Mitzka s.v. 31 See'Fritzner s.v.
32 Juan Corominas, Diccionario critico etimol6gico de la lengua ca8tellana (Bern,
1954if.), 1. 421, says, "Los mas estan de acuerdo en que deriva de un sustantivo
que indicaria el Iugar donde fue engendrado el bastardo." He there cites other
Romance parallels.
33 K udrun, hrsg. v. B. Symons (Halle, 1883), strophe 73 if.' Cf. also the epithets

that he bears in KUdrun: der wilde, der kuene, der valant aller kunege, which likewise
point to a similar origin - see Gustav Ehrismann, Geschichte der deut8chen Literatur
bi8 zum AU8gang des Mittelalter8 (Miinchen, 1932-1935), 2. 2, 150.
M Miillenhoif, lococit. 35 Loc. cit.