Baba Yaga (Russian: Баба Яга) is a supernatural being (or a member of the trio of sisters of the same name) from slave folklore who appears as a deformed and/or fierce-looking woman.
Overview[]
Baba Yaga flies in a mortar, holding a pestle, and dwells in a hut in the deep forest that is said to stand on chicken legs (or sometimes a single chicken leg). Baba Yaga can help or hinder those who find her and seek her. She sometimes has a maternal role, and also has associations with the wildlife of the forest.
Andreas Johns identifies Baba Yaga as "one of the most memorable and distinctive figures in Slavic European folklore", noting that she is "enigmatic" and at times exhibits a "shocking ambiguity". Johns describes her as a "many-faced figure, capable of inspiring researchers to view her as a Cloud, Moon, Death, Winter, Serpent, Bird, Pelican or Earth Goddess, ancestor totemic matriarchal, initiator, phallic mother, or archetypal image.
Etymology[]
Variations of the name Baba Yaga have been found in the languages of the East Slavic peoples. The first element, baba, is clearly a babble, meaning "woman" or, specifically, "old woman." The same word continues to be used for both grandmother and old woman in Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian. In modern Russian, the word бабушка babushka ("grandmother") derives from her, as well as "babcia" ("grandmother") in Polish and Ukrainian. Baba can also have a pejorative connotation in modern Ukrainian and Russian, both for women and for "an effeminate, shy and characterless man". In Polish, the term is considered pejorative, meaning "vicious or ugly woman". In Czech both meanings apply. Similar to other kinship terms in Slavic languages and dialects, the word baba can be applied outside the family, potentially as a result of taboo. For example, in several slave languages and dialects, the word baba can apply to various animals, natural phenomena, and objects, such as types of mushrooms, a pie, or a pear. This function extends to landforms. In the Polesia region of Ukraine, the plural of baby can refer to an autumn funeral feast.
Although various etymologies have been proposed for the second element of the name, Yaga, it remains more etymologically problematic and no consensus has been reached among scholars. For example, in the 19th century, Alexander Afanasyev proposed the derivation from Proto-Slavic *ǫžь ("snake") and Sanskrit अहि ahi ("snake"). This etymology has been explored by other scholars in the 20th century.
Terms related to the second element of the name, Yaga, appear in the various Slavic languages: Serbian and Croatian jeza ("horror, chill, coldness"), Slovene jeza ("anger"), Old Czech jězě ("witch, legendary evil female being"), Modern Czech jezinka ("haunted forest nymph, dryad"), and Polish jędza ("witch, evil woman, fury" ). The term appears in Old Church Slavonic as jęza/jędza ("disease"). In other Indo-European languages, the iaga element has been related to Lithuanian engti ("to oppress, flay"), ingti ("to become lazy, to become bald, to shed one's skin"), and ingas ( "lazy, slow"). Old English inca ("doubt, worry, pain") and Old Norse ekki ("pain, worry).
Description[]
Baba Yaga is a shapeshifting and immortal witch, having deep knowledge of everything and being the personification of evil. She lives in a hut with chicken legs at each corner that allow her to turn depending on the wind or if an unheard word is spoken. In some legends, her legs allowed the house to move, while others, it rotated on an axis. The gates and fences of her house are made from the bones of her victims, with each post adorned with a skull. The frame.
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