Baba Yaga - Etymology and Origin

Etymology and Origin

The name of Baba-Yaga is composed of two elements. Baba means "old woman" or "grandmother" in most Slavic languages; it derives from babytalk and often has come to have pejorative connotations in modern Slavic languages. The second element, yaga, is from Proto-Slavic (j)ęga, "Jędza" Polish, which is probably related to Lithuanian ingis ("lazybones" or "sluggard"), Old Norse ekki ("pain"), and Old English inca ("question, scruple, doubt; grievance, quarrel").

An early recorded reference to yaga-baba in English appears in Of the Russe Common Wealth by Giles Fletcher, the Elder, in the section "About Permyaks, Samoyeds and Lopars", indicating a possible Uralic influence.

The name differs within the various Slavic languages. It is spelled Baba Jaga in Czech, Slovak and Polish (though Czech and Slovak also use Ježibaba). In Slovene, the words are reversed, producing Jaga Baba. In Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian, it is Баба Яга́ transliterated as Baba Yaga (also Baba Yaha, in Ukrainian and Baba Yaha or Baba Jaha in Belarusian), in Bulgarian it is "Баба Я́га", transliterated as Baba Yaga. In South Slavic languages and traditions, there is a similar old witch, written Baba Roga in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, and Баба Рога in Bosnian, Macedonian and Serbian - this name translates as "horned old woman/grandmother". In Romanian, which is not Slavic but one of the Romance languages, the name is Baba Cloanţa (roughly translated as "old hag with broken teeth!").