Germanic Neopaganism - Terminology and Groupings

Terminology and Groupings

Heathen (Old English hæðen, Old Norse heiðinn, Old High German heidan) was coined as a translation of Latin paganus, in the Christian sense of "non-Abrahamic faith".

In the Sagas, the terms heiðni and kristni (Heathenry and Christianity) are used as polar terms to describe the older and newer faiths. Historically, the term was influenced by the Gothic term *haiþi, appearing as haiþno in Ulfilas' bible for translating gunē Hellēnis, "Greek (i.e. gentile) woman" of Mark 7:26, probably with an original meaning "dwelling on the heath", but it was also suggested by Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche Mythologie (Teutonic Mythology) that it was chosen because of its similarity to Greek ethne "gentile" or even that it is not related to "heath" at all, but rather a loan from Armenian hethanos, itself loaned from Greek ethnos.