Origins
Since the publication of Jakob Grimm's socio-linguistical 'Deutsches Wörterbuch' (p. 638) in 1835, scholarship draws a Balto-Finnic link to seid, citing the depiction of its practitioners as such in the sagas and elsewhere, and linking seid to the practices of the noaidi, the patrilineal shamans of the Sami people. However, Indo-European origins are also possible. Note that the word 'seita' (Finnish) or 'sieidde' (Sami) is a human-shaped body formed by a tree, or a large and strangely shaped stone or rock, and does not involve 'magic' or 'sorcery'. There is a good case, however, that these words do derive ultimately from 'seiðr'.
Jordanes in his 'De Origine Actibusque Getarum' ('Origins and Deeds of the Goths') gives an account of the origins of the Huns from the union of witches with 'unclean spirits'. These witches are said to have been expelled from the army of the Goths by king Filimer (fl. late 2nd century). Jordanes gives the Gothic name of these 'magae mulieres' as 'haliurunnae' (sg. *haljaruna). Old English has hellrúna (f. hellrúne) 'witch'. Old High German has hellirúna 'necromancy'.
Read more about this topic: Seidkona
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