ON THE CONSTELLATION ORIGIN OF THE PLACE NAME HINDELOOPEN

Abstract

Hindeloopen is a small city in the province Friesland, The Netherlands, and was mentioned in 822-825 AD in the monastery of Fulda. Hindlip is a place in Worcestershire, England, and the oldest record of the village is from 966 and it is also indicated in the Domesday book. Etymologically, the first part of both names “Hinde” is linked to “hind”; a female deer and the second part , “loopen/lip”, is linked to running or leaping. In this paper it is proposed that this combination of words was used to designate the constellation Capricornus that is usually regarded as a leaping goat or running hind. The main indication for this is obtained from the many German names for the plant chicory, which are: zonnewende (solstice), krebskraut (cancer-herbe), kankerkraut (cancer-herbe), hemelslötel (heaven’s key) and hintlope/hindelope. The chicory is mentioned as a plant with superstitious powers that had to be harvested by a special ritual that involves a stags antler or a piece of gold like the mistletoe. The original coat of arms of Hindeloopen and the one that is used nowadays, which is a canting arms, are both consistent with the iconography for the constellation in Germanic/Norse mythology. The widespread of the plant name hintlope in Germany, the locations of the places with a variant of the name Hindeloopen and nearby places with Anglo-Saxon suffixes indicate that the name Hindeloopen was introduced by the Anglo-Saxons during the Migration Period. Place name- and church founding legends, local holidays and current place name meanings in Friesland are consistent with this theory.