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Hag

Folklore
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

In Folklore, a hag is an old woman portrayed as a witch, sorceress, or frightening supernatural being, often associated with night, storms, curses, and harmful magic.

Detailed Definition
The figure of the hag appears in European and British Folklore as a feared, usually female embodiment of age, ugliness, and supernatural power. Hags may be witches who travel by night, cause storms, disturb the dead, or bring misfortune to people and animals. In poetry, the term often creates a dark, eerie atmosphere, though it can also carry modern insulting meanings when used carelessly about real people.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Robert Herrick’s “The Hag,” the hag is presented as a night-riding witch who travels with the devil: “The Hag is astride, This night for to ride, The devil and she together” Herrick’s hag rides through “brakes and briars,” brings “mischiefs” on land and sea, and is linked with storms, ghosts, and thunder. Here, “hag” has its folkloric sense of a malevolent witch-like supernatural figure, not simply an elderly woman.
Additional Notes
The word hag has long been connected with old women, witches, and frightening female spirits in English and northern European Folklore. Some traditions use night hag for a spirit believed to trouble sleepers with nightmares or a feeling of pressure on the chest; this idea is related to the word nightmare. Related Folklore figures include the witch, crone, sorceress, and witch-rider. A crone may refer respectfully or neutrally to an old woman in some modern spiritual contexts, while hag usually has a harsher, more threatening tone. In modern everyday speech, calling a real person a “hag” is generally insulting and ageist. In literary and folkloric contexts, however, the word often refers specifically to a supernatural archetype.
Also Known As
Crone Witch Old Woman Wise Woman beldam beldame Hag Witch Night Hag The Witch
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