In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga (Russian: Баба-Яга, romanized: Baba Yaga) is a supernatural being (or a trio of sisters of the same name) who appears as a deformed or ferocious-looking old woman. In Slavic culture, Baba Yaga lived in a hut usually described as standing on chicken legs.
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Baba Yaga may help or hinder those that encounter her or seek her out. She may play a maternal role and has associations with forest wildlife. According to Vladimir Propp's folktale morphology, Baba Yaga commonly appears as either a donor, villain, or may be altogether ambiguous. Her depictions vary greatly across tales, ranging from a child-eating monster, to helping a protagonist find his missing bride.
Andreas Johns identifies Baba Yaga as "one of the most memorable and distinctive figures in eastern European folklore", and observes that she is "enigmatic" and often exhibits "striking ambiguity". Johns summarizes Baba Yaga as "a many-faceted figure, capable of inspiring researchers to see her as a Cloud, Moon, Death, Winter, Snake, Bird, Pelican or Earth Goddess, totemic matriarchal ancestress, female initiator, phallic mother, or archetypal image".
Etymology: Variations of the name Baba Yaga are found in the languages of the Eastern Slavic peoples. The first element, baba, is transparently a babble word. In Old Russian, baba may mean "midwife", "sorceress", or "fortune teller". In modern Russian, the word бабушка or babushka (meaning "grandmother") derives from it, as does the word babcia (also "grandmother") in Polish. In Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian, baba means "grandma". In contemporary, unofficial Polish and Russian baba is the pejorative synonym of "woman" (especially old, dirty or foolish woman). Baba may also have a pejorative connotation in modern Russian, both for women as well as for "an unmanly, timid, or characterless man" Similarly to other kinship terms in Slavic languages, baba may be employed outside of kinship, potentially as a result of taboo.
For example, in variety of Slavic languages and dialects, the word baba may be applied to various animals, natural phenomena, and objects, such as types of mushrooms, cake or pear. This function extends to various geographic features. In the Polesia region of Ukraine, the plural baby may refer to an autumn funeral feast.
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These associations have led to variety of theories on the figure of Baba Yaga, though the presence of the element baba may have simply been taken as its primary meaning of "grandmother" or "old woman". The element may appear as a means of glossing the second element, iaga, with a familiar component. Additionally, baba may have also been applied as a means of distinguishing Baba Yaga from a male counterpart.
While a variety of etymologies have been proposed for the second element of the name, Yaga, it remains far more etymologically problematic and no clear consensus among scholars has resulted. For example, in the 19th century, Alexander Afanasyev proposed the derivation of Proto-Slavic *ož and Sanskrit ahi ('serpent, snake'). This etymology has subsequently been explored by other scholars in the 20th century.
Related terms to the second element of the name, Yaga, appear in various Slavic languages; Serbo-Croatian jeza ("horror", "shudder", "chill"), Slovene jeza ("anger"), Old Czech jězě ("witch", "legendary evil female being"), modern Czech jezinka ("wicked wood nymph", "dryad"), and Polish jędza ("witch", "evil woman", "fury"). The term appears in Old Church Slavonic as jęza/jędza (meaning "disease", "illness"). In other Indo-European languages the element iaga has been linked to Lithuanian engti ("to abuse (continuously)", "to belittle", "to exploit"), Old English inca ("doubt", "worry", "pain"), and Old Norse ekki ("pain", "worry").
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Baba Yaga may help or hinder those that encounter her or seek her out. She may play a maternal role and has associations with forest wildlife. According to Vladimir Propp's folktale morphology, Baba Yaga commonly appears as either a donor, villain, or may be altogether ambiguous. Her depictions vary greatly across tales, ranging from a child-eating monster, to helping a protagonist find his missing bride.
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These associations have led to variety of theories on the figure of Baba Yaga, though the presence of the element baba may have simply been taken as its primary meaning of "grandmother" or "old woman". The element may appear as a means of glossing the second element, iaga, with a familiar component. Additionally, baba may have also been applied as a means of distinguishing Baba Yaga from a male counterpart.
Such as modern influence (this bit is interesting)
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