Editing Vehmic court (section)

==Etymology==
The term's origin is uncertain, but seems to enter Middle High German from [[Middle Low German]]. The word ''vëme'' first appears in the [[Middle High German]] literature of the 13th century as a noun with the meaning of "punishment". A document dated to 1251 has the reference ''illud occultum judicium, quod vulgariter vehma seu vridinch appellari consuevit.'' ("It is hidden justice, that by common fashion is habitually referred to as ''vehma'' or ''vridinch''.")
The general meaning of "punishment" is unrelated to the special courts of Westphalia which were thus originally just named "courts of punishment". But as the word entered the Southern German dialects via Saxony and Westphalia, the word's meaning in [[Early Modern German]] became attached to the activities of these courts specifically.

[[Jacob Grimm]] thought that the word is identical in origin to a homophonous word for the raising of pigs on forest pastures ([[:de:Hutewald|Hutewald]]), just as the more familiar German ''Zucht'' can mean both breeding and discipline.<ref>''aus ziehen flieszt ''zucht'' nutritio, disciplina, castigatio, poena, wie der landmann sein vieh in die mast führt, wird der missethäter in den kerker oder tod geführt und erleidet züchtigung.'' (''[[Deutsches Wörterbuch]])''</ref> Grimm considers the spelling with ''h'' unetymological in spite of its early occurrence in some 13th century documents, and hypothesizes a "lost root" "''fëmen''", connecting with Old Norse ''fimr'' and conjecturing a [[Gothic language|Gothic]] "''fiman, fam, fêmun?''".

During 18th to 19th century Romanticism, there were various misguided attempts to explain the obscure term, or to elevate it to the status of a remnant of [[Germanic paganism|pagan]] antiquity, scoffed at by Grimm's entry in his ''[[Deutsches Wörterbuch]]''.<ref>''[[Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock|KLOPSTOCK]] 9, 322. 10, 258. 316 hat sogar die altn. ''dîsir'' (verunstaltet in ''düsen'') zu 'Göttinnen der Fehm' gemacht, die falsche Deutung ist der schlechten Formen werth. Wie viel Schriftsteller des 18 jh. sind mit der heiligen Fehme aufs übelste verfahren.''</ref> An etymology suggested by [[James Skene]] in 1824 derives the word from ''Baumgericht'' (Lit. "Tree law"), supposedly the remnant of a pagan "forest law" of the [[Wild hunt]] and pagan secret societies.<ref>pg. 179 'Magical Alphabets' Nigel Pennick {{ISBN|0-87728-747-3}}</ref>