Witte wieven, originating from modern
Dutch Low Saxon, literally translates to "white women." These women are commonly associated with wisdom, so despite the literal translation, the interpretation of the term "witte" as meaning wise rather than white is common. In
Standard Dutch, "wit" or "witte" solely denotes the color white. While the terms "wit" and "white" do not share the same linguistic root, regional pronunciations in the Netherlands of the corresponding words can sound very similar. This phonetic resemblance might have contributed to the association.
Color symbolism of whiteness with purity possibly play a role as well, although contemporary color symbolism tends to link wisdom to the color blue rather than white. Similar folk traditions outside the Netherlands show that the connotation of wisdom associated with "Witte wieven" might indeed have emerged at a later stage. For instance, in
French folklore, these entities are referred to as
Dames blanches, directly translating to "white ladies". Another parallel can be drawn with
the White Goddess, a concept argued to exist more broadly in Wales, Ireland, most of Western Europe as well as the ancient Middle East. Historically, the witte wieven are thought to be wise female
herbalists and medicine healers who took care of people's physical and mental ailments. It was said they had the talent for
prophecy and looking into the future. They had a high status in the communities, and so when they died ceremonies were held at their grave sites to honour them. According to
mythology, their spirits remained on earth, and they became living spirits (or
elven beings) that either helped or hindered people who encountered them. They tended to reside in the burial sites or other sacred places. It was thought that mist on a gravehill was the spirit of the wise woman appearing, and people would bring them offerings and ask for help. While many scholars believe Witte Wieven originated as above from honoring graves of wise women, others think the mythology of witte wieven come from part of the Germanic belief in
disen,
land wights, and/or
alven (Dutch for "elf") for several reasons: The practice of bringing offerings and asking for help from their graves is very similar to honoring disen, land wights and alfen in
Germanic paganism. In addition, in some localities the mythological witte wieven were described directly as "Alfen" or "Alven".
Jacob Grimm mentioned them in the
Deutsche Mythologie (1835) as the Dutch variant of the German
Weiße Frauen: "The people of Friesland, Drenthe and the Netherlands have just as much to tell of their
witten wijven or
juffers in hills and caverns ... though here they get mixed up with elvish personages." ==Characterization==