Grimm (_Deutsche Mythol._, p. 472.) has suggested that Robin Hood may be
connected with an equally famous namesake, Robin Goodfellow; and that he
may have been so called from the hood or hoodikin, which is a well-known
characteristic of the mischievous elves. I believe, however, it is now
generally admitted that "Robin Hood" is a corruption {322} of "Robin o' th'
Wood" equivalent to "silvaticus" or "wildman"--a term which, as we learn
from Ordericus, was generally given to those Saxons who fled to the woods
and morasses, and long held them against their Norman enemies.

It is not impossible that "Robin o' the Wood" may have been a general name
for any such outlaws as these and that Robin Hood, as well as "Roberd the
Robbere" may stand for some earlier and forgotten hero of Saxon tradition.
It may be remarked that "Robin" is the Norman diminutive of "Robert", and
that the latter is the name by which we should have expected to find the
doings of a Saxon hero commemorated. It is true that Norman and Saxon soon
came to have their feelings and traditions in common; but it is not the
less curious to find the old Saxon name still traditionally applied by the
people, as it seems to have been from the _Vision of Piers Ploughman_.

Whether Robin Goodfellow and his German brother "Knecht Ruprecht" are at
all connected with Robin Hood, seems very doubtful. The plants which, both
in England and in Germany, are thus named, appear to belong to the elf
rather than to the outlaw. The wild geranium, called "Herb Robert" in
Gerarde's time, is known in Germany as "Ruprecht's Kraut". "Poor Robin",
"Ragged Robin", and "Robin in the Hose", probably all commemorate the same
"merry wanderer of the night."

RICHARD JOHN KING.

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