Note 88 — Chapter I · THE KING OF THE WOOD

Wissowa suggests that Manius Egerius was a half-forgotten male counterpart of Egeria (W. H. Roscher’s Lexikon d. griech. und röm. Mythologie, s.v. “Egeria”); and Dessau observes that the name Egerius “sine dubio cohaeret cum Egerio fonte” (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, xiv. p. 204). The same view is taken by Messrs. A. B. Cook and E. Pais. Mr. Cook holds that the original form of the names was Aegerius and Aegeria, which he would interpret as “the Oak God” and “the Oak Goddess.” See A. B. Cook, “The European Sky-God,” Folk-lore, xvi. (1905) pp. 291 sq.; E. Pais, Ancient Legends of Roman History (London, 1906), p. 142.