English

hag-taper

From hag + taper; see taper (“candle”).

A compound of hag + taper

Proto-West Germanic *hagatussjā ‘witch’

Old English hægtesse ‘harpy, witch’

Middle English hagge ‘demon, old woman’

English hag

Old English tapor ‘taper, candle, wick of a lamp’

Middle English taper ‘taper (thin candle)’

English taper

Today it means

noun The great woolly mullein (Verbascum thapsus).

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / hag-taper