An interesting place deep in Thuringia, way further than any Suavic settlement should have occurred, is a place called Jecha (a part of Sondershausen on the Wipper (Wieprz?)). Next to Jecha lies Jechaburg. Now the name of both of these supposedly comes from a Germanic Goddess Jecha. The mentions are rather late but they were significant enough to merit a discussion in Grimm’s work.
Jecha was first mentioned in 1282. The name varieties include Gicha, Giche, Jicha and Jiche.
Curiously, Jechaburg was first mentioned earlier – in 1004. The name appears also as Gigenburg, Jechenburc, Jechenburch, Jechenburgk and Jichenburg.
What then is the etymology of this Name? Well, a number of different thoughts have been expressed. For example, perhaps it has something to do with “hunting” – jagen. Thus, Jecha becomes a Goddess of the Hunt like Diana (or the Polish Devanna). But that etymology seems forced. For one thing, if you really want to use the Huntress notion then you might be better able to apply it to the Suavic Baba Yaga (which may actually be something worth looking into).
Another possibility is that the name comes from something like jach which, apparently, used to mean “fast” in German. Here we may be onto something… Except that the etymology seems to establish a Suavic connection again:
jechać – to ride, drive, go.
And what do we have next to Jecha? Do we have many Suavic place names? Not so much. But there is the town next door: Bebra. Bebra comes from “beavers” (Biberaho) but is this a German beaver or some other? Bebra lies on the Bebra river which also comes from beavers (in fact Bebra’s coat of arms features a beaver with a proper tail). Now there is another river, similarly named. It is in Poland and its name is Biebrza. That name is supposedly of Old Prussian, Yatvingian or, perhaps, Lithuanian origin. Of course, Jesza (not Jess though perhaps Jaś) was also a Polish God with the functions similar to Jupiter.
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