I am trying to find the link between the word "saeta" which gives us the word "sagitta(L),arrow" and the Andalusian song "saeta" which is sung during Good Friday ceremonies in Spain.

isn't saeta literally the Sp. word for arrow? but this doesn't answer the question..

seta
Inflected Form(s): plural se·tae /'sE-"tE/
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin saeta, seta bristle
: a slender usually rigid or bristly and springy organ or part of an animal or plant

Welcome, hatish. I don't think I can make the connection for you, but here's what my Pequeño LaRousse Ilustrado gives as a definition for saeta:

saeta (lat. sagitta). Flecha, arma. || Manecilla del reloj || Brújula || Copla breve que se canta en las iglesias y en las procesiones.

The arrow, or weapon, definition is the first and the short religious song is the last. In between are the hands of a clock and a compass needle. I can see the connection between arrow, watch hands and compass needle but am puzzled by the short religious song definition. Perhaps, since the song is small and light, it is flung towards the heavens to more accurately reach God?

There's a song on the Miles Davis album "Sketches of Spain" called Saeta. It begins and ends with a brass ensemble playing what sounds like processional music. Interesting to hear the connection with the Andalusian Good Friday ceremony.

I listened to some saeta examples as well. One of my students, who is the VP of the Academic Study of Religions Club, found out that the singers of saeta, carry an arrow-like shaft and point it towards the statue of Virgin Mary during "Semana Santa" celebrations in Spain. I was hoping someone would know the symbolic meaning of this gesture and explain the link.

I was hoping someone would know the symbolic meaning of this gesture and explain the link

Found this courtesy of Google, hatish:

the procession stops at key points for a solo religious song: the saeta. The saeta (literally arrow to the heart) is an emotional cry and sung in the street. Its plaintive laments echo through the streets making us live and feel the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord.

http://www.flamencoshop.com/semanasanta/home.htm

Christ was crucified at Easter - around which the Spanish Semana Santa is based - so the arrow "striking" the Virgin Mary no doubt represents her suffering on behalf of her son, and through her love for him, during the Passion. She is the eternal suffering mother, an archetypal figure in Catholic countries (I have a Polish background, so this isn't too much of a stab in the dark)- she's very much "one of us".

The arrow symbolism would appear to relate religious love (or Love) to the kind of love associated more with the little archer, Cupid. Arrows are very direct, one-to-one, and they can hit you in exactly the right spot to do the most damage. Love makes you completely vulnerable, taking away any sense of control over your life that may have existed (or seemed to exist) previously. The thing is that you can't live life for the one(s) you love.

This has often occurred to me since having kids.

Sort of a sidetrack, but then again.

I wonder if we've got folk etymology going on here. Given Dr. Bill's observation about the Latin word saeta, seta(the ae in Classical Latin words often became pared down to e in Medieval Latin) meaning the stiff bristly parts of a plant, it may have referred to the crown of thorns Jesus wore on the way to the Crucifixion and then became symbolized by arrows due to association with the Spanish word saeta derived from Latin sagitta.

I mo check out the text in the Vulgate.

Feeding s(a)eta* into the search field on the on-line Vulgate yields nothing.

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/ARTFL/public/bibles/vulgate.search.html

I asked my "saeta" question with a few lines but I have been searching the connection for some time now. There have been seven replies so far, any connections between number seven and saeta? Wordsmith sent us the word "hyperbole" two days ago, and mentioned the connection with devil, any connections between devil and saeta ? Devil is related to "bow" because "it throws through (arrow)". Any connections between "sagitta" and the Arabic word "sajada" which means "to prostrate, to bow" ?