tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post6794806496313467376..comments2023-11-29T07:39:34.401+00:00Comments on Carla Nayland Historical Fiction: Litha (June): the early English calendarCarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-9386707068403691312008-07-02T11:30:00.000+01:002008-07-02T11:30:00.000+01:00Rick - the same thing in two languages, you mean? ...Rick - the same thing in two languages, you mean? That's probably how it came about. Journey originally meant a unit of time (a day) then came to mean the amount of work or distance that could be covered in that unit of time, then came to mean travel of indeterminate distance without reference to a unit of time. (Though it still tends to mean travelling a long way or for a long tme, we don't talk of taking a journey round the corner.) At which point it can have the original unit of time tacked back on as a separate word. Adding 'day' is redundant with the original meaning of journey, but not with its current meaning.Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-63565082933344052792008-07-01T18:38:00.000+01:002008-07-01T18:38:00.000+01:00I was thinking that 'a day's journey' is sort of r...I was thinking that 'a day's journey' is sort of redundant, like 'the La Brea Tar Pits.'Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16932015378213238346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-42670146709110376412008-06-30T20:18:00.000+01:002008-06-30T20:18:00.000+01:00I wonder if 'journey' had something to do with phr...I wonder if 'journey' had something to do with phrases like "a day's journey from here" which would be a reasonably natural way of estimating distances without road maps?<BR/><BR/>Just looked it up in the ever-faithful Concise Oxford, and it says "from Old French jornee, day, day's work or travel." So I suppose that confirms how that change came about.Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-4899105378442555052008-06-29T02:09:00.000+01:002008-06-29T02:09:00.000+01:00'Cruising-month' sounds wonderful!'Travel' isn't t...'Cruising-month' sounds wonderful!<BR/><BR/>'Travel' isn't the only travel-related word from French that changed its meaning - 'journey' did as well. <BR/><BR/>Gabriele - note that in English 'the heavens' retains its connection with the sky.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16932015378213238346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-18290194456629251832008-06-27T10:30:00.000+01:002008-06-27T10:30:00.000+01:00Rick - I hadn't thought of that, but you're exactl...Rick - I hadn't thought of that, but you're exactly right - 'cruise' does sound like the nearest modern counterpart. Litha - the month of cruising. I like that :-) (I suppose it also fits with the song lyric "Summertime, and the living is easy". Which always makes me think "Yeah, right" when it comes on the radio and I have a deadline to meet.)<BR/><BR/>Words shift in meaning all the time, which is one reason why reading dictionaries is so addictive :-) Once it had come to mean 'work' or 'labour', I suppose the jump to travel was not such a big one. Travelling must have been hard work for most people most of the time - bad roads, bad weather, fatigue, the constant problems of finding food and shelter, danger from thieves, getting lost, etc, etc. Chaucer aside, a medieval pilgrimage was supposed to be a penance, wasn't it? <BR/><BR/>Modern English 'loft' and 'lift' are both derived from 'lyft' according to the Concise Oxford. I suppose that's another example of language drift, like 'travel'. 'lyft' meant 'air' or 'sky', but managed to give rise to words that mean 'to raise up' and 'upper room', presumably via something like 'high' or 'above'.Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-47947544417752531752008-06-26T21:31:00.000+01:002008-06-26T21:31:00.000+01:00Meant to add that 'fare' survives in one everyday ...Meant to add that 'fare' survives in one everyday travel context, what you pay to ride a vehicle. Presumably 'lyft' survives in 'loft' and related words.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16932015378213238346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-28769897217095233372008-06-26T21:19:00.000+01:002008-06-26T21:19:00.000+01:00I gathered that the connotation of litha wasn't si...I gathered that the connotation of <I>litha</I> wasn't simply travel as such, but 'smooth sailing.' Perhaps a very loose modern counterpart is 'cruise' for comfortable travel of any sort, 'I'll be cruising up your way,' or figuratively a relaxed life. ('Cruise control' on cars has probably reinforced this usage.)<BR/><BR/>'Travel' has a very grim origin indeed - easy to see how a word for torture got applied to work, but the shift of meaning in English is curious.<BR/><BR/>On 'Winterfilleth' I was unclear - not that it literally meant a waxing moon, but was applied to a full one. I seem to recall that in later English someone could say 'the moon waxeth full' to mean the actual full moon, not just a gibbous one.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16932015378213238346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-90742698816690213392008-06-26T17:57:00.000+01:002008-06-26T17:57:00.000+01:00Rick - yes, indeed it must. Edwin Gifford built a...Rick - yes, indeed it must. Edwin Gifford built a half-size replica (Sae Wylfing) and it looks lovely in the photographs I've seen. I gather it took some learning to sail without capsizing it, though!<BR/><BR/>To be fair, 'litha' referred to a time of year when travel was supposed to be especially easy if I have understood the dictionaries correctly. The Old English word 'fara' was also used for travelling or journeying, from which we get words like 'wayfarer' - which doesn't have connotations of being particularly easy! 'To fare' is occasionally used as a poetic or archaic word for travel in modern English, e.g. Bilbo says somewhere in LOTR that in winter "'tis evil in the wild to fare".<BR/><BR/>It seems 'travel' has an even worse origin than labour - I just looked it up in the Concise Oxford and it says that 'travail' is derived from Latin 'trepalium' meaning an instrument of torture. Even Heathrow Terminal 5 has a way to go on that one :-)<BR/><BR/>Winterfilleth. Good question. You'd need to ask an expert in Old English grammar if that's a possibility. Bede does say explicitly that it's derived from "winter" and "full moon", and he could easily have said "winter" and "grows full" if that's what he meant, so I'd be inclined to take his word for it that "filleth" meant "full moon". He spoke the language better than I do :-)Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-6278496443876796642008-06-26T16:54:00.000+01:002008-06-26T16:54:00.000+01:00What a pretty word lithe is - so pretty that in mo...What a pretty word <I>lithe</I> is - so pretty that in modern English it is probably most used of young women. But the Sutton Hoo ship must have been a lithe and pretty thing at sea!<BR/><BR/>Traveling conditions must have deteriorated in the course of the Middle Ages, since 'lithe' in this sense got replaced by the French word for 'labor!' <BR/><BR/><I>Winterfilleth</I> - Could this simply be 'filleth' as in 'grows full?' Or didn't Old English work that way?Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16932015378213238346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-16293110825846319202008-06-25T16:40:00.000+01:002008-06-25T16:40:00.000+01:00Meghan - yes, Bede had rather a nice turn of phras...Meghan - yes, Bede had rather a nice turn of phrase :-)<BR/><BR/>Bernita - the solstices and equinoxes can be observed just by watching the sun, so I'm sure people have been aware of them for a long time.<BR/><BR/>Gabriele - many thanks. I'd come across it in the context of Luftschiff (and Lufthansa, naturally) and associated it with sky. It's very interesting that it can apparently have a slightly different meaning if used metaphorically instead of literally. I should have gone and found a German dictionary before posting! The Old English word 'lyft' is translated as 'air, sky, clouds, atmosphere' so covers both meanings.Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-33154597819114291842008-06-25T15:46:00.000+01:002008-06-25T15:46:00.000+01:00A little correction. German Luft means 'air, breez...A little correction. German <I>Luft</I> means 'air, breeze' not 'sky'; the word for 'sky' is <I>Himmel</I> (German makes no disctinction between 'sky' and 'heaven'). But there are some metaphors where 'air' stands for 'sky'. <I>Es waren Habichte in der Luft</I> (title of a novel by Siegfried Lenz) would translate as: There Were Hawks in the Sky; and a Zeppelin is a <I>Luftschiff</I>. :)Gabriele Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17205770868139083575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-23442280523849904122008-06-25T10:59:00.000+01:002008-06-25T10:59:00.000+01:00Pre-Christrian seemed to have been aware that the ...Pre-Christrian seemed to have been aware that the summer solstice was the longest day, so the sun wheel celebrates that.<BR/>But I like the idea of bonfire=a good party!Bernitahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05264585685253812090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-33418719177428847322008-06-25T05:08:00.000+01:002008-06-25T05:08:00.000+01:00"Litha means “gentle” or “navigable”, because in b..."Litha means “gentle” or “navigable”, because in both those months the calm breezes are gentle and they were wont to sail upon the smooth sea."<BR/><BR/>I love that. That is so pretty!Meghanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03375626649089998707noreply@blogger.com