Watching the birds out of the window and thinking they had stripped the old hawthorn of the plentiful supply of haws or hags. I noted that there was about a dozen blackbirds flying back and forth feasting and also I think the mistle thrush, though for one moment I did think it was a fieldfare.
Haw/Hawes; The name Haw is tied to the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture of England. It comes from the Old French personal name Haueis and the Old German personal name Hadewidis, which literally means battlewide
Whore; A prime example is the case of the root *kā–, "to like, desire." From it was derived a stem *kāro–, from which came the prehistoric Common Germanic word *hōraz with the underlying meaning "one who desires" and the effective meaning "adulterer." The feminine of this, *hōrōn–, became hōre in Old English, the ancestor of ...
It is just funny how one word sounds exactly like another and yet have totally different meanings. The hawthorn has been stripped now of every red haw, and suddenly I am reminded of the Glastonbury thorn story, which supposedly flowers at Christmas. Brought to this country by Joseph of Arimathea, and apparently Jesus who tagged behind as a boy in this Glastonbury myth. Grigson says that this thorn had developed into two trunks, one of which had been felled towards the end of the 16th century, the other during the Civil War of the 17th century, this recorded by John Aubrey in his 'History of Wiltshire.'
But Grigson recorder of small but fascinating facts, says sex enters into it because of the sweet but sickly smell of the white blossoms which contain trimethylamine in its scent. Hawthorn, white thorn, May thorn, when a young man's fancy turns to marriage?
And for Ireland it has a magic because the fairies live by and under the thorns, explore any Irish tales, as William Allingham points out...........
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl’s feather!
Yes we near the time of Xmas, with its dire warnings due to the cloud we live under. Now on the radio farming programme this morning, fresh food held up at ports and schools should keep long lived supplies. I think you would call this thinking the worst but I think I shall grow some bean sprouts as winter vegetables just in case. My tri-coloured Christmas cactus already heralding the day....
I know a well-to-do family near here who say, "My mother was a Hoare and my father was a Bishop'. You mention John Aubrey, my dubious hero. I have everything he wrote and drew.
ReplyDelete;) language is a funny thing, use the word though and it is an insult. Even his Monumenta Brittanica? all we have is a copy of Stukeley's map of Avebury on the wall.
ReplyDeleteOur hold ups tend to be parts for repairing things. Also certain foods are not on the shelves, but we have enough to eat, so I will not complain. I do love your header photo. Makes me want to ramble.
ReplyDeleteThis, I think is scaremongering from the media, is to do with the transport of food from the docks and the hold ups and of course will we still be trading with Europe after January 2021. Cornwall has some wild moors but very full beaches in summer.
DeleteI have to totally empty my freezers before we move (they will only move them empty and defrosted) which is a worry with Brexit looming. I have a very well-stocked larder with tinned and dried goods, but could do with having meat and veg in the freezer so will have to venture forth early one morning to stock up.
ReplyDeleteInteresting etimologies. I laughingly called a pudding "afters" recently and Tam raised her eyebrows. I told her when I was a kid dessert was called "afters" - because it came after the main meal. I happened to open "Growing Up Poor" by Anna Davin, and on page 177, lo and behold, my eyes fell on the expression! Some children had been told to top and tail gooseberries to be cooked up for "afters" and had been told by their mother to sing whilst doing so, and that way she knew they weren't eating them!!
I remember 'afters' Jennie, it describes pudding/sweets/desert quite well. And have always 'topped and tailed' gooseberries because it is the obvious thing to do. I have contemplated buying the large netting of carrots sold for horses, that was a joke of course. I fully expect there will be enough food around, only that there will be delays sometimes.
DeleteBeautiful cactus Thelma - and how 'Up the airy mountain' reminded me of my childhood.
ReplyDeleteIt is very pretty Pat and yes that old-fashioned poem reminds one of childhood.
DeleteSo many buds on that little cactus!
ReplyDeletePretty isn't it Joanne, holds on to life year after year.
DeleteI enjoy words and their derivations. Finding the one with exactly the shade of meaning I want to convey seems to take longer now--more to sift through?
ReplyDeleteMy thanksgiving cactus has been in bloom this week--looking forward to amaryllis.
I always love the photos of amaryllis you show each year, I have never grown one. As for words, the book I took the information about the hawthorn from has dozens of local names for the plants from centuries before. Either religious, or medicinal, or just the way they look, language is an expanding joy.
ReplyDeleteWhat a magical plant that tri-coloured Christmas cactus is. I never realised there were such plants. Also, thanks for the brief lesson on haw/whore. Language can be as fascinating as ancient archaeology. You just have to dig around.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea that it changes over time, but the word correction that we experience on these blogs is very fixed in its opinions!
ReplyDelete