Animal Myths

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with Animal Myths. This examination of some of (what seem to us today) the quite ludicrous ideas our ancestors once attributed to our animals. For example the giraffe is the result of a cross between a leopard and a camel; barnacle geese are so-called because nobody had ever seen them lay an egg and they were thought to hatch from the barnacles found on rocks and the bottom of boats; and the hare, a particularly odd creature according to our ancestors, where the female carried eggs on its back (hence eggs being associated with Easter) while the genitalia of the male hare were worn on the belt to ward off infertility. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required.

Barnacle geese hatch from barnacles – as the geese migrate to breed, nobody have ever seen a barnacle goose hatch from an egg.

Otters are fish – spread by Carthusian monks so they could eat meat at Lent.

Butterflies are witches flying by day.

Magpies carry a drop of the Devil’s blood under its tongue.

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.

Superstitious Black Country Miners

It is no surprise to find those working in dangerous jobs as being among the most superstitious. As is often the case, while researching one thing another interesting snippet surfaces and I found the following seven omens of disaster.

Ghosts and spirits seen in the workings could be chased off with the Bible and a key held in the right hand while reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Remember, not that long ago miners worked with candles and such would readily have produced the eeriest of images.

Foul smells were a bad omen – certainly true as any detection of gases which could asphyxiate or, such as methane, potentially explosive would be very useful.

If Gabriel’s hounds had been about the works, then no work was done that day. Gabriel’s Hounds (also known as Gabriel’s Ratchets) are legendary spectral hounds associated with death and misfortune in folklore – sometimes described as a pack of ghostly dogs with human heads that fly through the air while yelping. Some have ascribed this belief to migrating geese at night – night flying geese is also a bad omen.

A bright light seen in the mine was a good reason to flee. Aside from the obvious sign of fire, there is also a link to ghosts and spirits. Black magic was supposedly possible in the depths of the shafts – and protecting themselves by placing a crust of bread and a piece of cheese alongside a cross made from a knife and fork at the mouth of the shaft, before reciting the Lord’s Prayer backwards would be sure to save them. Unless, of course, somebody dreamed of the bread and cheese being eaten. Bread/cheese and knife/fork dates back to lead mining.

Dreams of fire were harbingers of danger – and for obvious reasons.

If a woman was encountered at sunrise on the way to the pit, the men would turn on their heels and return to their homes. This goes back to the Staffordshire ‘plaguey woman’, another promise of doom and disaster. One colliery used a female ‘knocker-up’ – one employed to rouse the workers from their beds in the days before alarm clocks – which didn’t help the superstitious men in getting ready for work. Pit managers rarely accepted this reason for absenteeism.

To dream of a broken shoe foretold danger. Shoes feature regularly in Black Country folklore, but this would be a result of the Wednesbury miner who dreamed of his one shoe crumbling and ignored the warning only to be killed the next day.

Legend

It is quite unusual to find a word with two quite different meanings when it is not a mono-syllabic or simplistic word. Legend is one such word and, in order to discover why, we will look at the etymologies.

Most often we see ‘legend’ used as a synonym for myth or folklore; but it is also used to describe a title or banner.

First coming to English in the early 14th century it referred to ‘a narrative dealing with an event.’ This came from Old French legend, itself from Medieval Latin legenda, most often these stories would have been those related to saints and would have been read in religious places.

These religious readings saw the use tweaked a little and the meaning seen as ‘things to be read’. Such reflects the root of Proto-Indo-European leg ‘to collect, gather’ and later ‘to pick out words’.

This then leads to the other meaning of ‘writing or inscription’, which has been seen since the 1610s when referring to the wording on maps – such as those produced by John Speed.

No change or developments for centuries until, around 1958, the phrase ‘legend in one’s own time’ (and variations on same) appears.

Azerbaijan Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. This time a look at Azerbaijan and some of this former Soviet nation's largest cities.

Baku is the capital city and by far the largest. In 2012 the population was given as 2,122,300, more than six times that of the next largest. The city is renowned for being very windy, resulting in it being nicknamed "The City of Winds", while its official name is thought to come from Old Persian Bad-kube which also means 'the wind-pounded city'.

Ganja is traditionally held to have been founded by a Muslim Arab leader, yet historians have shown this to be much earlier and comes from New Persian ganj meaning 'treasury'. This is supported by evidence of the name being recorded as Janza in the 5th century and the population spoke mainly in the Persian language.

Sumqayit has somewhat uncertain origins but that will never prevent folklore offering up a possible origin. It is said the city took its name from the Sumqayit River, itself held to have been named when a hero known as Sum was chosen to fight the monster blocking the path of the river. Sum succeeds in destroying the monster but, in doing so, allowed the waters to crash through and swept the victor away. Apparently he was never seen again but the love of his life, overcome by grief, would often go to the river and cry out in Azerbaijani the words Sum qayit or 'Sum, come back!"

Sheki goes back to the 7th century BC when it was founded by the Sakas, an Iranian people who had come here from the northern Black Sea, to the South Caucasus and to Asia Minor. Saka comes from the Persian and/or Sanskrit term for the Scythians which can be traced to an ancient Indo-European root skeud meaning 'propel, shoot'. This will have referred to them being renowned as the first culture known to mastered the art of mounted warfare, put simply the first cavalrymen.

Yevlakh comes from an Old Turkic word meaning 'a swampy place'.

Lankaran is a modern version of the Persian name of Langarkanan and meant 'the place of pulling up the anchors' and with obvious meaning. There is another explanation, where Median Lan, the name of a tribe in the region of the Caspian Sea, and karan 'border, land' combine to speak of the adjoining region but, at least from an etymological perspective, this seems most unlikely.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Buckinghamshire Place Names

As with last week this post began as a suggestion from a reader. Thank you, Susie. Hope you enjoy the following adapted from my Buckinghamshire Place Names published by Fineleaf Editions.

Princes Risborough and Monks Risborough

Early records give this as Hrisanbyrge in 903 and as Riseberge in 1086, the basic name coming from Old English hrisen beorg and telling of ‘the hill where brushwood grows’. The additions, thus distinguishing between them, show early possession by the monks of Christchurch in Canterbury, while the royal was none other than the Black Prince. However the extremely popular royal probably never saw the place named after him more than once. Until the manor passed into his hands in 1433, the place was simply a royal manor and most often known as Magna Risborough, this Latin for ‘great’.

Street names of Princes Risborough begin with Abbot’s Way and Cannon Place, both marking the site of ‘the manor of the abbot’. Merton Close was cut on land owned by Merton College, Oxford while St Teresa’s Close is predictably a reminder of the church dedicated to that saint.

Local names include Askett or ‘the eastern cottages’; Green Hailey is from heg leah ‘the clearing where hay is cut’; Meadle is the ‘meadow hill’ from maed hyll; Owlswick points to ‘the dairy farm of a man called Wulfr or Ulfr’; Alscot is derived from ‘Aelfsige’s cottages’; Coombe takes its name from William atte Coumbe; from culfre dun comes the name of Culverton or ‘pigeon hill’; Darrillshill is ‘the animal fold’ from deor fald; Lacey Green speaks of leasowe or ‘pasture’; the ‘long dairy farm’ is seen on maps as Longwick; Loosley Row takes its name from hlose leah and describes ‘the pig sty clearing’; Stocken Farm was located around ‘the tree stumps’ which gave it a name; and the odd name of Wardrobes refers to Juliana atte Wardrobe who, in 1338, held demised land at King’s Risborough. The hamlet of Meadle figured prominently during the English Civil War, located between the lines of the Royalists to the north in Oxford and the Parliamentarians in London to the south. A lasting reminder of armed conflict is found in Armour Farm, albeit a much later engagement. It was here armaments were stored during both World Wars.

The modern name of Whiteleaf is corrupt, as evidenced by the records of Whitt Light in 1541 and, better still, by Whitcliffe Cross in 1766. Here the origin is nothing to do with fauna but comes from hwit cliffe or ‘the white cliff or bank’ and describes the chalk soil which abounds in the hills around here. As can be seen from the image below, the chalk cliff has fallen away and the turf removed to form a cross on the hillside. Traditionally the cross was formed by Christians who adapted it from an early phallic symbol. As with many such stories the archaeology does not support this idea. Neither part of the cross seems to have existed much before 1800 and, even if the supposed phallic part did, it could just as easily have been a natural landslip.

Grimsdyke is a name which is derived from Old English grim dic ‘the ditch frequented by a goblin’. A story is associated with this place, a tale of Jane Shore who was starved to death on the order of King Richard III (reigned 1483-5). He also ordered the execution of a baker, who was accused of trying to give Jane a penny loaf. Such stories are often associated with place names with the element grim, and there are also reports of ghosts and fairies attributed to this place. That this story came after the event is supported by an alternative telling of the story where Jane Shaw (note the different spelling) was a mistress of Edward IV d1479 and was accused of being a witch by the future King Richard III. It seems neither narrative is likely true, both being created to suit the rumours about the place. Indeed it may be both were invented to explain the telling of a similar tale in a ballad connected with a place known as ‘Shoreditch’.

The White Horse at Princes Risborough is another heraldic image, chosen to represent the Saxon kingdom of Wessex, the county of Kent, and the royal house of Hanover. One member of this royal house was the Sailor King, so called because he served in the Royal Navy. He is commemorated here in the name of the King William IV. From the adage “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” comes the name of the Bird in Hand, although nearly all depict the gloved hand of a falconer and trained bird of prey. With a sign showing the Three Crowns of the name, the reference is to James I, who was the first monarch to rule a united England, Scotland and Wales. The Black Prince is named after Edward, Prince of Wales (1330-76) called such because of the unusual colour of his armour. His early death, due to ill-health, was a great loss to a nation who lauded his military skill and humanitarian outlook. The Pink and Lily is an unusual, possibly unique, combination putting together two very colourful flowers. The Whip points to horseracing, the sign depicting an image of the jockey urging his mount on to victory.

I would welcome any suggestions for themes or subjects, or even specific words to examine the origins, meanings and etymologies. I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Floral Folklore

My blog always asks for suggestions or ideas for themes or subjects and I have recently been contacted and asked to put some thought into some of the unofficial names for the native flora of the British Isles. Never one to resist a challenge, I offer this selection given in alphabetical order for ease of reference only.

Bird’s foot trefoil has no less than three alternative names. All four are derived from the appearance of the plant which is said to resemble the toes of a bird – hence the official common name of bird’s foot trefoil and one alternative of hens and chickens. Looking closely at the flowers also reveals why this is known as Dutchman’s clogs, while the colours have given us bacon and eggs – albeit the ‘bacon’ looks a little pale for my liking.

Coltsfoot is also known as coughwort as it was used as a cough remedy until quite recently. Indeed the Latin name of Tussilago farfara tells us this. Resembling a small dandelion with no foliage, leaves appear after the flowers have gone over, it appears in fields before dandelions and some odd idea it was the result of the movement of livestock has led to names such as Ass’s foot, Bull’s foot, Foal’s foot, Foalswort, and Horse foot.

Columbine is the Latin word for ‘dove’, for the flower is said to resemble five doves huddled together and hanging upside-down. Personally I can see no bird at all but it is easy to see where the alternative name of Granny’s bonnet comes from, it does indeed resemble the old bonnets worn by all the women featured in Little House on the Prairie.

Comfrey was used to make a salve or poultice to treat external wounds or burns. Today internal treatments are strongly discouraged as it is believed it contains a toxin which may cause liver damage. However this must surely have been how comfrey was used in the past to earn the alternative names of boneset and knitbone.

Cow parsley is known as Queen Anne’s lace, Lady’s lace, Fairy lace, and Hedge parsley, the last telling us where it is likely to be found growing. The others share ‘lace’, an apt description of the lace-like appearance of the clusters of small white flowers.

Daisies, which comes from ‘day’s eye’ as they open in sunlight and close at night, are also known as bruisewort. Once it was gathered by Roman slaves and the juice extracted to soak the bandages used to bind wounds. Such is still used in homeopathy.

Dandelion gets its name from the French for ‘lion’s tooth’. However the French also refer to it as pis-de-lit, much as we speak of them as wet-the-beds and clearly derived from the myth that picking these common weeds will make one wet the bed that night. For once there is a modicum of truth in this myth, for the plant does contain a mild diuretic, increasing kidney function and may contribute to bed wetting. Yet many other plants contain much greater diuretics and these are never blamed for bed wetting.

Foxgloves are described as Dead-man’s bells, Fairy thimbles and Witches thimbles, all describing their appearance which, it has to be said, are slightly more easier to imagine than the idea of Reynard’s gloves.

Goat’s beard, a name which hardly fits the appearance of the flower or plant, has a more apt alternative name of Johnny-go-to-bed-at-noon for the flower only opens in the morning sunlight.

Knapweed are also known as loggerheads, hardheads, starthistles and bastketflowers, all various impressions describing the flower’s appearances. I doubt if I am not the only one to associate the name with a luxuriantly-moustached constable from children’s television of yesteryear.

Lady’s smock, Fairy flower, Cuckooflower and Milkmaids can all be explained by the idea these were sacred to the fairy-folk and brining it indoors was considered very bad luck.

Lesser celandine is also described as Pilewort, and it was indeed used to cure haemorrhoids.

Lords-and-Ladies, Devils and Angels, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, all three are names for an arum which have highly uncertain origins. However we do know the origin of the name of Cuckoo pint, the bird’s name is used in a number of alternative names while the ‘pint’ is a shortened form of ‘pintle’, itself meaning ‘penis’ and a description of the pollen-bearing part of the flower.

Meadow saffron is most often known as Naked ladies. These crocus-like flowers bloom in autumn and described as ‘naked’ as the spikes bearing the flowers appear after the leaves have died back.

Pennyroyal is referred to as Pudding grass, a name recalling its use as an ingredient in many of the recipes cooked by the ancient Greeks and Roman cultures.

Ramsons, the name coming from Old English rhamsa, is the wild garlic used by the peoples of our shores for centuries. The odour has led to it being known as Stink bombs and Stinking nanny.

Rosebay willow-herb is also known as Fireweed, a reference to its bitter flavour which increases as toxins build up throughout the growing season.

Soapwort is the common name of a plant also referred to as Bouncing Bett and Sweet Betty, probably female alternatives to another name of Wild Sweet William.

Stinking iris and Roast beef plant are alternatives for a plant which some say produces an obnoxious aroma when the leaves are crushed said to be reminiscently ‘beefy’.

Toadflax is also known as butter and eggs, a reference to the colour as are butter haycocks, and also bread and butter. It has also been recorded as brideweed, bridewort, bunny haycocks, bunny mouths, continental weed, deadman’s bones, devils flax, devils flower, doggies, dragon bushes, false flax, flaxweed, fluellen, gallweed, gallwort, impudent lawyer, Jacob’s ladder, lion’s mouth, monkey flower, rabbit flower, rancid, ransted, wild tobacco and wild snapdragon.

Wall pennywort is also known as Navelwort which, along with the scientific name of Umbilicus, describe the round leaves with a central depression. Note every one an 'innie', not a single 'outie'.

Wild pansy, the species from which all cultivated pansies have been produced, is also known as heartsease, heart’s delight, tickle-me-fancy, Jack-jump-up-and-kiss-me, comes-and-cuddle-me, three faces in a hood, and love-in-idleness are all references to its use in herbalism to treat epilepsy, asthma, skin diseases, eczema, bronchitis, colds, bronchitis, whooping cough, rheumatism, and cystitis.

Once again I would welcome any suggestions for themes or subjects, or even specific words to examine the origins, meanings and etymologies.

First Rabbits, Now Hares.

Last time I spoke of the supposed 'lucky rabbit' and mentioned that other lagomorph, the hare, was often seen as anything but fortunate. Indeed so much superstition and folklore surrounds the poor creature I decided to dig a little and found the following:

As we have just seen Easter and its association with the rabbit (ie Easter Bunnies), it came as something of a surprise to find Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands preferring an Easter Hare.

The Anglo-Saxon personification of the sun was Ostara, whose ears were those of a hare and who carried eggs on her back. This is how eggs have become associated with Easter.

Pagan followers associate the hare with the goddess Eostre, from where we get the name for Easter.

Gods in other cultures associated with hares are Hittavainen, Cupid, Aphrodite, Venus, Holda, Freyja, Andraste, Cerridwen, Kaltes,

That the creature has been considered sacred and associated with spring, and almost certainly has been since prehistoric times, is down to the hare only really being seen when they are seen boxing in the mating season. Incidentally, the long held belief these are males fighting over a female was shown to be wrong when it was realised at least one of the combatants could just as easily be female.

Several ancient cultures saw the hare the symbol of fertility, of rebirth, and held to possess supernatural powers. The genitals of the jack were carried to ward off infertility. This fertility idea has some truth for the doe can produce up to forty-two young in a single year.

Some ancient African cultures believed the hare to have a lunar origin.

The tales of Brer Rabbit, as told by Uncle Remus, were brought to North America via the slave trade and are adapted from traditional African narratives. Thus these cannot be about a 'rabbit' but a hare for Africa has no rabbits around the tropical latitudes.

In Egyptian mythology Osiris is also known by other names and is then depicted with the head of a hare, as was the goddess Unut. He is also cited as being the messenger of the god Thoth.

Pliny wrote of how he believed the hare was androgynous, likened to the waxing and waning of the Moon when it was deemed to be masculine and feminine respectively.

The hare is also associated with the Moon in ancient China, held to possess knowledge of the elixir of immortality. Other writings show the hare with the phoenix and the unicorn, ubiquitous mythological creatures of wonder and magical powers.

Hindus in India tell the story of Buddha, whose earliest life on Earth was as a hare. Hence the animal is seen as a symbol of resurrection. It is also the subject of a number of traditional tales where it represents wisdom.

Native American cultures speak of Michabo or Manitou, the Great Hare, which is common to the ancestral mythologies of many tribes. Unlike the Old World, in the New World the hare is associated with the sun.

The madness of hares was likened to a coven of witches. Some held the hares were witches who had changed their appearance to allow them to suckle cows until they were dry.

Sailors, probably the most superstitious career which ever has been or ever will be, consider the hare unlucky and would not allow any mention of them while at sea.

Pregnant women would carrying a hare's foot, for should the animal cross her path it could result in a miscarriage or the child being born with a hare-lip.

The hare's foot charm was also held to be the answer to rheumatism, while the stage perfomance of many a thespian was solely down to such being hidden beneath their costume.

The fat from a hare would be used to fuel a lamp burned when it was important that all present should be in good spirits throughout.

The brain of the hare was added to wine to prevent any danger of oversleeping.

Cambridgeshire folk seeing a hare running through the streets saw this as a sign that a fire was about to break out.

Cornish girls who died of a broken heart after being spurned by their lover would turn into a white hare and pursue him from beyond the grave.

Personally I just wish I could taste this recipe for jugged hare.

Rabbits!

As the first of the month falls on a Sunday, I recall my childhood and being asked if my first words that morning had been "Rabbits" or, should the first of the month be a Sunday, "White rabbits". I was told doing so would invite good fortune, although in retrospect it was more likely to be a way of warding off the reverse.

I have since learned few differentiate between the 1st on a Sunday or when it falls on any other day of the week. Most use one or the other at all times. However this has not helped to uncover the origins. The phrase, at least as it is today, cannot have existed prior to the fourteenth century as until then the animal was known as a cony. Indeed even the introduction of 'rabbit' was initially only used for their young, as evidenced by the 1398 translation where John de Trevisa wrote: "Conynges bringeth forthe many rabettes and multiplieth ful swithe (breed like rabbits)". Later we find Edward Topsell writing in 1607 in The Historie of the Foure Footed Beastes: "If two males be out to one female, they fight fiercely; but they will not hurt the rabbets". It was shortly afterwards that the term applied to adults too.

The saying is first seen in print in 1922, where it is said if the first words out of your mouth on the morning of the first "Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit" a present will arrive before the month has ended. However there seems to be several references to the superstition from around 1800, and in several different English-speaking nations.

Perhaps this will remain as mysterious as the origins of the lucky rabbit's foot, although we cannot rule out the two having something in common. It should be pointed out that it is rather odd that the rabbit be considered so lucky when the other lagomorph, the hare, is seemingly associated with more superstition and folklore than any other other British mammal.