For what it's worth, the explanation why cemeteries were chosen as places to grow yew-trees is as follows. The wood of the yew is particularly suitable for making bows (for archers) being amazingly pliant and tough (try bending a yew sapling -- if you don't mind nipping into the nearest cemetery -- and you'll see what I mean). Unfortunately, once archers discovered this, every yew-tree was fair game (so to speak) and the yew-tree population in the British Isles soon began to plummet. Someone, probably a landowner or, perhaps, a church official, hit on the bright idea of growing them behind cemetery walls. No one would dare desecrate sacred ground; besides, there was also the deep-seated fear of venturing too close to the abode of the dead. From what I remember when I first read this explanation -- somewhere -- the practice
dates right back to the Middle Ages.
Trees, of course, were also of sacred significance to the Celts and their priests, the Druids. The oak, the hazel, the holly, the ash, etc. were revered (the word 'druid' comes from the Gaelic/Celtic word 'dar' -- an oak-tree + the suffix '-uid', roughly meaning 'the people of').
I haven't come across any specific reference to the place of trees in Norse mythology, apart from the obvious 'ygdrasil.' Do you have any information yourself ?
Slan agus beannacht,
Mike Patricia <originalpatricia@...> wrote:
Xeon Saell,
Yews are trees usually found in Cemeteries here in England, but I know not why, and their branches were once used to make Bows for Arrows, the rune Yr signifies a yew.
Dales were and still are Valles between either medium tall hills and are visualised as representing a countrified - agricultural oops do I mean pastoral life
Subject: [norse_course] Re: English to Norse (sword names)
Thanks a lot for your help, Llama! I must think of some way to "beautify" these names as they seem kind of awkward to the average reader, though.
By the way, Ull's hall is called Ydalir and it translates to "Yew Dales". What are Yews and Dales? Is it some kind of magical morning dew or water droplet etc.?
Thanks! Xeon.
> > Hi Xeon, > > "Heiti" (poetic names) for bows: > > Almr, dalr, bogi, (elm, dale, bow) > ýr ok tvíviðr, (yew and two-wood) > sveigr, glær ok þrymr, (bent, sea?, stretch?) > sómr, skálgelmir. (honour/fitness, bowl-?) > > "Stinger" might be 'biti' or 'bítr', but these seem to be prefered > for sword names. I don't know if there's a different word > for "arch" that doen't mean "bow" as well, but 'bogi' seems to cover > both. 'Dalr' must be from the curved shape of a valley, and perhaps > by extension
other curved things. I've read one theory about the > name Heimdallr that relates it to this, in the sense of "horn"--and > in Hervarar saga, the Huns are said to have horn-bows. So maybe > that's the connection. Sveigr is related to the verb sveigja "bend > [a bow]". Skál is a bowl--could that be a reference to the bow's > curved shape too? > > 1) bogi/dalr/sveigr inn mikli (inn stóri). > 2) undrbiti > 3) biti inn efsti > > I don't know what -gelmir is. It occurs in a lot of mythological > names. 'Gellr' means "shrieks, twangs" (gjalla "to shriek/twang") > and is the word used for the noise of a bowstring, so maybe you > could include that as one element: Undrgjalli, or something like > that. Careful though: as we found out recently the Icelandic Hobbit > translates Gollum as Gollnir! > > Not sure what 'sea' has to do
with bows. Could there be a > connection with similar words for "glistening, splendour" > and "amber"? > > Llama Nom > > > > > --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "xeon_ies" <xeon@...> wrote: > > > > Hi Llama! > > > > I've decided to adopt the names Dugvandill and Harmbrenna for the > > sword names. > > And one more thing in which I'm thinking of giving a name to Ull's > bow > > too. :-D > > > > What does the following words translates to? > > > > 1) "The Great Arch" > > 2) "Wonderous Stinger" > > 3) "Final stinger" > > > > Thanks, > > Xeon.