LL-L "Oral tradition" 2004.07.19 (04) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 19.JUL.2004 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: "In the media" [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: In the media
>
> must be taken with a couple of grains of salt.  Nevertheless, it is
> interesting in that it goes beyond the traditional story by incorporating
> some more recent research findings which point toward Arthur having been a
> part-British (i.e., Brython, Pictish) and part-Roman officer in Roman
employ
> who attempted to fill the void when the Romans withdrew from Britain and
the

I'm not really up to date on the theories of Arthur, but I've often wondered
why  Arthurs Seat (a large promontory of volcanic rock within the city of
Edinburgh) is so called.

Also, why is there such a strong tradition of Merlin in Berwickshire in the
Scottish Borders? They have "Merlin's Cave", for example, and a local
tradition that particularly associates Merlin with the river Tweed.

And why do archeologists still keep digging in Wales for evidence of Arthur
when they never manage to find anything? The idea that Avalon or Camelot was
at Glastonbury in Somerset is an obvious linguistic gaffe - Arthur was said
to have built a city of glass, but the "glas" in Glastonbury refers to the
woad that used to be grown there (cf Welsh "glas" - "blue/grey/green").

I was wondering if perhaps, like the works of other Welsh poets, stories of
Arthur were taken to Wales by refugees from the Lothians when the Brythonic
kingdom there fell to the Northumbrians? Does the name "Arthurs Seat" go
back a long way?

I'm prepared to accept that Merlin might have been a real person - he could
have been a "wizard" in the same sense as other Scottish "wizards" such as
Michael Scot and John Napier, scholars whose abilities were so remarkable
that the general populace credited them with magical powers.

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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