LL-L "Botanica" 2004.10.11 (10) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 11.OCT.2004 (10) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
Subject: LL-L "Botanica" 2004.10.11 (06) [A/E]

Críostóir wrote:
> Gabriele wrote:
> "Yggdrasil is not an oak tree, it's an ash."
>
> But across the Indo-European languages, the species of tree referred to by
> any term shared across the family often differs from language to language
> (remember the famous Beech Line).
>
> I may be completely wrong, but I can see cognates for _oak_ and _tree_
> within _yggdrassil_ (that is, _ygg_ and _dra-_ respectively), even though
it
> is an ash. (Of course, _ygg_ could just as well represent an archaic form
of
> _ash_, too.)

An ash by any other name...
Of course we are all very fond of oak trees and very few people even know
what an ash tree looks like these days, but we should still give the ash its
due. Ashes to ashes, oaks to oaks.

Not to be confused, by the way, with the rowan tree, called mountain ash in
America and Eberesche in German, which is a different tree altogether. It,
too, plays a big role in mythology, offering protection against werewolves
and other evil spirits.

"Oh, the oak and the ash and the bonnie rowan tree,
they flourish at home in the North country."

Gabriele Kahn

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From: Tom Maguire <jmaguire at pie.xtec.es>
Subject: LL-L "Botanica" 2004.10.11 (06) [A/E]

From: Críostóir Ó Ciardha <paada_please at yahoo.co.uk>

> I should also point out a personal affinity with oaks here, as Derry
> where I
> live derives from Ir. _daire_ or _doire_ (the latter is the modern
> name in
> Irish), 'oak grove', referring to the sacred grove that sat where St
> Columb's Cathedral sits now. When the English arrived they referred to
> the
> (then wooded) hill as _the Derrie_. Today there are many businesses
> with the
> word _oak_ in their names, and a local school is _Oakgrove_. The
> emblem of
> the Derry Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is an oak leaf and the county
> team is referred to as "the Oak Leaf County". There is certainly still
> a lot
> of fondness for oaks among us Derry wans.
>
> Go raibh maith agat,
>
> Criostóir.

The ash tree seems to have had a strong influence in prechristian
(celtic?) Spain where you often find one planted at the front door of a
romanesque church, apparently to entice the population to draw
nearer/into the christian sanctuary. It would be interesting to
establish that oak and ash had a common etymological ancestor given what
Crostoir says above about St Columb's Cathedral.

Regards,

Tom

--
Carpe Diem.
-Visit Nlp in Education  http://www.xtec.es/~jmaguire
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