09:00 Lois and I take a shower and afterwards I start to
leaf through the first 164 lines of the prologue to Chaucer's well-known "Canterbury Tales". Lynda's U3A "Making of English" group's monthly
meeting takes place tomorrow (Friday) in the bar of the town’s Everyman Theatre,
and Chaucer's prologue is the group's current project.
I come across a number of interesting words, including
the medieval word "palmer" which at that time meant someone who had
just returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Such people used to carry
palm branches about with them around the town, to commemorate their journey.
I assume also that there was a little boasting going on
here too - something like "Look at me, I've been to the Holy Land !!!!".
But that’s something I'm not totally sure about - the jury is still out on that
one.
The Duke of Württemberg, who chose a palm branch
as his personal symbol
to celebrate his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in
1468. Kudos, Your Grace !!!
Example of “palmer” word:
Bothe knyʒte and squiere..Pilgreme and palmere Was welcum.
[both knight and squire, pilgrim and palmer
were welcome]
Another interesting word is the Middle English word
"yerd" that had two separate origins. One of those two words meant
the same as the modern word "yard"
in the sense of some outdoor area, completely
or almost completely surrounded by buildings, or by a fence or a wall.
e.g.: Þe gees, þe hennes of þe yerd [the geese, the hens of
the yard]
The other word "yerd", on the other hand,
basically meant a kind of stick, rod or pole.
e.g.: Þanne Marcus Publicus wiþ a ʒerd made a cercle in þe
sond aboute Antiochus.
[then Marcus Publicus with a “yard” [i.e. stick or rod] made
a circle in the sand around Antiochus]
That is why we have the modern English word
"yardarm", that is, the wooden or metal pole that sits across a
ship's mast and holds one edge of a sail.
typical yardarms
This word also came to mean a unit of measure for length
(1 yard = 91.4 cm, used in English-speaking countries), and in Middle English the word also meant a lot of
other things that roughly resembled a stick in shape,
including a sceptre, a penis and a column of smoke, for example.
My goodness,
what a crazy world we live in !!!!!
Examples:
[i] Foure men þer ben þat ʒerdis schalle bere,
Porter, marshalle, stuarde, vsshere; The porter schalle haue þe lengest wande (four men there be that shall bear ‘yards’
(sceptres): porter, marshall, steward, usher, and the porter shall have the
longest wand].
King Henry V’s “yard” or sceptre
[ii] What is she þis þat steʒeþ vp as a litil ʒerde
of smoke? (what is this that climbeth up
like a little yard (ie column] of smoke?)
[iii] A man is summe time seke in his ʒerde be cause
of a foule womman or be enye oþir cause, so þat þe corupcioun is multiplied in
þe ʒerde . [a man is sometimes sick in
his ‘yard’ (penis) because of a foul [i.e. unchaste] woman or by any other
cause, so that the corruption is multiplied in the ‘yard’]
a typical foul (unchaste) woman
[the sick ‘yard’ (penis) she brings about, not
shown - ha ha ha !!!!]
[iv] Hir yelow
heer was broyded in a tresse, Bihynde hir bak a yerde long, I gesse. [her yellow hair was braided in a tress,
behind her back a yard (3 feet) long, I guess]
hair a yard long
Good grief, what a crazy language we speak !!!!
12:30 Lois and I have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and
take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up
at 3 pm and jump up on my fitness bike. I ride 6 miles (10 km).
I get a text on whatsapp from Sarah, our younger daughter,
who lives in Perth, Australia, with Francis and their 5-year-old twin
daughters, Lily and Jessie.
Sarah has managed to get a new job - the job interview
was on Tuesday with the company's CEO. She will work as accountant for the
company – it’s one that manufactures and sells solar power appliances and systems for
central heating (for both commercial and private customers), air conditioning
and suchlike, nationwide. The company is based in Balcatta, a small suburb of Perth.
We are so proud of her - kudos Sarah, you go, girl !! But
she feels a little nervous tonight (Perth time) because tomorrow she will have
to tell Tim, her boss, that she's got another job - poor Sarah !!! But at least
it will be Friday - thank god it’ll be Friday !!!!!
Flashback to March 2018: we pick Sarah up outside
her workplace
to go and hear a ukulele concert in
Hillarys, performed by a bunch of local old crows
(left to right) Sarah, Lily, Jessie, Francis
and Lois
Sarah and Lois (in the background some local
old crows
giving a ukulele concert)
18:00 Lois and I have dinner and afterwards we talk a
little on the phone with Alison, our elder daughter who lives in Haslemere,
Surrey, with Ed and their 3 children, Josie (12), Rosalind (10) and Isaac (8).
The family plans to visit us, together with Sika, their
Danish dog, for Easter weekend, which will be nice. Lois and I are now, for
almost the first time since 1975, a "catless" couple, since Minx
unfortunately died four months ago, so a dog is no problem now.
Alison and her family: a recent photo - at Wembley
Stadium, London
Alison’s family moved back to England last year after a
6-year stay in Denmark. Ed was made redundant, but with a generous compensation package, and
he is still in the process of finding the "right" next job. He attended a
conference some days ago in Italy, to "network" with other legal
eagles.
Flashback to last month: Ed on a jog in
Italy (near Lake Como)
Ed at the hotel’s restaurant in the evening
Flashback to October 2018: Rosalind, Josie
and Ed, also our last ever
photo of Minx the cat – sob, sob! Poor Minx !!!!!!!
20:00 We spend the rest of the evening watching some
television, an interesting documentary about the Vikings in Scotland. The
programme host is the charming archaeologist, Jon Henderson.
An interesting programme. We often hear about the Scandinavian populations of the medieval Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands, which for many centuries were
under Nordic rule, but not so often about Scotland's western islands, the
Hebrides, the islands of the Firth of Clyde, and south to the Isle of Man, a
large island in the Irish Sea between England and Northern Ireland.
"Innse Gall", until 1266 ruled by
the King of Norway (red areas)
This long group of islands, the area the Scots called
"Innse Gall" (which meant "the foreigners' islands" in
Gaelic), was actually ruled by the Norwegian king until the 1260's, when a
number of battles took place between the Norwegian king Haakon IV, and the
Scottish King Alexander III.
King Haakon in fact died in 1263 after taking part in the
campaign, and in 1266 his son Magnus of Norway decided to sell the islands to
Scotland for 4,000 marks.
Today the islands are quiet and peaceful places. But surprisingly,
in the 13th century the
islands were heavily populated by Old-Norse speaking Scandinavians, who after
1263 all became subjects of the King of Scotland, - and their descendants are still around there today.
My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz !!!!!
Danish translation
09:00 Lois og
jeg tager et brusebad og bagefter går jeg i gang med at blade igennem de første
164 linjer af prologen til Chaucers kendte Canterbury-fortællinger. Lyndas U3A
”making of English” gruppes månedlige møde finder sted i morgen (fredag) på
baren af byens Everman-teater, og Chaucers prolog er gruppens nuværende
projekt.
Jeg falder
over en række interessant ord, herunder det middelengelske ord ”palmer”, der
dengang betød én, der lige er kommet tilbage fra en pilgrimsrejse til det
hellige land. Sikke folk havde for vane at bære palmegrene rundt omkring i
byen, for at mindes deres rejse. Jeg formoder også, at der var lidt praleri,
der her også foregik – noget i stil med ”kig på mig, jeg har været i det
hellige land!”. Men det er jeg ikke ret sikker på – juryen er stadig ude om
det.
Hertugen
af Württemberg, der valgte en palme som sit personlige symbol
for
at fejre sin pilgrimsrejse til Jerusalem i 1468. En ros til dig, din Nåde !!!
Fx: Bothe knyʒte and
squiere..Pilgreme and palmere Was welcum.
[both knight and squire, pilgrim and palmer
were welcome]
Et andet
interessant ord er det middelengelske ord ”yerd”, der havde to separate
oprindelser. Et af disse to ord betød
det samme som det moderne ord ”yard” i betydning af et udendørs område, næsten
helt omgive af bygninger, eller af et hegn eller en mur.
Fx: Þe gees, þe hennes of þe yerd [the geese, the hens of
the yard]
Det 2. ord ”yerd”, på den anden side, betød
grundlæggende en slags pind.
Fx: Þanne Marcus Publicus wiþ a ʒerd made a cercle in þe
sond aboute Antiochus. [then Marcus Publicus with a “yard” [i.e. rod or pole] made
a circle in the sand around Antiochus]
Derfor har vi
det moderne engelske ord ”yardarm” (rå), dvs, den drejelige
træ- eller metalstang, der sidder på tværs af en skibsmast og holder et råsejls
ene kant.
en
typisk rå (yardarm)
Dette ord kom også til at betyde en måleenhed for
længde (1 yard = 91,4 cm, bruges
i engelsktalende lande), og en masse andre ting på middelengelsk, der i grov
træk lignede en pind i form, herunder en scepter, en penis eller en kolonne af
røg. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!!
Eksempler:
[i] Foure men þer ben þat ʒerdis schalle bere,
Porter, marshalle, stuarde, vsshere; The porter schalle haue þe lengest wande (four men there be that shall bear ‘yards’
(sceptres): porter, marshall, steward, usher, and the porter shall have the
longest wand].
Kong Henrik 5.s scepter
[ii] What is she þis þat steʒeþ vp as a litil ʒerde
of smoke? (what is this that climbeth up
like a little yard (ie column] of smoke?)
[iii] A man is summe time seke in his ʒerde be cause
of a foule womman or be enye oþir cause, so þat þe corupcioun is multiplied in
þe ʒerde . [a man is sometimes sick in
his ‘yard’ (penis) because of a foul [i.e. unchaste] woman or by any other
cause, so that the corruption is multiplied in the ‘yard’]
a typical foul (unchaste) woman [the sick ‘yard’ (penis) not shown ha
ha ha !!!!]
[iv] Hir yelow
heer was broyded in a tresse, Bihynde hir bak a yerde long, I gesse. [her yellow hair was braided in a tress,
behind her back a yard (3 feet) long, I guess]
hair a “yerd” long
Du godeste, hvor
er det dog et vanvittigt sprog, vi taler !!!!
12:30 Vi spiser
frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.
Jeg står op kl 15 og hopper op på min kondicykel. Jeg cykler 6 miles (10 km).
Jeg får en
tekst på whatsapp fra Sarah, vores yngste datter, der bor i Perth, Australien,
sammen med Francis og deres 5-årige tvillingedøtre, Lily og Jessie. Det har
lykkedes hende at få et nyt job – jobsamtalen var i tirsdag ved selskabets
direktør. Hun vil arbejde som revisor hos firmaet, der fremstiller og sælger
apparater og systemer til centralvarme (for både kommercielle og private
kunder), airconditionering og den slags.
Firmaet har tilhuse i Balcatta, en lille forstad til Perth.
Vi er så stolt
af hende – en ros til dig, kom så, Sarah! Men hun føler sig lidt nervøs i aften
(Perth-tid), fordi i morgen bliver hun nødt til at fortælle Tim, sin chef, at
hun har fået et andet job – stakkels Sarah!!! Men i det mindste bliver det fredag
– det bliver gudskelov fredag !!!!!
Tilbageblik
til marts 2018: vi henter Sarah udenfor sin arbejdsplads
for
at høre en ukulelekoncert i Hillarys, opført af en flok af lokale gamle krager
(fra venstre til
højre) Sarah, Lily, Jessie, Francis og Lois
Sarah og Lois (i
baggrunden nogle gamle krager, i gang
med at give en
ukulelekoncert)
18:00 Vi
spiser aftensmad, og bagefter taler lidt i telefon med Alison, vores ældste
datter, der bor i Haslemere, Surrey, sammen med Ed og deres 3 børn, Josie (12),
Rosalind (10) og Isaac (8). Familien planlægger at besøge os, sammen med Sika,
deres danske hund, til påske-weekend, hvilket vil være rart. Lois og jeg er nu for
næsten første gang i vores liv, et ”katteløst” par, siden Minx desværre døde
for 4 måneder siden, så derfor er en hund nu ikke noget problem.
Alison
og hendes familie: et nyligt foto – på Wembley-stadiet, London
Familien flyttede
tilbage til England sidste år efter næste 6 års ophold i Danmark. Ed blev
afskediget men med en generøs kompensationspakke, og han er stadig i gang med
at finde det ”rigtige” job. Han deltog for nogle dage siden i en konference i
Italien, for at ”netværke” med andre juridiske specialister.
Tilbageblik
til sidste måned: Ed på løbetur i Italien (i nærheden af Comosø)
Ed
på restauranten om aftenen
Tilbageblik
til oktober 2018: Rosalind, Josie og Ed,
også vores sidste nogensinde
foto
af Minx – hulk,hulk! Stakkels Minx
!!!!!!!
20:00 Vi
bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, en interessant dokumentarfilm,
der handler om Vikingerne i Skotland. Programmets vært er den charmerende
arkæolog, Jon Henderson.
En interessant
dokumentarfilm. Vi hører ofte om de middelalderlige Orkneyøer og Shetlandsøer,
der gennem mange århundrede var under nordiske regere, men ikke så ofte om
Skotlands vestlige øer, Hebriderne, øerne i Firth of Clyde, og sydpå til Isle
og Man i det Irske Hav mellem England og Nord-Irland.
”Innse
Gall”, regerede af kongen af Norge (røde områder)
Dette lange
gruppe øer, det område, som skotterne kaldte ”Innse Gall” (som betød ”udlændingenes
øer” på gælisk), blev faktisk regeret af den norske konge, indtil 1260’erne, da
der fandt sted en række slag mellem den norske konge Håkon den 4., og den
skotske konge Alexander den 3. Kong Håkon døde faktisk i 1263, efter han deltog
i felttoget, og hans søn Magnus besluttede at sælge øerne til Skotland for
4.000 mark.
Du godeste,
sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
22:00 Vi går i
seng - zzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!
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