The Palace at Holyroodhouse is the Queen's residence in Edinburgh. "Rood" or "rude" is a cross, and "Holyrood" refers to the True Cross. The motif of the stag with a cross between its horns refers to the legend about the initial establishment of the Abbey on these grounds, in which King David I was about to be gored by a stag after a hunting accident. His prayer for deliverance resulted in the appearance of a shining cross between the antlers of the stag, which he grasped and thereby was saved.
It's been fun learning some of the gaelic roots of words. Let's see what I can remember:
rood/rude = cross
strath = valley
more = great or large
firth = estuary (from Edinburgh, one looks across the Firth of Forth to gaze upon the Kingdom of Fife)
tra = small river
lyn = waterfall (or is it ross?)
Regarding Scotish pronunciation, what I notice most is the tendency of all "oo" sounds to be pronounced like the "oo" in "food," with the addition of a little roll of the tongue that gives it some "r" character. So "good" sounds like "gude." When I hear the music of the language being spoken (where I can't actually make out the words), it reminds me of Dutch.
1 comment:
Which comes from the anglo saxon word for salt whych, where they did evaporation pools to get salt from the sea.
Glad you're enjoying your trip to our little island! I love Edinburgh, if we moved from London that would definitely be my next choice.
Post a Comment