Tuesday, September 16, 2014

September 16, 2014 Tuesday "witenagemot" "Wyvern"

Reading the Merriam Webster Dictionary Backwards

September 16, 2014 Tuesday

blog address: Readingthedictionarybackwards.blogspot.com
email: ishmaelish36@blogspot.com

You can find my other blog of pediatric anecdotes, poetry, artwork and literature at ishmaelish36.blogspot.com

I would love to hear your comments, anecdotes or thoughts...


witenagemot: [Old English: witena sages or advisers]  \wit' ten ag' ah mote\

     an Anglo-Saxon council to advise the king

     a 'gemot' is an Anglo-Saxon judicial assembly…if that helps at all...


wyvern:  [Middle English wyvere  Latin vipera  viper]

     an imaginary two legged creature with wings that resembles a dragon

    I love this word because I came across it in a beautiful book called The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Invention, by Cathrynne Valente.  The book is incredibly inventive and literate, and received innumerable awards and best book mentions.  For example, as I recall, the gentle Wyvern who is the protector of the girl is named "A though L."  Why? Because his father was a dragon and his Mother was a library…  It is a fantasy book for middle-school children you would say but…it's not.  Here's a typical review: “One of the most extraordinary works of fantasy, for adults or children, published so far this century.”—Time magazine.
  
     


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