Wolfe, "Book of the New Sun"

Robert Firth · 11 Aug 1992, 15:46 · from sf-lovers.1992.mbox

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From: firth at sei.cmu.edu (Robert Firth)
Subject: Re: Wolfe, "Book of the New Sun"
Date: 11 Aug 92 15:46:24 GMT
Message-ID: <sflovers-v17-416-2 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V17 #416
X-Urthmirror-Source: https://archive.org/details/sf-lovers-digest-vol-17b

lindsay+ at cs.cmu.edu (Donald Lindsay) writes:
>Urth is the eldest of the Norns, who represents the past.

No, that's a fairly late mistake by the Icelandic commentators.  In
medieval times, the Norns were supposed to be three in number: Werd,
Werdanda and Skuld.  The last two names can (at a stretch) connote the
present and the future, but the association of Werd with the past is a
scholarly deduction with no etymological or historical support.

Originally, Werd was the sole Norn; she later became three in imitation of
the classical Parcae.

On the meaning - the spelling varies, but the closest to the original form
of the name is Old Norse 'urdr', Icelandic 'urd', Old English 'wyrd',
modern 'weird'.  The root meaning, therefore, is "fate".  Wolfe's spelling
(as so often with his recondite words) is eccentric; it seems to be based
on the analogy 'Erd' => 'Earth' :: 'Urd' => 'Urth'.  I find that
implausible.

Robert Firth

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