Names on the Whorl

Jeff Wilson · 10 Sep 2010, 04:41 · from 2010-September.txt.gz

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From: jwilson at io.com (Jeff Wilson)
Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:41:32 -0500
Subject: (urth) Names on the Whorl
In-Reply-To: <4C877A09.8000302 at verizon.net>
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	<4C877A09.8000302 at verizon.net>
Message-ID: <4C89B6FC.70007 at io.com>

On 9/8/2010 6:56 AM, David Stockhoff wrote:
> Of course, no "Anglo" name has a simple history. But these are plainly
> British:*
> *
> ---Warren (/woh-renn/), of old Germanic
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Germanic> origin, is a common English
> language <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language> masculine
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masculine> given name
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Given_name>,or a surname
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surname> meaning "enclosure".
> 1
> /chiefly British/ /a/ *:* a place legally authorized for keeping small
> game (as hare or pheasant) /b/ *:* the privilege of hunting game in such
> a warren
>
>
> ---"Wight" is Scottish, either from pale/fair-haired or nimble/strong.
>
>
> My thought was that these names could be found in any language, like a
> name derived from a particular trade. But they are pretty unique,
> whichever derivation you choose.

"Wight" is also a person or a less-than-a-person, and it's roots' 
association with underground dwellings is ancient, though perhaps not as 
prominent as Tolkein's use of the 19th century "barrow wight".

I'm still trying to get started on the first Whorl book, but could 
Warren and Wight be from the neighborhood of one of those perpetually 
shaded places in the Whorl, where one might fear to enter a tunnel 
warren lest one encounter the wights who inhabit it?


-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
Computational Intelligence Laboratory - Texas A&M Texarkana
< http://www.tamut.edu/CIL >

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