Historical Fiction and Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction, Book Reviews and ruminations on life
23
Sep
When the ancestors of the English came to Britain they spoke Old German which soon evolved into Old English . Little of their writings survives but what does was written in a Runic alphabet called the Futhorc after the first letters of their alphabet. The Old English Futhorc originated from the Elder Futhark – the original […]
Tags: runes' anglo-saxon
14
Sep
This week I am looking at the names we give our weekdays and the links to Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology. Click the following links to read about Sunday and Monday , Tuesday , Wednesday and Thursday. Today it is the turn of Friday. Friday in old English is Frīġedæġ the day of Frigg. Frigg or Frigga/ Frige was the goddess of love and a parallel to Venus from whom we get […]
Tags: Anglo-Saxon, friday, Frigga
13
Sep
This week I am looking at the names we give our weekdays and the links to Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology. Click the following links to read about Sunday and Monday , Tuesday and Wednesday Today it is the turn of Thursday. Thursday in old English is Þunresdæg . But don’t go around thinking that is a P at the start. It is actually the “thorn” rune or symbol and represented […]
Tags: Anglo Saxons, Thor, thursday
12
Sep
This week I am looking at the names we give our weekdays and the links to Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology. Click the following links to read about Sunday and Monday and Tuesday. Today it is the turn of Wednesday. The old English for Wednesday is wōdnesdæg or day of Woden. Woden (Called Odin by the Vikings and Woden in England) is the chief […]
Tags: Anglo Saxons, mythology, saxons, wednesday
11
Sep
Yesterday I started a look at the names we give our weekdays and the links to Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology with a blog about Sunday and Monday. Tuesday in old English is Tiwesdæg or “Tīw’s Day”, the day of Tiw. Tiw – or Tyr as he is sometimes called is the Germanic god of single combat and heroism. He is the equivalent of the […]
10
Sep
The next few days I am going to have a look at the names we give to the days of the week. These names demonstrate the profound effect that the Germanic and Anglo-Saxon mythology had on development of western culture. Of the 7 days of the week all but one of them relates to a Old English/ Norse / Germainic […]
Tags: monday, Old English, saxons, Sunday, weekdays
9
Sep
The 9th of September in the year 9 AD is of great significant to the history of both the Roman armies and the Germanic tribes. On this day an alliance of six German tribes annihilated three entire legions of Romans along with several cohorts of auxillaries in a battle deep in the vast forest that covered and still cover much of […]
Tags: Battle of Teutoburg Forest, Germany, Romans
8
Sep
The English, England – from where does the name of the language, people and land come and what does it mean? To answer this we have to travel back to the first century or two after the birth of Christ. At this point – around A.D. 100 we get the the first mention of a tribe called the […]
7
Sep
The seax is the name given to a particular long bladed knife associated closely with the Saxons – the tribe of Germanic peoples that originated in the area we called lower Saxony today and who migrated inthe 5th and 6th centuries to Britain. They settled in the south east. The knives gradually grew larger, and broader. They are sometimes […]
Tags: Anglo Saxons, seax