While I’m away. . .

What a very interesting idea. I am up for it….I think.

Dr.Veith, Strasbourg and the Alsace are a very beautiful part of Europe. The students will be lucky to have you, and you will to enjoy the life and scenery there.

Meanwhile, we’ll try to do justice to your fine idea of some open blogging.

Is anyone else positively insane with jealousy that they can’t be there to hear JWM and GEV in Europe??? And sightsee in Germany?? Or stand on top of an Alp and holler??

Are some of you not jealous because you are already there? Like perhaps Bror?

OK, so here is a brain teaser in the absence of Dr. Veith. (A literary brain teaser, too, though I’m not sure what it has to do with vocation.)

Some time ago I was reading and came across a word I did not recognize. It was clearly a noun by context (and not the hill in east Shropshire.)

The word was “wrekin.”

Can you find and define this word?

I’ll do my best to give you hints if you need them.

Rebirth? From an old form of “rekindle” (renew, revive)?

When my son ran into the cow with my car, it was a big wrekin.

Well, Dr. Veith, we tried with this experiment of self blogging on assorted topics; at the moment the effort is at fizzle stage and apparently in process of expiring. We wish you a continued delightful trip to Europe, though will be grateful when you are back; blogs need leadership; yours is sorely missed.

Dan (@4), any relation to the archaic word wreke, which means, well, wreck? Because the OED has no idea what you’re talking about. There is, however, this hill in east Shropshire …

So it’s not a proper noun? And it was in English?

tODD,

It is not in my Websters unabridged from 1954, which raised my eyebrow, but when it was not in the Oxford unabridged, I was thoroughly surprised.

Not a proper noun, and it was in English, though it was a translation of a foreign text. One of Grimm’s tales, in fact.

Booklover, #6,

I bet he wrecked the grill and left the whole car hamburger. That must have really seared you. Next time, you’ll have to beef up your car insurance.

Wait, Dan (@9), is this a riddle you know the answer to? Because if not, can you just go ahead and give us the sentence in context? If, however, you have worked out the word’s meaning, I’ll see what I can work up, but I’ll probably need more clues anyhow.

Speaking of GEV being away…why is he no longer writing for Tabletalk? I always flipped to the back first to read his commentary. I’ve missed him there this year.

tODD,

“is this a riddle you know the answer to?”

Sort of. I have an answer to my satisfaction, but there is probably more to tell. I will be happy to spill the beans, but I thought some might appreciate the challenge. Do you want the word in context?

In the interest of full disclosure, this is truly a matter of trivia. There is no deep insight to share, theological or otherwise. It is just a funny word that I found.

Dan (@13), is it a word applied to a person? Would it help me to know the tale?

Or is it perhaps a weather phenomenon?

tODD,

The tale was “Snow White and Rose Red.” The translation was in the Harvard Classics series.

tODD,

(Other translations may render the word differently.)

“Snow-white and Rose-red kept their mother’s little cottage so neat that it was a pleasure to look inside it. In the summer Rose-red took care of the house, and every morning laid a wreath of flowers by her mother’s bed before she awoke, in which was a rose from each tree. In the winter Snow-white lit the fire and hung the kettle on the wrekin.”

Thanks, Tom (@19). Having correlated that Harvard Classics version with other translations online, I’ve discovered the apparent meaning of the word, though I’m a little disappointed. Sorry, Dan.

I was really hoping it was some bizarre early spelling of “hurricane”, using the Welsh W for a long “oo” sound, so that “wrekin” = “oorekin”, which wouldn’t have had a standard spelling so late because it wasn’t something the British Isles dealt with very much. Ah, well. It wasn’t to be.

tODD,

“Wrekin Katrina.” That would have been cool, and a little poetic.

The definition is the easy part, though, thanks to the context. Can you find the etymology?

Tom,

That was quick! Do you own the Harvard series, or is it on line? Or do you live at a library?

Dan, I did a search for “Grimm wrekin” and it was the first result.

Tom,

That’s a little disappointing. I was picturing you muttering and wandering with nought but your lantern and your laptop amid the dusty stacks of an old library. Or perhaps you could have lived in the bell tower. Was it at least a dusty old computer you used to “google it?”