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Salafism, often referred to as ‘Wahhabism’, is widely regarded as a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam that fuels Jihadism and subjugates women. Some even lump ISIS and Salafism together—casting suspicion upon the thousands of Muslims who identify as Salafi in the West. After gaining unprecedented access to Salafi women’s groups in London, I discovered the realities behind the myths.

The post 6 common misconceptions about Salafi Muslims in the West appeared first on OUPblog.

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I'm going to write about the second thing first, because it was more recent and I still feel geeked out by it.

The names have been censored to protect the innocent :)

But, it was cool to see she posted a picture of the flowers on Twitter! :)


The other and FIRST cool thing was that I attended a one-day writing workshop. I LOVE going to those things. They are so inspiring. Gets me really pumped up and in the writing groove again.

I have to say, though, that writing conferences contain some of the most introverted attendees in the world! (It is possible other conferences, such as those for actors, singers, musicians, or anything dealing with the artistic side of the brain contain introverts as well, but I have never seen more people less willing to cause a scene in real life than I see at writing conferences.)



The speaker is giving the opening speech, all crazy-confident and funny. (Obviously, he is experienced. The public speaker in me suffers some serious envy.)
Mid-sentence, the speaker pauses and asks, "Are you looking for a seat?"
All attendees shift in their chairs, and cast surreptitious glances back.
The person in question hunches up like she's trying to disappear into a sweater and waves a don't-worry-about-it-hand. "It's okay, I'm just going to stand in the back."
Speaker:  "There are seats available, if we could get people to point them out?" Questioning glance around the room.
Timorous hands come up, pointing to empty seats. Nearly inaudible voices say, "There's one here."
Person in question sort of drifts to a chair in the back and goes invisible as she settles.
Speaker goes on like nothing happened, while everyone else breathes relieved sighs that THAT awkwardness is over!

And this happened a couple times, not just once. In retrospect, it was super funny, but at the time there was this camaraderie of commiseration at BEING SEEN IN PUBLIC. It was especially bad when people had to leave to attend their 10-minute query pitch. Standing up in a room of people is hard, you guys! So many muttered regrets of "What was I thinking?" and "Should I go now, or wait another minute, since it's still five minutes before I have to pitch?" and "I wish I was sitting in the back! I'll know better next time."



I had a 10-minute pitch of my own, wherein I verbally pitched my query to a really awesome agent. Like, awesome. She was incredibly nice, and actually seemed to like what I had to say. For a writer, that is just really nice, to get the affirmation that your writing isn't as bad as you sometimes feel it is. (Just so you know, a verbal pitch is WAY harder than a round-table critique. At least with a round-table critique, you have your MS in your hand and you can read the printed word aloud and not really make eye contact with anyone. With a verbal pitch, it's just you tooting the merits of your manuscript, and I think most writers are very precious about their ideas. They cradle them close and don't share. Ever. So, saying, "this is what my story is about" and ENGAGING... is hard.)



Guys, I could literally world-build all day and not write a lick of story. I love to figure out why MY world is the way it is (such as someone in the far distant history of a particular world making such an enormous mistake that the hero in the present day now has an issue with adamant), and I love to study how other people sprinkle in backstory and implement that into my novels, so I don't have the ever-present problem of INFO-DUMPING (oh cursed words!) or people scratching their heads and saying, "I don't understand what's going on..."

My first ever cityscape - be impressed. This was HARD

I love creating the history of my world. I also find it interesting that, for the most part, a lot of fantasies tend to have a sort of creation element. Like, this world exists, and while there may not be a One God figure (mine tend to have those, because that's the way I roll), there is often a strong draw from Roman or Greek myths, folktales, legends, and fairytales. I think it's because fantasy reveals a truth. Myths, legends, and fairytales contain that same kernel of truth.
What is your favourite fantasy book/series?
Do you prefer Greek or Roman myths? (If you answer other, what's the other myth you prefer?)
Favourite fantasy artist?
What's the coolest thing that's happened to you this year?

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Today, we're looking at the less fashionable side of this partnership and focussing our attention on the creatures that mortals feared and heroes vanquished. Does your gaze turn others to stone? Do you prefer ignorance or vengeance? Have any wings? Take this short quiz to find out which mythological creature or being you would have been in the ancient world.

The post Which mythological creature are you? [Quiz] appeared first on OUPblog.

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Greek gods and goddesses have been a part of cultural history since ancient times, but how much do you really know about them? You can learn more about these figures from Greek mythology by reading the lesser known facts below and by visiting the newly launched Oxford Classical Dictionary online.

The post Ten things you may not have known about Greek gods and goddesses appeared first on OUPblog.

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I approach myth from the standpoint of theories of myth, or generalizations about the origin, the function, and the subject matter of myth. There are hundreds of theories. They hail from anthropology, sociology, psychology, politics, literature, philosophy, and religious studies.

The post In defense of myth appeared first on OUPblog.

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There were many books on vampires before Bram Stoker's Dracula. Early anthropologists wrote accounts of the folkloric vampire -- a stumbling, bloated peasant, never venturing far from home, and easily neutralized with a sexton’s spade and a box of matches. The literary vampire became a highly mobile, svelte aristocratic rake with the appearance of the short tale The Vampyre in 1819.

The post Before Bram: a timeline of vampire literature appeared first on OUPblog.

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On 25 February 1603, Queen Elizabeth I’ s cousin and friend - Katherine Howard, the countess of Nottingham - died. Although Katherine had been ill for some time, her death hit the queen very hard; indeed one observer wrote that she took the loss ‘muche more heavyly’ than did Katherine’s husband, the Charles, Earl of Nottingham. The queen’s grief was unsurprising, for Elizabeth had known the countess longer than almost anyone else alive at that time.

The post The death of a friend: Queen Elizabeth I, bereavement, and grief appeared first on OUPblog.

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I’m writing from Palermo where I’ve been teaching a course on the legacy of Troy. Myths and fairy tales lie on all sides in this old island. It’s a landscape of stories and the past here runs a live wire into the present day. Within the same hour, I saw an amulet from Egypt from nearly 3000 years ago, and passed a young, passionate balladeer giving full voice in the street to a ballad about a young woman – la baronessa Laura di Carini – who was killed by her father in 1538. He and her husband had come upon her alone with a man whom they suspected to be her lover. As she fell under her father’s stabbing, she clung to the wall, and her hand made a bloody print that can still be seen in the castle at Carini – or so I was told. The cantastorie – the ballad singer – was giving the song his all. He was sincere and funny at the same time as he knelt and frowned, mimed and lamented.

The eye of Horus, or Wadjet, was found in a Carthaginian’s grave in the city and it is still painted on the prows of fishing boats, and worn as a charm all over the Mediterranean and the Middle East, in order to ward off dangers. This function is, I believe, one of the deepest reasons for telling stories in general, and fairy tales in particular: the fantasy of hope conjures an antidote to the pain the plots remember. The street singer was young, curly haired, and had spent some time in Liverpool, he told me later, but he was back home now, and his song was raising money for a street theatre called Ditirammu (dialect for Dithryamb), that performs on a tiny stage in the stables of an ]old palazzo in the district called the Kalsa. Using a mixture of puppetry, song, dance, and mime, the troupe give local saints’ legends, traditional tales of crusader paladins versus dastardly Moors, and pastiches of Pinocchio, Snow White, and Alice in Wonderland.

Their work captures the way fairy tales spread through different media and can be played, danced or painted and still remain recognisable: there are individual stories which keep shape-shifting across time, and there is also a fairytale quality which suffuses different forms of expression (even recent fashion designs have drawn on fairytale imagery and motifs). The Palermo theatre’s repertoire also reveals the kinship between some history and fairy tale: the hard facts enclosed and memorialised in the stories. Although the happy ending is a distinguishing feature of fairy tales, many of them remember the way things were – Bluebeard testifies to the kinds of marriages that killed Laura di Carini.

A few days after coming across the cantastorie in the street, I was taken to see the country villa on the crest of Capo d’Orlando overlooking the sea, where Casimiro Piccolo lived with his brother and sister. The Piccolo siblings were rich Sicilian landowners, peculiar survivals of a mixture of luxurious feudalism and austere monasticism. A dilettante and dabbler in the occult, Casimiro believed in fairies. He went out to see them at twilight, the hour recommended by experts such as William Blake, who reported he had seen a fairy funeral, and the Revd. Robert Kirk, who had the information on good authority from his parishioners in the Highlands, where fairy abductions, second sight, and changelings were a regular occurrence in the seventeenth century.

Casimiro’s elder brother, Lucio, a poet who had a brief flash of fame in the Fifties, was as solitary, odd-looking, and idiosyncratic as himself, and the siblings lived alone with their twenty servants, in the midst of a park with rare shrubs and cacti from all over the world, their beautiful summer villa filled with a vast library of science, art, and literature, and marvellous things. They slept in beds as narrow as a discalced Carmelite’s, and never married. They loved their dogs, and gave them names that are mostly monosyllables, often sort of orientalised in a troubling way. They range from ‘Aladdin’ to ‘Mameluk’ to ‘Book’ and the brothers built them a cemetery of their own in the garden.

Casimiro was a follower of Paracelsus, who had distinguished the elemental beings as animating matter: gnomes, undines, sylphs and salamanders. Salamanders, in the form of darting, wriggling lizards, are plentiful on the baked stones of the south, but the others are the cousins of imps and elves, sprites and sirens, and they’re not so common. The journal Psychic News, to which Casimiro subscribed, inspired him to try to take photographs of the apparitions he saw in the park of exotic plants around the house. He also ordered various publications of the Society of Psychical Research and other bodies who tried to tap immaterial presences and energies. He was hoping for images like the famous Cottingley images of fairies sunbathing or dancing which Conan Doyle so admired. But he had no success. Instead, he painted: a fairy punt poled by a hobgoblin through the lily pads, a fairy doctor with a bag full of shining golden instruments taking the pulse of a turkey, four old gnomes consulting a huge grimoire held up by imps, etiolated genies, turbaned potentates, and eastern sages. He rarely left Sicily, or indeed, his family home, and he went on painting his sightings in soft, rich watercolour from 1943 to 1970 when he died.

His work looks like Victorian or Edwardian fairy paintings. Had this reclusive Sicilian seen the crazed visions of Richard Dadd, or illustrations by Arthur Rackham or John Anster Fitzgerald? Or even Disney? Disney was looking very carefully at picture books when he formed the famous characters and stamped them with his own jokiness. Casimiro doesn’t seem to be in earnest, and the long-nosed dwarfs look a little bit like self-mockery. It is impossible to know what he meant, if he meant what he said, or what he believed. But the fact remains, for a grown man to believe in fairies strikes us now as pretty silly.

The Piccolo family’s cousin, close friend and regular visitor was Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the author of The Leopard, and he wrote a mysterious and memorable short story about a classics professor who once spent a passionate summer with a mermaid. But tales of fairies, goblins, and gnomes seem to belong to an altogether different degree of absurdity from a classics professor meeting a siren.

And yet, the Piccolo brothers communicated with Yeats, who held all kinds of beliefs. He smelted his wonderful poems from a chaotic rubble of fairy lore, psychic theories, dream interpretation, divinatory methods, and Christian symbolism: “Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.”

Featured image credit: Capo d’Orlando, by Chtamina. CC-BY-SA-2.5 via Wikimedia Commons

The post Once upon a time, part 1 appeared first on OUPblog.

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By Jessica Harris

This month our Oxford World’s Classics reading list is on folk and fairy tales. Many of these stories pre-date the printing press, and most will no doubt continue to be told for hundreds of years to come. How many of these have you heard of, and have we missed out your favourite? Let us know in the comments.

Beowulf

No list on folklore would be complete without Beowulf: probably the most famous English folk tale and a great story. This half-historical, half-legendary epic poem written by an unknown poet between the 8th and 11th century tells the story of the majestic hero Beowulf, who saves Hrothgar, the Danish king, from monstrous and terrifying enemies before eventually being slain. Through this tale of swashbuckling adventure we also see the power struggles and brutality of medieval politics.

Selected Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

In 1812 the Brothers Grimm took contemporary German folk tales and shaped them in their own bloodthirsty way, and in doing so captivated and horrified children for years to come. There are no morals here; no happy endings – the antagonists such as the evil stepmother won’t just steal your sweets but would kill you without a second thought. Here we have, for example, the original Snow White, with the Witch forced to dance in red-hot shoes until her death.

Le Morte Darthur by Thomas Malory

This text, written by Sir Thomas Malory in 1470, provides us with the definitive version of many of the King Arthur stories: the Knights of the Round Table, Sir Lancelot’s betrayal, and the Quest for the Holy Grail. Here we see the Round Table full of warring factions; we see Arthur the King discredited by Lancelot, who begins an affair with his wife, Guinevere, and we see Arthur’s supporters’ revenge that Arthur is powerless to prevent. The book shows how Arthur and his court lived and felt – and it’s no wonder the legend is such a fundamental part of British culture.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

When the mysterious Green Knight turns up at King Arthur’s court and challenges anyone to strike him with his axe and accept a return blow in a year and a day, Sir Gawain, the youngest Knight in Sir Arthur’s court, decides to prove his mettle by accepting the challenge. However, when he strikes the Green Knight and beheads him, the man laughs, picks up his head and tells Gawain he has a year and a day to live. Despite being written in the fourteenth century, this poem’s main theme – proving yourself – makes it instantly relatable and compelling.

Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen

This collection of fairy tales is a world away from Grimm’s violent and sinister collection – this Danish author was the creator of charming, accessible stories such as The Ugly Duckling and the Emperor’s New Clothes. Despite being poorly received when they were first published in 1936 because of their informality and focus on being amusing rather than educational, these stories have entertained generations of children. Christian Andersen invented the “fairy tale” as we know it today – simple, timeless stories that explore universal themes and end happily.

Eirik the Red and Other Icelandic Sagas

This saga was originally told orally around 1000 CE and was written down in the thirteenth or fourteenth century and is a major landmark in Icelandic folk literature. It tells the story of Eirik’s exile for murder, the same fate as his father, and his discovery and settlement in “Vinland”, a lush, plentiful country. It is believed to describe one of the first discoveries of North America, five hundred years before Captain Cook.

The Nibelungenlied

This epic comes from Medieval Germany and is a masterpiece of fantasy storytelling. Written in 1200 but rediscovered in the 1700s, it has since become the German national epic – on a par with the Iliad or the Ramayana. This story has it all: dragons, invisibility cloaks, fortune telling, and hoards of treasure guarded by dwarves and giants. We see love, jealousy and conflict, and the story ends with awful slaughter. The story has inspired a number of adaptations, including Wagner’s Ring cycle.

The Mabinogion

The Mabinogion is a collection of eleven medieval Welsh stories which combine Arthurian legend, Celtic myth and social narrative to create an epic series – its importance as a record of the history of culture and mythology in Wales is enormous. The stories are fantastical: the Four Branches of the Mabinogi are tales about British pagan gods recreated as human heroes, and sociological: The Dream of Macsen Wledig is an exaggerated story about the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus.

Jessica Harris graduated from Warwick University with a degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics and has been working as an intern in the Online Product Marketing department in the Oxford office of Oxford University Press.

For over 100 years Oxford World’s Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford’s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. You can follow Oxford World’s Classics on Twitter, Facebook, or here on the OUPblog.

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Image credit: Statue of Hans Christian Andersen reading The Ugly Duckling, in Central Park, New York City. By Dismas (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The post A folklore and fairy tales reading list from Oxford World’s Classics appeared first on OUPblog.

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Myth: A Very Short Introduction

By Robert A. Segal

It is trite to say that one’s pet subject is interdisciplinary. These days what subject isn’t? The prostate? But myth really is interdisciplinary. For there is no study of myth as myth, the way, by contrast, there is said to be the study of literature as literature or of religion as religion. Myth is studied by other disciplines, above all by sociology, anthropology, psychology, politics, philosophy, literature, and religious studies. Each discipline applies itself to myth. For example, sociologists see myth as something belonging to a group.

Within each discipline are theories. A discipline can harbor only a few theories or scores of them.  What makes theories theories is that they are generalizations. They presume to know the answers to one or more of the three main questions about myth:  the origin, the function, or the subject matter.

The question of origin asks why, if not also how, myth arises. The answer is a need, which can be of any kind and on the part of an individual, such as the need to eat or to explain, or on the part of the group, such as the need to stay together. The need exists before myth, which arises to fulfill the need. Myth may be the initial or even the sole means of fulfilling the need. Or there may be other means, which compete with myth and may best it. For example, myth may be said to explain the physical world and to do so exceedingly well — until science arises and does it better. So claims the theorist E. B. Tylor, the pioneering English anthropologist.

Function is the flip side of origin. The need that causes myth to arise is the need that keeps it going. Myth functions as long as both the need continues to exist and myth continues to fulfill it at least as well as any competitor. The need for myth is always a need so basic that it itself never ceases. The need to eat, to explain the world, to express the unconscious, to give meaningfulness to life – these needs are panhuman. But the need for myth to fulfill these needs may not last forever. The need to eat can be fulfilled through hunting or farming without the involvement of myth. The need to express the unconscious can be fulfilled through therapy, which for both Sigmund Freud and his rival C. G. Jung is superior to myth. The need to find or to forge meaningfulness in life can be fulfilled without religion and therefore without myth for secular existentialists such as Albert Camus.

For some theorists, myth has always existed and will always continue to exist. For others, myth has not always existed and will not always continue to exist. For Mircea Eliade, a celebrated Romanian-born scholar of religion, religion has always existed and will always continue to exist. Because Eliade ties myth to religion, myth is safe. For not only Tylor but also J. G. Frazer, author of The Golden Bough, myth is doomed exactly because myth is tied to religion. For them science has replaced religion and as a consequence has replaced myth. “Modern myth” is a contradiction in terms.

The third main question about myth is that of subject matter. What is myth really about? There are two main answers: myth is about what it is literally about, or myth symbolizes something else. Taken literally, myth is usually about gods or heroes or physical events like rain. Tylor, Eliade, and the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski all read myth literally. Myth taken literally may also mean myth taken historically, especially in myths about heroes.

The subject matter of myth taken symbolically is open-ended. A myth about the Greek god Zeus can be said to symbolize one’s father (so Freud), one’s father archetype (so Jung), or the sky (so nature mythologists).  The religious existentialists Rudolf Bultmann and Hans Jonas would contend that the myth of the biblical flood is to be read not as a explanation of a supposedly global event from long ago but as a description of what it is like for anyone anywhere to live in a world in which, it is believed, God exists and treats humans fairly.

To call the flood story a myth is not to spurn it. I am happy to consider any theory of myth, but not the crude dismissal of a story or a belief as a “mere myth.” True or false, myth is never “mere.” For to call even a conspicuously false story or belief a mere myth is to miss the power that that story or belief holds for those who accept it. The difficulty in persuading anyone to give up an obviously false myth attests to its allure.

Robert A. Segal is Sixth Century Chair in Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen.  He is the author of Myth: A Very Short Introduction and of Theorizing about Myth. He is presently at work editing the Oxford Handbook of Myth Theory. He directs the Centre for the Study of Myth at Aberdeen.

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Who Was Who online, part of Who’s Who online, has granted free access for a limited time to the entries for the philosophers and scholars mentioned in the above article.

Image credit: Thetis and Zeus by Anton Losenko, 1769. Copy of artwork used for the purposes of illustration in a critical commentary on the work. Source: Wikimedia Commons. 

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Hello all! I wanted to let you know about my latest work hanging at the very wonderful Moden Eden gallery in San Francisco, CA! I was lucky enough to be part of their latest group show, "Myth," and returned to a subject I find myself coming back to time and time again; the Japanese folktale The Crane Wife.

I didn't get to post about the opening reception back on July 14th, but luckily, there is a closing reception in conjunction with North Beach First Fridays on Friday, August 3, 2012.   The closing reception will be held at 403 Francisco Street from 6-9pm.

Facebook event invite here!
http://www.facebook.com/events/449331605088376/

Thanks everyone! : D <3
www.daisychurch.com

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BOOK OF THE DAY-April

The full April list is here. Get a sneak peak at the 2nd half of the month and stock up for summer vacation too!

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BOOK OF THE DAY-February

No need to wait until the end of February for the complete list. Here it is–plan ahead! Click on the link above, and also follows us on Facebook at Litland Reviews http://facebook.com/Litlandreviews

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BOOK OF THE DAY-January

Here it is! The book of the day challenge, to recommend a new book or related media every day in 2012. January is complete, and attached for handy download–just click on the above link. February is on the way! “Friend” Litland Reviews on Facebook to see daily recommendations as they post. http://facebook.com/Litlandreviews

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The Diviners by Libba Bray
2012 | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Author of the Gemma Doyle trilogy, Going Bovine, Beauty Queens, & more

A supernatural series set in Manhattan during the 1920s that follows a teen heroine reminiscent of two of the era's most famous literary women—Zelda Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker. The story will be a wild new ride full of dames and dapper dons, jazz babies and Prohibition-defying parties, conspiracy and prophecy—and all manner of things that go bump in the neon-drenched night.

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21. New Release Roundup: July 24 - 30, 2011

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By: Casey (The Bookish Type), on 7/24/2011
Blog: The Bookish Type (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  Meme, Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, myth, paranormal, contemporary, bestseller, debut author, new release, New Release Roundup, Add a tag

A weekly feature I started to showcase the exciting new releases hitting shelves this week.

July 26

Vanished by Sheela Chari

Eleven-year-old Neela dreams of being a famous musician, performing for admiring crowds on her traditional Indian stringed instrument. Her particular instrument used to be her grandmother’s—made of warm, rich wood, and intricately carved with a mysterious-looking dragon.

When this special family heirloom vanishes from a local church, Neela is devastated. As she searches for it, strange clues surface: a teakettle ornamented with a familiar-looking dragon, a threatening note, a connection to a famous dead musician, and even a legendary curse. The clues point all the way to India, where it seems that Neela's intrument has a long history of vanishing and reappearing. If she is able to track it down, will she be able to stop it from disappearing again?

Sheela Chari's debut novel is a finely tuned story of coincidence and fate, trust and deceit, music and mystery.

Wildefire by Karsten Knight

Every flame begins with a spark.

Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She’s struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve’s violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California’s redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her. But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn’t go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school—being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger—Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood…and she’s one of them. To make matte

6 Comments on New Release Roundup: July 24 - 30, 2011, last added: 7/25/2011

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Kapri (Book Fanatics) said, on 7/24/2011 12:32:00 PM

I can't wait to read Wildfire and Wolfsbane!

Lindsi said, on 7/24/2011 1:27:00 PM

Loved Wildefire! I need to hurry up and read Paranormalcy so I can read Supernaturally when it comes out :)

(I think I spelled those correctly!)

LoriStrongin said, on 7/24/2011 3:53:00 PM

I think I'm most excited to read Supernaturally and The Babysitter Murders. I've been seeing them around the blogosphere, and both look like fantastic reads. Can't wait!


Smiles!
Lori

Vy (Vy's Blog) said, on 7/24/2011 8:28:00 PM

I totally forgot that Supernaturally comes out this week! Now I'm just really tempted to just go to the store to look for the cover of Wildefire.

Jan von Harz said, on 7/25/2011 4:46:00 AM

Cannot wait to read several of these books. Supernaturally , Wolfsbane, Touch of Frost , and Wildfire are on the top of the list.

blackbirdbookreviews said, on 7/25/2011 10:42:00 AM

I'm looking forward to Wildefire and Wolfsbane is already in the mail. I'm hoping it surpasses Nightshade, which was so-so but interesting enough. Thanks for the heads-up on the others, too.

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22. A drinking bout in several parts (Conclusion: Mead)

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By: Lauren, on 3/23/2011
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  myth, jesus, Oxford Etymologist, honey, alcohol, word origins, legend, etymology, Food & Drink, anatoly liberman, drinking, word history, mead, milk and honey, *Featured, Lexicography & Language, Add a tag

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By Anatoly Liberman

We may assume that people, wherever they lived, learned to use honey and even practiced apiculture before dairy products became part of their diet, for honey can be found and consumed in its natural state, while milk, cheese, butter, and the rest presuppose the existence of domesticated animals, be it horses, cows, sheep, or goats, and of a developed industry.  However, humans are mammals, so that the word for “milk” is probably contemporaneous with language, even though no Common Indo-European term for it existed (for example, the word lactation reminds us of Latin lac, and it is quite different from milk).  With time, “milk and honey” turned into a symbol of abundance.  While the god Othinn (see the previous post) was busy stealing the mead of poetry, mortals dreamed of catching a bee swarm.  From 10^th-century Christian Germany we have a rhyming charm, a pagan “genre” to be sure, but with Jesus Christ and Mary invoked, for it was the result that counted rather than the affiliation of the benefactors.  Its purpose was to let the flying bees stop at the speaker’s farm: “Christ, a swarm is here! / Now fly here, my ‘throng’, / to God’s protection, alight safe and sound. / Come, come down, bees;/ Command them to do so, Saint Mary. / Swarm, you may not fly to the woods, / To escape from me/ Or to get the better of me.”

Thousands of years before the recording of this incantation, the bee was glorified in the myths of the ancient Indo-Europeans.  Readers of old tales will remember that the bee was the sacred insect of the Greek goddess Artemis.  A cave painting of a human surrounded by bees while removing honeycombs and an old depiction of honeycombs have also come down to us. Whatever effect charms may once have had on German bees, honey was certainly in wide use.  In the phrase milk and honey, milk stands first, but in its Russian analog med-pivo (literally, “mead-beer”) and in its Baltic (Lithuanian and Latvian) equivalent medu-alus (note alus, a cognate of Engl. ale!) “mead” precedes “beer.”  The story teller of Russian folklore tends to finish his tale with the begging formula to the effect that he drank med-pivo at the wedding feast and that it flowed over his moustache, but not a drop got into his mouth (so this is the time to quench his thirst and reward his labors).

Naturally, med in the compound med-pivo referred to an intoxicating drink, but in Modern Russian the word med means “honey.”  Although in recorded texts mead “beverage” occurs earlier than mead “honey,” common sense tells us that before people began to drink “mead” after they got acquainted with honey.   The fermentation of wild honey did not remain a secret either, and this is a likely reason the two senses of mead merged.  The word wine came to the European languages from Latin, and the Romans seem to have borrowed it from their neighbors.  Perhaps in the lending language it also meant “mead,” for Persian may (a form derived from Indo-European medu- or medhu-) means “wine.”

As noted in the previous post, the Indo-Europeans used two words for “honey”: one was the ancestor of Engl. mead, the other the ancestor of Greek méli (genitive mélitos, so that the stem was mélit-).  Every time we confront a pair of such synonyms the question arises what distinguished the objects they designated.  For instance, loaf is a descendant of a word that meant “bread.”  What then was the difference between hlaifs- (the ancient form of loaf) and bread?  Presumably

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23. A drinking bout in several parts (Part 3: Mead)

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By: Lauren, on 3/16/2011
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JacketFlap tags:  mythology, myth, Oxford Etymologist, honey, alcohol, word origins, etymology, Food & Drink, Europe, anatoly liberman, drinking, Scandinavian, gods, mead, *Featured, Lexicography & Language, dwarfs, kvasir, kvas, Add a tag

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By Anatoly Liberman

Tales that explain the origin of things are called etiological.  All etymologies are etiological tales by definition.  It seems that one of the main features of Homo sapiens has always been his unquenchable desire to get drunk.  Sapiens indeed!  The most ancient intoxicating drink of the Indo-Europeans was mead.  Moreover, it seems that several neighboring tribes borrowed the name of this drink from them (and undoubtedly the drink itself:  otherwise, what would have been the point of taking over the word?), for we have Finnish mesi, Proto-Chinese mit, and Japanese mitsu, allegedly modifications of Indo-European medu- or medhu-.  Being inebriated allowed one to converse with the gods; intoxication and inspiration were synonyms from early on.  We now have a different view of alcoholism and have reduced the sublime state to the dull legal formula “under the influence.”  But things were different in the spring of civilization.  One of the most memorable myths of the medieval Scandinavians is about a deadly fight for the mead of wisdom and poetry.

After a truce was made between two warring clans of gods (the cause of the war has not been discovered), they met to make peace, took a crock, and spat into it.  Saliva causes fermentation and has been used widely in old days for processes like the one being described here.  From the contents of the crock the gods created a homunculus called Kvasir, who turned out to be sober (!) and extremely wise: there was no question he could not answer.  He traveled far and wide and taught men wisdom.  The name Kvasir happens to be an almost full homonym of Slavic kvas (usually spelled, for no legitimate reason, kvass in English), a malt-based drink, one of whose indispensable ingredients is bread.  However, despite what some books state in a rather dogmatic way, the coincidence between Kvasir and kvas may be fortuitous.  Although not directly, kvas is related to Slavic words for “sour.”  Closer cognates mean “froth” and “cook; boil”; one of them is Latin caseus, the etymon of Engl. cheese.  In Germanic, Kvasir resembles verbs like Engl. quash and squash.  Both are usually traced to Old French, but similar-sounding and partly synonymous verbs, for instance, English squeeze and quench, are native, while Modern German quetschen, corresponding to Engl. quash, is a word of disputable etymology (perhaps native, perhaps from French).  Whatever product the gods obtained through fermentation, its base was first “crushed” or “squashed.”  Kvasir appears unexpectedly in a later myth connected with the capture of Loki; however, his life must have been short, because two dwarfs killed him.

In the world of Scandinavian myths we encounter gods, dwarfs, and giants.  Despite the associations these words carry to us, “an average giant” did not tower over “an average god,” whereas the dwarfs were not tiny.  Giants and dwarfs became huge and small in later folklore.  In Scandinavian myths, they were distinguished by their functions: the gods maintained order in the universe, the giants tried to disrupt it, and the dwarfs were artisans and produced all the valuable objects that allowed the gods to stay in power.  Most unfortunately, the myths of the Germans and the Anglo-Saxons have not come down to us, and only some traces of them can be reconstructed from popular beliefs, the evidence of place names, and the like.  But to continue with Kvasir.  Two malicious dwarfs called him aside for a word in private and killed him, after which they let his blood run into two vats and a kettle.  They mixed the blood with honey, the main sweetener then known, and it became the mead that

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24. Review: Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

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By: Casey (The Bookish Type), on 2/18/2011
Blog: The Bookish Type (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  Review, Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, myth, Dark Fantasy, debut author, Five Stars, 2011 Debut Author Challenge, Add a tag

Ari knows there are secrets buried in her family's past, but she doesn't realize just how devastating they might be until she receives a note in her dead mother's handwriting: "Run." The warning comes not a moment too soon, as Ari finds herself launched headfirst into a fight for her life. Determined to find answers about what horrors her mother foresaw and just who is sending assassins after her

22 Comments on Review: Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton, last added: 2/22/2011

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the Vintage Bookworm said, on 2/18/2011 10:44:00 PM

I&#39;ve heard great things about this book and I can&#39;t wait to read it. :) Great review!

The Slowest Bookworm said, on 2/19/2011 1:34:00 AM

I&#39;ve heard such mixed reviews on this one. It does sound great though. One I&#39;ll be giving a go for definite.

The Slowest Bookworm said, on 2/19/2011 1:36:00 AM

Ooh, I&#39;m back to tell you that I just pre-ordered it for me Kindle :)

Rummanah Aasi said, on 2/19/2011 5:53:00 PM

Thanks for the review, Casey. I&#39;ve seen this title for a while and I think I&#39;ll pick it up.

Lauren M said, on 2/19/2011 8:15:00 PM

Thanks for the review! I&#39;m glad to see someone who liked Darkness Becomes Her. I&#39;m definitely going to pick this one up!

Vivien said, on 2/19/2011 11:32:00 PM

I&#39;m really enjoying these great reviews for this book. I&#39;m excited for it now :)

Lindsi said, on 2/20/2011 12:18:00 AM

Hmm, I thought I had commented before, but I guess I missed it! Darkness Becomes Her is an awesome book. I loved the story and the setting, but I think the surprise towards the end was my favorite!<br /><br />I&#39;m really glad you liked it :)

Mia said, on 2/20/2011 2:59:00 AM

Awesome review! I love this book more than I ever thought :) I think everyone should read it.

Precious said, on 2/20/2011 3:51:00 AM

Wow! I&#39;m looking forward to the vivid imagery! I&#39;m also excited about Kelly&#39;s mythology. It&#39;s interesting how authors mold it into their own. Your review made me more excited for this! Thank you for posting!

Pisinat said, on 2/20/2011 5:02:00 AM

I have really great reviews of this book! I like the fact that it takes pplace in New Orleans, I wish I can go there one day =)

Marrion said, on 2/20/2011 5:07:00 AM

Ohhh... This is really interesting.. I have heard a lot of good reviews about this one and I am very eager to have one myself! You have an awesome review!<br /><br />I&#39;m a new follower by the way! Happy Reading!^^

YzhaBella's BookShelf said, on 2/20/2011 7:59:00 AM

What a wonderful review! You&#39;ve shared some very insightful observations and totally piques my interest!<br /><br />Thank you!<br /><br />Kate

Kristina said, on 2/20/2011 8:55:00 AM

I need to practice on my writing skills so I can do half as good reviews as yours.

van_pham said, on 2/20/2011 10:53:00 AM

Great review! Yes Kelly world building is awesome, really looking forward to reading this book.

BLHmistress said, on 2/20/2011 12:20:00 PM

Seriously you sealed it with this review , I had my eye on this for awhile, I absolutely adore mythology so if I can find books with it in it I snatch them up. Thanks for the review and helping me make up mind.

alice priday said, on 2/20/2011 2:42:00 PM

thanks for the wonderful review it makes me want this book more and more

BookGeek said, on 2/20/2011 6:14:00 PM

Such a great review :) Like I said before, I really have been hearing good things about this book. I need to order it to see for myself!

Enbrethiliel said, on 2/20/2011 8:52:00 PM

+JMJ+ <br /><br />Classical mythology and the rich culture and history of New Orleans aren&#39;t an obvious match. I&#39;ve read several novels which combine the myths with a modern setting, but the latter is usually pretty bland. It would be interesting to see how two cultures that are both so strong and yet so different find a way to exist together in fiction that is both believable and

Book Flame said, on 2/20/2011 8:59:00 PM

Thanks for such a great review,I have this book on my TBR. I&#39;ve heard positives and negatives about this book I guess i&#39;ll just have to read it myself.

donnas said, on 2/20/2011 9:19:00 PM

Great review. I am looking forward to reading this book. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on it.

Teddycavy said, on 2/21/2011 12:43:00 AM

I&#39;m so excited for this book!I love good villains. (Iago, from Othello, is the best, hands down, by the way.) And I simply love the title. Some titles really don&#39;t catch you, but this one does, and it just makes me want to read it right now.

Aylee said, on 2/21/2011 10:47:00 PM

Wow, high praise! Come to think of it, I don&#39;t believe I&#39;ve read a negative review for this one yet so that&#39;s definitely a good sign! Looking forward to the shocking revelation! I love being surprised when reading :)

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25. Review: Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton

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By: Casey (The Bookish Type), on 1/26/2011
Blog: The Bookish Type (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  Review, Young Adult, Fantasy, myth, Dark Fantasy, debut author, Five Stars, Debut Author Reading Challenge 2010, Add a tag

Teagan's always been the practical type -- focused on her schoolwork, ignoring her male classmates, not believing in goblins. But when her nomadic, distant cousin arrives on her doorstep everything begins to change. Finn claims to be the MacCumhaill, defender against all of goblinkind. Of course Teagan doesn't believe him. At first. But when she begins seeing...things...and her dad vanishes

10 Comments on Review: Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton, last added: 1/30/2011

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Lindsi said, on 1/26/2011 11:27:00 PM

If I had any doubts about reading Tyger Tyger they&#39;re gone now! You&#39;re a phenomenal writer with serious skills :)<br /><br />I LOVED this review! *scrolls up to read again*

Precious said, on 1/27/2011 3:06:00 AM

Yay! I&#39;m glad you liked this too! I loved it! Kersten writes really well. This actually made it to my Top 10 reads for 2010. Great review!

E.J. Stevens said, on 1/27/2011 6:17:00 AM

I agree. Tyger Tyger was in my top 10 books of 2010. Kersten&#39;s writing is amazing. Great review!<br />xx,<br />E.J.<br /><a href="http://www.fromtheshadows.info/" rel="nofollow">From the Shadows</a>

SusanKMann said, on 1/27/2011 7:20:00 AM

Great review. I haven&#39;t read this book but I will need to get it. x

BookGeek said, on 1/27/2011 9:41:00 AM

I am reading this book NEXT. I am so tired of reading YA novels with same premises - boy crazy and no parents. I want to read something to shake up the status quo. Can&#39;t wait for the interview!

Aylee said, on 1/27/2011 4:56:00 PM

Wow, high praise! I think I read a few unfavourable reviews and it turned me off a bit but I&#39;ll have to give this one a second look now!

danya said, on 1/27/2011 7:51:00 PM

I&#39;ve read some mixed reviews of this one, but your clear enjoyment of it makes me more interested! It&#39;s great that it breaks some stereotypes of YA like the absent parents and brooding hero.

Casey (The Bookish Type) said, on 1/27/2011 9:21:00 PM

Thanks you guys!<br /><br />Precious &amp; EJ -- This was one of my top 10 of 2010 as well!<br /><br />I&#39;m glad my review persuaded some of you to give the book another look -- it really was awesomely original and enchanting! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

A. Knight said, on 1/28/2011 10:18:00 AM

Like I said: most definitely going to read this novel!<br /><br />Thanks for sharing your review, Casey!<br /><br />Asher K.

Melissa (My World...in words and pages) said, on 1/30/2011 1:43:00 PM

Oh, I am so glad to see you enjoyed this book! I really loved reading it as well and look forward to the second one coming out. :) Great review!

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