Words have Power

[jarandhel]

It's an old truth, the power of language and the spoken or written word. It's been known by many cultures in many forms. Even our modern society recognizes it, in the freedom of speech and of the press, and in common phrases that carry the wisdom of past generations such as "the pen is mightier than the sword".

I've had a lesson in this concept tonight, while exploring my normal researches. It started with reading an essay about the meaning of words and the way definitions work (especially within the context of logical discussion and debate), and I was intrigued to see how much of a word's meaning is independent of any lexical definition (and in fact that lexical definitions are themselves only attempts to codify words which have entered into common usage already).

Part two of the lesson came in another essay that I was reading... in a name which was spelled differently than I've seen it spelled before. The Morrigan. Only this time, it was spelled Mor Rioghain... and the word Mor is one of the few celtic words I do know. "Great". I was intrigued. A goddess of battles, often seen in modern times as more to be feared than anything else, and yet she was being described as great? I stopped what I was doing and looked up the second word, Rioghain. Took me a while to locate, but I finally found the translation for it: Queen. Great Queen. An interesting way to refer to someone who is of late seen only as a goddess of battles, symbolized frequently as a stormcrow... a harbinger of ill fortune. I had known for a while now that this prevalent view of her is not accurate (primarily due to its incompleteness), but it was very interesting to me to learn how much clearer that fact would be if someone knew the translation of her name. I wonder how many other bits of info about celtic deities can be found simply by looking at the translations of their names?

And then there was the final piece of my lesson, one that I've actually been looking at for a few days but that didn't fall into place until now... phrases, bits of wisdom passed down over time, tell us as much in the way they say things as they do by actually saying them. Take this celtic example, for instance: "air is fire's water". By itself, it expresses a scientific truth... fire needs air to fuel itself, much like our bodies need water. But that truth is expressed through the language of poetry, using metaphor to show that air's function for fire is analogous to water's function for us. It shows that the celts valued the process of reasoning through analogy, and also that they did not feel it necessary to express scientific concepts about the world in emotionally neutral language... they found a way to express scientific truth poetically without losing the truth of the concept to the vagueness of emotional connotation. Interestingly, this same process seems to make the expression of a line of reasoning in the form of a syllogism unnecessary... the metaphor itself carries the information which shows the line of reasoning that one might follow to reach the same conclusion. Awful lot of information for just four simple words, isn't it?

It's been an interesting lesson.

Comments

cultural context

[zaecus.livejournal.com]

I don't doubt for a moment that Morrigan's name might mean "Great Queen." This does not automatically mean she wasn't feared. In fact, from a purely cultural context, it makes perfect sense that she would be thought of in the vilest of terms but, because of her power and status, only spoken of with words of praise.

The Celts, particularly the Irish and Welsh, are famous for it.

"Fair Folk"
"Good Neighbors"
"Most Gracious Lord"

It goes back to a lot of myths that pound it into those who read them that you should never speak ill of, much less to, those who have power. I believe those myths to be the source of the infamous Irish "gift of the gab" which has gotten many Irishmen out of trouble and convinced people the world over to not only kiss a large rock in Ireland but to also kiss the virtual counterpart on the web (http://www.irelandseye.com/blarney/blarney.shtm). (Note the result of doing so. *wink*)

You may still have a point though, and I don't doubt for a moment that m'lady is both great and a queen.

(BTW, have you seen http://www.mythome.org/celtic.html ? It lists many Celtic Gods, Heroes, and Mythical Creatures, and has 'Great Queen' as one translation Morrigan's name.)

Re: cultural context

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

I don't think she was thought of in the vilest of terms, though. It doesn't make sense given the symbolism used for her. A stormcrow is a warning or herald, for example, not a cause. And crows are natures way of cleaning up after a battle. The Morrigan may be the fury and bloodshed of battle, but she is also the voice of warning before it and the peace that comes after.

As for the Fair Folk? I think that saying the celts called them this out of fear, although a popular myth, is oversimplifying the matter greatly. It may be true in some cases, particularly involving the unseelie who did not tolerate humans well, but I think there are other dimensions to this practice as well. For one thing, in many cases the Fair Folk would be seen to have an otherworldly beauty. (And perhaps an inhuman sense of justice/fairness as well, depending on which connotation is meant in the english translation of their name... I've never been altogether clear on that, and it is entirely possible that both were meant)

[netdancer.livejournal.com]

We seriously reccomend "Tain Bo Cuailnge" as translated by Kinsella, for insight into the culture of the Celts.

Do -not- use the Lady Gregory translations as any kind of reliable source: they aren't...she 'cleaned them up' so they'd meet her personal standards of moral and acceptable.

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

I'll see about finding that... thank you. :)

[arhuaine.livejournal.com]

This is the version you want (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0192810901/103-8976340-3819044?v=glance). I have this book and it's excellent.