| View previous topic :: View next topic |
Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
|
|
 |
|
| GrouchoMarxthespot wrote: | In short a 'may' was a valuable thing - a permissive right, perhaps to travel freely, without let or hindrance. The only real contemporary analogy I can come up with is that of a licence - to lose your licence, (a permission and a competance/power/ability) would have been to be 'dismayed'.
Conventional wisdom has it that the naming of the blossom 'Mayflower' stemmed from the calendar naming of the month of May, (as you describe, to Maia).
What if the blossom had already been described as 'May'. not for calendar reasons, but for previous and ancient permissive reasons to do something for which you had the power?
This might tie in with the meaning of 'magus' - someone with ability/power/right to do something, including travelling.
| Would the tradition of cutting branches of 'flowering may' discourage plants from seeding in all directions later in the year do you think? |
If travellers cut blossoms from the hawthorne to demonstrate their bona fides as travellers, and their right to be travelling, then this would both reduce the likelihood of random self seeding, and increase the likelihood of propagation of the hawthornes along the pathway.
In short: The hypothesis is that the 'May' of the Mayflower relates not to a calendar event, (the naming of the month in which the flowering occurs), but relates to an earlier concept of the ability, (power, knowledge and permission), to travel along the route as a boa fide traveller - the Mayflower becomes a symbol of safe passage. |
This aint worth chasing.....
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
|
|
|
|
| Ishmael wrote: | | Brilliant brilliant brilliant! |
NoNoNo! (RIP..Amy)
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
|
Too Wiley for me.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
|
|
|
|
|
A may flower blooms/arrives early.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
|
Oh right, Wiley, alles klaar. Alles fookin' klaar.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
|
|
|
|
|
Mayflower... May Rose.... Mary Rose, there you go, same again.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
|
|
|
|
|
Now alles klaar. Is this Ishmael under a pseudonym? Newfoundland, Arizona...I see a pattern emerging.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Ishmael
In: Toronto
|
|
|
|
|
Well, even if GrouchoMarxthespot has it wrong, his was an original and interesting idea.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
|
|
|
|
Spot used 6 trillion words and 66 appendices.
Enough said.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Ishmael
In: Toronto
|
|
|
|
|
Who is Spot?
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Chad
In: Ramsbottom
|
|
|
|
Well he does have a stupidly long user name� You probably get bored before you reach that bit.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Ishmael
In: Toronto
|
|
|
|
| Wile E. Coyote wrote: | | A may flower blooms/arrives early. |
Oh for Cripes Sakes!!! THE Mayflower.
The early settlers!!! They "arrived early".
|
|
| |
|
|
|
GrouchoMarxthespot
|
|
|
|
| Oh for Cripes Sakes!!! THE Mayflower. |
Yes, and more to the point it didn't even sail at the May time, i.e. it was all about what they intended.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Ishmael
In: Toronto
|
|
|
|
|
Or what they represented thematically to the "historians" responsible for the tale.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
GrouchoMarxthespot
|
|
|
|
I was thinking more as the chosen name of the boat being a representation of a 'safe passage'.
Had they actually sailed in May then it could have been a coincidence.
A deliberate choice of the name for a sailing in September(October?) is indicative of an intention to make a symbolic statement.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
The Library Index 
FAQ 
Search
Register
Profile 
Log in to check your private messages 
Log in 
