Posts Tagged: vikings

  • Alfred the Great ten out of ten

    2010 points to Alfred the Great

    It is the Year Two Thousand and Ten, Twenty-Ten or Oh-Ten. It is Something Ten and not the Year Something Decem, as it would be in Latin, or Something Deka, as it would be in Greek. Ten is proudly an Old English word, uninfluenced for more than a millennium by foreign language pretensions or even by marauding heathen hordes

  • Wassailing's most common meaning is door-to-door Christmas carol singing - a common practice in England.

    Wassailing—be healthy at Christmas

    Behind the modern rituals of Christmas lurk old traditions tied to our magical, pagan past. Words provide a link to that magic. We have looked at Yule, a word that predates most native languages of Europe. Wassailing is our Christmas word. Wassail arrived in English from the Old Norse salutation ves heill meaning “be healthy” from […]