Anglesey

[Royston]

Choughs are relatively common on Anglesey particularly the cliffs at South Stack. It could simply be a coincidence that the west where apples are cultivated is also populated by red-billed choughs. On the other hand the environmentalist Tony Juniper argues that birds are useful for protecting fruit harvests so it may not all be poppycock.

[Maribel]

Kent is associated with apple farming though I have no idea when apples were first cultivated there. Could the introduction of orchards have a bearing on the county's adoption of choughs or beckits or whatever they're called?

[hvered]

Guarding fruit is important enough to have a place in Greek mythology. Ladon the multiple-headed (some sources say hundred-headed) serpent guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides, not an inappropriate metaphor for a large flock of birds (cf. 'murder' of crows!). Choughs' red bills and feet are perhaps suitably fiery.

After he was killed by Hercules Ladon was placed in the sky as the constellation Draco at the north pole.

[macausland]

Regarding the name of Anglesey, Ptolemy and others called it 'Mona'. The Isle of Man was known to them as 'Manavia'.

Were these the local names or names given to them from the Greek or Latin in translation?

http://www.roman-britain.org/places/mona.htm

This site seems to have a lot of information regarding old place names in Britain.

[Maribel]

Regarding the name of Anglesey, Ptolemy and others called it 'Mona'. The Isle of Man was known to them as 'Manavia'.

Were these the local names or names given to them from the Greek or Latin in translation?

The word maen in Cornish means stone. Presumably Anglesey and the Isle of Man were named long before Greek or Latin sources came to light.

There may be a connection between maen and mine in English. I know this site seems to be getting obsessed with mining matters but that is apparently the reason why Greeks, Latins and others were interested in Britain in the first place.

[Boreades]

Regarding the name of Anglesey, Ptolemy and others called it 'Mona'. The Isle of Man was known to them as 'Manavia'.

Were these the local names or names given to them from the Greek or Latin in translation?

The word maen in Cornish means stone. Presumably Anglesey and the Isle of Man were named long before Greek or Latin sources came to light.

There may be a connection between maen and mine in English. I know this site seems to be getting obsessed with mining matters but that is apparently the reason why Greeks, Latins and others were interested in Britain in the first place.

Sorry to perpetuate the mining obsession, but at one time (I'm told) the IOM produced 20% of the zinc and 5% of the lead mined in the British Isles. Well worth being part of the Atlantic Bronze Age.

Actually, what I'd like to know about the IOM is how and why it has the three-legged symbol in common with Sicily? That island has a strong Knights Templar tradition. The Jolly Roger flag came from King Roger of Sicily. Has the IOM got a KT tradition as well?

[Boreades]

The capital of the IOM is now known to us as Douglas. The original name was Doolish, from the Manx Gaelic meaning 'Black water'. Curiously, Dawlish in Devon is also said to have come from the Welsh for Black Stream. Which is a pleasant change from all place names being called Saxon.

[Penny]

Actually, what I'd like to know about the IOM is how and why it has the three-legged symbol in common with Sicily? That island has a strong Knights Templar tradition. The Jolly Roger flag came from King Roger of Sicily. Has the IOM got a KT tradition as well?

The symbol of the trinity occurs in many cultures, most commonly it represents the father, mother and child but in Celtic stories and myths the moon goddess is specifically three-in-one, i.e. maiden, mother and crone. The IOM is named for Mannanen a sea-god according to place-name experts. Could it be that Man is Moon? There is after all a strong correlation between the sea and moon.

In the twelfth century the Templars were given the Isle of Lundy, also a 'moon' name. The IOM as a strategic trading centre had a certain independence and its links with the Med presumably included Sicily.

[Penny]

The three-legged symbol also appears as three hares, joined together by their ears. It was thought to be a tinners' symbol because of its association with Dartmoor among other places but hares, unlike rabbits, are not underground creatures. There is though a connection between hares (and rabbits) and the moon in mythology.

[Boreades]

Follow the rabbits/hares and find Thrice-Great Hermes [Hermes Trismegistus]

http://www.chrischapmanphotography.co.u ... index.html