Megalithic shipping and trade routes

[hvered]

What I meant was that Michael is Mickel meaning 'great'. If that is the case then Skellig Michael which is also known in Irish as Great Skellig - notice the absence of Michael there - was not named after an archangel but after its size in relation to the smaller one.

So whoever named it was not a Gaelic speaker he, or she, was using a word of Germanic extraction.

That's what I thought too. The official etymology is, or was when I first checked:

From Middle English mikel, muchel, mochel, mukel, from Old English miċel, myċel or Old Norse mikill,

Seems to have a Norse origin which 'skellig' also suggests.

[TisILeclerc]

Skellig does have a Norse ring to it. Although as I mentioned earlier there is a perfectly good Irish word that matches for a couple of reasons.

But regarding Michael apparently the rock was not called that until much later on after its occupation by the monks.

Legend ascribes the founding of the monastery to St. Fionan, who lived in the sixth century.[3] The earliest documentary reference to the monastery is an entry in The Martyrology of Tallaght , written near the end of the eighth century by Máel-ruain (d. 792) in his monastery near present-day Dublin. It commemorates the death of a monk of Skellig called Suibni (Suibni in Scelig ).[4] To be acknowledged in this manner in the festology of one of the most celebrated monasteries of Ireland, located at the opposite side of the country, Skellig Michael must have been a well-established and widely known monastic settlement. The monastery there may well have been founded as early as the sixth or seventh century, but in the absence of documentation more precise dating is not possible.

The monastery is referred to simply as Skellig in the eighth- and ninth-century entries in monastic festologies and annals (The Martyrology of Tallaght , the Annals of Ulster , and the Annals of Inisfallen ). Sometime after the tenth century the monastery became known as Skellig Michael. It is likely that in the late tenth or early eleventh century the monastery was dedicated to St. Michael.[5] This is suggested by two references to the monastery in the Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters . The first reads "Age of Christ, 950. Blathmhac of Sgeillic died"; the second, which reads "The Age of Christ, 1044. Aedh of Sgelic-Mhichil," is the first reliable mention of the name Michael in the annals.[6] On this basis we assume that the dedication to Michael took place between 950 and 1044. It was customary in a monastery to build a new church to celebrate a dedication, and the oldest part of the church now known as St. Michael's fits architecturally into this time period. With its mortared straight walls and large stones, the church is unlike the dry-stone corbeled oratories and beehive cells built earlier at the monastery

http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpresseboo ... and=eschol

The Irish church was being changed into a more conventional church similar to the church in the rest of Europe. Even the archbishop of Canterbury was involved.

It could be that Skellig Michael was called Mickel to differentiate it from its smaller neighbour and the 'modernisers' took their opportunity of making the name match the new church they were building. This would confirm the change from the old order and give a new identity to the island.

[TisILeclerc]

Keeping with the Muckle Mickel Michael theme there is of course another place which is apparently definitely named from Norse. Muckle Flugga.

The name comes from Old Norse, Mikla Flugey, meaning "large steep-sided island".

Its geological history is interesting. It's another place that was formed when two giants, Hema and Saxa fought each other for the attentions of a local mermaid by throwing rocks at each other. The mermaid agreed to marry one of them if they could follow her to the north pole. Unfortunately they drowned as neither of them could swim.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muckle_Flugga

Well, that's the science lesson over.

If we apply Mikla and its variants to the Michael Line we could say that it is the Great Line or Mickle Line rather than the archangel Michael's line.

As a great line it will have had rest stops or way stations were drovers and other travellers could rest. These would no doubt consist of buildings where refreshments could be bought and possible a bed for the night. All such stops indicate their existence by visual signs. What better than a large cross of wood on the roof or gable end. This could also serve as a lightning conductor.

Perhaps to make it more certain that it was a rest stop and not the HQ of the local cattle rustlers' society they could have interwoven the sinuous shape of the track itself on the cross, like a snake perhaps.

They wouldn't have called the track a line of course. That would have been for the railways. Street would have been a much better word. And it exists in all sorts of languages and is all over the place in ancient history.

So Mickle Street is the big street leading from one side of the country to the other.

Just to confirm the pit stop really was what it was they could have written the name on a nearby stone or post. They would keep it simple as people may not have been able to read. So 'street' would have been shortened to its visual elements. 'ST'. So Mickle Street becomes Mickel St with the S still intertwined with the T. Later to be separated for ease of carving. Or perhaps St Mickel, which becomes the name given to the wayside inns.

'Just follow St Mickel and you'll be there in about ten days if you get a move on' could have been the basic instructions given at either end of the street.

[Boreades]

Yet more on the Papars.

Papa Westray is home to The Knap of Howar Neolithic farmstead, which is said to be "the oldest preserved house in northern Europe, dating from around 3500 BC."

Early Christian carved stones, which may date from as early as the 7th century AD, found at this site are on display in Tankerness House Museum, Kirkwall and the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. These may be the earliest evidence for Christianity to survive in the Northern Isles. ... The remains of St Tredwell's Chapel stand on a conical mound on a small peninsula (about 4.5 metres high and 35 metres across at the water level) in St Tredwell's Loch. The remains of the late medieval walls can be seen, built over Iron Age remains, including an underground tunnel leading to a circular building or broch. The thick walls of the chapel and records of tracery work indicate an important and well-founded establishment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papa_Westray

[Mick Harper]

Its geological history is interesting.

Its history history is even more interesting.

It's another place that was formed when two giants, Hema and Saxa fought each other

Hema we know all about but Saxa is the salt trade. [We did a lot of work on this on a previous site, access if anyone wants it.] It is hinted in TME and elsewhere but never spelled out that the two were rivals or at any rate pursuing different routes -- Hermes is western and maritime, Saxa is Continental and river-based.

for the attentions of a local mermaid by throwing rocks at each other.

It is true that this is where the Atlantic-based Hermesians might meet the Baltic/North Sea Saxonists. Presumably they are fighting over the menhir navigation posts.

The mermaid agreed to marry one of them if they could follow her to the north pole.

Possession of the local meridian.

[hvered]

Hermaness is

the northernmost headland of Unst, the northernmost inhabited island of Shetland

Hermes is associated with navigation and the northernmost point of anything is always a useful point.

[Boreades]

It's another place that was formed when two giants, Hema and Saxa fought each other

Hema we know all about but Saxa is the salt trade. [We did a lot of work on this on a previous site, access if anyone wants it.] It is hinted in TME and elsewhere but never spelled out that the two were rivals or at any rate pursuing different routes -- Hermes is western and maritime, Saxa is Continental and river-based.

This came to mind when I chanced upon an account of the Zollverein, one of the previous attempts at a European Economic Community, c.1818 - 1871. Its interests would have extended into the Baltic and beyond.

The Zollverein ([ˈtsɔlfɛɐ̯ˌʔaɪn]) or German Customs Union was a coalition of German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. Organised by the 1833 Zollverein treaties, the Zollverein formally came into existence on 1 January 1834. However, its foundations had been in development from 1818 with the creation of a variety of custom unions among the German states. By 1866, the Zollverein included most of the German states. The foundation of the Zollverein was the first instance in history in which independent states had consummated a full economic union without the simultaneous creation of a political federation or union

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zollverein

TME folk may differ on whether it really was "the first instance in history".

[TisILeclerc]

Just an idle thought, is the German word Zoll, pronounced Tsoll related to Salt?

The word today is of course Salz and is related to just about all European words for salt. But could it have got an additional meaning if it was used as a means of value conversion as we are told is 'salary' etc.?

In which case the Toll would be where values were calculated for tax purposes.

[hvered]

The Somerset Levels, viewed from Brent Knoll, are completely flat and it's not hard to visualise the fields being former salt marsh. The hill of Brent Knoll is utterly at variance with the surrounding Levels. From below its top looks flat but in reality there are humps and bumps, though no information boards to tell you what was there.

Brent as in Brentor is supposed to mean bryn i.e. hill. Knoll means clod, lump, mound but Wiktionary says it also means knell, the sound of a bell, another 'toll' word for TisI's stock.

Another meaning of the verb knoll is one I haven't come across before:

To arrange related objects in parallel or at 90 degree angles.

The Levels are criss-crossed with parallel rhynes or ditches so the definition seems particularly apt. I also wondered about a straight-as-the-crow-flies link watching a crow chase away a buzzard; there are certainly plenty of local carrion crows and rooks (perhaps from Rooksbridge next to the hill).

[Mick Harper]

Can you train birds to drop seeds in straight lines rather than eat them in straight lines ie after they have been sown?