The Change Series by SM Stirling.
Given the importance of archery post-Change, maybe the Wiccans need an archer god? Or they might deify their own Aylward the Archer who is also an expert bowyer although he denies that this is a master-craftsman's trade.
Names recall ancestral trades. In our local Telephone Directory, I have found:
23 Archers;
48 Bakers;
4 Bowyers;
17 Butchers;
9 Carpenters;
1 Cordiner;
8 Drivers;
6 Falconers;
5 Farmers;
uncountable Coopers, Fletchers, Masons, Millers, Palmers, Shepherds, Smiths, Taylors and Wrights;
20 Glovers;
Gardeners with different spellings;
1 Goldsmith;
1 Millner;
5 Painters;
5 Pipers;
1 Rimmer;
5 Sawyers;
1 Singer;
4 Wainwrights;
12 Wheelers;
1 Wrightson.
And there is a local Baker the Butcher.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
While Sam Aylward was certainly respected and feared for his skills and abilities as an archer and soldier, he was not deified by Mackenzie Wiccans as a god after his death.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
And I'm sure there were some BUTLERS as well.
Sean
Sean,
Yes, a lot of Butlers. Also Bowers, which might be an alternative of "Bowyer"?
Paul.
Paul and Sean:
I've read that the Welsh, because of MANY of them having the same surname (Jones, Jenkins, and Evans are apparently among the more common), tend to add nicknames referring to their profession, so for instance a fellow who keeps the gas station is Evans the Pump while the local constable is Evans the Law (I got those two from a mystery novel in which Evans the Law was investigating a murder; I forget the exact title, but it was a pun on "Evans" sounding like "Heavens").
One joke told about this process involved a KGB sleeper agent who became known to the locals he lived among as Jones the Spy.
Kaor, Paul and DAVID!
Paul, cool! Lots of Butlers! And "Bower" does sound like a variant of "Bowyers." And novel I've read by Robert Elegant, called MANCHU, has a major character named "Arrowsmith."
David, and what you saw happening in Wales might well end with new surnames being created!
My own surname of "Brooks" is plainly a "location" name, referring to small streams or rivers.
Sean
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