A Cimbrian warrior's face and arms are tattooed with:
"...marks of tribe, clan, lodge or mere fancy." (p. 11)
However, Eodan's:
"...only tattoo was on his brow, the holy triskele marking him as a son of Boierik, who led the people in wandering, war and sacrifice." (ibid.)
So Eodan begins as the equivalent of a prince.
(See also A Triskele And Anarchy.)
The long trek has focused the warriors' attention more on battle and loot than on ancient ties or rites. There is social change even among the wanderers.
See also a reference to a building called "the Triskelion," here.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And this use of "triskele" in THE GOLDEN SLAVE made me wonder if that word was used in THE REBEL WORLDS as well. It wasn't but I did find Anderson using "trikon" in Chapter II of that book. What looked liked a three dimensional image of the stars claimed by Terra's Empire.
Ad astra! Sean
The Proto-Germanic word ancestral to our "king" -- *kunningaz -- was borrowed in that form into Lappish and Finnish, but in that period it seems to have meant more in the nature of "He Who Makes Sacrifice", the person who presided over communal sacrifices to the Gods.
The Germanics borrowed "rix" from Celtic to denote "chief" or "political leader".
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I'm not surprised. I would expect words like "king" to have older, now archaic meanings. So "king" once meant "chief and leader in sacrifice."
Ad astra! Sean
And Latin Rex and Irish Ri (and Raja) all come from a proto-Indo-European root *reg, which meant "to make straight, move in a straight line" -- the chief being he who "made things straight".
To regulate.
Paul: yes. Hence "ruler" in our language both meaning "one who commands" and "instrument for drawing a straight line".
"Straight" in Indo-European languages always had positive moral connotations -- of truthfulness and righteousness. Whereas "twisty" or "crooked" (or "left-handed") had sinister ones... sinister meaning "left" as well, of course.
I was made to write with my right hand in childhood and deliberately returned to writing with my left hand in my teens.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: IOW a just ruler was "straight" forward at least to his own people and so on.
Paul: I too am a sinister lefty! (Smiles) But no one, neither my parents or any teachers, tried tried to make me write with my right hand.
Ad astra! Sean
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