medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Though I am a graduate student and not very knowledgeable in this interesting question, I would like to add, as a comment, that I am to write one of the chapters of my dissertation on _L'atre perilleux_, it's a short Arthurian romance. It's English translation, as far as I've seen, is _The perilous cemetery_.
Shahrzad Zahedi.
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From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture on behalf of Hal Cain
Sent: Mon 6/13/2005 1:47 AM
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Subject: Re: [M-R] Saint Mittre
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
John Dillon wrote:
> Thank you, Nancy. Perhaps I've been unclear. It's "aître" that has the
> meaning "churchyard"; Zola's "aire Saint-Mittre" is said to have been
> _used_ as a cemetery but "aire" itself, as Denis explained, is just an
> open, uncultivated place (often weedy), whose uses, if any, are not part
> of the term's basic meaning.** It is this latter word, and its semantic
> counterpart in German ("Driesch"), for which I have been wondering if
> there isn't a conventional term in English, as there is in French and in
> German. If the French and German words are used in toponyms (e.g. "aire
> St.-Mittre", "Gereonsdriesch"), then the pieces of land to which they
> refer in this usage must be permanently or at least usually left
> uncultivated. So one of these could be an "uncultivated area" or a
> "fallow area" but not, in English, a "fallow", as the latter noun
> implies an intent to cultivate in a coming year.
>
> Since translating "Gereonsdriesch" as "Gereon's fallow" (or "Gereon's
> Fallow") would be misleading, I have been saying to myself "Gereon's
> fallow area" or "Gereon's uncultivated area". But does English have
> some conventional term of art whose significance is that of Fr. "aire"
> and Ger. "Driesch"? The examples of the latter occurring in this thread
> seem to have been or else certainly were once church properties; is that
> common in "aire-" or "-driesch" toponymns and, if so, what terms do
> ecclesiastical historians use when translating these?
I (not an ecclesiastical historian, but a reader of such) can't think of
any such conventional term. "Yard" came to mind (as in churchyard); but
an essential element of its meaning is an enclosure. The word itself is
a variant form of the ME "gard" (fortified yard of a castle); the OED is
informative, suggesting that uncultivated is fundamental to its meaning.
Browsing in Ekwall's _Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names_ didn't
lead me to any placename element that might be useful, and nothing in
the OED under thresh/thrash suggested any term directly cognate with
"Driesch." I'm not sure anyway how far "thresh" is important to the
connotation; whether a communal or mandated area for threshing existed
probably depends in part on socioeconomic factors such as manorial
organization and rights, and physical features such as transport
technology and terrain.
Perhaps "ground" might serve; cf. OED meanings under III, "The surface
of the earth, or a part of it."
Hal Cain
Joint Theological Library
Parkville, Victoria, Australia
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