Hi
> In Canada, we have a lot of so-called book length 'documentaries,'
> usually based on some historical figure & what is archived about him or
> her. I dont know Elidius as such a figure; is he?
No, I don't think so. There seems to have been precious little written
about him.
His name became corrupted. I do not have the details and do not even know
if it applies to his name as Elidius – I once came to the conclusion that
it means the eraser, and that quite appeals to me, out of Latin
but I am not so concerned with the process of his reputation post-mortem
as with what I can do with him alive in quotes; and part of that is that
there is no record
Anyway, the corruption. Briefly, I seem to remember, something happens
when you translate a name into Latin and then back into Cornish. It
changes gender. I think it's an a that's added. Poles I know whose name
ends -ski have wives with names ending -a.
Something like that happens as part of translation.
And then the inability to cope with foreign names. Cornish seems to have
gone from Scilly / Ennor by the 16th century.
What is thought to be Elid's oratory (and maybe Elid is nothing to do with
the Latin process of erasure) is now on St Helen's Isle. It appears he was
St Helen linguistically regendered. (The island of St Agnes is actually
from ek ennes, off island, in conjectural Cornish – it doesnt seem to have
been written down till the late 15th century.) But they do like labelling
everything with saint. Charles Thomas takes pages to rubbish the idea of
it having anything to do with the female name.
St Helen's island would not have been an island then.
So there isn't much. Nowadays in the summer - 6th Aug – they go over and
say prayers for him with him at him. I'm never there then.
It was said by one ancient author that two early Christian heretics were
exiled to Ennor and this has been taken up by many if you read the cottage
industry of tourist guides for the gullible; so that the archipelago was
apparently full of exiles rather than the unverifiable possibility of 2;
but it gives me ideas!
Another thing that I have used somewhere is from relatively late, pardon
me but I forgotten my source, 18th century? Anyway the island council
decided that the only thing to do with a persistent thief was to chain
her to a rock which swamped at high tide... So they didn't actually down
her or some such nonsense. It struck me as the kind of thing people do to
each other
And that's that
I have been thinking back to Nichol's martyrology. Not that there is a
connection. But there is in my head. What am I doing here? That kind of
connection. I was quite distressed when I heard about the martyrology
because I was still trying to inhabit the let's not talk about god state
of mind
Heh ho
Thanks for the question. Another good one
Oh and there is an elidius in Wales. It seemed to me that was someone
else. A common name?
I have also heard it said that some say he was a Gaul and some a Briton –
later a dreaded Anglo
So there must be some writing. But I don't think there's much and it's not
that accessible. which gives me scope
St Elidius and the temple of doom, St Elidius meets Harry Potter, St
Elidius rescues Indiana Jones
L
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