Tuesday 29 July 2008

The Triumph Tree

As ever, i stopped off in the Ullapool Bookshop in Ullapool. For a book. Usually i in into a bookshop with a book in mind. This shop is different. It has an exceedingly good stock of books about Scotland. The people, the place, the history, the languages and every sort of facet imaginable. And because Scots ran the Empire, many regions of the world are covered too. So, i go in and buy a book that i didn't know about before entering the shop. Today it is "The Triumph Tree: Scotland's earliest poetry AD 550-1350" ed by Thomas Owen Clancy. The sources obviously cover Latin, Welsh, Gaelic, Old English and Norse. Even the glossaries are packed with information. Now, is Nudd Hael Welsh, in which case it's pronounced 'nith'. Here's me in the middle of the Minch trying to remember who the Jomsviking were. Were they the ones who settled around here? I think this is going to be fun.

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