"They are all the sons of Alpin, from whom, I think, our country has its name."Robert Louis Stevenson, Catriona (1892), pt. I, ch. 10
"What country is that?" I asked.
"My country and yours," said she.
"This is my day for discovering I think," said I, "for I always thought the name of it was Scotland."
"Scotland is the name of what you call Ireland," she replied. "But the old ancient true name of this place that we have our footsoles on, and that our bones are made of, will be Alban. It was Alban they called it when our forefathers will be fighting for it against Rome and Alexander; and it is called so still in your own tongue that you forget."
"Troth," said I, "and that I never learned!" For I lacked heart to take her up about the Macedonian.
commonplace book. n. Formerly Book of common places (see commonplace n. 3). orig. A book in which ‘commonplaces’ or passages important for reference were collected, usually under general heads; hence, a book in which one records passages or matters to be especially remembered or referred to, with or without arrangement.
OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 5 April 2015.
commonplace blog. n A commonplace book in a blog.
Monday, December 21, 2015
What? Scotland isn't Scotland?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment