Annan Water

[wynne]

I'm probably nowhere near the first person to try this or make the same discovery, but when I googled "annan water" I got this links to a ballad, which I'm assuming is really old (due to the language) and relatively known (due to the fact that at least a few musicians cover it), at least in the UK or among scholars who study old English ballads. Am I right on those counts?

www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/boeb/boeb09.htm

Anyway, the things that really stood out to me were the heroine's name, the fact that the hero is seperated from her by the Annan waters, which he couldn't cross, and that the narrator intends to build a bridge across the waters so the river won't keep him from his love (which it apparently does a lot). Also, the mention of a boat might mean that maybe there's another way to cross the Annan Waters in the Gunnerverse. At least, I think that's what it says.

Assuming the poem serves as the inspiration for the Annan Waters in GC, does this offer clues as to how Jeanne crossed the river, how/why Diego died/didn't rescue her, or other sundry mysteries? If it does, will it give me a legitimate excuse to bring up Gunnerkrigg in my Literature class when we get to the old English stuff? ("There's a connection, Mr. T, I swear!")

So... any thoughts, comments, questions, criticisms, etc.?

[cleargreenfire]

Tom is a fan of Kate Rusby, this is her version of the song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=joj4BqEfhis

As far as bringing it up in class goes you can always talk to your prof outside of class and find out if he thinks it's appropriate.

[Mishmash]

I would have said it was Scottish, based on the language, but then I am no linguist.

I don't have much else to say on the subject, just thought I'd throw that out there!

[Jiminiminy]

Sept 12, 2009 21:05:45 GMT Mishmash said:

I would have said it was Scottish, based on the language, but then I am no linguist.

I don't have much else to say on the subject, just thought I'd throw that out there!

Well, the River Annan is a river near Lockerbie, so Scottish would actually be correct on that part, unless it was a man reminiscing about his time in Scotland. And if you look at the Wikipedia Page, it actually mentions GKC in the 'References' section as the Annan Waters. This also proves a possible point of reference for the location of the Court.

[Mezzaphor]

Sept 12, 2009 22:35:53 GMT Jiminiminy said:

This also proves a possible point of reference for the location of the Court.

Which is sort of funny, because Kat's description of her trip to Scotland would seem to imply that the Court is not in Scotland.

Which leads me to wildly speculate that the geography of the UK in the Gunnerverse is different from ours. Maybe the Annan Waters flow further south than the real River Annan, into northern England. I think this is a cool theory because, as Todd has pointed out, past Viking raids have left a mark on this part of England and "Gunnerkrigg" sounds like a Scandinavian-influenced name. Or maybe the river is the same as real life but the political boundaries are different, and the land around the Annan is part of England, or even a separate country in the UK between Scotland and England.

[todd]

The notion that the Annan Waters might be a different place from the real River Annan is particularly appealing, because there are a few rivers in Britain that share the same name. For example, Scotland has two rivers named Dee - not to mention there's a third river Dee, in England, next to the town of Chester. And England has a few rivers named Avon, as well (it's derived from the Welsh word "afon", meaning "river").

(When typing "Annan", I accidentally typed "Annwn" at first, but corrected myself in time. "Annwn" was the name of the faerie world or the home of the dead in Welsh legend, which would have made the typo fairly appropriate.)

[Casey]

I hear that there are also few rivers in Britain that have been created by the score of a trickster-god's paw.

I'm just saying.