Words Words Woad!

I love them. Love discovering the etymology, and sometimes an alternative meaning. For example, ‘Woad‘ is a gorgeous blue dye they used in medieval times, and still today – as you can see if you follow the link. They extracted the dye from the leaves of the Isatis Tinctoria, or ‘Woad’ plant. Fascinating how something green can produce blue.

By Stefan.lefnaer (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Anyway. Woad is not only the dye, it was also a word used to mean ‘mad’ ‘crazy’. Chaucer used it in his Tale of Gamelyn, (which I used as inspiration for my Ryfelours tale). I wanted an authentic word to describe a crazy person and when I found this, I was very pleased. I began to use it in the medieval novel I’m writing, although some critiquers pick up on it and ask why I’m calling people a dye…

What’s interesting is that in German, ‘blau’ (blue), is used to describe someone under the influence of alcohol and I wonder if this has its root in Woad. Crazy drunk.

When the Romans invaded England they saw the Picts with blue dye on their faces and called it ‘vitro’ after their blue glass. What isn’t known for certain is whether the dye was woad, but it seems likely.

In Medieval Christian Art, blue symbolises heavenly grace and hope, but it was only in the later Middle Ages that this happened – previously blue was the colour of darkness and evil, and the Virgin wore purple robes not blue.

Well, I don’t know how I wandered off ‘woad’, but the symbolism of colours is something I’ve been looking into recently. Interesting piece here, if you want to know more.

So, what makes you ‘woad’?

Inspiration Strikes When I Least Want It

Lightning Strike. Picture courtesy Ostephy at Morguefile

In bed.

Yes, I know.

Usually words start flowing through my head and characters begin talking/arguing/loving when I am about to drop off. This happened again last night. Tired, hoping for an unbroken night, I settled down, only for two of my favourite characters to start talking to each other. This in itself was refreshing because these two are either at odds with each other, or Kati is trying to resist Egon because she knows marrying him would be a huge mistake. It was touching, poignant, and I loved it.

Did I sit up and write it out?

No. I know if I do this then sleep is a very long time coming. What I try to do is think of key words that will help me remember in the morning. Today I sat down at my laptop and tried to write the scene. I couldn’t remember all of it, but I got the gist which was fine, not all of their interaction will make the novel anyhow, I suspect.

Another reason why I don’t sit up and write it out is because very often it’s not, actually, that good. The times I have written it out at night, I have then gone over it the next day and cringed.

Of course, the advantage of inspiration striking when I’m in bed is that when I’m stuck on a scene, I know all I need to do is go to bed early:D

I get quite a few early nights – that then turn into later nights…