regshoe | Flight of the Heron read-along: Part I chapters 5-6

What is right and what is wrang, a short sword and a lang, a weak arm and a strang for to draw...

Welcome back to the read-along! This week's chapters are getting a bit more serious, historically and for our characters...

Next week we'll read the first two chapters of Part II.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

luzula

I like the scene between Keith and Alison a lot--both of them trying to make each other out, and feeling their way forward.

And I am delighted by all Keith's pigtail pulling, which he can't seem to stop himself from doing. He veers back and forth between that and sincerity in such a confused fashion! Oh, Keith. And then there's that bit about the rain, used as a device to tell the reader all about the backstory that made him into the person he is...

I remember the first time I read these chapters I found the religious stuff pretty dense, so good for

regshoe writing that up!

I thought I'd share some stuff about names which I already wrote up for

cahn elsewhere: In Scotland, the "of Placename" naming system was used for gentry (even if you just owned a small farm), not just for the peerage. And you were generally adressed as Placename. For example, if your name is Ewen Cameron, then there are probably hundreds more with the same name, so using either first or last name doesn't help much. But if you are also laird of Ardroy, then it makes sense to adress you by that as your name. If someone doesn't have that sort of name (such as Archibald Cameron, for instance) you can tell that he's not a landowner and thus probably a younger son. Ewen of course also has a hereditary Gaelic chieftain title "Mac 'ic Ailein" = "son of Allan", and a Gaelic form of his name, Eoghan, and also a Gaelic nickname to distinguish himself from other Eoghans, "Eoghan Mor", or "Tall Ewen". Actually you will not see Ewen adressed as "Eoghan Mor", but "Eoghain Mhoir", which is in the vocative.

Oh, and also I wanted to rec some short fics which take place early in canon, and which you can read now, if you want!

Calltainneach. I think this is

hyarrowen trying to see how slashy you can get from Ewen's POV this early in the book?

What Makes Heroic Strife, where

regshoe uses a line from the song linked above as title. Keith is lying awake in the hut at Kinlochiel, and Ewen's sleep is troubled...

The Tools at Hand by me. This is a glimpse of Ewen from Lochiel's POV.

From:

killclaudio

Oh, so that's what 'Mac 'ic Ailein' means! From context I thought it might indicate the head of the family, but googling didn't get me anywhere. Thank you. :)

That makes sense about the naming conventions. I thought calling him 'Ardroy' sounded overly formal, but if it was normal even for the gentry then it feels a bit more natural. I can well believe there are dozens more Ewen Camerons, especially since every third character so far has been a Cameron. And first names tend to be passed around within families, so I bet Lochiel has several more relatives called 'Ewen', lol.

Ooh, recs! *bookmarks*

From:

luzula

Yeah, the first chapter does kind of introduce all Ewen's names at once, which is kind of confusing!

Actually, the name "Ardroy" is kind of a pun: it's ard + ruadh = tall redness, which ostensibly refers to the red crag by the loch, but also obviously to Ewen himself... *g*

From:

hyarrowen

Heavens. I never thought of that pun. Brilliant!

From:

luzula

Actually it's

regshoe who realized it! So I can't take the credit for that. : )

From:

regshoe

Hehe, I love that Ewen's relationship with his home is all meaningful and solemn and really beautifully portrayed, but it's also a pun—excellent story construction :D

From:

hyarrowen

Calltainneach. I think this is hyarrowen trying to see how slashy you can get from Ewen's POV this early in the book?

Most definitely! :D

From:

luzula

Ha ha, well, I appreciated it! *g*

From:

osprey_archer

Keith is so confused about his feelings, bless him, right down to being confused about whether or not he has them. He is Captain Keith Windham, who cares for no one! So what is this sensation that he has that he might be sorry not to see his Achilles again? Bizarre. (I also love all the different ways he comes up with to refer to Ewen: my Achilles, my Warrior, E.C...)

Thank you for this explanation of the names! So many different characters with similar names... and so many characters who have multiple names.

Also thank you for the fic recs!

From:

luzula

Ha ha, Keith's journal really is great. It's only the depths of his denial that allows him to write things like "my young Achilles" and believe he's doing it ironically...

Re: names, the best Highlander name I have come across is Lachlan MacLachlan of MacLachlan. : D No, really--he was clan chief of the MacLachlans.

From:

osprey_archer

That IS the best Highlander name! Truly peak Highlander right there.

From:

philomytha

Ooh, thank you for explaining about the names! And the vocative! I recced FotH to a Gaelic-speaking friend and they told me how impressed they were with the way Broster uses Gaelic and has her native Gaelic speakers using Gaelic grammar instead of English even when they're speaking English.

From:

regshoe

Poor woobie Keith and his tragic rain! I do like that bit... and learning more about Keith's backstory, of course.

Thank you for writing up the explanation about names! I don't think I actually knew what 'Eoghain Mhoir' means, or that it's in the vocative. Yes, first and last names are not terribly unique—reading about Jacobite history has involved a certain amount of confusion over which of the many different Donald MacDonalds etc. we're dealing with now. (Actually, I've just read a totally unrelated book, from the twentieth century, whose protagonist is called Donald Cameron, and his father is Ewan Cameron (albeit with an A), which I thought was funny).

And thanks for the fic recs :D (hehe, I like that summary of 'Calltainneach'...)

From:

luzula

I did "read" that book about Gaelic and its grammar, where "read" = skim and not retain much actual detail. Otherwise I've absorbed a bit from

garonne and

solo, when they have helped me translate stuff.

Ha, that must be weird with the 20th century book!

From:

regshoe

Heh, yes—it's England, Their England by A. G. Macdonell, which I found in the Yuletide tagset and went 'ooh!' at the character name. It's a comedy, and there are in fact some jokes about Clan Cameron and the Jacobites, which I appreciated :D

From:

owl

You might find some "Big Michael"s and "Ginger Sean"s in Ireland to this day...

From:

luzula

That's what my Irish beta reader told me, too! : )

From:

impala_chick

Thanks for clearing up my confusion about the names! Keith has so many names and nicknames for Ewen - eventually I'll figure out how he chooses which to pick. I feel like he goes back and forth from recognizing Ewen's authority by using titles, and also showing his growing affection by using nicknames.

yay fic reccs!

From:

regshoe

I once wrote a meta post on the use of different names for and by Keith and Ewen throughout the book! (here, contains spoilers). Broster's use of names is complicated and fascinating.