I think the author was in thrall to a German muse..... I noticed that as well. She's wrong, we're right Anne On 8/26/07, Evelyn Hlabse <[email protected]> wrote: > I just finished reading it and I wish I could remember who recommended > it - it is excellent. I just loved every minute of it. A wonderful > mystery and at the same time almost a traveloque of the mainland of > Orkney. My husband (not an Orcadian) is now reading it. I did have > one question - in the book the author uses the spelling "Orkadian". Is > this correct? I always thought it was Orcadian.

I think the word "Orcadian" is a Latinised (is there such a word in English?) form of this word, where Latin uses mostly "c" instead of "k". "Orkadian" could be a compromise to "Orkneyjar" or something of that kind. In fact I've never met such a spelling myself. Andrei On 8/26/07, Evelyn Hlabse <[email protected]> wrote: > > I just finished reading it and I wish I could remember who recommended > > it - it is excellent. I just loved every minute of it. A wonderful > > mystery and at the same time almost a traveloque of the mainland of > > Orkney. My husband (not an Orcadian) is now reading it. I did have > > one question - in the book the author uses the spelling "Orkadian". Is > > this correct? I always thought it was Orcadian. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Absolutely "Latinized"is correct. >From Sigurd's introduction to the Orkneyjar site: "Pronounced "orc-nee-yahr", the name is generally taken to mean Seal Islands - the Norsemen's interpretation of the islands' older name. However, the Ork- element predates the Norse interpretation by centuries. First mentioned by the Roman writer Diodurus Siculus in the first century BC, Diodurus referred to the islands as the Orchades, a name echoed by the Roman geographer Pliny, who calls them Orcades." One of my Orcadian family names, Slater, was Sclater when my great-great grandmother Ann Sclater was born (1803), and before that was Slagtir, which I have been told means "the dark ones"..... Now, a question for you, Andrei: What is the meaning of "dear dron"?? Anne, polyglot lover of words and names On 8/27/07, dear dron <[email protected]> wrote: > I think the word "Orcadian" is a Latinised (is there such a word in > English?) form of this word, where Latin uses mostly "c" instead of "k". > "Orkadian" could be a compromise to "Orkneyjar" or something of that kind. > In fact I've never met such a spelling myself. >