‘Merlin’: loosely based on characters created by the Dark Age Welsh

[catsidhe]

“I am Alfric, lord of Tir Mór.”

Or, with the appropriate proper nouns translated out of Old English and Irish:

“I am Elf-king, lord of the Great Land.”


But they can lampshade the plot like this with such confidence because no-one speaks Old English or Irish any more. I suppose I should be thankful that the writers displayed sufficient erudition to make this lampshade in the first place, I suppose.

I'm fairly sure that the ‘magical language’ they speak when they cast spells is Old English... but it's pronounced so badly that I'm not sure. Besides, I haven't had a chance to listen properly, given that miss S likes to tell stories to herself at the top of her lungs right at the interesting parts.

What a stupid cloak she's wearing. Orange and floaty, and would give not a skerrick of warmth or protection from rain. She's kind of cute, though.

If only the milieu wasn't ‘15th Century Generic’, and the old stories so ... liberally reinterpreted. All of the names, but with all of the background and context methodically stripped away. And then had the chutzpah to make Geoffrey of Monmouth one of the characters.

Still, it's entertaining enough in its own right.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_zombiemonkey/]

I cannot watch things like Merlin without foaming at the mouth. Not so much for linguistics, but the ludicrous mash-up of history that goes on. I saw one episode with Geoffrey in it and didn't know whether to laugh or weep.

Then again I suppose that people don't want to see a Merlin who's probably mad, an Arthur who never washes, a gap where Lancelot would usually be standing, and a Guinevere who's a scheming, deceitful cow f*#king her son in law and stealing her husband's sword.

Urg...

Antedote:

[atheoi.livejournal.com]

How Green Was My Valley. Ha!