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Broomstick rider
Broomstick rider











broomstick rider

Why we need quag and mire together? It’s rather like saying “Marshy swamp” or “boggy marsh.” Perhaps the intention was to imply how dangerous a particular wet place could be. That word came from Scandinavia in dragon-prowed longships. It’s likely a regional English term, as is mire or “myre” in older spellings. A “ quag” is, however, a rarely used word for a marshy spot. Don’t laugh, as it’s something I came to really like during my Scottish walking trip in 2014, to the point of eating it with all three meals one day.Ī look at the OED entry parts the mists to reveal not a monster of Scottish origin or a broomstick-rider but a variant spelling from the 16th and 17th Centuries: wagmire. We have those “hags” of magical origin, too.

broomstick rider

My guess was that the “ag” ending implied a Scottish origin the Morag is a monster from Loch Morar, after all: a less-famous version of Nessie. Some like “mire” have a negative connotation, implying getting stuck, sinking, drowning perhaps. We have lots of words for swampy ground: wetland, marsh, bog, fen, morass, mire. I’ve heard our two-decade involvement in that nation called a “quagmire,” and often wondered where we got this word, so often used metaphorically. This post is a tough one to make, as it comes on the heels of the Taliban victory in Afghanistan.













Broomstick rider