Luminous Wood

 Today/now I am witnessing a whiteout - a white screen some 50m or so in front of me. I can just make out the end house at Leacock. But this is not a winter whiteout of snow but rather of spring: fog (dry) or mist (wet). So I am returning to my entry on Thur Feb 8:
(PS Before I could start, let alone complete this entry the temperature dropped out the bottom and the blizzard made fog or mist whiteout  a memory and also academic, as it were. Now where was I?)

 

I was taken by the light, myself, in the photos of Winter Colour

 The brightness around the edges became the memory "Ring of Bright Water"  a book by Gavin Maxwell that I read to our children. 

The brightness idea reminded me that is part of the meaning of my name: Sherwood or Shire Wood.

"A Dictionary of English Place-Names"
A.D. Mills
Oxford 1992
ISBN 6-19-869156-4

gives an entry in 955CE: Wood belonging to the shire. Two ideas come forth: a boundary and a clearing, nothing about Robin Hood

 From conversation and reading I thought it might mean the clearing around a village that a plough man could reach and  tend effectively without having to camp out. Google writes:
Origin:British. Meaning:luminous wood. Sherwood as a boy's name is pronounced SHER-wood. It is of Old English origin, and the meaning of Sherwood is "luminous wood".
What does "luminous wood" mean? " habitational name from any of several places called with  Old English scīr + wudu 'bright or clear (perhaps sparsely-grown) wood'.

When I was living in Edinburgh in the last century I was told my name was
pronounced SHER-wood!  (as in share) I have heard it pronounced  SURE-wood in our family.

 So here is my rant  If I say "Rest assured,I'll do it" sounds good in my ears. Google says:The words assure and ensure were derived from the Latin word securus, which means 'free from care' or 'safe. '  English words like insure, secure, and security were also derived from securus. The difference between Sure, Assure and Insure - English Lessons with inlingua Vancouver

 And now for some local colour pulled from memory before it went blank!

 

 

 WOB