My friend Luanne shared a surprise. The phrase “the Milky Way” first appears in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The House of Fame (c. 1380):
“Now,” quod he thoo, “cast up thyn yë.Why Galaxie? The OED explains: “post-classical Latin galaxias Milky Way.”
Se yonder, loo, the Galaxie,
Which men clepeth the Milky Way,
For hit ys whit (and somme, parfey,
Kallen hyt Watlynge Strete)”
Why Milky Way? The OED explains: “after classical Latin lactea via.”
And why Watlynge Strete? My ancient edition of Chaucer (ed. F.N. Robinson, 1957) explains:
Watlynge Strete, a famous old road, which probably ran from Kent to the Firth of Forth. The Milky Way was called “Watling street” or “Walsingham way” in England, just as it was known in southern Europe as “la via di San Jacopo” (the way to Santiago) and “la strada di Roma” (the way to Rome).Richard Abbott offers a correction about Watling Street in the comments: “Modern thinking, based on Roman route itineraries, is that it actually goes from Kent roughly north-west through London to Wroxeter.” He adds much more about Watling Street. Here’s a modern-day journey on the street. And from the BBC, “The road that led to 1,000 stories.” Among them: The Canterbury Tales.
[“Now,” quoth he, “cast up your eye. See yonder, lo, the Galaxy, which men call the Milky Way, for it is white (and some, by my faith, call it Watling Street).”]
comments: 3
"Watlynge Strete, a famous old road, which probably ran from Kent to the Firth of Forth"
Modern thinking, based on Roman route itineraries, is that it actually goes from Kent roughly north-west through London to Wroxeter, which is on the Welsh border roughly level with The Wash. A different road (typically known as The Great North Road, and now pretty much the track of the A1 trunk road) is the one which goes up to the Firth of Forth and Edinburgh.
Watling Street has several other claims to fame, the main one being that it served as the boundary established between King Alfred and the Danes between Saxon England (specifically Mercia at the time) and the Danelaw. Probably resulting from that, it now marks the boundary between the counties of Leicestershire and Warwickshire, and also of several London boroughs. The name itself comes from the Old English and we don't know what the Romans themselves called it, nor indeed the Celts who were using the trackway long before the Romans ever turned up.
None of which changes its connection to Chaucer, but if you're looking at maps then that "ancient edition of Chaucer" may well lead you astray!
https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:rj431p09g
@Richard: I appreciate the corrections, and I’ll add to the post. I have to admit that I’m surprised to see that something so old is so wrong in my Chaucer. Your reference to Mercia makes me remember Geoffrey Hill’s Mercian Hymns, which references the M5. I remember looking that up, pre-Internet, and guessing (correctly) that I’d find it on a map.
@Anon.: I didn’t know that the Milky Way ran through Needham!
Post a Comment