Druid, what’s in a name? Azeroth Arbor Day Special Post
If you’ve read my “About” page on the blog, then you will know that, in addition to being a resplendent healing tree in my spare time, I also am currently working on a Ph.D. dissertation on Irish literature. When thinking about what to post for Azeroth Arbor Day, the scholar in me took over. I began to think about how, although I am in no way a roleplayer in WOW, I still have very definite and strong associations with Sylly not just as an avatar, or as a healer, but as a druid. It then tickled my fancy (because I’m a Ph.D. student and sort of sick in the head that way) to do a bit of research and to muse about the source of some of the societal and linguistic connotations attached to druids that have clearly found their way into my own relationship with my sweet little night elf druid, Syll.
Let me point out that this was not a scholarly sort of research project. It was more of a “what can I find of interest on the internet without really having to seriously research this project?” sort of a project.
My first inclination was to look into the etymology, or the linguistic history, of the word “druid.” This question led me to the following:
From the Online Etymology Dictionary:
1509, from O.Fr. druide, from L. Druidae (pl.), from Gaulish Druides, from O.Celt. *derwijes, representing O.Celt. derwos “true” and *dru- “tree” (especially oak) + *wid- “to know” (cf. vision). Hence, lit., perhaps, “they who know the oak.” O.E., too, had the same word for “tree” and “truth” (treow). The Eng. form comes via L., not immediately from Celtic. The O.Ir. form was drui (dat. and acc. druid; pl. druad); Mod.Ir. and Gael. draoi, gen. druadh “magician, sorcerer.” Not to be confused with United Ancient Order of Druids, secret benefit society founded in London 1781.
Ah, delight! I found this etymological exploration of the word to be just packed with significance and closely tied to my own understanding of Syll as druid. The first thing I would like to point out here is the extremely strong tie of the oak tree to the very word, druid. I do always feel that tree form is, for Syll, the closest expression of who she is. Sure, she wishes she were a prettier oak tree. But tree form is the source of her deepest connection to her druid nature. It is where she truly shines.
I also love the connection within the etymology of the word to wisdom and truth, and especially that in Old English tree and truth were represented by the very same word. For me, druidic magic always has a deep sense of wisdom about it because of its close ties to nature and the earth. Only someone grounded and wise, in my estimation, could still their inner being enough to harness and channel the powers of nature the way that druids, particularly healing druids, are able to do. Imagine the peace and serenity of being able to draw nurturing, healing energy out from the heart of the earth, of being able to channel this energy to mend the broken bodies of your comrades. Certainly, the Earth would not suffer lightly falsehood or lack of depth in a vessel for such ventures. It pleases me for these reasons that truth and wisdom are embedded in the very word that describes our class.
My next thought was to turn to the Oxford English Dictionary. If you are unfamiliar with the OED, it is a vastly comprehensive dictionary not only of meaning, but of the historical timeline of any given word, tracing its earliest recorded appearances in the English language, as well as the timeline of shifting meanings for a word. Here’s what the OED had to say about druids:
From the Oxford English Dictionary:
1. One of an order of men among the ancient Celts of Gaul and Britain, who, according to Cæsar were priests or religious ministers and teachers, but who figure in native Irish and Welsh legend as magicians, sorcerers, soothsayers, and the like. (The English use follows the Latin sources, whence it was derived, rather than native Celtic usage.) In early use always in plural.
1563 GOLDING Cæsar VI. (1565) 155 The Druides are occupied about holy things: they haue the dooing of publicke and priuate sacrifices, and do interprete and discusse matters of Religion. 1598 R. BARCKLEY Felic. Man (1631) 167 A woman..that was a Soothsayer of them which were called Druides. 1602 Hist. Eng. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 439 The Druyds, lifting up their hands towards heaven, filled the air with cries and curses. 1685 STILLINGFL. Orig. Brit. ii. 8 The last Age hath discovered a famous Urn of one Chyndonax, Chief of the Druids. 1728 YOUNG Love Fame III. Wks. (1757) 101 Like an old Druid from his hollow oak. 1782 COWPER Table T. 503 Every hallowed druid was a bard. 1862 Ecclesiologist XXIII. 279 Curious beads of coloured glass commonly called ‘Druids’ beads’. 1892 GARDINER Stud. Hist. Eng. 14 In Mona was a sacred place of the Druids.
From The World in So Many Words: A Country-by-Country Tour of Words That Have Shaped Our Language, by Allan Metcalf:
If you had religion back in ancient Celtic Gaul, the land we now call France, you probably had an oak grove for a church, mistletoe for a holy plant, and animal or even human sacrifice for a ritual. During a religious service you might listen to sacred stories. You would believe in the immortality of the soul and a place to go to after death–better or worse, depending on how you lived your present life. You wouldn’t restrict your worship to one god but would respect dozens, if not hundreds. And to guide you in all this you would have a druid for a priest. If you didn’t do what the druid said, you’d face a fate worse than death: exclusion from the rituals and shunning by the community.
Being a druid was a full-time occupation. Druids needed to know the names and attributes of the gods, the sacred tales about them, the intricate lunar calendar, and the rituals. Julius Caesar, the Roman conqueror of Gaul, wrote that druids also acted as judges in all cases involving tribes and individuals. The Gauls, he said, sent their apprentice druids to Britain for as long as twenty years to learn their profession. According to Caesar, druids memorized the verses about their gods rather than allowing them to be put in writing.
And that is a difficulty for modern historians. What we know about the druids comes not from the Gauls themselves but from Greek and Roman writers who were fascinated with, and scornful of, the religion of the big blond barbarians.
We do know that the name druid is a Celtic one, most likely from the Gaulish branch of the Celtic language. The Greeks and Romans learned druid from the Gauls, and English took it from Latin much later, in a 1563 translation of Caesar.
If you didn’t do what the druid said, you’d face a fate worse than death. hahaha! Did that stand out for you like it did for me? I think I’ll bring that to my non-druid guildies (poor, misguided souls) and tell them to put it in their collective pipe and smoke it. Druids say RAWR! =P
In all seriousness, I find that the association of druids with spirituality and law reinforce the root language connections to wisdom and truth. The fact that they received such long education and were essentially the cultural equivalent of a living library of sacred texts, holding in their mind vast amounts of essential knowledge regarding the connection of their people to their gods and the natural world is fascinating to me. It brings further flavor and texture when conceptualizing the wisdom that they represented for their people.
The druids that inhabited the Celtic lands centuries ago were undoubtedly extremely powerful figures spiritually, socially, and culturally. In addition, as outlined above it is clear that much of the spirituality of their culture was centered upon the natural world. Druids were the members of society who were believed to have the power to interact with this most spiritual, natural center. It does not seem such a stretch that the fantasized representation of them manifested in the druids of the World of Warcraft, would be the recipients of such wonderful and unique powers tied to the spiritual and to nature.
In my musing on this topic throughout the day today, I have come to the conclusion that it all does fit in quite nicely with the personality that I have imagined for my druid, Syll, without even consciously having constructed any such thing for her. It just seems to go without saying that these things about her must be true. She would have to be wise and strong and true, she would have to in order to associate with nature and assume its forms and channel its powers as easily as breathing in order to do the things she does. In all honesty, I now find myself a bit awed by her. I hope this brief exploration and the ideas and facts it unearthed are as enjoyable for you as they have been for me. Be good to your druid today on this day for celebrating our tree form. Remember these linguistic and historical connections between this pixelated, fantastical manifestation and a very real, powerful human past. Honor your inner tree.
There are 2 Comments to "Druid, what’s in a name? Azeroth Arbor Day Special Post"
Very nice
I’ve undertaken similar research myself, and even picked up a book a while back that went into as much detail as it could about celtic life, “Among Druids and High Kings.” What troubles such research is that nearly everything we have comes from Caesar’s own writings, and he was writing as a man who feared them and sought to conquer them… thus in many cases needed to spread propaganda. It makes me wonder about some of the things that were said re: human sacrifice; many cultures did have such practices, so… who knows? Was it really ritual sacrifice, or was it something akin to execution (in choosing the victim) with spiritual overtones? Or was it all a fabrication by the Romans? History is usually written by the conqueror, after all.
Many common holidays or components of them stem from the druids, though. The Christmas tree and bringing of greens (particularly mistletoe and holly) into the home at that time for decor (solstice), Halloween, and even Groundhog Day… all remnants of practices from the times of the druids, which were transferred into the new religions/cultures when the Celtic people were converted or conquered.
Tales of the ancient druids, the Tuatha de Denaan, the celts, and their old deities do fascinate me.
Thanks for posting this
Kae, I’m right there with you on this. My own study for my dissertation doesn’t go back as far as the druids, but is very intertwined with the fili poets, who were probably the spiritual inheritors of the druidic traditions. I wish the two of us could sit down over a pint and have a chat. =)