Sunday 5 February 2012

Magic Swords

Just one more note on the Death of King Arthur. In the poem, Gawain’s sword is named Galuth.  Thanks to the stories of King Arthur (and probably Tolkien), I’ve always assumed that if a sword has a name it must be magical.  Galuth isn’t given any magical properties in the story, but Gawain is such a mighty warrior, he certainly might have been receiving a little magic sword assistance.
Most likely the name ‘Galuth’ was chosen because it makes the alliteration easier when writing about Gawain.  What I didn’t know, until I just looked it up, is that ‘Galuth’ is also a Hebrew word meaning the forced exile of the Jews from Palestine.  

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