Thinking Widdershins
Widdershins -adverb Chiefly Scot. in a direction contrary to the natural one, esp. contrary to the apparent course of the sun or counterclockwise: considered as unlucky or causing disaster.
Origin:
1505-15; < MLG weddersin(ne)s < MHG widdersinnes, equiv. to wider (OHG widar) opposite + sinnes, gen. of sin way, course (c. OE sīth)
wid der shins (wĭd'ər-shĭnz')
adv. In a contrary or counterclockwise direction: "The coracle whirled round, clockwise, then widdershins" (Anthony Bailey).
[Middle Low German weddersinnes, from Middle High German widersinnes : wider, back (from Old High German widar; see wi- in Indo-European roots) + sinnes, in the direction of (from sin, direction, from Old High German; see sent- in Indo-European roots).]
Widdershins (sometimes withershins, widershins or widderschynnes) means to take a course opposite the apparent motion of the sun (in the Northern hemisphere), going counterclock-wise, lefthandwise, or to circle an object, by always keeping it on the left.[1] The Oxford English Dictionary's entry cites the earliest uses of the word from 1513, where it was found in the phrase widdersyns start my hair, i.e my hair stood on end.
The use of the word also means "in a direction opposite to the usual", and in a direction contrary to the apparent course of the sun sixteenth century. It is cognate with the German language widersinnig, i.e., "against" + "sense". The term "widdershins" was especially common in Lowland Scots, and was known in Scottish Gaelic as tuathal, or "left-hand-wise". It uses the same root as tuath meaning "countryside", originally "tribal-land", "folk", "people", the opposite of widdershins is Gaelic deiseil or right-hand-wise.
Because the sun played a highly important role in primitive religion, to go against it was considered very bad luck for sun-venerating traditions.
It was considered unlucky in former times in Britain to travel in an anticlockwise (because anti sun wise) direction around a church and a number of folk myths make reference to this superstition, e.g. Childe Rowland, where the protagonist and his sister are transported to Elfland after his sister runs widdershins round a church. There is also a reference to this in Dorothy Sayers's novels The Nine Tailors (chapter entitled The Second Course; "He turned to his right, knowing that it is unlucky to walk about a church widdershins, ...") and Clouds of Witness ("True, O King, and as this isn't a church, there's no harm in going round it widdershins").
In the mythology of the North Yorkshire Moors (NE England)it is believed that if you dance nine times widdershins around a fairy ring of toadstools you will come under the power of the fairy people. The story of Fairy Cross Plain (Fyup Dale) chronicles the fate of a young boy (Thomas Skelderskew) who did just that and suffered the consequences.
In contrast, in Judaism circles are sometimes walked anticlockwise. For example: when a bride circles her groom seven times before marriage, when dancing around the bimah during Simchat Torah (or when dancing in a circle at any time), or when the Torah is brought out of the Ark (Ark is approached from the right, and left from the left).
This has its origins in the Beis Hamikdash, where in order not to get in each others way, the Priests would walk around the Altar anticlockwise while performing their duties. When entering the Beis Hamikdash the people would enter by one gate, and leave by another. The resulting direction of motion was anticlockwise.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, however, it is normal for processions around a church to go widdershins.
....the above is taken from an online dictionary and wikipedia. I first encountered the term while reading book one of Gregory Keyes' series The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone. The author is a linguist, so he makes up other languages and uses them in his books, and I wasn't sure if it was an actual word (personally, I think it's awesome because he bases his languages on gaelic, celtic, and latin languages, so you can often figure out the structure and meaning just by observation and piecing out the pattern).
A trip to the Renaissance Festival with a little fairy walk led to another encounter with the word that confirmed its existence. It's haunted me since and I've been meaning to look it up and now I have.
I also like to think of the word as meaning, "things are totally ass-backwards, fucked up crazy. Widdershins."
Origin:
1505-15; < MLG weddersin(ne)s < MHG widdersinnes, equiv. to wider (OHG widar) opposite + sinnes, gen. of sin way, course (c. OE sīth)
wid der shins (wĭd'ər-shĭnz')
adv. In a contrary or counterclockwise direction: "The coracle whirled round, clockwise, then widdershins" (Anthony Bailey).
[Middle Low German weddersinnes, from Middle High German widersinnes : wider, back (from Old High German widar; see wi- in Indo-European roots) + sinnes, in the direction of (from sin, direction, from Old High German; see sent- in Indo-European roots).]
Widdershins (sometimes withershins, widershins or widderschynnes) means to take a course opposite the apparent motion of the sun (in the Northern hemisphere), going counterclock-wise, lefthandwise, or to circle an object, by always keeping it on the left.[1] The Oxford English Dictionary's entry cites the earliest uses of the word from 1513, where it was found in the phrase widdersyns start my hair, i.e my hair stood on end.
The use of the word also means "in a direction opposite to the usual", and in a direction contrary to the apparent course of the sun sixteenth century. It is cognate with the German language widersinnig, i.e., "against" + "sense". The term "widdershins" was especially common in Lowland Scots, and was known in Scottish Gaelic as tuathal, or "left-hand-wise". It uses the same root as tuath meaning "countryside", originally "tribal-land", "folk", "people", the opposite of widdershins is Gaelic deiseil or right-hand-wise.
Because the sun played a highly important role in primitive religion, to go against it was considered very bad luck for sun-venerating traditions.
It was considered unlucky in former times in Britain to travel in an anticlockwise (because anti sun wise) direction around a church and a number of folk myths make reference to this superstition, e.g. Childe Rowland, where the protagonist and his sister are transported to Elfland after his sister runs widdershins round a church. There is also a reference to this in Dorothy Sayers's novels The Nine Tailors (chapter entitled The Second Course; "He turned to his right, knowing that it is unlucky to walk about a church widdershins, ...") and Clouds of Witness ("True, O King, and as this isn't a church, there's no harm in going round it widdershins").
In the mythology of the North Yorkshire Moors (NE England)it is believed that if you dance nine times widdershins around a fairy ring of toadstools you will come under the power of the fairy people. The story of Fairy Cross Plain (Fyup Dale) chronicles the fate of a young boy (Thomas Skelderskew) who did just that and suffered the consequences.
In contrast, in Judaism circles are sometimes walked anticlockwise. For example: when a bride circles her groom seven times before marriage, when dancing around the bimah during Simchat Torah (or when dancing in a circle at any time), or when the Torah is brought out of the Ark (Ark is approached from the right, and left from the left).
This has its origins in the Beis Hamikdash, where in order not to get in each others way, the Priests would walk around the Altar anticlockwise while performing their duties. When entering the Beis Hamikdash the people would enter by one gate, and leave by another. The resulting direction of motion was anticlockwise.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, however, it is normal for processions around a church to go widdershins.
....the above is taken from an online dictionary and wikipedia. I first encountered the term while reading book one of Gregory Keyes' series The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone. The author is a linguist, so he makes up other languages and uses them in his books, and I wasn't sure if it was an actual word (personally, I think it's awesome because he bases his languages on gaelic, celtic, and latin languages, so you can often figure out the structure and meaning just by observation and piecing out the pattern).
A trip to the Renaissance Festival with a little fairy walk led to another encounter with the word that confirmed its existence. It's haunted me since and I've been meaning to look it up and now I have.
I also like to think of the word as meaning, "things are totally ass-backwards, fucked up crazy. Widdershins."