Korgscrew
Group: Super Admins
Posts: 3511
Joined: Dec. 1999 |
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Posted: May 02 2003, 14:24 |
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On the meaning of the word...
As mentioned in the FAQ, Mike did once make reference to the fact that he'd heard the word on a programme about wolves. That would seem to put weight behind the idea that it's the innuit word which Mike had in mind when naming the album.
With Mike having begun Amarok with the idea of a sequel to Ommadawn in mind, it's perhaps no surprise that people have looked to the Irish Gaelic language in an attempt to find meaning in the word Amarok (with Ommadawn having come from the Irish word 'amadán' meaning 'fool' ). Sean Moraghan mentioned the similarity between the word Amarok and the Irish word amárach, meaning 'tomorrow'. After reading this discussion, I decided it was about time I did my own research into the matter (I've previously taken the sometimes dangerous route of taking other people's word for it).
A look in Rev. Patrick S. Duneen's Irish - English dictionary of 1927 (though the particular edition I consulted contained additions from 1934 and was printed in 1970) revealed some interesting results, though it should be noted that his method of spelling the words is seemingly different to more modern ones (I should also point out that I know very little about the Irish language and the history of its spelling, printing and so forth...) - I include my findings from this dictionary mostly for curiosity value. The closest is the word amarac (he places a dot over the c indicating that it's pronounced as a 'ch' sound, like in the scottish 'loch' - the a is more of a short O sound) meaning aggressive or quarrelsome. Then there's amarac (with a dot placed over the w and the c (with the m producing more of a w sound) meaning stupid (also passionate, wild and gluttonous). Best, though, is amaróg (again with a dot over the m to indicate a w sound) which means 'a little bitch'! 
Moving to The Royal Irish Academy's 'Dictionary of the Irish Language' (compact edition) of 1983 (there may be more recent editions), we find a confirmation of Sean Moraghan's translation of amárach (the entry simply refers to the word bárach, which means 'tomorrow' ). Most fitting, though, is the word amarach, which means 'melodious'.
It's also been said that it's similar to a word meaning 'happy' - that would seem to fit perfectly with the album, but where that translation came from, I don't know. I'll try investigating this a bit further.
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