The students had some trouble with the name Schwarz, so I wrote it on the board and explained that it was German for “black” and that the z was pronounced as /ts/. (At this point I realized but did not say that, since alexo means “guard, protect, defend,” the character’s name was literally blackguard.)
A boy raised his hand. “Is that like Arnold Schwarzenegger?”
“That’s right. His last name means ‘person from Black Ridge.’”
“Did you know that he originally called himself Arnold Strong but changed it later because it sounded too stupid?”
Well, yes, I did know that, though I was surprised that a teenage boy in Taiwan did. Schwarzenegger was credited as Arnold Strong only once: in his acting debut in the deservedly obscure movie Hercules in New York.
Several hours later (1:45 a.m. here in Taiwan; a more civilized hour in Minnesota), Bill Wright left a comment, one of those periodic inquiries I get about when I’m going to get around to figuring out what all my syncs mean. The comment begins thus (emphasis added):
Going all the way back to that strange image of Arnold Schwarzenegger fleeing from that reality temple, and other associated images, you mentioned you were going to, at some point, take on the responsibility of piecing the symbols together and forming a narrative, story, or at least a sense of meaning from all of these seemingly interrelated symbols. . . .
Technically, that’s actually Arnold Strong fleeing from the reality temple, since that element of the meme is taken from a scene in Hercules in New York.
That seems like a hint that I won’t be able to figure out the identity of the Arnold figure unless I turn my attention instead to his wife.
10 comments:
"You can't just give yourself a lastname of Strong."
"Of course I can. I am Hercules, son of Zeus."
FWIW, a modest sync: You might have heard about the recent NCAA wrestling championship tournament, which was attended by Elon Musk and President Trump. In any case, it turns out that the individual heavyweight national championship was won by a wrestler affiliated with a local university. That in turn led a sports columnist in today's local newspaper to write a piece wherein he ranked, in ascending order from fifth to first, the greatest upsets in NCAA championship wrestling history. He rated the aforementioned recent local champion's triumph second all-time. The first and greatest upset, however, he attributed to a 1970 champion in his weight class, a fellow by the name of Larry Owings. I distinctly took note of the fact that (to me, anyway) "Owings" is an unusual name.
A few hours later, I read your post. Given its gist and its concluding remark, I off-handedly decided to google Maria Shriver. I immediately discovered that her middle name is Owings. That, in turn, led me to ask Grok (the AI bot affiliated with X.com) about the significance of this name both in relation to Ms. Shriver and in its own right. Can't say anything really interesting came to light. Again, FWIW.
https://x.com/i/grok/share/SSxsBY9SU9lUP7lllkGzNfw66
Since Arnold Strong/ Schwarzenegger is no longer married to Maria Shriver, I wonder if she still counts as someone to look into for this wife clue?
But, given Wade's sync with Owing, and therefore Maria Shriver, it seems like we could at least proceed with caution in entertaining the possibility.
Shriver's last name is from the German "Schreiber" which means "to write". We've pegged the Being associated with Arnold in other symbols as also being a writer, so seems promising.
You might be on to something.
Actually, Schreiber means the person who does the writing, not the act of writing itself, and gives us other meanings like "Clerk, Secretary", so works out just as well if not better.
Schreib would be "write" and Schrieben, instead, would be "to write".
Like I said, it took me three years to pass two years of German in high school... a linguist I am not.
When you think about it, "Maria Owings Shriver" is an unusual name on all three counts. Maria, as opposed to Mary, is rather uncommon in English-speaking communities. The peculiarity of Owings has already been bruited. And, while I'm all for exploring German analogues to Shriver, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that "Shriver" itself is a term with a perfectly English pedigree--albeit it is today a word that sounds extremely archaic, virtually medieval.
The Merriam-Webster entry for "shrive" is relevant and interesting. If you keep scrolling down, you'll find more than one pithy account of the word's derivation.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shrive
Wade,
The usage of Shriver as "to administer the sacrament, free from guilt" and other things like that also works really well here. Good find.
To be clear, though, the German Schreiber is not an analog to the English Shriver. That isn't correct. It is the basis for it. The English pedigree of the word, as you call it, runs right back to the German-speakers who brought it to England. They in turn had adopted it from the original Latin. It actually walks through this chain in the dictionary link you attached (see under the "Did you know?" section).
The German roots for Shriver are even more direct when used as a surname, which was an occupational name for a scribe or writer, it appears.
The English seem to have adopted this term for the act of writing to relate to the act of confession or absolving sins due to I guess religious officials writing certain things down.
To me, this ties really well to the story of what will come from the Stone and other records. What will be written will absolve some of sin and guilt - as in something like the True Song of the Wandering Aengus, maybe.
@WW: William, I hope you didn't take my en passant comment about "analogues" as a criticism. I didn't it at all intend it as such, and I've nothing but respect for your reflections. Having said that, I really must take issue with your assertion that Schreiber is not an analogue of Shriver. I believe it is just that. Both Schreiber and Shriver are each derived from an ancient word that may not be the mutual source of both. In fact, it appears that they do not both derive from an identical source. According to the Merriam-Webster entry that I cited, the ancient forbear of Shriver is the Old English word "scrifan" (I'm unable to reproduce the diacritical mark). Please recall that I said in my comment that there is "more than one" account of "shrive('s)" derivation at the Merriam-Webster entry. If you scroll further down than the "Did You Know" account, to the section headed "Word History" and "Etymology" it explicitly states that the Old English word scrifan is akin to the Old High German word scriban. So it would seem that Shriver and Schreiber have origins that are cognate yet distinct.
If I may pull rank as a trained linguist here, Bill is correct. The name Shriver does not derive directly from the English noun shriver but from the German. The name means “scribe,” not “confessor.”
@WJT: I can't help but think you're making a distinction without a difference here. The Merriam-Webster entry I cited makes clear that the English "shrive" (ancient English "scrifan") meaning "to free from guilt" was explicitly connected to the idea of writing. Be that as it may, I stand ready to defer to your superior rank. Here, however, is what Bill said:
"To be clear, though, the German Schreiber is not an analog to the English Shriver. That isn't correct. It is the basis for it."
Now, surely even a trained linguist like yourself understands very well that the modern German term Schreiber isn't the basis for the modern English term Shriver. Maybe the ancient English scrifan was somehow descended from ancient German scriban, I don't know, but that strikes me as a separate issue.
P.S. I went back to the Grok account, which principally concerns itself with the Owings name, and I noticed that it mentions in passing that the Shrivers from whom Maria Shriver is descended were ultimately from Germany. So I'm afraid I must concede that the two of you (Bill W. and William J.T) are undoubtedly correct after all. I was overemphasizing "shriver" as an abstract noun, rather than a surname with a particular lineage. I see your point now.
Entschuldigung! My bad. Please forgive me...
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