dhampyresa

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Do you associate Avalon (the isle from Arthurian lore) with apples? Any reason why (not)?

For my part the answer is 'yes', because the Breton word for "apple" is 'aval' (pl avaloù).

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From:

monksandbones

That's interesting! In my case, the answer is no, because the only food I'd associate with the name is milk (there's an Avalon Dairy that used to supply milk to one of the grocery stores in my hometown in British Columbia).

On the other hand, I do kind of associate Avalon with the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland (I'm sure Arthurian lore played a role in it being named that, since it's the easternmost part of Newfoundland).

Edited (clarification) Date: 2018-02-18 10:28 pm (UTC)

From:

dhampyresa

Thank you for answering!

From:

yhlee

No, but then I don't know any Breton and my early exposure to Arthuriana was mostly American-inflected (think Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon and Sidney Lanier's The Boy's King Arthur...hmm, I think Parke Godwin, who wrote Firelord, was British, but that was the exception for me).

From:

dhampyresa

Thanks for the answer!

From:

yhlee

I'm now wondering how well known Arthuriana is in South Korea in general. My dad used to tell me some of the stories, but my dad is fluent in English and was interested in Western literature to an unusual degree (and also went to one of the top Korean universities). I'm not actually sure my mom knows anything about Arthuriana (and she's not fluent in anything but Korean, and her degree was in something that seems to translate as "educational technology").

I don't know if you've watched the anime Code Geass, but there's random Arthurian names in it too--the Britannian's superweapon mecha is called the Lancelot, and as a running joke, its pilot Suzaku is constantly attacked and bitten by the school cat, which is named Arthur; there's a floating aircraft carrier called the Avalon; some other mecha is called the Gawain; and there are probably more but I'd have to finish my rewatch to list 'em.

From:

dhampyresa

I'd be curious about your conclusion if you ever come to one!

From:

sineala

Yes; I have the vague idea that its name means Isle of Apples? I must have heard that somewhere.

(For another data point, I asked my wife and she said "Yes, obviously, it's the Isle of Apples, what kind of question is that?" so I guess... we're both Arthurian nerds?)

From:

melannen

Same here! At some point some version of the story or other called it the Isle of Apples. I think that's also part of its connection to Glastonbury somehow?

(Cheated and googled: ah, right, Giraldus Cambrensis explains that its name comes from the Welsh Ynys Afallach, which means Isle of Apples and is an old name for Glastonbury Tor, in the story about the grave that was dug up there.)

...same here on the Arthurian nerd part too I guess.