What is opposite of widdershins?
The term “widdershins” was especially common in Lowland Scots. The opposite of widdershins is deosil, or sunwise, meaning “clockwise”.
What is deosil and widdershins?
In Scottish folklore, sunwise, deosil or sunward (clockwise) was considered the “prosperous course”, turning from east to west in the direction of the sun. The opposite course, anticlockwise, was known as widdershins (Lowland Scots), or tuathal (Scottish Gaelic).
Is widdershins a bad word?
Did you know? Legend holds that demons always approached the devil widdershins. Not surprisingly, such a path was considered evil and unlucky. But in its earliest known uses “widdershins” was far less malignant; it was used simply to describe a case of bad hair in which unruly locks stood on end or fell the wrong way.
What’s another word for widdershins?
counterclockwise
Did you know? English speakers today are most likely to encounter widdershins as a synonym of counterclockwise.
Where is Widdershins from?
Widdershins comes from Middle Low German weddersinnes, literally “against the way” (i.e. “in the opposite direction”), from widersinnen “to go against”, from Old High German elements widar “against” and sinnen “to travel, go”, related to sind “journey”.
What does the word Deosil mean?
(religion, spiritualism, and occult) A Wiccan word meaning to move in a clockwise, or sunwise, direction. Its opposite is widdershins.
Where is widdershins from?
What language is widdershins?
German
Widdershins comes from Middle Low German weddersinnes, literally “against the way” (i.e. “in the opposite direction”), from widersinnen “to go against”, from Old High German elements widar “against” and sinnen “to travel, go”, related to sind “journey”.
What language is Widdershins?
How do you use widdershins in a sentence?
He flew three times widdershins round the garden before stealing the gift of speech from Sister Sun, then escaped, laughing. He waved the Mistletoe three time widdershins around his head, said the sacred words and did the dance that only Witches and Druids know.
Which is the correct definition of the term Widdershins?
(June 2016) The anticlockwise or counterclockwise direction. Widdershins (sometimes withershins, widershins or widderschynnes) is a term meaning to go counter-clockwise, to go anti-clockwise, or to go lefthandwise, or to walk around an object by always keeping it on the left.
Which is the opposite of ” widdershins ” in Scots?
The opposite of “Widdershins” in Lowland Scots was “sonnegaitis/sungates”. From the OED (1596): I find it wilbe ane deir yeir; the bled of the corne growis withersones; and quhan it growis sonegatis about, it wilbe ane gude chaip yeir. Of course, in England, you are correct that the words were left and right.
What’s the difference between deisul and widdershins?
The term “widdershins” was especially common in Lowland Scots. The opposite of widdershins is deisul, meaning “clockwise”. Actions conducted on a horizontal plane tend to be described as “widdershins” or “deisul” – for example, “walking widdershins around the meadow” – whereas actions on a vertical plane, like a clockface,…
Which is the wrong way round, widdershins or sunwise?
That was the wrong way round—the unlucky, uncanonical direction; the evil way, widdershins, the opposite of sunwise. Once he built a small outdoor fire and walked around it, widdershins, for several minutes.