“Master,” said Gray, having gently extricated himself from Joanna’s too-enthusiastic embrace of his midsection, “please allow me to introduce Miss Joanna Callender. Joanna, Master Everard Alcuin, usually of Merlin College.”
“Joanna,” Master Alcuin repeated, studying her and tugging thoughtfully at his beard. “A most unusual name.”
“Joanna is a most unusual young lady,” Gray told him dryly. Joanna sniffed – but Sophie thought she looked rather pleased.
“It is a name used among Christian sects of the Mediterranean and the Orient,” the don continued; “a Latinisation of the Greek Ioanna, which comes from the Hebrew Jokhanan, meaning, roughly, ‘gift of God’.”
“Which god?” Joanna inquired, frowning.
Master Alcuin chuckled. “Most Christians believe there to be only one,” he explained.
“How peculiar,” said Joanna. “He must be terribly busy.”
“Interestingly,” the Master replied, clearly warming to his subject, “there are other sects whose belief is that their one god is a tripartite entity – in essence, not unlike the concept of—”
“Master.” Gray’s tone was a curious blend of impatience and affection. “Another time, perhaps.”
“Of course, of course,” his teacher said, looking rather comically chagrined.
Joanna did not seem interested in pursuing the matter; but Sophie, being more inclined toward the metaphysickal, could not help remembering her mother’s words on the occasion of Joanna’s birth, and wondering.
*
It still needs work, but, as a solution to the problem, I'm rather fond of it...
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-16 07:24 pm (UTC)You mean like this?
*
“Master,” said Gray, having gently extricated himself from Joanna’s too-enthusiastic embrace of his midsection, “please allow me to introduce Miss Joanna Callender. Joanna, Master Everard Alcuin, usually of Merlin College.”
“Joanna,” Master Alcuin repeated, studying her and tugging thoughtfully at his beard. “A most unusual name.”
“Joanna is a most unusual young lady,” Gray told him dryly. Joanna sniffed – but Sophie thought she looked rather pleased.
“It is a name used among Christian sects of the Mediterranean and the Orient,” the don continued; “a Latinisation of the Greek Ioanna, which comes from the Hebrew Jokhanan, meaning, roughly, ‘gift of God’.”
“Which god?” Joanna inquired, frowning.
Master Alcuin chuckled. “Most Christians believe there to be only one,” he explained.
“How peculiar,” said Joanna. “He must be terribly busy.”
“Interestingly,” the Master replied, clearly warming to his subject, “there are other sects whose belief is that their one god is a tripartite entity – in essence, not unlike the concept of—”
“Master.” Gray’s tone was a curious blend of impatience and affection. “Another time, perhaps.”
“Of course, of course,” his teacher said, looking rather comically chagrined.
Joanna did not seem interested in pursuing the matter; but Sophie, being more inclined toward the metaphysickal, could not help remembering her mother’s words on the occasion of Joanna’s birth, and wondering.
*
It still needs work, but, as a solution to the problem, I'm rather fond of it...