JournoJan

By JanPatienceArt

Hummel Figuring

I spoke to an artist called Caroline Wendling last week who is orchestrating a big art event called Oaks & Amity in Huntly, a small town in the north east of Scotland.
Caroline is leading a tree planting project that will establish a lasting oak wood commemorating 'peace and amity among European nations'. It's being organised by Deveron Arts.
The public is being cordially invited to help with the tree planting this Friday and Saturday (27th & 28th March).
Caroline, originally from Lorraine in France, talked about the planting taking place at the Hummel Stone and ever-alert to an unusual word, I asked about its meaning.
I'd only ever heard the word in relation to a Hummel Figure; little porcelain figures which my gran used to collect.
She said she thought it was a Scots word meaning a flat area on which stones are broken up.
So I looked it up in my trusty old Scots Dictionary. And here it is....
As always, there is never just one meaning. So it means a hornless beast; having a flat or level appearance; without a mast or a sail or lying with mast and sail lowered.
It also means to break up (stones or large pieces of driftwood) into smaller pieces and shape for use or to remove the awns from barley etc.

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