Posted by Irv Koch on July 31, 2000 at 20:31:26:
In Reply to: Re: Geas? posted by Michael Martinez on July 29, 2000 at 02:23:52:
: : : Does anyone know if Andre Norton created this word? Or did : : : it exist before the witch world? And how do you choose to : : : pronounce it? : : The Druids also believed in The Geas (pronounced "GESH"). In : : its plural form, it's Geasa. It's basically a kind of magical : : obligation, prohibition, or taboo that a person may posess & : : is usually imposed on magical people such as sacred kings, : : Druids, and great heroes."
: This is fanciful or wishful thinking. We have absolutely no knowledge about what the druids did or how they did it (thanks to the Romans, who slaughtered all the druids they found, and to the
: When I first started reading Andre's Witch World books, however, I did look up the word (and back then I had access to a lot of books on mythology, ritual, etc.).
: A geas is an obligation or taboo laid upon an individual or society. The person is not royal or magical (I suppose they could be, but anyone could have a geas laid upon them). The Irish had a geas against shedding a kinsman's blood, for example. It was a social convention, not a magical one. There may have been religious overtones at one time.
: Of course, with her collection of rare books, there's no knowing where Andre got the word from. She may actually have a full etymology. And there's no reason why it cannot be used in a magical context.
I'm not an expert either but was up to my ears in magick (note the k) types for quite a while. The dictionary entry you quote is correct but a many many other "magick" types than the Druids used the word geas (usually pronounced geese, I gathered) in the same sense your cite did ... for a magickally placed obligation. I've also seen it used that way in fantasy books of all sorts, not just Andre's, for as long as I can remember (which is back to about 1959 or 1960, for reading fantasy books other than OZ).
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