SO WHAT'S WYRD?

Or more precisely, What’s in a Wurd?

WYRD (and its regional variants Wurd, Wyrt, Wurt and Urd) is an Anglo Saxon word and commonly refers to fate or destiny. The
English word weird is derived from this, initially used to mean ‘very unusual’, ‘inexplicable’ or even ‘magickal’, it was particularly
used to refer to the play of chance in the world and strange turns of fate that people often experience, thus revealing its root
meaning. It no doubt also referred to what moderns call serendipity and synchronicity. And many of these descriptions have
been used by people on Wyrd Walks to describe their experiences.

An old Anglo Saxon saying was ‘me thaet wyrd gewaef’, ‘fate wove me that destiny’. Which may be a pun derived from the
complex of words with the same root as Wyrd. A study of this etymology casts more light on the meaning of term. Wyrd, or
Weord, is said to derive from the West Saxon verb Weorthan, ‘becoming, transforming or turning (into or around)’, a word of
magical and shamanic significance. In fact Wyrd is still used to denote magick and witchcraft in Scotland, just as it was by their
Viking forebears. It is also used to mean fortune telling. A play on words between Weorthan, Waefan and Wyf, meaning ‘to
become’, ‘to weave’ and ‘destiny’, was quite common in Anglo Saxon literature, and reflects a likely hypothesis that all are
interrelated and derived from an old European root word War(th) or War(f) meaning ‘to weave, twist, turn or transform’ (from
which a range of similar Germanic language words derive, as well as the Gothic Warp and the Latin Vert, as in ‘convert’ and
‘invert’, and even ‘vertigo’ and ‘vortex’). Wyf or ‘fortune’ was once believed to be something ‘weaved for us’, ‘a twist of fate’
or as ‘a turn for the better (or worse)’, or simply the way life naturally transformed and became something new, thus it too may
have evolved from the same origin. In the myths of many cultures the deities of fortune and history (such as the Greek Fates or
late Viking Norns) wove or spun out the future, the very image ancient Germanic tribes gave to their goddess called Wyrd, who
manifested the forces of destiny in an anthropomorphic archetype. A mythic image later preserved as the eclectic medieval Wyrd
Sisters, and celebrated by Shakespeare in Macbeth.

Wyrd Walks certainly weave, winding their way through the streets of London’s secret history and geography, transforming your
perspective of the city, and revealing a story of London few people are aware of. They might even be your fate!

The concept of weaving also has another aspect however. One revealed in a deep look at the War(th) root, for the word has other
related evolutions. It also gave rise to Wart or Ward, meaning ‘to speak’, which eventually became Wurt, Wurd and Word. So a
weaving of language is involved too, and the connection with poetics, prophecy and magickal spells is also preserved in the
multi-layered meaning of Wyrd. Likewise the Latin Vert is linguistically related to Verse (weaved words), Version (‘description’),
Verb (‘word’),and Verus (‘true’). And this magickal use of language, not only to foretell fate or reshape our perceptions, but to
(re)create the world itself and its destiny, is well known to many cultures. Most aptly in the Song Lines of the Aboriginal people of
Australia, who not only have to walk their ritual processional ways across their territory, but also to sing about the history of the
land along them, constantly remembering and recreating their world and its history. Closer to home, both the Anglo Saxon word
for human, Were (as in Werewulf), and world, Weorld, are derived from War(th) and Weorthan. Wyrd Walks similarly aims both to
preserve ancient histories and traditions and transform your perception of London. Another idea derived from War(th) was
manifest in the words War(l) and War, which became the English words Will and War. Reflecting another meaning of the original
War(th), ’to choose’, ’to will’, ‘to assert’, ’to command’ and consequently ‘to oppose’ (some thing also reflected in Vert and
Versus). This is closely related to War(th) as ‘speech’ (or ‘command’), in its active or magickal sence. In their most positive forms
both reflect the free will and creativity we retain even within the context of Destiny. Itself perhaps a dialectical interweaving of free
will and fate. You are thus free to join or leave Wyrd Walks at anytime, but as interactive experiences your presence on them will
be transformative influence. And perhaps it is no coincidence that the earliest known Indo-European root of War(th) is Artus or
Art, itself beneath concepts of destiny, order and creativity in all Indo-European languages.


Finally there is another very important word and concept that evolved out of Weorthan, and that is Worth (just as Virtue arose
from Vert). The idea here is of value and that the truly valuable things in the world are those we create ourselves or with others.
Virtue also had the original meaning of working (another creative term from War- perhaps) in ‘harmony’ with others and with the
‘natural order’ of the world. Wyrd Walks thus aims for this kind of interactive ‘harmony’ between participants and their
environment, which is hoped you will find worth every penny!