scruffy1
Veteran Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Holy Year from Pamplona 2010, SJPP 2011, Lisbon 2012, Le Puy 2013, Vezelay (partial watch this space!) 2014; 2015 Toulouse-Puenta la Reina (Arles)
I have written more than once concerning a subject which continues to frustrate me, namely, the mis-orientation of the maps offered in guide books for the Camino. As one who loves maps and orienteering, a pilgrim who carries the compass given to him by his father 50 years ago I cannot bear a map which is "wrongly" positioned. John Brierley is guilty and has even invented a sun-reckoning justification, José María Anguita Jaén also is guilty, only the Michelin handbooks for the French Chemins remain true. I realize the constrictions of page size and shape, I am still unhappy. Which brings us to the word Azimuth. Azimuth stems from the Old French azimut, from Arabic as-samt, from al ‘the’ + samt ‘way, direction.’ So from an Arabic word meaning The Way, oh dear (!), we find in translation, El Camino. Zenith, that position in the visible sky or universe directly over your head, comes from the same root. Words do not lie.