valediction, Valhalla, Valkyrie

some more words in the v section which seem to continue this ubiquitous Scandinavian theme: Odon, Woden, Valhalla. Valkyrie, Vanadium, Fryja, Frigga...

valediction: [Latin vale: farewell, dictio: to speak, dicere to say]  to say farewell; an act of bidding farewell

valedictorian: the person, usually with the highest grade point average, who gives the valedictory speech at the commencement exercises

     This etymology, saying farewell, makes this speech at graduation all the more poignant.  Tom Paradise, in 1970, on his way to Harvard, gave the valedictory speech at my high school graduation at St. Louis U. High School. He was a soft spoken, kind person.  What do I recall of the speech? Nothing…but I do recall the feeling; the sentiment of all of us standing on stage, four years of hard, intellectual work behind us, eager and ready to embark on a new, exciting and distant path as we silently observed that proud looks in the eyes of our parents.

Valhalla:  [Old Norse meaning 'hall of the slain,' holl hall, valr slain]  the hall of Odin in Norse mythology where warriors who have died in battle are received.

     Well, here is a connection to a previous word, Wednesday (from Woden or Oden).  I had mentioned  the word Valhalla to my shy, kind chess playing friend in the rural town of Greenwood, SC.  He was getting ready to retire from his job fixing copying machines at Fuji…sometimes a thankless job.  I mentioned that I had just read that Valhalla was where deceased warriors were taken.  He surprised me and said, with his dry sense of humor, "I knew that was what Valhalla meant."  I asked him how he knew.  "The headquarters of Fuji is in Valhalla, New York."  I think he was making a comment on the toll that this job had taken on him…

Valkyrie: [also Old Norse for 'chooser of the slain']   \val kear' ee\  one of the maidens of Oden who chose which of the heroes who had been slain in battle would be taken to Valhalla.

     I especially like this word because it is the mysterious name of the quaint, gentle restaurant that Odd Horten goes to in my favorite movie (which is set in Oslo, fittingly) O'Horten.

     The latest New Yorker  (11/7/16) has an article on Fox News’ commentator, Megyn Kelly, who is the object of Trump’s vehemence.  They point out that she is weathering this to her advantage and assuming more power at Fox News.  

     “For Megyn Kelly, however, the shackles are off.  She’s an astounding figure these days, a happy Valkyrie with amused eyes and a stiletto tucked into her rhetorical boot…an unlikely feminist warrior,”