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==Wandlore== |
==Wandlore== |
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+ | Unskilled [[wandmaker]]s call spruce a difficult wood, but in doing so they reveal their own ineptitude; it is quite true that it requires particular deftness to work with spruce, which produces wands that are ill-matched with cautious or nervous natures, becoming positively dangerous in fumbling fingers.<ref name="Pottermore">''[[Pottermore]]''</ref> |
The spruce [[wand]] requires a firm hand, because it often appears to have its own ideas about what [[magic]] it ought to be called upon to produce. However, when a spruce [[wand]] meets its match - which, in my experience, is a bold spell-caster with a good sense of humour - it becomes a superb helper, intensely loyal to their owners and capable of producing particularly flamboyant and dramatic effects.<ref name="Pottermore"/> |
The spruce [[wand]] requires a firm hand, because it often appears to have its own ideas about what [[magic]] it ought to be called upon to produce. However, when a spruce [[wand]] meets its match - which, in my experience, is a bold spell-caster with a good sense of humour - it becomes a superb helper, intensely loyal to their owners and capable of producing particularly flamboyant and dramatic effects.<ref name="Pottermore"/> |
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Revision as of 01:15, 4 January 2013
Spruce (genus Picea) is a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the earth.[1]
Wandlore
Unskilled wandmakers call spruce a difficult wood, but in doing so they reveal their own ineptitude; it is quite true that it requires particular deftness to work with spruce, which produces wands that are ill-matched with cautious or nervous natures, becoming positively dangerous in fumbling fingers.[2]
The spruce wand requires a firm hand, because it often appears to have its own ideas about what magic it ought to be called upon to produce. However, when a spruce wand meets its match - which, in my experience, is a bold spell-caster with a good sense of humour - it becomes a superb helper, intensely loyal to their owners and capable of producing particularly flamboyant and dramatic effects.[2]
Etymology
The word "spruce" entered the English language from Old French pruce, the name of Prussia. Spruce was a generic term for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic merchants and the tree was believed to have come from Prussia. According to a different theory, some suggest that it may however be a direct loanword from a Polish expression drzewo/drewno z Prus which literally means "tree/timber from Prussia". That would suggest that the late mediaeval Polish-speaking merchants would import the timber to England and the English would pick up the expression from them.[1]