Woof and warp

Woof… yes, woof is the noise dogs make, but if you were a weaver then woof would be something else; it is also known as weft and it is a very old word, first known to have been used over eleven hundred years ago. It means to weave, and in fact the word is a corruption of the original word, weven. It also might be associated with a Viking word for waves, and that is the motion of the thread when you’re weaving, up and down like the surface of the sea.

Woof is perhaps less common than the associated word, weft, and they are both often used in conjunction with ‘warp’; when weaving, the warp is the long line of threads which remain taught, and the woof or weft is woven between them to make fabric. The origin or warp is the same as the origin of the word for weapon, and originally meant straight, and throw, but somehow in the Middle Ages came to mean to bend or put out of shape. warp together with weft or woof, is a gold old weaving term.

I used the term earlier today but I wasn’t talking about weaving, I was talking about writing; I was using the term metaphorically to mean I would have the straight narrative of the story, but would weave other themes and characters. Planning my next novel, Magick, and thinking about it’s prequel, Radwinter, I am very conscious of these lines of my story, and what else will be involved to make the pattern which will complete the tale.