Rood has several distinct meanings, all derived from the same basic etymology. Etymology is the study of the origins of words. ...

"Rood" is an archaic word for “pole”, from Anglo-Saxon rōd “pole”, specifically “crucifix”, from Proto-Germanic *rodo, cognate to Old Saxon rōda, Old High German ruoda “rod”; the relation of rood to rod, from Anglo-Saxon rodd “pole” is unclear; the latter was perhaps influenced by Old Norse rudda “club”). The Anglo-Saxons refers collectively to the groups of Germanic tribes who achieved dominance in southern Britain from the mid-5th century, forming the basis for the modern English nation. ... A crucifix amidst the cornfields near Mureck in rural Styria, Austria A handheld crucifix A crucifix in front of the Holy Spirit Church in KoÅ¡ice, Slovakia A crucifix is a cross with a representation of Jesuss body, or corpus (plural, corpora). ... Map of the Pre-Roman Iron Age culture(s) associated with Proto-Germanic, ca 500 BC-50 BC. The area south of Scandinavia is the Jastorf culture Proto-Germanic, the proto-language believed by scholars to be the common ancestor of the Germanic languages, includes among its descendants Dutch, Yiddish... Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is a Germanic language. ... The term Old High German (OHG, German: Althochdeutsch) refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. ... A rod is a unit of length, equal to 5. ... Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ...

Measurement of area or length

Specifically, rood is an old English unit of area, equal to quarter of an acre, i.e. 10 890 square feet or 1011.7141056 m² (for the international inch) or about 10.1 are. A rectangular area with edges of one furlong and one rod respectively is one rood, as is an area consisting of 40 square rods. Confusingly called an acre in some ancient contexts. The rood is an important measure in surveying on account of its easy conversion with the acre. In provincial England, a rood was also a measure of length, corresponding to five and a half yards. The term English units refers to one of a number of systems of units of measurement, some obsolete, and some still in use. ... An acre is an English unit of area, which is also frequently used in the United States and some Commonwealth countries. ... A square foot is by definition the area enclosed by a square with sides each 1 foot long. ... To help compare sizes of various objects, we list here areas between 1,000 and 10,000 m² (1,000 square metres and 1 hectare). ... Mid-19th century tool for converting between different standards of the inch An inch is an Imperial and U.S. customary unit of length. ... An are (symbol a) is a unit of area, equal to 100 square meters (10 m × 10 m), used for measuring land area. ... The 5 furlong (1006 m) post on Epsom Downs A furlong is a measure of distance within Imperial units and U.S. customary units. ... A rod is a unit of length, equal to 5. ... Surveyor at work with a leveling instrument. ... This article is about the unit of measure known as the yard. ...

Crucifix or cross

The Rood on a rood screen: a crucifix on the elaborate 16th-century "jubé" in the church of St-Etienne-du-Mont, Paris

In the meaning “crucifix”, rood may refer to a sculpture or painting of the cross with Christ hanging on it. More precisely, "The Rood" refers to The Cross, the specific wooden cross used in Christ's crucifixion. The word remains in use in some names, such as Holyrood Palace and the Anglo-Saxon poem The Dream of the Rood. The phrase "by the rood" was used in swearing, e.g. “No, by the rood, not so” in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 4). A crucifix amidst the cornfields near Mureck in rural Styria, Austria A handheld crucifix A crucifix in front of the Holy Spirit Church in KoÅ¡ice, Slovakia A crucifix is a cross with a representation of Jesuss body, or corpus (plural, corpora). ... This page is about the title. ... A 19th century view of Holyrood Palace from Calton Hill. ... The initial page of the Peterborough Chronicle, likely scribed around 1150, it is one of the major sources of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. ... The Dream of the Rood is one of the earliest Christian poems in the corpus of Old English poetry and an intriguing example of the genre of dream poetry. ... To swear can mean either to make an oath, or to utter profanity. ... William Shakespeare—born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 (O.S.), May 3, 1616 (N.S.)—has a reputation as the greatest of all writers in English. ... The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare and is one of his best-known and most often quoted plays. ...

In church architecture a rood screen is a wooden or stone screen, usually separating the chancel or choir from the nave. The screen may be elaborately carved and was often richly painted and gilded. It supported a large cross or crucifix (the Rood), sometimes with attendant figures. Some rood screens incorporate a rood loft, a narrow gallery which could be used by singers or musicians. Rood screens are not unique to Britain: they are found in Christian churches in many parts of Europe. Religious architecture is the style and requirements followed for building religious buildings. ... The Rood screen was a common feature in late medieval church architecture, dividing the chancel from the nave. ... The term screen has a number of meanings: A window screen is a wire mesh that covers a window opening to keep out insects even when the window is open. ... This article is about an architectural feature; for the astronomical term see apsis. ... A choir or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. ... Links to full descriptions of the elements of a Gothic floorplan are also found at the entry Cathedral diagram. ... Gilding is the art of spreading gold, either by mechanical or by chemical means, over the surface of a body for the purpose of ornament. ... Gallery can refer to several things: Short for Art gallery An element in architecture, a long hallway flanked with walls or rows of columns A horizontal passage in an underground mine A collection of digital photos hosted on websites, often called galleries. ...

The Rood itself provided a focus for worship, most especially in Holy Week, when worship was highly elaborate. During Lent the Rood was veiled; on Palm Sunday it was revealed before the procession of palms and the congregation knelt before it. The whole Passion story would then be read from the rood loft, at the foot of the crucifix, by three priests. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Holy Week procession. ... In Western Christianity, Lent is the forty-day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday (Pascha). ... Palm Sunday is a moveable feast in the church calendar observed by Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians. ... The Passion is the technical term for the suffering and Agony of Jesus that led directly to the Crucifixion, a central Christian event. ... A crucifix amidst the cornfields near Mureck in rural Styria, Austria A handheld crucifix A crucifix in front of the Holy Spirit Church in Košice, Slovakia A crucifix is a cross with a representation of Jesuss body, or corpus (plural, corpora). ...

No original Rood now survives in a church in the United Kingdom. Most were deliberately destroyed as acts of iconoclasm during the English Reformation and the English Civil War, when many rood screens were also removed. Today, in many British churches, the rood stair which gave access to the gallery is often the only remaining sign of the former rood screen and rood loft. Illustration of the Beeldenstorm during the Dutch reformation Literally, iconoclasm is the destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually for religious or political motives. ... The English Reformation was the process whereby the external authority of the Roman Catholic Church in England was abolished and replaced with Royal Supremacy and the establishment of a Church of England outside the Roman Catholic Church and under the Supreme Governance of the English monarch. ... The term English Civil War (or Wars) refers to the series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between English Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651. ...

The Charlton-on-Otmoor Garland

A unique Rood exists at St Mary's church, Charlton-on-Otmoor, near Oxford, England, where "The Garland", a large wooden cross, solidly covered in greenery, stands on the 16th-century rood screen, said by Nikolaus Pevsner to be the finest in Oxfordshire. The cross is redecorated twice a year, on 1 May and 19 September (the patronal festival), when children from the local primary school, carrying small crosses decorated with flowers, bring a long, flower-decorated, rope-like garland made of yew and box foliage in procession to the church for a special service. The material from this is used to redecorate The Garland. Oxford is a city and local government district in Oxfordshire, England, with a population of 134,248 (2001 census). ... Sir Nikolaus Pevsner CBE (January 30, 1902 – August 18, 1983) was a German-born British historian of art and, especially, architecture. ... Oxfordshire (abbreviated Oxon, from the Latinised form Oxonia) is a county in south-east England, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire. ... In several forms of Christianity, but especially in Roman Catholicism, a patron saint has special affinity for a trade or group. ... Binomial name Taxus baccata L. Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. ... Species About 70 species; see text Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. ...

An engraving from 1823 shows the rood garland as a more open, foliage-covered framework, similar to certain types of corn dolly, with a smaller attendant figure of similar appearance. Folklorists have commented on the garlands' resemblance to human figures and noted that they replaced statues of St. Mary and St. James which had stood on the rood screen until they were destroyed during the Reformation. Until the 1850s, the larger garland was carried in a May Day procession, accompanied by morris dancers, to the former Benedictine priory at Studley (as the statue of St Mary had been until the Reformation). Meanwhile the women of the village used to carry the smaller garland through Charlton, though it seems that this ceased some time between 1823 and 1840, when an illustration in J.H. Parker's Glossary of Architecture shows only one garland, centrally positioned on the rood screen. Corn dollies are a form of straw work associated with harvest customs. ... Folkloristics is the formal academic study of folklore and mythology. ... Saint Mary and Saint Mary the Virgin both redirect here. ... For people and places called Saint James, see the diambiguation page. ... May Day is a name for various holidays celebrated on May 1 (or in the beginning of May). ... A Morris dance is a form of folk dance. ... A Benedictine is a person who follows the Rule of St Benedict. ... A priory is an ecclesiastical circumscription run by a prior. ...

Reference

• Pevsner, Nikolaus, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, Penguin Books (original series, 1951–1974)
• Extract from Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud, A Dictionary of English Folklore, Oxford University Press, 2000
• Hole, Christina, A Dictionary of British Folk Customs, Granada/Paladin 1978
• St. Mary's, Charlton-on-Otmoor (from achurchnearyou.com, accessed 18:03, 20 March 2006 (UTC) )

See also

• Rood (Scots)
• Rod (unit) for the "rod, pole or perch" unit of measurement