I can't believe how pedantic I've become over the possibility of anachronisms. Even the most mundane words are getting the side-eye from me because I'm just not sure.
Case in point: North, South, East, West.
Every source I come across tells me that the words were "in use" before AD900. But does "in use" mean wide, common usage, as in everybody knows/uses the word?
My usage involves a character who is sailing with Ivar Ragnarsson and the Great Heathen Army from Denmark to East Anglia in AD865. Would he say "We sail west", or would it be more correct to say "We sail toward the setting sun"? (Yes, I know it was more of a south-west jaunt, but my character only knows that it's across the sea "that way".)
The odd part of this obsession of mine is the fact that I write humorous MG novels, and I doubt anyone reading would even notice a word like "west". And I make deliberate use of anachronisms (in dialogue) for comedic effect, but I really don't want any to show up because of STUPID!
So which would it have been in AD865? West, or something descriptive?
Case in point: North, South, East, West.
Every source I come across tells me that the words were "in use" before AD900. But does "in use" mean wide, common usage, as in everybody knows/uses the word?
My usage involves a character who is sailing with Ivar Ragnarsson and the Great Heathen Army from Denmark to East Anglia in AD865. Would he say "We sail west", or would it be more correct to say "We sail toward the setting sun"? (Yes, I know it was more of a south-west jaunt, but my character only knows that it's across the sea "that way".)
The odd part of this obsession of mine is the fact that I write humorous MG novels, and I doubt anyone reading would even notice a word like "west". And I make deliberate use of anachronisms (in dialogue) for comedic effect, but I really don't want any to show up because of STUPID!
So which would it have been in AD865? West, or something descriptive?
