Mould-on-the-Wold

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Lee Storm \(God Is The Healing Force\)" <n2fgc at ...> wrote:
>
> | > Zanooda:
> | > Can anyone tell me what "Mould-on-the-Wold" means (mostly "Mould" 
> | > :-))?
> | 
> | Goddlefrood:
> | I'd say it was the fungal meaning that was meant. It's a pun on 
> | the real place called Stow-on-the-Wold. The Wold being a river.
> 
> [Lee]:
> Interesting!  I thought "Wold" would be like "Wald" or "Wood" (as in forest)
> from the German, as in Schwatswald or Schwatzwald, etc.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Lee :-)

Geoff:
Schwartzwald or Schwarzwald (both possible) is the word you wanted = "Black Forest" 

My dictionary defines "Wold" as:
noun (especially in British place names) a piece of high, open, 
uncultivated land or moor. 

Please note that Stow is in the CotsWOLDs.

Re another comment from Debi. Forest in English has two meanings. 
The more usual is that of dense woodland but there is a secondary meaning 
- that of land reserved as a royal hunting area. Examples include The 
New Forest and Exmoor Forest.

Just for the lovers of quaint English town names: Stow-on-the-Wold is 
about halfway between Bourton-on-the-Water and Moreton-in-Marsh 
(no 'the').