In a great adventure book, "Arabian Sands" by Wilfred Thesiger, [Penguin Travel Library]I came upon a word my dictionary does not have. Here is the sentence, p190. "There were many [trilithon]monuments in the valley and tumuli on the nearby hills." Can anyone help me with the word trilithon?

Trilithon means three huge pillars of stone with a heavy slab across the top. There are some at Stonehenge. The URL has a picture of one:http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicstonehenge.html

...which raises the question, since there weren't any hinges at Stonehenge, what kind of "henge" is meant here?

WW

'henge' probably referred to something hanging or supported in the air.

Welcome to the board, seeshel! Sounds like you're a shore-dweller like me (unless, of course, you just liked the name). I think you'll find this a stimulating home for your linguistic inquisitiveness!

Trilithon means three huge pillars of stone with a heavy slab across the top.

I'm sure that's true, Dr. Bill. But I'm wondering, if one stone pillar or statue is called a monolith, then why isn't an arrangement of three called a triolith instead of a trilithon?

trilith - [Orig. (and still often) in Gr. form trilithon (of three stones); so mod.F. trilithe.]
A prehistoric structure or monument consisting of three large stones, two upright and one resting upon them as a lintel.

Joe F., could you please provide us with the full OED definition of "henge"? I always thought that it meant wall or pallisade. Is there a relationship with "hedge" in fact?

Ta!

'Henge' is a modern back-formation from 'Stonehenge', Old English Stánhengist 'hanging stones'.

Separated from Stonehenge, however, it doesn't refer to the presence of trilitha, but to the general construction, an aligned ceremonial circle within a bank and ditch. Woodhenge, in Wiltshire not far from Stonehenge, and of similar age (c 2300 BCE) obviously doesn't have any surviving wood, much less lintels.

And the newly discovered wooden circle off the east coast was promptly named Seahenge.

I was told in my art history class that henge just means circle.

And that story about the Stonehenge restoration isn't real is it? It seems a little dubious because it's on a site about aliens and angels.

Single huge standing stone pillars are called monoliths or megaliths. There are a great many of them in UK and France. Search "Archaeology Megaliths" brings up dozens of sites. But I did not find one worth citing here.
P.S. Somebody mentioned the word "dolmen" which I had been unable to remember. Searching for "archaeolgy dolmen" brings up a lot of sites. Somewhere I saw pictures of France with long rows of them. No clue as to motivation of the people who erected them.

"henge" in OED has nothing to do with hanging circles or the lke. It's the pluck of an animal, as in the part that's plucked out when eviscerating same.

At the definition for stonehenge, there is a reference to the possible connection with stones "hanging" in the air.

It seems like not that long ago, but a quarter of a century ago I toured through that part of England on a bicycle. Went to Stonehenge, Woodhenge, and Avebury. All three were impressive in different ways. Woodhenge has none of the posts left, only the postholes, but I got the impression there was a great deal more precision mapping done in laying out the site originally. Avebury was impressive because the stone circle was of a much larger diameter than that found at Stonehenge. The stones themselves were not as impressive, only a few of them being dressed at all. Just oblong pieces of stone standing on edge, with no or very few smoothed sides or edges. There was an altar stone at a focal point, if I recall correctly, that had on it what was described as a blood groove.

The trioliths or trilithons are more commonly called dolmens, and those are fairly common throughout the area, and also in Ireland.

There was a great fascination with astronomy, apparently because of the power it bestowed upon those who could predict where the sun would come up and go down and when the seasons turned. I was lucky enogh to be in Ireland on Midsummer's day a few years ago, and I went quite a distance in the predawn to be at a cave in Western Ireland where the sun shown directly onto a spectacular carving only on that day. Quite something to watch.

Thanks to Old Nick and Punman for the heads-up on henge.

When my wife and I went to see Stonehenge some years ago we drove right on by it first, thinking that it was a model of the real thing. Damned sight smaller than we expected! They always photograph it from close to the base and with nothing in the picture to give you a sense of scale.

We felt ripped off, really. I mean, couldn't those neolithic types have shown some fellow-feeling for the tourists who would come from all over the shop to see their masterpiece in the future and dragged a few really big stones in over the downs from 300 miles away? For the sake of posterity, if for nothing else. It's quite clear to me that their druids or whatever just didn't bring 'em up right. Some people just have no consideration for other folk or a sense of destiny, do they? Honestly!

Actually, I do have to say that the neoliths were very considerate, however, in their siting of Stonehenge. It's very conveniently placed where it is, right on the intersection of the A303 and the A344. And it's a great carpark.

Here's a point of interest:


Henge: An area of ground that has a bank and ditch structure around it.The area inside was normally used for 'rituals'.

http://www.gallica.co.uk/celts/alpha.htm#sectH

...it's not the OED, but still something to consider.

>still something to consider

yes, while keeping in mind that it could have been derived to cover the ground, as it were.

...you mean, actually begging the question? (haven't heard it for a while).