A few months ago I posted what I considered to be WWWH. At the time I had little doubt that it was the correct WWWH. The only slight doubt that I had about it, arose from not being able to find any connection between it and Forrest.
In the intervening months I have not thought about the chase, my attention having been directed elsewhere.Last night however, in that in-between state between waking and sleeping,for some inexplicable reason, the connection between WWWH and Forrest became apparent. I have explained this connection in the penultimate segment of this post.
My WWWH was, if you recall, the village of Blanefield in Stirlingshire in Scotland.
The name Strathblane is thought to mean “the valley of the Blane” with Blane being a contraction of two Gaelic words signifying “warm water”.
dail - field, delay
ti- you
Using the above info, and the idea that "delay" is a synonym for "halt/pause," the line "Begin it where warm waters halt" transforms into "You begin at Blanefield"( water = eau in French and is homophone of the plural "eaux", where= ut(L.)= to(L.) =ad(L.) = at(L.)
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cae- field
a- ul
Blane, of Irish Gaelic origin meaning "Thin"
ff has said that the "first clue" is WWWH. This suggests strongly that WWWH is a cryptic crossword type clue. It suggests that the answer to WWWH also may be equated with "first clue".
The Welsh word "Blaen" means "first".
The Welsh word "cae" translates as "field".
The word "a" in Breton translates as "ul". Thus the word "cae" may be transformed in to the word "clue" .
Using the above, it may be seen that "Blanefield" = "first clue"
Also,the names "Blane/Blaine" mean "thin" which is an anagram of the word "hint". "Hint" may be translated in Latin by the word "indicium" which is also the Latin word for a "clue". Thus the word "Blane" means both "first" and "clue". This would support the idea that the answer to the first clue- WWWH - is Blanefield.
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Blanefield - bal ne field - ball(Fr.) ne dail(Sc. Gaelic) - pila(L.) nailed - pail nailed - pale(homophone) nailed - palus(L.) nailed -marsh(L.) nailed - rhos(W.) nailed - down(W.) nailed - nailed down
The above transformation shows that "Blanefield" may be transformed into "nailed down".
This supports the idea that WWWH = Blanefield .By finding this , the "first clue" can be said to have been "nailed down"
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Further support for the idea that WWWH = Blanefield comes from:
"March 22nd (time to be announced), at the Blaine Library in Blaine, WA"
Early on Dal's site there was a poster by the name of Blane.
A blog for the Commercial Overprint Society of Great Britain (COSGB).
cosgb.blogspot.com/2012/06/blanefield-printing-company.html
From the above links "Blanefield" is linked to postmarks(commercial overprints). The postmarks in TTOTC could be hints towards Blanefield being WWWH. Note that some of the postmarks look like having overprints on them.
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The name Blanefield came into common usage in the 19th century with the development of both Blanefield House and the printworks by the owners The nearby station was called Blanefield when the line opened in 1867. This resulted in the whole neighbourhood becoming known as Blanefield with the name Netherton all but vanishing.
The question then becomes what is the link between Blanefield and Forrest Fenn?
The answer to the question is to be found in the idea that the village of Blanefield was formerly known as Netherton.
"Well I've always thought that I deserve a throne."
Blanefield = netherton = en the tron = on( Spanish) the throne( breton) = Forrest Fenn( sits on the "throne" in Moby Dickens presentation)
From the above, it may be seen that the village of Blanefield may be equated with Forrest Fenn.
From this, the connection of Blanefield with Forrest Fenn is established.
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I have no interest in pursuing the Chase any further. I post the above simply in the hope that it may help someone expedite solving the rest of the poem.
Wishing you all well and a Happy New Year.
