Pulling a few loose strings together . . . . . .

Lendita and her Nieces have a habit of telling each other off if one or the other doesn’t ‘pick-up’ when they call.  Part of this telling off includes the word (I thought) – ‘Schtreek’.

I asked about this, and apparently it’s Albanian for ‘Witch’ – I was heartily amused, because to my ears ‘shriek’ is exactly the sound Witches make as they hurtle down out of the clouds on their broomsticks (as you’ll be aware, if you leave bedroom windows open at night).

So, I Googled the word – as you do, and the best match appeared to be SCH (I was happy with this, I can do that sound) – SCHIERKE – which (ha) is sort of shriek – I thought.

• Schierke (derived from a word in local dialect meaning ‘unspoilt wood’ ) is the name of a village located in the Harz Mountain range of Northern Germany. In present day it is part of the state of Saxony-Anhalt and is now considered part of the town of Wernigerode. Schierke lies below the highest mountain in the region, the Brocken, which for uncounted centuries has been connected to legends and fairy tales concerning witches, devils and other supernatural beings. The summit of the Brocken is held as the traditional place of revelry for witches on Walpurgisnacht (April 30) (Notably this was used in a scene of Faust by Goethe) Modern-day Schierke is host to a festival every year on Walpurgisnacht.

• Or:   (the German word schier means, in the Harz area, an utterly, unspoilt wood

Ok, so far, so fluffy.   Excited at this present-day link with a past area I once lived in and enjoyed so much, I thought I’d better find out what the word actually was.

SHTRIG – she scribbles – phone in the other hand.  Eh?  I hadn’t heard the “G” at the end – and Googling again only suggests:

OH, OK – (google can only do so much, can’t it?)

Bloody Hell!  I wish I hadn’t found out now.