In response to my recent posting on Saint Arnold craft beers, two friends wandered further, to Arnold Island (Luc Vartan Baronian, who, however, did it in French, since the island is in Québec) and to people with the family name Arnold (Ryan Tamares, who started with Matthew Arnold, the English poet and cultural critic).
On Arnoldia. By this I refer to something like ‘Arnold’s world’ or ‘the world of Arnold(s)’.
In related news, there is a quarterly magazine named Arnoldia, which means in this case ‘the world of the Arnold Arboretum’ (of Harvard University) — a wonderful place.
And there are several genera of plants named Arnoldia, presumably named after someone with the family name Arnold. In the Botanical Gazette of May 1986, an article “Arnoldia kuesii, a New Juvenile Fernlike Plant from the Lower Permian of New Mexico” by Sidney Ash and William D. Tidwell. And there’s Arnoldia as a synonym for the genus standardly named Dimorphotheca, a genus closely related to the genus Osteospermum of “African daisies” that I posted about here on 8/31. On the genus, from Wikipedia:
Dimorphotheca is a genus of plants in the sunflower family [the composites], native to Africa and Australia. is one of eight genera of the Calenduleae, with a centre of diversity in Southern Africa. Some species can hybridize with Osteospermum, and crosses are sold as cultivated ornamentals.
A widespread species, with yellow or orange flowers, that grows in drifts:
Dimorphotheca sinuata (Glandular Cape marigold, Orange Namaqualand Daisy … [also Cape Marigold, African Daisy, Star of the Veldt]) is an African species of plants native to southern Africa. It is also widely cultivated as an ornamental and naturalized in parts of the United States, primarily California and Arizona. (Wikipedia link)
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Place names. On to Arnold as a place name. There are cities named Arnold, for instance Arnold MO, the largest city in Jefferson County, Missouri.
And then the Île à Arnold, Québec, that Luc wrote about. In English, Arnold’s Island or Arnold Island. From a map that Luc linked to:
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Various sources say that the island is near Île Davidson, Davidson, Bruyère Island, and Fort Coulonge, but none of these is named on the map above.
Family names. Wikipedia has an entry with a huge list of notable people with the surname Arnold. Matthew Arnold. Benedict Arnold. Eddy Arnold. Imagine these three joined in the Arnold Trio, or the Arnold Brothers, or the Three Arnolds.
There are already several family gospel groups called the Arnold Trio, most specially this Dayton TN trio from the 70s, composed of Floyd Arnold, Kathy Arnold, and Thelma Shelton:
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So if Matthew, Benedict, and Eddy are going to form a musical group, perhaps they should look at some other musical genre, rather than marching onto an already-crowded field: classical music, folk music, r&b, or jazz, say. Let’s look at the first two.
There are trios in classical music that actually consist of three family members. The Ahn Trio, for example — three Korean sisters who constitute a piano trio and are famous for their sexy dress and sometimes outrageous presentations of themselves:
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But mostly chamber trios are named after a place or institution (the Oberlin Trio, another piano trio) or are named to honor a specific musician (the Borodin Trio, still another piano trio — there are string trios — named after Alexander Borodin).
In the workd of folk groups, we have the Clancy Brothers. From Wikipedia:
The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk group, which initially developed as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular in the 1960s, they were famed for their trademark Aran Jumpers and are widely credited with popularising Irish traditional music in the United States and revitalising it in Ireland
… The Clancy Brothers, Patrick “Paddy” Clancy, Tom Clancy, and Liam Clancy, are best known for their work with Tommy Makem, recording almost two dozen albums together as The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.
In a photo:
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From left to right: Maken, Paddy, Tom, Liam. By performing so often with Makem, the three brothers essentially transformed themselves into a quartet.
There are other naming schemes around. Take the Kingston Trio. From Wikipedia:
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s.
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In any case, Matthew, Benedict, and Eddy Arnold are going to have to choose a repertoire, and that’s an interesting prospect to contemplate. “British Grenadiers”? With “Cattle Call” as a chaser?
Wikipedia also has a list about Arnold as a given name. Real people: Arnold Stang, Arnold Palmer, Arnold Scharzenegger. And fictional Arnolds: Arnold Rimmer (a hologram character in Red Dwarf, Arnold Ziffel (Fred Ziffel’s pig on Green Acres), Arnold Zeck (the villainous character in the Nero Wolfe books). Imagine them together as the Three Arnolds — a singing group, or a comedy team, or a gang, or whatever. Arnold Stang, Palmer, and Schwarzenegger, together for your listening enjoyment. Arnold Rimmer, Ziffel, and Zeck, the dreaded Enforcers for the Mob.
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