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Since we've been talking about names for the past couple of episodes, here's another one of my favourites from the Allusiovaults. It's a literary mystery, a confusion of Scottish identity and authenticity; it's the unexpected, complicated, quite beautiful history of the name Fiona, with Harry Josie Giles and Moll Heaton-Calloway.
Thanks to everyone who has already sent me their thoughts about their name for the next episode! If you’d like to contribute, you can email or record a voice message via theallusionist.org/contact. You can remain anonymous if you prefer.
EXTRA MATERIALS:
Moll’s PhD thesis was about Fiona Macleod and William Sharp.
Josie has written a five-part series about Willfion.
Elizabeth Sharp’s biography of Fiona Macleod and William Sharp is available on archive.org.
Here’s a short biography of William Sharp.
Archive of William Sharp and Fiona Macleod’s letters.
The boat Fiona.
Both Josie and I relied heavily on Sharon Krossa's research into the etymology of Fiona; read it here.
Fionn “grew all-wise by eating an enchanted salmon”.
Just look this fancy Fiona Macleod book cover!
You can also read Fiona Macleod’s Tragic Romance volumes.
Sign up at theallusionist.org/donate to fund the continuing existence of this independent podcast. For $5/month or above, get the ad-free version of the show. Donors at all levels can join me for regular livestreams where I read relaxingly from my ever-expanding collection of vintage dictionaries, plus you get bonus written content including behind the scenes info about every episode, membership of the Allusioverse Discord community, and watchalong parties for films and TV shows: next weekend we'll watch Billy Wilder's excellent Agatha Christie adaptation Witness for the Prosecution, and each week we're watching the 2026 season of Great British Bake Off and its Canadian counterpart - and, you get my drawings of Paul Hollywood in the style of medieval marginalia.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
romer, noun: a small piece of plastic or card bearing perpendicularly aligned scales or (if transparent) a grid, used to determine the precise reference of a point within the grid printed on a map.
Origin 1930s: named after its British inventor Carrol Romer.
CREDITS:
Harry Josie Giles is a writer and performer. Find their work at harryjosephine.com and on their Substack.
Moll Heaton-Callaway is a scholar of book history and gender identity and wrote a PhD thesis about Fiona Macleod and William Sharp.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.
Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, @allusionistshow.bsky.social… Essentially: if I’m there, I’m there as @allusionistshow.
Back in a couple of weeks with a new episode about your names - HZ.
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