docoflove1974

Here in Baghdad-By-The-Bay, we used to get Columbus Day off. Some businesses still take it off...but most haven't since I was a wee lass. However, since I don't teach on Mondays, it's still not a big deal work-wise! As for personally...I'm having linguine with pesto, as is my personal tradition.

I thought that there was talk of the marshy and fertile land at the southern end of the 'Mesopotemia' region was the probably site for the Gardens? I could be wrong, tho.

Hmmmmmmmm...midwife? Possible. Courtesan? I'll leave that one alone Entertainer? Sounds a little too seedy for my taste. And since I don't wish to be a slave...earbashing someone (that just sounds funny!) is not fully my route. I think I'll stick by my original statement: married to a provincial viticulturist, so that I may partake of the fruits of our labor!

Ack! So it be! Thanks, AD!

I would only add to this: what is it that you're describing? For example, when I describe to my students the history of the Romance languages, there is a massive break between 'Latin' and 'Romance', and that this corresponds to the fall of Rome (and, say, the 3 or so centuries after that, when we have little recorded that isn't an attempt at Latin) and then the start of the feudal European states. This latter time refers to when we have written documents where the writers no longer try to emulate Latin, but the vernacular that is spoken; depending on the area you're talking about, that could be 9th-11th century. The 'limbo' in between, well, is just that; I often call it 'purgatorio' (Dante would love me!), since we have very little in the way of written documents. We have some jarchas from Iberia, but they haven't been fully translated yet. During the Moorish conquest and occupation of Iberia, the Moors and Mozarabes (Iberians who 'converted' to the Moorish way of life), along with the Jewish Iberians, wrote songs and poetry in their Semitic languages...except the last 2 stanzas were always written in 'Romance', but with Arabic/Hebrew writing; these are the jarchas. That I know of, we don't have much else--apart from occasional 'glosses' in the margins--before the Oath of Strassburg. So, for me, there's 3 'periods': 'antiquity' (until the fall of the Empire, or there abouts), 'limbo', and 'modern' (roughly the 9th-11th century). It's not a great division, but it's as close as I can get for my (linguistic) purposes.

Right, AD...in pragmatics and discourse analysis, they're considered softeners or contrary politeness markers. The speaker uses these phrases to potentially mitigate any ill-will that could be (mis)construed by the statement which follows it. The context is the crucial aspect; most often these phrases are used by a person in an 'inferior' social position (e.g. an employee talking to a boss, a student talking to a professor) or simply to not try to offend the listener. Of course, there are other uses--to manipulate the audience's perception of the speaker, for exampmle--but that's the basic one.

My brother is galavanting around down in Mexico and Central America. I just sent him this article; he's at various Mayan archeological sites, learning what he can, and this would be really cool for him to check out!

Eh, I found it easy, but I learned it after I was already fluent in Spanish and Italian. But, like any other skill, language has easy moments and difficult ones; one must practice the skill all the time, in order to hone it and master it. Language is like any other skill.

Almost right. Proto-Indo-European branched off into various daughter branches (in parentheses are the daughter languages that are the 'direct' descendants, or in the case of Celtic, the closest to that timeframe that we have attested): Anatolian (Hittite) Indo-Aryan (Avestan, Sanskrit) Hellenic (Ancient Greek) Balto-Slavic (Old Church Slavonic) Italic (Latin, Oscan) Germanic (Proto-German) Celtic (Gaulish; Old Irish, Old Welsh) Tocharian (A and B, spoken in far western China and the Himalayas) There are individual languages without 'sisters' that are within this PIE group: Armenian, Albanian There is also the Fino-Ugric group, and Finnish and Hungarian are the main representatives. Korean and Japanese are not part of this group; they are considered part of the Altaic group, which includes Mongolian and Turkish; this group is very 'loose', as in there are big leaps between the various languages, and not everyone is convinced that this is all one group. Basque and Etruscan are linguistic isolets in Europe; they are not related to any other language family: not PIE, Fino-Ugric, Altaic, or any other. Philology is really the study of the word, and is closer to etymology. Linguistics studies more of the grammar and structure of the entire language.

The Middle Ages tends to refer to the period from the fall of the Roman Empire until the start of the Renaissance. That depends, I guess. It has always seemed to me that 'those folks' on 'the other side of the isthmus' (aka modern 'Asia') were never fully 'Europeanized' in the view of the documents that I've read. Certainly when the Crusaders got there, they had a hard time figuring out who was 'Christian' and who was not. But it has always struck me that the cultures on the northern shores of the Mediterranean always viewed those on the southern shores as 'others', as well as those on the eastern shores. Funny, really, as their histories are quite interrelated.

I guess it depends on what you mean by 'antiquity'. 1) When do the 'Classic' periods (e.g. Roman Empire) give way to the 'modern times'? 2) When do societies start to be thought of as 'modern'? That's just two versions of that question...also, one must specify, I think, what area one is discussing. What we consider to be 'modern' and 'ancient' tends to revolve around Mediterranean society; but that may not be true for all.

Yay! One of my favorite vegetable groups! No lead poisoning for me!

But! One can make Colcannon with kale! Unless, of course, kale works as well as cabbage in such plumberous issues.

Sorry if this is discussed elsewhere...but a couple of questions popped into my head (which, by the way, is always dangerous when I'm cranially battered-and-deep-fried as I am right now): 1) Do we know (or have a fair estimation) as to where Troy was? 2) Is the later city of Tyre in any way related to Troy? As the secondary title suggests, my knowledge in this area is lacking...so excuse the ignorance!

Correct. Khmer is one of the Southeast Asian languages that are somewhat 'mid-family': not quite Sino-Tibetan (Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese), not quite Austronesian. It's related to Hmong, Laotian, Vietnamese, Thai, and others in that area. The borrowing of alphabets is nothing new. Hittite borrowed the Sumerian and Akkadian alphabets--both cuneiform alphabets for Semitic languages which were adapted to the Indo-European Hittite. And if memory serves, the Phoenician alphabet served as a basis for either the Greek or Roman alphabet (I'm fuzzier on this one; others will fill in the gaps, to be sure). Japanese (Altaic language) borrowed the Chinese (Sino-Tibetan) alphabet oh so many years ago. There are other examples, to be sure.

Today I printed off the dissertation. All 150 pages of it. Oh, there's plenty left, since this is the first time that my committee will have the entire work at their disposal. And I've done quite a bit of re-arranging of previous work, to go along with more editing than I care to do. This is all in anticipation of a 'meeting of the minds' for the first week of November, when I must fly back to Austin. I'm mentally exhausted. But, oh, wait! In the last month, I've put off so many chores, so this month that I have in the interim is going to be full. I'm about to be evaluated at work, so I have to get my portfolio together; that doesn't take long, but it's getting in the way. Gotta prep for the spring courses, as well as find additional part time work to pick up the slack. Gotta earn money on the side, since I'll be moving out in a few months. Oh, and look for full-time employment for the fall! Yeah, just a few things on the to-do list! So, due to my cranial fatigue, reading Don Tomato's longwinded canticle of ne'erdowell actions, I'm bushed. Can someone give me the Cliff's Notes version?

Um, yeah, is there an abridged version of this? Mine eyes are quite exhausted from constant re-reading of the same 150 pages of shyte, produced from my being that is.

Vlad II Drago or Dracu was the father, and was bloody in his own right, but the 'count Dracula' that we know is based off of the deeds of Vlad III Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler; Dracula means 'small/young Dracu', with 'Dracu' meaning 'dragon'. Vlad III was not deposed, that I know of; in fact, I think it was Vlad II who was given the boot.

Me, married to a weak willed man...yeah, right...that won't happen. Knowing me, I'd be in a wine-making family, so I'd be involved in that somehow. The country life, fresh air, good soil, good life.

I would say 'Vestal Virgin," but the whole rules thing kinda gets to me...and somehow I just don't think I'm blonde or airheaded enough. (Perhaps that's too much Mel Brooks' influence). I guess the question is: what occupations could a woman have? Outside of the domestic/slave stuff, which I'm not even sure there was that much of...nanny, cook, and the like? As for avoidance: anything that requires 'testing' things for the emperors.

Question: how many of the 'royal'/emperor busts have said 'Roman noses'?

I'm highly interested, but the timing is going to have to be right. It doesn't matter where it is; I get the feeling that there aren't too many of us west of the Rockies, so I'd be up for the travel. But my 2007 is looking highly eventful, so we shall see. I have no real input otherwise...once a date/place is set, I'll see if I can't go along!

You don't need to utter such 'cow-patties'...

Nope...false. Snopes says so