Silentium

I think the question of late Romanization is definitely part of the equation, and the same could be true of the 'language of culture' aspect--I certainly wouldn't argue it. I don't have anything here which talks about it, but I'd be very curious as to what, if anything, has been written about and argued. My sources for the previous posts are, in addition to Hugo Schuchardt's Die romanischen Lehnw

Yes, I was wondering if there were other factors in play, such as arabic being a language of "culture" itself (which could explain why Berber has so many latin loanwords and Arabic doesn't) and the fact that the romanisation of Africa had not started as early as that of Iberia and had not been as capillar as the one in the latter. I have looked at the article and the bibliography at the bottom of the page but the postulation of a "North African Romance" seems merely speculative, considering that it is based on the corpus of latin loanwords in Berber, and that generally these loanwords seem to be characterised by a certain "archaism". Even if the phonetics of some of these loanwords may suggest that their origin was proto-romance or late-latin, that does not prove the existence of an african romance language and there is no overwhelming toponymic/onomastic evidence either. If latin continued to be spoken as late as the VI century in the region then it is likely that this latin had already evolved into proto-romance or "late latin", but that does not prove these borrowings came from an african romance language (Just one? Why not many?), let alone that it was spoken until the XVII century. The author of the article claims that this late african latin was different from that of the rest of the "Rom

I have found this fascinating post by Andrew Dalby on another thread which I am quoting, as I think it will be a great contribution for this thread: I was researching Berber to see if there was any trace of latin loanwords that could help reconstruct the nature of the Latin spoken in North Africa, and I

I have no idea. I don't think the HDI factors in gun crime. Just a silly and not so funny joke..

LOL interesting How about Nebraska then? Italy appears to be mentioned next to it (do they have much gun crime there? )

Yes, dice connotes "tell" more than "talk". How about the deponens "loquor, -eris"?

Faustus, is this passage taken from Giovanni Antonazzi's "Fogli Sparsi Raccolti per il Sabato Sera"? I have this book in Italian, Chapter 4 in the Passeggiate Romane section is called "Le Mole del Tevere" and has more or less the same information. The most famous mill in the XIX century was "la mola dei fiorentini", and although the mill is gone we still have "Via delle mole dei Fiorentini".

Of course. Being no archaeologist I had to trust what Il Messaggero and Rai Tre said . I remember a few years ago, while they were renovating the casina Valadier to turn it into a caffetteria and found ruins underground, they also said it was Lucullus' domus (now I know it was the pars servorum). I guess we will have to wait for more evidence and more excavations on the Pincio.

Yes, the nymphaeum was found near the Hertziana. I thought the servants' quarters were in the area of casina Valadier, I'd look it up if I had the MEFRA near me but I don't atm. Oh, in that case I would trust your information more than my vague recollection, I might as well have read it on La Repubblica..

Silentium, do you know exactly where the excavation is taking place? It doesn't make any sense to me that Lucullus' domus would be located near the Muro Torto. It should be much closer to Villa Medici imho. Practically between Via Gabriele D'Annunzio and Piazza Napoleone.. oh, and the want to install ventilation systems for the car park right in the middle of the terrazza..lovely. Your observation is absolutely right, if anything the domus should have been closer to the Hortii Luculliani (i.e. Villa Medici) and Lucullus' nymphaeum, which, if I'm not mistaken, was found between Via Sistina and Via Gregoriana, although I remember reading somewhere that the part near the muro torto was actually the part where the servi lived (but I have to check this and possibly post the source).

From Italian newspaper Il Messaggero. The Domus, together with a mosaic pavement and a cryptoportico, was found during excavations for the creation of a car park on Pincio hill, in Rome. Cultural and archaeological association Italia Nostra is trying to elicit an answer from the new mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, who apparently hasn't said yet whether the project to build the parking space will be cancelled or whether it will continue in spite of the overwhelming archaeological evidence.

Beautiful.. There are two "contemporary" composers I absolutely admire, one is Yann Tiersen, the other is Craig Armstrong. Craig Armstrong also recorder a wonderful version of Debussy's Clair de Lune, fantastic performance. Yann Tiersen - Comptine d'un autre

Interesting!A sort of memento mori. It adds to his greatness that he needs such a reminiscence, lest he should think himself divine. Salve As morbid as this all is, it still delights. True, although this acknowledgement of men's mortal nature seems to have a different connotation in pagan Rome, it seems to be an incentive to living life to the fullest and at the same time in the best/healthiest way possible (both a warning and an invitation to enjoyment, as Ugo Enrico Paoli poits out in the excerpt posted by Faustus), while the Christian timor mortis seems to be connected with the fear of sin, of not repenting and consequently of punishment in hell. Tertullian's passage made me think of this, sorry for the digression.

Here's an example from Campania, probably Pompeii or Herculaneum. I found it in the Museo Natzionalle. Interesting!A sort of memento mori.

Heretic!!!XD

I thought it was its universal meaning, at least for catholics. I've been told all my life that INRI means that: "Jesus of Nazaret, King of Jews"

This is more or less what Ferguson says in his book "Colossus", which deals principally with the US. Precisely. By calling it a Franco-German conspiracy you are underestimating (greatly) the other European countries (and their nationalism) and misrepresenting the decision making process within the EU institutions. These countries have had such a prominent place because they have a large population and political influence. I'm sure you know well the political weight of France can't be compared to that of Slovenia. However, if the UK had got more involved in the Messina Conference and the Treaty of Rome at the right time, maybe she could have shaped the EU from within and have the same resonance France and Germany have today, although at that time you were more concerned with the Commonwealth and the Empire, on which the sun had already set from a long time. Now I honestly don't think you can complain if the EU is more France and Germany oriented. On the other hand I don't think it would be wise for either Ireland or the UK to quit the EU, for you will find yourself crushed between the US, an incrisingly more powerful and strong EU and the emerging economic powers (China, India,etc.), which any long sighted politician would consider as a suicide.

Espa

The most popular version in Italy appears to be Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum. Go figure.

Hmm..the latin for symbol is imago..even index in some cases, and in ecclesiastic latin it would be symbolum, from greek. Insigna could mean sign, mark, distinctive sign, military ornament, ornament in general, "insigna in ornatu" when referring to the ornamental objects inside a house, but I think I have never encountered insigna with the meaning of "symbol" in what I have read in classical latin so far. ..but apparently the Oxford English Dictionary cleared up a few things for me the word "Insignia" as symbol, emblem is first recorded in 1648 in the English language. As far as ethymology is concerned, we go to the original meaning of the word in latin:

Sorry, I didn't notice this thread before. This sounds like: "Reason Illuminates the signs of nature" but that "insignia" could have different meanings, it really depends on the context, same for ratio.

I disagree, the opportunities are manifold, and so the info (publications, website, tv), it's just that the average citizen can't be bothered to look for them and then complains the EU is not doing enough. Take a look at europa.eu, you will see that in terms of welfare there is A LOT Europe is doing, problem is very little is known about these interventions. Just to mention one area of intervention (education): http://www.wmin.ac.uk/page-15714 http://www.helsinki.fi/news/archive/3-2008/19-10-04-14.html Oh, and this is a link from University College Cork (Arts, Celtic Studies, Social Science) http://www.ucc.ie/en/CollegesandDepartment...eanUnionFunding apparently you can still be very very Irish and benefit from EU funds at the same time. I am tempted to answer with a line from Blackadder but I won't . I thought it would be interesting to quote a passage from the wiki entry for

You can find the article in English on the Anthropological linguistics review. As you pointed out earlier those involved in sociolinguistics will probably tend to give a different definition of language and dialect from that of an historical linguist, and that is the case with Kloss. However, are we sure language can really be separated from its political and social context? Isn’t language a social construct? Take French, for example. Without the Franks coming to power at a certain point in history I don’t think it would have been the same language we know today. Also, how can one ignore the part played by religion in the distinction of Serbian and Croatian, for example? A purely linguistic definition of language that does not take these variables into account cannot work, in my opinion. About the commonplace according to which languages have a literature and dialects don't, Occitan has a quite prestigious literature but in today’s France it is nothing more than a dialect, in terms of status. What Kloss says is essentially that Abstand languages or “languages by distance” are those varieties considered as separate languages because of their distance from all other languages (like Basque, for example), while Ausbau Languages (languages by extention, or construction) are associated with geographical dialect continua and therefore depend on cultural factors for their status. This means Ausbau languages are potentially temporary entities. Some languages are languages by both criteria, like English for example. This means intelligibility can hardly work as a distinctive criterion between Ausbau languages, as Northern Neil mentioned earlier. The Italian-Spanish example comes to mind. Spanish is not necessarily less intelligible to an Italian speaker from central Italy than Sicilian or Lombard, so I don’t think it is a matter of intelligibility here. Czech, Slovak and Polish are together the West Slavic dialect continuum; there is mutual intelligibility and a Polish could easily hold a conversation with a Slovak, but each has a different standardised norm and different cultural parameters.

How very sad things will be very difficult from now on.. I am also sorry for Austria and Swissyland. Austria's official anthem for the games should have been Anton Aus Tirol to be honest. Ich bin so sch