Noldorin

2,317 reputation

825

bio	website	noldorin.com
	location	London, United Kingdom
	age	22
visits	member for	1 year, 7 months
	seen	May 10 at 14:02
stats	profile views	53

postgrad student of mathematics, graduate in theoretical physics, polymath in training, blogger of miscellany

based in London, UK

	2,317 reputation	bio	website	noldorin.com	visits	member for	1 year, 7 months
825 badges		location	London, United Kingdom		seen	May 10 at 14:02

summary answers questions tags badges favorites bounties reputation activity

325 Actions

suggestions reviews revisions comments badges posts accepts all

May 21	comment	Where did the Gaels originate? Yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm not so much correcting as elaborating on some of the points that I thought were vague or could do with some discussion. :) The origin of the Celts is a tricky matter; it's generally thought the Italo-Celtic branch separated from the Germanic/Slavic/Baltic branch somewhere in central-eastern Europe, after which the Italic peoples migrated south into the Italian penninsula and the Celts spread out everywhere, but primarily migrated West. The Gaels specifically seem to be an off-shoot of the continental Celts, and closely related to the Celtiberians perhaps.
May 21	comment	Where did the Gaels originate? The best current theory for the origin of the Gaelic peoples is that originated somewhere in northern Spain and/or southern France during the westward migrations of the Celts in the 2nd and 1st millennia B.C. From these areas, they later spread to Ireland and finally Scotland.
May 21	comment	Where did the Gaels originate? Galician is indeed a Romance language, but the culture and ethnicity of the region was historically strongly Celtic, and remains rather Celtic even to this day. They lost their native Celtic tongue along with other Celtic peoples in (northern) Iberia when the Romans conquered the peninsula. Before this, there is evidence of them speaking the "Gallaecian" language, a continental Celtic language.
May 21	comment	Where did the Gaels originate? There are a few problems with this answer. Gaelic/Goidelic/Gaulish/Gallic/Galatian/etc. (probably even 'Celtic') are all cognate, and the base word originates as an endonym for the Celtic peoples, that goes back very far indeed. The Ancient Greeks recorded "Galatians" in Anatolia. This was long before civilised Europe had any contact with Wales or the Welsh language. Certainly, the root etymology of "Gaelic" is far old than the nations of Wales, Ireland, France, etc., and possibly older than the Goidelic-Brythonic split.
Mar 7	comment	Where did the Gaels originate? (contd.) The Empire provided for quick trade routes and efficient communication, hence ideas could have easily spread between the two, especially regarding something as important and pervasive as a nascent religion. Early Irish Christianity was influenced both by the Brythonic form (pre-Anglo Saxon) and continental Christianity to varying degrees.
Mar 7	comment	Where did the Gaels originate? Sure... the Roman Empire encompassed Egypt at the time of early Coptic Christianity, and also Britain, both of which it effectively Christianised. This persisted even after the collapse for a short time time, thanks to Byzantine trade and power. Christianity during the Roman Imperial period was disparate and sectarian, but that doesn't mean there weren't a lot of cross-influences going on.
Mar 5	awarded	Enlightened
Mar 5	awarded	Nice Answer
Feb 29	awarded	Nice Answer
Feb 22	comment	What language(s) were spoken within the Holy Roman Empire? @OwenBlacker: Yeah, well we're both getting into fine details here, for sure. Northern Europe east of roughly modern Brandenburg was settled by ethnically and linguistically Slavic (and Baltic) peoples before Germanic folk established a presence there. You're right in saying that the Germans came along later, founded cities, and spread the German language such that it was even dominant in some areas, but for the most part the Slavic character of the region remained. Bohemia had a similar story as far as I know.
Feb 21	comment	What language(s) were spoken within the Holy Roman Empire? @OwenBlacker: Yeah, you make fair points. It's so hard to cover the subtleties of the Empire's languages and the every-changing boundaries and degrees of controls over various regions (throughout a millennium history). During the early Empire -- until the late Middle Ages I believe -- territory encompassed significant Polish speaking areas. Not on the area in the above map (the year ~1600) though, I agree with that.
Feb 20	comment	What language(s) were spoken within the Holy Roman Empire? @Lohoris: Certainly in the High Medieval period. Frederick I and/or Frederick II would have at least possessed nominal control over Genoa, as well probably earlier Holy Roman Empires. The control was never firm though, and Genoa was governed by a largely independent Bishop, with the real power being held by pseudo-Roman elected consuls. As far as I know, at least. :-)
Jan 10	comment	Who gave King Richard I the title Coeur de Lion? Yes quite; thank you for pointing this out. And not to mention the Plantagenets' predecessors the Normans...
Jan 4	comment	What are the counterarguments to calling German nazism a right-wing movement? Left and right wing is always a woolly, ill-defined term, I find. Saying that, I like the definition of Facism as an "extreme centrist" ideology. Nazism is a peculiar and even more extreme brand of Facism, with racial ideologies on top.
Jan 1	comment	Who should be the king/queen of England? @SteveMelnikoff Sorry, you're right. I don't know why I said MPs. I meant ministers.
Jan 1	comment	Who should be the king/queen of England? Direct descendent means nothing. There are plenty of them. Cognatic primogeniture is the key here! Very hard to prove.
Jan 1	comment	Who should be the king/queen of England? Oh, I just saw your previous comment. If you mean cognatic primogeniture, I'm pretty sure no-one knows, as Edward IV was the last king of the Plantagenet line to produce children that did not late become monarch. He must have thousands of living descendent today, most unwitting.
Dec 31	comment	Who should be the king/queen of England? By what means do we determine the legitimate successor? Yes, the Tudor claim to the throne of England was not necessarily legitimate by cognatic primogeniture (the most widely accepted form I believe), but it's how history went. In any case, the current monarch (Queen Elizabeth II) descends both from William I and the Anglo-Saxon kings of England, both through the first Plantagenet king (Henry II). Arguably the first Plantagenet king had more legitimacy than his Norman predecessors, thanks to his grandmother. In any case, can you clarify your definition please?
Dec 31	comment	Who should be the king/queen of England? So yeah, the idea you like and the reality are somewhat different... but in practice Parliament has all the power (and mainly the Commons at that). The Queens powers are layed out in the British constitution and are quite significant, except for when you note she just defers to the PM in all case. As is famously said, "the Queen reigns, but she does not rule" See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… for the significant powers the monarch possesses, including appointing/dismissing any MP (including the PM)!
Dec 31	comment	Who should be the king/queen of England? Alas, it's not true. The monarch still has nominal power to dismiss Parliament. In fact the Queen must formally open Parliament each year, as is currently the case. She must also sign bills before they take action, though this is again formality. She has quite range of significant powers, but they are all basically nominal, since if she or any following monarch tried to take too much power, everyone would ignore them.