Questions tagged [language]
Questions on historical use of languages and their development.
256
questions
9
votes
0
answers
172
views
Was silent reading or reading aloud the norm in pre-modern (esp. Tang through Ming eras) China?
Many scholars argue that in ancient Greco-Roman culture, reading aloud was the norm, as seen in examples like Augustine's Confessions, where Augustine sees someone reading silently and sees this as ...
- 91
0
votes
4
answers
418
views
Why do some ancient languages become widespread across cultures, while others don't?
At first glance, I don't see any strong interconnections between the spread of languages and the history of conquests.
For example, according to the Northern theory, during the Middle Ages, Eastern ...
MCW♦
- 32.3k
4
votes
1
answer
341
views
Were there Old English speaking enclaves within the Danelaw?
I believe the language of the people that settled in England to create the Danelaw was Old East Norse. Do we know if the Danelaw became a homogeneous Old East Norse speaking region, or did it become ...
- 311
0
votes
4
answers
857
views
Was there animosity between Mandarin-speaking and Cantonese-speaking Chinese?
The PRC-ROC schism aside, has there historically been (or is there today) any animosity or feelings of cultural or racial superiority between Mandarin-speaking Chinese and Cantonese-speaking Chinese?
...
MCW♦
- 32.3k
120
votes
7
answers
21k
views
Did China ever consider a phonetic writing system?
I was surprised to learn the following about the Japanese and Korean languages:
Japanese used a lot of Chinese characters in their language and had no phonetic system, until around the year 800 when ...
- 118k
5
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What was the population of late Pre-Islamic Arabia and the population of Arabic speakers before Islam?
The Arab tribes were spread out widely, and the land of Arabia was not as viable to live on as the Fertile Crescent, so I would expect the population to be lower. But, how much in an estimated range ...
- 1
6
votes
3
answers
4k
views
How would one refer to/address a Shogun?
In the Bakumatsu era, how would one refer to a shogun (when talking about him with someone else) or address him directly if talking to him? Is it just name + -sama suffix?
I am interest in the answer ...
MCW♦
- 32.3k
3
votes
0
answers
65
views
What's the first mention of امّان and سومالی in Persian texts?
I am Iranian. As you know the country has been influenced very much by Islam and Arabic language since the conquer of Sassanid Empire by Muslim Arabs. Even the Persian alphabet wasn't prone to the ...
- 249
3
votes
3
answers
299
views
What was the Ancient Egyptian's word for eleventh or twelfth?
I am researching the 12 hours of the ancient Egyptian night, and the spiritual journey through the duat. I have been able to find the ordinal numbers for the first hour through tenth hour online, tpj (...
- 134
6
votes
0
answers
314
views
Did Seattle prostitutes call themselves "Seamstresses"?
In Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, "ladies of negotiable affection" are referred to as "Seamstresses", and are part of the "Seamstresses' Guild", despite not ...
- 72.3k
0
votes
1
answer
223
views
Is the word God (or it's equivalent) always as old as the civilization's earliest written texts? [closed]
I did some research and it seems the word God (or its equivalent) is usually as old as the written text of that civilization.
Is this table accurate? Are there any civilizations of written language ...
- 477
7
votes
1
answer
970
views
What languages did Karl Marx speak and how well?
Isaiah Berlin in Karl Marx: His Life and Environment comments on Marx efforts to learn Russian:
In order to do this he began to learn Russian; at the end of
six months he had mastered it sufficiently ...
- 3,235
20
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Did Noah Webster ever state why he Americanized spelling?
I am aware that Noah Webster (1758--1843 AD) is responsible for the majority of the differences between British and American spelling (IE: "color" v "colour"). Over time, it seems, in his Speller ...
18
votes
8
answers
4k
views
Why was the Greek alphabet not adopted by other languages, given the Greek influence?
Most western languages adopt the Latin alphabet with minor variations. Arabic letters are adopted by quite a few other languages. The same is true for Eastern Europe with Cyrillic letters. Why was the ...
- 5,275
15
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Why isn't there a single trace of Germanic influence in Iberian Languages?
In this question, I would like to make a comparison between two settlements that occurred in the Early Middle Ages in Europe, that seem to be very similar, however they had very distinct outcomes ...
- 1,379
13
votes
4
answers
2k
views
What was the official language used across European monarchies in the XII century?
I have been reading about European history in the XII century and I am finding out that several of the modern day languages hadn't yet evolved to what they are now: Langue d'oïl was still being used ...
- 3,235
3
votes
3
answers
771
views
What language is this artists signature written in and what does it say?
This signature is on a print from the 1960s. There are symbols in the art such as a fish (see ring and vest clasp)and a hamsa (possibly) in the outer border.
- 141
11
votes
5
answers
10k
views
How did it happen that countries and cities got different names in different languages?
I wonder why a single city's (or country's) name is different in various languages. To me, city and country names are somewhat similar to a person's given name, and it doesn't seem right to call ...
CommunityBot
- 1
1
vote
2
answers
265
views
What was up with "Alicorn" in the 1920's and 30's
My question is about the applications of the term "alicorn." What I know is that it's a medieval term used for supposed compounds of unicorn horn. Later Peers Anthony used the term for a horned ...
- 1,743
4
votes
2
answers
407
views
What is "Distributed Survival Theory"?
I'm just going through "History of the Steppes" on Wondrium/Great Courses. The lecturer mentions "Distributed Survival Theory" for explaining language acquisition with nomadic ...
- 609
6
votes
0
answers
220
views
When did Russian officially replace Old Slavonic?
When was Russian adopted as the official language of Russia?
Background:
Well into the XVIII-th (or even XIX-th) century Russian co-existed in a state of diglossia with Old Church Slavonic, based on a ...
MCW♦
- 32.3k
48
votes
5
answers
12k
views
Which European Languages are not Indo-European?
I saw this question asked on Twitter today. At first blush it seemed like an easy reference question, but I can't find any place that actually has this spelled out in one place. I ended up having to ...
- 32.5k
5
votes
1
answer
731
views
Where to find a comprehensive list of proto-cuneiform Sumerian glyphs?
I'm looking for representations and meanings of the logographs of the Uruk period (3500–3000 BC), such as those on the Kish tablet. I've only been able to find a few examples, but over 1000 are known. ...
2
votes
0
answers
151
views
How and when did the Latin alphabet become predominant over Jawi in Malaysia?
The Jawi alphabet is still used in Malaysia, and there are certain policies that promote its continued use, but Latin script is far more dominant. At what point did the Malay population as a whole ...
- 1
5
votes
0
answers
243
views
What's the source that Henry IV was the first post-Norman conquest monarch to speak English as their first language?
Okay; the oft-cited fact that "Henry IV was the first English monarch after 1066 whose first language was English".
Now, while I have no doubt it was, what I find puzzling about this is that ...
- 1,256
49
votes
18
answers
13k
views
Are there confirmed cases where a country changed its language without being conquered?
I thought about this question and wondered: Are there any known cases where a country switched to a different language other than because of being conquered? If some country ever did this I would be ...
- 5,839
3
votes
0
answers
102
views
What is the meaning of the word "vallaque" in the French Wikipedia page on Avignon's history?
The Wikipedia page Histoire d'Avignon, contains a passage refering to the Frankish king of Austrasia Sigebert I. He was seeking access to the sea, so that he forced the conquest of a piece of land ...
- 2,256
5
votes
3
answers
319
views
Was it common in Europe in the modern era that proper names were translated?
My question is partially motivated by this question. I know that up until early 20th century in Hungarian many (or even most) foreign names were translated. For example this poster from 1864 mentions &...
- 263
0
votes
2
answers
215
views
To what extent has ideographic script contributed to the unification of China？
The different languages of Europe are, by Chinese standards, just successive variants of one language. But the phonetic alphabet is so flexible that the same set of letters can spell almost any ...
- 8,382
3
votes
0
answers
153
views
How to coordinate the relationship between Corded Ware(Fatyanovo-Abashevo), Sanskrit and Graeco-Aryan? [closed]
The latest research shows that the R1a-Z93 of Sintashta and Andronovo originated from the Corded Ware culture (Middle Dnieper-Fatyanovo-Abashevo). If so, Sanskrit would be unified with Germanic and ...
28
votes
1
answer
3k
views
How likely is it that any non-Celtic language was spoken in the British Isles when the Romans invaded?
We know from Roman writers the names (or Latinized versions of them) of many ancient British tribes that they encountered, the Iceni, Parisi, Trinovantes etc. but the Romans were rarely interested in ...
- 31.4k
36
votes
7
answers
20k
views
What language(s) were spoken within the Holy Roman Empire?
What language(s) were considered the primary language for the Holy Roman Empire? Were there many different languages spoken due to the many different regions?
- 5,132
7
votes
2
answers
3k
views
What languages were common in first century Jerusalem?
The Pentecost just made me wonder what languages were common in first century Jerusalem. The miracle of Pentecost was that the apostles were preaching in many languages, and this would assume that ...
- 297
39
votes
2
answers
12k
views
What language did Gaius Julius Caesar speak with Cleopatra?
What language did Gaius Julius Caesar (GJC) speak with Cleopatra?
My thoughts:
GJC spoke Latin.
Cleopatra spoke many languages, including Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Egyptian, Greek.
Or did they need a ...
MCW♦
- 32.3k
8
votes
1
answer
824
views
When was the last moment that Dutch, German and Swiss German were the same language?
As a Dutch person with a German partner living in Zürich I've been wondering this for years.
I've gathered a few details here and there, one of my sources is a book called the "Atlas für Deutsche ...
CommunityBot
- 1
2
votes
2
answers
902
views
What language(s) were spoken in 11th century Romania?
Curious to know what languages would've been spoken and used in correspondences during this time, specifically in Transylvania.
- 2,256
3
votes
2
answers
470
views
Did ancient peoples apply starch to clothing?
Source: See p 6 of 10 of the PDFs, first leftward para.
Beware that p 6 of the PDF is labelled as p 18 on the document itself.
The English name of starch, as well as its equivalent
in German, Stärke, ...
- 9,504
15
votes
8
answers
4k
views
How can I properly learn the history of a country whose language I don't speak or read?
I was trying to learn some history of the Middle East; however, I thought to myself that most relevant sources about it are in Arabic, a language I don't know how to read or write, and you must rely ...
- 11
6
votes
8
answers
10k
views
Why did the the East-Pakistanis oppose Urdu as their national language while Indians accepted Hindi as theirs?
In 1947, Both India and Pakistan were given independence from Britain. India was able to establish Hindi as its national language with minimal problems. Pakistan, on the other hand, was created with ...
- 4,781
1
vote
0
answers
195
views
Why did the British people switch from the Celtic language to Old English?
There is a widely held theory that when the Romans left England in the 5th century AD the island was defenceless against Anglo-Saxon invading armies. In the south and east the Britons were defeated in ...
- 127
4
votes
2
answers
2k
views
During the Chola dynasty how extensive was the use of Sanskrit in government and by the people?
David Shulman in his book "Tamil" notes:
One thing, however, is certain: the Cholas were happy to use Tamil as
an official state language, along with Sanskrit; and they, or the
poets they ...
- 101
2
votes
0
answers
300
views
What languages could David Livingstone speak?
What languages could David Livingstone speak? I am certain that he spoke English and Setswana, but presumably neither of these would have been any use for the last seven years of his life. I have ...
- 3,544
5
votes
0
answers
169
views
Was there an alchemical symbol given for pitchblende?
In 1789 Martin Klaproth isolated uranium from pitchblende for the first recorded time, however uranite was used in dying glass in the first century.
Through the age of alchemy, I have not been able to ...
- 181
35
votes
5
answers
7k
views
Why did modern "Romania" remain the most "Roman" part of the Balkans?
The so-called "Romanians" are the Vlachs who inhabited the territory just north of the Danube in Roman times, and today. Wallachia (home of the Vlachs), represented the outer limit or Roman expansion. ...
- 170
8
votes
0
answers
172
views
Why is there such a dramatic shift in Tamil script during the 3rd to 5th centuries AD?
I have already asked this question in Linguistics.SE but I didn't get any answers and the comments there spoke of historical reasons rather than Linguistics shifts so I'm asking here.
Recently, I was ...
- 80.8k
34
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Until when was Marseille Greek-speaking?
Marseille was originally a Greek city. It fell to the Romans in 49 BC, but without suffering very much. Given the widespread use of the Greek language in the Roman Empire, it is not clear to me that ...
- 2,487
11
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Why did the father of algebra speak Arabic instead of Persian?
I'm reading about algebra and the man most associated with its creation or popularisation, Muhammad al-Khwarizmi. We know that algebra comes from the Arabic "al-jabr", but what I don't understand is ...
2
votes
1
answer
191
views
What kind of slang terms were used in Massachusetts in 1947?
I'm writing a story is set in Massachusetts in 1947, one of the main characters is living there and has been for a decade but was educated in the UK. I'm trying to work out what his language is like ...
- 118k
50
votes
3
answers
9k
views
Why is AD in Latin and BC is in English?
Why does one abbreviation for designating time come from Latin (AD: anno Domini), but the other corresponding to the time before that from English (BC: before Christ)?
BC = before Christ
AD = anno ...
- 1
2
votes
0
answers
110
views
In light of genetic genealogy, are there any new theories for the introduction of Goidelic to Britain and Ireland
There is DNA evidence of two major waves of Indo-European migration to Britain and Ireland.
The first wave of migration occurred in the early Bronze Age.
The second wave of migration occurred in the ...
- 29