47 posts tagged with history and language.
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How quickly can the language of a place change?
Throughout history, when towns/cities were invaded and annexed by different countries, how long would it have taken the inhabitants to learn the new language? [more inside]
Linguistic History of HIV/AIDS
I recall a shift, sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, when people moved from saying someone had AIDS to someone being HIV positive. I'm wondering if my memory is correct and if so when, more precisely, that shift happened. [more inside]
My, what a lovely demi-dingle. (Huh?)
What did "demi-dingle" mean in 1929? And also, where was this rotten link supposed to lead? [more inside]
Examples of English as She is Spoke
What are your favorite instances in media of people pretending to speak a language they don't actually speak, either by memorizing phonemes or making stuff up? (Please skip the overtly racist stuff and focus on people who are punching up or at least punching laterally. No Chung Ling Soo, please.) [more inside]
Why is a sailing ship a "-man"?
Whence the suffix "-man" when referring to a sailing ship? [more inside]
How Can I Learn Ancient Greek While Learning Modern Greek?
I want to read Ancient Greek. Not sure exactly which - I don’t need to read Homer, but Plato would be nice. I’m using Rosetta Stone modern Greek to get started. I realize this isn’t necessarily considered a good idea, but I learn SO MUCH more easily from this kind of resource than from a book and I gather that there’s enough similarity that I’m pretty sure it’s a good idea for me. [more inside]
Help me understand what happens in Brazilian newspaper article from 1907
A French woman ("Mme. Toché") came to Brazil in 1907 to give a conference and enlisted the help of Brazilian journalist João do Rio (the narrator). I can more or less understand Portuguese, but this is Brazilian Portuguese from 1907 there's a part in the article that I have trouble figuring out. Article extract below the fold. [more inside]
Are there other common pronunciations of the name "Stalin"?
I'm listening to the audio version of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made, and the narrator pronounces "Stalin" like "stah-lean" without emphasis on either syllable, and both syllables rather drawn out.
Is this indicative of any common historical and/or regional pronunciation, or is it just wrong?
Can you tell me what it says on this Russian snuff box from 1820?
Can you tell me what it says on this Russian snuff box from 1820? [more inside]
History in the present tense is making me tense
I've noticed that in the past few years, historians have moved from describing historical events in the past tense and have moved to the present tense (or past-present-perfect-whatever-it's-called tense). Example below! [more inside]
Acronyms of Yore
A friend of mine asked on Facebook if there are any actual acronyms that predate the modern age. He pointed out folk etymologies (eg. "port out, starboard home", "store high in transit", "fornication under consent of king/for unlawful carnal knowledge", etc. and wondered if there were any words that really did have old acronymal origins. [more inside]
What's the point of a paper if nobody can read?
After the Japanese occupation of Korea in the 40s, my great grandfather was the culture editor of an English language newspaper that published in Korea. That's cool and all but many Koreans in those days were illiterate in Korean never mind English. So who would buy and read this newspaper and what's the point? [more inside]
Learning about the history of nationalized and marginalized languages
I know there was this process in the last few hundred years of European history where newly forming nations, trying to take hold of themselves, would decree one language official (French, Spanish), and try to squelch all of the many other languages/dialects (Occitan, Catalan) spoken within their borders. Where can I learn more? [more inside]
What did Yolo mean in 1919?
I was playing around with Google's Ngram viewer and noticed this interesting graph. Any idea what drove the two peaks around 1885 and 1919?
Ottoman Turk translation help?
How would one write "The Fast Ones" in Ottoman-era Turkish? I'm making a mildly humorous sign for a Turkish friend, and for various reasons I'm pretending it's Ottoman-era (1650). [more inside]
Did Charles Babbage ever read Leibniz on logic?
Charles Babbage was a prominent member of the Analytical Society, and was at the very least intimately familiar with Leibniz's formulation of calculus. But did he ever read Leibniz's writings on logic? Did the Ars Combinatoria, or any of his writings on the "universal characteristic" or "calculus ratiocinator" influence Babbage's thinking about computation?
Americans do not have a British accent. Why?
I was at lunch today and asked my friends "Why don't American's have British accents in their speach?" They were dumbfounded and began to wonder themselves so I turn to Ask MetaFilter to find the answer.
What ancient Anatolian alphabet is this?
I found some stone tablets written in a strange alphabet amongst a bunch of graves from different eras at the city museum of Tire, Turkey. The guy working the desk at the museum didn't know what they were. Pictures in extended. [more inside]
Decode This German Shorthand Mystery Letter From 1939!
This envelope with a letter inside was found inside a large decaying bound edition of Shakespeare auf Deutsch in a junk shop in Bushwick that was only apparently open for a few months before disappearing. The letter, postmarked 15 March, 1939 - was sent to Paris by a Mr. Henri Wolf. The contents of the letter appear to be German shorthand. Included was small piece of what looks like code, there's nothing else on the back.The letter, envelope, postcard, etc in question are at this imgur album. Hivemind: What the hell is this?
A race by any other slur
How do other languages (non-English) express the scientific term 'race?' vs the colloquial?
In taxonomic terms, the word "race" is 90% used as a misnomer in US discourse. This is rooted in "Social Darwinism," or contemporary racist applications of seminal evolution concepts. This colors verbiage across the sciences, especially the social sciences. To wit, the term 'racism' is in fact based on a dehumanizing paradigm.
So, um, how does this shake out elsewhere? [more inside]
Write the number dow-uhn
Why the two-syllable pronunciation of "nine" for the telephone? [more inside]
Cultural values affecting foreign policy?
To what extent do cultural values affect foreign policy making between U.S. and China? [more inside]
Did my German ancestors really need to know that much English?
Do immigrants need a higher level of proficiency in English to get along in the world today than our ancestors did when they immigrated? [more inside]
What are the best websites out there?
If I had never seen the internet before, where would you direct me in 2011? What are the best news, film, music, art, fashion, history, technology, gossip, sports websites and blogs out there? [more inside]
Don't decimate me, bro!
What could have happened in 1663 specifically to change the meaning of "decimate?" [more inside]
America isn't a Democrat, it's a Republican! Er, yeah.
Where did the "America is a republic, not a democracy" argument come from, and how much truth is there to it? [more inside]
English words and terms that have changed meaning?
What are some English words and terms that have changed meaning significantly in the last century or so? [more inside]
What does this awesome 105-year-old Armenian-language Austro-Hungarian postcard say?
I just bought a postcard written in what looks like Armenian sent from what is now Lviv to what is now Chernivtsi (in what is now Ukraine), sometime between 1905 and (I'm guessing from the stamp) the end of the First World War/Austrian rule of Galicia. What does it say? [more inside]
Have Americans evolved their speaking style/accent significantly in the past 50 years?
Have Americans evolved their speaking style/accent significantly in the past 50 years? I'm not talking about de-regionalizing of an accent. I'm talking about normal conversations, let's say with a midwestern, suburban accent. [more inside]
Sacrifice, speech, writing and art
Sacrifice, speech, writing and art: I am interested in the different ways in which a sacrifice, a sacrament, a spoken word and a written word act as signifiers. The notion for instance that the sacrament, at the point of its acceptance, is understood as becoming the signified. What can you tell me / what has been written about the notions of sacrifice and their relationship to speech, art and the technologies of writing? [more inside]
Urban incorporation by way of a bridge?
What cities have incorporated other cities by means of a bridge? [more inside]
Amo Amas Awhat?
Is there a Medieval Linguist in the house? I need a very short conversation between Cistercian nuns in Saxony translated into Medieval Latin. Any help so I don't sound like a complete idiot warmly welcomed. [more inside]
New theories of Mimesis (in digital/hypertextual/hypermedial cultures)
I am looking for writings on mimesis in regards new, digital, hypertext and hypermedial technologies and cultures. [more inside]
When did you need to get off my lawn?
What is the origin of the phrase "[you] damn kids get off my lawn!" [more inside]
Should Immigrants Be Required to Learn a National Language?
What are the reasons for and against constitutionally requiring a specific national language? [more inside]
How Things 'Become': The Infinity of Definition
I am looking for writings on the infinity of definition. [more inside]
Art and artifacts experienced through technology
How is the meaning of art and artefacts being altered by the methods we use to: Experience, Define and Preserve them... In other words, in what ways have technologies been used to experience, re-define and/or preserve art and artifacts? [more inside]
Examples of 'The Infinite' in Myth and Their Effect on Conditions of Truth
I am searching for examples of The Infinite, or the immeasurably large, in our mythologies and archetypes. I am also interested in the categories of Truth which came out of the emergence of Western, ontological thought. Does the trust in a rationally conceivable reality deny us the infinity of the mythological realm? By rooting ourselves in the present, and denying atemporal mythologies, do we also deny the infinite origins from where we came? [more inside]
Reading material on English language origins
I want to learn more about the origins of the English language and about the roots of English words. [more inside]
What's the history of 'standard forms' of languages?
Linguists: What's the history of 'standard forms' of languages? [more inside]
Why A
Why do the letters of the alphabet occur in the particular order that they do? [more inside]
What is the History of English Capitalization?
What is the History of English Language Capitalization? [more inside]
What is the origin of the term "Hip Hop"?
What is the origin of the term "Hip Hop"?
Book Recommendations: History of Romance Languages
I'm looking for books on the history of the Romance Languages. [more inside]
What's up with the Oxyrhynchus papryi?
In the spring there was a lot of discussion about the Oxyrhynchus papyri, but since then the news has totally died down. Has anything new been deciphered yet? [more inside]
History of the abbreviation R.I.P.
The abbreviation R.I.P. stands for the Latin "Reqiescat in Pace." I'm trying to get past the insensitivity of not bothering to spell out the epitaph on someone's tombstone and instead concentrate on understanding why and how this convention originated. [more inside]
"Asshat" - origination and definition?
Where did the term "asshat" originate, and what's it's definition?
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