Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Early Middle Ages

2008-11-26T21:48:46Z

CrunchyFrog: Addition of background information on Islam, addition of subheadings to be completed later.

{{Progress}}
{{Middle Ages}}
The '''Early Middle Ages''' is a period in [[Europe]]an and Mediterranean history that falls between the fall of the [[Roman Empire]] and the [[High Middle Ages]]. However, assigning specific dates to the period is controversial and moreover implies a lack of continuity. For the purposes of this article, we will begin the period with the death of the last Roman Emperor in the West, [[Romulus Augustulus]], even though this event in and of itself did not represent a significant political change. Likewise, defining an end to the Early Middle Ages is problematic, but the date AD 1000 serves as a convenient point.

The period in general may be characterized as generally chaotic and a decline from the achievements of the Roman Empire. Cities dwindled in population, armed bands operated with impunity in many areas throughout much of the period, and culture, learning and civilization almost disappeared completely in many places where the Romans had introduced it. One effect of this is that our written historical sources for the period are extremely few in number, while very few buildings exist that were built in the period.

Nevertheless, there were significant achievements as well, most importantly the spread of [[Christianity]] well beyond the borders of the old Roman Empire and indeed to the farthest reaches of Europe. In the East, the [[Byzantine Empire]], the successor to the Roman Empire was still a force to be reckoned with, and also provided the primary defense against the spread of [[Islam]] in Europe. In the West, the Church was instrumental in helping preserve education and learning. Influential churchmen and scholars such as [[Gregory of Tours]], the Venerable [[Bede]], and [[Einhard]] recorded histories for us, while there were significant early developments in Christian [[theology]] from such men as Pope [[Gregory the Great]] and [[Isidore of Seville]].

And while the age mostly did not produce the immense architectural monuments of the High Middle Ages and later, beautiful artworks, mostly portable, still survive from the era, including the [[Book of Kells]] and the treasures of [[Sutton Hoo]].

Finally, no discussion of the period would be complete without recognition of the enormous impact of the birth and growth of Islam, which swept across the [[Middle East]], [[North Africa]] and into [[Spain]]. Islamic rule brought many changes to these areas, some for the worse, such as the suppression of the growth of Christianity and unchecked piracy throughout the Mediterranean, but others more positive, including encouraging the flourishing of the important Jewish academies in Sura and Pumbedita in what is now [[Iraq]], as well as important scientific developments in [[mathematics]], [[medicine]], [[astronomy]] and [[philosophy]]. Muslim scholars also translated many Classical texts into Arabic, thus helping to ensure their survival.

==The Time of the Barbarians (476-622)==

During the course of the 5th century, the Western part of the Roman Empire suffered a massive loss of authority, creating an opportunity for a number of Germanic tribes to enter and settle on Roman territory, creating kingdoms that were initially nominally subservient to Rome, but in fact were independent. The most prominent of these were the [[Franks]] in northern Gaul, the [[Visigoths]] in southern Gaul and Hispania, the [[Vandals]] in North Africa, and the [[Ostrogoths]] and (later) [[Lombards]] in Italy. Finally,

===Hispania===

===Gallia===

===The Eastern Roman Empire===

===Britannia===

In 410 AD, Roman armies in [[Britannia]] were recalled to the continent as part of one of the civil wars that plagued the late Empire. As a consequence, the Romans and Celts living in Britannia turned to hiring [[Anglo-Saxon]] mercenaries for military protection. The mercenaries, being the primary military force in the province, took control of England themselves and created a number of independent kingdoms, the greatest being [[Wessex]] in the south, [[Mercia]] in the [[Midlands]] and [[Northumbria]] in the north. The Anglo-Saxons were originally non-Christian, but were gradually converted to Christianity through the efforts of missionaries from Ireland and Rome.

===The Italian Peninsula===

==The Rise of Islam (622-751)==

The establishment of Islam by [[Muhammad]] is traditionally dated from the year of his flight (the [[Hijra]]) from [[Mecca]] in 622. Using the new faith to unite the various Arab tribes, Muhammad's successors deployed them against the Byzantine and Persian Empires, traditional enemies that had just finished a long, exhausting war that had depleted the treasuries and military powers of both. The Arabs also took advantage of conflicts between [[Monophysite]] Christians in Syria and Egypt and the [[Orthodox]] Byzantine emperors. The end result was the total elimination of the Persian Empire and its incorporation into the Caliphate, and the permanent loss of the Middle East and Egypt to the Byzantines.

By 661, after a brief civil war, the [[Umayyad]] family had established itself as the rulers of the Islamic world, with their capital at [[Damascus]]. Although Byzantium successfully resisted the conquest of [[Constantinople]] and [[Asia Minor]], the Umayyads successfully took the rest of North Africa, sweeping aside Byzantine resistance and invaded Spain in 711.

===Visigothic Spain and its Conquest===

===Merovingian Francia===

===The Byzantine Empire===

===Anglo-Saxon England and Britain===

===The Italian Peninsula and the Papacy===

==The Carolingian Empire (751-843)==

===Al-Andalus===

===France and The Holy Roman Empire===

Following Frankish custom, Charlemagne had intended to divide his empire between his sons after his death. However, only one of his sons, [[Louis the Pious]] survived their father to inherit him. But Louis left three sons when he died, and shortly after his death, they fell into civil war over the question of how to divide the inheritance. At the [[Treaty of Verdun]] in 843 AD, it was decided to divide the Empire in three parts. The western part would go to [[Charles the Bald]] while the eastern part went to [[Louis the German]]. The eldest son, Lothair received the Imperial Crown and a part of land wedged in between the other two. Finally, the son of Lothair received the [[Kingdom of Italy]], consisting of northern Italy down to the [[Papal States]].

This arrangement was never stable, and caused numerous wars in the following years. Eventually, the western part of the Empire became the Kingdom of France, while the eastern part became the Holy Roman Empire. The middle part, called Lotharingia, soon broke up, and was finally absorbed into the Holy Roman Empire in the beginning of the 10th century.

===The Byzantine Empire===

===Anglo-Saxon England and Britain===

===The Italian Peninsula and the Papacy===

==The Transition to the High Middle Ages (843-1000)==

==References==
<small><references/></small>

[[Category:European History]]

User:CrunchyFrog

2008-11-26T02:10:25Z

CrunchyFrog:

{{Userboxtop|CrunchyFrog (Geoff G.)}}
{{User American}}
{{User koine}}
{{User JesusTeachings}}
{{User free speech}}
{{Userboxbottom}}

Hi everybody! I live in Denver and decided to finally sign up so that I could add my two cents to some of the work that's going on here. Hopefully, most of you will find what I have to add useful or interesting.

I personally would prefer to concentrate on adding or expanding entries that are perhaps not quite so politically charged. I think this will make Conservapedia more useful as a tool and will help prevent sending people who might otherwise come here to other sites that might be a little less trustworthy :)

My own background is in European history and classics. I've read both pagan and Christian texts from ancient Greece and Rome, as well as medieval Europe both in translation and in the original. One of the things I miss most from my college days is the New Testament reading group I set up with some friends from my Greek class.

Talk:Early Middle Ages

2008-11-26T01:29:45Z

CrunchyFrog: /* Changes 11/25/08 */

== Reconstruction Plan ==

OK, this entry has been marked as needing some help for a while, and I thought it would be useful to give it a bit of a push.

First problem: what exactly does "Early Middle Ages" mean? I propose dating it from AD 476 to ca. AD 1000. There's a lot of stuff going on in the 11th century that I think ought to be excluded (Hastings, Gratian, etc.)

Geographically, I think we should include as much of Europe as is practical (understanding that there are huge gaps in our knowledge about many areas during many periods). We should also include the Mediterranean and the Middle East as well, considering the huge impact that these areas had on Europe at this time. This does open up the entire thorny problem of dealing with the birth and rise of Islam, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it.

It seems to me that there are two organizational possibilities here for creating a solid entry.

* We can basically use a timeline model, say century by century, and organize the page that way. This has the advantage of not imposing modern geographical conceptions (e.g. France, Germany, England, etc.) However, IMO it's a bit more likely to turn into something of a hodgepodge.
* We can use a geographical model and discuss events in different areas (Hispania/al-Andalus, Gallia/France, Germania, Italia, Britannia/England, Byzantium, etc.) This is perhaps a bit easier to understand and manage. Of course the problem here is that many of these entities really didn't exist throughout the entire period. For example, how do we deal with Visigoths in southern France, Burgundians, Franks, Merovingians and Carolingians? The borders don't match with our neat conceptions :)

So perhaps we need a bit of a hybrid model. We can broadly divide the entire period into smaller units of time, perhaps not century by century, but into three or four broad divisions, perhaps built around the history of Gaul and the subsequent Frankish kingdoms. Something like:

* The Time of the Barbarians
* The Rise of the Islamic Caliphate (possibly folded into the first section)
* The Time of the Carolingians and Charlemagne
* The Transition to the High Middle Ages

Each section can have subheading dealing with specific geographical areas (e.g. the first section could individually consider the Visigoths in southern France and Spain, the Ostrogothic kingdom, the transition in the east from the Eastern Roman Empire to the Byzantine Empire, etc.)

There will be some degree of overlap. For example, the Muslim conquest of Spain and the end of the Visigothic kingdom coincides with the rise of the early Carolingians, but I think this can be managed.

Thoughts?

[[User:CrunchyFrog|CrunchyFrog]] 14:26, 13 November 2008 (EST)

== Changes 11/25/08 ==

Two major changes today:

First, I've added a new introductory section giving the "wide sweep" of the period as a whole. This is meant more to set the context of the period rather than discuss individual events (which will come later in the article). One concern...does anyone think this is too long for an introduction? Perhaps it ought to be edited for brevity.

Second, I'm going ahead with the structure for the article that I proposed above, so I've made some alterations to section headings to be in line with that.

[[User:CrunchyFrog|CrunchyFrog]] 20:27, 25 November 2008 (EST)

Talk:Early Middle Ages

2008-11-26T01:27:32Z

CrunchyFrog: /* Changes 11/25/08 */

== Reconstruction Plan ==

OK, this entry has been marked as needing some help for a while, and I thought it would be useful to give it a bit of a push.

First problem: what exactly does "Early Middle Ages" mean? I propose dating it from AD 476 to ca. AD 1000. There's a lot of stuff going on in the 11th century that I think ought to be excluded (Hastings, Gratian, etc.)

Geographically, I think we should include as much of Europe as is practical (understanding that there are huge gaps in our knowledge about many areas during many periods). We should also include the Mediterranean and the Middle East as well, considering the huge impact that these areas had on Europe at this time. This does open up the entire thorny problem of dealing with the birth and rise of Islam, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it.

It seems to me that there are two organizational possibilities here for creating a solid entry.

* We can basically use a timeline model, say century by century, and organize the page that way. This has the advantage of not imposing modern geographical conceptions (e.g. France, Germany, England, etc.) However, IMO it's a bit more likely to turn into something of a hodgepodge.
* We can use a geographical model and discuss events in different areas (Hispania/al-Andalus, Gallia/France, Germania, Italia, Britannia/England, Byzantium, etc.) This is perhaps a bit easier to understand and manage. Of course the problem here is that many of these entities really didn't exist throughout the entire period. For example, how do we deal with Visigoths in southern France, Burgundians, Franks, Merovingians and Carolingians? The borders don't match with our neat conceptions :)

So perhaps we need a bit of a hybrid model. We can broadly divide the entire period into smaller units of time, perhaps not century by century, but into three or four broad divisions, perhaps built around the history of Gaul and the subsequent Frankish kingdoms. Something like:

* The Time of the Barbarians
* The Rise of the Islamic Caliphate (possibly folded into the first section)
* The Time of the Carolingians and Charlemagne
* The Transition to the High Middle Ages

Each section can have subheading dealing with specific geographical areas (e.g. the first section could individually consider the Visigoths in southern France and Spain, the Ostrogothic kingdom, the transition in the east from the Eastern Roman Empire to the Byzantine Empire, etc.)

There will be some degree of overlap. For example, the Muslim conquest of Spain and the end of the Visigothic kingdom coincides with the rise of the early Carolingians, but I think this can be managed.

Thoughts?

[[User:CrunchyFrog|CrunchyFrog]] 14:26, 13 November 2008 (EST)

== Changes 11/25/08 ==

Two major changes today:

First, I've added a new introductory section giving the "wide sweep" of the period as a whole. This is meant more to set the context of the period rather than discuss individual events (which will come later in the article).

Second, I'm going ahead with the structure for the article that I proposed above, so I've made some alterations to section headings to be in line with that.

[[User:CrunchyFrog|CrunchyFrog]] 20:27, 25 November 2008 (EST)

Talk:Early Middle Ages

2008-11-26T01:27:18Z

CrunchyFrog: /* Changes 11/25/08 */ new section

== Reconstruction Plan ==

OK, this entry has been marked as needing some help for a while, and I thought it would be useful to give it a bit of a push.

First problem: what exactly does "Early Middle Ages" mean? I propose dating it from AD 476 to ca. AD 1000. There's a lot of stuff going on in the 11th century that I think ought to be excluded (Hastings, Gratian, etc.)

Geographically, I think we should include as much of Europe as is practical (understanding that there are huge gaps in our knowledge about many areas during many periods). We should also include the Mediterranean and the Middle East as well, considering the huge impact that these areas had on Europe at this time. This does open up the entire thorny problem of dealing with the birth and rise of Islam, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it.

It seems to me that there are two organizational possibilities here for creating a solid entry.

* We can basically use a timeline model, say century by century, and organize the page that way. This has the advantage of not imposing modern geographical conceptions (e.g. France, Germany, England, etc.) However, IMO it's a bit more likely to turn into something of a hodgepodge.
* We can use a geographical model and discuss events in different areas (Hispania/al-Andalus, Gallia/France, Germania, Italia, Britannia/England, Byzantium, etc.) This is perhaps a bit easier to understand and manage. Of course the problem here is that many of these entities really didn't exist throughout the entire period. For example, how do we deal with Visigoths in southern France, Burgundians, Franks, Merovingians and Carolingians? The borders don't match with our neat conceptions :)

So perhaps we need a bit of a hybrid model. We can broadly divide the entire period into smaller units of time, perhaps not century by century, but into three or four broad divisions, perhaps built around the history of Gaul and the subsequent Frankish kingdoms. Something like:

* The Time of the Barbarians
* The Rise of the Islamic Caliphate (possibly folded into the first section)
* The Time of the Carolingians and Charlemagne
* The Transition to the High Middle Ages

Each section can have subheading dealing with specific geographical areas (e.g. the first section could individually consider the Visigoths in southern France and Spain, the Ostrogothic kingdom, the transition in the east from the Eastern Roman Empire to the Byzantine Empire, etc.)

There will be some degree of overlap. For example, the Muslim conquest of Spain and the end of the Visigothic kingdom coincides with the rise of the early Carolingians, but I think this can be managed.

Thoughts?

[[User:CrunchyFrog|CrunchyFrog]] 14:26, 13 November 2008 (EST)

== Changes 11/25/08 ==

Two major changes today:

First, I've added a new introductory section giving the "wide sweep" of the period as a whole. This is meant more to set the context of the period rather than discuss individual events (which will come later in the article).

Second, I'm going ahead with the structure for the article that I proposed above, so I've made some alterations to section headings to be in line with that.

Early Middle Ages

2008-11-26T01:23:12Z

CrunchyFrog: First step in revamp: (1) Adding new section headings and organization (2) Writing new introduction

{{Progress}}
{{Middle Ages}}
The '''Early Middle Ages''' is a period in [[Europe]]an and Mediterranean history that falls between the fall of the [[Roman Empire]] and the [[High Middle Ages]]. However, assigning specific dates to the period is controversial and moreover implies a lack of continuity. For the purposes of this article, we will begin the period with the death of the last Roman Emperor in the West, [[Romulus Augustulus]], even though this event in and of itself did not represent a significant political change. Likewise, defining an end to the Early Middle Ages is problematic, but the date AD 1000 serves as a convenient point.

The period in general may be characterized as generally chaotic and a decline from the achievements of the Roman Empire. Cities dwindled in population, armed bands operated with impunity in many areas throughout much of the period, and culture, learning and civilization almost disappeared completely in many places where the Romans had introduced it. One effect of this is that our written historical sources for the period are extremely few in number, while very few buildings exist that were built in the period.

Nevertheless, there were significant achievements as well, most importantly the spread of [[Christianity]] well beyond the borders of the old Roman Empire and indeed to the farthest reaches of Europe. In the East, the [[Byzantine Empire]], the successor to the Roman Empire was still a force to be reckoned with, and also provided the primary defense against the spread of [[Islam]] in Europe. In the West, the Church was instrumental in helping preserve education and learning. Influential churchmen and scholars such as [[Gregory of Tours]], the Venerable [[Bede]], and [[Einhard]] recorded histories for us, while there were significant early developments in Christian [[theology]] from such men as Pope [[Gregory the Great]] and [[Isidore of Seville]].

And while the age mostly did not produce the immense architectural monuments of the High Middle Ages and later, beautiful artworks, mostly portable, still survive from the era, including the [[Book of Kells]] and the treasures of [[Sutton Hoo]].

Finally, no discussion of the period would be complete without recognition of the enormous impact of the birth and growth of Islam, which swept across the [[Middle East]], [[North Africa]] and into [[Spain]]. Islamic rule brought many changes to these areas, some for the worse, such as the suppression of the growth of Christianity and unchecked piracy throughout the Mediterranean, but others more positive, including encouraging the flourishing of the important Jewish academies in Sura and Pumbedita in what is now [[Iraq]], as well as important scientific developments in [[mathematics]], [[medicine]], [[astronomy]] and [[philosophy]]. Muslim scholars also translated many Classical texts into Arabic, thus helping to ensure their survival.

=The Time of the Barbarians (476-622)=

==Aftermath of Empire==

During the course of the 5th century, the Western part of the Roman Empire suffered a massive loss of authority, creating an opportunity for a number of Germanic tribes to enter and settle on Roman territory, creating kingdoms that were nominally subservient to Rome, but in fact were independent. The most prominent of these were the [[Franks]] in northern Gaul, the [[Visigoths]] in southern Gaul and Hispania, the [[Vandals]] in North Africa, and the [[Ostrogoths]] and (later) [[Lombards]] in Italy.

==Anglo-Saxon England==

In 410 AD, Roman armies in [[Britannia]] were recalled to the continent as part of one of the civil wars that plagued the late Empire. As a consequence, the Romans and Celts living in Britannia turned to hiring [[Anglo-Saxon]] mercenaries for military protection. The mercenaries, being the primary military force in the province, took control of England themselves and created a number of independent kingdoms, the greatest being [[Wessex]] in the south, [[Mercia]] in the [[Midlands]] and [[Northumbria]] in the north. The Anglo-Saxons were originally non-Christian, but were gradually converted to Christianity through the efforts of missionaries from Ireland and Rome.

=The Rise of Islam (622-751)=

=The Carolingian Empire (751-843)=

==France and The Holy Roman Empire==

Following Frankish custom, Charlemagne had intended to divide his empire between his sons after his death. However, only one of his sons, [[Louis the Pious]] survived their father to inherit him. But Louis left three sons when he died, and shortly after his death, they fell into civil war over the question of how to divide the inheritance. At the [[Treaty of Verdun]] in 843 AD, it was decided to divide the Empire in three parts. The western part would go to [[Charles the Bald]] while the eastern part went to [[Louis the German]]. The eldest son, Lothair received the Imperial Crown and a part of land wedged in between the other two. Finally, the son of Lothair received the [[Kingdom of Italy]], consisting of northern Italy down to the [[Papal States]].

This arrangement was never stable, and caused numerous wars in the following years. Eventually, the western part of the Empire became the Kingdom of France, while the eastern part became the Holy Roman Empire. The middle part, called Lotharingia, soon broke up, and was finally absorbed into the Holy Roman Empire in the beginning of the 10th century.

=The Transition to the High Middle Ages (843-1000)=

[[Category:European History]]

Conservapedia:AFD Homosexuals and Bad Hairstyles

2008-11-13T19:42:36Z

CrunchyFrog: New page: Nominated for deletion for being silly and/or frivolous.

Nominated for deletion for being silly and/or frivolous.

Talk:Homosexuals and Bad Hairstyles

2008-11-13T19:41:54Z

CrunchyFrog:

This is just silly, and has no place in an encyclopedia.

[[User:CrunchyFrog|CrunchyFrog]] 14:41, 13 November 2008 (EST)

Talk:Homosexuals and Bad Hairstyles

2008-11-13T19:41:36Z

CrunchyFrog: New page: This is just silly. ~~~~

This is just silly.

[[User:CrunchyFrog|CrunchyFrog]] 14:41, 13 November 2008 (EST)

Talk:Homosexuality in Nazi Germany

2008-11-13T19:34:32Z

CrunchyFrog:

Ed, many of your references for this new series of articles trace back to "The Pink Swastika". How reliable is this source? From what little I read, I found a claim that one Nazi raped 100 boys ''per day'', which seems to me physically impossible. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 14:16, 13 November 2008 (EST)

::I tried looking for information that links this "National Socialist League" in America to homosexuality and can't find anything. In fact the only thing I can see at all about this group is that is was a pre-WW2 nazi group in England, long defunct. What's your problem anyway? Do you even know any gay people? [[User:BAman|BAman]] 14:20, 13 November 2008 (EST)

May I ask what the connection is between modern American Nazi parties and Nazi Germany? Certainly the latter inspires and informs the former, but it seems to me that if the article is about "Homosexuality in Nazi Germany", then modern homosexual uniform fetishes are a peripheral point at best.

Besides, there's plenty of relevant stuff to talk about. What about Ernst Röhm and the SA for instance?

[[User:CrunchyFrog|CrunchyFrog]] 14:34, 13 November 2008 (EST)

Talk:Early Middle Ages

2008-11-13T19:26:54Z

CrunchyFrog: New page: == Reconstruction Plan == OK, this entry has been marked as needing some help for a while, and I thought it would be useful to give it a bit of a push. First problem: what exactly does ...

Talk:Grammar

2008-11-13T01:01:25Z

CrunchyFrog:

I've added the "Progress" template, as I would like to greatly expand this document to provide more detail. [[User:CrunchyFrog|CrunchyFrog]] 20:01, 12 November 2008 (EST)

Talk:Grammar

2008-11-13T01:01:14Z

CrunchyFrog: New page: I've added the "Progress" template, as I would like to greatly expand this document to provide more detail.

I've added the "Progress" template, as I would like to greatly expand this document to provide more detail.

Grammar

2008-11-13T01:00:07Z

CrunchyFrog:

{{Progress}}

'''Grammar''' is the study of the rules governing use of [[language]]. As such, it is part of the discipline of [[linguistics]].

A "Grammar" (from a linguistic point of view) catalogs the various parts of speech in use by the language, including: verbs, nouns, pronouns, prepositions; it catalogs how actions are described, almost exclusively through use of [[verb]]s, and how those verbs are conjugated within a sentence; it catalogs how a language codifies for both mode and tense; and it attempts to quantify other less precise aspects of written or oral communication like metaphors, enclitics, onomatopoeia, and others.

==Some Grammar Concepts==
===Sentence Structure===
When linguists describe sentence structure in languages, they typically look at the relationship between the Subject, the Object and the Verb and classify the language by the order of those words.

*'''Subject''' is the agent of the action (such as a person).
*'''Verb''' is the action being undertaken (the thing being done eg. buying).
*'''Object''' is the item, person or thing that has the action done to it (eg. the paper).

'''SVO''' refers to '''subject''', '''verb''', '''object'''. An [[English]] example of this is '''I (s) buy (v) the book (obj)'''. In [[German]] this would be rendered '''Ich (s) kaufe(v) das Buch(o)'''.

Other languages have different sentence structures. Russian, for example, would render that Я (s) книгу (o) покупаю (v).

Besides SVO, the two most common are SOV (subject, object, verb), as used in [[Japanese language|Japanese]] (hon(s) wo katta (v)) , and VSO (verb, subject, object), as used in Biblical [[Hebrew]].
[[Category:Languages]]

User:CrunchyFrog

2008-11-13T00:42:08Z

CrunchyFrog:

Hi everybody! I live in Denver and decided to finally sign up so that I could add my two cents to some of the work that's going on here. Hopefully, most of you will find what I have to add useful or interesting.

I personally would prefer to concentrate on adding or expanding entries that are perhaps not quite so politically charged. I think this will make Conservapedia more useful as a tool and will help prevent sending people who might otherwise come here to other sites that might be a little less trustworthy :)

My own background is in European history and classics. I've read both pagan and Christian texts from ancient Greece and Rome, as well as medieval Europe both in translation and in the original. One of the things I miss most from my college days is the New Testament reading group I set up with some friends from my Greek class.

User:CrunchyFrog

2008-11-12T23:57:04Z

CrunchyFrog: New page: Hi everybody! I live in Denver and decided to finally sign up so that I could add my two cents to some of the work that's going on here. Hopefully, most of you will find what I have to a...

Talk:Gerund

2008-11-12T23:51:55Z

CrunchyFrog:

Thought I'd add this entry too, since I referred to it from my article on [[Latin]]. [[User:CrunchyFrog|CrunchyFrog]] 18:51, 12 November 2008 (EST)

Talk:Gerund

2008-11-12T23:51:37Z

CrunchyFrog: New page: Thought I'd add this entry too, since I referred to it from my article on Latin. ~~~~

Thought I'd add this entry too, since I referred to it from my article on Latin. [[User:CrunchyFrog|CrunchyFrog]] 18:51, 12 November 2008 (EST)

Gerund

2008-11-12T23:50:55Z

CrunchyFrog: New page: A '''gerund''' is a verbal noun. In English, it is constructed by adding "-ing" to the stem of the verb (just as the present participle). Gerunds express the action of the ve...

A '''gerund''' is a [[verb]]al [[noun]]. In English, it is constructed by adding "-ing" to the stem of the verb (just as the present [[participle]]).

Gerunds express the action of the verb as if they were an object. Thus, for example, one could say:

* ''Reading'' teaches you many things.

In that sentence, the verb "to read" is converted into a gerund, "reading", which then functions as the subject of the sentence and so acts like a noun.

Gerunds can function as verbs within a dependent clause; in this case, the clause as a whole functions as a noun.

* ''Reading Conservapedia'' teaches you many things.

In that sentence, "Conservapedia" is the direct object of the gerund "reading". The entire clause "Reading Conservapedia" is the subject of the main clause in the sentence.

Talk:Latin

2008-11-12T23:36:34Z

CrunchyFrog:

I tried to remove the bias where this article implicitly states as fact the theory that Latin evolved from Proto-Indo-European, a language theorized by linguistic evolutionists to have been spoken at about 3900 BC, a date incompatible with Christian teachings about all languages being created by God in the third millennium BC. My attempt to create balance was quickly reverted by [[User:MatteeNeutra]], so now again, there's a strong pro-evolution bias in the article. I wonder if this is really fitting for a conservative encyclopedia.
--[[User:Brtkrbzhnv|Brtkrbzhnv]] 11:58, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

Is it fair to say Latin was ''the'' language of the Roman Empire? Greek was spoken in the East, and many subject peoples maintained their native languages as a birth tongue for some time.--[[User:All Fish Welcome|All Fish Welcome]] 16:06, 24 May 2007 (EDT)

I changed it a bit, what do you think about how it is now? [[User:DanH|DanH]] 16:09, 24 May 2007 (EDT)

== Major rewrite ==

OK, I've decided to go through this entry and expand it considerably. Hopefully people will find my work of use :) Here's a summary of what I've added:

1) Major expansion of the description of Latin grammar, particularly with regards to nouns and verbs. I've also laid out the various noun cases in more detail as well as the verb tenses.

2) Small discussion of Latin syntax. This is a good candidate for further work.

3) Expanded discussion of the importance of Latin in the development of modern Romance languages, as well as information about the use of Latin as a "lingua franca" in the middle ages and the renaissance.

4) Expansion of the surviving reasons for studying Latin, including reading classical authors, Church Fathers, medieval works, legal terms and references to medicine.

5) Minor touch-up and grammatical fixes for those sections I left behind from the original article.

I hope everyone finds this useful! [[User:CrunchyFrog|CrunchyFrog]] 18:36, 12 November 2008 (EST)

Talk:Latin

2008-11-12T23:35:29Z

CrunchyFrog: /* Major rewrite */ new section

Latin

2008-11-12T23:28:59Z

CrunchyFrog: Major rewrite adding additional grammatical information and expanding other areas, including contemporary latin use.

'''Latin''' is an [[Indo-European]] language of the [[Italic]] family; its closest relative was [[Umbric]], which is now extinct. Latin was the most widely spoken language in the [[Roman Empire]], and is the language from which all the [[Romance languages]] are derived. These languages include [[Spanish]], [[Romanian]], [[Portuguese]], [[Italian]], [[French]] and [[Catalan]], among others. '''Latin''' may also refer to people who speak Romance languages, particularly those in the Caribbean, Central and South America who speak either Spanish or Portuguese.

== Latin Grammar ==

Latin [[grammar]] is marked by an extensive system of [[noun]] [[Grammatical case|cases]] and [[verb]]al inflection. Like nouns, [[adjective]]s also decline and must agree with the nouns they modify in terms of gender, number and case. In addition, Latin also has the full range of other parts of speech, including [[adverb]]s and [[pronoun]]s.

=== Nouns ===

Noun cases are used to indicate the grammatical function of the noun within the sentence. By contrast, English and most other modern Romance languages mostly use the noun's position within the sentence to denote its grammatical function.

Nouns all have grammatical [[gender]] (either masculine, feminine or neuter). While nouns the correspond to people will generally match the logical gender (for example, ''puella'', meaning "girl" is feminine, while ''puer'', meaning "boy" is masculine), other nouns which do not have a natural gender will still have a grammatical gender (for example, ''arbor'', meaning "tree" is feminine, ''portus'', "harbor" is masculine, and ''bellum'', "war" is neuter).

Each Latin noun falls into one of five declensions, which will determine the endings used to indicate case. Latin has six major grammatical cases as indicated below:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Case
! Grammatical Function
! Example Paradigm (1st Declension Singular)
|-
| '''Nominative'''
| Subject
| Puella
|-
| '''Genitive'''
| Possessive; also used with certain prepositions
| Puellae
|-
| '''Dative'''
| Indirect Object; also used with certain prepositions
| Puellae
|-
| '''Accusative'''
| Direct Object; also used with certain prepositions, mostly concerning motion
| Puellam
|-
| '''Ablative'''
| Used with certain prepositions, mostly concerning location; also indicates agency in passive constructions
| Puellā
|-
| '''Vocative'''
| Used when directly addressing a person or thing
| Puella
|}

Note that certain cases are identical to others (they may vary in other declensions); in situations where there is more than one possible case for a particular noun, the case must be determined from the context of the sentence. In Latin dictionaries, nouns listed will indicate the nominative and the genitive singular forms of the noun; this enables an experienced reader to determine the rest of that noun's declension, even if he or she has not encountered it before. Thus the verb in the example above would be listed ''puella, -ae'' in a Latin dictionary.

=== Verbs ===

Verbal morphology distinguishes [[voice]] (active and passive), time (past, present, future), mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, infinitive), [[aspect (grammar)|aspect]] (simple, perfective, imperfective), and person (first, second, and third person in singular and plural numbers). Time and aspect are normally combined into the verb's tense. Unlike English, which uses auxiliary verbs to create a wide variety of tenses, Latin just has six (four in the subjunctive mood).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Tense
! Time
! Aspect
! Grammatical Function
! Example Paradigm (3rd Conjugation, first person singular active indicative)
|-
| Present
| Present
| Simple or Imperfective
| Used to indicate both the present simple and present progressive.
| dico
|-
| Imperfect
| Past
| Imperfective
| Used to indicate ongoing actions in the past (which may or may not continue to the present).
| dicebam
|-
| Perfect
| Past
| Simple or Perfective
| Used to indicate both the past simple and specifically completed actions in the past.
| dixi
|-
| Pluperfect
| Past
| Perfective
| Used to indicate actions completed prior to other actions in the past.
| dixeram
|-
| Future
| Future
| Simple
| Used to indicate actions that will occur in the future.
| dicam
|-
| Future Perfect
| Future
| Perfective
| Used to indicate actions that are not complete now, but will be in the future. Usually this means actions that occur after the present but prior to other actions in the future tense.
| dixero
|}

Like nouns, the morphology of verbs in Latin is mostly indicated by regular changes in how the verb is formed, rather than through the use of auxiliary verbs, as is common in English. Most verbs fall into one of four conjugations which determine the form and the endings used to indicate the various aspects of morphology. Unlike nouns however, there are a number of irregular verbs that do not fall into any conjugation.

Latin verbs in the dictionary customarily show their four principal parts, the first person singular present active, the infinitive, the first person singular perfect active, and the supine (a form of verbal noun). Thus, the verb meaning "to say" would be listed in the dictionary as ''dico, dicere, dixi, dictum''. Using this information, an experienced Latinist can derive all of the other forms of the verb.

Latin verbs also have specialized forms including [[gerund]]s (verbal nouns mostly found only in earlier Latin), gerundives (verbal adjectives used to express necessity or obligation), [[participle]]s, and others.

== Syntax ==

Because Latin is so highly inflected, in simple sentences, word order is irrelevant. Thus ''Canis puerum mordet'' (The dog bites the boy) has exactly the same meaning as ''Mordet canis puerum'' or ''Puerum mordet canis''. Nevertheless, Latin did have the tendency to settle into customary word orders, generally with the verb at the end of the sentence. It was this tendency that led to the change from an inflected language to a more analytic one in the case of the Romance languages.

When translating, it is always important to pay close attention to the words at the beginning and end of a sentence. This position connotes the importance of the word to the writer's thought, if not the actual meaning as in English.

Latin poetry, in particular, takes advantage of the flexibility of the word position in order to create pleasing minglings of grammatically unrelated words as word play or to provide secondary meanings. The flexibility of the word position also made it easier for Latin poets to conform to a particular metre.

== Linguistic Descendants ==

The modern Romance languages are descended from Vulgar Latin, which is Latin that was spoken by the common people in the later centuries of the Roman Empire. Changes from Classical to Vulgar Latin included the merger of long /e:/ and /o:/ with short /i/ and /u/, respectively, the loss of /h/ and the accusative nasalisation, and the replacement of cases, tenses, and voices with periphrastic constructions (this change occurred across western Europe). Latin has also given us the alphabet used to write most Western European languages, including English.

Direct modern descendants of Latin include French, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Romanian, Italian and a variety of less well known languages. Collectively, these are known as Romance languages. In addition, many other languages, such as English and German, have large numbers of Latin loanwords that have been absorbed into the language.

Latin was also the language used by educated elites throughout the [[Middle Ages]] and [[the Renaissance]] in Western Europe. Thus a wide variety of medieval literature, ranging from theological works to histories to scientific works to legal records to literature were all written in Latin, not the author's mother tongue. This had the advantage of facilitating communication between educated people throughout Europe.

Until 1962, Latin was the language in which all Roman [[Catholic]] masses were conducted. A number of Roman Catholics still conduct masses in Latin, and Latin is still the official language of the Roman Catholic Church. Phonologically, Latin is generally similar to other western languages of the Indo-European family.

== Contemporary Latin Use ==

Much of the Latin read nowadays is [[literature]] written during the latter days of the [[Roman Republic]] and during the [[Roman Empire]]. In particular, the first century BC is considered a golden age of Latin literature, with such notable poets as [[Catullus]], [[Horace]] and [[Virgil]], historians such as [[Livy]] and other writers such as [[Cicero]]. Many other Roman writers outside of the first century BC, such as [[Plautus]], [[Seneca]], [[Juvenal]] and [[Tacitus]], are important authors whose works continue to be influential in modern culture and literature. In addition to being enjoyed in their own right, they are also important for the study of Roman history and culture.

In addition, many of the Fathers of the Church, such as [[Augustine]] and [[Gregory the Great]], wrote in Latin. One of the most important translations of the Bible was the Latin [[Vulgate]] by [[Jerome]], which was completed in the fourth century AD and allowed the common people (Lat. ''vulgus'') to understand the Bible in their native language instead of Hebrew or Greek.

Latin was also highly important in the development of law, both because of the highly influential [[Justinian Code|Civil Code of Justinian]] and because of the use of Latin in the composition of the writs used in English [[Common Law]]. The persistence of Latin may be seen in legal terms such as "[[certiorari|writ of certiorari]]" or "[[Adjournment Sine Die|adjournment sine die]]".

Latin (along with Greek) is also used by scientists of all kinds, from biologists to chemists. Latin is particularly used when naming things such as biological species or chemical elements. Latin terms are also used extensively in medicine, recognizing the significance of medieval medical schools.

== Further reading ==

* John F. Collins, ''A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin'', Catholic University of America Press (1985), ISBN 0-8132-0667-7 An introductory Latin text based mainly on medieval ecclesiastical sources.
* Nicholas Ostler, '' Ad Infinitum: a Biography of Latin'', Walker and Company, New York (2007) ISBN 0-8027-1515-X A history of the Latin language.
* Bob Moore and Maxine Moore, '' Dictionary of Latin and Greek Origins: a Comprehensive Guide to the Classical Origins of English Words'', Barnes and Noble, Inc, New York (2000) ISBN 0-7607-2082-7

[[Category:Romance languages]]
[[Category:Latin Terms/Phrases]]