Meet the Scots Leid!
And yes, this is a language
Scots (or "Lallans" a poetic spellins for lawlands. Anis termed Inglis ) is a leid that's spak in the Scots lawlands, Northren Isles an in Northren Ireland an the Republic o Ireland (whaur it's kent as "Ullans" in offeecal circles, but by ordinar fowks as "Scotch" or "Scots"). In maist airts, it's spak alangside the Scots Gaelic an Inglis (English) leids.
Up tae the 15t century Scottis (modren form Scots) wis the name o Gaelic the Celtic leid o the auncient Scots, inbrocht fae Ireland aboot 500 AD). Thaim that uised Scots cawed Gaelic Erse (meanin Irish). The Gaelic o Scotland is nou maistlie cawed Scots Gaelic an is yit spak by some in the wastren Hielands an islands. For the maist pairt, Scots comes fae the Northumbrian kin o Anglo-Saxon (Auld Inglis), tho wi a litil influence fae Norse by the wey o the Vikings, Dutch an Laich Saxon throu troke wi, an incomers fae, the laich kintras, an Romance by the wey o kirk an legal Laitin, Anglo-Norman an syne Pairisian French acause o the Auld Alliance.
Anglian speakers wis weel staiblisht in sooth-east Scotland by the 7t century. In the 13t century Norman landawners an thair reteeners, speakin Northumbrian Middle Inglis, wis inveetit tae come an sattle by the Keeng. Scots kythed for the first time in leeterar furm in the mids o the 14t century an didna differ muckle fae ither northren Inglis byleids. The Anglian leid o Scotland growed on its ain sinsyne. By the late 15t century the sicht fowk haed o the differs wi the leid spoken faurder sooth cam tae the fore an Scots-speakin Scots stairtit tae caw thair leid Scots. Scots haes lend-wirds fae the fact that the Scots fowk haed contact wi Gaelic speakers. Thair lend-wirds is for ordinar juist for geographical an cultural thingies, sic as clan an loch. Like ony leevin leid, Scot haes cheenged a bittie ower the years, tho it haes arguably steyed closer tae its Anglo-Saxon spring-heid nor Inglis (English). Monie Scots wirds haes become pairt o Inglis (English) an aw: flit, greed, eerie, cuddle, clan, stob.
In Scotland's census o 2011, a quasten on Scots wis askit.
Nae, awa' an bile yer heid!
Why exactly do you imagine that this would drive me barmy? You're talking about a part of my ancestors here. I've been told that we Camps dropped the bell from the end of our names thanks to a horse thief on one side or the other of the family.
ReplyDeleteI hesitate to go into genetic determinism, but perhaps I like weapons because of my Celtic ancestors. We're an oppositional bunch, after all. Of course, another part of me comes from the Norse people, so I suppose that you're worried I may go Viking some day.
A good Scot would know two things:
ReplyDelete1) the policies you propose about firearms are unfeasible--look up Border Reivers and learn about your heritage.
2) As a "grammarian", Scots should drive you nuts!
"Lied" would be how I pronounce "Layed"--so,I was writing phonetically.
Actually, there are three "Scots Leids": Celtic, Scots, and English.
Going "Norse" isn't all that bad since the Vikings conquered and settled quite a bit of Britain.
Hence "Scots" has quite a bit of Germanic in it (e.g. Kirk for Church).
Laci the Dog,
ReplyDeletePerhaps we can agree that a language is just a well armed dialect?
A dialect cannot be armed.
ReplyDeleteEnglish is a very complex language due to its assimilation of other cultures and acceptance of those cultures.
I should also add that the Militia System that inspired the Second Amendment was probably more Scottish than English.
ReplyDeleteHow about adding in the Norse origins, among other Germanic cultures? The symbol of a free person in Norse society was the possession of a sword. In the Havamal, Odin even tells us never to be more than a step away from our weapon when we are out in the fields, since we never know what we may encounter.
ReplyDeleteOn the point of language, consider how long it's taken Occitan and Catalan to be recognized as separate languages and not poorly spoken versions of the official tongue. Had the independence movements been better armed, things may have been different.
Yeah, this really is not something that speaks to a 2nd amendment natural, innate, or universal for private weapons... if we want to get into 2nd amendment gun issues.
ReplyDeleteThey were a warrior culture that invaded, looted and raided other cultures and countries for a significant part of their income and culture.
From Wikipedia since you like language as much as Laci or I do:
"The Old Norse feminine noun víking refers to an expedition overseas. It occurs in Viking Age runic inscriptions and in later medieval writings in set expressions such as the phrasal verb fara í víking "to go on an expedition". In later texts such as the Icelandic sagas, the phrase "to go viking" implies participation in raiding activity or piracy, and not simply seaborne missions of trade and commerce"
"Odin even tells us never to be more than a step away from our weapon when we are out in the fields, since we never know what we may encounter."
ReplyDeleteBeliefs in the pronouncements (through priests and scribes) of insubstantial beings is not a rational justification for being armed.
Dog Gone,
ReplyDeleteExactly so. Much of our American values come from Norse culture, and we would do well to stay true to that tradition.
"Exactly so. Much of our American values come from Norse culture, and we would do well to stay true to that tradition.
ReplyDeleteNovember 8, 2011 5:45 PM"
What color is the sky on your planet?
This IS the USA. We love to be able to dip into our diverse parent cultures (although a preponderance of the SKKKrotalMurKKKinPatriotiKKK Front types only want multicultrualism that is white, northern european and KKKristian)--but we ain't gonna be lookin' back to the vikings for legal precedent. We do use english common law as the basis for a lot of our legal code and english common law has elements of all of the cultures that influenced its development--but, that's as far as it goes.
We no longer burn our heroes in longships, after slitting the throats of their dogs and a comely wench or two. Why should we honor a tradition of self-defense that harks back to a time when life really WAS dangerous on a day to day basis?
democommie, guys like Greg are romantics, not realists. They like the selective romantic images of distant history, but they would hate the reality of it.
ReplyDeleteThey know very little about the reality, but have vivid ideas of fighting and weapons.
The reality was brutish, and lives tended to be short and painful. There was very little that was all that noble or heroic about preying on other people, which was most of what all that arming for battle was about. If they weren't fighting other people they were fighting each other.
The Norse had some very interesting customs and beliefs, and like any culture they had good things and some horrible things in their traditions.
I doubt Greg has a very pragmatic idea of what that armed life was like; perhaps he should familiarize himself with excavations like the one related to the battle of Visby. There are some very vivid photographs of the excavations of the dead from that battle.
Romanticized, fictional pseudo-heroic violence is very appealing to our gun nuts.
Not so much the reality.
Bonus points if Greg becomes familiar with Visby era and region armor and weapons.
But then I'd bet that I'm better able to place a random sampling of weapons and armor to their correct era and location, along with being able to correctly name them, including the technical terminology for their component parts, and describe their manufacture and use than those people who in my experience like to glamorize the period.
Cherry picking fact, and mixing it with fiction; that is what this is; not appreciation for real history.
Greg wrote:
ReplyDelete"Exactly so. Much of our American values come from Norse culture, and we would do well to stay true to that tradition."
Bullshit. I'm consistently UNIMPRESSED with the crap that most people present as fact when it is fiction that they parade as either historic culture OR tradition.
And the last thing that I would ever agree to do is to behave in an irrational manner by ascribing to a fictional tradition over a practical, objective and reasoned decision making about the present based on objective data.
NO, and no thanks.
Dog Gone,
ReplyDeleteYou call me a romantic, and perhaps that's right. I'm aware of the grit in history as well as its bright points. If I see the modern world rapidly heading toward the kind of society that George Orwell told us about, does it surprise you that I object? Today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case on using a GPS device to track someone without a warrant. I see that as a violation of rights, and I see a government that increasingly is able to ignore individual rights.
Too many Americans are making this possible. As a society, we're more interested in the latest electronic toy than in what really matters. Our country needs some anachronisms to slow the march into totalitarianism.
"Too many Americans are making this possible. As a society, we're more interested in the latest electronic toy than in what really matters. Our country needs some anachronisms to slow the march into totalitarianism.
ReplyDeleteNovember 8, 2011 9:46 PM"
Do you even think about what you type?
As wasteful and counter-productive as I think all of the electronic crap that clutters up modern life is, I would far rather be sitting in a crowded place full of people with their cellphones set to a ringtone of "Afternoon Delight" than have all of them armed. People cannot, as is noted by everyone I know, turn off their fucking cellphones when they are asked to do so. How likely would they be to observe safe practices for the CCW's?
Democommie,
ReplyDeleteAgain, you worry about safety and ignore the main point that I made. Your comments are double plus good for The Party.
Greg Camp:
ReplyDeleteWTF are you on about? I do worry about safety, you horse's ass. And I worry a lot more about it when self-styled vigilantes are out to prove that they won't be takin' any shit from the perps.
You're becoming a bit more unhinged with each post. Go visit mikeyw and weer'dybeardy, they love that shit.