Names and Tales: On Folklore and Place Names

Abstract

Names, like stories, are linguistic performances; so the twin disciplines of folkloristics and place-name studies can learn from each other’s methods. Some names offer straightforward evidence for traditional culture, but others are rhetorical, not literal. Allusions to goblins, giants, and the Devil derive from playful storytelling rather than supernatural belief, while names of landmarks are used as pegs on which to hang local legends. The rules for coining names have varied through time and often use special linguistic markers to highlight moral or imaginative content. As we move into a more semiotically aware onomastics, we find ourselves interpreting names from a realm of popular idiom and allusion which is already familiar from folklore.     

Difficulties of the Re-Emergent Science — the Case of Astrobiology

Abstract

Science dealing with the emergence and evolution of life in the Universe — on Earth and beyond appears under different names in subject literature, these names are usually either a portmanteau of biology and astronomy, or involve particular branches of natural sciences. Scientific and linguistic methodology reveals the danger of gross oversimplification when using names such as: exobiology, cosmobiology, biocosmology, bioastronomy, as- trobiology, etc. The main purpose of this article is to present and analyse the relationships of such notations and synonyms, which are often used interchangeably, and to criticize the attempts of unifying these terms, and to characterize them in a linguistic context. On such basis, it shall be argued that the origin of the existing confusion and misunderstandings might have been either scientific or non-scientific imprecision which may be eliminated for the purpose of a better scientific communication and clarification of terminology as shown in this paper.     

Native Toponymy and territorial rights

Native place names are landmarks which may provide quantitative and qualitative evidence usefully referred to for the land claims question. This paper describes the context and the method of a research project which draws from the lower Mackenzie Valley toponymic data of the last century some useful conclusions related to the actual native land claims in that region.     

An astrologer's map: A relic of late antiquity

Abstract

A Greek map of the world, which includes a windrose, zones, places in and around Egypt, and hell, is studied in reference to its context: an anonymous astrological miscellany. Other examples of this map have been found in a second context, among anonymous scholia to Theon of Alexandria's commentary on Ptolemy's Handy Tables (Procheiroi kanones), which were also of use to astrologers. The selection of Egyptian place‐names found on the map provides some clue to its possible origin, while the omission of the Mediterranean as well as the port of Alexandria is significant. Evidence suggests that the original map (known today only through later copies) is of an earlier date than the texts surrounding it, and that it may be one of the earliest world maps preserved from Late Antiquity.     

Neo in Oceania

Between 1790 and 1830, Hawaiian chiefs built, purchased or otherwise acquired a fleet of Westernstyle sailing vessels which they used to transform various aspects of Hawaiian culture, including military engagements, tribute collection, inter-island commerce and status competition. A list of 41 such vessels with known names is presented, but historical records point to the existence of dozens of other such ships whose names have not been identified. These data allow for the estimation of economic investments made by chiefs in the purchase of ships, and document a trend in which the earliest Western-style vessels were built locally, only later to be replaced by a tendency to buy foreign vessels. Issues pertaining to power, agency, colonialism and indigenous self-determination in the transformation of Pacific cultures are discussed.     

Munsell notations and color names: Recommendations for archaeological practice

Abstract

Archaeologists have long used the Munsell Soil-Color Charts for describing the color of stratigraphic contexts and unglazed pottery. The range of colors in these charts has limited the wider application of the Munsell system in archaeology, and here I review the merits of four complementary color sets: the Munsell Color Charts for Plant Tissues, The New Munsell Student Color Set, the Munsell Bead Color Book, and the Geological Rock-Color Chart. Since the Munsell system does not include color names, I advocate for the adoption of Inter-Society Color Council-National Bureau of Standards (ISCC-NBS) names for colors not found in the Munsell Soil-Color Charts. Using a compromise between these nomenclatures, I collated a list of color names and prepared freely available name charts that can be inserted into the books’ bindings. The solutions outlined here will allow archaeologists to describe a fuller spectrum of colors, while maintaining a terminology that is intelligible to their peers and consistent with past publications.     

Fang Hsiao-Ju 方孝需 in the Light of Early Ming Society

The ancient names huangniao, canggeng and several related terms, usually thought to represent the oriole, appear in Zhou and Han texts, for example in Shijing, Erya, Shanhaijing, and various commentaries. The present article comments on these names. It shows that there was an early stage in which a difference was made between canggeng and huangniao, while in later times, from the Han period onwards, these distinctions gradually disappeared. The article also suggests that, originally, canggeng probably stood for Oriolus chinensis, i.e., the black-naped oriole, while huangniao may have meant several other birds; later on, however, all terms were used for O. chinensis.     

Pachymeres on the ‘Amourioi’ of Kastamonu

Abstract

In a recent article Professor Cl. Cahen pointed out various problems resulting from the history of the region of Kastamonu, which on account of its remoteness from the political centres attracted little attention from the chroniclers. One of the problems is the incompatibility of the narratives of the oriental sources and the writings of the Byzantine historian George Pachymeres with respect to some events of the reign of the Seljuk Sultan Masud II: Pachymeres while referring to the history of Kastamonu produces a certain Ali Amourios, his brother Nasir ed-din <inline-graphic href="splitsection4_in1.tif"/>—a person of lesser importance—and their father, whom he also names Amourios. The same Amourios and his sons are also mentioned by Nikephoros Gregoras, who, however, passes over in silence the sons' names.     

Amorite names and old testament onomastics 1

Abstract

Amorite personal names, particularly those attested in texts from the Old Babylonian period, provide most valuable evidence for research in dia‐chronic aspects of Old Testament onomastics. The paper presents a general introduction to research on these names and to their grammatical structure. It further discusses possible Amorite parallels to the divine name Yahweh and lists a large number of names and name elements paralleled in the Hebrew Bible. Most prominent among the Hebrew cognates are names appearing in narratives with reference to the so‐called proto‐history and the Patriarchal period.     

The pleasures of the chase: a motif in Digenes Akrites

Abstract

Thanks to the work of Stylianos Alexiou, the Escorial version of Digenes Akrites (hereafter ‘E’;) has taken its rightful place as part of the heroic poetry of medieval Christendom. Even if the claim for E's priority over the Grottaferrata version (G) does not meet with universal acceptance, E is at least in the field as an alternative. There are, perhaps, three main types of argument against the priority of G. The first is that the linguistic idiom betrays a second-order, solecistic ‘translation’ of a work in a less learned language; the second is that E has preserved proper names, military terms and so on which derive from the Eastern borders and which have been lost in G. Both of these have been expounded by Alexiou in some detail. A third type of argument might concentrate on what we may call the ethos of the E version as distinct from that of G, and one small detail of this is the subject of this note.     

Is it wise to believe Daniel?

A number of possible reasons for the unusual use of divine names in Pss 42-83 are presented. Detailed analysis of the Elohistic Psalter follows, pinpointing exactly how it differs from the rest of the Psalter. Frequencies of divine names are examined, as well as their stylistic use (including use in parallelism, the place of acrostics and refrains, and specific criteria for use of the less-favoured name), and the differing use of shared material and idioms. The author concludes that the Elohistic Psalter is the result of highly skilled editorial activity which was unrelated to any reluctance to pronounce the tetragrammaton.     

The Design of Historical Gardens Cultural,Magical, Medical and Scientific Gardens in Europe

Abstract

This review examines some little-known aspects of historical garden design, expecially those with meanings and complex allusions to ideas beyond the mere notion of an agreeable garden with plants to give pleasure. The author discusses some early gardens of classical times, including Roman funerary gardens, and describes mediaeval gardens in which certain allusions to the goddess Isis survived, especially when connected with the Marian cultus. Topiary is described in the contexts of several garden types, including the extraordinary battle-gardens, which are covered in some detail. The review reveals some unexpected aspects of the Enlightenment and traces the survival of certain ideas in garden design into recent times. Labyrinths, pilgrimages, healing springs, and enclosed gardens are shown to be much more than they appear on the surface.     

A British Lead Seal from Northern New Spain

Abstract

It is often suggested that only a fairly small percentage of the buried population was commemorated on stones before the 19th century. However, there has been little empirical study of what proportion is represented on monuments for different periods. This work compares the number of individuals whose names appear on surviving monuments in historical burial grounds, and the number of individuals recorded in parish records. Although there was considerable variation between graveyards, the mean proportion of those registered as having been buried and who were also commemorated was 8·23%, the figure being much higher in rural areas and much lower in urban ones.     

Childhood,mental capacity and conversion to Islam in the Ottoman state

Abstract

In this paper I explore the conversions of minors as they were presented in the registrations of the ?eriat court (sicil). Two types of records shed light on the conversion process: the summaries of lawsuits and the sporadic registrations of converts' names. As the mental capacity of a child was regarded as of crucial importance when considering the child's conversion, the kadi classified the children into three different age-groups. Special attention was given to children of seven to ten years: their conversion was approved after an examination of their mental capacity. We can assume that these cases concealed some forms of pressure as well. The conversion of adolescents should be regarded as part of a wider phenomenon — the conversion of rural migrants to Salonica.     

Building identities in post-Soviet “de facto states”: cultural and political icons in Nagorno-Karabakh,South Ossetia,Transdniestria, and Abkhazia

Abstract

For states that have recently declared their independence but remained unrecognized “de facto states,” building a national identity is critical in the face of international rejection of their political status. Key elements of this new or re-animated national identity are political and cultural icons symbolizing the new political entity but with historical antecedents. Following Anthony Smith’s ethno-symbolism approach to the study of nationalism and motivated by Jean Gottmann’s research on iconographies in political geography, the article reports the results of nationally representative samples in four post-Soviet de facto states, Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Transdniestria, and Abkhazia. Respondents were asked to name up to five political and cultural figures that they admired. The collated results show a great array of local and Russian names in the four republics. Categorizing the names by historical era and by provenance allows a clarification of the extent to which nation building can rely on local heroes. Among the four republics, Nagorno-Karabakh stands out for its ethno-symbolic local character, while Transdniestrian respondents identified few iconic figures. South Ossetia shows a mix of local and Russian names while the respondents in Abkhazia were divided by nationality in their choices.     

Mansfield Park and Political Theology

ABSTRACT

This essay examines Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park in the light of classical understandings of political theology. It does so by placing the novel in its Anglican and Erastian contexts as well as by showing that it belongs to a lineage of English prose fiction, whose famous names are Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding, which also had theopolitical interests.     

A Mean and Random Past: The Implications of Variance for History

Abstract

Historians seeking to identify the Irish have overwhelmingly relied upon nominal record linkage, thus limiting studies to periods and contexts in which corroborating records exist. Surname analysis provides an alternative: a subset of 283 Irish surnames was able to correctly isolate 40 percent of known Irish individuals across thousands of entries, which is sufficient for sampling the Irish in demographic studies. This conclusion was based on an analysis of 278,949 names from the London area in the 1841 census, and was tested and refined against 42,248 historical records pertaining to the poor in London between 1777 and 1820.     

The Treatment of Byzantine Place-Names

Abstract

The anonymus author of An Historical Curiosity, One Hundred and Forty-One Ways of spelling Birmingham (London 1880) unaccountably complicated things by listing his spellings in neither alphabetical nor chronological order. But he may also have been revolutionary in treating all spellings with equal respect, as names in their own right, rather than variants of ‘Birmingham’, the authorised version which happens to be a poor reflection of what people actually call the place. His treatment was in mind when I indexed the toponyms in David Winfield's and my Dumbarton Oaks Study of The Byzanting Monuments and Topography of the Pontos – alphabetically, not chronologically. In doing so, I was surprised to find how little theoretical discussion there has been on how to treat Byzantine place-names, or what happens when they are transferred from memory to written record (and back again). We can learn from Western medievalists.