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Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Of people and cattle 
A reader asks the Straight Dope where cows come from. The answer: Most Western cows are descended from a large, wild beast that was extinct in Europe by the early 17th Century.

Note Caesar's description of this creature, the Aurochs, and you won't be surprised that it was long associated with strength, and the Germanic rune Ur (Aurochs = "Ur ox").

†this post made by Jerry : 10:06 PM


Saturday, March 20, 2004
Talk on the Eadwine Psalter 
Those at UNC may be interested in this talk on March 29:

How did the Eadwine Psalter come about?

†this post made by Jerry : 1:10 PM


Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Study: Anglo-Saxons intermarried into larger Celtic population 
This is incredibly interesting. An chemical analysis of teeth from a 5th-7th Century Yorkshire graveyard suggest that a relatively small number of Anglo-Saxons were present at the time. The lion's share of the population was still Celtic. Perhaps the Germanic tribes brought their culture moreso than their people to their new home, and they intermarried with the Bretons moreso than exterminating them.

This isn't a new idea, but the finds in Yorkshire seem to indicate the ratio of Anglo-Saxons to Celts was even smaller than most had guessed.

†this post made by Jerry : 8:48 PM


Wordreference 
For an online Modern English dictionary with decent etymological information, try www.wordreference.com.

From the entry for high:
[ETYMOLOGY: Old English heah; related to Old Norse har, Gothic hauhs, Old High German hoh high, Lithuanian kaukas bump, Russian kúchca heap, Sanskrit kuca bosom]


Uses Collins Dictionary. Also has German, French, Spanish and Italian dictionaries.

†this post made by Jerry : 1:24 PM


Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Baby "Diot Coke" born in Yorkshire in 1379 
Apparently a variation of "Dionisia Cook."

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2628349


†this post made by Jerry : 9:04 PM


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