Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: RobbyS
All true.
The four "native" languages of Europe were Latin, Greek, German and Celtic. The Celts ended up in Ireland, where Celtic, a "dead" language like Latin, is still spoken by some...especially if they want the Americans to NOT understand them.

Early Arabs were Nabateans, I believe, also conquered by the Roman Empire. They were inveterate traders. When they landed in Portugal, THEY named it "bortugal," which means "orange" in Arabic, since it was the first time the Arabs had seen the citrus orange.
The Arabs have no "p" in their alphabet so it sounded like Bortugal, but was later elided into Portugal.
Even some Portuguese guides didn't know that bit of information about their own country.

61 posted on 11/29/2014 9:33:16 PM PST by cloudmountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies ]


To: cloudmountain

“a “dead” language like Latin, is still spoken by some...especially if they want the Americans to NOT understand them.”

Funny you say that as my mother’s family is Irish, and even after many, many generations of being in the US, they still teach their children a form of a Celtic language. My mother moved away so I never got that privilege, but there were still many words that slipped in. Stranger still is that while being in the South they adopted Christianity, many old polytheist cultural idioms still exist in the families. Some of it tongue in check, but much of it instinctive.


68 posted on 11/30/2014 5:19:46 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson