Posted on 06/05/2006 4:27:51 PM PDT by blam
Interesting...probably got associated that way because mother scorpions haul their babies around on their backs--quick & easy way to sex a scorpion. (I darn sure don't wanna be lifting their tail!)
Where did Sanskrit originate? Is it still spoken?
Stephen
Mountain View, California
Dear Stephen:
The Sanskrit language first emerged around 2,000 to 1,000 B.C.E. (before the common era). It's one of the oldest languages still in existence, and linguists have grouped it with the Indo-European languages, such as French, German, and English, which may share a common ancestor language. It isn't entirely clear where Sankrit originated, but it probably came from the Indus Valley, in what is now Pakistan and northwestern India.
Since its beginning, Sanskrit has been used primarily by people in the upper classes of society. Educated, high-ranking men and religious scholars spoke and wrote Sanskrit, while most people used other languages (some of which may have developed from Sanskrit). The Vedas, the oldest sacred writings of Hinduism, were written in an early form of Sanskrit, now called Vedic Sanskrit.
Sometime between the seventh and fourth centuries B.C.E., the grammarian Panini standardized the language into a new form, referred to as Classical Sanskrit -- this is the Sanskrit still used today. In addition to the Vedas, many religious works, influential Indian poetry and drama, and early scientific and mathematic documents were originally written in Sanskrit.
In India today, Sanskrit is still a language of higher education and is not commonly spoken, much like classical Latin and Greek in European societies. Sanskrit is one of the 18 official languages of India, even though less than 50,000 people spoke it as of India's 1991 census. In comparison, the most common language, Hindi, is spoken by 30% of India's population of over one billion people.
India's Department of Education promotes the study of Sanskrit in schools throughout the country. Some scholars believe that every Indian language is related to Sanskrit, so learning Sanskrit can be an important background for further education. But Sanskrit has its detractors who say that it's an elitist, archaic language.
http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20020626.html
Because they didn't have common written histories?
there were Indian civilizations that had written histories, including bark leaf books - unfortunately, few survived the Conquistadors and time.
And it has been only recently, time wise, that scholars cracked the code and are able to translate...
Other clans/tribes across the lands had their own methods of keeping their histories, including oral history. A history is a history = and therefore, not prehistoric....even if someone would like to paint it so.
Yes, I am familiar with one of those female scorpion deities. When I toured the Tutankhamen exhibit in Seattle in the 70's one of the most charming artifacts there was the exquisite, little foot-high gilt statue of Selket:
(Note her scorpion headdress...)
The 1006 Supernova is the brightest on record. It was bright as the half Moon at magnitude -9 to -10. It was visible in the daytime. It happened near the star Beta Lupi. The remnant is really faint and is detected through a radio telescope. Later in that century, in 1054, another supernova exploded, which is now the Crab Nebula in Taurus. I have seen that object before through my telescope. I wrote about this supernova.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1557884/posts
LOL! Garfield hated spiders.
Saw it earlier. Thanks for the link.
"The oldest example of written language is also either hebrew or egyptian, depending on which dating you trust."
I thought it was cuneiform clay tablets from Sumeria.
"Maybe they devolved, but not much. BTW, the winning word in the national spelling bee was Ursprache, which we are now allowed to use as if it were an English word rather than German."
Well, the 19th Century English linguists' equivalent word: "Edenic", is too easy to be a winning word in a spelling bee!
BUMP!
1006 AD Supernova (Vanity)
Posted on 01/13/2006 7:51:03 PM PST by Ptarmigan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1557884/posts
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The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes:
Flood, Fire, and Famine
in the History of Civilization
by Richard Firestone,
Allen West, and
Simon Warwick-Smith
A 9 year bump. Is that a record?
Heh, not even close. The record is probably 17? 15?
... or, all peoples have a common and relatively recent origin with the flood not being legend and symbology such as constellation imagery stems from shared knowledge as a result of that common, relatively recent origin.
Can’t have that, though so we get half-baked theories instead. Who knows, maybe there’s a “multiverse” where the various sciences don’t invent dodges to avoid agreeing with Christianity.
In that same vein
Why are there so many prehistoric rock paintings or etchings of space alien looking creatures both in Australia and the Nazca basin or northern Peru?
Did they witness something that long ago
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